Publications by authors named "Laurence James"

Background: Research suggests that individuals' local social networks, norms of reciprocity and sense of belonging (their local social capital, henceforth LSC), can cushion the impact of adverse events on their mental health. However, to date, little research has explored the pathways through which LSC operates to buffer stressors, especially during major crises, e.g.

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Prior research has examined the relationship between ethnic outgroup-size at the neighbourhood level and Brexit support, yet there is a lack of understanding on the factors that moderate these effects. This paper critically extends prior debate by focusing on how personality traits moderate not only the extent to which the levels (2011) of ethnic outgroup-size in individuals' residential neighbourhoods but also the increase thereof (2001-2011) are associated with individuals' preferences about the 2016 Brexit referendum. Using data from Understanding Society, we find that two personality traits, agreeableness and openness, are key moderators affecting the above-mentioned relationship.

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This paper examines drivers of prejudicial attitudes among adults in the UK, focusing on the interaction between ethnic out-group size and personality traits. Leveraging data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS), we use two survey waves carried out in 2000 and 2008, just before and after the EU enlargement policy that drove a wave of immigration in the UK. We test the extent to which personality traits moderate the relationship between both absolute levels and changes in ethnic diversity at the local level, respectively, and prejudice.

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Studies in the UK demonstrate evidence that ethnic minorities living in communities with a higher proportion of co-ethnics report better mental health: co-ethnic density effects. This paper aims to address three gaps in this literature. Firstly, most UK research has focused on acute mental disorders (e.

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This paper explores the role of social capital in mitigating the mental health harms of social/mobility restrictions instigated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We test whether: (a) social capital continued to predict lower mental distress during the pandemic; and (b) whether social capital buffered (moderated) the harm of social/mobility restrictions on psychological distress. In addition, we test the level at which social capital mitigation effects operated, i.

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Background Prior studies have shown an association between myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery (MINS) and all-cause mortality in patients following noncardiac surgery. However, the association between preoperative risk assessments, Revised Cardiac Risk Index and American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, and postoperative troponin elevations and long-term mortality is unknown. Methods and Results A retrospective chart review identified 548 patients who had a troponin I level drawn within 14 days of noncardiac surgery that required an overnight hospital stay.

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Background: The present study examines the impact of coronavirus-related restrictions on mental health among American adults, and how this relationship varies as a function of time and two measures of vulnerability (preexisting physical symptoms and job insecurity).

Methods: We draw on data from two waves of Corona Impact Survey, which were fielded in late April and early of May 2020. Multilevel models were used to analyze the hierarchically nested data.

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Introduction: Patients suffering ankle fractures provide a common economic and time burden to modern healthcare in the UK. They continue to be admitted to await operative intervention and may have to wait days before an operation occurs. Unnecessary bed stay is one are that may be subject to cost savings if the safety of the patient is maintained.

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Studies identify the existence of inequalities in adolescent subjective well-being (SWB) across levels of community socio-economic disadvantage. One posited explanation is that community disadvantage harms SWB through undermining positive social relations among residents (often termed social capital). However, social relations can be both positive and negative; for example, social interactions between residents can be friendly or unfriendly, or involve being helped or harmed.

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Affective interethnic ties are highly effective for improving out-group attitudes, especially during adolescence. Yet, young people face several obstacles to developing such ties in society. One potential means of fostering greater interethnic connectivity is through youth engagement: that is, formal, organized social participation in groups, clubs, or activities.

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This study advances the current literature investigating the relationship between contextual out-group exposure, inter-group attitudes and the role of inter-group contact. Firstly, it introduces the concept of contact-valence into this relationship; that is, whether contact is experienced positively or negatively. Secondly, it presents a comparative analysis of how processes of out-group exposure and frequency of (valenced) contact affect prejudice across both neighbourhoods and workplaces.

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Inter-ethnic contact has long been held as a key means of ameliorating possible inter-group tensions and facilitating the integration of increasing immigrant populations into society. However, our understanding of the role of contact in this relationship may be limited due to the omission of contact-valence; that is, whether contact is experienced positively or negatively. This paper integrates the concept of contact-valence into the question of how increasing community diversity affects attitudes towards immigrants via inter-group contact, across Europe.

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Extensive research has demonstrated that neighbourhood ethnic diversity is negatively associated with intra-neighbourhood social capital. This study explores the role of segregation and integration in this relationship. To do so it applies three-level hierarchical linear models to two sets of data from across Great Britain and within London, and examines how segregation across the wider-community in which a neighbourhood is impacts trust amongst neighbours.

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This paper examines how the 2008-9 recession has affected volunteering behaviours in the UK. Using a large survey dataset, we assess the recession effects on both formal volunteering and informal helping behaviours. Whilst both formal volunteering and informal helping have been in decline in the UK since 2008, the size of the decline is significantly larger for informal helping than for formal volunteering.

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Increasing rates of job displacement (i.e. involuntary job loss from redundancy, downsizing, restructuring) have been suggested to be a key driver of declining macro-levels of generalised trust.

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Purpose: To survey the practice of orthopaedic consultants in the Greater London area for treating Achilles tendon ruptures.

Methods: 221 orthopaedic consultants working in 28 hospitals within the Greater London area were identified. A questionnaire regarding conservative treatment for acute Achilles tendon ruptures was sent.

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Although studies in the US have shown an association between the ethnic residential composition of an area and reports of decreased social cohesion among its residents, this association is not clear in the UK, and particularly for ethnic minority groups. The current study analyses a merged dataset from the 2005 and 2007 Citizenship Survey to assess the evidence for an association between social cohesion and ethnic residential concentration, composition and area deprivation across different ethnic groups in the UK. Results of the multilevel regression models show that, after adjusting for area deprivation, increased levels of social cohesion are found in areas of greater ethnic residential heterogeneity.

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The skeletal response to short-term exercise training remains poorly described. We thus studied the lower limb skeletal response of 723 Caucasian male army recruits to a 12-wk training regime. Femoral bone volume was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging, bone ultrastructure by quantitative ultrasound (QUS), and bone mineral density (BMD) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of the hip.

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Benzophenone photophores are employed widely for photoaffinity-labeling studies. Photolabeling with benzophenone, however, is hardly a routine experiment. Even when a photoprobe binds to its target, photocrosslinking does not necessarily occur.

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Background: Left ventricular mass is a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although factors associated with elevated left ventricular mass have been sought and studied extensively in elderly and in diseased subjects, few studies have examined the young and healthy. The aim of this study was to examine the possible influence of lifestyle on left ventricular mass in a large group of young men.

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A molecular probe that selectively tags Lck, a Src-family kinase, was developed. This probe was one of many compounds originally designed to target the active site of tyrosine kinases in general. To our surprise, however, the probe almost exclusively labeled Lck even in a lysate of Jurkat cells.

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The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the interleukin-6 (IL-6) -174 G>C promoter polymorphism and exercise-induced femoral cortical bone resorption. Skeletal response to exercise was assessed in 130 male Caucasian army recruits. Five cross-sectional magnetic resonance images of the right femur were obtained before and after a 10-week period of basic physical training, and changes in cross-sectional cortical area were calculated.

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