On the move:Exploring the impact of residential mobility on cannabis use

AbstractA large literature exists suggesting that residential mobility leads to increased participation in risky health behaviours such as cannabis use amongst youth. However, much of this work fails to account for the impact that underlying differences between mobile and non-mobile youth have on this relationship. In this study we utilise multilevel models with longitudinal data to simultaneously estimate between-child and within-child effects in the relationship between residential mobility and cannabis use, allowing us to determine the extent to which cannabis use in adolescence is driven by residential mobility and unobserved confounding. Data come from a UK cohort, The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Consistent with previous research we find a positive association between cumulative residential mobility and cannabis use when using multilevel extensions of conventional logistic regression models (log odds: 0.94, standard error: 0.42), indicating that children who move houses are more likely to use cannabis than those who remain residentially stable. However, decomposing this relationship into within- and between-child components reveals that the conventional model is underspecified and misleading; we find that differences in cannabis use between mobile and non-mobile children are due to underlying differences between these groups (between-child log odds: 3.56, standard error: 1.22), not by a change in status of residential mobility (within-child log odds: 1.33, standard error: 1.02). Our findings suggest that residential mobility in the teenage years does not place children at an increased risk of cannabis use throughout these years

Hierarchical classification pathway for white maize, defect and foreign material classification using spectral imaging

This study aimed to present the South African maize industry with an accurate and affordable automated analytical technique for white maize grading using near infrared (NIR) spectral imaging. The 17 categories and sub-categories stipulated in South African maize grading legislation were simultaneously classified (1044 samples; 60 kernels of each class) using 25 partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models. The models were assembled in a hierarchical decision pathway that progressed from the most easily classified classes to the most difficult. The full NIR spectrum (288 wavebands) model performed with an overall accuracy of 93.3% for the main categories. Three waveband selection techniques were employed, namely waveband windows (48 wavebands), variable importance in projection (VIP) (21 wavebands) and covariance selection (CovSel) (13 wavebands). Overall, the VIP set based on only 7.3% of the original spectral variables was recommended as the best trade-off between performance and expected cost of a reduced waveband system. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Tarrant Launceston: Survey and excavation of a long barrow with secondary burial at Race Down.

In March 2003, it was noted that rabbit burrowing had uncovered possible human remains close to the centre of Race Down long barrow. In order to determine whether the bones were human and/or of forensic interest, the School of Conservation Sciences (now the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology & Forensic Science), Bournemouth University, carried out a limited investigation on behalf of Dorset Police and the landowner, Defence Estates. The spoil heap of the rabbit burrow was excavated and this process revealed other displaced human bones, including long bones. A human osteologist examined the recovered bones and determined that the burial was ancient. Based upon results of the initial investigation, Dorset Police concluded that, although the remains were human, they would not be carrying out a criminal investigation due to the antiquity of the remains. In March 2004, a small excavation team from Bournemouth University returned to the site to fully recover any in situ human remains, together with recording the burial context and stratigraphy. A wider topographic survey of the long barrow was also carried out. This paper reports on the results of this field survey and excavation

A renal colic fast track pathway to improve waiting times and outcomes for patients presenting to the emergency department

Introduction: Renal colic is commonly encountered in the emergency department (ED). We validated a fast track renal colic (FTRC) initiative to decrease patient waiting times and streamline patient flow. Method: The FTRC pathway was devised according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical summary criteria for the management of patients with suspected renal colic. ED triage nurses use the pathway to identify patients with likely renal colic suitable for fast track to analgesia, investigation and management. Investigations, diagnosis and patient demographics were recorded for 1157 consecutive patients coded as renal colic at a single-center ED over 12 months. Results: Three hundred and two patients were suitable for the FTRC pathway (26.1%), while 855 were seen by the ED clinicians prior to onward referral. Also, 83.9% of patients underwent computed tomography scan. In the FTRC group, 57.3% of patients had radiologically confirmed calculi versus 53.8% in the non-FTRC group (p=0.31). Alternative diagnoses among FTRC patients (2.6%) included ovarian pathology (n=1), diverticulitis (n=2) and incidental renal cell carcinoma (n=2), while 26.1% had no identifiable pathology. No immediately life-threatening diagnoses were identified on imaging. Computed tomography scans performed in the non-FTRC group identified two ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms and alternative diagnoses (2.57%) including ovarian pathology (n=7), cholecystitis (n=2), incidental renal cell carcinoma (n=3) and inflammatory bowel disease (n=1); 31.2% identified no pathology. Time in ED and time to radiologist-reported imaging were lower for the FTRC group versus non-FTRC group (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The FTRC pathway is a safe and efficacious method of reducing diagnostic delay and improving patient flow in the ED

Teaching Teamwork in Virtual Reality

Problem Teamwork and communication skills are highly prized graduate attributes (Coll, Zegwaard & Hodges, 2002), however, many students report that they receive little explicit training in these generic skills (Hansen, 2006). Students tend to dislike group assessments and commonly report feeling anxious, stressed and angry about group work (Neu, 2012). Plan Previous research has suggested that including specific team building activities and explicitly teaching conflict resolution techniques can result in improved attitudes toward teamwork and a better student experience (eg. Ekimova & Kokurin, 2015; Hansen, 2006). For our class, we decided to introduce Virtual Reality (VR) technology to combine the engagement of technology with the real-time feedback from group work in a tutorial. Immersive visual reality has been around since the late ‘80s and the potential for education has been noted (Merchant, Goetz, Cifuentes, Keeney-Kennicutt & Davis, 2014), but as of yet little research has been done in tertiary education settings. We introduced a new tutorial with a VR component to explicitly address teamwork and conflict resolution skills in a large first year communication skills unit with 700+ students. Action In the tutorial, students first completed a series of role-playing scenarios where they had to try and find solutions to common group work problems using conflict resolution techniques. They then worked in small teams to play a problem solving game. Due to limitations on available VR equipment, most (n=26) groups were provided with a origami puzzle that they needed to work together to solve. The other tutorials (n=10) were given a VR game created specifically for the class. In this game, one student wore a Google Cardboard headset and looked for puzzle pieces in a maze. They were given directions from their teammates, who held the map of the maze and the key for the puzzles. Students engaged well with the tutorial in both groups. However, tutors reported that students in the VR activity often had to work in slightly larger groups as there were not always enough students in the class with Android phones to make full use of the activity. Reflection Overall, although perceptions of the VR were generally positive, it did not appear to be more engaging for students than the simpler origami game. Although Google Cardboard provides a cheap and readily available platform for VR, it still involves a great deal of expertise and expense to set up, especially to create a program that works across multiple phone platforms. Unit coordinators may well consider whether it is worth the effort. However, our activity was only looking at generic skills. The full benefits of VR may only be seen for activities focusing on more specific skills, such as virtual field trips, laboratory preparation or surgical training (eg. Palter & Grantcharov, 2014). References Coll, R. K., Zegwaard, K., & Hodges, D. (2002). Science and technology stakeholders’ ranking of graduate competencies Part 1: Employer perspective. Asia-Pacific Journal of cooperative education, 3(2), 19-28. Ekimova, V., & Kokurin, A. (2015). Students’ Attitudes Towards Different Team Building Methods. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 186, 847-855. Hansen, R.S. (2006) Benefits and problems with student teams: Suggestions for improving student teams. Journal of Education for Business. September/October pp 11-19. Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2014). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students' learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 70, 29-40. Neu, W. A. (2012). Unintended Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Consequences of Group Assignments. Journal of Marketing Education, 34(1), 67-81. Palter, V. N., & Grantcharov, T. P. (2014). Individualized deliberate practice on a virtual reality simulator improves technical performance of surgical novices in the operating room: a randomized controlled trial. Annals of surgery, 259(3), 443-448. Psotka, J. (1995). Immersive training systems: Virtual reality and education and training. Instructional science, 23(5-6), 405-431

Human Cytomegalovirus Escapes a Naturally Occurring Neutralizing Antibody by Incorporating It into Assembling Virions

SummaryHuman cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common but difficult to treat infection of immunocompromised patients. MSL-109 is a human monoclonal IgG isolated from a CMV seropositive individual that recognizes the viral glycoprotein H (gH) surface antigen complexes that mediate entry. Although MSL-109 blocks CMV infection in vitro, it lacked sufficient efficacy in human trials, and CMV isolated from treated patients suggested the evolution of MSL-109 resistance. To understand how CMV escapes MSL-109, we characterized a MSL-109-resistant CMV strain. Our results elucidate a nongenetic escape mechanism in which the antibody is selectively taken up by infected cells and incorporated into assembling virions in a dose-dependent manner. The resistant virus then utilizes the Fc domain of the incorporated antibody to infect naive nonimmune cells. This resistance mechanism may explain the clinical failure of MSL-109, illustrate a general mechanism of viral antibody escape, and inform antiviral vaccine and therapeutic development

Quantifying the impact of the modifiable areal unit problem when estimating the health effects of air pollution

Air pollution is a major public health concern, and large numbers of epidemiological studies have been conducted to quantify its impacts. One study design used to quantify these impacts is a spatial areal unit design, which estimates a population level association using data on air pollution concentrations and disease incidence that have been spatially aggregated to a set of non‐overlapping areal units. A major criticism of this study design is that the specification of these areal units is arbitrary, and if one changed their boundaries then the aggregated datawould change despite the locations of the disease cases and the air pollution surface remaining the same. This is known as the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP), and this is the first paper to quantify its likely effects in air pollution and health studies. Additionally, we derive an aggregate model for these data directly from an idealised individual level risk model, and show that it provides better estimation than the commonly used ecological model. Our work is motivated by a new study of air pollution and health in Scotland, and we find consistent significant associations between air pollution and respiratory disease but not for circulatory disease

Evaluating the successful implementation of evidence into practice using the PARiHS framework : theoretical and practical challenges

Background The PARiHS framework (Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services) has proved to be a useful practical and conceptual heuristic for many researchers and practitioners in framing their research or knowledge translation endeavours. However, as a conceptual framework it still remains untested and therefore its contribution to the overall development and testing of theory in the field of implementation science is largely unquantified. Discussion This being the case, the paper provides an integrated summary of our conceptual and theoretical thinking so far and introduces a typology (derived from social policy analysis) used to distinguish between the terms conceptual framework, theory and model – important definitional and conceptual issues in trying to refine theoretical and methodological approaches to knowledge translation. Secondly, the paper describes the next phase of our work, in particular concentrating on the conceptual thinking and mapping that has led to the generation of the hypothesis that the PARiHS framework is best utilised as a two-stage process: as a preliminary (diagnostic and evaluative) measure of the elements and sub-elements of evidence (E) and context (C), and then using the aggregated data from these measures to determine the most appropriate facilitation method. The exact nature of the intervention is thus determined by the specific actors in the specific context at a specific time and place. In the process of refining this next phase of our work, we have had to consider the wider issues around the use of theories to inform and shape our research activity; the ongoing challenges of developing robust and sensitive measures; facilitation as an intervention for getting research into practice; and finally to note how the current debates around evidence into practice are adopting wider notions that fit innovations more generally. Summary The paper concludes by suggesting that the future direction of the work on the PARiHS framework is to develop a two-stage diagnostic and evaluative approach, where the intervention is shaped and moulded by the information gathered about the specific situation and from participating stakeholders. In order to expedite the generation of new evidence and testing of emerging theories, we suggest the formation of an international research implementation science collaborative that can systematically collect and analyse experiences of using and testing the PARiHS framework and similar conceptual and theoretical approaches. We also recommend further refinement of the definitions around conceptual framework, theory, and model, suggesting a wider discussion that embraces multiple epistemological and ontological perspectives

Temporal and spatial variation in methyl bromide emissions from a salt marsh

Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is a trace gas involved in stratospheric ozone depletion with both anthropogenic and natural sources. Estimates of natural source strengths are highly uncertain. In this study, >320 highly temporally and spatially resolved measurements of CH3Br emissions from a salt marsh in Scotland (56°00′N, 2°35′W) were made during one year using eight static enclosures. Net emissions showed both strong seasonal and diurnal cycles. Day-to-day maxima in emissions were associated with sunny days. Emissions dropped to zero when vegetation was removed. Mean measured CH3Br emission was 350 ng m−2 h−1, but a few “hot spots” (measured maximum 4000 ng m−2 h−1) dominated integrated emissions. A crude scale-up of the annual mean emission yields an estimate for global CH3Br emission of ∼1 (0.5–3) Gg y−1 (range uses annual mean from lowest and highest emitting enclosures), ∼10% the global salt marsh emission regularly quoted in the literature