The Subjectivities of Wearable Sleep-Trackers - A Discourse Analysis

Self-reported quality and duration of sleep in Western populations is declining. The interest in wearable sleep-trackers that are promis- ing better sleep is growing. By wearing a device day and night the sleeper is continuously connected to a more-than-human net- work. The mass-adoption of sleep-tracking devices has an impact on the personal, social and cultural meaning of sleep. This study looks at the discourse forming around wearable sleep-trackers. This extended abstract presents how non-human subjectivities are accounted for in this discourse. Through a posthuman discourse analysis of textual and visual artefacts from interviews, academic research and popular media, six distinct roles for these non-human social agents were identified: ‘Teacher’, ‘Informant’, ‘Companion’, ‘Therapist’, ‘Coach’ and ‘Mediator’. This characterisation is a first step to understanding sleep-trackers as social agents, reorganising personal and contextual relationships with the sleeping self

Access and utilisation of primary health care services comparing urban and rural areas of Riyadh Providence, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has seen an increase in chronic diseases. International evidence suggests that early intervention is the best approach to reduce the burden of chronic disease. However, the limited research available suggests that health care access remains unequal, with rural populations having the poorest access to and utilisation of primary health care centres and, consequently, the poorest health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the factors influencing the access to and utilisation of primary health care centres in urban and rural areas of Riyadh province of the KSA

Prevalence and treatment implications of ICD-11 complex PTSD in Australian treatment-seeking current and ex-serving military members

Background: Despite growing support for the distinction between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD) as separate diagnoses within the ICD-11 psychiatric taxonomy, the prevalence and treatment implications of CPTSD among current and ex-serving military members have not been established. Objective: The study aims were to a) establish the prevalence of provisional ICD-11 CPTSD diagnosis relative to PTSD in an Australian sample of treatment-seeking current and ex-serving military members, and b) examine the implications of CPTSD diagnosis for intake profile and treatment response. Methods: The study analysed data collected routinely from Australian-accredited treatment programmes for military-related PTSD. Participants were 480 current and ex-serving military members in this programmes who received a provisional ICD-11 diagnosis of PTSD or CPTSD at intake using proxy measures. Measures of PTSD symptoms, disturbances in self-organisation, psychological distress, mental health and social relationships were considered at treatment intake, discharge, and 3-month follow-up. Results: Among participants with a provisional ICD-11 diagnosis, 78.2% were classified as having CPTSD, while 21.8% were classified as having PTSD. When compared to ICD-11 PTSD, participants with CPTSD reported greater symptom severity and psychological distress at intake, and lower scores on relationship and mental health dimensions of the quality of life measure. These relative differences persisted at each post-treatment assessment. Decreases in PTSD symptoms between intake and discharge were similar across PTSD (dRM = −0.81) and CPTSD (dRM = −0.76) groups, and there were no significant post-treatment differences between groups when controlling for initial scores. Conclusions: CPTSD is common among treatment-seeking current and ex-serving military members, and is associated with initially higher levels of psychiatric severity, which persist over time. Participants with CPTSD were equally responsive to PTSD treatment; however, the tendency for those with CPTSD to remain highly symptomatic post-treatment suggests additional treatment components should be considered

Antifungal actinomycetes associated with the pine bark beetle, Orthotomicus erosus, in South Africa

Actinomycete bacteria are often associated with insects that have a mutualistic association with fungi. These bacteria are believed to be important to this insect–fungus association as they produce antibiotics that exclude other saprophytic fungi from the immediate environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of potentially protective actinomycetes associated with Orthotomicus erosus, an alien invasive pine bark beetle, in South Africa. This bark beetle and its relatives have an association with Ophiostomatales species which are often the only fungi found in the bark beetle galleries. We hypothesised that antibiotic-producing actinomycetes could be responsible for the paucity of other fungi in the galleries by producing compounds to which the Ophiostoma spp. are tolerant. Several actinomycetes in the genus Streptomyces and one Gordonia sp. were isolated from the beetle. Interestingly, most isolates were from the same species as actinomycetes associated with other pine-infesting insects from other parts of the world, including bark beetles and the woodwasp Sirex noctilio. Most actinomycetes isolated had strong antifungal properties against the selected test fungi, including Ophiostoma ips, which is the most common fungal symbiont of Orthotomicus erosus. Although the actinomycetes did not benefit Ophiostoma ips and the hypothesis was not supported, their sporadic association with Orthotomicus erosus suggests that they could have some impact on the composition of the fungal communities present in the bark beetle galleries, which is at present poorly understood. SIGNIFICANCE : • Discovery of four putative undescribed Streptomyces spp. with antibiotic potential • First record of the introduction of actinomycete bacteria with pine-infesting insects into South Africa • Actinomycetes from South Africa group with undescribed Streptomyces spp. from pine-infesting insects of North AmericaDST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology, the National Research Foundation (South Africa) and the University of Pretoria.http://www.sajs.co.zaam2017Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Aid, growth and peace: A comparative analysis.

yesThe paper examines patterns of post-conflict aid in a sample of 14 countries, with in-depth, qualitative analysis of seven cases (Bosnia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mozambique and Rwanda). The study takes previous work by Paul Collier and associates in this area as a starting point, but disaggregates the data by type of aid, time intervals, and historical period. The findings significantly qualify the Collier conclusion to the effect that donors respond to a CNN-effect in a dysfunctional manner by rushing in aid soon after a peace agreement is concluded and scaling back too soon. Rather, disaggregated analysis shows that post-war aid follows several patterns and can best be understood as strategic behavior designed to promote a range of economic and political objectives. This paper also questions the related policy recommendation of the Collier research on post-conflict aid, namely that post-conflict aid should be phased in so as to maximize economic growth on the grounds that this is important to sustain peace during the first post-conflict decade. Instead, this paper finds, aid strategies that demonstrate early and firm donor commitment to the new order are more likely to stabilize peace in the short run, and aid strategies that address the underlying sources of conflict are important to sustain peace in the longer run

Combining the in vivo comet and micronucleus assays: a practical approach to genotoxicity testing and data interpretation

Despite regulatory directives requiring the reduction of animal use in safety testing, recent modifications to genotoxicity testing guidelines now propose the use of two in vivo genotoxicity assays as a follow-up to an in vitro positive (International Conference on Harmonization Consensus Draft Guidance S2[R1] released March, 2008). To address both goals, the in vivo comet and micronucleus (MN) assays can be successfully combined into one informative study. Combining these two assays with such differences in sensitivity, endpoints measured and the type of data generated significantly improves upon the current standard capabilities for detecting genotoxicity without requiring additional animals. But to take full advantage of the benefits of incorporating the comet assay in safety testing, these same differences must be recognized and considered. Developed from over 15 years experience using the in vivo comet and MN assays in genotoxicity testing of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, this paper presents guidelines for the appropriate experimental design, dose selection and data interpretation for combined in vivo comet/MN assay studies. To illustrate the approach, data from combined assay studies are presented and discussed

Fire impacts bacterial composition in Protea repens (Proteaceae) infructescences

The diverse bacterial communities in and around plants provide important benefits, such as protection against pathogens and cycling of essential minerals through decomposition of moribund plant biomass. Biodiverse fynbos landscapes generally have limited deadwood habitats due to the absence of large trees and frequent fire. In this study, we determined the effect of a fire disturbance on the bacterial communities in a fynbos landscape dominated by the shrub Protea repens using 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing. The bacterial community composition in newly formed fruiting structures (infructescences) and soil at a recently burnt site was different from that in an unburnt site. Bacteria inhabiting P. repens infructescences were similar to well-known taxa from decomposing wood and litter. This suggests a putative role for these aboveground plant structures as reservoirs for postfire decomposer bacteria. The results imply that inordinately frequent fires, which are commonplace in the Anthropocene, are a significant disturbance to bacterial communities and could affect the diversity of potentially important microbes from these landscapes.The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB).https://academic.oup.com/femsle2022-10-09hj2022BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Large introns in relation to alternative splicing and gene evolution: a case study of Drosophila bruno-3

Background: Alternative splicing (AS) of maturing mRNA can generate structurally and functionally distinct transcripts from the same gene. Recent bioinformatic analyses of available genome databases inferred a positive correlation between intron length and AS. To study the interplay between intron length and AS empirically and in more detail, we analyzed the diversity of alternatively spliced transcripts (ASTs) in the Drosophila RNA-binding Bruno-3 (Bru-3) gene. This gene was known to encode thirteen exons separated by introns of diverse sizes, ranging from 71 to 41,973 nucleotides in D. melanogaster. Although Bru-3's structure is expected to be conducive to AS, only two ASTs of this gene were previously described. Results: Cloning of RT-PCR products of the entire ORF from four species representing three diverged Drosophila lineages provided an evolutionary perspective, high sensitivity, and long-range contiguity of splice choices currently unattainable by high-throughput methods. Consequently, we identified three new exons, a new exon fragment and thirty-three previously unknown ASTs of Bru-3. All exon-skipping events in the gene were mapped to the exons surrounded by introns of at least 800 nucleotides, whereas exons split by introns of less than 250 nucleotides were always spliced contiguously in mRNA. Cases of exon loss and creation during Bru-3 evolution in Drosophila were also localized within large introns. Notably, we identified a true de novo exon gain: exon 8 was created along the lineage of the obscura group from intronic sequence between cryptic splice sites conserved among all Drosophila species surveyed. Exon 8 was included in mature mRNA by the species representing all the major branches of the obscura group. To our knowledge, the origin of exon 8 is the first documented case of exonization of intronic sequence outside vertebrates. Conclusion: We found that large introns can promote AS via exon-skipping and exon turnover during evolution likely due to frequent errors in their removal from maturing mRNA. Large introns could be a reservoir of genetic diversity, because they have a greater number of mutable sites than short introns. Taken together, gene structure can constrain and/or promote gene evolution