Partnerships and Participation: Synthesising Methods to Improve the Quality of Planning and Training for Primary Health Care Services at District Level in Nepal

Summary Participation has been encouraged for many years in health development work, as a means to involve populations in improving the appropriateness and quality of their local health services. This article is an attempt to highlight a new approach to participation which moves away from a purely community focused activity and seeks to engage a broader partnership between health service providers, managers and users for a more accountable and sustainable end product. It takes inspiration from the Client Oriented Provider Efficient process (COPE) which has been proved an effective tool to improve the quality of reproductive health services. Mixing some of its core components with Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) methods we have developed a new model of participatory planning and training. Preliminary results show that including all stakeholders in the process can work as long as the exercises are accessible to all. This accessibility is achieved through a range of visualisation methods. As with any tool for Human Resource Development the crucial issue continues to be the need for effective follow up which can maintain levels of enthusiasm and quality in resource?poor settings

Analysing trade-offs and synergies between SDGs for urban development, food security and poverty alleviation in rapidly changing peri-urban areas: a tool to support inclusive urban planning

Transitional peri-urban contexts are frontiers for sustainable development where land-use change involves negotiation and contestation between diverse interest groups. Multiple, complex trade-offs between outcomes emerge which have both negative and positive impacts on progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These trade-offs are often overlooked in policy and planning processes which depend on top-down expert perspectives and rely on course grain aggregate data which does not reflect complex peri-urban dynamics or the rapid pace of change. Tools are required to address this gap, integrate data from diverse perspectives and inform more inclusive planning processes. In this paper, we draw on a reinterpretation of empirical data concerned with land-use change and multiple dimensions of food security from the city of Wuhan in China to illustrate some of the complex trade-offs between SDG goals that tend to be overlooked with current planning approaches. We then describe the development of an interactive web-based tool that implements deep learning methods for fine-grained land-use classification of high-resolution remote sensing imagery and integrates this with a flexible method for rapid trade-off analysis of land-use change scenarios. The development and potential use of the tool are illustrated using data from the Wuhan case study example. This tool has the potential to support participatory planning processes by providing a platform for multiple stakeholders to explore the implications of planning decisions and land-use policies. Used alongside other planning, engagement and ecosystem service mapping tools it can help to reveal invisible trade-offs and foreground the perspectives of diverse stakeholders. This is vital for building approaches which recognise how trade-offs between the achievement of SDGs can be influenced by development interventions

Revolutionary Self-Sustaining Pasture-Crop Rotation Systems Developed by Researcher-Farmer Collaboration for Southern Australian Farming Systems

Mixed farming pasture-crop rotation systems in southern Australia have traditionally relied on subterranean clover and annual medics. Concern over the long-term persistence of these species was raised in the 1980‟s with the cessation of manufacture of suction harvesters required for seed production. Subsequently, their adaptation has been tested due to climate change. More frequent droughts, particularly the millennium drought (2002-2009), increased incidence of false breaks and dry spring conditions causing decline or complete loss of seedbank reserves and failure of new sowings. A concerted effort developing new legume species for Australian farming systems, led by Western Australia, resulted in domestication of biserrula, bladder clover and gland clover and development of new cultivars of French and yellow serradella. These species/varieties possess characteristics including one or more of the following: higher hard seed content, deeper root systems, greater acid soil tolerance in symbiosis, increased herbage and seed production, wider tolerance to pest and diseases. They can also be harvested with conventional cereal harvesters reducing seed cost and enabling farmers to produce their own seed (Loi et al., 2005). A survey of farmers showed adoption of new species was limited by a lack of detailed management information on how to grow and manage them, to maximise their impact on crop and livestock productivity (Hackney et al., 2012). This paper reports on efforts made over a decade by a multidisciplinary WA and NSW team of plant breeders, rhizobiologists, agronomists and animal scientists, formed to develop new self-sustaining pasture-crop rotation systems to fill the void left by the failure of traditional rotation systems. The critical role and early recruitment of „champion‟ farmers in achieving the successful adoption of new technology is discussed, as is the difficulty in organizing and funding systems research

Functional characterization of rhoptry kinome in the virulent toxoplasma gondii RH strain

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligatory intracellular apicomplexan protozoan which can infect any warm-blooded animal and causes severe diseases in immunocompromised individuals or infants infected in utero. The survival and success of this parasite require that it colonizes the host cell, avoids host immune defenses, replicates within an appropriate niche, and exits the infected host cell to spread to neighboring non-infected cells. All of these processes depend on the parasite ability to synthesis and export secreted proteins. Amongst the secreted proteins, rhoptry organelle proteins (ROPs) are essential for the parasite invasion and host cell manipulation. Even though the functions of most ROPs have been elucidated in the less virulent T. gondii (type II), the roles of ROPs in the highly virulent type I strain remain largely un-characterized. Herein, we investigated the contributions of 15 ROPs (ROP10, ROP11, ROP15, ROP20, ROP23, ROP31, ROP32, ROP33, ROP34, ROP35, ROP36, ROP40, ROP41, ROP46, and ROP47) to the infectivity of the high virulent type I T. gondii (RH strain). Using CRISPR-Cas9, these 15 ROPs genes were successfully disrupted and the effects of gene knockout on the parasite’s ability to infect cells in vitro and BALB/c mice in vivo were investigated. These results showed that deletions of these ROPs did not interfere with the parasite ability to grow in cultured human foreskin fibroblast cells and did not significantly alter parasite pathogenicity for BALB/c mice. Although these ROPs did not seem to be essential for the acute infectious stage of type I T. gondii in the mouse model, they might have different functions in other intermediate hosts or play different roles in other life cycle forms of this parasite due to the different expression patterns; this warrants further investigations

Chemogenetics defines receptor-mediated functions of short chain free fatty acids

Differentiating actions of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) at free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFA2) from other free fatty acid-responsive receptors and from non-receptor-mediated effects has been challenging. Using a novel chemogenetic and knock-in strategy, whereby an engineered variant of FFA2 (FFA2-DREADD) that is unresponsive to natural SCFAs but is instead activated by sorbic acid replaced the wild-type receptor, we determined that activation of FFA2 in differentiated adipocytes and colonic crypt enteroendocrine cells of mouse accounts fully for SCFA-regulated lipolysis and release of the incretin glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), respectively. In vivo studies confirmed the specific role of FFA2 in GLP-1 release and also demonstrated a direct role for FFA2 in accelerating gut transit. Thereby, we establish the general principle that such a chemogenetic knock-in strategy can successfully define novel G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) biology and provide both target validation and establish therapeutic potential of a ‘hard to target’ GPCR

Are concentrations of pollutants in sharks, rays and skates (Elasmobranchii) a cause for concern? A systematic review

This review represents a comprehensive analysis on pollutants in elasmobranchs including meta-analysis on the most studied pollutants: mercury, cadmium, PCBs and DDTs, in muscle and liver tissue. Elasmobranchs are particularly vulnerable to pollutant exposure which may pose a risk to the organism as well as humans that consume elasmobranch products. The highest concentrations of pollutants were found in sharks occupying top trophic levels (Carcharhiniformes and Lamniformes). A human health risk assessment identified that children and adults consuming shark once a week are exposed to over three times more mercury than is recommended by the US EPA. This poses a risk to local fishing communities and international consumers of shark-based products, as well as those subject to the widespread mislabelling of elasmobranch products. Wider screening studies are recommended to determine the risk to elasmobranchs from emerging pollutants and more robust studies are recommended to assess the risks to human health

Superchemistry: dynamics of coupled atomic and molecular Bose-Einstein condensates

We analyze the dynamics of a dilute, trapped Bose-condensed atomic gas coupled to a diatomic molecular Bose gas by coherent Raman transitions. This system is shown to result in a new type of `superchemistry', in which giant collective oscillations between the atomic and molecular gas can occur. The phenomenon is caused by stimulated emission of bosonic atoms or molecules into their condensate phases

Toxoplasma and Plasmodium protein kinases: roles in invasion and host cell remodelling

Some apicomplexan parasites have evolved distinct protein kinase families to modulate host cell structure and function. Toxoplasma gondii rhoptry protein kinases and pseudokinases are involved in virulence and modulation of host cell signalling. The proteome of Plasmodium falciparum contains a family of putative kinases called FIKKs, some of which are exported to the host red blood cell and might play a role in erythrocyte remodelling. In this review we will discuss kinases known to be critical for host cell invasion, intracellular growth and egress, focusing on (i) calcium-dependent protein kinases and (ii) the secreted kinases that are unique to Toxoplasma (rhoptry protein kinases and pseudokinases) and Plasmodium (FIKKs)