Establishment of an Innovative Telehealth Speech and Language Therapy Placement as a Rapid Response to COVID-19: Sharing the Learning

The aim of this evaluation was to explore practice educators’ and speech and language therapy (SLT) students’ experiences of a rapid response telehealth placement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to inform quality improvement. In March 2020, public health restrictions were imposed across Ireland in efforts to ‘flatten the curve’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All placements were cancelled. According to an Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists survey in April 2020, 47% of SLTs were redeployed to swabbing and contact tracing roles, and many remain redeployed seven months later. This redeployment, along with strict public health measures in clinical sites, significantly reduced the availability of clinical placements. A rapid response was required to enable students to develop clinical competencies. Although telehealth has been used to deliver speech and language therapy in other countries, it had not been used routinely in service provision in Ireland. In this article, we outline how we built on existing partnerships with practice educators, both on- and off-site, to design a much-needed telehealth placement. We explored educators’ and students’ experiences using an online focus group and online survey respectively. The evaluations of practice educators were positive in that despite their initial apprehension, they reported that this placement provided valuable learning opportunities for students while also providing benefits for clients. They also reported some technological and sustainability challenges. The students also evaluated this placement positively with 83.3% of respondents rating the placement as ‘excellent ‘and 16.7% rating it as ‘good’. All stakeholders valued this learning experience

Brexit and the Cultural Sector

A collaborative ebook on the effects of the Brexit vote on the UK's cultural sector and its agents: "It's not just the economy, stupid! Brexit and the Cultural Sector", edited by Gesa Stedman and Sandra van Lente. Our contributors come from a broad range of cultural and artistic practice and many of them worry about two aspects which have come to the fore in the context of Brexit: the stark social rift which separates the Leave and Remain camps, and the nasty rise of xenophobia and insularity in all its different shapes and forms. Although our authors do not intend to be read or viewed as all-encompassing, and although they differ in respect to the focus they chose for their essays, poems, or statements, one aspect unifies their utterances: passion. Passion for the multi-faceted characteristics of culture, language, exchange, dialogue, border-crossings, passion for an outward-looking approach to both Britain, its different nations, and its neighbours close and far. A passionate fear of what Britain might lose in the process of departing from the EU. And the fear of loss does not concentrate on the loss of revenue or even on the probable obstacles to travel and artistic exchange once Brexit is in place. But the loss of ambivalence and ambiguity, the loss of conflicting opinions, texts, stances, diversity, in short: everything that culture, which is free to find its own forms of expression, is valued for

Mutations at the flavin binding site of ETF:QO yield a MADD-like severe phenotype in Drosophila

Following a screening on EMS-induced Drosophila mutants defective for formation and morphogenesis of epithelial cells, we have identified three lethal mutants defective for the production of embryonic cuticle. The mutants are allelic to the CG12140 gene, the fly homologue of electron transfer flavoprotein:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETF:QO). In humans, inherited defects in this inner membrane protein account for multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD), a metabolic disease of beta-oxidation, with a broad range of clinical phenotypes, varying from embryonic lethal to mild forms. The three mutant alleles carried distinct missense mutations in ETF:QO (G65E, A68V and S104F) and maternal mutant embryos for ETF:QO showed lethal morphogenetic defects and a significant induction of apoptosis following germ-band elongation. This phenotype is accompanied by an embryonic accumulation of short- and medium-chain acylcarnitines (C4. C8 and 02) as well as long-chain acylcarnitines (C14 and C16:1), whose elevation is also found in severe MADD forms in humans under intense metabolic decompensation. In agreement the ETF:QO activity in the mutant embryos is markedly decreased in relation to wild type activity. Amino acid sequence analysis and structural mapping into a molecular model of ETF:QO show that all mutations map at FAD interacting residues, two of which at the nucleotide-binding Rossmann fold. This structural domain is composed by a beta-strand connected by a short loop to an alpha-helix, and its perturbation results in impaired cofactor association via structural destabilisation and consequently enzymatic inactivation. This work thus pinpoints the molecular origins of a severe MADD-like phenotype in the fruit fly and establishes the proof of concept concerning the suitability of this organism as,a potential model organism for MADD. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES, Portugal) [PTDC/SAU-GMG/70033/2006, PTDC/QUI-BIQ/113027/2009, PTDC/BIA-BCM/111822/2009, PTDC/SAU-BID/111796/2009, SFRH/BPD/41609/2007, SFRH/BPD/74475/2010, SFRH/BPD/34763/2007]; CLIMB UK; [PEst-OE/EQB/LA0004/2011]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Challenges experienced with early introduction and sustained consumption of allergenic foods in the Enquiring About Tolerance (EAT) study: A qualitative analysis.

BACKGROUND: The early introduction group participants of the Enquiring About Tolerance study were asked to undertake a proscriptive regimen of early introduction and sustained consumption of 6 allergenic foods. It was envisaged that this might be challenging, and early introduction group families were presented with an open-text question to express any problems they were experiencing with the regimen in recurring online questionnaires. OBJECTIVE: We sought to analyze these open-text questionnaire responses with the aim of identifying challenges associated with the introduction and regular consumption of allergenic foods. METHODS: Three combinations of interim questionnaire responses were selected for analysis, representing the early period (4, 5, and 6 months), middle period (8 and 12 months), and late period (24 and 36 months) of participation in the Enquiring About Tolerance study. Responses were assigned a code to describe their content and subsequently grouped into themes to portray key messages. A thematic content analysis allowed for conversion of qualitative codes into quantitative summaries. RESULTS: Three main challenges to allergenic food consumption were identified. First, some children refused the allergenic food, causing a sense of defeat among caregivers. Second, caregivers were concerned that allergenic foods might be causing a reaction, triggering a need for reassurance. Third, practical problems associated with the regimen compromised caregivers' capacity to persist. CONCLUSION: Understanding the challenges experienced with allergenic food introduction and sustained consumption is the necessary precursor to developing specific communication and support strategies that could be used by caregivers, practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders to address these problems

Effects of browsing preferences in White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

Deer populations have increased in the past thirty years. Increased herbivory has been suspected to impact plant growth and forest regeneration. Examining the impact of deer browsing is an important component of making decisions regarding forest management. We hypothesized that white-tailed deer browsing impacts forest composition, predicting that browsing will create a significant difference in the diameter and abundance of trees, saplings, and woody ground cover species. Our study sites were located on UMBS property in the forests of northern, lower Michigan. We surveyed the count, species, and browse status of woody plants in two study sites containing two parts, one fenced to reduce exposure to deer browsing, the other unfenced. We also conducted a carbon to nitrogen analysis on all woody plant species encountered. In the burn site, we found a significant difference in the diameters of big tooth aspen between the fenced and unfenced areas. In the unburned site, we found significant differences in ground cover composition between the fenced and unfenced areas. We suggest that similar studies be conducted in the future to further investigate the impact of deer browsing on forest communities, in order to protect the regeneration of our forests and to guide decisions about deer population control.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55045/1/3489.pdfDescription of 3489.pdf : Access restricted to on-site users at the U-M Biological Station

Will to Meaning: A Pilot Study on Teaching Existential Theory through Creative Techniques

Early career clinicians have reported limited experience utilizing existential concepts in their clinical practice. This deficit may be attributed to a gap in training. Further, utilizing creative techniques to elucidate conceptual understanding has a demonstrated history of effectiveness in the classroom. This study explored whether the use of creative instructional techniques supports student learning of existential counseling theory, and, if so, which specific tools do students prefer. Through pairing existential concepts with creative instructional techniques, the researchers hypothesized that understanding would increase. Students reported a significant increase in their knowledge of existential concepts following the use of creative instructional techniques and notated their preferences. Resources for integrating these techniques in counselor education are provided alongside future research directions

Speeding up or slowing down?: Gait adaptations to preserve gait stability in response to balance perturbations

0.01) direction. In conclusion, not a lower walking speed, but a combination of decreased step length and increased step frequency and step width seems to be the strategy of choice to cope with medio-lateral balance perturbations, which increases MoS and thus decreases the risk of falling