The holistic phase model of early adult crisis

The objective of the current study was to explore the structural, temporal and experiential manifestations of crisis episodes in early adulthood, using a holistic-systemic theoretical framework. Based on an analysis of 50 interviews with individuals about a crisis episode between the ages of 25 and 35, a holistic model was developed. The model comprises four phases: (1) Locked-in, (2) Separation/Time-out, (3) Exploration and (4) Rebuilding, which in turn have characteristic features at four levels—person-in-environment, identity, motivation and affect-cognition. A crisis starts out with a commitment at work or home that has been made but is no longer desired, and this is followed by an emotionally volatile period of change as that commitment is terminated. The positive trajectory of crisis involves movement through an exploratory period towards active rebuilding of a new commitment, but ‘fast-forward’ and ‘relapse’ loops can interrupt Phases 3 and 4 and make a positive resolution of the episode less likely. The model shows conceptual links with life stage theories of emerging adulthood and early adulthood, and it extends current understandings of the transitional developmental challenges that young adults encounter

Protocol for: Sheffield Obesity Trial (SHOT): A randomised controlled trial of exercise therapy and mental health outcomes in obese adolescents [ISRCNT83888112]

Background While obesity is known to have many physiological consequences, the psychopathology of this condition has not featured prominently in the literature. Cross-sectional studies have indicated that obese children have increased odds of experiencing poor quality of life and mental health. However, very limited trial evidence has examined the efficacy of exercise therapy for enhancing mental health outcomes in obese children, and the Sheffield Obesity Trial (SHOT) will provide evidence of the efficacy of supervised exercise therapy in obese young people aged 11–16 years versus usual care and an attention-control intervention. Method/design SHOT is a randomised controlled trial where obese young people are randomised to receive; (1) exercise therapy, (2) attention-control intervention (involving body-conditioning exercises and games that do not involve aerobic activity), or (3) usual care. The exercise therapy and attention-control sessions will take place three times per week for eight weeks and a six-week home programme will follow this. Ninety adolescents aged between 11–16 years referred from a children's hospital for evaluation of obesity or via community advertisements will need to complete the study. Participants will be recruited according to the following criteria: (1) clinically obese and aged 11–16 years (Body Mass Index Centile > 98th UK standard) (2) no medical condition that would restrict ability to be active three times per week for eight weeks and (3) not diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes or receiving oral steroids. Assessments of outcomes will take place at baseline, as well as four (intervention midpoint) and eight weeks (end of intervention) from baseline. Participants will be reassessed on outcome measures five and seven months from baseline. The primary endpoint is physical self-perceptions. Secondary outcomes include physical activity, self-perceptions, depression, affect, aerobic fitness and BMI

Arctic passages: liminality, Iñupiat Eskimo mothers and NW Alaska communities in transition

Background. While the primary goal of the NW Alaska Native maternal transport is safe deliveries for mothers from remote villages, little has been done to question the impact of transport on the mothers and communities involved. This study explores how presence of Iñupiat values influences the desire of indigenous women of differing eras and NW Alaska villages to participate in biomedical birth, largely made available by a tribal health-sponsored transport system. Objective. This paper portrays how important it is (and why) for Alaska Native families and women of different generations from various areas of Iñupiat villages of NW Alaska to get to the hospital to give birth. This research asks: How does a community’s presence of Iñupiat values influence women of different eras and locations to participate in a more biomedical mode of birth? Design. Theoretical frameworks of medical anthropology and maternal identity work are used to track the differences in regard to the maternal transport operation for Iñupiat mothers of the area. Presence of Iñupiat values in each of the communities is compared by birth era and location for each village. Content analysis is conducted to determine common themes in an inductive, recursive fashion. Results. A connection is shown between a community’s manifestation of Iñupiat cultural expression and mothers’ acceptance of maternal transport in this study. For this group of Iñupiat Eskimo mothers, there is interplay between community expression of Iñupiat values and desire and lengths gone to by women of different eras and locations. Conclusions. The more openly manifested the Iñupiat values of the community, the more likely alternative birthing practices sought, lessening the reliance on the existing transport policy. Conversely, the more openly western values are manifested in the village of origin, the less likely alternative measures are sought. For this study group, mothers from study villages with openly manifested western values are more likely to easily acquiesce to policy, and “make the best” of their prenatal travel

Individual and Contextual Factors of Sexual Risk Behavior in Youth Perinatally Infected with HIV

Abstract This study prospectively examines the effects of maternal and child HIV infection on youth penetrative and unprotected penetrative sex, as well as the role of internal contextual, external contextual, social and self-regulatory factors in influencing the sexual behaviors of HIV?infected (PHIV+), HIV?affected (uninfected with an HIV+ caregiver), and HIV unaffected (uninfected with an HIV? caregiver) youth over time. Data (N=420) were drawn from two longitudinal studies focused on the effects of pediatric or maternal HIV on youth (51% female; 39% PHIV+) and their caregivers (92% female; 46% HIV+). PHIV+ youth were significantly less likely to engage in penetrative sex than HIV? youth at follow-up, after adjusting for contextual, social, and self-regulatory factors. Other individual- and contextual-level factors such as youth alcohol and marijuana use, residing with a biological parent, caregiver employment, caregiver marijuana use, and youth self-concept were also associated with penetrative sex. Youth who used alcohol were significantly more likely to engage in unprotected penetrative sex. Data suggest that, despite contextual, social, and self-regulatory risk factors, PHIV+ youth are less likely to engage in sexual behavior compared to HIV? youth from similar environments. Further research is required to understand delays in sexual activity in PHIV+ youth and also to understand potential factors that promote resiliency, particularly as they age into older adolescence and young adulthood.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98470/1/apc%2E2012%2E0005.pd

Entrepreneurs’ age, institutions, and social value creation goals: a multi-country study

This study explores the relationship between an entrepreneur's age and his/her social value creation goals. Building on the lifespan developmental psychology literature and institutional theory, we hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to create social value through their ventures, such that younger and older entrepreneurs create more social value with their businesses while middle age entrepreneurs are relatively more economically and less socially oriented with their ventures. We further hypothesize that the quality of a country’s formal institutions in terms of economic, social, and political freedom steepen the U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to pursue social value creation as supportive institutional environments allow entrepreneurs to follow their age-based preferences. We confirm our predictions using multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions on a sample of over 15,000 entrepreneurs (aged between 18 and 64 years) in 45 countries from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. The findings are robust to several alternative specifications. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for theory and practice, and we propose future research directions

Environmental Factors in the Relapse and Recurrence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease:A Review of the Literature

The causes of relapse in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are largely unknown. This paper reviews the epidemiological and clinical data on how medications (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, estrogens and antibiotics), lifestyle factors (smoking, psychological stress, diet and air pollution) may precipitate clinical relapses and recurrence. Potential biological mechanisms include: increasing thrombotic tendency, imbalances in prostaglandin synthesis, alterations in the composition of gut microbiota, and mucosal damage causing increased permeability

NGTS-5b: A highly inflated planet offering insights into the sub-Jovian desert

Context: Planetary population analysis gives us insight into formation and evolution processes. For short-period planets, the subJovian desert has been discussed in recent years with regard to the planet population in the mass/period and radius/period parameter space without taking stellar parameters into account. The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) is optimised for detecting planets in this regime, which allows for further analysis of the sub-Jovian desert. Aims: With high-precision photometric surveys (e.g. with NGTS and TESS), which aim to detect short period planets especially around M/K-type host stars, stellar parameters need to be accounted for when empirical data are compared to model predictions. Presenting a newly discovered planet at the boundary of the sub-Jovian desert, we analyse its bulk properties and use it to show the properties of exoplanets that border the sub-Jovian desert. Methods: Using NGTS light curve and spectroscopic follow-up observations, we confirm the planetary nature of planet NGTS-5b and determine its mass. Using exoplanet archives, we set the planet in context with other discoveries. Results: NGTS-5b is a short-period planet with an orbital period of 3.3569866 +- 0.0000026 days. With a mass of 0.229 +- 0.037 MJup and a radius of 1.136 +- 0.023 RJup, it is highly inflated. Its mass places it at the upper boundary of the sub-Jovian desert. Because the host is a K2 dwarf, we need to account for the stellar parameters when NGTS-5b is analysed with regard to planet populations. Conclusions: With red-sensitive surveys (e.g. with NGTS and TESS), we expect many more planets around late-type stars to be detected. An empirical analysis of the sub-Jovian desert should therefore take stellar parameters into account

NGTS discovery of a highly inflated Saturn-mass planet and a highly irradiated hot Jupiter: NGTS-26 b and NGTS-27 b

We report the discovery of two new transiting giant exoplanets NGTS-26 b and NGTS-27 b by the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). NGTS-26 b orbits around a G6-type main sequence star every 4.52 days. It has a mass of 0.29-0.06+0.07 MJup and a radius of 1.33-0.05+0.06 RJup making it a Saturn-mass planet with a highly inflated radius. NGTS-27 b orbits around a slightly evolved G3-type star every 3.37 days. It has a mass of 0.59-0.07+0.10 MJup and a radius of 1.40±0.04 RJup, making it a relatively standard hot Jupiter. The transits of these two planetary systems were re-observed and confirmed in photometry by the SAAO 1.0-m telescope, 1.2-m Euler Swiss telescope as well as the TESS spacecraft, and their masses were derived spectroscopically by the CORALIE, FEROS and HARPS spectrographs. Both giant exoplanets are highly irradiated by their host stars and present an anomalously inflated radius, especially NGTS-26 b which is one of the largest objects among peers of similar mass

Heteropolymeric Triplex-Based Genomic Assay® to Detect Pathogens or Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Human Genomic Samples

Human genomic samples are complex and are considered difficult to assay directly without denaturation or PCR amplification. We report the use of a base-specific heteropolymeric triplex, formed by native duplex genomic target and an oligonucleotide third strand probe, to assay for low copy pathogen genomes present in a sample also containing human genomic duplex DNA, or to assay human genomic duplex DNA for Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP), without PCR amplification. Wild-type and mutant probes are used to identify triplexes containing FVL G1691A, MTHFR C677T and CFTR mutations. The specific triplex structure forms rapidly at room temperature in solution and may be detected without a separation step. YOYO-1, a fluorescent bis-intercalator, promotes and signals the formation of the specific triplex. Genomic duplexes may be assayed homogeneously with single base pair resolution. The specific triple-stranded structures of the assay may approximate homologous recombination intermediates, which various models suggest may form in either the major or minor groove of the duplex. The bases of the stable duplex target are rendered specifically reactive to the bases of the probe because of the activity of intercalated YOYO-1, which is known to decondense duplex locally 1.3 fold. This may approximate the local decondensation effected by recombination proteins such as RecA in vivo. Our assay, while involving triplex formation, is sui generis, as it is not homopurine sequence-dependent, as are “canonical triplexes”. Rather, the base pair-specific heteropolymeric triplex of the assay is conformation-dependent. The highly sensitive diagnostic assay we present allows for the direct detection of base sequence in genomic duplex samples, including those containing human genomic duplex DNA, thereby bypassing the inherent problems and cost associated with conventional PCR based diagnostic assays

The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS)

© 2017 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. We describe the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a ground-based project searching for transiting exoplanets orbiting bright stars. NGTS builds on the legacy of previous surveys, most notably WASP, and is designed to achieve higher photometric precision and hence find smaller planets than have previously been detected from the ground. It also operates in red light,maximizing sensitivity to late K and earlyMdwarf stars. The survey specifications call for photometric precision of 0.1 per cent in red light over an instantaneous field of view of 100 deg 2 , enabling the detection of Neptune-sized exoplanets around Sun-like stars and super-Earths around M dwarfs. The survey is carried out with a purpose-built facility at Cerro Paranal, Chile, which is the premier site of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). An array of twelve 20 cm f/2.8 telescopes fitted with back-illuminated deep-depletion CCD cameras is used to survey fields intensively at intermediateGalactic latitudes. The instrument is also ideally suited to ground-based photometric follow-up of exoplanet candidates from space telescopes such as TESS, Gaia and PLATO. We present observations that combine precise autoguiding and the superb observing conditions at Paranal to provide routine photometric precision of 0.1 per cent in 1 h for stars with I-band magnitudes brighter than 13. We describe the instrument and data analysis methods as well as the status of the survey, which achieved first light in 2015 and began full-survey operations in 2016. NGTS data will be made publicly available through the ESO archive