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Enhancing the accuracy of surgical wound excision following burns trauma via application of Rapid Evaporative IonisationMass Spectrometry (REIMS)
No full textBackground
Surgical wound excision is a necessary procedure for burn patients that require the removal of eschar. The extent of excision is currently guided by clinical judgement, with excessinto healthy tissue potentially leading to excessive scar, or inadequate debridement increasing risk of infection. Thus, an objective real-time measure to facilitate accurate excision could support clinical judgement and improve this surgical procedure. This study was designed to investigate the potential use of Rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry (REIMS) as a tool to support data-driven objective tissue excision.
Methods
Data were acquired using a multi-platform approach that consisted of both Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) performed on intact skin, and comprehensive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) lipidomics performed on homogenised skin tissue extracts. Data were analysed using principal components analysis (PCA) and multivariate orthogonal projections to latent squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and logistic regression to determine the predictability of the models.
Results
PCA and OPLS-DA models of the REIMS and LC-MS/MS lipidomics data reported separation of excised and healthy tissue. Molecular fingerprints generated from REIMS analysis of healthy skin tissue revealed a high degree of heterogeneity, however, intra-individual variance was smaller than inter-individual variance. Both platforms indicated high levels of skin classification accuracy. In addition, OPLS-DA of the LC-MS/MS lipidomic data revealed significant differences in specific lipid classes between healthy control and excised skin samples; including lower free fatty acids (FFA), monoacylglycerols (MAG), lysophosphatidylglycerol (LPG) and lysophosphatidylethanolamines (LPE) in excised tissue and higher lactosylceramides (LCER) and cholesterol esters (CE) compared to healthy control tissue.
Conclusions
Having established the heterogeneity in the biochemical composition of healthy skin using REIMS and LC-MS/MS, our data show that REIMS has the potential to distinguish between excied and healthy skin tissue samples. This pilot study suggests that REIMS may be an effective tool to support accurate tissue excision during burn surgery
Learning agency in online game spaces: What happens when middle school children play online and can exercise power?
No full textOnline games are areas where middle school students have power and agency. Understanding the mechanics of online participation and the metalanguage allows students to participate in global meeting and creation places that most teachers do not investigate. Through a socio-material framework, playing a game such as Minecraft can be understood as actual building and creating in a third space, not merely a representation of building (Dezuanni, 2017). This research study looks at the use of an authentic gaming space to develop student agency whilst applying the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, n.d.) and Goal 2 of the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (DESE, 2019) of resilience and problem solving.
This session investigates the structures of power that disable students from learning in ways and places where their knowledge is valued. The author then discusses how this can be changed through the use of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile (Bullock, 2011) used as a reflective tool allowing a mutual language for students and teachers to understand the learning that is occurring in gaming spaces
Technology-enhanced learning and the COVID 19 pandemic: Teaching and learning in a time of disruption
No full textOver the past twenty years, change in secondary education has been driven primarily by the relentless march of technology. More recently though, through the global disruption of the COVID 19 pandemic, a landscape of further learning opportunities has been unveiled. Based on a small-scale study, this presentation explores how teacher beliefs and perceptions, the online pandemic teaching response and other sociocultural factors influenced digital technology use in Western Australian secondary English classrooms. The study explored the space where technology-enhanced learning (TEL), multiliteracies and post-digital education intersect to both unsettle and stabilise. Findings suggest that during the COVID-19 emergency response, teacher agency may have increased and TEL may have accelerated. Further, English department cultures play a critical role for TEL in secondary English classrooms. While nuanced stakeholder discussions are recommended to leverage digital devices to support disengaged students, teaching healthy digital habits and self-regulation are necessary to combat habitual problematic use. This study strengthens the idea that technology profoundly changes society, individuals and the education of young people in the twenty-first century. Consequently, TEL provides an opportunity to reconceptualise education and curriculum in a relevant, safe, and positive way
The political economy of Japanese and Chinese infrastructure financing governance in Indonesia: Organising alliances, institutions, and ideology
Get PDFIn recent years, Chinese and Japanese infrastructure financing in Southeast Asia has taken different forms, ranging from Official Development Assistance (ODA), commercial loan, export credits, direct outward investment like business-to-business (B-to-B) and public private partnership (PPP). Much of the international relations literature on Chinese and Japanese infrastructure financing argues that these forms of financing are a kind of geoeconomic statecraft. For instance, skeptical accounts tend to identify Chinese infrastructure loans with ‘debt-trap’ phenomena while seeing Japanese loans as balancing Chinese influence. This thesis contests this outside-in perspective and argues that these different forms of infrastructure financing reflect wider power relationships among socio-political and economic groups that are bound together within ideological framework of risk and technical rules. From this perspective, I argue that forms of infrastructure are not a tool to gain leverage over host countries. Neither is it a functional toolkit as the scholarly literature argues. Rather, different forms of infrastructure financing are distinct regulatory strategies by which different social groups develop alliances and unevenly distribute material benefits among them. Therefore, these regulatory strategies are not a given. They are reproduced – materially and ideologically – within the host state over time.
To explain the process, the thesis introduces the term ‘regulatory complex’ which denotes an assemblage of institutions as well as ideological frameworks through which different social class forces negotiate compromises and formulate shared interests to sustain particular regulatory strategy. Essential conditions for project financing – the shifting formation of alliances, preferential policies, certain rules and mechanisms, and regulatory reforms – are reshaped through and within the regulatory complex. Regulatory organisations, financing institutions, as well as technocratic agents in infrastructure (or urban development) such as the master plan study team, ad-hoc committee, technical task forces and the like are important parts of this regulatory complex.
Using qualitative comparative analysis methods, the thesis traces the dynamics of alliances and the reproduction of Japanese and Chinese regulatory complexes in Indonesia. Supported by case studies, I show how the concept of the regulatory complex offers an understanding of how the social alliances underpinning Japanese and Chinese infrastructure are managed. Crucially, these alliances are undergirded by the broader ideological projects that further build legitimacy for given regulatory strategies. Key findings extend the geographic and comparative research of the current study. Infrastructure financing is inextricably conflict-ridden. Its variegated forms are embedded within complex realities of social and political power structures in host countries and enforced by regulatory complexes over time. Intrinsic to the regulatory complex is that there is a fine line between risk management and conflict management for which both may be locked in the same institutional frame within a given period of time. Within this institutional frame, negotiated compromises among forces take shape – who gets what, when, and how
Blotting: A smart strategy for enabling the detection of molecules of interest
Get PDFBlotting is a classical technique for detecting macro-biomolecules of interest from a mixture of molecules. The technique is generally composed of four steps: 1) gel electrophoresis-based separation of molecules, 2) blotting (transfer and immobilization) of separated molecules from the gel onto the membrane, 3) specific hybridization of probes to target molecules on the membrane, and 4) visualization of the probe/target molecule complex. The present article briefly introduces blotting techniques for readers, since the direction-named techniques are confusing for people beyond the biotechnology field. Particularly, the smartness of the blotting step in a blotting technique is emphasized. Specifically, the blotting step allows for fixation of size-separated molecules on the membrane, and permits subsequent hybridization of the target molecule to labeled probe, collectively allowing target molecules to be detected by imaging. In conclusion, not only is blotting a smart strategy for enabling the detection of molecules of interest but also the concept of blotting plays an important role in biotechnology
An effective metal-organic framework-based electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose sensor
No full textHerein, we report a non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on a metal-organic framework (MOF) as alternative approach for long-term glucose monitoring. Specifically, nickel-based MOFs were solvothermally synthesized using either 2-amino-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC-NH2) or 2-hydroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2BDC-OH), both of which were characterized by different physicochemical techniques. The electrochemical performance of both electrodes towards glucose sensing was investigated and Ni-BDC-NH2 exhibited a significantly better electrocatalytic behaviour towards oxidation of glucose than bare Ni-BDC or Ni-BDC-OH in an alkaline media. This was attributed to a favourable multi-layered sheet-like structure that allowed diffusion for entrapment of glucose and the incorporation of –NH2 functional groups attached to the BDC linker which, were responsible for electrochemical adsorption of glucose molecules. Ni-BDC-NH2 displayed a lower detection limit (3.82 μM), higher stability (>180 days), and remarkable sensitivity (308 μA mM−1 cm−2). Additionally, a molecular sieve effect for Ni-BDC-NH2 led to a noteworthy anti-interference ability and the sensor displays a fast response time of 5.4 s towards glucose detection. These results indicate that the as-synthesized non-enzymatic glucose sensor operates with a longer lifetime and is viable for use as an intensive monitoring system
Enabling successful life engagement in young people with ADHD: new components beyond adult models of recovery
No full textPurpose
To examine the lived experiences of young people successfully managing life with ADHD and investigate the applicability of adult models of Recovery to these individuals.
Methods
Twenty-seven young people aged 15–31 years participated in qualitative interviews. Participants’ success was indicated by employment, school attendance, absence of acute mental health episodes, or absence of chronic alcohol or drug use. Thematic analysis identified specific components of their life successes and challenges.
Results
The emergent framework comprised four elements: (i) Recovernance (RE) (a portmanteau merging ‘Recovery’ and ‘Maintenance’; ongoing adjustment to maintain one’s personal best without an end point); (ii) Personal Optimization (PO) (continuously striving to maximize function and adjust one’s goals given fluctuating impairments and internal resources); (iii) Self (S) (facing internal challenges and developing internal resilience); and (iv) Environment (E) (facing external challenges and fostering external resilience). These four elements yielded the acronym ‘REPOSE’.
Conclusions
Recovery in young people with ADHD was not a linear journey, with many missteps leading to greater self-knowledge, life skills and mastery. Progress was leveraged on securely anchored internal and external resilience factors against the prospect of setbacks. Findings provide new concepts and novel lexicons to extend existing concepts in Recovery.
Implications for rehabilitation
Counselling and therapy for young people with ADHD should foster self-understanding, goal setting and self-vigilance as an ongoing process to build their capacity to tackle setbacks and adversities.
Counselling and therapy for young people with ADHD focus on a strengths-based approach building internal and external resources, such as developing skills and establishing social connections that build infrastructure in the environment for meaningful participation
Low- to moderate-intensity blood flow restricted walking is not an acute equivalent for unrestricted jogging in young active adults
No full textThis study investigated whether walking with blood flow restriction (BFR) increases acute cardio-respiratory demands to the point that it can be considered an alternative for jogging. Sixteen physically active adults completed five experimental sessions (order randomised), comprising 10 min of treadmill exercise. Two sessions included unrestricted walking, two sessions required walking with BFR cuffs positioned on the lower limbs inflated to 60% of individualised arterial occlusion pressure, and one session was conducted at a jogging pace. Comfortable walking and jogging speeds were calculated during the familiarisation session. Walking speeds were individualised to either 100% (speed: 6.0 ± 0.3km·h-1[low-intensity]) or 120% (speed: 7.2 ± 0.3km·h-1[moderate-intensity]) of comfortable walking speed. The jogging session was unrestricted (speed: 9.1 ± 0.7km·h-1). Initial analysis compared walking conditions across heart rate, left cardiac work index, systolic blood pressure, relative oxygen consumption, minute ventilation, rating of perceived exertion and limb discomfort. Secondary analysis compared the walking session with the highest cardio-respiratory demands to jogging. Initial analysis identified that moderate-intensity with BFR induced the highest cardio-respiratory and perceptual responses compared with any other walking sessions (p < 0.01). Secondary analysis revealed that all cardio-respiratory measures were higher during jogging when compared with moderate-intensity with BFR (p < 0.01), except systolic blood pressure (p = 0.10). All perceptual measures were higher during moderate-intensity with BFR (p < 0.01) compared with jogging. Low- to moderate-intensity BFR-walking produces lower acute cardio-respiratory responses at higher ratings of perceived exertion and discomfort compared with jogging. Overall, BFR-walking does not seem to provide an equivalent exercise modality for unrestricted jogging in physically active adults
The construction of a new Clinical Quality of Life Scale (CLINQOL)
Get PDFWhilst the variables in quality of life and well-being can be separated into objective and subjective domains, there remains a dearth of multiple utility instruments that assess their impact upon quality of life. To address this, ten domains were identified in a preliminary exploratory literature search, and an exploratory review generated enough facets to represent each domain, with items developed to form a composite scale. A principal components analysis run on data collected from 210 participants produced seven factors: relationships, work, money, health, leisure, and life management, with the remaining four domains subsuming into a seventh composite subjective factor (mental state). Final items were collated into the new Clinical Quality of Life Scale (CLINQOL) and were tested against the Assessment of Quality of Life Instrument, the Personal Wellbeing Index–Adult, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, the Satisfaction with Life scale, and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. The CLINQOL demonstrated suitable reliability, with items within each category forming internally consistent subscales. The full scale score demonstrated satisfactory test–retest reliability and concurrent validity, correlating with all measures. Findings suggest that the CLINQOL captures critical clinical factors, and may be an acceptable instrument to assess quality of life and well-being