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Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among Vietnamese adult employees
Full text linkBackground and AimsMetabolic syndrome (MtS) is associated with increased risk of many health disorders, especially cardiovascular diseases. In Vietnam, study examining MtS is meager and especially lacking for the workforce. We estimated the prevalence of MtS and its associated factors among Vietnamese employees.Methods and ResultsWe analyzed secondary data of annual health check of employees of 300 Vietnamese companies from the Vinmec Healthcare System. We used three definitions for MtS: International Diabetes Federation (IDF), National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III), and NCEP ATP III-Asia. Of 57,997 participants evaluated, 48.5% were males and 66.2% were younger than 40 years old. The unadjusted MtS prevalence was 8.4% (IDF), 10.2% (NCEP ATP III), and 16.0% (NCEP ATP III-Asia). The age-sex adjusted prevalence of MtS (NCEP ATP III-Asia) was 21.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 21.4%, 22.2%). MtS prevalence increased with age, reached 49.6% for age ≥60. The aging related increase was more remarkable in females than males (prevalence ratio (PR) (95% CI) for age ≥60 comparing to age <30 years old in males vs. females was 4.0 (3.6, 4.3) vs. 20.1 (17.7, 22.9)). High blood triglyceride (83.4%) and abdominal obesity (74.5%) were the predominant contributors to MtS.ConclusionIn this relatively young Vietnamese working population, 16% had MtS with high triglyceride and abdominal obesity being the predominant contributors. These findings emphasize the need for developing effective high triglyceride and abdominal obesity prevention and control programs to curb the emerging epidemic of metabolic disorders in the workforce
‘No evidence of harm’ implies no evidence of safety: Framing the lack of causal evidence in gambling advertising research
Full text linkThe nature and impact of antidepressant withdrawal symptoms and proposal of the Discriminatory Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms Scale (DAWSS)
Full text linkBackground:We sought to understand more about the nature and possible consequences of antidepressant withdrawal.Methods:We surveyed members of 20 peer-led, online groups, assessing 31 commonly reported antidepressant withdrawal symptoms.Results:There were 1148 respondents, who were mostly white, female and educated. For 40% of respondents, withdrawal symptoms had lasted more than 2 years and 80% were moderately or severely impacted by them. One in four were unable to stop their antidepressant. Reported consequences of withdrawal included impaired work function (56%), losing jobs (20%), taking sick leave (27%), and relationship breakdown (25%). Both emotional and physical symptoms newly occurred or increased in severity following antidepressant withdrawal compared to before starting antidepressants. There was no difference in the nature of symptoms, severity or duration between people with physical or mental health diagnoses. We have proposed a potential Discriminatory Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms Scale (DAWSS), comprising the 15 symptoms most specific to withdrawal (including electric shock sensations, dizziness, akathisia or restlessness, vertigo, and vomiting), which requires further validation.Limitations:The sample was derived from peer support groups and is not representative of everyone who undergoes antidepressant withdrawal. The cross-sectional design precludes establishing causal relationships between variables.Conclusions:Our findings suggest there is a distinctive antidepressant withdrawal syndrome characterised by a range of emotional and physical symptoms, which can be severe, prolonged and have profound impact. The DAWSS may be helpful in distinguishing withdrawal from underlying conditions. Health services need to provide evidence-based clinical advice and support to people on long-term antidepressant
Differences Amongst Estimates of the UK Problem Gambling Prevalence Rate Are Partly Due to a Methodological Artefact
Full text linkThe impact of digital technologies on energy-efficient buildings: BIM and AI-based study
Full text linkThe building and construction sector significantly contributes to global energy consumption and carbon emissions, necessitating the exploration of innovative solutions for sustainability. This study investigates the transformative impact of digital technologies, specifically Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), on the development of energy-efficient buildings. By conducting a comprehensive scientometric and systematic review of 559 publications from 2010 to 2023, the research identifies prevailing trends, significant advancements, and existing challenges in the field. The findings reveal that BIM and AI hold substantial potential for enhancing energy efficiency during the early design and construction stages, facilitating better decision-making, reducing errors, and optimizing resource use. The study also highlights 14 specific categories of significant barriers to widespread adoption. These categories include interoperability issues, knowledge gaps, process complexity, lack of standards, data unavailability, industry resistance, low client interest, high service costs, trust deficits, technical issues, inflated technology costs, workflow inefficiencies, design errors, and role ambiguities. Particularly, interoperability issues, data integration challenges, and high initial costs emerged as the most severe challenges, hindering the smooth implementation of these technologies. These challenges underscore the need for developing robust standards and fostering a culture of innovation within the industry. This paper synthesizes current research, offering valuable insights into the critical role of digital construction technologies in advancing sustainable building practices and outlining directions for future research to overcome existing limitations
‘The International Style’ multilingual three-dimensional grammar and hybrid designs
Full text linkThe present paper describes a multilingual shape grammar to recreate the work of three designers that preconized the ‘International Style’. This is a top-down three-dimensional formulation. Whilst most grammars are monolingual and univocal, this work creates a multilingual formulation within the same artistic movement. Typically, a grammar describes a family of design solutions. These are helpful mechanisms to describe patterns that can be used for analysis or design exploration. This multilingual three-dimensional parametric grammar allows the independent recreation of original designs from three designers and hybrid solutions. Shape grammar's difficult application can be linked to its evaluation process. The original contribution of the study lies in the use of quantitative and qualitative methods for grammar evaluation, using Principal Components Analysis and user questionnaires. The PCA provides a pragmatic analysis, and the questionnaires an intuitive reading. Together they corroborate the results which are discussed using hybrids that assist in delineating parametric spaces
Thermal Creep and Stress Relaxation of London Clay
Full text linkThis paper investigates the effect of temperature variations on the creep and stress relaxation behaviour of clay samples from London Bank Station. The independent and coupled effects of strain-rate and temperature on one-dimensional stress-strain and stress relaxation responses were investigated based on a series of temperature-controlled constant rate of strain (CRS) compression-relaxation tests carried out at fast, intermediate, and slow displacement-rates and over a temperature range of 20 - 55°C. The temperature effect on creep index (Cₐ) was investigated based on a series of temperature-controlled multi-staged loading (MSL) oedometer tests. The results of CRS compression-relaxation tests showed that with the increase of temperature, the coefficient of stress relaxation (Rₐ) decreases for samples loaded at fast and intermediate pre-relaxation displacement-rates (̇), but it increases for samples loaded at the slow pre-relaxation displacement-rate. A decrease in ̇ by a factor of 10, i.e. from 0.01 to 0.001 mm/min, causes the Rₐ values to reduce by 55 – 11% with temperature increase. The increase in temperature was found to generally cause an increase in Cₐvalues obtained from the MSL tests. The maximum value of Cₐ increased by 18% for temperature change from 35°C to 45°C, and by 37% for temperature change from 45°C to 55°C. The temperature effects on other conventional parameters including preconsolidation pressure, compression and swelling indices (C꜀ and Cₛ) were found to be comparable with findings reported in the literature. Comparing the values of Cₐ obtained from the MSL tests, and Rₐ values obtained from the CRS tests supports the validity of Rₐ= Cₐ/C꜀ correlation for thermally influenced saturated reconstituted clays, and that the time-dependent soil parameters could be obtained from relatively fast CRS compression-relaxation tests as an alternative to conventional time-consuming oedometer tests
Self-Presentation and Representative Politics: Essays in Context, 1960-2020
No full textThe book has an introduction outlining the conceptual framework that gives meaning to the six collected texts that follow. This framework derives from the work of Pierre Bourdieu. He stated that ‘everything is social,’ which means that all discourses have to be understood in their own terms (as ‘structured structures’) and in relation to the social conditions in which they developed (‘structuring structures’). As social individuals we are constrained by the structures defining our situation but we also have the capacity to alter those structures. With particular reference to the ‘field’ of politics, the Introduction considers theoretically the nature of the ‘presentation of self’ (Goffman) of citizens and the nature of parliamentary democracy as ‘presentation’ or ‘representation’ (as discussed in Habermas: The structural transformation of the public sphere).The six main chapters reproduce texts written or spoken about politics at intervals in the period from 1960 until 2020. Brief introductions to each chapter will contextualise these texts both in terms of their significance in my developing awareness of political discourse and also in terms of the historically changing nature of the field of politics itself in the United Kingdom. Having an a-political upbringing, the author suggests that he gradually acquired a political competence but, equally, developed the view that the domination of political discourse has become exclusive and that there is now a need to reassert social relations in society and to recognize the extent to which political activity sustains the social control of a privileged minority.The book has an Epilogue which considers some recent arguments about ‘populism’ and also reflects on the extent to which the ‘new normal’ heralded by some for a post-Covid future has the capacity to circumscribe the influence of politics. The author reflects on whether deployment of Bourdieu’s concept of ‘symbolic violence’ - the process by which the attitudes of the few are imposed on the many – might lead to the possible resurgence of social movements which are sceptical about political power. The author suggests that there may be a need for a new ‘quietism’ as advanced by Fénelon in the court of Louis XIV at the end of the 17th century and as considered by Richard Rorty in “Naturalism and quietism” in Philosophy as Cultural Politics, 2007
Intended or unintended strategy? The activities of middle managers in strategy implementation
Full text linkWhen top managers task middle managers with implementing strategies, those strategies are often executed in a deviated form, which leads to the creation of unintended strategies. Despite much research on middle managers and their role and behaviors in strategy implementation, there is still only a limited understanding of the implementation activities that result in intended and unintended strategies. Using a strategy-as-practice perspective and interviews with 40 middle managers about 122 strategy implementations, we investigate strategy implementation activities and develop a model of middle manager activities in strategy implementation. We find that seven of the ten activities differ in frequency between intended and unintended strategies. This study extends the strategy implementation literature by conceptualizing a critical link in how different strategy implementation outcomes come about. We also broaden the middle management perspective in strategy by extending the range of activities that explain middle managers’ engagement with strategy and differentiating them across two strategy implementation outcomes