Sexuality and the Older Woman

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Sexual health is a key public health issue. The older woman faces a number of changes to their sexual health, wellbeing and sexuality. These changes result in many older women having to adapt to a series of complex transitions that can be challenging. This article aims to identify and explore some of these changes and how they can have a significant impact on women’s quality of life. Nurses play an important role in assessing and helping women to manage normal and pathological age changes in order to improve the sexual health of older women and ensure they receive the advice and support needed at this stage of their life

Siren songs or path to salvation? Interpreting the visions of web technology at a UK regional newspaper in crisis, 2006-11

A 5-year case study of an established regional newspaper in Britain investigates journalists about their perceptions of convergence in digital technologies. This research is the first ethnographic longitudinal case study of a UK regional newspaper. Although conforming to some trends observed in the wider field of scholarship, the analysis adds to skepticism about any linear or directional views of innovation and adoption: the Northern Echo newspaper journalists were observed to have revised their opinions of optimum Web practices, and sometimes radically reversed policies. Technology is seen in the period as a fluid, amorphous entity. Central corporate authority appeared to diminish in the period as part of a wider reduction in formalism. Questioning functionalist notions of the market, the study suggests cause and effect models of change are often subverted by contradictory perceptions of particular actions. Meanwhile, during technological evolution, the ‘professional imagination’ can be understood as strongly reflecting the parent print culture and its routines, despite pioneering a new convergence partnership with an independent television company

Marine resource abundance drove pre-agricultural population increase in Stone Age Scandinavia

How climate and ecology affect key cultural transformations remains debated in the context of long-term socio-cultural development because of spatially and temporally disjunct climate and archaeological records. The introduction of agriculture triggered a major population increase across Europe. However, in Southern Scandinavia it was preceded by ~500 years of sustained population growth. Here we show that this growth was driven by long-term enhanced marine production conditioned by the Holocene Thermal Maximum, a time of elevated temperature, sea level and salinity across coastal waters. We identify two periods of increased marine production across trophic levels (P1 7600–7100 and P2 6400–5900 cal. yr BP) that coincide with markedly increased mollusc collection and accumulation of shell middens, indicating greater marine resource availability. Between ~7600–5900 BP, intense exploitation of a warmer, more productive marine environment by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers drove cultural development, including maritime technological innovation, and from ca. 6400–5900 BP, underpinned a ~four-fold human population growth

Community Service: Editor pride and user preference on local newspaper websites

Armed with readily accessible online traffic logs that provide detailed information about the items users are selecting to view, editors are voicing concern about the potential effect on their own content decisions. Through a survey of local British newspaper editors, this article examines the overlap between user preferences, as suggested by assessments of website traffic, and content that editors identify as their best. Results are considered in the context of two related subsets of agenda-setting theory, as well as the sociological process of “making news.” The study finds overlap between broad categories of stories preferred by editors and users, but a considerable disconnect over the nature of the items within those categories

Ageing Simulation in Health and Social Care Education: A mixed methods systematic review

Abstract Aim: To identify, evaluate and summarise evidence from qualitative, quantitative and mixed method studies conducted utilising age-suits or other age simulation equipment, with health and social care students. Design: Convergent segregated mixed method review design as outlined by the Johanna Briggs Institute Data Sources: CINAHL (+ with Full Text), MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, SocINDEX, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Emerald Insight, Proquest nursing, Science Direct, Wiley Online and BioMed Central (January 2000 – January 2020) Review methods: Convergent segregated synthesis was used to synthesise evidence from the studies, and the MERSQI checklist used to appraise quality. Results: A total of 23 studies were reviewed: one randomised control, two post-test only randomised control, three quasi-experimental, 15 one-group pre / post studies and two qualitative studies. Of the seventeen studies carrying out inferential statistics on attitude scores post intervention, 11 reported an improvement, three indicated no significant change and three reported worsening scores. Key themes included use of appropriate scales, type of equipment utilised, location and length of interactions, debriefing, and contextualisation of interventions in broader teaching. Conclusion: The impact of ageing simulation interventions on health and social care student’s attitudes to older people was predominantly positive. However, further high-quality research is warranted to understand the optimal use of such interventions within the context of healthcare for a growing ageing population. Impact: It is important health and social care staff have appropriate knowledge and training to enable them to provide high quality care to older people, and challenge potential ageism in the system. This review adds to the body of work around the use of simulation and experiential learning to educate health and social care students regarding ageing and ageism. It also offers recommendations for using ageing simulations effectively to inform attitudes of prospective professionals who will influence future health and social care. Keywords: Simulation, Ageing, Age-suit, Nursing, Health and social care, Education, Attitudes, Empathy, Experiential learning, Systematic revie

The Gene Ontology knowledgebase in 2023

The Gene Ontology (GO) knowledgebase (http://geneontology.org) is a comprehensive resource concerning the functions of genes and gene products (proteins and noncoding RNAs). GO annotations cover genes from organisms across the tree of life as well as viruses, though most gene function knowledge currently derives from experiments carried out in a relatively small number of model organisms. Here, we provide an updated overview of the GO knowledgebase, as well as the efforts of the broad, international consortium of scientists that develops, maintains, and updates the GO knowledgebase. The GO knowledgebase consists of three components: (1) the GO-a computational knowledge structure describing the functional characteristics of genes; (2) GO annotations-evidence-supported statements asserting that a specific gene product has a particular functional characteristic; and (3) GO Causal Activity Models (GO-CAMs)-mechanistic models of molecular "pathways" (GO biological processes) created by linking multiple GO annotations using defined relations. Each of these components is continually expanded, revised, and updated in response to newly published discoveries and receives extensive QA checks, reviews, and user feedback. For each of these components, we provide a description of the current contents, recent developments to keep the knowledgebase up to date with new discoveries, and guidance on how users can best make use of the data that we provide. We conclude with future directions for the project