Search

Despite infectious pandemics proving particularly detrimental to those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the investigation of analogous experimental paradigms is lacking. To address this gap, we conducted two studies employing vignettes that depicted contamination-related situations commonly experienced during a pandemic (e.g., Coughing into hands and failing to use hand sanitizer). We manipulated the salience of these vignettes across three levels: high contamination, low contamination, and a neutral control condition. Our examination of state anxiety and disgust responses in all participants revealed the successful manipulation of the vignettes’ impact. Specifically, individuals with more severe OCD symptoms reported significantly higher levels of state disgust and anxiety for both high and low contamination vignettes, in contrast to the group with lower symptom severity. No significant differences were observed in the neutral vignette condition between the high- and low-scoring groups. Interestingly, for those with higher OCD symptoms, high salience contamination-focused vignettes resulted in similarly elevated state disgust and anxiety, regardless of whether the vignettes were situated in public (Study 1) or domestic (Study 2) settings. This suggests that the heightened sensitivity to contamination-related scenarios observed in individuals with OCD symptoms in the present study is not confined to a specific context. These findings support the use of contamination-focused vignettes as analogues for studying infectious pandemics and provide valuable insights into OCD models, interventions, and future research.

Glass fibre reinforced composite facings on PVC (poly(vinyl chloride)) foam cores are widely used sandwich materials in boat structures, but life cycle analysis suggests that alternative materials may be preferable for the environment. However, in order to design with these alternative materials their mechanical behaviour must be characterized and understood. This paper describes an experimental campaign to evaluate the performance of alternative sandwich materials with reduced environmental impact, under loading conditions relevant to boat design. Flax and bamboo composite faced PET (poly(ethylene terephthalate)) foam sandwich materials are compared to the current PVC foam sandwich on a constant weight basis. A series of quasi-static tests is described first and analysed. Then hard and soft impact tests are described, which allow a comparison to be made between existing and alternative sandwich options. The results indicate that the alternative materials show lower flexural stiffness. Damage initiation levels are also lower, but the impact energy levels they can support are promising, and facing improvements could raise these further.

To afford school middle leaders meaningful opportunities to initiate change, we must provide them with the space and flexibility to engage with agentic and creative responses to policy and practice. Whilst we argue that the tensions identified in Bennett’s seminal reviews persist, there may, nonetheless, be opportunities for school middle leaders to creatively influence educational agendas. Through engaging in a critical interpretative synthesis of school middle leadership literature, we consider how the subjectivities of such leaders are discursively constructed. We argue that a culture of performativity has diminished opportunities for middle leaders in English schools to develop a strong sense of agency, educational ideology and authentic professional responsibility. However, a current governmental focus on subject knowledge may have opened spaces for a collegial agency, despite the prevailing neo-conservative policy discourse. We thus identify, the potential for movement beyond a discursive position to one where school middle leaders take greater responsibility for developing practice to align more closely with their educational values. Utilising a dialogic theoretical perspective we examine how middle leadership in English schools is currently practiced and mediated in relation to the changing political landscape, and suggest that seemingly contradictory positions provide a fruitful site for new research.

This paper presents the findings from the initial stage of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project which examines the pedagogic practices that embed young children's participative rights in lower primary classrooms in Wales. An evaluation of relevant legislation and policy in Wales from 2000 to 2022 was undertaken using the work of Cardno (2018) and the United Nations Framework for Human Rights Education (UN General Assembly, 2011), to explicate the positioning of teachers and their responsibilities regarding children’s participative rights. Data analysis detailed here sets out the legislative and statutory context within which teachers work, as well as the curricular and pedagogic framework which steers classroom activity. The Welsh Government has, for two decades, been explicitly sympathetic to embedding children’s rights in policy development, yet there is limited research evidencing the changes in educational curricula and practice. The gap between policy intention and implementation is not unique to Wales and therefore of universal interest. We report that although there is evidence of the increased inclusion of children’s participative rights in more recent legislation and policy, the move to education about, through and for human rights (UN General Assembly, 2011) is only significantly pronounced in recent reforms such as the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021. We advocate that the commitment to human rights education made in the Curriculum for Wales (2021) is perpetuated and ongoing critical appraisal of legislation and policy is needed, alongside further research to understand how that commitment is being interpreted in Welsh education settings.

STUDY DESIGN: This study is a scoping review. OBJECTIVE: There is a broad variability in the definition of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) and no standardized set of diagnostic criteria to date. METHODS: We interrogated the Myelopathy.org database, a hand-indexed database of primary clinical studies conducted exclusively on DCM in humans between 2005-2021. The DCM inclusion criteria used in these studies were inputted into 3 topic modeling algorithms: Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP), Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), and BERtopic. The emerging topics were subjected to manual labeling and interpretation. RESULTS: Of 1676 reports, 120 papers (7.16%) had well-defined inclusion criteria and were subjected to topic modeling. Four topics emerged from the HDP model: disturbance from extremity weakness and motor signs; fine-motor and sensory disturbance of upper extremity; a combination of imaging and clinical findings is required for the diagnosis; and "reinforcing" (or modifying) factors that can aid in the diagnosis in borderline cases. The LDA model showed the following topics: disturbance to the patient is required for the diagnosis; reinforcing factors can aid in the diagnosis in borderline cases; clinical findings from the extremities; and a combination of imaging and clinical findings is required for the diagnosis. BERTopic identified the following topics: imaging abnormality, typical clinical features, range of objective criteria, and presence of clinical findings. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides quantifiable data that only a minority of past studies in DCM provided meaningful inclusion criteria. The items and patterns found here are very useful for the development of diagnostic criteria for DCM.

STUDY DESIGN Modified DELPHI Consensus Process. OBJECTIVE To agree a single unifying term and definition. Globally, cervical myelopathy caused by degenerative changes to the spine is known by over 11 different names. This inconsistency contributes to many clinical and research challenges, including a lack of awareness. METHOD AO Spine RECODE-DCM (Research objectives and Common Data Elements Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy). To determine the index term, a longlist of candidate terms and their rationale, was created using a literature review and interviews. This was shared with the community, to select their preferred terms (248 members (58%) including 149 (60%) surgeons, 45 (18%) other healthcare professionals and 54 (22%) People with DCM or their supporters) and finalized using a consensus meeting. To determine a definition, a medical definition framework was created using inductive thematic analysis of selected International Classification of Disease definitions. Separately, stakeholders submitted their suggested definition which also underwent inductive thematic analysis (317 members (76%), 190 (59%) surgeons, 62 (20%) other healthcare professionals and 72 (23%) persons living with DCM or their supporters). Using this definition framework, a working definition was created based on submitted content, and finalized using consensus meetings. RESULTS Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy was selected as the unifying term, defined in short, as a progressive spinal cord injury caused by narrowing of the cervical spinal canal. CONCLUSION A consistent term and definition can support education and research initiatives. This was selected using a structured and iterative methodology, which may serve as an exemplar for others in the future.