Defining the Costs of an Outbreak of Karnal Bunt of Wheat

In determining the economic impact of a possible outbreak of the quarantinable wheat disease Karnal Bunt, an examination was made of the detailed components of the costs involved. The costs were classified as: (a) Direct costs (yield and quality losses); (b) Reaction costs (export bans, quality down-grading, seed industry costs); and (c) Control costs (quarantine zones, fungicides, spore destruction). The relative importance of each of these cost components is measured for a hypothetical outbreak of Karnal Bunt in the European Union, as a means of ensuring that the policy responses to such an outbreak are appropriate considering the costs involved.disease, quarantine, cost, wheat, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

Barriers to and facilitators of implementing complex workplace dietary interventions: Process evaluation results of a cluster controlled trial

Background: Ambiguity exists regarding the effectiveness of workplace dietary interventions. Rigorous process evaluation is vital to understand this uncertainty. This study was conducted as part of the Food Choice at Work trial which assessed the comparative effectiveness of a workplace environmental dietary modification intervention and an educational intervention both alone and in combination versus a control workplace. Effectiveness was assessed in terms of employees’ dietary intakes, nutrition knowledge and health status in four large manufacturing workplaces. The study aimed to examine barriers to and facilitators of implementing complex workplace interventions, from the perspectives of key workplace stakeholders and researchers involved in implementation. Methods: A detailed process evaluation monitored and evaluated intervention implementation. Interviews were conducted at baseline (27 interviews) and at 7–9 month follow-up (27 interviews) with a purposive sample of workplace stakeholders (managers and participating employees). Topic guides explored factors which facilitated or impeded implementation. Researchers involved in recruitment and data collection participated in focus groups at baseline and at 7–9 month follow-up to explore their perceptions of intervention implementation. Data were imported into NVivo software and analysed using a thematic framework approach. Results: Four major themes emerged; perceived benefits of participation, negotiation and flexibility of the implementation team, viability and intensity of interventions and workplace structures and cultures. The latter three themes either positively or negatively affected implementation, depending on context. The implementation team included managers involved in coordinating and delivering the interventions and the researchers who collected data and delivered intervention elements. Stakeholders’ perceptions of the benefits of participating, which facilitated implementation, included managers’ desire to improve company image and employees seeking health improvements. Other facilitators included stakeholder buy-in, organisational support and stakeholder cohesiveness with regards to the level of support provided to the intervention. Anticipation of employee resistance towards menu changes, workplace restructuring and target-driven workplace cultures impeded intervention implementation. Conclusions: Contextual factors such as workplace structures and cultures need to be considered in the implementation of future workplace dietary interventions. Negotiation and flexibility of key workplace stakeholders plays an integral role in overcoming the barriers of workplace cultures, structures and resistance to change

N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) Reverse the Impact of Early-Life Stress on the Gut Microbiota

Supporting Information S1 File. Microbiota Data Set. NS.S, NS.LD, NS.HD stand for non-separated Saline, non-separated Low Dose, non-separated High Dose, respectively. MS.S, MS.LD, MS.HD stand for maternally separated Saline, maternally separated Low Dose, maternally separated High Dose, respectively. (ZIP)peer-reviewedBackground Early life stress is a risk factor for many psychiatric disorders ranging from depression to anxiety. Stress, especially during early life, can induce dysbiosis in the gut microbiota, the key modulators of the bidirectional signalling pathways in the gut-brain axis that underline several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Despite their critical role in the development and function of the central nervous system, the effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) on the regulation of gut-microbiota in early-life stress has not been explored. Methods and Results Here, we show that long-term supplementation of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)/docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (80% EPA, 20% DHA) n-3 PUFAs mixture could restore the disturbed gut-microbiota composition of maternally separated (MS) female rats. Sprague-Dawley female rats were subjected to an early-life stress, maternal separation procedure from postnatal days 2 to 12. Non-separated (NS) and MS rats were administered saline, EPA/DHA 0.4 g/kg/day or EPA/DHA 1 g/kg/day, respectively. Analysis of the gut microbiota in adult rats revealed that EPA/DHA changes composition in the MS, and to a lesser extent the NS rats, and was associated with attenuation of the corticosterone response to acute stress. Conclusions In conclusion, EPA/DHA intervention alters the gut microbiota composition of both neurodevelopmentally normal and early-life stressed animals. This study offers insights into the interaction between n-3 PUFAs and gut microbes, which may play an important role in advancing our understanding of disorders of mood and cognitive functioning, such as anxiety and depression.Research was funded by Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) under Grant No. 10/RD/TMFRC/709, the APC Microbiome Institute under Grant No. 07/CE/B1368 and 12/RC/2273, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant No. 12/IA/1537

Adherence to Dietary and Physical Activity Guidelines Among Shift Workers: Associations with Individual and Work-Related Factors

Objectives Shift work is associated with adverse effects on the health and lifestyle behaviours of employees. This study aimed to examine factors associated with adherence among shift workers to selected indicators of dietary and physical activity guidelines. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1300 shift workers. Data were collected using a 15 minute telephone-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression methods were used for data analysis. Results Male shift workers (

Well-being and expression of self in dementia : interactions in long-term wards and creative sessions

This is a multi-method ethnographic study, grounded in symbolic interactionism and social constructionism, which seeks to explore the social worlds of people with dementia in institutional long-term care. Carried out over six months, it uses non-participant observation, Dementia Care Mapping, video-recording, focused conversations and extensive fieldnotes to document types of interactions that fourteen people with dementia received in everyday ward life and during weekly creative sessions facilitated by occupational therapy (OT) staff. Using Kitwood’s (1997) work on person-centred care and Sabat’s (2001) work on selfhood (Selfs 1-3) it identifies their responses to such interactions in terms of their well or ill-being and expressions of Self. The study shows that everyday staff interactions with participants, while sometimes positive, were more often limited in their potential for maintaining or increasing well-being. Sometimes staff interactions were abusive; causing participant ill-being. Participants expressed Selfs 1-3 verbally and visually, although some of these expressions were subtle, fleeting and fragile. During creative sessions, OT staff engaged in sustained positive interactions, raising participant well-being and facilitating Self-expression; a fragile expression of Self could become a robust expression of Self, a past Self could be reclaimed and a desired Self co-constructed. My findings suggest that, in their interactions during creative sessions, OT staff generally recognised and supported Self of participants, raising well-being. However, ward staff did not fully recognise and therefore could not support Self in their interactions with participants, resulting in participant ill-being. This is a crucial finding, which could partially explain the differences in interaction types I observed, and the corresponding differences in participant well-being and Self-expression. This thesis argues for integrating the selfhood and person-centred approaches into an innovative staff-training programme, in order to bring about transformational change in practice. This might encourage care staff to reach out, recognise and respond to aspects of Self as they carry out care; promoting more positive ways of interacting with their patients, increasing patient well-being and fostering staff satisfaction.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceNMAHP Research Training (Scotland) : NHS Education for Scotland (NES) : Scottish Executive Health Department : Health FoundationGBUnited Kingdo

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Axial Spondyloarthritis:A Qualitative Exploration of Self-Management

Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory rheumatic condition that is often subject to diagnostic delays. Individuals with axSpA report using complementary and alternative therapies prior to and following diagnosis, though little is known concerning reasons underlying use of such therapies. This study provides detailed insights into the motivation and experiences of complementary and alternative medicine use within a population of individuals with axSpA. Open-ended surveys were completed by 30 individuals (20−69 years; 17 females) diagnosed with axSpA. Subsequent telephone interviews were conducted with eight individuals (39−70 years; five females) diagnosed with axSpA. Data were analyzed using reflexive inductive thematic analysis. Themes of “a learning curve”, “barriers to complementary and alternative therapy use” and “complementary or mutually exclusive” illustrated how participants” increasing understanding of their condition empowered them to explore complementary and alternative therapies use as an adjunct to mainstream care. Individuals with axSpA recommended greater integration between mainstream and complementary and alternative therapies, valuing informed advice from mainstream healthcare professionals before selecting appropriate complementary and alternative therapies for potential use. Healthcare professionals should be proactive in discussing complementary and alternative therapy use with patients and supply them with details of organizations that can provide good-quality information

Collaboration between local health and local government agencies for health improvement (Review)

Background: In many countries, national, regional and local inter- and intra-agency collaborations have been introduced to improve health outcomes. Evidence is needed on the effectiveness of locally developed partnerships which target changes in health outcomes and behaviours. Objectives: To evaluate the effects of interagency collaboration between local health and local government agencies on health outcomes in any population or age group. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Public Health Group Specialised Register, AMED, ASSIA, CENTRAL, CINAHL, DoPHER, EMBASE, ERIC, HMIC, IBSS, MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, OpenGrey, PsycINFO, Rehabdata, Social Care Online, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, TRoPHI andWeb of Science from 1966 through to January 2012. ’Snowballing’ methods were used, including expert contact, citation tracking, website searching and reference list follow-up. Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before-and-after studies (CBAs) and interrupted time series (ITS) where the study reported individual health outcomes arising from interagency collaboration between health and local government agencies compared to standard care. Studies were selected independently in duplicate, with no restriction on population subgroup or disease. Data collection and analysis: Two authors independently conducted data extraction and assessed risk of bias for each study

The food choice at work study: effectiveness of complex workplace dietary interventions on dietary behaviours and diet-related disease risk - study protocol for a clustered controlled trial

Background: Dietary behaviour interventions have the potential to reduce diet-related disease. Ample opportunity exists to implement these interventions in the workplace. The overall aim is to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of complex dietary interventions focused on environmental dietary modification alone or in combination with nutrition education in large manufacturing workplace settings. Methods/design: A clustered controlled trial involving four large multinational manufacturing workplaces in Cork will be conducted. The complex intervention design has been developed using the Medical Research Council's framework and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines and will be reported using the TREND statement for the transparent reporting of evaluations with non-randomized designs. It will draw on a soft paternalistic 'nudge' theoretical perspective. It will draw on a soft paternalistic "nudge" theoretical perspective. Nutrition education will include three elements: group presentations, individual nutrition consultations and detailed nutrition information. Environmental dietary modification will consist of five elements: (a) restriction of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt, (b) increase in fibre, fruit and vegetables, (c) price discounts for whole fresh fruit, (d) strategic positioning of healthier alternatives and (e) portion size control. No intervention will be offered in workplace A (control). Workplace B will receive nutrition education. Workplace C will receive nutrition education and environmental dietary modification. Workplace D will receive environmental dietary modification alone. A total of 448 participants aged 18 to 64 years will be selected randomly. All permanent, full-time employees, purchasing at least one main meal in the workplace daily, will be eligible. Changes in dietary behaviours, nutrition knowledge, health status with measurements obtained at baseline and at intervals of 3 to 4 months, 7 to 9 months and 13 to 16 months will be recorded. A process evaluation and cost-effectiveness economic evaluation will be undertaken. Discussion: A 'Food Choice at Work' toolbox (concise teaching kit to replicate the intervention) will be developed to inform and guide future researchers, workplace stakeholders, policy makers and the food industry. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN35108237