Hairdressers’ exposure to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) appears to be insufficiently described in the literature. Knowledge regarding musculoskeletal disorders in this group is also sparse. The purpose of the research was to investigate the status of work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases found in Taiwanese hairdressers and to develop user-centred, strategic solutions to prevent the accumulation of musculoskeletal disorders in this group, especially newcomers to the industry. The study involved a series of investigations into the status of WMSDs for hairdressers in Taiwan as a first step towards their prevention. A hairdresser-oriented, musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to discover the risk factors associated with WMSDs and a validated, on-line, rapid, upper-limb assessment tool was used to identify critical hairdressing working postures. Improvements to the main critical hairdressing working postures identified by the first stage of the research have been addressed by an ergonomics training programme. The effectiveness of this is validated using 3D-motion analysis based on a pre- and post-test evaluation of awkward movements. A scientific approach to 3D-motion analysis has been achieved specifically by the study of the awkward working postures of the upper extremity during hair-blow-waving and hair-straightening activities. The relationship between working postures and WMSDs in various body regions is discussed. In this regard, poor posture and movement can lead to local mechanical stress on the muscles, ligaments and joints, resulting in discomfort in the musculoskeletal system, particularly the neck, back, shoulder and wrist. This research has provided a WMSDs prevention framework as a strategic method of securing a continuous improvement in the awkward working postures adopted during various hairdressing activities. Topics for further studies are suggested.

BACKGROUND:Metagenomics has a great potential to discover previously unattainable information about microbial communities. An important prerequisite for such discoveries is to accurately estimate the composition of microbial communities. Most of prevalent homology-based approaches utilize solely the results of an alignment tool such as BLAST, limiting their estimation accuracy to high ranks of the taxonomy tree.RESULTS:We developed a new homology-based approach called Taxonomic Analysis by Elimination and Correction (TAEC), which utilizes the similarity in the genomic sequence in addition to the result of an alignment tool. The proposed method is comprehensively tested on various simulated benchmark datasets of diverse complexity of microbial structure. Compared with other available methods designed for estimating taxonomic composition at a relatively low taxonomic rank, TAEC demonstrates greater accuracy in quantification of genomes in a given microbial sample. We also applied TAEC on two real metagenomic datasets, oral cavity dataset and Crohn's disease dataset. Our results, while agreeing with previous findings at higher ranks of the taxonomy tree, provide accurate estimation of taxonomic compositions at the species/strain level, narrowing down which species/strains need more attention in the study of oral cavity and the Crohn's disease.CONCLUSIONS:By taking account of the similarity in the genomic sequence TAEC outperforms other available tools in estimating taxonomic composition at a very low rank, especially when closely related species/strains exist in a metagenomic sample.

I november 2015 avgjordes en tvist mellan havredrycksproducenten Oatly och branschorganisationen Svensk Mjölk i Marknadsdomstolen. Svensk Mjölk stämde Oatly eftersom de ansåg att deras marknadsföring var vilseledande. Stämningen ledde till att Oatly dömdes till förbud för marknadsföring som antyder att havremjölk är ett bättre val än komjölk. Denna studies syfte är att undersöka hur tvisten påverkat Oatlys lojala kunders varumärkesuppfattning utifrån begreppet brand image. För att undersöka detta genomfördes en kvalitativ studie med 18 konsumenter som representerat Oatlys lojala kunder: veganer, vegetarianer, laktosintoleranta och mjölkallergiker. Deras uppfattningar undersöktes utifrån teorier om Cause Related Marketing, negativ publicitet och självkongruens hos konsumenter. Majoriteten av respondenternas uppfattningar av Oatly har förbättrats efter tvisten, framförallt för att de ansåg att Oatly var i underläge och att de stod upp för en samhällsfråga. Studiens resultat tyder på att ett företag som upplevs vara en underdog kan undvika att ta skada från negativ publicitet.

With advancing age, many cognitive faculties deteriorate, and navigation abilities may be among those most affected. The majority of previous work investigating navigation impairments in ageing has focused on allocentric processing, attributing deficits to hippocampal dysfunction. However, real-world navigation is dependent upon numerous different strategies, as well as the ability to flexibly switch between them. Outside the context of navigation, it has been demonstrated that strategy switching, thought to be coordinated by regions of prefrontal cortex and the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system, is also susceptible to the effects of ageing. Deficits in navigational strategy switching, and prefrontal or noradrenergic dysfunction, are therefore also likely to contribute to age-related navigation impairments. The work presented in this thesis aimed to explore age-related impairments in strategy switching within the context of navigation, and the underlying neural mechanisms in terms of a prefrontal-noradrenergic model of switching. The studies presented in Chapter Three assessed the use of allocentric and egocentric navigational strategies by young and older people. Older participants tended to use an egocentric strategy where an allocentric strategy was required, possibly due to a difficulty in switching to the appropriate allocentric strategy. In Chapter Four, I provide an account of two studies directly assessing navigational strategy switching, using two different tasks based in virtual reality. The first study utilised a virtual adaptation of the plus maze task, involving switching between an allocentric place strategy and an egocentric response strategy, and demonstrated that older participants were specifically impaired at switching to the place strategy. The second study used a more realistic task set in a virtual town environment, which involved switching from an egocentric route-following strategy to an allocentric wayfinding strategy, and also demonstrated an age-related deficit in switching to an allocentric strategy. In Chapter Five, I begin to explore the mechanisms underlying impaired navigational strategy switching in ageing. Firstly, I describe a further behavioural study that used variants of the virtual plus maze and a navigational gambling task to demonstrate a contribution of impaired decision making to the deficit in switching to an allocentric strategy. This indicates that the deficit can be attributed, at least in part, to prefrontal dysfunction. A second study presented in the same chapter demonstrated that practising orienteering does not protect against decline in navigational strategy switching ability with ageing. Chapter Six provides an account of my direct assessment of the neural bases of navigational strategy switching using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In young subjects, I found some evidence in support of the roles of prefrontal regions in navigational strategy switching. However, I was unable to complete development of a task suitable for assessing age differences in functional activation of brain regions involved in navigational strategy switching. The final experimental study, included in Chapter Seven, assessed pupil size and heart rate as physiological correlates of noradrenergic activity during performance of the virtual plus maze. Both young and old participants demonstrated a noradrenergic response to all strategy changes, suggesting that impairments are more likely attributable to dysfunction of prefrontal cortex than of the locus coeruleus, although some subtle effects suggested that noradrenergic dysfunction does have some effect on navigational strategy switching deficits. In the same chapter, I report the results of a meta-analysis of data from five of the preceding studies, suggesting that deficits in both strategy switching and allocentric processing combine to produce a greater impairment in switching to an allocentric strategy. The main finding of this series of studies is that navigational strategy switching is impaired in ageing, which may contribute to the more widely reported difficulties that older people have with navigation. My work also provides evidence in support of a prefrontal-noradrenergic model of navigational strategy switching, and suggests that dysfunction of prefrontal cortex and, to a lesser extent, the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system is responsible for decline in navigational strategy switching ability with ageing. In conclusion, this thesis draws attention to the important role of deficient executive processing and dysfunction of extra-hippocampal brain regions in age-related navigation impairments.

Bakgrund: Demens beskrivs som en sjukdom som berör hela familjen, varav närstående utgör en betydande del av vården av den sjuke i hemmet. Som en konsekvens av detta kan närstående uppleva negativ inverkan på fysisk och psykisk hälsa med nedsatt livskvalitet som följd. Distriktssköterskans förmåga att vara lyhörd för närståendes behov likaväl som patientens är därför av stor betydelse, för att kunna stödja närstående efter bästa förmåga med den hjälp de behöver. Dock föreligger svårigheter i distriktssköterskans arbete att tillgodose närståendes behov liksom att vara ett optimalt stöd. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva distriktssköterskans arbetssätt och förmågor liksom svårigheter att stödja närstående som vårdar en person som insjuknat i demens. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en intervjustudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Metoden var kvalitativ med induktiv ansats. Ändamålsenligt urval tillämpades vid rekrytering av deltagare. Inklusionskriterierna var distriktssköterskor inom hemsjukvården i två olika kommuner i södra Sverige, med måttlig till mycket erfarenhet inom området. Innehållet i intervjuerna analyserades med kvalitativ latent innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman (2004). Resultat: Resultatet omfattade nio kategorier med tillhörande underkategorier. Kategorierna som skapades blev följande; “Distriktssköterskan vill utgå ifrån ett helhetsperspektiv”, “Distriktssköterskan vill arbeta preventivt genom varaktig kontakt med närstående”, “Att bli inkopplad sent är ett hinder i det hälsofrämjande arbetet”, “Teamsamarbete skapar förutsättningar för distriktssköterskan att ge stöd till närstående”,“En ömsesidig relation kan stödja närstående i den vårdande processen”, “Att uppmärksamma och vara lyhörd inför närståendes behov av stöd”, “Möjligheter att tillgodose behov av stöd försvåras av närståendes oförmåga att ta emot hjälp” samt “Att främja distriktssköterskans förmåga att uppmärksamma närståendes behov av stöd”. Dessa kategorier föll under två teman; “Att ligga steget före för att möta hela människan” och “Att finnas till hands och vara mottaglig för önskningar”. Slutsats: Det förekom skillnader mellan kommunerna huruvida distriktssköterskan i sitt sätt att arbeta använde rutiner eller inte. Distriktssköterskorna använder flera metoder för att stödja närstående som vårdar en person som insjuknat i demens, men upplever att de ibland blir inkopplade sent, något som hindrar dem i sitt hälsofrämjande arbete liksom möjligheterna att tillgodose ett optimalt omhändertagande. De önskade rutiner, mer utbildning inom området samt hjälpmedel som kunde underlättade deras arbete att uppmärksamma och identifiera närståendes mående och behov av stöd. / Background: Dementia is described as a disease that affects the whole family, whereof relatives are taking a considerable part of the caring in the home. As a consequence the related person can experience a negative impact on the physical as well as the psychological health. To be able to give good support the district nurse’s ability to read the related’s and the patient’s needs is of great importance. However, there are difficulties in the district nurse's work to meet the needs of related parties as well as to be an optimum support. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe the district nurse’s way of working and abilities as well as problems in supporting relatives who’s taking care of individuals with dementia. Method: The study was conducted as an interview study with semi-structured interviews. The method was qualitative with an inductive approach. Expedient selection was applied in the recruitment of participants. The inclusion requirement were district nurses in home care from two municipalities in southern Sweden, with intermediate or greater experience in the field. The content of the interviews were analysed using qualitative latent content analysis, as described by Graneheim och Lundman (2004). Result: The result includes nine categories with associated subcategories. The following categories were created; “The district nurse wants to originate from a holistic perspective”, ”The district nurse wants to work preventively through sustained contact with related parties”, “Becoming engaged late is a barrier in health promotion”, “Team collaboration creates conditions for the district nurse to provide support to related parties”, ”A mutual relationship can support related in the care process”, “Paying attention to and be responsive to related parties need of support”, “Opportunities to meet the needs of support is complicated by related parties' inability to accept help” and “Promoting the district nurse's ability to pay attention to related parties’ need off support”. These categories fell under two themes; “Staying ahead to meet the whole human” and “To be available and  responsive to the desires of patients and related”. Conclusion: There were differences in using or not using procedures between the municipalities. The district nurses use several methods to support related who’s taking care of individuals with dementia, but feel that they are sometimes engaged late, which prevents them from providing health promotion and optimal care. The district nurses wished for routines, more education in the area as well as tools that could facilitate their work to highlight and identify related persons support needs and wellbeing.

In this project, problems related to loss of free flow in central venous catheter and implanted subcutaneous ports have been investigated. The catheters investigated in this project are intended for children with cancer diseases. The initial hypothesis was that the length, radius and curvature of the catheter would affect the flow. Two other things that can have a negative impact on the flow are if the catheter is squashed or kinked. Experiments and simulations have been performed in order to test the hypothesis and investigate how a deformation of the catheter affects the flow. The results from the experiments and simulations show that the length and radius of the catheter have major impact on the pressure drop, and hence the flow. The curvature of the catheter has less impact on the flow as long as the catheter is not kinked. Experiments with squashed catheters show a decrease in outlet pressure with a decrease of the catheter lumen. / Denna projektrapport ämnar undersöka problem relaterade till fritt flöde i centrala venkatetrar och inopererade subkutana portar. Katetrarna som testats i detta projekt är till för barn med cancersjukdomar. Den ursprungliga hypotesen var att längden, radien och krökningen hos katetern påverkar flödet. Ytterligare två saker som skulle kunna ha negativ effekt på flödet är om katetern är klämd eller veckad. För att testa hypotesen om hur deformationer av katetern påverkar flödet har experiment och simuleringar utförts. Resultaten från experiment och simuleringar visar att kateterns längd och radie har störst effekt på tryckfallet och därmed flödet. Krökningen på katetern har mindre betydelse, så länge katetern inte är veckad. Experiment med klämd kateter visar att utloppstrycket minskar med minskad kateterlumen.

Background: In Ethiopia the first case of HIV infection was identified in 1984. Since then HIV/AIDS has created an enormous challenge to several communities, affecting the social and economic well-being of the entire nation. Realizing the enormous consequences of the epidemic, the Ethiopian government deployed tremendous efforts to create HIV awareness in order to bring changes in HIV-related behaviors to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the role of HIV-related knowledge, attitude and behavior in HIV/AID prevention in Ethiopia. AIM: The aim of the study was to assess the changes in HIV-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior between 2005 and 2011 and its impact on HIV status among Ethiopians. METHODS: The study used a nationally representative sample from the cross sectional years of 2005 and 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). Sample sizes of study population were 12,845 in 2005 and 28,532 in 2011. SAS-callable SUDAAN was used provide descriptive characteristics of socio-demographic characteristics and independent variable of HIV-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior. The binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess changes in HIV-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior and, association between these factors and HIV status. For all results, statistical significant were determined if there were no overlap in the 95% CI of the percentages being compared. RESULTS: There was no difference in correct comprehensive knowledge of HIV between 2005 and 2011. However, there was significant change in knowledge of Mother to Child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, accepting attitude towards people living with HIV (PLWH) and sexual behavior between 2005 and 2011. Respondents who had high level of knowledge of MTCT increased from 40.2% in 2005 to 71.0% in 2011. Likewise, respondents with high level of accepting attitude towards PLWH also increased from 3.9% to 10.8%. Besides, in 2011 fewer people had started sex before the age of 15 years old, and more people knew sources of condoms in comparison to 2005 However the percentage of people who had multiple sexual partners increased from 1.2% to 1.8% between 2005 and 2011 respectively. The study also found significantly protective association between HIV positive status and having low or medium level of knowledge of MTCT of HIV (OR 0.08 or 0.78) and accepting attitude towards people living with HIV (OR 0.12 or 0.48). In contrast, HIV infection was significantly associated with having multiple sexual partners (OR 4.49). Conclusion: Efforts deployed by Ethiopian government and other international organizations in response to HIV/AIDS epidemics have had success in terms of improving MTCT knowledge of HIV, accepting attitude towards PLWH, knowledge of sources of condom and sexual debut between 2005 and 2011. Surprisingly, we did not find an evidence of high level of HIV knowledge to be protective against HIV infection in the current study. Therefore continuous intervention is recommended to seal the gap between knowledge and sexual practices that may influence safer sexual behavioral changes.

No description available.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes have been increasingly used in phase III randomized controlled trials to characterize the benefits or risks of a cancer treatment. HRQL outcomes from clinical trials can also inform clinical practice in oncology settings. Previous qualitative research suggests that oncologists value HRQL outcomes but challenges to their clinical application exist. Little quantitative research has been conducted to examine these barriers. This study describes the opinions of oncologists toward HRQL outcomes, the ways in which HRQL outcomes can be presented, and the importance of suggested reporting standards for HRQL outcomes in clinical trials. It further examines the association between attitudinal and demographic factors associated with the self-reported current use and achievable use of HRQL outcomes in clinical practice. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional survey of oncologists. A web-based questionnaire was disseminated in Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia/New Zealand. The study included oncologist members of the NCIC Clinical Trials Group, the NCRI Clinical Studies Groups, and the Australasian Cancer Clinical Trials Groups. Respondents were asked to report their opinions toward HRQL outcomes and the factors associated with the use of these outcomes in clinical practice. Demographic characteristics were also collected. Chi-square tests were used to compare the proportion of responses between countries. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the use of HRQL outcomes in clinical practice. Results: A total of 344 oncologists completed the survey. Most oncologists (65.9%) reported having a good knowledge of HRQL outcomes and 72% perceived HRQL outcomes to be useful. High current use of HRQL outcomes in clinical practice was associated with more medical practice experience; perceiving HRQL outcomes to be useful; perceiving HRQL measurements to be reliable; and reporting lack of understanding to rarely be a barrier to using HRQL outcomes. High achievable use of HRQL outcomes in clinical practice was associated with being a male oncologist, perceiving HRQL outcomes to be useful, and being an investigator in RCTs. Conclusions: Important factors associated with the use of HRQL outcomes in clinical practice were identified, highlighting the need for future research and education. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 12:56:09.362

In a 9-month prospective study, sleep and daytime functioning were compared in a community sample of 86 participants aged 25-50 years: 43 meeting DSM IV criteria for primary insomnia (26 women & 17 men); and 43 controls (32 women & 11 men). Assessments were conducted at baseline, 4 and 8 months, and included: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Spielberger StatefTrait Anxiety Inventory; Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory; Fatigue Severity Scale; SF-36; Epworth Sleepiness Scale; Dysfunctional Beliefs About Sleep Scale; Sleep Hygiene and Practices Scale, Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task PVT. An instrument to assess the occupational consequences of insomnia (the Occupational Impact of Sleep Questionnaire; OISQ) was also developed in the course of the study. PWI versus control group comparisons were made with repeated measures multivariate ANOVAs. Differences were consistently and significantly maintained on measures of state (F = 15.85 P <0.001) and trait anxiety (F = 23.46; P < 0.001), depression (F = 18.37; P < 0.001), fatigue (F = 22.20; P < 0.001), and neuroticism (F = 11.09; P < 0.001). Among PWI, mental health (F = 14.04; P < 0.001), pain (F = 6.92; P < 0.001), role-emotion (F = 10.94; p < 0.001), general health perceptions (F = 4.77; P < 0.05), social functioning (F = 6.58; P < 0.01) and energy and vitality (F = 32.08; P < 0.001), on the SF-36, were consistent with inferior health related QoL. In addition, pre-sleep arousal (F = 14.76; P < 0.001), sleep hygiene (F = 35.26; P < 0.001) and sleep disturbance (F = 72.32; P < 0.001) were significantly worse within PWI. Subjectively reported TIB (F = 9.38; P < 0.01), SOL (F = 11.17; P < 0.01) and WASO (F = 21.10; P < 0.001), remained greater within PWI, with SE (F = 15.29; P < 0.001), TST (F = 9.38; P < 0.01) and subjective sleep quality (F = 29.57; P < 0.001) greater within controls. Data averaged over the duration of data collection (252 days) found PWI reported an average SOL >30 minutes, an average WASO of> 30 minutes, SE < 80%. Analysed in terms of night to night sleep quality, both PWI and controls showed a pattern of 'good' (sleep efficiency >80%) and 'poor' (sleep efficiency <80%) nights. However, the probability of individual poor nights remained consistently and significantly higher for PWI across the 9 months of the study. Actigraphy data failed to confirm between group differences in sleep, and correlation with diary measures was low in both groups. PVf performance showed instability. Significant group differences found at baseline, were no longer present at subsequent data collection points. Data support the inconsistency surrounding objective performance among PWI within the literature. However, the inconsistency can be attributed to greater change within control participant's performance, rather than within PWI. Data identified the existence of a stable subgroup of PWI reporting symptoms of daytime sleepiness. Daytime sleepiness was found to be a temporally stable feature for this sub-group of PWI, who also Showed a distinctive psychological profile compared to PWI who did not report daytime sleepiness. No difference, however, was observed in subjectively reported sleep structure, quality or daytime performance between these subgroups of PWI. Insomnia subgroup analyses suggest a trait-like difference between sleepy and non sleepy PWI.The OISO showed an acceptable level of internal consistency reliability (alpha 0.93); and successfully discriminated between PWI and controls. The OISO also showed consistent correlations with measures of global sleep quality and subjective sleep parameters. Expressed in terms of comparative percentage decrement, PWI showed a consistent 10% decrement in subjective occupational performance when compared with controls. The OISO shows that absenteeism and punctuality may not capture the full impact of insomnia on workplace performance.