The association between knowledge of HPV and feelings of stigma, shame and anxiety

Objectives: To test the hypotheses that ( 1) women who know that human papillomavirus ( HPV) is sexually transmitted will expect to experience higher levels of stigma, shame and anxiety if they test positive for the virus than women who are not aware of the mode of transmission and ( 2) women who are aware of the high prevalence of HPV infection will expect to experience lower levels of stigma, shame and anxiety than women who underestimate its prevalence.Methods: A web-based survey in which information about HPV was manipulated to generate a 262 design ( awareness that HPV is sexually transmitted v no awareness; awareness of the high prevalence of HPV v no awareness). Participants ( n = 811) were female students. They were asked to imagine that they had tested positive for HPV. Outcome measures were expected stigma, shame and anxiety.Results: Great differences were observed in emotional reactions to imagining testing HPV positive between the four groups based on knowledge of HPV. Knowledge of the prevalence was associated with lower levels of stigma, shame and anxiety. Knowledge that HPV is sexually transmitted was associated with higher levels of stigma and shame, but not anxiety. Women who knew that HPV is sexually transmitted but not that it is highly prevalent had the highest scores for stigma and shame.Conclusions: Raising public awareness of the sexually transmitted nature of HPV has the potential to increase women's feelings of stigma and shame if they test positive for the virus. However, our findings suggest that ensuring women's awareness of HPV being common may reduce these feelings and also reduce anxiety, perhaps by "normalising'' the infection

Gravitational lensing statistics with extragalactic surveys. II. Analysis of the Jodrell Bank-VLA Astrometric Survey

We present constraints on the cosmological constant $\lambda_{0}$ from gravitational lensing statistics of the Jodrell Bank-VLA Astrometric Survey (JVAS). Although this is the largest gravitational lens survey which has been analysed, cosmological constraints are only comparable to those from optical surveys. This is due to the fact that the median source redshifts of JVAS are lower, which leads to both relatively fewer lenses in the survey and a weaker dependence on the cosmological parameters. Although more approximations have to be made than is the case for optical surveys, the consistency of the results with those from optical gravitational lens surveys and other cosmological tests indicate that this is not a major source of uncertainty in the results. However, joint constraints from a combination of radio and optical data are much tighter. Thus, a similar analysis of the much larger Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey should provide even tighter constraints on the cosmological constant, especially when combined with data from optical lens surveys. At 95% confidence, our lower and upper limits on $\lambda_{0}-\Omega_{0}$, using the JVAS lensing statistics information alone, are respectively -2.69 and 0.68. For a flat universe, these correspond to lower and upper limits on \lambda_{0} of respectively -0.85 and 0.84. Using the combination of JVAS lensing statistics and lensing statistics from the literature as discussed in Quast & Helbig (Paper I) the corresponding $\lambda_{0}-\Omega_{0}$ values are -1.78 and 0.27. For a flat universe, these correspond to lower and upper limits on $\lambda_{0}$ of respectively -0.39 and 0.64.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, 18 PostScript files in 6 figures. Paper version available on request. Data available from http://gladia.astro.rug.nl:8000/ceres/data_from_papers/papers.htm

Lensing galaxies: light or dark?

In a recent paper, Hawkins (1997) argues on the basis of statistical studies of double-image gravitational lenses and lens candidates that a large population of dark lenses exists and that these outnumber galaxies with more normal mass-to-light ratios by a factor of 3:1. If correct, this is a very important result for many areas of astronomy including galaxy formation and cosmology. In this paper we discuss our new radio-selected gravitational lens sample, JVAS/CLASS, in order to test and constrain this proposition. We have obtained ground-based and HST images of all multiple-image lens systems in our sample and in 12 cases out of 12 we find the lensing galaxies in the optical and/or near infrared. Our success in finding lensing galaxies creates problems for the dark lens hypothesis. If it is to survive, ad hoc modifications seem to be necessary: only very massive galaxies (more than about one trillion solar masses) can be dark, and the cutoff in mass must be sharp. Our finding of lens galaxies in all the JVAS/CLASS systems is complementary evidence which supports the conclusion of Kochanek et al. (1997) that many of the wide-separation optically-selected pairs are physically distinct quasars rather than gravitational lens systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 included figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Paper version available on request. This replacement amends the text to allow more discussion of the overlap with astro-ph/971016

Educational outcomes in extremely preterm children : neuropsychological correlates and predictors of attainment

This study assessed the impact of extremely preterm birth on academic attainment at 11 years of age, investigated neuropsychological antecedents of attainment in reading and mathematics, and examined early predictors of educational outcomes. Children born extremely preterm had significantly poorer academic attainment and a higher prevalence of learning difficulties than their term peers. General cognitive ability and specific deficits in visuospatial skills or phoneme deletion at 6 years were predictive of mathematics and reading attainment at 11 years in both extremely preterm and term children. Phonological processing, attention, and executive functions at 6 years were also associated with academic attainment in children born extremely preterm. Furthermore, social factors, neonatal factors (necrotizing enterocolitis, breech delivery, abnormal cerebral ultrasound, early breast milk provision), and developmental factors at 30 months (head circumference, cognitive development), were independent predictors of educational outcomes at 11 years. Neonatal complications combined with assessments of early cognitive function provide moderate prediction for educational outcomes in children born extremely preterm

Teaching classroom management – A potential public health intervention?

Author's manuscript version. The final published version is available from the publisher via: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/HE-03-2014-0030© Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the feasibility of a classroom management course as a public health intervention. Improved socio-emotional skills may boost children’s developmental and academic trajectory, while the costs of behaviour problems are enormous for schools with considerable impact on others’ well-being. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 40 teachers attended the Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) intervention in groups of ten. Afterwards teachers attended focus groups and semi-structured interviews were completed with headteachers to explore whether TCM was feasible, relevant and useful, research processes were acceptable and if it influenced teachers’ practice and pupils. Teachers completed standardised questionnaires about their professional self-efficacy, burnout and well-being before and after attendance. Findings – In all, 37/40 teachers completed the course. Teachers valued sharing experiences, the support of colleagues in the group and time out to reflect on practice and rehearse new techniques. Most teachers reported that they applied the strategies with good effect in their classrooms. Teachers’ questionnaires suggested an improvement in their self-efficacy in relation to classroom management (p=0.03); other scales changed in the predicted direction but did not reach statistical significance. Research limitations/implications – Although preliminary and small, these feasibility study findings suggest that it was worthwhile proceeding to a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT). Practical implications – Should the RCT demonstrate effectiveness, then the intervention is an obvious candidate for implementation as a whole school approach. Originality/value – Successful intervention with one teacher potentially benefits every child that they subsequently teach and may increase the inclusion of socio-economically deprived children living in challenging circumstances in mainstream education. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR

Effective growth of matter density fluctuations in the running LCDM and LXCDM models

We investigate the matter density fluctuations \delta\rho/\rho for two dark energy (DE) models in the literature in which the cosmological term \Lambda is a running parameter. In the first model, the running LCDM model, matter and DE exchange energy, whereas in the second model, the LXCDM model, the total DE and matter components are conserved separately. The LXCDM model was proposed as an interesting solution to the cosmic coincidence problem. It includes an extra dynamical component, the "cosmon" X, which interacts with the running \Lambda, but not with matter. In our analysis we make use of the current value of the linear bias parameter, b^2(0)= P_{GG}/P_{MM}, where P_{MM} ~ (\delta\rho/\rho)^2 is the present matter power spectrum and P_{GG} is the galaxy fluctuation power spectrum. The former can be computed within a given model, and the latter is found from the observed LSS data (at small z) obtained by the 2dF galaxy redshift survey. It is found that b^2(0)=1 within a 10% accuracy for the standard LCDM model. Adopting this limit for any DE model and using a method based on the effective equation of state for the DE, we can set a limit on the growth of matter density perturbations for the running LCDM model, the solution of which is known. This provides a good test of the procedure, which we then apply to the LXCDM model in order to determine the physical region of parameter space, compatible with the LSS data. In this region, the LXCDM model is consistent with known observations and provides at the same time a viable solution to the cosmic coincidence problem.Comment: LaTeX, 38 pages, 8 figures. Version accepted in JCA

Measuring Cosmological Parameters with the JVAS and CLASS Gravitational Lens Surveys

The JVAS (Jodrell Bank-VLA Astrometric Survey) and CLASS (Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey) are well-defined surveys containing about ten thousand flat-spectrum radio sources. For many reasons, flat-spectrum radio sources are particularly well-suited as a population from which one can obtain unbiased samples of gravitational lenses. These are by far the largest gravitational (macro)lens surveys, and particular attention was paid to constructing a cleanly-defined sample for the survey itself and for the underlying luminosity function. Here we present the constraints on cosmological parameters, particularly the cosmological constant, derived from JVAS and combine them with constraints from optical gravitational lens surveys, `direct' measurements of $\Omega_{0}$, $H_{0}$ and the age of the universe, and constraints derived from CMB anisotropies, before putting this final result into the context of the latest results from other, independent cosmological tests.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, 6 PostScript figures, uses texas.sty. To appear in the Proceedings of the 19th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology (CD-ROM). Paper version available on request. Actual poster (A0 and A4 versions) available from http://multivac.jb.man.ac.uk:8000/helbig/research/publications/info/ texas98.htm