Prediction of airborne sound transmission across a timber-concrete composite floor using Statistical Energy Analysis

This paper concerns the development and experimental validation of prediction models using Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) to calculate the airborne sound insulation of a timber–concrete composite floor. The complexity in modelling this floor is due to it having (1) a multilayer upper plate formed from concrete and Oriented Strand Board (OSB), (2) multiple types of rigid connector between the upper plate and the timber joists and (3) a resiliently suspended ceiling. A six-subsystem model treats the concrete–OSB plate as a single subsystem and three different five-subsystem models treat the combination of concrete, OSB and timber joists as a single orthotropic plate subsystem. For the orthotropic plate it is suggested that bending stiffnesses predicted using the theories of Huffington and Troitsky provide a more suitable and flexible approach than that of Kimura and Inoue. All SEA models are able to predict the weighted sound reduction index to within 2 dB of the measurement. The average difference (magnitude) between measurements and predictions in one-third octave bands is up to 4 dB. These results confirm that SEA can be used to model direct transmission across relatively complex floor constructions. However, this requires the inclusion of measured data in the SEA model, namely the dynamic stiffness of the resilient isolators and the cavity reverberation time

What is the most appropriate treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis?

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common, treatable disease that affects approximately 11% of British adults. It places an enormous burden on patients, with significant detriment to their quality of life, and the health service as it consumes vast numbers of both primary and secondary care resources. However, there is considerable variability in treatment strategies and prescribing practices. This review summarises the key recommendations from landmark guidelines in the treatment of CRS and critically appraises the evidence for treatment

Landlord Perceptions of Homelessness in the Bear River Region

Homelessness has been rising at an alarming rate in the Bear River Region of Utah. Between 2017 and 2019, there has been a 400% increase in unsheltered homeless (HUD, 2019). Research indicates a lack of affordable housing is a likely cause (Lucero & Barker Tolman Shuler, 2020). Armed with the knowledge that finding housing is a key aspect to reduce homelessness, the present study set out to ascertain landlords’ awareness and attitudes of homelessness, as well as types of interventions they would support. Collaborating on a community-engaged project, USU social work students and faculty developed a survey of knowledge and attitudes of homelessness. A random sample of 600 landlords and property managers in the Bear River Region were selected. After training, students administered the survey to landlords via phone, email, and mail. Analyses included descriptive and bivariate statistics.Results show, typically, landlords (n= 130) underestimate rates and growth of homelessness. Two out of three landlords do not feel well informed about homelessness, are not aware that the region lacks a homeless shelter or available resources. The same number believe individuals experiencing homelessness are good people. Further, half of landlords want to help solve homelessness but do not know how. Findings indicate that landlords are more willing when domestic violence or a physical disability is the cause of homelessness. They are less comfortable renting to individuals who are homeless with psychiatric disabilities, criminal records, or prior evictions. What’s more is that four out of five landlords would be more likely to rent to individuals experiencing homeless if they had an outside point of contact, such as a social services representative, to reach if issues arise with tenants. The findings from this study will inform the development of interventions targeting landlord awareness and involvement in reducing homelessness in the Bear River Region. Presentation Time: Thursday, 11 a.m.-12 p.m

Use of Nonmedicated Control Substances in Randomized Clinical Trials of Patients with Chronic Rhinosinusitis:A Systematic Review and Single-Arm Meta-analysis

IMPORTANCE: The effect of nonmedicated control substances in chronic rhinosinusitis remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of nonmedicated control substances in randomized clinical trials with disease outcomes in patients diagnosed with chronic rhinosinusitis. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: In this single-arm systematic review and meta-analysis, the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were searched for randomized clinical trials with a preintervention and postintervention design for chronic rhinosinusitis that were published between 1946 and January 23, 2019. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Paired reviewers independently extracted data. The analyses used random-effects models and the Cochrane risk of bias assessment to rate the quality of the evidence. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcomes were the association of nonmedicated control substances with 22-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) scores or nasal symptom scores when SNOT-22 was not available. RESULTS: A total of 2305 abstracts were identified and screened, 725 articles were reviewed in full text, and 38 articles met the study criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Among the 38 included studies, a total of 2258 adults (mean age range, 27-53 years; 20.0%-72.5% women) were randomized to receive nonmedicated control substances or sham interventions. Topical nonmedicated control substances were associated with significant reduction in SNOT-22 scores (mean difference [MD], −8.81; 95% CI, −12.60 to −5.03). A subgroup analysis of topical therapies, limited to saline irrigation and nasal spray diluents, found that topical diluents were associated with a greater reduction in SNOT-22 scores (MD, −11.45; 95% CI, −13.50 to −9.41) compared with saline irrigation (MD, −13.60; 95% CI, −19.95 to −7.25). Nonmedicated control substances were associated with a significant reduction in nasal obstruction scores (standardized MD [SMD], −0.42; 95% CI, −0.81 to −0.03). No significant change was found in rhinorrhea scores (SMD, −0.34; 95% CI, −1.37 to 0.69), postnasal drip scores (SMD, −0.96; 95% CI, −2.18 to 0.25), facial pain scores (SMD, −0.57; 95% CI, −1.68 to 0.55), or loss of smell scores (SMD, −0.18; 95% CI, −0.68 to 0.32). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This systematic review and meta-analysis of the use of nonmedicated control substances in randomized clinical trials of chronic rhinosinusitis outcomes suggests that the use of nonmedicated control substances is associated with limited improvements in SNOT-22 and nasal obstruction scores. These findings highlight potential areas of future research directions and the importance of randomized clinical trials to accurately estimate treatment effect

School experiences of queer youth who are deaf

Abstract: Historically, South African society has had conflicting views on the nature and nurture of Deaf people and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) people. In the context of the diverse nature of South African cultures and societies, the reality and existence of deaf and LGBTIQ people’s lives have historically remained invisible and oppressed. Consequently, this study explored how South African school youth, who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and identify as either LGBTIQ, navigate their learning and social environments in schools. In an attempt to discover ways in which the South African schooling system can respond to and accommodate deaf learners who embody queer identities. This study was based on a qualitative approach with a phenomenological paradigm and a historical narrative research design. In this study, data was collected by means of face-to-face interviews with five queer participants who are deaf. The findings from this study found that South African school youth who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and that identify as LGBTIQ are systematically disadvantaged and limited in their capacity to navigate their learning and social environments during their schooling years. The findings highlighted that owing to the institutionalisation of heteronormativity and compulsory heterosexuality within the frameworks, policies, curriculum and infrastructure of the deaf schools, the learners are systematically denied knowledge of the existence of queer sexualities and gender identities. Therefore, their school years are marked with uncertainty of sexual identities, internal conflict and homophobia owing to the compulsory heteronormative culture embedded within the deaf institutions. Thus, the findings of this study illustrated that queer learners who are deaf, only disclose and embrace their queer sexualities and gender identities once they have left school. Consequently, the findings of this study revealed the following needs: firstly, for queer youth who are deaf to receive diverse sexuality education within the classroom. Secondly, for accommodations in the school uniforms and infrastructure. Thirdly, addressing the sign language communication barriers of teachers, counsellors and parents. Lastly, the need for access to diverse sexuality resources and materials for the queer youth who are deaf.M.Ed. (Educational Psychology

A case-control study of medical, psychological and socio-economic factors influencing the severity of chronic rhinosinusitis

BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common and debilitating disorder. Little is known about the epidemiology of this disease. The aims of the study were to identify differences in socio-economic variables and quality of life between patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and healthy controls, to identify any significant associations between CRS and other medical co-morbidities, psychiatric disease or environmental exposure and to explore the experience of CRS from the perspective of CRS sufferers. METHODS: Participants were recruited from ENT clinics from 30 centres across the UK. They completed a study-specific questionnaire considering environmental, medical and socio-economic factors, and SF-36 and SNOT-22 scores. All participants with CRS were diagnosed by a clinician and categorised as having CRS (with polyposis, without polyposis or allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS)). Controls included family and friends of those attending ENT outpatient clinics and hospital staff who had no diagnosis of nose or sinus problems and had not been admitted to hospital in the previous 12 months. RESULTS: A total of 1470 study participants (1249 patients and 221 controls) were included in the final analysis. Highly significant differences were seen in generic and disease-specific quality of life scores between CRS sufferers and controls; mean SNOT-22 score 45.0 for CRS compared with 12.1 amongst controls. There were no clear differences in socioeconomic variables including social class, index of multiple deprivation and educational attainment between cases and controls. Common comorbidities with a clear association included respiratory and psychiatric disorders, with a higher frequency of reported upper respiratory tract infections. CONCLUSIONS: CRS is associated with significant impairment in quality of life and with certain medical co-morbidities. In contrast to other common ENT disorders, no socioeconomic differences were found between patients and controls in this study

Sexual misery’ or ‘happy British Muslims’? : Contemporary depictions of Muslim sexuality

We begin this article with a close look at some contemporary pictures of sexual life in the Muslim world that have been painted in certain sections of the Western media, asking how and why these pictures matter. Across a range of mainstream print media from the New York Times to the Daily Mail, and across reported events from several countries, can be found pictures of ‘sexual misery’ (Daoud, 2016: np.). These ‘frame’ Muslim men as tyrannical, Muslim women as downtrodden or exploited, and the wider world of Islam as culpable (Morey and Yaqin, 2012). Crucially, this is not the whole story. We then consider how these negative representations are being challenged and how they can be challenged further. In doing so, we will not simply set pictures of sexual misery against their binary opposites, namely pictures replete with the promise of sexual happiness (Ahmed, 2010). Instead, we search for a more complex picture, one that unsettles stereotypes about the sexual lives of Muslims without simply idealizing its subjects. This takes us to the journalism, life writing and creative non-fiction of Shelina Zahra Janmohamed and the fiction of Ayisha Malik and Amjeed Kabil. We read this long-form work critically, attending to manifest advances in depictions of the relationships of Muslim-identified individuals over the last decade or so, while also remaining alert to lacunae and limitations in the individual representations. More broadly, we hope to signal our intention to avoid both Islamophobia and Islamophilia (Shryock, 2010) in scrutinizing literary texts

Post-viral olfactory loss and parosmia

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has brought olfactory dysfunction to the forefront of public awareness, because up to half of infected individuals could develop olfactory dysfunction. Loss of smell—which can be partial or total—in itself is debilitating, but the distortion of sense of smell (parosmia) that can occur as a consequence of a viral upper respiratory tract infection (either alongside a reduction in sense of smell or as a solo symptom) can be very distressing for patients. Incidence of olfactory loss after SARS-CoV-2 infection has been estimated by meta-analysis to be around 50%, with more than one in three who will subsequently report parosmia. While early loss of sense of smell is thought to be due to infection of the supporting cells of the olfactory epithelium, the underlying mechanisms of persistant loss and parosmia remain less clear. Depletion of olfactory sensory neurones, chronic inflammatory infiltrates, and downregulation of receptor expression are thought to contribute. There are few effective therapeutic options, so support and olfactory training are essential. Further research is required before strong recommendations can be made to support treatment with steroids, supplements, or interventions applied topically or injected into the olfactory epithelium in terms of improving recovery of quantitative olfactory function. It is not yet known whether these treatments will also achieve comparable improvements in parosmia. This article aims to contextualise parosmia in the setting of post-viral olfactory dysfunction, explore some of the putative molecular mechanisms, and review some of the treatment options available

Altered smell and taste: anosmia, parosmia and the impact of long Covid-19

Background: Qualitative olfactory (smell) dysfunctions are a common side effect of post-viral illness and known to impact quality of life and health status. Evidence is emerging that taste and smell loss are common symptoms of Covid-19 that may emerge and persist long after initial infection. The aim of the present study was to document the impact of post Covid-19 alterations to taste and smell. Methods: We conducted exploratory thematic analysis of user-generated text from 9000 users of the AbScent Covid-19 Smell and Taste Loss moderated Facebook support group from March 24 to 30th September 2020. Results: Participants reported difficulty explaining and managing an altered sense of taste and smell; a lack of interpersonal and professional explanation or support; altered eating; appetite loss, weight change; loss of pleasure in food, eating and social engagement; altered intimacy and an altered relationship to self and others. Conclusions: Our findings suggest altered taste and smell with Covid-19 may lead to severe disruption to daily living that impacts on psychological well-being, physical health, relationships and sense of self. More specifically, participants reported impacts that related to reduced desire and ability to eat and prepare food; weight gain, weight loss and nutritional insufficiency; emotional wellbeing; professional practice; intimacy and social bonding; and the disruption of people’s sense of reality and themselves. Our findings should inform further research and suggest areas for the training, assessment and treatment practices of health care professionals working with long Covid

Association between laryngopharyngeal reflux, gastroesophageal reflux and recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis: A systematic review.

peer reviewed[en] OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus. REVIEW METHODS: Three investigators searched the specified databases for studies investigating the relationship between LPR, GERD and recalcitrant CRS with or without polyposis. The following outcomes were investigated with PRISMA criteria: age; gender; reflux and CRS diagnosis; association outcomes and potential treatment outcomes. The authors performed a bias analysis of papers and provided recommendations for future studies. RESULTS: A total of 17 studies investigated the association between reflux and recalcitrant CRS. According to pharyngeal pH monitoring, 54% of patients with recalcitrant CRS reported hypo or nasopharyngeal acid reflux events. The number of hypo- and nasopharyngeal acid reflux events was significantly higher in patients compared to healthy individuals in 4 and 2 studies, respectively. Only one study did not report intergroup differences. The proportion of GERD was significantly higher in CRS patients compared to controls, with a prevalence ranging from 32% to 91% of cases. No author considered nonacid reflux events. There was significant heterogeneity in the inclusion criteria; definition of reflux and association outcomes, limiting the ability to draw clear conclusions. Pepsin was found in sinonasal secretions more frequently in CRS patients than controls. CONCLUSION: Laryngopharyngeal reflux and GERD may be contributing factors of CRS therapeutic resistance, but future studies are needed to confirm the association considering nonacid reflux events