‘In the shower crying ...but we came back in the following day and did it all again’. Distress and resilience in care home staff during the COVID-19 pandemic – A qualitative interview study.

Abstract:\ua9 The Author(s) 2024.Background: Care homes (long-term care facilities) were profoundly impacted early in the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of resident mortality and restrictions for infection control. This study investigated the impact on the emotional well-being of care home staff of challenges faced at this time, and the strategies used to manage them. Methods: Semi-structured interviews conducted October 2020-June 2021 with care home staff and health service staff working with them explored the impact of the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-June 2021). Interview data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Interview participants were 16 care home staff and 10 health service staff. Analysis generated four key themes: 1)Anxiety and distress, 2)Overwhelming workload, 3)Pulling through; and 4)Resilience in a time of crisis. Care home staff experienced Anxiety and distress due to uncertainty of what to expect; witnessing illness and deaths of residents; concerns regarding their own health, and sometimes feeling their work was under-recognised. They also experienced an Overwhelming workload due to infection control measures, caring for sick residents and reduction in external healthcare support. Our theme of Pulling through reflects the peer support and problem-solving strategies with which care home staff managed the impact of the pandemic, along with a sense of responsibility and meaning towards their work. An overarching theme of Resilience in a time of crisis drew on the other three themes and describes how many staff managed, maintained, and often increased their work despite the challenges of the pandemic. Participants also described increasing emotional fatigue as the pandemic continued. Conclusions: This paper builds on literature on the emotional impact of the pandemic on care home staff, also exploring ways that staff responded to this impact. These findings can help inform planning for future crises including disease outbreaks, and raise important questions for further work to develop pandemic preparedness in care homes and beyond. They also raise wider questions about the current cultural status of care work, which may have exposed care home staff to greater risk of distress, and which contrasts with the professionalism and responsibility shown by staff in response to pandemic challenge

A new approach to bulk viscosity in strange quark matter at high densities

A new method is proposed to compute the bulk viscosity in strange quark matter at high densities. Using the method it is straightforward to prove that the bulk viscosity is positive definite, which is not so easy to accomplish in other approaches especially for multi-component fluids like strange quark matter with light up and down quarks and massive strange quarks.Comment: 7pages, talk given in SQM2008. Minor revisions, including clarification and updated reference

Effects of Lewis Number on Temperatures of Spherical Diffusion Flames

Spherical diffusion flames supported on a porous sphere were studied numerically and experimentally. Experiments were performed in 2.2 s and 5.2 s microgravity facilities. Numerical results were obtained from a Chemkin-based program. The program simulates flow from a porous sphere into a quiescent environment, yields both steady-state and transient results, and accounts for optically thick gas-phase radiation. The low flow velocities and long residence times in these diffusion flames lead to enhanced radiative and diffusive effects. Despite similar adiabatic flame temperatures, the measured and predicted temperatures varied by as much as 700 K. The temperature reduction correlates with flame size but characteristic flow times and, importantly, Lewis number also influence temperature. The numerical results show that the ambient gas Lewis number would have a strong effect on flame temperature if the flames were steady and nonradiating. For example, a 10% decrease in Lewis number would increase the steady-state flame temperature by 200 K. However, for these transient, radiating flames the effect of Lewis number is small. Transient predictions of flame sizes are larger than those observed in microgravity experiments. Close agreement could not be obtained without either increasing the model s thermal and mass diffusion properties by 30% or reducing mass flow rate by 25%

Climatic warming in China during 1901-2015 based on an extended dataset of instrumental temperature records

Monthly mean instrumental surface air temperature (SAT) observations back to the nineteenth century in China are synthesized from different sources via specific quality-control, interpolation, and homogenization. Compared with the first homogenized long-term SAT dataset for China by Cao et al. (2013), which contained 18 stations mainly located in the middle and eastern part of China, the present dataset includes homogenized monthly SAT series at 32 stations, with an extended coverage especially towards western China. Missing values are interpolated by using observations at nearby stations including those from neighboring countries. Cross validation shows that the mean bias error (MBE) is generally small and falls between 0.45°C and -0.35°C. Multiple homogenization methods and available metadata are applied to assess the consistency of the time series and to adjust inhomogeneity biases. The homogenized annual mean SAT series show a range of trends between 1.1 and 4.0°C/century in northeastern China, between 0.4 and 1.9°C/century in southeastern China, and between 1.4 and 3.7°C/century in western China to the west of 105E (from the beginning years of the stations to 2015). The unadjusted data include unusually warm records during the 1940s and hence tend to underestimate the warming trends at a number of stations. The mean SAT series for China based on the Climate Anomaly Method shows a warming trend of 1.56°C/century during 1901-2015, larger than those based on other currently available datasets

Disordered ground state in the spin-orbit coupled Jeff = 1/2 distorted honeycomb magnet BiYbGeO5

We delineate quantum magnetism in the strongly spin-orbit coupled distorted honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet BiYbGeO5. Our magnetization and heat capacity measurements reveal that its low-temperature behavior is well described by an effective Jeff=12 Kramers doublet of Yb3+. The ground state is nonmagnetic with a tiny spin gap. Temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility, magnetization isotherm, and heat capacity can be modeled well assuming isolated spin dimers with anisotropic exchange interactions JZ≃2.6 K and JXY≃1.3 K. Heat capacity measurements backed by muon spin relaxation suggest the absence of magnetic long-range order down to at least 80 mK both in zero field and in applied fields. This sets BiYbGeO5 apart from Yb2Si2O7, with its unusual regime of magnon Bose-Einstein condensation, and suggests negligible interdimer couplings, despite only a weak structural deformation of the honeycomb lattice

‘In the shower crying…but we came back in the following day and did it all again’. Distress and resilience in care home staff during the COVID-19 pandemic– A qualitative interview study

Background Care homes (long-term care facilities) were profoundly impacted early in the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of resident mortality and restrictions for infection control. This study investigated the impact on the emotional well-being of care home staff of challenges faced at this time, and the strategies used to manage them. Methods Semi-structured interviews conducted October 2020-June 2021 with care home staff and health service staff working with them explored the impact of the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-June 2021). Interview data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Interview participants were 16 care home staff and 10 health service staff. Analysis generated four key themes: 1)Anxiety and distress, 2)Overwhelming workload, 3)Pulling through; and 4)Resilience in a time of crisis. Care home staff experienced Anxiety and distress due to uncertainty of what to expect; witnessing illness and deaths of residents; concerns regarding their own health, and sometimes feeling their work was under-recognised. They also experienced an Overwhelming workload due to infection control measures, caring for sick residents and reduction in external healthcare support. Our theme of Pulling through reflects the peer support and problem-solving strategies with which care home staff managed the impact of the pandemic, along with a sense of responsibility and meaning towards their work. An overarching theme of Resilience in a time of crisis drew on the other three themes and describes how many staff managed, maintained, and often increased their work despite the challenges of the pandemic. Participants also described increasing emotional fatigue as the pandemic continued. Conclusions This paper builds on literature on the emotional impact of the pandemic on care home staff, also exploring ways that staff responded to this impact. These findings can help inform planning for future crises including disease outbreaks, and raise important questions for further work to develop pandemic preparedness in care homes and beyond. They also raise wider questions about the current cultural status of care work, which may have exposed care home staff to greater risk of distress, and which contrasts with the professionalism and responsibility shown by staff in response to pandemic challenges

The Extinction Properties of and Distance to the Highly Reddened Type Ia Supernova SN 2012cu

Correction of Type Ia Supernova brightnesses for extinction by dust has proven to be a vexing problem. Here we study the dust foreground to the highly reddened SN 2012cu, which is projected onto a dust lane in the galaxy NGC 4772. The analysis is based on multi-epoch, spectrophotometric observations spanning 3,300 - 9,200 {\AA}, obtained by the Nearby Supernova Factory. Phase-matched comparison of the spectroscopically twinned SN 2012cu and SN 2011fe across 10 epochs results in the best-fit color excess of (E(B-V), RMS) = (1.00, 0.03) and total-to-selective extinction ratio of (RV , RMS) = (2.95, 0.08) toward SN 2012cu within its host galaxy. We further identify several diffuse interstellar bands, and compare the 5780 {\AA} band with the dust-to-band ratio for the Milky Way. Overall, we find the foreground dust-extinction properties for SN 2012cu to be consistent with those of the Milky Way. Furthermore we find no evidence for significant time variation in any of these extinction tracers. We also compare the dust extinction curve models of Cardelli et al. (1989), O'Donnell (1994), and Fitzpatrick (1999), and find the predictions of Fitzpatrick (1999) fit SN 2012cu the best. Finally, the distance to NGC4772, the host of SN 2012cu, at a redshift of z = 0.0035, often assigned to the Virgo Southern Extension, is determined to be 16.6$\pm$1.1 Mpc. We compare this result with distance measurements in the literature.Comment: 48 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. The spectral time series data presented in this article can be found at http://snfactory.lbl.gov/snf/data

A critical role for Thioredoxin- Interacting protein in diabetes-related impairment of angiogenesis

Impaired angiogenesis in ischemic tissue is a hallmark of diabetes. Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) is an exquisitely glucose-sensitive gene that is overexpressed in diabetes. As TXNIP modulates the activity of the key angiogenic cytokine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), we hypothesized that hyperglycemia-induced dysregulation of TXNIP may play a role in the pathogenesis of impaired angiogenesis in diabetes. In the current study, we report that high glucose– mediated overexpression of TXNIP induces a widespread impairment in endothelial cell (EC) function and survival by reducing VEGF production and sensitivity to VEGF action, findings that are rescued by silencing TXNIP with small interfering RNA. High glucose–induced EC dysfunction was recapitulated in normal glucose conditions by overexpressing either TXNIP or a TXNIP C247S mutant unable to bind thioredoxin, suggesting that TXNIP effects are largely independent of thioredoxin activity. In streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice, TXNIP knockdown to nondiabetic levels rescued diabetes-related impairment of angiogenesis, arteriogenesis, blood flow, and functional recovery in an ischemic hindlimb. These findings were associated with in vivo restoration of VEGF production to nondiabetic levels. These data implicate a critical role for TXNIP in diabetes-related impairment of ischemia-mediated angiogenesis and identify TXNIP as a potential therapeutic target for the vascular complications of diabetes.Louise L. Dunn, Philippa J.L. Simpson, Hamish C. Prosser, Laura Lecce, Gloria S.C. Yuen, Andrew Buckle, Daniel P. Sieveking, Laura Z. Vanags, Patrick R. Lim, Renee W.Y. Chow, Yuen Ting Lam, Zoe Clayton, Shisan Bao, Michael J. Davies, Nadina Stadler, David S. Celermajer, Roland Stocker, Christina A. Bursill, John P. Cooke, and Martin K.C. N

Attribution of extreme precipitation in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during May 2016

May 2016 was the third wettest May on record since 1961 over central eastern China based on station observations, with total monthly rainfall 40% more than the climatological mean for 1961–2013. Accompanying disasters such as waterlogging, landslides and debris flow struck part of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Causal influence of anthropogenic forcings on this event is investigated using the newly updated Met Office Hadley Centre system for attribution of extreme weather and climate events. Results indicate that there is a significant increase in May 2016 rainfall in model simulations relative to the climatological period, but this increase is largely attributable to natural variability. El Ni ̃no years have been found to be correlatedwith extreme rainfall in the Yangtze River region in previous studies—the strong El Ni ̃no of 2015–2016 may account for the extreme precipitation event in 2016. However, on smaller spatial scales we find that anthropogenic forcing has likely played a role in increasing the risk of extreme rainfall to the north of the Yangtze and decreasing it to the south