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The goal of this study was to examine how regular physical activity before and during pregnancy affected life quality throughout pregnancy. Between July 2020 and May 2021, 218 pregnant women were recruited from 11 outpatient clinics for this survey. Data were collected prospectively in a panel format beginning with the 10th gestational week over a 20-week period. Prior to pregnancy, a previous time point was also defined. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire, and the EQ-VAS questionnaire were used to collect data on the duration and intensity of daily physical exercises, as well as to assess health-related quality of life and self-estimated health status. The final survey included data from 113 women. During pregnancy, physical activity decreased dramatically. The duration of strenuous activities, but not moderate activities, was significantly reduced. Continuous physical activity independently predicted higher life quality scores at all points of assessment. Cases who participated in moderate and strenuous activities on a regular basis had higher self-estimated health status scores than cases who only participated in moderate activity. Instead of focusing solely on specific types of physical activity, we believe that strategies for motivating all pregnant women to be constantly active should be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the reproducibility of pacing in elite swimmers during competitions and to compare heats and finals within 1 event. Methods: Finals and heats of 158 male swimmers (age 22.8 ± 2.9 y) from 29 nations were analyzed in 2 competitions (downloaded from swimrankings.net). Of these, 134 were listed in the world’s top 50 in 2010; the remaining 24 were finalists of the Pan Pacific Games or European Championships. The level of both competitions for the analysis had to be at least national championships (7.7 ± 5.4 wk apart). Standard error of measurement expressed as percentage of the subject’s mean score (CV) with 90% confidence limits (CL) for each 50-m split time and for total times were calculated. In addition, mixed general modeling was used to determine standard deviations between and within swimmers. Results: CV for total time in finals ranged between 0.8% and 1.3% (CL 0.6–2.2%). Regarding split times, 200-m freestyle showed a consistent pacing over all split times (CV 0.9–1.6%). During butterfly, backstroke, and 400-m freestyle, CVs were low in the first 3 and 7 sections, respectively (CV 0.9–1.7%), with greater variability in the last section (1.9–2.2%). In breaststroke, values were higher in all sections (CV 1.2–2.3%). Within-subject SDs for changes between laps were between 0.9% and 2.6% in all finals. Split-time variability for finals and heats ranged between 0.9% and 2.5% (CL 0.3–4.9%). Conclusion: Pacing profiles are consistent between different competitions. Variability of pacing seems to be a result of the within-subject variation rather than a result of different competitions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming the energy system to one with a greater importance of renewables requires redirecting and accelerating technological change. In this transition, so-called policy mixes play a crucial role. Yet precisely how policy mixes affect technological innovation remains poorly understood. To remedy this, in this study we choose a qualitative company case study approach to analyze the innovation impact of a comprehensive policy mix, taking offshore wind in Germany as research case. We find that the feed-in tariff level and the perceived consistency and credibility of the German offshore wind policy mix have been vital innovation drivers. Specifically, the consistent and stable policy strategy with its long-term targets, and the consistency of the instrument mix with this policy strategy appear crucial to RD&D. In contrast, adoption decisions depend on a comprehensive and consistent instrument mix. Finally, a high level of credibility can partly offset negative effects of inconsistencies in the mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Error variability has traditionally been considered a hallmark of apraxia of speech (AOS). However, in some of the current AOS literature, relatively invariable error patterns are claimed as a mandatory criterion for a diagnosis of AOS. This paradigm shift has far-reaching consequences for our understanding of the disorder and for its (differential) diagnosis. Against the background of this controversy, the present article aims to further examine error variability in AOS. Method: Four patients with relatively pure, mild-to-moderate AOS participated in the study. They repeated 8 target words in 2 different phrase contexts, 10 times each. Error analyses were based on phonetic transcription. Error variability was determined using several measures of (a) consistency of error occurrence and (b) consistency of error type. Results: All patients produced highly inconsistent reactions across multiple trials in some of the target words. However, other words were more consistently accurate or inaccurate. Several factors influencing error variability were identified. Conclusions: Because this study has disclosed clear indications of variable behavior in AOS, diagnostic guidelines claiming error consistency as a mandatory criterion cannot be maintained. Because error variability is difficult to operationalize, we recommend to no longer use (in)consistency as a strict diagnostic marker of AOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: For 9 consecutive months (March–November 2008), faecal samples were collected monthly from 129 horses residing within 40km of Salzburg, Austria. Samples were analysed quantitatively using a modified McMaster egg counting technique. Whenever a faecal egg count (FEC) result exceeded 250eggs per gram (EPG), the horse was treated with pyrantel, ivermectin or moxidectin. In 52 of 129 horses (40.3%), no strongyle eggs were ever detected over the course of 9 months. In 39 horses (30.2%), strongyle eggs were detected in at least 1 sample, but the egg count never exceeded 250EPG. The remaining 38 (29.5%) horses were treated at least once in response to a FEC that exceeded 250EPG. As a result of this selective anthelmintic scheme, the total number of anthelmintic treatments was reduced to 54% of the number of treatments administered to the same horses in the previous year. Both the maximum and mean FEC dropped significantly after initiation of the study. A statistically significant, negative correlation was demonstrated between the maximum and mean FEC of a horse and its age. Pasture hygiene appeared to reduce FECs, but the effect was not statistically significant. The magnitude of the initial FEC was significantly correlated with the maximum FECs in the subsequent 8 months (p <0.01). The same relationship was observed for the maximum FEC of the first 2 samples. Furthermore, horses which required several anthelmintic treatments had a higher initial FEC and a greater maximum FEC in the first 2 samples than horses which received only one or no treatment. These results suggest that selective anthelmintic treatment accomplished a reduced pasture contamination with strongyle eggs, while simultaneously decreasing the number of anthelmintic treatments. Sustained implementation of a selective treatment strategy has the potential to reduce selection pressure for anthelmintic resistance. These results reported herein will assist equine practitioners in designing and monitoring sustainable anthelmintic treatment programs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially impacted the conduct of clinical trials. While initially preparing for a period of time, where it would likely be impossible to supervise trials in the usual way and precautionary measures had to be implemented to care for medication supply and general safety of study participants it is now important to consider, how the impact of the pandemic on trial outcome can be assessed, which measures are needed to decide, how to proceed with the trial and what is needed to compensate to irregularity introduced by the pandemic situation. Obviously not all trials will suffer to the same degree: some trials may be close to finalizing recruitment, others may not yet have started. Similarly not all clinical trials investigate vulnerable patient populations, but some will and may in addition have recruited to an extent that beneficial effects achieved in the initial phase of the trial may be outweighed by an increase e.g. in mortality that impacts both treatment groups. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the pandemic reached different countries in the world and even cities in one country at different points in time with different severity. Our example is a randomized and double-blind clinical trial comparing digitoxin and placebo in patients with advanced chronic heart failure. This trial has recruited roughly 1/3 of the overall 2200 patients when the disease outbreak reached Germany. We discuss how simulations and theoretical considerations can be used to address questions about the need to increase the overall sample-size to be recruited to compensate for a potential shrinkage of the treatment effect caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and what role the degree of consistency could play when comparing pre-, during- and post- COVID-19 periods of trial conduct regarding the question, whether the treatment effect can be considered consistent and with this generalizable. This is dependent on the size of the treatment effect and the impact of the pandemic. We argue, that in case of doubt, it may be wise to proceed with the original study plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Life experiences are thought to prompt changes in personality. However, existing studies find few replicable mean-level changes in personality following life events. The focus on mean-level change may obscure other types of personality change that are not routinely studied in the context of life events. These are variability in response, structural, and ipsative change., Methods: The current proposal examines whether major life events (e.g., divorce and job loss) affect these 3 understudied types of personality trait change using 3 waves of Big Five trait data in a large-scale, representative longitudinal study (German Socioeconomic Panel Study, N = 16,368). Structural equation models compare those who had an event to their prior self and a control group who did not experience the event., Results: Life events were found to have mostly null or small effects on variability in response, structural, and ipsative change. Across 2 types of tests for variability in response, few replications occurred. The only consistent effect across 3 types of change was for mental health events, which served to increase variance in all Big Five traits and increase consistency in ipsative profiles., Discussion: Life events tend not to affect these novel metrics of personality trait change. The one exception of mental health events is consistent with previous literature on mean-level change. Overall, life events do not appear to by major catalysts of personality change, regardless of how change is defined., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: In the present research, we examined the effect of getting a new teacher on consistency in students' personality measures, including trait and social cognitive constructs., Method: To test the effect of this kind of situational transition, we analyzed two large longitudinal samples (N = 5,628; N = 2,458) with quasi-experimental study designs. We used two consistency measures (i.e., rank-order clations and changes in variance over time) to compare students who got a new teacher with students who kept the same teacher., Results: Multiple-group latent variable analyses showed no differences in the rank-order correlations for the math-related social cognitive constructs of interest, effort, self-concept, self-regulation, anxiety, and the Big Five personality traits. Significantly lower rank-order correlations were found for some of the German- and English-related social cognitive constructs (i.e., effort measures) for the group of students who got a new teacher. Regarding the changes in variance (over time), we found no systematic differences between groups in both studies., Conclusions: We found partial support for the idea that social cognitive variables are more susceptible to environmental changes (i.e., getting a new teacher) than the Big Five personality traits are., (© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Personality Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)