Lessons Learned in Conducting School Health Research in Massachusetts: A Massachusetts School Nurse Research Network (MASNRN) Project

The Institute of Medicine (2007) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (2010) recognized that the school environment plays a role in shaping children’s health and health behaviors, and school health services are positioned to model these approaches. The majority of school health services are school nurse (SN) managed (RWJF, 2012; Schainker, 2005), but a research gap exists linking school health services with improved student outcomes (Hootman, 2002; Lear, 2007). In Massachusetts, the student health research question ideally has roots in the expertise of the SN. The researcher conducting a school-based student health study interacts with SNs and administrators in school districts that vary by the type and number of health staff , as well as district location and size. These variables confound the research design in terms of structure and process. IRB issues and permission for research conduction in the school district are particularly vexing. Consent of parents and assent of children are required, and SNs participating in the research must complete human subjects training. Massachusetts School Nurse Research Network (MASNRN) was founded in 2004 by a group of SN experts to conduct school based research. The 100 members of MASNRN have conducted studies across the state and within school districts on asthma, availability of epinephrine for anaphylaxis, bullying, immunizations, training modules and mental health. Particular lessons learned from the unique experience of conducting research in schools are presented

Better wheat germplasm for good seasons and high inputs

Take home messages New wheat germplasm has been identified that lodges less than Australian cultivars EGA Gregory , Suntop and LRPB Spitfire. From the favourable genetic markers identified in the new germplasm, only a proportion was present in a database of 502 Australian varieties, suggesting that there is room for improving lodging tolerance in high yielding wheats

Multi-donor × elite-based populations reveal QTL for low-lodging wheat

Low-lodging high-yielding wheat germplasm and SNP-tagged novel alleles for lodging were identified in a process that involved selecting donors through functional phenotyping for underlying traits with a designed phenotypic screen, and a crossing strategy involving multiple-donor × elite populations

Engineering short, strong hydrogen bonds in urea di-carboxylic acid complexes

A series of seven 2:1 molecular complexes of urea (U) and methyl ureas with di-carboxylic acids (A) are reported, along with the results of their study by variable temperature diffraction. These all contain short, strong O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and a recurring acid⋯amide heterodimer forming U-A-U synthons. Despite differences in the degree of saturation of the linking C-C groups of the di-carboxylic acids and the single or double methyl substitution of one of the N atoms of the urea, the packing arrangements are remarkably similar in five of the complexes; the exceptions being N-methylurea oxalic acid and N,N-dimethylurea fumaric acid. The five similar molecular complexes all show contraction of one unit cell parameter on increasing temperature due to rearrangements of the weaker interactions which hold together the U-A-U units. The strength of the short, strong O-H⋯O hydrogen bond is shown to be linked both to the length of the connecting bridge between the carboxylic acid groups of the acid, and to the ΔpKa values between the two components. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Engineering short, strong, charge-assisted hydrogen bonds in benzoic acid dimers through co-crystallisation with proton sponge

A series of molecular complexes of the proton sponge 1,8-bis­(dimethyl­amino)­naphthalene (DMAN) with monosubstituted halobenzoic acids are reported, illustrating the designed exploitation of the characteristics of the proton sponge to induce short, charge-assisted hydrogen bonds in a predictable and reproducible manner. In every case, a DMAN molecule extracts a proton from the carboxylic acid group of the benzoic acid, as a result of which a recurrent supramolecular unit between a neutral and a deprotonated benzoic acid molecule is formed, featuring an extremely short, strong O–H···O hydrogen bond, within a predominant crystallization ratio of 1:2 (DMAN:benzoic acid)

The effect of local crystalline environment on hydrogen atom behavior in molecular complexes of a proton sponge

Proton behavior within the hydrogen bond (HB) networks of five molecular complexes of the proton sponge DMAN and different organic acids is investigated by single-crystal neutron diffraction. The complexes form with either 2:1 (acid:DMAN) or 1:1 stoichiometric ratios and contain common structural motifs. All show proton transfer from an acid to DMAN, forming a DMANH⁺ moiety and hydrogen-bonded acid dimers; complexes with halobenzoic acids have acid molecules linked by short, strong, charge-assisted HBs, while all complexes contain a short, strong, intramolecular N–H···N HB in DMANH⁺. The hydrogen atom behavior within the short, strong HBs, accurately described from the neutron data, is rationalized in terms of weak interactions in the local crystal environment, with the position of the proton within both sets of short, strong HBs affected by a combination of the weak interactions in the vicinity of the HBs. A correlation is also found between the thermal motion of the bound proton in the N–H···N HB of DMANH⁺ and nearby oxygen atoms when they are sufficiently close to one another. This work shows that all interactions in the local environment combine to determine the behavior of protons within short, strong HBs and that, by taking these interactions into account, further control over the crystal structure and properties may be achievable

Articulating the effect of food systems innovation on the Sustainable Development Goals

Food system innovations will be instrumental to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, major innovation breakthroughs can trigger profound and disruptive changes, leading to simultaneous and interlinked reconfigurations of multiple parts of the global food system. The emergence of new technologies or social solutions, therefore, have very different impact profiles, with favourable consequences for some SDGs and unintended adverse side-effects for others. Stand-alone innovations seldom achieve positive outcomes over multiple sustainability dimensions. Instead, they should be embedded as part of systemic changes that facilitate the implementation of the SDGs. Emerging trade-offs need to be intentionally addressed to achieve true sustainability, particularly those involving social aspects like inequality in its many forms, social justice, and strong institutions, which remain challenging. Trade-offs with undesirable consequences are manageable through the development of well planned transition pathways, careful monitoring of key indicators, and through the implementation of transparent science targets at the local level