Background Commonly heard statements such as “Christmas comes around more quickly each year” suggest that the passage of time between annual events can become distorted, leading to the sensation of time passing more quickly than normal. At present however, it is unclear how prevalent such beliefs are and, what factors are predictive of it. Aim To explore the prevalence of beliefs that annual events such as Christmas (Study 1 UK sample) and Ramadan (Study 2 Iraqi sample) feel like they come around more quickly each year. To establish the association between distortions to the passage of time between annual events and emotional wellbeing, event specific enjoyment, memory function and self-reported attention to time. Methods Participants completed an online questionnaire exploring their subjective experience of time in relation to Christmas and Ramadan. In addition, measures of attention to time, memory function, quality of life and event specific emotion were also taken. Findings There was widespread agreement that Christmas and Ramadan appeared to come around more quickly each year. In both countries, this belief was associated with greater prospective memory errors, greater attention to time and greater enjoyment of the event. Furthermore, in the UK greater belief that Christmas comes around more quickly was associated with lower social quality of life and in Iraq, greater belief that Ramadan comes around more quickly each year was associated with lower age and female gender. Conclusions Distortions to the passage of time for annual events are widespread, occur across multiple cultures and are consistently predicted by prospective function, event enjoyment and attention to time. The absence of an association between older age (above 55 years) and a faster passage of time suggests that caution should be taken when concluding that time passes more quickly with increasing age. Citation: Ogden R, Alatrany SSJ, Flaiyah AM, ALi Sayyid ALdrraji H, Musa H, Alatrany ASS, et al. (2024) Distortions to the passage of time for annual events: Exploring why Christmas and Ramadan feel like they come around more quickly each year. PLoS ONE 19(7): e0304660. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0304660 Editor: Ellen L. Idler, Emory University, School of Public Health, UNITED STATES Received: September 26, 2023; Accepted: May 15, 2024; Published: July 10, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Ogden et al. 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 author and source are credited. Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Peer support is an effective strategy to promote self-management behaviors and improve well-being in those with cardiometabolic disease, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). There is limited knowledge about stakeholder perceptions regarding peer support programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The study assessed stakeholders’ awareness and understanding of peer support initiatives for T2DM, and explored their perceived barriers and readiness for implementation. A cross-sectional, self-administered online survey with branching logic was distributed to stakeholders across macro- (health policy), meso (tertiary hospital), and micro (community) levels of LMIC healthcare systems from June 1 to December 15, 2023. Quan
... Show MorePeriodontal disease is typically treated with mechanical debridement of the tooth surface. It may, however, be insufficient to eradicate pathogenic microorganisms on its own. Because of the microbial etiology of periodontitis, systemic or local antibiotic therapy is used as an adjunct treatment. The present study aimed to determine the effects of curcumin gel on Porphyromonas gingivalis. Eleven patients with stage II and III periodontitis were registered in the study. A double-blinded split-mouth design followed. Periodontal pockets were distributed into 2 groups; the test group received scaling and root planing along with curcumin gel, while the control group received scaling and root planing along with a placebo gel. Plaque index,
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a novel finite-time generalized proportional integral observer (FTGPIO) based a sliding mode control (SMC) scheme for the tracking control problem of high order uncertain systems subject to fast time-varying disturbances. For this purpose, the construction of the controller consists of two consecutive steps. First, the novel FTGPIO is designed to observe unmeasurable plant dynamics states and disturbance with its higher time derivatives in finite time rather than infinite time as in the standard GPIO. In the FTGPO estimator, the finite time convergence rate of estimations is well achieved, whereas the convergence rate of estimations by classical GPIO is asymptotic and slow. Secondly, on the basis of the finite and fast e
... Show MoreAbstract: -
The concept of joint integration of important concepts in macroeconomic application, the idea of cointegration is due to the Granger (1981), and he explained it in detail in Granger and Engle in Econometrica (1987). The introduction of the joint analysis of integration in econometrics in the mid-eighties of the last century, is one of the most important developments in the experimental method for modeling, and the advantage is simply the account and use it only needs to familiarize them selves with ordinary least squares.
Cointegration seen relations equilibrium time series in the long run, even if it contained all the sequences on t
... Show MoreObjective: To review and see the pattern of histopathological diagnoses of one year appendectomy specimens.
Methodology: This retrospective study was carried in Sulaimani Teaching Hospital over the period of one year (from 1st
of January to 31st of December 2009). All pathological reports were reviewed retrospectively for patient’s age, sex,
histopathological diagnosis and operative findings (if present). Histopathological diagnoses then were classified into
either positive or negative for acute inflammation. Any associated findings or any surgical specimen removed with the
appendix was recorded. The obtained data were analyzed by using the statistical package social sciences (SPSS) version
19; with Chi square to test
Background: Repeated teenage pregnancy is a major burden on the healthcare system worldwide. Objective: We aimed to compare teenagers with their first and third pregnancies and to evaluate the likelihood of neonatal complications. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on female teenagers (aged ≤ 19 yr) with singleton pregnancies. The subjects (n = 298) were screened over 12 months. Ninety-six women were excluded, based on the exclusion criteria. The remaining subjects (n = 202) were divided into two groups: teenagers with first pregnancy (n = 96) and teenagers with third pregnancy (n = 47). The subjects were observed throughout pregnancy and delivery. The final sample size of the first and thi
... Show MoreThe occurrence of two species of the genus Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882 (Myxozoa: Myxosporea) for the first time in Iraq from freshwater fishes.
Literature on the use of the first-person pronoun in abstracts and conclusion sections of final-year projects is limited. In case of Algerian Master students, it is too scant. The present paper aims at filling this gap through a study concerned with students’ and engagement in their final projects (memoirs). This quantitative study examines the use of “we” and its various types, “our- us-I, my, the researcher” in memoirs chosen at random from the d-space portal of the University of Adrar, southern Algeria. Sixty-five papers, submitted in the fields of Linguistics or didactics between 2015 and 2020 and representing nearly half of the whole memoirs’ depository at the library’s d-space, constituted the corpus of study. The des
... Show MoreIntroduction: An aneurysmal bone cyst are enigmatic lesionof unknown cause and presentation and are difficult todistinguish from other lesions, it is a benign, but expansibletumor like lesion that generally occurs in the long bones. Ananeurysmal bone cyst arising from the flat bone like clavicleis rare .Case presentation: We report a 12-year-old girl child with ananeurysmal bone cyst of the lateral third of left clavicletreated with enblock resection. The pathologic findingsconfirmed the diagnosis of aneurysmal bone cyst. Thepatient has been followed up for one year with no evidenceof recurrence .Conclusion: En bloc resection can be curative and provide good results for this rare type of clavicle tumour.