Grain yield characteristics of oat lines surviving disruptive and stabilizing selection

Four sets of oat lines were subjected to selection for grain yield by using two stable and two disruptive selection strategies, and the surviving lines were evaluated for mean yield, yield response to improving environments, and stability of production. Stable-high and stable-low selection strategies were conducted by sequentially selecting the highest yielding lines in either continuously high or low productivity environments. After three or four cycles of selection, the surviving lines and a random sample from each set were evaluated in a range of environments typical of oat production on Iowa farms. A stability analysis was conducted on the grain yield data from each group of selected lines to compare the effect of stable and disruptive selection on the grain yield characteristics, mean yield, response to improving environments measured by regression, and stability of production measured by deviation mean squares or the coefficient of determination;Grain yield and regression response for all selection strategies, when calculated across sets of lines, were significantly greater than the corresponding means for the random sample. Stability was essentially unchanged. The stable-high and stable-low strategies gave the greatest and least gains in grain yield, respectively, with the disruptive strategies giving intermediate gains. Disruptive selection in predominantly high productivity environments was the more effective method for increasing grain yield at low and intermediate levels of productivity. The stable-high strategy followed by the disruptive-high strategy identified entries with superior performance in high productivity environments. Greater gain in grain yield was associated with increasing number of selection cycles conducted in high productivity environments;The effectiveness of disruptive selection cited by previous researchers was not found in this study, perhaps because the low and high productivity environments were not sufficiently diverse. The advantage of high productivity selection environments in a breeding program was demonstrated

Kept in the Dark: Exploring Children\u27s Preparation for Parental Incarceration and Reentry

Background Parental incarceration is a challenging and pivotal experience for families. Efforts to prepare children can hinder or promote children\u27s abilities to adapt. Objective This study addresses the research question: How informed and prepared are children for parental incarceration, family reentry, and re-incarceration? Methods Fourteen young adults shared their experiences related to childhood parental incarceration and family reentry through individual interviews. Findings Regardless of the parent\u27s stage of criminal justice involvement, arrest, incarceration, reentry, or re-incarceration, participants reported receiving very little information about what was taking place, why, or what they could expect. Conclusions Small efforts to prepare and inform children were perceived to be helpful as children. Resources and brief interventions that mitigate this experience of being kept in the dark are described

Young Adult Reflections on the Impact of Parental Incarceration and Reentry

Little is known about the continuing effects of childhood parental incarceration into young adulthood. Fourteen young adults who experienced parental incarceration during adolescence shared their experiences through individual interviews focused on the following qualitative research question: In what ways do young adults believe they have been impacted in young adulthood by the earlier experiences of parental incarceration and reentry? Findings indicate that most relationships with previously incarcerated parents remain tenuous. Participants describe ongoing struggles to develop trusting relationships, manage negative emotions, and stay out of trouble. Findings have implications for assisting young adults and families affected by criminal justice involvement

A Retrospective Look at the Experience of Parental Incarceration and Family Reentry During Adolescence

Few studies provide firsthand experiences of parental incarceration in adolescents\u27 own voices. Fourteen young men and women retrospectively shared their experiences of parental incarceration and family reentry during adolescence. Individual interviews focused on the following qualitative research questions: (1) What is the experience of parental incarceration and reentry for adolescents? (2) How does the child-parent relationship change from pre- to postincarceration? Relationships with incarcerated parents tended toward estrangement. Negative emotions and need for emotional support were predominant in the sample. Findings have implications for improving mental health services for children and families, trauma work, and policy interventions across services

Deep Tissue Fluorescent Imaging in Scattering Specimens Using Confocal Microscopy

In scattering specimens, multiphoton excitation and nondescanned detection improve imaging depth by a factor of 2 or more over confocal microscopy; however, imaging depth is still limited by scattering. We applied the concept of clearing to deep tissue imaging of highly scattering specimens. Clearing is a remarkably effective approach to improving image quality at depth using either confocal or multiphoton microscopy. Tissue clearing appears to eliminate the need for multiphoton excitation for deep tissue imaging

Process Evaluation of Healthy Habits, Healthy U: A School-Based Cancer Prevention Program

In the U.S., approximately one­third of cancer deaths are a result of poor nutrition and sedentary behaviors (ACS, 2015) and since 2008, cancer has been the leading cause of death in Idaho (CCAI, 2014). The American Institute of Cancer Research (2015) indicates about 50% of the most common cancers could be prevented by reducing negative health habits or by adopting positive ones. The topic of cancer is only briefly mentioned in the Boise School District\u27s eighth­grade health curriculums, thus the motivation behind the Healthy Habits Healthy U (HHHU) program. The program was designed to inform students about the relationship between cancer risks and nutrition, physical activity, and sugar sweetened beverages. After the HHHU program, teachers administered surveys to the students to determine the program\u27s impact on their knowledge of health habits related to decreasing cancer risks and measure their behavioral intent when it came to changing negative health habits. After analyzing the Fall 2015 data, it was found that there was a 71.06% increase in knowledge when identifying cancer risks and a 75.48% increase when identifying ways to prevent cancer risk

Strengthening nursing, midwifery and allied health professional leadership in the UK - a realist evaluation

Purpose: This paper aims to share the findings of a realist evaluation study that set out to identify how to strengthen nursing, midwifery and allied health professions (NMAHP) leadership across all health-care contexts in the UK conducted between 2018 and 2019. The collaborative research team were from the Universities of Bangor, Ulster, the University of the West of Scotland and Canterbury Christ Church University. Design/methodology/approach: Realist evaluation and appreciative inquiry were used across three phases of the study. Phase 1 analysed the literature to generate tentative programme theories about what works, tested out in Phase 2 through a national social media Twitter chat and sense-making workshops to help refine the theories in Phase 3. Cross-cutting themes were synthesised into a leadership framework identifying the strategies that work for practitioners in a range of settings and professions based on the context, mechanism and output configuration of realist evaluation. Stakeholders contributed to the ongoing interrogation, analysis and synthesis of project outcomes. Findings: Five guiding lights of leadership, a metaphor for principles, were generated that enable and strengthen leadership across a range of contexts. – “The Light Between Us as interactions in our relationships”, “Seeing People’s Inner Light”, “Kindling the Spark of light and keeping it glowing”, “Lighting up the known and the yet to be known” and “Constellations of connected stars”. Research limitations/implications: This study has illuminated the a-theoretical nature of the relationships between contexts, mechanisms and outcomes in the existing leadership literature. There is more scope to develop the tentative programme theories developed in this study with NMAHP leaders in a variety of different contexts. The outcomes of leadership research mostly focussed on staff outcomes and intermediate outcomes that are then linked to ultimate outcomes in both staff and patients (supplemental). More consideration needs to be given to the impact of leadership on patients, carers and their families. Practical implications: The study has developed additional important resources to enable NMAHP leaders to demonstrate their leadership impact in a range of contexts through the leadership impact self-assessment framework which can be used for 360 feedback in the workplace using the appreciative assessment and reflection tool. Social implications: Whilst policymakers note the increasing importance of leadership in facilitating the culture change needed to support health and care systems to adopt sustainable change at pace, there is still a prevailing focus on traditional approaches to individual leadership development as opposed to collective leadership across teams, services and systems. If this paper fails to understand how to transform leadership policy and education, then it will be impossible to support the workforce to adapt and flex to the increasingly complex contexts they are working in. This will serve to undermine system integration for health and social care if the capacity and capability for transformation are not attended to. Whilst there are ambitious global plans (WHO, 2015) to enable integrated services to be driven by citizen needs, there is still a considerable void in understanding how to authentically engage with people to ensure the transformation is driven by their needs as opposed to what the authors think they need. There is, therefore, a need for systems leaders with the full skillset required to enable integrated services across place-based systems, particularly clinicians who are able to break down barriers and silo working across boundaries through the credibility, leadership and facilitation expertise they provide. Originality/value: The realist evaluation with additional synthesis from key stakeholders has provided new knowledge about the principles of effective NMAHP leadership in health and social care, presented in such a way that facilitates the use of the five guiding lights to inform further practice, education, research and policy development

A Scientific Communication Mentoring Intervention Benefits Diverse Mentees With Language Variety Related Discomfort

We studied social-psychological effects over time of a faculty-mentor workshop intervention that addressed attitudes associated with language variety and their impact on scientific communication (SC) skill development of PhD and postdoctoral STEM research trainees (N = 274). Six months after their mentors attended the workshop, all mentees had significant gains in productivity in speaking tasks. In particular, mentees with high language discomfort rated their quality of communication with their mentor and their enthusiasm about communicating more highly (p \u3c .05 for both measures), compared to mentees with low language discomfort. In addition, mentees raised speaking nonstandardized varieties of English reported significant reductions in discomfort related to language use (p = .003), compared to mentees raised speaking standardized English. We conclude that training mentors to understand and respond to language diversity and development results in multiple beneficial outcomes for mentees, including the amelioration of language-variety related discomfort in the research environment

Project ImPACT: Hypertension Outcomes of a Pharmacist-Provided Hypertension Service

Objective: To evaluate the impact of pharmacists, working collaboratively with patients, on blood pressure control, lifestyle goal setting, adherence to antihypertensive therapy, patient knowledge and satisfaction, and modification of cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: Self-declared hypertensive patients met with the pharmacist for blood pressure monitoring, lifestyle goal setting, and education about medications and disease state on four occasions over a 6-month period. Practice innovation: A community pharmacy partnered with an employer wellness plan to provide education and monitoring for patients with hypertension based on home blood pressure readings obtained using monitors that wirelessly transmit information to the pharmacist. Main outcome measure(s): Percentage of patients at blood pressure goal, mean blood pressure, percentage of patients with lifestyle goals, medication adherence, patient knowledge and satisfaction, and modification of cardiovascular risk factors. Results: Patients not at their goal blood pressure at baseline had a significant decrease in blood pressure and a significant increase in achievement of their blood pressure goals. Across the population, no significant changes were seen in the primary outcome, lifestyle goals, medication adherence or modification of cardiovascular risk factors. Patient knowledge increased from baseline and satisfaction with the service was high. Conclusion: Blood pressure control improved in patients not at their treatment goal. All patients increased their knowledge about hypertension and reported high satisfaction with the pharmacy service. Pharmacy services should be offered to patients who are more likely to reap a benefit. Home blood pressure readings are useful to inform clinical decision making and supplement patient consultation within the pharmacy setting.   Type: Original Researc