Athletes and Steroids

College athletes get drug tested for several reasons. The most basic reason is that sports organizations want to emphasize the honesty of the sports that they represent. They want to keep the integrity of the program at the forefront, because there is true admiration in true and fair competition

Identifying student work skills and personal values for work-integrated learning: a host organisation perspective

There is a wealth of experience and expertise in managing and supervising existing student placements as part of the Work-Integrated Learning experience (WIL). However, to maximise our capacity to address the potential diversity of WIL students, there is a need for greater insight into the key demands and expectations of relevant industry/host organisations. Such knowledge is fundamental to develop and refine existing frameworks for assessing student suitability for placement and employability, which in turn will inform the preparational learning for placement and the student's success in placement. This paper shares and discusses the interim findings from the first stage of an incremental survey conducted with placement host organisations across disciplines in Planning & Sciences, and Social Work & Human Services, in an Australian university. This cross-disciplinary research uses a quantitative data collection method and analysis of preselected work skills and personal value attributes, informed by relevant literature across both discipline domains on tertiary student work placements and fundamental employability facets. Through this approach, the potential and value of cross-disciplinary research, teaching and cooperation is highlighted, concluding that the trend shown in the data points towards an imperative to include a focus on personal values within tertiary education teaching practices

Predictors of slow colonic transit in children

PURPOSE: Slow transit constipation (STC) and functional fecal retention (FFR) are two forms of severe intractable constipation in childhood diagnosed by nuclear transit studies (NTS). This retrospective study aims to identify the predicting factors for STC and FFR by looking at the association with neuropsychiatric disorders (NPD), obesity, family history of constipation and atopic disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted on children with intractable constipation referred for NTS between 1st April 2003 and 1st April 2014. Comparisons were made between STC, FFR and normal transit patients with regards to NPD, obesity (BMI z score >95th percentile), family history of constipation in first and second-degree relatives and atopic disease which included food allergy, asthma and eczema. RESULTS: Between 2003 and 2014, 97 patients were referred for a NTS. Out of 36 patients with NPD, 21 (58.3 %) had STC and 13 (36.1 %) had FFR (p < 0.05). 15.8 % of patients with constipation were obese, compared to 6.4 % in the general Australian paediatric population (p < 0.05). There was no significant association between constipation and atopic disease or family history. CONCLUSION: Neuropsychiatric disorders, in particular autism, are useful predictors of STC and FFR in children. Obesity may be associated with a higher risk of developing chronic constipation

A Case of Back to The Future: Paediatric Abdominal Pain. Thorough History, Examination And Senior Clinician Involvement Remain Imperative For Successful Management

INTRODUCTION: The inherent variability of the history and exam in paediatrics make acute abdominal pain a diagnostic challenge. Investigations such as white-cell-count (WCC), C-reactive-protein and radiological studies have been advocated to help objectify management. Whilst Computed Tomography is accurate, the amount of radiation involved renders it unacceptable and thus many view ultrasonographyas an acceptable alternative. But do these tests add value? METHODS: Retrospective review between 2002–2012. Data was collected for children under sixteen with acute abdominal pain undergoing investigation with ultrasound and haematological testing. For 2005,a retrospective review was conducted for children presenting with abdominal pain to obtain data on demographics, history and examination findings. Analysis for diagnostic accuracy was undertaken. RESULTS: 5000 records were reviewed, and 1744 records included. 6% of children developed appendicitis. Findings of worsening pain, associated with nausea or vomiting yielded moderate sensitivities and specificities (combined values over 70%). Fever was non-specific. Localised tenderness is the most sensitive exam finding and rebound tenderness is the most specific, both having values over 90%. WCC and CRP offer similar sensitivities and specificities, both producing results under 80%. Only 30% of ultrasounds visualised the appendix, significantly dampening the sensitivity below 75%. The incidence of appendicitis in the non-visualised group was 8%. Conclusion No test is useful for ruling out appendicitis. Given that the incidence of appendicitis is higher in the non-visualised group, this is especially so with ultrasonography. Clinical examination with senior input is the most sensible strategy for managing children with acute abdominal pain

Numerical prediction of turbulent boundary layer noise from a sharp-edged flat plate

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. An efficient hybrid uncorrelated wall plane waves–boundary element method (UWPW-BEM) technique is proposed to predict the flow-induced noise from a structure in low Mach number turbulent flow. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are used to estimate the turbulent boundary layer parameters such as convective velocity, boundary layer thickness, and wall shear stress over the surface of the structure. The spectrum of the wall pressure fluctuations is evaluated from the turbulent boundary layer parameters and by using semi-empirical models from literature. The wall pressure field underneath the turbulent boundary layer is synthesized by realizations of uncorrelated wall plane waves (UWPW). An acoustic BEM solver is then employed to compute the acoustic pressure scattered by the structure from the synthesized wall pressure field. Finally, the acoustic response of the structure in turbulent flow is obtained as an ensemble average of the acoustic pressures due to all realizations of uncorrelated plane waves. To demonstrate the hybrid UWPW-BEM approach, the self-noise generated by a flat plate in turbulent flow with Reynolds number based on chord Rec = 4.9 × 105 is predicted. The results are compared with those obtained from a large eddy simulation (LES)-BEM technique as well as with experimental data from literature

Social work students' feedback about students' suitability for field education and the profession

Many students successfully complete placement while for a minority of students placement may be a time when questions are asked about suitability for placement and professional practice. Research undertaken with final year social work students examined their ideas about suitability and unsuitability for field education and practice and presented them with a model developed with field educators in an earlier phase of the research. The aim of the study was to incorporate students’ understanding into the discourse of suitability/unsuitability to further develop a suitability/unsuitability model for collaborative discussions between students, educators and supervisors. Twenty-eight students responded to an online survey. The results show that students identify a critical understanding of self, skills, knowledge, attitudes and contextual factors as important in assessing students’ suitability for field education. Identified indicators of ‘unsuitability’ included lack of preparedness to learn, lack of capacity to demonstrate an understanding of professional values and ethics and inability to maintain professional boundaries or demonstrate basic practice skills. Students overwhelmingly supported the use of the presented model and made suggestions for further development of the model. The discussion emphasises the importance of using a pedagogically informed formative assessment strategy in a timely manner to address professional suitability with students

Idiopathic slow transit constipation is rare - but delayed passage of meconium is common in the constipation clinic

We hypothesise that constipated children would be more likely to come from a socially deprived background. We also hypothesise that a percentage of children with resistant constipation would have a congenital gut motility problem that might be recognise

Using a community development approach to reimagine field education during Covid-19

This paper reports on an Australian online placement project that was put in place after face to face placements were stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. James Cook University [JCU] social work students were offered the opportunity to participate in an online Community Connectors Project [CCP] based on an Asset Based Community Development model [ABCD] to complete their placement. Twenty students participated in the CCP. The values and principles of ABCD guided the project and meant that students were encouraged and supported to lead and design smaller placement projects responding to identified community needs. This article is collaboratively written by students, field education staff and a community partner. Here we specifically report on the collaboration between one group of students and a community partner, working together to develop a domestic violence practice guideline for a Health setting. The article describes the context of the CCP, ABCD as a framework, the student leadership, the domestic violence project and the collaborative partnership. Our reflections consider students as knowledge brokers, challengers and enablers of collaboration and future research engagement