The effects of a volunteer mentoring programme on reading outcomes among eight- to nine-year-old children: A follow up randomized controlled trial

This article presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effects of a revised version of the volunteer mentoring programme, Time to Read. Participating children received two 30-minute mentoring sessions per week from volunteer mentors who carried out paired reading activities with the children. The current trial involved 512 children aged eight to nine years from 50 primary schools. The programme was found to be effective in improving decoding skills (d=+.15), reading rate (d=+.22) and reading fluency (d=+.14) and there was some evidence of a positive effect in relation to the children’s aspirations for the future (d=+.11). However, no evidence was found of the programme having an effect on reading comprehension or reading confidence and enjoyment of reading. The article concludes by suggesting that mentoring programmes using non-specialist volunteers can be effective in improving foundational reading skills but would appear to be less effective in terms of improving higher-order skills such as comprehension. The article also suggests that such programmes are likely to be most effective if concentrating on core reading activities rather than attempting to address reading outcomes indirectly through improving children’s confidence or wider enjoyment of reading.

Internet use and psychological wellbeing among 10 and 11 year old children

This paper uses data from the 2009 Kids’ Life and Times Survey, involving 3657 children aged 10 or 11 years old in Northern Ireland. The survey indicated high levels of use of Internet applications, including social-networking sites and online games. Using the KIDSCREEN-27 instrument, the data indicate that the use of social-networking sites and online games is related to poorer psychological well-being among girls, but not boys. Boys and girls who experience “cyberbullying” have poorer psychological well-being. This association between psychological well-being and some Internet applications merits more attention in future research and policy development.

Internet Use and Psychological Well-being among 10-year-old and 11-year-old Children

This paper uses data from the 2009 Kids’ Life and Times Survey, involving 3657 children aged 10 or 11 years old in Northern Ireland. The survey indicated high levels of use of Internet applications, including social-networking sites and online games. Using the KIDSCREEN-27 instrument, the data indicate that the use of social-networking sites and online games is related to poorer psychological well-being among girls, but not boys. Boys and girls who experience “cyberbullying” have poorer psychological well-being. This association between psychological well-being and some Internet applications merits more attention in future research and policy development.

Testate amoebae as indicators of hydroseral change: an 8,500 year record from Mer Bleue Bog, eastern Ontario, Canada.

Testate amoebae have been used widely as a proxy of hydrological change in ombrotrophic peatlands, although their response to abiotic controls in other types of mire and fenland palaeo-environments is less well understood. This paper examines the response of testate amoebae to hydroseral and other environmental changes at Mer Bleue Bog, Ontario, Canada, a large ombrotrophic peatland, which evolved from a brackish-water embayment in the early Holocene. Sediments, plant macrofossils and diatoms examined from a 5.99 m core collected from the dome of the bog record six stages of development: i) a quiet, brackish-water riverine phase (prior to ca. 8500 cal BP); ii) a shallow lake (ca. 8500–8200 cal BP); iii) fen (8200–7600 cal BP); iv) transitional mire (7600–6900 cal BP); v) pioneer raised mire (6900–4450 cal BP); and vi) ombrotrophic bog (4450 cal BP-present).

Testate amoebae, notably small (<25 µm diameter) specimens of Centropyxis aculeata type, first appear in low abundances in sediments ascribed to the lacustrine phase. Diatoms from the same horizons record a shallowing in water depth, a decline in salinity and the development of emergent macrophytic vegetation, which may have provided favourable conditions for testate amoeba colonization. The testate amoeba communities of the inferred fen phase are more diverse and include centropyxids, cyclopyxids, Arcellidae and Hyalospheniidae, although the assemblages show some differences to those recently reported in modern European fen environments. The Fen–Bog Transition (FBT) is also dominated by C. aculeata type. The change in testate amoeba communities around this key transition is apparent in the results of Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), and appears to reflect a latent nutrient gradient and a secondary moisture gradient. DCA analyses of plant macrofossil remains around the FBT show a similar trend, although the sensitivity of the two proxies to the inferred environmental changes differs. Comparisons with other regional mid-Holocene peatland records confirm the important influence of reduced effective precipitation on the testate amoeba communities during the initiation and development of Sphagnum-dominated, raised bog communities.

Factors influencing performance of CPR by Foundation Year 1 Doctors

Gender and body mass index are major factors affecting ability to perform effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Burnout as a predictor of all-cause mortality among industrial employees: A 10-year prospective register-linkage study

Objective: Burnout, a psychological consequence of prolonged work stress, has been shown to coexist with physical and mental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate whether burnout is related to all-cause mortality among employees. Methods: In 1996, of 15,466 Finnish forest industry employees, 9705 participated in the 'Still Working' study and 8371 were subsequently identified from the National Population Register. Those who had been treated in a hospital for the most common causes of death prior to the assessment of burnout were excluded on the basis of the Hospital Discharge Register, resulting in a final study population of 7396 people. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey. Dates of death from 1996 to 2006 were extracted from the National Mortality Register. Mortality was predicted with Cox hazard regression models, controlling for baseline sociodemographic factors and register-based health status according to entitled medical reimbursement and prescribed medication for mental health problems, cardiac risk factors, and pain problems. Results: During the 10-year 10-month follow-up, a total of 199 employees had died. The risk of mortality per one-unit increase in burnout was 35% higher (95% CI 1.07-1.71) for total score and 26% higher (0.99-1.60) for exhaustion, 29% higher for cynicism (1.03-1.62), and 22% higher for diminished professional efficacy (0.96-1.55) in participants who had been under 45 at baseline. After adjustments, only the associations regarding burnout and exhaustion were statistically significant. Burnout was not related to mortality among the older employees. Conclusion: Burnout, especially work-related exhaustion, may be a risk for overall survival. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sense of coherence and psychiatric morbidity: a 19-year register-based prospective study

Background Most prospective studies on the relationship between sense of coherence (SOC) and mental health have been conducted using subjective health indicators and short-term follow-ups. The objective of this prospective occupational cohort study was to examine whether a strong sense of coherence is a protective factor against psychiatric disorders over a long period of time.

Lack of Predictability at Work and Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction: An 18-Year Prospective Study of Industrial Employees

Objectives. We examined whether the distinctive components of job control-decision authority, skill discretion, and predictability-were related to subsequent acute myocardial infarction (MI) events in a large population of initially heart disease-free industrial employees.

Happiness and Well-Being of Young Carers: Extent, Nature and Correlates of Caring Among 10 and 11 Year Old School Children

Young carers often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult. For many of these children and young people, caring has been shown to have a detrimental effect on their lives. For example, caring at a young age appears to be associated with poor health and well-being, bullying and poorer educational outcomes. However, previous research has tended to be retrospective, carried out using small surveys of secondary school-aged children or to use qualitative methods with young people associated with caring projects. In contrast, little is known about the extent and nature of caring undertaken by younger children. This paper reports findings from a random sample survey of 10 and 11 year old children in the final year of their primary school education. 4,192 children completed the Kids’ Life and Times (KLT) online survey in 2011. Twelve percent of respondents to KLT said they helped look after someone in their household who was sick, elderly or disabled. Supporting previous qualitative research, this survey showed that children who were carers had poorer health and well-being, reported less happiness with their lives, were more likely to be bullied at school and had poorer educational aspirations and outcomes than their peers who were not carers. These findings suggest that teachers need to discuss the issue of caring with children in the classroom in a general and supportive way so that young carers feel able to confide in them and seek support if they need it.

A 50,000-year record of Late Pleistocene tropical vegetation and human impact in lowland Borneo.

There has been considerable uncertainty about the nature of Pleistocene environments colonised by the first modern humans in Island SE Asia, and about the vegetation of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the region. Here, the palynology from a series of exposures in the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, spanning a period from ca. 52,000 to 5000 BP is described. Vegetation during this period was climate-driven and often highly unstable. Interstadials are marked by lowland forest, sometimes rather dry and at times by mangroves. Stadials are indicated by taxa characteristic of open environments or, as at the LGM, by highly disturbed rather open forest. Stadials are also characterised by taxa now restricted to 1000-1600 m above sea level, suggesting temperature declines of ca 7-9 C relative to present, by comparison with modern lapse rates. The practice of biomass burning appears associated with the earliest human activity in the cave.

AUDIT OF ANTIBIOTIC USAGE IN A MEDIUM-SIZED GENERAL-HOSPITAL OVER AN 11-YEAR PERIOD - THE IMPACT OF ANTIBIOTIC POLICIES

The objective of the present study was to evaluate trends in antibiotic expenditure over an 11-year period (1982-1992) in a 370-bed district general hospital in Northern Ireland and to examine the impact of two separate antibiotic policies on antibiotic usage. A further objective was to examine the attitudes of prescribers to the second policy. Drug utilization review was used to collect information on antibiotic expenditure and usage before and after introduction of separate antibiotic policies in 1985 (not intensively monitored) and 1989 (intensively monitored). A mail questionnaire was used to determine the attitudes of prescribers. The first policy (1985) showed no benefits with regard to the number of antibiotic entities stocked (45 before, 45 after), number of dosage units issued (9.35 increase) or expenditure (33.35 increase). The 1989 policy led to significant reductions in the number of antibiotic entities stocked (28.9%), number of antibiotics issued (11.9%) and expenditure (6.1%). Expenditure began to spiral upwards when active monitoring of the second policy was suspended. The majority of prescribers (87.2%) who responded to the questionnaire (56.5% response rate) felt that the 1989 policy made a positive contribution to antibiotic usage in the hospital.