Search

Using a five-year data set including the crowd-less games in the 2020 English, Spanish, Italian, and German first division football leagues and multivariate regression analysis, this paper estimated how fans influence home field advantage. Consistent with previous studies, the estimates showed that in games with crowds, referees gave fewer fouls, yellow cards, and red cards but more penalty kicks to the home team than to the away team. Removing the fans from the stadium eliminated these home advantages coming through referee decisions. Removing fans reduced yellow and red cards given to away teams but did not change cards given to home teams. There was not a similar asymmetry for fouls and penalty kicks. These results suggest that crowds influenced referee judgments about how severe an infraction was more than they influenced decisions about whether a foul occurred. The addition of VAR had little impact on referee decisions and no effect on the home advantage in goal differential. Despite the home bias in referee decisions when crowds were in the stadium, fouls, cards, and penalty kicks played a relatively small role in determining home advantage in game outcomes and most of the home advantage remained after fans were removed. Keywords: home advantage; referee bias; COVID-19; natural experiments; social pressure; video assisted referee, 'Home advantage gives you an advantage.' Sir Bobby Robson The advantages of playing at home have been well-established across a variety of sports, including football. One of the key advantages [...]

Despite, widespread success and reductions in smoking prevalence rates, tobacco use remains the leading modifiable risk factor for ill health in Australia accounting for 22% of the cancer burden, 12% [...]

Aims In this study, we evaluated the phenotypic virulence characteristics of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) isolates from broiler breeders with colibacillosis in Mississippi. Also, the relationship between phenotypic and genotypic virulence patterns was determined. Methods and Results Twenty-eight APEC isolated from lesions of broiler breeders diagnosed with colibacillosis were used for embryo lethality assay and chick challenge study. The percentage of embryo mortality following embryo lethality assay and pathogenicity score following the chick challenge study were used to categorize the isolates based on virulence. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between embryo mortality, chick pathogenicity, and the presence of virulence-associated genes in the isolates. Overall, 39.3% of the isolates were highly virulent and 3.5% were avirulent, following both assays. There existed a positive correlation between embryo mortality and chick pathogenicity (r  = 0.73, P  < .01), as well as percentage embryo mortality and pathogenicity score with the presence of some virulence genes. Conclusions Even though all the APEC were isolated from lesions of diseased breeders, the virulence potential varied from being avirulent to highly virulent. Further, we identified a positive relationship between phenotypic virulence and the frequency of virulence-associated genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study applies personal construct psychology for understanding the experiences of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 26 participants from 8 families, including adolescent males with ASD, mothers, fathers, and adolescent neurotypically developing siblings. Analysis of interview data was structured according to the themes presented in a previous theoretical application of personal construct theory (PCT) for understanding adolescents with ASD. Results: Themes included complexity of the adolescent social realm, sense-making in multifaceted situations, identity development, development of flexible processing styles, and understanding and managing physical and emotional changes associated with puberty. Conclusion: The study provides empirical support for the application of PCT for understanding adolescents with ASD. The insights provided by the participants may be helpful for adolescents with ASD, family members, and clinicians.

In this paper, the insights and experiences of a research team involved in conducting qualitative research with families living with autism spectrum disorder are drawn upon to provide reflections and recommendations across all stages of the qualitative research process. Particular attention is given to the steps involved in semistructured interviews, specifically, interview guide preparation, participant recruitment, obtaining informed and voluntary consent/assent, conducting effective interviews, accurate analysis and interpretation of data, ways to involve participants in data analysis, effective communication of research findings, and providing feedback to participants. In addition, reflections and recommendations are provided for maintaining researcher health throughout the qualitative research process.

A family member with an autism spectrum disorder presents pervasive and bidirectional influences on the entire family system, suggesting a need for family-focused autism spectrum disorder research. While there has been increasing interest in this research area, family-focused autism spectrum disorder research can still be considered relatively recent, and there are limitations to the existing literature. The purpose of this article is to provide theoretical and methodological directions for future family-focused autism spectrum disorder research. In particular, this article proposes Family Systems approaches as a common theoretical framework for future family-focused autism spectrum disorder research by considering theoretical concepts such as Boundaries, Ambiguous Loss, Resilience and Traumatic Growth. We discuss reasons why these concepts are important to researching families living with autism spectrum disorder and provide recommendations for future research. The potential for research grounded in Family Systems approaches to influence clinical support services is also discussed.

Background: Personal construct theory (PCT) is a constructivist approach to understanding human thought and action. Preliminary research focusing on applying PCT concepts and methodologies to understanding individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) has suggested its utility for both research and clinical interventions. The developmental period of adolescence has also been outlined according to PCT. However, PCT has not been applied to the more specific subgroup of "adolescents with HFA," despite various theoretical tenets suggesting its utility. Conclusions: In addressing this research gap, we considered the following adolescent developmental tasks with particular reference to adolescents with HFA: (a) functioning within the increasingly complex world of adulthood, (b) identity development, and (c) development of higher order processing styles (including abstract thinking and flexible processing). These issues were described using PCT concepts. Finally, we considered ways to support individuals and families living with adolescents with HFA.

We welcome the response from Mendelsohn[sup.1] on this important public health topic. The letter from Mendelsohn contains multiple assertions that are not supported by published evidence. For example, the letter [...]

This study examined whether hours of parental employment were associated with child behaviors via parenting practices. The sample included 2,271 Australian children aged 4-5 years at baseline. Two-wave panel mediation models tested whether parenting practices that were warm, hostile, or characterized by inductive reasoning linked parent's hours of paid employment with their child's behavior at age 6-7 years. There were significant indirect effects linking mother employment to child behavior. No paid employment and full-time work hours were associated with more behavioral problems in children through less-warm parenting practices; few hours or long hours were associated with improved behavioral outcomes through less-hostile parenting practices. These findings may have implications for developing policies to enable parents to balance work and family demands. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)