Going beyond FADN: The use of additional data to gain insights into extension service use across European Union Member States

This paper examines the use of extension services by farm households across eight European Union (EU) Member States, exploring the type of extension service engaged with, the degree of engagement and the type of information sought. The impact of extension on economic, environmental and social sustainability is also considered. European data utilised are those collected from a pilot sample of 820 households in 2015/2016 as part of the EU Framework 7 project FLINT, from which the Irish results are incorporated further with Irish Farm Accountancy Data Network data. The results outline the key contrasts across the countries investigated and suggest that the degree to which households engage with extension services is primarily\ud infl uenced by national policies. In addition, this analysis indicates that the extent of this engagement has implications for sustainability at the farm level. The final conclusions and policy recommendations in this paper support the development of a large-scale version of the FLINT pilot survey

Mobile Authentication Assurance Statement (MAAS) Draft Specification

Authentication assurance is a statement of the level of protection that the authenticator enforces to assure that a user retains control of the credentials used in authentication. Protected secret credentials enable user authentication at high levels of assurance. This specification describes the format of a message for mobile assurance along with a healthcare provider use case, involving the user’s acquisition and operation of an app on a smartphone that uses the statement in an authentication protocol

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Substance misuse and depression: case study and application of cognitive psychotherapy.

Case study of man with history of polysubstance abuse and depression. The use of cogntive therapy as part of a multiple approach to rehabilitation is discussed

An economic analysis of community preferences for wind farm development in Ireland

The core thesis objectives are: the identification of the key attributes of wind farm development in Ireland and the measurement of community representation and setback distance on wind farm preferences; the establishment of the public’s opinion on development for export and the analysis of those who choose to forgo the financial benefits of production and select the status quo of no wind farm development. The first two chapters of this thesis establish the motivation behind this research and the theoretical frameworks underpinning this work. Chapter 3 presents the core choice modelling results including the community representative and setback attributes. Chapter 4 focusses on attitudes towards wind farm development for export combining developer and community focus groups and survey results and chapter 5 analyses those respondents who serially selected the status quo of no new wind farm development using survey results and a binomial logit model, with conclusions in chapter 6. My findings reveal that the majority of respondents are willing to make (monetary) tradeoffs to allow for wind power initiatives and respondents require less compensation if provision is made for a community representative and setback distance is increased. Although the export of renewable energy from Ireland to the UK is currently on hold, my findings suggest that significant investment is required by the state and wind farm operators in better information provision, trust building, effective instruments to internalise wind farm externalities and co-management arrangements before Ireland can fully capture the benefits of wind exports to the UK. Demographic factors and attitudes towards the environment and wind energy in general strongly influence the likelihood of serial opposition and results also indicate an information effect, with those who are unsure about their opinions on wind farm development being more likely to select the status quo of no new wind farm for each choice set

Going beyond FADN: The use of additional data to gain insights into extension service use across European Union Member States

This paper examines the use of extension services by farm households across eight European Union (EU) Member States, exploring the type of extension service engaged with, the degree of engagement and the type of information sought. The impact of extension on economic, environmental and social sustainability is also considered. European data utilised are those collected from a pilot sample of 820 households in 2015/2016 as part of the EU Framework 7 project FLINT, from which the Irish results are incorporated further with Irish Farm Accountancy Data Network data. The results outline the key contrasts across the countries investigated and suggest that the degree to which households engage with extension services is primarily infl uenced by national policies. In addition, this analysis indicates that the extent of this engagement has implications for sustainability at the farm level. The final conclusions and policy recommendations in this paper support the development of a large-scale version of the FLINT pilot survey

Understanding Youth Civic Engagement:Debates, discourses and lessons from practice

This paper outlines key definitions and typologies that help to distinguish youth civic engagement activities from other forms of youth activity. It identifies five discourses that create a rationale for youth civic engagement activity. The paper summarises the perceived benefits of youth civic engagement to individuals and communities suggested by research. It also highlights the barriers and challenges to the civic engagement of youth. In the final section, this paper explicitly focuses on learning from the literature that can inform the development of civic action programmes and issues associated with effective programmes are identified

Prevalence of linezolid‑resistant organisms among patients admitted to a tertiary hospital for critical care or dialysis

Background Linezolid is an oxazolidinone antimicrobial regarded as a “last resort” antimicrobial, used typically for treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. It is acknowledged that prevalence of resistance to linezolid is increasing in Europe. In Ireland, a number of outbreaks of linezolid-resistant isolates have been reported, including an outbreak at the location for this study, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of University Hospital Limerick (UHL). Methods The Chromagar™ Lin-R selective medium was validated using a panel of linezolid-sensitive and linezolid-resistant strains. Subsequently, the prevalence exercise focused on a convenience sample of patients (n=159) in critical care wards, ICU (n=23) and High-Dependency Unit (HDU, n=51), in addition to patients undergoing dialysis therapy (n=77). Eight additional patients had specimens collected when attending more than one location. Growth on Chromagar™ Lin-R agar was followed by drug sensitivity testing by disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing. Results A validation exercise was performed on 23 isolates: seven target and sixteen non-target organisms. Isolates performed as intended (100% sensitivity, 100% specificity). For the prevalence study, of 398 tests, 40 resulted in growth of non-target organisms (specificity approx. 90%). A sole patient (1/159) was identified as colonized by a linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis, a prevalence of 0.63%. Molecular investigation confirmed presence of the G2576T mutation in the 23S rRNA. Conclusion While this point prevalence study identified extremely low carriage of linezolid-resistant bacteria, it remains prudent to maintain vigilance as reports of outbreaks associated with linezolid-resistant S. epidermidis (LRSE) in European critical care units are increasing