Using social networks to scale up and sustain community-based programmes to improve physical activity and diet in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review protocol

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organisation endorses community-based programmes as a cost-effective, feasible and a ‘best buy’ in the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These programmes are particularly successful when the community actively participates in its design, implementation and evaluation. However, they may be only useful insofar as they can be scaled up and sustained in some meaningful way. Social network research may serve as an important tool for determining the underlying mechanisms that contribute to this process. The aim of this planned scoping review is to map and collate literature on the role of social networks in scaling-up and sustaining community-based physical activity and diet programmes in low-income and middle-income countries. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This scoping review protocol has been planned around the Arksey and O'Malley framework and its enhancement. Inclusion criteria are peer-reviewed articles and grey literature exploring the role of social networks in the scale-up and/or sustainability of NCD prevention community-based programmes in adult populations. Studies must have been published since 2000, in English, and be based in a low-income or middle-income country. The following databases will be used for this review: PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, SocIndex, the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Google and Google Scholar. Books, conference abstracts and research focused only on children will be excluded. Two reviewers will independently select and extract eligible studies. Included publications will be thematically analysed using the Framework Approach. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval will not be sought for this review as no individual-level data or human participants will be involved. This protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KG7TX). The findings from the review will be published in an accredited journal. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist will be used to support transparency and guide translation of the review

Highly Divergent Mitochondrial ATP Synthase Complexes in Tetrahymena thermophila

Tetrahymena ATP synthase, an evolutionarily divergent protein complex, has a very unusual structure and protein composition including a unique Fo subunit a and at least 13 proteins with no orthologs outside of the ciliate lineage

Sheep Lung Segmental Delivery Strategy Demonstrates Adenovirus Priming of Local Lung Responses to Bacterial LPS and the Role of Elafin as a Response Modulator

Viral lung infections increase susceptibility to subsequent bacterial infection. We questioned whether local lung administration of recombinant adenoviral vectors in the sheep would alter the susceptibility of the lung to subsequent challenge with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We further questioned whether local lung expression of elafin, a locally produced alarm anti-LPS/anti-bacterial molecule, would modulate the challenge response. We established that adenoviral vector treatment primed the lung for an enhanced response to bacterial LPS. Whereas this local effect appeared to be independent of the transgene used (Ad-o-elafin or Ad-GFP), Ad-o-elafin treated sheep demonstrated a more profound lymphopenia in response to local lung administration of LPS. The local influence of elafin in modulating the response to LPS was restricted to maintaining neutrophil myeloperoxidase activity, and levels of alveolar macrophage and neutrophil phagocytosis at higher levels post-LPS. Adenoviral vector-bacterial synergism exists in the ovine lung and elafin expression modulates such synergism both locally and systemically

Effects of body size on estimation of mammalian area requirements

Accurately quantifying species’ area requirements is a prerequisite for effective area-based conservation. This typically involves collecting tracking data on species of interest and then conducting home-range analyses. Problematically, autocorrelation in tracking data can result in space needs being severely underestimated. Based on the previous work, we hypothesized the magnitude of underestimation varies with body mass, a relationship that could have serious conservation implications. To evaluate this hypothesis for terrestrial mammals, we estimated home-range areas with global positioning system (GPS) locations from 757 individuals across 61 globally distributed mammalian species with body masses ranging from 0.4 to 4000 kg. We then applied block cross-validation to quantify bias in empirical home-range estimates. Area requirements of mammals 1, meaning the scaling of the relationship changed substantially at the upper end of the mass spectrum.publishedVersio

Sheep Lung Segmental Delivery Strategy Demonstrates Adenovirus Priming of Local Lung Responses to Bacterial LPS and the Role of Elafin as a Response Modulator

Viral lung infections increase susceptibility to subsequent bacterial infection. We questioned whether local lung administration of recombinant adenoviral vectors in the sheep would alter the susceptibility of the lung to subsequent challenge with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We further questioned whether local lung expression of elafin, a locally produced alarm anti-LPS/anti-bacterial molecule, would modulate the challenge response. We established that adenoviral vector treatment primed the lung for an enhanced response to bacterial LPS. Whereas this local effect appeared to be independent of the transgene used (Ad-o-elafin or Ad-GFP), Ad-o-elafin treated sheep demonstrated a more profound lymphopenia in response to local lung administration of LPS. The local influence of elafin in modulating the response to LPS was restricted to maintaining neutrophil myeloperoxidase activity, and levels of alveolar macrophage and neutrophil phagocytosis at higher levels post-LPS. Adenoviral vector-bacterial synergism exists in the ovine lung and elafin expression modulates such synergism both locally and systemically

Effects of body size on estimation of mammalian area requirements

Accurately quantifying species’ area requirements is a prerequisite for effective area-based conservation. This typically involves collecting tracking data on species of interest and then conducting home-range analyses. Problematically, autocorrelation in tracking data can result in space needs being severely underestimated. Based on the previous work, we hypothesized the magnitude of underestimation varies with body mass, a relationship that could have serious conservation implications. To evaluate this hypothesis for terrestrial mammals, we estimated home-range areas with global positioning system (GPS) locations from 757 individuals across 61 globally distributed mammalian species with body masses ranging from 0.4 to 4000 kg. We then applied block cross-validation to quantify bias in empirical home-range estimates. Area requirements of mammals 1, meaning the scaling of the relationship changed substantially at the upper end of the mass spectrum