Making sense of eating, weight and risk in the early teenage years: views and concerns of parents in poorer socio-economic circumstances

Peer reviewe

Chronic condition self-management support within a respiratory nursing service

Aim. The aim of this study was to report the steps taken by health professionals in practice to embed an innovative chronic condition self-management support programme. Within a small Australian Respiratory Nursing Service in Australia between 2008–2010. Background. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) encompasses chronic obstructive lung conditions such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These debilitating chronic conditions require a coordinated service response by health professionals across the spectrum of inpatient and community care services to support patients’ to effective management their heath and prevent exacerbations. Conclusions. By recognising the importance of the different phases of change involving diagnostic, planning, implementation, ongoing monitoring and review, but also the supporting tools for data collection, the readiness of staff for change, the mapping of barriers and enablers and planning for short- and long-term impacts, this Respiratory Service was able to embed effectively into practice a more coordinated service for patients with COPD across the inpatient/community continuum. Relevance to clinical practice. This change process was undertaken by respiratory nurses in the field using the Chronic Care Model and associated tools to guide implementation and sustainability of the change. Guided by identification of enablers and gaps of most relevance to these health professionals and those they serve, effective service improvement was achieved. The description of how these health professionals achieved change holds lessons potentially for others attempting to improve support for chronic condition self-management across other areas of health.Sharon Lawn, Kathryn Lawto

Student and Faculty Outcomes of Undergraduate Science Research Projects by Geographically Dispersed Students

Senior undergraduate research projects are important components of most undergraduate science degrees. The delivery of such projects in a distance education format is challenging. Athabasca University (AU) science project courses allow distance education students to complete research project courses by working with research supervisors in their local area, coordinated at a distance by AU faculty. This paper presents demographics and course performance for 155 students over five years. Pass rates were similar to other distance education courses. Research students were surveyed by questionnaire, and external supervisors and AU faculty were interviewed, to examine the outcomes of these project courses for each group. Students reported high levels of satisfaction with the course, local supervisors, and faculty coordinators. Students also reported that the experience increased their interest in research, and the probability that they would pursue graduate or additional certification. Local supervisors and faculty affirmed that the purposes of project courses are to introduce the student to research, provide opportunity for students to use their cumulative knowledge, develop cognitive abilities, and independent thinking. The advantages and challenges associated with this course model are discussed

Buckling without bending: a new paradigm in morphogenesis

A curious feature of organ and organoid morphogenesis is that in certain cases, spatial oscillations in the thickness of the growing "film" are out-of-phase with the deformation of the slower-growing "substrate," while in other cases, the oscillations are in-phase. The former cannot be explained by elastic bilayer instability, and contradict the notion that there is a universal mechanism by which brains, intestines, teeth, and other organs develop surface wrinkles and folds. Inspired by the microstructure of the embryonic cerebellum, we develop a new model of 2d morphogenesis in which system-spanning elastic fibers endow the organ with a preferred radius, while a separate fiber network resides in the otherwise fluid-like film at the outer edge of the organ and resists thickness gradients thereof. The tendency of the film to uniformly thicken or thin is described via a "growth potential". Several features of cerebellum, +blebbistatin organoid, and retinal fovea morphogenesis, including out-of-phase behavior and a film thickness amplitude that is comparable to the radius amplitude, are readily explained by our simple analytical model, as may be an observed scale-invariance in the number of folds in the cerebellum. We also study a nonlinear variant of the model, propose further biological and bio-inspired applications, and address how our model is and is not unique to the developing nervous system.Comment: version accepted by Physical Review

Associations Between Habitual School-Day Breakfast Consumption Frequency and Academic Performance in British Adolescents

Studies indicate that breakfast positively affects learning in children. The present study aimed to examine associations between habitual school-day breakfast consumption frequency and academic performance, as measured by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a national academic qualification obtained by most British children during secondary education. Adolescents aged 16–18 years (n = 294; females: 77.2%) completed a retrospective 7-day food diary to report breakfast intake and a questionnaire to report GCSE grades. Breakfast was defined as any food or drink containing ≥5% of total energy expenditure (TEE) consumed up to 10:00 a.m. on school days. Habitual weekly school-day breakfast consumption frequency was categorized as rare (0–1 school days), occasional (2–3 school days), or frequent (4–5 school days). GCSE grades were aggregated into point scores and linear regression models were applied. Participants' GCSE grades in Mathematics and English were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. Adolescents who rarely consumed breakfast on school days had a significantly lower capped point score (β = −0.13, p < 0.05) and mean point score (β = −0.14, p < 0.05) compared with frequent consumers. Low/middle socio-economic status (SES) adolescents who rarely consumed breakfast were significantly less likely to achieve higher Mathematics grades compared to low/middle SES adolescents who frequently consumed breakfast [adjusted cumulative odds ratio (OR): 0.35 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.17–0.72]. This cross-sectional study demonstrates that habitual school-day breakfast consumption amongst adolescents is a significant correlate of GCSE attainment. The results offer promising associative evidence which warrants further exploration in well controlled studies

Fictional Escapism and Identity Formation: A Duoethnographic Exploration of Stories and Adolescent Development

Young Adult Literature has often been utilized to explore reader responses especially in attention to how fiction provides space to explore identity and one’s place within a larger societal context. In this duoethnography, we explored the importance of children and young adult literature’s influence on our own identity development. We share our primary findings that highlight the ways reading stories has provided escape, space for self-discovery and questioning, as well as pathways of learning to cultivate empathy and work towards social justice. We agree with Ellis’s (2014) argument that storytellers must share stories in a way that makes lessons or emotional effects apparent–for it is in those effects that we notice our connections to ourselves and others. We therefore share connections between our own experiences and the larger implications of reading young adult fiction as a tool for both individual and collective identity formation

Multidimensional Fourier Quasicrystals I. Sufficient Conditions

We derive sufficient conditions for an atomic measure $\sum_{\lambda \in \Lambda} m_\lambda\, \delta_\lambda,$ where $\Lambda \subset \mathbb R^n,$ $m_\lambda$ are positive integers, and $\delta_\lambda$ is the point measure at $\lambda,$ to be a Fourier quasicrystal, and suggest why they may also be necessary. These conditions extend the necessary and sufficient conditions derived by Lev, Olevskii, and Ulanovskii for $n = 1.$ Our methods exploit the toric geometry relation between Grothendieck residues and Newton polytopes derived by Gelfond and Khovanskii.Comment: 17 page

N-Arachidonoyl Dopamine Modulates Acute Systemic Inflammation via Nonhematopoietic TRPV1.

N-Arachidonoyl dopamine (NADA) is an endogenous lipid that potently activates the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), which mediates pain and thermosensation. NADA is also an agonist of cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2. We have reported that NADA reduces the activation of cultured human endothelial cells by LPS and TNF-α. Thus far, in vivo studies using NADA have focused on its neurologic and behavioral roles. In this article, we show that NADA potently decreases in vivo systemic inflammatory responses and levels of the coagulation intermediary plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 in three mouse models of inflammation: LPS, bacterial lipopeptide, and polymicrobial intra-abdominal sepsis. We also found that the administration of NADA increases survival in endotoxemic mice. Additionally, NADA reduces blood levels of the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide but increases the neuropeptide substance P in LPS-treated mice. We demonstrate that the anti-inflammatory effects of NADA are mediated by TRPV1 expressed by nonhematopoietic cells and provide data suggesting that neuronal TRPV1 may mediate NADA's anti-inflammatory effects. These results indicate that NADA has novel TRPV1-dependent anti-inflammatory properties and suggest that the endovanilloid system might be targeted therapeutically in acute inflammation

Strategic alliance motivation for technology commercialization and product development

- Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the relationship among alliance motivation (AM), execution of cooperation (EC) and alliance performance of strategic alliance for commercializing technology and developing products. - Design/methodology/approach: The measurements were constructed and tested empirically through a survey of 320 strategic alliances in the food processing industry in Thailand. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were applied to refine scales for measuring AM, execution and cooperation performance. - Findings: This research found that firms adopted social interaction with alliance partners in order to establish mutual expectations about technology characteristics, access opportunity and organisational management styles, factors that are shown to have positive influences on both commercial and partnership performance. Findings also confirm a significant positive impact of technology characteristics, access opportunity, market potential and financial benefit on the adoption of a formal partnership agreement, but a significant impact only on commercial performance. - Research limitations/implications: Further research should use random samples in different industries in other emerging economies, and other data analysis methods to assess decision-making in strategic technology alliances that may include different types of partnerships. - Practical implications: The findings are also useful for managers who leverage operations with external resources obtained through strategic alliances parameters both in the process of managing relationships and achieving results. - Originality/value: This article contributes to extant literature by developing a practical measurement system of AM, actual EC and resulting performance in an emerging economy country. It also contributes to clarify the decision-making of firms that form strategic alliances for commercializing technology and developing products to facilitate more quality management research in other industries and countries