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By applying two-mode social networks and Chinese word segmentation technologies, a novel visualization tool, the instant semantic analysis and feedback system (ISAFS), is designed in this study to present the semantic networks of co-words and non-co-words used in learners' discussion processes and assist learners in grasping the discussion direction to enhance online learning effectiveness. By conducting a quasi-experimental research, the ISAFS-assisted discussion board was assigned to the 32 learners of one class as the experimental group, whereas the general online discussion board was assigned to the 32 learners of the other class as the control group to support the online discussion learning activities of socio-scientific issues (SSIs). Analytical results show that the mean scores of overall, complexity, and perspective of socio-scientific reasoning performance have no statistically significant differences between the two groups. However, the in-depth interview results suggest that the learners in the experimental group gave positive feedback on the design concepts of the ISAFS and could explore the complexity and various perspectives of the issue through co-words and non-co-words presented on the ISAFS graph. Several suggestions regarding the functions and user interface of the ISAFS were also collected from the interviews to provide the directions for future studies.

Alexithymia is a vulnerability factor for physical and mental illness that can significantly influence the daily function of alcohol-dependent patients. The aim of this study was to examine the indirect effect of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors involving alcohol craving on the relationship between alexithymia, quality of life (QoL) of psychological well-being and health status. Three hundred and eighty-one outpatients (263 males and 118 females) in treatment for alcohol dependence completed self-report measures of alexithymia, alcohol craving, GHQ-28 (QoL-psychological well-being) and SF-36 (QoL-health status). Males scored significantly higher than females on aspects of alexithymia, and females reported significantly higher levels of alcohol craving. Path analysis showed an indirect effect of alcohol craving on the relationship between alexithymia, QoL-psychological well-being and self-reported QoL-health status for males only. The current study provides important new information about impaired self-reported health status and well-being among male alcohol-dependent treatment seekers with alexithymia.

Background: Alexithymia is a personality trait associated with emotion regulation difficulties. Up to 67% of alcohol-dependent patients in treatment have alexithymia. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of alexithymia, negative mood (stress, anxiety, and depression) and alcohol craving on alcohol dependence severity. Methods: Three hundred and fifty-five outpatients (mean age = 38.70, SD = 11.00, 244 males, range 18-71 years) undergoing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for alcohol dependence completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) prior to the first treatment session. Results: Alexithymia had an indirect effect on alcohol dependence severity, via both negative mood and alcohol craving (b = 0.03, seb = 0.008, 95% CI: 0.02-0.05). An indirect effect of negative mood on alcohol dependence via alcohol craving was also observed (b = 0.12, seb = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.07-0.16). Conclusions/importance: Alexithymia worked through negative mood and alcohol craving leading to increased alcohol dependence severity, indicating that craving had an indirect effect on the relationship between alexithymia and alcohol dependence severity. Targeting alcohol craving and negative mood for alcohol-dependent patients with alexithymia seems warranted.

Purpose: The core objective of this study was to analyze the situation of Pakistani females' sports participation and examines which different Socio-Cultural, Interest and Motivational barriers currently play negative role towards their sports participation and how these barriers can be reduced by taking up the steps under the feministic approach in sports which is based on the social cognitive theory of Bandura. Methodology/Evidence Acquisition: In order to get deep insight, the researcher employed mix-method research methodology which was based on both qualitative and quantitative research design. Qualitative data of 8-HODs and quantitative data of 592-female students from the 8 selected public colleges and universities in Southern Punjab-Pakistan was collected through close-ended and open ended questionnaires with convenient sampling technique. For quantitative data analysis, SPSS v.20 and for qualitative data analysis MS Excel v.10 were used as statistical tools. Conclusionsː Regarding socio-cultural factors (Family Support, Religious & Cultural Limitations), findings of this study show that the relationships of family support, interest and motivation with their sports participation is significant and positive but the religious & cultural limitations has insignificant and negative impact on female sports participation. Although these socio-cultural factors are not much supportive in the colleges as compare to the universities, but overall, their parents’ negative attitude, expectations for academic performance and unawareness regarding sports benefits, females feel uncomfortable, less passion and interest in sports participation. Further, it was also found, in both universities and colleges, that Islamic dress code, male permission, no proper changing rooms, cultural conflicts, mix-gender sports, vulgarity, less freedom of solely movement, discouragement by society/culture are the major dimensions of religious and cultural limitations towards sports participation. Along with new dimensions and locality, the current study was a first attempt to provide the practitioners, policy makers and researchers to understand the issues of cultural and religious, interest and motivation and family support towards female sports participation in Pakistan.

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic has been associated with detrimental effects on mental health and psychological well‐being. Although multiple studies have shown decreases in mental health‐related Emergency Department (ED) presentations early in the COVID‐19 pandemic, the medium‐term effects on mental health‐related ED presentations have remained less clear. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on mental health ED presentations by comparing observed presentation numbers to predictions from pre‐pandemic data. Methods: This retrospective cohort study tallied weekly ED presentations associated with mental health disorders from a state‐wide minimum dataset. Three time periods were identified: Pre‐Pandemic (January 1, 2018–March 8, 2020), Statewide Lockdown (March 9, 2020–June 28, 2020), and Restrictions Easing (June 29, 2020–June 27, 2021). Time series analysis was used to generate weekly presentation forecasts using pre‐pandemic data. Observed presentation numbers were compared to these forecasts. Results: Weekly presentation numbers were lower than predicted in 11 out of 16 weeks in the Statewide Lockdown period and 52 out of 52 weeks in the Restrictions Easing period. The largest decrease was seen for anxiety disorders (Statewide Lockdown: 76.8% of forecast; Restrictions Easing: 36.4% of forecast), while an increase was seen in presentations for eating disorders (Statewide Lockdown: 139.5% of forecast; Restrictions Easing: 194.4% of forecast). Conclusions: Overall weekly mental health‐related presentations across Queensland public EDs were lower than expected for the first 16 months of the COVID‐19 pandemic. These findings underline the limitations of emergency department provision of mental health care and the importance of alternate care modalities in the pandemic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To describe the characteristics of, and care provided to, older people who died within 48 h of ED presentation. Methods: A descriptive retrospective cohort study of people 65 years and older presenting to two EDs in Queensland, Australia, between April 2018 and March 2019. Data from electronic medical records were collected and analysed. Results: Two hundred and ninety‐five older people who died within 48 h of ED presentation were included. Nearly all arrived by ambulance (92%, n = 272) and 36% (n = 106) were from aged care facilities. Three‐quarters (75%, n = 222) were triaged into the most urgent triage categories (i.e. Australasian Triage Scale; ATS 1/2). Fewer than half were previously independent with mobility (38%, n = 111) and activities of daily living (43%, n = 128). Sixty‐one per cent (n = 181) had a pre‐existing healthcare directive. Twenty‐two per cent (n = 66) died in ED, most commonly due to pneumonia, intracerebral haemorrhage, cardiac arrest and/or sepsis. Over half had one or more ED visits (52%, n = 154) and/or hospital admissions (52%, n = 152) 6 months prior. Conclusions: Identification of patients at end‐of‐life (EoL) is not always straightforward; consider recent reduction in independence and recent ED visits/hospital admissions. System‐based strategies that span pre‐hospital, ED and in‐patient care are recommended to facilitate EoL pathway implementation and care continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Although Listeria monocytogenes had poor pressure resistance, its characteristic as a low-temperature tolerant bacteria allowed residual or injured bacteria by HPP to self-repair and grow during low-temperature storage. Therefore, once HPP-treated carrot juice was contaminated by L. monocytogenes, foodborne illness risk persisted despite refrigeration of the juice. In this study, Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes were separately inoculated in sterilized carrot juice and subjected to various types of high-pressure processing (HPP) at 200–600 MPa for 0.1–15 min to observe the effects of HPP on the inactivation kinetics of foodborne pathogens in carrot juice. The first-order model fits the destruction kinetics of high pressure on foodborne pathogens during the pressure hold period. An increase in pressure from 200 to 600 MPa decreased the decimal reduction time (D values) of S. Typhimurium, E. coli, and L. monocytogenes. Under pressure ≥ 400 MPa, the D values of E. coli were significantly higher than those of S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes, indicating that E. coli had greater resistance to high pressures than the others. The Zp values (the pressure range that causes the D values to change by 90%) of E. coli, S. Typhimurium, and L. monocytogenes were 195, 175, and 170 MPa, respectively. These results indicated that L. monocytogenes and E. coli were the most and least sensitive, respectively, to pressure changes. Additionally, the three bacteria were separately inoculated into thermal-sterilized carrot juice and subjected to 200–600 MPa HPP for 3 min. The treated carrot juices were stored at 4 °C for 27 d. Following S. Typhimurium and E. coli inoculation, the bacterial counts of the control and 200 MPa treatments remained the same during the storage duration. However, they decreased for the 300 and 400 MPa treatment groups with increasing storage duration. During the storage period, no bacterial growth was observed in the 500 and 600 MPa treatments. However, the bacterial number for the control and pressure treatment groups increased with prolonged storage duration following inoculation with L. monocytogenes. Therefore, following HPP, residual L. monocytogenes continued growing stably at low temperatures. Overall, HPP could inhibit and delay the growth of S. Typhimurium and E. coli in carrot juice during cold storage, but it was ineffective at inhibiting the growth of L. monocytogenes. There was a risk of foodborne illness despite the low-temperature storage of juice. The innovation of this preliminary study is to find the impact of high pressure on the inactivate kinetics of three food pathogens in carrot juice and its practical application in simulated contaminated juice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]