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Predicting psychological distress of informal carers of individuals with major depression or bipolar disorder
Get PDFCaring for someone with a mental illness is associated with high levels of burden and psychological distress. Understanding these factors could be important to prevent the development of physical and mental health problems in carers. The purpose of the present study was to determine the contribution of coping styles and social support in predicting the psychological distress reported by informal carers (IC) of individuals with major depression or bipolar disorder. IC (n = 72) of adults with a diagnosed depressive illness were recruited from mental health organizations within the community setting. Carers completed the General Health Questionnaire, Brief COPE, and Social Support Questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that 63% of the variance in psychological distress could be accounted for by adaptive and maladaptive coping styles and perceived quantity and satisfaction with social support. Satisfaction with social support (b = 0.508, P < 0.001) and maladaptive coping (b = 0.369; P < 0.001) were significant predictors of psychological distress. These findings suggest that interventions should consider coping styles, specifically the interaction between maladaptive behaviours and enhancement of quality of support, to assist carers to manage psychological distress, especially earlier in the caring role
Challenging the knowledge-transfer orthodoxy: Knowledge co-construction in technology-enhanced learning for children with autism
No full textExperimental intervention studies constitute the current dominant research designs in the autism education field. Such designs are based on a ‘knowledge-transfer’ model of evidence-based practice in which research is conducted by researchers, and is then ‘transferred’ to practitioners to enable them to implement evidence-based interventions. While these research designs contribute important knowledge, they lead to a gap between what the research evidence may prescribe and what happens in practice, with a concomitant disparity between the priorities of researchers and practitioners. This paper discusses findings from the ESRC-funded ‘SHAPE’ project, which adopted a different model of evidence-based practice, focusing on knowledge co-construction. Pupils (N = 8), teachers (N = 10), a speech and language therapist and a parent in three different school communities investigated creative ways in which children's social communication skills could be enhanced through technology use. Through a participatory methodology, digital stories were used as a method to enable engagement with the practical realities of the classroom and empower practitioners to construct and share their own authentic narratives. Participants articulated precise knowledge about the learning opportunities afforded to them and their pupils through quality interactions that were mediated by the technologies, as evidenced through digital stories. The SHAPE project shows that it is feasible to develop methodologies that enable genuine knowledge co-construction with school practitioners, parents and pupils. Such co-construction could offer realistic opportunities for pedagogical emancipation and innovation in evidence-based practice as an alternative to the currently dominant and narrow model of knowledge transfer
Are sound abatement measures necessary in the cytology reading room? A study of auditory distraction
Get PDFObjective
Listening to music and other auditory material during microscopy work is common practice among cytologists. While many cytologists would claim several benefits of such activity, research in other fields suggests that it might adversely affect diagnostic performance. Using a cross-modal distraction paradigm, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of auditory stimulation on the visual interpretation of cell images.
Methods
Following initial training, 34 participants undertook cell interpretation tests under four auditory conditions (liked music, disliked music, speech and silence) in a counterbalanced repeated-measures study. Error rate, area under the ROC curve, criterion and response time were measured for each condition.
Results
There was no significant effect of auditory stimulation on the accuracy or speed with which cell images were interpreted, mirroring the results of a previous visual distraction study.
Conclusions
To the extent that the experiment reflects clinical practice, listening to music or other forms of auditory material whilst undertaking microscopy duties is an unlikely source of distraction in the cytopathology reading room. From a cognitive perspective the results are consistent with the notion that high focal-task engagement may have blocked any attentional capture the sound may otherwise have produced
Echocardiographic assessments of longitudinal left ventricular function in healthy English springer spaniels
Get PDFOBJECTIVES: To establish reference intervals for echocardiographic measures of longitudinal left ventricular function in adult English springer spaniel dogs.
ANIMALS: Forty-two healthy adult English springer spaniels.
METHODS: Animals were prospectively recruited from a general practice population in the United Kingdom. Dogs were examined twice, at least 12 months apart, to exclude dogs with progressive cardiac disease. Mitral annular plane systolic excursion, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) mitral annular velocities and two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiographic (2DSTE) left ventricular longitudinal strain and strain rate were measured. Intraoperator and intraobserver variability were examined and reference intervals were calculated. The potential effects of body weight, age and heart rate on these variables were examined.
RESULTS: Intraoperator and intraobserver variability was <10% for all parameters except TDI E’ and 2DSTE variables, which were all <20%. Thirty-nine dogs were used to create reference intervals. Significant (but mostly weak) effects of age, heart rate and body weight on were detected. Reference intervals were similar to previously published values In different breeds.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Breed specific reference intervals for measures of longitudinal left ventricular function in the English springer spaniel are presented
Wayfinding Signage Considerations in International Airports
Get PDFAirports are complex spaces that exist primarily for the purpose of allowing significant numbers of people to fly from and into, a specific location. In these spaces, wayfinding is an important process, given that these people need to be moved in a time effective and safe manner,to various locations within the airport. In addition to the use of space, human help, and electronic technologies, static signage is an important tool in guiding people in airports. In this study I focus on static signage as a wayfinding tool in airports and I report on the findings from three wayfinding audits that this author did in three UK international airports in the last year
Non-invasive measurement of peripheral, central and 24 hour blood pressure in patients with continuous-flow left ventricular assist device
Get PDFIn continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (CF-LVADs) patients, blood pressure (BP) measurement outside the intensive care unit (ICU) relies on non-invasive methods such as automated oscillometric BP monitors and Doppler. However, the success rate of automated monitors is low due to the reduction in arterial pulse pressure (PP),1 and Doppler readings are limited to a single BP number, making it difficult to determine which BP component (i.e., systolic BP [SBP] or mean arterial pressure [MAP]) is being measured
Across Fields: Sound, art and technology from an electromechanical perspective
Get PDFThis article follows electromechanical technologies through different contexts of electronic and experimental music, sound art and kinetic art as well as through parts of their industrial development and application. The aim is to explore connections between these different fields which are often obscured by disciplinary and genre divides, and which are typically unrepresented by critical and historical accounts. The approach is influenced by the field of science and technology studies (STS, also science technology and society) where technical and cultural entanglements are seen as crafting particular truths, and where the method of following a technology across disciplinary boundaries is found. By taking this approach to identify connections between the areas of electronic music, sound art and kinetic art, new and rediscovered critical appraisals of the use of electromechanical technologies as tools in creative sound production are identified. These positions are then applied to a selection of contemporary practitioners who continue to work with and forefront electromechanical technologies within the fields of electronic music and sound art
Natural media workshop
Get PDFThis workshop will examine what our current imaging and sensing technologies do to our perception. We will examine, using practical examples, the potential to develop more 'Natural Media’ and technologies by broadening the focus of attention to the whole visual, auditory, tactile and sensual field. The aim is to re-incorporate peripheral awareness into our experience using these multiple sense inputs
The Reliability of Countermovement Jump Performance and the Reactive Strength Index in Identifying Drop-Jump Drop Height in Hurling Players
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to estimate the inter-day reliability of countermovement jump performance (CMJ) and the reactive
strength index (RSI) in identifying drop-jump drop height in male hurling players. Eighteen male hurling players volunteered to participate.
Subjects performed the CMJ and drop-jump test for RSI during the same sessions on three separate occasions a minimum of 48
hours apart. Subjects performed three CMJs and two drop-jumps from five different heights in an incremental manner (0.20, 0.30, 0.40,
0.50, 0.60 m). The results displayed acceptable levels of relative and absolute reliability for the following CMJ measures: height, velocity,
force, power and average eccentric rate of force development measures (RFD). Absolute and relative peak concentric rate of force
development from the CMJ test were found to have low levels of absolute reliability due to high CV% values. RSI and identified drop
height from the drop-jump test displayed acceptable reliability (ICC single measure = 0.88 and 0.92 respectively; CV% = 6% and 10%
respectively). Furthermore, limits of agreement random error displayed acceptable reliability for CMJ and drop-jump measures from
estimated feasible minimum a priori sample sizes based upon limits of agreement. In conclusion, CMJ force-time measures (excluding
peak concentric RFD measures), RSI and the identified drop height have acceptable absolute and relative reliability. For the sport science
practitioner involved in hurling and for hurling players, this means that the CMJ test is reliable for kinetic and kinematic variables and
the drop-jump test provides a means of developing a reactive strength profile and a means of individualizing drop height for drop-jump
training
The Paradoxical Effects of Chronic Intra-Amniotic Ureaplasma parvum Exposure on Ovine Fetal Brain Development
Get PDFChorioamnionitis is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants. Ureaplasma spp. are the microorganisms most frequently isolated from the amniotic fluid of women diagnosed with chorioamnionitis. However, controversy remains concerning the role of Ureaplasma spp. in the pathogenesis of neonatal brain injury. We hypothesize that re-exposure to an inflammatory trigger during the perinatal period might be responsible for the variation in brain outcome of preterms following Ureaplasma driven chorioamnionitis. To investigate these clinical scenarios, we performed a detailed multi-modal study in which ovine neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed following chronic intra-amniotic Ureaplasma parvum (UP) infection, either alone or combined with subsequent lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure.
We show that chronic intra-amniotic UP exposure during the second trimester provoked a decrease of astrocytes, increased oligodendrocyte numbers and elevated 5-methylcytosine levels. In contrast, short-term LPS exposure before preterm birth induced increased microglial activation, myelin loss, elevation of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine levels and lipid profile changes. These LPS-induced changes were prevented by chronic pre-exposure to UP (preconditioning).
These data indicate that chronic UP exposure provokes dual effects on preterm brain development in utero. On one hand, prolonged UP exposure causes detrimental cerebral changes which may predispose to adverse postnatal clinical outcomes. On the other, chronic intra-amniotic UP exposure preconditions the brain against a second inflammatory hit. This study demonstrates that microbial interactions, timing and duration of inflammatory insults will determine the effects on the fetal brain. Therefore, this study helps to understand the complex and diverse postnatal neurological outcomes following UP driven chorioamnionitis