PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN SKILLS, ATTRIBUTES AND SELF-ESTEEM

BACKGROUND The development of professional skills and attributes allows students to build self-esteem, identify with others and view themselves within a profession (Hunter et al., 2007). However, this can be challenging for those within generalist degrees with a diversity of graduate destinations, such as biomedical science (Panaretos et al., 2019). When students in specialised degrees learn skills and attributes that aren’t applicable to their desired career, a disconnect occurs, which impacts professional identity development (Noble et al., 2014). This study examined the relationships between skills, attributes and self-esteem among biomedical science students and how this impacts on professional identity. METHODS Second year biomedical science students (n=582) were asked to describe their desired profession, skills and attributes they possessed and needed to develop, and their self-esteem. Consenting students’ responses were subjected to inductive thematic analyses (Braun & Clarke, 2006). RESULTS & DISCUSSION Students described a variety of desired professions, with medicine being the most common. Students also described many skills and attributes that were needed for those professions. There was a correlation between awareness of skills and attributes and self-esteem, reflecting students’ developing strong professional identity. This suggests students with greater awareness are more likely be confident in their chosen career. REFERENCES Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2), 77-101. Hunter, A. B., Laursen, S. L., & Seymour, E. (2007). Becoming a scientist: The role of undergraduate research in students' cognitive, personal, and professional development. Science education, 91(1), 36-74. Noble, C., O’Brien, M., Coombes, I., Shaw, P. N., Nissen, L., & Clavarino, A. (2014). Becoming a pharmacist: students’ perceptions of their curricular experience and professional identity formation. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 6(3), 327-339. Panaretos, C., Colthorpe, K., Kibedi, J. and Ainscough, L., (2019). Biomedical science students’ intended graduate destinations. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 27(9); 1-16

Rare and common epilepsies converge on a shared gene regulatory network providing opportunities for novel antiepileptic drug discovery

Background The relationship between monogenic and polygenic forms of epilepsy is poorly understood, and the extent to which the genetic and acquired epilepsies share common pathways is unclear. Here, we use an integrated systems-level analysis of brain gene expression data to identify molecular networks disrupted in epilepsy. Results We identify a co-expression network of 320 genes (M30), which is significantly enriched for non-synonymous de novo mutations ascertained from patients with monogenic epilepsy, and for common variants associated with polygenic epilepsy. The genes in M30 network are expressed widely in the human brain under tight developmental control, and encode physically interacting proteins involved in synaptic processes. The most highly connected proteins within M30 network are preferentially disrupted by deleterious de novo mutations for monogenic epilepsy, in line with the centrality-lethality hypothesis. Analysis of M30 expression revealed consistent down-regulation in the epileptic brain in heterogeneous forms of epilepsy including human temporal lobe epilepsy, a mouse model of acquired temporal lobe epilepsy, and a mouse model of monogenic Dravet (SCN1A) disease. These results suggest functional disruption of M30 via gene mutation or altered expression as a convergent mechanism regulating susceptibility to epilepsy broadly. Using the large collection of drug-induced gene expression data from Connectivity Map, several drugs were predicted to preferentially restore the down-regulation of M30 in epilepsy toward health, most notably valproic acid, whose effect on M30 expression was replicated in neurons. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest targeting the expression of M30 as a potential new therapeutic strategy in epilepsy

Phase-Modulated Waveform Design for Extended Target Detection in the Presence of Clutter

The problem to be addressed in this paper is a phase-modulated waveform design for the detection of extended targets contaminated by signal-dependent noise (clutter) and additive noise in practical radar systems. An optimal waveform design method that leads to the energy spectral density (ESD) of signal under the maximum signal-to-clutter-and-noise ratio (SCNR) criterion is introduced first. In order to make full use of the transmission power, a novel phase-iterative algorithm is then proposed for designing the phase-modulated waveform with a constant envelope, whose ESD matches the optimal one. This method is proven to be able to achieve a small SCNR loss by minimizing the mean-square spectral distance between the optimal waveform and the designed waveform. The results of extensive simulations demonstrate that our approach provides less than 1 dB SCNR loss when the signal duration is greater than 1 μs, and outperforms the stationary phase method and other phase-modulated waveform design methods

Adults with intellectual disabilities: prevalence, incidence and remission of aggressive behaviour and related factors

<b>Introduction:</b> Aggressive behaviours can be disabling for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), with negative consequences for the adult, their family and paid carers. It is surprising how little research has been conducted into the epidemiology of these needs, given the impact they can have. This study investigates point prevalence, 2-year incidence and 2-year remission rates for aggressive behaviour (physically aggressive, destructive and verbally aggressive), and it investigates which factors are independently associated with aggressive behaviour. <b>Methods:</b> All adults with ID – within a geographically defined area of Scotland, UK – were recruited to a longitudinal cohort. At baseline, assessments were undertaken of demography, lifestyle, supports, development, problem behaviours, disabilities and physical and mental health. These were repeated for a 2-year period. <b>Results:</b> At baseline, the participation rate was 1023 (65.5%). After 2 years, the cohort retention was 651 adults. The point prevalence of Diagnostic Criteria for Psychiatric Disorders for Use with Adults with Learning Disabilities/Mental Retardation (DC-LD) aggressive behaviour was 9.8% (95% confidence interval = 8.0–11.8%), 2-year incidence was 1.8%, and 2-year remission rate from all types of aggressive behaviour meeting DC-LD criteria was 27.7%. The factors independently associated with aggressive behaviours were lower ability, female gender, not living with a family carer, not having Down syndrome, having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and having urinary incontinence. Incidence of aggressive behaviour meeting DC-LD criteria in adult life is similar to that for each of psychotic, anxiety and organic disorders. <b>Conclusions:</b> Aggressive behaviour is common among adults with ID, but contrary to previous suggestions, more than a quarter remit within the short to medium term. This is important knowledge for professionals as well as the person and her/his family and paid carers. There is much yet to learn about the mechanisms underpinning aetiology and maintenance of aggressive behaviour in this population, and exploratory epidemiological investigations such as this have a role to play in progressing research towards further hypothesis testing and trials to influence clinical practice, service development and policy

The politics of developing reference standards for nutrient intakes : the case of Australia and New Zealand

Objective Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) are evidence-based benchmarks for assessing the dietary adequacy of individuals and population groups as well as informing public health nutrition policies and programmes. The present paper presents the findings of an analysis of the views of submitters to a draft document associated with the development of the 2006 NRV for Australia and New Zealand. The aim of the study was to explore how these views were reflected in the policy-making process and final policy document.Design The information necessary to fulfil this aim required access to stakeholder submissions to the NRV development process and this necessitated exploiting the provisions of the Commonwealth of Australia&rsquo;s Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982. We understand that the present research represents the first time that an FOI request seeking information about a National Health and Medical Research Council food and nutrition policy process has been made and therefore is novel in its approach to public health nutrition policy analysis.Results The analysis of stakeholder submissions identified that stakeholders had particular concerns about the conduct of the review process and the future application of the nutrient values to policy and programmes. There is a lack of evidence that the majority of stakeholder comments were addressed in the final NRV document.Conclusion Although these findings cannot be interpreted to assess the validity or otherwise of the set nutrient values, they do raise questions about the process for their development and the adequacy of the final document to reflect the views of key stakeholders.<br /

An ultrasensitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay to detect asymptomatic low-density Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections in small volume blood samples.

BackgroundHighly sensitive, scalable diagnostic methods are needed to guide malaria elimination interventions. While traditional microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are suitable for the diagnosis of symptomatic malaria infection, more sensitive tests are needed to screen for low-density, asymptomatic infections that are targeted by interventions aiming to eliminate the entire reservoir of malaria infection in humans.MethodsA reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT- PCR) was developed for multiplexed detection of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene and ribosomal RNA of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Simulated field samples stored for 14 days with sample preservation buffer were used to assess the analytical sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, 1750 field samples from Southeastern Myanmar were tested both by RDT and ultrasensitive RT-PCR.ResultsLimits of detection (LoD) were determined under simulated field conditions. When 0.3 mL blood samples were stored for 14 days at 28 °C and 80% humidity, the LoD was less than 16 parasites/mL for P. falciparum and 19.7 copies/µL for P. vivax (using a plasmid surrogate), about 10,000-fold lower than RDTs. Of the 1739 samples successfully evaluated by both ultrasensitive RT-PCR and RDT, only two were RDT positive while 24 were positive for P. falciparum, 108 were positive for P. vivax, and 127 were positive for either P. vivax and/or P. falciparum using ultrasensitive RT-PCR.ConclusionsThis ultrasensitive RT-PCR method is a robust, field-tested screening method that is vastly more sensitive than RDTs. Further optimization may result in a truly scalable tool suitable for widespread surveillance of low-level asymptomatic P. falciparum and P. vivax parasitaemia

Summary report for PARKE pilot 'learn to love being with less'

Report on the workshop event to Dave Hockham: Executive summary. On 15th June 2022 a Practice as Research Knowledge Exchange (PARKE) Workshop was held at the Bathway Theatre to explore the question: “How can we learn to love being with less?” This project explored the UN Sustainability Development Goal 11: sustainable cities and communities using a somatic co-production approach which was based on movement to music combined with the chormmunity methodology (Loper 2000) involving movement, images, and words to express feelings and thoughts. 15 participants, specifically selected from a range of backgrounds and ages, took part in the workshop. Some of the participants were community group leaders, whom we intentionally invited so they could apply any learning for their own practice working with community members. The aim of the workshop was two-fold: 1. Participants explored the key question and were asked to reflect on what they can take home from the workshop to make changes in their own life (personal impact). 2. Participants were asked to provide feedback on participating in a co-creation workshop with an intergenerational and diverse group and what they could learn from this for their own current work or future work with community groups. Outcomes of the knowledge exchange (KE) workshop At the end of the workshop all participants reported to feel positive about the day and all stated they could take home from the day something ‘valuable’ (e.g. a new perspective or approach). However, one person, who is active in the sustainability movement openly questioned the value of a workshop like this in the face of a global climate crisis, yet he did agree on the workshop bringing value in questioning representations, active listening and by exploring different forms of expressions. Participants further reported on ideas on changes in their behaviour such as worrying less about technology (emails), but to experience life more physically, to pay more attention when listening and to incorporate different forms of expression when working with members of the community. The diversity of the group was perceived as a beneficial vehicle for participants to learn about new perspectives and to exchange more freely

Dust accretion and destruction in galaxy groups and clusters

We examine the dust distribution around a sample of 70,000 low redshift galaxy groups and clusters derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By correlating spectroscopically identified background quasars with the galaxy groups we obtain the relative colour excess due to dust reddening. We present a significant detection of dust out to a clustercentric distance of 30 Mpc/h in all four independent SDSS colours, consistent with the expectations of weak lensing masses of similar mass halos and excess galaxy counts. The wavelength dependence of this colour excess is consistent with the expectations of a Milky Way dust law with R_V=3.1. Further, we find that the halo mass dependence of the dust content is much smaller than would be expected by a simple scaling, implying that the dust-to-gas ratio of the most massive clusters (~10E14 Msun/h) is ~3% of the local ISM value, while in small groups (~10E12.7 Msun/h) it is ~55% of the local ISM value. We also find that the dust must have a covering fraction on the order of 10% to explain the observed color differences, which means the dust is not just confined to the most massive galaxies. Comparing the dust profile with the excess galaxy profile, we find that the implied dust-to-galaxy ratio falls significantly towards the group or cluster center. This has a significant halo mass dependence, such that the more massive groups and clusters show a stronger reduction. This suggests that either dust is destroyed by thermal sputtering of the dust grains by the hot, dense gas or the intrinsic dust production is reduced in these galaxies.Comment: 10 pages, MNRAS, in pres

Evaluation of Messages to Promote Intake of Calcium-Rich Foods in Early Adolescents

Parental practices influence intake of calcium-rich foods and beverages (CRFB) in adolescents. This study aimed to test two posters promoting such parental practices for comprehension, cultural and personal relevance, and ability to motivate parents to encourage CRFB intake. Interviews were conducted with 14 Hispanic and 6 Asian parents to evaluate two posters entitled “Good play starts with calcium” and “Strong families start with good nutrition.” Responses were reviewed for themes. For “Good play,” both racial/ethnic groups of parents understood the message to provide CRFB. Only Hispanics, however, recognized the connection between calcium and strong bones. For “Strong families,” both groups had difficulty understanding that foods pictured were calcium rich. Both posters were considered culturally and personally relevant; however, not all respondents indicated motivation to provide CRFB. Modifications are needed to emphasize the connection between images and taglines and calcium intake for use in a future intervention to improve CRFB-promoting practices