The development of a measure of social care outcome for older people. Funded/commissioned by: Department of Health

An essential element of identifying Best Value and monitoring cost-effective care is to be able to identify the outcomes of care. In the field of health services, use of utility-based health related quality of life measures has become widespread, indeed even required. If, in the new era of partnerships, social care outcomes are to be valued and included we need to develop measures that reflect utility or welfare gain from social care interventions. This paper reports on a study, commissioned as part of the Department of Health’s Outcomes of Social Care for Adults Initiative, that developed an instrument and associated utility indexes that provide a tool for evaluating social care interventions in both a research and service setting. Discrete choice conjoint analysis used to derive utility weights provided us with new insights into the relative importance of the core domains of social care to older people. Whilst discrete choice conjoint analysis is being increasingly used in health economics, this is the first study that has attempted to use it to derive a measure of outcome

Space-Based Ionosonde Receiver and Visible Limb-Viewing Airglow Sensor (SIRVLAS): A CubeSat Instrument Suite for Enhanced Ionospheric Charge Density Measurements

Spatially and temporally varying plasma in the ionosphere refracts passing electromagnetic waves, affecting services including over-the-horizon radar, global positioning systems, and long-distance amateur radio communication. The reliability of these services requires accurate measurements of the charge density of ionospheric plasma. Current methods for estimating ionospheric charge density include ground-based radar soundings in the high frequency (HF) band and airglow limb sensing, typically in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrum. SIRVLAS is a low-cost, compact instrument suite for these measurements designed by blair3sat, a high school satellite team based in Montgomery County, Maryland. It takes electron density measurements below the F peak of the ionosphere by receiving ionosonde soundings with an onboard VHF antenna and measuring airglow with a limb-view scanner. The payload will take measurements from many locations along its orbital path, enabling high-accuracy electron density mappings in previously unmapped regions. In addition, data correlation between the radar receiver and the airglow detector allows for verification of the instruments’ operation and increased accuracy of local mappings. blair3sat plans to launch a 1U CubeSat in 2022 to demonstrate the feasibility of SIRVLAS. SIRVLAS’ novel method of ionospheric electron density data collection can be utilized on future missions to extend and enhance global ionospheric databases, essential for many radio services and applications. The presence of VHF antenna systems on existing satellites similar to the antenna system on SIRVLAS may allow SIRVLAS RF measurements to be implemented on many satellites using a software modification, allowing existing fleets to contribute towards ionospheric datasets

Non‐marine turtle plays important functional roles in Indonesian ecosystems

The Southeast Asian box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) is numerically the most important turtle exported from Indonesia. Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, this turtle is heavily harvested and exported for food and traditional medicine in China and for the pet trade primarily in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Despite its significance in global markets, relatively little is known about the species’ ecology or importance to ecosystems. We conducted our research in a national park in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and our objectives were to quantify trophic breadth, capacity for seed dispersal between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and whether ingestion of seeds by C. amboinensis enhances germination. We obtained diet samples from 200 individual turtles and found that the species is omnivorous, exhibiting an ontogenetic shift from more carnivorous to more omnivorous. Both subadults and adults scavenged on other vertebrates. In a seed passage experiment, turtles passed seeds for 2‒9 days after ingestion. Radio‐tracked turtles moved, on average, about 35 m per day, indicating that seeds from ingested fruits, given seed passage durations, could be dispersed 70‒313 m from the parent tree and potentially between wetland and upland ecosystems. In a seed germination experiment, we found that ingestion of seeds by turtles enhanced germination, as compared with control seeds, for four of six plant species tested. Of these, two are common in the national park, making up a significant proportion of plant biomass in lowland swamp forest and around ephemeral pools in savanna, and are highly valued outside of the park for their lumber for construction of houses, furniture, and boats. Protection of C. amboinensis populations may be important for maintaining trophic linkages that benefit biodiversity, communities, and local economies

A nurse-led clinic for patients consulting with osteoarthritis in general practice: development and impact of training in a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Despite a lack of service provision for people with osteoarthritis (OA), each year 1 in 5 of the general population consults a GP about a musculoskeletal condition such as OA. Consequently this may provide an opportunity for practice nurses to take an active role in helping patients manage their condition. A nurse led clinic for supporting patients with OA was developed for the MOSAICS study investigating how to implement the NICE 2014 OA Guideline core recommendations. This paper has two main objectives, firstly to provide an overview of the nurse-led OA clinic, and secondly to describe the development, key learning objectives, content and impact of the training to support its delivery. Methods: A training programme was developed and delivered to provide practice nurses with the knowledge and skill set needed to run the nurse-led OA clinic. The impact of the training programme on knowledge, confidence and OA management was evaluated using case report forms and pre and post training questionnaires. Results: The pre-training questionnaire identified a gap between what practice nurses feel they can do and what they should be doing in line with NICE OA guidelines. Evaluation of the training suggests that it enabled practice nurses to feel more knowledgeable and confident in supporting patients to manage their OA and this was reflected in the clinical management patients received in the nurse-led OA clinics. Conclusions: A significant gap between what is recommended and what practice nurses feel they can currently provide in terms of OA management was evident. The development of a nurse training programme goes some way to develop a system in primary care for delivering the core recommendations by NICE

School Boards and Effective Catholic School Governance: Selected Presentations from the 2012 Catholic Higher Education Collaborative Conference

The following article contains essays derived from presentations delivered to the Catholic Higher Education Collaborative (CHEC) Conference held at Marquette University in October, 2012

Road Mortality Threatens Endemic Species in a National Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia

The emerging economy of Indonesia has triggered rapid infrastructure development that threatens ecological communities, including within protected areas. The national parks of Indonesia are renowned for their high levels of biodiversity and endemism, yet the impacts of road development within these parks remains understudied. We conducted road mortality surveys along a 21.8-km section of paved highway that bisects Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia from January to April 2018. We documented wildlife carcasses during morning and afternoon surveys and identified hotspots of road mortality for amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. A total of 790 carcasses were observed during 16 surveys, amounting to 2.3 carcasses km−1, one of the highest levels reported for Asia. Wildlife recorded during our surveys represented 40 taxa, of which 15% are endemic to the Wallacea region. We documented two hotspots of road mortality for each major taxonomic group. We propose that mitigation measures be implemented at the largest hotspot for amphibians, one overlapping hotspot for amphibians and reptiles, and one overlapping hotspot for birds and mammals, for a total of three areas targeted for mitigation along this 21.8-km section of highway. We recommend the implementation of mitigation measures including highway undercrossings with fencing, reduced speeds with associated signage, and highway lighting at these three hotspot locations to protect the diverse and unique fauna in this national park

Optic Disc Pit with Peripapillary Retinoschisis Presenting as a Localized Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Defect

A 59-year-old woman was referred to our clinic for a glaucoma evaluation. The visual acuity and intraocular pressure were normal in both eyes. However, red-free fundus photography in the left eye showed a superotemporal wedge-shaped retinal nerve fiber layer defect, and visual field testing showed a corresponding partial arcuate scotoma. In an optical coherence tomography examination, the macula was flat, but an arcuate-shaped peripapillary retinoschisis was found. Further, the retinoschisis seemed to be connected with a superotemporal optic pit shown in a disc photograph. After 3 months of a topical prostaglandin analogue medication, the intraocular pressure in the retinoschisis eye was lowered from 14 to 10 mmHg and the peripapillary retinoschisis was almost resolved. We report a rare case of an optic disc pit with peripapillary retinoschisis presenting as a localized retinal nerve fiber layer defect

Northern Monterey Bay upwelling shadow front : observations of a coastally and surface-trapped buoyant plume

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 114 (2009): C12013, doi:10.1029/2009JC005623.During the upwelling season in central California, northwesterly winds along the coast produce a strong upwelling jet that originates at Point Año Nuevo and flows southward across the mouth of Monterey Bay. A convergent front with a mean temperature change of 3.77 ± 0.29°C develops between the warm interior waters and the cold offshore upwelling jet. To examine the forcing mechanisms driving the location and movement of the upwelling shadow front and its effects on biological communities in northern Monterey Bay, oceanographic conditions were monitored using cross-shelf mooring arrays, drifters, and hydrographic surveys along a 20 km stretch of coast extending northwestward from Santa Cruz, California, during the upwelling season of 2007 (May–September). The alongshore location of the upwelling shadow front at the northern edge of the bay was driven by: regional wind forcing, through an alongshore pressure gradient; buoyancy forces due to the temperature change across the front; and local wind forcing (the diurnal sea breeze). The upwelling shadow front behaved as a surface-trapped buoyant current, which is superimposed on a poleward barotropic current, moving up and down the coast up to several kilometers each day. We surmise that the front is advected poleward by a preexisting northward barotropic current of 0.10 m s−1 that arises due to an alongshore pressure gradient caused by focused upwelling at Point Año Nuevo. The frontal circulation (onshore surface currents) breaks the typical two-dimensional wind-driven, cross-shelf circulation (offshore surface currents) and introduces another way for water, and the material it contains (e.g., pollutants, larvae), to go across the shelf toward shore.Funded primarily by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Students and academics working in partnership to embed cultural competence as a graduate quality

Since 2014, the University of Sydney has been experimenting with a new initiative motivated by the research on “students as partners”. In 2014, six students were selected as Ambassadors of the Sydney Teaching Colloquium (STC)-the University’s annual learning and teaching conference-as undergraduate researchers. In that year, the focus was on assessment standards