Exploring or Avoiding Novel Food Resources? The Novelty Conflict in an Invasive Bird

For an animal invading a novel region, the ability to develop new behaviors should facilitate the use of novel food resources and hence increase its survival in the new environment. However, the need to explore new resources may entail costs such as exposing the animal to unfamiliar predators. These two opposing forces result in an exploration-avoidance conflict, which can be expected to interfere with the acquisition of new resources. However, its consequences should be less dramatic in highly urbanized environments where new food opportunities are common and predation risk is low. We tested this hypothesis experimentally by presenting three foraging tasks to introduced common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) from environments with low and high urbanization levels from Australia. Individuals from the highly urbanized environments, where mynas are both more opportunistic when foraging and less fearful to predators, resolved a technical task faster than those from less urbanized environments. These differences did not reflect innovative ‘personalities’ and were not confounded by sex, morphology or motivational state. Rather, the principal factors underlying differences in mynas' problem-solving ability were neophobic-neophilic responses, which varied across habitats. Thus, mynas seem to modulate their problem-solving ability according to the benefits and costs of innovating in their particular habitat, which may help us understand the great success of the species in highly urbanized environments

Supporting the education and wellbeing of children looked-after: what is the role of the virtual school?

The Children and Families Act (2014) placed a statutory responsibility on local authorities in the United Kingdom to establish a Virtual School Headteacher with the role of championing the education of all children looked-after within that authority. The current research was designed to illuminate how Virtual Schools are currently supporting educational outcomes for children looked-after, not only through educational interventions, but also through supporting broader psychological factors that might impact on attainment such as attachment, relationships and mental health. Virtual School Head Teachers from 29 local authorities completed an online survey about the services they provided to three target groups – children looked-after, foster carers and schools – with a particular focus on the transition years from primary to secondary school, which have been identified as being a difficult time for children looked-after. Using inductive thematic analysis four overarching themes to service provision were identified: Enhanced learning opportunities; Specific Transition Support; Wellbeing and Relationships, and Raising Awareness. Direct work, interprofessional working and the development of supportive environments, particularly guided by attachment theory, were identified as important areas of practice. Practice is discussed in relation to resilience and ecological systems theory and suggestions for future research are identified

Rural and Remote Cardiology During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) Consensus Statement.

THE CHALLENGES:Rural and remote Australians and New Zealanders have a higher rate of adverse outcomes due to acute myocardial infarction, driven by many factors. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is also higher in regional and remote populations, and people with known CVD have increased morbidity and mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition, COVID-19 is associated with serious cardiac manifestations, potentially placing additional demand on limited regional services at a time of diminished visiting metropolitan support with restricted travel. Inter-hospital transfer is currently challenging as receiving centres enact pandemic protocols, creating potential delays, and cardiovascular resources are diverted to increasing intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency department (ED) capacity. Regional and rural centres have limited staff resources, placing cardiac services at risk in the event of staff infection or quarantine during the pandemic. MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS:Health districts, cardiologists and government agencies need to minimise impacts on the already vulnerable cardiovascular health of regional and remote Australians and New Zealanders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in management should include