Soil survey data rescued by means of user friendly soil identification keys and toposequence models to deliver soil information for improved land management

In many countries there is a large source of soil survey information that could be used to guide land management decision. This soil information is commonly undervalued and underused, because it is usually not in a user-friendly format that non-soil specialists who generally make land management decisions can readily apply, nor are soil specialists always immediately available to conduct the interpretation required. The aim of this work was to develop an approach to convey soil survey information by means of special-purpose soil classifications and conceptual toposequence models in order to improve land management decisions. The approach: (i) salvages and reinterprets valuable soil survey legacy data from the plethora of detailed published soil survey technical reports and their numerous appendices of quantitative and qualitative data, and (ii) delivers complex or intricate soil survey information to non-soil specialists using a vocabulary and diagrams that they can understand and have available to apply when they need it. To illustrate the wide applicability of this approach, case studies were conducted in three different parts of the world – Kuwait, Brunei, and Australia, each of which exhibit vastly different landscapes, climates, soil types and land use problems. Pedologists distilled published soil survey information and identified a limited set of soil properties related to landscape position which enabled non-soil specialists to determine soil types by following user-friendly approach and format. This provides a wider audience with information about soils, rather than always relying on a limited number of soil specialists to conduct the work. The details provided in the case studies are applicable for the local area that they were prepared for. However, the structured approach developed and used is applicable to other locations throughout the world outside of: (i) Brunei, especially in tropical landscapes, (ii) Kuwait, especially in arid and semi-arid landscapes and (iii) Australian winter rainfall landscapes, especially in Mediterranean landscapes – in order to establish similar local classifications and conceptual models.G.J. Grealish, R.W. Fitzpatrick, J.L. Hutso

Effectiveness of nursing rounds in the Intensive Care Unit on workplace learning

Objectives: To evaluate the implementation of a regular Nursing Round as an educational strategy for workplace learning in an intensive care unit with a single room environment. Research design: A multiple methods design was used. Fifty-four Nursing Rounds were observed and nurses (n = 40) completed bespoke evaluative surveys. Structured observational data and open-ended survey responses were submitted to content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyse survey findings. Results: Nursing Rounds involved a diverse range of participants, most frequently nurses. The content most frequently discussed included empirical clinical issues where nurses decided on nursing care actions to address these issues. The most frequently observed outcome of Nursing Rounds was knowledge translation. Nursing Rounds were perceived to positively influence application of evidence in practise, identification of areas for practise improvement and ability to communicate clinical information. Two categories emerged from analysis of open-ended survey questions; (1) ‘Positive learning environment’, where nurses described Nursing Rounds as a social learning experience; and (2) ‘Impediments to Nursing Rounds’, including difficulty attending Nursing Rounds due to competing priorities. Conclusion: Nursing Rounds enabled evidence-based learning that enhanced inter-disciplinary collaboration. Further investigation may be required to understand how to enable nurses to attend more frequently, and generate a more holistic, evidence-based discussion

Reprogramming the diseased brain

Direct conversion of astrocytes to dopamine neurons in vivo offers fresh optimism for the development of improved Parkinson's therapie

Basal Mitophagy Occurs Independently of PINK1 in Mouse Tissues of High Metabolic Demand

Dysregulated mitophagy has been linked to Parkinson’s disease (PD) due to the role of PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) in mediating depolarization-induced mitophagy in vitro. Elegant mouse reporters have revealed the pervasive nature of basal mitophagy in vivo, yet the role of PINK1 and tissue metabolic context remains unknown. Using mito-QC, we investigated the contribution of PINK1 to mitophagy in metabolically active tissues. We observed a high degree of mitophagy in neural cells, including PDrelevant mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and microglia. In all tissues apart from pancreatic islets, loss of Pink1 did not influence basal mitophagy, despite disrupting depolarization-induced Parkin activation. Our findings provide the first in vivo evidence that PINK1 is detectable at basal levels and that basal mammalian mitophagy occurs independently of PINK1. This suggests multiple, yet-tobe- discovered pathways orchestrating mammalian mitochondrial integrity in a context-dependent fashion, and this has profound implications for our molecular understanding of vertebrate mitophagy

The “ebb and flow” of student learning on placement

There is a rise in interest in work based learning as part of student choice at subject level in the UK (DOE 2017) but there remains an absence of specific guidance on how to best support higher education students learning on placement. An alternative HE experience in England, the degree apprenticeship, underlies the continued focus by policy in securing placement experiences for students without stipulating the type of support that is required at the ‘coal face’ of work based learning. Policy documents (UUK 2016), that urge universities to enter into partnership agreements with both employers and FE colleges to plug skills shortages, are noticeably lacking in their appreciation of the unique qualities of work based learning and how best to support students in this setting (Morley 2017a). Unfortunately, this is not unusual as placements have predominantly been an enriching ‘add on’ to the real business of academic learning in more traditional university programmes. Support initiatives, such as that described in chapter 9, are a rare appreciation of the importance of this role. Undergraduate nursing programmes currently support a 50:50 split between practice learning in clinical placements and the theory delivered at universities. Vocational degrees, such as this, provide an interesting case study as to how students can be supported in the practice environment by an appreciation of how students really learn on placement and how hidden resources can be utilised more explicitly for practice learning. During 2013 – 2015 a professional doctorate research study (Morley 2015) conducted a grounded theory study of 21 first year student nurses on their first placement to discover how they learnt ‘at work’ and the strategies they enlisted to be successful work based learners