Coping with cancer: The role of different sources of psychosocial support and the personality of patients with cancer in (mal)adaptive coping strategies

ObjectivesCancer is a serious event in a person's life. However, certain coping strategies in relation to selected social, emotional and personality factors appear to manage the disease.MethodsSources of social support were tested in cancer survivors (N = 696) using hierarchical linear regression. Selected personality variables in terms of sociodemographic, clinical, and emotional factors were used as predictors of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies.Results It was found that adaptive coping strategies were more frequent in younger patients, in patients who attended cancer support groups and those with a greater level of optimism. Maladaptive coping was related to the higher level of experience of pain and sadness, neuroticism, and pessimism. The absence of a relapse and the time since the disease had been diagnosed were also important factors in coping with cancer.Conclusions The results point to the importance of considering various individual factors in the process of intervention to facilitate adaptive coping and to reduce maladaptive coping.

The consistency and reliability of six-strand and four-strand flexor tendon repairs: a comparative porcine cadaveric study

The aim of this study was to compare the consistency and reliability of the six-strand Gan modification of the Lim-Tsai flexor tendon repair with the four-strand Adelaide repair, both with 3-0 sutures and with eight to ten runs of simple 5-0 running peripheral suture as well as the influence of the surgeons’ level of experience on the strength of the repair in a cadaveric animal setup. Thirty-nine surgeons repaired 78 porcine flexor digitorum profundus tendons with either the Adelaide technique (39 tendons) or the modified Lim-Tsai technique (39 tendons). Each repaired tendon was tested in a material testing machine under a single cycle load-to-failure test. The forces were recorded when the gap between the two tendon stumps reached 1 and 2 mm and when irreversible elongation or total rupture occurred. We found no significant differences in gap formation force and yielding strength of the tendons between the two methods. The surgeon’s previous experience in tendon repairs did not improve the consistency, reliability or tensile strength of the repairs. We conclude that if a strong peripheral suture is added, the modified Lim-Tsai repair has the same technical reliability and consistency as the Adelaide repair in term of ultimate loading strength in this test setup.

Factors associated with injury and re-injury occurrence in female pole dancers

The aim of the study was to recognise what participant-, training- and post-injury-related factors are associated with an injury and re-injury occurrence in female pole dancers (PDs). 320 female PDs fulfilled a custom survey. 1050 injuries were reported by 276 PDs, 59% of injuries were related to lower extremity, 39% to upper extremity and 10% to spine and trunk. 156 PDs reported sustaining a re-injury, and overall, 628 re-injuries were reported. The median weekly pole-specific training session volume was 90 min and 240 min in the low and high qualified group, respectively. The total training volume was 180 min in the low qualified PDs and 240 min in the high qualified group. PDs with higher height and spending more time on pole-specific training in studio and on other forms of training have higher odds of sustaining an injury. PDs with lower level of experience in training, who sustained an injury, and who had a shorter pause between the moment of injury and the return to performance, and thus who did not fully recover, have higher odds of sustaining a re-injury. Sport-specific injury prevention strategies should be developed and implemented in this cohort, since over 85% of pole dancers reported sustaining some kind of injury.

Inter-rater variability in scoring of Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination – third edition (ACE-III)

Background: Despite its wide use in dementia diagnosis on the basis of cut-off points, the inter-rater variability of the ACE-III has been poorly studied.Methods: 31 healthcare professionals from an older adults’ mental health team scored two ACE-III protocols based on mock patients in a computerised form. Scoring accuracy, as well as total and domain-specific scoring variability, were calculated; factors relevant to participants were obtained, including their level of experience and self-rated confidence administering the ACE-III.Results: There was considerable inter-rater variability (up to 18 points for one of the cases), and one case’s mean score was significantly higher (by four points) than the true score. The Fluency, Visuospatial and Attention domains had greater levels of variability than Language and Memory. Higher levels of scoring accuracy were not associated with either greater levels of experience not higher self-confidence in administering the ACE-III.Conclusions: The results suggest that the ACE-III is susceptible to scoring error and considerable inter-rater variability, which highlights the critical importance of initial, and continued, administration and scoring training.

A Fuzzy System for Evaluating Human Resources in Project Management

The key lubricants for the necessary functioning of any organization are money, machines, time, and humans. Human resources is the most important ingredient among them. Most projects fail because of ineptitude of those who administer the project, notably in government projects. Alternatively, advertisement for expert positions suffers as a result of poor coverage, late responses, non-transparency, and subjective selection during recruitment process. This work proposes a fuzzy system for the evaluation of human resources for the management of projects in core areas where professional services are expedient for supervision. It exposes the level of experience on the job, core competencies, exposure, and knowledge scope. A prototype fuzzy system for evaluation of human resource for project management, consisting of a user friendly menu-driven interface, was developed for evaluating the suitability of professionals for different roles within a project team. At the end of the work, it is expected that governments, companies, and various donor agencies would find the system useful when embarking on projects for an optimal result.

Finding light in dark archives: using AI to connect context and content in email

Email archives are important historical resources, but access to such data poses a unique archival challenge and many born-digital collections remain dark, while questions of how they should be effectively made available remain. This paper contributes to the growing interest in preserving access to email by addressing the needs of users, in readiness for when such collections become more widely available. We argue that for the content of email to be meaningfully accessed, the context of email must form part of this access. In exploring this idea, we focus on discovery within large, multi-custodian archives of organisational email, where emails’ network features are particularly apparent. We introduce our prototype search tool, which uses AI-based methods to support user-driven exploration of email. Specifically, we integrate two distinct AI models that generate systematically different types of results, one based upon simple, phrase-matching and the other upon more complex, BERT embeddings. Together, these provide a new pathway to contextual discovery that accounts for the diversity of future archival users, their interests and level of experience.

MEDICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT OF WOMEN WITH THE THREAT OF PRETERM BIRTH IN THE LAST TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY AND AFTER DELIVERY

Introduction. Throughout life, everyone faces a variety of emotionally complex situations. Pregnancy is one of such situations for a woman. It’s a very strong level of experience and a specific set of sensations in life, the study of which has recently received close attention. Circumstances that have developed in Ukraine in connection with environmental disadvantages mainly determine the low health index of pregnant women, and create preconditions for the increasing frequency of premature pregnancies in future generations. This problem is of great medical and social importance. More than a third of babies born prematurely lag behind in physical and psychomotor development. Considering the above mentioned, it can be argued that the creation of a system of medical and psychological support for pregnant women with a risk of preterm birth in the last trimester of pregnancy is relevant, necessary and timely. The purpose of the study is to develop a set of measures for medical and psychological support of women at risk of preterm birth in the last trimester of pregnancy and after childbirth based on a systematic approach to the study of individual psychological, pathopsychological and psychosocial characteristics. Material and methods. During 2016-2019 the study was conducted based on Storozhynets Central District Hospital in the Chernivtsi region. 150 pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy (23-37 weeks) and their husbands were examined. The main group (MG) included 120 women with the risk of premature birth in the last trimester of pregnancy. The comparison group (CP) included 30 women with a physiological course of pregnancy. The main therapeutic group (MTG) consisted of 42 women with a risk of preterm birth in the last trimester of pregnancy with maladaptive (MTG1) and destructive (MTG2) types of interaction in the triad "mother-child-father", who agreed to participate in medical and psychological care. The correctional group (CG) included 12 women with a risk of preterm birth in the last trimester of pregnancy with maladaptive and destructive types of interaction in the triad "mother-child-father", who refused to participate in the proposed measures. Results. Analysis of the evaluation of the developed system of medical and psychological support of the family during pregnancy showed the following (p <0.001): a) improvement of psycho-emotional state, well-being and overcoming emotional stress demonstrated by MTG1 women (up to 43.7 ± 0.8 and 42.5 ± 1.5, respectively, and after 20.8 ± 1.5 and 22.1 ± 1.2, respectively), the level of depression and anxiety on the Hamilton scale (up to HDRS 11.4 ± 1.2 and HARS 12.5 ± 1.2 after HDRS 4.2 ± 0.4 and HARS 5.7 ± 0.4) and female MTG2 indicators of RA and PA on the Spielberger-Khanin scale (up to 51.7 ± 0.8 and 50.7 ± 1.5, respectively, and after 21.4 ± 1.8 and 23.1 ± 1.5, respectively), the level of depression and anxiety on the Hamilton scale (up to HDRS 16.3 ± 1.2 and HARS 18.3 ± 1.2 after HDRS 7.6 ± 0.7 and HARS 6.9 ± 0.6). Among CG women indicators RA and PA on the Spielberger-Khanin scale (up to 47.7 ± 0.8 and 46.6 ± 1.5, respectively; after 45.8 ± 1.5 and 42.1 ± 1.2, respectively), the level of depression and anxiety on the Hamilton scale (before HDRS 13.8 ± 1.2 and HARS 15.4 ± 1.2; after HDRS 12.2 ± 0.4 and HARS 14.7 ± 0.4) were higher. b) there was an increased level of social support on the last two scales - "support of colleagues" and "support of public organizations" among MTG1 and MTG2 women (up to 25.3%, after 55.2% / up to 14.8%, after 45, 2%, respectively) compared with CG women (up to 18.5%, after 24.5%). c) there was a complete reduction of the deformation of marital relations in the majority of MTG1 (83.3%) and MTG2 (75%) women in contrast to the examined CG. Conclusions. The implementation of the system of medical and psychological support for women with a risk of preterm birth in the last trimester of pregnancy and after childbirth allowed to optimize the choice of adequate behavioral strategies in a family, improve emotional state and well-being, optimize women's attitudes to pregnancy and harmonize family interaction (72.5%) ˂0.001), to harmonize the relationship in the triad "mother - child - father" in the postpartum period (66.4%) (p˂0.001).

Dance Tempo Estimation Using a Single Leg-Attached 3D Accelerometer

We present a methodology that enables dance tempo estimation through the acquisition of 3D accelerometer signals using a single wearable inertial device positioned on the dancer’s leg. Our tempo estimation method is based on enhanced multiple resonators, implemented with comb feedback filters. To validate the methodology, we focus on the versatile solo jazz dance style. Including a variety of dance moves, with different leg activation patterns and rhythmical variations, solo jazz provides for a highly critical validation environment. We consider 15 different solo jazz dance moves, with different leg activation patterns, assembled in a sequence of 5 repetitions of each, giving 65 moves altogether. A professional and a recreational dancer performed this assembly in a controlled environment, following eight dancing tempos, dictated by a metronome, and ranging from 80 bpm to 220 bpm with 20 bpm increment steps. We show that with appropriate enhancements and using single leg signals, the comb filter bank provides for accurate dance tempo estimates for all moves and rhythmical variations considered. Dance tempo estimates for the overall assembles match strongly the dictated tempo—the difference being at most 1 bpm for all measurement instances is within the limits of the established beat onset stability of the used metronome. Results further show that this accuracy is achievable for shorter dancing excerpts, comprising four dance moves, corresponding to one music phrase, and as such enables real-time feedback. By providing for a dancer’s tempo quality and consistency assessment, the presented methodology has the potential of supporting the learning process, classifying individual level of experience, and assessing overall performance. It is extendable to other dance styles and sport motion in general where cyclical patterns occur.

Fogyasztói magatartás vizsgálata egy új típusú turisztikai szolgáltatáson keresztül - Examining consumer behaviour through a new type of tourism service

A Covid19-világjárvány miatti szigorú korlátozások új, alternatív programok kialakítására kényszerítették rá az egyes turisztikai szolgáltatásokat. Kutatásunkban azt vizsgáltuk, hogy milyen, a fogyasztókra gyakorolt hatásokat lehet megfigyelni egy újfajta szolgáltatás esetében. Ez a szolgáltatás a „Flight to nowhere” nevet viselte, amely Magyarország határain belüli, utasszállító repülőgéppel történő légi közlekedést jelentett. Kutatásunkban a programon részt vett 130 fő kérdőíves megkérdezésével készítettünk elemzést arra vonatkozóan, hogy a résztvevők milyen élményeket éltek át a fogyasztás során, illetve hogyan értékelték a szolgáltatás teljesítményét és ajánlanák-e a programot. Vizsgáltuk még a Covid19-pandémia okozta bezártsággal kapcsolatos mentális problémák kapcsolódási pontjait is. Az eredmények azt mutatják, hogy a válaszadók jellemzően esztétikai és eszképista jellegű élményeket éltek át. Az élmény átélésének mértéke növelte a szolgáltatás teljesítményének magasabb színvonalú megítélését és a továbbajánlási szándékot. A negatív irányú érzelmek esetében, amelyek az élet folytonosságának érzetét mérték, az eszképizmus jellegű élmények megélése kismértékben enyhíteni tudta a bezártság okozta hátrányokat. Tight restrictions due to the Covid19 pandemic have forced some tourist services to new, alternative programmes. In our research, we examined what effects on consumers can be observed in respect of a new type of service. The service was named ”Flight to nowhere”, which meant air travel within the borders of Hungary. In our research we carried out an analysis of the experiences of the participants during the event by means of a questionnaire (completed by the 130 people who participated in the programme) on their evaluation of the performance of the service and on whether they would recommend the programme. We also examined the effects of the mental stress problems related to confinement caused by the Covid19 pandemic. The results that respondents typically experienced are esthetic and escapist ones. A higher level of experience increased the perception of high performance and the intention to recommend. In the case of negative emotions, which measured the sense of continuity of life, living escapist-type experiences could alleviate the disadvantages caused by confinement only to a limited extent.

Paramedics’ confidence and perceived competence when attending to varied patient presentations: A mixed-method study.

Objective: Paramedics are routinely called to patients presenting with mental health concerns. Previous literature suggests paramedics find this patient group challenging. However, no study has investigated whether paramedics find mental health presentations (MHP) more challenging relative to other patient presentations, or whether certain paramedic variables relate to their perceived ability to manage MHP. This study investigates differences in paramedics’ perceived ability to attend to MHP compared to other patient presentations, and whether their perceived ability is related to their level of experience or location of work (metropolitan or rural). The study also explores paramedic’s experiences and perspectives of MHP. Method: Operational paramedics in Australia (n = 138) completed a survey assessing their perceived ability to respond to mental health, cardiac, respiratory and trauma-related presentations. A repeated measures ANOVA tested differences in perceived ability between these patient presentations. T-tests and Pearson’s correlations were conducted to determine whether years of experience or location of work related to their perceived ability for MHP. Nine paramedics were also interviewed and a thematic analysis conducted to gain insight into paramedic’s experiences and perspectives of MHP.Results: Paramedics reported a significantly lower perceived ability to respond to MHP relative to each other patient presentation measured. No relationships were found between a paramedic’s perceived ability to respond to MHP and their length of work experience or location of work. Interviews with paramedics revealed four superordinate themes: 1) inconsistent conceptualization of their role, 2) feelings of helplessness and frustration, 3) stigmatized views of patients with a mental illness, and 4) inconsistent views of knowledge and learning relating to MHP. Conclusion: Paramedics believe they have a significantly poorer ability to respond to MHP relative to other patient presentations. Education and training focused on defining a paramedic’s role for MHP as well as reducing stigmatized views of patients with a mental illness may improve paramedic’s care of this cohort of patients.