57 research outputs found
Supporting families in the context of adult traumatic brain injury
Families are fundamental to the wellbeing, quality of life and functional and social outcomes of individuals who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the family is often vulnerable and at risk from the challenge of supporting an individual who has been left with long-term neurological disability. Considering the young population often affected, the resulting conditions can have significant emotional and financial burden for families and service providing for their long-term needs. The National Service Framework for Long-term Conditions acknowledges that the whole family is affected by neurological disability and it suggests that a 'whole-family' approach to managing TBI may be useful. This paper will argue that both family systems theory and family-centred care are frameworks that may be helpful in achieving the 'whole-family' approach in practice. However, future research is needed that will assess the efficacy of these and other approaches so that health-care services know the true value of any such intervention.N/
"There's nothing I can't do â I just put my mind to anything and I can do it": a qualitative analysis of how children with chronic disease and their parents account for and manage physical activity
The results of this study suggest that for these children and young people, having a chronic disease was not perceived as a barrier to participation in organised sport and recreational activities. They were physically active and perceived themselves to be no different from their peers. Their positive beliefs were shared by their parents and the level of participation described was enabled by the high level of parental support and background planning involved in managing their child's health care needs
The development of endomycorrhizal root systems VIII. Effects of soil phosphorus and fungal colonization on the concentration of soluble carbohydrates in roots
Concentrations of phosphorus in shoot and soluble carbohydrates (fructose, glucose, sucrose and fructans) in root were measured in non-mycorrhizal and vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal (Glomus mosseae) leek plants (Allium porrum) raised at six concentrations of soil phosphate. In conditions when an increased concentration of soil phosphate reduced VA mycorrhizal infection, the concentrations of soluble carbohydrates in the root were at a maximum. Therefore the hypothesis that greater concentrations of soluble carbohydrates in roots favour VA mycorrhizal infection is discounted. There was a specific effect of VA mycorrhizas, in that infected roots contained a larger concentration of sucrose than did uninfected roots, in plants with similar phosphorus concentrations in dry matter of shoots. We conclude, first, that increased phosphorus supply from either phosphate addition to soil or VA mycorrhizal infection increases concentration of soluble carbohydrates in leek roots and, secondly, that the VA mycorrhizal root behaves as a particularly strong physiological sink when there is an excess concentration of sucrose in the host
Childrenâs active commuting to school: an interplay of self-efficacy, social economic disadvantage, and environmental characteristics
Recommended from our members
Extensive coronavirus-induced membrane rearrangements are not a determinant of pathogenicity
Positive-strand RNA (+RNA) viruses rearrange cellular membranes during replication, possibly in order to concentrate and arrange viral replication machinery for efficient viral RNA synthesis. Our previous work showed that in addition to the conserved coronavirus double membrane vesicles (DMVs), Beau-R, an apathogenic strain of avian Gammacoronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), induces regions of ER that are zippered together and tethered open-necked double membrane spherules that resemble replication organelles induced by other +RNA viruses. Here we compared structures induced by Beau-R with the pathogenic lab strain M41 to determine whether membrane rearrangements are strain dependent. Interestingly, M41 was found to have a low spherule phenotype. We then compared a panel of pathogenic, mild and attenuated IBV strains in ex vivo tracheal organ culture (TOC). Although the low spherule phenotype of M41 was conserved in TOCs, each of the other tested IBV strains produced DMVs, zippered ER and spherules. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation for the presence of DMVs with spherules, suggesting that these structures are spatially and temporally linked. Our data indicate that virus induced membrane rearrangements are fundamentally linked to the viral replicative machinery. However, coronavirus replicative apparatus clearly has the plasticity to function in different structural contexts
The Aguablanca Niâ(Cu) sulfide deposit, SW Spain: geologic and geochemical controls and the relationship with a midcrustal layered mafic complex
The Aguablanca Niâ(Cu) sulfide deposit is
hosted by a breccia pipe within a gabbroâdiorite pluton.
The deposit probably formed due to the disruption of a
partially crystallized layered mafic complex at about 12â
19 km depth and the subsequent emplacement of melts and
breccias at shallow levels (<2 km). The ore-hosting breccias
are interpreted as fragments of an ultramafic cumulate,
which were transported to the near surface along with a
molten sulfide melt. Phlogopite ArâAr ages are 341â
332 Ma in the breccia pipe, and 338â334 Ma in the layered
mafic complex, and are similar to recently reported UâPb
ages of the host Aguablanca Stock and other nearby calcalkaline
metaluminous intrusions (ca. 350â330 Ma). Ore
deposition resulted from the combination of two critical
factors, the emplacement of a layered mafic complex deep
in the continental crust and the development of small
dilational structures along transcrustal strike-slip faults that
triggered the forceful intrusion of magmas to shallow
levels. The emplacement of basaltic magmas in the lower
middle crust was accompanied by major interaction with
the host rocks, immiscibility of a sulfide melt, and the
formation of a magma chamber with ultramafic cumulates
and sulfide melt at the bottom and a vertically zoned mafic
to intermediate magmas above. Dismembered bodies of
mafic/ultramafic rocks thought to be parts of the complex
crop out about 50 km southwest of the deposit in a
tectonically uplifted block (Cortegana Igneous Complex,
Aracena Massif). Reactivation of Variscan structures that
merged at the depth of the mafic complex led to sequential
extraction of melts, cumulates, and sulfide magma. Lithogeochemistry
and Sr and Nd isotope data of the Aguablanca
Stock reflect the mixing from two distinct reservoirs, i.e.,
an evolved siliciclastic middle-upper continental crust and a
primitive tholeiitic melt. Crustal contamination in the deep
magma chamber was so intense that orthopyroxene
replaced olivine as the main mineral phase controlling the early fractional crystallization of the melt. Geochemical
evidence includes enrichment in SiO2 and incompatible
elements, and Sr and Nd isotope compositions (87Sr/86Sri
0.708â0.710; 143Nd/144Ndi 0.512â0.513). However, rocks
of the Cortegana Igneous Complex have low initial
87Sr/86Sr and high initial 143Nd/144Nd values suggesting
contamination by lower crustal rocks. Comparison of the
geochemical and geological features of igneous rocks in the
Aguablanca deposit and the Cortegana Igneous Complex
indicates that, although probably part of the same magmatic
system, they are rather different and the rocks of the
Cortegana Igneous Complex were not the direct source of
the Aguablanca deposit. Crustâmagma interaction was a
complex process, and the generation of orebodies was
controlled by local but highly variable factors. The model
for the formation of the Aguablanca deposit presented in
this study implies that dense sulfide melts can effectively
travel long distances through the continental crust and that
dilational zones within compressional belts can effectively
focus such melt transport into shallow environments
Effect of sitagliptin on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes
BACKGROUND: Data are lacking on the long-term effect on cardiovascular events of adding sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind study, we assigned 14,671 patients to add either sitagliptin or placebo to their existing therapy. Open-label use of antihyperglycemic therapy was encouraged as required, aimed at reaching individually appropriate glycemic targets in all patients. To determine whether sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo, we used a relative risk of 1.3 as the marginal upper boundary. The primary cardiovascular outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, there was a small difference in glycated hemoglobin levels (least-squares mean difference for sitagliptin vs. placebo, -0.29 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.32 to -0.27). Overall, the primary outcome occurred in 839 patients in the sitagliptin group (11.4%; 4.06 per 100 person-years) and 851 patients in the placebo group (11.6%; 4.17 per 100 person-years). Sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.09; P<0.001). Rates of hospitalization for heart failure did not differ between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.20; P = 0.98). There were no significant between-group differences in rates of acute pancreatitis (P = 0.07) or pancreatic cancer (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, adding sitagliptin to usual care did not appear to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, hospitalization for heart failure, or other adverse events
Tree species selection for land rehabilitation in Ethiopia: from fragmented knowledge to an integrated multi-criteria decision approach
Pesticide seed dressings can affect the activity of various soil organisms and reduce decomposition of plant material
Regional differences in portion size consumption behaviour: Insights for the global food industry
Abstract: Given the influence of globalization on consumer food behaviour across the world, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theoretical discourse around food portion size as a global consumption-related symbol and its underlying socio-economic drivers for food industry strategy. Overall, 25,000 global food consumers were surveyed across 24 countries to elicit insight on portion size consumption behaviour as well as consumer perception on eating and drinking small portion size within selected socio-economic classes. The data was quantitatively analysed to answer the pertinent research objectives. In 20 out of the 24 global markets surveyed, large food portion size was statistically established as a prevalent consumption-related symbol. The paper found that there are regional differences in portion size food consumption behaviour, and further disparities exist across age, gender and income status in 24 countries covering all regions, including Australia, China, Mexico, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America. The outlined food industry implications reveal that adaptation and standardisation strategies are still relevant in global food and nutrition strategy as revealed by the variations in the preference for food portion sizes across various countries of the world
- âŠ