Feminisation of the Veterinary Profession: Opportunity or Threat?

Feminisation is a term used in the social sciences to describe a profound shift in the gender balance from male to female within a population. The veterinary profession has experienced such a shift over the past 30 years. Research has shown that feminisation can have paradoxical effects on gender equality and status for a profession. However, Clare Allen suggests that, by understanding the processes behind feminisation, and responding appropriately, there is reason to be optimistic for the future of the veterinary profession.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BMJ Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vr.i214

Good Game Well Played: An Esports Documentary

This film explores the operations and cultural practices of the esports community with an emphasis on Twitch as the dominant community platform. Explored sub-communities include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Duelyst, and League of Legends. A focus on Duelyst allows us to explore the characteristics of an accessible esports culture while also referencing League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive offers an objective look at two of the industry’s most developed esports scenes. This documentary tracks the production of broadcast content, the lifestyles of professional players, and the narratives of the industry’s most involved employees. In doing so, the research draws conclusions concerning esports culture, communication behaviors, and a comparison to traditional sports. The film includes expert interviews with industry professionals from both production and competitor viewpoints

Changing patterns in global blindness: 1988–2008

When the Community Eye Health Journal was launched in 1988, the world population was approximately 5.1 billion. Over the last 20 years, it has increased by approximately 30%, reaching 6.7 billion in 2008. During the same period, the world population has also become proportionally older, as the number of people aged 65 years and over has increased by approximately 55%, from 320 million in 1988 to 500 million in 2008. Since the prevalence of visual impairment becomes higher as people age, this combination of an increasing population and an ageing population is expected to cause a significant increase in the total number of blind people

Convicts and coolies : rethinking indentured labour in the nineteenth century

This article seeks to shift the frame of analysis within which discussions of Indian indentured migration take place. It argues that colonial discourses and practices of indenture are best understood not with regard to the common historiographical framework of whether it was 'a new system of slavery', but in the context of colonial innovations in incarceration and confinement. The article shows how Indian experiences of and knowledge about transportation overseas to penal settlements informed in important ways both their own understandings and representations of migration and the colonial practices associated with the recruitment of indentured labour. In detailing the connections between two supposedly different labour regimes, it thus brings a further layer of complexity to debates around their supposed distinctions

Public and patient involvement in research on ageing and dementia

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the current state, and various methods, of public and patient involvement, particularly but not exclusively in research on ageing and dementia. Design/methodology/approach: Interviews were carried out with a researcher, who has had a leading role in research on dementia; a public contributor with extensive relevant experience; and a member of the research design service with responsibility for patient and public involvement. Findings: All those involved in the research can benefit considerably from public and patient involvement and it can make a significant difference to the course of a project. The importance of choosing an appropriate method of involvement is discussed and planning for it in both financial terms and time allowed. Examples are given of successful studies. Research limitations/implications: Those who took part in the interviews were chosen for their record in furthering public and patient involvement in research. There is no attempt to compare their views with those of the wider research community. Practical implications: The various ways in which patients and the public are involved in relevant research is a guide to those designing projects and those who may want to explore opportunities for involvement. Social implications: Social implications include being able to influence research projects, contributors of all ages find they are valued. Originality/value: The format of the paper is original, eliciting material from three viewpoints on research and involvement

Multiparametric MR imaging for detection of clinically significant prostate cancer: a validation cohort study with transperineal template prostate mapping as the reference standard.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of multiparametric (MP) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for prostate cancer detection by using transperineal template prostate mapping (TTPM) biopsies as the reference standard and to determine the potential ability of MP MR imaging to identify clinically significant prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Institutional review board exemption was granted by the local research ethics committee for this retrospective study. Included were 64 men (mean age, 62 years [range, 40-76]; mean prostate-specific antigen, 8.2 ng/mL [8.2 μg/L] [range, 2.1-43 ng/mL]), 51 with biopsy-proved cancer and 13 suspected of having clinically significant cancer that was biopsy negative or without prior biopsy. MP MR imaging included T2-weighted, dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted imaging (1.5 T, pelvic phased-array coil). Three radiologists independently reviewed images and were blinded to results of biopsy. Two-by-two tables were derived by using sectors of analysis of four quadrants, two lobes, and one whole prostate. Primary target definition for clinically significant disease necessary to be present within a sector of analysis on TTPM for that sector to be deemed positive was set at Gleason score of 3+4 or more and/or cancer core length involvement of 4 mm or more. Sensitivity, negative predictive value, and negative likelihood ratio were calculated to determine ability of MP MR imaging to rule out cancer. Specificity, positive predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, accuracy (overall fraction correct), and area under receiver operating characteristic curves were also calculated. RESULTS: Twenty-eight percent (71 of 256) of sectors had clinically significant cancer by primary endpoint definition. For primary endpoint definition (≥ 4 mm and/or Gleason score ≥ 3+4), sensitivity, negative predictive value, and negative likelihood ratios were 58%-73%, 84%-89%, and 0.3-0.5, respectively. Specificity, positive predictive value, and positive likelihood ratios were 71%-84%, 49%-63%, and 2.-3.44, respectively. Area under the curve values were 0.73-0.84. CONCLUSION: Results of this study indicate that MP MR imaging has a high negative predictive value to rule out clinically significant prostate cancer and may potentially have clinical use in diagnostic pathways of men at risk

Effect of an oxygen pressure injection (OPI) device on the oxygen saturation of patients during dermatological methyl aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy

Journal Article“The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10103-012-1188-y"Methyl aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy (MAL-PDT) (a topical treatment used for a number of precancerous skin conditions) utilizes the combined interaction of a photosensitizer (protoporphyrin IX (PpIX)), light of the appropriate wavelength, and molecular oxygen to produce singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species which induce cell death. During treatment, localized oxygen depletion occurs and is thought to contribute to decreased efficacy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an oxygen pressure injection (OPI) device had an effect on localized oxygen saturation levels and/or PpIX fluorescence of skin lesions during MAL-PDT. This study employed an OPI device to apply oxygen under pressure to the skin lesions of patients undergoing standard MAL-PDT. Optical reflectance spectrometry and fluorescence imaging were used to noninvasively monitor the localized oxygen saturation and PpIX fluorescence of the treatment area, respectively. No significant changes in oxygen saturation were observed when these data were combined for the group with OPI and compared to the group that received standard MAL-PDT without OPI. Additionally, no significant difference in PpIX photobleaching or clinical outcome at 3 months between the groups of patients was observed, although the group that received standard MAL-PDT demonstrated a significant increase (p < 0.05) in PpIX fluorescence initially and both groups produced a significant decrease (p < 0.05) after light irradiation. In conclusion, with this sample size, this OPI device was not found to be an effective method with which to improve tissue oxygenation during MAL-PDT. Further investigation is therefore required to find a more effective method of MAL-PDT enhancement. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London Ltd

Quality assurance of qualitative research: a review of the discourse

BACKGROUND: Increasing demand for qualitative research within global health has emerged alongside increasing demand for demonstration of quality of research, in line with the evidence-based model of medicine. In quantitative health sciences research, in particular clinical trials, there exist clear and widely-recognised guidelines for conducting quality assurance of research. However, no comparable guidelines exist for qualitative research and although there are long-standing debates on what constitutes 'quality' in qualitative research, the concept of 'quality assurance' has not been explored widely. In acknowledgement of this gap, we sought to review discourses around quality assurance of qualitative research, as a first step towards developing guidance. METHODS: A range of databases, journals and grey literature sources were searched, and papers were included if they explicitly addressed quality assurance within a qualitative paradigm. A meta-narrative approach was used to review and synthesise the literature. RESULTS: Among the 37 papers included in the review, two dominant narratives were interpreted from the literature, reflecting contrasting approaches to quality assurance. The first focuses on demonstrating quality within research outputs; the second focuses on principles for quality practice throughout the research process. The second narrative appears to offer an approach to quality assurance that befits the values of qualitative research, emphasising the need to consider quality throughout the research process. CONCLUSIONS: The paper identifies the strengths of the approaches represented in each narrative and recommend these are brought together in the development of a flexible framework to help qualitative researchers to define, apply and demonstrate principles of quality in their research

Transcriptomes of parents identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle

This work was funded by UK NERC grants to M.G.R. and A.J.M. an NERC studentship to D.J.P. the University of Georgia and a US NSF grant to A.J.M. and M.G.R.Parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is complex and, unusually, the sex and number of parents that can be present is flexible. Such flexibility is expected to involve specialized behaviour by the two sexes under biparental conditions. Here, we show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present. Comparing transcriptomes, we find a largely overlapping set of differentially expressed genes in both uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males including vitellogenin, associated with reproduction, and takeout, influencing sex-specific mating and feeding behaviour. Gene expression in biparental males is similar to that in non-caring states. Thus, being ‘biparental’ in N. vespilloides describes the family social organization rather than the number of directly parenting individuals. There was no specialization; instead, in biparental families, direct male parental care appears to be limited with female behaviour unchanged. This should lead to strong sexual conflict.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe