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Several interventions have been implemented across higher education institutions with the aim of reducing the prevalence of plagiarism internationally, yet research dedicated to understanding the situational and contextual factors that contribute to plagiarism in an Australian context has been minimal. The objectives of this study were to explore the experiences, views, and understandings of plagiarism from the perspectives of students and teaching staff, and to identify the perceived barriers and enablers of 'ethical' academic writing. The Capabilities, Opportunities, Motivations, and Behaviour (COM-B) model was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 37 undergraduate students and seven university teaching staff recruited across four health-related academic disciplines within Australia's largest university to elicit their perceptions of plagiarism and the factors that contribute to its prevalence. A total of 16 themes were identified and divided across the Capabilities, Opportunities, and Motivations domains of the COM-B model. Each of the themes within these three domains were classified as either a barrier or enabler of ethical academic writing. The findings reported herein provide the basis of several recommendations for intervention through teaching practice and university policy change to reduce the prevalence of plagiarism within higher education institutions.

Several interventions have been implemented across higher education institutions with the aim of reducing the prevalence of plagiarism internationally, yet research dedicated to understanding the situational and contextual factors that contribute to plagiarism in an Australian context has been minimal. The objectives of this study were to explore the experiences, views, and understandings of plagiarism from the perspectives of students and teaching staff, and to identify the perceived barriers and enablers of 'ethical' academic writing. The Capabilities, Opportunities, Motivations, and Behaviour (COM-B) model was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 37 undergraduate students and seven university teaching staff recruited across four health-related academic disciplines within Australia's largest university to elicit their perceptions of plagiarism and the factors that contribute to its prevalence. A total of 16 themes were identified and divided across the Capabilities, Opportunities, and Motivations domains of the COM-B model. Each of the themes within these three domains were classified as either a barrier or enabler of ethical academic writing. The findings reported herein provide the basis of several recommendations for intervention through teaching practice and university policy change to reduce the prevalence of plagiarism within higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The significance of niacin in embryonic development has clinical implications in the counseling of pregnant women and may be used to inform nutrition recommendations. This study, therefore, aims to review the associations between maternal periconceptional niacin intake and congenital anomalies., Methods: A systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov, AMED, CENTRAL, Emcare, EMBASE, Maternity & Infant Care and Google Scholar was conducted between inception and 30 September 2020. Medical subject heading terms included "nicotinic acids" and related metabolites, "congenital anomalies" and specific types of congenital anomalies. Included studies reported the association between maternal niacin intake and congenital anomalies in their offspring and reported the measure of association. Studies involved solely the women with co-morbidities, animal, in vitro and qualitative studies were excluded. The risk of bias of included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). A random effects-restricted maximum likelihood model was used to obtain summary estimates, and multivariable meta-regression model was used to adjust study-level covariates., Results: Of 21,908 retrieved citations, 14 case-control studies including 35,743 women met the inclusion criteria. Ten studies were conducted in the U.S, three in Netherlands and one in South Africa. The meta-analysis showed that expectant mothers with an insufficient niacin intake were significantly more likely to have babies with congenital abnormalities (odds ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.24) compared to mothers with adequate niacin intake. A similar association between niacin deficiency and congenital anomalies was observed (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.03-1.26) when sensitivity analysis was conducted by quality of the included studies. Meta-regression showed neither statistically significant impact of study size (p = 0.859) nor time of niacin assessment (p = 0.127). The overall quality of evidence used is high-thirteen studies achieved a rating of six or seven stars out of a possible nine based on the NOS., Conclusion: Inadequate maternal niacin intake is associated with an increased risk of congenital anomalies in the offspring. These findings may have implications in dietary counseling and use of niacin supplementation during pregnancy., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.)