ResearchOnline@ND (University of Notre Dame)
Not a member yet
7734 research outputs found
Sort by
Trait impulsivity as a feature of Parkinson\u27s Disease treatment and progression
No full textHeightened trait impulsivity in both subclinical and pathological senses is becoming increasingly recognised in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Impulsive behaviours and impulse control disorders (ICDs) are a consequence of perturbation to the rewards pathway leading individuals to conduct activities in a repetitive, excessive, and maladaptive fashion. Commonly linked to PD, heightened trait impulsivity has been found to primarily manifest in the forms of hypersexuality, pathological gambling, compulsive shopping, and binge eating, all of which may signifcantly impact social and fnancial standing. Subsequent burden to quality of life for both individuals with PD and caregivers are common. Although risk factors and indicators for ICDs in PD are currently lacking, it is recognised that the condition is often precipitated by dopamine replacement therapies, primarily dopamine agonist administration. While this nonmotor symptom is being increasingly diagnosed in PD populations, it remains relatively elusive in comparison to its motor counterparts. Trough discussion of impulsivity characteristics, neuroanatomy, and neurochemistry, in addition to reviewing existing research on the potential contributing factors to impulsivity in PD, this review highlights impulsivity as a signifcant and detrimental PD symptom. Tus, emphasising the imperative need to establish efcacious diagnostic tools and treatments
Mind over microplastics: Exploring microplastic-induced gut disruption and gut-brain-axis consequences
No full textAs environmental plastic waste degrades, it creates an abundance of diverse microplastic particles. Consequently, microplastics contaminate drinking water and many staple food products, meaning the oral ingestion of microplastics is an important exposure route for the human population. Microplastics have long been considered inert, however their ability to promote microbial dysbiosis as well as gut inflammation and dysfunction suggests they are more noxious than first thought. More alarmingly, there is evidence for microplastics permeating from the gut throughout the body, with adverse effects on the immune and nervous systems. Coupled with the now-accepted role of the gut-brain axis in neurodegeneration, these findings support the hypothesis that this ubiquitous environmental pollutant is contributing to the rising incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This comprehensive narrative review explores the consequences of oral microplastic exposure on the gut-brain-axis by considering current evidence for gastrointestinal uptake and disruption, immune activation, translocation throughout the body, and neurological effects. As microplastics are now a permanent feature of the global environment, understanding their effects on the gut, brain, and whole body will facilitate critical further research and inform policy changes aimed at reducing any adverse consequences
Preparing pre-service teachers to teach with information technology: mapping knowledge patterns in what is included and omitted in Ghana
No full textResearch, primarily from pre-service teachers’ perspectives, has found that teacher education programmes are not providing adequate preparation for constructivist pedagogy using information technology. This subject is pronounced in Ghana’s teacher education programmes, where local research that investigates knowledge patterns in technology training methods and competencies pre-service teachers mainly acquire is also scarce. In addressing this gap, this paper describes a qualitative study that examined the reflective views and experiences of 20 in-service teachers regarding what was offered and missing in their pre-service training for digital pedagogy. Findings revealed teachers benefit from standalone educational technology courses, teacher educators modelling technology use, and curriculum activities requiring technology use. The knowledge pattern in these training methods suggests a prioritisation of technical skills acquisition that mostly supports traditional, teacher-centred teaching tasks. Factors impeding pedagogical development training are unpacked, along with the rea-sons behind misalignments between teacher education policy requirements, and actual pre-service technology training practices
The impact of pain on daily activities in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: Report from the OMERACT myositis working group
No full textBackground: International focus groups with patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) conducted by the OMERACT Myositis Working Group over the years demonstrated the pain as an important symptom experienced by these patients. In this study, we aimed to examine the frequency and degree of pain interference, the aspects of daily life impacted by pain, and the factors associated with pain interference in adults with IIM.
Methods: This was a prospective observational study with two visits. The patients who fulfilled the probable/ definite IIM (ACR/EULAR Myositis Classification Criteria) were enrolled. Pain interference was assessed with PROMIS pain interference form (6a). Myositis core set measures and PROMIS fatigue (7a) and physical function (8b) were obtained at both visits. Logistic regression and linear mixed models were performed to assess the association between pain interference and other parameters.
Results: A total of 129 patients with IIM (60 % females) were recruited from U.S., South Korea, Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia. Approximately 71 % reported pain interference. The patients in the greater pain interference group were more likely to be female, had significantly worse patient/physician global disease activity, fatigue, and physical function than those in the lower pain interference group. The most commonly impacted life aspect was household chores. Manual muscle testing, patient/physician global disease activity, fatigue, and physical function were all significantly associated with pain interference score \u3e60.
Conclusion: The majority of the patients with IIM experience the impact of pain on their daily activities, particularly household chores. Myositis disease activity, duration, and subtype could be associated with greater pain interference
What kind of English teacher do they want? Learning area-specific role preferences and requirements in Australian non-government school job advertisements
No full textIn addition to aligning with context-specific expectations of policymakers, initial teacher education of secondary English teachers can consider schools’ needs. Furthermore, schools may decrease attrition when they recruit teachers who meet their role requirements. To explore the learning area-specific role preferences and requirements of Australian non-government schools, a hybrid content analysis of N = 130 job advertisements was undertaken. Findings highlight three related but also distinct role preferences and requirements in relation to experience, qualifications and related knowledge, and English advocacy. It was also found that around one in five jobs were explicitly open to employing recent graduates. Job advertisements typically had poor coverage of learning area specific role preferences and requirements, and only around a quarter of advertisements were seeking an applicant with suitable qualifications to teach in the English learning area. With reducing teacher attrition a key goal, schools could consider providing more detail in job advertisements to enable applicants to consider their skills and preferences in relation to the diverse needs of the secondary English teaching rol
Trees to remember: culturally modified boab trees in the face of climate change
No full textCulturally modified trees (CMTs) are a unique form of archaeology and cultural heritage. There are several factors affecting the survival of culturally modified trees in Australia, and these will all likely be exacerbated by climate change. Boab trees (Adansonia gregorii), which are endemic to northwest Australia, have been subject to modification by Indigenous people both prior to and following the settlement of the Kimberley region by European and Anglo-Australians. Many of the potential impacts of climate change on boab tree survival are yet to be determined, but a range of new threats are emerging as potential endangerment. Through the insights of Indigenous knowledge, this paper discusses one particularly significant boab tree in Nyikina Country and how its demise may be linked to erroneous human actions in the recent past. This provides a unique perspective on how the complexities of climate change may be conceptualised through living knowledge and experience
Antenatal education Putting research into practice: A guideline review
No full textProblem: Antenatal care guidelines used in Australia are inconsistent in their recommendations for childbirth and parenting education (CBPE) classes for preparation of women and parents for pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenting.
Background: Clinical practice guidelines in maternity care are developed to assist healthcare practitioners and consumers to make decisions about appropriate care. The benefit of such guidelines relies on the translation and quality of the evidence contained within them. In the context of antenatal care guidelines, there is a potential evidence-practice gap with regard to CBPE.
Aims: This review aims to appraise the quality of Australian antenatal care guidelines in their recommendations for CBPE for women and partners.
Methods: Publicly available Australian antenatal care guidelines were identified including local health district websites and professional organisations pertaining to maternity care. Guidelines were reviewed independently, and the quality was assessed using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) tool. Findings: Five guidelines were included in the review and appraised using AGREE II. With the exception of the Department of Health Pregnancy Care Guidelines, guidelines scored poorly across all six domains. When appraised according to specific CBPE recommendations for rigour of development, presentation, and applicability; all guidelines received low scores.
Discussion: Prenatal services remain largely unregulated across the board, with no systematic approach to make recommendations for CBPE and guidelines lacking in rigour with regard to CBPE. Conclusion: Within the guidelines reviewed there was a lack of evidence-based recommendations provided for educators or consumers regarding childbirth and parenting education
Motives of parents who request the Catholic sacraments of initiation for their children
No full textUsing attachment theory to interrogate findings, a single-case study investigated why parents present their children for the Sacraments of Initiation into the Catholic Church. Twelve parents from the Illawarra region, Australia, participated in the study. Robert K. Yin’s (Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. 6th ed. Sage, 2018) analytic strategy resulted in two research questions (RQ), namely, why do parents present their children for Baptism and secondly, why do they continue with the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation despite having little to no Church contact during the in-between years? Five overarching themes were found for the first RQ, including non-religious incentive, focus on the child, struggle in understanding Baptism, future orientation and cultural expectation. The second RQ revealed four overarching themes, namely, child-focused apprehension, child-focused commitment, expenditure of time and priorities in a busy life. Emphasis on the child’s welfare was evident in all themes. Discussion focuses on the conflict between Church commitment and emphasis on the child’s well-being
It\u27s about time: mitigating cancer-related cognitive impairments through findings from computational models of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task
No full textBackground: Many cancer survivors experience cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), often with significant negative consequences across various life domains. Emerging evidence suggests that allowing additional time to process information before acting may be a useful strategy for those with CRCI to mitigate some of its impacts. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), a measure of general cognition, has shown that for some cancer survivors, longer task completion time facilitates similar task performance outcomes to control populations concerning perseveration errors; a key performance metric of the WCST. However, assessing if this strategy may be useful, as well as determining for whom it may be useful, with regard to strengths and weaknesses among select cognitive domains, is challenging due to factors such as the problem of task impurity. Accordingly, this study provides an initial computational and experimental assessment of whether additional time to process information before acting is a useful strategy for those with CRCI.
Methods: We simulated individual cognitive differences observed in humans by varying contributions of executive functioning components (updating, shifting, inhibition) to yield 48 distinct computational models of the WCST. Our main manipulation was then to provide these models with more or less time (at three levels of 20, 40 and 60 cycles) before models executed an action to sort a given card. We compared the number of perseveration errors on the WCST produced by the computational models. Additionally, we determined models that simulated the performance of cancer survivors on the WCST by comparing the number of perseveration errors produced by the models to human data.
Results: Additional processing time resulted in the models producing significantly fewer perseveration errors, supporting our hypothesis. In addition, 8 unique models simulated the performance of cancer survivors on the WCST. Additional time appeared to have a positive influence on performance primarily by mitigating the impacts of severe inhibition impairments. For more severe global executive function impairments, a substantial amount of additional time was required to mitigate the impacts of the impairments. For the most severe impairments, additional time was unable to adequately mitigate the impact on performance.
Conclusion: Additional processing time may be a useful strategy to rectify perseveration errors among cancer survivors with CRCI. Our findings have implications for the development of practical strategies, such as workload and deadline management in occupational settings, which may mitigate the negative effects of CRCI
Adopting a systems-thinking approach to optimise dietary and exercise referral practices for cancer survivors
No full textPurpose: Service referrals are required for cancer survivors to access specialist dietary and exercise support. Many systemlevel factors infuence referral practices within the healthcare system. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify system-level factors and their interconnectedness, as well as strategies for optimising dietary and exercise referral practices in Australia.
Methods: A full-day workshop involving national multidisciplinary key stakeholders explored system-level factors impacting dietary and exercise referral practices. Facilitated group discussions using the nominal group technique identifed barriers and facilitators to referral practices based on the six World Health Organisation (WHO) building blocks. The systems-thinking approach generated six cognitive maps, each representing a building block. A causal loop diagram was developed to visualize factors that influence referral practices. Additionally, each group identified their top five strategies by leveraging facilitators and addressing barriers relevant to their WHO building block.
Results: Twenty-seven stakeholders participated in the workshop, including consumers (n=2), cancer specialists (n=4), nursing (n=6) and allied health professionals (n=10), and researchers, representatives of peak bodies, not-for-profit organisations, and government agencies (n=5). Common system-level factors impacting on referral practices included funding, accessibility, knowledge and education, workforce capacity, and infrastructure. Fifteen system-level strategies were identified to improve referral practices.
Conclusion: This study identified system-level factors and strategies that can be applied to policy planning and practice in Australia