145 research outputs found
Experiencing integration: A pilot study of consumer and provider experiences of integrated primary health care
This study will provide important insights into if and how integrated primary health care works from the perspectives of both consumers and providers. It will pilot test methods of qualitative and quantitative research into consumer experiences of integrated primary health care in a single-site health care service.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy
Estimating Site Performance (ESP) : can trial managers predict recruitment success at trial sites? An exploratory study
Availability of data and materials All quantitative data generated and analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files] Additional file 3. The dataset of predictions used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The transcript of the group discussion generated and analysed during the current study is not publicly available due it containing information that could compromise research participant consent (it would be a relatively simple matter to identify trials and trial managers) but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Initial management of potential occult scaphoid fracture in Australasia
AIM: To characterise current management of adult patients with possible occult scaphoid fracture in Australasian emergency departments. METHODS: Internet-based survey of Directors of Emergency Medicine Training throughout Australasia. Data collected included the most common management used in ED for patients with possible occult scaphoid fracture and whether there was a guideline regarding management of such cases. Data are reported as descriptive statistics. RESULTS: 61 responses were received (response rate 73%). The most common management reported was immobilisation in a backslab (23, 38%) or full cast (19, 32%) with clinical assessment and re-X-ray in 7-10 days. CT scan within 7 days was used by 9 (15%), bone scan within 7 days by 6 (10%) and MRI within 7 days by 3 (5%). Very few sites were using same day/next day CT or MRI. Eighty-three percent of sites reported not having a guideline/protocol for this condition. CONCLUSION: The traditional approach to management of possible occult scaphoid fracture of immobilisation with re-X-ray at 7-10 days remains the most commonly used in Australasia, despite evidence that this is probably over-treatment with significant consequences for patients. The place of advanced imaging for investigation of potential scaphoid fractures requires further research
Toward a Future-Ready Talent Framework for Co-operative and Work-Integrated Learning
[EN] Co-operative education and work-integrated learning (WIL) are powerful means to prepare post-secondary students for the VUCA world: a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Co-op and WIL programs expose students to the workplace which, among other things, allows students to learn about the contexts and challenges facing their employers. This contributes to the development of an “adaptive resilience” that is so crucial for coping with VUCA and the future of work and learning. Still, existing co-op and WIL programs can do more. We developed a Future-Ready Talent Framework that provides educators with explicit learning outcomes, gives students clear expectations, and equips organizations with a common language with which to interact with post-secondary institutions, educators, and students. Our Framework is comprised of four different skill sets: Discipline and Context Specific Skills, Develop Self, Build Relationships, and Create Solutions. Each of the four skill sets includes three distinct skills. Although it is a work in progress, our Framework can serve as the basis for improved curriculum, communication, and evaluation, and can serve as a tool for students to develop the confidence and know-how to face the future of work and learning.Mcrae, N.; Church, D.; Woodside, J.; Drewery, D.; Fannon, A.; Pretti, J. (2019). Toward a Future-Ready Talent Framework for Co-operative and Work-Integrated Learning. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1255-1262. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9319OCS1255126
Differential production of type I IFN determines the reciprocal levels of IL-10 and proinflammatory cytokines produced by C57BL/6 and BALB/c macrophages
Pattern recognition receptors detect microbial products and induce cytokines, which shape the immunological response. IL-12, TNF-alpha, and IL-1 beta are proinflammatory cytokines, which are essential for resistance against infection, but when produced at high levels they may contribute to immunopathology. In contrast, IL-10 is an immunosuppressive cytokine, which dampens proinflammatory responses, but it can also lead to defective pathogen clearance. The regulation of these cytokines is therefore central to the generation of an effective but balanced immune response. In this study, we show that macrophages derived from C57BL/6 mice produce low levels of IL-12, TNF-alpha, and IL-1 beta, but high levels of IL-10, in response to TLR4 and TLR2 ligands LPS and Pam3CSK4, as well as Burkholderia pseudomallei, a Gram-negative bacterium that activates TLR2/4. In contrast, macrophages derived from BALB/c mice show a reciprocal pattern of cytokine production. Differential production of IL-10 in B. pseudomallei and LPS-stimulated C57BL/6 and BALB/c macrophages was due to a type I IFN and ERK1/2-dependent, but IL-27-independent, mechanism. Enhanced type I IFN expression in LPS-stimulated C57BL/6 macrophages was accompanied by increased STAT1 and IFN regulatory factor 3 activation. Furthermore, type I IFN contributed to differential IL-1 beta and IL-12 production in B. pseudomallei and LPS-stimulated C57BL/6 and BALB/c macrophages via both IL-10-dependent and -independent mechanisms. These findings highlight key pathways responsible for the regulation of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in macrophages and reveal how they may differ according to the genetic background of the host.his work was supported by The Francis Crick Institute, which receives its core
funding from Cancer Research UK (FC001126), the U.K. Medical Research Council
(FC001126), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001126) since April 1, 2015 and before that
by U.K. Medical Research Council Grant MRC U117565642 and also by European
Research Council Grant 294682-TB-PATH (Crick 10127). A.H. was additionally
funded by a U.K. Medical Research Council Centenary Award. M.S. was funded
by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal Grant FCT-ANR/BIM-MEC/
0007/2013. M.S. is an associate Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal
investigator.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Sensitivity and performance of the Advanced LIGO detectors in the third observing run
On April 1st, 2019, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (aLIGO), joined by the Advanced Virgo detector, began the third observing run, a year-long dedicated search for gravitational radiation. The LIGO detectors have achieved a higher duty cycle and greater sensitivity to gravitational waves than ever before, with LIGO Hanford achieving angle-averaged sensitivity to binary neutron star coalescences to a distance of 111 Mpc, and LIGO Livingston to 134 Mpc with duty factors of 74.6% and 77.0% respectively. The improvement in sensitivity and stability is a result of several upgrades to the detectors, including doubled intracavity power, the addition of an in-vacuum optical parametric oscillator for squeezed-light injection, replacement of core optics and end reaction masses, and installation of acoustic mode dampers. This paper explores the purposes behind these upgrades, and explains to the best of our knowledge the noise currently limiting the sensitivity of each detector.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the
United States National Science Foundation (NSF) for
the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory
and Advanced LIGO as well as the Science and Technology
Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, and
the Max-Planck-Society (MPS) for support of the construction of Advanced LIGO. Additional support for
Advanced LIGO was provided by the Australian
Research Council. The authors acknowledge the LIGO
Scientific Collaboration Fellows program for additional
support. LIGO was constructed by the California Institute
of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
with funding from the National Science Foundation,
and operates under cooperative Agreement No. PHY1764464. Advanced LIGO was built under Award
No. PHY-0823459. This paper carries LIGO Document
Number LIGO-P2000122
Building essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) of species distribution and abundance at a global scale
Much biodiversity data is collected worldwide, but it remains challenging to assemble the scattered knowledge for assessing biodiversity status and trends. The concept of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) was introduced to structure biodiversity monitoring globally, and to harmonize and standardize biodiversity data from disparate sources to capture a minimum set of critical variables required to study, report and manage biodiversity change. Here, we assess the challenges of a 'Big Data' approach to building global EBV data products across taxa and spatiotemporal scales, focusing on species distribution and abundance. The majority of currently available data on species distributions derives from incidentally reported observations or from surveys where presence-only or presence-absence data are sampled repeatedly with standardized protocols. Most abundance data come from opportunistic population counts or from population time series using standardized protocols (e.g. repeated surveys of the same population from single or multiple sites). Enormous complexity exists in integrating these heterogeneous, multi-source data sets across space, time, taxa and different sampling methods. Integration of such data into global EBV data products requires correcting biases introduced by imperfect detection and varying sampling effort, dealing with different spatial resolution and extents, harmonizing measurement units from different data sources or sampling methods, applying statistical tools and models for spatial inter- or extrapolation, and quantifying sources of uncertainty and errors in data and models. To support the development of EBVs by the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), we identify 11 key workflow steps that will operationalize the process of building EBV data products within and across research infrastructures worldwide. These workflow steps take multiple sequential activities into account, including identification and aggregation of various raw data sources, data quality control, taxonomic name matching and statistical modelling of integrated data. We illustrate these steps with concrete examples from existing citizen science and professional monitoring projects, including eBird, the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring network, the Living Planet Index and the Baltic Sea zooplankton monitoring. The identified workflow steps are applicable to both terrestrial and aquatic systems and a broad range of spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales. They depend on clear, findable and accessible metadata, and we provide an overview of current data and metadata standards. Several challenges remain to be solved for building global EBV data products: (i) developing tools and models for combining heterogeneous, multi-source data sets and filling data gaps in geographic, temporal and taxonomic coverage, (ii) integrating emerging methods and technologies for data collection such as citizen science, sensor networks, DNA-based techniques and satellite remote sensing, (iii) solving major technical issues related to data product structure, data storage, execution of workflows and the production process/cycle as well as approaching technical interoperability among research infrastructures, (iv) allowing semantic interoperability by developing and adopting standards and tools for capturing consistent data and metadata, and (v) ensuring legal interoperability by endorsing open data or data that are free from restrictions on use, modification and sharing. Addressing these challenges is critical for biodiversity research and for assessing progress towards conservation policy targets and sustainable development goals
Experiencing integration: a qualitative pilot study of consumer and provider experiences of integrated primary health care in Australia
All-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars using Advanced LIGO O2 data
We present results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves (CWs), which can be produced
by fast spinning neutron stars with an asymmetry around their rotation axis, using data from the second
observing run of the Advanced LIGO detectors. Three different semicoherent methods are used to search in
a gravitational-wave frequency band from 20 to 1922 Hz and a first frequency derivative from −1 × 10−8 to
2 × 10−9 Hz=s. None of these searches has found clear evidence for a CW signal, so upper limits on the
gravitational-wave strain amplitude are calculated, which for this broad range in parameter space are the
most sensitive ever achieved.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the
United States National Science Foundation (NSF) for the
construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory and
Advanced LIGO as well as the Science and Technology
Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society (MPS), and the State of
Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction of
Advanced LIGO and construction and operation of the
GEO600 detector. Additional support for Advanced LIGO
was provided by the Australian Research Council.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Italian Istituto
Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), the French Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the
Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported
by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, for
the construction and operation of the Virgo detector and the
creation and support of the EGO consortium. The authors also
gratefully acknowledge research support from these agencies
as well as by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
of India, the Department of Science and Technology, India,
the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), India,
the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, the
SpanishAgenciaEstatal de Investigación,the Vicepresid`encia
i Conselleria d’Innovació, Recerca i Turisme and the
Conselleria d’Educació i Universitat del Govern de les Illes
Balears, the Conselleria d’Educació, Investigació, Cultura i
Esport de la Generalitat Valenciana, the National Science
Centre of Poland, the Swiss National Science Foundation
(SNSF), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the
Russian Science Foundation, the European Commission, the
European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the Royal
Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish
Universities Physics Alliance, the Hungarian Scientific
Research Fund (OTKA), the Lyon Institute of Origins
(LIO), the Paris Île-de-France Region, the National
Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary
(NKFIH), the National Research Foundation of Korea,
Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the
Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the
Natural Science and Engineering Research Council
Canada, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the
Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations, and
Communications, the International Center for Theoretical
Physics South American Institute for Fundamental Research
(ICTP-SAIFR), the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong,
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC),
the Leverhulme Trust, the Research Corporation, the Ministry
of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan and the Kavli
Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
of the NSF, STFC, MPS, INFN, CNRS, INFN-CNAF, PLGrid, and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for provision
of computational resources. Work at SURFsara and Nikhef
has been performed using resources of the Dutch eInfrastructure, which is financially supported by the
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
(Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, NWO)
and the Dutch higher education and research partnership for
network services and information and communication technology (SURF)
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