Intercultural Education and its Effects on Immigrant Integration:

This thesis addresses the topic of intercultural education and immigrant integration as it relates to the secondary school system in Germany. Student and teacher surveys were conducted in Hamburg, Germany. The results showed that students have frequent contact with people from various backgrounds and that many acknowledge the importance of intercultural education. However, while some noteworthy programs have been implemented, there remains room for improvement from the federal level down to the local level

Professors of Higher Education/Student Affairs and the Scholarship of Practice

For professors of higher education/student affairs, the primary object of inquiry is the university. Yet lore of the divide among faculty and administration looms large over the academy, ranging from perceived dissonance to overt hostility (Bess and Dee, 2014; McMillian and Berberet, 2002; Rice, 1996). With the multitude of issues emerging in the present landscape of higher education, it is worth exploring the real extent of this divide. This article explores the question: Do scholars of higher education/student affairs have or take the opportunity to translate their technical, disciplinary skill into practical assistance to the benefit of their respective institutions? This article provides the preliminary results of an exploratory study of professors of higher education/student affairs and the extent to which they engage in the scholarship of practice (Braxton, 2005) on their own campuses

The Queensland community’s propensity to invest in the resilience of their community and the electrical distribution network

Electricity supply is vital for community response and recovery in the aftermath of a disaster. Everything from disaster response coordination, communication, public lighting and safety, as well as the provision of health services, basic household operations and the economic recovery of the community, relies on electricity to function. This dependency, coupled with the vulnerability of our electricity networks, highlights the need to establish resilient distribution networks. The notion that small-scale solar PV (SSPV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) might contribute to network resilience, has become a popular avenue of investigation, with the growing uptake of these technologies. Beyond the technical challenges of establishing a smart grid network and reaching the required uptake of the technology to have sufficient storage capacity, a third factor relating to householders’ willingness to share stored energy with their community, remains largely unexplored. In a marked departure from the existing literature, this thesis investigates the use of SSPV and BESS for distribution network resilience and the community’s attitudes towards sharing energy resources. The research focusses, not on the technical and regulatory aspects of network resilience which are favoured by researchers’, but the behavioural component founded in social sciences. A model for network resilience utilising SSPV and BESS is presented, which argues that a key component of resilience in the aftermath of a disaster event, hinges on the community’s commitment to conservation of energy resources and their willingness to share their stored reserves for the common good. This research investigates the community’s perspectives on this resilience approach, by exploring attitudinal and behavioural aspects associated with helping the community, to determine the viability of pursuing SSPV and BESS as a practical network resilience option

Random Genetic Drift and Selective Pressures Shaping the Blattabacterium Genome

Estimates suggest that at least half of all extant insect genera harbor obligate bacterial mutualists. Whereas an endosymbiotic relationship imparts many benefits upon host and symbiont alike, the intracellular lifestyle has profound effects on the bacterial genome. The obligate endosymbiont genome is a product of opposing forces: genes important to host survival are maintained through physiological constraint, contrasted by the fixation of deleterious mutations and genome erosion through random genetic drift. The obligate cockroach endosymbiont, Blattabacterium – providing nutritional augmentation to its host in the form of amino acid synthesis – displays radical genome alterations when compared to its most recent free-living relative Flavobacterium. To date, eight Blattabacterium genomes have been published, affording an unparalleled opportunity to examine the direction and magnitude of selective forces acting upon this group of symbionts. Here, we find that the Blattabacterium genome is experiencing a 10-fold increase in selection rate compared to Flavobacteria. Additionally, the proportion of selection events is largely negative in direction, with only a handful of loci exhibiting signatures of positive selection. These findings suggest that the Blattabacterium genome will continue to erode, potentially resulting in an endosymbiont with an even further reduced genome, as seen in other insect groups such as Hemiptera

The impact of the 2022 Ukraine/Russian conflict on cancer clinical trials

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, clinical trial conduct has become extremely challenging due to damage to the healthcare infrastructure and patient displacement. This current study aimed to estimate the number of cancer clinical trials at risk of impact from the conflict. A descriptive analysis and narrative review were completed using data from cancer clinical trials with sites in Russia or Ukraine using the ‘clinical trials.gov’ online database between February 2022 and May 2022. There were 508 clinical trials involving sites in Ukraine or Russia. Most were multinational studies (470 of 508; 93 %). The majority of studies were phase 3 (344 of 508; 68 %) and these also had the largest sample sizes (median 624, range 12–5637). The most common tumour types were lung (128 of 508; 25 %), urogenital (94 of 508; 19 %) and breast (78 of 508; 15 %). A meaningful number of trials had curative intent (129 of 508; 25 %). The most common intervention was immunotherapy-related (218 of 508; 43 %), followed by other targeted therapy (185 of 508; 36 %). Ukraine and Russia are both large centres for global clinical trial activity. The invasion of Ukraine may result in underpowering of international clinical trial results with loss of future recruitment sites for both countries

Search Engine for Antimicrobial Resistance: A Cloud Compatible Pipeline and Web Interface for Rapidly Detecting Antimicrobial Resistance Genes Directly from Sequence Data.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance remains a growing and significant concern in human and veterinary medicine. Current laboratory methods for the detection and surveillance of antimicrobial resistant bacteria are limited in their effectiveness and scope. With the rapidly developing field of whole genome sequencing beginning to be utilised in clinical practice, the ability to interrogate sequencing data quickly and easily for the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes will become increasingly important and useful for informing clinical decisions. Additionally, use of such tools will provide insight into the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic samples such as those used in environmental monitoring. RESULTS: Here we present the Search Engine for Antimicrobial Resistance (SEAR), a pipeline and web interface for detection of horizontally acquired antimicrobial resistance genes in raw sequencing data. The pipeline provides gene information, abundance estimation and the reconstructed sequence of antimicrobial resistance genes; it also provides web links to additional information on each gene. The pipeline utilises clustering and read mapping to annotate full-length genes relative to a user-defined database. It also uses local alignment of annotated genes to a range of online databases to provide additional information. We demonstrate SEAR's application in the detection and abundance estimation of antimicrobial resistance genes in two novel environmental metagenomes, 32 human faecal microbiome datasets and 126 clinical isolates of Shigella sonnei. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed a pipeline that contributes to the improved capacity for antimicrobial resistance detection afforded by next generation sequencing technologies, allowing for rapid detection of antimicrobial resistance genes directly from sequencing data. SEAR uses raw sequencing data via an intuitive interface so can be run rapidly without requiring advanced bioinformatic skills or resources. Finally, we show that SEAR is effective in detecting antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic and isolate sequencing data from both environmental metagenomes and sequencing data from clinical isolates.This research was funded by GlaxoSmithKline, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council under an industrial CASE studentship. The funder Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science provided support in the form of salaries, research materials and facilities for authors DVJ and CBA, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The funder GlaxoSmithKline provided support in the form of salaries for author JR, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the final version. It was first published by PLOS at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0133492

Healthâ Related Quality of Life Components in Children With Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy: A Qualitative Study

BackgroundCurrently, no published, validated patientâ reported outcome (PRO) measures of healthâ related quality of life (HRQOL) exist for use with neonatal brachial plexus palsy (NBPP). NBPP is a debilitating condition that occurs during the perinatal period, resulting in paralysis/paresis and loss of sensation in the affected arm. Commonly used NBPP measures are not comprehensive and do not fully account for clinically meaningful changes in function or progression of the disorder.ObjectiveTo evaluate important components of HRQOL for children with NBPP and identify where new PRO measures are needed.DesignEleven focus groups comprising children with NBPP (4), family members (6), and professional providers (1) to assess HRQOL.SettingBrachial plexus clinic.ParticipantsChildren with NBPP, their parents, and professional providers.Inclusion CriteriaChildren 7â 17 years old with NBPP; parents/caregivers at least 18 years of age; professionals with â ¥2 years’ experience providing NBPP clinical care; ability to read and speak English fluently.MethodsFocus group sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and deidentified. Qualitative frequency analysis identified different aspects of HRQOL relevant to NBPP. This analysis expands on the groundedâ theory approach to qualitative analysis, including development of a domain framework, open and axial coding, selective coding, and descriptive analysis. The resulting HRQOL domain framework (and frequency analysis) was then compared to the domain framework for existing PRO measures (PROMIS and Neuroâ QoL) to identify components of HRQOL where new PRO measures are needed for NBPP.Main Outcome MeasuresNot applicable.ResultsAlthough many physical, social, and emotional health domains were captured by existing PRO measures, some significant NBPPâ specific topics emerged from qualitative analysisâ functionality, sensory, physical appearance, arm/hand compensation and preference, explaining functionality/appearance to others, and selfâ esteem and body image concerns.ConclusionsDevelopment of sensitive and specific measures capturing arm/hand function and body image would improve the clinical care of patients with NBPP.Level of EvidenceNot applicable.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146831/1/pmr2383.pd

Predicting admission to long‐term care and mortality among community‐based, dependent older people in Ireland

Objective: To identify factors that predict admission to long‐term care (LTC) and mortality among community‐based, dependent older people in Ireland, who were in receipt of formal home support. Methods: An audit was conducted of all community‐dwelling older adults receiving government funded home support during 2017 in the Dublin North Central, Health Service Executive administrative area. Data were extracted from the Common Summary Assessment Report (CSAR), a mandatory form used in the provision of home support. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors associCorrespondence A. Warters, PhD, Community Healthcare Organisation, Ballymun Healthcare Facility, Dublin, Ireland. Email: [email protected] ated with admission to LTC and mortality, with the results presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. Results: The audit comprised 1597 community‐dwelling older adults with a mean age of 83.3 (SD: 7.2) years. The prevalence of transition to LTC and mortality was 8%and 9%, respectively, during the 12‐month period. Factors significantly associated with admission to LTC were “cognitive dysfunction” [OR 2.10 (1.41‐3.14), P < .001] and the intensity of home support [OR 1.05 (1.01‐1.06), P < .003], as measured by weekly formal care hours. Physical dependency and advanced age (aged 95 years +) were significantly associated with mortality in this population (P < .001). Conclusion: “Cognitive dysfunction” and intensity of formal home support were associated with transition to LTC, while physical dependency and advanced age were associated with mortality. Investment in personalised, cognitive‐specific, services and supports are necessary to keep people with dementia and related cognitive impairments living at home for longer

Fish and complementary feeding practices for young children: Qualitative research findings from coastal Kenya

This study examines barriers to fish consumption during the complementary feeding period in two coastal counties of Kenya with high rates of child malnutrition. Study findings indicate that young child fish consumption is impacted by factors related to accessibility, food preferences, and caregiver’s knowledge and beliefs about fish during the complementary feeding period. These factors are influenced by prominent community figures such as elder women and health workers, whose own beliefs and understandings are impacted by underlying cultural norms, potentially limiting fish consumption. To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in the coastal region of Kenya to focus on understanding fish consumption attitudes and beliefs during the complementary feeding phase. Our findings represent a critical first step towards the creation of more effective policies and interventions to address the significant nutritional disparities that exist in the study population