Happiness in higher education

This article reviews the higher education literature surrounding happiness and related notions: satisfaction, despair, flourishing and well-being. It finds that there is a real dearth of literature relating to profound happiness in higher education: much of the literature using the terms ‘happiness’ and ‘satisfaction’ interchangeably as if one were tantamount to the other, such conflation being due to the move towards consumerism within higher education and the marketization of the sector. What literature there exists that actually deals with the profound happiness of students in higher education generally argues that in the UK institutions do not currently do enough to promote happiness in higher education. The findings of this review imply that flourishing, contentment and well-being should be regarded as legitimate goals of higher education, alongside satisfaction and related economic outcomes that are currently promoted across academic and policy literature, university rankings, and the National Student Survey

AMOA, Associazione Medici Oculisti per l'Africa, un esempio di solidariet\ue0 istituzionalizzata. La missione Zimbabwe.

AMOA (Associazione Medici Oculisti per l\u2019Africa), \ue8 un\u2019associazione di volontariato legalmente costituita, con sede a Bologna, aconfessionale che non persegue fini di lucro. L\u2019associazione, improntata al volontariato, svolge metodicamente e con continuit\ue0 attivit\ue0 di cooperazione allo sviluppo in favore delle popolazioni del Terzo Mondo ed in particolare di quelle africane. A tale scopo l\u2019associazione stabilisce con le Autorit\ue0 nazionali dei Paesi in cui opera, con le istituzioni nazionali ed internazionali operanti localmente e le organizzazioni sociali, una fattiva collaborazione nel rispetto delle sovranit\ue0 nazionali e secondo i principi della cooperazione internazionale definiti dalla Carta delle Nazioni Unite. Essa opera per mezzo di medici e paramedici volontari che offrono gratuitamente una parte del loro tempo per servire ai bisogni sanitari delle popolazioni di questi Paesi che si trovano in uno stadio di sottosviluppo sanitario in campo oculistico per mancanza di strutture, risorse economiche e umane. Tra le varie missioni effettuate possiamo menzionare quelle in Senegal, Togo, Etiopia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Cameroun, Zimbabwe. L\u2019analisi del presente lavoro verter\ue0 sull\u2019operato della\u2019associazione in Zimbabwe evidenziando: l\u2019epidemiologia delle patologie oculari della zona di intervento; il trattamento delle cause pi\uf9 frequenti di cecit\ue0: cataratta, glaucoma, malposizione palpebrale da tracoma, i traumi del bulbo oculare; lo screening delle deficienze visive nell\u2019et\ue0 scolare: ipermetropia, miopia, astigmatismo, ambliopia; la correzione della presbiopia che riduce la capacit\ue0 lavorativa dopo i 40 anni; la promozione dell\u2019educazione sanitaria nelle scuole e nei dispensari per la prevenzione primaria e secondaria delle carenze visive; l\u2019addestramento del personale scolastico locale a misurare la capacit\ue0 visiva dei bambini a partire dal periodo prescolare; l\u2019aggiornamento del personale medico alla chirurgia mediante soggiorni sia in loco che in Italia ed infine le ricadute sulle condizioni di salute e benessere dei soggetti coinvolti

Night-time shift work and related stress responses: A study on security guards

Work-related stress can induce a break in homeostasis by placing demands on the body that are met by the activation of two different systems, the hypothalamic\u2013pituitary\u2013adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system. Night-shift work alters the body\u2019s exposure to the natural light\u2013 dark schedule and disrupts circadian (daily) rhythms. The greatest effect of night-shift work is the disruption of circadian rhythms. The impact that these disruptions may have on the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cancer, is unknown. This study aims to discover the relationship among three different job activities of security guards and their stress-related responses by evaluating salivary cortisol levels and blood pressure. Methods: Ninety security guards, including night-time workers and night-time and daily-shift workers, were recruited for this study. Each security guard provided two saliva samples before and after three scheduled time points: (i) at 22:00, (ii) at 06:30, and (iii) at 14:00. Results: The results of the study showed a significant alteration in cortisol levels. Night-time shift cortisol levels significantly increased before and after the work shifts. A physiological prevalence of the vagal tone on the cardiocirculatory activity was found during night-shift work. Conclusions: This study indicates that cortisol levels and blood pressure are sensitive markers of biological responses to severe work stress. Shift-change consequences may occur at the end of the night shift when there is a significant increase in the cortisol level and a significant variation in cardiovascular parameters

Femoral Neck Stress Fracture in a Female Triathlete: Clinical Presentation and Management

CASE HISTORY: A 31-year-old female triathlete developed R+ hip pain during a training run in preparation for a full Ironman. The athlete experienced an immediate onset of R+ anterior hip pain as she began to increase pace while running intervals. She stopped immediately and was unable to run or walk without R+ hip pain. The patient was referred to physical therapy. PHYSICAL EXAM: Initial examination in the outpatient physical therapy clinic revealed hip AROM within normal limits and PROM of the R+ limited in both flexion and internal rotation. Resisted strength testing revealed weakness and pain of R+ hip flexors. No neurological signs or symptoms with screening of the lumbar spine. Flexibility testing revealed significantly tight quadriceps and hamstrings bilaterally. Positive anterior hip impingement test bilaterally. Single leg stance revealed compensated trendelenburg sign bilaterally. Gait analysis revealed shortened stride length and decreased stance time on R+. First follow up examination revealed decreased anterior hip pain with posterior hip capsule mobilizations and decreased pain while running in anti-gravity treadmill with increased cadence. Second follow up examination revealed increased R+ hip pain with weight bearing activities and decreased R+ AROM and PROM secondary to pain. Decreased R+ pain reported with distraction and walking in anti-gravity treadmill. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES: 1. Hip Flexor Strain 2. Femoro-acetabular Impingement 3. Hip Labral Tear 4. Femoral Stress Fracture TESTS & RESULTS: Pelvis anterior-posterior and R+ Hip neutral and flexion anterior-posterior radiographs: Femoral heads and necks intact; Femoro-acetabular joint space preserved bilaterally; Bony pelvis intact and unremarkable; Hip MR without contrast; Minimally displaced anterosuperior labral tear present; Edema in R+ femoral neck region; Non-displaced fracture involving the medial margin of the femoral neck on R+ FINAL DIAGNOSIS: R+ femoral neck medial aspect non-displaced stress fracture with adjacent stress edema. DISCUSSION: Femoral neck stress fractures are often misdiagnosed as signs and symptoms can mimic those of more commonly seen disorders. Early consideration in the differential diagnosis of hip pain is required to avoid potential loss of training time and further injury. OUTCOME OF THE CASE: NWB for 6 weeks; Cleared to start WBAT at 6 week MD follow-up; referred to physical therapy after MRI at 3 months. RETURN TO ACTIVITY AND FURTHER FOLLOW-UP: Rehabilitation included hip mobility, LE strengthening, and plyometric progression. Ran 2 miles independently with minimal to no pain at 3.5 months and discharged with return to running program

Acetaldehyde, motivation and stress: Behavioral evidence of an addictive ménage à trois

Acetaldehyde (ACD) contributes to alcohol’s psychoactive effects through its own rewarding properties. Recent studies shed light on the behavioral correlates of ACD administration and the possible interactions with key neurotransmitters for motivation, reward and stress-related response, such as dopamine and endocannabinoids. This mini review article critically examines ACD psychoactive properties, focusing on behavioral investigations able to unveil ACD motivational effects and their pharmacological modulation in vivo. Similarly to alcohol, rats spontaneously drink ACD, whose presence is detected in the brain following chronic self-administration paradigm. ACD motivational properties are demonstrated by operant paradigms tailored to model several drug-related behaviors, such as induction and maintenance of operant self-administration, extinction, relapse and punishment resistance. ACD-related addictive-like behaviors are sensitive to pharmacological manipulations of dopamine and endocannabinoid signaling. Interestingly, the ACD-dopamine-endocannabinoids relationship also contributes to neuroplastic alterations of the NPYergic system, a stress-related peptide critically involved in alcohol abuse. The understanding of the ménage-a-trois among ACD, reward- and stress-related circuits holds promising potential for the development of novel pharmacological approaches aimed at reducing alcohol abuse

Dark photon superradiance quenched by dark matter

Black-hole superradiance has been used to place very strong bounds on avariety of models of ultralight bosons such as axions, new light scalars, anddark photons. It is common lore to believe that superradiance bounds arebroadly model independent and therefore pretty robust. In this work we showhowever that superradiance bounds on dark photons can be challenged by simple,compelling extensions of the minimal model. In particular, if the dark photonpopulates a larger dark sector and couples to dark fermions playing the role ofdark matter, then superradiance bounds can easily be circumvented, depending onthe mass and (dark) charge of the dark matter.<br

Environmental Enrichment During Adolescence Mitigates Cognitive Deficits and Alcohol Vulnerability due to Continuous and Intermittent Perinatal Alcohol Exposure in Adult Rats

Perinatal alcohol exposure affects ontogenic neurodevelopment, causing physical and functional long-term abnormalities with limited treatment options. This study investigated long-term consequences of continuous and intermittent maternal alcohol drinking on behavioral readouts of cognitive function and alcohol vulnerability in the offspring. The effects of environmental enrichment (EE) during adolescence were also evaluated. Female rats underwent continuous alcohol drinking (CAD)—or intermittent alcohol drinking paradigm (IAD), along pregestation, gestation, and lactation periods—equivalent to the whole gestational period in humans. Male offspring were reared in standard conditions or EE until adulthood and were then assessed for declarative memory in the novel object recognition test; spatial learning, cognitive flexibility, and reference memory in the Morris water maze (MWM); alcohol consumption and relapse by a two-bottle choice paradigm. Our data show that perinatal CAD decreased locomotor activity, exploratory behavior, and declarative memory with respect to controls, whereas perinatal IAD displayed impaired declarative memory and spatial learning and memory. Moreover, both perinatal alcohol-exposed offspring showed higher vulnerability to alcohol consummatory behavior than controls, albeit perinatal IAD rats showed a greater alcohol consumption and relapse behavior with respect to perinatal-CAD progeny. EE ameliorated declarative memory in perinatal CAD, while it mitigated spatial learning and reference memory impairment in perinatal-IAD progeny. In addition, EE decreased vulnerability to alcohol in both control and perinatal alcohol-exposed rats. Maternal alcohol consumption produces drinking pattern-related long-term consequences on cognition and vulnerability to alcohol in the offspring. However, increased positive environmental stimuli during adolescence may curtail the detrimental effects of developmental alcohol exposure