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How to Enhance Sleep for Athletes? A Narrative Review of Sleep Hygiene and Sleep Extension Practices
Get PDFSleep is becoming widely accepted as a crucial for athletes, with potential impacts on both performance and recovery, yet despite this, sleep amongst athletes is commonly suboptimal. This review aims firstly to summarise underlying reasons why athletes commonly present with poor sleep with a view to informing subsequent interventions, and secondly, to summarise sleep hygiene and sleep extension practices to potentially offset this, with consideration for the content and delivery approach of such interventions
Sexual partner number and distribution over time affect long-term partner evaluation: evidence from 11 countries across 5 continents
No full textA prospective partner’s sexual history provides important information that can be used to minimise mating-related risks. Such information includes the number of past sexual partners, which has an inverse relationship with positive suitor evaluation. However, sexual encounters with new partners vary in frequency over time, providing an additional dimension of context not previously considered. Across three studies (N = 5,331) with 15 samples, we demonstrate that the impact of past partner number on a suitor’s desirability as a long-term partner varies as a function of distribution over time. Using graphical representations of a suitor’s sexual history, we found that past partner number effects were smaller when the frequency of new sexual encounters decreased over time. This moderation effect was stronger, and often curvilinear, when past partner numbers were higher. We replicated these findings in 11 countries from five world regions. Sex differences were minimal and inconsistent pointing to a lack of a sexual double standards. Sociosexuality (openness to casual sex) was a consistent moderator and tended to mute the sexual history effects. These findings suggest that people not only attend to a potential long-term mate’s quantity of sexual partners, but also the context surrounding these encounters such as pattern and timing. Together, the findings raise the possibility of an evolved mechanism for managing mating risks present in both sexes and across populations and adds nuance to a contentious topic of public interest
Xanomeline-trospium: defining its place among the current antipsychotic landscape
Get PDFProgress in the development of new and improved medications for psychosis has been notably slow and disappointing. The first treatment for schizophrenia was introduced in early 1950s and the majority of medications available today exclusively function through dopamine antagonism. The search for a new drug treatment with a different mechanism of action was extremely slow-paced mainly due to the limited understanding of the aetiology, pathophysiology and genetics of schizophrenia. Given the fact that a third of people do not respond to dopamine antagonists, there is a clear need for an antipsychotic with a different mechanism of action. In 2024, FDA approved a new medication for psychosis branded as Cobenfy. This xanomeline-trospium combination works via cholinergic pathway and the dual M1 and M4 receptor activation helps regulates dopaminergic and glutaminergic neurotransmission as well, thereby restoring balance in these circuits. Acetylcholine also helps improve cognitive processing including attention, learning and sensory gating. In this article, we try to understand the place of this unique drug in the antipsychotic ladder. We also explore the clinical scenarios where this medication can be effective as well as the potential future outlook when it comes to the treatment of schizophrenia
An explainable machine learning framework for recurrent event data analysis
Get PDFThis paper introduces a novel explainable temporal point process (TPP) model, Stratified Hawkes Point Process (SHPP), for modelling recurrent event data (RED). Unlike existing approaches that treat temporal influence as a black box or rely on post-hoc explanations, SHPP structurally decomposes event intensities into semantically meaningful components for describing self-Markovian, and joint influences. This decomposition enables direct quantification of how past events contribute to future event risks, termed as influence values. We further provide a sufficient condition for mean-square stability based on kernel decay, ensuring long-term boundedness of intensities and realistic behavioural predictions. Experiments and an e-commerce case study demonstrate SHPP’s ability to deliver accurate, interpretable, and stable modelling of complex event-driven systems
Feasibility and acceptability of the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) in universal health visiting practice in England: a mixed-methods study using Normalisation Process Theory.
Get PDFBackground
The Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) is a validated observation tool, designed for use by healthcare practitioners to identify infant social withdrawal. A modified version (m-ADBB) was later developed as a clinically useful behavioural tool. However, neither version has been tested in the UK context. This study aimed to test the feasibility and acceptability of using the ADBB and m-ADBB within universal health visiting practice in England.
Methods
A mixed methods convergent parallel design was used. Five health visitors were trained in the ADBB and 20 in the m-ADBB, from two National Health Service (NHS) community sites in England. Quantitative data were collected from health visitors, while qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with health visitors and service managers, guided by Normalisation Process Theory (NPT). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data and descriptive analysis for the quantitative data. NPT provided a framework for analysing the implementation process in routine health visitor practice.
Results
The m-ADBB was used with 225 babies and behaviour concerns were identified in 23 babies (10%). Eleven themes were identified, aligned with the four NPT constructs: (1) Coherence: perceived uniqueness of the scale, new vocabulary for articulating baby behaviour, enrichment of existing knowledge and skills; (2) Cognitive participation: commitment to the use of the ADBB/m-ADBB, consolidation of new practice; (3) Collective action: implementation of the m-ADBB scale in routine practice, organisation and management support, existing systems and pathways for children and families and (4) Reflexive monitoring: perceived benefits of integrating the scales in practice, quality assurance for embedding the scales in practice, appraisal of the training and scales in practice.
Conclusions
The ADBB/m-ADBB was perceived to have enhanced the health visitors’ skills and knowledge in infant observation. The m-ADBB required minimal additional time and was highly acceptable to health visitors. These findings have significant implications for health visiting practice and future research
Four decades of overdose prevention centres: lessons for the future from a realist review
Get PDFBackground: Overdose prevention centres (OPCs) are spaces where people can consume previously obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of staff who can intervene to prevent and manage overdose. They have been provided in Europe and elsewhere for nearly 40 years, initially in response to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. We can learn from their operation history to inform future developments in harm reduction services.
Methods: We carried out a realist review of 391 documents, reported according to the RAMESES I guidelines, and carried out realist synthesis of these documents.
Results: We present a full realist programme theory of OPCs, with a diagrammatic logic model, of how the contexts and mechanisms of OPCs combine to produce various outcomes for service users and their communities in different settings. Three specific causal pathways were evidenced through which OPCs produce their outcomes for particular groups in specific contexts of housing status, gender identity and ethnicity, and local drug markets, with frequency of use, legal and political contexts, and stigma as overlapping contextual factors. Key OPC interventions include the provision of a safe and hygienic consumption space, safe consumption education, timely overdose response, and protection from drug scene and gender-based violence. These can trigger the underlying mechanisms of safety, trust, social inclusion, engagement, autonomy, and empowerment when supported with health care and other services, including detoxification and opioid agonist treatment. The combinations of these contexts and mechanisms create important outcomes for individual service users, for the communities they live in, and for wider society. We also describe causal pathways that can lead to unintended, adverse outcomes.
Conclusion: This review provides useful information for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers on how to implement and evaluate OPCs in future to maximise their benefits; an important task in the context of the ongoing public health crises of drug poisoning deaths in North America and the UK, and the possibility of increasing deaths from synthetic opioids in Europe and elsewhere
An Investigation Into the Use of Stereotypes and Their Appropriateness Within BDSM Communities Specifically Pertaining to Mental Health, Gender Identity, Sexuality and Parental Relationships
Get PDFBDSM (bondage, discipline and dominance, submission and sadism, and masochism), or 'kinks', pertain to consensual abnormal activities or interests from which participants derive sexual pleasure. Participation is stigmatised and practitioners can face sometimes harmful stereotypes. This paper focused on the most common; those who partake in BDSM are LGBTQ+, mentally ill or have poor parental relationships.
Study one aimed to assess the validity of these stereotypes using quantitative research methods. One-way ANOVAs were conducted on participant responses to an online survey containing questions from the sadomasochism scale (Weierstall & Giebel, 2017), Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA-45; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Associations arose between BDSM interest and identifying as genderqueer, queer or poor mental wellbeing. No association was found between parental relationships and BDSM interest.
Study two aimed to build upon study one, assessing the use of stereotypes, and any relationship between BDSM enjoyment and stereotype use. Chi-square tests of independence found no association between BDSM enjoyment and answers in line with stereotypes about sexuality, gender and mental wellbeing. A possible relationship appeared between BDSM enjoyment and the use of parental relationship stereotypes, however, in both groups most participants did not answer in line with this stereotype, suggesting low usage.
Evidence was found supporting stereotypes around the sexuality, gender and mental wellbeing of BDSM enjoyers. Positively, the use of some negative stereotypes about BDSM enjoyers is seemingly limited. Continued research should be undertaken with an aim to continued reduction in their use, especially by medical professionals (Sprott et al., 2021) to reduce mal effects and stigma felt by kinky individuals
The Oxford handbook of Shakespeare and early modern authorship
No full textThe Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Authorship draws together leading and emerging scholars of Shakespeare and early modern literature to consider anew how authorship worked in the time in which Shakespeare wrote, and to interrogate the construction of the Shakespeare-as-author figure. Composed of four main sections, it offers fresh analysis of the literary and cultural influences and forces that 'formed' authors in the period; the 'mechanics' of early modern authorship; the 'mediation' of Shakespeare and others' works in performance, manuscript, and print; and the critical and popular reimagining across times of Shakespeare as an author figure.
Diving into modern debates about early modern authorship, authority, and identity politics, contributors supply rich new accounts of the wider scene of professional authorship in early modern England, of how Shakespeare's writings contributed to it, and of what made him distinctive within it. Looking beyond Shakespeare, the Handbook seeks to provide a vital testing ground for new research into early modern literature and culture more broadly
Malocclusion and peer relationships in school children aged 10-14 years in the United Kingdom: A cross-sectional study
No full textIntroduction
This was a cross-sectional observational study carried out in 16 schools in the Southeast of the United Kingdom using a convenience sample based on geographic location and agreement to participate, aiming to investigate the relationship between malocclusion and peer relationships in school children aged 10-14 years.
Methods
Peer relationships, self-esteem, and oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL) were measured using 3 questionnaires: the Loneliness and School Dissatisfaction Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Malocclusion Impact Questionnaire (MIQ). The esthetic impact of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment needs were assessed using the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need-Aesthetic Component (IOTN-AC).
Results
Complete data were collected for 698 participants. School children with a definite need for orthodontic treatment (IOTN-AC, 8-10) reported higher levels of loneliness (P = 0.036) and lower OHRQoL (P <0.001), but there was no difference in self-esteem compared to those with IOTN-AC score 1-7. The relationship between malocclusion and loneliness was fully mediated through OHRQoL (P <0.001) and moderated by self-esteem in girls so that mediation was evident in people with low and average self-esteem but not high self-esteem. In boys, as there was no direct relationship between malocclusion and loneliness, mediation did not occur.
Conclusions
A significant relationship was found between malocclusion and peer relationships in girls, and this was moderated by self-esteem
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