Rapid Rural Appraisal, Gender and Health – Alternative ways of listening to needs

Summary The article describes the use of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) in training development workers to think differently about the issues of gender and health. It is argued that unless a change in perspective takes place at field level, there is little prospect for improvement. RRA is a concept and methodology which challenges conventional assumptions about communities and their needs. Various examples of different RRA techniques are used to illustrate the kind of information which development workers can learn for themselves about the communities with whom they work, provided that they know how to and are ready to listen. Resumé L'évaluation rurale accélérée, le genre et la santé: des moyens alternatifs pour s'informer sur les besoins Cet article décrit l'utilisation du RRA (Rapid Rural Appraisal ou Evaluation rurale accélérée) dans la formation des personnes qui travaillent dans le développement pour leur permettre de réfléchir d'une manière nouvelle aux questions qui entourent le genre et la santé. A moins qu'un changement de perspectives n'intervienne dans le champ même, l'auteur estime que les possibilités d'amélioration resteront faibles. Le RRA est un concept, une méthodologie qui remet en question les suppositions traditionnelles concernant les communautés et leurs besoins. Divers exemples des techniques variées de RRA sont offerts pour illustrer les types d'information que les travailleurs dans le développement peuvent acquérir pour eux?mêmes au sujet des communautés avec lesquelles ils travaillent: à condition qu'ils sachent et qu'ils veuillent écouter à ce qu'on leur dit. Resumen Género y salud; Una evaluación rural rápida y métodos alternativos de descubrir necesidades El artículo describe el uso de la Evaluación Rural Rápida en la estimulación de los trabajadores en él area de desarrollo hacia un cambio de perspectiva en los temas de género y salud. A menos que este cambio ocurra in situ, hay pocas probabilidades de progreso. La Evaluación Rural Rápida es un concepto y una tecnología que desafía las presunciones convencionales sobre las comunidades y sus necesidades. Se usan varios ejemplos de diferentes técnicas de ERR para ilustrar la clase de información que los trabajadores en esta área pueden adquirir por sí mismos sobre el ambiente en el que trabajan, siempre que sepan, y estén dispuestos, a escuchar

Social work: the idea of a profession and the professional project

Social work has undergone rapid development over the fifty years since Greenwood classified it as a semi-profession. In this article, social work’s claim to be a profession is examined. It is examined in the light of ideas about what it means to be a profession; the development of theory and internationally recognised ethical principles; and reflection on the complexity of the social work role in both national and global contexts.O serviço social tem sofrido um rápido desenvolvimento nos últimos cinquenta anos desde que Greenwood o classificou como uma semi-profissão. Neste artigo analisa-se, a pretensão do serviço social ser uma profissão. A análise é desenvolvida à luz das ideias sobre o que significa ser uma profissão; o desenvolvimento da teoria e reconhecimento internacional de princípios éticos; e igualmente com base na reflexão sobre a complexidade do papel do serviço social nos contextos nacional e global

The Making of a Makerspace: A Handbook on Getting Started

This research project sought to develop a makerspace handbook that is useful in supporting pre-service teacher candidates to integrate makerspace and maker mindset in their classrooms. As makerspaces have become more common in our schools and classrooms, the handbook was created to provide a practical, hands-on guide for getting started with designing and implementing makerspaces in K-12 classrooms and schools. This project investigated the knowledge needed to design and facilitate makerspace learning environments, developed the handbook The Making of a Makerspace: A Handbook on Getting Started, and collected expert feedback from reviewers of the handbook to contribute to teachersʼ knowledge about makerspace technologies. Emergent themes from data analysis included how the handbook supported three areas of makerspaces: (a) stations and activities, (b) the maker culture, and (c) future ready skill development. A resource such as this can grow and evolve but was designed to provide a foundation for pre-service teacher candidates getting started with makerspace design and maker mindset in their own teaching practice

Neutrophil-endothelial interactions in ischaemia-reperfusion injury

Ischaemia is a common clinical event leading to both local and remote tissue injury. Evidence suggests that the injury results mainly from subsequent reperfusion which causes activated neutrophils to migrate into the reperfused tissue and sequester in the lungs, inducing permeability and oedema. This thesis examines the mechanisms by which neutrophils are recruited into reperfused tissue and accumulate in the lungs, and the means by which they then induce injury. Rabbits or rats were subjected to 3 or 4 hours of bilateral hindlimb tourniquet ischaemia. When the tourniquets were released there was peripheral neutropenia, due to the microvascular adhesion of neutrophils. A chemotactic factor was generated in plasma which was identified as leukotriene (LT) B4. The plasma was capable of inducing neutrophil diapedesis which, like the neutropenia, was dependent upon the CD 18 complex of neutrophil adhesive glycoproteins. The mechanism of both the neutropenia and the diapedesis was probably a change in the conformation of existing cell surface CD 18, because there was no increase in its quantitative cell surface expression. Following reperfusion, neutrophils were sequestered locally in skeletal muscle and also in the lungs, where they induced permeability and oedema. Moreover, LTB4 was also generated in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Neutrophils induced lung injury via a CD 18-dependent mechanism involving elastase and reactive oxygen metabolites. Since the time course of sequestration of neutrophils in the lungs suggested that endothelium was activated directly by tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF), evidence for involvement of this cytokine was sought. TNF was identified in plasma in some, but not all, ischaemic and reperfused rats. Use of polyclonal anti-TNF anti-serum reduced the lung injury. Infusion of TNF induces a similar lung injury, and this suggests a mechanism whereby the lung is a target for reperfusion injury following hindlimb ischaemia

Robust Computational Tools for Multiple Testing with Genetic Association Studies

Resolving the interplay of the genetic components of a complex disease is a challenging endeavor. Over the past several years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have emerged as a popular approach at locating common genetic variation within the human genome associated with disease risk. Assessing genetic-phenotype associations upon hundreds of thousands of genetic markers using the GWAS approach, introduces the potentially high number of false positive signals and requires statistical correction for multiple hypothesis testing. Permutation tests are considered the gold standard for multiple testing correction in GWAS, because they simultaneously provide unbiased Type I error control and high power. However, they demand heavy computational effort, especially with large-scale data sets of modern GWAS. In recent years, the computational problem has been circumvented by using approximations to permutation tests, but several studies have posed sampling conditions in which these approximations are suggestive to be biased. We have developed an optimized parallel algorithm for the permutation testing approach to multiple testing correction in GWAS, whose implementation essentially abates the computational problem. When introduced to GWAS data, our algorithm yields rapid, precise, and powerful multiplicity adjustment, many orders of magnitude faster than existing employed GWAS statistical software. Although GWAS have identified many potentially important genetic associations which will advance our understanding of human disease, the common variants with modest effects on disease risk discovered through this approach likely account for a small proportion of the heritability in complex disease. On the other hand, interactions between genetic and environmental factors could account for a substantial proportion of the heritability in a complex disease and are overlooked within the GWAS approach. We have developed an efficient and easily implemented tool for genetic association studies, whose aim is identifying genes involved in a gene-environment interaction. Our approach is amenable to a wide range of association studies and assorted densities in sampled genetic marker panels, and incorporates resampling for multiple testing correction. Within the context of a case-control study design we demonstrate by way of simulation that our proposed method offers greater statistical power to detect gene-environment interaction, when compared to several competing approaches to assess this type of interaction

New insights into the solid–liquid interface exploiting neutron reflectivity

We outline recent progress exploiting neutron reflectivity for structural and compositional investigations of the solid-liquid interface. There has been extensive activity in this area, with key areas of development: (i) an increased range of accessible substrates (e.g. metals and minerals), (ii) novel liquid phases, and (iii) strong themes in electrochemistry (e.g. batteries), corrosion, polymers and increasing application of extreme conditions

Mobile health (m-Health) for diabetes management

Diabetes is a major health challenge with a global impact regardless of age, country or economic condition. The increased prevalence of diabetes is reaching alarming levels. The necessity and urgency to find innovative care delivery solutions is becoming more important, particularly in the digital age. It is expected in the near future that more people with diabetes, especially the younger generations will be empowered by their smartphones and relevant mobile health (m-Health) innovations, to take more responsibility of their condition. Clinicians and healthcare providers are increasingly likely to assume the role of ‘navigators’ and ‘advisors’ rather than simply the medical gatekeeper for their patients. In this article, we describe the general architecture of current m-Health systems and applications for diabetes management. We also discuss the clinical evidence for impact from these important and innovative approaches to diabetes self-care and management and likely future trends in their usage. The latest statistics indicate that there are more than 1200 diabetes smartphone ‘apps’ and this area is growing exponentially in terms of ideas, technologies, devices and the associated industry. M-Health for diabetes care is now a major business stream for the medical device, mobile phone and IT telecommunication industries with high expectations arising from the potential benefits to be gained by both patients and healthcare providers. However, this potential has not yet been fully developed on the clinical side. This may be due to many factors including the reluctance of clinicians to engage with these technologies due to the lack of clinical evidence for their efficacy, poor adherence of people with diabetes to long-term use of these apps and the reluctance of healthcare funders to reimburse mobile diabetes