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.

Systematic review of randomised controlled trials of interventions that aim to reduce the risk, either directly or indirectly, of overweight and obesity in infancy and early childhood

Abstract: The risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity are known and can be identified antenatally or during infancy, however, the majority of effective interventions are designed for older children. This review identified interventions designed to reduce the risk of overweight/obesity that were delivered antenatally or during the first 2 years of life, with outcomes reported from birth to 7 years of age. Six electronic databases were searched for papers reporting randomised controlled trials of interventions published from January 1990 to September 2013. A total of 35 eligible studies were identified, describing 27 unique trials of which 24 were behavioural and three were non-behavioural. The 24 behavioural trials were categorised by type of intervention: (1) nutritional and/or responsive feeding interventions targeted at parents of infants, which improved feeding practices and had some impact on child weight (n = 12); (2) breastfeeding promotion and lactation support for mothers, which had a positive effect on breastfeeding but not child weight (n = 5); (3) parenting and family lifestyle (n = 4); and (4) maternal health (n = 3) interventions that had some impact on feeding practices but not child weight. The non-behavioural trials comprised interventions manipulating formula milk composition (n = 3). Of these, lower/hydrolysed protein formula milk had a positive effect on weight outcomes. Interventions that aim to improve diet and parental responsiveness to infant cues showed most promise in terms of self-reported behavioural change. Despite the known risk factors, there were very few intervention studies for pregnant women that continue during infancy which should be a priority for future research.

A Survey on Smart Agriculture: Development Modes, Technologies, and Security and Privacy Challenges

Abstract: With the deep combination of both modern information technology and traditional agriculture, the era of agriculture 4.0, which takes the form of smart agriculture, has come. Smart agriculture provides solutions for agricultural intelligence and automation. However, information security issues cannot be ignored with the development of agriculture brought by modern information technology. In this paper, three typical development modes of smart agriculture (precision agriculture, facility agriculture, and order agriculture) are presented. Then, 7 key technologies and 11 key applications are derived from the above modes. Based on the above technologies and applications, 6 security and privacy countermeasures (authentication and access control, privacy-preserving, blockchain-based solutions for data integrity, cryptography and key management, physical countermeasures, and intrusion detection systems) are summarized and discussed. Moreover, the security challenges of smart agriculture are analyzed and organized into two aspects: 1) agricultural production, and 2) information technology. Most current research projects have not taken agricultural equipment as potential security threats. Therefore, we did some additional experiments based on solar insecticidal lamps Internet of Things, and the results indicate that agricultural equipment has an impact on agricultural security. Finally, more technologies (5 G communication, fog computing, Internet of Everything, renewable energy management system, software defined network, virtual reality, augmented reality, and cyber security datasets for smart agriculture) are described as the future research directions of smart agriculture.

Myocardial Scar and Mortality in Severe Aortic Stenosis: Data from the BSCMR Valve Consortium

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic stenosis is timed primarily on the development of symptoms, but late surgery can result in irreversible myocardial dysfunction and additional risk The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of focal myocardial scar preoperatively was associated with long-term mortality METHODS: In a longitudinal observational outcome study, survival analysis was performed in patients with severe aortic stenosis listed for valve intervention at 6 UK cardiothoracic centers Patients underwent preprocedural echocardiography (for valve severity assessment) and cardiovascular magnetic resonance for ventricular volumes, function and scar quantification between January 2003 and May 2015 Myocardial scar was categorized into 3 patterns (none, infarct, or noninfarct patterns) and quantified with the full width at half-maximum method as percentage of the left ventricle All-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were tracked for a minimum of 2 years RESULTS: Six hundred seventy-four patients with severe aortic stenosis (age, 75±14 years; 63% male; aortic valve area, 038±014 cm2/m2; mean gradient, 46±18 mm Hg; left ventricular ejection fraction, 610±167%) were included Scar was present in 51% (18% infarct pattern, 33% noninfarct) Management was surgical AVR (n=399) or transcatheter AVR (n=275) During follow-up (median, 36 years), 145 patients (215%) died (52 after surgical AVR, 93 after transcatheter AVR) In multivariable analysis, the factors independently associated with all-cause mortality were age (hazard ratio [HR], 150; 95% CI, 111-204; P=0009, scaled by epochs of 10 years), Society of Thoracic Surgeons score (HR, 112; 95% CI, 103-122; P=0007), and scar presence (HR, 239; 95% CI, 140-405; P=0001) Scar independently predicted all-cause (264% versus 129%; P<0001) and cardiovascular (150% versus 48%; P<0001) mortality, regardless of intervention (transcatheter AVR, P=0002; surgical AVR, P=0026 [all-cause mortality]) Every 1% increase in left ventricular myocardial scar burden was associated with 11% higher all-cause mortality hazard (HR, 111; 95% CI, 105-117; P<0001) and 8% higher cardiovascular mortality hazard (HR, 108; 95% CI, 101-117; P<0001) CONCLUSIONS: In patients with severe aortic stenosis, late gadolinium enhancement on cardiovascular magnetic resonance was independently associated with mortality; its presence was associated with a 2-fold higher late mortality

Companion Animals and Child/Adolescent Development: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

Abstract: Childhood and adolescence are important developmental phases which influence health and well-being across the life span. Social relationships are fundamental to child and adolescent development; yet studies have been limited to children’s relationships with other humans. This paper provides an evidence review for the potential associations between pet ownership and emotional; behavioural; cognitive; educational and social developmental outcomes. As the field is in the early stages; a broad set of inclusion criteria was applied. A systematic search of databases and grey literature sources found twenty-two studies meeting selection criteria. The review found evidence for an association between pet ownership and a wide range of emotional health benefits from childhood pet ownership; particularly for self-esteem and loneliness. The findings regarding childhood anxiety and depression were inconclusive. Studies also showed evidence of an association between pet ownership and educational and cognitive benefits; for example, in perspective-taking abilities and intellectual development. Evidence on behavioural development was unclear due to a lack of high quality research. Studies on pet ownership and social development provided evidence for an association with increased social competence; social networks; social interaction and social play behaviour. Overall, pet ownership and the significance of children’s bonds with companion animals have been underexplored; there is a shortage of high quality and longitudinal studies in all outcomes. Prospective studies that control for a wide range of confounders are required.