37 research outputs found
Maternal depression, anxiety, body dissatisfaction and self-esteem: do they increase the risk of pre-schooler obesity?
An examination of the relationship between maternal depression, anxiety, body dissatisfaction and self-esteem, child feeding practices, and obesity risk in pre-schoolers. A systematic review revealed moderate associations between maternal depression and pre-schooler obesity risk, and a possible link between both maternal anxiety and body dissatisfaction and pre-schooler obesity risk. The empirical studies however, did not support a link between any of the measures of psychosocial health and pre-schooler obesity risk
Search for CP violation in decays
A model-independent search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed
decay in a sample of approximately 370,000 decays is
carried out. The data were collected by the LHCb experiment in 2010 and
correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb. The normalized Dalitz
plot distributions for and are compared using four different
binning schemes that are sensitive to different manifestations of CP violation.
No evidence for CP asymmetry is found.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Measurement of charged particle multiplicities in collisions at TeV in the forward region
The charged particle production in proton-proton collisions is studied with
the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of TeV in different
intervals of pseudorapidity . The charged particles are reconstructed
close to the interaction region in the vertex detector, which provides high
reconstruction efficiency in the ranges and
. The data were taken with a minimum bias trigger, only requiring
one or more reconstructed tracks in the vertex detector. By selecting an event
sample with at least one track with a transverse momentum greater than 1 GeV/c
a hard QCD subsample is investigated. Several event generators are compared
with the data; none are able to describe fully the multiplicity distributions
or the charged particle density distribution as a function of . In
general, the models underestimate the charged particle production
First observation of the decay and a measurement of the ratio of branching fractions
The first observation of the decay using
data collected by the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV,
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb, is reported. A
signal of events is obtained and the absence of signal is
rejected with a statistical significance of more than nine standard deviations.
The branching fraction is measured relative to
that of : , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and
the third is due to the uncertainty on the ratio of the and
hadronisation fractions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B; ISSN 0370-269
Search for the lepton number violating decays and
A search is performed for the lepton number violating decay , where represents a or a , using data from the
LHCb detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of . The
decay is forbidden in the Standard Model but allowed in models with a Majorana
neutrino. No signal is observed in either channel and limits of and are set at the 95% confidence level. These improve the
previous best limits by factors of 40 and 30, respectively
Measurement of the cross-section ratio for prompt production at TeV
The prompt production of the charmonium and mesons
has been studied in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at a
centre-of-mass energy of TeV. The mesons are identified
through their decays with
using 36 of data collected by the LHCb detector in 2010. The
ratio of the prompt production cross-sections for the two spin states,
, has been determined as a function of the
transverse momentum, , in the range from 2 to
15 GeV/. The results are in agreement with the next-to-leading order
non-relativistic QCD model at high and lie
consistently above the pure leading-order colour singlet prediction.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Measurement of b hadron production fractions in 7 TeV pp collisions
Measurements of hadron production ratios in proton-proton collisions at a
centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 3 pb are
presented. We study the ratios of strange meson to light meson
production and baryon to light meson
production as a function of the charmed hadron-muon
pair transverse momentum and the hadron pseudorapidity , for
between 0 and 14 GeV and between 2 and 5. We find that
is consistent with being independent of and ,
and we determine = 0.134 0.004 , where
the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The corresponding
ratio is found to be dependent upon the transverse
momentum of the charmed hadron-muon pair, , where Br reflects an absolute scale
uncertainty due to the poorly known branching fraction Br(\Lambda_c^+ \to
pK^-\pi^+)BBf_s/f_d\bar{B}_s \to
D_S^+ \pi ^-\bar{B}^0 \to D^+K^-\bar{B}^0 \to D^+\pi^-f_s/f_d=0.267^{+0.021}_{-0.020}$.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, version accepted for publication in Physical
Review D, few more detailed explanations on analysis methods adde
Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and preschooler obesity: a cross-sectional study
The primary aim of the present study was to cross-sectionally examine the associations between maternal psychosocial variables, child feeding practices, and preschooler body mass index z-score (BMI-z) in children (aged 2–4 years). A secondary aim was to examine differences in child weight outcomes between mothers scoring above and below specified cut-offs on the psychosocial measures. Two hundred and ninety mother–child dyads were recruited from Melbourne, Australia, and completed questionnaires examining demographic information, mothers’ depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, restrictive and pressure child feeding practices, and preschoolers’ BMI-z scores. Independent t-tests and hierarchical multiple regression were employed to analyse the data. In the final regression model, none of the maternal psychosocial measures or feeding practices predicted child BMI-z scores; maternal body mass index and employment status were the only predictors of preschooler BMI-z. However, independent t-tests revealed that children of mothers with elevated body dissatisfaction scores had significantly higher BMI-z scores than children of mothers without elevated scores. The results suggest that psychosocial variables are not related, cross-sectionally, to preschooler weight outcomes; however, further research is needed to replicate the group differences noted between mothers with and without body dissatisfaction, and to track these relationships longitudinally
Does maternal psychopathology increase the risk of pre-schooler obesity? A systematic review
The preschool years may be a critical period for child obesity onset; however, literature examining obesity risk factors to date has largely focused on school-aged children. Several links have been made between maternal depression and childhood obesity risks; however, other types of maternal psychopathology have been widely neglected. The aim of the present review was to systematically identify articles that examined relationships between maternal psychopathology variables, including depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, and risks for pre-schooler obesity, including weight outcomes, physical activity and sedentary behaviour levels, and nutrition/diet variables. Twenty articles meeting review criteria were identified. Results showed positive associations between maternal depressive symptoms and increased risks for pre-schooler obesity in the majority of studies. Results were inconsistent depending on the time at which depression was measured (i.e., antenatal, postnatal, in isolation or longitudinally). Anxiety and body dissatisfaction were only measured in single studies; however, both were linked to pre-schooler obesity risks; self-esteem was not measured by any studies. We concluded that maternal depressive symptoms are important to consider when assessing risks for obesity in preschool-aged children; however, more research is needed examining the impact of other facets of maternal psychopathology on obesity risk in pre-schoolers
Raising an Assistance Dog PuppyâStakeholder Perspectives on What Helps and What Hinders
Assistance dog puppies live with their raisers for up to 16 months before entering advanced training and, hopefully, becoming qualified to help people with a disability. Almost half of the puppies fail to meet the behavioural standards required for assistance dogs, and some puppy raisers produce more behaviourally favourable puppies than others. It is unclear what factors influence puppy-raising practice quality. To understand this, we interviewed 17 participants, including experienced puppy raisers (n = 8), provider organisation staff (n = 4), and those who have served both as puppy raisers and staff (n = 5). Results of a thematic analysis suggest three groups of influencing factors, namely intrapersonal factors, social support, and puppy characteristics. Intrapersonal factors such as expectations, competency, perseverance and passion were reported to influence puppy raisers’ experiences, puppy-raising quality, and continuity of service. Contextual factors such as availability of social support (informational and emotional supports) and less-demanding puppies both led to positive puppy-raising experiences, while the former also contributed to puppy raisers’ perceptions of competency. Future research should quantitatively examine the interrelationships of these factors concerning puppies’ behavioural development. Meanwhile, organisations could consider these factors when developing their recruitment and puppy-raiser support programs