Will I Make It On My Own? Voices and Visions of 17-Year-Old Youth in Transition

Voices and Visions of Youth in Transition, a longitudinal transformative youth-centered research study, examines the experiences and thoughts of youth as they transition out of foster care at the ages of 17, 19, and 21. Qualitative and quantitative survey inquiries were used to attain an understanding of the experiences of 198 youth in foster care who were 17 years old during the first wave of data collection. Nine critical areas related to the transition out of foster care were examined: education; employment; housing; high-risk behavior; access to health insurance; social connections with adults, family, and friends; the transition plan; transition concerns; and personal goals. The majority of youth reported the importance of resources, social support, and personal habits and skills as they prepare for the transition out of foster care. Youth also expressed concerns about being on their own without adequate support and not being able to make it on their own. This article highlights the study's findings from the first wave of data collection and how youth in transition are meaningfully engaged and empowered throughout the research process

An indigenous approach to explore health-related experiences among Māori parents: the Pukapuka Hauora asthma study.

Published onlineJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tBACKGROUND: The prevalence of asthma for Indigenous New Zealand Māori is amongst the highest in the world. Recent evidence shows ethnic differences in asthma symptom prevalence in New Zealand have widened, with asthma symptoms and hospitalisation rates consistently higher for Māori across all age-groups, especially children and adolescents. This paper: outlines our qualitative, longitudinal research exploring the practical issues Māori children and their families face trying to achieve optimum asthma outcomes; details the research methods used within this study; and discusses the process evaluation findings of the features that made this approach successful in engaging and retaining participants in the study. METHODS: Thirty-two Māori families were recruited using a Kaupapa Māori (Māori way) Research approach. Each participated in a series of four in-depth interviews that were carried out at seasonal intervals over the course of one year. Families also took part in an interviewer-administered questionnaire and participated in a Photovoice exercise. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and independently coded by two researchers. The research team then conducted the analysis and theme development. The questionnaires were analysed separately, with explanations for findings explored within the qualitative data. RESULTS: The methodology produced a 100 percent retention rate of the participating families over the course of the follow-up. This was attributed to the research collaboration, the respectful research relationships established with families, and the families' judgement that the methods used enabled them to tell their stories. The acceptability of the methodology will add to the validity and trustworthiness of the findings. CONCLUSION: Given the extent and persistence of ethnic disparities in childhood asthma management, it is imperative that an indigenous approach be taken to understanding the core issues facing Māori families. By conducting community-partnership research underpinned by an indigenous methodology, and employing a range of appropriate methods, we have successfully recruited and retained a cohort of Māori families with experiences of childhood asthma. We aim to make their voices heard in order to develop a series of culturally relevant interventions aimed at remediating these disparities.Health Research Council of New ZealandNIH

How Virtual Powers Plants Can Advance Electrification and Mitigate Infrastructure Needs As We Race to Meet Our Climate Challenges

This paper explores three contemporary case studies of how distributed energy resources have been aggregated into Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) to provide resilient, low carbon solutions for our climate challenge in a manner that can mitigate demands on our energy infrastructure. These recent case studies will analyze distributed energy resources and how they can be aggregated to participate in wholesale electric markets to reduce the demand for larger utility scale resources while also providing grid services locally. These case studies build on previous research on distributed energy resources we have performed at our Institute for Energy and the Environment. The cases will consider how Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) Orders 841 and 2222 will help remove the barriers to effective participation in regional markets and explore the remaining conflicts with overlapping state and federal jurisdiction. We will conclude with lessons learned to promote the growth of VPPs in a manner that enhances electrification and promotes resilience as we transition to a low carbon future

Effects of Growing Season Fire on Northern Bobwhite Nest Site Selection and Survival

Restoration and management of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) communities necessitates frequent prescribed fire. Prior to human colonization of the southeastern United States thousands of years ago, longleaf pine forests burned primarily during the growing-season as a result of lightning-ignited fires. Growing-season prescribed fire may suppress woody vegetation and promote herbaceous groundcover better than dormant-season fire. Despite the potential ecological benefits of growing-season fire, many land managers use only dormant-season prescribed fire to avoid destruction of ground nests, including those from northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Our objective was to determine bobwhite nest survival and nest-site selection in the presence of early, growing-season prescribed fire on a 3-year return interval. We compared vegetation composition and structure at nest sites and paired random sites to identify important predictors of nest-site selection and to evaluate the effects of habitat covariates on nest survival. We captured bobwhite and attached radio transmitters. Radio-marked individuals were tracked to locate nests and determine nest survival. We documented 2 nests that burned during a growing-season prescribed fire. All 14 nests were located within units that were burned at least 2 years prior, putting these nests at a greater risk for being destroyed by prescribed fire that occurred on a 3-year return interval. We suggest that restricting early, growing-season prescribed burning to April through early June should limit an overlap between prescribed burns and the peak of northern bobwhite nesting season, which occurred mid-July at our study site. Additionally, longer fire return intervals may be needed to allow development of woody understory structure selected by bobwhites for nesting, especially on poor soils like those on our study site in the Sandhills physiographic region

AI-based discovery of habitats from museum collections

Museum collection records are a source of historic data for species occurrence, but little attention is paid to the associated descriptions of habitat at the sample locations. We propose that artificial intelligence methods have potential to use these descriptions for reconstructing past habitat, to address ecological and evolutionary questions

Lymphocyte deficiency limits Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 induced chronic inflammation and carcinogenic pathology in vivo

Background: The importance of the malignant cell environment to its growth and survival is becoming increasingly apparent, with dynamic cross talk between the neoplastic cell, the leukocyte infiltrate and the stroma. Most cancers are accompanied by leukocyte infiltration which, contrary to an anticipated immuno-protective role, could be contributing to tumour development and cancer progression. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) associated cancers, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Hodgkin's Disease, show a considerable leukocyte infiltration which surrounds the neoplastic cells, raising the questions as to what role these cells play in either restricting or supporting the tumour and what draws the cells into the tumour. In order to begin to address this we have studied a transgenic model of multistage carcinogenesis with epithelial expression of the EBV primary oncoprotein, latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1). LMP1 is expressed particularly in the skin, which develops a hyperplastic pathology soon after birth. Results: The pathology advances with time leading to erosive dermatitis which is inflamed with a mixed infiltrate involving activated CD8+ T-cells, CD4+ T-cells including CD4+/CD25+/FoxP3+ Treg cells, mast cells and neutrophils. Also significant dermal deposition of immunoglobulin-G (IgG) is observed as the pathology advances. Along with NF-kappaB activation, STAT3, a central factor in inflammation regulation, is activated in the transgenic tissue. Several inflammatory factors are subsequently upregulated, notably CD30 and its ligand CD153, also leukocyte trafficking factors including CXCL10, CXCL13, L-selectin and TGF beta 1, and inflammatory cytokines including IL-1 beta, IL-3 and the murine IL-8 analogues CXCL1, CXCL2 and CXCL5-6, amongst others. The crucial role of mature T- and/or B-lymphocytes in the advancing pathology is demonstrated by their elimination, which precludes mast cell infiltration and limits the pathology to an early, benign stage. Conclusions: LMP1 can lead to the activation of several key factors mediating proliferation, angiogenesis and inflammation in vivo. With the initiation of an inflammatory programme, leukocyte recruitment follows which then itself contributes to the progressing pathology in these transgenic mice, with a pivotal role for B-and/or T-cells in the process. The model suggests a basis for the leukocyte infiltrate observed in EBV-associated cancer and its supporting role, as well as potential points for therapeutic intervention

Late Pleistocene Neanderthal exploitation of stable and mosaic ecosystems in northern Iberia shown by multi-isotope evidence

The carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope analyses and the stable isotope analyses of bioapatite carbonates were funded as part of the ABRUPT project (HAR2017-84997-P) funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the SUBSILIENCE project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 818299—ERC-2018-Consolidator), both awarded to ABM-A. SP was supported by the Max Planck Society and the University of Aberdeen during the time of this project, and the oxygen isotope analysis of bioapatite phosphates was funded by the Max Planck Society. Access to the archaeological collections was granted by the Museo de Arqueología de Bizkaia (Basque Government), and initial sampling for carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was achieved by Hazel Reade funded by the FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG- 322112 project) and ABM-A. We appreciate Joseba Rios-Garaizar's advice about Axlor stratigraphy during the sampling process. We thank Ignacio Valera (IBBTEC, University of Cantabria) for kindly allowing the use of his laboratory facilities for collagen extraction. We thank Carlos Revilla Gómez (IBBTEC, University of Cantabria) for laboratory assistance during collagen extraction. Thanks are also due to Manuel Trost (MPI-EVA) for assistance during silver phosphate preparation and to Sven Steinbrenner for assistance with TC/EA-IRMS. KB is supported by a Philip Leverhulme Prize from the Leverhulme Trust (PLP-2019-284).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

COVID-19 vaccination, risk-compensatory behaviours, and contacts in the UK

The physiological effects of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) are well documented, yet the behavioural effects not well known. Risk compensation suggests that gains in personal safety, as a result of vaccination, are offset by increases in risky behaviour, such as socialising, commuting and working outside the home. This is potentially important because transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is driven by contacts, which could be amplified by vaccine-related risk compensation. Here, we show that behaviours were overall unrelated to personal vaccination, but—adjusting for variation in mitigation policies—were responsive to the level of vaccination in the wider population: individuals in the UK were risk compensating when rates of vaccination were rising. This effect was observed across four nations of the UK, each of which varied policies autonomously

Graduate Entry Medicine: Selection Criteria and Student Performance

Background: Graduate entry medicine raises new questions about the suitability of students with different backgrounds. We examine this, and the broader issue of effectiveness of selection and assessment procedures. Methods: The data included background characteristics, academic record, interview score and performance in pre-clinical modular assessment for two years intake of graduate entry medical students. Exploratory factor analysis is a powerful method for reducing a large number of measures to a smaller group of underlying factors. It was used here to identify patterns within and between the selection and performance data. Principal Findings: Basic background characteristics were of little importance in predicting exam success. However, easily interpreted components were detected within variables comprising the ‘selection ’ and ‘assessment ’ criteria. Three selection components were identified (‘Academic’, ‘GAMSAT’, ‘Interview’) and four assessment components (‘General Exam’, ‘Oncology’, ‘OSCE’, ‘Family Case Study’). There was a striking lack of relationships between most selection and performance factors. Only ‘General Exam ’ and ‘Academic ’ showed a correlation (Pearson’s r = 0.55, p,0.001). Conclusions: This study raises questions about methods of student selection and their effectiveness in predicting performance and assessing suitability for a medical career. Admissions tests and most exams only confirmed previous academic achievement, while interview scores were not correlated with any consequent assessment