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‘Digital Insight and Agency Scale’ (DIAS): a novel tool to illuminate young people’s agency in mitigating the negative impact of digital activities on their mental health
Get PDFObjectives:
Excessive time spent online is believed to negatively impact youth mental health; however, simplified screen-time measures fail to consider young people's agency and digital activity management skills. We developed and validated a novel tool, the Digital Insight and Agency Scale (DIAS), to better understand different aspects of young people's online agency and explore their links to youth mental health.
Methods:
Participants (n = 383; age 16–25 years, mean = 19.0, SD = 1.7; 48.8% White, 30.2% South/East Asian, 8.6% Black) completed the DIAS questionnaire and standardised measures of anxiety, depression and wellbeing. The factor structure, reliability of the DIAS and associations with mental health were examined.
Results:
Participants reported specific negative impacts of digital engagement on their daily functioning in the previous 2 weeks, especially less sleep. Seventy-eight per cent were worried about the negative impact of digital activity, and 82% engaged in one or more risk management actions, including Enhancing Positive Engagement, Coping Actions, and/or Reducing Engagement. Higher levels of mental health problems were associated with more worries and increased efforts to manage digital activity.
Conclusions:
Most young people displayed agency in managing their digital activity, suggesting that this could be leveraged in interventions, rather than focusing solely on reducing access and time spent online
The effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on short-chain fatty acid production and the gut microbiome in an in vitro colonic fermentation model
Get PDFOral administration of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to rodents and humans is associated with an increase in gut bacteria that are predicted to synthesise short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). We tested the hypothesis that physiological levels of omega-3 PUFAs in the distal intestinal lumen (1–50 μg/mL) are associated with increased SCFA synthesis in an in vitro fermentation model using faecal slurry from 10 healthy participants (mean age 30 years), with and without exogenous dietary fibres. SCFAs were measured by gas chromatography-flame ionisation detection (n = 10), and changes in bacterial composition were analysed by shotgun metagenomic sequencing (n = 6). In the presence of omega-3 PUFAs, there was a mean 9.3% (no inulin; P = 0.03) and 19.3% (+ 0.01 mg/mL inulin; P = 0.01) increase in total SCFA concentration at 24 h compared with paired control fermentations. Omega-3 PUFAs had a limited effect on the fermentation model microbiome in the absence of inulin. However, omega-3 PUFAs (50 μg/mL) were associated with increased abundance of Bifidobacteriaceae compared with paired control fermentations, if inulin (0.01 mg/mL) was present. Prebiotic activity of omega-3 PUFAs drives SCFA synthesis in an in vitro colonic fermentation model and is augmented by the soluble fibre inulin
Sustainable and circular microwave systems: importance and a strategic perspective [Speaker’s Corner]
Get PDFNo abstract available
Digital Archive from Archaeological Excavations at Kourion's Amathous Gate Cemetery, Cyprus, 1995 to 2000 [data-set]
No full textThis collection comprises images, Harris matrices, spreadsheet data, and GIS data from a series of excavations at Kourion's Amathous Gate Cemetery. The excavations were carried out between 1995 and 2000 by the Kourion Amathous Gate Cemetery Group, with the post-excavation and publication of the works occurring between 2017 and 2024
Diversifying environmental, social and governance portfolios: evidence from China
No full textThis study extends traditional portfolio optimization methods by incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance measures into diversification strategies, specifically focusing on data from the Chinese stock market. By integrating ESG scores and their constituent components (E, S and G), the study examines portfolio performance under various diversification techniques, including mean-conditional Value at Risk (CVaR), mean-lower partial moment (downside risk) and mean-upper partial moment (upside risk) strategies, as well as hybrid approaches that employ the Herfindahl–Hirschman (HH) index and the most diversified portfolio (MDP) approach. The findings indicate that, in general, portfolios with higher ESG constraints—especially during periods of market turmoil such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict—tend to achieve superior average performance relative to benchmark portfolios. This suggests that equities with stronger ESG performance demonstrate greater resilience during extreme market events. Among the strategies analysed, the mean-lower partial moment approach consistently outperformed others, highlighting the importance of managing downside risk when integrating ESG metrics into portfolio construction. Additionally, portfolios prioritising the social (S) component performed worse compared to those focusing on environmental (E) or governance (G) factors during examined periods. These results highlight the critical role of ESG integration in enhancing portfolio resilience and align with global sustainability trends
Are radiology residents safe to report feeding nasogastric (NG) tubes on chest X-rays?
Get PDFObjectives:
The task of issuing reports on whether nasogastric (NG) tubes are safe for enteral nutrition on chest X-ray (CXR) often falls to radiology residents. The aims of this study are to evaluate whether radiology residents are formally trained and their performance in interpreting NG tube position on CXR.
Methods:
Radiology residents were invited to participate in an online study evaluating NG tube position on CXR. The CXR images comprised 20 NG tubes, 14 of which were correctly sited, while 4 were in the distal oesophagus and 2 in the lung.
Results:
Twenty-eight (of 185, 15%) radiology residents responded—despite incentives to participate and directed by Training Program Directors/Heads of School. Of those, only 10 (35.7%) correctly identified all NG tube positions on CXR. The most common error was reporting a correctly sited NG tube as mal-positioned for enteral nutrition. Global error rate was 8.9%. Radiology residents who correctly interpreted all 20 NG tube CXRs were significantly more confident in their abilities on a 5-point Likert scale than those who got at least 1 NG tube CXR wrong [4.4 (0.52) versus 3.8 (0.79), P = .02].
Conclusions:
This study suggests that radiology residents may not be adequately trained to interpret the position of NG tubes on CXRs. Early and compulsory training in this important skill should be instituted urgently.
Advances in knowledge:
There is a critical gap in radiology training. Radiology residents may not be adequately prepared to safely interpret NG tube position on chest X-rays. New DHSC memorandum of understanding mandates competency-based education across all training programs
Mid-infrared superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors: Potential, progress, and challenges
Get PDFThe ability to detect single photons in the mid-infrared spectral range (beyond 2 μm wavelength, photon energy below 0.62 eV) is the key to unlocking a range of emerging scientific applications, from remote sensing LIDAR, molecular spectroscopy, and powerful new approaches to dark matter detection. Conventional detector types, such as semiconductor single-photon avalanche diodes, lose sensitivity at such low photon energy. Superconducting materials, with a much lower characteristic energy gap, hold particular promise. In this Perspective, we focus on recent advances in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, which have recently extended single-photon sensitivity up to 29 μm (0.043 eV). We discuss the potential for future advances and strategies to overcome challenges to technological development
The myth of the metabolic baseline: sleep-wake cycles undermine a foundational assumption in organismal biology
Get PDFBasal and standard metabolic rate (BMR and SMR) are cornerstones of physiological ecology and are assumed to be relatively fixed intrinsic properties of organisms that represent the minimum energy required to sustain life. However, this assumption is conceptually flawed. Many core maintenance processes underlying SMR are temporally partitioned across sleep and wakefulness and are not continuously active. We argue that instead of representing a singular metabolic state, SMR is better defined as a shifting metabolic mosaic where maintenance functions are distributed unevenly across different sleep–wake states, including metabolically and functionally distinct phases such as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. SMR measured during wakefulness will mainly represent ion regulation, thermoregulation, sensory processing, and substrate cycling. Meanwhile, SMR measured during sleep primarily includes processes upregulated during sleep, including protein synthesis, cellular repair, immunity, and synaptic plasticity. Our models demonstrate that SMR values measured exclusively during wake or sleep consistently over- or underestimate daily maintenance costs depending on the time spent in specific sleep states and when SMR was measured. In addition, treatment or environmental effects on the costs of specific processes may be entirely missed if metabolic measures occur during an inappropriate sleep–wake state. The temporal partitioning of maintenance processes suggests that traditional and current approaches to SMR measurement may confound true metabolic variation with individual and species-specific differences in sleep architecture, with implications for the estimation of energy budgets, trait heritability, environmental effects on metabolic rate, and metabolic scaling relationships. We propose redefining organismal maintenance costs as a time-integrated profile of metabolic demands, but also suggest that state-specific SMR measurements are appropriate if the sleep–wake measurement period aligns with that of the behavioural, physiological, or ecological context of interest. Moving beyond the fiction of a constant maintenance baseline would provide more refined insights into the bioenergetic foundations of ecological performance and evolutionary constraints
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