Acute sleep restriction effects on emotion responses in 30‐ to 36‐month‐old children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92066/1/j.1365-2869.2011.00962.x.pd

Nature documentaries as catalysts for change: Mapping out the 'Blackfish Effect'

It is essential for us to understand what drives human behaviour if we want to tackle anthropogenic damage to the environment. Popular media can play an important role in shaping public attitudes, behaviours and norms towards wildlife, and documentaries in particular have become an increasingly prominent tool for social change. There is, however, a need for robust impact evaluation both in documentary-making and in conservation, to refine future interventions. The 2013 documentary Blackfish portrayed human–orca interactions at the US-based marine park, SeaWorld. Following its release, SeaWorld suffered financial difficulties and the company underwent structural changes, including a cessation of its orca breeding programme. These impacts have often been attributed to the Blackfish documentary, but little evidence has been provided to justify these claims. We combined an analysis of stock market data and semi-structured interviews with 26 key informants to build an in-depth contribution analysis. We used General Elimination Methodology, a qualitative impact evaluation methodology to build an understanding of the impact of Blackfish. We found a consensus among stakeholder groups that Blackfish induced negative publicity for SeaWorld and a change in people's perceptions of captivity. As a result, attendance at the park decreased and the market value of the company dropped. Blackfish catalysed a whole movement against marine mammal captivity. There were three key factors that led to its impact: the support from major distribution channels which allowed it to reach major audiences, emotional impact of the content and timing of its release. Blackfish benefitted from a perfect storm, building upon decades of activism to create an appropriate cultural climate for its release in 2013

ANALOGUE SAMPLES IN AN EUROPEAN SAMPLE CURATION FACILITY - THE EURO-CARES PROJECT.

The objective of the H2020-funded EURO-CARES project (grant agreement n° 640190) was to create a roadmap for the implementation of a European Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Facility (ESCF) that would be suitable for the curation of samples from all possible return missions likely over the next few decades, i.e. from the Moon, asteroids and Mars. The return of extraterrestrial samples brought to Earth will require specific storage conditions and handling procedures, in particular for those coming from Mars. For practical reasons and sterility concerns it might be necessary for such a facility to have its own collection of analogue samples permitting the testing of storage conditions, and to develop protocols for sample prepartion and analyses. Within the framework of the EURO-CARES project, we havecreated a list of the different types of samples that would be relevant for such a curation facility. The facility will be used for receiving and opening of the returned sample canisters, as well as for handling and preparation of the returned samples. Furthermore, it will provide some analysis of the returned samples, i.e. early sample characterisation, and is expected to provide longterm storage of the returned samples. Each of these basic functions requires special equipment. Equipment, handling protocols and long-term storage conditions will strongly depend on the characteristics of the materials, and on whether returned samples are from the Moon, Mars or an asteroidal body. Therefore the different types and aspects of analogue samples one need to be considered, i.e. the nature of the materials, which analogues are needed for what purpose, what mass is needed, and how should the analogue samples be stored within the facility. We distinguished five different types of anologue samples: analogue (s.s.), witness plate, voucher specimen, reference sample, and standard. Analogues are materials that have one or more physical or chemical properties similar to Earth-returned extraterrestrial samples. Reference samples are well-characterised materials with known physical and chemical properties used for testing. They may not necessarily be the same materials as the analogues defined above. Standards are internationally recognised, homogeneous materials with known physical and chemical properties that are used for calibration. They can also be used as reference samples in certain circumstances. They may be made of natural materials but are often produced artificially. A voucher specimen is a duplicate of materials used at any stage during sample acquisition, storage, transport, treatment etc., e.g. spacecraft materials (including solar panels), lubricants, glues, gloves, saws, drills, and others. In addition, Earth landing site samples (from the touch down site) would be necessary in case of doubtful analysis, even if normally this type of contamination is not expected. Finally, a witness plate is defined as material left in an area where work is being done to detect any biological, particulate, chemical, and/or organic contamination. It is a spatial and temporal document of what happens in the work area. Analogue materials could be solids (including ices), liquids or gases. These could contain biological (extant and/or exinct) and/or organic components. They could be natural materials, e.g. rocks or minerals, or could be manufactured, such as mixtures of different components, which may be biologically and/or organically doped. Analogues with appropriate sample size and nature will be well-suited for testing and training of sample handling procedures, and for transport protocols. The training of science and curation teams also requires reference samples and standards. Long-term storage needs special witness plates and voucher specimes. Developing and testing sample preparation protocols needs all sample types

Evaluation of the effects of implementing an electronic early warning score system: protocol for a stepped wedge study

Background: An Early Warning Score is a clinical risk score based upon vital signs intended to aid recognition of patients in need of urgent medical attention. The use of an escalation of care policy based upon an Early Warning Score is mandated as the standard of practice in British hospitals. Electronic systems for recording vital sign observations and Early Warning Score calculation offer theoretical benefits over paper-based systems. However, the evidence for their clinical benefit is limited. Previous studies have shown inconsistent results. The majority have employed a “before and after” study design, which may be strongly confounded by simultaneously occurring events. This study aims to examine how the implementation of an electronic early warning score system, System for Notification and Documentation (SEND), affects the recognition of clinical deterioration occurring in hospitalised adult patients. Methods: This study is a non-randomised stepped wedge evaluation carried out across the four hospitals of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, comparing charting on paper and charting using SEND. We assume that more frequent monitoring of acutely ill patients is associated with better recognition of patient deterioration. The primary outcome measure is the time between a patient’s first observations set with an Early Warning Score above the alerting threshold and their subsequent set of observations. Secondary outcome measures are in-hospital mortality, cardiac arrest and Intensive Care admission rates, hospital length of stay and system usability measured using the System Usability Scale. We will also measure Intensive Care length of stay, Intensive Care mortality, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II acute physiology score on admission, to examine whether the introduction of SEND has any effect on Intensive Care-related outcomes. Discussion: The development of this protocol has been informed by guidance from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health Information Technology Evaluation Toolkit and Delone and McLeans’s Model of Information System Success. Our chosen trial design, a stepped wedge study, is well suited to the study of a phased roll out. The choice of primary endpoint is challenging. We have selected the time from the first triggering observation set to the subsequent observation set. This has the benefit of being easy to measure on both paper and electronic charting and having a straightforward interpretation. We have collected qualitative measures of system quality via a user questionnaire and organisational descriptors to help readers understand the context in which SEND has been implemented

College Students as Helpful Bystanders Against Sexual Violence: Gender, Race, and Year in College Moderate the Impact of Perceived Peer Norms.

Prior research documents that perceived peer norms are related to bystanders’ intentions and intervention behaviors in the context of sexual violence. Given the popularity of bystander intervention programming, it is important to know if variables like gender, race, or year in college impact intervention attitudes/behaviors or interact with perceived peer norms. Also relatively unexplored is the question of missed opportunities for intervention. For our final sample of 232 college students (66% female, 36% Black), screened by age, race, and missing data from an initial pool of 315 respondents, perceived peer norms supporting intervention positively predicted willingness to intervene against sexual violence (bystander intentions) but did not independently predict bystander behaviors or missed opportunities for intervention. Although women reported greater bystander intentions than did men, and Black participants reported more bystander behaviors than did White participants, gender, race, and year in college often interacted with peer norms and with each other in complex ways. Specifically, the predicted positive relationship between peer norms and bystander behaviors was observed only among Black students in at least their second year of college, and the predicted negative relationship between peer norms and missed opportunities was observed only for Black men. These nuances in factors that influence bystander actions have important implications for tailoring prevention tools on college campuses

Development of Diagnostic SCAR Markers for Meloidogyne graminicola, M. Oryzae, and M. salasi associated with irrigated rice fields in Americas.

Root-knot nematodes (RKN) cause important production losses of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the world. Together with Meloidogyne graminicola Golden and Birchfield 1965, M. oryzae Maas, Sanders and Dede, 1978 and M. salasi López, 1984 have been causing damages in irrigated rice fields in Central and South America. In addition, six other RKN species may occur in rice fields in other regions of the world. Correct identification of Meloidogyne spp. is difficult but essential for the management of rice RKNs. The objective of this study was to develop some species-specific molecular markers for the diagnosis of South American RKN rice-related species. Isozyme phenotypes indicated the occurrence of some RKN species in the Brazilian samples, namely M. graminicola, M. oryzae, M. javanica, and two cryptic species designated as Meloidogyne sp. 2 and Meloidogyne sp. 3. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of 16 isolates revealed interspecific genetic polymorphism between Meloidogyne spp., but isolates belonging to the same species (i.e., sharing the same esterase phenotype) always clustered together, whatever the species considered. Specific SCAR markers of 230, 120, and 160 bp were developed for M. graminicola, M. oryzae, and M. salasi, respectively. These SCAR markers may be potential molecular tools for application in routine diagnostic procedures subject to their validation with other rice RKN field populations in the world