Associations Between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and C-Reactive Protein in Men

Objective - This study examined the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and C-reactive protein (CRP), with adjustment for weight and within weight categories. Methods and Results - We calculated median and adjusted geometric mean CRP levels, percentages of individuals with an elevated CRP (≥2.00 mg/L), and odds ratios of elevated CRP across 5 levels of cardiorespiratory fitness for 722 men. CRP values were adjusted for age, body mass index, vitamin use, statin medication use, aspirin use, the presence of inflammatory disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, and smoking habit. We found an inverse association of CRP across fitness levels (P for trend\u3c0.001), with the highest adjusted CRP value in the lowest fitness quintile (1.64 [1.27 to 2.11] mg/L) and the lowest adjusted CRP value in the highest fitness quintile (0.70 [0.60 to 0.80] mg/L). Similar results were found for the prevalence of elevated CRP across fitness quintiles. We used logistic regression to model the adjusted odds for elevated CRP and found that compared with the referent first quintile, the second (odds ratio [OR] 0.43, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.85), third (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.65), fourth (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.47), and fifth (OR 0.17, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.37) quintiles of fitness had significantly lower odds of elevated CRP. Similar results were found when examining the CRP-fitness relation within categories of body fatness (normal weight, overweight, and obese) and waist girth (\u3c102 or ≥102 cm). Conclusions - Cardiorespiratory fitness levels were inversely associated with CRP values and the prevalence of elevated CRP values in this sample of men from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study

Greater than the sum of its parts: exploring a systemic design-inspired responsible innovation framework for addressing ICT carbon emissions

The carbon footprint of the world’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is growing at an alarming rate, giving rise to calls for tools and methodologies for reporting on carbon emissions towards greater accountability within the sector. Accurately calculating the emissions of digital technologies is a complex task where there are no clear standards for methodologies or boundaries for what should be included in these calculations. Nevertheless, a number of online carbon calculators exist to quantify carbon emissions of ICT. The starting question in this paper is how much such tools can inform and provide insight to people working with ICT innovation to take action to reduce the environmental impacts from the products, services and systems they create. To explore this question, we analyse ICT carbon calculators from a digital innovation designer's perspective, exploring what they enable those creating ICT to see and understand, as well as the limitations of these views on carbon. We argue that these approaches are limited and that a better way to address the issue is by moving from designing carbon calculators to codesigning a framework for responsible innovation that enables systems thinking, exposes complexities, helps with the assessment of carbon emissions without fixating on numbers, and supports evaluation and visualisation of future scenarios

Integrated palliative care in oncology: a protocol for a realist synthesis

Introduction Emerging evidence suggests improved quality of life, reduced symptom burden and lower health services costs when integrated palliative care and cancer care are implemented. Integrated palliative care aims to achieve care continuity by integrating organisational, administrative and clinical services involved in patient care networks. However, integrated palliative care for cancer is not common practice. This project, therefore, aims to understand how integrated palliative care and cancer care works in different healthcare settings (inpatient/outpatient), and for which groups of people (at what stage of the cancer journey), so we can develop guidance for optimal delivery. Methods and analysis We will conduct a realist synthesis to develop a programme theory of how integrated palliative care in cancer works, for whom and in what contexts to achieve improved symptom management and quality of life for patients and their families. This realist synthesis will follow the five stages outlined by Pawson: (1) locating existing theories, (2) searching for evidence, (3) article selection, (4) extracting and organising data and (5) synthesising the evidence and drawing conclusions. We will work closely with our expert stakeholder group, which includes health and social care professionals providing palliative care and oncology; management and policy groups and members of the public and patients. We will adhere to RAMESES quality standards for undertaking a realist synthesis. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval for this project is not required. The realist synthesis will develop a programme theory that provides clarity on the optimal delivery of palliative care for adults with cancer. We will use the programme theory to coproduce guidance and user-friendly outputs, working with stakeholders to inform delivery of best practice. Findings will inform further research in integrated palliative care and cancer. Stakeholder engagement will assist in the dissemination of our findings. PROSPERO registration number CRD42023389791

Acceptability of Treatments and Services for Individuals with Hoarding Behaviors

Objective To explore the acceptability of currently available treatments and services for individuals who self-report hoarding behaviors. Method Between 10/2013 and 8/2014, participants were invited to complete an online survey that provided them descriptions of eleven treatments and services for hoarding behaviors and asked them to evaluate their acceptability using quantitative (0 [not at all acceptable]−10 [completely acceptable]) Likert scale ratings. The a priori definition of acceptability for a given resource was an average Likert scale score of six or greater. Two well-validated self-report measures assessed hoarding symptom severity: the Saving Inventory-Revised and the Clutter Image Rating Scale. Results Two hundred and seventy two participants who self-reported having hoarding behaviors completed the questionnaire. Analyses focused on the 73% of responders (n=203) who reported clinically significant hoarding behaviors (i.e., Saving Inventory-Revised scores of ≥40). The three most acceptable treatments were individual cognitive behavioral therapy (6.2±3.1 on the Likert scale), professional organizing service (6.1±3.2), and use of a self-help book (6.0±3.0). Conclusion In this sample of individuals with self-reported clinically significant hoarding behaviors (n=203), only 3 out of 11 treatments and services for hoarding were deemed acceptable using an a priori score. While needing replication, these findings indicate the need to design more acceptable treatments and services to engage clients and maximize treatment outcomes for hoarding disorder

Deformation Associated with Ghost Craters and Basins in Volcanic Smooth Plains on Mercury: Strain Analysis and Implications for Plains Evolution

Since its insertion into orbit about Mercury in March 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft has imaged most previously unseen regions of the planet in unprecedented detail, revealing extensive regions of contiguous smooth plains at high northern latitudes and surrounding the Caloris basin. These smooth plains, thought to be emplaced by flood volcanism, are populated with several hundred ghost craters and basins, nearly to completely buried impact features having rims for which the surface expressions are now primarily rings of deformational landforms. Associated with some ghost craters are interior groups of graben displaying mostly polygonal patterns. The origin of these graben is not yet fully understood, but comparison with numerical models suggests that the majority of such features are the result of stresses from local thermal contraction. In this paper, we highlight a previously unreported category of ghost craters, quantify extensional strains across graben-bearing ghost craters, and make use of graben geometries to gain insights into the subsurface geology of smooth plains areas. In particular, the style and mechanisms of graben development imply that flooding of impact craters and basins led to substantial pooling of lavas, to thicknesses of ∼1.5 km. In addition, surface strains derived from groups of graben are generally in agreement with theoretically and numerically derived strains for thermal contraction

The 1% Campaign

The purpose of The1% Campaign is to raise scholarship funds for first year VCU students who are dependents of VCU/VCUHS employees. Honoring Dr. Grace E. Harris, this fund will eventually provide tuition and fees for new students for need-based and/or merit-based scholarships. The ultimate goal of The 1% Campaign is to entirely fund one percent of the entering first year class which is approximately thirty to thirty-five students. The recipients will be named Grace E. Harris Scholars