Horticulture meets the periodic table: a century of elemental research

Not only is 2019 the 100th anniversary of the Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, but to celebrate 150 years since Dmitri Mendeleev formally proposed the system of organising the chemical elements it is also the International Year of the Periodic table of Chemical Elements. This Centenary Review highlights work that has been published in this journal across its full history, illustrating how horticultural research involving the chemical elements of the periodic table has evolved over the past 100 years. The development of understanding of mineral nutrition is particularly highlighted, along with research through the century on crop protection and post-harvest spoilage prevention. More recent areas of research such as how mineral composition of horticultural crops affects the nutritional qualities of our food as well as investigations into bio-fortification are reviewed. How research into the importance of other elements such as silicon can mediate against environmental stressors is also included

Medicare Locals and the performance regime in Primary Health Care: a review of the policy context

Historically, the Australian Government’s driver of performance in primary health care was dominated by the use of levers to effect change in General Practice. Accordingly, performance measurement directed at achieving population health outcomes has not received much traction and in its place, ad hoc strategies have been attempted. However, with the general trend to greater transparency and accountability and in an effort to address the challenges of chronic disease, Australia has more recently taken an alternative approach to performance management. This strategy has involved the establishment of Medicare Locals (MLs), a primary health organisation, targeted at the delivery of population health outcomes. A core responsibility of MLs is to provide data for a national system of public reporting on primary health care. The initiative marks a significant shift in thinking about performance measurement in Australia’s health system. This paper examines the policy contexts that have underpinned this move from the use of levers to the use of outcomes as a means to improve the quality of primary health care. It ends with a reflection on the possible challenges, tensions and contradictions that may be encountered with the implementation of MLs

Growing immigration has meant Canadian unions have had to learn how to better represent migrant workers

In the past decade, the massive increase in the number of migrant workers coming to Canada has forced the country’s trade unions to rethink their traditional approaches towards representation. Jason Foster and Alison Taylor write that trade unions had little precedent of how to respond to the large upswing in migrant numbers, and that their responses have ranged from those who help employers take advantage of migrant workers to those who defend their rights and help them to gain language and other skills

Temporary foreign workers in nursing: Disposable workers?

This paper explores the experiences of Temporary Foreign Workers in health care in Alberta by examining a cohort of internationally-educated nurses hired to alleviate shortages. In particular it evaluates the assessment of foreign credentials and processes that followed. Drawing on social closure theories, we look at the experiences of foreign workers whose employment and residency status are extremely precarious. We suggest the use of temporary workers to address ‘short term’ labour demand has implications for the workers themselves as well as for larger political, social and economic contexts

Cultural Values, Narratives and Myth in Reality Television

Television programming today consists of many unique genres, many of which have existed since the birth of television in 1948. Although reality television is considered a relatively new genre of television programming, this genre has proven a vital, contributing type of programming since the development of early programs such as Candid Camera, Queen For a Day and I\u27d Like to See. Scholarly research has demonstrated the importance of television programming as a form of cultural transmission within society. Further, scholarly research on reality television programming has investigated the implications of the genre of reality television programming on the broadcasting industry as a whole. This critical analysis recognizes the contribution of research on reality television as a genre, but questions the thoroughness and the limited amount of research to determine the viability of this genre of programming. Additionally, there is limited, if any, research on the values, narratives and myths, which exist within this genre. Thus, this study illustrates how reality television may create, nurture and perpetuate certain ideological positions and value systems within society. This critical analysis examined a range of reality television programs to reveal values, narratives and myths within the texts and also revealed prevalent ideologies by interpreting the ideological, narrative and mythic structures, which are a part of the television production process. Although many instances are revealed to demonstrate the viability and power of reality television as reflective of dominant positions within society, reality television narratives themselves are not judged to be completely unique as a cultural agent. The study concludes reality television, through elements embedded in the narratives of these programs, depicts preferred positions of the dominant ideology, as well as cultural values and myths, and analysis of the medium of television helps members of society understand how reality television content embodies modem culture. Further, this study found reality television programming to be representative of the dominant ideology, and through realistic depictions of culture and society, reality television was found to be a viable and powerful genre within television programming

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure and the role of context: the impact of working with sex offenders

Introduction: There are a number of theories proposed in order to attempt to understand the behaviour of sexual offenders. A common theme that they all cover is that of the impact of thoughts and beliefs on behaviour. However, existing measures of cognitions are explicit in their nature and therefore easy to respond to in a socially acceptable way. There has recently been a move towards using implicit measures in order to increase “honest” responding to overcome this. Such measures have been utilised with sex offenders, in order to empirically investigate the process of offending as proposed by a number of theories. There is as yet no universally accepted explanation of the beliefs that sexual offenders hold about children, whether they are pre-existing and inform offending, or develop after offending in the context of justifying behaviour. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the post-offending context in the presence of ‘implicit beliefs’ using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure with staff who work with offender relating to children and sex. Method: The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Power, Hayden, Milne & Stewart, 2006) was administered to 20 staff who work with sex offenders from the UK Probation Service, asking them to respond to Child-Sexual stimuli. The same measure was also administered to a non-offender control group (n=20) with no experience of working with sex offenders for the purposes of comparison. An explicit measure (Cognitive Distortion Scale, Gannon, 2006) was also completed by both groups. Results: The control group were unable to discriminate between children as being sexual or non sexual on the IRAP, whereas the staff group responses indicated that they view children as the opposite of sexual. The CDS results converged with the IRAP, with the control group scoring significantly higher on this measure than the staff group. Discussion: The results indicate that there is an impact of context on beliefs about children, and also that the presence or non-rejection of child-sexual relations is not necessarily indicative of a sexual offender. The results may also suggest some methodological issues with the IRAP, which are discussed

Barriers and facilitators to physical activity in second-generation British Indian women:a qualitative study

Aim To understand the barriers to and motivations for physical activity among second-generation British Indian women. Subject Approximately 50% of British South Asians are UK-born, and this group is increasing as the second-generation also have children. Previous research into the barriers to and facilitators for physical activity has focused on migrant, first-generation populations. Qualitative research is needed to understand a) how we might further reduce the gap in physical activity levels between White British women and British Indian women and b) the different approaches that may be required for different generations. Methods Applying a socioecological model to take into account the wider social and physical contexts, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 Indian women living in Manchester, England. Interviews with first-generation British Indian women were also included to provide a comparator. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, thematically coded and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Results Ways of socialising, concerns over appearance while being physically active, safety concerns and prioritising educational attainment in adolescence were all described as barriers to physical activity in second-generation British Indian women. Facilitators for physical activity included acknowledging the importance of taking time out for oneself; religious beliefs and religious groups promoting activity; being prompted by family illness; positive messages in both the media and while at school, and having local facilities to use. Conclusions Barriers to physical activity in second-generation Indian women were very similar to those already reported for White British women. Public health measures aimed at women in the general population may also positively affect second-generation Indian women. First-generation Indian women, second-generation children and Muslim women may respond better to culturally tailored interventions

A cohort study of the recovery of health and wellbeing following colorectal cancer (CREW study): protocol paper

Background: the number of people surviving colorectal cancer has doubled in recent years. While much of the literature suggests that most people return to near pre-diagnosis status following surgery for colorectal cancer, this literature has largely focused on physical side effects. Longitudinal studies in colorectal cancer have either been small scale or taken a narrow focus on recovery after surgery. There is a need for a comprehensive, long-term study exploring all aspects of health and wellbeing in colorectal cancer patients. The aim of this study is to establish the natural history of health and wellbeing in people who have been treated for colorectal cancer. People have different dispositions, supports and resources, likely resulting in individual differences in restoration of health and wellbeing. The protocol described in this paper is of a study which will identify who is most at risk of problems, assess how quickly people return to a state of subjective health and wellbeing, and will measure factors which influence the course of recovery. Methods: this is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study following 1000 people with colorectal cancer over a period of two years, recruiting from 30 NHS cancer treatment centres across the UK. Questionnaires will be administered prior to surgery, and 3, 9, 15 and 24 months after surgery, with the potential to return to this cohort to explore on-going issues related to recovery after cancer. Discussion: outcomes will help inform health care providers about what helps or hinders rapid and effective recovery from cancer, and identify areas for intervention development to aid this process. Once established the cohort can be followed up for longer periods and be approached to participate in related projects as appropriate and subject to funding<br/

Clinical and molecular investigation of rare genetic overgrowth disorders

Genetic overgrowth disorders are a group of rare conditions characterised by generalised and/or regional overgrowth. They are associated with a wide spectrum of clinical features including intellectual disability, developmental disorders, congenital anomalies, and other medical problems. In recent years several novel overgrowth genes have been identified but the clinical phenotypes and natural history of these emerging conditions are not yet fully understood. The Phenotyping of Overgrowth Disorders (POD) study was established to investigate the clinical and molecular features of rare genetic overgrowth disorders. Comprehensive clinical phenotyping data was collected from 100 participants and entered in an electronic data capture system. Genomic testing was performed on a custom targeted next generation sequencing panel of overgrowth genes. Additional molecular investigation with whole exome sequencing was performed in selected participants and trios. This work identified a molecular genetic diagnosis in over 40% of the study cohort, confirmed the genetic heterogeneity of overgrowth disorders, and identified phenotypic overlap between overgrowth disorders and other rare genetic disorders. Knowledge of the clinical phenotypes of rare genetic overgrowth disorders has been expanded, including the clinically significant discovery of vascular complications in PDGFRB-related disorders that may be amenable to targeted molecular therapy