College student identity, mental health and fitness behaviors: does fitness moderate the relationship between identity and mental health among college students?

Although developing a personal identity is a lifelong process, it has long been considered the critical developmental task faced by adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Previous studies have researched the factors contributing to identity formation and the correlates of identity; researchers have found that individuals whose identities are based in intensive exploration of values, beliefs and goals, followed by a strong commitment to said values, beliefs and goals, are more likely to have positive mental health and psychological well-being. The environment in which emerging adults face the developmental task of identity is often college or university. College students are generally separating from their families for the first time, and are faced with many decisions that will influence the development identity. Although college offers an opportunity for exploration, there are students that may not actively engage in the exploration process, potentially due to a lack of interest or ability. College student-athletes are a subset of college students that may be at a disadvantage when it comes to the exploration process. Due to their stringent schedules and focused commitment to one specific activity, college student-athletes may be developing identities that are limited in their scope while their non-athlete peers have the opportunity to explore their environments in greater depth and breadth. If this is the case, student-athletes may be at higher risk of poor mental health or psychological well-being. A factor that has not been considered in the literature is the impact that fitness behaviors have on the relationship between identity and mental health. The relationship between exercise and positive mental health has been widely researched and supported, and student-athletes regularly exercise as a part of their training. As such, the research would indicate that student-athletes are at risk of negative mental health correlates as a result of identities based on premature commitments or a lack of exploration, but would also likely benefit from the positive mental health correlates that exercising regularly would indicate. This exploratory study aimed to provide clarity to these conflicting correlates of identity and mental health, and answer three research questions about the relationship between college student identity, mental health and fitness behaviors. Data was collected from a sample of 347 college students who completed a web-based survey during the spring semester of 2016. The research questions for this study focused on the relationship between identity and mental health, and whether or not fitness behaviors moderate that relationship. Additionally, this study sought to identify any differences between student-athletes and non-student-athletes in terms of their patterns of identity and mental health. Finally, the study explored how identification with the athletic role among student-athletes impacts identity and mental health. There was no evidence found to support fitness as a moderator of identity and mental health. There were, however, trends in the results indicating that anxiety and depression do decrease for certain identity groups (i.e. Achievement, Carefree Diffusion, Undifferentiated) when individuals in that group engage in regular exercise. These findings support the need for future research on college student identity, as well as college student-athletes as a unique subset of the larger population of college students. The current research on college student identity and on student-athletes is limited in its scope, both in terms of how identity influences mental health and other factors that might contribute. This study contributes to the current literature by suggesting that fitness behaviors may moderate the relationship between identity and mental health. This would have implications for how the correlates of identity are understood and also imply that college student-athletes may be at higher risk for negative mental health consequences following their retirement from sport. For college students and college student-athletes that may be less susceptible to interventions targeting their exploration of, and commitment to, identity, interventions focusing on exercise may decrease the negative mental health correlates that have been shown to relate to identity statuses low in exploration and commitment. In summary, although there was no statistically significant evidence found to support the research questions examining identity, mental health and fitness behaviors, there were visible trends in the data. This may indicate that with a larger sample statistically significant results might be achieved. Future research that includes larger samples of college students from public and private universities and evaluates students from various areas of the United States may provide greater insight into how these variables are related. Additionally, future research that expands on the variables mental health and fitness behaviors may lead to greater understanding of how fitness may moderate the relationship between identity and mental health

Bench and Large-scale assessment of smoke toxicity

The overall goal of the project was to provide evidence to support the regulation of smoke toxicity in order to reduce death and injury in unwanted fires. This entailed the development of a robust methodology for assessing smoke toxicity on a laboratory bench-scale using the steady state tube furnace (SSTF), ISO/TS 19700, and relating it to the toxicity of large-scale fire tests. A review of the literature relating to bench- and large-scale fire toxicity assessment has been undertaken and is reported. Research was conducted on a bench-scale to optimise the methodologies developed and assess the current techniques used in smoke toxicity research. In addition, the formation of the main asphyxiants, carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), was investigated under different fire conditions. In most cases, where nitrogen was present in the fuel, the formation of HCN mirrored the formation of CO. HCN and CO formation were found to be steady and relatively consistent starting approximately 5 to 7 min after sample ignition. This research was used to test the assumptions related to steady state burning and sampling times stated in ISO/TS 19700. For smoke toxicity to be regulated as a part of the Construction Product Regulations (CPR), a robust methodology for assessing smoke toxicity for large-scale fires is required as a “reference scenario”. As the current large-scale methods for construction products assess flammability, a revised methodology needed to be developed. In addition, the instrumentation and methodologies for assessing smoke toxicity on a large-scale required development and construction. To measure the smoke toxicity on a large-scale, gas analysers suitable for operating at large-scale test facilities were required. As no such analysers are commercially available, portable analysers were designed and built. The analysers continuously monitor CO, CO2 and O2, with specific sampling of HCN and irritant gases produced during a fire test. The specific sampling was controlled by a mass-flow meter to ensure that equal masses of fire effluent were collected in each sample, and used program-controlled switches for sample collection. To validate the analyser, it was tested alongside the standard SSTF analysers, and used when conducting the research into HCN formation described above. To identify the fire condition of the test in terms of the equivalence ratio, a phi meter was designed and built for this research, based on modifications to the original design. It was smaller and simpler than the original design, increasing portability and performance. The final apparatus was tested and calibrated using the SSTF where the equivalence ratio is controllable and well-defined. The phi meter was used to investigate the effect of sampling location within the SSTF by studying the equivalence ratio at specific locations inside the apparatus. No significant variation of the equivalence ratio with sampling location was found. The phi meter was successfully used to identify the equivalence ratio during the large-scale fire tests. The ISO 9705 room corner test was modified to assess smoke toxicity. The novel methodology used either 1 or 2 L-shaped Single Burning Item (SBI) (EN 13823) test rigs placed on a load cell in the centre of the ISO test room. The measurements specified in the ISO 9705 standard from the exhaust duct were recorded throughout the tests. Fire effluent composition was also monitored using the portable gas analysers in the exhaust duct and the doorway of the test room. To enable future gas yield calculations to be made, McCaffrey probes were used with sensitive pressure transducers to estimate the gas flows in and out of the room. The tests aimed to represent a range of fire conditions, from well-ventilated to under-ventilated flaming. Two methods were investigated to replicate different fire conditions: limiting the ventilation; and increasing fuel loading. Four products, which included non-homogenous and predominantly non-combustible components (plasterboard, OSB, flexible polyurethane foam and electric cables), were burned in the large-scale tests. Under-ventilated flaming occurred in tests with combustible products conducted using two SBI rigs, where well-ventilated flaming had predominated with single SBI rigs. Under-ventilated flaming was not achieved when restricting the ventilation by partially blocking the doorway. These experiments showed that restriction of the ventilation reduced the rate of burning rather than forcing the fire to transition into under-ventilated flaming. This is clearly dependant on the ratio of the heat release from the fuel to the size and heat capacity of the test enclosure. The fire behaviour of the materials was predicted before testing using ConeTools fire modelling software, using test data from cone calorimetry. As ConeTools had not been written for the novel test layout used, the data was used to create heat release predictions for an SBI test and an ISO room test conducted with the product as a standard wall-lining. ConeTools overestimated the heat release predictions compared to previously reported SBI test data. When used to predict the heat release from products in this study, they were underestimated. This research has provided key information and methodologies to support the regulation of smoke toxicity within the CPR. It has provided the revised methodologies which would be necessary for ISO/TS 19700 to become a full standard and provided robust research to reinforce existing methodologies. The methodology of testing smoke toxicity on a large-scale has also been enhanced, including details of specific equipment required to assess specific parameters during a large-scale test

Design, construction and validation of a simple, low-cost phi meter

The best correlation between the yields of the major toxicants in fire smoke and the fire condition is obtained by expressing the ventilation in terms of the equivalence ratio, phi. Phi meters allow this fuel-air equivalence ratio to be determined during a large-scale fire test. The original design used a platinum catalyst, a large furnace, and required pure oxygen. This work aimed to make a simple, low-cost device which could monitor the equivalence ratio during a large-scale fire test. The current design produces the same quality of measurement with a much smaller footprint and throughput. Benefits include enhanced portability, reduction in sample gas cleaning and drying requirements and lower cost. The work showed that normal furnace components (alumina and silica) provide suitably catalytic surfaces at 900 °C eliminating the requirement for platinum catalysts and the use of pure oxygen. The ISO/TS 19700 steady state tube furnace (SSTF) was used to validate the phi meter measurements as it can both pre-set and independently quantify the equivalence ratio during a test. Long sample collection times were overcome with a larger sampling pump and effluent being split between the phi meter furnace and the exhaust. It is hoped that this simpler, optimized apparatus will encourage more widespread use and lead to better prediction of smoke toxicity

Why Do Patients in the United States Seek Care from Dermatologists?

INTRODUCTION: While the diagnoses made at visits to the dermatologist are well characterized, the reasons patients visit the dermatologists are not well described. Understanding why patients present to dermatologists could be helpful in identifying patients’ unmet needs and developing outreach programs to improve patients’ access to care. The purpose of this study is to characterize the reasons why US patients sought medical attention from dermatologists. METHODS: We evaluated the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) between 2007 and 2018, the most recent years available, to characterize the most common reasons patients visit the dermatologist. RESULTS: Sixty-four thousand records were identified in the NAMCS estimating 1.55 billion visits to the dermatologist in the US during the study period. The most common reasons for visits were skin examination (7.8%), skin lesion (7.5%), and discoloration/abnormal pigmentation (7.3%). For patients ≤ 18 years, the most common reasons for visits were acne (28%), warts (7.7%), and skin rash (6.4%). For patients 19–65 years and ≥ 66 years, skin examinations (7.7%) and skin lesions (10%) were the most common reasons for visits to dermatologists, respectively. CONCLUSION: By identifying the most common reasons for visits to the dermatologist, we can improve our understanding of a patient’s needs and appropriate health outreach resources to improve patients’ access to care

Contribuições da psicanálise à atuação na clínica cardiológica

O presente ensaio tem como objetivo traçar possíveis compreensões sobre as contribuições psicanalíticas à atuação na clínica cardiológica a partir de uma breve articulação e discussão teóricas. Lançou-se mão de compreensões tais quais a inserção do analista no hospital, o corpo adoecido para a psicanálise e os principais aspectos subjetivos presentes na clínica cardiológica. Concluiu-se que o cerne das contribuições psicanalíticas à problemática é o oferecimento de possibilidade de acesso ao simbólico, diante de conteúdos difíceis de ser elaborados, que emergem a partir do processo de adoecimento

Burning behaviour of rainscreen façades

Four reduced-height (5 m) BS 8414-1 façade flammability tests were conducted, three having mineral-filled aluminium composite material (ACM-A2) with polyisocyanurate (PIR) and phenolic (PF) foam and stone wool (SW) insulation, the fourth having polyethylene-filled ACM (ACM-PE) with PIR insulation. Each façade was constructed from a commercial façade engineer’s design, and built by practising façade installers. The ACM-PE/PIR façade burnt so ferociously it was extinguished after 13.5 min, for safety. The three ACM-A2 cladding panels lost their structural integrity, and melted away from the test wall, whereupon around 40% of both the combustible PIR and PF insulation burnt and contributed to the fire spread. This demonstrates why all façade products must be non-combustible, not just the outer panels. For the three ACM-A2 tests, while the temperature in front of the cavity was independent of the insulation, the temperatures within it varied greatly, depending on the insulation. The system using PF/A2 allowed fire to break through to the cavity first, as seen by a sharp increase in temperature after 17 min. For PIR/A2, the temperature increased sharply at 22 minutes, as the panel started to fall away from the wall. For SW/A2, no rapid temperature rise was observed

Fire behaviour of modern façade materials – Understanding the Grenfell Tower fire

The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire spread rapidly around the combustible façade system on the outside of the building, killing 72 people. We used a range of micro- and bench-scale methods to understand the fire behaviour of different types of façade product, including those used on the Tower, in order to explain the speed, ferocity and lethality of the fire. Compared to the least flammable panels, polyethylene-aluminium composites showed 55x greater peak heat release rates (pHRR) and 70x greater total heat release (THR), while widely-used high-pressure laminate panels showed 25x greater pHRR and 115x greater THR. Compared to the least combustible insulation products, polyisocyanurate foam showed 16x greater pHRR and 35x greater THR, while phenolic foam showed 9x greater pHRR and 48x greater THR. A few burning drips of polyethylene from the panelling are enough to ignite the foam insulation, providing a novel explanation for rapid flame-spread within the facade. Smoke from polyisocyanurates was 15x, and phenolics 5x more toxic than from mineral wool insulation. 1kg of burning polyisocyanurate insulation is sufficient to fill a 50m3 room with an incapacitating and ultimately lethal effluent. Simple, additive models are proposed, which provide the same rank order as BS8414 large-scale regulatory tests

Smoke toxicity of rainscreen façades

The toxic smoke production of four rainscreen façade systems were compared during large-scale fire performance testing on a reduced height BS 8414 test wall. Systems comprising 'non-combustible' aluminium composite material (ACM) with polyisocyanurate (PIR), phenolic foam (PF) and stone wool (SW) insulation, and polyethylene-filled ACM with PIR insulation were tested. Smoke toxicity was measured by sampling gases at two points - the exhaust duct of the main test room and an additional 'kitchen vent', which connects the rainscreen cavity to an occupied area. Although the toxicity of the smoke was similar for the three insulation products with non-combustible ACM, the toxicity of the smoke flowing from the burning cavity through the kitchen vent was greater by factors of 40 and 17 for PIR and PF insulation respectively, when compared to SW. Occupants sheltering in a room connected to the vent are predicted to collapse, and then inhale a lethal concentration of asphyxiant gases. This is the first report quantifying fire conditions within the cavity and assessing smoke toxicity within a rainscreen façade cavity. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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