Victorian modern cursive handwriting in West Australian schools

The Victorian Modern Cursive script was introduced to Western Australia as the newly recommended handwriting style in 1990. The choice of this handwriting style, which is a foundation style similar to the Simple Modern Hand (Gourdie, 1981), was based upon the prediction that its use would facilitate the transition from beginners\u27 script to full cursive writing. This assumption has not been tested in West Australian schools and hitherto no evaluation of the new handwriting model has been conducted. This study set out to evaluate and compare the legibility and fluency of cursive writing of a group of Year 3 children who had been taught the Victorian Modern Cursive style since Year 1 with the cursive writing of a group of Year 3 children who had previously been instructed in manuscript. The subjects were 60 randomly selected children from six schools in the Perth Metropolitan area. The sample contained an equal number of boys and girls and left- and right-handed children in each group. The children were individually rated for fluency of writing behaviours (posture, pencil hold, paper position and writing movement) as they completed a short writing task. The writing samples were then rated on a 20 point scale based on the criteria of letter formation, spacing, size and alignment and slant and joins. The teachers of the six classes were also interviewed to determine their attitudes toward the new style. It was found that the children in the group who had been learning the Victorian Modern Cursive style since Year 1 (experimental group) produced significantly more legible cursive writing than the group who had previously been instructed in manuscript (control group) [t(58) =3.25,

Split coordination in English : Why we need parsed corpora

In this article we provide a practical demonstration of how syntactically annotated corpora can be used to investigate research questions with a diachronic depth and synchronic breadth that would not otherwise be possible. The phenomenon under investigation, split coordination, affects every type of coordinated constituent (subject/object DPs, predicate and attributive ADJPs, ADVPs, PPs, and DP objects of P) in Old English; and it, or a superficially similar construction, occurs continuously throughout the attested period from approx. 800 to the present day. We bring to bear different types of evidence to argue that split coordination in fact represents two different constructions, one of which remains stable over time while the other is lost in the post-Middle English period

Pattern and prevalence of vaping nicotine and non-nicotine drugs in the United Kingdom: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: Electronic vaping devices are being used to consume nicotine and non-nicotine psychoactive drugs. We aimed to determine the pattern and prevalence of using vaping devices for nicotine and/or non-nicotine drug administration in the United Kingdom and how these differ by drug type and individual sociodemographic characteristics. We explored reasons for vaping onset and continuation. Design: An online cross-sectional survey Participants: A convenience sample of adults (aged ≥18 years) in the UK. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome was prevalence of current use (within the last 30 days) of a vaping device to administer either nicotine or 18 types of non-nicotine drugs. We additionally evaluated reasons for onset and continuation of vaping. Sociodemographic characteristics were compared between the UK general population using census data and those vaping non-nicotine drugs. Results: We recruited 4027 participants of whom 1637 (40.7%) had ever used an electronic vaping device; 1495 (37.1%) had ever vaped nicotine and 593 (14.7%) had ever vaped a non-nicotine drug. Overall, 574 (14.3%) currently vaped nicotine and 74 (1.8%) currently vaped a non-nicotine drug. The most common currently vaped non-nicotine drug was cannabis (n=58, 1.4%). For nicotine, people’s modal reasons to start and continue vaping was to quit smoking tobacco. For almost all other drugs, people’s modal reason to start vaping was curiosity and to continue was enjoyment. Compared with the general population, the population who had ever vaped a non-nicotine drug were significantly younger, had more disabilities and fewer identified as white, female, heterosexual or religious. Conclusions: A non-trivial number of people report current use and ever use of an electronic vaping device for non-nicotine drug administration. As vaping technology advances and drug consumption changes, understanding patterns of use and associated behaviours are likely to be increasingly important to both users and healthcare professionals

The Effects of Blood Flow Restriction Training on Measures of Strength and Body Composition in College Age Females

Blood flow restriction (BFR) training is a non-invasive technique that uses wraps, bands, or inflated blood pressure cuffs to alter blood flow within targeted muscles. BFR has been seen as a means to potentially help people build muscle mass and strength faster while they are exercising. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the body composition and strength changes resulting from traditional resistance training without BFR to the changes resulting from resistance training combined with BFR. METHODS: 21 females with at least one year of resistance training experience were recruited to participate in the study. Participants were randomly split into two different groups: occluded (OC) and non-occluded (NOC). Each participant was provided with a 4 days/week training protocol for 8 weeks of total training under either OC or NOC conditions. Participants underwent a DEXA scan, thigh girth measurement, blood draw pre- and post-workout, one-repetition max testing, and an acute bout of lower extremity exercise using a hammer strength leg press at weeks 0, 4, and 8. Participants assigned to the OC group had their 50% occlusion percentage determined during each testing session and were required to utilize BFR cuffs during all training sessions with 50% occlusion on all lower extremity exercises. RESULTS: Data are presented as change over time. After data analysis, there was a statistically significant time effect between pre- and post-performance testing on muscular strength (OC = 124 ± 54, NOC = 171 ± 43, p = 0.00) and body fat (OC = -1.517 ± 1.377, NOC = -1.138 ± 1.544, p = 0.022). However, there was no significant difference between groups (p \u3e 0.05). There was no time or interaction effect for weight (OC = 0.627 ± 0.946, NOC = 0.725 ± 1.414, p = 0.183) or thigh girth (OC = 0.514 ± 1.137, NOC = -0.369 ± 2.022, p = 0.146). CONCLUSION: Eight weeks of lower-body BFR training at 50% occlusion does not appear to have an added effect on measures of muscular strength or body composition in resistance-trained females

Association of the serum metabolomic profile by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with sperm parameters: a cross-sectional study of 325 men

Objective: To determine whether 155 circulating metabolic measures relevant to lifestyle and metabolic health are associated with sperm parameters, as measured by concentration, motility and total motile sperm count (TMSC). Study design: Cross-sectional. Setting: University Hospital. Patients: 325 men prospectively recruited between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2019. Intervention(s): Non-fasting serum lipids, lipoprotein subclasses, and low-molecular weight metabolites (including amino acids, glycolysis and inflammatory markers) were quantified by NMR spectroscopy. Detailed demographic, lifestyle, fertility and medical history and semen analysis. Main Outcome Measure(s): Associations of serum metabolic profiles with sperm parameters. Results: Participants were mean 37.2 (SD 5.7) years, with a median sperm concentration of 35 million/ml (IQR 15, 69) and median motility of 53% (IQR 42,67). 76% of men had a TMSC >15 Million, 10% 5-15 Million and 14% <5 Million. In both univariate and confounder adjusted analyses an extensive range of lipids and lipoproteins, glycolysis related metabolites, amino acids, ketone bodies, creatinine or albumin, did not show strong statistical evidence of associated with sperm concentration, motility, or the odds of having a reduced or low TMSC (all PBonferroni > 0.0029). Higher levels of glycolysis metabolites and ketone bodies were associated with increased odds of TMSC <15M compared with ≥15M (odds ratios of ∼1.2 to 1.3), and several lipids/lipoprotein concentrations appeared to protect against very low TMSC (<5M compared with ≥5M) with odds ratios of ∼0.8 or greater. Conclusion: Several metabolites exhibit potentially clinically relevant strength of association with the odds of a low TMSC and warrant replication

College Students as Facilitators in Reducing Adolescent Obesity Disparity in Southern Appalachia: Team up for Healthy Living

The proportion of obese adolescents in Southern Appalachia is among the highest in the nation. Through funding from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities — National Institutes of Health, the Team Up for Healthy Living project was a cluster-randomized trial targeting obesity prevention in adolescents through a cross-peer intervention. The specific aims of the project were to: 1) develop a peer-based health education program focusing on establishing positive peer norms towards healthy eating and physical activity (PA) among high school students, 2) test program efficacy, and 3) explore mechanisms underlying the program. The study was guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, which presupposes that human behavior is primarily driven by attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and social support. To deliver the intervention, undergraduate students from the disciplines of public health, nutrition, and kinesiology were hired as peer facilitators. Ten area high schools were invited to participate, were matched on demographics and then randomized to intervention or control. The primary outcomes of the study included body mass status, dietary behaviors, PA, and sedentary behaviors which were assessed at baseline and at three and twelve months post baseline. Intervention schools received Team Up for Healthy Living curriculum, which consists of eight 40-minute sessions. The curriculum focused on improving nutrition awareness, PA, leadership and communication. Control schools received their regularly scheduled Lifetime Wellness curriculum. The long-term goal of the study was to establish an effective academia–community partnership program to address adolescent obesity disparity in Southern Appalachia

Re-visioning ultrasound through women's accounts of pre-abortion care in England

Feminist scholarship has demonstrated the importance of sustained critical engagement with ultrasound visualizations of pregnant women’s bodies. In response to portrayals of these images as “objective” forms of knowledge about the fetus, it has drawn attention to the social practices through which the meanings of ultrasound are produced. This article makes a novel contribution to this project by addressing an empirical context that has been neglected in the existing feminist literature concerning ultrasound, namely, its use during pregnancies that women decide to terminate. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with women concerning their experiences of abortion in England, I explore how the meanings of having an ultrasound prior to terminating a pregnancy are discursively constructed. I argue that women’s accounts complicate dominant representations of ultrasound and that in so doing, they multiply the subject positions available to pregnant women