Changes in Depression, Stress, and Anxiety for Student Athletes: Using Guided Imagery

Introduction: Mental health concerns among college students are increasing in severity. Researchers have shown that elite level athletes may be at a higher risk for suicide, with possible risks including injury, pressure, and substance abuse. Due to the high-stress levels of student athletes, this study was created to explore whether guided imagery (GI) can help student athletes reduce symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety.GI has been shown to decrease depression and anxiety among a variety of populations, but less work has explored the role that GI has in student athletes. Therefore, it was hypothesized that GI will reduce stress, and symptoms of negative mental health states as well as increase positive mental well-being in student athletes. Methods: Data collection is ongoing, but it is expected that participants will be 100 (18-24 years old) student athletes from a division II, public university. Participants are asked to take an online survey with questions related to mental health, stress, positive well-being, and demographics. The questions will be presented before and after a 5-minute audio clip that will ask participants to engage in a guided imagery experience. During the guided imagery experience participants will be asked to engage in controlled breathing, focus on present thoughts, and engage in mindfulness-related tasks (e.g., focusing on breathing and emotions that relate to future experiences).Data will be analyzed using a repeated measures t-test to determine if stress, symptoms of negative mental health states, and positive mental well-being will change from before to after experiencing the guided imagery task. After the guided imagery audio clip, participants are also asked open-ended questions about the guided imagery tasks. Results: It is expected that positive mental well-being will increase, and negative mental well-being will decrease with the use of one GI session. Additionally, comments will reflect positive experiences with GI, indicating that student athletes may use it in further competitions. Discussion: The literature suggests that GI is effective in reducing pain, depression, stress, and anxiety. GI decreases negative mental health issues associated with competition for athletes by promoting relaxation which can lower negative stress responses. The benefit of using GIas a tool to help with negative mental health issues is that it is cost effective and can be used in a variety of diverse athletic settings. For these reasons, GI can be an effective tool for student athletes due to their busy schedules and recreational activities

Habitat use and home range of American bitterns (Botuarus lentiginosus) and monitoring of inconspicuous marsh birds in northwest Minnesota

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 15, 2008)Vita.Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.Information on habitat use of the American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) and a statistically valid survey design for monitoring changes in populations of inconspicuous marsh birds, which include American and Least Bitterns (Ixobrychus exilis), Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps), Soras (Porzana carolina), and Virginia Rails (Rallus limicola)) is needed to inform conservation and management actions. My research, from 1999 - 2002, examined breeding habitat use and home range of American Bitterns. Also, I used pilot survey data to guide design options to meet objectives for monitoring marsh bird occupancy rates in association with habitat changes. Nest sites of American Bitterns in wetlands (n = 47) and grasslands (n = 33) were positively associated with percent dead vegetation cover and density and negatively associated with vegetation height. Foraging sites of American Bitterns were negatively associated with distance to small water openings and vegetation height. Daily survival rate was 0.96 (95% CI 0.930 - 0.979) and nest survival rate of American Bitterns was 0.35 (95% CI = 0.15 - 0.58). The average core home range size (50%) was 18.08 ha ([plus or minus] 6.38) and the 95% home range was 109.28 ha ([plus or minus] 38.47) using the fixed-kernel estimator. Results from occupancy analyses of pilot data and evaluation of a set of a priori candidate models provide the needed guidance for reliable marsh bird monitoring programs.Includes bibliographical reference

Computational Screening of Diffusive Transport in Nanoplatelet-Filled Composites: Use of Graphene to Enhance Polymer Barrier Properties

Motivated by the substantial interest in various fillers to enhance the barrier properties of polymeric films, especially graphene derivatives, we perform a computational screening of obstructed diffusion to explore the design parameter space of nanoplatelet-filled composites synthesized in silico. As a model for the nanoplatelets, we use circular and elliptical nonoverlapping and impermeable flat disks, and diffusion is stochastically simulated using a random-walk model, from which the effective diffusivity is calculated. On the basis of 4000 generated structures and diffusion simulations, we systematically investigate the impact of different nanoplatelet characteristics such as orientation, layering, size, polydispersity, shape, and amount. We conclude that the orientation, size, and amount of nanoplatelets are the most important parameters and show that using nanoplatelets oriented perpendicular to the diffusion direction, under reasonable assumptions, with approximately 0.2% (w/w) graphene, we can reach 90% reduction and, with approximately 1% (w/w) graphene, we can reach 99% reduction in diffusivity, purely because of geometrical effects, in a defect-free matrix with perfect compatibility. Additionally, our results suggest that the existing analytical models have some difficulty with extremely large aspect ratio (extremely flat) nanoplatelets, which calls for further development

Fairness, Ethnicity, and COVID-19 Ethics:A Discussion of How the Focus on Fairness in Ethical Guidance During the Pandemic Discriminates Against People From Ethnic Minority Backgrounds

Recent weeks have seen an increased focus on the ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethics guidance has proliferated across Britain, with ethicists and those with a keen interest in ethics in their professions working to produce advice and support for the National Health Service. The guiding principles of the pandemic have emerged, in one form or another, to favour fairness, especially with regard to allocating resources and prioritizing care. However, fairness is not equivalent to equity when it comes to healthcare, and the focus on fairness means that existing guidance inadvertently discriminates against people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Drawing on early criticisms of existing clinical guidance (for example, the frailty decision tool) and ethical guidance in Britain, this essay will discuss the importance of including sociology, specifically the relationship between ethnicity and health, in any ethical and clinical guidance for care during the pandemic in the United Kingdom. To do otherwise, I will argue, would be actively choosing to allow a proportion of the British population to die for no other reason than their ethnic background. Finally, I will end by arguing why sociology must be a key component in any guidance, outlining how sociology was incorporated into the cross-college guidance produced by the Royal College of Physicians

Semiconducting pi-extended discotic liquid-crystalline triindoles: studying their FET vs. SCLC mobilities

The field of organic electronics has experienced a vast development in the last few years, having the first generation of devices based in this technology already reached the market. Advances achieved in this field have been associated with the research of organic semiconductors able to transport charge carriers with a high mobility. However, finding organic semiconductors with the right balance between mobility and processability is still a challenge in the area. In this context, discotic liquid crystals, constituted by an aromatic central core surrounded by flexible alkyl tails, are among the most promising new candidates. Triindoles have been widely studied as a π-conjugated platforms in the construction of high mobility semiconducting liquid crystals. Three-fold oxidative cyclodehydrogenation of hexaphenyltriindole renders the significantly enlarged aromatic core, with structural characteristics of both triphenylene moieties and triindole. In this π-extended discotic core, the attachment of three flexible alkyl chains to the nitrogen atoms is sufficient to induce mesomorphism. The ratio of conducting versus isolating fraction is impressively enhanced when comparing to triindole liquid crystals, not only by enlarging the size of the central core but also by reducing the amount of isolating peripheral chains. In this presentation the electrical properties of the aforementioned semiconductor have been analyzed by applying two different methods: space-charge limited current (SCLC) measurements in a diode-like structure and field effect mobility measurements in a thin film transistor device. The mobility found on a diode type device is higher than that determined on thin film transistors, which can be understood by the high tendency of large π-conjugated molecules to deposit on surfaces with their extended core parallel to the substrate. This is demonstrated with a full analysis of the active layer of the thin film transistor, in order to analyze the molecular orientation in the semiconductor-dielectric interface, via Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). The observation of field effect behavior in a discotic liquid crystal processed by simple drop-casing suggests an increased dimensionality of charge transport by facilitating hopping between neighboring columns as a result of the large conducting/isolating ratio found in this discotic platform. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations have been performed in order to enlighten with more detail the charge-transport parameters at a molecular level.Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Comparison of phosphodiesterase type V inhibitors use in eight European cities through analysis of urban wastewater

In this work a step forward in investigating the use of prescription drugs, namely erectile dysfunction products, at European level was taken by applying the wastewater-based epidemiology approach. 24-h composite samples of untreated wastewater were collected at the entrance of eight wastewater treatment plants serving the catchment within the cities of Bristol, Brussels, Castellón, Copenhagen, Milan, Oslo, Utrecht and Zurich. A validated analytical procedure with direct injection of filtered aliquots by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was applied. The target list included the three active pharmaceutical ingredients (sildenafil, tadalafil and vardenafil) together with (bio)transformation products and other analogues. Only sildenafil and its two human urinary metabolites desmethyl- and desethylsildenafil were detected in the samples with concentrations reaching 60 ng L−1. The concentrations were transformed into normalized measured loads and the estimated actual consumption of sildenafil was back-calculated from these loads. In addition, national prescription data from five countries was gathered in the form of the number of prescribed daily doses and transformed into predicted loads for comparison. This comparison resulted in the evidence of a different spatial trend across Europe. In Utrecht and Brussels, prescription data could only partly explain the total amount found in wastewater; whereas in Bristol, the comparison was in agreement; and in Milan and Oslo a lower amount was found in wastewater than expected from the prescription data. This study illustrates the potential of wastewater-based epidemiology to investigate the use of counterfeit medication and rogue online pharmacy sales