Exploring community gardening as a complex public health intervention: an action research study

The aim of this thesis was to involve local people in developing a tailored community gardening intervention in County Durham, to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention, and explore perceived outcomes from participation. A mixed methods approach was used, with three studies undertaken. Study One consisted of three focus groups in community venues. Three themes emerged which informed intervention design. ‘Nourishing Neighbourhoods’ was the resultant six-month community garden intervention within which Study Two and Three were embedded, utilising a non-experimental pre-test/post-test design. Study Two aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention across four sites. 41 participants were recruited, 36 started the project (88 % retention) and 28 remained engaged at endpoint (76 % adherence). Attrition stopped by week eight. There was no increase in fruit and vegetable consumption, no change in BMI scores, a reduction in time spent in moderate physical activity, walking and sitting and an increase in vigorous physical activity. There was an improvement in both physical and mental components of quality of life, with strong emphasis on improved social functioning. Study Three used pre- and post- intervention focus groups to evaluate overall perceptions of the intervention, engagement with different intervention components, and exploration of the perceived outcomes from participation. Five main themes emerged. Findings demonstrated that ‘Nourishing Neighbourhoods’ used feasible and acceptable methods to recruit and retain participants, and collect data. In addition, community gardening has the potential to have a positive effect on health and wellbeing outcomes. The physical act of gardening is not necessarily the motivating factor; meeting new people, developing skills, ‘me time’, and being involved in a family activity are important. Community involvement developing the intervention is crucial to encourage ownership, responsibility and sustainability. Older people, who are usually hard to reach, were more likely to engage, which could be of importance when tackling the growing pressures of an ageing population

Anticipating a 4th Industrial revolution and the futures of learning: a discussion paper for Wolverhampton Learning City Region

What learning is needed for the 21st Century and what changes can be made for learners today and for tomorrow? What skills, knowledge and experience are needed for jobs that do not exist yet? What institutions and relations and practices will be needed to support the school leavers, apprentices and graduates of 2020 and 2040? In a world that it is projected to change rapidly and unevenly, what role will learning have in helping anticipate and shape the future? Public sector, market, third sector leaders are faced with some critical challenges and choices. Exponential advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, graphene and additive manufacturing (3D printing) are set to constitute a 4th industrial revolution. A 4th industrial revolution is not just characterised by particular technologies but the fusions between these technologies, the capacity to redraw the lines between physical, digital, and biological domains and the potential scale, speed and spread of these changes. The breadth of skills and functions afforded by new technologies will not only have an impact on the number and type of jobs available across all sections of the job market, but also have the potential to challenge existing divisions of labour and the nature, value and meaning of work and learning. Of course, one of the major challenges and contradictions when anticipating futures, is how can one prepare for the unknown? This is a major challenge. There is no consensus as to the number of jobs that will be lost or created as a result of a 4th industrial revolution, but it is anticipated there will be no more routine jobs in the future. Investment in the development of knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) subjects is self-evident, but social, creative and critical thinking skills will be vital as they not only prove resistant to automation, but are essential to efforts to anticipate and engage with the disruption and challenges of a 4th industrial revolution. By anticipating the changes on the horizon, there is an opportunity to review and redefine the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s learners. Due to the scale of change that is anticipated it is argued that no one agency will be in a position to meet the grand challenges of a 4th industrial revolution. The level, scale and pace of change require both long-term thinking and cross-sector action. Subsequently a potential role for a nascent learning region will be to help to surface, assess and develop the future readiness of all those who live and work in the region

Effects of Low-Level Additions of Salt on Decomposition Rates and Plant Sodium Concentrations in a Southeastern, US Riparian System

Connor Gruntz is an undergraduate student in the School of Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech University. Sally Entrekin is a faculty member in the Biology Department at the University of Central Arkansas. Michelle Evans-White is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. Natalie Clay is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech Universit

Effects of Low-Level Salt Additions on Plant Growth and Implications for Riparian Detrital Processing

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Synucleins in the midbrain dopaminergic system: the role in health and disease

Synucleinopathies are a group of diseases characterised by the presence of insoluble aggregated forms of α-synuclein. The most common of these diseases is Parkinson’s disease (PD) which affects approximately 1% of the UK population over the age of 60. Alpha-synuclein has also been linked to the disease through familial mutations and genome wide association studies as well as by its presence in sporadic cases. Although solid evidence exists for a role of α-synuclein in PD, it remains unclear as to how this protein exerts its toxicity on neurons and exactly how this leads to the cell death characteristic of this neurodegenerative disease. Alpha-synuclein belongs to a family of three proteins which also includes β- and γ-synuclein. These three proteins are highly homologous and evolutionarily conserved, however none of them have a well defined function. Evidence suggests a role for these proteins in synaptic vesicle dynamics but a more specific function remains to be unveiled. However, due to the considerable degree of homology across these three proteins, knockout models have been considered to allow functional compensation of the missing synuclein protein through one of the remaining family members. This has hindered studies from elucidating not only the role of α-synuclein but also β- and γ-synuclein. To overcome this problem triple synuclein knockout mice have been produced and characterised, as described in this thesis. As expected studies of these animals revealed no alterations in the number of dopaminergic neurons in either the substantia nigra pars compacta or ventral tegmental area. Despite this, a significant deficit in striatal dopamine concentrations was detected, regardless of the fact that the levels and function of tyrosine hydroxylase being normal. As well as this triple synuclein null mice were demonstrated to be hyperdopaminergic through various behavioural tests. Work employing physcostimulants and, through a collaboration, using fast scan cyclic voltametry suggested a role for these proteins in normal dopamine release dynamics at the level of the synaptic vesicle. A previous body of work has indicated that the loss of α- and/or γ-synuclein is able to provide a degree of resistance against the toxic affects of the dopaminergic neurotoxin MPTP. It was therefore hypothesised that the triple synuclein null animals would also display resistance to this toxin. However, these animals were shown to be more sensitive than wild type controls. Importantly it was apparent that animals lacking β-synuclein alone or in combination with other synucleins were the most sensitive to this toxin. Further work revealed a significant deficit in the ability of triple synuclein null mice to store dopamine in their synaptic vesicles. This may explain the sensitivity to MPP+, the active metabolite of MPTP, due to the fact it cannot be efficiently stored in synaptic vesicles, which restricts the toxins access to the mitochondria where it normally inhibits complex I, thus leading to cell death. When recombinant β-synuclein was reintroduced the deficit in synaptic vesicle dopamine uptake could be restored. However, β-synuclein can not do this alone and requires incubation with cytosolic factors, suggesting it acts as a chaperone in this role. This may explain why lines of synuclein null mice that specifically have the absence of β-synuclein apparently fair least well when exposed to MPTP. Finally, in order to assess the extent to which a loss of function role of α-synuclein leads to pathological alteration at the synapse an entirely novel conditional α-synuclein knockout mouse model was produced. Currently no ideal model exists to answer this question as conventional knockout models are based on the knockout of the protein in development. This may allow functional compensatory mechanisms to be established which can be overcome with a conditional knockout approach. As well as this it is important to assess this loss in an aged nervous system, as PD is a disease of aging. It is likely that, as α-synuclein forms insoluble Lewy bodies and undergoes abnormal posttranslational modifications, the amount of normally functioning protein at the synapse is depleted, therefore allowing a loss of function effect to develop. It is hoped this model will allow new insight into the early disease process. Overall this work further contributes to a body of evidence that suggests the synucleins play an important role in synaptic dopamine handling, particularly at the synaptic vesicle level. It is hoped that the newly established conditional α-synuclein knockout model will produce a new perspective on the loss of function role of α-synuclein in early disease development, an avenue that has yet to be fully explored

Combinational losses of synucleins reveal their differential requirements for compensating age-dependent alterations in motor behavior and dopamine metabolism

Synucleins are involved in multiple steps of the neurotransmitter turnover but the largely normal synaptic function in young adult animals completely lacking synucleins suggests their roles are dispensable for execution of these processes. Instead, they may be utilized for boosting the efficiency of certain molecular mechanisms in presynaptic terminals, with a deficiency of synuclein proteins sensitizing to or exacerbating synaptic malfunction caused by accumulation of mild alterations, which are commonly associated with aging. Although functional redundancy within the family has been reported, it is unclear whether the remaining synucleins can fully compensate for the deficiency of a lost family member, or whether some functions are specific for a particular member. We assessed several structural and functional characteristics of the nigrostriatal system of mice lacking members of the synuclein family in every possible combination and demonstrated that stabilization of the striatal dopamine level depends on the presence of α-synuclein and cannot be compensated for by other family members, whereas β-synuclein is required for efficient maintenance of animal’s balance and coordination in old age