City flight migration patterns in the East Midlands

This paper investigates migration to and from the Three Cities of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. It investigates whether these cities lose more migrants than they gain from more rural parts of the city-regions and the extent to which these flows impact on the demographic profiles of the Three Cities

City regions and polycentricity: the East Midlands urban network

The aims of this paper were to clarify the meaning of the terms city region and polycentricy and to then examine evidence on urban centres in the East Midlands to see how far these terms describe the present configuration of the region

The effects of a therapy dog vs mindfulness vs a student advisor on student anxiety and well-being

There are growing concerns about the psychological well-being of university students; both in the UK and globally. In light of emerging research on the benefits of therapy dogs for student well-being, this study aimed to compare the use of therapy dogs to more conventional methods for improving students’ well-being. 94 university students were randomly assigned to one of three 30-minute treatment sessions: dog therapy, mindfulness, or the control group who were given the university’s standard treatment – a session with a student well-being adviser. All participants completed an anxiety scale and a mood scale, both immediately before and immediately after their allocated session. The results showed that whilst all three groups showed a significant decrease in anxiety after their allocated treatment, only the dog therapy and mindfulness groups’ anxiety levels dropped to at or below normal levels. Both the dog therapy and mindfulness groups reported post-treatment anxiety levels which were significantly lower than those of the controls. The dog therapy and mindfulness groups’ mood also showed a significant improvement after treatment whereas the control group’s did not. The findings of this study therefore suggest that the use of therapy dogs is as effective as mindfulness in reducing students’ anxiety and improving their well-being. However, more research investigating the use of multiple treatment sessions and comparing the more long-term effects of the two treatments are recommended

The Aggression and Vulnerablility Scale (AVS) for the measurement of inpatient behaviors: A demonstration of reliability

Background: The accurate and consistent recording of problematic incidents for in-patient behaviour is important in monitoring patient’s treatment and needs, and for comparing behaviour across different settings. Methods: The Aggression and Vulnerability Scale (AVS) classifies individual incidents into 10 categories covering aggression (Physical Aggression against Other People, Verbal Aggression, Aggression against Property, Non-Compliant Behaviour) and vulnerabilities (Self-Harm/Suicide Attempt, Self-Neglect, Victimized/Exploited, Sexual Vulnerability, Absconding Behaviour and Accident) and rates severity of the incident. Twenty raters (10 naïve and 10 experienced) rated 28 vignettes drawn from nursing records. Results: The AVS had high reliability for both classification category and severity in both experienced and inexperienced raters. Conclusion: The AVS is a reliable scheme for the coding of problematic behavior in an in-patient setting. The AVS is available free from the authors

'If it's a medical issue I would have covered it by now': learning about fibromyalgia through the hidden curriculum: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a long-term condition that affects between 1 and 5% of the general population and lies within the spectrum of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). FMS can be difficult to diagnose and is usually done so as a diagnosis of exclusion. There is continuing debate regarding its legitimacy excluding other causes of symptoms. It is known that the diagnosis and management of MUS, including FMS, receives little attention in medical curricula and attitudes towards patients with FMS amongst medical professionals and trainees can be negative. The purpose of this study was to investigate how attitudes and perspectives of undergraduate medical students towards FMS are acquired during their training. METHODS: Qualitative interviews with 21 medical students were conducted to explore their views on FMS, encounters with patients with FMS, and where learning about FMS occurs. Participants were recruited from two English medical schools and the study was approved by two University Ethics committees. Interviews were digitally recorded with consent and data analysed thematically, using principles of constant comparison. RESULTS: The data were organised within three themes: i) FMS is a complex, poorly understood condition; ii) multiple sources for learning about FMS; and iii) consequences of negative attitudes for patients with FMS. CONCLUSION: Undergraduate medical students have limited understanding of, and are sceptical over the existence of FMS. These attitudes are influenced by the 'hidden curriculum' and witnessing attitudes and actions of their clinical teachers. Students interpret a lack of formal curriculum teaching around FMS to mean that it is not serious and hence a low priority. Encountering a patient, friend or family member with FMS can increase knowledge and lead to altered perceptions of the condition. Teaching and learning about FMS needs to be consistent to improve knowledge and attitudes of clinicians. Undergraduate students should be exposed to patients with FMS so that they better understand patients with FMS

Problem formulation in the environmental risk assessment for genetically modified plants

Problem formulation is the first step in environmental risk assessment (ERA) where policy goals, scope, assessment endpoints, and methodology are distilled to an explicitly stated problem and approach for analysis. The consistency and utility of ERAs for genetically modified (GM) plants can be improved through rigorous problem formulation (PF), producing an analysis plan that describes relevant exposure scenarios and the potential consequences of these scenarios. A properly executed PF assures the relevance of ERA outcomes for decision-making. Adopting a harmonized approach to problem formulation should bring about greater uniformity in the ERA process for GM plants among regulatory regimes globally. This paper is the product of an international expert group convened by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Research Foundation

Environmental risk assessment of GE plants under low-exposure conditions

The requirement for environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically engineered (GE) plants prior to large scale or commercial introduction into the environment is well established in national laws and regulations, as well as in international agreements. Since the first introductions of GE plants in commercial agriculture in the 1990s, a nearly universal paradigm has emerged for conducting these assessments based on a few guiding principles. These include the concept of case-by-case assessment, the use of comparative assessments, and a focus of the ERA on characteristics of the plant, the introduced trait, and the receiving environment as well as the intended use. In practice, however, ERAs for GE plants have frequently focused on achieving highly detailed characterizations of potential hazards at the expense of consideration of the relevant levels of exposure. This emphasis on exhaustive hazard characterization can lead to great difficulties when applied to ERA for GE plants under low-exposure conditions. This paper presents some relevant considerations for conducting an ERA for a GE plant in a low-exposure scenario in the context of the generalized ERA paradigm, building on discussions and case studies presented during a session at ISBGMO 12

Constant amplitude and post-overload fatigue crack growth behavior in PM aluminum alloy AA 8009

A recently developed, rapidly solidified, powder metallurgy, dispersion strengthened aluminum alloy, AA 8009, was fatigue tested at room temperature in lab air. Constant amplitude/constant delta kappa and single spike overload conditions were examined. High fatigue crack growth rates and low crack closure levels compared to typical ingot metallurgy aluminum alloys were observed. It was proposed that minimal crack roughness, crack path deflection, and limited slip reversibility, resulting from ultra-fine microstructure, were responsible for the relatively poor da/dN-delta kappa performance of AA 8009 as compared to that of typical IM aluminum alloys

Assessing the ecological risks from the persistence and spread of feral populations of insect-resistant transgenic maize

One source of potential harm from the cultivation of transgenic crops is their dispersal, persistence and spread in non-agricultural land. Ecological damage may result from such spread if the abundance of valued species is reduced. The ability of a plant to spread in non-agricultural habitats is called its invasiveness potential. The risks posed by the invasiveness potential of transgenic crops are assessed by comparing in agronomic field trials the phenotypes of the crops with the phenotypes of genetically similar non-transgenic crops known to have low invasiveness potential. If the transgenic and non-transgenic crops are similar in traits believed to control invasiveness potential, it may be concluded that the transgenic crop has low invasiveness potential and poses negligible ecological risk via persistence and spread in non-agricultural habitats. If the phenotype of the transgenic crop is outside the range of the non-transgenic comparators for the traits controlling invasiveness potential, or if the comparative approach is regarded as inadequate for reasons of risk perception or risk communication, experiments that simulate the dispersal of the crop into non-agricultural habitats may be necessary. We describe such an experiment for several commercial insect-resistant transgenic maize events in conditions similar to those found in maize-growing regions of Mexico. As expected from comparative risk assessments, the transgenic maize was found to behave similarly to non-transgenic maize and to be non-invasive. The value of this experiment in assessing and communicating the negligible ecological risk posed by the low invasiveness potential of insect-resistant transgenic maize in Mexico is discussed