Cultivating community economies: tools for building a liveable world

One chapter allowed - 18mth embargoAmid the failure of traditional politics and policies to address our fundamental challenges, an increasing number of thoughtful proposals and real-world models suggest new possibilities, this book convenes an essential conversation about ..

A Golf Programme for People with Severe and Enduring Mental Health Problems

This article reports a pioneering golf programme for people with severe and enduring mental health problems. Following a discussion of the problems and possibilities of golf as a form of physical activity for this group, we outline the structure, organisation, and ethos of the golf programme. Through an analysis of qualitative case study data collected during the programme, we discuss the response to the programme from service users and mental health professionals. We conclude by highlighting aspects of the programme which were critical to its success and offering suggestions for further initiatives in this area

Identifying component modules

A computer-based system for modelling component dependencies and identifying component modules is presented. A variation of the Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) representation was used to model component dependencies. The system utilises a two-stage approach towards facilitating the identification of a hierarchical modular structure. The first stage calculates a value for a clustering criterion that may be used to group component dependencies together. A Genetic Algorithm is described to optimise the order of the components within the DSM with the focus of minimising the value of the clustering criterion to identify the most significant component groupings (modules) within the product structure. The second stage utilises a 'Module Strength Indicator' (MSI) function to determine a value representative of the degree of modularity of the component groupings. The application of this function to the DSM produces a 'Module Structure Matrix' (MSM) depicting the relative modularity of available component groupings within it. The approach enabled the identification of hierarchical modularity in the product structure without the requirement for any additional domain specific knowledge within the system. The system supports design by providing mechanisms to explicitly represent and utilise component and dependency knowledge to facilitate the nontrivial task of determining near-optimal component modules and representing product modularity

Sperm death and dumping in Drosophila

Mating with more than one male is the norm for females of many species. In addition to generating competition between the ejaculates of different males, multiple mating may allow females to bias sperm use. In Drosophila melanogaster, the last male to inseminate a female sires approximately 80% of subsequent progeny. Both sperm displacement, where resident sperm are removed from storage by the incoming ejaculate of the copulating male, and sperm incapacitation, where incoming seminal fluids supposedly interfere with resident sperm, have been implicated in this pattern of sperm use. But the idea of incapacitation is problematic because there are no known mechanisms by which an individual could damage rival sperm and not their own. Females also influence the process of sperm use, but exactly how is unclear. Here we show that seminal fluids do not kill rival sperm and that any 'incapacitation' is probably due to sperm ageing during sperm storage. We also show that females release stored sperm from the reproductive tract (sperm dumping) after copulation with a second male and that this requires neither incoming sperm nor seminal fluids. Instead, males may cause stored sperm to be dumped or females may differentially eject sperm from the previous mating

Reference to the index of the correspondence of Walter Stone and Edmund Morris Miller, 1948 - 1964.

Edmund Morris Miller (1881-1964) scholar, Professor of Philosophy and Psychology and Librarian at the University of Tasmania, had extensive correspondence with Walter Stone, publisher and book collector of Sydney and publisher of Biblionews , between 1948 and 1964 about book collecting and Australian literature. Letters include references to J.K. Morris (d. 1958) ,Henry Kendall and Rev. Thornton Reed's thesis on Kendall, Fred. Bloomfield, Roderick Quinn, C.J. Brennan, W.E. Fitzhenry (editor of The Bulletin ), M. Gilmour and to The Tasmanian, Launceston's first newspaper (9). Morris Miller sometimes enclosed copies of his letters to others, including J.K. Morris (1951), and there are also letters from W.E. Fitzhenry of The Bulletin sent by Morris. Miller to Stone for his files

Blood transcriptomic diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND. Novel rapid diagnostics for active tuberculosis (TB) are required to overcome the time delays and inadequate sensitivity of current microbiological tests that are critically dependent on sampling the site of disease. Multiparametric blood transcriptomic signatures of TB have been described as potential diagnostic tests. We sought to identify the best transcript candidates as host biomarkers for active TB, extend the evaluation of their specificity by comparison with other infectious diseases, and to test their performance in both pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. METHODS. Support vector machine learning, combined with feature selection, was applied to new and previously published blood transcriptional profiles in order to identify the minimal TB‑specific transcriptional signature shared by multiple patient cohorts including pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB, and individuals with and without HIV-1 coinfection. RESULTS. We identified and validated elevated blood basic leucine zipper transcription factor 2 (BATF2) transcript levels as a single sensitive biomarker that discriminated active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB from healthy individuals, with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) scores of 0.93 to 0.99 in multiple cohorts of HIV-1-negative individuals, and 0.85 in HIV-1-infected individuals. In addition, we identified and validated a potentially novel 4-gene signature comprising CD177, haptoglobin, immunoglobin J chain, and galectin 10 that discriminated active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB from other febrile infections, giving ROC AUCs of 0.94 to 1. CONCLUSIONS. Elevated blood BATF2 transcript levels provide a sensitive biomarker that discriminates active TB from healthy individuals, and a potentially novel 4-gene transcriptional signature differentiates between active TB and other infectious diseases in individuals presenting with fever. FUNDING. MRC, Wellcome Trust, Rosetrees Trust, British Lung Foundation, NIHR.This work was supported by a Medical Research Council Fellowship to JR (MR/L001756/1) and Wellcome Trust Fellowship to EG (107311/Z/15/Z), the Rosetrees Trust, the British Lung Foundation (TB05/11), and by the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre

Foot health education for people with rheumatoid arthritis : the practitioner's perspective

Background: Patient education is considered to be a key role for podiatrists in the management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patient education has undoubtedly led to improved clinical outcomes, however no attempts have been made to optimise its content or delivery to maximise benefits within the context of the foot affected by rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of this study was to identify the nature and content of podiatrists' foot health education for people with RA. Any potential barriers to its provision were also explored. Methods: A focus group was conducted. The audio dialogue was recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a structured, thematic approach. The full transcription was verified by the focus group as an accurate account of what was said. The thematic analysis framework was verified by members of the research team to ensure validity of the data. Results: Twelve members (all female) of the north west Podiatry Clinical Effectiveness Group for Rheumatology participated. Six overarching themes emerged: (i) the essence of patient education; (ii) the content; (iii) patient-centred approach to content and timing; (iv) barriers to provision; (v) the therapeutic relationship; and (vi) tools of the trade. Conclusion: The study identified aspects of patient education that this group of podiatrists consider most important in relation to its: content, timing, delivery and barriers to its provision. General disease and foot health information in relation to RA together with a potential prognosis for foot health, the role of the podiatrist in management of foot health, and appropriate self-management strategies were considered to be key aspects of content, delivered according to the needs of the individual. Barriers to foot health education provision, including financial constraints and difficulties in establishing effective therapeutic relationships, were viewed as factors that strongly influenced foot health education provision. These data will contribute to the development of a patient-centred, negotiated approach to the provision of foot health education for people with RA