Publications by authors named "Munns L"

Background: Pregnancy is a transformative time for women and their bodies, and therefore thoughts and feelings about the body understandably change during this period. While previous research has established the impact of body dissatisfaction on factors like antenatal attachment and maternal mental health, there is a notable gap in understanding its long-term effects on postnatal factors. This is often due to high attrition rates in longitudinal studies.

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In response to the plastic waste crisis, teabag producers have substituted the petrochemical-plastic content of their products with bio-based, biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA). Despite widespread use, the degradation rate of PLA/PLA-blended materials in natural soil and their effects on soil biota are poorly understood. This study examined the percentage mass deterioration of teabags with differing cellulose:PLA compositions following burial (-10 cm depth) in an arable field margin for 7-months, using a suite of analytical techniques, such as size exclusion chromatography, H nuclear magnetic resonance, dynamic scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy.

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Pregnancy is a transformative time for women and their bodies, and therefore thoughts and feelings and about one's own body and internal bodily sensations may understandably change during this period. Body satisfaction and interoception have been found to influence factors such as antenatal attachment (AA) and maternal mental health. However, mixed results in the literature suggest complex relationships between the bodily experience during pregnancy and outcomes, necessitating a broader investigative approach.

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Objective: Poor sleep and high levels of repetitive negative thinking (RNT), including future-directed (ie, worry) and past-directed (ie, brooding) negative thoughts, have been associated with markers of dementia risk. The relationship between RNT and sleep health in older adults is unknown. This study aimed to investigate this association and its specificities including multiple dimensions of objective and subjective sleep.

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Problem: There is limited understanding and contradictory results regarding the contribution of the pregnant bodily experience to antenatal attachment.

Background: Antenatal attachment is an important aspect of pregnancy, which has been linked with positive maternal and infant outcomes. Given the profound physical process of pregnancy, it is likely that bodily experience is implicated in antenatal attachment, with research supporting the involvement of pregnancy body (dis)satisfaction.

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Article Synopsis
  • The postnatal period poses significant mental health challenges for mothers, making it essential to find effective strategies to support their well-being.
  • A systematic review was conducted on postnatal yoga-based interventions, analyzing six studies with a total of 377 women from various countries.
  • The findings suggest that postnatal yoga can lead to reduced depression symptoms and improved overall mental health, but more high-quality research is needed to confirm these benefits due to the limited number of existing studies.
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Body image dissatisfaction refers to negative thoughts and feelings individuals have towards their own body appearance and this is thought to be affected by the physiological changes that occur during pregnancy. There are two main conflicting theories as to the effect pregnancy has on body image dissatisfaction: 1) Pregnancy related changes are in direct conflict with social ideas of female beauty (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to explore the relationship between anxiety symptoms and key markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology, specifically amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau proteins.
  • After reviewing 27 studies, the meta-analysis found no significant link between self-reported anxiety and either Aβ or tau levels in cognitively healthy adults.
  • The authors stress the need for larger and longer-term studies to investigate the impact of anxiety onset, severity, and chronicity on AD neuropathology, as well as to explore other potential neurobiological factors.
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