Thermal Ecology of the Australian Agamid Pogona barbata

This study compares the thermal ecology of male bearded dragon lizards (Pogona barbata) from south-east Queensland across two seasons: summer (1994-1995) and autumn (1995). Seasonal patterns of body temperature (Tb) were explored in terms of changes in the physical properties of the thermal environment and thermoregulatory effort. To quantify thermoregulatory effort, we compared behavioral and physiological variables recorded for observed lizards with those estimated for a thermoconforming lizard. The study lizards' field Tbs varied seasonally (summer: grand daily mean (GDM) 34.6 +/- 0.6 degrees C, autumn: GDM 27.5 +/- 0.3 degrees C) as did maximum and minimum available operative temperatures (summer: GDM Tmax 42.1 +/- 1.7 degrees C, Tmin 32.2 +/- 1.0 degrees C, autumn: GDM Tmax 31.7 +/- 1.2 degrees C, Tmin 26.4 +/- 0.5 degrees C). Interestingly, the range of temperatures that lizards selected in a gradient (selected range) did not change seasonally. However, P. barbata thermoregulated more extensively and more accurately in summer than in autumn; lizards generally displayed behaviors affecting heat load nonrandomly in summer and randomly in autumn, leading to the GDM of the mean deviations of lizards' field Tbs from their selected ranges being only 2.1 +/- 0.5 degrees C in summer, compared to 4.4 +/- 0.5 degrees C in autumn. This seasonal difference was not a consequence of different heat availability in the two seasons, because the seasonally available ranges of operative temperatures rarely precluded lizards from attaining field Tbs within their selected range, should that have been the goal. Rather, thermal microhabitat distribution and social behavior appear to have had an important influence on seasonal levels of thermoregulatory effort

What is 'binge drinking'? Perceptions of Australian adolescents and adults, and implications for mass media campaigns

Objective: While the term ‘binge drinking’ has no definitive definition, it is commonly used in lay conversation and mass media communication campaigns. It is important to understand how the general population interprets the term, and their positive and negative perceptions of this behaviour. Methods: A convenience sample of 549 participants from two Australian towns completed a survey on perceptions of binge drinking; 221 adolescents, 104 parents of adolescents and 224 adult community members. Results: Across all three groups, binge drinking was defined using broad descriptors; few respondents referred to specific consumption levels and those who did varied widely in the quantities specified. The majority of respondents described binge drinking negatively and, in most cases, more negatively for adolescents than adults. However, both adult groups perceived binge drinking to be more enjoyable and pleasant for adolescents than for adults, and more enjoyable and pleasant than adolescents did themselves. Conclusions and Implications: There is a need for shared understanding of terms to ensure that educational interventions and communication campaigns are using the same definitions as their target audiences. There is also a need to ensure adults are not providing young people with mixed messages about excessive alcohol consumption

Representation of autism in fictional media : A systematic review of media content and its impact on viewer knowledge and understanding of autism

Abstract Media depictions of autism have the potential to have either positive or detrimental impacts on the lives of autistic people. This systematic review aimed to examine (1) the accuracy and authenticity of fictional media portrayals of autism (Part A) and (2) the impact of viewing such portrayals on knowledge about autism and attitudes towards autistic people (Part B). Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review: 14 for Part A and 3 for Part B, comprising five experimental studies. The media reviewed in Part A covered a 30-year period (1988–2017). Several stereotypical and unhelpful portrayals surfaced. Positive portrayals of autism highlighted strengths and reflected nuance. Overall, participants in the fiction conditions in Part B were significantly more likely to attribute positive traits to an autistic person than those in the control conditions, with medium effect sizes ranging from 0.57 to 0.73. There were no improvements in knowledge. Given the small number of studies included in this review, further evidence is needed to understand the conditions under which fictional media may be effective. There is also a need to develop measures that accurately and respectfully measure autistic people’s experiences of community knowledge and attitudes. Lay abstract The way autism is represented in fictional media can impact people’s views of autistic people. For example, representations may contribute to negative views of autistic people as being unusual or dangerous, or they may challenge stereotypes and instead highlight the strengths of autistic people. This work aimed to review previous research to understand how autistic people have been represented in fictional media (Part A). It also sought to understand whether viewing fictional portrayals of autism has an impact on people’s knowledge of autism and attitudes towards autistic people (Part B). Of 14 studies that were included in Part A, several unhelpful and stereotypical portrayals of autism emerged. Positive portrayals were those that highlighted the strengths of autistic people and reflected nuance. There is a need for greater diversity in representation of autism in fictional media. For example, not all autistic people are white heterosexual males. Across the five studies included in Part B, there were no improvements in people’s knowledge of autism after watching or reading a short segment from a fictional TV series or novel that depicts an autistic person. Although there was a significant improvement in people’s attitudes towards autistic people, these findings do not provide a complete picture given the short length of the media exposure and small number of studies. Future studies should investigate how multiple exposures to the representation of autistic people in both fictional and non-fictional sources can affect people’s understanding of autism. There is also a need to develop more accurate and respectful ways of measuring people’s knowledge of, and attitudes towards, autism

Qualitative process evaluation of an Australian alcohol media literacy study: recommendations for designing culturally responsive school-based programs

Background: Alcohol media literacy programs seek to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of alcohol advertising on children\u27s drinking intentions and behaviours through equipping them with skills to challenge media messages. In order for such programs to be effective, the teaching and learning experiences must be tailored to their specific cultural context. Media in the Spotlight is an alcohol media literacy program aimed at 9 to 12 year old Australian children. This study evaluates the process and implementation of the program, outlining the factors that facilitated and inhibited implementation. From this evaluation, a pedagogical framework has been developed for health professionals implementing culturally responsive programs in school settings. Methods: Process measures included: semi-structured interviews with teachers before and after the program was implemented (n = 11 interviews), program evaluation questionnaires completed by children (n = 166), lesson observations completed by teachers (n = 35 observations), and reflective journal entries completed by the researcher (n = 44 entries). A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse all of the data sets using NVivo. Inductive coding was used, whereby the findings were derived from the research objectives and multiple readings and interpretations of the data. Results: Five key pedagogical considerations were identified that facilitated implementation. These were: connecting to the students\u27 life worlds to achieve cultural significance; empowering students with real-world skills to ensure relevance; ensuring programs are well structured with strong connections to the school curriculum; creating developmentally appropriate activities while providing a range of assessment opportunities; and including hands-on and interactive activities to promote student engagement. Three potential inhibitors to implementing the alcohol media literacy program in upper-elementary school classrooms were identified. These included topic sensitivities, classroom management challenges, and fitting new programs into already busy school schedules. Conclusion: Overall, the program content and individual lessons were well received by the teachers and students. The lessons learned from the development, implementation and evaluation of this program can provide health professionals with key pedagogical strategies for designing culturally responsive educational programs. Culturally responsive programs are critical for ensuring interventions are effective for their specific context

Identifying features associated with higher-quality hospital care and shorter length of admission for people with dementia : a mixed-methods study

Background: Concerns have repeatedly been expressed about the quality of inpatient care that people with dementia receive. Policies and practices have been introduced that aim to improve this, but their impact is unclear. Aims: To identify which aspects of the organisation and delivery of acute inpatient services for people with dementia are associated with higher-quality care and shorter length of stay. Design: Mixed-methods study combining a secondary analysis of data from the third National Audit of Dementia (2016/17) and a nested qualitative exploration of the context, mechanism and outcomes of acute care for people with dementia. Setting: Quantitative data from 200 general hospitals in England and Wales and qualitative data from six general hospitals in England that were purposively selected based on their performance in the audit. Participants: Quantitative data from clinical records of 10,106 people with dementia who had an admission to hospital lasting ≥ 72 hours and 4688 carers who took part in a cross-sectional survey of carer experience. Qualitative data from interviews with 56 hospital staff and seven carers of people with dementia. Main outcome measures: Length of stay, quality of assessment and carer-rated experience. Results: People with dementia spent less time in hospital when discharge planning was initiated within 24 hours of admission. This is a challenging task when patients have complex needs, and requires named staff to take responsibility for co-ordinating the discharge and effective systems for escalating concerns when obstacles arise. When trust boards review delayed discharges, they can identify recurring problems and work with local stakeholders to try to resolve them. Carers of people with dementia play an important role in helping to ensure that hospital staff are aware of patient needs. When carers are present on the ward, they can reassure patients and help make sure that they eat and drink well, and adhere to treatment and care plans. Clear communication between staff and family carers can help ensure that they have realistic expectations about what the hospital staff can and cannot provide. Dementia-specific training can promote the delivery of person-centred care when it is made available to a wide range of staff and accompanied by ‘hands-on’ support from senior staff. Limitations: The quantitative component of this research relied on audit data of variable quality. We relied on carers of people with dementia to explore aspects of service quality, rather than directly interviewing people with dementia. Conclusions: If effective support is provided by senior managers, appropriately trained staff can work with carers of people with dementia to help ensure that patients receive timely and person-centred treatment, and that the amount of time they spend in hospital is minimised. Future work: Future research could examine new ways to work with carers to co-produce aspects of inpatient care, and to explore the relationship between ethnicity and quality of care in patients with dementia. Funding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 22. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Long-Term Low-Level Arsenic Exposure Is Associated with Poorer Neuropsychological Functioning: A Project FRONTIER Study

Exposure to elements in groundwater (toxic or beneficial) is commonplace yet, outside of lead and mercury, little research has examined the impact of many commonly occurring environmental exposures on mental abilities during the aging process. Inorganic arsenic is a known neurotoxin that has both neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive consequences. The aim of this study was to examine the potential association between current and long-term arsenic exposure and detailed neuropsychological functioning in a sample of rural-dwelling adults and elders. Data were analyzed from 434 participants (133 men and 301 women) of Project FRONTIER, a community-based participatory research study of the epidemiology of health issues of rural-dwelling adults and elders. The results of the study showed that GIS-based groundwater arsenic exposure (current and long-term) was significantly related to poorer scores in language, visuospatial skills, and executive functioning. Additionally, long-term low-level exposure to arsenic was significantly correlated to poorer scores in global cognition, processing speed and immediate memory. The finding of a correlation between arsenic and the domains of executive functioning and memory is of critical importance as these are cognitive domains that reflect the earliest manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease. Additional work is warranted given the population health implications associated with long-term low-level arsenic exposure

Passive acoustic methods for fine-scale tracking of harbour porpoises in tidal rapids

The growing interest in generating electrical power from tidal currents using tidal turbine generators raises a number of environmental concerns, including the risk that marine mammals might be injured or killed through collision with rotating turbine blades. To understand this risk, information on how marine mammals use tidal rapid habitats and in particular, their underwater movements and dive behaviour is required. Porpoises, which are the most abundant small cetacean at most European tidal sites, are difficult animals to tag, and the limited size of tidal habitats means that any telemetered animal would be likely to spend only a small proportion of time within them. Here, an alternative approach is explored, whereby passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is used to obtain fine scale geo-referenced tracks of harbour porpoises in tidal rapid areas. Large aperture hydrophone arrays are required to obtain accurate locations of animals from PAM data and automated algorithms are necessary to process the large quantities of acoustic data collected on such systems during a typical survey. Methods to automate localisation, including a method to match porpoise detections on different hydrophones and separate different vocalising animals, and an assessment of the localisation accuracy of the large aperture hydrophone array are presented.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Who's most at risk of poor body image? Identifying subgroups of adolescent social media users over the course of a year

Types and stability of appearance-related social media use patterns remain under-explored despite established links between social media use and wellbeing. This study aimed to identify subgroups of social media users, and explore whether subgroup membership was stable over time and associated with body image-related outcomes. Adolescents (N = 766; Mage = 12.76, SD = 0.73; 49.40% female) completed four surveys across 1-year, reporting several social media use indices, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, and strategies to increase muscle. Latent profile analyses identified two subgroups (moderate and high users), that remained reasonably stable over time. The high subgroup exhibited poorer body image at baseline, though differences seemed to dissipate somewhat over 1-year. Examination of subgroup transition over time showed more rapid increases in poor body image outcomes among social media increasers and more rapid declines for reducers. Prevention programs which aim to reduce high levels of social media use among children, young adolescents, and high-risk individuals (i.e., appearance-focused users) appear warranted

Fifteen-year prospective longitudinal cohort study of outcomes following single radius total knee arthroplasty: patient reported outcome measures, response attrition and survival

AimsThis prospective study reports longitudinal, within-patient, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) over a 15-year period following cemented single radius total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Secondary aims included reporting PROMs trajectory, 15-year implant survival, and patient attrition from follow-up.MethodsFrom 2006 to 2007, 462 consecutive cemented cruciate-retaining Triathlon TKAs were implanted in 426 patients (mean age 69 years (21 to 89); 290 (62.7%) female). PROMs (12-item Short Form Survey (SF-12), Oxford Knee Score (OKS), and satisfaction) were assessed preoperatively and at one, five, ten, and 15 years. Kaplan-Meier survival and univariate analysis were performed.ResultsAt 15 years, 28 patients were lost to follow-up (6.1%) and 221 patients (51.9%) had died, with the mean age of the remaining cohort reducing by four years. PROMs response rates among surviving patients were: one-year 63%; five-year 72%; ten-year 94%; and 15-year 59%. OKS and SF-12 scores changed significantly over 15 years (p < 0.001). The mean improvement in OKS was 18.8 (95% confidence (CI) 16.7 to 19.0) at one year. OKS peaked at five years (median 43 years) declining thereafter (p < 0.001), though at 15 years it remained 17.5 better than preoperatively. Age and sex did not alter this trajectory. A quarter of patients experienced a clinically significant decline (≥ 7) in OKS from five to ten years and from ten to 15 years. The SF-12 physical component score displayed a similar trajectory, peaking at one year (p < 0.001). Patient satisfaction was 88% at one, five, and ten years, and 94% at 15 years. In all, 15-year Kaplan-Meier survival was 97.6% (95% CI 96.0% to 99.2%) for any revision, and 98.9% (95% CI 97.9% to 99.9%) for aseptic revision.ConclusionImprovements in PROMs were significant and maintained following single radius TKA, with OKS peaking at five years, and generic physical health peaking at one year. Patient satisfaction remained high at 15 years, at which point 2.4% had been revise

Non-canonical signalling mediates changes in fungal cell wall PAMPs that drive immune evasion

Data Availability The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper (and its supplementary information files). Acknowledgements We are grateful to Raif Yuecel, Linda Duncan, Kimberley Sim and Ailsa Laird in the Iain Fraser Cytometry Centre, and to Kevin MacKenzie, Debbie Wilkinson, Gillian Milne and Lucy Wight in our Microscopy and Histology Core Facility for their superb support. We thank Katja Schafer and Angela Lopez for help with the design of primers and for providing CRISPR-Cas9 protocols for mutant construction. We also thank our colleagues in the Candida community, and in particular Jan Quinn, Guanghua Huang, Suzanne Noble, Karl Kuchler, Patrick van Dijck, Rich Calderone and Malcolm Whiteway for providing strains used in this study. This work was funded by a programme grant from the UK Medical Research Council [www.mrc.ac.uk: MR/M026663/1], and by PhD studentships from the University of Aberdeen to AP, DL. The work was also supported by the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen [MR/N006364/1], by the European Commission [FunHoMic: H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018-812969], and by the Wellcome Trust via Investigator, Collaborative, Equipment, Strategic and Biomedical Resource awards [www.wellcome.ac.uk: 075470, 086827, 093378, 097377, 099197, 101873, 102705, 200208]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD