Music is ubiquitous in retail and commercial environments, with some managers believing that music can enhance the customer experience, increase footfall and sales and improve consumer satisfaction. Casino gambling is popular in the United Kingdom and anecdotal evidence suggests that music is often present. However, little is known about the rationale for music use from the perspective of casino managers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA myriad of factors influence the developmental and aging process and impact health and life span. Mounting evidence indicates that brain injury, even moderate injury, can lead to lifetime of physical and mental health symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of this mini-review is to discuss how recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI) depends on age-at-injury and how aging with a TBI affects long-term recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA prevailing neuroinflammation hypothesis is that increased production of proinflammatory cytokines contributes to progressive neuropathology, secondary to the primary damage caused by a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In support of the hypothesis, post-injury interventions that inhibit the proinflammatory cytokine surge can attenuate the progressive pathology. However, other post-injury neuroinflammatory responses are key to endogenous recovery responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLocal environmental features can shape hybrid zone dynamics when hybrids are bounded by ecotones or when patchily distributed habitat types lead to a corresponding mosaic of genotypes. We investigated the role of marsh-level characteristics in shaping a hybrid zone between two recently diverged avian taxa - Saltmarsh (Ammodramus caudacutus) and Nelson's (A. nelsoni) sparrows.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNovice motorists are at high crash risk during the first few months of driving. Risky behaviours such as speeding and driving while distracted are well-documented contributors to crash risk during this period. To reduce this public health burden, effective road safety interventions need to target the pre-driving period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a continued effort to improve the suitability of ionic liquids in applications operating at raised temperatures, novel spirocyclic 'azoniaspiro' salts (with cations derived from five-, six-, seven- and eight-membered rings) are prepared and characterised. The structural and thermal properties of these salts are compared against those of established analogues. The stable geometries and ion pairing behaviour of these species are investigated via a combined experimental/computational approach, employing X-ray crystallography and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIssue addressed Alcohol-related harm is an issue of concern for African migrant communities living in Australia. However, there has been little information available to guide workers in developing culturally sensitive health promotion strategies. Methods A three-step approach, comprising a literature review, community consultations and an external review, was undertaken to develop a guide to assist organisations and health promotion groups working with African migrant communities to address alcohol-related harms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present an 8-year-old male with metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) who developed precipitous cardiopulmonary collapse with severe tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) 48 hr after initiation of chemotherapy. Despite no detectable pulmonary metastases, acute hypoxemic respiratory failure developed, requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Although TLS has been reported in disseminated ARMS, this singular case of life-threatening respiratory deterioration developing after initiation of chemotherapy presented unique therapeutic dilemmas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActs of self-harm are not routinely tracked in Malaysia. The present study investigates the prevalence of self-harm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over a 7-year period. The aims were to: (a) assess the prevalence of self-harm; (b) examine any changes over a period of 7 years, and (c) identify correlates of methods of self-harm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrimary Objective: A dynamic relationship exists between diffuse traumatic brain injury and changes to the neurovascular unit. The purpose of this study was to evaluate vascular changes during the first week following diffuse TBI. It was hypothesized that pathology is associated with modification of the vasculature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Average life expectancy is rising, resulting in increasing numbers of elderly, frail individuals presenting with coronary artery disease and requiring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). PCI can be of value for this population, but little is known about the balance of benefit versus risk, particularly in the frail.
Objective: To determine the relationship between frailty and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing PCI.
Background: Percutaneous vascular access for coronary intervention is currently achieved predominately via the radial route, the femoral route acting as a backup. Percutaneous trans-brachial access is no longer commonly used due to concerns about vascular complications. This study aimed to investigate the safety and feasibility of percutaneous brachial access when femoral and radial access was not possible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, and continued smoking may compromise treatment efficacy and quality of life (health-related quality of life (HRQoL)) in patients with advanced lung cancer. Our aims were to determine (i) preference for treatments which promote quality over length of life depending on smoking status, (ii) the relationship between HRQoL and smoking status at diagnosis (T1), after controlling for demographic and clinical variables, and (iii) changes in HRQoL 6 months after diagnosis (T2) depending on smoking status.
Methods: Two hundred ninety-six patients with advanced lung cancer were given questionnaires to assess HRQoL (EORTC QLQ-C30), time-trade-off for life quality versus quantity (QQQ) and smoking history (current, former or never smoker) at diagnosis (T1) and 6 months later (T2).
Context: Dynamic postural stability is important for injury prevention, but little is known about how lower-extremity musculoskeletal characteristics (range of motion [ROM] and strength) contribute to dynamic postural stability. Knowing which modifiable physical characteristics predict dynamic postural stability can help direct rehabilitation and injury-prevention programs.
Objective: To determine if trunk, hip, knee, and ankle flexibility and strength variables are significant predictors of dynamic postural stability during single-leg jump landings.
Background: Low income is a widely studied risk factor for child and adolescent behavioural difficulties. Previous research on this relationship has produced mixed findings.
Aims: To investigate the level, shape and homogeneity of income gradients in different types of antisocial behaviour.
Progressive kidney fibrosis contributes greatly to end-stage renal failure, and no specific treatment is available to preserve organ function. During renal fibrosis, myofibroblasts accumulate in the interstitium of the kidney, leading to massive deposition of extracellular matrix and organ dysfunction. The origin of myofibroblasts is manifold, but the contribution of an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) undergone by renal epithelial cells during kidney fibrosis is still debated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To compare vaginal birth rates in women planning vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) at home versus in an obstetric unit (OU) and explore transfer rates in women planning home VBAC.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: OUs and planned home births in England.
Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl
December 2015
The infection dynamics and distribution of the ectoparasitic fish monogenean Neobenedenia sp. (Monogenea: Capsalidae) throughout its development was examined on barramundi, Lates calcarifer (Bloch) (Latidae), by labelling transparent, ciliated larvae (oncomiracidia) with a fluorescent dye. Replicate fish were each exposed to approximately 50 fluorescent oncomiracidia and then examined for parasites using an epifluorescence stereomicroscope at 10 time intervals post-exposure (15, 30, 60, 120 min, 24, 48 h, four, eight, 12, and 16 days).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2015
Research on the ecological impacts of environmental change has primarily focused at the species level, leaving the responses of ecosystem-level properties like energy flow poorly understood. This is especially so over millennial timescales inaccessible to direct observation. Here we examine how energy flow within a Great Basin small mammal community responded to climate-driven environmental change during the past 12,800 y, and use this baseline to evaluate responses observed during the past century.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubstantial advances have been made in our understanding of the movement of species, including processes such as dispersal and migration. This knowledge has the potential to improve decisions about biodiversity policy and management, but it can be difficult for decision makers to readily access and integrate the growing body of movement science. This is, in part, due to a lack of synthesis of information that is sufficiently contextualized for a policy audience.
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