91 research outputs found
Learning to Prevent Campus Violence, EKU-Safe: A Bystander Intervention Training Program
EKU-SAFE is a campus outreach violence prevention program funded through the Department of Justice. One aspect of the project was to design and implement Bystander Intervention Training for all first year students at Eastern Kentucky University, a regional university with an enrollment of 16,000 students. Literature in violence prevention with college campus populations indicates that significant behavior and personal accountability can arise from Bystander Intervention Training (Banyard, Plante, & Moynihan, 2004). The purpose of this article is to report on changes in participants‟ perceptions and interpretations of violence prior to and following Bystander Intervention Training at Eastern Kentucky University and to assess the program‟s potential effectiveness for changing campus culture in terms of attitudes towards violence. Findings from this study will constitute a baseline for continued assessment of program efficacy. Possible future evaluation will assess the extent to which anti violence norms are retained one to three years after initial exposure to program materials. Ongoing efforts are necessary to facilitate broader culture change within the university; this change cannot be accomplished or sustained until a substantial number of individuals commit themselves, through action, to intolerance of violence against women and victim blaming, and support of women‟s safety
Using interpretative phenomenological analysis to inform physiotherapy practice: An introduction with reference to the lived experience of cerebellar ataxia
The attached file is a pre-published version of the full and final paper which can be found at the link below.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Qualitative research methods that focus on the lived experience of people with health conditions are relatively
underutilised in physiotherapy research. This article aims to introduce interpretative phenomenological analysis
(IPA), a research methodology oriented toward exploring and understanding the experience of a particular
phenomenon (e.g., living with spinal cord injury or chronic pain, or being the carer of someone with a particular
health condition). Researchers using IPA try to find out how people make sense of their experiences and the
meanings they attach to them. The findings from IPA research are highly nuanced and offer a fine grained
understanding that can be used to contextualise existing quantitative research, to inform understanding of novel
or underresearched topics or, in their own right, to provoke a reappraisal of what is considered known about
a specified phenomenon. We advocate IPA as a useful and accessible approach to qualitative research that
can be used in the clinical setting to inform physiotherapy practice and the development of services from the
perspective of individuals with particular health conditions.This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund
Synthesis of 2,6-trans-tetrahydropyrans using a palladium-catalyzed oxidative heck redox-relay strategy
The C-aryl-tetrahydropyran motif is prevalent in nature in a number of natural products with biological activity; however, this challenging architecture still requires novel synthetic approaches. We demonstrate the application of a stereoselective Heck redox-relay strategy for the synthesis of functionalized 2,6-trans-tetrahydropyrans in excellent selectivity in a single step from an enantiopure dihydropyranyl alcohol, proceeding through a novel exo-cyclic migration. The strategy has also been applied to the total synthesis of a trans-epimer of the natural product centrolobine in excellent yield and stereoselectivity
Stereoselective remote functionalization via palladium catalyzed redox-relay Heck methodologies
Exploration of novel, three-dimensional chemical space is of growing interest in the drug discovery community and with this comes the challenge for synthetic chemists to devise new stereoselective methods to introduce chirality in a rapid and efficient manner. This Minireview provides a timely summary of the development of palladium-catalyzed asymmetric redox-relay Heck-type processes. These reactions represent an important class of transformation for the selective introduction of remote stereocenters, and have risen to prominence over the past decade. Within this Minireview, the vast scope of these transformations will be showcased, alongside applications to pharmaceutically relevant chiral building blocks and drug substances. To complement this overview, a mechanistic summary and discussion of the current limitations of the transformation are presented, followed by an outlook on future areas of investigation
Host Ecology Rather Than Host Phylogeny Drives Amphibian Skin Microbial Community Structure in the Biodiversity Hotspot of Madagascar
Host-associated microbiotas of vertebrates are diverse and complex communities that contribute to host health. In particular, for amphibians, cutaneous microbial communities likely play a significant role in pathogen defense; however, our ecological understanding of these communities is still in its infancy. Here, we take advantage of the fully endemic and locally species-rich amphibian fauna of Madagascar to investigate the factors structuring amphibian skin microbiota on a large scale. Using amplicon-based sequencing, we evaluate how multiple host species traits and site factors affect host bacterial diversity and community structure. Madagascar is home to over 400 native frog species, all of which are endemic to the island; more than 100 different species are known to occur in sympatry within multiple rainforest sites. We intensively sampled frog skin bacterial communities, from over 800 amphibians from 89 species across 30 sites in Madagascar during three field visits, and found that skin bacterial communities differed strongly from those of the surrounding environment. Richness of bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and phylogenetic diversity differed among host ecomorphs, with arboreal frogs exhibiting lower richness and diversity than terrestrial and aquatic frogs. Host ecomorphology was the strongest factor influencing microbial community structure, with host phylogeny and site parameters (latitude and elevation) explaining less but significant portions of the observed variation. Correlation analysis and topological congruency analyses revealed little to no phylosymbiosis for amphibian skin microbiota. Despite the observed geographic variation and low phylosymbiosis, we found particular OTUs that were differentially abundant between particular ecomorphs. For example, the genus Pigmentiphaga (Alcaligenaceae) was significantly enriched on arboreal frogs, Methylotenera (Methylophilaceae) was enriched on aquatic frogs, and Agrobacterium (Rhizobiaceae) was enriched on terrestrial frogs. The presence of shared bacterial OTUs across geographic regions for selected host genera suggests the presence of core microbial communities which in Madagascar, might be driven more strongly by a species’ preference for specific microhabitats than by the physical, physiological or biochemical properties of their skin. These results corroborate that both host and environmental factors are driving community assembly of amphibian cutaneous microbial communities, and provide an improved foundation for elucidating their role in disease resistance
Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre
The cores of most galaxies are thought to harbour supermassive black holes,
which power galactic nuclei by converting the gravitational energy of accreting
matter into radiation (ref 1). Sagittarius A*, the compact source of radio,
infrared and X-ray emission at the centre of the Milky Way, is the closest
example of this phenomenon, with an estimated black hole mass that is 4 million
times that of the Sun (refs. 2,3). A long-standing astronomical goal is to
resolve structures in the innermost accretion flow surrounding Sgr A* where
strong gravitational fields will distort the appearance of radiation emitted
near the black hole. Radio observations at wavelengths of 3.5 mm and 7 mm have
detected intrinsic structure in Sgr A*, but the spatial resolution of
observations at these wavelengths is limited by interstellar scattering (refs.
4-7). Here we report observations at a wavelength of 1.3 mm that set a size of
37 (+16, -10; 3-sigma) microarcseconds on the intrinsic diameter of Sgr A*.
This is less than the expected apparent size of the event horizon of the
presumed black hole, suggesting that the bulk of SgrA* emission may not be not
centred on the black hole, but arises in the surrounding accretion flow.Comment: 12 pages including 2 figure
Antifungal isolates database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria and function against emerging fungal pathogens
Microbial symbionts of vertebrate skin have an important function in defense of the host against pathogens. In particular, the emerging chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium
dendrobatidis, causes widespread disease in amphibians but can be inhibited via secondary metabolites produced by many different skin-associated bacteria. Similarly, the fungal
pathogens of terrestrial salamander eggs Mariannaea elegans and Rhizomucor variabilis are also inhibited by a variety of skin-associated bacteria. Indeed, probiotic therapy against fungal diseases is a recent approach in conservation medicine with growing experimental support. We
present a comprehensive Antifungal Isolates Database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria that have been cultured, isolated, and tested for antifungal properties. At the start, this database includes nearly 2000 cultured bacterial isolates from 37 amphibian host species
across 18 studies on five continents: Africa, Oceania, Europe, and North and South America.
As the research community gathers information on additional isolates, the database will be updated periodically. The resulting database can serve as a conservation tool for amphibians and other organisms, and provides empirical data for comparative and bioinformatic studies.
The database consists of a FASTA file containing 16S rRNA gene sequences of the bacterial isolates, and a metadata file containing information on the host species, life-stage, geographic region, and antifungal capacity and taxonomic identity of the isolate
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A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years
Forests are in the spotlight: they are expected to play a pivotal role in our response to society’s greatest challenges, such as the climate and biodiversity crises. Yet, the forests themselves, and the sector that manages them, face a range of interrelated threats and opportunities. Many of these are well understood, even if the solutions remain elusive. However, there are also emerging trends that are currently less widely appreciated. We report here the results of a horizon scan to identify developing issues likely to affect UK forest management within the next 50 years. These are issues that are presently under-recognized but have potential for significant impact across the sector and beyond. As the forest management sector naturally operates over long timescales, the importance of using good foresight is self-evident. We followed a tried-and-tested horizon scanning methodology involving a diverse Expert Panel to collate and prioritize a longlist of 180 issues. The top 15 issues identified are presented in the Graphical Abstract. The issues represent a diverse range of themes, within a spectrum of influences from environmental shocks and perturbations to changing political and socio-economic drivers, with complex emerging interactions between them. The most highly ranked issue was ‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’, reflecting agreement that not only is such collapse a likely prospect but it would also have huge implications across the sector and wider society. These and many of the other issues are large scale, with far-reaching implications. We must be careful to avoid inaction through being overwhelmed, or indeed to merely focus on ‘easy wins’ without considering broader ramifications. Our responses to each of the challenges and opportunities highlighted must be synergistic and coherent, involving landscape-scale planning. A more adaptive approach to forest management will be essential, encouraging continual innovation and learning. The 15 horizon scan issues presented here are a starting point on which to build further research, prompt debate and action, and develop evidence-based policy and practice. We hope that this stimulates greater recognition of how our forests and sector may need to change to be fit for the future. In some cases, these changes will need to be fundamental and momentous
Recommended from our members
A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years
Forests are in the spotlight: they are expected to play a pivotal role in our response to society’s greatest challenges, such as the climate and biodiversity crises. Yet, the forests themselves, and the sector that manages them, face a range of interrelated threats and opportunities. Many of these are well understood, even if the solutions remain elusive. However, there are also emerging trends that are currently less widely appreciated. We report here the results of a horizon scan to identify developing issues likely to affect UK forest management within the next 50 years. These are issues that are presently under-recognized but have potential for significant impact across the sector and beyond. As the forest management sector naturally operates over long timescales, the importance of using good foresight is self-evident. We followed a tried-and-tested horizon scanning methodology involving a diverse Expert Panel to collate and prioritize a longlist of 180 issues. The top 15 issues identified are presented in the Graphical Abstract. The issues represent a diverse range of themes, within a spectrum of influences from environmental shocks and perturbations to changing political and socio-economic drivers, with complex emerging interactions between them. The most highly ranked issue was ‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’, reflecting agreement that not only is such collapse a likely prospect but it would also have huge implications across the sector and wider society. These and many of the other issues are large scale, with far-reaching implications. We must be careful to avoid inaction through being overwhelmed, or indeed to merely focus on ‘easy wins’ without considering broader ramifications. Our responses to each of the challenges and opportunities highlighted must be synergistic and coherent, involving landscape-scale planning. A more adaptive approach to forest management will be essential, encouraging continual innovation and learning. The 15 horizon scan issues presented here are a starting point on which to build further research, prompt debate and action, and develop evidence-based policy and practice. We hope that this stimulates greater recognition of how our forests and sector may need to change to be fit for the future. In some cases, these changes will need to be fundamental and momentous
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