Finding My Way: protocol of a randomised controlled trial evaluating an internet self-help program for cancer-related distress

© 2015 Beatty et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.BACKGROUND: A cancer diagnosis elicits greater distress than any other medical diagnosis, and yet very few studies have evaluated the efficacy of structured online self-help therapeutic programs to alleviate this distress. This study aims to assess the efficacy over time of an internet Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (iCBT) intervention ('Finding My Way') in improving distress, coping and quality of life for individuals with a recent diagnosis of early stage cancer of any type. METHODS/DESIGN: The study is a multi-site Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) seeking to enrol 188 participants who will be randomised to either the Finding My Way Intervention or an attention-control condition. Both conditions are delivered online; with 6 modules released once per week, and an additional booster module released one month after program-completion. Participants complete online questionnaires on 4 occasions: at baseline (immediately prior to accessing the modules); post-treatment (immediately after program-completion); then three and six months later. Primary outcomes are general distress and cancer-specific distress, with secondary outcomes including Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), coping, health service utilisation, intervention adherence, and user satisfaction. A range of baseline measures will be assessed as potential moderators of outcomes. Eligible participants are individuals recently diagnosed with any type of cancer, being treated with curative intent, aged over 18 years with sufficient English language literacy, internet access and an active email account and phone number. Participants are blinded to treatment group allocation. Randomisation is computer generated and stratified by gender. DISCUSSION: Compared to the few prior published studies, Finding My Way will be the first adequately powered trial to offer an iCBT intervention to curatively treated patients of heterogeneous cancer types in the immediate post-diagnosis/treatment period. If found efficacious, Finding My Way will assist with overcoming common barriers to face-to-face therapy in a cost-effective and accessible way, thus helping to reduce distress after cancer diagnosis and consequently decrease the cancer burden for individuals and the health system. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12613000001796 16.10.13

Advertising Britain in the 1951 Festival of Britain guide

Le Festival of Britain de 1951 était conçu pour montrer les fleurons de la production industrielle, scientifique et culturelle du pays, vantant les mérites du mode de vie britannique. Le catalogue officiel du Festival of Britain (1951) qui présente et explique les différents sites et thèmes de l’exposition, comprend soixante-quatre pages en couleur de publicités pour des entreprises britanniques (en grande majorité) et leurs produits. Aucune industrie ou fabricant n’avait le droit de réserver des stands au sein de l’exposition. Les produits et procédés mis en avant avaient été choisis sur des critères artistiques et leur adhésion à la thématique de l’exposition. Les publicités dans le guide, une autre façon de mettre le Royaume-Uni à l’honneur, suivent les mêmes consignes. Dans ces pages, le narratif retenu par le Festival trouve ainsi un écho. Dans ces œuvres artistiques, des références textuelles et visuelles au patrimoine culturel britannique sont légion. On y trouve, tout comme dans l’exposition elle-même, des allusions à un avenir glorieux, aux canons de la littérature, et des tropes esthétiques qui mettent en scène d’un côté une vision futuriste du pays, de l’autre une tradition séculaire.The 1951 Festival of Britain was intended as a showpiece to display the country’s achievements to the world, extolling its way of life. The official Festival guide, as well as containing explanations about the various exhibition sites and exhibits, comprises sixty-four full-page colour adverts for (mainly) British companies and British-made products. No industry or manufacturer was permitted to book exhibition space within the South Bank Exhibition. Exhibits were “selected for the excellence of their design and their appropriateness to the story which is told”. This is likely to have also been the case for the adverts placed in the guide, a further way of putting Britain on display. The overall narrative related by the Festival is found echoed in these pages. In these pieces of artwork, both visual and textual references abound to British “heritage”, to a glorious future, to the literary canon, with artistic tropes projecting both tradition and futuristic visions and, as seen at the time, the place of Britain in the world

Give me myself again': Sexual violence narratives in popular music.

This thesis explores the relationships between popular music and experiences of sexual violence. It is situated at the intersection of trauma theory and cultural studies. Though a great deal of feminist work has been done on representations of sexual violence in the media, these reflections have either ignored music as a medium, or focused on it only in terms of misogynistic lyrics in rap and hip-hop. Similarly, contemporary trauma theory has addressed rape narratives in literature with regard to how these have interacted with lived experiences, but has not looked at these possibilities within music. There are two distinct ways in which this thesis approaches the topic: narrative analysis of the songs themselves, and survey work done with the audience of one particular iconic artist in this area, Tori Amos. The first chapter of analysis focuses on songs narrating experiences of domestic violence, and situates these within a wider feminist context of activism and social awareness. The second narrative analysis chapter examines songs concerned with sexual violence, and seeks to explore whether or not the diversity of experience narratives lacking in other popular media can be found in music. The two remaining substantive chapters in the thesis utilise audience research in order to explore issues of authenticity, understanding and healing. In examining the multiple audience responses to Tori Amos' part-fictionalised, yet autobiographical, rape narrative, 'Me and a Gun', a picture emerges of authenticity as a far more complex notion to listeners (and other receivers of art) than more widespread media representations seem to suggest. Finally, in examining the narratives of Amos' listeners, with regard to their own experiences, it becomes clear that Amos' music, Amos herself, and Internet communities built up around Amos, are vital sources of support for those who have been traumatised by sexual violence

System of uniform cost finding for paving brick manufacturers

Includes tables.Mode of access: Internet

Nitric oxide synthase inhibition reveals differences in the nitric oxide pathway in previously laminitic ponies.

Previously laminitic (PL) ponies are reported to have higher blood pressure than non laminitic (NL) ponies. This relative hypertension may be related to endothelial cell dysfunction, similar to humans with metabolic syndrome. To investigate the relationship between laminitis predisposition and endothelial dysfunction, the effect of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition on the change in circulating nitric oxide (NO) concentrations and systemic blood pressure (BP) was determined. An intravenous NO sensor was used to measure changes in blood NO concentration during and after intravenous infusion of the NOS inhibitor L-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 4 mg/kg IV) in PL and NL ponies. NO concentrations decreased and BP increased in response to L-NAME infusion, with a significantly (p = 0.02) greater rate of increase in systolic BP in PL (14.62 ± 1.88 mmHg/h) compared to NL (8.54 ± 1.88 mmHg/h) ponies. This greater effect on BP in PL compared to NL ponies is consistent with higher basal NO production in PL ponies, suggesting that the relative hypertension previously seen in PL ponies results in increased basal NO production, rather than being caused by reduced NO production as hypothesised. Up-regulation of the NO system may be a compensatory mechanism stimulated by the higher resting BP in PL ponies. Further investigation of the mechanism underlying the relative hypertension seen in PL ponies is required

Sheila, Take a Bow

Professor Sheila Whiteley passed away on 6th of June, 2015. Sheila’s ground-breaking achievements in popular culture and gender studies, alongside her bright personal triumphs are celebrated by numerous obituaries from national and international media. Here, we present the tributes of Sheila’s students, colleagues and friends.Sheila Whiteley nous a quittés le 6 juin 2015. Ses recherches pionnières sur la culture populaire et le genre, en plus de ses grands succès personnels, furent célébrés dans de nombreux médias internationaux. Nous vous présentons ici une série d’hommages de ses étudiants, collègues et amis