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Constipation prevalence and risk from prescribed medications in people with intellectual disability: findings from an English mortality programme
Get PDFConstipation is common in people with intellectual disability, with case reports of associated deaths. Risk factors include lifestyle factors, health conditions, and certain medications. We aimed to explore constipation in a sample of people with intellectual disability who died in 2021. We described prevalence of constipation, causes of death and the risk of secondary constipation from prescribed medications. Medications were scored based on the risk of constipation indicated in the drug profile. Forty-eight percent of the sample had constipation. Half of the sample were prescribed at least two medications that are commonly associated with side effects of constipation. There were high rates of antipsychotic (30%) and laxative (40%) drug prescription. Five people with a history of constipation died of causes of death associated with constipation. Our findings highlight the risk of secondary constipation due to prescribed medication and the seriousness of the condition in people with intellectual disability
The effect of Panax ginseng supplementation on markers of resistance exercise-induced muscle damage: a systematic review
Get PDFINTRODUCTION: According to the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review of randomized controlled trials examined whether Panax ginseng supplementation reduces resistance to exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD).
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Web of Science, SPORTDiscus and Medline databases were searched from the 16th of December 2021 to the 18th of February 2022. Inclusion criteria were studies in humans consuming Panax ginseng that employed resistance training as the damaging muscle protocol and measured markers implicated in the etiology of EIMD (muscle damage, muscle function and muscle soreness). The PEDro risk of bias assessment tool was used to appraise the studies critically.
RESULTS: Conflicting evidence was evident in markers of muscle damage, muscle function and muscle soreness. The quality assessment suggested that all studies had some level of bias.
CONCLUSIONS: From 180, six studies were included in the systematic review. The main findings suggest that Panax ginseng does not attenuate markers of EIMD following resistance training. However, research is still preliminary. Adequately powered sample sizes and well-controlled studies are warranted to clarify Panax ginseng’s efficacy
Exploring the Time Dilation Gameplay in VR, and Its Effect on Presence, VR Sickness, and Performance
Get PDFThis study explores the effect of Time Dilation Gameplay mechanic in a VR game and its impact on players' sub-jective feeling of Presence, symptoms of VR sickness, and to their gaming performance. A comparative study was conducted using a VR First Person Shooter game prototype under two conditions: Normal Gameplay and with Time Dilation, manipulating the in-game time to almost complete standstill when the player stops moving. The results indicated that players in the Time Dilation Gameplay group experienced high degree of Presence comparable to those playing in Normal Gameplay condition, and yielded relatively lower levels of VR sickness, highlighting the need for further investigation on its potential impact on the domain. The players' in-game performance between the two conditions was similar, but the Time Dilation mechanic impacted the way they were navigating and spatially exploring the environment, hence, considerations need to be made in the way tasks, levels, and interactions are designed. The main contributions of this paper are: i) insights on how Time Dilation affects players' feeling of Presence in a VR game; ii) the impact of the mechanic on VR Sickness; and iii) its effect on player performance, providing valuable information for game developers and designers
Refugee Protection in Japan and Taiwan: Common Challenges and Ways Forward for Human Security
No full textThis edited volume fills a gap in current research on asylum seekers and refugees. By focusing on two East Asian countries, Japan and Taiwan, this volume offers material for comparison and reflection on an area of the world in which this theme is still relatively underdeveloped. By approaching the theme through the different perspectives of human rights, social construction through media representation and public opinion, and lived experiences, the book offers a multifaceted and sophisticated analysis of the phenomenon. The main aim of this collection is to expand current scholarship on refugee studies and offer policy recommendations on the timely topic of refugee and asylum seekers in East Asia.
This is an open access book
Seismic retrofitting of URM masonry piers with helical steel reinforcement
No full textPast earthquakes revealed that the brittle nature of unreinforced masonry (URM) structural walls often leads to extensive cacking and shear damage, which can seriously affect the structural integrity and thus compromise the safety of the entire building. Hence, finding an effective seismic retrofitting solution that can increase the safety of existing masonry building stock is of great importance. This paper explores the potential of alternative seismic retrofitting solutions for URM masonry walls - near-surface mounted austenitic stainless-steel helical bars. Being cold rolled from a plain round wire and subsequently tensioned through a free-twisting process, such a reinforcement can not only offer high durability, but also superior mechanical and bond properties, as well as effective redistribution of loads through the retrofitted masonry. In addition, the relatively high flexibility of the bars allows them to be mounted continuously along the joints of the wall, leaving the aesthetic of the retrofitted masonry intact. A total of nine single-leaf clay brick walls were tested under cyclic displacement reversals to examine the seismic performance of the reinforcement in terms of increasing in-plane shear capacity and ductility. Test specimens comprised cantilever walls with various retrofitting patterns, including flexural and shear helical reinforcements installed in the mortar joints or into the vertical slots cut into the masonry. The results showed considerable improvements in the ductility and energy dissipation of the walls after the retrofitting. For most of the retrofitted walls the value of q factors exceeded 4.0, which is greater than the typical q factors for reinforced masonry, thus indicating that large increases in ductility were achieved. The paper highlights the potential of helical stainless-steel bars as a seismic retrofitting reinforcement capable of preserving the structural integrity of masonry structures at increasing displacement demands without affecting the aesthetic of the surface of the walls
Broadband multi-wavelength properties of M87 during the 2018 EHT campaign including a very high energy flaring episode
Get PDFContext. The nearby elliptical galaxy M87 contains one of only two supermassive black holes whose emission surrounding the event horizon has been imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). In 2018, more than two dozen multi-wavelength (MWL) facilities (from radio to γ-ray energies) took part in the second M87 EHT campaign.
Aims. The goal of this extensive MWL campaign was to better understand the physics of the accreting black hole M87*, the relationship between the inflow and inner jets, and the high-energy particle acceleration. Understanding the complex astrophysics is also a necessary first step towards performing further tests of general relativity.
Methods. The MWL campaign took place in April 2018, overlapping with the EHT M87* observations. We present a new, contemporaneous spectral energy distribution (SED) ranging from radio to very high-energy (VHE) γ-rays as well as details of the individual observations and light curves. We also conducted phenomenological modelling to investigate the basic source properties.
Results. We present the first VHE γ-ray flare from M87 detected since 2010. The flux above 350 GeV more than doubled within a period of ≈36 hours. We find that the X-ray flux is enhanced by about a factor of two compared to 2017, while the radio and millimetre core fluxes are consistent between 2017 and 2018. We detect evidence for a monotonically increasing jet position angle that corresponds to variations in the bright spot of the EHT image.
Conclusions. Our results show the value of continued MWL monitoring together with precision imaging for addressing the origins of high-energy particle acceleration. While we cannot currently pinpoint the precise location where such acceleration takes place, the new VHE γ-ray flare already presents a challenge to simple one-zone leptonic emission model approaches, and it emphasises the need for combined image and spectral modelling
Refugees and asylum seekers in East Asia: Perspectives from Japan and Taiwan
Get PDFOffers an interdisciplinary approach to the theme of refugees/asylum seekers
Integrates the overlooked cases of Japan and Taiwan in scholarship on refugees/asylum seekers
Views refugees and asylum seekers’ experiences in East Asia through a human security lens
This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited acces
Harmonizing outcome measurement for child focused domestic abuse interventions. Reflections on the development and implementation of a core outcome set
Get PDFThere is appetite in the UK to better measure the impact of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) interventions on children. The spread of outcomes-based commissioning means outcome measurement is no longer just the territory of academic researchers, but is now firmly within the purview of practitioners and policy makers. However, outcomes measured in trials only partially represent the views of those delivering and using services with respect to how success should be defined and captured. Even within trials there is huge inconsistency in the definition and measurement of important endpoints. This yields a body of evidence that is difficult to make sense of, ultimately defeating the ends for which it was produced to improve the response to children and families who have experienced abuse. Development of Core Outcome Sets (COS) is seen as a solution to this problem, by establishing consensus across key stakeholder groups regarding a minimum standard for outcome measurement in trials, and increasingly in service delivery contexts. To date COS development has largely addressed outcomes relating to health conditions or interventions, with relatively limited application to public health challenges. We reflect on our efforts to develop a COS to evaluate psychosocial interventions for children and families experiencing DVA. We highlight the value of COS development as a mechanism for improving evidence quality, and ultimately the response to families experiencing abuse. Finally, we make recommendations to researchers and COS guideline developers to support this broader application of COS methodology
