27 research outputs found
A Personalised Approach to Identifying Important Determinants of Well-being
Purpose: To develop effective and personalized interventions, it is essential to identify the most critical processes or psycho-
logical drivers that impact an individual’s well-being. Some processes may be universally beneficial to well-being across
many contexts and people, while others may only be beneficial to certain individuals in specific contexts.
Method: We conducted three intensive daily diary studies, each with more than 50 within-person measurement occasions,
across three data sets (n1 = 44; n2 = 37; n3 = 141). We aimed to investigate individual differences in the strength of within-
person associations between three distinct process measures and a variety of outcomes. We utilized a unique idiographic
algorithm, known as i-ARIMAX (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average), to determine the strength of the relationship
(Beta) between each process and outcome within individuals (“i”). All of the computed betas were then subjected to meta-
analyses, with individuals treated as the “study”.
Results: The results revealed that the process-outcome links varied significantly between individuals, surpassing the homo-
geneity typically seen in meta-analyses of studies. Although several processes showed group-level effects, no process was
found to be universally beneficial when considered individually. For instance, processes involving social behavior, like being
assertive, did not demonstrate any group-level links to loneliness but still had significant individual-level effects that varied from positive to negative.
Discussion: Using i-ARIMAX might help reduce the number of candidate variables for complex within-person analyses.
Additionally, the size and pattern of i-ARIMAX betas could prove useful in guiding personalized interventions
Australian University Nursing and Allied Health Students’ and Staff Physical Activity Promotion Preparedness and Knowledge: A Pre-Post Study Using an Educational Intervention
The promotion of physical activity (PA) by health professionals is a key strategy to increase PA levels in the population. In this study, we investigated PA promotion, preparedness, and knowledge among university nursing and allied health students and staff, as well as PA resource usage within curricula, before and after an educational intervention. Students and staff from 13 health disciplines at one Australian university were invited to complete an online survey, and a curriculum audits were conducted before and after PA teaching resources were promoted by academic PA champions (n = 14). A total of 299 students and 43 staff responded to the survey pre-intervention, and 363 and 32 responded to the post-intervention, respectively. PA promotion role perception (≥93%) and confidence to provide general PA advice (≥70%) were high throughout the study. Knowledge of PA guidelines was poor (3–10%). Students of physiotherapy, sport and exercise science, as well as more active students, were more likely to be aware of the PA guidelines (p < 0.05). Over 12 months, PA promotion preparedness and knowledge did not change significantly, nor was there a change in the amount of PA content delivered, despite a significant increase in the use of the teaching resources across a number of disciplines (p = 0.007). Future research should be carried out to investigate the implementation of the resources over time and to develop additional strategies for PA promotion and education scaffolded across curricula
Dynamic thoracohumeral kinematics are dependent upon the etiology of the shoulder injury
[EN] Obtaining kinematic patterns that depend on the shoulder injury may be important when planning rehabilitation. The main goal of this study is to explore whether the kinematic patterns of continuous and repetitive shoulder elevation motions are different according to the type of shoulder injury in question, specifically tendinopathy or rotator cuff tear, and to analyze the influence of the load handled during its assessment. For this purpose, 19 individuals with tendinopathy and 9 with rotator cuff tear performed a repetitive scaption movement that was assessed with stereophotogrammetry. Furthermore, static range of motion (ROM) and isometric strength were evaluated with a goniometer and a dynamometer, respectively. Dynamic measurements of maximum elevation (Emax), variablility of the maximum angle (VMA), maximum angular velocity (Velmax), and time to maximum velocity (tmaxvel) were found to be significantly different between the tendinopathy group (TG) and the rotator cuff tear group (RTCG). No differences were found in the ROM assessed with goniometry and the isometric strength. The effect of increasing the load placed in the hand during the scaption movement led to significant differences in Emax, VMA, tmaxvel and repeatability. Therefore, only the dynamic variables showed sufficient capability of detecting differences in functional performance associated with structural shoulder injury. The differences observed in the kinematic variables between patients with tendinopathy and rotator cuff tear seem to be related to alterations in thoracohumeral rhythm and neuromuscular control. Kinematic analysis may contribute to a better understanding of the functional impact of shoulder injuries, which would help in the assessment and treatment of shoulder pain.This work was funded by the Spanish Government, Secretaria de Estado de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion, and co-financed by EU FEDER funds (Grant DPI2013-44227-R). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Lopez Pascual, J.; Page Del Pozo, AF.; Serra Añó, P. (2017). Dynamic thoracohumeral kinematics are dependent upon the etiology of the shoulder injury. PLoS ONE. 12(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183954S12
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Gesture during political speech reflects and affects judgements of topic similarity
Understanding the relationships between gesture, speech, and thought bears on how we conceptualize language and embodied cognition. We asked whether the gestures U.S. politicians produced when presenting ideas as similar (listing) or different (contrasting) varied in handshape, form, or movement. We found that location was more likely to change during contrasting, while movement pattern was more likely to change during listing. In a follow-up experiment, we showed that these gestures impacted participants’ perceptions of how similar the items discussed by the politician were, even when the auditory information was unavailable. When participants could see politicians’ gestures, they rated listed topics as more similar and contrasted items as more different, even when the videos were muted. We conclude that gesture during political speech can both reflect and affect judgements of similarity and difference
A personalised-approach to identifying important determinants of well-being
Background. Identifying the most important psychological drivers of well-being for a particular individual is critical to developing personalised interventions. Methods. We utilised three, intensive daily diary studies (within person measurement occasions N >50) across three data sets (n1=44; n2=37; n3=141) to examine within-person associations between clinically-relevant processes and a variety of outcomes. We utilised a novel idiographic algorithm, ”i-ARIMAX,” to calculate the strength of relationship (beta) between every process and every outcome within individuals. We then submitted all betas to meta-analytic methods. Results. All process-outcome links were highly heterogeneous between individuals. Processes that were associated with positive outcomes for some people were often unrelated to outcomes for others or associated with negative outcomes. Conclusion. i-ARIMAX might be used to guide personalised interventions and to reduce the number of candidate variables for complicated within-person analysis
A Silent Operon of Photorhabdus luminescens Encodes a Prodrug Mimic of GTP
Drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria have become the major problem driving the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Searching outside the overmined actinomycetes, we focused on
Photorhabdus
, gut symbionts of enthomopathogenic nematodes that carry up to 40 biosynthetic gene clusters coding for secondary metabolites.
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