The 'Be a Friend to your Dog' program

This paper will introduce and evaluate a teaching resource package developed by Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC) entitled 'Be a Friend to your Dog' (BAFTYD). Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia have stated the need for raising the level of awareness, empathy and responsibility towards community animals. Hence, the BAFTYD program has been delivered to children in the school environment and to community members in remote Indigenous communities in the NT to promote and maintain positive attitudes and behaviour towards animals, and to help people stay safe around dogs. The BAFTYD program aims to work with the community in a manner which is culturally sensitive and agreed upon by all parties. Ultimately, the project aims to support existing teachers in the community and Indigenous animal management workers to deliver key animal welfare messages to schoolchildren and other community members. The provision of the teaching resources to the educators who reside in the community will help to ensure that the program is locally relevant and sustainable

Exploring the influence of ownership history on object valuation in typical development and autism

Items with special histories (e.g. celebrity owners) or qualities (e.g. limited editions) are more valuable than similar “inauthentic” items. Typically developing (TD) children privilege authenticity and are particularly influenced by who objects belong to. Here, we explore why children and adults over-value items with special ownership histories and examine how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects object valuation. In Studies 1 and 2, TD children perceived items belonging to famous owners (with “good” or “bad” reputations) to be more valuable than similar items belonging to non-famous owners. However, they ascribed significantly higher values to items belonging to famous heroes than infamous villains when compared. Children with ASD did not over-value objects with special ownership histories, but their valuations were moderated by qualities unrelated to ownership (e.g. rarity). In Study 3, adults with ASD assigned high values to authentic items with special ownership histories but were more likely to keep inauthentic objects than neurotypical adults. Our findings show that association with a famous owner is sufficient to increase an item’s value for TD children and adults (with and without ASD). The degree of added value may be determined by the famous owner’s character for TD children, but not adults. By contrast, children with ASD value objects via a different strategy that prioritizes material qualities over ownership history. However, the awareness of authenticity displayed by adults with ASD suggests that the emergence of ownership history as an important influence on object evaluation may be developmentally delayed in ASD, rather than completely absent

Clarifying the Role of Urodynamics in the Preoperative Evaluation of Stress Urinary Incontinence

It has not yet been definitively demonstrated that preoperative evaluation of women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) with urodynamic testing (UDS) enhances surgical outcomes. Nonetheless, UDS is frequently utilized in the assessment of women with SUI in the hopes that results will shed light on preoperative risk factors for failure or postoperative voiding dysfunction. Poorer outcomes for stress incontinence surgery are primarily attributed to intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD), detrusor overactivity (DO), and voiding dysfunction. The ability of UDS to identify and characterize those parameters reliably remains under investigation. Furthermore, debate continues regarding the association of each of those factors with postoperative success for various SUI procedures. Since UDS is invasive, costly, and not always available, it is imperative that its benefit be carefully explored. In this review, we discuss the value of UDS in identifying risk factors for poor outcome and how those risk factors are associated with surgical failure

Investigation of low-dose ritonavir on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells using gene expression whole genome microarrays

AbstractRitonavir is a protease inhibitor associated with metabolic abnormalities and cardiovascular disease. We have investigated the effects of low-dose ritonavir treatment on gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 10 healthy donors. Results using whole genome Illumina microarrays show that ritonavir modulates a number of genes implicated in lipid metabolism, inflammation and atherosclerosis. These candidate genes are dual specificity phosphatase 1 DUSP1), Kelch domain containing 3 (KLHDC3), neutral cholesterol ester hydrolase 1 (NCEH1) and acyl-CoA synthetase short-chain family member 2 (ACSS2). Validation experiments using quantitative PCR showed that ritonavir (at 100mg once daily and 100mg twice daily significantly down-regulated these 4 selected candidate genes in 20 healthy individuals. Lower expression levels of these 4 candidate genes, known to play a critical role in inflammation, lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis, may explain ritonavir adverse effects in patients

Reproducible Isolation of Lymph Node Stromal Cells Reveals Site-Dependent Differences in Fibroblastic Reticular Cells

Within lymph nodes, non-hematopoietic stromal cells organize and interact with leukocytes in an immunologically important manner. In addition to organizing T and B cell segregation and expressing lymphocyte survival factors, several recent studies have shown that lymph node stromal cells shape the naïve T cell repertoire, expressing self-antigens which delete self-reactive T cells in a unique and non-redundant fashion. A fundamental role in peripheral tolerance, in addition to an otherwise extensive functional portfolio, necessitates closer study of lymph node stromal cell subsets using modern immunological techniques; however this has not routinely been possible in the field, due to difficulties reproducibly isolating these rare subsets. Techniques were therefore developed for successful ex vivo and in vitro manipulation and characterization of lymph node stroma. Here we discuss and validate these techniques in mice and humans, and apply them to address several unanswered questions regarding lymph node composition. We explored the steady-state stromal composition of lymph nodes isolated from mice and humans, and found that marginal reticular cells and lymphatic endothelial cells required lymphocytes for their normal maturation in mice. We also report alterations in the proportion and number of fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) between skin-draining and mesenteric lymph nodes. Similarly, transcriptional profiling of FRCs revealed changes in cytokine production from these sites. Together, these methods permit highly reproducible stromal cell isolation, sorting, and culture

Replication-induced DNA secondary structures drive fork uncoupling and breakage

Sequences that form DNA secondary structures, such as G-quadruplexes (G4s) and intercalated-Motifs (iMs), are abundant in the human genome and play various physiological roles. However, they can also interfere with replication and threaten genome stability. Multiple lines of evidence suggest G4s inhibit replication, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Moreover, evidence of how iMs affect the replisome is lacking. Here, we reconstitute replication of physiologically derived structure-forming sequences to find that a single G4 or iM arrest DNA replication. Direct single-molecule structure detection within solid-state nanopores reveals structures form as a consequence of replication. Combined genetic and biophysical characterisation establishes that structure stability and probability of structure formation are key determinants of replisome arrest. Mechanistically, replication arrest is caused by impaired synthesis, resulting in helicase-polymerase uncoupling. Significantly, iMs also induce breakage of nascent DNA. Finally, stalled forks are only rescued by a specialised helicase, Pif1, but not Rrm3, Sgs1, Chl1 or Hrq1. Altogether, we provide a mechanism for quadruplex structure formation and resolution during replication and highlight G4s and iMs as endogenous sources of replication stress

Predictive maps in rats and humans for spatial navigation

Much of our understanding of navigation comes from the study of individual species, often with specific tasks tailored to those species. Here, we provide a novel experimental and analytic framework integrating across humans, rats, and simulated reinforcement learning (RL) agents to interrogate the dynamics of behavior during spatial navigation. We developed a novel open-field navigation task ("Tartarus maze") requiring dynamic adaptation (shortcuts and detours) to frequently changing obstructions on the path to a hidden goal. Humans and rats were remarkably similar in their trajectories. Both species showed the greatest similarity to RL agents utilizing a "successor representation," which creates a predictive map. Humans also displayed trajectory features similar to model-based RL agents, which implemented an optimal tree-search planning procedure. Our results help refine models seeking to explain mammalian navigation in dynamic environments and highlight the utility of modeling the behavior of different species to uncover the shared mechanisms that support behavior

Early discharge and rehabilitation in paediatric acquired brain and neurological injury: a transferable model

Children and young people who require rehabilitation following sustaining an acquired brain injury often experience long lengths of stay (LOS) and potentially poorer recovery outcomes due to limited access to therapy and little proactive discharge planning. After stakeholder enquiry we launched a new team and pathway with a primary aim to reduce LOS. The secondary aims were to pilot an outreach model, reduce cost and improve patient and family satisfaction. We achieved a significantly improved change in quality care with a financial gain and increased patient and family satisfaction.This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and th

Tipos de desenvolvimento profissional colaborativo contínuo em Educação Física: um diálogo

This paper presents a dialogue between researchers from three collaborative continuous teacher professional development (CCPD) projects, each of which involved a different theoretical framework and research design. Discussing our unique contexts and the CCPD approaches we used enabled us to engage in an appreciative inquiry, in which we sought to acknowledge and build upon the strengths of each project and consider possibilities for the future. Findings highlight complexities of CCPD at different levels from the small-scale to the large, requiring thoughtful planning and implementation. Promoting intimacy, organizing schedules and timetables, and combining different modes of support are challenges that require contextualized responses. There is a need for CCPD facilitators and researchers to consider not only characteristics of effectiveness when choosing a CCPD approach, but also alignment with their own personal beliefs and theories of learning, as well as the beliefs, interests, and needs of teachers in their local contexts.Cet article présente un dialogue entre les chercheurs de trois projets de développement professionnel continu collaboratif (DPCC) utilisant des cadres théoriques différents. Les résultats mettent en évidence la complexité du DPCC, que ce soit de petite à grande échelle, et soulignent l’importance d’une planification et d’une implémentation réfléchies. Favoriser la proximité, gérer les emplois du temps et combiner différents modes d’accompagnement sont des défis qui nécessitent des réponses contextualisées. Discuter des contextes uniques et des choix effectués concernant les approches de DPCC préconisées nous a permis de nous engager dans une enquête d’appréciation. Nous cherchions ainsi à reconnaître les forces de chaque projet et à envisager des possibilités pour l’avenir. Il est nécessaire que les facilitateurs et les chercheurs, lorsqu'ils choisissent une approche de DPCC, tiennent compte non seulement de l'efficacité, mais aussi de leurs propres croyances et théories de l'apprentissage, ainsi que des préférences et des besoins des enseignants.Este artigo apresenta um diálogo entre pesquisadores de três projetos de desenvolvimento profissional continuado e colaborativo (DPCC) de professores, cada um apoiado por um referencial teórico e desenhos de pesquisa diferentes. Os resultados destacam algumas complexidades do DPCC em diferentes níveis, desde o de pequena ao de larga escala, agenciando planejamento e implementação cuidadosos. Promover a proximidade, organizar horários e combinar diferentes modos de suporte são desafios que requerem respostas contextualizadas. Discutir nossos contextos únicos e escolhas em relação às abordagens do DPCC utilizadas nos permitiu realizar uma investigação apreciativa, buscando reconhecer e desenvolver os pontos fortes de cada projeto e considerar possibilidades para futuras propostas. É necessário que facilitadores e pesquisadores ao escolherem uma abordagem de DPCC considerem não apenas a eficiência, mas também o alinhamento com suas próprias crenças pessoais e teorias de aprendizagem, bem como com as crenças, interesses e necessidades dos professores em seus contextos locais