The Emotional Curriculum of Climate Justice Education: An Existential Toolkit

While we tend to focus on the physical impacts of climate change, our ecological crisis is also taking a significant emotional toll. This executive summary outlines ways that anxiety, fear, hopelessness and guilt impact student learning in environmental studies (ESS) programs, and immobilizes young people from getting engaged in climate solutions. We also suggest that ESS curriculum is itself partly responsible for these spiraling emotions among students. In response to the need to better understand this emotional register of teaching and learning about our climate crisis, we outline a set of college-level teaching strategies – titled “An Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice” – whose purpose is to help students and educators develop the resilience to cope with our climate emergency

Family Meal Influence on Dietary Quality of Students in Grade Six, Seven, and Eight from Ontario and Nova Scotia

In 2004, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Report, Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives (Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, 2004) identified the family (as well as the government, food industry, workplaces, schools, and individuals) for recommendations for action. As a means to promote, achieve, and maintain healthy body weights for both parents and children, Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives (2004) recommended enjoying family meals whenever possible. Very little evidence, however, exists to justify the promotion of family meals within Canada. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to describe family meal frequency and meal environments, and to examine the associations with diet quality (as assessed using a Canadian adaptation to the Health Eating Index (HEI-C; Glanville and McIntyre, 2006), and other commonly reported food behaviours and attitudes. The sample (males=1572 and females=1627) comprised students in grade six (n=1266), seven (n=1359), and eight (n=579) classrooms from Northern Ontario (Porcupine Region n=385), Southern Ontario (Peel Region n=1413, Region of Waterloo n=405, Toronto District n=216), and Nova Scotia (as part of the Physical Activity in Children and Youth (PACY) study n=804) participating in school surveillance-based studies. Data were collected using the web-based Food Behaviour Questionnaire, which included a 24 hour food recall, food frequency questionnaire, and specific questions relating to family meals. The majority of participants reported frequent family meals (70% on 6-7 days/week, 19% on 3-5 days/week, and 11% on 0-2 days/week). Family meal frequency decreased with increasing grade (X2=30.629 (df=4), p<0.001), and was significantly higher among participants from Porcupine, and lower among participants from Peel (X2=46.815 (df=8), p<0.001). The mean HEI-C score across all participants was 65.1 (SD 13.2) and the majority (73%) were rated in the needs improvement category. Family meal frequency, particularly between 0-2 and 6-7 days/week, was positively associated with diet quality scores (adjusted p=0.045) and ratings (p=0.049). When investigating the person(s) with whom meals were consumed, participants who ate breakfast with family members (versus alone, p=0.012) and/or lunch with friends (versus alone, p=0.007 or with family members, p<0.001) had a significantly greater likelihood of having a better diet quality. Participants who skipped breakfast (p<0.001) and/or lunch (p<0.001) had a greater likelihood of having a worse diet quality than those that consumed each meal. Cluster K-means procedures were used to classify observations about the four meal environment variables (where the meal was consumed, with whom the meal was consumed, who prepared the meal, and where the food was originally purchased) into groups. A total of 3, 8, and 6 clusters of meal environments were identified for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. Diet quality was negatively associated with consuming/purchasing meals outside of the home, and skipping breakfast and/or lunch. Meal skipping had a larger impact on overall diet quality than the environmental conditions under which the meal was consumed. Finally, associations among family meal frequency and other commonly reported food behaviours and attitudes were investigated. Higher family meal frequency was significantly associated with less pop consumption, consuming breakfast on the day of the survey, having higher self-efficacy for healthy eating when at home with family and during social times with friends. This research, in a large, geographically diverse sample of grade six, seven, and eight students from Ontario and Nova Scotia, found that family meal frequency and specific aspects of meal environments were positively associated with diet quality, and various healthy eating behaviours and attitudes. This research supports the growing body of literature in favour of family meals. Since the diet of most students in grade six, seven, and eight was suboptimal, strategies to promote healthy family meals should be widely encouraged

The dichotomy of the application of a systems approach in UK healthcare: the challenges and priorities for implementation

There is increasing demand for a systems approach within national healthcare guidelines to provide a systematic and sustainable framework for improvements in patient safety. Supported by this is the growing body of evidence within Human Factors/Ergonomics (HFE) healthcare literature for the inclusion of this approach in health service design, provision and evaluation. This paper considers the current interpretation of this within UK healthcare systems and the dichotomy which exists in the challenge to implement a systems approach. Three case studies, from primary and secondary care, present a systems approach, offering a novel perspective of primary care and blood sampling. These provide practical illustrations of how HFE methods have been used in collaboration with healthcare staff to understand the system for the purpose of professional education, design and safety of clinical activities. The paper concludes with the challenge for implementation and proposes five roles for systems HFE to support patient safety

Characterization of Adherent Bacteroidales from Intestinal Biopsies of Children and Young Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

There is extensive evidence implicating the intestinal microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], but no microbial agent has been identified as a sole causative agent. Bacteroidales are numerically dominant intestinal organisms that associate with the mucosal surface and have properties that both positively and negatively affect the host. To determine precise numbers and species of Bacteroidales adherent to the mucosal surface in IBD patients, we performed a comprehensive culture based analysis of intestinal biopsies from pediatric Crohn's disease [CD], ulcerative colitis [UC], and control subjects. We obtained biopsies from 94 patients and used multiplex PCR or 16S rDNA sequencing of Bacteroidales isolates for species identification. Eighteen different Bacteroidales species were identified in the study group, with up to ten different species per biopsy, a number higher than demonstrated using 16S rRNA gene sequencing methods. Species diversity was decreased in IBD compared to controls and with increasingly inflamed tissue. There were significant differences in predominant Bacteroidales species between biopsies from the three groups and from inflamed and uninflamed sites. Parabacteroides distasonis significantly decreased in inflamed tissue. All 373 Bacteroidales isolates collected in this study grew with mucin as the only utilizable carbon source suggesting this is a non-pathogenic feature of this bacterial order. Bacteroides fragilis isolates with the enterotoxin gene [bft], previously associated with flares of colitis, were not found more often at inflamed colonic sites or within IBD subjects. B. fragilis isolates with the ability to synthesize the immunomodulatory polysaccharide A [PSA], previously shown to be protective in murine models of colitis, were not detected more often from healthy versus inflamed tissue

Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector

We report the measurements of elliptic flow $v_{2}$, as well as higher harmonics triangular flow $v_{3}$ and quadrangular flow $v_{4}$, in $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} =$ 2.76 TeV Pb--Pb collisions, measured with the ALICE detector. We show that the measured elliptic and triangular flow can be understood from the initial spatial anisotropy and its event--by--event fluctuations. The resulting fluctuations of $v_{2}$ and $v_{3}$ are also discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, proceeding of Strangeness in Quark Matter 2011, Cracow, Polan

The association between clinician-based common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE) and patient-reported outcomes (PRO): a systematic review

Symptomatic adverse events (AEs) are monitored by clinicians as part of all US-based clinical trials in cancer via the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) for the purposes of ensuring patient safety. Recently there has been a charge toward capturing the patient perspective for those AEs amenable to patient self-reporting via patient-reported outcomes (PRO). The aim of this review was to summarize the empirically reported association between analogous CTCAE and PRO ratings

Designed switch from covalent to non-covalent inhibitors of carboxylesterase Notum activity

N-Acyl indolines 4 are potent, non-covalent Notum inhibitors developed from a covalent virtual screening hit 2a. The lead compounds were simple to synthesise, achieved excellent potency in a biochemical Notum-OPTS assay and restored Wnt signalling in a cell-based TCF/LEF reporter assay. Multiple high resolution X-ray structures established a common binding mode of these inhibitors with the indoline bound centred in the palmiteolate pocket with key interactions being aromatic stacking and a water mediated hydrogen bond to the oxyanion hole. These N-acyl indolines 4 will be useful tools for use in vitro studies to investigate the role of Notum in disease models, especially when paired with a structurally related covalent inhibitor (e.g. 4w and 2a). Overall, this study highlights the designed switch from covalent to non-covalent Notum inhibitors and so illustrates a complementary approach for hit generation and target inhibition

Seasonal variation of zooplankton community structure and trophic position in the Celtic Sea: a stable isotope and biovolume spectrum approach

Zooplankton on continental shelves represent an important intermediary in the transfer of energy and matter from phytoplankton to the wider ecosystem. Their taxonomic composition and trophic interactions with phytoplankton vary in space and time, and interpreting the implications of this constantly evolving landscape remains a major challenge. Here we combine plankton taxonomic data with the analysis of biovolume spectra and stable isotopes to provide insights into the trophic interactions that occur in a shelf sea ecosystem (Celtic Sea) across the spring-summer-autumn transition. Biovolume spectra captured the seasonal development of the zooplankton community well, both in terms of total biomass and trophic positioning, and matched trophic positions estimated by stable isotope analysis. In early April, large microplankton (63-200 µm) occupied higher trophic positions than mesozooplankton (>200 µm), likely reflecting the predominance of nanoplankton (2-20 µm) that were not readily available to mesozooplankton grazers. Biomass and number of trophic levels increased during the spring bloom as elevated primary production allowed for a higher abundance of predatory species. During July, the plankton assemblage occupied relatively high trophic positions, indicating important links to the microbial loop and the recycling of organic matter. The strong correlation between biomass and community trophic level across the study suggests that the Celtic Sea is a relatively enclosed and predominantly energy-limited ecosystem. The progression of the zooplankton biomass and community structure within the central shelf region was different to that at the shelf-break, potentially reflecting increased predatory control of copepods by macrozooplankton and pelagic fishes at the shelf break. We suggest that the combination of size spectra and stable isotope techniques are highly complementary and useful for interpreting the seasonal progression of trophic interactions in the plankton

Size matters: the value of small populations for wintering waterbirds

Protecting systematically selected areas of land is a major step towards biodiversity conservation worldwide. Indeed, the identification and designation of protected areas more often than not forms a core component of both national and international conservation policies. In this paper we provide an overview of those Special Protection Areas and Ramsar Sites that have been classified in Great Britain as of 1998/99 for a selection of wintering waterbird species, using bird count data from the Wetland Bird Survey. The performance of this network of sites is remarkable, particularly in comparison with published analyses of networks elsewhere in the world. Nevertheless, the current site-based approach, whilst having the great benefit of simplicity, is deliberately biased towards aggregating species at the expense of the more dispersed distribution species. To ensure that the network continues successfully to protect nationally and internationally important waterbird populations, efforts now need to concentrate on the derivation of species-specific representation targets and, in particular, the ways in which these can be incorporated into the site selection process. Although these analyses concern the performance of protected areas for waterbirds in Great Britain, the results have wide-ranging importance for conservation planning in general and the design of protected area networks

The structure of tris(chloromethyl)amine in the gas phase using quantum chemical calculations and gas electron diffraction and as a solid and melt using Raman spectroscopy

The equilibrium structure of tris(chloromethyl)amine, N(CH2Cl)3, has been determined in the gas phase using electron diffraction. Single-step distance corrections (representing the differences between the interatomic distances from the equilibrium structure and those from the vibrationally averaged structure) and amplitudes of vibration have been computed using semi-empirical molecular dynamics (SE-MD) simulations in order to treat accurately the description of the low-frequency, large-amplitude vibrational modes associated particularly with one CH2Cl group. A series of complementary theoretical calculations using the SOGGA11-X DFT functional with correlation-consistent basis sets of double-, triple-, and quadruple-ζ quality is also presented. The agreement between the experimental and theoretical equilibrium structural parameters attests to the accuracy of the applied theoretical calculations and of our gas-phase structural solution. Raman spectra have been recorded over a range of temperatures, allowing the solid and the melt to be studied, and the Raman-active intramolecular modes to be identified. Free from the influence of intermolecular interaction, the structure of tris(chloromethyl)amine in the gas phase is markedly different to that reported in the literature for the single crystal. This is discussed, and evidence for the anomeric effect in tris(chloromethyl)amine is evaluated