Consumer Choice within Fresh Produce

This project set out to question whether fresh produce required more specific labeling of pesticides and fertilizer inputs on fresh produce. Like many questions regarding health, environmental science, agriculture, and politics, there is not one simple answer. After listening to professionals and interviewing customers outside grocery stores, it\u27s clear that the majority of consumers are not pursuing additional information, but that there is a small group of customers who would appreciate it. It also became clear that although fear mentality is of concern to professionals in the food industry, consumers don’t seem to understand the negative effects their participation in believing unsubstantiated science causes. Although the FDA is meant to keep consumer health at the forefront, and despite the looming threat of sensationalized media around “chemical sounding” labels, information is a right to those who seek it, especially when it comes to the food they put into their body. Through the research undertaken in this project, we found the first step in more specific labeling would be to prevent fear mongering by educating the public, to make a more transparent food system possible in the future

The Experiences of Parents and Infants Using a Home-Based Art Intervention Aimed at Improving Wellbeing and Connectedness in Their Relationship

During the period of COVID-19 restrictions, we offered vulnerable families with 0 to 3 year old children boxes of art resources and guided creative activities to do together at home. This paper explores families’ experiences of this intervention, highlighting their perceptions of change in wellbeing and attachment. There is a developing case for the social benefits of art, including the impact of arts on mental health and on the wellbeing of children. However, we know that social factors impact upon arts participation, and existing inequalities and mental health difficulties have been exacerbated in the context of the pandemic. This project aimed to adapt to restrictions, to provide a meaningful remote intervention, supporting parent-infant dyads to have positive interactions through art making. We sought to explore the benefits of this intervention for infants and parents with a view to understanding more about the psychological benefits of art participation and about ways to engage families into art making, as well as thinking about how best we can evidence these kinds of arts in health interventions. Preliminary findings showed promising outcomes from the art boxes and this paper brings together the full results, primarily based on interviews with sixteen parents and four referrers alongside collected feedback. We highlight potential mechanisms for change within the intervention and detail the perceived impact of the art boxes in supporting attachment. Parents felt that the art-boxes facilitated changes in their own wellbeing that would make them more available to connection, and recognised changes for babies that reflected their increased capacity to mentalise about their child. Importantly, there were also concrete changes for the dyad that represented improved connection, such as more playful time together and increased shared attention and eye contact. Our observations suggest that the quality of the parent-infant relationship benefited from home-based art intervention, and we speculate about the potential efficacy of this approach beyond the pandemic

Art at the Start:A controlled trial and close observation of parent-infant art therapy intervention

This two-part study seeks to evidence art therapy intervention for parent-infant attachment relationships, looking at improvements to wellbeing and relationships. Study one was a controlled trial with 105 participating parent/caregivers and their infants (0–3-years), identified due to concerns about their relationship. They were quasi-randomized to attend a 12-week art therapy group or treatment as usual. Measures focused on parents’ wellbeing and their perceptions of their relationship with their infant. In study 2 we analyzed video footage from the first and penultimate sessions of a sample of 37 dyads, looking for observable changes in the different channels of communication upon which attachments are predicated. The controlled trial showed intervention participants had significantly improved parental wellbeing, significant increases in attachment warmth and significant decreases in intrusion. This contrasted with the control sample who showed a significant decrease in wellbeing, stable warmth, and significant increases in intrusion. The observation study showed that there was a significant increase in the communicative behaviors from the parents to the infant which would support attachments between the first and penultimate sessions. We conclude that these results make a robust case for the inclusion of art therapy within the range of interventions available for at risk early relationships.</p

Prior cigarette smoke exposure does not affect acute post-stroke outcomes in mice

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently the third leading cause of death globally and is characterized by airflow limitation that is progressive and not fully reversible. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of COPD. Fifty percent of deaths in the COPD population are due to a cardiovascular event and it is now recognised that COPD is a risk factor for stroke. Whether COPD increases stroke severity has not been explored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether functional and histological endpoints of stroke outcomes in mice after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo) were more severe in mice exposed to cigarette smoke (CS). 7-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to room air or CS generated from 9 cigarettes/day, 5 days/week for 2, 8 and 12 weeks. Following air or CS exposure, mice underwent tMCAO surgery with an ischaemic period of 30–40 min or sham surgery. Mice were euthanised 24 h following the induction of ischaemia and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lungs and brains collected. Mice exposed to CS for 2 weeks and subjected to a stroke had similar BALF macrophages to air-exposed and stroke mice. However, CS plus stroke mice had significantly more BALF total cells, neutrophils and lymphocytes than air plus stroke mice. Mice exposed to CS for 8 and 12 weeks had significantly greater BALF total cells, macrophages, neutrophils and lymphocytes than air-exposed mice, but stroke did not affect CS-induced BALF cellularity. Prior CS exposure did not worsen stroke-induced neurological deficit scores, reduced foregrip strength, infarct and oedema volumes. Collectively, we found that although CS exposure caused significant BALF inflammation, it did not worsen acute post-stroke outcomes in mice. This data suggests that while patients with COPD are at increased risk of stroke, it may not translate to COPD patients having more severe stroke outcomes

Evaluating effectiveness of antenatal cognitive behavioural based treatment for anxiety and stress

Psychological distress is common during pregnancy. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the effectiveness of antenatal cognitive behavioural based treatments in reducing psychological distress in pregnant women. A systematic review was undertaken of randomised controlled studies utilizing antenatal cognitive behavioural based treatment in reducing anxiety and stress compared to treatment as usual. Eleven papers were identified through a systematic search of databases using predefined criteria comparing intervention groups to treatment as usual in pregnant women with anxiety or stress. The systematic review revealed preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural based treatment with several studies noting changes over time in anxiety and stress; however, only a few studies reported intervention effects when compared to control. While the systematic review results suggest that a small number of cognitive behavioural based interventions may be effective in reducing anxiety and stress during pregnancy compared to treatment as usual, confidence in these findings is limited due to methodological limitations such as lack of follow-up, high attrition rates and difficulties with generalisability. The evidence base is currently insufficient and further research which utilises a robust methodology is needed before any reliable conclusions can be drawn. An empirical study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a brief, single-session stress reduction programme introducing cognitive behavioural techniques aimed at reducing general anxiety, other pregnancy related distress and improving general well-being and pregnancy outcomes. Twenty-nine participants with clinically significant levels of anxiety were recruited to the empirical study from the local maternity hospital. Participants completed measures of general anxiety, pregnancy related anxiety, general well-being and childbirth experience. The control was derived from a historical dataset where 37 participants were matched for baseline anxiety levels. The empirical study demonstrated significant reductions in general anxiety; however, similar findings were also observed in the control group. Significant reductions were observed with pregnancy related anxiety and women also reported their childbirth experience similarly regardless of delivery type. Although our findings were not significant when compared to control, our recruitment design resulted in good return rates following birth. Further studies using sophisticated study design with use of robust control group are required

THE OIL INDUSTRY\u27S STOCK PRICE RESPONSES TO EVENTS SURROUNDING THE DEEPWATER HORIZON EXPLOSION

The Deepwater Horizon explosion had considerable environmental, economic, and regulatory impacts. We examine oil companies\u27 cumulative abnormal returns related to the date of the rig explosion, as well as announcements regarding insurance liability, insurance premiums for offshore drilling, and deepwater drilling moratorium events. We find no statistically significant stock response to the rig explosion itself – mostly likely given the incompleteness of information at the spill\u27s beginning. We do find firms directly involved with the Deepwater Horizon show negative responses to the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico along with evidence that firms emphasizing drilling and service to existing oil wells also react negatively. Our results further show negative impacts from the possibility of increased financial assurance and insurance costs for firms involved in the pipeline and bulk station and terminal areas. Finally, firms with a weaker financial position (higher leverage) tend to have lower returns. In all, results support contagion more than competitive effects