Unidisciplinary CPD in a multidisciplinary world: Experiences from practice

Continuing professional development (CPD) has become relevant to all healthcare staff as professional bodies develop processes to revalidate and renew registration based on evidence of lifelong learning and CPD. As a result, the number of practice and professional development groups such as journal clubs, is increasing. Little evidence is available to differentiate between unidisciplinary and multidisciplinary CPD group activities, although by anecdotal reports, the number of unidisciplinary CPD groups appears to be growing. This study aimed to evaluate the value of a unidisciplinary occupational therapy CPD group to its six participants, the multidisciplinary teams in which they worked, and for the service users referred to them. A qualitative approach from a phenomenological perspective was used to explore this previously under-researched area. Triangulation of the data was achieved using postal questionnaires with open questions, the service manager as key informant and a research diary. Four main themes emerged from the inductive analysis: critical evaluation of practice to improve service delivery, improving communication for mutual learning, developing as a discipline with the multi-disciplinary team, and developing clinical skills. The implications of the study both for this uniprofessional group as well as for the multidisciplinary teams in which the occupational therapists worked are discussed, with recommendations made for future practice

Is existing legislation fit-for-purpose to achieve Good Environmental Status in European seas?

Recent additions to marine environmental legislation are usually designed to fill gaps in protection and management, build on existing practices or correct deficiencies in previous instruments. Article 13 of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to develop a Programme of Measures (PoM) by 2015, to meet the objective of Good Environmental Status (GES) for their waters by 2020. This review explores key maritime-related policies with the aim to identify the opportunities and threats that they pose for the achievement of GES. It specifically examines how Member States have relied on and will integrate existing legislation and policies to implement their PoM and the potential opportunities and difficulties associated with this. Using case studies of three Member States, other external impediments to achieving GES are discussed including uses and users of the marine environment who are not governed by the MSFD, and gives recommendations for overcoming barriers

The genome sequence of the Shaded Pug, Eupithecia subumbrata (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Eupithecia subumbrata (the Shaded Pug; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Geometridae). The genome sequence is 496.2 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 24 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 16.17 kilobases in length. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 17,426 protein coding genes

The genome sequence of the Oak Beauty, Biston strataria (Hufnagel, 1767)

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Biston strataria (the Oak Beauty; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Geometridae). The genome sequence is 424.0 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 16 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.61 kilobases in length. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 18,406 protein coding genes

Developing IFC for infrastructure: A case study of three highway entities

Modern cities pay particular attention to upscale their infrastructure systems in order to improve the every-day life of their citizens and lead the way towards a more sustainable environment. As part of this, they invest extensive funds in large infrastructure projects which are challenging to deliver as they require an e efficient communication among different professions, in order to share information efficiently throughout the lifecycle of the project, thus highlighting the importance of standardization to maintain consistency and integrity during data exchange. Building Information Modelling (BIM) aims to facilitate the above-mentioned requirements by describing the life-cycle of the project and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is the Standard for BIM that enables an efficient storage, management, exchange and visualization of information. However, there are two important challenges that need to be addressed: (i) IFC focuses particularly on buildings and provides limited support for infrastructure elements and (ii) the information exchange aims to describe mostly the construction phase; highlighting the lack of classes that refer to the operation and maintenance phase. Within this context, this paper proposes the extension of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) for Asset Management in Infrastructure. A method is developed based on a case study of three highway entities: (i) retaining wall, (ii) gantry and (iii) bridge and a conceptual extension is presented. The results are further discussed and recommendations regarding future research fields are proposed

Serotonergic modulation of odour-evoked neural activity in the olfactory bulb of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)

Serotonergic (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) fibers are distributed throughout the olfactory nerve and olfactory bulb of the sea lamprey. This study tested for 5-HT modulation of olfactory sensory responses to pheromone, amino acid and bile acid odours in the dorsal and lateral regions of the olfactory bulb by recording local field potentials. The peak amplitude of dorsal and lateral olfactory bulb responses to amino acid odours declined during 5-HT bath-application. The peak amplitude of responses to all odours increased during pharmacological blockade of the 5-HT1a receptor, but was not affected when 5-HT was added to the 5-HT1a antagonist, spiperone. The 5-HT1a antagonist, s(-)-uh-301, lengthened responses and had a larger number of peaks to all odours and spiperone lengthened responses and had a larger number of peaks to amino acids. We conclude that 5-HT attenuates odour responses in olfactory bulb via the 5HT1a receptor and suggest that 5-HT may also modulate olfactory-mediated behaviours

The hidden harm of home-based care: Pulmonary tuberculosis symptoms among children providing home medical care to HIV/AIDS-affected adults in South Africa

Millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa undertake personal and medical care for family members who are unwell with AIDS. To date, no research has investigated whether such care provision places children at heightened risk for pulmonary tuberculosis. This study aimed to address this gap by identifying risk factors for paediatric pulmonary tuberculosis symptomatology. In 2009–2011, 6002 children aged 10–17 years were surveyed using door-to-door household sampling of census enumeration areas. These were randomly sampled from six urban and rural sites with over 30% HIV prevalence, within South Africa's three highest tuberculosis-burden provinces. Validated scales and clinical tuberculosis symptom checklists were modelled in multivariate logistic regressions, controlling for socio-demographic co-factors.Findings showed that, among children, severe pulmonary tuberculosis symptomatology was predicted by primary caregiver HIV/AIDS-illness [odds ratio (OR): 1.63, confidence interval (CI): 1.23–2.15, p<0.001], and AIDS-orphanhood (OR: 1.44, CI: 1.04–2.00, p<0.029). Three-fold increases in severe tuberculosis symptoms were predicted by the child's exposure to body fluids through providing personal or medical care to an ill adult (OR: 3.12, CI: 1.96–4.95, p<0.001). Symptoms were also predicted by socio-economic factors of food insecurity (OR: 1.52, CI: 1.15–2.02, p<0.003) and household overcrowding (OR: 1.35, CI: 1.06–1.72, p<0.017). Percentage probability of severe tuberculosis symptoms rose from 1.4% amongst least-exposed children, to 18.1% amongst those exposed to all above-stated risk factors, independent of biological relationship of primary caregiver-child and other socio-demographics. Amongst symptomatic children, 75% had never been tested for tuberculosis. These findings identify the risk of tuberculosis among children providing home medical care to their unwell caregivers, and suggest that there are gaps in the health system to screen and detect these cases of paediatric tuberculosis. There is a need for effective interventions to reduce childhood risk, as well as further support for community-based contact-tracing, tuberculosis screening and anti-tuberculosis treatment for children caring for ill adults in contexts with a high burden of HIV and tuberculosis

Transcription-coupled eviction of histones H2A/H2B governs V(D)J recombination.

Initiation of V(D)J recombination critically relies on the formation of an accessible chromatin structure at recombination signal sequences (RSSs) but how this accessibility is generated is poorly understood. Immunoglobulin light-chain loci normally undergo recombination in pre-B cells. We show here that equipping (earlier) pro-B cells with the increased pre-B-cell levels of just one transcription factor, IRF4, triggers the entire cascade of events leading to premature light-chain recombination. We then used this finding to dissect the critical events that generate RSS accessibility and show that the chromatin modifications previously associated with recombination are insufficient. Instead, we establish that non-coding transcription triggers IgL RSS accessibility and find that the accessibility is transient. Transcription transiently evicts H2A/H2B dimers, releasing 35-40 bp of nucleosomal DNA, and we demonstrate that H2A/H2B loss can explain the RSS accessibility observed in vivo. We therefore propose that the transcription-mediated eviction of H2A/H2B dimers is an important mechanism that makes RSSs accessible for the initiation of recombination

The genome sequence of the yellow-dotted stilt, Euspilapteryx auroguttella Stephens, 1835

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Euspilapteryx auroguttella (the Yellow-dotted Stilt; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Gracillariidae). The genome sequence is 331.9 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 30 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 16.94 kilobases in length

The genome sequence of the figure of eighty moth Tethea ocularis Linnaeus, 1767

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Tethea ocularis (the Figure of Eighty; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Drepanidae). The genome sequence is 339.1 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 31 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.28 kilobases in length