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A family of process-based models to simulate landscape use by multiple taxa
No full textContext: Land-use change is a key driver of biodiversity loss. Models that accurately predict how biodiversity might be affected by land-use changes are urgently needed, to help avoid further negative impacts and inform landscape-scale restoration projects. To be effective, such models must balance model realism with computational tractability and must represent the different habitat and connectivity requirements of multiple species. Objectives We explored the extent to which process-based modelling might fulfil this role, examining feasibility for different taxa and potential for informing real-world decision-making. Methods We developed a family of process-based models (*4pop) that simulate landscape use by birds, bats, reptiles and amphibians, derived from the well-established poll4pop model (designed to simulate bee populations). Given landcover data, the models predict spatially-explicit relative abundance by simulating optimal home-range foraging, reproduction, dispersal of offspring and mortality. The models were co-developed by researchers, conservation NGOs and volunteer surveyors, parameterised using literature data and expert opinion, and validated against observational datasets collected across Great Britain. Results The models were able to simulate habitat specialists, generalists, and species requiring access to multiple habitats for different types of resources (e.g. breeding vs foraging). We identified model refinements required for some taxa and considerations for modelling further species/groups. Conclusions We suggest process-based models that integrate multiple forms of knowledge can assist biodiversity-inclusive decision-making by predicting habitat use throughout the year, expanding the range of species that can be modelled, and enabling decision-makers to better account for landscape context and habitat configuration effects on population persistence.</p
Dynapenic abdominal obesity and activities of daily living disability among older adults residing in low- and middle-income countries
No full textBackground: Dynapenic abdominal obesity (DAO) may be associated with an increased risk of disability. However, to date, this has not been investigated in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), while the mediators are largely unknown.
Aims: Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between DAO and activities of daily living (ADL) disability, and to identify potential mediators among older adults from six LMICs.
Methods: Cross-sectional, nationally representative data from the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health were analyzed. Data on 20,198 adults aged≥60 years were analyzed [mean (SD) age 69.3 (13.1) years; 54.1% females]. Dynapenia was defined as handgrip strength of 88 cm for women and >102 cm for men. DAO was defined as having both dynapenia and abdominal obesity. Disability was defined as severe or extreme difficulty in conducting at least one of six types of ADL. Multivariable logistic regression and mediation analysis were conducted. Results Compared to no dynapenia and no abdominal obesity, DAO was significantly associated with 2.08 (95%CI=1.37– 3.17) times higher odds for ADL disability Mediation analysis showed that diabetes (mediated percentage 4.7%), hypertension (7.2%), and angina (7.7%) were significant mediators in the association between DAO and ADL disability.
Conclusions: DAO was associated with increased odds for ADL disability among older adults from LMICs. Future longitudinal studies are warranted to assess temporal associations, and whether addressing or preventing DAO can impact on future occurrence of disability. </p
The lived experience of meaningful work in healthcare provider organisations
No full textThis research examined the lived experience of meaningful work in health service provider organisations. Specifically, the study sought to make different health workforce perspectives of meaningful work visible and their antecedents.The experience of meaningful work has been studied in the health services. Conceptual and empirical developments have reported that meaningful work is linked to employee engagement and outcomes, such as job satisfaction and stress reduction. In contrast, meaningless work has been linked to burnout and detachment. However, there was a need to give more attention to the experiences of different occupational groups, using an aligned methodology.The study was implemented in two health service provider organisations. A qualitative case study design was developed within the philosophical stance of social constructivism. It used a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews to answer the research questions. Qualitative semi-structured interviews focused on lived experience and explored themes informed by quantitative data.The findings were drawn from clinical and non-clinical workforces. Template analysis discovered that a common workforce experience was located within a framework of collegiality, competence, organisation, task and outcome and individual factors.The research develops a theoretical understanding of meaningful work in the health services. The evidence supports the need to give explicit attention to meaningful work within the system of work and job design, culture and workforce development, in order to improve the experience of people working in the health services. The findings and recommendations will also support those responsible for operational policy and practices and the health services’ workforce.</p
Urban Air Quality Comparison on Bike and Driving routes: A Case Study for UK
No full textAir quality in cities is very important in both tackling climate change and also healthy sustainable urban living. Understanding the air quality around cities has been a challenge faced by local authorities around the world. With the new net zero targets in place, government and charitable organisations across the UK have been trying hard to both monitor and control air pollutants to influence citizen behavior towards environmentally friendly living. This study looks at urban air quality in two UK cities with the idea of understanding air quality and its relation to the mode of transport, health and well-being. This case study compares the urban air quality as Particulate Matter (P M10 and P M2.5) and gaseous pollutants (N O2) on the bike and motor driving routes in Cambridge and Colchester. The study designed experiments and data collection campaigns to understand the factors leading to air quality fluctuations in urban traffic routes. The resulting measurements show that NO2 concentrations are higher in motor driving routes and in certain locations on the bike routes that are part of (or very close to) the motor route. The PM particles are generally higher near parks and open greenspaces but can be argued to be within the recommended limits. Finally, this paper proposes steps to improve the urban infrastructure to tackle emissions and spread awareness among the citizens.</p
Longitudinal assessment of female carriers of choroideremia using multimodal retinal imaging
No full textBackground/aims: Female choroideremia carriers present with a spectrum of disease severity. Unlike in men, the rate of disease progression has not been well characterised in carriers. This longitudinal study aimed to determine the rate of retinal degeneration in choroideremia carriers, using multimodal imaging and microperimetry.MethodsChoroideremia carriers previously seen at Oxford Eye Hospital (United Kingdom) between 2012 and 2017 returned for testing between 2015 and 2023, providing up to 11 years’ follow-up data. Participants had optical coherence tomography, fundus-tracked microperimetry and fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging performed.ResultsThirty-four eyes of 17 choroideremia carriers were examined using multimodal imaging. Median age was 44 (range: 15–73) years at baseline and median follow-up duration was 7 (range: 1–11) years. At baseline, phenotype was classified as fine (n=5 eyes), coarse (n=13 eyes), geographic (n=12 eyes) or male pattern (n=4 eyes). Thirteen patients showed no change in phenotype classification, four showed slight changes associated with choroideremia-related retinal degeneration. Despite this, carriers with severe retinal phenotypes had a statistically significant decline in average retinal sensitivity (−0.7 dB and −0.8 dB per year, respectively, p<0.001), area of geographic loss defined by FAF (+2.5 mm2and +3.7 mm2per year, respectively, p<0.001) and thinning of the photoreceptor complex (up to −2.8 microns and −10.3 microns per year, p<0.001).ConclusionChoroideremia carriers, particularly those with severe retinal phenotypes, exhibit progressive retinal degeneration, as evident by multimodal imaging biomarkers and functional testing. Clinicians should not rely on retinal severity classification alone to assess disease progression.</p
The effects of simulated monocular and binocular vision impairment on football penalty kick performance
No full textSports performance is relatively robust under high levels of binocular blur. However, the limited research studies investigating monocular impairments has shown it has a larger impact on sport performance. This research study is relevant for classification in sports for athletes with vision impairment (VI), where visual acuity (VA) from the better eye is used during classification. Across two experiments, we aimed to establish the point at which binocular and monocular impairments affected performance in a football penalty kick (PK) through simulating varying severities of degraded VA and contrast sensitivity (CS) in active football players. In experiment one, 25 footballers performed PKs as VA and CS were systematically decreased in both eyes, and in one condition, visual field (VF) was reduced. The most severe VA/CS condition and reduced VF significantly impacted outcome, ball velocity and placement (ball kicked closer to the centre of the goal) (p < 0.05). In experiment two, 29 different footballers performed PKs as VA and CS of only the dominant eye were systematically decreased and in one condition the dominant eye was occluded, and participants viewed their environment through the non‐dominant eye (monocular viewing). No differences were observed when assessing monocular impairments influence on outcome, velocity and ball placement. PKs have a high resilience to VI, but binocular impairment has a more immediate effect, suggesting binocular measures should be used in classification processes in football.</p
The Postgraduate Seminar in Theory and Method
No full text Unlike those who attended university in the 1960s and (maybe) the 1970s, the students of the 1980s lack a mythology. In politics at large, it was a time of Thatcherism; in higher education a period of retrenchment.[1] The great age of academic expansion that followed the 1963 Robbins Report and the confident political radicalism that often accompanied it had hit the buffers. In some respects, this made both student politics and the larger academic climate more interesting; the 1980s proved to be a time of intellectual energy amongst historians. The assumptions that had governed a lot of historical research (about economic and materialist explanations for change) were tested and new ideas came forward. The creation of the Postgraduate Seminar in Theory and Method at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) in 1986 provides a lens through which to measure the forces that shaped historical inquiry in the Thatcher decade and assess the new generation of historians who emerged at that time.
This chapter explores the reasons why the Postgraduate Seminar was founded and the distinctive spirit that animated it. It is based on my memories of the seminar in its formative years as well as those of some others who participated in it. I have endeavoured in a minor way to write a cultural and intellectual history of this group. The seminar may no longer exist but it has left a legacy: it was a staging post for a number of historians who went on to have important academic careers and served as a precursor to the IHR’s current History Lab postgraduate seminar. I explore here the paradigms that the seminar concerned itself with. Some of these still inform academic discussion today, even though (as will become clear) the seminar was very much the product of its time. </p
Industry 4.0 technologies and green creativity: mediating roles of playful work design and leisure crafting
No full textAdopting conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose that Industry 4.0 technologies (I40Ts) perceived as useful and easy to use by employees may supply workplace resources. These extra resources may promote the proactive work/non-work activities of employees for further resource acquisition, which predicts their green creativity, particularly for those with strong green personal values. We empirically validate our propositions using three-wave, multi-source data collected from 282 employees and their managers. Results confirm the positive relationship between the I40T perceptions (usefulness and ease of use) and green creativity, and this relationship is mediated by playful work design and leisure crafting. Additionally, the green personal values of employees amplify the indirect effects of I40T perceptions on green creativity. Drawing on COR, this study reveals the way employees can gain extra resources for work- and non-work-related proactivity in the context of innovation implementation.</p
Putting Our Resources to Work: Transforming Archives through Creative Strategies
No full textThe “Putting our resources to work: Transforming Archives through Creative Strategies” exhibition showcases the outcomes of a workshop for members of the public interested in having a conversation about how creative practice can challenge and remedy existing limitations of archives.
Sana Ginwalla and Kerstin Hacker presented how the use of creative interventions and engagement of a counter-archive such as Zambia Belonging, challenged the problematic legacies of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
Participants were invited to respond to photographs and texts from these collections by using methods of intervention such as collage, writing or photo-copying. During the making process Sana and Kerstin offered a number of provocations that encouraged dialogue and collaboration in order to explore unorthodox methods of working with the archive.
The outcomes of the workshop are shown at Bamako Encounters (Rencontres de Bamako), Mali from 16 Nov 2024 to the 15 Jan 202
Assessing the practicality of a novel heart failure therapeutic score (QUAD Score) for drug optimisation in heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction
No full textAbstract
Introduction
The 4 pillars of drug treatment for heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) [Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi)/Angiotensin receptor–neprilysin inhibitors (ARNi), β-blockers (BB), Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA), and Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i)], are recommended by international HF guidelines to improve patient outcomes. Treatment inertia remains a challenge with non-prescription or sub-optimal dosing of these therapies. We developed a pragmatic HFrEF treatment score (QUAD score) (Figure 1) to prompt initiation and/or titration of sub-optimally dosed foundational therapies. Patients are categorized as poor (<8), good (8-14), and excellent (15-24) based on the dose and number of foundational drugs prescribed. This study aims to assess the practical utility of the QUAD score and its influence on treatment optimization.
Methods
Unwarned prescribing HCPs were approached consecutively in person, within clinical settings. Participants were told the questions were part of a research project and they provided verbal consent. Responses were anonymous and no patients were involved; therefore, verbal consent was considered proportionate and reasonable. HCPs were given an information sheet describing the QUAD score (Figure 1). They were then presented with 3 hypothetical clinical scenarios of haemodynamically stable and uncomplicated HFrEF patients with uncalculated poor, good and excellent QUAD scores. They were asked to calculate the QUAD score and if they proposed any changes to treatment. Time was recorded using a stopwatch and proposed changes were recorded. They were then invited to answer a series of follow-on questions.
Results
Between September 2023 and February 2024, there were 70 respondents. 71% (50) were doctors and 29% (20) allied HCPs. 83% (58) placed patients in the correct treatment grade in at least one scenario. 62.9% (44) did so for all three scenarios (Figure 2) with numerically more HCPs compared to doctors (80% vs 56% p=0.06).The median (IQR) time in seconds required to calculate the QUAD score for clinical scenarios 1,2 and 3 was 158 (100-234), 86 (54-122) and 83 (53-119) respectively. In response to the calculated QUAD score, 94.3% (66), recommended drug treatment optimisations. On a 5-point Likert scale (1 -poor, 5- excellent), 77.1% of participants rated the QUAD score ≥3 for ease of use, and 88.6% rated ≥3 as an incentive for treatment optimization.
Conclusion
We demonstrated the rapid clinical usability of the QUAD Score in a cohort of unselected prescribing HCPs, with a decremental calculation time with each presented clinical scenario. HCPs were also motivated to achieve further HF drug therapy optimization based on the calculated score. We conclude that the QUAD Score as a HFrEF drug therapy score may have a role in addressing treatment inertia however, it needs validation against clinically relevant outcomes in a larger cohort of HFrEF patients.</p
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