A systematic review of community participation measures for people with intellectual disabilities

Background: Community participation is considered a fundamental aspect of quality of life and one of the essential goals of services for people with intellectual disabilities (ID), yet there is no agreed way of measuring community participation. Method: Two systematic searches were performed across eight electronic databases to identify measures of community participation and identify validation studies for each measure. Measures were included if they were developed for adults with ID, measured extent of participation and had published information regarding content and psychometric properties. Each measure was evaluated on the basis of psychometric properties and in relation to coverage of nine domains of community participation from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Results: Eleven measures were selected with the quality rating scores varying substantially ranging from 2-11 of a possible 16. Conclusions: The majority of measures were not sufficiently psychometrically tested. Findings suggest a need for the development of a psychometrically robust instrument

Host isotope mass effects on the hyperfine interaction of group-V donors in silicon

The effects of host isotope mass on the hyperfine interaction of group-V donors in silicon are revealed by pulsed electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy of isotopically engineered Si single crystals. Each of the hyperfine-split P-31, As-75, Sb-121, Sb-123, and Bi-209 ENDOR lines splits further into multiple components, whose relative intensities accurately match the statistical likelihood of the nine possible average Si masses in the four nearest-neighbor sites due to random occupation by the three stable isotopes Si-28, Si-29, and Si-30. Further investigation with P-31 donors shows that the resolved ENDOR components shift linearly with the bulk-averaged Si mass.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Analysis of the platypus genome suggests a transposon origin for mammalian imprinting

Comparisons between the platypus and eutherian mammalian genomes provides new insights into how epigenetic imprinting may have evolved in mammalian genomes

Health research improves healthcare: now we have the evidence and the chance to help the WHO spread such benefits globally

There has been a dramatic increase in the body of evidence demonstrating the benefits that come from health research. In 2014, the funding bodies for higher education in the UK conducted an assessment of research using an approach termed the Research Excellence Framework (REF). As one element of the REF, universities and medical schools in the UK submitted 1,621 case studies claiming to show the impact of their health and other life sciences research conducted over the last 20 years. The recently published results show many case studies were judged positively as providing examples of the wide range and extensive nature of the benefits from such research, including the development of new treatments and screening programmes that resulted in considerable reductions in mortality and morbidity. Analysis of specific case studies yet again illustrates the international dimension of progress in health research; however, as has also long been argued, not all populations fully share the benefits. In recognition of this, in May 2013 the World Health Assembly requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish a Global Observatory on Health Research and Development (R&D) as part of a strategic work-plan to promote innovation, build capacity, improve access, and mobilise resources to address diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest countries. As editors of Health Research Policy and Systems (HARPS), we are delighted that our journal has been invited to help inform the establishment of the WHO Global Observatory through a Call for Papers covering a range of topics relevant to the Observatory, including topics on which HARPS has published articles over the last few months, such as approaches to assessing research results, measuring expenditure data with a focus on R&D, and landscape analyses of platforms for implementing R&D. Topics related to research capacity building may also be considered. The task of establishing a Global Observatory on Health R&D to achieve the specified objectives will not be easy; nevertheless, this Call for Papers is well timed – it comes just at the point where the evidence of the benefits from health research has been considerably strengthened

Band offset determination of the GaAs/GaAsN interface using the DFT method

The GaAs/GaAsN interface band offset is calculated from first principles. The electrostatic potential at the core regions of the atoms is used to estimate the interface potential and align the band structures obtained from respective bulk calculations. First, it is shown that the present method performs well on the well-known conventional/conventional AlAs/GaAs (001) superlattice system. Then the method is applied to a more challenging nonconventional/conventional GaAsN/GaAs (001) system, and consequently type I band lineup and valence-band offset of about 35 meV is obtained for nitrogen concentration of about 3 %, in agreement with the recent experiments. We also investigate the effect of strain on the band lineup. For the GaAsN layer longitudinally strained to the GaAs lattice constant, the type II lineup with a nearly vanishing band offset is found, suggesting that the anisotropic strain along the interface is the principal cause for the often observed type I lineup

Si in GaN -- On the Nature of the Background Donor

A characterization of the Si impurity in GaN is performed by Raman spectroscopy. Applying hydrostatic pressure up to 25 GPa the authors study the behavior of the LO phonon-plasmon mode in a series of high mobility Si doped GaN films. In contrast to earlier results on unintentionally doped bulk GaN crystals no freeze out of the free carriers could be observed in Si doped samples. The authors find that Si is a shallow hydrogenic donor throughout the pressure range studied. This result positively excludes Si incorporation as a dominant source of free electrons in previously studied bulk GaN samples

Changes in cortical bone response to high-fat diet from adolescence to adulthood in mice

UnlabelledDiabetic obesity is associated with increased fracture risk in adults and adolescents. We find in both adolescent and adult mice dramatically inferior mechanical properties and structural quality of cortical bone, in agreement with the human fracture data, although some aspects of the response to obesity appear to differ by age.IntroductionThe association of obesity with bone is complex and varies with age. Diabetic obese adolescents and adult humans have increased fracture risk. Prior studies have shown reduced mechanical properties as a result of high-fat diet (HFD) but do not fully address size-independent mechanical properties or structural quality, which are important to understand material behavior.MethodsCortical bone from femurs and tibiae from two age groups of C57BL/6 mice fed either HFD or low-fat diet (LFD) were evaluated for structural and bone turnover changes (SEM and histomorphometry) and tested for bending strength, bending stiffness, and fracture toughness. Leptin, IGF-I, and non-enzymatic glycation measurements were also collected.ResultsIn both young and adult mice fed on HFD, femoral strength, stiffness, and toughness are all dramatically lower than controls. Inferior lamellar and osteocyte alignment also point to reduced structural quality in both age groups. Bone size was largely unaffected by HFD, although there was a shift from increasing bone size in obese adolescents to decreasing in adults. IGF-I levels were lower in young obese mice only.ConclusionsWhile the response to obesity of murine cortical bone mass, bone formation, and hormonal changes appear to differ by age, the bone mechanical properties for young and adult groups are similar. In agreement with human fracture trends, adult mice may be similarly susceptible to bone fracture to the young group, although cortical bone in the two age groups responds to diabetic obesity differently