Consultation with complementary medicine practitioners by individuals with chronic conditions: Characteristics and reasons for consultation in Australian clinical settings.

The duration and complexity of chronic conditions leads patients to consult complementary medicine (CM) practitioners, yet such care-seeking by this clinical population has not been thoroughly examined. This study describes characteristics and reasons for consultation amongst those with chronic conditions who consult CM practitioners. A cross-sectional study surveyed patients in clinics of 39 CM practitioners from the five most accessed CM professions in Australia (chiropractic, massage, osteopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy). Between November 2018 and March 2019, CM practitioners invited 15 consecutive adult patients (n = 585 invited) to a self-administered, hard-copy survey covering socio-demographics, chronic condition diagnoses, CM service utilisation and reasons for consulting the CM practitioner. In total, 199 surveys were returned, producing a final sample of n = 191. Chronic conditions were reported by 153 (80.1%) participants, who were most commonly female (82.4%), aged over 65 years (29.0%), married (55.9%), vocational/trade qualified (40.1%), employed (62.5%), reported financial manageability as not too bad (48.0%), held private health insurance generally (79.0%) and specifically for CM (71.1%). Some socio-demographic differences were found depending on the profession consulted. Most participants (75.0%) had attended five or more consultations with the CM practitioner. The reasons most commonly given by participants with chronic conditions for consulting the CM practitioner were This healthcare professional is supportive and compassionate (n = 136, 97.1%), I believe this type of healthcare is safe (n = 131, 95.6%), Improve general wellbeing and prevent future health problems (n = 125, 89.3%) and This type of healthcare gives me hope about my future health (n = 108, 85.7%). These findings suggest that individuals with chronic conditions may consult CM practitioners to address unmet well-being or quality of life needs and for compassionate support. The role CM practitioners fill for those with chronic conditions requires further exploration to develop optimal policy and services to manage the growing challenges chronic conditions present to health systems

Economic inequalities in burden of illness, diagnosis and treatment of five long-term conditions in England: panel study

We compared the distribution by wealth of self-reported illness burden (estimated from validated scales, biomarker and reported symptoms) for angina, cataract, depression, diabetes and osteoarthritis, with the distribution of self-reported medical diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to determine if the greater illness burden borne by poorer participants was matched by appropriately higher levels of diagnosis and treatment

TESTING USED ROLLER BEARINGS FOR QUALITY AND SERVICE LIFE

Synthetic biology is a rapidly expanding field at the interface of the engineering and biological sciences which aims to apply rational design principles in biological contexts. Many natural processes utilise regulatory architectures that parallel those found in control and electrical engineering, which has motivated their implementation as part of synthetic biological constructs. Tools based upon control theoretical concepts can be used to design such systems, as well as to guide their experimental realisation. In this paper we provide examples of biological implementations of negative feedback systems, and discuss progress made toward realisation of other feedback and control architectures. We then outline major challenges posed by the design of such systems, particularly focusing on those which are specific to biological contexts and on which feedback control can have a significant impact. We explore future directions for work in the field, including new approaches for theoretical design of biological control systems, the utilisation of novel components for their implementation, and the potential for application of automation and machine-learning approaches to accelerate synthetic biological research

Characteristics of women who practice yoga in different locations during pregnancy

Objectives: Yoga practice during pregnancy is gaining increasing popularity. This study examined the characteristics of pregnant women who practiced yoga in regard to the different locations (at home, in yoga classes, or both). Design: The study sample was drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH), a national longitudinal study of women to investigate multiple factors affecting health and wellbeing of women over a 20-year period. Setting: Postal survey. Participants: Women born between 1973 and 1978, who were randomly selected from the national Medicare database and identified as being pregnant or having recently given birth (n=2316). Outcome measures: Relationships between yoga use (attending yoga classes and/or practising yoga at home) and women's characteristics (demographic measures, pregnancy-related health concerns, health service utilisation, attitudes to complementary and alternative medicine). Results: Practising yoga both at home and in classes was associated with perceiving complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as preventative (odds ratio (OR)=1.62); perceiving CAM as affording health control (OR=1.50); experiencing sadness (OR=1.72); preparing for labour (OR=2.31); birthing in a birth centre (OR=7.97); and experiencing less vomiting (OR=0.38). Practising at home only was associated with perceiving CAM as affording health control (OR=1.76); perceiving CAM as promoting a holistic health approach (OR=1.65); and birthing in a birth centre (OR=3.54). Practising in classes only was associated with experiencing stress (OR=1.97); and birthing in a birth centre (OR=4.85) (all p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings suggest that the location in which a woman practices yoga is associated with attitudinal, health-related and birth environmental factors

Classical and quantum regimes of two-dimensional turbulence in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate two-dimensional turbulence in finite-temperature trapped Bose-Einstein condensates within damped Gross-Pitaevskii theory. Turbulence is produced via circular motion of a Gaussian potential barrier stirring the condensate. We systematically explore a range of stirring parameters and identify three regimes, characterized by the injection of distinct quantum vortex structures into the condensate: (A) periodic vortex dipole injection, (B) irregular injection of a mixture of vortex dipoles and co-rotating vortex clusters, and (C) continuous injection of oblique solitons that decay into vortex dipoles. Spectral analysis of the kinetic energy associated with vortices reveals that regime (B) can intermittently exhibit a Kolmogorov $k^{-5/3}$ power law over almost a decade of length or wavenumber ($k$) scales. The kinetic energy spectrum of regime (C) exhibits a clear $k^{-3/2}$ power law associated with an inertial range for weak-wave turbulence, and a $k^{-7/2}$ power law for high wavenumbers. We thus identify distinct regimes of forcing for generating either two-dimensional quantum turbulence or classical weak-wave turbulence that may be realizable experimentally.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Minor updates to text and figures 1, 2 and

The Josephson plasmon as a Bogoliubov quasiparticle

We study the Josephson effect in alkali atomic gases within the two-mode approximation and show that there is a correspondence between the Bogoliubov description and the harmonic limit of the phase representation. We demonstrate that the quanta of the Josephson plasmon can be identified with the Bogoliubov excitations of the two-site Bose fluid. We thus establish a mapping between the Bogoliubov approximation for the many-body theory and the linearized pendulum Hamiltonian.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, submitted to J. Phys.