Receiving threatening or obscene messages from a partner and mental health, self-harm and suicidality: results from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey

PURPOSE: Threatening or obscene messaging is repeated, unwanted texts, emails, letters or cards experienced by the recipient as threatening or obscene, and causing fear, alarm or distress. It is rarely examined as an aspect of intimate partner violence. We describe the prevalence of exposure to threatening/obscene messaging from a current or ex-partner; characteristics of victims; and associations with other forms of violence and abuse, mental disorder, self-harm, and suicidality. METHODS: Cross-sectional probability-sample survey of the general population in England aged 16 + . Multivariable regression modelling tested associations between receipt of threatening/obscene messaging and current common mental disorder, past-year self-harm and suicidality. RESULTS: Threatening/obscene messages were received from a current/ex-partner by 6.6% (95%CI: 5.9-7.3) of adults who had been in a relationship; 1.7% received these in the past year. Victims were more likely to be female, under 35, single or divorced, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and to have experienced other forms of sexual and partner violence and abuse. Those who received threatening/obscene messages in the past year were more likely to experience common mental disorder (adjusted odds ratio 1.89; 1.01-3.55), self-harm (2.31; 1.00-5.33), and suicidal thoughts (2.00; 1.06-3.78). CONCLUSION: Threatening/obscene messaging commonly occurs in the context of intimate partner violence. While often occurring alongside sexual and physical violence, messaging has an additional association with mental disorder and suicidality. Routine enquiry in service settings concerning safety, including those working with people who have escaped domestic violence, should ask about ongoing contact from previous as well as current partners. This should include asking about messaging, as well as other forms of potentially technology-enabled abuse which may become increasingly common

A comparative analysis for the business incubators institutional and organizational change

El objetivo de este artículo es realizar un análisis comparado del cambio organizacional e institucional de dos incubadoras de empresas, una situada en Medellín, Colombia y la otra en Barcelona, España; se consideran la influencia de factores internos y externos, y la existencia, incorporación e institucionalización de políticas públicas y programas de desarrollo empresarial e innovación. En lo metodológico, se utilizó la estrategia cualitativa del estudio de caso, soportado en el análisis documental y la entrevista semiestructurada. Los principales resultados muestran que la incubadora colombiana cambió su objeto social y razón de ser por necesidad de auto-sostenibilidad financiera y por la falta de coordinación y articulación con las organizaciones del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación; y la española consolidó su objeto social y amplió las capacidades organizacionales por las oportunidades que le brindó el entorno favorable del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación.The objective of this article is to compare organizational and institutional change in two business incubators, one in Medellin, Colombia and another one in Barcelona, Spain; The influence of internal and external factors are both considered as well as the existence, incorporation and institutionalization of public policies as well as business and entrepreneurial programs. A qualitative case study strategy was used for developing the methodological aspect, which supported the documental analysis for the semistructuredinterview. The main results show that the Colombian incubator changed its business name because of financial self sustainability needs and lack of coordination and articulation from the NationalScience, Technology and Innovation System, while the incubator from Spain consolidated its business name broadening its organizational capacities thanks to the favorable opportunities offered by National Science, Technology and Innovation system.O objetivo deste artigo é realizar uma análise comparado da mudança organizacional e institucional de duas incubadoras de empresas, uma situada em Medellín, Colômbia e a outra em Barcelona, Espanha; se consideram a influência de fatores internos e externos, e a existência, incorporação e institucionalização depolíticas públicas e programas de desenvolvimento empresarial e inovação. No metodológico, se utilizou a estratégia qualitativa do estudo de caso, suportado na análise documental e a entrevista semiestruturada. Os principais resultados mostram que a incubadora colombiana mudou seu objeto social e razão de ser por necessidade de auto-sustentabilidade financeira e pela falta de coordenação e articulação com as organizações do Sistema Nacional de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação; e a espanhola consolidou seu objeto social e ampliou as capacidades organizacionais pelas oportunidades que lhe brindou o entorno favorável do Sistema Nacional de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação

Health research improves healthcare: now we have the evidence and the chance to help the WHO spread such benefits globally

There has been a dramatic increase in the body of evidence demonstrating the benefits that come from health research. In 2014, the funding bodies for higher education in the UK conducted an assessment of research using an approach termed the Research Excellence Framework (REF). As one element of the REF, universities and medical schools in the UK submitted 1,621 case studies claiming to show the impact of their health and other life sciences research conducted over the last 20 years. The recently published results show many case studies were judged positively as providing examples of the wide range and extensive nature of the benefits from such research, including the development of new treatments and screening programmes that resulted in considerable reductions in mortality and morbidity. Analysis of specific case studies yet again illustrates the international dimension of progress in health research; however, as has also long been argued, not all populations fully share the benefits. In recognition of this, in May 2013 the World Health Assembly requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish a Global Observatory on Health Research and Development (R&D) as part of a strategic work-plan to promote innovation, build capacity, improve access, and mobilise resources to address diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest countries. As editors of Health Research Policy and Systems (HARPS), we are delighted that our journal has been invited to help inform the establishment of the WHO Global Observatory through a Call for Papers covering a range of topics relevant to the Observatory, including topics on which HARPS has published articles over the last few months, such as approaches to assessing research results, measuring expenditure data with a focus on R&D, and landscape analyses of platforms for implementing R&D. Topics related to research capacity building may also be considered. The task of establishing a Global Observatory on Health R&D to achieve the specified objectives will not be easy; nevertheless, this Call for Papers is well timed – it comes just at the point where the evidence of the benefits from health research has been considerably strengthened

Misconceptions about Aerobic and Anaerobic Energy Expenditure

The measurement of gas exchange has played an invaluable role in metabolic interpretation. The uptake of 1 liter of oxygen is often converted into an energy expenditure estimate of 21.1 kilojoules (e.g., 1 L O2 = 21.1 kJ or ~5 kcal). This article demonstrates both the importance of such a conversion and the potential for misinterpretation. Oxygen uptake during heavy and severe exercise will also be discussed

Perceived institutional support and small venture performance: The mediating role of entrepreneurial persistence

YesThis article examines the entrepreneurial persistence of opportunity-motivated entrepreneurs in Ghana. Specifically, it develops a theoretical model focusing on the relationships among perceived institutional support, entrepreneurial persistence and small venture performance, including how entrepreneurial networks condition the relationship between institutional support and entrepreneurial persistence. Using time-lagged data from 373 opportunity-motivated entrepreneurs leading small ventures in Ghana, we find broad support for our hypotheses. The insights from our study provide an integrative understanding of the relationships among perceived institutional support, entrepreneurial persistence and venture performance in an adverse environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Acute onset of intracranial subdural hemorrhage five days after spinal anesthesia for knee arthroscopic surgery: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Spinal anesthesia is a widely used general purpose anesthesia. However, serious complications, such as intracranial subdural hemorrhage, can rarely occur.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 73-year-old Japanese woman who had acute onset of intracranial subdural hemorrhage five days after spinal anesthesia for knee arthroscopic surgery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case highlights the need to pay attention to acute intracranial subdural hemorrhage as a complication after spinal anesthesia. If the headache persists even in a supine position or nausea occurs abruptly, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the brain should be conducted. An intracranial subdural hematoma may have a serious outcome and is an important differential diagnosis for headache after spinal anesthesia.</p

Sebomic identification of sex- and ethnicity-specific variations in residual skin surface components (RSSC) for bio-monitoring or forensic applications

Background: “Residual skin surface components” (RSSC) is the collective term used for the superficial layer of sebum, residue of sweat, small quantities of intercellular lipids and components of natural moisturising factor present on the skin surface. Potential applications of RSSC include use as a sampling matrix for identifying biomarkers of disease, environmental exposure monitoring, and forensics (retrospective identification of exposure to toxic chemicals). However, it is essential to first define the composition of “normal” RSSC. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to characterise RSSC to determine commonalities and differences in RSSC composition in relation to sex and ethnicity. Methods: Samples of RSSC were acquired from volunteers using a previously validated method and analysed by high-pressure liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation–mass spectrometry (HPLC-APCI-MS). The resulting data underwent sebomic analysis. Results: The composition and abundance of RSSC components varied according to sex and ethnicity. The normalised abundance of free fatty acids, wax esters, diglycerides and triglycerides was significantly higher in males than females. Ethnicity-specific differences were observed in free fatty acids and a diglyceride. Conclusions: The HPLC-APCI-MS method developed in this study was successfully used to analyse the normal composition of RSSC. Compositional differences in the RSSC can be attributed to sex and ethnicity and may reflect underlying factors such as diet, hormonal levels and enzyme expression.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

A Schur complement approach to preconditioning sparse linear least-squares problems with some dense rows

The effectiveness of sparse matrix techniques for directly solving large-scale linear least-squares problems is severely limited if the system matrix A has one or more nearly dense rows. In this paper, we partition the rows of A into sparse rows and dense rows (A s and A d ) and apply the Schur complement approach. A potential difficulty is that the reduced normal matrix AsTA s is often rank-deficient, even if A is of full rank. To overcome this, we propose explicitly removing null columns of A s and then employing a regularization parameter and using the resulting Cholesky factors as a preconditioner for an iterative solver applied to the symmetric indefinite reduced augmented system. We consider complete factorizations as well as incomplete Cholesky factorizations of the shifted reduced normal matrix. Numerical experiments are performed on a range of large least-squares problems arising from practical applications. These demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach when combined with either a sparse parallel direct solver or a robust incomplete Cholesky factorization algorithm