8,587 research outputs found
Team perfectionism and team performance: A prospective study
No full textPerfectionism is a personality characteristic that has been found to predict sports performance in athletes. To date, however, research has exclusively examined this relationship at an individual level (i.e., athletes’ perfectionism predicting their personal performance). The current study extends this research to team sports by examining whether, when manifested at team level, perfectionism predicts team performance. A sample of 231 competitive rowers from 36 boats completed measures of self-oriented, team-oriented, and team-prescribed perfectionism prior to competing against one another in a 4-day rowing competition. Strong within-boat similarities in the levels of team members’ team-oriented perfectionism supported the existence of collective team-oriented perfectionism at the boat level. Two-level latent growth curve modeling of day-by-day boat performance showed that team-oriented perfectionism positively predicted the position of the boat in mid-competition and the linear improvement in position. The findings suggest that imposing perfectionistic standards on team members may drive teams to greater levels of performance
A multi-cohort study of polymorphisms in the GH/IGF axis and physical capability: the HALCyon programme
No full textBackground: Low muscle mass and function have been associated with poorer indicators of physical capability in olderpeople, which are in-turn associated with increased mortality rates. The growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor (GH/IGF)axis is involved in muscle function and genetic variants in genes in the axis may influence measures of physical capability.Methods: As part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) programme, men and women from seven UKcohorts aged between 52 and 90 years old were genotyped for six polymorphisms: rs35767 (IGF1), rs7127900 (IGF2),rs2854744 (IGFBP3), rs2943641 (IRS1), rs2665802 (GH1) and the exon-3 deletion of GHR. The polymorphisms have previouslybeen robustly associated with age-related traits or are potentially functional. Meta-analysis was used to pool within-studygenotypic effects of the associations between the polymorphisms and four measures of physical capability: grip strength,timed walk or get up and go, chair rises and standing balance.Results: Few important associations were observed among the several tests. We found evidence that rs2665802 in GH1 wasassociated with inability to balance for 5 s (pooled odds ratio per minor allele = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82–0.98, p-value = 0.01,n = 10,748), after adjusting for age and sex. We found no evidence for other associations between the polymorphisms andphysical capability traits.Conclusion: Our findings do not provide evidence for a substantial influence of these common polymorphisms in the GH/IGF axis on objectively measured physical capability levels in older adults
Body mass index, muscle strength and physical performance in older adults from eight cohort studies: the HALCyon programme.
No full textObjective
To investigate the associations of body mass index (BMI) and grip strength with objective measures of physical performance (chair rise time, walking speed and balance) including an assessment of sex differences and non-linearity.
Methods
Cross-sectional data from eight UK cohort studies (total N = 16 444) participating in the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) research programme, ranging in age from 50 to 90+ years at the time of physical capability assessment, were used. Regression models were fitted within each study and meta-analysis methods used to pool regression coefficients across studies and to assess the extent of heterogeneity between studies.
Results
Higher BMI was associated with poorer performance on chair rise (N = 10 773), walking speed (N = 9 761) and standing balance (N = 13 921) tests. Higher BMI was associated with stronger grip strength in men only. Stronger grip strength was associated with better performance on all tests with a tendency for the associations to be stronger in women than men; for example, walking speed was higher by 0.43 cm/s (0.14, 0.71) more per kg in women than men. Both BMI and grip strength remained independently related with performance after mutual adjustment, but there was no evidence of effect modification. Both BMI and grip strength exhibited non-linear relations with performance; those in the lowest fifth of grip strength and highest fifth of BMI having particularly poor performance. Findings were similar when waist circumference was examined in place of BMI.
Conclusion
Older men and women with weak muscle strength and high BMI have considerably poorer performance than others and associations were observed even in the youngest cohort (age 53). Although causality cannot be inferred from observational cross-sectional studies, our findings suggest the likely benefit of early assessment and interventions to reduce fat mass and improve muscle strength in the prevention of future functional limitations
HALCyon Healthy Ageing across the Life Course
No full text1) Meta-data (for existing data) generated by the HALCyon project
One of the main aims of HALCyon was to perform comparable analyses across 9 British cohort studies which tested the inter-relationships between: physical and cognitive capability; social and psychological wellbeing and; underlying biological markers of ageing. Another main aim was to test the associations of factors across life with each of these three sets of measures. In the majority of cases, this involved harmonising secondary data from the 9 participating studies which had been provided to the HALCyon study team by cohort PIs. The nine studies included were: the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), the National Child Development Study (NCDS), Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 (LBC1921), Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936 (ABC1936), Herfordshire Ageing Study (HAS), Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS), the Boyd Orr Cohort study, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Caerphilly Prospective Study (CaPS) .
The first step in this process was to document details of the potentially relevant variables already collected and available in each study. The second step in this process was to write syntax which cleaned and recoded relevant variables for use in comparable analyses.
In addition to the publications produced (see www.halcyon.ac.uk), other key outputs from HALCyon are: (i) the documentation created which lists out the comparable variables available in each cohort for topics of relevance to HALCyon; (ii) Stata syntax which was used to clean and recode existing data for use in analyses that were comparable across cohorts. These meta-data documents (i.e. variable lists by topic and stata do files) have been uploaded.
2) New data generated by the HALCyon project
The NDA grant for HALCyon also included funds to:
- collect comparable data on wellbeing in: Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS); Caerphilly Prospective Study (CaPS); Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936 (ABC1936)
- measure telomere length using existing blood samples in: Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 (LBC1921); CaPS; Hertfordshire Ageing study (HAS); NSHD (sub-set of samples)
- perform cortisol assays using existing saliva samples in: CaPS and NSHD
- undertake 60 qualitative interviews (30 each) in: HCS; NSHD.
HALCyon makes use of secondary data from 9 different UK cohort studies so each study is responsible for governing their own consent forms. However, the consent form for the qualitative interviews has been uploaded. A user guide on the data/metadata that is available has also been uploaded.
HALCyon brings together an interdisciplinary group of scientists working on nine UK cohort studies to understand three aspects of healthy ageing: physical and cognitive capability (the ability to undertake the physical and mental tasks of everyday living), psychological and social wellbeing (how people feel and how they function in terms of relationships and social activities), and the biology of ageing, including cortisol (one of the body's stress hormones), telomere length (the cell's natural clock that tells the body how old it is) and genetic factors.
The eight projects will investigate how individual factors such as early development, lifetime health, personality and nutrition, and characteristics of areas in which study members have lived influence these indicators of healthy ageing. These factors may explain why some older people live fulfilled and active lives and why differences exist between men and women, or between social groups. Some cohort members will be interviewed to find out how they understand their life history and experiences and their response to ageing.
Interactions between the scientists and experts in policy, practice and user involvement will ensure that the new knowledge gained will improve the lives of older people.</p
Childhood socioeconomic position and objectively measured physical capability levels in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full text<p><b>Background:</b> Grip strength, walking speed, chair rising and standing balance time are objective measures of physical capability that characterise current health and predict survival in older populations. Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood may influence the peak level of physical capability achieved in early adulthood, thereby affecting levels in later adulthood. We have undertaken a systematic review with meta-analyses to test the hypothesis that adverse childhood SEP is associated with lower levels of objectively measured physical capability in adulthood.</p>
<p><b>Methods and Findings:</b> Relevant studies published by May 2010 were identified through literature searches using EMBASE and MEDLINE. Unpublished results were obtained from study investigators. Results were provided by all study investigators in a standard format and pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. 19 studies were included in the review. Total sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from N = 17,215 for chair rise time to N = 1,061,855 for grip strength. Although heterogeneity was detected, there was consistent evidence in age adjusted models that lower childhood SEP was associated with modest reductions in physical capability levels in adulthood: comparing the lowest with the highest childhood SEP there was a reduction in grip strength of 0.13 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.06, 0.21), a reduction in mean walking speed of 0.07 m/s (0.05, 0.10), an increase in mean chair rise time of 6% (4%, 8%) and an odds ratio of an inability to balance for 5s of 1.26 (1.02, 1.55). Adjustment for the potential mediating factors, adult SEP and body size attenuated associations greatly. However, despite this attenuation, for walking speed and chair rise time, there was still evidence of moderate associations.</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> Policies targeting socioeconomic inequalities in childhood may have additional benefits in promoting the maintenance of independence in later life.</p>
[[alternative]]A Study of the Factors Effecting Team Creativity: the Case Study of Advertising Teams
No full text[[abstract]]The purposes of this study were to explore the important issues of the factors that effect team creativity. The research method adopted was the case study of the qualitative research and the data was collected by in-depth interviews. In the process of the research, the author interviewed with five advertising teams, including eleven co-researchers.
According to the analysis of the research data, we can get the findings of the study as follows:
1. There are six factors effecting team creativity: (1) personal characteristics, (2) team characteristics, (3) creating process, (4) organizational culture, (5) working environment, (6) characters of team tasks.
2. There are three factors of personal characteristics effecting team creativity, including: (1) personality, (2) professional abilities, (3) life experiences.
3. There are four factors of team characteristics effecting team creativity, including: (1) professional abilities of the team leader (2) leading styles of the team leader (3) elements of team composition (4) the relationship among the team members.
4. There are three factors of creating process effecting team creativity, including:(1) team creating procedure (2) team creating technique (3) team creating principle.
5. There are three factors of organizational culture effecting team creativity, including: (1) corporation mission (2) working atmosphere (3) the way to motivate creativity (4) the supporting business processes.
6. There are two factors of working environment effecting team creativity, including: (1) the corporation systems (2) the corporation facilities and equipment.
7. There are two factors of characters of customers effecting team creativity, including: (1) customers’ views towards creativity (2) traits of goods.
Top Management Team Diversity: A systematic Review
No full textEmpirical research investigating the impact of top management team (TMT)
diversity on executives’ decision making has produced inconclusive results.
To synthesize and aggregate the results on the diversity-performance
link, a meta-regression analysis (MRA) is conducted. It integrates more
than 200 estimates from 53 empirical studies investigating TMT diversity
and its impact on the quality of executives’ decision making as reflected
in corporate performance. The analysis contributes to the literature by
theoretically discussing and empirically examining the effects of TMT diversity
on corporate performance. Our results do not show a link between TMT
diversity and performance but provide evidence for publication bias. Thus,
the findings raise doubts on the impact of TMT diversity on performance
The Dantu blood group prevents parasite growth in vivo: Evidence from a controlled human malaria infection study
No full textBackground: The long co-evolution of Homo sapiens and Plasmodium falciparum has resulted in the selection of numerous human genetic variants that confer an advantage against severe malaria and death. One such variant is the Dantu blood group antigen, which is associated with 74% protection against severe and complicated P. falciparum malaria infections in homozygous individuals, similar to that provided by the sickle haemoglobin allele (HbS). Recent in vitro studies suggest that Dantu exerts this protection by increasing the surface tension of red blood cells, thereby impeding the ability of P. falciparum merozoites to invade them and reducing parasite multiplication. However, no studies have yet explored this hypothesis in vivo.
Methods: We investigated the effect of Dantu on early phase P. falciparum (Pf) infections in a controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) study. 141 sickle-negative Kenyan adults were inoculated with 3.2 × 103 aseptic, purified, cryopreserved Pf sporozoites (PfSPZ Challenge) then monitored for blood-stage parasitaemia for 21 days by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)analysis of the 18S ribosomal RNA P. falciparum gene. The primary endpoint was blood-stage P. falciparum parasitaemia of ≥500/μl while the secondary endpoint was the receipt of antimalarial treatment in the presence of parasitaemia of any density. On study completion, all participants were genotyped both for Dantu and for four other polymorphisms that are associated with protection against severe falciparum malaria: α+-thalassaemia, blood group O, G6PD deficiency, and the rs4951074 allele in the red cell calcium transporter ATP2B4.
Results: The primary endpoint was reached in 25/111 (22.5%) non-Dantu subjects in comparison to 0/27 (0%) Dantu heterozygotes and 0/3 (0.0%) Dantu homozygotes (p=0.01). Similarly, 49/111 (44.1%) non-Dantu subjects reached the secondary endpoint in comparison to only 7/27 (25.9%) and 0/3 (0.0%) Dantu heterozygotes and homozygotes, respectively (p=0.021). No significant impacts on either outcome were seen for any of the other genetic variants under study.
Conclusions: This study reveals, for the first time, that the Dantu blood group is associated with high-level protection against early, non-clinical, P. falciparum malaria infections in vivo. Learning more about the mechanisms involved could potentially lead to new approaches to the prevention or treatment of the disease. Our study illustrates the power of CHMI with PfSPZ Challenge for directly testing the protective impact of genotypes previously identified using other methods.
Funding: The Kenya CHMI study was supported by an award from Wellcome (grant number 107499). SK was supported by a Training Fellowship (216444/Z/19/Z), TNW by a Senior Research Fellowship (202800/Z/16/Z), JCR by an Investigator Award (220266/Z/20/Z), and core support to the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya (203077), all from Wellcome. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Clinical trial number: NCT0273976
Organically Integrated Project Delivery of a Mission-Driven Team: An exploratory study on managing the MOR Team TU Delft during the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019
No full textThis master thesis investigated the coordination aspects of the MOR Team TU Delft, a volunteer-students based team, that produced an AEC project for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 (SDE19) competition. With a closer look at the aspects of organisation, motivation, and mission, this researched provides an objective account of the characteristics and functions of coordination that aided this team in producing an award-winning project. It is thanks to the study of the available documents, the personal notes of the author, and the interviews with some key members of the team that this research highlighted how a mission-driven team developed an experimental attitude toward an Organically Integrated Project Delivery. The organisational and coordination aspects of Solar Decathlon teams it is not yet a widespread area of research; therefore, this master thesis conducted an exploratory case study that followed an inductive approach. Among the results mentioned above, this work highlighted how the study of volunteer-students based teams, competing in the various Solar Decathlons, can become an exciting area of study for management practices within AEC projects. The peculiarities of these projects have the potential to provide tangible and comparable results in the study of design and construction management. It is thanks to these considerations that this research asks for the development of further studies, with the effects of both further validating the results here presented and to further expand the body of knowledge on this typology of projects.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environmen
Team dynamics in emergency surgery teams : results from a first international survey
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Background: Emergency surgery represents a unique context. Trauma teams are often multidisciplinary and need to operate under extreme stress and time constraints, sometimes with no awareness of the trauma’s causes or the patient’s personal and clinical information. In this perspective, the dynamics of how trauma teams function is fundamental to ensuring the best performance and outcomes. Methods: An online survey was conducted among the World Society of Emergency Surgery members in early 2021. 402 fully filled questionnaires on the topics of knowledge translation dynamics and tools, non-technical skills, and difficulties in teamwork were collected. Data were analyzed using the software R, and reported following the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). Results: Findings highlight how several surgeons are still unsure about the meaning and potential of knowledge translation and its mechanisms. Tools like training, clinical guidelines, and non-technical skills are recognized and used in clinical practice. Others, like patients’ and stakeholders’ engagement, are hardly implemented, despite their increasing importance in the modern healthcare scenario. Several difficulties in working as a team are described, including the lack of time, communication, training, trust, and ego. Discussion: Scientific societies should take the lead in offering training and support about the abovementioned topics. Dedicated educational initiatives, practical cases and experiences, workshops and symposia may allow mitigating the difficulties highlighted by the survey’s participants, boosting the performance of emergency teams. Additional investigation of the survey results and its characteristics may lead to more further specific suggestions and potential solutions.Peer reviewe
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