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Prophylactic Intra-Uterine β-Cyclodextrin Administration during Intra-Uterine Ureaplasma parvum Infection Partly Prevents Liver Inflammation without Interfering with the Enterohepatic Circulation of the Fetal Sheep
Get PDFChorioamnionitis can lead to inflammation and injury of the liver and gut, thereby predisposing patients to adverse outcomes such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In addition, intestinal bile acids (BAs) accumulation is causally linked to NEC development. Plant sterols are a promising intervention to prevent NEC development, considering their anti-inflammatory properties in the liver. Therefore, we investigated whether an intra-amniotic (IA) Ureaplasma parvum (UP) infection affected the liver and enterohepatic circulation (EHC) and evaluated whether an IA administered plant sterol mixture dissolved in β-cyclodextrin exerted prophylactic effects. An ovine chorioamnionitis model was used in which liver inflammation and the EHC were assessed following IA UP exposure in the presence or absence of IA prophylactic plant sterols (a mixture of β-sitosterol and campesterol dissolved in β-cyclodextrin (carrier)) or carrier alone. IA UP exposure caused an inflammatory reaction in the liver, histologically seen as clustered and conflated hepatic erythropoiesis in the parenchyma, which was partially prevented by IA administration of sterol + β-cyclodextrin, or β-cyclodextrin alone. In addition, IA administration of β-cyclodextrin prior to UP caused changes in the expression of several hepatic BAs transporters, without causing alterations in other aspects of the EHC. Thereby, the addition of plant sterols to the carrier β-cyclodextrin did not have additional effects
Effectiveness of the Reasoning and Rehabilitation V2 Programme for Improving Personal and Social Skills in Spanish Adolescent Students
Get PDFSignificant progress has been made in developing intervention programmes for adolescents at high risk of delinquency, school failure and emotional problems. The most effective programmes incorporate behavioural and skills training aimed at changing attitudes and promoting psychosocial and emotional skills in adolescents. This study examined the effectiveness of a school-based intervention programme based on the Reasoning and Rehabilitation V2 (R&R2). R&R2 is a cognitive behavioural programme developed using psychological theories about the aetiology of delinquency, as well as the cognitive, behavioural and socioemotional deficits in high-risk youth populations. A sample of 142 students (aged 13–17 years old) who were attending alternative education provision in Spain were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions (68 experimental group, 74 control group). The results showed that the R&R2 improved participants’ self-esteem, social skills, empathy and rational problem-solving with a medium–large effect size (η2 = 0.08 to 0.26). The effects of the programme were significant after controlling for age and the pre-test scores in baseline. These findings confirm the effectiveness of the Reasoning and Rehabilitation V2 programme in Spanish adolescent students and offer additional evidence regarding the implementation of the R&R2 programme in both alternative educational and mainstream school settings
Strategic target setting in the heptathlon
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to examine scoring within the women’s Heptathlon to identify areas of performance where athletes could most improve their points total and propose an approach to target setting. Performance data were gathered from publically available sources for 409 performances of 155 heptathletes at 19 international championships between 2004 and 2017 inclusive. Based upon the interquartile ranges, the largest spread of points were seen for the High Jump and Javelin. Year to year improvement was analysed using the 186 pairs of performances by the same athletes in consecutive calendar years. This showed that the disciplines with the most scope for improvements were the Long Jump, High Jump and Javelin. The proposed target setting approach can be used to identify which disciplines an athlete should focus on to maximise improvement in their total points and to estimate the probability of the athlete exceeding the target that has been set. The approach should be used in conjunction with knowledge of the wider context of the athlete’s recent heptathlon performances
Getting Published: Suggestions and Strategies from Editors of Sport and Exercise Psychology Journals
Get PDFPublishing in peer review journals is an acquired skill that almost any scholar–practitioner can achieve through a systematic approach and practice. The authors of this manuscript are experienced editors from five leading international sport and exercise psychology peer-review journals. Within this manuscript, the contributing authors considered how one could effectively proceed in the authoring process from the point of conceptualization onward to manuscript acceptance. Particular focus has been placed on journal requirements, useful content suggestions in relation to all components of a manuscript, and the revision process. A final summation is provided with key takeaway points. The intention is to further author understanding and effective authoring pathways in relation to academic publishing in any sport and exercise psychology-focused journal
Making HUGs: crafting wellbeing benefits through social manufacturing
Get PDFNew approaches to manufacturing that engage groups of individuals in collaborative making
have the potential not only to generate economic benefit, but also to enhance the wellbeing
of those involved.
This article describes a small investigation into the wellbeing benefits expressed by a group
of women who participated in a textile-based social manufacturing project in their local
community. Outcomes include a small run of textile products and delivery of training for
participants in small batch textile production. The purpose of the project - to manufacture a
small batch of soft textile objects to be used in dementia care, is described.
A small study is presented that utilizes data collected during this project. It evidences how
social manufacturing can extend creative and social skills of participants, build resilience and
enhance wellbeing. The participants in the study include a ‘self-reliant group’ of aspiring
entrepreneurs from an economically deprived community and a university team comprising
researchers, industry specialists and textile experts. Grounded practical theory and
qualitative research methods inform the study. Data gathered using semi-structured videorecorded
interviews and simple questionnaires is presented. Findings reveal individual and
community benefits to participants from engaging in the project, including self-reported
improvements in mental health and increased confidence. The study also reveals ways in
which social manufacturing has the potential to build community cohesion and reduce social
isolation.
This work contributes to research concerning new types of sustainable manufacturing
models. It presents an alternative to industrial manufacturing within socially disadvantaged
communities and reveals ways in which social manufacturing has the potential to enhance
individual and community wellbeing
Barriers of organizational inclusion: A study among academics in Egyptian public business schools
Get PDFWe investigate the main barriers of organizational inclusion practices of academics in Egyptian higher education institutions and propose interventions to enhance academics’ sense of organizational inclusion. A total of 245 academics was interviewed in 49 face-to-face focus groups. Upon conducting the interviews, the authors used thematic analysis to determine the main ideas in the transcripts. We could not identify any adoptable paradigm for the systematic practice of organizational inclusion experienced by academics in the chosen business schools. Moreover, we identified three types of barriers hindering the sense of organizational inclusion among academics which are cultural, functional and psychological. However, the focus of our study is on a single perspective (academics) and a single area (Upper Egypt) - a matter that neglects a variety of other views including mainly the authorities of Egyptian higher education sector. As a result, we identified three prompt managerial interventions for Egyptian public business schools. The first is economic which proposes a link between the financial remuneration of professors and the number of academic theses they supervise, the second is functional which strongly recommends that units to be created for managing foreign educational grants and scholarships, and the third is cultural which proposes that cultural tolerance units be required to manage any discriminatory and unequal opportunity claims. Our paper contributes by filling a gap in HR management in the higher education sector, in which empirical studies on the practices of organizational inclusion have been limited so far
A Decoding-Complexity and Rate-Controlled Video-Coding Algorithm for HEVC
Get PDFVideo playback on mobile consumer electronic (CE) devices is plagued by fluctuations in the network bandwidth and by limitations in processing and energy availability at the individual devices. Seen as a potential solution, the state-of-the-art adaptive streaming mechanisms address the first aspect, yet the efficient control of the decoding-complexity and the energy use when decoding the video remain unaddressed. The quality of experience (QoE) of the end-users’ experiences, however, depends on the capability to adapt the bit streams to both these constraints (i.e., network bandwidth and device’s energy availability). As a solution, this paper proposes an encoding framework that is capable of generating video bit streams with arbitrary bit rates and decoding-complexity levels using a decoding-complexity–rate–distortion model. The proposed algorithm allocates rate and decoding-complexity levels across frames and coding tree units (CTUs) and adaptively derives the CTU-level coding parameters to achieve their imposed targets with minimal distortion. The experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm can achieve the target bit rate and the decoding-complexity with 0.4% and 1.78% average errors, respectively, for multiple bit rate and decoding-complexity levels. The proposed algorithm also demonstrates a stable frame-wise rate and decoding-complexity control capability when achieving a decoding-complexity reduction of 10.11 (%/dB). The resultant decoding-complexity reduction translates into an overall energy-consumption reduction of up to 10.52 (%/dB) for a 1 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) quality loss compared to the HM 16.0 encoded bit streams
A Comparison of the Severity of Tinnitus in Patients with and without Hearing Loss Using the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI)
Get PDFBackground: Tinnitus is a disturbing symptom present in approximately 15% of the world population and between 2-7% of tinnitus sufferers seek medical help because of the chronic distress caused. Although well established that tinnitus can be present with and without hearing loss the different characteristics in terms of severity are still not completely known and studied. Aim: The objective of this study was to compare the severity of tinnitus in tinnitus patients with and without hearing loss. Materials and Methods: 73 tinnitus patients were included in this study at an audiology clinic in Amman, Jordan. Participants were assigned to two groups according to hearing status. The severity of tinnitus was evaluated using the Tinnitus Functional Index questionnaire. All participants were interviewed, followed by otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry and tests for admittance and tinnitus matching. Results: The normal hearing group included 34 participants (46.6%) whose TFI scores were divided as follow: mild annoyance (17), significant annoyance (14) and severe annoyance (3). The sensorineural loss group included 39 participants (53.4%) with mild annoyance (11), significant annoyance (12) and severe annoyance (16). A statistically significant association was found between hearing status and the severity of tinnitus using a Chi Squared test (x2=0.487, p=0.007). There was no association between tinnitus severity and age or gender. Conclusion: Tinnitus severity was significantly worse in tinnitus patients with a hearing loss than tinnitus patients with normal hearing thresholds. This should be taken in consideration when clinicians are planning counselling and management protocols for individual patients
Change over time in adolescent smoking, cannabis use and their association: findings from the school health research network in Wales
Get PDFBackground:
While tobacco smoking has declined among UK youth in recent decades, cannabis use has begun to show some growth. Given their interrelationship, growth in cannabis use may act as a barrier to continued reduction in youth smoking. This paper assesses recent tobacco and cannabis use trends in Wales, and their association, to explore whether change in cannabis use might have impacted youth tobacco smoking prevalence.
Methods:
Repeat cross-sectional data on tobacco and cannabis use were obtained from biennial Welsh Student Health and Wellbeing surveys between 2013 and 2019. Data were pooled and analysed using logistic regression with adjustment for school-level clustering.
Results:
No change in regular youth tobacco smoking was observed between 2013 and 2019. In contrast, current cannabis use increased during this time, and cannabis users had significantly greater odds of regular tobacco smoking. After adjusting for change in cannabis use, a significant decline in youth tobacco smoking was observed (OR 0.95; 95% CIs: 0.92, 0.97).
Conclusion:
Recent growth in cannabis use among young people in Wales may have offset prospective declines in regular tobacco smoking. Further reductions in youth smoking may require more integrated policy approaches to address the co-use of tobacco and cannabis among adolescents