• Gendered and classed performances of motherhood and good academic in Greece

  Tsouroufli, Maria (Sage, 2018)

  The enduring significance of gender and how it intersects with class in the organisation of parenting, domestic, and professional work has been obscured in contemporary neo-liberal contexts. This paper examines how Greek academic women conceptualize and enact motherhood and the classed and gendered strategies they adopt to reconcile ‘good’ motherhood with notions of the ‘good’ academic professional. It draws on semi-structured interviews about the career narratives of 15 women in Greek Medical Schools at the aftermath of the Greek recession. The analysis presented in this paper is informed by a feminist post-structuralist paradigm and an emic approach to intersectionality. Motherhood emerged in the data as a dynamic concept, and a network of practices both constrained and enabled by gendered and classed family and work cultures. Drawing on neo-liberal ‘DIY’ and ‘having it all’ discourse Greek mothers claimed that they could achieve almost anything professionally, if they organised their private lives sensibly. They drew on idealised discourses of motherhood, but they also contradicted these notions by doing non- traditional forms of motherhood, such as remote or transnational motherhood, afforded by their privileged social positioning and academic careers. Further research is required to investigate configurations of classed motherhood in less prestigious professions.
• Crotalus oreganus concolor (Viperidae; Crotalinae): A case of envenomation with venom analysis from the envenomating snake and a diagnostic conundrum of myo-neurological symptoms

  Keyler, Daniel E.; Saini, Vinay; O'Shea, Mark; Gee, Jeff; Smith, C.F.; Mackessy, Stephen (Elsevier, 2018-07)

  Background:Crotalus oreganus concolor is a smaller species of North American rattlesnake indigenous to a confined middle region of the western United States. Reports of envenomation to humans are quite rare, and studies regarding the toxicity and pharmacological actions of C. o. concolor venom have shown the presence of low molecular weight myotoxins with myotoxic effects, and low metalloproteinase activity. Method: A case that occurred in a remote location following the bite of a captive C. o. concolor is presented. Case: The bite was sustained to the right thumb while removing the snake from a drawer-type housing unit and it resulted in a single fang puncture. Immediately, there was tingling in the bitten thumb followed by extreme tingling in the lips that progressed to the toes, and tightening of the face, forehead, and chest. Ambulance ground transport to a medical helicopter airlift site was initiated. While in transport early on the patient experienced a cascade of symptoms beginning with blurry vision, total body paresthesia, dyspnea and transient diaphragmatic paralysis followed by three waves of spastic muscle paresis of the hands and feet. These symptoms were transient and had resolved spontaneously prior to arrival at the hospital three hours post bite. Patient laboratory values and coagulation parameters remained within normal limits, except for a mild increase in D-dimer, elevated creatine kinase, and reduced total calcium. Local envenomation at the bite site was minimal, but numbness of the thumb persisted for longer than a week. For various reasons antivenom was not administered at any stage and symptoms were successfully managed symptomatically. At 24 hours, and following discharge, the patient was experiencing total body weakness, but able to walk slowly without assistance. He continued to experience myalgias in the right arm and overall generalized weakness for several days. Several weeks later sloughing of skin around the bite site was observed, but other local symptoms, other than numbness of the thumb, had resolved completely. Venom from the offending snake was collected and venom analysis performed revealing the presence of very high levels of myotoxins, small peptides that induce rapid tetanic muscle contractions in mice, and several serine proteinases often associated with coagulopathies. Discussion/Conclusion: Causes of the patient’s transient myo-neurological symptoms were confounding diagnostically with respect to those that were potentially venom-induced versus those that may have been stress-induced physiological responses.
• Lurking towards empowerment: Explaining propensity to engage with online health support groups and its association with positive outcomes

  Fullwood, Chris; Chadwick, Darren; Keep, Melanie; Attrill-Smith, Alison; Asbury, Titus; Kirwan, Grainne (Elsevier, 2018-08-22)

  Online health support groups (OHSGs) offer opportunities for people with various health conditions to gain support and associated physical and mental health benefits, however evidence suggests that those who choose to lurk in OHSGs may be less likely to accrue benefits (e.g. empowering outcomes) than those who actively contribute. Most research to date has focused on comparing the outcomes of OSHG engagement for lurkers and participators, yet there has been little research which has considered how the different reasons for lurking might be associated with levels of participation and empowering processes. In this investigation we used a survey to gather data from 237 participants to develop a new scale to measure factors influencing the Propensity for Online Community Contribution (POCCS), and to explore the relationship between these factors and OHSG engagement behaviour and empowering processes accrued from OHSG use. The POCCS comprised nine factors, 1) poor sense of community; 2) struggles with self-expression; 3) inhibited disclosure and privacy; 4) negative online interactions; 5) ease of access and use; 6) health preventing contribution; 7) delayed and selective contribution; 8) goals met without contribution; and 9) lack of time. Five of these factors (1, 3, 6, 7, and 8) significantly predicted OHSG contribution and positive experiences in the form of empowering processes. Findings advocate a more nuanced approach to OHSG engagement, rather than a simple lurking/engaging dichotomy, and may enhance understanding of the relationship between OHSG use and perceived benefits.
• Correlates of sedentary behaviour and light physical activity in people living with rheumatoid arthritis: protocol for a longitudinal study

  O'Brien, Ciara M.; Duda, Joan L.; Kitas, George D.; Veldhuijzen Van Zanten, Jet J.C.S.; Metsios, George S.; Fenton, Sally A.M. (Mediterranean Journal of Rheumatology, 2018)

  Background: Sedentary behaviour (SB) is associated with adverse health outcomes in the general population. Replacing sedentary time with light intensity physical activity (LPA) has been linked with improvements in all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in adults. People with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) typically spend long periods of time sedentary, but the health consequences of ‘too much sitting’, and possible benefits of LPA, have not been fully explored in this population. Moreover, little is known regarding the determinants of these behaviours among people living with RA, and such knowledge is required for the development of effective behavioural interventions. Aims: To examine longitudinal relationships between:1) objectively-assessed SB/LPA with health outcomes in RA, 2) hypothesised determinants of SB/LPA with objectively-assessed SB/LPA in RA. Methods: This longitudinal study will secure assessments at baseline (Time 1) and 6-month follow-up (Time 2) from RA patients. At both time points, physical assessments will be undertaken, and questionnaires administered to measure physical (e.g., percentage body fat, disease activity, physical function, pain) and psychological (e.g., depression, anxiety, vitality) health outcomes. Additional questionnaires will be administered to establish hypothesised determinants (i.e., psychosocial, individual differences, and physical environmental). Participants will wear the ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer and activPAL3 for 7 days to objectively measure SB and LPA. Discussion: Findings will elucidate the health correlates of SB in RA, as well as the relevance of interventions targeting reductions in SB by promoting LPA. Results will also assist in identifying intervention targets (i.e., determinants), with the potential to encourage SB change in RA.
• Online qualitative methods – challenges and opportunities

  Lloyd, Joanne (British Psychological Society, 2018)

  This is a prepublication version of the following article; Online qualitative methods – challenges and opportunities 2018, 26 Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin A growing proportion of the population are spending an increasing amount of time online (Poushter, 2016) and engaging in a wide variety of online activities (Blank & Groselj, 2014). Communication is one of the most common, with email, for example, being used by over 90% of UK adults (Blank & Groselj, 2014), and other forms of ‘computer mediated discourse’ (Herring & Androutsopoulos, 2015) including private, ‘direct messages’ sent between individuals through applications such as Whatsapp or Facebook messenger, also being widely used (Oghuma, Libaque-Saenz, Wong & Chang, 2016). Thus, there are many efficient and convenient avenues of online communication via which primary qualitative data can be collected; such as online interviews through text-based or video-based chat, or online qualitative surveys.

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