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There are a million ways to be a woman and a million ways to be a man:Gender differences across personality nuances and nations
Get PDFGender differences in personality are typically summarised using broad trait domains. To acknowledge personality traits’ multidimensionality, we studied gender differences on different levels of the personality hierarchy. Using data spanning 74 countries and four different inventories, we compared the multivariate and univariate associations of gender with aggregate trait domains and facets, and unaggregated items as markers of trait nuances. Many gender differences were specific to narrow traits and geographical contexts. While gender is accurately predictable by aggregating small gender differences in multiple traits (multivariate gender difference), individual traits cannot be accurately predicted from gender (univariate gender differences), making many simplistic statements about gender differences inconsistent with data
Associations of antenatal corticosteroids with neurodevelopment in children aged 27-30 months: a population-based cohort study
Get PDFObjective: To examine the associations of antenatal corticosteroid (ACS) exposure with neurodevelopment in early childhood, and how these vary with gestational age at birth. Design: Population-based cohort study. Setting: Scotland, UK. Population: 285 637 singleton children born at 28–41 weeks' gestation, between 1st January 2011 and 31st December 2017, who underwent health reviews at 27–30 months of age. Methods: Logistic and linear regression analyses, stratified by gestation at birth (28–33, 34–36, 37–38 and 39–41 weeks' gestation), were used to evaluate the associations between ACS exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes, and adjusted for maternal age, body mass index, diabetes, antenatal smoking, parity, neighbourhood deprivation, birth year, child sex and age at review. Main Outcome Measures: Practitioner-identified concerns about any neurodevelopmental domain, and the average of five domain scores on neurodevelopmental milestones from the parent-rated Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3). Results: After adjustment for covariates, ACS exposure was associated with reduced neurodevelopmental concerns in children born at 28–33 weeks' gestation (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.62–0.999) and with increased neurodevelopmental concerns in children born at 34–36 weeks' gestation (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.01–1.21). No independent associations emerged in children born at later gestations. ACS exposure was not associated with ASQ-3 scores in any gestational age group. Conclusions: In early childhood, ACS exposure was associated with statistically significantly reduced neurodevelopmental concerns in children born at 28–33 weeks' gestation, and with statistically significantly increased neurodevelopment concerns in children born at 34–36 weeks' gestation. However, the effect sizes of these associations were small. No independent associations were found between ACS exposure and neurodevelopment in term-born children.</p
Evaluating risk in kidney living donors
Get PDFKidney donation is a safe procedure for carefully screened donors. The growing shortage of organs and improved survival rates among recipients of living donor transplants have broadened the criteria for acceptable living donors, including older individualsand those with pre-existing health conditions. Consequently, ensuring both the short-and long-term safety of living donors is of paramount importance. The primary objectives are to prevent the need for kidney replacement therapy, major cardiovascular events, or premature death.Lifelong monitoring of living donors is essential to facilitate early treatment for preventable illnesses. To this end, annual follow-up is generally recommended, which should minimally include an assessment of blood pressure, body mass index, kidney function, albuminuria, lifestyle factors, and general well-being. However, the management of these risk factors and treatment targets in this population remain inadequately defined. Recommendations for genetic counseling in cases of livingrelated donation also remain inconsistent.The aim of this mini-review is to address the challenges in evaluating the evidence on the longterm consequences of kidney donation, particularly concerning the risk of developing end-stage kidney disease, cardiovascular mortality, gestational complications, and hypertension. This article aligns with the ESOT call for action to promote living kidney donation and EKITA´s mission
Preventing suicide by restricting access to Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs): A systematic review of international evidence since 2017
Get PDFSuicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. A previous systematic review showed that regulations limiting access to highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) were successful in preventing suicides. As the WHO strongly supports regulation of pesticides, we aimed to update and strengthen the evidence on the effectiveness of HHP bans. We conducted a systematic review by searching MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO databases in March 2024 for manuscripts published since 2017 that investigated the effects of regulatory changes limiting access to HHPs on pesticide suicide, at the population level. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts, and extracted data using a standardized form, defined a priori. The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023441247). All nine studies in six Asian countries showed reductions in pesticide suicide rates following HHP bans (range 28.0% to 91.9%), of which six applied time series analyses to account for trends prior to the intervention (reductions in pesticide suicide rates ranged 28.0% to 60.5%). Only five studies assessed overall suicides; of those, four reported decreases in overall suicide rates following the intervention, of which three used time series analysis (range 7.0% to 45.1%). Only one study had a low risk of bias in all domains, with five studies having high risk of bias in at least one of the domains. Restricting access to HHPs leads to declines in both pesticide and overall suicide rates. Findings from this and the previous systematic review provide strong evidence to governments and public health officials that are considering implementing bans on HHPs in order to reduce suicides. However, this review only covered studies published since 2017 and there is a need for data from other regions to investigate the generalisability of this approach
Surface–subsurface modelling of seasonal borehole thermal energy storage for a university building
Get PDFDecarbonisation of heating and cooling is essential for achieving net-zero carbon emissions. At present, c. 80 % of residential heating in the UK is sourced from natural gas, with renewable alternatives sought after to meet the remaining heat demand. Solar energy can be used but its availability is seasonal, with supply periods (i.e., summer) not coinciding with when heating is needed (i.e., winter). Borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) can help to shift supply to meet demand, by storing solar thermal energy (captured by solar thermal collectors in summer) underground to be used in winter. This paper explores the technical potential to incorporate a solar BTES system notionally to the James Watt building, University of Glasgow. Results indicate that 318 MWh of excess heat is available from the modelled solar–thermal collectors (4920.295 m2) after meeting the building’s heat demand in summer. This excess heat can be directed to charge a BTES system (with 192 boreholes, each 42 m deep spaced at 3 m between boreholes) which can discharge to fulfil 16 % of the building’s winter heat demand. The system operation was modelled for a one-year period, to explore the transient changes in the system and efficiency of the array in storing the heat. Lithological layering, frequency of discharge and pipe configuration of the BTES showed significant effect on BTES array response. After an annual charge–discharge cycle, there were 12.79 GJ of net energy stored for 6 months charge, 4 months of discharge and 2 months of recovery (rest). This reduced by 32.29 % for a homogeneous formation, increased by 15.40 % with a U-tube replacing a coaxial tube and increased by 10.79 % when the top insulation layer was removed. Discharging with or without rest showed the least significant impact — the net heat stored increased by 6.18 % when a reduced discharge rate was used over 6 months with no recovery period. It is noted that an increase in the amount of heat stored implies less heat recovery from the ground. Hence there is potential to incorporate solar-based BTES in the James Watt building but this would fulfil only 11 % of the building’s annual heat demand
A classification of infinite staircases for Hirzebruch surfaces
Get PDFThe ellipsoid embedding function of a symplectic manifold gives the smallest amount by which the symplectic form must be scaled in order for a standard ellipsoid of the given eccentricity to embed symplectically into the manifold. It was first computed for the standard four-ball (or equivalently, the complex projective plane) by McDuff and Schlenk, and found to contain the unexpected structure of an "infinite staircase," that is, an infinite sequence of nonsmooth points arranged in a piecewise linear stair-step pattern. Later work of Usher and Cristofaro-Gardiner--Holm--Mandini--Pires suggested that while four-dimensional symplectic toric manifolds with infinite staircases are plentiful, they are highly non-generic. This paper concludes the systematic study of one-point blowups of the complex projective plane, building on previous work of Bertozzi-Holm-Maw-McDuff-Mwakyoma-Pires-Weiler, Magill-McDuff, Magill-McDuff-Weiler, and Magill on these Hirzebruch surfaces.We prove a conjecture of Cristofaro-Gardiner--Holm--Mandini--Pires for this family: that if the blowup is of rational weight and the embedding function has an infinite staircase then that weight must be 1/3. We show also that the function for this manifold does not have a descending staircase. Furthermore, we give a sufficient and necessary condition for the existence of an infinite staircase in this family which boils down to solving a quadratic equation and computing the function at one specific value. Many of our intermediate results also apply to the case of the polydisk (or equivalently, the symplectic product of two spheres)
Between dissatisfaction and support:Justificatory repertoires in public feedback on emergency healthcare in the United Kingdom National Health Service
Get PDFQuantitative studies of public opinion on healthcare often distinguish between support for the system and satisfaction with its services. The relationship between these two dimensions can appear contradictory: in UK surveys strong support for the NHS co-exists with rising dissatisfaction with care quality. We investigate this apparent contradiction through a novel analysis of 169 critical reviews of emergency care visits in the UK submitted to the Care Opinion platform between 2015 and 2023. While reviews all describe instances of poor care, we identify the ‘justificatory repertoires’ through which reviewers express continued support for the NHS. We argue this reveals how societal attitudes towards public healthcare provision are in a recursive relationship with actual experiences of healthcare, and that the articulation of those experiences is deeply shaped by awareness of the broader political context. Analysis of patient narratives reveals complex relationships between solidarity and dissatisfaction in public opinion, and insights into policy feedback loops between healthcare provision, institutional design and public attitudes toward healthcare
Delivery of blended learning models for veterinary paraprofessionals:Lessons learned
Get PDFThrough an innovative continuous professional development training programme, “Growing your business through preventive livestock healthcare”, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has aimed to address private sector veterinary paraprofessionals’ skills gaps and support them to develop successful businesses providing preventive livestock health services to small-scale farmers and pastoralists. These training courses were piloted in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda in 2023 using a blended learning approach. This document will detail some of the lessons learned from the delivery of this training in Nigeria and Uganda covering the training design process, its implementation and the initial impact
Feasibility study of the implementation of health promoting processes in a secondary school and ways to capture its impact on adolescent lifestyle choices
Get PDFObjectivesSchools are environments that influence adolescent health choices; understanding schools as complex adaptive systems, we have developed a series of processes that are adaptive to the school context, to support schools to create the conditions for health promotion. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of capturing the impact of implementing the health promoting school (HPS) process.Study design – feasibility study.MethodsA purposefully selected secondary school in England, with high Free School Meal (FSM) allocation, was recruited to implement the HPS processes, which includes an annual school audit. To evaluate the process, we developed a questionnaire, to capture lifestyle behaviours and school culture, completed before the audit and 9 months after. Descriptive analysis analysed the questionnaire responses to understand whether it captured similar responses to the audit. Post intervention interviews with staff and a focus group with students assessed the acceptability and practicality of the intervention and study design. ResultsThe HPS processes were implemented September 2022-September 2023. Students (n=337), families (n=49) and staff (n=22) completed the school audit in November 2022 and November 2023. 237 students completed The Lifestyle and School Questionnaire at baseline (September 2022) and 210 at follow-up (June 2022). Following the initial school audit, the need to improve the school food was identified and became the school focus; results from the second audit reflected a small positive shift in students’ opinion of food provision. It was feasible to capture lifestyle and school culture data using the questionnaire and the same food related priority was captured by the initial questionnaire. However, the timing of the implementation of the changes to the school context meant that this was not captured in the follow up questionnaire results. ConclusionThis study demonstrates that it is possible to administer questionnaires regarding adolescent lifestyle choices in schools. These findings also suggest that it is feasible and acceptable to implement a set of HPS processes. More research is needed to demonstrate an impact on individual health behaviours
Shared determinants of poor sleep, obesity and adiposity in adolescents aged 8-18-years:A systematic review
Get PDFRelationships between multiple sleep outcomes, obesity and adiposity across childhood and adolescence have been previously reported. Health-promoting interventions to improve sleep and reduce adolescent obesity could target shared determinants of sleep and obesity. The aim of this systematic review was to systematically identify and examine research that investigated the shared determinants of poor sleep and increased adiposity or obesity in adolescents. A systematic literature search covering publications up to April 2024 was conducted across 10 bibliographic databases. Search terms included objective and subjective sleep/circadian rhythm measurements, objective adiposity measurements and adolescents aged 8–18 years. Eighty studies were included in the final review. Determinants were categorised into three different domains: socioenvironmental determinants, behavioural determinants and health determinants. Shared determinants of poor sleep and increased adiposity or obesity in adolescents aged 8–18 years included: socioenvironmental determinants (gender, ethnicity, pubertal status, academic attainment), behavioural determinants (timing of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), unhealthy diet choices and timing of consumption and screen time and videogaming quantity and timing) and health determinants (wellbeing). These findings suggest that sleep hygiene and the modifiable shared behavioural determinants should be targeted in health-promoting interventions, and statistical analyses should be adjusted for socioenvironmental determinants and wellbeing
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