Kaimangatanga: Maori Perspectives on Veganism and Plant-based Kai

In this paper – drawing from a range of food blogs and social media pages – I consider both the ways in which Māori writers discuss some of the barriers and cultural conflicts experienced within the realm of vegan ethics, as well as their perspectives on various facets of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship), hauora (holistic health and wellbeing), and rangatiratanga (sovereignty) which have influenced their attitudes and approaches towards veganism and plant-based diets. I argue that these diverse perspectives provide a valuable means of analysing and critiquing both the dominant ethics and attitudes which perpetuate the exploitation of non-human animals in contemporary Western society, as well as the barriers and challenges that exist within the mainstream vegan movement

Umbrella systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on comorbid physical conditions in people with autism spectrum disorder

Background: Comorbid physical conditions may be more common in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than other people. Aims: To identify what is and what is not known about comorbid physical conditions in people with ASD. Method: We undertook an umbrella systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on comorbid physical conditions in people with ASD. Five databases were searched. There were strict inclusion/exclusion criteria. We undertook double reviewing for eligibility, systematic data extraction and quality assessment. Prospective PROSPERO registration: CRD42015020896. Results: In total, 24 of 5552 retrieved articles were included, 15 on children, 1 on adults, and 8 both on children and adults. Although the quality of included reviews was good, most reported several limitations in the studies they included and considerable heterogeneity. Comorbid physical conditions are common, and some are more prevalent than in the general population: sleep problems, epilepsy, sensory impairments, atopy, autoimmune disorders and obesity. Asthma is not. However, there are substantial gaps in the evidence base. Fewer studies have been undertaken on other conditions and some findings are inconsistent. Conclusions: Comorbid physical conditions occur more commonly in people with ASD, but the evidence base is slim and more research is needed. Some comorbidities compound care if clinicians are unaware, for example sensory impairments, given the communication needs of people with ASD. Others, such as obesity, can lead to an array of other conditions, disadvantages and early mortality. It is essential that potentially modifiable physical conditions are identified to ensure people with ASD achieve their best outcomes. Heightening clinicians’ awareness is important to aid in assessments and differential diagnoses, and to improve healthcare

Infants’ attention during cross-situational word learning: Environmental variability promotes novelty preference

Infants as young as 14 months can track cross-situational statistics between sets of words and objects to acquire word–referent mappings. However, in naturalistic word learning situations, words and objects occur with a host of additional information, sometimes noisy, present in the environment. In this study, we tested the effect of this environmental variability on infants’ word learning. Fourteen-month-old infants (N = 32) were given a cross-situational word learning task with additional gestural, prosodic, and distributional cues that occurred reliably or variably. In the reliable cue condition, infants were able to process this additional environmental information to learn the words, attending to the target object during test trials. But when the presence of these cues was variable, infants paid greater attention to the gestural cue during training and subsequently switched preference to attend more to novel word–object mappings rather than familiar ones at test. Environmental variation may be key to enhancing infants’ exploration of new information

The mental health and experiences of fathers with a son/daughter with intellectual disabilities: A mixed methods approach

While caring can be a very rewarding experience, it has also been reported that some parents who care for a son/daughter with intellectual disabilities experience poor mental health at various points throughout their caring journey. In recent decades, the increasing lifespan of people with intellectual disabilities has led to parents caring for their son/daughter longer than in previous generations. Given that parents are now caring into older age it is particularly important to gain an understanding of the impact of caring on parents who care for a son/daughter with intellectual disabilities, and which factors are associated with poor mental health. Existing research in this area has traditionally focussed on mothers, due to the assumption that they are the main caregivers within the household. However, following a gradual change in societal attitudes towards the role of the father within the family unit and their potential impact on the child’s development, governmental policies within the UK have begun to acknowledge the importance of fathers. Thus far, only limited research has been conducted which focuses on the experiences of fathers of a son/daughter with intellectual disabilities. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study sought to gain further understanding of the well-being and experiences of fathers of a son/daughter with intellectual disabilities. A systematic review and meta-analysis found that fathers reported poorer mental health than fathers in the general population, but better mental health than mothers of a son/daughter with intellectual disabilities. Evidence for factors associated with poor father mental health was mixed, although marital support was significantly associated with better mental health in all included studies. The review identified a gap in our understanding of the experiences of older fathers in the literature, and interviews were conducted with seven older fathers (age 60+) to address this. The results corroborate previous claims that parents experience both positive and negative effects of caring for their son/daughter with intellectual disabilities. The findings also highlight the stress that fathers experienced in their ‘battle’ to obtain necessary supports and services. Further, the interviews demonstrated that this group of fathers continue to follow traditional gender roles within the family unit, despite recent claims that fathers are now more involved in caregiving. Fathers emphasised the importance of the family unit and their relationship with their son/daughter. This was further explored with analysis of father-child closeness in a longitudinal nationally representative data set. Findings revealed that higher marital satisfaction is associated with greater father-child closeness. Implications for theory, policy and practice are outlined, and directions for future research explored

Petrogenesis of hybrid porphyry pipes and evolution of alkaline magmas in the Kanabeam Igneous Complex, Southern Namibia

Includes bibliography.The linear Kuboos Bremen Igneous Province (KBIP) stretches 270km from the South African Atlantic coast north-eastwards into southern Namibia, and was emplaced at approximately 500Ma. One central complex within the KBIP is the Kanabeam Igneous Complex (KIC) where practically all the rock types found in the province are represented and include nepheline syenites, quartz syenites as well as granites. In addition to these plutonic phases a number of late stage, xenolith rich porphyry pipes were emplaced, exploiting contact zones between earlier plutons. Xenolith types include gabbro possibly derived from unexposed deeper parts of the KIC, syenites (more proximal components of the KIC), trachytes from an inferred overlying volcanic edifice, basement granites, gneisses and metasediments as well as Nama Group sediments. Petrographicl examination in the porphyries has releaved that there are numerous minerals out of textual equilibrium, including olivine, pyroxene and plagioclase. Other minerals such as biotite, amphibole and alkali feldspar appear more stable

Petrogenesis of hybrid porphyry pipes and evolution of alkaline magmas in the Kanabeam Igneous Complex, Southern Namibia

Includes bibliography.The linear Kuboos Bremen Igneous Province (KBIP) stretches 270km from the South African Atlantic coast north-eastwards into southern Namibia, and was emplaced at approximately 500Ma. One central complex within the KBIP is the Kanabeam Igneous Complex (KIC) where practically all the rock types found in the province are represented and include nepheline syenites, quartz syenites as well as granites. In addition to these plutonic phases a number of late stage, xenolith rich porphyry pipes were emplaced, exploiting contact zones between earlier plutons. Xenolith types include gabbro possibly derived from unexposed deeper parts of the KIC, syenites (more proximal components of the KIC), trachytes from an inferred overlying volcanic edifice, basement granites, gneisses and metasediments as well as Nama Group sediments. Petrographicl examination in the porphyries has releaved that there are numerous minerals out of textual equilibrium, including olivine, pyroxene and plagioclase. Other minerals such as biotite, amphibole and alkali feldspar appear more stable

Mental health and well-being of fathers of children with intellectual disabilities: systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Caring for a child with intellectual disabilities can be a very rewarding but demanding experience. Research in this area has primarily focused on mothers, with relatively little attention given to the mental health of fathers. AIMS: The purpose of this review was to summarise the evidence related to the mental health of fathers compared with mothers, and with fathers in the general population. METHOD: A meta-analysis was undertaken of all studies published by 1 July 2018 in Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL and EMBASE, using terms on intellectual disabilities, mental health and father carers. Papers were selected based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: Of 5544 results, 20 studies met the inclusion criteria and 12 had appropriate data for meta-analysis. For comparisons of fathers with mothers, mothers were significantly more likely to have poor general mental health and well-being (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.38, 95% CI -0.56 to -0.20), as well as higher levels of depression (SMD, -0.46; 95% CI -0.68 to -0.24), stress (SMD, -0.32; 95% CI -0.46 to -0.19) and anxiety (SMD, -0.30; 95% CI -0.50 to -0.10). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant difference between the mental health of father and mother carers, with fathers less likely to exhibit poor mental health. However, this is based on a small number of studies. More data is needed to determine whether the general mental health and anxiety of father carers of a child with intellectual disabilities differs from fathers in the general population

Prevalence of mental health conditions, sensory impairments and physical disability in people with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism compared with other people: a cross-sectional total population study in Scotland

Objectives: To investigate prevalence of mental health conditions, sensory impairments and physical disability in children, adults and older adults with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism, given its frequent co-occurrence, compared with the general population. Design: Whole country cohort study. Setting: General community. Participants: 5709 people with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism, compared with 5 289 694 other people. Outcome measures: Rates and ORs with 95% CIs for mental health conditions, visual impairment, hearing impairment and physical disability in people with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism compared with other people, adjusted for age, sex and interaction between age and co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism. Results: All four long-term conditions were markedly more common in children, adults and older adults with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism compared with other people. For mental health, OR=130.8 (95% CI 117.1 to 146.1); visual impairment OR=65.9 (95% CI 58.7 to 73.9); hearing impairment OR=22.0 (95% CI 19.2 to 25.2); and physical disability OR=157.5 (95% CI 144.6 to 171.7). These ratios are also greater than previously reported for people with either intellectual disabilities or autism rather than co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism. Conclusions: We have quantified the more than double disadvantage for people with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism, in terms of additional long-term health conditions. This may well impact on quality of life. It raises challenges for staff working with these people in view of additional complexity in assessments, diagnoses and interventions of additional health conditions, as sensory impairments and mental health conditions in particular, compound with the persons pre-existing communication and cognitive problems in this context. Planning is important, with staff being trained, equipped, resourced and prepared to address the challenge of working for people with these conditions

Secretory vesicles are preferentially targeted to areas of low molecular SNARE density

Intercellular communication is commonly mediated by the regulated fusion, or exocytosis, of vesicles with the cell surface. SNARE (soluble N-ethymaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) proteins are the catalytic core of the secretory machinery, driving vesicle and plasma membrane merger. Plasma membrane SNAREs (tSNAREs) are proposed to reside in dense clusters containing many molecules, thus providing a concentrated reservoir to promote membrane fusion. However, biophysical experiments suggest that a small number of SNAREs are sufficient to drive a single fusion event. Here we show, using molecular imaging, that the majority of tSNARE molecules are spatially separated from secretory vesicles. Furthermore, the motilities of the individual tSNAREs are constrained in membrane micro-domains, maintaining a non-random molecular distribution and limiting the maximum number of molecules encountered by secretory vesicles. Together our results provide a new model for the molecular mechanism of regulated exocytosis and demonstrate the exquisite organization of the plasma membrane at the level of individual molecular machines

The prevalence and general health status of people with intellectual disabilities and autism co-occurring together – a total population study

Background: Little is known about the population prevalence of co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism, and its impact on general health status. This study aimed to investigate this, in comparison with the general population. Method: Whole country data from Scotland's Census, 2011 were analysed. Descriptive statistics were generated, 2 tests undertaken, and logistic regressions undertaken both with the whole general population data, adjusted for age and gender, and within the population with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism. Results: 5,709/5,295,403 (1.08/1,000) people had co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism; 2.58/1,000 children/young people and 0.74/1,000 adults. The peak reported prevalence was at age 10 years (3.78/1,000). 66.0% were male. Their general health status was substantially poorer than for the rest of the population, more so for children/young people, and they had more limitations in their day-to-day activities. Co-occurring intellectual disabilities and autism had odds ratio=48.8 (45.0-53.0) in statistically predicting poor health. Conclusion: This is the first study to report the population prevalence of co-existing intellectual disabilities and autism, and the substantial influence this double-disadvantage has on general health status, apparent across the entire life-course. This highlights a group in need of wider recognition for whom resources should be focused on and planned for, informed by evidence. Staff in services for people with either of these conditions need to be trained, equipped, resourced and prepared to address the challenge of working for people with this duality. This is essential, to address these substantial health inequalities