A case study exploring facilitators’ experiences of implementing a student-led Power Hour of Progress initiative within an undergraduate psychology community

This case study explores the perceptions of three student-facilitators who aimed to implement an initiative delivering regular, short and structured writing sessions (Power Hour of Progress; PHoP) within the undergraduate student body. Power Hours were already established as a practice amongst staff and post-graduate students. However, Power Hour practices have not been implemented in undergraduates. Based on the previously observed benefits with staff, we anticipated Power Hour sessions would help develop study- and time-management skills and build a sense of community within the student body. A staff-student collaboration was initiated wherein three students were trained to facilitate sessions. Fifteen PHoP sessions were run, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore student-facilitator views on the attempts to embed PHoP within the student body. Question-based thematic analysis identified key challenges to implementation including poor attendance and general research challenges. However, Power Hour encourages intentional learning practices, and promotes engagement in multiple academic communities. Based on these findings, we provide best practice recommendations for anybody who wishes to encourage Power Hour practices within their academic body. We conclude with a summative staff reflection on the advantages of trusting students to take ownership over staff-student partnerships

Genetic Sharing with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Diabetes Reveals Novel Bone Mineral Density Loci.

Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is a highly heritable trait, but genome-wide association studies have identified few genetic risk factors. Epidemiological studies suggest associations between BMD and several traits and diseases, but the nature of the suggestive comorbidity is still unknown. We used a novel genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional False Discovery Rate (FDR) method to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with BMD by leveraging cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated disorders and metabolic traits. By conditioning on SNPs associated with the CVD-related phenotypes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides and waist hip ratio, we identified 65 novel independent BMD loci (26 with femoral neck BMD and 47 with lumbar spine BMD) at conditional FDR < 0.01. Many of the loci were confirmed in genetic expression studies. Genes validated at the mRNA levels were characteristic for the osteoblast/osteocyte lineage, Wnt signaling pathway and bone metabolism. The results provide new insight into genetic mechanisms of variability in BMD, and a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of clinical comorbidity