Public outreach: growing and adapting with changing times

Drayton Harbor’s 2016 reopening of 810 acres of commercial, tribal, and recreational shellfish harvesting area marked a significant achievement in the efforts to improve water quality and allow year-round harvest of the productive shellfish growing area. Public outreach over the past 20 years played a critical role in engaging the local community and encouraging on-the-ground actions to reduce pollution throughout the watershed. Bacteria pollution is a complex issue requiring diverse solutions; no single fix exists. In the Drayton Harbor watershed, a variety of organizations, agencies, and community members participated in developing and carrying out a robust and diverse outreach strategy that was adapted over time. We will review the history of these key outreach players and their roles in Drayton Harbor water quality improvements. Successful outreach efforts from Whatcom County’s Pollution Identification and Correction (PIC) Program included the development of online water quality summaries, online interactive results map, community events, video shorts, and the septic system maintenance rebate program. Future outreach goals include the use of social marketing to normalize pollution prevention actions such as routine septic system maintenance. Ultimately, sustaining good water quality and safe, year-round shellfish harvest requires ongoing community engagement

An overview of the use of urine, hair, sweat and saliva to detect drug use.

This paper provides a brief overview of qualitative drug testing procedures using urine, hair, saliva and sweat specimens. Issues related to collection, analysis and interpretation of each specimen as well as their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The biological detection of drug use involves a screening test which, if positive, is followed by a confirmatory test. Urine is the most widely used specimen in the detection of drugs. Urinalysis offers an intermediate window of detection (1-3 days). Hair analysis offers the largest window of detection (7-100+ days). Saliva analysis may be useful in determining very recent drug use (1-36 hours). The analysis of sweat may be useful for continuous monitoring of drug use (1-14 days). Drug testing has become a fast, convenient process with the development of point-of-collection drug testing devices

Survey of drug consumption rooms: service delivery and perceived public health and amenity impact.

Drug consumption rooms (DCRs) have operated in Europe for more than 20 years. At the time of this study three Australian jurisdictions were considering trials of DCRs and little information about these services was available in the English literature. We surveyed 39 DCRs in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Spain in 1999-2000 regarding service delivery and perceived public health and amenity impact and 15 (40%) responded. The DCRs surveyed were professionally staffed, low threshold services which provided a range of health, psych-social, drug treatment and welfare services and referrals. No overdose deaths were reported and the estimated rate of non-fatal overdose ranged from 1 to 36 per 10,000 visits. These DCRs appeared to be achieving their service delivery objectives with few negative consequences

An examination of the quality of life among rural and outer metropolitan injecting drug users in NSW, Australia

This article aims to explore the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and health-related behaviours among rural and metropolitan injecting drug users (IDU) using a new scale developed specifically for use with IDU.One-hundred and sixty-four rural and 96 metropolitan IDU from seven different NSW Area Health Services were interviewed using a cross-sectional survey, including the Injection Drug Use Quality of Life (IDUQOL) scale. The mean domain-based IDUQOL score was 59.4 (SD 22.3). The life areas most commonly selected by participants as important in determining their QOL were family, health, money, housing and partnerships. Rural participants were less likely to choose housing compared to those from the metropolitan areas, but were more likely to select independence. Rural participants also gave a lower mean rating to money (33.1 vs. 47.0) and to partnerships (53.8 vs. 71.1), suggesting differences in the composition of QOL among rural and metropolitan IDU. Compared to metropolitan participants, rural participants had a lower domain-based QOL score (56.1 vs. 64.5). No association was found between QOL and health-related behaviours such as drug use or sexual and injecting practices. IDU subjective assessment of QOL is mediated by a range of factors. Disparity between rural and metropolitan IDU appears to be influenced by non-health related areas such as partnerships and money, highlighting the need for a more holistic approach to the management of substance use problems

How School Leaders Navigate the Priority School Support Review Process: An Australian Case Study

In Australia, policy makers demand school leaders focus on raising student achievement levels when planning and implementing a school improvement (SI) plan. This paper explores the SI process for two Australian primary schools deemed to be underperforming and underwent a priority school support review (PSSR). In this study, 2 principals and members of their leadership team and 10 teachers across 2 schools were interviewed to explore how they experienced the PSSR process at different stages of the review process. Two assistant regional directors assigned to supporting the two schools during the PSSR process were also interviewed. The findings suggested that initially, school principals wondered how a PSSR would impact the morale of teaching staff already working hard to support student outcomes. However, as the schools progressed through the process, the principals’ perspectives shifted to see the PSSR as a valuable process for building leadership and teacher capacity and improving student outcomes

Leadership attributes that support school improvement: a realist approach

School improvement reforms aimed at achieving improved student learning remain high on the agenda for leaders across the globe. The purpose of this paper is to understand the leadership attributes that enable school leaders to bring about positive change. This qualitative study is based on interviews with school leaders (school principals and their deputy principals) and focus groups of six teachers in two case study schools. A realist approach is used to understand how leadership attributes spark related social mechanisms that lead to improved outcomes. Data analysis generated four leadership attributes: (1) valuing diversity, (2) support for staff, (3) collaborative leadership style, and (4) valuing teachers’ professional learning. Each of these was found to have influenced decision-making and sentiment, which generated positive school improvement outcomes in the two case study schools. These findings have the potential to contribute to professional learning which can improve understanding of how leadership attributes in context bring about school improvement.</p

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids reveal tubular epithelial pathobiology of heterozygous HNF1B-associated dysplastic kidney malformations

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B (HNF1B) encodes a transcription factor expressed in developing human kidney epithelia. Heterozygous HNF1B mutations are the commonest monogenic cause of dysplastic kidney malformations (DKMs). To understand their pathobiology, we generated heterozygous HNF1B mutant kidney organoids from CRISPR-Cas9 gene-edited human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) reprogrammed from a family with HNF1B-associated DKMs. Mutant organoids contained enlarged malformed tubules displaying deregulated cell turnover. Numerous genes implicated in Mendelian kidney tubulopathies were downregulated, and mutant tubules resisted the cyclic AMP (cAMP)-mediated dilatation seen in controls. Bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analyses indicated abnormal Wingless/Integrated (WNT), calcium, and glutamatergic pathways, the latter hitherto unstudied in developing kidneys. Glutamate ionotropic receptor kainate type subunit 3 (GRIK3) was upregulated in malformed mutant nephrontubules and prominent in HNF1B mutant fetal human dysplastic kidney epithelia. These results reveal morphological, molecular, and physiological roles for HNF1B in human kidney tubule differentiation and morphogenesis illuminating the developmental origin of mutant-HNF1B-causing kidney disease

EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON THE PLASMA LIPID PROFILE IN HISPANIOLAN AMAZON PARROTS (AMAZONA VENTRALIS) WITH NATURALLY OCCURRING HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA

Hypercholesterolemia is common in psittacines, and Amazon parrots ( Amazona spp.) are particularly susceptible. Associations have been demonstrated between naturally occurring and experimentally induced hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis in psittacines. Daily exercise improves lipid metabolism in humans and other mammals, as well as pigeons and chickens, under varying experimental conditions. Hispaniolan Amazon parrots ( Amazona ventralis ) with naturally occurring hypercholesterolemia (343-576 mg/dl) were divided into two groups. An exercised group (n = 8) was housed as a flock and exercised daily with 30 min of aviary flight and 30 min walking on a rotating perch. A sedentary control group (n = 4) was housed in individual cages with no exercise regime. A plasma lipid panel, including total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, was validated for this species. Body weight, chest girth, and the lipid panel were measured at 0, 61, and 105 days. Hematology and plasma biochemistry were measured at 0 and 105 days. Weight and girth were significantly lower in exercised than sedentary parrots at 61 and 105 days. HDL-C concentrations were significantly higher in exercised parrots at 61 days but returned to near baseline by 105 days. There were no significant changes in hematology, biochemistry, or other lipid panel parameters. Results were similar to studies in humans and animal models, in which increased HDL-C was the most consistent effect of exercise on circulating lipid and lipoprotein parameters. The return toward baseline HDL-C may have resulted from decreased participation in aviary flight. Additional investigation will be required to determine the amount of exercise and change in circulating lipid-related parameters necessary to improve long-term wellness in psittacine species predisposed to hypercholesterolemia