Delivering green streets: an exploration of changing perceptions and behaviours over time around bioswales in Portland, Oregon

Green Infrastructure (GI) is an increasingly popular means of dealing with flooding and water quality issues worldwide. This study examines public perceptions of, and behaviour around, bioswales, which are a popular GI facility in the United States. Bioswales are highly visible interventions requiring support from residents and policy‐makers to be implemented and maintained appropriately. To understand how the residents' perceptions and attitudes might develop over time, we interviewed residents of Portland, Oregon, living near bioswales installed 1–2, 4–5 and 8–9 years ago, to determine awareness, understanding, and opinions about the devices. We found no consistent patterns across time periods, but did find common issues affecting residents' appreciation and acceptance: environmental attitudes, awareness and understanding of purpose and function, plant choice and maintenance, and mess and littering. It was apparent that increased public engagement, localised maintenance strategies, and possibly even customising facilities to meet residents' needs where feasible, might improve acceptance

Cytochrome oxidase subunit VI of Trypanosoma brucei is imported without a cleaved presequence and is developmentally regulated at both RNA and protein levels

Mitochondrial respiration in the African trypanosome undergoes dramatic developmental stage regulation. This requires co-ordinated control of components encoded by both the nuclear genome and the kinetoplast, the unusual mitochondrial genome of these parasites. As a model for understanding the co-ordination of these genomes, we have examined the regulation and mitochondrial import of a nuclear-encoded component of the cytochrome oxidase complex, cytochrome oxidase subunit VI (COXVI). By generating transgenic trypanosomes expressing intact or mutant forms of this protein, we demonstrate that COXVI is not imported using a conventional cleaved presequence and show that sequences at the N-terminus of the protein are necessary for correct mitochondrial sorting. Analyses of endogenous and transgenic COXVI mRNA and protein expression in parasites undergoing developmental stage differentiation demonstrates a temporal order of control involving regulation in the abundance of, first, mRNA and then protein. This represents the first dissection of the regulation and import of a nuclear-encoded protein into the cytochrome oxidase complex in these organisms, which were among the earliest eukaryotes to possess a mitochondrion

A multilevel neo-institutional analysis of infection prevention and control in English hospitals: coerced safety culture change?

Despite committed policy, regulative and professional efforts on healthcare safety, little is known about how such macro-interventions permeate organisations and shape culture over time. Informed by neo-institutional theory, we examined how inter-organisational influences shaped safety practices and inter-subjective meanings following efforts for coerced culture change. We traced macro-influences from 2000 to 2015 in infection prevention and control (IPC). Safety perceptions and meanings were inductively analysed from 130 in-depth qualitative interviews with senior- and middle-level managers from 30 English hospitals. A total of 869 institutional interventions were identified; 69% had a regulative component. In this context of forced implementation of safety practices, staff experienced inherent tensions concerning the scope of safety, their ability to be open and prioritisation of external mandates over local need. These tensions stemmed from conflicts among three co-existing institutional logics prevalent in the NHS. In response to requests for change, staff flexibly drew from a repertoire of cognitive, material and symbolic resources within and outside their organisations. They crafted 'strategies of action', guided by a situated assessment of first-hand practice experiences complementing collective evaluations of interventions such as 'pragmatic', 'sensible' and also 'legitimate'. Macro-institutional forces exerted influence either directly on individuals or indirectly by enriching the organisational cultural repertoire

Comprehensive molecular characterization of urachal adenocarcinoma reveals commonalities with colorectal cancer, including a hypermutable phenotype

Purpose Urachal adenocarcinoma is a rare type of primary bladder adenocarcinoma that comprises less than 1% of all bladder cancers. The low incidence of urachal adenocarcinomas does not allow for an evidence-based approach to therapy. Transcriptome profiling of urachal adenocarcinomas has not been previously reported.Wehypothesized that an in-depth molecular understanding of urachal adenocarcinoma would uncover rational therapeutic strategies. Patients and Methods We performed targeted exon sequencing and global transcriptome profiling of 12 urachal tumors to generate a comprehensive molecular portrait of urachal adenocarcinoma. A single patient with an MSH6 mutation was treated with the anti-programmed death-ligand 1 antibody, atezolizumab. Results Urachal adenocarcinoma closely resembles colorectal cancer at the level of RNA expression, which extends previous observations that urachal tumors harbor genomic alterations that are found in colorectal adenocarcinoma. A subset of tumors was found to have alterations in genes that are associated with microsatellite instability (MSH2 and MSH6) and hypermutation (POLE).Apatient with anMSH6mutation was treated withimmunecheckpoint blockade, which resulted in stable disease. Conclusion Because clinical trials are next to impossible for patients with rare tumors, precision oncology may be an important adjunct for treatment decisions. Our findings demonstrate that urachal adenocarcinomas molecularly resemble colorectal adenocarcinomas at the level ofRNA expression, are the first report, to our knowledge, of MSH2andMSH6mutations in this disease, and support the consideration of immune checkpoint blockade as a rational therapeutic treatment of this exceedingly rare tumor

Genome-wide association for major depression through age at onset stratification:Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling mood disorder and, despite a known heritable component, a large meta-analysis of GWAS revealed no replicable genetic risk variants. Given prior evidence of heterogeneity by age-at-onset (AAO) in MDD, we tested whether genome-wide significant risk variants for MDD could be identified in cases subdivided by AAO. Method Discovery case-control GWASs were performed where cases were stratified using increasing/decreasing AAO-cutoffs; significant SNPs were tested in nine independent replication samples, giving a total sample of 22,158 cases and 133,749 controls for sub-setting. Polygenic score analysis was used to examine if differences in shared genetic risk exists between earlier and adult onset MDD with commonly co-morbid disorders of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and coronary artery disease. Results We identify one replicated genome-wide significant locus associated with adult-onset (>27 years) MDD (rs7647854, OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.11-1.21, p=5.2x10-11). Using polygenic score analyses, we show that earlier-onset MDD is genetically more similar to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder than adult-onset. Conclusions We demonstrate that using additional phenotype data previously collected by genetic studies to tackle phenotypic heterogeneity in MDD can successfully lead to the discovery of genetic risk factor despite reduced sample size. Furthermore, our results suggest that the genetic susceptibility to MDD differs between adult- and earlier-onset MDD, with earlier-onset cases having a greater genetic overlap with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Strengthening altitude knowledge: a delphi study to define minimum knowledge of altitude illness for laypersons traveling to high altitude

Introduction: A lack of knowledge among laypersons about the hazards of high-altitude exposure contributes to morbidity and mortality from acute mountain sickness (AMS), high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) among high-altitude travelers. There are guidelines regarding the recognition, prevention, and treatment of acute-altitude illness for experts, but essential knowledge for laypersons traveling to high altitudes has not been defined. We sought expert consensus on the essential knowledge required for people planning to travel to high altitudes. Methods: The Delphi method was used. The panel consisted of two moderators, a core expert group and a plenary expert group. The moderators made a preliminary list of statements defining the desired minimum knowledge for laypersons traveling to high altitudes, based on the relevant literature. These preliminary statements were then reviewed, supplemented, and modified by a core expert group. A list of 33 statements was then presented to a plenary group of experts in successive rounds. Results: It took three rounds to reach a consensus. Of the 10 core experts invited, 7 completed all the rounds. Of the 76 plenary experts, 41 (54%) participated in Round 1, and of these 41 a total of 32 (78%) experts completed all three rounds. The final list contained 28 statements in 5 categories (altitude physiology, sleeping at altitude, AMS, HACE, and HAPE). This list represents an expert consensus on the desired minimum knowledge for laypersons planning high-altitude travel. Conclusion: Using the Delphi method, the STrengthening Altitude Knowledge initiative yielded a set of 28 statements representing essential learning objectives for laypersons who plan to travel to high altitudes. This list could be used to develop educational interventions

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements