Connected Growth: developing a framework to drive inclusive growth across a city-region

This ‘in perspective’ piece addresses the (re-)positioning of civil society within new structures of city-region governance within Greater Manchester (GM). This follows on from the processes of devolution, which have given the Greater Manchester City-Region (GMCR) a number of new powers. UK devolution, to date, has been largely focused upon engendering agglomerated economic growth at the city-region scale. Within GMCR, devolution for economic development has sat alongside the devolution of health and social care (unlike any other city-region in the UK) as well. Based on stakeholder mapping and semi-structured interviews with key actors operating across the GMCR, the paper illustrates how this has created a number of significant tensions and opportunities for civil society actors, as they have sought to contest a shifting governance framework. The paper, therefore, calls for future research to carefully consider how civil society groups are grappling with devolution; both contesting and responding to devolution. This is timely given the shifting policy and political discourse towards the need to deliver more socially-inclusive city-regions

Putting you in the picture: using visual imagery in social work supervision

The literature on social work supervision has consistently documented the impact of the work on the health and wellbeing of individual practitioners and the tensions they experience when mediating organisational demands with the needs of service users. Simultaneously, the quality and content of social work supervision has become increasingly vulnerable to both local and global systemic issues impacting on the profession. It is timely to explore effective short term, self-regulatory methods of support based on short/simple training for professionals. These can be used as a means of complementing and enriching their current supervision experiences and practice. We describe such a method involving an arts-based intervention in which five groups of social work professionals in England (n=30) were invited to explore guided imagery as a tool for reflecting on a challenge or dilemma arising in their everyday practice. Evaluation data was captured from the participants’ pre-workshop questionnaire; visual analyses of the images generated and the social workers narratives and post-workshop evaluation. We discuss the potential application of using visual imagery as a tool to bridge gaps in supervision practice and as a simple pedagogic tool for promoting contemplative processes of learning. Visual imagery can be used to strengthen social workers integration of different demands with their emotional supports and coping strategies

Gene expression for cecal SCFA transport, hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycolysis and hepatic fatty acid synthesis and oxidation for the different guar gum groups.

<p>Mct-1, Monocarboxylate transporter 1; Smct-1, sodium-coupled monocarboxylate transporter 1; Pepck, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase; G6Pase, glucose 6-phosphatase; PC, pyruvate carboxylase; HK, hexokinase; PK, pyruvate kinase; Fasn, fatty acid synthase; Acc1, acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1; Acc2, acetyl-CoA carboxylase 2; Elovl6, fatty acid elongase 6; Cpt-1a, carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a; Mcad, medium-chain acyl coA dehydrogenase; Lcad, long-chain acyl coA dehydrogenase; Aox, acyl-CoA oxidase.</p><p>Data represent means ± SEM for n = 7–8. When groups have a different superscript <i>a</i>, <i>b</i> or <i>c</i> associated, the results differ significantly between them (at least p<0.05).</p><p>Gene expression for cecal SCFA transport, hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycolysis and hepatic fatty acid synthesis and oxidation for the different guar gum groups.</p

Cecal SCFA concentrations correlations.

<p>Correlation of cecal acetate, propionate and butyrate concentration with body weight (A), AW/BW (B), hepatic triglycerides (C) and HOMA-IR (D). The Spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated and the significance level was set at p<0.05.</p

<i>In vivo</i> SCFA uptake fluxes correlate inversely with metabolic syndrome markers.

<p>Correlation of acetate, propionate and butyrate host uptake fluxes with body weight (A), AW/BW (B), hepatic triglycerides (C) and HOMA-IR (D). The Spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated and the significance level was set at p<0.05.</p

<i>In vivo</i> SCFA fluxes.

<p>(A) Enrichment of cecal SCFAs after 6 h infusion with [1-¹³C] acetate, [2-¹³C] propionate or [2,4-¹³C₂] butyrate for the different guar gum groups. (B) Schematic overview of the model used to determine <i>in vivo</i> bacterial SCFA production, interconversion and host uptake fluxes at steady state. Each reaction is represented by a flux (<i>v</i>, for a detailed description see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0107392#pone.0107392.s007" target="_blank">Text S1</a>). (C) <i>In vivo</i> SCFA production and uptake fluxes for the different guar gum groups after 6 weeks on high-fat diet. Data represent means ± SEM for n = 7–8. Different letters indicate significant differences between groups (at least p<0.05).</p

Cecal acetate and propionate increase GLP-1 expression.

<p>(A) Cecal SCFA concentrations after 6h cecal SCFA infusion in mice fed HFD without guar gum for 6 weeks. (B) After 6h cecal SCFA infusion cecal mRNA expression of Ffar2, PYY and GLP-1 were assessed qPCR. (C-D) Plasma PYY and GLP-1 concentrations after 6h cecal SCFA infusion. Values are presented as mean ± SEM for n = 6–8; *p<0.05, ***p<0.001.</p

Guar gum increases colonic GLP-1 expression.

<p>(A) Cecal mRNA expression of PYY and GLP-1 were assessed by qPCR after 12 weeks of diet. (B-C) Plasma PYY and GLP-1 concentrations after 12 weeks of diet. (D) Cecal mRNA expression of Ffar2 was assessed by qPCR after 12 weeks of diet. Values are presented as mean ± SEM for n = 6–8; ***p<0.001.</p

Guar gum protects against dietary-induced obesity.

<p>(A) Body weight evolution was monitored for 12 weeks. (B-C) White adipose tissue to body weight ratio and liver weight to body weight ratio after 12 weeks on diet. (D) Cecal SCFA concentrations were determined by GC/MS after 12 weeks on diet. (E) Cecal mRNA expression of genes involved in SCFA transport was assed via qPCR after 12 weeks on diet. (F) Energy balance was determined by measuring the energy content of the diet and dried homogenized feces after 10 weeks on diet. Uptake is defined as the difference between intake and output. (G-J) Total activity, energy expenditure, VO₂ and RER were evaluated using indirect calorimetry data after 10 weeks on diet. Values are presented as mean ± SEM for n = 7–8; *p<0.05, ***p<0.001.</p

Comparison between the model simulations and the experiment with palmitoyl CoA as substrate.

<p>At time point zero the substrate palmitoyl CoA was added to uncoupled mitochondria in the presence of an excess amount of l-carnitine and malic acid. Samples for acyl carnitine analysis were taken at different time points. Error bars on the experimental data represent SEM (n = 4 for the flux data, n = 8 for the acyl-carnitine concentrations). Panel A: Comparison of the experimental and modeled flux through the FA β-oxidation. The reported experimental flux is 2/3 of the oxygen consumption flux averaged from 1.5 to 8 min. The modeled flux equals the production fluxes of NADH plus FADH₂ divided by 2 (one O₂ oxidizes two NADH or FADH₂), averaged over the same time interval. Panel B: experimental acyl-carnitine concentrations in total samples, <i>i.e.</i> including intra- and extramitochondrial metabolites. Panel C: acyl-carnitine concentrations simulated by the computer model, representing the weighted average over the matrix and extramitochondrial concentrations to allow direct comparison to the experiments.</p