Nurses Practice Beyond Simple Advocacy to Engage in Relational Narratives: Expanding Opportunities for Persons to Influence the Public Space

In practicing existential and human advocacy, or engaging in a relational narrative, nurses may assist persons who experience health inequalities to clarify their values, and, in becoming more fully their authentic selves, community members who ordinarily feel powerless in the public space may act with confidence in influencing the distribution of health-care resources. In this paper, the writers describe research characterizing nurses’ advocacy practices and review the concepts of respect and self-interpretation as a foundation for arguing that nurses who engage in relational narratives with the persons they serve may encourage continuing acts of self-understanding. Investigators indicated that nurses characterized their practices as a therapeutic endeavor, and that their practices were grounded in respect. Practicing nurses may need self-awareness to habitually convey respect for human dignity, in addition, nurse educators ought to attend to the professional development of student nurses, providing opportunities for the formation of character traits or qualities

The color of smiling: computational synaesthesia of facial expressions

This note gives a preliminary account of the transcoding or rechanneling problem between different stimuli as it is of interest for the natural interaction or affective computing fields. By the consideration of a simple example, namely the color response of an affective lamp to a sensed facial expression, we frame the problem within an information- theoretic perspective. A full justification in terms of the Information Bottleneck principle promotes a latent affective space, hitherto surmised as an appealing and intuitive solution, as a suitable mediator between the different stimuli.Comment: Submitted to: 18th International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing (ICIAP 2015), 7-11 September 2015, Genova, Ital

A Natural Plasmid Uniquely Encodes Two Biosynthetic Pathways Creating a Potent Anti-MRSA Antibiotic

Background Understanding how complex antibiotics are synthesised by their producer bacteria is essential for creation of new families of bioactive compounds. Thiomarinols, produced by marine bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudoalteromonas, are hybrids of two independently active species: the pseudomonic acid mixture, mupirocin, which is used clinically against MRSA, and the pyrrothine core of holomycin. Methodology/Principal Findings High throughput DNA sequencing of the complete genome of the producer bacterium revealed a novel 97 kb plasmid, pTML1, consisting almost entirely of two distinct gene clusters. Targeted gene knockouts confirmed the role of these clusters in biosynthesis of the two separate components, pseudomonic acid and the pyrrothine, and identified a putative amide synthetase that joins them together. Feeding mupirocin to a mutant unable to make the endogenous pseudomonic acid created a novel hybrid with the pyrrothine via “mutasynthesis” that allows inhibition of mupirocin-resistant isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, the mupirocin target. A mutant defective in pyrrothine biosynthesis was also able to incorporate alternative amine substrates. Conclusions/Significance Plasmid pTML1 provides a paradigm for combining independent antibiotic biosynthetic pathways or using mutasynthesis to develop a new family of hybrid derivatives that may extend the effective use of mupirocin against MRSA

Deriving Multiple Benefits from Carbon Market-Based Savanna Fire Management: An Australian Example

Carbon markets afford potentially useful opportunities for supporting socially and environmentally sustainable land management programs but, to date, have been little applied in globally significant fire-prone savanna settings. While fire is intrinsic to regulating the composition, structure and dynamics of savanna systems, in north Australian savannas frequent and extensive late dry season wildfires incur significant environmental, production and social impacts. Here we assess the potential of market-based savanna burning greenhouse gas emissions abatement and allied carbon biosequestration projects to deliver compatible environmental and broader socio-economic benefits in a highly biodiverse north Australian setting.Drawing on extensive regional ecological knowledge of fire regime effects on fire-vulnerable taxa and communities, we compare three fire regime metrics (seasonal fire frequency, proportion of long-unburnt vegetation, fire patch-size distribution) over a 15-year period for three national parks with an indigenously (Aboriginal) owned and managed market-based emissions abatement enterprise. Our assessment indicates improved fire management outcomes under the emissions abatement program, and mostly little change or declining outcomes on the parks. We attribute improved outcomes and putative biodiversity benefits under the abatement program to enhanced strategic management made possible by the market-based mitigation arrangement.For these same sites we estimate quanta of carbon credits that could be delivered under realistic enhanced fire management practice, using currently available and developing accredited Australian savanna burning accounting methods. We conclude that, in appropriate situations, market-based savanna burning activities can provide transformative climate change mitigation, ecosystem health, and community benefits in northern Australia, and, despite significant challenges, potentially in other fire-prone savanna settings

“I lied a little bit.” A qualitative study exploring the perspectives of elite Australian athletes on self-reported data

Objectives: Explore the perceptions and experiences of elite Australian athletes’ engagement with reporting data in surveillance systems. Design: Qualitative Descriptive. Setting: Semi-structured interviews conducted using Zoom. Participants: We recruited 13 elite Australian athletes competing at a national or international level for semi-structured interviews. Main outcome measures: Audio recordings were transcribed using DeScript, checked for errors and imported into QSR NVIVO. Thematic analysis using QSR NVIVO was used to determine key themes from transcripts. Results: Thematic analysis uncovered four key themes: ‘the paradox of reporting’, ‘data for data\u27s sake’, ‘eyes on reporting’ and ‘athlete friendly reporting’. Conclusion: Athletes perceived reporting as a burden and the athlete management system presented numerous technological difficulties which led to athletes to backfill data entries and compromise data accuracy. Athletes had little knowledge on how their data was used and managed and often received minimal feedback from staff accessing the data. Athletes were unaware of who has access to their data, which is of concern as sensitive information may be collected and athletes may be underage. As a result, many athletes chose to report dishonest data to avoid their performance being questioned

Evolution from protoplanetary to debris discs: The transition disc around HD 166191

HD 166191 has been identified by several studies as hosting a rare and extremely bright warm debris disc with an additional outer cool disc component. However, an alternative interpretation is that the star hosts a disc that is currently in transition between a full gas disc and a largely gas-free debris disc. With the help of new optical to mid-IR spectra and Herschel imaging, we argue that the latter interpretation is supported in several ways: i) we show that HD 166191 is co-moving with the ~4 Myr-old Herbig Ae star HD 163296, suggesting that the two have the same age, ii) the disc spectrum of HD 166191 is well matched by a standard radiative transfer model of a gaseous protoplanetary disc with an inner hole, and iii) the HD 166191 mid-IR silicate feature is more consistent with similarly primordial objects. We note some potential issues with the debris disc interpretation that should be considered for such extreme objects, whose lifetime at the current brightness is mush shorter than the stellar age, or in the case of the outer component requires a mass comparable to the solid component of the Solar nebula. These aspects individually and collectively argue that HD 166191 is a 4-5 Myr old star that hosts a gaseous transition disc. Though it does not argue in favour of either scenario, we find strong evidence for 3-5 um disc variability. We place HD 166191 in context with discs at different evolutionary stages, showing that it is a potentially important object for understanding the protoplanetary to debris disc transition.Comment: accepted to MNRAS, fixed typos in abstract and axis labe

S06-1 Putting young people at the heart of physical activity research design: The Walking In ScHools (WISH) Study

BACKGROUND: Young people have the right to be informed and consulted about decisions affecting their lives. Youth Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) should be encouraged to ensure research is carried out ‘with' or ‘by' young people rather than ‘to', ‘about' or ‘for' them. PPI can ensure research is relevant, results are accessible and recruitment rates are improved. Young people have had limited involvement in the design, implementation and dissemination of public health research and there have been calls for a greater focus on youth PPI in research. METHODS: Following the WISH feasibility study that consulted young people pre and post-intervention, a Youth Advisory Group (YAG) was set up within the main trial. The WISH study is a clustered randomised controlled trial in which a peer-led, school-based, brisk walking intervention is compared to usual physical activity in adolescent females. The YAG was introduced to inform intervention delivery and provide researchers with an understanding of what would encourage/discourage participation. Schools were asked to invite pupils aged 12-14 years (participants) and 15-18 years (walk leaders). Participative methods were used to develop and review study documentation. The YAG completed a short questionnaire and recruitment rates were monitored. RESULTS: Fourteen pupils from 3 schools attended the 2019 YAG meeting. The YAG agreed the meeting was a good way of getting young people involved in research (93%) and attendees enjoyed the meeting (100%). As a result, changes were made to study documentation, incentives were purchased and recruitment materials developed. Participant recruitment was higher in schools who participated in the YAG (54%) compared to those who did not (47%). In 2021 the second YAG occurred and 1 teacher, 12 participants and 10 walk leaders from 2 schools provided feedback on the trials COVID-19 contingency plan. The girls felt their feedback was valued (100%) and it was important young people had the chance to contribute to research studies (100%). CONCLUSIONS: The views of young people have been central to the development of the WISH Study and although youth PPI is not without challenges, there are many benefits for researchers, the study and the young people involved

S06-5 The Walking In ScHools (WISH) study: Development and evaluation of a peer-led school-based walking intervention in adolescent girls from pilot to fully-powered trial

BACKGROUND: Walking interventions, delivered within the school setting, have the potential to increase physical activity (PA) in adolescents. Previous research has shown that walking is an acceptable form of PA for adolescent girls, and that walking interventions may be effective at increasing PA in this group. Findings from the Walking In ScHools (WISH) pilot study (n199 female participants) found the intervention was effective in increasing light intensity PA in adolescent girls, but further research is needed to examine the effects of walking on overall PA and the role of peer leaders in delivering school-based interventions. The present study aims to build upon this pilot work and evaluate the effectiveness of a novel, low-cost, peer-led school-based walking intervention, delivered across the school year, at increasing accelerometer-measured PA levels of adolescent girls. METHODS: The WISH study is a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial targeting adolescent girls (aged 12-14 years) within the post-primary school setting. Data will be collected at four timepoints, baseline, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and 13 months post-baseline. Following baseline data collection, schools were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 9) or control (n = 9). In intervention schools, older pupils (aged 15-18 years) were trained as walk leaders and led the younger girls in 10-15min walks before school, at break, and during lunch, across the school year (20-22 weeks). The primary outcome measure is accelerometer-measured total PA (post-intervention) and secondary outcomes include anthropometry measures, and wellbeing. RESULTS: Some 590 participants (mean(SD) age 12.6(0.64)years) were recruited from 18 schools across Northern Ireland (n = 9) and the Border region of the Republic of Ireland (n9). Within the intervention schools, 149 walk leaders were trained. At baseline (n = 535), mean(SD) time spent in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was 39.2(17.07)mins/day and 66 (12%) girls achieved PA guidelines of 60 minutes MVPA per day. Data collection and analysis is ongoing. CONCLUSIONS: This research has outlined the development of a novel, peer-led walking intervention and demonstrated its effectiveness at increasing light intensity PA in adolescent girls. The ongoing fully powered trial will build upon this pilot work and further evaluate the effects of the WISH study on increasing PA in adolescent girls