PARENTS’ ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHOICE OF MARTIAL ARTS FOR THEIR CHILDREN

Child engagement with martial arts contributes to the development of their personality. These are sports activities that are not done within the school but during their leisure time. This children’s choice is linked to the social and cultural environment of the family and constitutes part of the family practices of social reproduction according to P. Bourdieu This paper examines the pre-school and school children’s involvement in martial arts in relation to their social origin. The sample of the survey consists of 268 parents whose children are involved in the martial arts in their leisure time. The questionnaire was used as a means of collecting data. According to the results of the survey, boys are more involved in martial arts than girls are a fact which highlights the contribution of martial arts to the reproduction of gender discrimination. There was a statistically significant relationship between the choice of the martial arts and the profession, the educational level and the income of the parents. It seems that both the profession and the level of parenting education and their annual family income influence the choice of the martial arts sport for their children. In conclusion, the martial arts, although they had started from the lower social strata nowadays a social development is observed. More and more educated parents, who belong to the middle and upper social classes, get their children be involved in martial arts, in their free time, since they have realized the importance of the martial arts and how these help in creating and developing a complete personality.  Article visualizations

Εικονικά περιβάλλοντα για την ενίσχυση της ευαισθητοποίησης του κοινού για την Ιδεοψυχαναγκαστική διαταραχή.

Η παρούσα έρευνα έχει σκοπό τη δημιουργία εικονικών περιβαλλόντων που ευαισθητοποιούν το κοινό για την Ιδεοψυχαναγκαστική διαταραχή (Ι.Δ.Ψ). Συνεπώς, εξετάζονται τα εξής ερευνητικά ερωτήματα: α) η διερεύνηση των χαρακτηριστικών της διαταραχής που πρέπει να περιλαμβάνει ένα εικονικό περιβάλλον που έχει στόχο την ευαισθητοποίηση και β) ο βαθμός ευαισθητοποίησης των χρηστών μετά από την περιήγηση τους στο εικονικό περιβάλλον. Για το πρώτο ερευνητικό ερώτημα της εργασίας, πραγματοποιήθηκαν συνεντεύξεις με τέσσερις ψυχολόγους προκειμένου να προσδιοριστούν τα χαρακτηριστικά της διαταραχής που χρειάζεται να περιλαμβάνει το εικονικό περιβάλλον. Ύστερα, σε συνδυασμό με τη βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση διαμορφώθηκε το σενάριο για τα δύο εικονικά περιβάλλοντα όπου το ένα αφορούσε την Ιδεοψυχαναγκαστική διαταραχή για την πρόκληση βλάβης και τον αυτοέλεγχο και το άλλο την Ιδεοψυχαναγκαστική διαταραχή για τη μόλυνση και τα μικρόβια. Στη συνέχεια πραγματοποιήθηκε αξιολόγηση της ευχρηστίας των δύο εικονικών περιβαλλόντων για την εμπειρία χρήσης από τρεις χρήστες καθώς και για τη ρεαλιστικότητα απεικόνισης της διαταραχής από δύο ψυχολόγους και δύο άτομα με Ι.Δ.Ψ. Τέλος, τα εικονικά περιβάλλοντα αξιολογήθηκαν από 13 χρήστες προκειμένου να διερευνηθεί ο βαθμός ευαισθητοποίησης τους μετά τη χρήση. Τα αποτελέσματα από τις συνεντεύξεις και τα ερωτηματολόγια έδειξαν πως τα δύο εικονικά περιβάλλοντα συνέβαλαν στην κατανόηση της διαταραχής. Ωστόσο, το εικονικό περιβάλλον για την Ι.Δ.Ψ με την πρόκληση της βλάβης και τον αυτοέλεγχο συνέβαλλε στη δημιουργία μεγαλύτερης ενσυναίσθησης συγκριτικά με το εικονικό περιβάλλον για τη μόλυνση και τα μικρόβια.The aim of this study is the development of virtual environments for raising public awareness about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D). Therefore, the study focused on two main research questions a) exploring the characteristics of O.C.D that a virtual environment should include b) the degree of user’s awareness regarding O.C.D after navigating the virtual environment. Regarding the first research question of the study, interviews were carried out with four psychologists in order to specify the symptoms of the disorder that virtual environment should include. Secondly, the interaction scenario was created for the two virtual environments based on psychologists’ interviews and relevant literature. Specifically, two types of O.C.D were selected: Checking O.C.D and Contamination O.C.D. After the creation of the virtual environments, three users evaluated the user experience of the two environments. Moreover, two psychologists and two persons suffering from O.C.D evaluated the two virtual environments in terms of how realistically the disorder was represented. The final part of the study was about exploring the awareness degree of 13 users after using the virtual environments. The results from interviews and questionnaires showed that the two virtual environments contributed to the understanding of the disorder. However, the results for the virtual environment about Checking O.C.D was able to raise more empathy than the virtual environment about Contamination O.C.D

Innate immune cells in liver inflammation

Innate immune system is the first line of defence against invading pathogens that is critical for the overall survival of the host. Human liver is characterised by a dual blood supply, with 80% of blood entering through the portal vein carrying nutrients and bacterial endotoxin from the gastrointestinal tract. The liver is thus constantly exposed to antigenic loads. Therefore, pathogenic microorganism must be efficiently eliminated whilst harmless antigens derived from the gastrointestinal tract need to be tolerized in the liver. In order to achieve this, the liver innate immune system is equipped with multiple cellular components; monocytes, macrophages, granulocytes, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells which coordinate to exert tolerogenic environment at the same time detect, respond, and eliminate invading pathogens, infected or transformed self to mount immunity. This paper will discuss the innate immune cells that take part in human liver inflammation, and their roles in both resolution of inflammation and tissue repair

PET-CT-guided, symptom-based, patient-initiated surveillance versus clinical follow-up in head neck cancer patients (PETNECK2):study protocol for a multicentre feasibility study and non-inferiority, randomised, phase III trial

Background: Approximately 40% of treated head and neck cancer (HNC) patients develop recurrence. The risk of recurrence declines with time from treatment. Current guidelines recommend clinical follow-up every two months for the first two years after treatment, with reducing intensity over the next three years. However, evidence for the effectiveness of these regimes in detecting recurrence is lacking, with calls for more flexible, patient-centred follow-up strategies. Methods: PETNECK2 is a UK-based multi-centre programme examining a new paradigm of follow-up, using positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT)-guided, symptom-based, patient-initiated surveillance. This paradigm is being tested in a unblinded, non-inferiority, phase III, randomised controlled trial (RCT). Patients with HNC, one year after completing curative intent treatment, with no clinical symptoms or signs of loco-regional or distant metastasis will be randomised using a 1:1 allocation ratio to either regular scheduled follow-up, or to PET-CT guided, patient-initiated follow-up. Patients at a low risk of recurrence (negative PET-CT) will receive a face-to-face education session along with an Information and Support (I&S) resource package to monitor symptoms and be in control of initiating an urgent appointment when required. The primary outcome of the RCT is overall survival. The RCT also has an in-built pilot, a nested QuinteT Recruitment Intervention (QRI), and a nested mixed-methods study on patient experience and fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). An initial, single-arm feasibility study has been completed which determined the acceptability of the patient-initiated surveillance intervention, the completion rates of baseline questionnaires, and optimised the I&S resource prior to implementation in the RCT. Discussion: We hypothesise that combining an additional 12-month post-treatment PET-CT scan and I&S resource will both identify patients with asymptomatic recurrence and identify those at low risk of future recurrence who will be empowered to monitor their symptoms and seek early clinical follow-up when recurrence is suspected. This change to a patient-centred model of care may have effects on both quality of life and fear of cancer recurrence. Trial registration: ISRCTN: 13,709,798; 15-Oct-2021

InfiniteB2[g] sequences

4 páginas.We exhibit, for any integer g >= 2, an infinite sequence A € B2[g] such that lim supx--infinito A(x)/ raiz cuadrada x = 3 / 2 raiz cuadrada 2 . raiz cuadrada g-1. In adition, we obtain better estimates for small values of g. For example, we exhibit an infinite sequence A € B2[2] such that lim supx---infinito A(x)/ raiz cuadrada x = raiz cuadrada3/2 .Partially supported by COLCIENCIAS, Colombia and Universidad del Cauca.Peer reviewe