Influence of country and city images on students’ perception of host universities and their satisfaction with the assigned destination for their exchange programmes

ABSTRACT: This research focuses on the effect that country image, city image and university image has on students’ a priori satisfaction with the assigned destination for their international exchange programme (Bachelor and Master). In particular, this study establishes six hypotheses related to the causal relationships among the different typologies of image and their effects on students’ satisfaction with the assigned destination to study at least one semester in a host university. In order to contrast these hypotheses, a quantitative research was carried out in the Spanish city of Santander (Spain), by obtaining a sample of 245 international students who participated in an exchange programme at the University of Cantabria. The research findings are: (1) students’ satisfaction with the assigned destination is positively influenced by the university image; (2) the university image is positively influenced by the city image; and (3) the city image is positively influenced by the country image

Waterpipe tobacco use in the United Kingdom: A cross-sectional study among university students and stop smoking practitioners

© 2016 Jawad et al.This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction: Despite cigarette-like adverse health outcomes associated with waterpipe tobacco smoking and increase in its use among youth, it is a much underexplored research area. We aimed to measure the prevalence and patterns of waterpipe tobacco use and evaluate tobacco control policy with respect to waterpipe tobacco, in several universities across the UK. We also aimed to measure stop smoking practitioners' encounter of waterpipe tobacco smoking. Methods: We distributed an online survey to six UK universities, asking detailed questions on waterpipe tobacco. Multivariable logistic regression models, adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, graduate status, university and socioeconomic status (SES) assessed associations between waterpipe tobacco smoking (single use and dual use with cigarettes) and sociodemographic variables. SES was ascertained by average weekly self-spend on non-essentials. We also descriptively analysed data from a 2012 survey of stop smoking practitioners to assess the proportion of clients that used waterpipe regularly. Results: f 2217 student responses, 66.0%(95% CI 63.9-68.0%) had tried waterpipe tobacco smoking; 14.3%(95% CI 12.8-15.8%) reported past-30 day use, and 8.7% (95% CI 7.6-9.9%) reported at least monthly users. Past-30 day waterpipe-only use was associated with being younger (AOR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91-0.99), male (AOR 1.44, 95% CI 1.08-1.94), higher SES (AOR 1.16, 95% CI 1.06-1.28) and belonging to non-white ethnicities (vs. white, AOR 2.24, 95% CI 1.66-3.04). Compared to less than monthly users, monthly users were significantly more likely to have urges to smoke waterpipe (28.1% vs. 3.1%,

Interleukin (IL)-10, IL-1ra and IL-12 profiles in active and quiescent systemic lupus erythematosus: could longitudinal studies reveal patient subgroups of differing pathology?

Several cytokines have been implicated individually in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and some, including interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12 and IL-1ra are raised during flares of disease activity. Few studies have been directed at examining the interactions between these cytokines and how their combined profile relates to disease activity. We have examined serum levels of IL-10, IL-12 and IL-1ra in a cohort of SLE patients obtained from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham in cross-sectional and, in a smaller group, longitudinal analyses. In the cross-sectional study, there were significant correlations between levels of the three cytokines. There were also significant correlations between levels of each cytokine and measures of disease activity. IL-10 levels correlated with ESR, anti-dsDNA antibody titres and C3D, IL-12 levels with anti-dsDNA antibody titres and IL-1ra levels with ESR, anti-dsDNA antibody titres and C3D. IL-1ra levels also correlated with CRP. Circulating IL-10 and IL-1ra levels were higher in patients with SLE than in normal controls, although in this study group they did not reach significance. Circulating IL-12 levels were, however, significantly higher in SLE compared to controls. This was true both in patients with active disease and those sampled during a quiescent phase. These data add to the evidence that cytokines such as IL-10, IL-12 and IL-1ra are important in SLE pathogenesis. In a retrospective study of serial serum samples from seven patients, we found two patients whose cytokine profile was very different from the rest of the group. In most patients normalized IL-10, IL-12 and IL-1ra levels mirrored BILAG scores closely, but in these two patients, IL-10, IL-12 and IL-1ra levels did not fluctuate with disease activity. It is possible that there is a subgroup of SLE patients whose cytokine profile could be an important indicator of their pathology. In order to confirm this and determine the frequency of such patients this study needs to be repeated with a much larger subject group. The coexistence of patient groups with different patterns of cytokine activity might explain conflicting reports of associations of levels of particular cytokines with SLE. As the observed differences could reflect different aetiologies of SLE, this information could reveal valuable endophenotypes for genetic and functional studies of SLE and might, ultimately, inform therapeutic management