Occupational Therapy’s Role in Matching Handlers and Assistance Dogs

The purpose of this project was to assess and observe the matching process and to identify the role of an occupational therapist in aiding the evaluation process with potential handlers and assistance dogs. Three sites were explored within California: Canine Support Teams, Canine Companions for Independence, and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Interviews were conducted with twenty-five participants about roles, routines, physical environment, need for an assistance dog, and additional support. Key findings from this project revealed a need for occupational therapy within the evaluation process and two-week team training. Therapists could aid with adapting learning material, addressing performance patterns, conducting home evaluations, and educating staff about a range of clients who have different disabilities.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonespring2020/1018/thumbnail.jp

Hearing voices: A narrative analysis of the senate inquiry into the social and economic impacts of rural wind farms

This is a preliminary examination of the public debate initiated as a result of the rapid expansion of wind farms in rural spaces. The study is based on a sample of submissions to the Senate Inquiry, The Social and Economic Impact of Rural Wind Farms (2011). Using a narrative analysis (Riessman 2008), the study identifies the issues raised in support of, or opposition to, wind farm developments in south-west Victoria. Narratives of personal loss or personal gain and by extension, community gain, were used to frame the stories. The narratives of loss struggled to connect to a contemporary public discourse and were as a result marginalised. The narratives of gain were found to link more successfully to themes with national and international currency that allowed the narratives to assume a 'just' stance. This study may be useful for others who engage, communicate and negotiate in the context of further wind farm developments

Hosting critical infrastructure services in the cloud environment considerations

Critical infrastructure technology vendors will inevitability take advantage of the benefits offered by the cloud computing paradigm. While this may offer improved performance and scalability, the associated security threats impede this progression. Hosting critical infrastructure services in the cloud environment may seem inane to some, but currently remote access to the control system over the internet is commonplace. This shares the same characteristics as cloud computing, i.e., on-demand access and resource pooling. There is a wealth of data used within critical infrastructure. There needs to be an assurance that the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this data remains. Authenticity and non-repudiation are also important security requirements for critical infrastructure systems. This paper provides an overview of critical infrastructure and the cloud computing relationship, whilst detailing security concerns and existing protection methods. Discussion on the direction of the area is presented, as is a survey of current protection methods and their weaknesses. Finally, we present our observation and our current research into hosting critical infrastructure services in the cloud environment, and the considerations for detecting cloud attacks. © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Excitatory amino acids and intracellular pH in motoneurons of the isolated frog spinal cord

Double-barrelled pH-sensitive micro-electrodes were used to measure changes of intracellular and extracellular pH in and around motoneurons of the isolated frog spinal cord during application of excitatory amino acids. It was found that N-methyl- -aspartate, quisqualate and kainate produced a concentration-dependent intracellular acidification. Extracellularly, triphasic pH changes (acid-alkaline-acid going pH transients) were observed during the action of these amino acids. The possible significance of such pH changes for the physiological and pathophysiological effects of excitatory amino acids are discussed

Forensic investigation of small-scale digital devices: a futuristic view

Small-scale digital devices like smartphones, smart toys, drones, gaming consoles, tablets, and other personal data assistants have now become ingrained constituents in our daily lives. These devices store massive amounts of data related to individual traits of users, their routine operations, medical histories, and financial information. At the same time, with continuously evolving technology, the diversity in operating systems, client storage localities, remote/cloud storages and backups, and encryption practices renders the forensic analysis task multi-faceted. This makes forensic investigators having to deal with an array of novel challenges. This study reviews the forensic frameworks and procedures used in investigating small-scale digital devices. While highlighting the challenges faced by digital forensics, we explore how cutting-edge technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science may play a role in remedying concerns. The review aims to accumulate state-of-the-art and identify a futuristic approach for investigating SSDDs

COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness in a UK Tertiary and Quaternary Children's Hospital: Tales of the Unexpected

We describe the adaptive coping strategies required in the management of a heterogeneous group of SARS-CoV-2 paediatric patients. The diverse range of presentations, presenting in distinct phenotypic waves, exemplified the importance of preparedness for the unknown. Lessons learned will be essential in planning for a likely second wave of SARS-CoV-2

Aryl urea substituted fatty acids: a new class of protonophoric mitochondrial uncoupler that utilises a synthetic anion transporter

A new mitochondrial uncoupler that forms membrane permeable dimers through interactions of remote acidic and anion receptor groups.</p

Regulation of human intestinal T-cell responses by type 1 interferon-STAT1 signaling is disrupted in inflammatory bowel disease

This work was supported by a research fellowship grant from the Crohn’s and Colitis in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) and a small project grant from Crohn’s and Colitis UK (CCUK). We would like to acknowledge Professor Ian Sanderson, who helped with the initial design of this work, and provided important support throughout. We would also like to thank Dr Gary Warne for his advice and assistance in the use of the sorting by flow cytometry. We would also like to thank Dr Raj Lahiri and Professor Graham Foster for the kind gift of the primers for the ISGs (2’5’ OAS and MxA)

The structural basis of bacterial manganese import

Metal ions are essential for all forms of life. In prokaryotes, ATP-binding cassette (ABC) permeases serve as the primary import pathway for many micronutrients including the first-row transition metal manganese. However, the structural features of ionic metal transporting ABC permeases have remained undefined. Here, we present the crystal structure of the manganese transporter PsaBC from Streptococcus pneumoniae in an open-inward conformation. The type II transporter has a tightly closed transmembrane channel due to "extracellular gating" residues that prevent water permeation or ion reflux. Below these residues, the channel contains a hitherto unreported metal coordination site, which is essential for manganese translocation. Mutagenesis of the extracellular gate perturbs manganese uptake, while coordination site mutagenesis abolishes import. These structural features are highly conserved in metal-specific ABC transporters and are represented throughout the kingdoms of life. Collectively, our results define the structure of PsaBC and reveal the features required for divalent cation transport.Stephanie L. Neville, Jennie Sjöhamn, Jacinta A. Watts, Hugo MacDermott-Opeskin, Stephen J. Fairweather, Katherine Ganio, Alex Carey Hulyer, Aaron P. McGrath, Andrew J. Hayes, Tess R. Malcolm, Mark R. Davies, Norimichi Nomura, So Iwata, Megan L. O’Mara, Megan J. Maher, Christopher A. McDevit

Astrocyte-mediated short-term synaptic depression in the rat hippocampal CA1 area: two modes of decreasing release probability

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Synaptic burst activation feeds back as a short-term depression of release probability at hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses. This short-term synaptic plasticity requires functional astrocytes and it affects both the recently active (< 1 s) synapses (post-burst depression) as well as inactive neighboring synapses (transient heterosynaptic depression). The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the components contributing to the depression of release probability in these two different scenarios.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When tested using paired-pulses, following a period of inactivity, the transient heterosynaptic depression was expressed as a reduction in the response to only the first pulse, whereas the response to the second pulse was unaffected. This selective depression of only the first response in a high-frequency burst was shared by the homosynaptic post-burst depression, but it was partially counteracted by augmentation at these recently active synapses. In addition, the expression of the homosynaptic post-burst depression included an astrocyte-mediated reduction of the pool of release-ready primed vesicles.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that activated astrocytes depress the release probability via two different mechanisms; by depression of vesicular release probability only at inactive synapses and by imposing a delay in the recovery of the primed pool of vesicles following depletion. These mechanisms restrict the expression of the astrocyte-mediated depression to temporal windows that are typical for synaptic burst activity.</p