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The Red Shoes 1:A Matlab method allowing one dorsal GoPro camera to track gait at 120 fps on a treadmill using the colour red: Work in Progress
No full textIn this work in progress, we describe a frugal and low-tech design for offline tracking of gait on a treadmill using a single GoPro video camera recording at 120 fps. The participant wears bright red athletic shoes and the camera is situated dorsally and above the ground line. Because this method produces most temporal variables (e.g. step times, single support times, double support times) and several spatial gait variables (e.g. stride lengths and step lengths), it can derive a range of variability measures such as stride time variability, step length variability and swing time asymmetry, which are otherwise unavailable without expensive gait equipment. This method will help to tease apart the relationship between neurodiversity (e.g. ADHD, autism, and Tourette syndrome), joint hypermobility, and their effects on gait
Sex Based Comparison of Health Self-Perception, Sleep, Anxiety, and Body Composition Among University Students
No full textObjectives: Health self-perception (HSP) refers to an individual’s subjective evaluation of their overall health, encompassing both physical and psychological dimensions. A number of factors, such as body composition, anxiety levels, and sleep quality, can have an impact on HSP among university students. There is a limited research investigating the combined association between HSP, sleep quality, and anxiety status in this demographic, despite the fact that each of these characteristics has been examined separately in relation to students’ health. Furthermore, students’ perceptions and reporting of their health may be influenced by contextual and cultural factors, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to explore the association of HSP with anthropometric measurements, sleep quality, and anxiety status and to compare these associations between female and male university students. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 390 university students (198 males and 192 females), aged 18–25 years. A validated questionnaire was used for determining the sleep quality, anxiety and HSP while body composition was measured by using body analyzer. Results: Majority (59%) of the students reported positive HSP which was significantly associated with higher sleep quality and lower state anxiety scores compared to negative HSP group. Females were more likely to have negative HSP compared to males (p < 0.001). Moreover, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) score, PBF, FM, and VFR were significantly lower while sleep quality score and FFM were significantly higher among positive HSP group. Conclusion: This study highlighted that good sleep quality, low anxiety levels, and healthy body composition are correlated with positive HSP and were significantly dependent on sex. A comprehensive health program is essential to improve sleep quality and anxiety status to promote good HSP among university students
A Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocyte Platform for Environmental Cardiotoxicity Screening:Methodological Insights from Homosalate and Triphenyl Phosphate
No full textIntroduction: Environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are increasingly implicated as modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and yet their direct impact on human cardiac tissue remains poorly characterized. This study investigated the early transcriptional responses of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) following exposure to two structurally distinct and widely prevalent EDCs: homosalate (HS) and triphenyl phosphate (TPP).Materials and Methods: hiPSC-CMs were treated with 10, 30 or 60 µM of HS or TPP for 24 hours. Expression levels of key sarcomeric genes including MYL2, MYH7, TNNT2 and ACTN2 were quantified by RT-qPCR.Results: Both chemicals elicited dose-dependent repression of core contractile transcripts. TPP induced monotonic downregulation beginning at the lowest concentration tested while HS exhibited a biphasic response with mild gene induction at 10 µM and significant suppression at higher doses. Among all targets, MYL2 and MYH7 consistently emerged as the most transcriptionally sensitive markers.Discussion: These results highlight the sensitivity of sarcomeric gene expression to chemical exposure and suggest MYL2 and MYH7 as potential early indicators of chemically induced cardiac stress.Conclusion: This study underlines the responsiveness of the human cardiac transcriptome to environmental toxicants and supports the application of hiPSC-CMs as a human-relevant platform for mechanistic toxicology and early cardiotoxicity screening
Numerical Investigation of Damage Identification in Historic Ceilings via Vibrations Measurements
No full textThe sudden collapse of historic ceilings represents one of the major public safety issues threatening the heritage sector globally. The pressing need of fast, efficient and rigorous approaches to assess the health status of historic ceilings motivated the research presented in this paper. A stochastic approach is proposed as a tool to map the displacement response peak fractile at various locations of the ceiling, thus identifying any local anomalous deformation indicating critical areas within the ceiling. Extensive parametric studies on a FE model of a traditional plaster ceiling are undertaken to explore the potentiality of such approac
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on family planning and sexual transmitted infection services in Thailand:results from WHO survey
No full textBackground: COVID-19 pandemic has put tremendous burden on health services. Only limited evidence, however, is available to identify the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This world health organization (WHO)-led research sought to evaluate health systems focusing on SRH in Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, Ghana, Italy, Pakistan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Methods: The study was conducted in Thailand on two levels using a mixed-methods design: 1) Individual level included in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with clients (and their partners, where applicable) and healthcare providers (HCPs) to investigate service perceptions and obstacles to SRH service utilization; 2) health facility level, a quantitative evaluation of health facility preparedness for SRH service provision was performed using an adapted version of the WHO Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool. The data was collected at two timepoints, baseline and endline, at time intervals of 9 months. Results: Almost all SRH services were maintained with some shortage of supply such as medications for safe abortion during the first few months. Both providers and clients perceived that all SRH services should be maintained. Some clients were concerned about fear of getting COVID-19 infection while visiting the facility. Some clients switched from short-acting to long-acting contraceptive methods. At the endline, this affect was less obvious since a large proportion of clients were familiar with the pandemic and already received vaccination. The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) was established to update COVID-19 pandemic situation, new government policy and intervention to reduce fake news. Telemedicine was used to reduce avoidable appointments. For postpartum women, appointment tended to be more individualized. For those who required pregnancy protection, contraceptive methods were offered to clients before discharge from the hospital. A follow-up visit was performed using both telemedicine and in-person visit at the hospital. For those required medications such as antibiotics for STI, home delivery to clients was provided. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that COVID-19 pandemic had some but non-significant effect on SRH services. The two major referral hospitals in Northeast, Thailand had service readiness to provide SRH services during the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic recovery.</p
Exiting the House of Mirrors:The Decolonial Potential of Arts-based Participatory Research
No full textKnowledge is neither neutral nor passive. The knowledge that we create as social science researchers has the potential to change the world that we study, perpetuating different values, and reinforcing or challenging inequalities in both blatant and subtle ways. Accordingly, the call to decolonise and democratise social scientific research speaks to both the social responsibility duty of the university and to the authenticity and integrity of the knowledge we create; knowledge that cannot be allowed to continue to parade the white, Western, cis, heterosexual, able-bodied male as the benchmark norm against whom all others are measured. Arts-based research, a methodological approach which uses artistic tools and understandings to inform data collection, analysis and/or dissemination, offers a transformative method through which many of the assumptions of this mainstream model can be challenged, with a view to creating radically different forms of knowledge in new and innovative ways. This is particularly true of arts-based participatory research approaches like collaborative poetics, which challenge extractive, product-driven research models by enlisting participants as equal status co-researchers. Accordingly, this chapter considers the decolonial possibilities of arts-based (participatory) research, presenting examples of autobiographical, participant-authored, and collaborative research poetry to illustrate the power of this approach. It also discusses the limitations of arts-based research as a decolonial method, considering the important caveat that the arts are not a panacea and no method is inevitably decolonial
gaze
No full textThis poem is shaped around the scaffold of a source text found in the form of a discarded printed page of research without identifying information. It was found in the postgraduate space of Mithras House, University of Brighton, Summer 2024.When material is appropriated from other sources, sources are mentioned in the footnotes. Mentions should be understood as nods rather than citations. In some instances, material is altered in the process of appropriation. Material from a mentioned source may appear in multiple lines preceding the footnote
Telepresence Stage Showreel
No full textA showreel of twelve residency outcomes from the Telepresence Stage project. This research has developed effective techniques and solutions to connect theatre and dance performers from their separate homes and place them within virtual sets online to create, rehearse and perform together as if on a real stage. In a dramatic shift from the paradigm of the web-conference grid, the Telepresence Stage seeks to identify conceptual and technical solutions to break free of these isolating constraints and provide an altogether new platform, where our experience of online connection is heightened and re-envisioned through the superimposition of our bodies in virtual spaces. Providing helpful DIY case study guides and resources, including audio-visual materials and analysis of residency projects with ten performing arts companies
Comment on: 'Stonehenge revisited:A geochemical approach to interpreting the geographical source of sarsen stone #58'
Get PDFIn a recent paper in this journal (Hancock et al. (2024) Stonehenge revisited: A geochemical approach to interpreting the geographical source of sarsen stone #58. Archaeometry https://www.doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12999), Hancock and colleagues present a reanalysis of the geochemical dataset used to identify the likely source for the majority of the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge as West Woods, Wiltshire, UK. This comment discusses the analytical approach used by Hancock and colleagues, and evaluates its conclusions. In our view, there are three significant methodological issues with the study: (i) the use of absolute element concentration data (as opposed to normalised ratio data) as the basis for much of the analysis, which is inappropriate for a material like silcrete with variable proportions of introduced silica, both between and within outcrops; (ii) the choice of highly mobile elements (specifically Si and Fe) to discriminate between potential source areas, which is inappropriate for many geochemically altered sediments; and (iii) the comparison of data from single samples rather than multi‐sample ranges, which fails to capture the inherent geochemical variability that may be present within an outcrop area or set of samples. There are other sections of the paper that demonstrate a lack of understanding of sarsen formation and the geological and geomorphological history of the British and Irish Isles. We conclude by urging that future studies employing sarsen/silcrete as a material for source provenancing are grounded in the now extensive literature on sarsen/silcrete properties, mode of formation and geochemistry, and reflect this body of knowledge in their research design