Do space-for-time assessments underestimate the impacts of logging on tropical biodiversity? An Amazonian case study using dung beetles

Summary Human alteration of the global environment is leading to a pervasive loss of biodiversity. Most studies evaluating human impacts on biodiversity occur after the disturbance has taken place using spatially distinct sites to determine the undisturbed reference condition. This approach is known as a space‐for‐time (SFT) substitution. However, SFT substitution could be underestimating biodiversity loss if spatial controls fail to provide adequate inferences about pre‐disturbance conditions. We compare the SFT substitution with a before–after control–impact (BACI) approach by assessing dung beetles before and after a logging exploration in the Brazilian Amazon. We sampled 34 logging management units, of which 29 were selectively logged with different intensities after our first collection. We used dung beetle species richness, species composition and biomass as our biodiversity response metrics and the gradient of selective logging intensity as our explanatory metric. Only the BACI approach consistently demonstrated the negative impacts of logging intensification on all dung beetle community metrics. Moreover, the BACI approach explained significantly more of the variance in all the relationships and it doubled the estimates of species loss along the gradient of logging intensity when compared to SFT. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that space‐for‐time (SFT) substitution may greatly underestimate the consequences on local species diversity and community turnover. These results have important implications for researchers investigating human impacts on biodiversity. Incentivizing before–after control–impact (BACI) approaches will require longer‐term funding to gather the data and stronger links between researchers and landowners. However, BACI approaches are accompanied by many logistical constraints, making the continued use of SFT studies inevitable in many cases. We highlight that non‐significant results and weak effects should be viewed with caution. </jats:p

Practitioners’ ability to remotely develop understanding for personalised care and support planning: a thematic analysis of multiple data sources from the feasibility phase of the Dementia Personalised Care Team (D-PACT) intervention

Practitioner understanding of patients’ preferences, wishes and needs is essential for personalised health care i.e., focusing on ‘what matters’ to people based on their individual life situation. To develop such an understanding, dementia practitioners need to use communication practices that help people share their experiences, preferences, and priorities. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, dementia support is likely to continue to be delivered both remotely and in-person. This study analysed multiple sources of qualitative data to examine the views of practitioners, people living with dementia and carers, and researchers on how an understanding of what matters to people living with dementia can be developed remotely via telephone and video call. Access to environmental stimuli, the remote use of visual tools, peoples’ tendency to downplay or omit details about their troubles and carers’ ability to disclose privately were interpreted, through thematic analysis, to be factors affecting how practitioners sought to develop understanding remotely. Cumulatively, findings show that while remote support created unique challenges to practitioners’ ability to develop understanding for personalised care, practitioners developed adaptive strategies to overcome some of these challenges. Further research should examine how, when and for whom these adapted practices for remote personalised care work, informing the development of evidence-based guidance and training on how practitioners can remotely develop the understanding required for personalised care

Practitioners' ability to remotely develop understanding for personalised care and support planning: a thematic analysis of multiple data sources from the feasibility phase of the Dementia Personalised Care Team (D-PACT) intervention

Practitioner understanding of patients' preferences, wishes and needs is essential for personalised health care i.e., focusing on 'what matters' to people based on their individual life situation. To develop such an understanding, dementia practitioners need to use communication practices that help people share their experiences, preferences, and priorities. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, dementia support is likely to continue to be delivered both remotely and in-person. This study analysed multiple sources of qualitative data to examine the views of practitioners, people living with dementia and carers, and researchers on how an understanding of what matters to people living with dementia can be developed remotely via telephone and video call. Access to environmental stimuli, the remote use of visual tools, peoples' tendency to downplay or omit details about their troubles and carers' ability to disclose privately were interpreted, through thematic analysis, to be factors affecting how practitioners sought to develop understanding remotely. Cumulatively, findings show that while remote support created unique challenges to practitioners' ability to develop understanding for personalised care, practitioners developed adaptive strategies to overcome some of these challenges. Further research should examine how, when and for whom these adapted practices for remote personalised care work, informing the development of evidence-based guidance and training on how practitioners can remotely develop the understanding required for personalised care

Engaging stakeholders in realist programme theory building: insights from the prospective phase of a primary care dementia support study

‘Dementia - Personalised Care Team’ (D-PACT) is a five-year NIHR funded programme, using realist methods to develop and evaluate a complex, person-centred intervention for people with dementia and their carers. During the early project stages, we engaged with multiple stakeholders, including people with dementia and their carers, to develop an initial programme theory (IPT) – into an elaborated programme theory (EPT), by helping to uncover intervention mechanisms leading to outcomes in specific contexts. Realist research methods for developing programme theories are under-reported. In addition, there is a paucity of practical guidance on how to engage underserved and vulnerable populations in complex interventions programme theory development. We attend to these gaps, providing a worked example of how we meaningfully engaged people living with dementia and carers, alongside field experts, as stakeholders in this process. Our IPT theory building included multi-stakeholder primary research exercises and meetings with PPI contributors and an Expert Reference Group. We adapted interview schedules, and used visual resources and scenario-based activities, to support stakeholders to think in a ‘realist’ way. Using realist and thematic analyses led to hypothesis-building of causal mechanisms. Sharing findings with stakeholders led to further refinement of the intervention design, ready for testing in a subsequent feasibility study. We found that, despite the cognitive challenges associated with dementia, innovative methods of engagement can enable this stakeholder group to understand the realist approach and provide a platform through which to share their experiences. Taking a highly flexible and unhurried approach, led to novel insights into the complexities of person-centred dementia support. We argue for more detailed methodological guidance, based on realist principles, on how to collaborate with underrepresented populations to rigorously gain insights as to what is likely to make a difference and refine initial programme theory

Clarifying terrestrial recycling pathways

Pausas and Bond argue that there are three major pathways by which the carbon and nutrients assimilated by plants are recycled through ecosystems: microbial decomposition, vertebrate herbivory, and wildfires. This framework has three principles. First, that each pathway recycles nutrients into plant-available forms. Second, that each pathway is broadly equivalent in that they consume ‘biomass’. Third, that the dominance of each pathway varies under different environmental conditions. We welcome the reframing of terrestrial recycling pathways in this way, but have identified three areas where the ‘Three Pathways Framework’ could be built upon.http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/homehj2022Zoology and Entomolog

On the interaction of low molecular weight poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and sodium dodecylsulphate in low surfactant-polyelectrolyte ratio, salt-free solutions

Coacervation is widely used in formulations to induce a beneficial character to the formulation but non-equilibrium effects are often manifest. Electrophoretic (eNMR), pulsed-gradient spin-echo NMR (PGSE-NMR) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) have been used to quantify the interaction between low molecular cationic poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and the anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) in aqueous solution as a model for the precursor state to such non-equilibrium processes. The NMR data show that within the low surfactant concentration one-phase region, an increasing surfactant concentration leads to a reduction in the charge on the polymer and a collapse of its solution conformation, attaining minimum values coincident with the macroscopic phase separation boundary. Interpretation of the scattering data reveals how the rod-like polymer changes over the same surfactant concentration window, with no discernible fingerprint of micellar type aggregates, rather the emergence of disc-like and lamellar structures. At the highest surfactant concentration, the emergence of a weak Bragg peak in both the polymer and surfactant scattering suggest these pre-cursor disc and lamellar structures evolve into paracrystalline stacks which ultimately phase separate. Addition of the non-ionic surfactant hexa(ethylene oxide) dodecyl ether (C12E6) to the system seems to have little effect on the PDADMAC/SDS interaction as determined by NMR, merely displacing the observed behaviour to lower SDS concentrations, commensurate with the total SDS present in the system. In other words, the PDADMAC causes the disruption of the mixed SDS/C12E6 micelle, leading to SDS-rich PDADAMC/surfactant complexes coexisting with C12E6 – rich micelles in solution

Prescription for nursing informatics in pre-registration nurse education.

Nurses need to be able to use information and communications technology not only to support their own practice, but also to help their patients make best use of it. This article argues that nurses are not currently adequately prepared to work with information and technology through their pre-registration education. Reflecting the lack of nursing informatics expertise, it is recommended that all pre-registration nursing programmes should have access to a nursing informatics specialist. A prescription to meet the informatics needs of the newly qualified nurse is proposed. This places the areas that need to be included in pre-registration education into broad groups that both articulate the competencies that nurses need to develop, and indicate why they are needed, rather than providing context-free checklists of skills. This is presented as a binary scatter chart with two axes, skill to knowledge and technology to information

Longitudinal realist evaluation of the dementia PersonAlised care team (D-PACT) intervention: protocol

BACKGROUND: Different dementia support roles exist but evidence is lacking on which aspects are best, for whom and in what circumstance, and on their associated costs and benefits. Phase 1 of the Dementia PersonAlised Care Team programme (D-PACT), developed a post-diagnostic primary care-based intervention for people with dementia and their carers and assessed the feasibility of a trial. AIM: Phase 2 of the programme aims to 1) refine our programme theory on how, when and for whom the intervention works and 2) evaluate its value and impact. DESIGN & SETTING: A realist longitudinal mixed-methods evaluation will be conducted in urban, rural, and coastal areas across Southwest and Northwest England where low-income groups or ethnic minorities (eg, South Asian) are represented. Design was informed by patient, public and professional stakeholder input and Phase one findings. METHOD: High volume qualitative and quantitative data will be collected longitudinally from people with dementia, carers and practitioners. Analyses will comprise: 1) realist longitudinal case studies; 2) conversation analysis of recorded interactions; 3) statistical analyses of outcome and experience questionnaires; 4 a) health economic analysis examining costs of delivery; 4b) realist economic analysis of high-cost events and 'near misses'. All findings will be synthesised using a joint display table, evidence appraisal tool, triangulation and stakeholder co-analysis. CONCLUSION: Our realist evaluation will describe how, why and for whom the intervention leads (or not) to change over time; it also demonstrates how a non-randomised design can be more appropriate for complex interventions with similar questions or populations

Telomere length measurement by qPCR in birds is affected by storage method of blood samples

Given the potential role of telomeres as biomarkers of individual health and ageing, there is an increasing interest in studying telomere dynamics in a wider range of taxa in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. Measuring telomere length across the lifespan in wild animal systems is essential for testing these hypotheses, and may be aided by archived blood samples collected as part of longitudinal field studies. However, sample collection, storage, and DNA extraction methods may influence telomere length measurement, and it may, therefore, be difficult to balance consistency in sampling protocol with making the most of available samples. We used two complementary approaches to examine the impacts of sample storage method on measurements of relative telomere length (RTL) by qPCR, particularly focusing on FTA (Flinders Technology Associates) cards as a long-term storage solution. We used blood samples from wandering albatrosses collected over 14 years and stored in three different ways (n = 179), and also blood samples from captive zebra finches (n = 30) that were each stored using three different methods. Sample storage method influenced RTL in both studies, and samples on FTA cards had significantly shorter RTL measurements. There was no significant correlation between RTL measured in zebra finch blood on FTA cards and the same samples stored either as frozen whole blood or as extracted DNA. These results highlight the importance of consistency of sampling protocol, particularly in the context of long-term field studies, and suggest that FTA cards should not be used as a long-term storage solution to measure RTL without validation