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Urbanization and substance use in left-behind children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
No full textPURPOSE OF REVIEW: Inequalities in job opportunities between urban and rural regions have driven many parents to move from rural to urban regions with aims to improve household income. Financial and political barriers prevent children from moving with their parents, meaning that their children become left-behind in rural regions. This study aims to meta-analyse the risk of drinking, smoking, illicit drug use and drunk experiences in left behind children (LBC) and non-LBC. RECENT FINDINGS: Previous studies have indicated the negative effects of prolonged parental separation on children and adolescent mental health. Parental separation and poor mental health have both been identified as proximal risk factors for substance use in adolescence. SUMMARY: The results indicated that LBC were at significantly greater risk of drinking, smoking, using illicit drugs, and having drunk experiences. Positive psychology interventions are required to help provide LBC with positive coping strategies against psychological distress. Policy changes to reduce inequalities in job opportunities between urban and rural regions are required to reduce the prevalence of LBC
Supersonic wave propagation in active non-Hermitian acoustic metamaterials
Get PDFObtaining a group velocity higher than the speed of sound in a waveguide is a challenging task in acoustic wave engineering. Even more challenging is to achieve this velocity increase without any intervention with the waveguide profile, such as narrowing or widening, and particularly without interfering with the passage by flexible inclusions, either passive or active. Here, we approach this problem by invoking concepts from non-Hermitian physics, and imposing them using active elements that are smoothly sealed within the waveguide wall. In a real-time feedback operation, the elements induce local pressure gain and loss, as well as nonlocal pressure integration couplings. We employ a dedicated balancing between the control parameters, derived from lattice theory and adjusted to the waveguide system, to drive the dynamics into a stable parity-time-symmetric regime. We demonstrate the accelerated propagation of a wave packet both numerically and experimentally in an air-filled waveguide and discuss the trade-off between stabilization and the achievable velocity increase. Our work prepares the ground for advanced forms of wave transmission in continuous media, enabled by short- and long-range active couplings, created via embedded real-time feedback control
Association of rurality status with all-cause and cancer-specific survival: a systematic review and meta-analysis adjusting for clinical factors, demographics, and geographical remoteness
No full textThe association of rurality status with cancer survival has not been consistently reported. In people diagnosed with cancer, this review aims to determine the association of rural and remote living with survival as compared to urban living, and to determine the modifying effects of geographical, medical, demographic, and socioeconomic factors on cancer survival. A systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression was conducted, searching four databases in August 2024. Observational cohort studies were eligible if they reported all-cause or cancer-specific survival according to rurality status in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. All ages, sexes, and cancer types were eligible. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and pooled models were evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE). Meta-analyses and meta-regressions were performed using R statistical environment. 37 studies reporting on 110 comparator groups were included. People with cancer in rural areas were at a survival disadvantage compared to people in urban areas, with 15% lower odds of all-cause survival (OR 0.85 [95% CI 0.74, 0.97]) and 10% lower odds of cancer-specific survival (OR: 0.90 [95% CI 0.86, 0.95]). Cancer type and degree of geographical remoteness were consistent modifiers of survival in univariable and multivariable regression. Increasing degree of geographical remoteness was associated with lower odds of all-cause survival (OR 0.28 [95% CI 0.12–0.67]). People living in rural areas diagnosed with cancer have lower odds of all-cause and cancer-specific survival which worsened with increasing geographical remoteness. Type of cancer was consistently found to be a modifying factor of cancer survival. Increased recognition of people living in rural areas as a priority population group in health and cancer policies is needed to improve cancer equity. Funding: Commonwealth of Australia's Medical Research Future Fund (MRF2030313)
Mechanisms of Drug Delivery in Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery Systems
No full textIn modern pharmaceutical sciences, novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) have emerged and gained much support for enhancing drug delivery systems and achieving better therapeutic outcomes. Among them, self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS) have appeared as a promising approach to address the challenges associated with aqueous solubility, poor bioavailability, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability. SNEDDS comprise three phases: oil phase, surfactant, and co-surfactant, which spontaneously form nanoemulsion (NE) when exposed to gastrointestinal tract (GIT) fluids. The NE enhances the solubility of hydrophobic drugs and facilitates their absorption across the intestinal epithelium. The current manuscript explores the mechanisms involved in SNEDDS-based drug delivery, highlighting their potential applications in overcoming the challenges associated with drugs that have poor water solubility and in improving therapeutic outcomes
Carers Experiences of a Multidisciplinary Nurse Practitioner-Led Memory Clinic.
Get PDFMemory clinics provide ongoing, community-based care for people living with dementia as well as supporting their carers. Much of the research to date has measured quantitative carer outcomes, which may fail to demonstrate the true value of the clinics to carer well-being. Therefore, this paper seeks to understand the carer's role and explore the impacts of a memory clinic on the carers of people living with dementia. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to inform semi-structured interviews with six carers and five clinic staff with direct carer contact. Interviews were audio-recorded and analysed using thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: perceptions of the carer role, psychological well-being and experience of the clinic. Carers experienced the hard work of their caring role and struggled with losing their sense of self and their social networks. The psychological well-being of carers was impacted by feelings of frustration, fatigue, depression and grief. Carers' experiences of the clinic focused on the positive impact resulting from individualised education, respite in a safe space and networking resulting from the memory clinic. The memory clinic was perceived as a valuable support for carers, with individualised support, respite and networking highly regarded. The primary limitations were the challenge of clinic access and the availability of additional clinic days
Technological disruption as an agent of change in legal education? Surprises, disappointments and experimentations in Australia and Hong Kong
No full textEconomic Development through Entrepreneurship Ecosystems: Observations from the Turkish Case
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Double tuned mass damper with a grounded inerter for structural vibration control
Get PDFA Double Tuned Mass Damper (DTMD), which consists of a Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) connected in series with an undamped TMD, has been proven to be more efficient than a traditional TMD in previous studies. To enhance the vibration control performance and robustness of DTMD, an innovative type of DTMD for suppressing structural responses is proposed in this research. This new design includes a DTMD connected to the ground by a linear inerter (abbreviated as DTMDI). After establishing the analytical model of the DTMDI-structure system, the optimal configurations of the DTMDI for different values of inertance are obtained using the Balancing Composite Motion Optimization (BCMO). The effects of the variation in the structural properties as well as the weight and inertance of DTMDI on the performance and robustness of DTMDI are investigated. The present work indicates that an optimal DTMDI is much more effective and robust compared with an optimal DTMD with the same weight. Specifically, the DTMDI configuration with a higher inertance ratio demonstrates increased effectiveness. Moreover, the performance of the DTMDI surpasses that of a TMDI when both have the same mass and inertance, leading to a considerable reduction in the additional weight of the vibration absorber on the primary structure when using the DTMDI instead of the TMDI. While the DTMDI is more robust than both the DTMD and TMD against changes in the structure’s natural frequency, it does not exhibit the same level of robustness as the TMDI when the natural frequency of the structure increases
Molecular insights into silver nanoparticle resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii and unique adaptations to ionic silver.
Get PDFThis research provides molecular insights into the evolutionarily adapted defense mechanisms of a bacterial pathogen against the complex antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles at the transcriptional level. The Gram-negative, biofilm-forming bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii upregulated outer membrane proteins along with genes involved in membrane and capsule synthesis, suggestive of enhanced cell surface defense. An increase in surface-attached biofilm colonies in nanosilver-resistant A. baumannii (NAgR) appeared to be associated with enhanced cell membrane integrity and a greater production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), the matrix that protects the resident colony. In response to reactive oxygen species (ROS), a recognized toxicity characteristic of the nanoparticle, NAgR upregulated its oxidative stress management system, specifically involving ROS scavenger enzymes and opportunistic metal efflux pumps. Majority of these modified defense mechanisms manifested in the resistant bacterium, while absent in the wild-type strain. This study also details the unique defenses of an ionic silver-tolerant A. baumannii (AgT) variant, which evolved from the same parental strain as NAgR. Despite similarities in cell surface and biofilm defense traits, the slower-to-kill tolerant strain exclusively upregulated multidrug efflux systems and respiratory chain enzymes, thought to maintain enhanced respiratory activity, a reported tolerance characteristic. While these findings would benefit from further validating experimental work, identification of these stable defense mechanisms can help better elucidate the complex nature of bacterial NAg adaptation phenomena
Boy's love fans versus non-fans in the sexual identity and neural response in the digital age's young females.
Get PDFWith the omnipresence of online social media, Boys' Love (BL) culture has found a burgeoning audience among young females. However, we know very little about the audience of this online cultural phenomena, also the potential implications of BL culture to female remain under-explored. Study 1 conducted a survey to investigate the BL audience's demography data and attitudes to homosexual ect. The results of the questionnaire analysis showed that the sexual orientation and psychological gender of the female BL audiences are more diverse. In addition, we also find the audience spend a lot of time on BL. Study 2 focused on the BL senior fans to explore the neural and behavioral response of female while looking at Boys' Love(BL) stimuli and Heterosexual love stimuli by fNIRS. Behavioral results showed that there was no main effect of reaction time and accuracy between the BL-fans and non-BL-fans. Neural results confirmed that the Oxy-Hb responses for BL-love stimuli in BL-fans was significantly lower than the non-BL-fans. In addition, the interaction effect showed that the Oxy-Hb responses was significantly higher for BL-love stimuli than for heterosexual love stimuli in non-BL-fans, and no difference was found in BL-fans. This finding, maybe along with the discovery that the more pornography a person was exposed to, the higher the brain dopamine threshold, and the subsequent weakening of the neural response to sexual stimulation. The research leads to the conclusion that long term exposed to Boys' Love may decrease the reward sensitivity to BL stimuli and weakens the brain's response of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) to BL stimuli
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