278 research outputs found
Making space for embedded knowledge in global mental health: a role for social work
The ‘Global Mental Health’ (GMH) movement, an influential driver of transnational knowledge transfer in the field of mental health, advocates evidence-based strategies to ‘scale up’ services in low- and middle-income countries. As with debates on global and local frameworks for social work, there are concerns about marginalisation of knowledge that does not neatly fit the GMH discourse. This article analyses the professional and disciplinary structures that shape knowledge transfer in GMH and the implications for social work's engagement with the movement. Analysis of key documents and secondary literature identifies three key issues for GMH: its potentially negative impact on ‘local’ knowledge production; the challenges of accounting for culture and context; and the selective forms of evidence that are ‘allowed’ to contribute to GMH. Finding ways to encompass more ‘situated’ perspectives could reshape GMH in accord with its aspirations for participation by a wider range of stakeholders. Social work's values-based commitment to rights and empowerment, emphasis on embedded knowledge emerging from close links with practice, and theoretical engagement with social, cultural and political context, enable the profession to contribute significantly to this task. Such engagement would bring improvements in care for those suffering from mental health disorders, their families and communities
Visualizing electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale by single molecule localization.
Coupling of light to the free electrons at metallic surfaces allows the confinement of electric fields to subwavelength dimensions, far below the optical diffraction limit. While this is routinely used to manipulate light at the nanoscale, in electro-optic devices and enhanced spectroscopic techniques, no characterization technique for imaging the underlying nanoscopic electromagnetic fields exists, which does not perturb the field or employ complex electron beam imaging. Here, we demonstrate the direct visualization of electromagnetic fields on patterned metallic substrates at nanometer resolution, exploiting a strong "autonomous" fluorescence-blinking behavior of single molecules within the confined fields allowing their localization. Use of DNA-constructs for precise positioning of fluorescence dyes on the surface induces this distance-dependent autonomous blinking thus completely obviating the need for exogenous agents or switching methods. Mapping such electromagnetic field distributions at nanometer resolution aids the rational design of nanometals for diverse photonic applications.We acknowledge financial support from EPSRC grant EP/G060649/1, EP/H028757/1-2, EP/I012060/1, EP/L015889/1, MRC grant MR/K015850/1 and ERC grant LINASS
320503.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ACS at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00405
Development and Performance of Kyoto's X-ray Astronomical SOI pixel (SOIPIX) sensor
We have been developing monolithic active pixel sensors, known as Kyoto's
X-ray SOIPIXs, based on the CMOS SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology for
next-generation X-ray astronomy satellites. The event trigger output function
implemented in each pixel offers microsecond time resolution and enables
reduction of the non-X-ray background that dominates the high X-ray energy band
above 5--10 keV. A fully depleted SOI with a thick depletion layer and back
illumination offers wide band coverage of 0.3--40 keV. Here, we report recent
progress in the X-ray SOIPIX development. In this study, we achieved an energy
resolution of 300~eV (FWHM) at 6~keV and a read-out noise of 33~e- (rms) in the
frame readout mode, which allows us to clearly resolve Mn-K and
K. Moreover, we produced a fully depleted layer with a thickness of
. The event-driven readout mode has already been successfully
demonstrated.Comment: 7pages, 12figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation
2014, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. appears as Proc. SPIE 9147, Space Telescopes
and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ra
'Well London' and the benefits of participation: results of a qualitative study nested in a cluster randomised trial
Background: Well London is a multicomponent
community engagement and coproduction programme
designed to improve the health of Londoners living in
socioeconomically deprived neighbourhoods. To evaluate
outcomes of the Well London interventions, a cluster
randomised trial (CRT) was conducted that included a
longitudinal qualitative component, which is reported here.
The aim is to explore in depth the nature of the benefits to
residents and the processes by which these were
achieved.
Methods: The 1-year longitudinal qualitative study was
nested within the CRT. Purposive sampling was used to
select three intervention neighbourhoods in London and
61 individuals within these neighbourhoods. The
interventions comprised activities focused on: healthy
eating, physical exercise and mental health and well-being.
Interviews were conducted at the inception and following
completion of the Well London interventions to establish
both if and how they had participated. Transcripts of the
interviews were coded and analysed using Nvivo.
Results: Positive benefits relating to the formal outcomes
of the CRT were reported, but only among those who
participated in project activities. The extent of benefits
experienced was influenced by factors relating to the
physical and social characteristics of each neighbourhood.
The highest levels of change occurred in the presence of:
(1) social cohesion, not only pre-existing but also as
facilitated by Well London activities; (2) personal and
collective agency; (3) involvement and support of external
organisations. Where the physical and social environment
remained unchanged, there was less participation and
fewer benefits.
Conclusions: These findings show interaction between
participation, well-being and agency, social interactions
and cohesion and that this modulated any benefits
described. Pathways to change were thus complex and
variable, but personal well-being and local social cohesion
emerged as important mediators of change
Improved protocol for plasma microRNA extraction and comparison of commercial kits
MicroRNAs are small, non-coding RNA molecules that are becoming popular biomarkers in several diseases. However, their low abundance in serum/plasma poses a challenge in exploiting their potential in clinics. Several commercial kits are available for rapid isolation of microRNA from plasma. However, reports guiding the selection of appropriate kits to study downstream assays are scarce. Hence, we compared four commercial kits to evaluate microRNA-extraction from plasma and provided a modified protocol that further improved the superior kit’s performance.
We compared four kits (miRNeasy Serum/Plasma, miRNeasy Mini Kit from Qiagen; RNA-isolation, and Absolutely-RNA MicroRNA Kit from Agilent technologies) for quality and quantity of microRNA isolated, extraction efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Bioanalyzer-based Agilent Small RNA kit was used to evaluate quality and quantity of microRNA. Extraction efficiency was evaluated by detection of four endogenous control microRNA using real-time-PCR. Further, we modified the manufacturer’s protocol for miRNeasy Serum/Plasma kit to improve yield.
miRNeasy Serum/Plasma kit outperformed the other three kits in microRNA-quality (P < 0.005) and yielded maximum microRNA-quantity. Recovery of endogenous control microRNA i.e. hsa-miR-24-3p, hsa-miR-191-5p, hsa-miR-423-5p and hsa-miR-484 was higher as well. Modification with the inclusion of a double elution step enhanced yield of microRNA extracted with miRNeasy Serum/Plasma kit significantly (P < 0.001).
We demonstrated that miRNeasy Serum/Plasma kit outperforms other kits and can be reliably used with a limited plasma quantity. We have provided a modified microRNA-extraction protocol with improved microRNA output for downstream analyses
Revisiting Date and Party Hubs: Novel Approaches to Role Assignment in Protein Interaction Networks
The idea of 'date' and 'party' hubs has been influential in the study of
protein-protein interaction networks. Date hubs display low co-expression with
their partners, whilst party hubs have high co-expression. It was proposed that
party hubs are local coordinators whereas date hubs are global connectors. Here
we show that the reported importance of date hubs to network connectivity can
in fact be attributed to a tiny subset of them. Crucially, these few, extremely
central, hubs do not display particularly low expression correlation,
undermining the idea of a link between this quantity and hub function. The
date/party distinction was originally motivated by an approximately bimodal
distribution of hub co-expression; we show that this feature is not always
robust to methodological changes. Additionally, topological properties of hubs
do not in general correlate with co-expression. Thus, we suggest that a
date/party dichotomy is not meaningful and it might be more useful to conceive
of roles for protein-protein interactions rather than individual proteins. We
find significant correlations between interaction centrality and the functional
similarity of the interacting proteins.Comment: 27 pages, 5 main figures, 4 supplementary figure
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