University of Lincoln

About: University of Lincoln is a education organization based out in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2341 authors who have published 7025 publications receiving 124797 citations.

The pattern of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia: a descriptive epidemiological analysis of data from the Saudi Ministry of Health

Abstract: Purpose: This study describes the epidemiology of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Patients and methods: Epidemiological analysis was performed on data from all MERS-CoV cases recorded by the Saudi Ministry of Health between June 6, 2013 and May 14, 2014. The frequency of cases and deaths was calculated and adjusted by month, sex, age group, and region. The average monthly temperature and humidity of infected regions throughout the year was also calculated. Results: A total of 425 cases were recorded over the study period. The highest number of cases and deaths occurred between April and May 2014. Disease occurrence among men (260 cases [62%]) was higher than in women (162 cases [38%]), and the case fatality rate was higher for men (52%) than for women (23%). In addition, those in the 45–59 years and ≥60 years age groups were most likely to be infected, and the case fatality rate for these people was higher than for other groups. The highest number of cases and deaths were reported in Riyadh (169 cases; 43 deaths), followed by Jeddah (156 cases; 36 deaths) and the Eastern Region (24 cases; 22 deaths). The highest case fatality rate was in the Eastern Region (92%), followed by Medinah (36%) and Najran (33%). MERS-CoV infection actively causes disease in environments with low relative humidity (<20%) and high temperature (15°C–35°C). Conclusion: MERS-CoV is considered an epidemic in Saudi Arabia. The frequency of cases and deaths is higher among men than women, and those above 45 years of age are most affected. Low relative humidity and high temperature can enhance the spread of this disease in the entire population. Further analytical studies are required to determine the source and mode of infection in Saudi Arabia.

Turkish Tombul hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.). 1. Compositional characteristics.

Abstract: The quality of Tombul (Round) hazelnut, grown in the Giresun province of Turkey, was determined by measuring proximate composition, minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, amino acids, and taste active components (free amino acids, sugars, and organic acids). Fat was the predominant component in Tombul hazelnut (approximately 61%). The major minerals were potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and selenium. Hazelnut was also found to serve as an excellent source of vitamin E (24 mg/100 g) and a good source of water soluble (B complex) vitamins and dietary fiber. The major amino acids were glutamic acid, arginine, and aspartic acid. The three nonessential amino acids and the essential amino acids contributed 44.9 and 30.9% to the total amino acids present, respectively, while lysine and tryptophan were the limiting amino acids in Tombul hazelnut. Twenty-one free amino acids, six sugars, and six organic acids were positively identified; among these, arginine, sucrose, and malic acid predominated, respectively. These taste active components may play a significant role in the taste and flavor characteristics of hazelnut. Thus, the present results suggest that Tombul hazelnut serves as a good source of vital nutrients and taste active components.

The development and validation of the Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes (CompACT)

Abstract: Extant ACT process measures are typically circumscribed in their focus (limited to particular theoretical sub-processes or contexts of application) and have been subject to critique in terms of their discriminant validity and conflation of process and outcome variables. Conceptual questions therefore remain regarding how best to operationalize and measure core ACT processes. In this study, we describe the development of a new general measure of ACT processes (the CompACT) and explore the measure's factor structure, validity and reliability. In phase one, ACT experts rated the face and content validity of 106 items using a Delphi consensus methodology, and produced an initial 37-itemed measure. In phase two, a non-clinical sample of participants (N = 377) completed the CompACT and measures of other theoretically related and unrelated variables. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a theoretically-coherent three-factor structure (clustering ACT's six processes into three dyadic processes) for a 23-itemed version of the CompACT. The CompACT demonstrated good internal consistency, and converged and diverged in theory-consistent ways with other measured variables: higher levels of psychological inflexibility were associated with higher levels of distress and lower levels of health and wellbeing. The CompACT shows initial promise as a general measure of ACT processes.

Dogs recognize dog and human emotions.

Abstract: The perception of emotional expressions allows animals to evaluate the social intentions and motivations of each other. This usually takes place within species; however, in the case of domestic dogs, it might be advantageous to recognize the emotions of humans as well as other dogs. In this sense, the combination of visual and auditory cues to categorize others' emotions facilitates the information processing and indicates high-level cognitive representations. Using a cross-modal preferential looking paradigm, we presented dogs with either human or dog faces with different emotional valences (happy/playful versus angry/aggressive) paired with a single vocalization from the same individual with either a positive or negative valence or Brownian noise. Dogs looked significantly longer at the face whose expression was congruent to the valence of vocalization, for both conspecifics and heterospecifics, an ability previously known only in humans. These results demonstrate that dogs can extract and integrate bimodal sensory emotional information, and discriminate between positive and negative emotions from both humans and dogs.