Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Physical Activity and Nutrition Program for Older Adults Residing in Retirement Villages

Physical activity and a healthy diet are recognised as important lifestyle factors for maintaining a healthy bodyweight and preventing chronic disease. Retirement villages are a unique setting to reach older adults to test the effectiveness of approaches to increase physical activity levels. improve nutrition and maintain a healthy bodyweight. This cluster-RCT based in Perth, Western Australia evaluated the effectiveness of a 6-month physical activity and nutrition program for ‘insufficiently’ active adults aged 60-80 years

Evaluation of Mucosal 5-HT Signaling and Potential Sex Differences in Motor Activity in the Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that causes a myriad of symptoms, including cognitive, sensory, and motor deficits, as well as gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility. We have previously demonstrated that male mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the predominant model for MS, have disrupted GI motility, but the mechanisms for this dysmotility are not understood, and potential sex differences have not been evaluated. Since 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin) is a mediator of motor and secretory reflexes in the gut, we investigated key elements of mucosal 5-HT signaling in the EAE mouse model of MS. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to evaluate 5-HT tissue levels as normalized by a bicinchoninic acid assay and RT-qPCR was used to evaluate mRNA expression for the rate limiting molecule in 5-HT synthesis, tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (Tph1), and the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT), both of which were normalized to the housekeeping gene beta 2 microglobulin (B2M). Motility and fecal composition were also compared in female versus male mice with EAE. The mRNA expression for Tph1 was decreased in EAE mice, but levels of 5-HT in the tissue and SERT mRNA expression were unchanged. Furthermore, no differences were detected in colonic motility, fecal water content, or whole GI transit in female versus male mice with EAE. However, it was noted that male mice with EAE displayed peak GI dysfunction at day 21, whereas female mice with EAE showed peak GI dysfunction at day 27. These findings indicate that female and male mice present with similar levels of GI dysfunction over time, representing comparable models for motility disruption in EAE, and suggest that mechanisms other than altered 5-HT signaling are responsible for altered motility in this model

Editors\u27 Note - Action, Scene, And Voice: 21st-Century Dialogues With Edward Gordon Craig

A roadmap to this Special Issue of Mime Journal. This issue emphasizes the tissue of influences that shaped Craig’s own work and continue to impact contemporary theater and performance. By focusing on the historical contexts in which his ideas were developed and those in which they have been received, the essays counter the widely held perception of Craig as the solitary genius of the “Art of the Theatre.” His claims of originality and singularity have too often obscured the connections between his work and that of other artists—especially the dancer Isadora Duncan, upon whom two of the pieces included here focus. Our contributors are actors, directors, corporeal mimes, puppeteers, dancers, and scholars of theater, performance, dance, mime, puppetry, and print culture. All have been shaped by Craig’s vision; all have reckoned with his imperious and impassioned demands; all have probed his weaknesses—personal and professional—and resisted his prejudices. All respond provocatively to Craig’s work, making a strong claim for his continuing relevance even as they critique his life and career. Far from a hagiographic tribute to Craig, this issue takes up Craig’s contested legacy and contests it further

Contents - Edward Gordon Craig Special Issue 2017

Cover, front matter, and contents for Mime Journal Special Issue, Action, Scene, and Voice: 21st-Century Dialogues with Edward Gordon Craig. Guest editors: Jennifer Buckley and Annie Holt

Refugees\u27 perceptions of primary care: What makes a good doctor\u27s visit?

Redesigning primary care is a national priority, as the United States (US) struggles with issues of poor access, high cost, and suboptimal quality. Refugees are among the populations who suffer from America’s disjointed health care system, resulting in disproportionate health disparities. Although there are many studies on refugee health, few share refugees\u27 perceptions of primary care. We asked local refugees who were seen for primary care services at a midwestern academic nurse-led clinic, what makes a good doctor\u27s visit?  The clinic served as the hub of a federally funded refugee Community Centered Health Home (CCHH) pilot project. This qualitative study adds to the growing body of literature that captures the voices of resettled refugees as they reflect on their health care experiences in their new home. The purpose of this study was to elicit the criteria refugees used to evaluate the quality of their care. Individual interviews were conducted with seven refugees as part of the larger CCHH pilot project. Through qualitative thematic analysis, four themes were identified that participants considered aspects of a good visit : 1.  The ability to communicate without language barriers; 2. Open reciprocal dialogue with providers; 3. Provider professionalism; and 4. Accurate diagnosis and treatment. We offer recommendations to improve patient experience in the refugee population which may lead to better health outcomes. Future study is proposed to gain knowledge of how refugee perceptions of quality of care may change over time as they become more familiar with US health care system. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Reading Costume Design: the rise of the costume designer 1850-1920

"Reading Costume Design" identifies and theorizes an important shift in costume practices: in the mid-nineteenth century, it was common for actors to wear their own clothing onstage or to choose a garment from a theatre's generic stock, without coordination with other costumes or attention to the particular demands of a role. By the early twentieth century, however, costume was firmly established as an expressive artistic tool in building a character and shaping the complete theatrical experience, overseen by a professional designer who routinely received credit in the program. By focusing on this specific moment, my dissertation reclaims theatrical costume as an object of theoretical inquiry (a text), while maintaining its place as an object of material culture, fully embedded in a particular historical context. I use the figure of the professional costume designer - and her rising prominence across the performing arts after 1880 - as a lens to focus on the changing relationship between the stage, fashion, and visual culture. "Reading Costume Design" argues that this historical shift reveals an important change in the status of costumes: from craft to art. At the beginning of my period, costumes impressed audiences as bravura displays of wealth, spectacle, or craftsmanship; by 1920, theatre practitioners and audience members viewed costume as an expressive art form, and its designer as an artist. As art objects, costumes acquired additional semiotic value, conveying new kinds of information to spectators. Designers created costumes for audiences to "look through" - reading costumes not only for their surface beauty or accuracy but also for commentary or reflection upon the text or overall performance. As a form of expression in their own right, costumes interacted in more collaborative or critical ways with the literary and musical texts. I contend that in this fertile period, four kinds of artists made key contributions to this expanded expressive model of costume design: performers, directors, couturiers, and painters. I use the term "proto-designer" to denote these artists, who helped to shape the profession of costume design from adjacent fields. Each of my four chapters studies one type of proto-designer, focusing on two or three significant examples. Major figures discussed include Georg II of Saxe-Meinengan, Richard Wagner, Marietta Piccolomini, Ellen Terry, Lucy Duff-Gordon (Lucile), Paul Poiret, Edward Gordon Craig, Leon Bakst, and Pablo Picasso. "Reading Costume Design" shows how theatrical Modernism established norms of costume design that are still with us today, analyzing the consolidation of costume choices into the hands of one individual (the designer) as part of Modernism's investment in the single artistic consciousness. This project highlights the importance of costume design as an object of study, able to move across different genres within the performing arts (theatre, dance, opera) and to offer fresh perspectives on fields such as theatre history, media and celebrity studies, art history, gender studies, aesthetics, and material culture

Bruk av metaforer om kjemiske bindinger i kreativ skriving

This is an Open Access article published in NorDiNa. The article can be found on publisher's web page by following this link: https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/nordina/index This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.I denne studien undersøkes elevers bruk av metaforer i kreative tekster om kjemiske reaksjoner. I norsk skole har det etter innføring av læreplanen for kunnskapsløftet (LK06) vært fokus på de grunnleggende ferdighetene å kunne lese og uttrykke seg muntlig og skriftlig. Skriving i naturfag har i stor grad vært preget av at elevene svarer på oppgaver i læreboka og av avskrift fra ulike kilder (Solheim, Larsen, & Torvatn, 2010; Torvatn, 2008). Skriveoppdrag som utfordrer eleven til å uttrykke sin forståelse med egne ord kan se ut til å være lite utnyttet. Kreativ skriving er en slik skrivesjanger der elevene uttrykker seg med egne ord i et ikke-vitenskapelig språk, samtidig som et kriterium for skriveoppdraget er at teksten skal være faglig korrekt. I denne studien undersøkes mer spesifikt de metaforene som elever på 8. trinn bruker for å skape mening om begrepet kjemisk binding på submikroskopisk nivå. Forskningsspørsmålet er: • Hvilke typer metaforer bruker elever om abstrakte begreper (kjemisk binding) i kreative tekster og hvordan kan disse metaforene gi informasjon om elevens forestillingsskjemaer og mentale modeller?publishedVersio

Sammenhengen mellom naturvitenskapelig produkt og prosess - En studie av dialoger fra utforskende arbeid i naturfag relatert til stoffer og stoffers endring

Øyehaug, A. B. and A. Holt (2013). Sammenhengen mellom naturvitenskapelig produkt og prosess - En studie av dialoger fra utforskende arbeid i naturfag relatert til stoffer og stoffers endringer. NorDiNa : Nordic Studies in Science Education 9(1): 33-49.This paper reports from a study where a teacher and researchers collaborated on designing science teaching promoting scientific inquiry (processes of science) and science content (product of science) for a group of students (age 11 – 13). A wide range of data from students’ performance in combining science product and processes were collected during a two year period. Results indicate that students combined product (matter and change of matter) and processes of science (making hypotheses, suggesting research design and evaluating evidence) and that these aspects support each other in science learning. The ability of linking product and process differed among students and varied from one scientific method to the other. To succeed in linking science content and processes of science it is important to scaffold student understanding, like providing templates and asking rich and relevant questions

Primary school teacher’s responsibility to promote positive mental health

Rationale As teachers play such a fundamental role in a child’s wellbeing, this thesis explores what positive mental health means to individual primary school teachers and how they perceive their responsibility to promote positive mental health within the Scottish context. The Scottish Education policy context is unique. The research study reported here is the first of its kind in Scotland and is important because it has been argued that effective mental health promotion is best determined by local need and practitioner strengths (Herrman, Saxena and Moodie, 2005, Clark, O’Sullivan and Barry, 2010, Hall, 2010) and so will be specific to the child and adolescent mental health context in Scotland. Since 2010, teachers in Scotland have been required to promote positive mental health, and health and wellbeing has been deemed to be the responsibility of all teachers. Therefore, a priority of this research project was to get the perspective not just those who had leadership responsibilities or an expressed interest in wellbeing, but also those with limited experience, low confidence or who had voiced doubt about the relevance or importance of positive mental health promotion to their role as primary school teachers. Sample Consequently, the sample was purposive in nature and consisted of 14 primary school teachers from 11 different schools located in 6 different local authorities who work in partnership with the School of Education. Seven participants were experienced and enthusiastic about wellbeing promotion which would include positive mental health. Six voiced a lack of experience in this area and one participant was cautious about her role within this. Thirteen participants were female and one was male. Five had leadership roles and four participants were in the first five years of their teaching career. Research Design Founded on constructivism, this research sought answers to questions about perceptions and individual perspectives in order to gain a detailed understanding of the participants’ experiences of positive mental health promotion. The following research questions underpinned the study: 1. What do primary school teachers understand by positive mental health? 2. What are primary school teachers' perceptions of their responsibility to promote positive mental health? In order to answer these questions, a qualitative research design was deemed most appropriate. Based on Guba and Lincoln’s (2008) definition of constructivism as an approach that believes reality is reached through a groups' consensus, this study used non-directive interviews to facilitate the acquisition of authentic rich data on the participants’ understanding of positive mental health and their perspectives on their responsibility to promote it. Extended discussion revealed the participant teachers’ hopes, concerns, priorities and key issues relating to their daily enactment of mental health promotion. The rich data gathered was analysed using an inductive approach that allowed themes to emerge from the data (Charmaz, 2006; Creswell, 2012; Huberman and Miles, 1998). Pillow’s (2003) strategies of reflexivity ensured that the impact of researcher, participant and the relationship between the two on data gathering, analysis and reporting was scrutinised. Findings and Conclusions The key findings reveal in depth for the first time two related but distinct features of these teachers’ work; firstly that they saw positive mental health promotion as intrinsic and integral to their overall role as teachers; and secondly, and perhaps more surprisingly, that this commitment to positive mental health promotion as an intrinsic element of being a teacher was present even in teachers who might be seen to lack interest, confidence and skills in this area. When asked about their perceptions, the participants described in detail how they enacted the role. It is clear that they perceived positive mental health promotion to be integral to the teacher’s role, challenging, personal, drawing on positive relationships, but also, the rich description of their enactment presents a vivid picture of how this may be achieved and what it looks like in practice. The primary school teachers participating in this study recognised mental health as a continuum influenced by a range of environmental, social and societal factors, such as poverty, relationships and home life. In effect, they demonstrated an understanding of positive mental health that was broadly in line with social models of wellbeing. Furthermore, consistent with policy and research (Bech et al., 2003; Bielsa et al., 2010; Jané- Llopis et al., 2005; Keyes, 2002; Levin et al., 2012; McDonald and O'Hara, 2001; WHO, 2001), participants acknowledged that positive mental health was more than the absence of mental illness. This research uncovered a range of factors at a personal and professional level which enable participant teachers to promote positive mental health. A whole school approach, where both teachers and children work in a non-judgemental and supportive environment and are immersed in positive relationships, was recognised as fundamental to positive mental health promotion. Even if lacking confidence about mental health promotion, every participant was committed to providing, offering or nurturing the key elements of positive mental health promotion; that is the fostering of positive relationships, the building of pupils’ social and emotional skills and the creation of a respectful and supportive ethos. Findings revealed that participants perceived positive mental health promotion to be one of the more personal and emotional elements of being a teacher. They endorsed the importance of positive relationships in the classroom, between pupils and also between teachers and pupils. Findings indicate that every participant found positive mental health promotion to be challenging. Consistent with prior research (Bricheno, Brown and Lubansky, 2009; Graham et al., 2011; Kidger et al., 2009; Perry, Lennie and Humphrey, 2008), participants raised concern about the impact that teaching generally and the challenges of positive mental health promotion in particular, had on their wellbeing. All participants emphasised the importance and value of working within a supportive environment in which their own mental health needs were met. Implications The participants’ understanding of positive mental health and their perception of positive mental health promotion as an integral part of the primary school teacher’s role has implications for schools, ITE and providers of professional learning. It might be beneficial to consider further this conceptualisation of positive mental health and its promotion alongside what it is to be a good teacher, particularly when teachers or students have a lack of self-efficacy in relation to positive mental health promotion. There is value in helping teachers less confident in positive mental health promotion to identify the elements of their current practice that are already consistent with what has been learned about positive mental health promotion within the context of this study. The personal dimension of positive mental health promotion and the impact of this on teacher wellbeing highlighted within this study, make it clear that there is a need to consider how the positive mental health of ITE students is promoted, particularly when considering the levels of poor mental health in adolescents and young adults in Scotland. Within the context of ITE, we should explore the extent to which our students are studying in a positive culture, conducive to learning and positive mental health promotion. Within the school context, this finding serves as a reminder or potential opportunity to increase the value placed on staff wellbeing. Participants conveyed their perceptions of their role in positive mental health promotion by providing detailed descriptions of how they enacted each element of the role. Within the context of ITE and teacher professional learning, this detail of enactment should be used to inform practice and illustrate the many elements of being a teacher promoting positive mental health. This may be invaluable to our student teachers in terms of furthering their understanding of the promotion of positive mental health and how to identify the often invisible work that mentor class teachers are doing to promote wellbeing all day every day

Det halte begreb: ‘De idrætsusikre elever’

Physical activity has important benefits for children’s health, but many children do not reach the recommended levels. The school settingprovide a promising environment to increase children’s physical activity. In regards to that, politicians and scientists are especially focusingon a certain group of pupils, the so-called ‘sports insecure’ (‘idrætsusikre’). On the basis of a social constructionism theoretical framework, this article presents a critical analysis of the term ‘sport insecure’. The article draws on findings from a phenomenological-hermeneuticcase study taking place in a multi-ethnic primary school in Denmark