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Implementation and Outcomes of Peer Support Workers in Services for People With Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis
Get PDFPeer Support Workers have increasingly been deployed within mental health services to provide support and empower those that may be experiencing challenges of a similar nature to them. While the evidence base is growing, less is known about peer support for people with personality disorder. A systematic review was carried out to identify any existing literature on Peer Support Workers in services for people with personality disorder (Prospero ID: 589614). Five databases were searched (MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, PubMed and CINAHL) from inception to 15 August 2025. Data extracted from relevant studies included country of study, participant sample, study aim and design, any outcome measures used and key findings, which were then evaluated together using a narrative synthesis approach. Thirteen papers were identified. Included studies suggested that Peer Support Workers took on varied roles, including facilitating support groups and advocating for service users. Barriers and facilitators to implementation included being provided with sufficient supervision, as well as receiving training and the ability to maintain boundaries. Studies also assessed outcomes of deployment on service users, including improvement in personality disorder‐related symptoms, increased satisfaction with services and feeling validated and empowered. Initial findings suggest that the implementation of Peer Support Workers in services for people with personality disorder could be valuable if it is done intentionally and meaningfully. Further research is required to strengthen the evidence base in this area, with larger and more diverse samples to work towards enhancing and improving care for people with personality disorder
Graviton scattering on self-dual black holes
Get PDFThe computation of gravitational wave scattering on black hole spacetimes is an extremely hard problem, typically requiring approximation schemes that either treat the black hole perturbatively or are only amenable to numerical techniques. In this paper, we consider linearised gravitational waves (or gravitons) scattering on the self-dual analogue of a black hole: namely, the self-dual Taub-NUT (SDTN) metric. Using the hidden integrability of the self-dual sector, we solve the linearised Einstein equations on these self-dual black hole backgrounds exactly in terms of simple, explicit quasi-momentum eigenstates. Using a description of the SDTN metric and its gravitons in terms of twistor theory, we obtain an explicit formula, exact in the background, for the tree-level maximal helicity violating (MHV) graviton scattering amplitude at arbitrary multiplicity, with and without spin. This is obtained from the description of the MHV amplitudes in terms of the perturbation theory of a chiral sigma model whose target is the twistor space of the background. The incorporation of spin effects on these backgrounds is a straightforward application of the Newman–Janis shift. We also demonstrate that the holomorphic collinear splitting functions in the self-dual background are equal to those in flat space so that the celestial symmetry algebra is undeformed
Smelling Wellness: Associations Between Botanic Garden Scentscapes and Human Health Gains
Get PDFHighlights: Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue? Given the increasing prevalence of stress-related health disorders and the continued urbanisation of populations, there is an increasing need for accessible nature-based interventions in urban environments. Accordingly, this study examines how the plant-based scent profiles found in botanic glasshouses could contribute to measurable changes in health and wellbeing outcomes. Public health significance—Why is this work significant to public health? Observations of reduced anxiety, negative emotions and heart-beat rate after 30 min glasshouse exposure are consistent with the previous findings from clinical studies on the health effects of scents released by plants. The identification of distinct plant scent profiles previously associated with therapeutic effects in clinical settings, highlights the potential for vegetation-rich environments to deliver meaningful physiological and psychological health benefits. Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers in public health? Differences in responses between the glasshouses suggest that the airborne compounds released by certain plant species may be associated with psychological and physiological calming. These results reinforce the importance of considering smell (scentscapes) along with sight and sound in urban green space planning and policy. Abstract: This pilot study investigated whether ambient biogenic volatile organic compounds (bVOCs)—scent profiles emitted by botanic glasshouse vegetation—could contribute to quantifiable human health and wellbeing outcomes. Over 11 months in 2024 (January–December), human participant trials were conducted at the Oxford Botanic Garden to compare the physiological and psychological effects associated with spending 30 min exposures in five different vegetation-rich glasshouses, each characterised by a distinct and complex bVOCs profile, with those of a plant-free room. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted on 43 participants, using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), heart-beat rate (beats per minute), and heart rate variability (HRV): the latter two are widely used as an index of regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Significant reductions in STAI anxiety scores and decreases in heart-beat rate were observed, while HRV indices remained stable, relative to the plant-free room, following glasshouse exposure. Distinct scent profiles in the glasshouses included compounds that have previously shown associations with therapeutic effects in clinical settings, indicating the potential of these scented vegetation-rich glasshouse environments to promote the beneficial health effects observed in this study. Overall, these findings highlight the potential public health value of aromatic plant species and the importance of incorporating them into urban green space planning and policy
Stability of high-order Scott-Vogelius elements for 2D non-Newtonian incompressible flow
No full textWe consider the stability of high-order Scott-Vogelius elements for 2D non-Newtonian incompressible flow problems. For elements of degree or higher, we construct a right-inverse of the divergence operator that is stable uniformly in the polynomial degree from to , show that the associated inf-sup constant is bounded below by a constant that decays at worst like , and construct local Fortin operators with stability constants explicit in the polynomial degree. We demonstrate these results with several numerical examples suggesting that the -version method offers superior convergence rates over the -version method even in the non-Newtonian case
bims: Biomed News
Get PDFbims: Biomed News. February 5, 2017-Present. https://biomed.news/, Created by Thomas Krichel and directed by Gavin P. McStay. Free. Accessible via any web browser
Exploring neurogastronomy: an analysis using the word association test and free word association
Get PDFIntroduction: This study expands our understanding of neurogastronomy’s various dimensions and addresses a critical gap in the literature concerning its conceptual structure. However, as a field of research, neurogastronomy lacks conceptual clarity despite its growing popularity. Drawing on Semantic Network Theory, according to which cognitive associations define conceptual understanding, this study investigates the field’s cognitive structure. Methods: Word Association Tests were conducted with 327 gastronomy students in Turkey. Results: The analysis yielded 16 codes and 6 themes, with “sensory experience and taste perception” emerging as dominant. The findings demonstrate that neurogastronomy functions as a fragmented rather than a cohesive concept within the cognitive network. Discussion: By empirically mapping the field’s conceptual boundaries, this study provides a foundation for clarifying terminology and informing future theoretical and applied research
Digital access to the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission: archives of war
Get PDFThe Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine have disrupted access to archives, intensifying scholars’ concerns about a return to Cold War conditions for research. These concerns are especially pronounced for study of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, a field where specialists have often struggled to locate and assimilate information even before recent crises. This article examines digital options for accessing the records of the Extraordinary State Commission (Chrezvychainaia gosudarstvennaia komissiia, ChGK), established by Stalin's government on November 2, 1942, to gather evidence of Axis war crimes. Through an analysis of the digital projects launched over the past two decades, this article demonstrates that enhanced online access to Soviet documentation of Nazi atrocities has gone hand in hand with the radicalization of Putin's regime. The politicized rhetoric that frequently accompanies these undertakings has obscured the value of the digital resources themselves. Scholars of the Shoah should approach the ChGK's records as products of mass mobilization rather than uniform pronouncements from a “totalitarian” state. Equipped with this knowledge, together with the scale and comparative reach of digital methods, researchers can deepen understanding of the Holocaust against the backdrop of a new generation of war crimes in the former USSR
A walk in the park—Identifying healthy greenspaces using scents
Get PDFSocietal Impact Statement: As urbanisation accelerates globally, access to nature is increasingly recognised as vital for public health and wellbeing. We captured and analysed plant‐emitted airborne ‘scent signatures’ across Oxford's urban greenspaces to assess their potential health relevance. We found that sites differ in levels of health‐promoting volatiles and harmful pollutants and that these compounds vary with environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. Our findings provide a novel framework for evaluating urban greenspaces, informing planning, air‐quality management and public health strategies to create greener, healthier cities. Summary: Biogenic volatile organic compounds (bVOCs) emitted by plants can promote stress reduction and cognitive benefits, whereas anthropogenic VOCs (aVOCs) common in urban air, such as BTEX compounds, pose health risks. We aimed to characterise and compare these airborne chemicals across urban greenspaces and develop a novel, health‐oriented metric for site evaluation. Air samples were collected across six Oxford greenspaces on a single date using Tenax™ filters and analysed by GC‐MS. Data were processed using metabolomics‐style workflows, identifying 245 biologically relevant compounds. Multivariate analyses compared site profiles, and one site was monitored over 12 months to assess environmental influences. Greenspaces exhibited significantly different volatile signatures, including variation in both health‐promoting bVOCs and harmful aVOCs. Temperature, humidity, wind speed and rainfall significantly influenced the presence and abundance of beneficial compounds. These results highlight the importance of considering airborne chemistry in urban planning and public health decision‐making. Integrating VOC profiling into planning and public health strategies could support delivery of higher‐quality, health‐promoting urban environments and inform guidance on optimal timing for outdoor activity
Two-loop QCD corrections for real and off-shell diphoton and triphoton production via quark loops
Get PDFWe compute squared matrix elements at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics for the production of two or three (on- or off-shell) photons mediated via (light or heavy) quark loops. Our method handles all cases in a unified framework, using simultaneous subtraction of infrared, ultraviolet, and threshold singularities in loop momentum space to produce a locally finite integrand suitable for numerical integration. We confirm agreement with available analytic benchmarks at fixed phase-space points and provide new results otherwise. We also compute the double-virtual corrections to the cross section for on- and off-shell diphoton and on-shell triphoton production by combining the Monte Carlo integration over loop and phase space
Synthetic nanoparticles for cell-type specific, spatially resolved loading and export of MiRNAs in neural cells
Get PDFBackground: Brain development and plasticity depend on specific microRNA (miRNA) expression patterns across cell types and subcellular compartments. Nevertheless, comprehensive profiling of localized brain miRNAs is still limited by challenges in isolating individual cell types or compartments and in detection sensitivity. Results: To overcome these limitations, we advanced HIV-1 Gag’s ability to bind host miRNAs within Virus-like Particles to develop Synthetic Nano-Particles for Precise endogenous miRNA loading and export (SNaP). Our data establish SNaP’s modularity and portability to clinically relevant neural cells, with particle yields matching benchmark packaging cells. The integration of SNaP with a cell-specific promoter enabled lineage-restricted miRNA export, while incorporating a dendritic localization signal improved the specificity of post-synaptic miRNA recovery over traditional synaptosomes. Additional engineering with a miRNA-binding module synergistically increased synaptic miRNA packaging in a sequence-independent manner. Conclusion: Collectively, this work positions SNaP as a technological advancement supporting the high-resolution, spatially resolved profiling of miRNAs, adaptable to diverse polarized or heterogeneous culture systems. Graphical Abstract: SNaP: Gag-based nanoparticles for spatially resolved neuronal miRNome profilin