Do Individual and Situational Factors Explain the Link Between Predrinking and Heavier Alcohol Consumption? An Event-Level Study of Types of Beverage Consumed and Social Context

Aim: Predrinking (drinking in private settings before going to licensed premises) has been shown to be positively associated with amount of alcohol consumed. The present study assesses whether this association is explained by general drinking patterns or situational factors, including drinking duration, beverage type and drinking companions. Methods: In a sample of 183 young adults from French-speaking Switzerland, data on alcohol consumption, whereabouts and drinking companions were collected using questionnaires sent to participants' cell phones at five time points from 5 p.m. to midnight every Thursday, Friday and Saturday over five consecutive weeks. Means and proportion tests and multilevel models were conducted based on 6650 assessments recorded on 1441 evenings. Results: Over the study period, predrinkers drank more frequently than did non-predrinkers and, among males, predrinkers drank more heavily. Predrinking was related to increased drinking duration and thus total consumption in the evenings. Larger groups of people were reported for predrinking compared with off-premise only drinking situations. Among women, the consumption of straight spirits (i.e. not mixed with soft drinks) while predrinking was associated with higher total evening alcohol consumption. Among men, drinking with exclusively male friends or female friends while predrinking was associated with higher consumption. Conclusion: Heavier drinking on predrinking evenings mainly results from longer drinking duration, with individual and situational factors playing a smaller role. Prevention efforts on reducing the time that young adults spend drinking and harm reduction measures such as restriction of access to on-premise establishments once intoxicated are recommende

Tangata whaiora/consumers perspectives on current psychiatric classification systems

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A number of studies have been undertaken with the aim of considering the utility of mental health classification systems from the perspective of a variety of stakeholders. There is a lack of research on how useful consumers/tangata whaiora think these are in assisting them in their recovery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy service users were involved in seven focus groups in order to consider this question.</p> <p>Results and discussion</p> <p>While for clinicians diagnosing someone might be a discrete event and easily forgotten as a moment in a busy schedule, most people in this study remembered the occasion and aftermath very clearly. The overall consensus was that whether being 'diagnosed' was helpful or not, in large part, depended on how the process happened and what resulted from being 'labeled' in the person's life.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, people thought that in terms of their recovery, the classification systems were tools and their utility depended on how they were used. They suggested that whatever tool was used it needed to help them make sense of their distress and provide them with a variety of supports, not just medication, to assist them to live lives that were meaningful to them.</p

Pd/ZnO catalysts for direct CO2 hydrogenation to methanol

The direct hydrogenation of CO2 into methanol is crucial for providing a means of CO2 fixation and a way to store cleanly produced hydrogen in a more energy-dense and transportable form. Here we have prepared two series of Pd/ZnO catalysts, both by immobilisation of PVA-protected Pd colloids and by Pd impregnation of PdCl2 to investigate structure activity relationships for direct CO2 hydrogenation. Very different performances were found for the different preparation methods, and the Pd loading and pre-reduction of the catalysts were shown to be important factors for optimising methanol yield. The crucial factor for high methanol yield is the formation of a Pd–Zn alloy, either during the reaction itself, or better by high temperature pre-reduction. The formation of the alloy greatly reduces CO production by the reverse water gas shift reaction. The catalysts prepared by sol-immobilisation were relatively stable to thermal treatment. In contrast, the impregnated catalysts were much less thermally stable, due to the presence of remnant chloride on the surface of the catalyst, which was absent for the case of sol immobilisation preparation. The results illustrate the importance of controlling the PdZn particle size and its surface structure for the catalysts to achieve high methanol selectivity (60%, the rest being CO) and conversion (11%) at 250 °C and 20 bar. Selectivity for sol-immobilised catalysts decreases from 60% at 3 nm average diameter, to 20% at 7 nm

Acute effects of different warm-up protocols on highly skilled golfers’ drive performance

Previous research has highlighted the positive effect that different warm-up protocols have on golf performance (e.g. Sorbie et al., 2016; Tilley & MacFarlane, 2012) with the design of warm-ups and programmes targeting and improving golf performance through the activation and development of specific muscle groups. This study aimed to examine the acute effects of two warm-up protocols on golf drive performance in comparison to a control condition. Using a randomised counter-balanced design over three testing sessions, twenty-three highly skilled golfers completed the control, dynamic and resistance-band warm-up conditions. Following each condition, a GC2 launch monitor was used to record ball velocity and other launch parameters of ten shots hit with the participants own driver. A repeated-measures ANOVA found significant increases in ball velocity (ηp² = .217) between the control and both the dynamic and resistance-band warm-up conditions but no difference between these latter two, and a reduction in launch angle between control and dynamic conditions. The use of either a dynamic stretching or resistance-band warm-up can have acute benefits on ball velocity but golfers should liaise with a PGA Professional golf coach to effectively integrate this into their golf driving performance

Measuring Metacognition in Cancer: Validation of the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 (MCQ-30)

Objective The Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 assesses metacognitive beliefs and processes which are central to the metacognitive model of emotional disorder. As recent studies have begun to explore the utility of this model for understanding emotional distress after cancer diagnosis, it is important also to assess the validity of the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 for use in cancer populations. Methods 229 patients with primary breast or prostate cancer completed the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale pre-treatment and again 12 months later. The structure and validity of the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 were assessed using factor analyses and structural equation modelling. Results Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses provided evidence supporting the validity of the previously published 5-factor structure of the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30. Specifically, both pre-treatment and 12 months later, this solution provided the best fit to the data and all items loaded on their expected factors. Structural equation modelling indicated that two dimensions of metacognition (positive and negative beliefs about worry) were significantly associated with anxiety and depression as predicted, providing further evidence of validity. Conclusions These findings provide initial evidence that the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 is a valid measure for use in cancer populations

The culture of combination: solidarities and collective action before tolpuddle

Beyond the repression of the national waves of food rioting during the subsistence crises of the 1790s, workers in the English countryside lost the will and ability to collectively mobilise. Or so the historical orthodoxy goes. Such a conceptualisation necessarily positions the Bread or Blood riots of 1816, the Swing rising of 1830, and, in particular, the agrarian trade unionism practised at Tolpuddle in 1834 as exceptional events. This paper offers a departure by placing Tolpuddle into its wider regional context. The unionists at Tolpuddle, it is shown, were not making it up as they went along but instead acted in ways consistent with shared understandings and experiences of collective action and unionism practiced throughout the English west. In so doing, it pays particular attention to the forms of collective action – and judicial responses – that extended between different locales and communities and which joined farmworkers, artisans and industrial workers together. So conceived, Tolpuddle was not an exception. Rather, it can be more usefully understood as a manifestation of deeply entrenched cultures, an episode that assumes its historical potency because of its subsequent politicised representation

Identification of single-site gold catalysis in acetylene hydrochlorination

There remains considerable debate over the active form of gold under operating conditions of a recently validated gold catalyst for acetylene hydrochlorination. We have performed an in situ x-ray absorption fine structure study of gold/carbon (Au/C) catalysts under acetylene hydrochlorination reaction conditions and show that highly active catalysts comprise single-site cationic Au entities whose activity correlates with the ratio of Au(I):Au(III) present. We demonstrate that these Au/C catalysts are supported analogs of single-site homogeneous Au catalysts and propose a mechanism, supported by computational modeling, based on a redox couple of Au(I)-Au(III) species. View Full Tex

Physiological Responses to Prolonged Aquatic Hypoxia in the Queensland Lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri

The effects of moderate and severe hypoxia on air breathing frequency and respiratory properties of the blood of the Queensland (Australian) lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri were measured in fish exposed to these conditions for 14-22 days at 20 degrees C. Haemoglobin oxygen affinity increased after exposure to moderate hypoxia (PwO2 = 60 mmHg), but did not increase further after exposure to severe hypoxia (PwO2 =40 mmHg). The P50 of whole blood (20 degrees C, PCO2 =16.0 mmHg) fell from 22.0 +/- 1.5 mmHg in normoxic conditions to 19.0 +/- 1.0 mmHg in hypoxic conditions. Under both moderate and severe hypoxia, haematocrit, haemoglobin, blood lactate, and erythrocyte phosphate concentrations did not differ from normoxic values. The observed increase in haemoglobin oxygen affinity in response to aquatic hypoxia is typical of compensatory responses seen in obligate water breathers, but smaller. This suggests that the capacity of lungfish to respond to hypoxia by breathing air removes the necessity for further left-shifting of the oxygen equilibrium curve

A Prospective Study of the Association of Metacognitive Beliefs and Processes with Persistent Emotional Distress After Diagnosis of Cancer

Two hundred and six patients, diagnosed with primary breast or prostate cancer completed self-report questionnaires on two occasions: before treatment (T1) and 12 months later (T2). The questionnaires included: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; Impact of Events Scale; the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) and the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-revised. A series of regression analyses indicated that metacognitive beliefs at T1 predicted between 14 and 19 % of the variance in symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma at T2 after controlling for age and gender. For all three outcomes, the MCQ-30 subscale ‘negative beliefs about worry’ made the largest individual contribution with ‘cognitive confidence’ also contributing in each case. For anxiety, a third metacognitive variable, ‘positive beliefs about worry’ also predicted variance in T2 symptoms. In addition, hierarchical analyses indicated that metacognitive beliefs explained a small but significant amount of variance in T2 anxiety (2 %) and T2 depression (4 %) over and above that explained by demographic variables, T1 symptoms and T1 illness perceptions. The findings suggest that modifying metacognitive beliefs and processes has the potential to alleviate distress associated with cancer