Role of the heat shock transcription factor, Hsf1, in a major fungal pathogen that is obligately associated with warm-blooded animals

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Community Libraries in England: Empowering Volunteers and a catalyst for change

This paper explores the balance between austerity localism (a reaction to public budget cuts) and progressive localism (a challenge to neo-liberalist hegemony) in the transfer of libraries to volunteer management. It is based on interviews in libraries in a northern city. Libraries in the U.K. are vulnerable to budget cuts as the extent of statutory provision is ambiguous and transfer to volunteer management may be the only viable alternative to closure. Volunteers felt compelled to act to save their libraries from closure, but in doing so were developing new services and ways of providing them. This showed a nuanced balance between a reaction to austerity and an approach which could be regarded as ‘progressive’. The paper contributes to the meaning and use of the concept of ‘progressive localism’, and understanding the synergy between this and ‘austerity localism’ within the asset transfer of library services

Isolation of microsatellite loci in the Capricorn silvereye, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus (Aves : Zosteropidae)

The Capricorn silvereye (Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus ) is ideally suited to investigating the genetic basis of body size evolution. We have isolated and characterized a set of microsatellite markers for this species. Seven out of 11 loci were polymorphic. The number of alleles detected ranged from two to five and observed heterozygosities between 0.12 and 0.67. One locus, ZL49, was found to be sex-linked. This moderate level of diversity is consistent with that expected in an isolated, island population

A field expansions method for scattering by periodic multilayered media

The interaction of acoustic and electromagnetic waves with periodic structures plays an important role in a wide range of problems of scientific and technological interest. This contribution focuses upon the robust and high-order numerical simulation of a model for the interaction of pressure waves generated within the earth incident upon layers of sediment near the surface. Herein described is a boundary perturbation method for the numerical simulation of scattering returns from irregularly shaped periodic layered media. The method requires only the discretization of the layer interfaces (so that the number of unknowns is an order of magnitude smaller than finite difference and finite element simulations), while it avoids not only the need for specialized quadrature rules but also the dense linear systems characteristic of boundary integral/element methods. The approach is a generalization to multiple layers of Bruno and Reitich’s “Method of Field Expansions” for dielectric structures with two layers. By simply considering the entire structure simultaneously, rather than solving in individual layers separately, the full field can be recovered in time proportional to the number of interfaces. As with the original field expansions method, this approach is extremely efficient and spectrally accurate

The personal cancer screening behaviours of nurses and midwives

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the personal cancer screening behaviours of nurses and midwives in New South Wales, Australia, and identify factors predictive of cancer screening uptake. Background: The nursing workforce may have a higher risk for some cancers and is ageing. In Australia, more than 40% are over 50 years – an age where cancer incidence rises rapidly, but when screening may reduce cancer mortality. Nurses and midwives are important health role models for the population, but their engagement in cancer screening is unknown. Design: A cross-sectional survey conducted in 2014–2015. Methods: Data were obtained from the ‘Fit for the Future’ study on 5041 working nurses and midwives in New South Wales, Australia and analyses were conducted on subsets of age-eligible respondents. Demographic, geographical and occupational data were analysed in relation to population-based screening for breast, cervical and bowel cancers and opportunistic screening for prostate and skin cancer screening participation, in line with Australian recommendations. Results: Nurses’ and midwives’ recent screening rates were higher than the Australian general population across relevant age groups. Compared with full-time nurses and midwives, part-time/casual/pool workers were significantly more likely to undertake cervical, breast and bowel screening. Compared with those working office hours, shift workers were significantly less likely to undertake breast and bowel screening, but more likely to undertake skin screening. Conclusions: Disparities in reported screening prevalence and factors predictive of screening uptake indicate opportunities for targeted strategies to inform and/or promote workforce engagement with screening programmes and protect the health of this ageing workforce

Lifestyle health behaviors of nurses and midwives: The ‘fit for the future’ study

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Nurses and midwives (nurses) are the principle role models and health educators for the wider population. This study sought to identify the health-related behaviors of the nursing workforce of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, compared to contemporary recommendations for healthy living and to the Australian general population, matched by gender and age. An electronic cross-sectional survey delivered in 2014–2015 recruited 5041 nurses through the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association and professional networks. Validated health behavior measures were collected and compared to Australian National Health Survey data. Compared with younger nurses, older nurses reported greater adherence to fruit and vegetable guideline recommendations, but were more likely to be overweight or obese. Younger nurses (25–34 years) had the highest risk of harmful drinking. Compared with the Australian general population, slightly higher percentages of nurses met dietary recommendations and slightly fewer were obese, had central adiposity or smoked. Nurses had lower physical activity levels and higher levels of risky drinking across most gender and age groups. Many nurses have lifestyle health behaviors that place them at high risk for developing non-communicable diseases, sometimes at higher risk than the Australian population to whom they deliver health education. Health promotion strategies for nurses are urgently required

Dispositional Coping, Coping Effectiveness, and Cognitive Social Maturity Among Adolescent Athletes

It is accepted among scholars that coping changes as people mature during adolescence, but little is known about the relationship between maturity and coping. The purpose of this paper was to assess a model, which included dispositional coping, coping effectiveness, and cognitive social maturity. We predicted that cognitive social maturity would have a direct effect on coping effectiveness, and also an indirect impact via dispositional coping. Two hundred forty-five adolescent athletes completed measures of dispositional coping, coping effectiveness, and cognitive social maturity, which has three dimensions: conscientiousness, peer influence on behavior, and rule following. Using structural equation modeling, we found support for our model, suggesting that coping is related to cognitive social maturity. This information can be used to influence the content of coping interventions for adolescents of different maturational levels

Does nurses’ health affect their intention to remain in their current position?

© 2016 The Authors. Journal of Nursing Management Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: To investigate and describe nurses’ and midwives’ physical health, rates of symptoms and disease, and to determine if these factors contribute to intention to leave. Background: The nursing and midwifery workforce is ageing yet little is known about their physical health or its relationship to intention to leave. Methods: An online survey of health and work-related assessments was distributed through the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association and professional contacts. Results: Nurses and midwives (n = 5041) reported good-very good health overall. With 22.2% intending to leave in the next 12 months, older age, better perceived health and job satisfaction, regional residence and not working shifts predicted no intention to leave while breathing problems predicted intention to leave. Conclusions: Study findings flag the importance of health as an influence on intention to leave. Alongside job satisfaction and shift-working, health presents opportunities for workplace initiatives to maintain nurses in the workforce. Implications for nursing management: Educators, managers and policy makers should heed the significant influence of health for retention of staff and consider what strategies may mitigate health risks for this workforce

Breaking quantum linearity: constraints from human perception and cosmological implications

Resolving the tension between quantum superpositions and the uniqueness of the classical world is a major open problem. One possibility, which is extensively explored both theoretically and experimentally, is that quantum linearity breaks above a given scale. Theoretically, this possibility is predicted by collapse models. They provide quantitative information on where violations of the superposition principle become manifest. Here we show that the lower bound on the collapse parameter lambda, coming from the analysis of the human visual process, is ~ 7 +/- 2 orders of magnitude stronger than the original bound, in agreement with more recent analysis. This implies that the collapse becomes effective with systems containing ~ 10^4 - 10^5 nucleons, and thus falls within the range of testability with present-day technology. We also compare the spectrum of the collapsing field with those of known cosmological fields, showing that a typical cosmological random field can yield an efficient wave function collapse.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure