Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop

This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions workshop held as part of the End-to-End Project. The workshop was highly interactive and feedback received indicated it was considered an excellent event, and that it was vital and useful to bring together various key stakeholders to discuss problems and procedures and develop ideas

Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop: Executive Summary

This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions workshop held as part of the End-to-End Project. The workshop was highly interactive and feedback received indicated it was considered an excellent event, and that it was vital and useful to bring together various key stakeholders to discuss problems and procedures and develop ideas

Vegetation dieback as a proxy for temperature within a wet pyroclastic density current: A novel experiment and observations from the 6th of August 2012 Tongariro eruption

The 6th of August 2012 eruption of Te Maari (Mt Tongariro, New Zealand) generated wet pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) which caused widespread dieback of vegetation (singed, brown foliage) in their path. An absence of significant charcoal formation suggests that PDC temperatures were mostly below 250 °C. Textural evidence for liquid water being present in the matrices during emplacement (vesicles) suggests that temperatures were b100 °C. We determined a probable minimum PDC temperature using an experiment replicating the critical temperatures required to induce foliar browning in seven species affected by the eruption. In locations where all species exhibited browned foliage (or were defoliated), temperatures were probably ≥64 °C assuming a PDC duration of 60 s. In the more distal areas, where only the most susceptible species were browned while others remained healthy and unaffected, temperatures were probably around 51–58 °C. These results have relevance to volcanic hazard mitigation and risk assessment, especially on the popular Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Understanding and meeting information needs following unintentional injury: comparing the accounts of patients, carers and service providers

Objective. To explore information needs of unintentional injury patients and their carers over time, across services, and how such needs are met from the perspectives of patients, carers and service providers

Using Co-Inquiry to Study Co-Inquiry: Community-University Perspectives on Research

In the context of a rapid development of interest in community-university research partnerships, this article argues for a greater focus on collaborative reflexivity to enhance learning from the research process and contribute toward developing sustainable and ethical research collaborations. Incorporating perspectives of community and university participants, the article offers a case study analysis of a UK-based co-inquiry action research group. This group not only studied examples of community-university research collaborations, but also reflected on its own workings as an example of collaborative research in action—scrutinizing relationships of power, responsibility, and boundaries in the group (collaborative reflexivity). This article argues that research projects might be designed with space designated for co-inquiry action research or similar inquiry groups. These co-inquiry groups would serve as replacements or supplements to more traditional steering or advisory groups

Using co-inquiry to study co-inquiry: community-university perspectives on research collaboration

In the context of a rapid development of interest in community-university research partnerships, this article argues for a greater focus on collaborative reflexivity to enhance learning from the research process and contribute toward developing sustainable and ethical research collaborations. Incorporating perspectives of community and university participants, the article offers a case study analysis of a UK-based co-inquiry action research group. This group not only studied examples of community-university research collaborations, but also reflected on its own workings as an example of collaborative research in action—scrutinizing relationships of power, responsibility, and boundaries in the group (collaborative reflexivity). This article argues that research projects might be designed with space designated for co-inquiry action research or similar inquiry groups. These co-inquiry groups would serve as replacements or supplements to more traditional steering or advisory groups

ORCC UKRN Primer on Open Access

This is an introductory guide for those working and considering working in the area of open access. It was drafted by members of the Open Research Competencies Coalition. Open Access (OA) refers to research that is published as digital, online, free of charge for reading, and free to re-use or share

Detection of ctDNA in plasma of patients with clinically localised prostate cancer is associated with rapid disease progression.

BACKGROUND DNA originating from degenerate tumour cells can be detected in the circulation in many tumour types, where it can be used as a marker of disease burden as well as to monitor treatment response. Although circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) measurement has prognostic/predictive value in metastatic prostate cancer, its utility in localised disease is unknown. METHODS We performed whole-genome sequencing of tumour-normal pairs in eight patients with clinically localised disease undergoing prostatectomy, identifying high confidence genomic aberrations. A bespoke DNA capture and amplification panel against the highest prevalence, highest confidence aberrations for each individual was designed and used to interrogate ctDNA isolated from plasma prospectively obtained pre- and post- (24 h and 6 weeks) surgery. In a separate cohort (n = 189), we identified the presence of ctDNA TP53 mutations in preoperative plasma in a retrospective cohort and determined its association with biochemical- and metastasis-free survival. RESULTS Tumour variants in ctDNA were positively identified pre-treatment in two of eight patients, which in both cases remained detectable postoperatively. Patients with tumour variants in ctDNA had extremely rapid disease recurrence and progression compared to those where variants could not be detected. In terms of aberrations targeted, single nucleotide and structural variants outperformed indels and copy number aberrations. Detection of ctDNA TP53 mutations was associated with a significantly shorter metastasis-free survival (6.2 vs. 9.5 years (HR 2.4; 95% CIs 1.2-4.8, p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS CtDNA is uncommonly detected in localised prostate cancer, but its presence portends more rapidly progressive disease