Marginal Gains

Neural Evolution: Marginal Gains through Soma Location

Unlike in most vertebrate neurons, the soma of many arthropod and mollusc neurons is placed at the end of a thin neurite. Multi-compartment computational modelling suggests this strategy may reduce the attenuation of signals from the dendrites, reducing the energy costs of signalling.

Marginal gains: Olympic lessons in high performance for organisations

A concept known as ‘marginal gains’, an approach to performance improvement in elite sport came to prominence during the London 2012 Olympics when Team GB cycling won a record eight gold medals. Since National Lottery funding was awarded in 1997 to develop British cycling, the ethos of making aggregated small gains in many areas to improve overall performance has been central to its success. Th...

Healthy cognitive ageing in the Lothian Birth Cohort studies: marginal gains not magic bullet.

In the face of shifting demographics and an increase in human longevity, it is important to examine carefully what is known about cognitive ageing, and to identify and promote possibly malleable lifestyle and health-related factors that might mitigate age-associated cognitive decline. The Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 (LBC1921, n = 550) and 1936 (LBC1936, n = 1091) are longitudinal studies of c...

Improving working equine welfare in ‘hard-win’ situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal

PURPOSE Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins')-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage a...

Complex interventions and the amalgamation of marginal gains: A way forward for understanding and researching essential nursing care?