Governmentality in the Context of a Japanese-funded Farm-to- Market Road (FMR) in Agdangan, Quezon Province, Philippines

Recent studies have focused on the role of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in financing infrastructural projects and rural development programmes. This study contributes to this literature by demonstrating how Japanese and Filipino aid authorities facilitate a Japanese-ODA-funded Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) subproject as a solution aiming to achieve overall poverty reduction and rural economic growth in the Philippines. Drawing on Foucault’s governmentality, the paper analyses processes and interactions within the management stages of the FMR subproject. It examines the impact of the completed FMR among agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). It argues that while the FMR fostered mutual understanding and beneficial relationships among aid authorities, more significant advantages were accrued by the non-poor sector. Consequently, ARBs clamour for further support to maximize FMR benefits

Developing a clinical pathway for the identification and management of anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients: an online Delphi consensus process

Purpose: People with cancer and their families experience high levels of psychological morbidity. However many cancer services do not routinely screen patients for anxiety and depression and there are no standardized clinical referral pathways. This study aimed to establish consensus on elements of a draft clinical pathway tailored to the Australian context. Methods: A two-round Delphi study was conducted to gain consensus among Australian oncology and psycho-oncology clinicians about the validity of 39 items that form the basis of a clinical pathway that includes screening, assessment, referral and stepped-care management of anxiety and depression in the context of cancer. The expert panel comprised 87 multidisciplinary clinician members of the Australian Psycho-oncology Cooperative Research Group (PoCoG). Respondents rated their level of agreement with each statement on a 5-point likert scale. Consensus was defined as >80% of respondents scoring within 2 points on the likert scale. Results: Consensus was reached for 21 of 39 items, and a further 15 items approached consensus except for specific contextual factors, after 2 Delphi rounds. Formal screening for anxiety and depression, a stepped care model of management and recommendations for inclusion of length of treatment and time to review were endorsed. Consensus was not reached on items related to roles and responsibilities, particularly those not applicable across cancer settings. Conclusions: This study identified a core set of evidence- and consensus-based principles considered essential to a stepped care model of care incorporating identification, referral and management of anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients.This study was funded by Sydney Catalyst Translational Cancer Research Centr

MENTORING PRACTICES IN PNU PARTNER SCHOOLS : TOWARDS POLICY CREATION IN CAPACITY BUILDING OF COOPERATING TEACHERS FOR EFFECTIVE MENTORING

The practice of mentoring student teachers seeks the much needed intervention and reform in the preparation of future teacher professionals who will eventually implement the K-12 Curriculum in the Philippines. The present study investigated on the perception of student teachers on the way they were mentored during their practice teaching in the selected partner schools. Additionally, this paper presents the beliefs and practices of cooperating teachers which student teachers perceive to be effective in the mentoring process. Data gathered from surveys and interviews with student teachers and cooperating teachers for this study pointed the strengths of the mentoring program as well as pitfalls that need to be addressed. The cooperating teachers in the different partner schools identified elements which are believed to be areas of concern that make them feel the need to undergo capability building. The findings presented here are intended to inform the development of policies in building cooperating teachers‟ capability for effective mentoring

Clinical pathway for the screening, assessment and management of anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients: Australian guidelines.

Purpose A clinical pathway for anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients was developed to guide best practice in Australia. Methods The pathway was based on a rapid review of existing guidelines, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, stakeholder interviews, a Delphi process with 87 multi-disciplinary stakeholders and input from a multidisciplinary advisory panel. Results The pathway recommends formalised routine screening for anxiety and depression in patients with cancer at key points in the patient’s journey. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) or Distress Thermometer (DT) with problem checklist are recommended as brief screening tools, combined with a more detailed tool, such as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), to identify possible cases. A structured clinical interview will be required to confirm diagnosis. When anxiety or depression is identified it is recommended one person in a treating team takes responsibility for co-ordinating appropriate assessment, referral and follow-up (not necessarily carrying these out themselves). A stepped care model of intervention is proposed, beginning with the least intensive available that is still likely to provide significant health gain. The exact intervention, treatment length and follow up timelines as well as professionals involved, are provided as a guide only. Each service should identify their own referral network based on local resources and current service structure, as well as patient preference. Discussion This clinical pathway will assist cancer services to design their own systems to detect and manage anxiety and depression in their patients, to improve the quality of care

Cytoreductive surgery alone or combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for pseudomyxoma peritonei

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: The aim of this work is to evaluate the efficacy of cytoreductive surgery alone versus cytoreductive surgery in combination with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), on patient benefits, complications and short-term outcomes in patients with pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). \ua9 2018 The Cochrane Collaboration

Deep Learning for Automatic Detection and Segmentation from CT Angiography of Deep Inferior Epigastric Vascular Structures for Preoperative Planning of TRAM Flap Surgeries

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp23/1131/thumbnail.jp

An efficient intrathecal delivery of small interfering RNA to the spinal cord and peripheral neurons

We have developed a highly effective method for in vivo gene silencing in the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) by a cationic lipid facilitated delivery of synthetic, small interfering RNA (siRNA). A siRNA to the delta opioid receptor (DOR), or a mismatch RNA, was mixed with the transfection reagent, i-Fect™ (vehicle), and delivered as repeated daily bolus doses (0.5 μg to 4 μg) via implanted intrathecal catheter to the lumbar spinal cord of rats. Twenty-four hours after the last injection, rats were tested for antinociception by the DOR selective agonist, [D-Ala(2), Glu(4)]deltorphin II (DELT), or the mu opioid receptor (MOR) selective agonist, [D-Ala(2), N-Me-Phe(4), Gly-ol(5)]enkephalin (DAMGO). Pretreatment with the siRNA, but not the mismatch RNA or vehicle alone, blocked DELT antinociception dose-dependently. The latter was concomitant with a reduction in the spinal immunoreactivity and receptor density of DOR, and in DOR transcripts in the lumbar DRG and spinal dorsal horn. Neither siRNA nor mismatch RNA pretreatment altered spinal immunoreactivity of MOR or antinociception by spinal DAMGO, and had no effect on the baseline thermal nociceptive threshold. The inhibition of function and expression of DOR by siRNA was reversed by 72 hr after the last RNA injection. The uptake of fluorescence-tagged siRNA was detected in both DRG and spinal cord. The low effective dose of siRNA/i-Fect™ complex reflects an efficient delivery of the siRNA to peripheral and spinal neurons, produced no behavioral signs of toxicity. This delivery method may be optimized for other gene targets

Wolbachia and DNA barcoding insects: patterns, potential and problems

Wolbachia is a genus of bacterial endosymbionts that impacts the breeding systems of their hosts. Wolbachia can confuse the patterns of mitochondrial variation, including DNA barcodes, because it influences the pathways through which mitochondria are inherited. We examined the extent to which these endosymbionts are detected in routine DNA barcoding, assessed their impact upon the insect sequence divergence and identification accuracy, and considered the variation present in Wolbachia COI. Using both standard PCR assays (Wolbachia surface coding protein – wsp), and bacterial COI fragments we found evidence of Wolbachia in insect total genomic extracts created for DNA barcoding library construction. When >2 million insect COI trace files were examined on the Barcode of Life Datasystem (BOLD) Wolbachia COI was present in 0.16% of the cases. It is possible to generate Wolbachia COI using standard insect primers; however, that amplicon was never confused with the COI of the host. Wolbachia alleles recovered were predominantly Supergroup A and were broadly distributed geographically and phylogenetically. We conclude that the presence of the Wolbachia DNA in total genomic extracts made from insects is unlikely to compromise the accuracy of the DNA barcode library; in fact, the ability to query this DNA library (the database and the extracts) for endosymbionts is one of the ancillary benefits of such a large scale endeavor – for which we provide several examples. It is our conclusion that regular assays for Wolbachia presence and type can, and should, be adopted by large scale insect barcoding initiatives. While COI is one of the five multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) genes used for categorizing Wolbachia, there is limited overlap with the eukaryotic DNA barcode region

Spatial Analysis of Income Growth in the Philippines: Evidence from Intra-Country Data (1988 to 2009)

This paper looks at the spatial relationship of the average per capita income growth using intra-country or provincial data from 1988 to 2009. The results from the study provide insights on the geographical dimensions of provincial income growth and showed evidence on the role of spatial effects in the formal econometric analysis of intra-country income growth models. Despite the data limitations, the study provides a strong empirical evidence of the presence of positive spatial dependence or degree of similarity in the average per capita income growth of the provinces, albeit the degree of positive spatial dependence weakens in the latter periods. This positive spatial correlation suggests the provinces may be converging in terms of their income growth and they do so in movements similar to their neighbors. Moreover, the study shows that spatial dependence weakened in the latter periods (1994-2000 and 2000-2009). The weakening of spatial dependence may provide insights on the uneven provincial/regional income growth experienced in the country. One possible explanation of the weak spatial dependence is that two or more groups of neighboring provinces are growing at similar rates within the group, but at different rates across groups. This opens the possibility of having different convergence clubs (of provinces) within the country