An evaluation of the success of the ‘Heart-Fit’ phase IV cardiac rehabilitation programme in Newark, Nottinghamshire: a mixed-method approach

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death in England and Wales, with cardiac rehabilitation being one of the best examples of long term condition management for CVD patients (Pluss et al., 2011: Clinical Rehabilitation, 25, 79-87). Phase IV cardiac rehabilitation involves the long term maintenance of health in the form of exercise programmes, such as ‘Heart-Fit’. It has been recommended that mixed methods are required to evaluate CVD prevention programmes (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2010), therefore this case study aimed to evaluate the success of a phase IV cardiac rehabilitation programme, both qualitatively and quantitatively, outlining the impact on participants. After ethical clearance from an institutional committee, eleven members (age = 71.2, stature = 1.71m, weight = 79.8kg) of the programme (male = 6, female = 5) volunteered to take part in the study. For eligibility purposes, participants attended the programme once a week. Physical measurements of blood pressure (BP), resting heart rate (RHR), Body Mass Index (BMI) were recorded before and after a twelve week intervention period. Both physical activity levels and smoking status were also recorded by a lifestyle questionnaire. Two focus groups (n = 6 & 5) were held to gain participant perceptions on their experiences relating to the performance of the programme. Paired-sample t-tests indicated statistically significant differences (P = 0.05) pre and post intervention. Using a process of thematic analysis, participants revealed six main themes as being important factors during the 12-week programme. These included the instructor’s influence, the social nature of the group, the availability of clinical observation, psychological development and the perceived beneficial physical improvements made. The CVD risk factors influenced by the programme, in accordance to past literature, were systolic and diastolic BP and BMI. Similar themes have been identified in studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of other exercise referral schemes. Qualitative data collection should be considered alongside quantitative measures in evaluations of similar interventions. Future phase IV cardiac rehabilitation programmes need to gain a greater insight into the patient experience. This will enable health planners and policy makers to generate a sense of context on how these programmes operate at local levels and develop models of best-practice

What My Muffin Top Has To Say To You

My name is Hannah, and I have a confession to make. I hate working out—none of that sweat, panting, exhaustion, and sore muscles for me, no thank you. I’m embarrassed to go to a gym because I assume that everyone judges my speed, pacing, and weight lifting. I try to encourage myself by shopping for brightly colored running shorts and funky sports bras, but, honestly, it’s a fruitless endeavor. Because at the end of the day, I just don’t like to exercise. So why do I do it? Because I want to be skinny. [excerpt

Culture Shock

Take one week living in our culture: Monday: A student quotes other students on Overheard at Gettysburg. “In the commons at 8:50am. Two girls. Completely serious. Girl 1: Have you been outside? Girl 2: Yea! It’s rape weather. Girl 1: I know. A girl could totally get raped out there.” [excerpt

Claim your online scholarly presence: ORCiD

Presented as a Small Group/Roundtable Discussion at 2020 IUSM Education Day.Claiming, maintaining, and tracking research output is crucial to a researcher’s continued visibility and impact. Tracking scholarly output and cultivating information about a researcher's work is made possible with online scholarly profile tools. As the most widely accepted unique identifier for authors, ORCiD IDs are increasingly required for: paper submissions to journals, grant submissions, and various NIH research training and career development awards. Attendees participated in hands on activities to set up profiles, and discover more information about tracking their impact going forward, and utilize existing connections between different scholarly profile tools. Learning objectives: • List reasons why maintaining scholarly profiles is important to researchers • Describe the benefits of several scholarly profile tools • Set up and/or update your scholarly profile(s

Probing a Complex Dissociation Energy Surface with Experimental and Theoretical Methods

Dendrimers are hyperbranched polymers with a tree-like structure that can be tuned for size, shape, and functionality. Dendrimers have exhibited numerous possibilities in chemical and biochemical processes as their use in host-guest systems and controlled gene and drug delivery vehicles. Distinct properties of dendrimers, such as well-defined architecture and high ratio of functional moieties to molecular volume, make these polymers substantially useful for the development of nanomaterials and medicines. It has recently been demonstrated that polypropylene-imine (PPI) dendrimers have specific physical properties that are well suited for many applications. More specifically, the nitrile-terminated dendrimer creates a unique environment that is both aprotic and polar. Increasing interest in the design and use of these dendrimer systems has created a need for new methods of physical and chemical characterization. The current techniques used for characterization tend to be slow and sample limited, even for monodisperse samples. Polydisperse samples are even more analytically challenging. This thesis used a rapid and precise analytical framework for the characterization of dendrimers by systematically probing the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) speciation and the gas-phase collision-induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation patterns for early generation (PPI) dendrimers. Two isotopically labeled dendrimer species were employed for unambiguous assignment of complex structures and mechanisms. Hypothesized mechanisms were verified, while one anomaly presented for the β-labeled dendrimer. Also, the fragmentation patterns of certain alkali and alkaline earth metal-dendrimer complexes were investigated. These complexes of +1 and +2 charges exhibited similar losses, including radicals

Functional and Genetic Analysis of Choroid Plexus Development in Zebrafish

The choroid plexus (CP) is an epithelial based structure localized within the brain ventricles and functions as the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). Under normal conditions, the CP is responsible for generating the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and regulating its components. Abnormal CP function has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases, tumor formation in CP epithelia (CPe), and hydrocephalus. Despite the significant role of the CP in these disorders, little research has been done to characterize its functional properties and genetically dissect the pathways involved in normal CP development and disease. For this study, we have utilized zebrafish, (Danio rerio), as a model system to better understand the genetic components of CP development. Their transparent nature and rapid ex utero development provide mechanisms to visualize CP formation that is not possible in other model systems. By utilizing an enhancer trap line, Et(cp:EGFP) sj2 that expresses the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in CPe, we have demonstrated that the zebrafish CP possesses barrier properties such as tight junctions, transporter activity, and regulating central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis. After validating that the zebrafish CP is similar to higher vertebrates, we have initiated a genetic screen to answer questions such as: 1) what genes are needed for CP development, function, and maintenance, 2) what are the signaling pathways involved, and 3) how do these pathways interact with one another to form the BCSFB? This study is the first to employ an unbiased approach using a forward genetic screen to genetically dissect the CP and identify genes essential for its formation and function. As a result of this genetic analysis, we have confirmed 10 mutant lines with CP abnormalities. The mutants generated in this study will be used in future investigations to elucidate specific genes and signaling pathways essential for CP development, function, and maintenance and will provide a better understanding of how genetic mutations contribute to CP- related diseases. We have also mapped the gene for one mutant line, cp27.5, to Chromosome 21. Using a combination of classical positional cloning and whole-exome sequencing (WES), we identified the mutated gene as squamous cell carcinoma antigen recognized by T cells (sart1). sart1 plays a role in assembling the spliceosome, a multi-ribonucleoprotein complex essential for processing pre-mRNA. By characterizing cp27.5 mutants, we identified a number of proteins with altered expression levels and patterning primarily within the brain and eye. Using RNA-Seq analysis, we also identified multiple genes up-regulated or down-regulated due to the sart1 mutation. While sart1 itself was up-regulated, we also identified increased expression of genes involved in apoptosis such as tp53 and mdm2. A loss of photoreceptors and lack of retinal lamination in mutants is related to a down-regulation of vision-related genes such as phosphodiesterase 6H, (pde6h) and opsin-1, short-wave-sensitive 1 (opn1sw1), both of which are expressed in photoreceptors. Future studies will investigate the role of sart1 in splicing and the mechanisms involved in producing the phenotypes observed in cp27.5 mutants

Perception and Evaluation of Antisocial Behaviors

This project aimed to provide a better understanding of how personality traits impact the manner in which people perceive and evaluate antisocial behaviors performed by others. There were two studies completed. The first included 297 responses recorded from students in an introductory psychology course at a university in the Southern US. The second study included 177 responses recorded from Amazon’s mTurk. Participants were first asked to read vignettes of various antisocial behaviors, then respond to a series of questions about the individuals who performed these behaviors. The vignettes that were provided to the survey-takers include the topics of romantic cheating, academic cheating, theft, littering, lying, and illegal substance use. The following questions were measuring the Dark Tetrad (Palhus, 2020), HEXACO (Ashton, 2009), and Fundamental Social Motives (Neel, 2016) personality inventories in order to measure personality traits that may be relevant to perception of antisocial behaviors. Several hypotheses regarding the relationships between these variables were tested and exploratory analyses were conducted as well. A number of significant relationships were identified in both samples

The impacts of optical radiation in the environment on skin: Hazards, measurement, regulation and protection

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.From 2001 to 2005, work was conducted at the Photobiology Unit at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee to examine the optical radiation environment and its implications for normal and diseased skin. Artificial sources of radiation were considered within the contexts of the hazards posed, measurement of the hazards, regulation concerning exposure and sources, and protection of abnormal skin from adversee ffects. The hazards posed by both ultraviolet (UV) and visible polychromatic sources were examined for normal and abnormal (chronic actinic dermatitis and solar urticaria) skin in an effort to predict the responses to such radiation. With current methodologiesi t was shown that responsesto polychromatic light cannot be forecast for normal and abnormal skin. Those hazards posed by light sources in the commercial sector are also considered. The sunbeds available in Perthshire and Dundee were evaluated spectroradiometrically and appropriate weighting functions applied. A case of adverse effects due to inappropriate use of an UV source is also presented and the implications are discussed. Two diode array spectroradiometers were evaluated for their potential as instruments to measure UV sources. It was shown that one instrument could be used to give measurementsw ith acceptablee rrors. However, later work with a different instrument of the same series showed that there are manufacturing issues to be resolved before these instruments are marketed for widespread use in dosimetry. Regulations governing exposure to and use of sources are considered where appropriate. Licensing of commercial sunbed parlours is suggested in order to enforce Health and Safety guidelines and the British Standard for such appliances, create a baseline for minimum standards of care within the commercial sector and safeguard public health. Lastly, it has been shown that skin sensitive to visible light can be protected with commercial makeup preparations.Funding was obtained from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the Photobiology Unit of the University of Dundee

The Penetration of Solar Radiation in Martian Ice Analogues

The penetration depth of broad spectrum solar radiation (300 nm – 1100 nm) in ices relevant to Mars has been measured in the laboratory for the first time. These ices include carbon dioxide and water ices in the form of slab ice, ice of controlled grain sizes, and snow. All of these ice morphologies are observed on the surface of Mars today, and whilst some measurements of water ice have been made for terrestrial applications, many of these cannot be directly compared to carbon dioxide ice because of factors such as impurities in naturally occurring ice, or measurements covering only a narrow spectral range. The results presented here show that the penetration depth varies with both grain size and ice composition. Grain size (due to light scattering) is the dominant parameter at particle radii applicable to snow, and composition (therefore material-specific optical properties) dominates in larger grains and slab ice. An empirical model is presented, which can be used to predict penetration depth of a specific grain size and composition of ice. This has important applications for modelling surface processes on Mars, many of which have no terrestrial analogue. Relevant features include araneiforms, observed only in association with the seasonal carbon dioxide slab ice, or gullies, which vary in morphology depending on location, indicating varying formation mechanisms. By using more accurate penetration depths for ices on the Martian surface, radiative transfer models describing surface-atmosphere interactions could better simulate these formation processes. These results can further be applied to modelling icy moons and comets. Future work to expand on this thesis would involve determining the effect of impurities on the e-folding scale of CO2 ice as Mars’s seasonal polar caps contain <0.1% dust. Moreover, measuring the penetration depth in other extra-terrestrial ices would be benefit studies of comets and icy moons