What Does It Take to Get Somebody Back to Work after Severe Acquired Brain Injury?:Service Actions within the Vocational Intervention Program (VIP 2.0)

Little is known about service actions delivered in the complex intervention of vocational rehabilitation (VR) for people with severe acquired brain injury (ABI). Scale-up of the Vocational Intervention Program (VIP) across the 12 Community teams of the NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program provided an opportunity to analyse the intensity and profile of actions delivered in providing VR programs. Seventy-two participants with severe TBI were supported in returning to either pre-injury employment (FastTrack, FT, n = 27) or new employment (NewTrack, NT, n = 50), delivered by two types of VR providers (Disability Employment Service DES; private providers). VR providers documented their service actions in hours and minutes, using the Case Management Taxonomy, adapted to VR. The NT pathway required significantly higher levels of intervention in comparison to FT (25 h, five minutes vs. 35 h, 30 min, p = 0.048, W = 446). Case coordination was the most frequent service action overall (41.7% of total time for FT, 42.3% for NT). DES providers recorded significantly greater amounts of time undertaking engagement, assessment and planning, and emotional/motivational support actions compared to private providers. Overall duration of the programs were a median of 46 weeks (NT) and 36 weeks (FT), respectively. This study helps illuminate the profile of VR interventions for people with severe TBI

Carbenoxolone-mediated cytotoxicity inhibits Vaccinia virus replication in a human keratinocyte cell line

Abstract The re-emergence of poxviral zoonotic infections and the threat of bioterrorism emphasise the demand for effective antipoxvirus therapies. Here, we show that carbenoxolone, a pharmacological inhibitor of gap junction function and a compound widely used in cell culture, is capable of hindering the replication of Vaccinia virus, the prototypical poxvirus, in a gap junction-independent manner in a human keratinocyte cell line. Viral protein synthesis occurs in the presence of carbenoxolone but infectious virion formation is minimal, indicating that carbenoxolone blocks viral morphogenesis. Initial viability tests suggested that carbenoxolone was not toxic to cells. However, electron microscopic analysis of carbenoxolone treated cells revealed that it alters the cellular endomembrane system. This widespread ultrastructural damage prevents Vaccinia virus virion assembly. These results strengthen the need for thorough characterisation of the effects of antiviral compounds on the cellular ultrastructure

2050: Sustainable oceans in a changing climate Cabot Institute Position Paper

The world’s oceans are a potentially hugely productive resource. Against a backdrop of climate change, ocean acidification, population growth and poor governance and regulation, it is vital that we change our management strategies to maximise marine resources now, as well as for future generations. Policy and legislation must be more responsive to scientific evidence and reinforce sustainable and efficient practic

Infectious bronchitis virus nonstructural protein 4 alone induces membrane pairing

Positive-strand RNA viruses, such as coronaviruses, induce cellular membrane rearrangements during replication to form replication organelles allowing for efficient viral RNA synthesis. Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a pathogenic avian of significant importance to the global poultry industry, has been shown to induce the formation of double membrane vesicles (DMVs), zippered endoplasmic reticulum (zER) and tethered vesicles, known as spherules. These membrane rearrangements are virally induced; however, it remains unclear which viral proteins are responsible. In this study, membrane rearrangements induced when expressing viral non-structural proteins (nsps) from two different strains of IBV were compared. Three non-structural transmembrane proteins, nsp3, nsp4, and nsp6, were expressed in cells singularly or in combination and the effects on cellular membranes investigated using electron microscopy and electron tomography. In contrast to previously studied coronaviruses, IBV nsp4 alone is necessary and sufficient to induce membrane pairing; however, expression of the transmembrane proteins together was not sufficient to fully recapitulate DMVs. This indicates that although nsp4 is able to singularly induce membrane pairing, further viral or host factors are required in order to fully assemble IBV replicative structures. This study highlights further differences in the mechanism of membrane rearrangements between members of the coronavirus family

Initial Teacher Education Policy and Practice

The purpose of this study was to generate a systematic description of policy and practice across qualifications of initial teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The study was conducted in two phases. Data from publicly-available documentation of the 27 providers of initial teacher education were recorded in an electronic data base as a means of compiling individual profiles of each qualification. Subsequently, twenty-five providers participated in interviews to ensure that profiles accurately reflected the policy and practice of the qualification. Qualification profiles were reviewed to identify common and distinctive characteristics of initial teacher education according to sector (early childhood, primary and secondary), type of qualification and type of provider. Findings were considered within a framework of contemporary national and international research and implications identified for future research, policy and practice in initial teacher education. This project confirms that initial teacher education is incredibly complex and multi-faceted and that New Zealand qualifications reflect many of the achievements and the challenges of implementing quality teacher education that are experienced internationally. The official documentation reveals that there is a general lack of explicit coherence among components of many qualifications, that in some cases there is no clearly articulated conceptual or theoretical base underpinning qualifications, and, that, in the documentation of many qualifications, there are conspicuous silences surrounding aspects of initial teacher education critical to the New Zealand context. There is also evidence that the regulatory and compliance environment within which providers operate is sometimes perceived as distracting, rather than ensuring quality. This national project has enabled us to identify key areas for further and ongoing attention both by individual providers of initial teacher education and, more importantly, by the professional community of teacher education in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the New Zealand Teachers Council and others. We need to determine, and thence articulate more clearly, the fundamental goals of initial teacher education and to demonstrate how programmes of ITE are coherent in their underlying values, goals, design, curriculum, pedagogy and implementation. There is a need also to consider how current external quality assurance processes can be made more coherent with fundamental goals of initial teacher education and the research on theory and practice that underpins these goals

Mutations in SLC39A14 disrupt manganese homeostasis and cause childhood-onset parkinsonism-dystonia.

Although manganese is an essential trace metal, little is known about its transport and homeostatic regulation. Here we have identified a cohort of patients with a novel autosomal recessive manganese transporter defect caused by mutations in SLC39A14. Excessive accumulation of manganese in these patients results in rapidly progressive childhood-onset parkinsonism-dystonia with distinctive brain magnetic resonance imaging appearances and neurodegenerative features on post-mortem examination. We show that mutations in SLC39A14 impair manganese transport in vitro and lead to manganese dyshomeostasis and altered locomotor activity in zebrafish with CRISPR-induced slc39a14 null mutations. Chelation with disodium calcium edetate lowers blood manganese levels in patients and can lead to striking clinical improvement. Our results demonstrate that SLC39A14 functions as a pivotal manganese transporter in vertebrates.Action Medical ResearchThis is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1160

Validation of sensor and instrumentation innovations

Validated prototypes of new and enhanced biogeochemical and biological sensors and instruments. Validation will be undertaken in the laboratory, in test scenarios, and by deployment in operational condition

Comparative analysis of genome-wide association studies signals for lipids, diabetes, and coronary heart disease: Cardiovascular Biomarker Genetics Collaboration

To evaluate the associations of emergent genome-wide-association study-derived coronary heart disease (CHD)-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with established and emerging risk factors, and the association of genome-wide-association study-derived lipid-associated SNPs with other risk factors and CHD events

Abstracts from the NIHR INVOLVE Conference 2017

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