The matrix of drivers: 2022 update

Enhancing primary sector production and productivity while maintaining and improving our land and water quality for future generations is a key outcome of the National Science Challenge for Our Land and Water. It is therefore important to identify the hierarchy of international and national issues in order to provide an evidence base to guide investment and inform the Challenge Research Strategy. To this end, it was proposed that a small project be conducted, and regularly updated. This project aims to deliver an overview of international and domestic drivers, as well as issues that are of particular relevance to the New Zealand primary sector and land use. This overview is based on a literature search of the most important issues, followed by a survey of key stakeholders as to their opinion of the most important issues affecting New Zealand land use and land use practice from overseas and domestically. In addition, a review of the level of interest and concern of international consumers on various issues is produced relevant to the primary sector. This is the fourth report in this series and provides an updated understanding of the international and national drivers and issues of land use change/practice, and their importance to the primary sector. These drivers will help prioritise where investments in primary sector research based on their relationship to economic growth, social, cultural and environmental interactions. Updates of this research will allow us to understand how drivers and issues change, which will help to assess the impact the Challenge has had as well as future research investment needs. This work also provides a contribution to the Challenge Strategy. This report is structured as follows: Chapter 1 provides an introduction to this report and its wider context; Chapter 2 presents the results of a survey of primary sector stakeholders regarding their views of the importance of key international and domestic drivers of land use change/practice; Chapter 3 examines future trends and challenges related to land use change/practice (particularly within a New Zealand context); and Chapter 4 concludes the report and provides a summary of its findings

Photoaffinity labeling of mitochondrial proteins with 2-azido [32P]palmitoyl CoA

AbstractA long-chain fatty acyl CoA photolabel, 2-azido [32P]palmitoyl CoA, was synthesized and its covalent interaction with mitochondrial membrane proteins examined. On binding of 2-azido [32P]palmitoyl CoA to beef heart mitochondria, two polypeptides were primarily labeled, the 30 kDa ADP/ATP carrier and a 41 kDa protein of unknown identity. Car☐yatractyloside and palmitoyl CoA completely protected against labeling of the 30 kDa protein indicating that it was the ADP/ATP carrier. With inverted submitochondrial particles, only the 30 kDa polypeptide was labeled by 2-azido [32P]palmitoyl CoA. The labeling was inhibited by bongkrekic acid and palmitoyl CoA but not car☐yatractyloside, providing evidence that the ADP/ATP carrier was covalently bound from the matrix side of the membrane. In brown adipose tissue mitochondria, 2-azido [32P]palmitoyl CoA photolabeled the ADP/ATP carrier and the 32 kDa uncoupling protein with some minor labeling of 36 and 68 kDa polypeptides. The results indicated that this physiological photolabeling reagent with the azido group on the CoA portion of the molecule interacts like 2-azido ADP with nucleotide binding sites of a number of important enzymes in cell metabolism. Moreover, the evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that long chain fatty acyl CoA esters are natural ligands for key nucleotide binding proteins

Driving better programme investment and accelerating challenge impact through a prioritisation matrix of international and national perspectives: The matrix

Optimising our land and freshwater resources on the basis of economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability is a key outcome of the ‘Our land and water’ National Science Challenge. Therefore identifying areas of the highest potential impact, as related to the hierarchy of international and national issues, is needed to provide an evidence base to guide investment and inform the Challenge Research Strategy. To this end, a project was conducted to deliver an overview of the international and domestic drivers, as well as their relevance to the New Zealand primary sector and its land use (Saunders et al, 2016a). The project combines and rates these international and domestic drivers on changes in water and land use. By using this approach, a summary representation of the level of interest/concern of international ‘consumers’ and customers was produced alongside an overview of domestic issues and stakeholder interests relevant to the primary sector. Where possible, the drivers were based upon quantifiable evidence. This report provides an updated understanding of the national and international drivers and issues and their importance to the primary sector. This builds on an earlier report that assessed how these drivers change where we invest in primary sector research as related to economic growth, social, cultural and environmental interactions. Repeating this research overtime will allow us to understand how drivers and issues change and how this affects the impact the Challenge has and its future research directions. This work will provide a contribution to the Challenge Strategy and focus future programmes such as the primary performance indicators and ‘greater value in global markets’ Challenge theme. Working across the entire primary sector and involving stakeholders collectively will contribute to a more cohesive view of the primary sector’s response to Challenge issues. This will also contribute to meeting a main aim of the Challenge, which is “to enhance primary sector production and productivity whilst maintaining and improving our land and water quality for future generations (OLW, 2017).” This report is structured as follows: Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the current update of the Drivers Project; Chapter 2 outlines the methodology and results of a New Zealand-wide survey of primary industry experts regarding international and domestic drivers with the potential to affect land use change and/or practice; Chapter 3 presents a review of foresight literature for trends which are likely to affect land use change and/or practice internationally into the future; Chapter 4 presents a conclusion of the current report, including suggestions for future research

The social life of HIV care: On the making of ‘care beyond the virus’

Treating care as an effect of material implementations, we use qualitative interviews with people living with HIV in London, most of whom are migrants, to explore care practices linked to clinical treatment delivered as part of the ‘cascade of HIV care’. We consider how HIV care is done, and what HIV care does, drawing on assemblage theory. We ask how is care affected by the situations in which it is enacted? and what contingent forms of care does the HIV care cascade potentiate? A prime actor in the care assemblages revealed in our study is immigration, from which multiple uncertainties flow, including access to vital resources such as housing and income. Yet we also found that clinical HIV care is worked-with in practice to afford multiple forms of care. Here, viral care is translated into matters of vital concern to produce care which extends ‘beyond the virus’. Practices of care beyond the virus afford social protection, including through making-up social relations and networks, and novel modes of sociality. Friendship connections, community organisations and HIV clinics are among the key actors involved. Being attuned to how HIV care is made to matter helps generate new ways of knowing and doing care

Advancing cluster randomised trials in children’s therapy: a survey of the acceptability of trial behaviours to therapists and parents

Background Randomised controlled trials of non-pharmacological interventions in children’s therapy are rare. This is, in part, due to the challenges of the acceptability of common trial designs to therapists and service users. This study investigated the acceptability of participation in cluster randomised controlled trials to therapists and service users. Methods A national electronic survey of UK occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, service managers, and parents of children who use their services. Participants were recruited by NHS Trusts sharing a link to an online questionnaire with children’s therapists in their Trust and with parents via Trust social media channels. National professional and parent networks also recruited to the survey. We aimed for a sample size of 325 therapists, 30 service managers, and 60 parents. Trial participation was operationalised as three behaviours undertaken by both therapists and parents: agreeing to take part in a trial, discussing a trial, and sharing information with a research team. Acceptability of the behaviours was measured using an online questionnaire based on the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability constructs: affective attitude, self-efficacy, and burden. The general acceptability of trials was measured using the acceptability constructs of intervention coherence and perceived effectiveness. Data were collected from June to September 2020. Numerical data were analysed using descriptive statistics and textual data by descriptive summary. Results A total of 345 survey responses were recorded. Following exclusions, 249 therapists and 40 parents provided data which was 69.6% (289/415) of the target sample size. It was not possible to track the number of people invited to take the survey nor those who viewed, but did not complete, the online questionnaire for calculation of response rates. A completion rate (participants who completed the last page of the survey divided by the participants who completed the first, mandatory, page of the survey) of 42.9% was achieved. Of the three specified trial behaviours, 140/249 (56.2%) therapists were least confident about agreeing to take part in a trial. Therapists (135/249, 52.6%) reported some confidence they could discuss a trial with a parent and child at an appointment. One hundred twenty of 249 (48.2%) therapists reported confidence in sharing information with a research team through questionnaires and interviews or sharing routine health data. Therapists (140/249, 56.2%) felt that taking part in the trial would take a lot of effort and resources. Support and resources, confidence with intervention allocation, and sense of control and professional autonomy over clinical practice were factors that positively affected the acceptability of trials. Of the 40 parents, twelve provided complete data. Most parents (18/40, 45%) agreed that it was clear how trials improve children’s therapies and outcomes and that a cluster randomised trial made sense to them in their therapy situation (12/29, 30%). Conclusions Using trials to evaluate therapy interventions is, in principle, acceptable to therapists, but their willingness to participate in trials is variable. The willingness to participate may be particularly influenced by their views related to the burden associated with trials, intervention allocation, and professional autonomy

The First New Zealanders? An Alternative Interpretation of Stable Isotope Data from Wairau Bar, New Zealand.

PLOS ONE Volume 8 includes an article “The First New Zealanders: Patterns of Diet and Mobility Revealed through Isotope Analysis”. The paper proposes that burial groups within the settlement phase site of Wairau Bar differ in terms of dietary stable isotopes and 87Sr/86Sr. The authors argue this difference is probably due to one group being a founding population while the other burials are later. Here we review the work of Kinaston et al. and present an alternative analysis and interpretation of the isotopic data. Treating the isotope data independently from cultural and biological factors we find that sex best explains dietary variation. Our reassessment of 87Sr/86Sr confirms the authors original finding of high mobility of early New Zealanders but suggests a larger range of individuals should be considered ‘non-local’ on current evidence

Physics searches at the LHC

With the LHC up and running, the focus of experimental and theoretical high energy physics will soon turn to an interpretation of LHC data in terms of the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking and the TeV scale. We present here a broad review of models for new TeV-scale physics and their LHC signatures. In addition, we discuss possible new physics signatures and describe how they can be linked to specific models of physics beyond the Standard Model. Finally, we illustrate how the LHC era could culminate in a detailed understanding of the underlying principles of TeV-scale physics.Comment: 184 pages, 55 figures, 14 tables, hundreds of references; scientific feedback is welcome and encouraged. v2: text, references and Overview Table added; feedback still welcom

Bupropion for the treatment of apathy in Huntington's disease:A multicenter, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, prospective crossover trial

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of bupropion in the treatment of apathy in Huntington's disease (HD). METHODS:In this phase 2b multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, individuals with HD and clinical signs of apathy according to the Structured Clinical Interview for Apathy-Dementia (SCIA-D), but not depression (n = 40) were randomized to receive either bupropion 150/300mg or placebo daily for 10 weeks. The primary outcome parameter was a significant change of the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) score after ten weeks of treatment as judged by an informant (AES-I) living in close proximity with the study participant. The secondary outcome parameters included changes of 1. AES scores determined by the patient (AES-S) or the clinical investigator (AES-C), 2. psychiatric symptoms (NPI, HADS-SIS, UHDRS-Behavior), 3. cognitive performance (SDMT, Stroop, VFT, MMSE), 4. motor symptoms (UHDRS-Motor), 5. activities of daily function (TFC, UHDRS-Function), and 6. caregiver distress (NPI-D). In addition, we investigated the effect of bupropion on brain structure as well as brain responses and functional connectivity during reward processing in a gambling task using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). RESULTS:At baseline, there were no significant treatment group differences in the clinical primary and secondary outcome parameters. At endpoint, there was no statistically significant difference between treatment groups for all clinical primary and secondary outcome variables. Study participation, irrespective of the intervention, lessened symptoms of apathy according to the informant and the clinical investigator. CONCLUSION:Bupropion does not alleviate apathy in HD. However, study participation/placebo effects were observed, which document the need for carefully controlled trials when investigating therapeutic interventions for the neuropsychiatric symptoms of HD. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov 01914965