iSupport for Young Carers:An Adaptation of an e-Health Intervention for Young Dementia Carers

Young dementia carers need to be recognised and supported in their role. They need help to understand the illness, what changes are expected and how it can affect their family member. Many support services, partly due to the COVID pandemic, have moved online and have been shown to be acceptable as they are low cost and reduce access barriers. iSupport is an evidence-informed e-health training programme developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to support adult dementia carers. This paper reports on the co-design of an adapted version of iSupport for young carers. A theoretically driven co-design approach, drawing on the lived experiences of young dementia carers and experts who work with this target group was followed. As a result of this study iSupport for Young Carers was created. It is the first e-health intervention of its kind and aims to support the mental health, knowledge and skills of young dementia carers. In turn, it could improve the quality of the support that service providers can offer, and this can result in increased levels of identification of these young people. The work presented also provides opportunities for other countries and demographic groups to translate and adapt iSupport for Young Carers to their specific cultural context

Polymerase I and Transcript Release Factor Regulates Lipolysis via a Phosphorylation-Dependent Mechanism

OBJECTIVE: Polymerase I and transcript release factor (PTRF) is a protein highly expressed in adipose tissue and is an integral structural component of caveolae. Here, we report on a novel role of PTRF in lipid mobilization. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: PTRF expression was examined in different adipose depots of mice during fasting, refeeding, and after administration of catecholamines and insulin. Involvement of PTRF during lipolysis was studied upon PTRF knockdown and overexpression and mutation of PTRF phosphorylation sites in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. RESULTS: PTRF expression in mouse white adipose tissue (WAT) is regulated by nutritional status, increasing during fasting and decreasing to baseline after refeeding. Expression of PTRF also is hormonally regulated because treatment of mice with insulin leads to a decrease in expression, whereas isoproterenol increases expression in WAT. Manipulation of PTRF levels revealed a role of PTRF in lipolysis. Lentiviral-mediated knockdown of PTRF resulted in a marked attenuation of glycerol release in response to isoproterenol. Conversely, overexpressing PTRF enhanced isoproterenol-stimulated glycerol release. Mass-spectrometric analysis revealed that PTRF is phosphorylated at multiple sites in WAT. Mutation of serine 42, threonine 304, or serine 368 to alanine reduced isoproterenol-stimulated glycerol release in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first direct demonstration for a novel adipose tissue–specific function of PTRF as a mediator of lipolysis and also shows that phosphorylation of PTRF is required for efficient fat mobilization

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array Dish II: Characterization of Spectral Structure with Electromagnetic Simulations and its science Implications

We use time-domain electromagnetic simulations to determine the spectral characteristics of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Arrays (HERA) antenna. These simulations are part of a multi-faceted campaign to determine the effectiveness of the dish's design for obtaining a detection of redshifted 21 cm emission from the epoch of reionization. Our simulations show the existence of reflections between HERA's suspended feed and its parabolic dish reflector that fall below -40 dB at 150 ns and, for reasonable impedance matches, have a negligible impact on HERA's ability to constrain EoR parameters. It follows that despite the reflections they introduce, dishes are effective for increasing the sensitivity of EoR experiments at relatively low cost. We find that electromagnetic resonances in the HERA feed's cylindrical skirt, which is intended to reduce cross coupling and beam ellipticity, introduces significant power at large delays ($-40$ dB at 200 ns) which can lead to some loss of measurable Fourier modes and a modest reduction in sensitivity. Even in the presence of this structure, we find that the spectral response of the antenna is sufficiently smooth for delay filtering to contain foreground emission at line-of-sight wave numbers below $k_\parallel \lesssim 0.2$ $h$Mpc$^{-1}$, in the region where the current PAPER experiment operates. Incorporating these results into a Fisher Matrix analysis, we find that the spectral structure observed in our simulations has only a small effect on the tight constraints HERA can achieve on parameters associated with the astrophysics of reionization.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 18 pages, 17 Figures. Replacement matches accepted manuscrip

Impact of silk hydrogel secondary structure on hydrogel formation, silk leaching and in vitro response

Silk can be processed into a broad spectrum of material formats and is explored for a wide range of medical applications, including hydrogels for wound care. The current paradigm is that solution-stable silk fibroin in the hydrogels is responsible for their therapeutic response in wound healing. Here, we generated physically cross-linked silk fibroin hydrogels with tuned secondary structure and examined their ability to influence their biological response by leaching silk fibroin. Significantly more silk fibroin leached from hydrogels with an amorphous silk fibroin structure than with a beta sheet–rich silk fibroin structure, although all hydrogels leached silk fibroin. The leached silk was biologically active, as it induced vitro chemokinesis and faster scratch assay wound healing by activating receptor tyrosine kinases. Overall, these effects are desirable for wound management and show the promise of silk fibroin and hydrogel leaching in the wider healthcare setting

Dust mass-loss rates from AGB stars in the Fornax and Sagittarius dwarf Spheroidal galaxies

To study the effect of metallicity on the mass-loss rate of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, we have conducted mid-infrared photometric measurements of such stars in the Sagittarius (Sgr dSph) and Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxies with the 10-$\mu$m camera VISIR at the VLT. We derive mass-loss rates for 29 AGB stars in Sgr dSph and 2 in Fornax. The dust mass-loss rates are estimated from the $K-[9]$ and $K-[11]$ colours. Radiative transfer models are used to check the consistency of the method. Published IRAS and Spitzer data confirm that the same tight correlation between $K-[12]$ colour and dust mass-loss rates is observed for AGB stars from galaxies with different metallicities, i.e. the Galaxy, the LMC and the SMC. The derived dust mass-loss rates are in the range 5$\times10^{-10}$ to 3$\times10^{-8}$ M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$ for the observed AGB stars in Sgr dSph and around 5$\times10^{-9}$ M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$ for those in Fornax; while values obtained with the two different methods are of the same order of magnitude. The mass-loss rates for these stars are higher than the nuclear burning rates, so they will terminate their AGB phase by the depletion of their stellar mantles before their core can grow significantly. Some observed stars have lower mass-loss rates than the minimum value predicted by theoretical models.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array Dish I: Beam Pattern Measurements and Science Implications

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) is a radio interferometer aiming to detect the power spectrum of 21 cm fluctuations from neutral hydrogen from the Epoch of Reionization (EOR). Drawing on lessons from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER), HERA is a hexagonal array of large (14 m diameter) dishes with suspended dipole feeds. Not only does the dish determine overall sensitivity, it affects the observed frequency structure of foregrounds in the interferometer. This is the first of a series of four papers characterizing the frequency and angular response of the dish with simulations and measurements. We focus in this paper on the angular response (i.e., power pattern), which sets the relative weighting between sky regions of high and low delay, and thus, apparent source frequency structure. We measure the angular response at 137 MHz using the ORBCOMM beam mapping system of Neben et al. We measure a collecting area of 93 m^2 in the optimal dish/feed configuration, implying HERA-320 should detect the EOR power spectrum at z~9 with a signal-to-noise ratio of 12.7 using a foreground avoidance approach with a single season of observations, and 74.3 using a foreground subtraction approach. Lastly we study the impact of these beam measurements on the distribution of foregrounds in Fourier space.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Replaced to match accepted ApJ versio

Effects of an e-health intervention 'iSupport' for reducing distress of dementia carers:protocol for a randomised controlled trial and feasibility study

Introduction: In the UK, National Health Service (NHS) guidelines recommend that informal carers of people living with dementia should be offered training to help them develop care skills and manage their own physical and mental health. The WHO recommends access to affordable, proven, well-designed, online technologies for education, skills training and support for dementia carers. In response to these recommendations, this multisite randomised controlled trial (RCT) is the first study in the UK to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an online support programme developed by the WHO called 'iSupport for dementia carers'. Methods and analysis: 350 informal carers (age 18+ years) living in Britain who self-identify as experiencing stress and depression will be recruited. They will be randomised to receive 'iSupport', or standardised information about caring for someone with dementia (control–comparison). Data will be collected via videoconferencing (eg, Zoom) or telephone interview at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. Intention-to-treat analysis will ascertain effectiveness in the primary outcomes (distress and depression) and combined cost, and quality-adjusted life-year data will be used to assess cost-effectiveness compared with usual care from a public sector and wider societal perspective. A mixed-methods process evaluation with a subgroup of carers in the intervention (~N=50) will explore the barriers and facilitators to implementing 'iSupport'. A non-randomised feasibility study will adapt 'iSupport' for young carers (n=38 participants, age 11–17 years). Ethics and dissemination: The research plan was scrutinised by National Institute for Health Research reviewers ahead of funding being awarded. Ethical approval was granted by Bangor University's School of Health and Medical Sciences Academic Ethics Committee, reference number 2021-16915. Dissemination plans include delivering events for stakeholders, social media, a project website, developing policy briefings, presenting at conferences and producing articles for open access publications. Trial registration number: ISRCTN17420703

Understanding current needs and future expectations of informal caregivers for technology to support health and well-being : national survey study

Background: There are approximately 6.5 million informal (unpaid) caregivers in the United Kingdom. Each caregiver plays a critical role in the society, supporting the health and well-being of those who are ill, disabled, or older and who need frequent support. Digital technologies are becoming a ubiquitous part of everyday life for many, but little is known about the real-world impact of technology for those in a caring role, including the abilities of technologies to address the mental and physical impacts of caregiving. Objective: This study aims to understand the current and future technology use of caregivers, including digital technologies used to care for themselves and the person they look after. Methods: We codeveloped a wide range of questions with caregivers and care professionals and delivered this survey both on the web and in paper format (eg, using social networks such as Twitter alongside in-person events). Questions were focused on providing care and looking after caregiver health and well-being. Analyses focused on both quantitative outcomes (frequency counts and Likert questions) and explored free text entries (thematic analysis). Results: From 356 respondents, we identified that caregivers were receptive to, and largely positive about current and future use of technology both for their own care and their caring role (eg, checking in from distance). There were notable concerns, including the risk that technology could replace human contact. We identified several key areas for future work, including communication with health and social care professionals, and the potential for technology to help caregivers with their own health. We also identified several stakeholders (eg, care workers, pharmacy staff, and general practitioners) who could act as suitable points for technology signposting and support. Conclusions: Caregivers are a transient, often difficult to reach population, and this work has collated a large body of knowledge across a diverse group of individuals. Many caregivers, like the rest of society, are realizing the benefits of using everyday technology to help deliver care. It is clear that there is already a high level of dependency on technologies, where future expectations will grow. However, many barriers to digital technology use remain, including a lack of ongoing technology support. Preventive measures linked to technology that can help look after a caregiver's own health appear acceptable, particularly for communicative tools. This collated caregiver knowledge is a call for all stakeholders-academics, policy makers, and practitioners-to take note of these specific challenges, and to ensure that caregiver voices are both heard and fully integrated within the emerging digital health agenda

Argus: A 16-pixel Millimeter-Wave Spectrometer for the Green Bank Telescope

We report on the development of Argus, a 16-pixel spectrometer, which will enable fast astronomical imaging over the 85–116 GHz band. Each pixel includes a compact heterodyne receiver module, which integrates two InP MMIC low-noise amplifiers, a coupled-line bandpass filter and a sub-harmonic Schottky diode mixer. The receiver signals are routed to and from the multi-chip MMIC modules with multilayer high frequency printed circuit boards, which includes LO splitters and IF amplifiers. Microstrip lines on flexible circuitry are used to transport signals between temperature stages. The spectrometer frontend is designed to be scalable, so that the array design can be reconfigured for future instruments with hundreds of pixels. Argus is scheduled to be commissioned at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in late 2014. Preliminary data for the first Argus pixels are presented

Near-Infrared Photometry of Carbon Stars

Near-infrared, JHKL, photometry of 239 Galactic carbon-rich variable stars is presented and discussed. From these and published data the stars were classified as Mira or non-Mira variables and amplitudes and pulsation periods, ranging from 222 to 948 days for the Miras, were determined for most of them. A comparison of the colour and period relations with those of similar stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud indicates minor differences, which may be the consequence of sample selection effects. Apparent bolometric magnitudes were determined by combining the mean JHKL fluxes with mid-infrared photometry from IRAS and MSX. Then, using the Mira period luminosity relation to set the absolute magnitudes, distances were determined -- to greater accuracy than has hitherto been possible for this type of star. Bolometric corrections to the K magnitude were calculated and prescriptions derived for calculating these from various colours. Mass-loss rates were also calculated and compared to values in the literature. Approximately one third of the C-rich Miras and an unknown fraction of the non-Miras exhibit apparently random obscuration events that are reminiscent of the phenomena exhibited by the hydrogen deficient RCB stars. The underlying cause of this is unclear, but it may be that mass loss, and consequently dust formation, is very easily triggered from these very extended atmospheres.Comment: 35 pages, 21 figs, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Large data table will be available on-line onl