The Digital Lives of People with Learning Disabilities: Methodological Considerations

Mobile technology is becoming ubiquitous, with usage ranging across such diverse activities as direction-finding, music storage, photography, texting, checking social-media, accessing newspapers and watching TV. This paper describes a major study examining the use of such technology by people with Learning Disabilities (LD). It concentrates on the issues related to undertaking research with this specific cohort – such as difficulties participants may have in generalising, abstract thinking, and the possible tendency to simply agree with comments or questions made by the researcher (known as acquiesce bias) - and methods being adopted to minimise or obviate these completely

Assessment of mortality prediction models in a Ghanaian burn population

A

Characterizing organic carbon dynamics during biostimulation of a uranium contaminated field site

Uranium contamination of groundwater remains a pressing problem at many former uranium mining and milling operations, such as the Rifle, Integrated Field Research Challenge (IFRC) site. Biostimulation of the subsurface with an organic carbon source such as acetate, followed by the microbially-induced reductive precipitation of uranium has been proposed as an effective remediation strategy. While uranium bioreduction has been studied in several field experiments, the transformation and fate of injected carbon remains poorly understood. This study evaluated the impact of added organic carbon on the long-term biogeochemical attenuation of uranium in the subsurface of a former mill tailings site. Fluorescence and ultraviolet–visible absorbance analyses were used together with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) measurements to track organic carbon dynamics during and post-biostimulation of the 2011 Rifle IFRC experiment. An electron mass balance was performed on well CD01 to account for any unidentified carbon sinks. Measured DOC values increased to 1.76 mM-C during biostimulation, and to 3.18 mM-C post-biostimulation over background DOC values of 0.3–0.4 mM-C. Elevated DOC levels persisted for 90 days after acetate injections ceased. The electron mass balance revealed that assumed electron acceptors would not account for the total amount of acetate consumed. Excitation–emission matrices showed an increase in signals associated with soluble microbial products, during biostimulation, which disappeared post-biostimulation despite an increase in total DOC. Specific ultraviolet absorbance analyses, indicated that DOC present post-biostimulation is less aromatic in nature, compared to background DOC. Our results suggest that microbes convert injected acetate into a form of solid phase organic matter that may be available to sustain iron reduction post-stimulation

Comparing the efficacy of different web page interface attributes in facilitating information retrieval for people with mild Learning Disabilities

This research aimed to determine what web page attributes facilitate optimal website design for use by learning-disabled people – a topic hitherto rarely addressed. Qualitative research developed methods appropriate for this cohort, determined attributes that impact on usability and explored ways of eliciting preferences. Attributes related to menu position, text size and images, which were then examined quantitatively by comparing web pages of different layouts. Task-times were analysed, determining which attributes have the greatest impact on performance. The main predictor of task-time was menu position, followed by text size. Images did not affect performance. The study also found that learning-disabled people have only ‘serial access’ to information when searching individual pages – it being imbibed sequentially until the required content is reached. Words on the left of horizontal menus were found quicker than those in the middle or right. Information access took longer from vertical menus, possibly because of the juxtaposition of distracting body text. Images were ignored until reached ‘serially’– and thus did not help signpost content. Small-text was consumed quicker than large, as the latter took up more lines and required more eye movements to negotiate. A three category rating scale and simple interviews elicited web design preferences. The ‘neutral’ category proved troublesome and so a refined four category scale without this mid-point was adopted which yielded a greater variety of results. In verbally eliciting preferences, ‘acquiescence bias’ was minimised by avoiding polar interrogatives - partly achieved by comparing different designs. Preferred designs were for large-text and images – the reverse of those facilitating fastest retrieval times, a discrepancy due to preferences being judged on aesthetic considerations. Design recommendations are offered which reconcile preference and performance findings. These include using a horizontal menu, juxtaposing images and text, and reducing text from sentences to phrases – facilitating preferred large-text without increasing task-times

Incorporating patient preferences into cancer care decisions: Challenges and opportunities

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156174/2/cncr32959_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156174/1/cncr32959.pd

A facile method for the stain-free visualization of hierarchical structures with electron microscopy

Diblock copolymers form hierarchical morphologies with numerous applications in drug delivery and as nanoreactors. Yet, the visualization of these structures by electron microscopy can be extremely difficult, requiring complex staining techniques with associated health risks and the potential to alter structural morphology. Reported here is the synthesis of diblock copolymers by RAFT containing 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl functionality allowing for facile visualization of their resulting hierarchical structures by TEM with no further sample preparation.P.E.W. thanks the AWE and E.A. thanks Schlumberger for financial support, and J.d.B is grateful for a Marie Curie Intraeuropean Fellowship (project # 273807). This work was also supported by an ERC Starting Investigator Grant (ASPiRe) and a Next Generation Fellowship provided by the Walters-Kundert Foundation.This is the accepted manuscript. The final published version is available from Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pola.27517/abstract

Exercise intensity and the protection from postprandial vascular dysfunction in adolescents

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Physiological Society via the DOI in this recordBACKGROUND: Acute exercise transiently improves endothelial function, and protects the vasculature from the deleterious effects of a high fat meal (HFM). We sought to identify whether this response is dependent on exercise intensity in adolescents. METHODS: Twenty adolescents (10 male, 14.3 ± 0.3 y) completed three 1-day trials: 1) rest (CON); 2) 8x1 min cycling at 90% peak power with 75s recovery (high-intensity interval exercise; HIIE); 3) cycling at 90% of the gas exchange threshold (moderate-intensity exercise; MIE) one hour before consuming a HFM (1.50 g∙kg(-1) fat). Macrovascular and microvascular endothelial function were assessed before and immediately after exercise, and three hours after the HFM by flow mediated dilation (FMD) and laser Doppler imaging (peak reactive hyperaemia; PRH). RESULTS: FMD and PRH increased one hour after HIIE (P<0.001, ES=1.20 and P=0.048, ES=0.56) but were unchanged after MIE. FMD and PRH were attenuated three hours after the HFM in CON (P<0.001, ES=1.78 and P=0.02, ES=0.59). FMD remained greater three hours after the HFM in HIIE compared to MIE (P<0.001, ES=1.47) and CON (P<0.001, ES=2.54), and in MIE compared to CON (P<0.001, ES=1.40). Compared to CON, PRH was greater three hours after the HFM in HIIE (P=0.02, ES=0.71) and MIE (P=0.02, ES=0.84), with no differences between HIIE and MIE (P=0.72, ES=0.16). Plasma [triacylglycerol] and [total antioxidant status] were not different between trials. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise intensity plays an important role in protecting the vasculature from the deleterious effects of a HFM. Performing HIIE may provide superior vascular benefits than MIE in adolescent groups

Redesigning metal interference screws can improve ease of insertion while maintaining fixation of soft-tissue anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction grafts

Purpose: To compare the fixation strength and loads on insertion of a titanium alloy interference screw with a modified tip against a conventional titanium interference screw. Methods: Slippage of bovine digital extensor tendons (as substitutes for human tendon grafts) under cyclic loading and interference fixation strength under a pullout test were recorded in 10 cadaveric knees, with 2 tunnels drilled in each femur and tibia to provide pair-wise comparisons between the modified-tip screw (MS) and conventional screw (CS). To analyze screw insertion, 10 surgeons blindly inserted pairs of the MS and CS into bone-substitute blocks (with polyester shoelaces as graft substitutes), with insertion loads measured using a force/torque sensor. Results: No differences were found between the MS and CS either in graft slippage from the femur (P = .661) or tibia (P = .950) or in ultimate load to failure from the femur (P = .952) or tibia (P = .126). On insertion, the MS required less axial force application (78 ± 38 N, P = .001) and fewer attempted turns (2 ± 1, P < .001) to engage with the bone tunnel than the CS (99 ± 43 N and 4 ± 4, respectively). In 90% of the paired insertion tests, the screw identified by the surgeon as being easier to initially insert was the MS. Conclusions: The MS was found to be easier to engage with the bone tunnel and initially insert than the CS while still achieving similar immediate postsurgical fixation strength. Clinical Relevance: The study shows that screw designs can be improved to ease insertion into a bone tunnel, which should reduce any likelihood of ligament reconstruction graft damage

Midday measurements of leaf water potential and stomatal conductance are highly correlated with daily water use of Thompson Seedless grapevines

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between midday measurements of vine water status and daily water use of grapevines measured with a weighing lysimeter. Water applications to the vines were terminated on August 24th for 9 days and again on September 14th for 22 days. Daily water use of the vines in the lysimeter (ETLYS) was approximately 40 L vine−1 (5.3 mm) prior to turning the pump off, and it decreased to 22.3 L vine−1 by September 2nd. Pre-dawn leaf water potential (ΨPD) and midday Ψl on August 24th were −0.075 and −0.76 MPa, respectively, with midday Ψl decreasing to −1.28 MPa on September 2nd. Leaf g s decreased from ~500 to ~200 mmol m−2 s−1 during the two dry-down periods. Midday measurements of g s and Ψl were significantly correlated with one another (r = 0.96) and both with ETLYS/ETo (r = ~0.9). The decreases in Ψl, g s, and ETLYS/ETo in this study were also a linear function of the decrease in volumetric soil water content. The results indicate that even modest water stress can greatly reduce grapevine water use and that short-term measures of vine water status taken at midday are a reflection of daily grapevine water us