IMBES pre-conference: using insight from research to improve education

In September 2016, the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) biennial conference took place in Toronto, Canada. The pre-conference (organized by the Wellcome Trust) was designed to share new findings, lessons learned, and inspirational innovation within the field, and to encourage the community to not only identify current challenges, but to start planning potential ways to address them. This article provides a brief summary of the discussions from the day, and suggests steps that members of the community, conference organizers, and funders can take in helping to move the field forward. Finally, it outlines new work Wellcome has commissioned since the conference in response to some of the challenges defined on the day

Calibration of the Particle Density in Cellular-Automaton Models for Traffic Flow

We introduce density dependence of the cell size in cellular-automaton models for traffic flow, which allows a more precise correspondence between real-world phenomena and what observed in simulation. Also, we give an explicit calibration of the particle density particularly for the asymmetric simple exclusion process with some update rules. We thus find that the present method is valid in that it reproduces a realistic flow-density diagram.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figure

A parasitic nematode induces dysbiosis in susceptible but not resistant gastropod hosts

Animals’ gut microbiomes affect a wide array of biological processes including the immunity and protection from pathogens. However, how the microbiome changes due to infection by parasites is still largely unknown, as is how the microbiome changes in hosts that differ in their susceptibility to parasites. To investigate this, we exposed two slug species of differing susceptibility to the parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita (Deroceras reticulatum is highly susceptible and Ambigolimax valentianus resistant to the nematode) and profiled the gut microbiota after 7 and 14 days. Prior to infection, both slug species’ microbiota was dominated by similar bacterial genera: Pseudomonas (by far the most abundant), Sphingobacterium, Pedobacter, Chryseobacterium and Flavobacterium. In the resistant host A. valentianus there was no significant change in the bacterial genera after infection but in D. reticulatum, the bacterial profile changed, with a decrease in the abundance of Pseudomonadaceae and an increase in the abundance of Flavobacteriaceae and Sphingobacteriaceae after 7 days post infection. This suggests nematode infection causes dysbiosis in hosts that are susceptible to infection, but the microbiome of resistant species remains unaltered. In summary, the regulation of the immune system is tightly linked with host survival and nematode infection can alter the microbiome structure

Persistence in the One-Dimensional A+B -> 0 Reaction-Diffusion Model

The persistence properties of a set of random walkers obeying the A+B -> 0 reaction, with equal initial density of particles and homogeneous initial conditions, is studied using two definitions of persistence. The probability, P(t), that an annihilation process has not occurred at a given site has the asymptotic form $P(t) -> const + t^{-\theta}$, where $\theta$ is the persistence exponent (``type I persistence''). We argue that, for a density of particles $\rho >> 1$, this non-trivial exponent is identical to that governing the persistence properties of the one-dimensional diffusion equation, where $\theta \approx 0.1207$. In the case of an initially low density, $\rho_0 << 1$, we find $\theta \approx 1/4$ asymptotically. The probability that a site remains unvisited by any random walker (``type II persistence'') is also investigated and found to decay with a stretched exponential form, $P(t) \sim \exp(-const \rho_0^{1/2}t^{1/4})$, provided $\rho_0 << 1$. A heuristic argument for this behavior, based on an exactly solvable toy model, is presented.Comment: 11 RevTeX pages, 19 EPS figure

Challenges to undertaking randomised trials with looked after children in social care settings.

BACKGROUND: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are widely viewed as the gold standard for assessing effectiveness in health research; however many researchers and practitioners believe that RCTs are inappropriate and un-doable in social care settings, particularly in relation to looked after children. The aim of this article is to describe the challenges faced in conducting a pilot study and phase II RCT of a peer mentoring intervention to reduce teenage pregnancy in looked after children in a social care setting. METHODS: Interviews were undertaken with social care professionals and looked after children, and a survey conducted with looked after children, to establish the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and research design. RESULTS: Barriers to recruitment and in managing the intervention were identified, including social workers acting as informal gatekeepers; social workers concerns and misconceptions about the recruitment criteria and the need for and purpose of randomisation; resource limitations, which made it difficult to prioritise research over other demands on their time and difficulties in engaging and retaining looked after children in the study. CONCLUSIONS: The relative absence of a research infrastructure and culture in social care and the lack of research support funding available for social care agencies, compared to health organisations, has implications for increasing evidence-based practice in social care settings, particularly in this very vulnerable group of young people

Anomaly-Free Gauged R-Symmetry

We review the gauging of an R-symmetry in local and global susy. We then construct the first anomaly-free models. We break the R-symmetry and susy at the Planck scale and discuss the low-energy effects. We include a solution to the mu-problem, and the prediction of observable effects at HERA. The models also nicely allow for GUT-scale baryogenesis and R-parity violation without the sphaleron interactions erasing the baryon-asymmetry.Comment: 6 pages, latex, no figures. Talk presented at SUSY-95. Work done in collaboration with A. Chamseddin

Efficacy of a Mycotoxin Binder against Dietary Fumonisin, Deoxynivalenol, and Zearalenone in Rats

It was hypothesized that a mycotoxin binder, Grainsure E, would inhibit adverse effects of a mixture of fumonisin B1, deoxynivalenol, and zearalenone in rats. For 14 and 28 days, 8–10 Sprague–Dawley rats were fed control diet, Grainsure E (0.5%), toxins (7 μg fumonisin B1/g, 8 μg of deoxynivalenol/g and 0.2 μg of zearalenone/g), toxins (12 μg of fumonisin B1/g, 9 μg of deoxynivalenol/g, and 0.2 μg of zearalenone/g + Grainsure E), or pair-fed to control for food intake of toxin-fed rats. After 28 days, decreased body weight gain was prevented by Grainsure E in toxin-fed female rats, indicating partial protection against deoxynivalenol and fumonisin B1. Two effects of fumonisin B1 were partly prevented by Grainsure E in toxin-fed rats, increased plasma alanine transaminase (ALT) and urinary sphinganine/sphingosine, but sphinganine/sphingosine increase was not prevented in females at the latter time point. Grainsure E prevented some effects of fumonisin B1 and deoxynivalenol in rats

The Differences in the Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease, Its Risk Factors, and Achievement of Therapeutic Goals among Urban and Rural Primary Care Patients in Poland: Results from the LIPIDOGRAM 2015 Study

A nationwide cross-sectional study, LIPIDOGRAM2015, was carried out in Poland in the years 2015 and 2016. A total of 438 primary care physicians enrolled 13,724 adult patients that sought medical care in primary health care practices. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, and CVD were similar in urban and rural areas (49.5 vs. 49.4%; 13.7 vs. 13.1%; 84.2 vs. 85.2%; 14.4 vs. 14.2%, respectively). The prevalence of obesity (32.3 vs. 37.5%, p < 0.01) and excessive waist circumference (77.5 vs. 80.7%, p < 0.01), as well as abdominal obesity (43.2 vs. 46.4%, p < 0.01), were higher in rural areas in both genders. Mean levels of LDL-C (128 vs. 130 mg/dL, p = 0.04) and non-HDL-C (147 vs. 148 mg/dL, p = 0.03) were slightly higher in rural populations. Altogether, 14.3% of patients with CVD from urban areas and 11.3% from rural areas reached LDL <70 mg/dL (p = 0.04). There were no important differences in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and CVD, or in mean levels of blood pressure, cholesterol fractions, glucose, and HbA1c between Polish urban and rural primary care patient populations. A high proportion of patients in cities and an even-higher proportion in rural areas did not reach the recommended targets for blood pressure, LDL-C, and HbA1c, indicating the need for novel CVD-prevention programs