Perceptions of Parenting, Self-Esteem, and Relationships

Levels of satisfaction in our close relationships can be the direct causes of break-ups, divorces, longevity, and many other outcomes. Using self-esteem as a connecting variable, it is possible to trace our satisfaction in relationships all the way back to the way in which we were treated as children. Specifically, children who grow up in a household with authoritative parenting end up with higher self-esteem than those who don’t (Zakeri & Karimpour, 2011; Pinquart & Gerke, 2019; Yousaf, 2015). Further, individuals with higher levels of self-esteem tend to have higher levels of satisfaction in their close relationships, romantic or platonic, throughout life (Gleeson & Fitzgerald, 2014; Erol & Orth, 2014; Bourne et al., 2014; Tariq, 2011). 60 undergraduate Belmont University students participated in this study through Qualtrics, a data collection software. Each participant’s perceived parenting style and self-esteem levels were measured through the Perceptions of Parents Scales (POPS) (Grolnick et al., 1997) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), respectively. Close relationship satisfaction was measured through the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised (Fraley et al., 2000) for romantic relationships and the Friendship Network Satisfaction (FNS) Scale (Kaufman et al., 2021) for platonic relationships. Results showed that those who had parents with a higher score in authoritative parenting scored higher on self-esteem, and those who scored higher on self-esteem also scored higher on their close relationship satisfaction. Implications of our study help shine a light on the importance of how we treat our children, for it could very much affect the satisfaction of the most important relationships they have throughout their entire lives

The Public Playground Paradox: "Child’s Joy" or Heterotopia of Fear?

Literature depicts children of the Global North withdrawing from public space to“acceptable islands”. Driven by fears both of and for children, the publicplayground – one such island – provides clear-cut distinctions between childhoodand adulthood. Extending this argument, this paper takes the original approach oftheoretically framing the playground as a heterotopia of deviance, examining –for the first time – three Greek public playground sites in relation to adjacentpublic space. Drawing on an ethnographic study in Athens, findings show fear tounderpin surveillance, control and playground boundary porosity. Normativeclassification as “children’s space” discourages adult engagement. However, in anovel and significant finding, a paradoxical phenomenon sees the playground’spresence simultaneously legitimizing playful behaviour in adjacent public spacefor children and adults. Extended playground play creates alternate orderings andnegotiates norms and hierarchies, suggesting significant wider potential toreconceptualise playground-urban design for an intergenerational public realm

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Efficacy and safety of baricitinib or ravulizumab in adult patients with severe COVID-19 (TACTIC-R): a randomised, parallel-arm, open-label, phase 4 trial

Background From early in the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence suggested a role for cytokine dysregulation and complement activation in severe disease. In the TACTIC-R trial, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of baricitinib, an inhibitor of Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) and JAK2, and ravulizumab, a monoclonal inhibitor of complement C5 activation, as an adjunct to standard of care for the treatment of adult patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Methods TACTIC-R was a phase 4, randomised, parallel-arm, open-label platform trial that was undertaken in the UK with urgent public health designation to assess the potential of repurposing immunosuppressants for the treatment of severe COVID-19, stratified by a risk score. Adult participants (aged ≥18 years) were enrolled from 22 hospitals across the UK. Patients with a risk score indicating a 40% risk of admission to an intensive care unit or death were randomly assigned 1:1:1 to standard of care alone, standard of care with baricitinib, or standard of care with ravulizumab. The composite primary outcome was the time from randomisation to incidence (up to and including day 14) of the first event of death, invasive mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, cardiovascular organ support, or renal failure. The primary interim analysis was triggered when 125 patient datasets were available up to day 14 in each study group and we included in the analysis all participants who were randomly assigned. The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04390464). Findings Between May 8, 2020, and May 7, 2021, 417 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to standard of care alone (145 patients), baricitinib (137 patients), or ravulizumab (135 patients). Only 54 (39%) of 137 patients in the baricitinib group received the maximum 14-day course, whereas 132 (98%) of 135 patients in the ravulizumab group received the intended dose. The trial was stopped after the primary interim analysis on grounds of futility. The estimated hazard ratio (HR) for reaching the composite primary endpoint was 1·11 (95% CI 0·62–1·99) for patients on baricitinib compared with standard of care alone, and 1·53 (0·88–2·67) for ravulizumab compared with standard of care alone. 45 serious adverse events (21 deaths) were reported in the standard-of-care group, 57 (24 deaths) in the baricitinib group, and 60 (18 deaths) in the ravulizumab group. Interpretation Neither baricitinib nor ravulizumab, as administered in this study, was effective in reducing disease severity in patients selected for severe COVID-19. Safety was similar between treatments and standard of care. The short period of dosing with baricitinib might explain the discrepancy between our findings and those of other trials. The therapeutic potential of targeting complement C5 activation product C5a, rather than the cleavage of C5, warrants further evaluation

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

WKU Mechanical Engineering Supporting WKU

The Mechanical Engineering (ME) program at WKU actively participates within the university community to support its strategic mission and our evolution as a leading American university with international reach. For the 2006 - 2007 academic year, four teams of ME seniors are working on projects in support of internal university partners and of an international agency. One team will design, build, and test a Centrifugal Pump Demonstration Bench for the Department of Engineering with external competitive funding provided by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers through their undergraduate student research grant program. A second team will design, build, and test a Bio-Generated Greenhouse Heating System for the Department of Agriculture. The third will design, build, and test an Automated Water Filtration Test System for the Center for Water Resource Studies. After winning their district event hosted by the University of Missouri-Rolla last March, the final team recently competed with their Sip and Puff Controlled Fishing Rod for Quadriplegics at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Chicago. The ME program seeks to be relevant to our region and to produce high quality graduates who can also impact the economic quality of Kentucky within our global society

Time to act to solve gaps in practice: The BSACI National Allergy Education Strategy.

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Keeping an eye on circadian time in clinical research and medicine

Abstract Background Daily rhythms are observed in humans and almost all other organisms. Most of these observed rhythms reflect both underlying endogenous circadian rhythms and evoked responses from behaviours such as sleep/wake, eating/fasting, rest/activity, posture changes and exercise. For many research and clinical purposes, it is important to understand the contribution of the endogenous circadian component to these observed rhythms. Content The goal of this manuscript is to provide guidance on best practices in measuring metrics of endogenous circadian rhythms in humans and promote the inclusion of circadian rhythms assessments in studies of health and disease. Circadian rhythms affect all aspects of physiology. By specifying minimal experimental conditions for studies, we aim to improve the quality, reliability and interpretability of research into circadian and daily (i.e., time‐of‐day) rhythms and facilitate the interpretation of clinical and translational findings within the context of human circadian rhythms. We describe protocols, variables and analyses commonly used for studying human daily rhythms, including how to assess the relative contributions of the endogenous circadian system and other daily patterns in behaviours or the environment. We conclude with recommendations for protocols, variables, analyses, definitions and examples of circadian terminology. Conclusion Although circadian rhythms and daily effects on health outcomes can be challenging to distinguish in practice, this distinction may be important in many clinical settings. Identifying and targeting the appropriate underlying (patho)physiology is a medical goal. This review provides methods for identifying circadian effects to aid in the interpretation of published work and the inclusion of circadian factors in clinical research and practice

Development and psychometric property testing of a skin tear knowledge assessment instrument (OASES) in 37 countries

Aim: To develop and psychometrically evaluate a skin tear knowledge assessment instrument (OASES). Design: Prospective psychometric instrument validation study. Method: The skin tear knowledge assessment instrument was developed based on a literature review and expert input (N = 19). Face and content validity were assessed in a two-round Delphi procedure by 10 international experts affiliated with the International Skin Tear Advisory Panel (ISTAP). The instrument was psychometrically tested in a convenience sample of 387 nurses in 37 countries (April–May 2020). Validity of the multiple-choice test items (item difficulty, discriminating index, quality of the response alternatives), construct validity, and test–retest reliability (stability) were analysed and evaluated in light of international reference standards. Results: A 20-item instrument, covering six knowledge domains most relevant to skin tears, was designed. Content validity was established (CVI = 0.90–1.00). Item difficulty varied between 0.24 and 0.94 and the quality of the response alternatives between 0.01–0.52. The discriminating index was acceptable (0.19–0.77). Participants with a theoretically expected higher knowledge level had a significantly higher total score than participants with theoretically expected lower knowledge (p < .001). The 1-week test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.83 (95% CI = 0.78– 0.86) for the full instrument and varied between 0.72 (95% CI = 0.64–0.79) and 0.85 (95% CI = 0.81–0.89) for the domains. Cohen's Kappa coefficients of the individual items ranged between 0.21 and 0.74. Conclusion: The skin tear knowledge assessment instrument is supported by acceptable psychometric properties and can be applied in nursing education, research, and practice to assess knowledge of healthcare professionals about skin tears. Impact: Prevention and treatment of skin tears are a challenge for healthcare professionals. The provision of adequate care is based on profound and up-to-date knowledge. None of the existing instruments to assess skin tear knowledge is psychometrically tested, nor up-to-date. OASES can be used worldwide to identify education, practice, and research needs and priorities related to skin tears in clinical practice.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio