Golden Bite Mouth Guard

Dr. Kirk Quigless has designed the Golden Bite™ athletic mouth guard to properly align the jaw. Literature suggests that the proper alignment of the jaw will provide users with increased performance gains. Accurately determining these gains without bias is a difficult task. Dr. Kirk Quigless needs to quantify the performance gains from his mouth guard. The portable device designed in the Golden Bite™ Mouth Guard Project will record the force exerted by an individual over a period of time. From this data, Dr. Kirk Quigless can determine the change in force output from individuals with and without the mouth guard, proving the validity of the performance gains associated with the Golden Bite™ athletic mouth guard

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence among homeless people and shelter workers in Denmark:a nationwide cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: People experiencing homelessness (PEH) and associated shelter workers may be at higher risk of infection with “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” (SARS-CoV-2). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among PEH and shelter workers in Denmark. DESIGN AND METHODS: In November 2020, we conducted a nationwide cross-sectional seroprevalence study among PEH and shelter workers at 21 recruitment sites in Denmark. The assessment included a point-of-care test for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, followed by a questionnaire. The seroprevalence was compared to that of geographically matched blood donors considered as a proxy for the background population, tested using a total Ig ELISA assay. RESULTS: We included 827 participants in the study, of whom 819 provided their SARS-CoV-2 antibody results. Of those, 628 were PEH (median age 50.8 (IQR 40.9–59.1) years, 35.5% female) and 191 were shelter workers (median age 46.6 (IQR 36.1–55.0) years and 74.5% female). The overall seroprevalence was 6.7% and was similar among PEH and shelter workers (6.8% vs 6.3%, p = 0.87); and 12.2% among all participants who engaged in sex work. The overall participant seroprevalence was significantly higher than that of the background population (2.9%, p < 0.001). When combining all participants who reported sex work or were recruited at designated safe havens, we found a significantly increased risk of seropositivity compared to other participants (OR 2.23, 95%CI 1.06–4.43, p = 0.02). Seropositive and seronegative participants reported a similar presence of at least one SARS-CoV-2 associated symptom (49% and 54%, respectively). INTERPRETATIONS: The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was more than twice as high among PEH and associated shelter workers, compared to the background population. These results could be taken into consideration when deciding in which phase PEH are eligible for a vaccine, as part of the Danish national SARS-CoV-2 vaccination program rollout. FUNDING: TrygFonden and HelseFonden. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13642-7

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Emotion Suppression and Acute Physiological Responses to Stress in Healthy Populations: A Quantitative Review of Experimental and Correlational Investigations

To understand the relationship between emotion suppression (either self-report or experimental manipulation) and physiological reactions to active laboratory stress tasks

The Appeal of Womanhood: British Women Against the Vote, 1880-1918

The 1880s saw a movement in Britain that focused on the “New Woman.” In turn this engendered fear that as women became more prominent in society, seeking not only political equality but increased leisure and luxury they would move away from their traditional motherly duties. As pro-suffrage groups began to form in the late 19th century, they were countered by anti-suffrage groups such as the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League. Female anti-suffragists held strongly to their belief that women were in charge of the home sphere, which included familial duties as well as local philanthropy. It is for this reason that the anti-suffragists have been thought to be anti-feminist. However, the calling to be good mothers and wives was perceived as invaluable to the home front as well as the empire. The feminist ideal which female anti-suffragists embraced was not the more socially-liberating version in which women abandoned their motherly duties in pursuit of other interests. Rather, it was the feminism that upheld the essence of femininity—to fulfill God’s plan to be nurturers and supporters of the family who would carry on the idea of British exceptionalism in all aspects of public life. This research explains the development of suffrage opposition groups, their arguments against women’s enfranchisement, and the actions they took in order to gain support for their cause

Cynical hostility relates to a lack of habituation of the cardiovascular response to repeated acute stress.

Hostility is associated with cardiovascular disease risk. Heightened cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to psychological stress has been proposed as a mechanism. Recent work has emphasized a need to measure CVR across multiple stress exposures to assess potential adaptation over time. In the current study, 196 participants completed 2 separate laboratory sessions, consisting of a 20-minute baseline and 15-minute stressor. Heart rate (HR) and systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) were recorded throughout. Reactivity was calculated separately for HR, SBP, and DBP (stress – baseline). Participants also completed the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale. Results indicated that greater cognitive hostility (i.e., cynicism) was associated with blunted CVR at Visit 1 and less CVR habituation between visits, even when controlling for confounding variables. No significant relationships were found for emotional or behavioral hostility. These results identify a potential pathway through which hostility contributes to disease risk. This study utilized previously collected data from the Pittsburgh Cold Study 3

Be There For Me and I Will Be There For You: Friendship Maintenance Mediates the Relationship Between Capitalization and Happiness

Friends share positive events with each other, and the perception of the responses as active and constructive (i.e., enthusiastic) is related to happiness. Two studies (N = 685) investigated friendship maintenance (FM) in same-sex best friendships as the mediator of the relationship between perceived responses to capitalization attempts (PRCA) and happiness. Results in both studies showed that PRCA was positively related to FM, and that FM explained why PRCA was associated with happiness, even when different measures of happiness were utilized. Although women reported higher levels of PRCA and FM compared to men, the associations of the friendship experiences with happiness were similar and the model was supported for both women and men. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of understanding the role of friendship experiences in the capitalization process. Also, directions for future research were provided