5,619 research outputs found
Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence (SACORE): successes and challenges
Copyright Ā© Mandala et al. Open access article
distributed under the terms of CC BY.Published Online November 13, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70321-
Demographic buffering and compensatory recruitment promotes the persistence of disease in a wildlife population.
Published onlineLETTERDemographic buffering allows populations to persist by compensating for fluctuations in vital rates, including disease-induced mortality. Using long-term data on a badger (Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) population naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis, we built an integrated population model to quantify impacts of disease, density and environmental drivers on survival and recruitment. Badgers exhibit a slow life-history strategy, having high rates of adult survival with low variance, and low but variable rates of recruitment. Recruitment exhibited strong negative density-dependence, but was not influenced by disease, while adult survival was density independent but declined with increasing prevalence of diseased individuals. Given that reproductive success is not depressed by disease prevalence, density-dependent recruitment of cubs is likely to compensate for disease-induced mortality. This combination of slow life history and compensatory recruitment promotes the persistence of a naturally infected badger population and helps to explain the badger's role as a persistent reservoir of M. bovis.NERCUK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affair
Validation of the Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy Scale
This study assessed a newly developed Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy Scale designed to measure the sexual communication self-efficacy of adolescent men and women. Three-hundred and seventy-four U.K. adolescents completed this new scale, along with several other validity measures. Factor analysis revealed that the Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy Scale consisted of five underlying factors: contraception communication, positive sexual messages, negative sexual messages, sexual history, and condom negotiation. These factors demonstrated high internal consistency and presents evidence to support construct validity. This scale may have utility in assessing the effectiveness of interventions designed to enhance sexual communication and sexual health behaviors among young people
Magnetic variation anomalies in northern England and southern Scotland
Single-station transfer functions linking the time variations of the vertical and horizontal components of the magnetic ļ¬eld at stations in northern England and southern Scotland have been compiled into a uniform data set. From hypothetical event analysis we show here that there are two distinct anomalies in the Borders region. One runs south-west to north-east, immediately to the south-east of the Southern Uplands Fault; the second follows the Northumberland Basin, and seems to exist because the conductive sedimentary rocks ļ¬lling the basin create a link between the Irish and North Seas. If the Iapetus suture is marked by a conductivity anomaly, as has been suggested, these results place it beneath the Southern Uplands, unless it is masked by the surface conductor in the Northumberland Basin
Timing and Outcomes of an IndicationāOnly Use of Intravenous Cannulation During Spontaneous Labor
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155888/1/jmwh13046_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155888/2/jmwh13046.pd
Type-1 Interferon Responses Underlie Tumor-Selective Replication of Oncolytic Measles Virus
The mechanism of tumor selective replication of oncolytic measles virus (MV) is poorly understood. Using a step-wise model of cellular transformation, in which oncogenic hits were additively expressed in human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells, we show that MV-induced oncolysis increased progressively with transformation. Type-1 interferon response to MV infection was significantly reduced and delayed, in accordance with the level of transformation. Consistently, we observed delayed and reduced STAT1 phosphorylation in the fully transformed cells. Pre-treatment with IFNĪ² restored resistance to MV-mediated oncolysis. Gene expression profiling to identify the genetic correlates of susceptibility to MV oncolysis revealed a dampened basal level of immune-related genes in the fully transformed cells compared to their normal counterparts. Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 1 (IFITM1) was the foremost basally downregulated immune gene. Stable IFITM1 overexpression in MV-susceptible cells resulted in a 50% increase in cell viability and a significant reduction in viral replication at 24 hours post MV infection. Overall, our data indicate that the basal reduction in functions of the type 1 IFN pathway is a major contributor to the oncolytic selectivity of MV. In particular, we have identified IFITM1 as a restriction factor for oncolytic MV, acting at early stages of infection
Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment Plus (ETAT+): adapting training to strengthen quality improvement and task-sharing in emergency paediatric care in Sierra Leone
BACKGROUND:
Over the past 25 years Sierra Leone has made progress in reducing maternal and child mortality, but the burden of preventable paediatric deaths remains high. Further progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require greater strengthening of the health care system, including hospital care for perinatal and paediatric conditions. Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment Plus (ETAT+) may offer a useful tool.
METHODS:
The five-day ETAT+ course was adapted as a six-month programme of in-situ training and mentoring integrated with patient flow and service delivery improvements in 14 regional and district government hospitals across the country. Nurses were trained to carry out the initial resuscitation and assessment of the sick paediatric patient, and to administer the first dose of medication per protocol. The course was for all clinical staff; most participants were nurses.
RESULTS:
The intervention was associated with an improvement in the quality of paediatric care and a reduction in mortality. In 2017 mortality decreased by 33.1%, from 14.5% at baseline to 9.7% after six months of the intervention. Mortality at the start of the 2018 intervention was 8.5% and reduced over six months to 6.5%. Care quality indicators showed improvement across the two intervention periods, with some evidence of sustained effect.
CONCLUSIONS:
These results suggest that adapted ETAT+ training with in-situ mentoring alongside improved patient flow and service delivery supports improvements in the quality of paediatric care in Sierra Leonean hospitals. ETAT+ may provide an affordable framework for improving the quality of secondary paediatric care in Sierra Leone and a model of nurse-led resuscitation may allow for prompt and timely emergency paediatric care in Sierra Leonean hospitals where there are fewer physicians and other resources for care
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How āUā are āUā words?: exploring variation in the usage and perception of class-based lexical shibboleths in British English
That U (upper-class) speakers and non-U (non-upper class) speakers are identifiable through the use of vocabulary is something of an axiom in England. These claims are repeated in books, magazine and newspaper articles, on social media, and in conversations regarding social class. However, such claims are seldom subject to empirical investigation. In order to redress this, we consider the production and perception of U and non-U lexis through two studies. In the first study, we identify the social and stylistic variation of three variables which are purported to be indicators of socioeconomic status, namely, LOO, NAPKIN, and SOFA. The second study employs the matched-guise technique to investigate the perception of lexical variants of these three variables. The production results reveal that all three variables exhibit change in apparent-time with some, but limited, evidence of class-based variation. In the perception study, we find no systematic class-based indexicalities across the three variables. Ultimately, our findings challenge the belief that U words are shibboleths of upper-classness
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