Library based walking groups in Scotland: exploring benefits, challenges, and opportunities

Public libraries support a range of health and wellbeing activities, however little research has been done into the provision of library adult walking groups. This paper reports on a unique study exploring how widely adult walking groups are provided through Scottish public libraries, as well as library staff perceptions of the benefits, challenges and opportunities of this service. A rich qualitative research approach was used, involving Freedom of Information requests to the 32 Scottish local authority regions, an online questionnaire with 106 complete responses, and 8 follow-up interviews with Scottish public library staff, with and without walking group experience. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes from collected data. Results show that adult walking groups are not widely provided through Scottish public libraries. However, respondents identified benefits for user groups, including but not limited to: improvements to participants’ health and social wellbeing; and increased engagement with library services. A range of opportunities for public libraries were highlighted, including staff interest, partnership working, and a current focus on health and wellbeing. Challenges encompass resource restrictions, variations in partnership working, and lack of effective networking. This original study provides valuable insights into the provision of public library walking groups in Scotland. It suggests that many factors can potentially influence the success of this library health and wellbeing service, with a range of different possible approaches. Results indicate that successful provision of a public library walking group may require close partnership working; adequate networking and information-sharing between public library staff; as well as sufficient resources; and staff interest. This exploratory study provides transferable insights and a basis for future research

DNA methylation affects nuclear organization, histone modifications, and linker histone binding but not chromatin compaction

DNA methylation has been implicated in chromatin condensation and nuclear organization, especially at sites of constitutive heterochromatin. How this is mediated has not been clear. In this study, using mutant mouse embryonic stem cells completely lacking in DNA methylation, we show that DNA methylation affects nuclear organization and nucleosome structure but not chromatin compaction. In the absence of DNA methylation, there is increased nuclear clustering of pericentric heterochromatin and extensive changes in primary chromatin structure. Global levels of histone H3 methylation and acetylation are altered, and there is a decrease in the mobility of linker histones. However, the compaction of both bulk chromatin and heterochromatin, as assayed by nuclease digestion and sucrose gradient sedimentation, is unaltered by the loss of DNA methylation. This study shows how the complete loss of a major epigenetic mark can have an impact on unexpected levels of chromatin structure and nuclear organization and provides evidence for a novel link between DNA methylation and linker histones in the regulation of chromatin structure

THE USE OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ WRITINGS

This study discovers how cohesive devices used in twelve students’ writing written by four students – two high achiever learners and two low achiever learners – of English Education Program in Indonesian University. With the characteristics of case study approach, the research study applies a qualitative method research design and employs Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) taxonomy of cohesion framework as a ground theory and a tool for text analysis. The findings show that grammatical cohesive devices are used slightly more frequent than the lexical ones. The students frequently used reiteration followed by reference, conjunction, collocation, substitution, and ellipsis with two general functions; to remind the readers about the topic discussed and to show the position of the author within the text. Furthermore, it is realized that to some extent, the way students use cohesive devices is a little bit different; in which at the final point, high achiever learners tend to use more various cohesive devices than the low ones in maintaining their quality of writing. Keywords: Cohesion, Cohesive Devices, Writing Quality Penggunaan Perangkat Kohesif di Tulisan-tulisan Mahasiswa Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Penelitian ini mengemukakan bagaimana perangkat kohesif digunakan pada dua belas tulisan buatan empat mahasiswa – dua siswa berprestasi tinggi dan dua siswa berprestasi rendah – jurusan pendidikan bahasa inggris di salah satu universitas di Indonesia. Dengan karakteristik pendekatan studi kasus, penelitian ini menerapkan metode kualitatif dan menggunakan taksonomi kerangka kohesi yang diusung Halliday dan Hasan (1976) sebagai teori dasar dan alat untuk menganalisis teks. Temuan menunjukan bahwa perangkat kohesif gramatikal digunakan sedikit lebih sering daripada yang leksikal. Para siswa seringkali menggunakan reiteration diikuti oleh reference, conjunction, collocation, substitution, dan ellipsis dengan dua fungsi umum; untuk mengingatkan pembaca tentang topic yang sedang dibahas dan untuk menunjukan posisi penulis didalam teks. Selanjutnya, disadari bahwa pada titik-titik tertentu, cara siswa menggunakan perangkat kohesif sedikit berbeda; yang mana pada akhirnya, siswa yang berprestasi tinggi cenderung menggunakan perangkat kohesif yang lebih variatif daripada yang digunakan oleh siswa yang berprestasi rendah dalam mempertahankan kualitas tulisannya. Kata Kunci: Kohesi, Perangkat Kohesif, Kualitas Tulisa

Elvetilførsler og direkte tilførsler til norske kystområder – 2016

Project manager Øyvind KasteRiverine inputs and direct discharges to Norwegian coastal waters in 2016 have been estimated in accordance with the OSPAR Commission’s principles. Nutrients, metals and organic pollutants have been monitored in rivers; discharges from point sources have been estimated from industry, sewage treatment plants and fish farming; and nutrient inputs from diffuse sources have been modelled. Trends in riverine inputs have been analysed, and threshold concentration levels investigated.Norwegian Environment AgencypublishedVersio

Expression Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) can provide a link between disease susceptibility variants discovered by genetic association studies and biology. To date, eQTL mapping studies have been primarily conducted in healthy individuals from population-based cohorts. Genetic effects have been known to be context-specific and vary with changing environmental stimuli. We conducted a transcriptome- and genome-wide eQTL mapping study in a cohort of patients with idiopathic or heritable pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) using RNA sequencing (RNAseq) data from whole blood. We sought confirmation from three published population-based eQTL studies, including the GTEx Project, and followed up potentially novel eQTL not observed in the general population. In total, we identified 2314 eQTL of which 90% were cis-acting and 75% were confirmed by at least one of the published studies. While we observed a higher GWAS trait colocalization rate among confirmed eQTL, colocalisation rate of novel eQTL reported for lung-related phenotypes was twice as high as that of confirmed eQTL. Functional enrichment analysis of genes with novel eQTL in PAH highlighted immune-related processes, a suspected contributor to PAH. These potentially novel eQTL specific to or active in PAH could be useful in understanding genetic risk factors for other diseases that share common mechanisms with PAH

Human papillomavirus prevalence, viral load and pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix in women initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy in South Africa: a cross-sectional study

Background Cervical cancer and infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are both important public health problems in South Africa (SA). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs), high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV), HPV viral load and HPV genotypes in HIV positive women initiating anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted at an anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment clinic in Cape Town, SA in 2007. Cervical specimens were taken for cytological analysis and HPV testing. The Digene Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) test was used to detect HR-HPV. Relative light units (RLU) were used as a measure of HPV viral load. HPV types were determined using the Roche Linear Array HPV Genotyping test. Crude associations with abnormal cytology were tested and multiple logistic regression was used to determine independent risk factors for abnormal cytology. Results The median age of the 109 participants was 31 years, the median CD4 count was 125/mm3, 66.3% had an abnormal Pap smear, the HR-HPV prevalence was 78.9% (Digene), the median HPV viral load was 181.1 RLU (HC2 positive samples only) and 78.4% had multiple genotypes. Among women with abnormal smears the most prevalent HR-HPV types were HPV types 16, 58 and 51, all with a prevalence of 28.5%. On univariate analysis HR-HPV, multiple HPV types and HPV viral load were significantly associated with the presence of low and high-grade SILs (LSIL/HSIL). The multivariate logistic regression showed that HPV viral load was associated with an increased odds of LSIL/HSIL, odds ratio of 10.7 (95% CI 2.0 – 57.7) for those that were HC2 positive and had a viral load of ≤ 181.1 RLU (the median HPV viral load), and 33.8 (95% CI 6.4 – 178.9) for those that were HC2 positive with a HPV viral load > 181.1 RLU. Conclusion Women initiating ARVs have a high prevalence of abnormal Pap smears and HR-HPV. Our results underscore the need for locally relevant, rigorous screening protocols for the increasing numbers of women accessing ARV therapy so that the benefits of ARVs are not partially offset by an excess risk in cervical cancer