Cellular interaction between lymphocytes and retinal pigment epithelium

Posterior uveitis is an ocular inflammatory condition which can cause extensive retinal damage. Evidence indicates that this is a T cell mediated disorder and it is likely that induction of the disease is brought about by the migration of lymphocytes from the circulation into the neuroretina. For this to occur lymphocytes must first cross the blood- retinal barrier (BRB) which consists of the retinal vascular endothelium in the anterior portion of the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) at the posterior aspect. Lymphocyte migration into the retina can therefore occur via these two separate routes; a direct route by crossing the vascular endothelium and an indirect route via the RPE. For migration to occur by this latter path lymphocytes must first be captured from the circulation by the choroidal endothelium. From here they must them migrate into the extracellular space and penetrate Bruch's membrane, before interacting with adhesion molecules expressed on the RPE which are likely to control migration into the retina. The role of the vascular endothelium in controlling lymphocyte migration has been extensively studied but the role of other cellular barriers in modulating lymphocyte passage is poorly understood. This project was therefore undertaken to investigate the factors involved in lymphocyte adhesion to and migration across RPE monolayers in vitro. PVG rat RPE cells were first isolated and characterised by immunostaining techniques for the expression of cytokeratins and the rat RPE specific monoclonal antibody PE2. In addition, these cells were shown to constitutively express ICAM-1 and MHC class I which was upregulated upon activation with IFN-γ. MHC class II expression, however, was only found on IFN-γ activated cells. Due to the difficulty associated with primary cell culture a rat RPE cell line was developed by immortalising primary cultures of rat RPE using SV40 large T. These cells were characterised and shown to express similar levels of RET-PE2 and cytokeratins as primary cultures. Rat lymphocytes used in this study were characterised using flow cytometric analysis to determine the phenotype and state and mode of activation of each group studied. The ability of peripheral lymph node (PLN) cells (activated and non-activated) and antigen specific CD4+ T cell line lymphocytes to adhere to RPE cells in vitro was evaluated. Results demonstrate that the state and mode of lymphocyte activation is crucial in determining their ability to adhere to and migrate across the monolayers. Antigen specific T cell lines were more adhesive and migratory than untreated or activated PLN cells. The effect of activating the RPE with the cytokines interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) on adhesion and migration were also studied. It was found that adhesion was not increased by cytokine activation whereas migration was increased by activation of cells with IFN-γ but not IL-1. The adhesion molecules involved in the migration of antigen specific T cell lines across RPE monolayers was also studied. Migration was found to be predominantly ICAM-l/LFA-1 mediated, with VCAM-l/VLA-4 interactions playing a role only when monolayers had been activated for 72 hours with IFN-γ. In addition, the ability of the immortalised RPE cells to support lymphocyte migration was determined. The migration of PLN cells was similar to that observed with primary cultures, although the migration of antigen specific T cell line lymphocytes was found to be lower. To compare results form RPE-lymphocyte interactions with that of retinal endothelial cell-lymphocyte interactions, it was necessary to study lymphocyte migration across PVG rat derived retinal endothelial cells as retinal endothelial studies in our department had employed endothelium isolated from Lewis rats. During the course of this study it was noted that lymphocyte migration was significantly lower across PVG retinal endothelium compared with Lewis rat derived retinal endothelium. Lewis rats are more susceptible to the animal model for uveitis, therefore this may be one of the factors responsible for this. To study this further, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression were compared on retinal endothelium isolated from the two rat strains and it was found that PVG rats expressed lower constitutive levels of ICAM-1

The knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of midwives on the vaccination coverage rates in Perth’s Aboriginal children

Background: Midwives are well placed to promote vaccination awareness throughout a women’s pregnancy and strengthen childhood vaccination demand following hospital discharge. In Perth, Western Australia, Aboriginal children experience some of the lowest vaccination coverage rates across the nation. To identify factors preventing greater vaccination uptake amongst the target population, a theory-based study was conducted with midwives across two Perth maternity hospitals to explore behavioural attributes, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs surrounding vaccination provision and the vaccines administered to Aboriginal children. Methods: A purpose-designed questionnaire was distributed to midwives working in two Perth public maternity hospitals. The proximal constructs of The Theory of Planned Behavior were used to frame the questionnaire to enable the barriers to greater vaccination coverage to be identified and behaviourally situated. Descriptive statistics described the demographics of the study sample. Chi-square and the Fisher’s exact test were used to identify associations between midwife characteristics and awareness of the coverage rates. Significance was set at α = 0.05. Results: Of the 58 midwives who completed the study questionnaire, 77.2% were unaware of the sub-optimal vaccination coverage in Perth’s Aboriginal children. Level of education (p = 0.53) and years worked as a practising midwife (p = 0.47) were not found to be associated with an awareness of the coverage rates. Approximately, 50% of midwives reported some concern over the efficacy of childhood vaccines, 44.4% did not feel confident with their knowledge of vaccines, while 33.3% do not routinely discuss childhood vaccinations with parents prior to hospital discharge. Conclusions: Key findings in the study identified that a range of educational, leadership and system-based issues are affecting midwives’ capacity to play a more substantial role in influencing vaccination coverage in Perth’s Aboriginal children

Serious games for health promotion in adolescents – A systematic scoping review

Digital gaming has broad appeal globally, with a reported 2.7 billion gamers worldwide. There is significant interest in using games to enhance learning, with ‘serious games’ being included in classrooms to engage adolescents’ learning across a range of domains. A systematic scoping review of serious games used for health promotion with adolescents was conducted to identify serious games, review the methods used to evaluate these games, and outline evidence available to support the efficacy of these games in improving knowledge, beliefs/attitudes and behaviours in the target groups. Player engagement/enjoyment was reported if assessed. A total of 21 studies were found to have met the inclusion criteria domains: ‘healthy lifestyle’ ‘sexual health’ and ‘substance use’. A heterogenous approach across studies to game design and development, duration of game play, use of a control group and measurement of outcome(s) was observed. Game efficacy was difficult to assess due to broad generalisations and lack of consistent evaluation methods. Several studies demonstrate serious games can be engaging and pedagogically effective as a learning device and behaviour-change agent. Several studies, however, had less rigorous evaluation and lacked longer-term follow up. The ability for developers to demonstrate positive short- and long-term impacts of serious games with high-quality evidence is essential to the ongoing acceptance and use of these serious games as part of the school curriculum

Dietary fibre intervention for gut microbiota, sleep, and mental health in adults with irritable bowel syndrome: A scoping review

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder affecting 4–5% of the global population. This disorder is associated with gut microbiota, diet, sleep, and mental health. This scoping review therefore aims to map existing research that has administrated fibre-related dietary intervention to IBS individuals and reported outcomes on at least two of the three following themes: gut microbiota, sleep, and mental health. Five digital databases were searched to identify and select papers as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Five articles were included in the assessment, where none reported on all three themes or the combination of gut microbiota and sleep. Two studies identified alterations in gut microbiota and mental health with fibre supplementation. The other three studies reported on mental health and sleep outcomes using subjective questionnaires. IBS-related research lacks system biology-type studies targeting gut microbiota, sleep, and mental health in patients undergoing diet intervention. Further IBS research is required to explore how human gut microbiota functions (such as short-chain fatty acids) in sleep and mental health, following the implementation of dietary pattern alteration or component supplementation. Additionally, the application of objective sleep assessments is required in order to detect sleep change with more accuracy and less bias

Local challenges and successes associated with transitioning to sustainable food system practices for a West Australian context: Multi-sector stakeholder perceptions

Large-scale food system practices have diminished soil and water quality and negatively impacted climate change. Yet, numerous opportunities exist to harness food system practices that will ensure better outcomes for human health and ecosystems. The objective of this study was to consider food Production, Processing, Access and Consumption domains, and for each determine the challenges and successes associated with progressing towards a sustainable food system. A workshop engaging 122 participants including producers, consultants, consumers, educators, funders, scientists, media, government and industry representatives, was conducted in Perth, Western Australia. A thematic analysis of statements (Successes (n = 170) or Challenges (n = 360)) captured, revealed issues of scale, knowledge and education, economics, consumerism, big food, environmental/sustainability, communication, policies and legislation, and technology and innovations. Policy recommendations included greater investment into research in sustainable agriculture (particularly the evidentiary basis for regenerative agriculture), land preservation, and supporting farmers to overcome high infrastructure costs and absorb labour costs. Policy, practice and research recommendations included focusing on an integrated food systems approach with multiple goals, food system actors working collaboratively to reduce challenges and undertaking more research to further the regenerative agriculture evidence

Spin-orbit coupling suppression and singlet-state blocking of spin-triplet Cooper pairs

An inhomogeneous magnetic exchange field at a superconductor/ferromagnet interface converts spin-singlet Cooper pairs to a spin-aligned (i.e. spin-polarized) triplet state. Although the decay envelope of such triplet pairs within ferromagnetic materials is well studied, little is known about their decay in non-magnetic metals and superconductors, and in particular in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Here we investigate devices in which triplet supercurrents are injected into the s-wave superconductor Nb. In the normal state of Nb, triplet supercurrents decay over a distance of 5 nm, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the decay of spin singlet pairs due to the SOC interacting with the spin associated with triplet pairs. In the superconducting state of Nb, triplet supercurrents are not able to couple with the singlet wavefunction and thus blocked by the absence of available equilibrium states in the singlet gap. The results offer new insight into the dynamics between s-wave singlet and s-wave triplet states.S.K., J.M.D-S., G.Y., X.M., L.F.C., H.K., M.G.B., and J.W.A.R. acknowledge funding from the EPSRC Programme Grant “Superspin” (no. EP/N017242/1) and EPSRC International Network Grant “Oxide Superspin” (no. EP/P026311/1). K.O. acknowledges the JSPS Programme “Fostering Globally Talented Researchers” (JPMXS05R2900005). S.M. and A.I.B. acknowledge funding from Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 20-12-00053, in part related to the theoretical calculations). Zh.D. and S.M. acknowledge financial support from the Foundation for the advancement of theoretical physics “BASIS.” S.M. acknowledges financial support from the Russian Presidential Scholarship (SP-3938.2018.5

Medication related problems in ICU survivors: learning from a multi-centre programme

No abstract available

Questions arising from the use of peer assisted learning as a technique to increase diverse participation in engineering education

A program of peer assisted study sessions (PASS) was piloted in the second half of 2010 in two first year engineering courses catering to both on-campus and distance students. The student cohort concerned is a diverse cohort of students, a large percentage of whom are non-traditional higher education students accessing the course through distance education. The PASS program was implemented in both traditional face to face on campus sessions as well as in an online mode, which was intended to partially address issues of inclusivity and access to peer support for this diverse cohort. The program was evaluated using a program logic approach. The evaluation confirmed that participants experienced all of the benefits generally associated with peer assisted learning programs: improvements in learning attitudes and skills, increased focus and motivation, mastery of course content, increased confidence and a positive attitude towards faculty. Despite the positive results of the evaluation it was noted that the participation rates by students were low, particularly for the online version of the program. Several questions were raised by the evaluation through the dichotomy of positive perceptions and outcomes and the relatively low uptake of the program. This discussion paper reports on the initial stages of a qualitative research project investigating the effectiveness of online peer assisted study sessions for engineering students

Opportunities to identify and develop people skills: What university students need early in their degree journey

Employability skills can be categorised as ‘people’ or ‘soft skills’ and ‘technical’ or ‘industry specific’ skills. Australian employers are increasingly seeking to employ university graduates with well-developed people skills. Evidence from industry suggests these skills, in particular communication skills are lacking in today’s graduates. The aim of this study was to raise student awareness of the importance of people skills, assess their perception of personal competence across a range of these skills and support them to develop plans that will help them strengthen these skills in preparation for graduation. An online survey was emailed to 222 first year undergraduate students; 99 were completed. Analysis of quantitative data revealed students perceived themselves to be highly competent across a range of people skills. However, qualitative data found students also identified people skills that they needed to develop further. The study findings suggest that first-year students may have inflated and unrealistic perceptions of their people skills and highlights the importance of the introduction of these employability skills early in the curriculum. Recommendations from this study include the introduction of curriculum activities in the first year of their degree that raise student awareness of industry expectations of people skills upon graduation. The implementation of a people skills self-assessment tool for these students is also recommended as a benchmarking activity. Use of this tool can motivate students to engage with university support and industry opportunities that further strengthen these important skills