119 research outputs found
Opportunities for a Senior Center and University to Serve as Third Places and Advance Age-Friendliness in Their Community
The purpose of the current study is to understand the potential use of a community senior center and university campus as third places, where people can gather informally for psychological support through a shared sense of grounding, ease, comfort, friendliness, and mutual concern (Oldenburg, 1999). Third places can help individuals age in place by contributing to the age-friendliness of communities (Banning, Clemons, McKelfresh, & Gibbs, 2010). Through a case study design, researchers used mixed methods to collect data from senior center members, senior center directors, and university administrators. Data were analyzed utilizing focused coding of open-ended responses and descriptive statistics from the quantitative data. Findings revealed implications related to lack of awareness, communication, and perceived barriers, contributing to overall goals of supporting older adults aging in place through creating opportunities for them to feel engaged and empowered in their communities
Recruiting people with severe mental illness through community pharmacies:real-world experiences from a UK study
BACKGROUND: Proxy recruitment of patient participants through community pharmacies may be a valuable strategy to maximise participation. This paper focuses on the feasibility of such a recruitment strategy for research involving people who experience severe mental illness. METHODS: Fifty-three community pharmacies, including 50 'Research Ready' pharmacies, were asked to recruit people with severe mental illness for participation in research. Pharmacists were asked to provide participant information to anyone presenting a prescription meeting specific criteria. RESULTS: Thirteen recruitment sites (25%) (from 4 distinct organisations) were approved to recruit patient participants. Eighty-five percent (n = 11) failed to recruit any potential participants. CONCLUSIONS: Proxy recruitment of people with severe mental illness through community pharmacies was challenging with challenges in both pharmacy- and participant-recruitment. Further investigation into supporting community pharmacists' engagement with recruiting patients with SMI as research participants is required
Depleting Depletion: Maintaining Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Dispersions after Graft-to Polymer Functionalization
Grafting polymers onto single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) usefully alters properties but does not typically yield stable, solvated species directly. Despite the expectation of steric stabilization, a damaging (re)dispersion step is usually necessary. Here, poly(vinyl acetate)s (PVAc) of varying molecular weights are grafted to individualized, reduced SWCNTs at different concentrations to examine the extent of reaction and degree of solvation. The use of higher polymer concentrations leads to an increase in grafting ratio (weight fraction of grafted polymer relative to the SWCNT framework), approaching the limit of random sequentially adsorbed Flory ‘mushrooms’ on the surface. However, at higher polymer concentrations, a larger percentage of SWCNTs precipitate during the reaction; an effect which is more significant for larger weight polymers. The precipitation is attributed to depletion interactions generated by ungrafted homopolymer overcoming Coulombic repulsion of adjacent like-charged SWCNTs; a simple model is proposed. Larger polymers and greater degrees of functionalization favor stable solvation, but larger and more concentrated homopolymers increase depletion aggregation. By using low concentrations (25 μM) of larger molecular weight PVAc (10 kDa), up to 65% of grafted SWCNTs were retained in solution (at 65 μg mL-1) directly after the reaction
<i>Grafting from</i> versus <i>Grafting to</i> Approaches for the Functionalization of Graphene Nanoplatelets with Poly(methyl methacrylate)
Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) were
exfoliated using a nondestructive
chemical reduction method and subsequently decorated with polymers
using two different approaches: <i>grafting from</i> and <i>grafting to</i>. PolyÂ(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with varying
molecular weights was covalently attached to the GNP layers using
both methods. The grafting ratios were higher (44.6% to 126.5%) for
the <i>grafting from</i> approach compared to the <i>grafting to</i> approach (12.6% to 20.3%). The products were
characterized using thermogravimetric analysis–mass spectrometry
(TGA-MS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),
X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission
electron microscopy (TEM). The g<i>rafting from</i> products
showed an increase in the grafting ratio and dispersibility in acetone
with increasing monomer supply; on the other hand, due to steric effects,
the <i>grafting to</i> products showed lower absolute grafting
ratios and a decreasing trend with increasing polymer molecular weight.
The excellent dispersibility of the <i>grafting from</i> functionalized graphene, 900 μg/mL in acetone, indicates an
increased compatibility with the solvent and the potential to increase
graphene reinforcement performance in nanocomposite applications
DNMT3B PWWP mutations cause hypermethylation of heterochromatin
The correct establishment of DNA methylation patterns is vital for mammalian development and is achieved by the de novo DNA methyltransferases DNMT3A and DNMT3B. DNMT3B localises to H3K36me3 at actively transcribing gene bodies via its PWWP domain. It also functions at heterochromatin through an unknown recruitment mechanism. Here we find that knockout of DNMT3B causes loss of methylation predominantly at H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin and that DNMT3B PWWP domain mutations or deletion result in striking increases of methylation in H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin. Removal of the N-terminal region of DNMT3B affects its ability to methylate H3K9me3-marked regions. This region of DNMT3B directly interacts with HP1 and facilitates the bridging of DNMT3B with H3K9me3-marked nucleosomes in vitro. Our results suggest that DNMT3B is recruited to H3K9me3 marked heterochromatin in a PWWP-independent mannerthat is facilitated by the protein’s N-terminal region through an interaction with a key heterochromatin protein. More generally, we suggest that DNMT3B plays a role in DNA methylation homeostasis at heterochromatin, a process which is disrupted in cancer, aging and Immunodeficiency, Centromeric Instability and Facial Anomalies (ICF) syndrome
Extreme Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy of the Lower Solar Atmosphere During Solar Flares
The extreme ultraviolet portion of the solar spectrum contains a wealth of
diagnostic tools for probing the lower solar atmosphere in response to an
injection of energy, particularly during the impulsive phase of solar flares.
These include temperature and density sensitive line ratios, Doppler shifted
emission lines and nonthermal broadening, abundance measurements, differential
emission measure profiles, and continuum temperatures and energetics, among
others. In this paper I shall review some of the advances made in recent years
using these techniques, focusing primarily on studies that have utilized data
from Hinode/EIS and SDO/EVE, while also providing some historical background
and a summary of future spectroscopic instrumentation.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Solar Physics as part of the
Topical Issue on Solar and Stellar Flare
DNMT3B PWWP mutations cause hypermethylation of heterochromatin
The correct establishment of DNA methylation patterns is vital for mammalian development and is achieved by the de novo DNA methyltransferases DNMT3A and DNMT3B. DNMT3B localises to H3K36me3 at actively transcribing gene bodies via its PWWP domain. It also functions at heterochromatin through an unknown recruitment mechanism. Here, we find that knockout of DNMT3B causes loss of methylation predominantly at H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin and that DNMT3B PWWP domain mutations or deletion result in striking increases of methylation in H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin. Removal of the N-terminal region of DNMT3B affects its ability to methylate H3K9me3-marked regions. This region of DNMT3B directly interacts with HP1α and facilitates the bridging of DNMT3B with H3K9me3-marked nucleosomes in vitro. Our results suggest that DNMT3B is recruited to H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin in a PWWP-independent manner that is facilitated by the protein’s N-terminal region through an interaction with a key heterochromatin protein. More generally, we suggest that DNMT3B plays a role in DNA methylation homeostasis at heterochromatin, a process which is disrupted in cancer, aging and Immunodeficiency, Centromeric Instability and Facial Anomalies (ICF) syndrome
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