Influence of anneal atmosphere on ZnO-nanorod photoluminescent and morphological properties with self-powered photodetector performance

OA Monitor ExerciseEPSR

Revealing Gender Bias: An Experiential Exercise

Stereotyping and biases continue to be a problem in many facets of society. Understanding how biases may affect recruitment and retention of employees has become a priority issue for companies, not only from an image perspective but also from a firm performance perspective, since both research and industry experience have shown that diverse teams generate better results. The need to address these issues, particularly with students who will become leaders in organizations, remains a priority in business education. In this article, we present an experiential activity that management instructors can use to help students understand and appreciate the reality and power of unconscious bias. The focus of this activity is on uncovering gender bias, yet the basic framework of the activity can easily be adapted to focus on other types of unconscious bias and stereotyping

Evaluation of the accuracy of serum MMP-9 as a test for colorectal cancer in a primary care population

Background Bowel cancer is common and is a major cause of death. Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials estimates that screening for colorectal cancer using faecal occult blood (FOB) test reduces mortality from colorectal cancer by 16%. However, FOB testing has a low positive predictive value, with associated unnecessary cost, risk and anxiety from subsequent investigation, and is unacceptable to a proportion of the target population. Increased levels of an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) have been found to be associated with colorectal cancer, and this can be measured from a blood sample. Serum MMP-9 is potentially an accurate, low risk and cost-effective population screening tool. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of serum MMP-9 as a test for colorectal cancer in a primary care population. Methods/Design People aged 50 to 69 years, who registered in participating general practices in the West Midlands Region, will be asked to complete a questionnaire that asks about symptoms. Respondents who describe any colorectal symptoms (except only abdominal bloating and/or anal symptoms) and are prepared to provide a blood sample for MMP9 estimation and undergo a colonoscopy (current gold standard investigation) will be recruited at GP based clinics by a research nurse. Those unfit for colonoscopy will be excluded. Colonoscopies will be undertaken in dedicated research clinics. The accuracy of MMP-9 will be assessed by comparing the MMP-9 level with the colonoscopy findings, and the combination of factors (e.g. symptoms and MMP-9 level) that best predict a diagnosis of malignancy (invasive disease or polyps) will be determined. Discussion Colorectal cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Most colorectal cancers arise from adenomas and there is a period for early detection by screening, but available tests have risks, are unacceptable to many, have high false positive rates or are expensive. This study will establish the potential of serum MMP-9 as a screening test for colorectal cancer. If it is confirmed as accurate and acceptable, this serum marker has the potential to assist with reducing the morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer

CMB with Quintessence: Analytic Approach and CMBFAST

A particular kind of quintessence is considered, with equation of motion $p_Q/\rho_Q = -1$, corresponding to a cosmological term with time-dependence $\Lambda(t) = \Lambda(t_0) (R(t_0)/R(t))^{P}$ which we examine initially for $0 \leq P < 3$. Energy conservation is imposed, as is consistency with big-bang nucleosynthesis, and the range of allowed $P$ is thereby much restricted to $0 \leq P < 0.2$. The position of the first Doppler peak is computed analytically and the result combined with analysis of high-Z supernovae to find how values of $\Omega_m$ and $\Omega_{\Lambda}$ depend on $P$. Some comparison is made to the CMBFAST public code.Comment: 13 pp LaTeX and 7 postscript figure

Action representation in the mouse parieto-frontal network

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and frontal motor areas comprise a cortical network supporting goal-directed behaviour, with functions including sensorimotor transformations and decision making. In primates, this network links performed and observed actions via mirror neurons, which fire both when individuals perform an action and when they observe the same action performed by a conspecific. Mirror neurons are believed to be important for social learning, but it is not known whether mirror-like neurons occur in similar networks in other social species, such as rodents, or if they can be measured in such models using paradigms where observers passively view a demonstrator. Therefore, we imaged Ca2+ responses in PPC and secondary motor cortex (M2) while mice performed and observed pellet-reaching and wheel-running tasks, and found that cell populations in both areas robustly encoded several naturalistic behaviours. However, neural responses to the same set of observed actions were absent, although we verified that observer mice were attentive to performers and that PPC neurons responded reliably to visual cues. Statistical modelling also indicated that executed actions outperformed observed actions in predicting neural responses. These results raise the possibility that sensorimotor action recognition in rodents could take place outside of the parieto-frontal circuit, and underscore that detecting socially-driven neural coding depends critically on the species and behavioural paradigm used

The Effects of Heat Acclimatization, Heat Acclimation, and Intermittent Heat Training on Maximal Oxygen Uptake

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is an important determinant of endurance performance. Heat acclimation/acclimatization (HA/HAz) strategies elicit improvements in endurance performance. When heat exposure is reduced, intermittent heat training (IHT) is potentially beneficial to alleviate HA/HAz adaptation decay, however corresponding VO2max responses are unknown. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of HA/HAz and IHT on VO2max in endurance runners and identify how long VO2max adaptations remain following removal of repeated heat exposure. METHODS: Twenty-seven male endurance runners (mean ± SD; age, 36 ± 12 years; body mass, 73.03 ± 8.97 kg; height, 178.81 ± 6.39 cm; VO2max, 57.48 ± 7.03 ml.kg-1.min-1) completed VO2max and exercise testing at five time points; baseline, pre-HA, post-HA, week 4 of IHT (IHT4), and week 8 of IHT (IHT8). Exercise testing and HA environmental conditions were the same (ambient temperature, 35.42 ± 1.06°C; relative humidity, 46.35 ± 2.48%). Following baseline testing, participants completed HAz, proceeded by 5 days of HA involving exercise to induce hyperthermia (38.50 - 39.50°C) for 60 minutes. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of three IHT groups: once weekly (n = 9), twice weekly (n = 10), or no IHT (n = 8). Differences in VO2max and maximal heart rate at VO2max (HRmax) for baseline, pre-HA, post-HA, IHT4, and IHT8 were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVAs with Bonferroni corrections post-hoc. RESULTS: No significant VO2max differences were observed between baseline (57.92 ± 6.82 ml.kg-1.min-1), pre-HA (59.65 ± 8.24 ml.kg-1.min-1), and post-HA (59.49 ± 7.18 ml.kg-1.min-1, p = 0.36). No significant group or time effects were identified for VO2max at post-HA, IHT4, and IHT8 (p = 0.67). However, significant HRmax differences were observed between baseline (180 ± 11 beats.min-1), pre-HA (177 ± 10 beats.min-1), and post-HA tests (175 ± 10 beats.min-1, p = 0.01). No significant group or time HRmax differences were shown for post-HA, IHT4, and IHT8 (p = 0.59). CONCLUSION: No changes in VO2max were identified among endurance runners following HA/HAz, potentially due to participants’ high aerobic fitness levels. As IHT maintained VO2max following 8 weeks without repeated heat exposure, it is potentially a beneficial strategy to minimize VO2max adaptation decay in endurance athletes

Sleep Duration is Increased Following Muscle Damaging Exercise in Hot Environmental Conditions

Sleep and recovery measures are typically negatively affected by a muscle-damaging bout of exercise. However, it remains unknown if the additive effects of hot environmental conditions, resulting in increased core temperature and other thermoregulatory responses during the exercise bout, further progress changes in quantity and performance quality of sleep duration. PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of muscle-damaging exercise in the heat, compared to a thermoneutral condition, on sleep and recovery measures. METHODS: Ten healthy males (age: 23 ± 3yr; body mass: 78.7 ± 11.5kg; height: 176.9 ± 5cm; lactate threshold [LT]: 9.7 ± 1.0km.hr-1) performed two protocols in a randomized, counterbalanced order of downhill running (DHR) for 30-minutes at the LT in either a thermoneutral (ambient temperate [Tamb], 20°C; relative humidity [RH], 20%) or hot environmental condition (Tamb, 35°C; RH, 40%) at a -10% gradient. Sleep and recovery measures were collected from a wearable sleep device participants wore the night after the DHR. Differences in sleep and recovery measures following DHR in the heat compared to a thermoneutral condition were analyzed using paired samples T-tests. RESULTS: Sleep hours, restorative sleep hours, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep hours, and slow wave sleep (SWS) hours were all greater following the heat condition (mean ± SD; sleep hours: 6.70 ± 0.74hr, p = 0.040; restorative sleep hours: 3.31 ± 0.90hr, p = 0.012; REM sleep hours: 1.70 ± 0.64hr, p = 0.046; SWS hours: 1.61 ± 0.35hr, p = 0.015) compared to the thermoneutral condition (sleep hours: 5.24 ± 1.75hr; restorative sleep hours: 2.45 ± 1.11hr; REM sleep hours: 1.23 ± 0.68hr; SWS: 1.22 ± 0.53hr). Also, recovery was higher following the heat condition (recovery: 75.88 ± 15.31, p = 0.023) compared to the thermoneutral condition (recovery: 50.75 ± 21.46). Sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, sleep deprivation, sleep score, %REM, %SWS, light sleep, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability were not different between conditions (ps \u3e 0.05). CONCLUSION: Following muscle-damaging exercise in the heat, sleep and recovery duration measures were increased compared to a thermoneutral condition. These findings suggest that performing muscle-damaging exercises in hot conditions may require a greater amount of sleep for optimal recovery

A prospective study to assess the value of MMP-9 in improving the appropriateness of urgent referrals for colorectal cancer

Background Bowel cancer is common and is a major cause of death. Most people with bowel symptoms who meet the criteria for urgent referral to secondary care will not be found to have bowel cancer, and some people who are found to have cancer will have been referred routinely rather than urgently. If general practitioners could better identify people who were likely to have bowel cancer or conditions that may lead to bowel cancer, the pressure on hospital clinics may be reduced, enabling these patients to be seen more quickly. Increased levels of an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) have been found to be associated with such conditions, and this can be measured from a blood sample. This study aims to find out whether measuring MMP-9 levels could improve the appropriateness of urgent referrals for patients with bowel symptoms. Methods People aged 18 years or older referred to a colorectal clinic will be asked to complete a questionnaire about symptoms, recent injuries or chronic illnesses (these can increase the level of matrix metalloproteinases) and family history of bowel cancer. A blood sample will be taken from people who consent to take part to assess MMP-9 levels, and the results of examination at the clinic and/or investigations arising from the clinic visit will be collected from hospital records. The accuracy of MMP-9 will be assessed by comparing the MMP-9 level with the resulting diagnosis. The combination of factors (e.g. symptoms and MMP-9 level) that best predict a diagnosis of malignancy (invasive disease or polyps) will be determined. Discussion Although guidelines are in place to facilitate referrals to colorectal clinics, symptoms alone do not adequately distinguish people with malignancy from people with benign conditions. This study will establish whether MMP-9 could assist this process. If this were the case, measurement of MMP-9 levels could be used by general practitioners to assist in the identification of people who were most likely to have bowel cancer or conditions that may lead to bowel cancer, and who should, therefore, be referred most urgently to secondary car

Use of contingency management incentives to improve completion of hepatitis B vaccination in people undergoing treatment for heroin dependence: a cluster randomised trial

Background: Poor adherence to treatment diminishes its individual and public health benefit. Financial incentives, provided on the condition of treatment attendance, could address this problem. Injecting drug users are a high-risk group for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and transmission, but adherence to vaccination programmes is poor. We aimed to assess whether contingency management delivered in routine clinical practice increased the completion of HBV vaccination in individuals receiving opioid substitution therapy. Methods: In our cluster randomised controlled trial, we enrolled participants at 12 National Health Service drug treatment services in the UK that provided opioid substitution therapy and nurse-led HBV vaccination with a super-accelerated schedule (vaccination days 0, 7, and 21). Clusters were randomly allocated 1:1:1 to provide vaccination without incentive (treatment as usual), with fixed value contingency management (three £10 vouchers), or escalating value contingency management (£5, £10, and £15 vouchers). Both contingency management schedules rewarded on-time attendance at appointments. The primary outcome was completion of clinically appropriate HBV vaccination within 28 days. We also did sensitivity analyses that examined vaccination completion with full adherence to appointment times and within a 3 month window. The trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN72794493. Findings: Between March 16, 2011, and April 26, 2012, we enrolled 210 eligible participants. Compared with six (9%) of 67 participants treated as usual, 35 (45%) of 78 participants in the fixed value contingency management group met the primary outcome measure (odds ratio 12·1, 95% CI 3·7–39·9; p<0·0001), as did 32 (49%) of 65 participants in the escalating value contingency management group (14·0, 4·2–46·2; p<0·0001). These differences remained significant with sensitivity analyses. Interpretation: Modest financial incentives delivered in routine clinical practice significantly improve adherence to, and completion of, HBV vaccination programmes in patients receiving opioid substitution therapy. Achievement of this improvement in routine clinical practice should now prompt actual implementation. Drug treatment providers should employ contingency management to promote adherence to vaccination programmes. The effectiveness of routine use of contingency management to achieve long-term behaviour change remains unknown