Biomaterial encapsulation to improve cell therapy for Parkinson's disease

Current therapeutic approaches for Parkinson’s disease (PD), such as administration of levodopa and dopamine agonists are not ideal as they are only effective in the early stages of the disease. With PD being the second most common neurodegenerative disorder new therapeutic approaches are of great necessity. Over the past decade, cell therapy for CNS injury and disease has looked extremely promising. However, both pre-clinical and clinical evidence shows high rates of cell death after implantation and one cause of this is the host cellular response. The overall aim of this programme of work is to develop an advanced therapeutic for PD which overcomes the challenges of cell survival, focusing on protecting the cells from detrimental host glial cell and immune responses by synaptically isolating therapeutic cells in a hydrogel. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) were successfully expanded and differentiated to dopaminergic neurons (DA-hiPSCs). A new protocol for encapsulating cells in an alginate hydrogel was developed and optimised using SHSY5Y cells. Alginate gels were then used to encapsulate DA-hiPSCs and the ability of encapsulation to protect cells was tested in vitro. Formulations of alginate hydrogels in microbeads and made using ThinCert™ 24-well plates were characterised for their physical and mechanical properties for use as a transplantable biomaterial for the CNS. Alginate hydrogels were further optimised to reduce the host response with the addition of poly-l-ornithine and hyaluronic acid. Local delivery of the immunosuppressant tacrolimus (FK506) was explored through the construction of drug-eluting nanoparticles using PLGA and PCL electrospraying. Results indicated that encapsulation of DA-hiPSCs using alginate has the potential to protect therapeutic cells from detrimental host cell responses and that synaptic isolation from host neurons is a new paradigm for PD cell therapy to be explored further. Along with the combination of immunosuppressant FK506 for local delivery, the approach shows promise for improving cell survival in transplantation for PD

From China to Nottingham: The making of Dinosaurs of China

‘Dinosaurs of China: Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers’ was an exhibition of Chinese dinosaur fossils and casts that provided visitors with a unique opportunity to explore the scientific evidence that connects large, scaly ground-shaking dinosaurs to their feathered relatives – modern birds. The main exhibition at the Nottingham Natural History Museum, Wollaton Hall, included original holotype specimens of feathered dinosaurs and the tallest dinosaur skeleton ever displayed in the UK. A smaller satellite exhibition at Nottingham Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham, focussed on palaeo-art. During its four-month duration from July to October 2017, the exhibition at Wollaton Hall received 115,000 visitors, while Lakeside Arts received 30,000 visitors. The exhibition was the outcome of a multi-partnership between the University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Council, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and the Longhao Institute of Geology and Paleontology Inner Mongolia. The project provides a case study for collaboration between subject specialisms as varied as architecture, palaeontology, history, and theatre

Telling a story with metadata or Always drink upstream from the herd: What if your metadata isn’t properly represented in the stream?

Practice research encompasses diverse disciplines and outputs beyond traditional text-based scholarly work. However, existing infrastructure often overlooks the nuances of practice research, hindering its discoverability and reuse. This article summarizes findings from the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Practice Research Voices project, which aimed to scope recommendations for enabling practice research across repositories, metadata standards, and community engagement. We present key challenges facing practice research infrastructure, including the complexity of representing iterative, multi-component outputs. Drawing on repository development at the University of Westminster, we propose the ‘portfolio’ concept to aggregate objects and overlay narrative context. We also describe opportunities to evolve standards such as DataCite, RAiD, and CRediT to better accommodate practice research needs, and the value of a cross-domain community of practice. Our recommendations emphasize co-design with researchers and recognizing diverse forms of knowledge creation. Improving discovery and interoperability for practice research will require culture change across the scholarly infrastructure landscape. This project demonstrates that lessons learned from practice disciplines can benefit research more broadly through inclusive and flexible systems

Mapping community gardens in the Australian National Curriculum: A curriculum analysis model

The Australian Curriculum is a policy document that directly influences the lived realities of millions of students and teachers. However, navigating and understanding the Australian Curriculum can be confusing due to discipline-specific meta-language. This poses problems when attempting to access the Curriculum in research that extends beyond the Education discipline. In response, this paper proposes a novel model that facilitates the analysis of curriculum documents for those outside the Education discipline. To illustrate the method, the paper provides an example of how and where community gardens align with the content descriptions of the Australian Curriculum. A word frequency analysis suggests that community gardens are most closely aligned with the Humanities and Social Science’s (HASS) and Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning areas. A word tree analysis thematically groups content descriptions and discusses how community gardens can support classroom implementation of both HASS and HPE. The method presented will benefit scholars outside the Education discipline who seek to engage with the curriculum. It also extends discussions surrounding how to best integrate gardens in schools

Evolving Microbial Communities for Biofuel Production

Plant lignocellulose is the most abundant raw material on the planet and a promising substrate for biofuel production. While this complex polymer is efficiently degraded by a range of naturally occurring microbial communities, cost- and energy-efficient industrial use is hampered by its recalcitrance to degradation. By gaining a better understanding of how microbial lignocellulose degrading communities function we may be able to improve industrial processes. In this thesis, I used a combination of ecological and evolutionary approaches to uncover the species and functional traits that drive lignocellulolytic microbial community productivity. I found that the presence of key highly active cellulolytic bacteria increased the productivity of microbial consortia. Specifically, we identified two species, Cellulomonas sp. D13 and Paenibacillus sp. A8, with a range of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes that have potential for application in industrial processes. Experimental evolution revealed that the rate of phenotypic adaptation of a focal bacterial species, Stenotrophomonas sp. D12, to growth on wheat straw was accelerated by the presence of other competing species. The trajectory of focal species evolution was determined by both the identity and the ecological and evolutionary responses of the competing species. Genome sequencing of evolved clones suggested that genetic adaptation by the focal species to degrade wheat straw involved mutations targeting regulatory genes involved in catabolite repression and carbon storage, two systems that may represent promising targets for the improvement of industrial strains. Overall these results suggest the ecological and evolutionary approaches can be used to design and improve microbial consortia for lignocellulose bioconversion

Which nutritional therapies are safe and effective for depression?

St. John's wort is effective for short-term relief of mild to moderate depression (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A; 1 systematic review). Its safety profile is superior to older antidepressants; data comparing it with newer antidepressants (such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are limited (SOR: A, 1 systematic review). A small but statistically significant clinical benefit has been demonstrated for saffron, lavender, borage, dan zhi xiao yao (SOR: B, 1 systematic review and 3 randomized controlled trials), folate (SOR: A, 1 systematic review), and S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) (SOR: A, 1 meta-analysis and 1 systematic review). Most trials of these preparations were short and small, limiting the ability to detect adverse effects. Tryptophan (SOR: A, 1 systematic review) and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) (SOR: A, 1 systematic review) have demonstrated superiority over placebo in alleviating symptoms of depression, but concerns exist about their safety. N-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) and omega-3 fatty acids don't appear effective in treating major depressive disorder (SOR: A, 1 systematic review.

Exploring the relationship between pre service school counselor\u27s academic training and reported levels of multicultural competence as predictors of attitudes toward inclusion

The principal aim of this study was to explore the relationships between preservice school counselors\u27 academic training and their self-reported levels of multicultural competence as predictors of attitudes toward inclusion. Variances in demographic data also were examined as predictors of attitudes regarding inclusion. A nonexperimental, correlational research design was used. Pearson product moment correlations were used to test the relationships between preservice school counselors\u27 level of academic training and their attitudes toward inclusions. No statistically significant correlations were obtained on these analyses, indicating that academic training does not predict attitudes toward inclusion. . Pearson product moment correlations were used to test the relationships between preservice school counselors\u27 perceived level of multicultural competence and their attitudes toward inclusions. The results of these analyses were not statistically significant, Preservice school counselors self-reported level of multicultural competence could not be used to predict their attitudes toward inclusion. Selected demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity, having a disability, having a family member with a disability, higher degree, counseling major, type of credential or endorsement, and consider students with disabilities as a distinct culture) were used as the independent variables in these analyses. None of the independent variables entered the stepwise multiple linear regression equations, indicating they were not statistically significant predictors of the four subscales (physical, academic, behavioral, social) or the total score for attitudes toward inclusion. In addition to the research questions, Pearson product moment correlations were used to determine the strength and direction of the relationships between practical experiences with students with disabilities and their attitudes toward inclusion and multicultural competencies. Three statistically significant correlations were obtained on these analyses. Students who reported they felt better prepared to provide services to students with disabilities were more likely to have higher scores for the academic subscale measuring attitudes toward inclusion. In addition, the knowledge subscale on multicultural competence was significantly related to having a greater number of practical experiences with students with disabilities and practical experiences with students from diverse cultures. The remaining correlations were not statistically significant. Recommendations for future research were offered

The schwartz center rounds: supporting mental health workers with the emotional impact of their work.

In healthcare settings there is an emotional cost to caring which can result in compassion-fatigue, burnout, secondary trauma and compromised patient care. Innovative workplace interventions such as the Schwartz Rounds offer a group reflective practice forum for clinical and non-clinical professionals to reflect on the emotional aspects of working in healthcare. Whilst the Rounds are established in medical health practice, this study presents an evaluation of the Rounds offered to mental health services. The Rounds were piloted amongst 150 mental health professionals for 6 months and evaluated using a mixed-methods approach with standardised evaluation forms completed after each Round and a focus group (n=9) at one-month follow-up. This paper also offers a unique six-year follow-up of the evaluation of the Rounds. Rounds were rated as helpful, insightful, relevant and at six years follow-up Rounds were still rated as valuable and viewed as embedded. Focus groups indicated that Rounds were valued because of the opportunity to express emotions (in particular negative emotions towards patients that conflict with the professional care-role), share experiences, and feel validated and supported by colleagues. The findings indicate that Schwartz Rounds offer a positive application in mental healthcare settings. The study supports the use of interventions which provide an ongoing forum in which to discuss emotions, develop emotional literacy, provide peer-support and set an intention for becoming a more compassionate organisation in which to work.N/

Targeted Educational Interventions to Increase Knowledge and Influence Attitudes about Nutritional Concepts in School-Aged Children

Good nutritional habits have been linked to increased overall health and wellness, therefore working with children has the greatest impact on their overall lifestyle and lifelong habits. Nutritional interventions decrease the risk of future health complications that can result in premature death. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge base of school-aged children sampled from an existing after-school nutrition education program and measure the efficacy of an additional two-step intervention. Our two-step intervention includes a content knowledge educational intervention on day one and a play-based learning intervention on day two to allow for knowledge acquisition and subsequent application of knowledge to improve retention. The intervention will be analyzed with a pre- and post-survey to evaluate the impact on the experimental group and to compare the intervention to a control group. We hope this intervention will yield positive attitudes toward healthy food choices. If so, similar interventions can be implemented in school and/or in after-school programs to help improve nutritional knowledge in children