Review Essay: Emplacement and everyday use of medications in domestic dwellings

To extend knowledge of relationships between people and domestic settings in the context of medication use, we conducted fieldwork in twenty households in New Zealand. These households contained a range of ‘medicative’ forms, including prescription drugs, traditional remedies, dietary supplements and enhanced foods. The location and use of these substances within domestic dwellings speaks to processes of emplacement and identity in the creation of spaces for care. Our analysis contributes to current understandings of the ways in which objects from ‘outside’ the home come to be woven into relationships, identities and meanings ‘inside’ the home. We demonstrate that, as well as being pharmacological objects, medications are complex, socially embedded objects with histories and memories that are ingrained within contemporary relationships of care and home-making practices

Sunmaster: An SEP cargo vehicle for Mars missions

Options are examined for an unmanned solar powered electric propulsion cargo vehicle for Mars missions. The 6 prime areas of study include: trajectory, propulsion system, power system, supporting structure, control system, and launch consideration. Optimization of the low thrust trajectory resulted in a total round trip mission time just under 4 years. The argon propelled electrostatic ion thruster system consists of seventeen 5 N engines and uses a specific impulse of 10,300 secs. At Earth, the system uses 13 engines to produce 60 N of thrust; at Mars, five engines are used, producing 25 N thrust. The thrust of the craft is varied between 60 N at Earth and 24 N at Mars due to reduced solar power available. Solar power is collected by a Fresnel lens concentrator system using a multistacked cell. This system provides 3.5 MW to the propulsion system after losses. Control and positioning to the craft are provided by a system of three double gimballed control moment gyros. Four shuttle 'C' launches will be used to transport the unassembled vehicle in modular units to low Earth orbit where it will be assembled using the Mobile Transporter of the Space Station Freedom

Nature of the Evidence Base and Approaches to Guide Nutrition Interventions for Individuals: A Position Paper From the Academy of Nutrition Sciences

This Position Paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences is the third in a series which describe the nature of the scientific evidence and frameworks that underpin nutrition recommendations for health. This paper focuses on evidence which guides the application of dietary recommendations for individuals. In some situations, modified nutrient intake becomes essential to prevent deficiency, optimise development and health, or manage symptoms and disease progression. Disease and its treatment can also affect taste, appetite and ability to access and prepare foods, with associated financial impacts. Therefore, the practice of nutrition and dietetics must integrate and apply the sciences of food, nutrition, biology, physiology, behaviour, management, communication and society to achieve and maintain human health. Thus, there is huge complexity in delivering evidence-based nutrition interventions to individuals. This paper examines available frameworks for appraising the quality and certainty of nutrition research evidence, the development nutrition practice guidelines to support evidence implementation in practice and the influence of other sources of nutrition information and misinformation. The paper also considers major challenges in applying research evidence to an individual and suggests consensus recommendations to begin to address these challenges in the future. Our recommendations target three groups; those who deliver nutrition interventions to individuals, those funding, commissioning or undertaking research aimed at delivering evidence-based nutrition practice, and those disseminating nutritional information to individuals

Nature of the evidence base and approaches to guide nutrition interventions for individuals: a position paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This Position Paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences is the third in a series which describe the nature of the scientific evidence and frameworks that underpin nutrition recommendations for health. This paper focuses on evidence which guides the application of dietary recommendations for individuals. In some situations, modified nutrient intake becomes essential to prevent deficiency, optimise development and health, or manage symptoms and disease progression. Disease and its treatment can also affect taste, appetite, and ability to access and prepare foods, with associated financial impacts. Therefore, the practice of nutrition and dietetics must integrate and apply the sciences of food, nutrition, biology, physiology, behaviour, management, communication, and society to achieve and maintain human health. Thus, there is huge complexity in delivering evidence-based nutrition interventions to individuals. This paper examines available frameworks for appraising the quality and certainty of nutrition research evidence, the development nutrition practice guidelines to support evidence implementation in practice, and the influence of other sources of nutrition information and misinformation. The paper also considers major challenges in applying research evidence to an individual and suggests consensus recommendations to begin to address these challenges for the future. Our recommendations target three groups; those who deliver nutrition interventions to individuals, those funding, commissioning, or undertaking research aimed at delivering evidence-based nutrition practice, and those disseminating nutritional information to individuals.Peer reviewe

Psychostimulant Misuse Among American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Native Hawaiian College Students in the U.S. From 2015 to 2019

Introduction: This study examines factors associated with psychostimulant misuse, including polysubstance use and social factors, among the understudied American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian (AI/AN/NH) college student population. Methods: Data were from the 2015 to 2019 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment IIc (ACHA-NCHA IIc) survey. Multivariable logistic regression models and odds ratios were used to estimate associations between psychostimulant misuse and potential risk and protective factors among AI/AN/NH college students, including licit and illicit substance use, social support, relationship factors, exposure to violence or abuse, mental health symptoms, drug and alcohol education, and sample demographics. Results: Opioid misuse among AI/AN/NH college students significantly increased the odds of using psychostimulants. Specifically, for cocaine use, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was 3.17 with a 95% confidence interval (C.I.) of 2.17 to 4.63; for methamphetamine use, the aOR was 38.87 (95% C.I. 19.24-78.52). For amphetamine misuse among non-Tobacco users, the aOR was 5.47 (95% C.I. 3.49-8.55), while among Tobacco users, the aOR was 2.65 (95% C.I. 2.07-3.41). For cocaine and other stimulant misuse, the aOR was 3.64 (95% C.I. 2.30-5.67). Additionally, the use of other types of licit and illicit substances was associated with greater odds of psychostimulant use and misuse. Conversely, factors such as age, living on campus, and residing in parental/guardian housing were linked with lower odds of psychostimulant use and misuse. Conclusion: Substance use prevention and treatment interventions targeting AI/AN/NH college students should address polysubstance use, including the combined use of opioids and psychostimulants. Substance use interventions should not be siloed to focus narrowly on single substances but rather should leverage potential protective factors against substance use, such as promoting supportive campus and family living conditions and other social support networks, in broad efforts to reduce multiple forms of substance use among AI/AN/NH students

Analysis of sloppiness in model simulations: unveiling parameter uncertainty when mathematical models are fitted to data

This work introduces a Bayesian approach to assess the sensitivity of model outputs to changes in parameter values, constrained by the combination of prior beliefs and data. This novel approach identifies stiff parameter combinations that strongly affect the quality of the model-data fit while simultaneously revealing which of these key parameter combinations are informed primarily from the data or are also substantively influenced by the priors. We focus on the very common context in complex systems where the amount and quality of data are low compared to the number of model parameters to be collectively estimated, and showcase the benefits of our technique for applications in biochemistry, ecology, and cardiac electrophysiology. We also show how stiff parameter combinations, once identified, uncover controlling mechanisms underlying the system being modeled and inform which of the model parameters need to be prioritized in future experiments for improved parameter inference from collective model-data fitting

A Laminin G-EGF-Laminin G Module in Neurexin IV Is Essential for the Apico-Lateral Localization of Contactin and Organization of Septate Junctions

Septate junctions (SJs) display a unique ultrastructural morphology with ladder-like electron densities that are conserved through evolution. Genetic and molecular analyses have identified a highly conserved core complex of SJ proteins consisting of three cell adhesion molecules Neurexin IV, Contactin, and Neuroglian, which interact with the cytoskeletal FERM domain protein Coracle. How these individual proteins interact to form the septal arrays that create the paracellular barrier is poorly understood. Here, we show that point mutations that map to specific domains of neurexin IV lead to formation of fewer septae and disorganization of SJs. Consistent with these observations, our in vivo domain deletion analyses identified the first Laminin G-EGF-Laminin G module in the extracellular region of Neurexin IV as necessary for the localization of and association with Contactin. Neurexin IV protein that is devoid of its cytoplasmic region is able to create septae, but fails to form a full complement of SJs. These data provide the first in vivo evidence that specific domains in Neurexin IV are required for protein-protein interactions and organization of SJs. Given the molecular conservation of SJ proteins across species, our studies may provide insights into how vertebrate axo-glial SJs are organized in myelinated axons