Research UNE (University of New England)
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Do you have 7,513 unread emails in your inbox? Research suggests that’s unwise
No full textHow do you manage your emails? Are you an “inbox zero” kind of person, or do you just leave thousands of them unread?Our new study, published today in the journal Information Research, suggests that leaving all your emails in the inbox is likely to leave you dissatisfied with your personal records management.In an exploratory survey, we asked participants how they dealt with their personal records such as bills, online subscriptions and similar items. Many of these arrive by email.We found that most respondents left their electronic records in their email. Only half saved items such as bills and other documents to other locations, like their computer or the cloud. But having a disorganised inbox also led to problems, including missing bills and losing track of important correspondence
Predisposing Factors of Nosocomial Infections in Hospitalized Patients in the United Kingdom: Systematic Review
No full textBackground: Nosocomial infections are infections incubating or not present at the time of admission to a hospital and manifest 48 hours after hospital admission. The specific factors contributing to the risk of infection during hospitalization remain unclear, particularly for the hospitalized population of the United Kingdom. Objective: The aim of this systematic literature review was to explore the risk factors of nosocomial infections in hospitalized adult patients in the United Kingdom. Methods: A comprehensive keyword search was conducted through the PubMed, Medline, and EBSCO CINAHL Plus databases. The keywords included “risk factors” or “contributing factors” or “predisposing factors” or “cause” or “vulnerability factors” and “nosocomial infections” or “hospital-acquired infections” and “hospitalized patients” or “inpatients” or “patients” or “hospitalized.” Additional articles were obtained through reference harvesting of selected articles. The search was limited to the United Kingdom with papers written in English, without limiting for age and gender to minimize bias. The above process retrieved 377 articles, which were further screened using inclusion and exclusion criteria following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The retained 9 studies were subjected to critical appraisal using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (cohort and case-control studies) and Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (cross-sectional studies) checklists. Finally, 6 eligible publications were identified and used to collect the study findings. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyze data extracted on risk factors of nosocomial infections in hospitalized patients in the United Kingdom. Results: The risk factors for nosocomial infections that emerged from the reviewed studies included older age, intrahospital transfers, cross-infection, longer hospital stay, readmissions, prior colonization with opportunistic organisms, comorbidities, and prior intake of antibiotics and urinary catheters. Nosocomial infections were associated with more extended hospital stays, presenting with increased morbidity and mortality. Measures for controlling nosocomial infections included the use of single-patient rooms, well-equipped wards, prior screening of staff and patients, adequate sick leave for staff, improved swallowing techniques and nutritional intake for patients, improved oral hygiene, avoiding unnecessary indwelling plastics, use of suprapubic catheters, aseptic techniques during patient care, and prophylactic use
Early childhood educators’ understandings of quality in five countries: similarities and differences to policy
No full textEarly childhood educators work in a highly regulated environment in many countries and are constantly asked to produce and improve quality. Our international study of Australian, Canadian, Danish, Georgian and Italian educators’ work examined their notions of quality and how this was impacted by government policies and documents such as frameworks, standards and curricula. Quantitative data were analysed using cross-tabulation and descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that some educators’ notions of quality aligned with their governments’ ideas, but many revealed nuanced concepts. Educators expressed frustration at these differences and the perceived limitations and impact of the imposed policies and documents. Many educators identified how these differences were experienced in the workplace and impacted their teaching, relationships and children’s learning. This study will interest policymakers, educators, and teacher educators
Localizationism, antilocalizationism, and the emergence of the unitary construct of consciousness in Luigi Luciani(1840-1919)
No full textThis article aims to present the construct of unitary consciousness as it emerged in the work of the Italian physiologist Luigi Luciani (1840 –1919). We highlight how Luciani's work, conducted during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, integrated experimental research with the clinical observation of patients, enabling him to develop elaborate theoretical conceptions. From our historical analysis of Luciani's main works, an innovative model of unitary consciousness emerges with respect to his contemporary context. We also propose Luciani's model as a contribution to the modern debate on consciousness. An analysis of his work, not considered up to now, leads us to reevaluate the assumption of an ancient opposition between localization and antilocalization in the history of cerebral localization
Attrition Rate in Multisession Gradual Exposure Treatment for Specific Phobia: A Meta-Analysis
No full textSPECIFIC PHOBIA involves fear and avoidance of reasonably safe stimuli such as heights, closed spaces, and insects. The disorder, which is relatively common, with a lifetime prevalence of 3–15% (Eaton et al., 2018), impairs a person’s ability to function because of the avoidance involved. Specific phobias also create substantial fear, which can occur often and reduce a person’s quality of life
Nurses were at high risk of suicide before the COVID-19 pandemic: Is the worst still to come?
No full textReports of high suicide rates for health professionals such as first responders (firefighters, paramedics for example) and medical physicians are commonly highlighted in the media while disturbingly high suicide rates in nurses, seem to go unrecognized. Previous studies have clearly identified the rates of suicide in nurses (Basu et al., 2023; Davis et al., 2021; Petrie et al., 2023) that are alarmingly high when compared to the general population. Why then has this serious issue gone relatively unnoticed? The Australian College of Nursing in Australia (ACN), one of our leading professional bodies, identified this very concerning issue in 2016 as an urgent concern and called for action to reduce further loss of life (Australian College of Nursing (ACN), 2016). Unfortunately, this call for action has fallen on deaf ears as the deaths by suicide of nurses in Australia have continued even after the call for action. We cannot afford to continue to ignore the national and international evidence that signifies the seriousness of the issue for nursing and health service delivery across the globe
The effect of exercise training on quality of life in people with chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis. A systematic review with meta‑analysis
No full textBackground Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a debilitating condition associated with poor health outcomes, including reduced quality of life (QoL), frequent hospitalisation and premature mortality.Aim This study aimed to determine the effect of exercise training on health-related QoL in individuals with CKD requiring dialysis, focusing on mental health scores. Secondary aims included analysing the effect of exercise modality, intensity, and delivery context to maximise exercise training benefits for QoL. Additionally, differences in mental component summary and physical component summary scores using CKD-specific generic QoL patient-reported outcome measures were examined.Methods A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus up to November 14th, 2024, identified randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing exercise training to usual care in CKD patients requiring dialysis. Twenty-five RCTs met the inclusion criteria and were pooled for meta-analyses.Results Pooled analysis revealed significant improvements in QoL scores for mental component summary (MD 3.33 [1.24, 5.41], p=0.002) and physical component summary (MD 3.75, [2.28, 5.23], pp=0.02) and resistance training (p=0.04). Moderate intensity (p=0.003), an intervention duration of 12–26 weeks (p=0.0004), interdialytic delivery (p=0.003), intradialytic delivery (p=0.03) and supervised training (p=0.002) all demonstrated statistically significant improvements in mental component summary. The short form (SF)-36 demonstrated significant improvements in mental component summary (MD 4.15 [1.54, 6.76], p=0.002), while the kidney disease QoL patient-reported outcome measure did not show significant improvement (p=0.33).Conclusions Supervised, inter-dialytic or intra-dialytic exercise, including aerobic or resistance training at a moderate intensity for up to 26 weeks, can significantly improve mental component summary scores in individuals with stage 5 CKD on dialysis
Lower limb gait joint coordination variability in people with diabetes-related foot ulcers
No full textBackground: Diabetes-related foot ulcers pose substantial health risks globally, yet the biomechanical intricacies underlying their development remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to evaluate lower limb gait joint coordination variability in individuals with diabetes-related foot ulcers compared to those with diabetes (without diabetes-related foot ulcers) and healthy controls. Methods: A total of 99 participants (diabetes-related foot ulcers cases – 16, Diabetes controls – 50, Health controls – 33) compared three self-paced walking trials. Vector coding, a technique quantifying movement coordination, was employed, analysing hip-knee, knee-ankle, and hip-angle joint couplings in the sagittal plane. Findings: No significant differences in coordination variability were found among the groups. However, distinct coupling pattern frequencies emerged, with diabetes-related foot ulcers cases exhibiting unique anti-phase hip and ankle coupling frequency counts compared to healthy controls. Interpretation: These findings challenge conventional understandings of diabetes-related foot ulcers biomechanics and underscore the complexity of gait in this population
Metal‐Functionalized Silicene for Efficient Hydrogen Storage
No full textFirst-principles calculations based on density functional theory are used to investigate the electronic structure along with the stability, bonding mechanism, band gap, and charge transfer of metal-functionalized silicene to envisage its hydrogen-storage capacity. Various metal atoms including Li, Na, K, Be, Mg, and Ca are doped into the most stable configuration of silicene. The corresponding binding energies and charge-transfer mechanisms are discussed from the perspective of hydrogen-storage compatibility. The Li and Na metal dopants are found to be ideally suitable, not only for strong metal-to-substrate binding and uniform distribution over the substrate, but also for the high-capacity storage of hydrogen. The stabilities of both Li- and Na-functionalized silicene are also confirmed through molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that bothof the alkali metals, Li+ and Na+, can adsorb five hydrogenmolecules, attaining reasonably high storage capacities of 7.75and 6.9 wt %, respectively, with average adsorption energieswithin the range suitable for practical hydrogen-storageapplications
Ecology of the free-living stages of Trichostrongylid parasites of sheep
No full textThe prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) is dictated by environmental conditions which influence the survival, development, and migration rates of the free-living stages. While the faecal pellet is the most important micro-environment for GINs, limited data on the impact of temperature and faecal water content (FWC) on their survival, development, and migration limits accurate prediction of nematode pasture infectivity. This study investigated the impact of temperature and FWC on the dynamics of the free-living stages of T. vitrinus, T. colubriformis and T. circumcincta by incubating faecal samples from sheep harbouring mono-specific infection of the GINs in temperature-controlled incubators at constant temperatures ranging from 0◦ to 40◦C and nominal target FWCs ranging from 0% to 80% for 8 days. The different life cycle stages (eggs, pre-infective larvae, intrapellet infective larvae and extra-pellet infective larvae) were enumerated each day using a modified McMaster technique. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the impact of environmental effects on the recovery of each life cycle stage. A one-way ANOVA was used to compare the life cycle stage tallies between species. Survival and development of each life cycle stage were elucidated by fitting the obtained experimental data to an existing mathematical model which described the dynamics of the free-living stages of the GIN lifecycle. Development of eggs to infective larvae were only observed at target temperatures of 20 and 30ºC (and some development at 40 ◦C for T. colubriformis). This study predicted development of a minimum of 1% of eggs to intra-pellet infective larvae at temperature ranges of 9–39, 10–39 and 10–38ºC with optimum development occurring at 23, 23 and 20ºC for T. vitrinus, T. circumcincta and T. colubriformis, respectively. Development of eggs to intra-pellet infective larvae was observed at nominal FWC targets of 20% and above where increasing FWC up to 60% resulted in increased tallies of intra-pellet infective larvae. The model predicted that development of eggs to intra-pellet infective larvae required a minimum FWC of 13%, 16% and 17% for T. circumcincta, T. colubriformis and T. vitrinus respectively with higher FWC requirements for migration out of the faecal pellets. Development of T. circumcincta eggs to infective larvae was slower than the other species with only 33% of the T. circumcincta eggs predicted to develop to infective larvae at its optimum temperature and FWC as compared to 47% for T. vitrinus and 56% for T. colubriformis