Empowering nurses through inclusive leadership to promote research capacity building: A James Lind Alliance priority setting Partnership in Community Nursing

Aims. This paper focuses on the benefits of inclusive leadership when undertaking a priority setting partnership in community nursing, through providing a collaborative and committed nurse-led forum for initiating impactful changes, identifying evidence uncertainties and driving research capacity-building initiatives. Design. This is a Discussion paper. The project was undertaken between 2020 and 2021. Data sources. This paper is based on shared reflections as 70@70 Senior Nurse Research Leaders and is supported by literature and theory. It draws on issues relating to collective leadership, stakeholder engagement, diversity, inclusivity and COVID-19. Implications for nursing. The James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership catalysed the development of a rigorous evidence-base in community nursing. The collaborative opportunities, networks and connections developed with patients, carers, nursing leaders, policy makers and healthcare colleagues raised the profile of community nursing research. This will benefit nursing research, practice, education and patients in receipt of community nursing care. Collective buy in from national leaders in policy, education, funding and commissioning has secured a commitment that the evidence uncertainties will be funded. Conclusion. Four key learnings emerged: collective leadership can ensure learning is embedded and sustained; developing an engaged stakeholder community to promote community nursing research is essential; a diverse membership ensures inclusivity and representation; and insights into the impact of COVID-19 aid progress. The process increased research engagement and created capacity and capability-building initiatives. This will help community nurses feel empowered to lead changes to practice. Sustained engagement and commitment are required to integrate research priorities into community nursing research, education and practice and to drive forward changes to commissioning and service delivery. Impact. The study promoted research capacity building through inclusive leadership. This can increase community nurses' research engagement and career development and patient care quality and safety; this can incentivize funders and policy makers to prioritize community nursing research

Identifying the top ten unanswered questions in community nursing: A James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership in Community Nursing

Community nurses deliver comprehensive nursing care to patients living outside of hospital settings and play a crucial role in meeting individual and public health needs. Research is essential in providing evidence-based care for patients; however, most community nurses are not research active, with few relevant studies and little funding for community nursing research. To address this, four National Institute for Health Research senior nurse researchers in England conducted a James Lind Alliance priority setting partnership in community nursing with the aim of raising the international profle of community nursing research through the identifcation of meaningful research priorities that matter to this community. Community nurses, patients, and carers were integral to the process, which aimed to identify the top ten unanswered questions to inform community nursing practice. The Priority Setting Partnership process utilised a coproduction, mixed-methods approach. It involved consultation meetings with stakeholder partners and nested quantitative surveys. The study ran from March 2020 until September 2021, and numerous unanswered evidence uncertainties were identifed. The top ten priority questions included nursing and patient focussed issues, which refect the complexity of care delivered to patients and the workforce pressures community nurses face. Findings refect the views of community nurses, patients, and carers and highlight areas that need attention to ensure research is embedded within community nursing settings. Identifcation of the top ten priorities has provided an international platform for community nursing research. This must be sustained through engagement, collaboration, funding, and innovation and has widespread implications for developing the community nursing workforce and optimising the safety and quality of patient care

A systematic review of the effect of university positive psychology courses on student psychological wellbeing

Educational courses that teach positive psychology interventions as part of university degree programs are becoming increasingly popular, and could potentially form part of university-wide strategies to respond to the student mental health crisis. To determine whether such courses are effective in promoting student wellbeing, we conducted a systematic review of studies across the globe investigating the effects of positive psychology courses taught within university degree programs on quantitative measures of psychological wellbeing. We searched Embase, PsychInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science electronic databases from 1998 to 2021, identifying 27 relevant studies. Most studies (85%) reported positive effects on measures of psychological wellbeing, including increased life satisfaction and happiness. However, risk of bias, assessed using the ROBINS-I tool, was moderate or serious for all studies. We tentatively suggest that university positive psychology courses could be a promising avenue for promoting student wellbeing. However, further research implementing rigorous research practices is necessary to validate reported benefits, and confirm whether such courses should form part of an evidence-based response to student wellbeing

Hydrological summary for the United Kingdom: February 2024

The monthly summary of hydrological conditions in the United Kingdom is compiled as part of the National Hydrological Monitoring Programme (a joint UKCEH and BGS enterprise). The report features contemporary data for rainfall, river flow, reservoir and groundwater levels in the form of maps and graphs. A commentary is provided on the status of the nation’s water resources and any notable hydrological events during the month. The National River Flow and National Groundwater Level Archives help provide an historical context for these contemporary assessments. Financial support for the production of the Hydrological Summaries is provided by Defra, the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Rivers Agency in Northern Ireland and the Office of Water Services

A 61-Year-Old Man with Dyspepsia and Weight Loss

In this case-based Learning Forum, Burton takes clinicians through the key steps in diagnosing and managing this patient

Structure of bacterial cytoplasmic chemoreceptor arrays and implications for chemotactic signaling

Most motile bacteria sense and respond to their environment through a transmembrane chemoreceptor array whose structure and function have been well-studied, but many species also contain an additional cluster of chemoreceptors in their cytoplasm. Although the cytoplasmic cluster is essential for normal chemotaxis in some organisms, its structure and function remain unknown. Here we use electron cryotomography to image the cytoplasmic chemoreceptor cluster in Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Vibrio cholerae. We show that just like transmembrane arrays, cytoplasmic clusters contain trimers-of-receptor-dimers organized in 12-nm hexagonal arrays. In contrast to transmembrane arrays, however, cytoplasmic clusters comprise two CheA/ CheW baseplates sandwiching two opposed receptor arrays. We further show that cytoplasmic fragments of normally transmembrane E. coli chemoreceptors form similar sandwiched structures in the presence of molecular crowding agents. Together these results suggest that the 12-nm hexagonal architecture is fundamentally important and that sandwiching and crowding can replace the stabilizing effect of the membrane

Advancing cluster randomised trials in children’s therapy: a survey of the acceptability of trial behaviours to therapists and parents

Background Randomised controlled trials of non-pharmacological interventions in children’s therapy are rare. This is, in part, due to the challenges of the acceptability of common trial designs to therapists and service users. This study investigated the acceptability of participation in cluster randomised controlled trials to therapists and service users. Methods A national electronic survey of UK occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, service managers, and parents of children who use their services. Participants were recruited by NHS Trusts sharing a link to an online questionnaire with children’s therapists in their Trust and with parents via Trust social media channels. National professional and parent networks also recruited to the survey. We aimed for a sample size of 325 therapists, 30 service managers, and 60 parents. Trial participation was operationalised as three behaviours undertaken by both therapists and parents: agreeing to take part in a trial, discussing a trial, and sharing information with a research team. Acceptability of the behaviours was measured using an online questionnaire based on the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability constructs: affective attitude, self-efficacy, and burden. The general acceptability of trials was measured using the acceptability constructs of intervention coherence and perceived effectiveness. Data were collected from June to September 2020. Numerical data were analysed using descriptive statistics and textual data by descriptive summary. Results A total of 345 survey responses were recorded. Following exclusions, 249 therapists and 40 parents provided data which was 69.6% (289/415) of the target sample size. It was not possible to track the number of people invited to take the survey nor those who viewed, but did not complete, the online questionnaire for calculation of response rates. A completion rate (participants who completed the last page of the survey divided by the participants who completed the first, mandatory, page of the survey) of 42.9% was achieved. Of the three specified trial behaviours, 140/249 (56.2%) therapists were least confident about agreeing to take part in a trial. Therapists (135/249, 52.6%) reported some confidence they could discuss a trial with a parent and child at an appointment. One hundred twenty of 249 (48.2%) therapists reported confidence in sharing information with a research team through questionnaires and interviews or sharing routine health data. Therapists (140/249, 56.2%) felt that taking part in the trial would take a lot of effort and resources. Support and resources, confidence with intervention allocation, and sense of control and professional autonomy over clinical practice were factors that positively affected the acceptability of trials. Of the 40 parents, twelve provided complete data. Most parents (18/40, 45%) agreed that it was clear how trials improve children’s therapies and outcomes and that a cluster randomised trial made sense to them in their therapy situation (12/29, 30%). Conclusions Using trials to evaluate therapy interventions is, in principle, acceptable to therapists, but their willingness to participate in trials is variable. The willingness to participate may be particularly influenced by their views related to the burden associated with trials, intervention allocation, and professional autonomy

Identifying Verticillium dahliae resistance in strawberry through disease screening of multiple populations and image based phenotyping

© 2019 Cockerton, Li, Vickerstaff, Eyre, Sargent, Armitage, Marina-Montes, Garcia-Cruz, Passey, Simpson and Harrison. Verticillium dahliae is a highly detrimental pathogen of soil cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa). Breeding of Verticillium wilt resistance into commercially viable strawberry cultivars can help mitigate the impact of the disease. In this study we describe novel sources of resistance identified in multiple strawberry populations, creating a wealth of data for breeders to exploit. Pathogen-informed experiments have allowed the differentiation of subclade-specific resistance responses, through studying V. dahliae subclade II-1 specific resistance in the cultivar “Redgauntlet” and subclade II-2 specific resistance in “Fenella” and “Chandler.” A large-scale low-cost phenotyping platform was developed utilizing automated unmanned vehicles and near infrared imaging cameras to assess field-based disease trials. The images were used to calculate disease susceptibility for infected plants through the normalized difference vegetation index score. The automated disease scores showed a strong correlation with the manual scores. A co-dominant resistant QTL; FaRVd3D, present in both “Redgauntlet” and “Hapil” cultivars exhibited a major effect of 18.3% when the two resistance alleles were combined. Another allele, FaRVd5D, identified in the “Emily” cultivar was associated with an increase in Verticillium wilt susceptibility of 17.2%, though whether this allele truly represents a susceptibility factor requires further research, due to the nature of the F1 mapping population. Markers identified in populations were validated across a set of 92 accessions to determine whether they remained closely linked to resistance genes in the wider germplasm. The resistant markers FaRVd2B from “Redgauntlet” and FaRVd6D from “Chandler” were associated with resistance across the wider germplasm. Furthermore, comparison of imaging versus manual phenotyping revealed the automated platform could identify three out of four disease resistance markers. As such, this automated wilt disease phenotyping platform is considered to be a good, time saving, substitute for manual assessment

Upper mantle temperature and the onset of extension and break-up in Afar, Africa

It is debated to what extent mantle plumes play a role in continental rifting and eventual break-up. Afar lies at the northern end of the largest and most active present-day continental rift, where the East African Rift forms a triple junction with the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden rifts. It has a history of plume activity yet recent studies have reached conflicting conclusions on whether a plume still contributes to current Afar tectonics. A geochemical study concluded that Afar is a mature hot rift with 80 km thick lithosphere, while seismic data have been interpreted to reflect the structure of a young, oceanic rift basin above mantle of normal temperature. We develop a self-consistent forward model of mantle flow that incorporates melt generation and retention to test whether predictions of melt chemistry, melt volume and lithosphere–asthenosphere seismic structure can be reconciled with observations. The rare- earth element composition of mafic samples at the Erta Ale, Dabbahu and Asal magmatic segments can be used as both a thermometer and chronometer of the rifting process. Low seismic velocities require a lithosphere thinned to 50 km or less. A strong positive impedance contrast at 50 to 70 km below the rift seems linked to the melt zone, but is not reproduced by isotropic seismic velocity alone. Combined, the simplest interpretation is that mantle temperature below Afar is still elevated at 1450◦C, rifting started around 22–23 Ma, and the lithosphere has thinned from 100 to 50 km to allow significant decompressional melting

Trends in adolescent emotional problems in Wales between 2013 and 2019: the contribution of peer relationships

Background Epidemiological evidence shows a substantial increase in adolescent emotional problems in many countries, but reasons for this increase remain poorly understood. We tested change in emotional problems in a national sample of young people in Wales in 2013, 2017 and 2019 using identical symptom screens, and examined whether trends were accounted for by changes in youth friendship quality and bullying. Methods The present study of 230,735 11–16-year olds draws on repeat cross-sectional data obtained on three occasions (2013, 2017 and 2019) in national school-based surveys in Wales (conducted by the School Health Research Network). Emotional problems were assessed with a brief validated symptom screen (the SCL-4). Results There was a significant increase in emotional problem scores between 2013 and 2019 (b[95% CI] = 1.573 [1.380, 1.765]). This increase was observed for all ages and was more pronounced for girls than boys (interaction b [95% CI] = 0.229 [0.004, 0.462]) and for young people from less affluent families (interaction b [95% CI] = −0.564[−0.809, −0.319]). Of the total sample, 14.2% and 5.7% reported frequent face-to-face and cyberbullying respectively. There were modest decreases in friendship quality and increases in rates of bullying between 2013 and 2019, but accounting for these changes did not attenuate estimates of the population-level increase in emotional problems. Conclusions This study provides evidence of a substantial increase in emotional problems among young people in Wales, particularly for young people from less affluent backgrounds. Changes in bullying or friendship quality did not explain this increase