Digital Commons Network^™

Microplastics In Urine, Sputum And Lung Lavage Fluid From Patients With Respiratory Illnesses, Faezeh Jahedi, Neamatollah Jaafarzadeh Haghighi Fard, Mehdi Ahmadi, Afshin Takdastan, Maryam Haddadzadeh Shoushtari, Reza Dehbandi, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Because of the ubiquity of microplastics (MPs) in the environment there are concerns regarding human exposure. In this study, MPs have been determined in three physiological fluids: urine, sputum and bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF); from 30 adult patients in Iran with respiratory conditions. A total of nine small (20–100 μm) and mainly green and red fibres of polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene construction were detected in urine samples of eight participants. By contrast, 358 MPs that were dominated by small, white and transparent fibres, but also included larger (100–500 μm) fibres and fragments and spherules of various sizes, were detected in sputum …

Exploration Of Radiotherapy-Related Insufficiency Fractures And Risk Factors Of Patients Diagnosed With Gynaecological Cancer Treated With Radiotherapy: A Service Evaluation, Vicki Hands

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: CHIEF NURSING OFFICER’S RESEARCH FELLOWS EVIDENCE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS

Group-Based Management Of People With Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome: A Service Evaluation, Stuart Lloyd, Jack Thomas

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORD: KNOWLEDGE + ACTION

Effectiveness Of Hypnosis For Pain Management In Colorectal Surgery: Project Proposal For A Systematic Review, Ana-Maria Toth

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: CHIEF NURSING OFFICER’S RESEARCH FELLOWS EVIDENCE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS

Provision Of Secondary Prevention Medication Information To Stroke Patients With Aphasia: An Audit Proposal, Janine Andrews

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: CHIEF NURSING OFFICER’S RESEARCH FELLOWS EVIDENCE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS

Nurses’ Knowledge And Practice In The Care Of Patients With Delirium In The Intensive Care Unit: A Service Evaluation Project Proposal, Patience Elosiuba

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: CHIEF NURSING OFFICER’S RESEARCH FELLOWS EVIDENCE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS

Warm Compression And Perineal Massage In The Second Stage Of Labour: A Proposal For An Audit Of Women’S Records Of Care And Midwives’ Knowledge, Rebecca Glover

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: CHIEF NURSING OFFICER’S RESEARCH FELLOWS EVIDENCE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS

On The Development And Application Of Short Design Events For The Prediction Of Extreme Responses Of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, T. Tosdevin, S. Brown, F. Fàbregas Flavià, M. Hann, D. Simmonds, R. Rawlinson-Smith, R. Wigg, D. Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

For the prediction of design loads of floating wind turbines in extreme sea states, design standards recommend simulating multiple irregular wave and turbulent wind time series of one to three hour duration. For fixed offshore wind turbines, a constrained wave approach with 10-min simulations is permitted, significantly reducing simulation times. This method is not recommended for floating turbines as the largest wave does not always cause the largest response of interest. This work seeks to develop a response-conditioned, short design event approach to create an equivalent constrained wave method for floating turbines. The responses of spar, semi-submersible, tension leg platform, …

Assessing Consumer Perceptions And Attitudes Towards Cultured Meat Using X (Twitter) Data: Implications For Decision Support, Guoste Pivoraite, Shaofeng Liu, Saeyeon Roh, Guoqing Zhao

Plymouth Business School

Cultured meat (CM) is considered to have a potential to address environmental, sustainability, ethical concerns, and food security, however, consumer acceptance remains a challenge. This study empirically validatesand extends the Cultured Meat Attitude and Perception Assessment (CAPA) model by analysing public discussions on X (Twitter) to understand consumer perceptions of CM. Using BERTopic for topic modelling and qualitative analysis, the study explored unprompted public narratives, mapping them to CAPA constructs to examine how public opinions align with or challenge existing theoretical concepts. The findings revealed a combination of cultural, political, ethical, and economic narratives shaping consumer behaviour and theirdecision-making processes …

Tumour-Associated Macrophage Infiltration Differs In Meningioma Genotypes, And Is Important In Tumour Dynamics, Ting Zhang, Claire L. Adams, Gyorgy Fejer, Emanuela Ercolano, Jonathan Cutajar, Juri Na, Felix Sahm, C. Oliver Hanemann

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Meningiomas are the most common primary intracranial tumours, with clinical behaviours ranging from benign to highly aggressive forms. The World Health Organisation classifies meningiomas into various grades, guiding prognosis and treatment. While surgery is effective for low-grade meningiomas, certain grade 1 tumours, as well as grade 2, 3, and recurrent cases are more aggressive and require new therapeutic approaches. Immunotherapy shows promise, with early-stage clinical trials demonstrating encouraging results. The tumour microenvironment (TME), particularly tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), plays a pivotal role in tumour progression. TAMs influence tumour growth, metastasis, and immune evasion. However, their role in meningiomas, especially in …

The Uncertainties And Questions Of Care Home Residents, Relatives And Staff As A Basis For Evidence-Based Improvement And Research, Reena Devi, Kirsty Jayne Haunch, Elizabeth Helen Graham, Alys Wyn Griffiths, Gary Hodge, Andrew Clegg, Maria Drummond, Anne Forster, Susie Pearce, Karen Spilsbury, Carl Thompson

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: Research in long-term residential care settings (or care homes) for older people should address questions and uncertainties that matter most for those receiving and delivering care. Whether research does this effectively is unclear. In part, because the uncertainties and questions of key stakeholders are unmapped. Objective: To capture and prioritise the uncertainties of older people living in care homes, their relatives and staff. Methods: A three-phase mixed-methods study: (i) gathering uncertainties, (ii) data analysis and (iii) prioritisation. Phase 1 used interviews to gather uncertainties from residents (n = 14), relatives (n = 10) and staff (n = 44). In …

Scaling Up Eco-Engineering: The Role Of Topographic Complexity And Spatial Variability In Shaping Biodiversity On Coastal Structures, Charlotte Clubley, Antony Knights, Jessica Allen, David T Bilton, Andy Foggo, Mick Hanley, James Murphy, Louisa E Wood, Louise Firth

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

In response to the depauperate biodiversity often associated with the largely homogenous surfaces of artificial structures, ecological (eco-) engineering has emerged as a tool to introduce topographic complexity to coastal development. Although relatively small-scale studies using topographically complex panels and artificial rockpools are commonplace, determining how the configuration of these interventions works over greater and more realistic spatial scales has received comparatively little attention. Given the importance of spatial variability in habitat complexity for shaping community composition and, therefore, regional diversity, filling this knowledge gap is key to enhancing the ‘design catalogue’ for future eco-engineering installations. Here, we manipulated topographic …

A Quantum Reservoir Computing Approach To Computer-Aided Music Composition, Eduardo Miranda, Hari Shaji

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This paper presents an approach to developing computer-aided music composition (CAMC) systems with quantum computing. CAMC systems are aimed at supporting musicians in creating music rather than generating complete pieces of music autonomously. For instance, they may generate ideas or prompts to be further developed during the creative process. We developed a CAMC system using a machine learning method called Quantum Reservoir Computing (QRC) that learns to create tunes in the style of given examples. The system proved to run satisfactorily on the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) machines available today. It does not require large amounts of qubits to outperform …

No Escape From Microplastics: Contamination Of Reef Manta Ray Feeding Areas In A Remote, Protected Archipelago, Jessica Savage, Joanna Harris, Heather J. Koldewey, Tom B. Letessier, M Rowcliffe, D Morritt

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Remote islands receive plastic debris from elsewhere, ranging from microplastics (>5 mm) to macroplastics, which can further breakdown into microplastics. The ingestion of microplastics by marine species has been linked to decreased fitness. Reef manta rays, Mobula alfredi, are liable to ingest microplastics due to their filter-feeding strategy and habitat overlap with plastic hotspots. Their population is in decline due to unsustainable fishing pressures and a slow life history, with potential additional demographic pressure from plastic pollution. This study investigates the concentration and characteristics of microplastics in the top 0.5 m of the water column in reef manta rays …

Redefining The Photic Zone: Beyond The Autotroph-Centric View Of Light In The Ocean, Thomas Davies, Tim Smyth

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Traditional measures of the photic zone have remained focused on autotrophs, limiting understanding of how changing marine lightscapes impact heterotrophs that use light as a resource or an environmental cue. We propose a new photic zone definition that encompasses all biological processes influenced by celestial light, and a new measure of photic zone depth, the minimum light intensity that elicits biological responses. This approach allows photic zone measures to be inclusive of all marine photobiology driven by sunlight, moonlight, or starlight, and enables urgently needed exploration of the nature, extent and ecological implications of changing marine lightscapes.

Time For Change: The Importance Of Copyright For Manga And Anime, Simone Schroff

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Copyright law is key to the creative industries and plays a vital role in shaping the relationships between authors, commercial intermediaries, and audiences. However, the law significantly deviates from the social norms and expectations prevalent in the creative industries, leading to under-researched but key areas of misunderstanding and conflict.This article seeks to address this gap by providing a copyright law starting-point for those interested in the creative industries. First, this article provides a basic overview of copyright law and its features; in particular, how it applies to manga and anime. Second, the effect of copyright on the marketization and exploitation …

Prevalence, Experience, And Awareness Of Substandard And Falsified Medicines Among The Public And Healthcare Professionals In Jordan., Maysa Falah, Eman Daar, Daniel Zahra, Michael Dillon

Peninsula Medical School

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to assess the awareness, experiences and perspectives on substandard and falsified (SF) medicines among the general public and healthcare professionals in Jordan. SF medicines pose a global public health concern, yet data on their prevalence and associated risks in Jordan remain limited.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and June 2023 using a convergent mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected through structured surveys administered to 209 members of the public and 136 healthcare professionals (pharmacists and clinicians) recruited via convenience sampling across Jordan's 12 governorates. Surveys were conducted in English and Arabic. Qualitative data …

It's A Marathon, Not A Sprint: Completing Dental School Whilst Managing Your Mental Health, Sufyaan Ahmed, Morag Powell

Peninsula Dental School

No abstract provided.

Anticholinergic Burden In People With Intellectual Disability In Psychiatric Inpatient Units: Practice And Audit Recommendations, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Introduction: Anticholinergic burden (ACB) is the cumulativeeffect of taking multiple medications with anticholinergic properties. ACB is associated with polypharmacy, increased comorbidity, and premature mortality in people with intellectualdisability (PwID). No clinical standards for ACB monitoring specific to PwID exist, particularly in psychiatric inpatient unitswhere the risk of ACB is highest.Method: We used the ACB Calculator and Anticholinergic Effecton Cognition (AEC) scale to compute ACB scores in two Englishpsychiatric units. We administered the Liverpool University SideEffect Rating Scale (LUNSERS) and Glasgow Antipsychotic SideEffect Scale (GASS) to examine patients’ perception of sideeffects.Results: Of 19 patients, the ACB Calculator mean was 6.68 andAEC …

Walking In A Dental Environment With The “Unicdent” Tool Kit—Part 1: A Participatory Tool With Legs!, Prashanti Eachempati, John Martin, Sally Hanks, Mona Nasser

Peninsula Dental School

This case study explores the adaptation of the walking method coupled with auto-photography and photo elicitation, a participatory research tool traditionally used in landscape studies, for application in dental research settings. By presenting the UniCDent toolkit, we demonstrate how this immersive method can enhance understanding of patient experiences in dentistry through sensory engagement and spatial exploration. The toolkit comprises four components: Imagery, Gallery Walk, Quadrant Mapping, and Trade-offs, each designed to facilitate active participation and foster in-depth reflections on the dental environment. Participants navigate a simulated dental clinic, documenting their sensory experiences and social interactions, thereby enriching the data collected. …

The Rapid Synthesis Of Integral Stimuli, Charlotte E.R. Edmunds, Fraser Milton, Andy J. Wills

School of Psychology

Integral stimuli (e.g., colors varying in saturation and brightness) are classically considered to be processed holistically (i.e., as undifferentiated stimulus wholes); people analyze such stimuli into their consistent dimensions only with substantial time, effort, training, or instruction (Foard & Kemler, 1984). In contrast, Combination Theory (Wills et al., 2015) argues that the dimensions of integral stimuli are quickly combined. Through an investigation of the effects of stimulus presentation time, we support Combination Theory over the classical holistic-to-analytic account. Specifically, using colored squares varying in saturation and brightness, we demonstrate that the prevalence of single-dimension classification increases as stimulus presentation time …

Exploring Differences Between Mothers’ And Fathers’ Language Attitudes In Multilingual London, Anna Caunt, Caroline Floccia, Rana Abu-Zhaya

School of Psychology

This study investigated the language attitudes of parents raising multilingual infants in London. Using a newly developed questionnaire, 131 mothers and fathers rated their attitudes towards their languages across three themes: (1) their emotional resonance with the language, (2) the significance of the language in their personal life, and (3) its importance in bringing up a multilingual child. Parents varied in the combination of languages they reported speaking, and English, the society language, was either parents’ L1, L2 or L3. Our results showed that both mothers and fathers had similarly positive attitudes towards English, but differed in their attitudes towards …

The Transformative Effect Of A Foundation Year: ‘I’M A Totally Changed Person’, Louise Webber, Jessica Austin

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Developing academic skills and preparing students for university-level study areonly two important outcomes of a foundation year programme. Drawing on thework of Mezirow, this paper will, with a focus on five students, consider thetransformative element of adult learning through transforming previousassumptions and beliefs. The qualitative research was based on a university insouth west England and consisted of several interviews over a four-yearlongitudinal research project, tracking the experiences of five foundation yearstudents, assessing how well it prepared them for university-level study. Thisarticle will consider the transformative nature of the foundation year, highlightingspecific changes in students’ self-belief, agency, power and confidence. Drawing …

What We Think Others Think And Do About Climate Change: A Multicountry Test Of Pluralistic Ignorance And Public-Consensus Messaging, Sandra J. Geiger, Jana K. Köhler, Zenith N. C. Delabrida, Karla A. Garduño-Realivazquez, Christian A. P. Haugestad, Hirotaka Imada, Aishwarya Iyer, Carya Maharja, Daniel C. Mann, Michalina Marczak, Olivia Melville, Sari R. R. Nijssen, Nattavudh Powdthavee, Radisti A. Praptiwi, Gargi Ranade, Claudio D. Rosa, Valeria Vitale, Małgorzata Winkowska, Lei Zhang, Mathew P. White

School of Psychology

Most people believe in human-caused climate change, yet this public consensus can be collectively underestimated (pluralistic ignorance). Across two studies using primary data (n = 3,653 adult participants; 11 countries) and secondary data (ns = 60,230 and 22,496 adult participants; 55 countries), we tested (a) the generalizability of pluralistic ignorance about climate-change beliefs, (b) the effects of a public-consensus intervention on climate action, and (c) the possibility that cultural tightness-looseness might serve as a country-level predictor of pluralistic ignorance. In Study 1, people across 11 countries underestimated the prevalence of proclimate views by at least 7.5% in Indonesia (90% credible …

Conveying The Need For Mental Healthcare – A Qualitative Study Of How Patients Communicate Mental Health Challenges’, Marit Nymoen, Marit Lomeland, Eva Biringer, Mirjam Extedt, Øystein Hetlevik, Rod Sheaff, Olav Thorsen, Miriam Hartveit

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Access to timely mental healthcare relies on patients’ descriptions of their mental health problems. We therefore sought to better understand, from the patients’ perspective, how they communicate their need for specialised mental healthcare to their GPs or mental health specialists and what factors affect communication when patients are referred from their GPs to specialised mental healthcare. Methods: This was an exploratory interview study. Ten adults who started treatment in specialised mental healthcare facilities were interviewed individually. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. A method based on thematic analysis was used to develop patterns and themes within the dataset …

Experiences Of General Practitioners In Supporting The Mental Health Of Children And Young People: An Exploratory Qualitative Study In The United Kingdom, Yessica Abigail Tronco Hernàndez, Tim Carter, Jane Coad

School of Health Professions

Mental health (MH) problems in children and young people (CYP) are on the rise, negatively affecting their quality of life. General Practitioners (GPs) are the first port of call for any health-related issue; however, it has not been fully explored what kind of training, tools or management strategies they use for CYP’s MH. The study’s aim was to explore and report experiences, challenges and strategies that GPs in the UK have to address the MH needs of CYP. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with GPs. Qualitative content analysis was used resulting in two themes and five subthemes. Most GPs reported …

Core Grade 5: Rating Certainty Of Evidence—Assessing Indirectness, Gordon Guyatt, Alfonso Iorio, Hans De Beer, Andrew Owen, Thomas Agoritsas, M. Hassan Murad, Ganesan Karthikeyan, Carlos Cuello, Manya Prasad, Kevin Kim, Dalal S. Ali, Arnav Agarwal, Lars G. Hemkens, Liang Yao, Monica Hultcrantz, Jamie Rylance, Derek K. Chu, Per Olav Vandvik, Benjamin Djulbegovic, Reem A. Mustafa, Linan Zeng, Prashanti Eachempati, Bram Rochwerg, Kameshwar Prasad, Victor M. Montori, Romina Brignardello-Petersen

Peninsula Dental School

This fifth article in a seven part series presents the Core GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach to systematic reviews, clinical practice guidelines, and health technology assessments and addresses issues of indirect evidence. Guideline developers and health technology assessment practitioners must carefully specify the population, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO)—their target PICO—and consider the extent to which the best available evidence matches their target. When target and study PICOs differ substantially, studies provide indirect evidence and Core GRADE users may rate down the certainty of evidence as a result of this indirectness. Whether examining studies from a …

Molecular Cloning And Host Range Analysis Of Three Cytomegaloviruses From Mastomys Natalensis, Laura Staliunaite, Olha Puhach, Eleonore Ostermann, Kyle Rosenke, Jenna Nichols, Lisa Oestereich, Nafomon Sogoba, Heinz Feldmann, Andrew J. Davison, Michael A. Jarvis, Wolfram Brune

School of Biomedical Sciences

Herpesvirus-based vectors are attractive for use as conventional or transmissible vaccines against emerging zoonoses in inaccessible animal populations. In both cases, cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) as members of the subfamily Betaherpesvirinae are particularly suitable for vaccine development as they are highly specific for their natural host species, infect a large proportion of their host population, and cause mild infections in healthy individuals. The Natal multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) is the natural reservoir of Lassa virus, which causes deadly hemorrhagic fever in humans. M. natalensis was recently reported to harbor at least three different cytomegaloviruses (MnatCMV1, MnatCMV2, and MnatCMV3). Herein, we report the …

Bubble Image Velocimetry Application To Flow Characterization For Incipient Overtopping Events@ Challenges And Opportunities, Corrado Altomare, Xuexue Chen, Alison Raby, Xavier Gironella, Tomohiro Suzuki

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This study employs the Bubble Image Velocimetry (BIV) technique to characterise the flow velocity of individual extreme waves that overtop sea dikes. Physical experiments were conducted in the small-scale wave flume at the Marine Engineering Laboratory (LIM) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya –BarcelonaTech (UPC). The objective of the experimental campaign was to develop methods to enhance predictive models for wave overtopping volumes of structures with emergent toes. Focused wave groups were used to simulate extreme individual wave overtopping under realistic random sea states. In addition, the campaign prioritized the development of non-intrusive measurement techniques to quantify overtopping volumes and …

An Efficient Nsga-Ii-Based Algorithm For Multi-Robot Coverage Path Planning, Ashley Foster, Mario Gianni, Amir Aly, Hooman Samani

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This work presents an algorithm based on the Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) to solve multi-objective offline Multi-Robot Coverage Path Planning (MCPP) problems. The proposed algorithm embeds a donation-mutation operator and a multiple-parent crossover that gener-ates solutions which maintain the longest path while minimizing the average path length. The algorithm also uses a library of elitism-selected high-fitness robot paths, and tournament-selected high min-max fitness paths, to construct high multi-objective fitness offspring. We evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithm against the state-of-the-art NSGA-II extended with an improved Heuristic Genetic Algorithm Crossover, and we demonstrate that for different instances of …