It takes a village: co-creation and co-design for social media health promotion

Health promotion campaigns using Social Media have emerged as a potential way to change behaviour in a large, diverse group of people. However, successfully connecting with and engaging the target audience is still a key challenge faced by health professionals and social marketers. This chapter examines the use of co-creation and co-design processes as ways to engage young people in Social Media interventions. This method involves a ‘Wicked Problems’ studio (five-day workshop), where young adults (university students) across multidisciplinary areas and a variety of stakeholders (e.g. health organisations, government bodies, academics, etc.) collaborate to problem-solve. Using this method, we were able to understand what works and what does not work when it comes to co-creation with young adults. Towards a broader outlook, the results from this study will translate into practice through the development of a how-to guide on co-creation and co-design as a procedure for key stakeholders such as government bodies and health organisations

Microporous nickel phosphonate derived heteroatom doped nickel oxide and nickel phosphide: Efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction

Designing low-cost and highly efficient electrocatalysts based on widely abundant elements is highly desirable for future green energy production. Transition metal oxides and phosphides have recently been demonstrated to be promising and cost-effective electrocatalysts due to their distinct surface properties and good conductivity. Herein, we have synthesized a new microporous organic-inorganic hybrid nickel phosphonate (NiPPA) material under hydrothermal reaction condition without the use of structure directing agent. The microporous NiPPA material can be converted to N, P-codoped nickel oxide (NP/NiO) and N, O-codoped nickel phosphide (NO/NiP) following pyrolysis under air and nitrogen atmospheres, respectively. These high surface area materials are subsequently explored as electrocatalysts towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. Among the three catalysts, NP/NiO exhibits the highest electrocatalytic activity for OER with an overpotential of 332 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm and a low Tafel slope of 65.6 mV dec in 1.0 M KOH solution. Furthermore, the as-prepared NP/NiO catalyst displays an outstanding stability over a period of 15 h, suggesting the high durability of this catalyst for OER

A review of the water-related energy consumption of the food system in nexus studies

This study reviewed nexus researches, synthesize and discuss insights, methodological practices, and future outlook of water-related energy consumption assessment of the food system. For the first time, the study assessed: (i) the trends and drivers of water-related energy research in different countries, (ii) how water-related energy in the food system is being evaluated (objectives & scale, study dimension & analysis focus, and methods) and (iii) the significance of food-system water-related energy in comparison with other sectors. Of 686 nexus studies undertaken since 1990, 104 studies (15%) quantified water-related energy. Studies have generally broadened in scope through time. The USA, China, and Australia have conducted most studies representing 23%, 17%, 15% of total respectively. A few of the identified major drivers in these countries leading water-related energy assessment are: providing optimal solutions and avoiding problem-shifting, analyzing the challenges and opportunities to reduce water-related energy, and exploring the energy-saving benefits by saving water. Of the 104 water-related energy studies, 65 articles (∼60%) related to the food system, focussed on the agriculture phase for irrigation energy consumption. Existing nexus studies often ignored other phases such as food processing and cooking, which are more energy-intensive. Over 50% of studies used material flow analysis to evaluate water-related energy in the food system. Few of the nexus studies evaluated inter-regional flows or changes through time. Absence of a comprehensive study of the entire food system, and wide variations in study system boundary and definitions, make it difficult to compare sectoral significance. However, the order of sectoral water-related energy consumption (from highest to lowest) identified as industrial, residential, agriculture, and water and wastewater service. Our review demonstrates a tremendous opportunity and need for an overarching framework to enable systematic evaluation and benchmarking of water-related energy consumption of the food system

Callback2Vec: Callback-aware hierarchical embedding for mobile application

Although numerous embedding approaches have been proposed for code representation of mobile applications, insufficient attention has been paid to its essential running nature: event-driven. As a result, the contextual semantics of event-driven callbacks re hardly captured. Existing solutions either discard the information of event callbacks such as their sequences, or simply treat event callbacks as ordinary APIs. Both of the solutions deviate from the actual running behavior of the applications and thus suffer from critical information loss of the callback contexts. To address the problem, in this paper, a callback based hierarchical embedding approach Callback2Vec is proposed, in which ordinary APIs and callbacks are distinguished and tackled at different levels in a top-down fashion. As such, the contextual semantics of callbacks can be reasonably represented by the embedding vectors. In particular, a fine-grained callback-sequence-generation algorithm is devised to capture the running behavior of callbacks. To evaluate the representation capability of Callback2Vec, a systematic analysis targeting at the embedding results is conducted, whereby the conventional embedding characteristics are rigorously investigated and new implications are identified. Of significance, the proposed embedding approach has been validated to be capable of providing novel solutions for typical downstream applications, through comprehensive experiments with large scale public datasets

The marine microbial biomass, Novacq™, a useful feed additive for postlarvae and juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei

Although Litopenaeus vannamei is the most produced and researched shrimp species worldwide, there are no published studies evaluating the use of the microbial biomass, Novacq™, in L. vannamei feeds. This study investigated the effects of supplementing Novacq™ at 100 g kg in practical and commercial feeds in postlarvae 12 (PL 12) and juvenile white leg shrimp. Three experiments were carried out. In Experiment 1, PL12 were fed for 21 days with a Control, Novacq™ or Commercial feed. The Novacq feed was equal in PL12 performance to the Commercial diet and superior to the Control (final individual weight = 0.169, 0.167 and 0.087 g; percentage weight gain = 8014, 7956 and 4091% for Novacq™, Commercial and Control feeds, respectively). No statistical differences in survival, coefficient of variation and daily feed offered were observed across dietary treatments. In Experiments 2 and 3 the performance of juvenile shrimp fed practical and Commercial feeds supplemented with Novacq™ for 42 days, respectively. In Experiment 2, Novacq™ feed outperformed the Control feed by improving survival (89 vs. 51%), final individual weight (7.4 vs. 3.5 g), weight gain (7.1 vs. 3.2 g), and percentage weight gain (1997 vs. 898%). In Experiment 3 supplementing Novacq™ into the Commercial feed improved performance (final individual weight = 6.4 vs. 5.5 g, weight gain = 6.0 vs. 5.1 g, and percentage weight gain = 1712 vs 1443%) and reduced the coefficient of variation (19 vs 53%). Shrimp fed feeds containing Novacq™ also displayed numerically reduced daily feed offered and estimated feed conversion ratio values in comparison to the other dietary treatments. Whole-body composition was similar across dietary treatments. In summary, supplementation of Novacq™ in practical and Commercial feeds improved growth and efficiency of PL12 and juvenile shrimp suggesting its validity as a useful feed additive in the nutrition of white leg shrimp

Arsenic trioxide-increased MDCK cells proliferation requires activator protein 1-mediated increase of the sodium/proton exchanger 1 activity

The release of protons (H) occurs via the Na/H exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) leading to a stable intracellular pH (pHi) in MDCK cells. Chronic intake of arsenic trioxide (ATO), in the drinking water, associated with higher morbidity and mortality in neoplastic tissues. ATO increased NHE1 expression and activity, resulting in intracellular alkalization and higher MDCK cells proliferation. Since the pro-proliferative transcription factor activator protein 1 (AP-1) gets activated by al alkaline intracellular pH, a phenomenon paralleled by higher NHEs activity, we asked whether ATO-increased MDCK cells proliferation involves AP-1–dependent NHE1 activation. Cells were exposed (48 h) to ATO (0.05 μmol/L), SR11302 (1 μmol/L, AP-1 inhibitor), HOE-694 (100 nmol/L, NHE1 inhibitor) and EIPA (50 μmol/L, NHE1/NHE3 inhibitor) in the presence of S3226 (10 μmol/L, NHE3 inhibitor), concanamycin A (0.1 μmol/L, V-ATPases inhibitor), and Schering (10 μmol/L, H/K-ATPase inhibitor). [H]Thymidine incorporation, cell counting, wound healing assay, and AP-1 activity were determined. The pHi was measured in cells pre-loaded (10 min) with 2,7-bicarboxyethyl-5,6-carboxyfluorescein acetoxymethyl ester (12 mmol/L) and exposed to NHCl (20 mmol/L). Basal pHi and recovery rate (dpHi/dt), intracellular buffer capacity (βi) and H flux (J) were determined. NHE1 protein abundance was measured by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. ATO increased the cell growth (1.5 fold), basal pHi (0.4 pHi units), dpHi/dt (1.8 fold), J (1.4 fold), AP-1 activity and NHE1 protein abundance (1.3 fold). ATO also increased (1.5 fold) the nuclear/perinuclear NHE1 immunosignal. SR11302 and HOE-694 blocked ATO effects. Thus, ATO-increased proliferation resulted from AP-1–dependent NHE1 activation in MDCK cells

Positive cognitive appraisal “buffers” the long-term effect of peritraumatic distress on maternal anxiety: the Queensland Flood Study

Background: Limited research has evaluated distinct aspects of disaster experience as predictors of affective symptoms. In this study, we examined the extent to which maternal depression and anxiety over time were predicted by (1) objective hardship from a flood during pregnancy, (2) peritraumatic distress and (3) cognitive appraisal of the flood's consequences. Methods: Data were drawn from the 2011 Queensland Flood Study, a prospective, longitudinal study of pregnancy (n = 183). Mothers’ disaster experience was measured within 1 year after the flood. Their levels of depression, anxiety and stress were measured at 16 months, 30 months, 4 years and 6 years after childbirth. Linear mixed models were employed to evaluate symptom trajectories. Results: There were no time-dependent effects of disaster-related variables. Objective hardship did not predict outcomes. Peritraumatic distress significantly predicted depression and anxiety symptoms when cognitive appraisal was negative. Conversely, when cognitive appraisal was neutral or positive, the effect of peritraumatic distress was “buffered”. For anxiety, but not depression, this interaction survived Bonferroni correction. Neutral/ positive cognitive appraisal similarly moderated the effect of peritraumatic dissociation. Limitations: The generalizability of our findings is limited by overall low levels of depression and anxiety, along with a predominantly Caucasian, higher socioeconomic status sample. Potential confounders such as pre-disaster anxiety were not controlled for. Conclusion: In line with previous evidence, this study supports the predictive validity of peritraumatic distress for post-disaster depression and anxiety. Our findings suggest that cognitive appraisal could be a relevant target for interventions aimed at fostering maternal resilience

Do objects fuel thyself? The relationship between objects and self-regulation

It has long been argued that people become attached to objects because objects help people to define, reflect, and communicate the self. In this article we consider whether objects not only help to ‘know thyself’ but also to ‘fuel thyself’. In other words, whether objects can contribute to self-regulation. We review past research to consider whether the functional and symbolic aspects of objects are found to promote self-regulation through enhanced recognition of and commitment to standards, monitoring, and capacity to change. We conclude by considering that people need to regulate their relationship with objects, in part because objects can successfully help people achieve basic needs. In this way, failure to regulate one's relationship to objects can contribute to problematic outcomes such as neglect, obesity, hoarding, and addiction

Therapeutic DNA Vaccine Against HPV16-Associated Cancer

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a contagious cause of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers developing from persistently infected and subsequently transformed basal keratinocytes of mucosal epithelium. DNA-based immunotherapy offers great potential for the treatment of persisting HPV infections and associated cancers. Preclinical testing of therapeutic DNA-based HPV-targeted immunotherapy requires robust animal models which mimic HPV-associated cancer disease in humans. Here we describe a detailed protocol of intradermal delivery of a therapeutic DNA vaccine and a grafting model of neoantigen expressing skin to evaluate vaccine efficacy against HPV16 mediated hyperproliferative epithelium in mice