C43: Telehealth in the Emergency Department: Impact on Wait Times

Undergraduate nursing students investigated if implementing telehealth in the Emergency Department (ED) can help reduce wait times

Algunas contribuciones a la comprensión de la transición Paracas-Nasca, Samaca, valle bajo de Ica

Hasta hace poco, la transición entre el final de la época Paracas (380-260 aC) y la subsiguiente Nasca Inicial (260 BC - AD 80) de la costa sur del Perú, se ha estudiado principalmente a través de los restos funerarios y los análisis del patrón de asentamiento. Sin embargo, si intentamos entender los mecanismos socio-culturales y políticos que subyacen a estos cambios grandes, necesitamos un mejor conocimiento de los detalles de la vida cotidiana de aquella gente. Con información de recientes investigaciones, aquí pretendemos contribuir al entendimiento de la ocupación semipermanente de un sitio Ocucaje 9/10 – Nasca 1, (‘Samaca 1004’) en la Cuenca de Samaca, en la parte baja del valle de Ica. El sitio se encuentra sobre la pampa, en el borde de la cuenca, aproximadamente a 80 m. por encima de la planicie aluvial del actual Río Ica y distante de cualquier fuente de agua. El sitio está asociado con una serie de geoglifos trapezoidales marcados en la superficie de esta pampa. A través de la evidencia — cerámica, lítica, zoológica, botánica y funeraria — recolectados sistemáticamente de la superficie, propenemos varias hipótesis sobre qué tipo de sitio fue Samaca 1004 y porqué se ubicó en ese lugar.NERC/AHR

Coastal Ocean Forecasting: science foundation and user benefits

The advancement of Coastal Ocean Forecasting Systems (COFS) requires the support of continuous scientific progress addressing: (a) the primary mechanisms driving coastal circulation; (b) methods to achieve fully integrated coastal systems (observations and models), that are dynamically embedded in larger scale systems; and (c) methods to adequately represent air-sea and biophysical interactions. Issues of downscaling, data assimilation, atmosphere-wave-ocean couplings and ecosystem dynamics in the coastal ocean are discussed. These science topics are fundamental for successful COFS, which are connected to evolving downstream applications, dictated by the socioeconomic needs of rapidly increasing coastal populations

Evaluating the online teaching experience of University of Sydney staff from 2020-2021: What are the lessons learnt?

This study aimed to address the broad concern of how teaching staff in the higher education sector were impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/2021. Importantly, we sought to extend this to consider how reflecting on these experiences has informed future practice or plans for innovation. Invited participants completed an online qualitative questionnaire composed of reflective questions. Respondents (14) included members of the research team from the Faculty of Science and Business School, The University of Sydney. Subsequent deductive thematic coding was undertaken with a focus to identify common experiences and challenges raised (Ryan & Bernard, 2003). In this presentation, we will give an overview of the key findings from this study including the challenges and lessons learnt. In this study there was a degree of concern raised about making the transition from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. This was primarily related to increased workload and lack of engagement with online teaching. However, as respondents went through the process of change, they reported feeling more positive and confident about their ability to use EdTech and make changes in a short space of time. The research has demonstrated a strong resilience of staff in adapting to unforeseen changes such as that experienced by all during the pandemic. REFERENCE Ryan, G. W. & Bernard, H. R. (2003). Techniques to identify themes. Field Methods, 15, 85-109

Refining the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization: How Plant Fiber Technology Drove Social Complexity During the Preceramic Period.

Moseley's (1975) Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization hypothesis challenges, in one of humanity's few pristine hearths of civilization, the axiom that agriculture is necessary for the rise of complex societies. We revisit that hypothesis by setting new findings from La Yerba II (7571-6674 Cal bp) and III (6485-5893 Cal bp), Río Ica estuary, alongside the wider archaeological record for the end of the Middle Preceramic Period on the Peruvian coast. The La Yerba record evinces increasing population, sedentism, and "Broad Spectrum Revolution" features, including early horticulture of Phaseolus and Canavalia beans. Yet unlike further north, these changes failed to presage the florescence of monumental civilization during the subsequent Late Preceramic Period. Instead, the south coast saw a profound "archaeological silence." These contrasting trajectories had little to do with any relative differences in marine resources, but rather to restrictions on the terrestrial resources that determined a society's capacity to intensify exploitation of those marine resources. We explain this apparent miscarriage of the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization (MFAC) hypothesis on the south coast of Peru by proposing more explicit links than hitherto, between the detailed technological aspects of marine exploitation using plant fibers to make fishing nets and the emergence of social complexity on the coast of Peru. Rather than because of any significant advantages in quality, it was the potential for increased quantities of production, inherent in the shift from gathered wild Asclepias bast fibers to cultivated cotton, that inadvertently precipitated revolutionary social change. Thereby refined, the MFAC hypothesis duly emerges more persuasive than ever.We thank the members of the One River Project including Agathe Dupeyron, Vincent Haburaj, Oliver Huamán, Leidy Santana, and Fraser Sturt; the Ministerio de Cultura del Perú for granting permission for archaeological fieldwork (under Resoluciones Directorales No. 933-2012-DGPC-VMPCIC/ MC, 19 December 2012, No. 386-2014-DGPA-VMPCIC/MC, 22 August 2014, and No. 290-2015-DGPAVMPCIC/MC, 17 July 2015) and the export of samples for dating; the director of the Museo Regional de Ica Susana Arce; don Alberto Benavides Ganoza and the people of Samaca for facilitating fieldwork; the Leverhulme Trust (grant number RPG-117); the late Don Alberto Benavides de la Quintana (grant number RG69428); and the NERC Radiocarbon facility (grant number NF/2013/2/2) for funding

Autophagy in Premature Senescent Cells Is Activated via AMPK Pathway

Autophagy is a highly regulated intracellular process involved in the turnover of most cellular constituents and in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. In this study, we show that the activity of autophagy increases in H2O2 or RasV12-induced senescent fibroblasts. Inhibiting autophagy promotes cell apoptosis in senescent cells, suggesting that autophagy activation plays a cytoprotective role. Furthermore, our data indicate that the increase of autophagy in senescent cells is linked to the activation of transcription factor FoxO3A, which blocks ATP generation by transcriptionally up-regulating the expression of PDK4, an inhibitor of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, thus leading to AMPK activation and mTOR inhibition. These findings suggest a novel mechanism by which FoxO3A factors can activate autophagy via metabolic alteration

Construction and physiochemical characterisation of a multi-composite, potential oral vaccine delivery system (VDS)

An increasing human population requires a secure food supply and a cost effective, oral vaccine delivery system for livestock would help facilitate this end. Recombinant antigen adsorbed onto silica beads and coated with myristic acid, was released (∼15% (w/v)) over 24 h at pH 8.8. At pH 2, the myristic acid acted as an enteric coating, protecting the antigen from a variety of proteases. The antigen adsorbed onto silica particles, coated in myristic acid had a conserved secondary structure (measured by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy) following its pH-triggered release. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to measure the thickness of the adsorbed antigen, finding that its adsorbed conformation was slightly greater than its solution radius of gyration, i.e. 120–160 Å. The addition of myristic acid led to a further increase in particle size, with scattering data consistent with an acid thickness slightly greater than a monolayer of fully extended alkyl chains and a degree of hydration of around 50%. Whilst adsorbed onto the silica and coated in myristic acid, the protein was stable over 14 days at 42 °C, indicating a reduced need for cold chain storage. These data indicate that further investigation is warranted into the development of this technology

Honk against homophobia : rethinking relations between media and sexual minorities

The theory of “symbolic annihilation” or “symbolic violence” has been used in academic literature to describe the way in which sexual minorities have been ignored, trivialized, or condemned by the media. This article aims to de-center research from issues of media representation to consider the capacity for minority groups to proactively use new media and its various avenues for interactivity, social networking, and feedback to fight social exclusion. This work suggests that new media has become a space in which the nominally marginal in society may acquire “social artillery”—a term used to describe how sexual minorities utilize their expanding and more readily accessible social connections in digital space to combat instances of homophobia. The research draws on the results of an inquiry into the relation between media and a regional youth social justice group in Australia tackling homophobia. The research demonstrates that the group is becoming increasingly adept and comfortable with using a cross-section of media platforms to fulfill their own objectives, rather than seeing themselves as passive subjects of media representation. This article argues that this sets an example for other socially excluded groups looking to renegotiate their relation with the media in regional areas