Enteropathogen survival in soil from different land-uses is predominantly regulated by microbial community composition

peer-reviewedMicrobial enteropathogens can enter the environment via landspreading of animal slurries and manures. Biotic interactions with the soil microbial community can contribute to their subsequent decay. This study aimed to determine the relative impact of biotic, specifically microbial community structure, and physico-chemical properties associated with soils derived from 12 contrasting land-uses on enteropathogen survival. Phenotypic profiles of microbial communities (via phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiling), and total biomass (by fumigation-extraction), in the soils were determined, as well as a range of physicochemical properties. The persistence of Salmonella Dublin, Listeria monocytogenes, and Escherichia coli was measured over 110 days within soil microcosms. Physicochemical and biotic data were used in stepwise regression analysis to determine the predominant factor related to pathogen-specific death rates. Phenotypic structure, associated with a diverse range of constituent PLFAs, was identified as the most significant factor in pathogen decay for S. Dublin, L. monocytogenes, non-toxigenic E. coli O157 but not for environmentally-persistent E. coli. This demonstrates the importance of entire community-scale interactions in pathogen suppression, and that such interactions are context-specific

'No-one runs away for no reason' : understanding safeguarding issues when children and young people go missing from home

An estimated one in nine children will run away from home or substitute care before their 16th birthday in the UK. This paper explores the safeguarding concerns and responses for children and young people who run away or go missing from home. The majority of children and young people run away from home due to family relationship problems. Running away or being physically absent from home may be due to abuse and neglect. One in 11 children reported being hurt or harmed whilst running away. For some young people, 'running to' a person or situation can present many risks and can be part of a coercive and exploitative relationship. Despite these multiple indicators of risk, there has been little focus on safeguarding policies and practice for children and young people who run away from home. Drawing on a case example of a third-sector service using Return Interview Assessments, this paper argues that professionals must ensure that all children and young people who run away or go missing from home are given meaningful opportunities to be listened to, and taken seriously, in order to ensure that a wide range of safeguarding concerns can be addressed

Marine inspired textured materials for reduction of biofouling on surfaces

Biofouling on deployed in-situ sensors without regular removal or cleaning can disrupt sensor data collected. The current replacement antifouling (AF) materials under development are largely unsuited to sensor technologies as they have been developed with large scale applications in mind, such as those required by the shipping industry. Therefore, a strategy for the development of novel, sustainable, antifouling materials for sensor applications is required. Bio-inspiration refers to adapting strategies already developed in the natural world to problems encountered in modern science and technology. Engineered surfaces capable of controlling cellular behaviour under natural conditions are challenging to design due to the diversity of attaching cell types in environments such as marine waters, where many variations in cell shape, size and adhesion strategy exist. Nevertheless, understanding interactions between a cell and a potential substrate for adhesion, including topographically driven settlement cues, offers a route to designing surfaces capable of controlling cell settlement. Biomimetic design of artificial surfaces, based upon microscale features from natural surfaces, can be utilized as model surfaces to understand cell-surface interactions. In this study it was hypothesized that an AF effect could be induced through the replication of a synthetic surface. Scophthalmus rhombus (Brill) is a small flatfish occurring in marine waters of the Mediterranean as well as in Norway and Iceland. It inhabits sandy and muddy coastal waters from 5 to 80 metres. Its skin changes colour depending on the environment but is generally brownish with light and dark freckles and a creamy underside. S. rhombus is oval in shape and its flesh is white[1], [2]. In this study, the micro topography of the brill scale is characterized for the first time which may serve as a trend for the design of a marine inspired biomimetic surface texture. Natural dermal scales of S. rhombus are artificially replicated using 3-D printing and mould casting technologies. The replication methods are then tested for initial colonization of fouling species using 3 h immersion testing using diatom species, CCAP 1052/1B, Phaeodactylum tricornutum. The aim of this study was to discover the potential of using textured surfaces inspired by nature in particular marine organisms to combat fouling. This work identifies simple textures that can reduce fouling in its early stages which can contribute to antifouling coatings on sensors for monitoring in the marine environment

Reflections on Community Development, Preventative Care, and Ageing

Recently there has been a chorus of demands to "re‐imagine" social care. Community and faith‐based organisations, policy, and academic communities are engaged in discussions on issues such as human rights for older populations, the future of residential care, how to better support family/community care, and strengthen local place‐based community development. Moreover, the Covid‐19 pandemic has added new urgency to this mission, galvanizing developments for change and collective action and exposing public troubles of endemic system failings, prevailing discourses of ageism, tensions with health systems, and limitations of market models of care and support. Prevention is a central social welfare principle in many countries. It is associated with policy and practices that aim to meet social care needs early and is explored in this thematic issue

Use of mobile devices to help cancer patients meet their information needs in non-inpatient settings: systematic review

Background: The shift from inpatient to outpatient cancer care means that patients are now required to manage their condition at home, away from regular supervision by clinicians. Subsequently, research has consistently reported that many patients with cancer have unmet information needs during their illness. Mobile devices, such as mobile phones and tablet computers, provide an opportunity to deliver information to patients remotely. To date, no systematic reviews have evaluated how mobile devices have been used specifically to help patients meet to their information needs. Objective: A systematic review was conducted to identify studies that describe the use of mobile interventions to enable patients with cancer to meet their cancer-related information needs in non-inpatient settings, and to describe the effects and feasibility of these interventions. Methods: MEDLINE EMBASE and PsychINFO databases were searched up until January 2017. Search terms related to ‘mobile devices’, ‘information needs’ and ‘cancer’. There were no restrictions on study type in order to be as inclusive as possible. Study participants were patients with cancer undergoing treatment. Interventions had to be delivered by a mobile or handheld device, attempt to meet patients’ cancer-related information needs, and be for use in non-inpatient settings. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklists were used to assess the methodological quality of included studies. A narrative synthesis was performed and findings were organised by common themes found across studies. Results: The initial search yielded 1020 results. Twenty-three articles describing 20 studies were included. Interventions aimed to improve the monitoring and management of treatment-related symptoms (n=17, 85%), directly increase patients’ knowledge related to their condition (n=2, 10%) and improve communication of symptoms to clinicians in consultations (n=1, 5%). Studies were of adult (n=17; age range 24-87 years) and adolescent (n=3; age range 8-18 years) patients. Sample sizes ranged from 4-125, with 13 studies consisting of 25 participants or less. Most studies were conducted in the UK (n=12, 52%) or US (n=7, 30%). Of the 23 articles included, twelve were of medium quality, nine were of poor quality and two were of good quality. Overall, interventions were reported to be acceptable and were perceived as useful and easy to use. Few technical problems were encountered. Adherence was generally consistent and high (periods ranged from 5 days to 6 months), however there was considerable variation in use of intervention components within and between studies. Reported benefits of the interventions included improved symptom management, patient empowerment and improved clinician-patient communication, although mixed findings were reported for patients’ health-related quality of life and anxiety. Conclusions: The current review highlighted that mobile interventions for patients with cancer are only meeting treatment or symptom-related information needs. There were no interventions designed to meet patients’ full range of cancer-related information needs, from information on psychological support to how to manage finances during cancer, and the long-term effects of treatment. More comprehensive interventions are required for patients to meet their information needs when managing their condition in non-inpatient settings. Controlled evaluations are needed to further determine the effectiveness of these types of intervention

Emerging out of Lapita at Caution Bay

[Extract] The discovery in 2010 of stratified Lapita assemblages at Caution Bay near Port Moresby, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG) (David et al. 2011; McNiven et al. 2011), brought to the fore a series of important questions (Richards et al. 2016), many of which also apply to other parts of Island Melanesia where Lapita sites have been known for many decades. Unlike other parts of Melanesia, however, at Caution Bay some of the Lapita sites also have pre-Lapita horizons. A number are culturally very rich. At Caution Bay, where the oldest confirmed Lapita finds date to no earlier than c. 2900 cal BP (McNiven et al. 2012a), the major questions do not concern the earliest expressions of Lapita around 3300–3400 cal BP. Rather, here we are concerned more with identifying how assemblages associated with the Lapita cultural complex arrived and transformed along the south coast, after a presence in coastal and island regions to the northeast over the previous 400 years. These concerns contain both spatial and temporal elements: how and when, as a prelude to why, particular cultural traits continued and changed across Caution Bay. Tanamu 1 is the first of 122 archaeological sites excavated in Caution Bay upon which we will report. As a site, it represents the ideal entry point, as being a coastal site which contains pre-Lapita, Lapita and post-Lapita horizons it encapsulates many of the signatures, trends and transformations seen across the >5000 year Caution Bay sequence at large. Of special note in the wider context of Lapita archaeology, the presence of rich pre-Lapita horizons is what makes Caution Bay so important both in and of itself and for the Lapita story