Mentoring: results from the Australian Psychological Society College of Health Psychologists professional mentoring survey

Introduction: A key purpose of APS College of Health Psychologists (CHP) is to provide professional support for Health Psychologists. Professional mentoring provides opportunities for new practitioners, to be matched with established practitioners, to assist with transition to professional practice. The CHP is considering developing a platform to facilitate professional mentoring. This project aims to better understand members’ needs, for future support/development opportunities. Methods: Health Psychologists comprising all membership categories and final-year post-graduate Health Psychology students were invited were invited to complete a mentoring survey, advertised through professional/university networks and related social-media sites. Socio-demographic and education/employment information was captured. Ethics approval was obtained from Bond University. Results: There were fifty-two respondents (57% graduated from highest degree within six years, 27% post-grads; 66% Health Psychology Masters/PhD). Majority (80%) knew the process for becoming Health Psychology-endorsed, whilst half (56%) knew requirements for CHP membership (56%). Two-thirds (68%) would recommend a career in Health Psychology to others (23% unsure). Main findings indicated 73% expressed interest in a mentoring program sponsored by CHP (7% unsure); and were most interested in: advice about endorsement requirements, employment and growing a career in health psychology; with preferred mentoring formats face-to-face and email. Further qualitative analysis revealed key themes regarding motivations and barriers (time, family) for mentoring. Conclusions: This information will help inform the development of a mentoring platform to support the professional and workforce development needs of Health Psychologists in Australia, and tailor other APS CHP services to the better meet the needs of recent graduates/early-career Health Psychologists

Modelling the effects of past and future climate on the risk of bluetongue emergence in Europe

Vector-borne diseases are among those most sensitive to climate because the ecology of vectors and the development rate of pathogens within them are highly dependent on environmental conditions. Bluetongue (BT), a recently emerged arboviral disease of ruminants in Europe, is often cited as an illustration of climate's impact on disease emergence, although no study has yet tested this association. Here, we develop a framework to quantitatively evaluate the effects of climate on BT's emergence in Europe by integrating high-resolution climate observations and model simulations within a mechanistic model of BT transmission risk. We demonstrate that a climate-driven model explains, in both space and time, many aspects of BT's recent emergence and spread, including the 2006 BT outbreak in northwest Europe which occurred in the year of highest projected risk since at least 1960. Furthermore, the model provides mechanistic insight into BT's emergence, suggesting that the drivers of emergence across Europe differ between the South and the North. Driven by simulated future climate from an ensemble of 11 regional climate models, the model projects increase in the future risk of BT emergence across most of Europe with uncertainty in rate but not in trend. The framework described here is adaptable and applicable to other diseases, where the link between climate and disease transmission risk can be quantified, permitting the evaluation of scale and uncertainty in climate change's impact on the future of such diseases

Sulfur analysis of Bolu-Mengen lignite before and after microbiological treatment using reductive pyrolysis and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Atmospheric pressure-temperature programmed reduction coupled with on-line mass spectrometry (AP-TPR/MS) is used for the first time on microbiologically treated coal samples as a technique to monitor the degree of desulfurization of the various sulfur functionalities. The experimental procedure enables the identification of both organic and inorganic sulfur species present in the coal matrix. A better insight in the degradation of the coal matrix and the accompanying processes during the AP-TPR experiment is obtained by a quantitative differentiation of the sulfur. The determination of the sulfur balance for the reductive pyrolysis gives an overview of the side reactions and their relative contribution in the total process. The volatile sulfur species are unambiguously identified using AP-TPR off-line coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In this way, fundamental mechanisms and reactions that occur during the reductive pyrolysis could be quantified, explaining the differences in AP-TPR recoveries. Therefore, this study gives a clearer view on the possibilities and limitations of AP-TPR as a technique to monitor sulfur functionalities in coal

Patient Advocacy in Plastic Surgery: An Underutilized Tool

Summary: Healthcare advocacy is an important tool in the plastic surgeon’s arsenal that stands the potential to improve both patient care and the profession. However, many physicians underestimate the importance and influence that healthcare advocacy has on the profession and feel that they lack the leverage and knowledge to advocate on behalf of themselves, their practices, their patients, and their profession, all of which are untrue. Plastic surgeons are uniquely positioned to advocate based on their clinical acumen, personal experiences with patient care, and their position in the healthcare ecosystem value chain. This article aims to equip plastic surgeons with a general framework of knowledge regarding policy and advocacy. Additionally, the article outlines and discusses recent advocacy efforts related to plastic surgery, and efforts that are on the horizon to provide some context to the relevance of advocacy related to plastic surgery. Finally, we aim to empower plastic surgeons to step into the policy advocacy arena for the betterment of our patients and the professional practice of plastic surgery. (Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open 2019;7:e2207; doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000002207; Published online 3 May 2019.

Mothers of Soldiers in Wartime: A National News Narrative

National news media represent mothers of US combat soldiers in the Iraq War as archetypal good mothers, that is, mothers who continue their maternal work even after their children are deployed. However, not all mothers are depicted as the archetypal patriotic mother, i.e., a good mother who is also stoic and silent about the war and her child\u27s role in it. Mothers of soldiers are portrayed as good mothers who sometimes also voice their attitudes about the war effort. The maternal attitudes ranged from complete support for the war to opposition to the war but support for the soldiers. The findings suggest a picture of wartime motherhood that is more nuanced than the historical image of the patriotic mother suggests

Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection

Microplastics (plastics < 5 mm) are a potential threat to marine biodiversity. However, the effects of microplastic pollution on animal behaviour and cognition are poorly understood. We used shell selection in common European hermit crabs (Pagurus bernhardus) as a model to test whether microplastic exposure impacts the essential survival behaviours of contacting, investigating and entering an optimal shell. We kept 64 female hermit crabs in tanks containing either polyethylene spheres (n = 35) or no plastic (n = 29) for 5 days. We then transferred subjects into suboptimal shells and placed them in an observation tank with an optimal alternative shell. Plastic-exposed hermit crabs showed impaired shell selection: they were less likely than controls to contact optimal shells or enter them. They also took longer to contact and enter the optimal shell. Plastic exposure did not affect time spent investigating the optimal shell. These results indicate that microplastics impair cognition (information-gathering and processing), disrupting an essential survival behaviour in hermit crabs

Are sexual health survey items understood as intended by African and Asian migrants to Australia? Methods, results and recommendations for qualitative pretesting

Introduction: More research and policy action are needed to improve migrant health in areas such as sexual health and blood-borne viruses (SHBBV). While Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice Surveys (KAPS) can inform planning, there are no SHBBV KAPS suitable for use across culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. This study pretests one instrument among people born in Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East and North-East Asia living in Australia. Methods: Employees of multicultural organisations were trained to collect data over three rounds using a hybrid qualitative pretesting method. Two researchers independently coded data. Researchers made revisions to survey items after each round. Responses to feedback questions in the final survey were analysed. Results: Sixty-two participants pretested the survey. Issues were identified in all three rounds of pretesting. Of the 77 final survey respondents who responded to a survey experience question, 21% agreed and 3% strongly agreed with the statement ‘I found it hard to understand some questions/words’. Conclusion: It is essential to pretest SHBBV surveys in migrant contexts. We offer the following pretesting guidance: (1) large samples are needed in heterogeneous populations; (2) intersectionality must be considered; (3) it may be necessary to pretest English language surveys in the participants’ first language; (4) bilingual/bicultural workers must be adequately trained to collect data; (5) results need to be interpreted in the context of other factors, including ethics and research aims; and (6) pretesting should occur over multiple rounds

Spatio-temporal optimization of sampling for bluetongue vectors (<em>Culicoides</em>) near grazing livestock

BACKGROUND: Estimating the abundance of Culicoides using light traps is influenced by a large variation in abundance in time and place. This study investigates the optimal trapping strategy to estimate the abundance or presence/absence of Culicoides on a field with grazing animals. We used 45 light traps to sample specimens from the Culicoides obsoletus species complex on a 14 hectare field during 16 nights in 2009. FINDINGS: The large number of traps and catch nights enabled us to simulate a series of samples consisting of different numbers of traps (1-15) on each night. We also varied the number of catch nights when simulating the sampling, and sampled with increasing minimum distances between traps. We used resampling to generate a distribution of different mean and median abundance in each sample. Finally, we used the hypergeometric distribution to estimate the probability of falsely detecting absence of vectors on the field. The variation in the estimated abundance decreased steeply when using up to six traps, and was less pronounced when using more traps, although no clear cutoff was found. CONCLUSIONS: Despite spatial clustering in vector abundance, we found no effect of increasing the distance between traps. We found that 18 traps were generally required to reach 90% probability of a true positive catch when sampling just one night. But when sampling over two nights the same probability level was obtained with just three traps per night. The results are useful for the design of vector monitoring programmes on fields with grazing animals

Controlling crystallization and its absence: Proteins, colloids and patchy models

The ability to control the crystallization behaviour (including its absence) of particles, be they biomolecules such as globular proteins, inorganic colloids, nanoparticles, or metal atoms in an alloy, is of both fundamental and technological importance. Much can be learnt from the exquisite control that biological systems exert over the behaviour of proteins, where protein crystallization and aggregation are generally suppressed, but where in particular instances complex crystalline assemblies can be formed that have a functional purpose. We also explore the insights that can be obtained from computational modelling, focussing on the subtle interplay between the interparticle interactions, the preferred local order and the resulting crystallization kinetics. In particular, we highlight the role played by ``frustration'', where there is an incompatibility between the preferred local order and the global crystalline order, using examples from atomic glass formers and model anisotropic particles.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

What is treatment success in cardiac resynchronization therapy?

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established treatment for symptomatic patients with heart failure, a prolonged QRS duration, and impaired left ventricular (LV) function. Identification of ‘responders’ and ‘non-responders’ to CRT has attracted considerable attention. The response to CRT can be measured in terms of symptomatic response or clinical outcome, or both. Alternatively, the response to CRT can be measured in terms of changes in surrogate measures of outcome, such as LV volumes, LV ejection fraction, invasive measures of cardiac performance, peak oxygen uptake, and neurohormones. This review explores whether these measures can be used in assessing the symptomatic and prognostic response to CRT. The role of these parameters to the management of individual patients is also discussed