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Effect of behavior-change interventions on daily physical activity in patients with intermittent claudication: the OPTIMA systematic review with meta-analysis
Get PDFAims The study aimed to synthesize evidence of daily physical activity (PA) following Behavior-change technique (BCT)-based interventions compared to any control in individuals with peripheral arterial disease/intermittent claudication (PAD/IC); and examine the relationship between BCTs and daily PA. Methods Systematic search of 11 databases from inception to 30/11/2022 was conducted, plus weekly email alerts of new literature until 31/8/2023. Studies comparing BCT-based interventions with any control were included. Primary analysis involved a pairwise random-effects meta-analysis. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane-RoB-2 and ROBINS-I tools. Certainty of evidence was evaluated with the GRADE system. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed. Outcome measures were short-term (<6 months) change in daily PA, and maintenance of the daily PA (6 months or longer) reported as standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs). Results Forty-one studies (4,339 patients; 26 RCTs/3,357 patients; 15 non-RCTs/982 patients; study mean age 60.3 to 73.8, 29.5% female) were included. Eleven RCTs (15 comparisons, 952 participants) suggested that BCT-based interventions increased daily PA in the short term compared to non-SET [increase of 0.20 SMD (95%CI: 0.07 to 0.33), ∼473 steps/day] with high certainty. Evidence of maintenance of daily PA (≥6 months) is unclear [increase of 0.12 SMD (95%CI: -0.04 to 0.29); ∼288 steps/day; 6RCTs, 8 comparisons, 899 participants], with moderate certainty. For daily PA, compared to SET it was inconclusive both for < 6months change [-0.13 SMD, 95%CI: -0.43 to 0.16); 3RCTs, 269 participants; low certainty] and ≥6months [-0.04 SMD, 95%CI: -0.55 to 0.47); 1 RCT, 89 participants; very low certainty]. It was unclear whether the number of BCTs or any BCT domain were independently related to an increase in PA. Conclusion BCT-based interventions improve short-term daily PA in people with PAD/IC compared to non-SET controls. Evidence for maintenance of the improved PA at 6 months or longer and comparison with SET is uncertain. BCT-based interventions are effective choices for enhancing daily PA in PAD/IC
The ‘insider’ ethnographic diagnostic radiographer thinking like ‘an outsider’
Get PDFPurpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the ethnographic researcher navigates their insider-outsider status and provides a methodological contribution to this important aspect of ethnographic research; this will be framed from the researcher’s perspective using a semi-autoethnographic approach.
The ethnographic study being reflected upon explored the culture in a Diagnostic Imaging Department (DID), looking at how radiographers work and what the issues were within their working environment. The original study was carried out within one DID in a District General Hospital in the East of England (Strudwick, 2011).
Design/methodology/approach - In the original study the researcher used ethnography to study the culture in a DID. Observation was carried out for a four-month period. Field notes were recorded and used to formulate topics for the interviews that were to follow.
After the observation, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants from the DID. Ten key informants were purposefully sampled from the DID to provide a cross section of opinion from the staff.
The data collected were analysed to identify key themes.
This paper reflects on the data from the original study to explore the tensions between the insider and outsider researcher role and how this contributes to the way the ethnographic researcher views the environment, reports on their findings and how they feel about the data from their own perspective.
Findings - Ethnographers carrying out research in their own area of practice need to try to think like an outsider in order to see the environment with a sense of strangeness but also try to make sense of what the participants are thinking and doing. There is a tension between becoming part of the group in order to understand it and looking at the environment as an outsider in order to make a note of what is happening. Findings from the original ethnographic study will be used to illustrate this point and will be used to reflect on the feelings of the researcher, considering her insider and outsider status.
Originality - The author, who is a diagnostic radiographer and radiography educator reflects on how she managed the insider-outsider tension during her ethnographic observation and after the event when reflecting on the data from the original study
Should we clear the cobwebs in our minds or dismantle racial structures? Reflections on the lack of critical thinking of higher education staff in the UK
Get PDFHigher education in the UK constantly emphasises critical thinking for students. However, analysis of comments made about *Black students and staff indicate that some academic staff fail to critically analyse their thoughts, words, and deeds. This paper sets out to analyse these utterances of HE staff and to investigate whether they actively reproduce and are intended to reproduce racist practices in HE, which could affect the experience, performance, and confidence of some of these students and staff who identify as Black and Global Majorities. Applying critical race theory and socio-ideological analysis of language (Bakhtin 1981 and Voloshinov 1973) to analyse these utterances, which seem to be thoughts trapped in cobwebs, I seek to understand whether some HE staff fail to practise critical thinking and what this absence reveals about their ideological position and beliefs. I further explore whether critical reflection is required for those of us working within the university sector to become aware of our uncritical habits of mind (King 1991), i.e., the cobwebs in our minds. This paper discusses why one-off workshops such as unconscious bias training may be ineffective in tackling these deeply ingrained false assumptions and in dismantling racial structure
Longitudinal studies of aging in Sub-Saharan Africa: review, limitations, and recommendations in preparation of projected aging population
Get PDFBackground and Objectives
The United Nations has projected a 218% increase in older people in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) between 2019 and 2050, underscoring the need to explore changes that would occur over this time. Longitudinal studies are ideal for studying and proffering solutions to these changes. This review aims to understand the breadth and use of longitudinal studies on aging in the SSA regions, proffering recommendations in preparation for the projected aging population.
Research Design and Methods
This paper is the third of a four-part series paper of a previous systematic mapping review of aging studies in SSA. We updated the search (between 2021 and 2023) and screened the titles/abstracts and full-text articles by a pair of independent reviewers. Data were extracted using a standardized data-charting form, identifying longitudinal studies in SSA.
Results
We identified 193 studies leveraging 24 longitudinal study data sets conducted at 28 unique sites. The World Health Organization’s Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (WHO-SAGE) (n = 59, 30.5%) and Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) (n = 51, 26.4%) were the most used longitudinal data sets. Four studies used more than one longitudinal study data set. Eighteen of the longitudinal study data sets were used only in 1–4 studies. Most (n = 150, 77.7%) of the studies used a cross-sectional analytical approach.
Discussion and Implications
Longitudinal studies on aging are sparingly being utilized in SSA. Most analyses conducted across the longitudinal data set were cross-sectional, which hindered the understanding of aging changes that occurred over time that could better inform aging policy and interventions. We call for funding bodies, such as WHO-SAGE, to develop funding competitions that focus on conducting longitudinal analyses, such as structural equation modeling, highlighting changes occurring among the aging population in SSA
Introduction: teaching and learning European Politics in a time of crisis
No full textThis chapter introduces the book. It places the book in the context of wider scholarly debates about the crisis / crises facing the European Union and European politics more broadly. It highlights the key challenges this context provides both to European Studies as a scholarly field and to how European politics is taught. This serves as a basis for the structure of the book
Police specialism in England and Wales: an exploratory review
Get PDFPurpose. There is a surprising lack of underpinning evidence relating to how police specialism is conceived and operationalised nationally. The study aimed to shed light on the development of specialism, adding valuable insights towards academic and police knowledge on the topic. Methodology. Exploratory research was conducted to draw evidence on police specialism in England and Wales according to publications in the literature and the first-hand accounts of high-ranking police officers. A total of 57 documents and 10 officers' accounts were thematically analysed. Five main themes have been identified, relating to the development, impact and barriers of specialist units, knowledge and training.
Findings. Socio-cultural, policy-based, and historical information that contributed to the development of specialism in the police in their contemporary form were highlighted. The conceptual triggers for the institution of most specialist units were disasters and modernisation. In both cases, police forces were faced with the inability of keeping up with emerging threats and criminal techniques developments. Some exceptions apply, with the specialism of sex offence investigations still being underdeveloped and underfunded. There is also evidence that specialism can impact on police efficacy, and that the specialist knowledge of officers working for within specialist units is frequently inferred – rather than measured.
Potential advantages and challenges of police specialism were reviewed, to understand what specialism looks like based on policing needs and concerns. Originality. This was the first study of its kind that investigated how police specialism is conceived, instituted, and prioritised in England and Wales
Regulation loopholes in China aggravate depletion of wildlife
Get PDFChina has committed to develop an ecological civilization and recently taken significant steps to enhance conservation measures including updating the List of National Key Protected Wild Animals and revising the Wildlife Protection Law in 20211. Conservation has improved by increasing the number of protected species. However, a notable shortcoming undermines the effectiveness of protection for as many as 87 species, as the regulation applies only to wild and not to captive individuals (Figure 1 and Table S1). Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs similarly regulates 230 CITES-listed aquatic species, most of which are non-native species to China (Notice No. 491). Given the challenges differentiating wild and captive individuals, these regulation changes allow and incentivize the laundering of wild-caught animals as captive-bred in trade. The impacts of these regulation amendments on conservation are substantial for two reasons. First, China has one of the world’s largest wildlife trades, with a high volume of native and non-native animals traded and farmed2,3. Second, many of the species affected are globally threatened, including 51% of native and 63% of CITES-listed aquatic species (Figure 1). Ultimately, the regulation changes exacerbate population declines of many threatened species
Citizenship and belonging in the times of Brexit: the case of Polish migrants in Manchester
No full textPerceived intrinsic 3D shape of faces is robust to changes in lighting direction, image rotation and polarity inversion.
Get PDFFace recognition from 2D images is influenced by various factors, including lighting conditions, viewing direction, rotation, and polarity inversion. It has been proposed that these techniques affect face recognition by distorting shape from shading. This study investigates the perception of 3D face shape in 2D images using a gauge figure task. Two experiments were conducted where participants adjusted a gauge figure across multiple locations within a 3D image to assess its surface structure. We manipulated face orientation, lighting direction, and polarity inversion (exp 2). While these manipulations resulted in variations from the true surface structure, they could be explained by an affine transformation. This suggests that the perception of the intrinsic 3D shape of faces is stable across these image manipulation techniques. The effects of viewing conditions on face recognition may thus be better interpreted through their influence on the perception of material properties such as pigmentation, or on information closer to the level of the retinal image itself. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
A systematic review of the long-term efficacy of physical activity interventions in reducing risk factors for obesity in adults
Get PDFBackground : Regular physical activity (PA) provides numerous health advantages, including lowering mortality rates and preventing obesity. Despite well-established guidelines advising 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic PA weekly, sedentary lifestyles remain prevalent, especially in industrialised nations. This systematic review examines the long-term effectiveness (12-24 months) of PA interventions aimed at reducing obesity risk among adults, with a particular focus on identifying strategies that promote sustained adherence.
Methods : A comprehensive literature search was performed using multiple databases, including Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase, focusing on studies published between January 2004 and January 2024. The inclusion criteria focused on randomised controlled trials and similar designs targeting healthy adults, with interventions promoting sustained PA. Primary outcomes assessed were long-term PA adherence, reductions in obesity rates, and improvements in physical and metabolic health.
Results : Twenty-one studies met the inclusion criteria, covering a range of intervention strategies. Most interventions featured structured PA programmes, often with personalised components and ongoing support. Several high-quality studies demonstrated long-term PA adherence, increased weekly energy expenditure, and improvements in fitness. However, adherence rates varied, with participants meeting recommended PA levels ranging from 4.6% to 81%. The meta-analysis showed a small to moderate positive effect of PA interventions on outcomes like PA levels and weight loss, with an effect size of 0.37 (CI: 0.25-0.50).
Discussion : The results highlight the need for tailored, culturally sensitive interventions, particularly for vulnerable populations. Long-term PA adherence is stronger in older adults than middle-aged ones, but the sustainability of these effects remains unclear, warranting further researc