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Exploring 1st- and 2nd-year chiropractic students' willingness and attitudes toward peer physical examination
Get PDFObjective
This study aimed to explore chiropractic students' perceptions and attitudes about the appropriateness of peer physical examination as a teaching tool and their willingness and comfort with it.
Methods
A modified version of a validated questionnaire was used. First- and 2nd-year chiropractic students at Murdoch University were approached during their practical sessions. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics reporting frequencies and percentages. Comparison between classes, age, and sex was evaluated by cross-tabulation.
Results
A total of 184 questionnaires were completed with a response rate of 76.6%. Our results demonstrated that most students were comfortable with and willing to participate in peer physical examination as well as trusted it as an appropriate part of their training and a valuable learning experience. Nevertheless, a small percentage were uncomfortable with peer physical examination and regarded it as an unprofessional activity. In addition, it was revealed that younger females (≤20 years) reported feeling unnecessarily exposed and therefore significantly less comfortable with peer physical examination. They were also less comfortable when examined in the inguinal area by a student of the opposite sex.
Conclusion
Although peer physical examination appears to be a very popular training tool, it still has a few areas of concern that need to be investigated and addressed to improve students' attitude, perception, and comfort with this teaching technique. Further studies could investigate how other factors such as religious beliefs contribute toward students' perception and attitudes regarding peer physical examination
Set free: an evaluation of two break-away mechanisms for tracking collars
Get PDFContext: One of the welfare and ethical challenges with tracking animals is ensuring that the tracking device is removed from the animal at the conclusion of the study. However, for animals that are not readily re-trapped, the impact of devices and alternatives for their retrieval are rarely examined.
Aims: We compared the retention time of two types of break-away mechanisms for tracking collars deployed on mainland quokkas (Setonix brachyurus).
Methods: We tested a cotton thread (CT) weak-link, where the collar was cut and then a looping stitch was made to link the cut ends of the collar. We compared collar retention time of this simple mechanism with a lightweight automatic micro timed-release device (mTRD, Sirtrack).
Key results: Of the 17 radio collars with CT, the fates of 15 collars contributed to retention time data. Seven collars released: six fell off and were recovered 148 ± 64 (s.d.) days after deployment and another collar fell off 136 days after deployment but could not be recovered. Eight quokkas were recaptured (161 ± 109 days after deployment) and collars removed. Two quokkas were each tracked for over a year but then disappeared. Of the 11 GPS collars fitted with a mTRD, the fates of nine collars contributed to retention time data. Two released early at 16 and 29 days and were recovered. Seven fell off around the scheduled release date. There were two unknown fates. Re-trapped collared quokkas did not show evidence of injuries from wearing collars or any significant change in body mass (P = 0.442).
Conclusions: The timing of release for the CT weak-link was unpredictable, with a third of the collars releasing within 1 year and 7/15 lasting only about 6 months. Over two-thirds (7/9) of the GPS collars fitted with timed-release device released on schedule while 2/9 released early.
Implications: Tracking devices equipped with break-away mechanisms are essential for safeguarding animal welfare outcomes for species where the chance of recapture is not certain. For both break-away types examined in this study, the release timing was unpredictable and poor collar recovery rates show the importance of adding camera traps to monitor the outcomes for collared animals
Identification and characterization of novel genes contributing to wheat grain yield
Get PDFGrain yield is one of the most important aspects of wheat breeding. Being a polygenic trait, wheat grain yield is regulated by multiple genes and influenced by environmental factors. It is a complex trait which is linked to several traits such as seed number, thousand kernels’ weight etc. The interaction of these yield components with environmental stimulus are poorly understood. In the current study, to improve our understanding, phenotypic plasticity of contributing traits to the grain yield was explored. The phenotypic plasticity is the variations in the expressed phenotype by an individual genotype under environmental influences. The experiment consisted of 225 Westonia-Kauz double haploid (DH) lines and evaluated in five environmental conditions. The result demonstrated that, across the DH lines, the spikelets/spike was the most plastic trait. The least plastic character was the grain protein content. Yield plasticity was found higher at favourable conditions. An increase in yield plasticity by 0.1 units was associated with an increase in maximum yield by 4.45 kg ha−1 (p≤0.001). The generated knowledge regarding trait plasticity will be useful in dissecting the genetics for yield improvement particularly at the situation of rapid climate change. Identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) and incorporating them in the breeding program has been a widely used approach for genetic improvement of yield and its components. QTL mapping suggests a considerable size of chromosomal location harbouring genes contributing to the trait which also contains many non-target genes. Thus, a more precise identification of contributing gene would be much helpful for an efficient breeding approach. However, functional confirmation of each individual gene of a QTL region is quite laborious and expensive work. In-silico approach provides the opportunity to reduce the down-stream workload by reducing the number of candidate genes in a systematic approach. Apart from the trait plasticity research, the current study also used a pipeline combining bioinformatics and laboratory approaches to identify the contributing genes of a grain yield QTL from a double haploid (DH) population of Westonia × Kauz. Assembling the QTL region on the International Wheat Genome Sequence Consortium (IWGSC) whole-genome sequence using the flanking 90K SNP markers identified the genomic region of 20 Mbp. Gene annotation revealed 16 high confidence genes and 41 low confidence genes in that genomic region. Further functional gene annotation, ontology investigation, pathway exploration, and gene network study using publicly available expressional data enabled short-listing of four genes for down-stream functional confirmation. Complete sequencing of those four genes demonstrated that only two genes namely ferredoxin-like protein and tetratricopetide-repeat (TPR) protein gene are polymorphic between the parental cultivars. Two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variations were observed in the exon for both genes, and one SNP resulted in changes in amino acid sequence. The qPCR-based gene expression showed that both genes were highly expressed in the high-yielding double haploid lines. In contrast, gene expression was significantly lower in low-yielding lines. Results indicate that these two genes are potentially the underlying genes for the grain yield QTL. To investigate the association of the selected genes with grain yield and yield components at a wider level, further genetic and phenotyping experiments were conducted on a set of 143 historical wheat cultivars of Australia. For both genes, the identified alleles in the parental cultivars have been named as Westonia and Kauz allele. Characterising the allelic composition of the genes demonstrated that, for ferredoxin gene, 34.9% cultivars possessed Westonia allele and 16.9% cultivars possessed Kauz allele. In case of TPR gene, 20.9% cultivars possessed Westonia allele and 23.8% cultivars possessed Kauz allele. For both genes, cultivars having Westonia allele showed significantly higher seed width, thousand kernels’ weight and grain yield at different environmental conditions which clearly indicated that these genes are playing important roles in determining grain yield. For further level of functional confirmation, CRISPR-Cas9 based genome editing experiment was carried out on the TPR gene in Arabidopsis using orthologous gene. Agrobacterium mediated floral dip transformation was performed using immature inflorescence containing Cas9 gene. Knock-out mutants were selected by sequencing the target gene. Phenotypic data were collected from T2 generation on leaf length, stem length, number of branches on the main stem, days to flowering, days to maturity, pods/plant, and pod length. A significant reduction was observed in pods/plant, leaf length, and days to flowering and maturity. Gene expression analyses was performed on the selected genes responsible for increased seed size, seed number, and vegetative growth, in transgenic lines of Arabidopsis. Significant reduction in gene expression was observed for ARGOS, GRF1 and GW2 genes suggesting the role of TPR gene in downregulating essential growth regulator genes and its involvement in grain yield indirectly. Overall, this study demonstrated successful use of multiple research approaches in identification of a novel candidate genes of a yield related QTL. This approach can be utilised in exploring the candidate genes of other QTLs. The identified novel genes demonstrated the potential of improving the wheat grain yield which might be included in the breeding program for further yield improvement
Celebrity Bromances: Constructing, Interpreting and Utilising Personas
No full textThis comprehensive work presents a thorough exploration of celebrity ‘bromances, ' interrogating how bromances are portrayed in media and consumed by audiences to examine themes of celebrity persona, performativity, and authenticity.
The authors examine how the performance of intimate male friendships functions within broadly ‘Western’ celebrity culture from three primary perspectives: construction of persona; interactions with audiences and fans; and commodification. Case studies from film and television are used to illustrate the argument that, regardless of their authenticity (real or staged), bromances are useful for engaging audiences and creating an extension of entertainment beyond the film the actors originally sought to promote.
The first truly interdisciplinary study of its kind, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of communications, advertising, marketing, Internet studies, media, journalism, cultural studies, and film and television
Fluid inflow from a source on the base of a channel
No full textA spectral method is detailed to simulate the viscous Boussinesq flow of a plume of heavy fluid emanating from a line source on the bottom of a channel. A small initially semi-circular “bubble” grows for small time, rising up to some height before it starts to flow outwards horizontally. We discuss the results for different values of Reynolds number, flow rate and density differential, considering the viscous and inertial effects
Bid from the International Surgical Wound Complications Advisory Panel
No full textThe International Surgical Wound Complications Advisory Panel sets out its bid for the WUWHS 2026 Congress to be held in Perth, Western Australia
Effect of the altitudinal climate change on growing season length for deciduous broadleaved forest in southwest China
No full textThe altitudinal changes of plant phenology in response to climate change remain poorly understood in subtropical mountain areas. Using the satellite phenology and climate dataset (temperature, precipitation and solar radiation) from 2001 to 2016 in southwest China, we analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of climate and phenological characteristics of the growing season length (LOS), start of the growing season (SOS) and end of the growing season (EOS) for the deciduous broadleaf forest (DBF). Results show that LOS was shortened by 25 and 15.2 days/km rise in elevation, respectively, using two regression methods based on “Hopkins' bioclimatic law” (expressing LOS as a function of altitude, latitude and longitude) and altitudinal mean annual LOS. The majority of the shortened LOS towards high elevations was attributed to the postponed SOS and the advanced EOS as the elevation is higher and lower than 2.2–2.3 km, respectively. The recent climate warming has significantly prolonged LOS in the entire DBF area. This increase in LOS differs with altitude due to altitudinal heterogeneity of climate change. In the cold high mountain environment, changes of phenological parameters are more sensitive to climate warming, characterized by a significantly advanced SOS, postponed EOS and prolonged LOS driven by spring and autumn warming. In the warm environment of the low elevation areas, changes of phenological parameters are relatively smaller even though the temperature rise is greater than that in the cold high mountains. Furthermore, winter wetting can significantly weaken the advanced SOS and prolonged LOS at lower elevations in the warm south, but winter drying and declining solar radiation in spring can enhance the advanced SOS and prolonged LOS at the extremely high elevations in the cold north. These results highlight the critical need to include altitudinal heterogeneity when assessing phenological changes from remote sensing platforms
A pilot study on bacterial isolates associated with purulent vaginal discharge in dairy cows in the south‐west region of Western Australia
Get PDFThis study aimed to determine the bacterial isolates associated with postpartum endometritis among dairy cows in Western Australia and their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. A cross-sectional study was conducted between June–October 2020. Endometritis was defined as evidence of mucopurulent to purulent vaginal discharge 60–100 days postpartum. Vaginal discharge samples were obtained, cultured, identified and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility. A total of 118 bacterial isolates were grown from 46 animals, representing 36 species. The bacteria isolated from both aerobic and anaerobic cultures included Bacillus (60.2%), Streptococcus (12.7%), Trueperella (10.1%), Escherichia (6.7%) and Staphylococcus (5.9%). The remaining genera <5% were Histophilus, Aeroccocus, Enterococcus and Moraxella. Resistance was variable between isolates, but the highest resistance levels were observed in Streptococcal and Bacillus isolates to enrofloxacin, clindamycin and erythromycin, respectively. All Streptococcal isolates exhibited 100% resistance to enrofloxacin, and the greatest resistance levels were found in Streptococcus luteinises to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole 83%, clindamycin 66% and 33% quinupristin-dalfopristin. There was 84.5% resistance to clindamycin and 35.2% to erythromycin in the Bacillus isolates, with the highest resistance found in Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis. Escherichia coli exhibited 12.5% resistance to gentamycin, ceftiofur, whereas amoxicillin-clavulanic acid exhibited 37.5%. Within the Staphylococcal isolates, 28.5%, 28.5%, 42.8% and 14.2% resistance to ceftiofur, erythromycin, cefoxitin, penicillin and tetracycline were observed, respectively. The presence of resistance to important antimicrobials for human use, such as cephalosporins, macrolides and fluoroquinolones, highlights the need for judicious use of antimicrobials in dairy cattle
Advances in the functional study of glutamine synthetase in plant abiotic stress tolerance response
Get PDFPlant glutamine synthetase (GS, EC6.3.1.2) catalyzes the synthesis of glutamine from glutamate and ammonium ions and acts as a key enzyme in the nitrogen metabolic pathway in organisms. Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and development and plays an important role in crop yield and quality formation. Therefore, GS is crucial in many physiological processes in plants. Currently, nitrogen regulation by GS in plants is well-studied in terms of its effect on plant growth and development. This article reviews the regulatory role of plant GS and its molecular mechanism in mitigating stress injury, such as low or high temperature, salinity, drought and oxidation. The function of plant GS in stress tolerance response is focused. The review aims to provide a reference for the utilization of plant GS in crop stress tolerance breeding
Forest fire and its key drivers in the tropical forests of northern Vietnam
No full textFire increasingly threatens tropical forests in northern Vietnam as climate changes and human population grows. Understanding fire occurrence patterns may support more effective forest management and reduce fire risk. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of wildfire across three provinces in northern Vietnam and assessed the effectiveness of the Modified Nesterov index (MNI) fire danger rating system. We explored fire occurrence and size within and between years and forest types using descriptive analyses and developed spatiotemporal Maximum Entropy (Maxent) models incorporating variables representing potential drivers of fire, including weather, fuel, topography and human activity. Most fires occurred late in the dry season and fires were most common in natural forest. Maxent models successfully predicted fire occurrence (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values 0.67–0.79). While the contributions of drivers varied among provinces, MNI, temperature, elevation and distance to road were consistently important. The model for combined provinces showed that fire probability was greater under higher temperature and MNI, in areas with lower population, farther from roads, at higher elevations and in natural forests. This study suggests that an assessment integrating multiple drivers better predicts fire occurrence than a system based on weather alone and may support improved fire management and education in northern Vietnam