Food and physical literacy: exploring an obesity prevention approach using formative research

Objective: The objective of this research was to explore how accessible the concept of food and physical literacy is for health and well-being professionals, and assess its potential effect on service delivery. Design: Formative research and ‘concept testing’ with potential deliverers of food and physical literacy. Setting: Dumfries and Galloway, a rural region in South West Scotland, UK. Method: The research was undertaken after four workshops hosted by National Health Service (NHS) public health specialists, aiming to introduce and discuss the concept. An immediate post-event focus group and a short qualitative questionnaire were used to assess professionals’ initial perspectives on the concept, whether they thought the concept was applicable to their work, and what they might require by way of support if the concept was to be taken forward. Results: The findings illustrated the extent to which professionals feel that food and physical literacy is necessary, barriers to its implementation and ideal components for advancing work within this field. Conclusion: The concept of food and physical literacy has a sufficiently high level of resonance (proof of the concept) among informants to provide a foundation on which further work on its operationalisation can be based. The use of formative research and concept testing with potential service deliverers was able to identify areas to be considered during developmental stages, increasing the likelihood that the end result will be accepted by the professionals expected to utilise it. Thus, the benefits of an inclusive approach to service development were also highlighted

The Dumfries Arts Award Project: towards building a programme theory of innovation transfer across two social organisations

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically understand a programme theory of the “transfer” of work in one social organisation and sector (an innovative and successful social enterprise community café, The Usual Place that seeks to enhance the employability of young people with additional support needs in “hospitality”) to another (Dumfries Theatre Royal, a regional theatre and registered charity, specifically the “Dumfries Arts Award Project” and more generally, “the arts”). Design/methodology/approach: By means of gaining insight into the complexity of the transfer of innovative practices between two socially oriented organisations and theoretical insights into associated conducive contexts and optimal processes, the work used realist evaluation resources within a longitudinal ethnographic approach. Within this, a series of specific methods were deployed, including semi structured key stakeholder interviews, non-participant observation and “walking” and “paired” interviews with service users in each organisation. Findings: The principle finding is that with attention being paid to the context and intervention processes associated with transfer processes and having sufficient capacity and strong partnership working, it is possible to take an innovative idea from one context, transfer it to another setting and have relatively immediate “success” in terms of achieving a degree of sustainability. The authors propose a provisional programme theory that illuminates this transfer. They were also able to show that, whilst working with the potentially conservative concept of “employability”; both organisations were able to maintain a progressive ethos associated with social innovation. Originality/value: The work offers theoretical and methodological originality. The significance of “scaling up” social innovation is recognised as under-researched and under-theorised and the use of a realistic evaluation approach and the associated development of provisional programme theory address this

BACE1 activity impairs neuronal glucose oxidation:rescue by beta-hydroxybutyrate and lipoic acid

Glucose hypometabolism and impaired mitochondrial function in neurons have been suggested to play early and perhaps causative roles in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. Activity of the aspartic acid protease, beta-site amyloid precursor protein (APP) cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), responsible for beta amyloid peptide generation, has recently been demonstrated to modify glucose metabolism. We therefore examined, using a human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cell line, whether increased BACE1 activity is responsible for a reduction in cellular glucose metabolism. Overexpression of active BACE1, but not a protease-dead mutant BACE1, protein in SH-SY5Y cells reduced glucose oxidation and the basal oxygen consumption rate, which was associated with a compensatory increase in glycolysis. Increased BACE1 activity had no effect on the mitochondrial electron transfer process but was found to diminish substrate delivery to the mitochondria by inhibition of key mitochondrial decarboxylation reaction enzymes. This BACE1 activity-dependent deficit in glucose oxidation was alleviated by the presence of beta hydroxybutyrate or α-lipoic acid. Consequently our data indicate that raised cellular BACE1 activity drives reduced glucose oxidation in a human neuronal cell line through impairments in the activity of specific tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes. Because this bioenergetic deficit is recoverable by neutraceutical compounds we suggest that such agents, perhaps in conjunction with BACE1 inhibitors, may be an effective therapeutic strategy in the early-stage management or treatment of AD

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Soluble forms of tau are toxic in Alzheimer's disease

Accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), intracellular inclusions of fibrillar forms of tau, is a hallmark of Alzheimer Disease. NFT have been considered causative of neuronal death, however, recent evidence challenges this idea. Other species of tau, such as soluble misfolded, hyperphosphorylated, and mislocalized forms, are now being implicated as toxic. Here we review the data supporting soluble tau as toxic to neurons and synapses in the brain and the implications of these data for development of therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies

Physical and food literacy: a holistic approach to public health?

Contrary to what has tended to be reflected in everyday understanding, ‘literacy’ of any kind is clearly so much more than a focus on intellectual development and acquisition of information and skills. When appreciated as fundamental to our self-efficacy, confidence, empowerment, understanding and meaning, literacy becomes a profound and powerful way of experiencing life and the world around us. From a health and wellbeing systems perspective, it therefore offers a very different way of considering health and health improvement. Literacy affords the opportunity to move away from our longstanding affinity with cognitive development and presumed behaviour change strategies that overlook the fundamental role of the social and emotional context in shaping peoples’ health outcomes (Vidgen, 2016). In Dumfries and Galloway, ‘Physical and Food Literacy’ (PFL) is being explored and developed in a way that could significantly impact on the lives of individuals, communities and the environments and systems that can enhance lives. This chapter describes the conceptual and practical processes that have been undertaken in the Dumfries and Galloway region to begin to define the theory of physical literacy, start to move it into practice and ultimately ‘operationalise’ (Chen, 2015) the concept

Can technology change the work of nurses? Evaluation of a drug monitoring system for ambulatory chronic disease patients

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an electronic drug monitoring system (eDMS) for ambulatory rheumatology patients on time nurses spent on, and the process of, drug monitoring. Methods: The study was conducted in the Rheumatology Department of a large metropolitan hospital. The eDMS, a module of the Hospital Clinical Information System (HCIS), was designed to allow electronic ordering and subsequent monitoring of ambulatory patients on long-term, immunosuppressive rheumatology medications. Quantitative measures collected before and after the intervention were: time spent on specific nursing activities; who nurses spent time with; format and location of documentation monitoring; and patient throughput. Qualitative data from interviews and observations were collected to ascertain the impact of the eDMS on nurses' monitoring activities. Results: Nurses spent significantly less time on medication monitoring tasks (33.1% versus 26.4%, P= 0.003) and significantly more time on patient care (6.5-18.1%, P<0.0001) following implementation of the eDMS. Nurses also spent significantly more time with patients (7.7-19.8%, P<0.0001) and relatives (0.4-3.7%, P= 0.01) after the system was implemented. The time saved on monitoring allowed the number of nurse directed clinics and patient throughput to increase following eDMS implementation. Qualitative data supported results from the timing study with nurses reporting that the monitoring process was more standardised, safer, took less time and simplified documentation. Conclusions: The eDMS was associated with a reduction in time spent on the complex task of medication monitoring allowing nurses to spend a greater proportion of their time on other patient care activities.9 page(s