19683 research outputs found
Sort by
British Congenital Cardiac Association Fetal Cardiology Standards: impact of Patient and Public involvement exercise on the development of clinical standards
No full textObjective: To examine the impact of a Patient and Public Involvement exercise on the development of British Congenital Cardiac Association Fetal Cardiology Standards 2021. Design: Open-ended, semi-structured interviews were undertaken to inform the design of a study to improve the quality of parents' experiences during antenatal and perinatal care of their child with CHD. This Patient and Public Involvement exercise was used to inform the final version of the drafted 'Standards'. Setting: One-on-one interviews with parents who responded to a request on the closed Facebook page of the user group “Little Hearts Matter”: “Would you be interested in helping us to design a study about parents' experience on learning that their child had CHD”? Patients: Parents of children with single ventricle CHD. Results: Twenty-one parents (18 mothers, 3 fathers) participated. Parents responses were reported to have variably reinforced, augmented, and added specificity in the later stages of drafting to six of the seven subsections of Section C Information and Support for Parents including: “At the time of the Scan”; “Counselling following the identification of an abnormality”; “Written information/resources”; “Parent support”; “Communication with other teams and ongoing care”; and “Bereavement support”. Conclusions: This Patient and Public Involvement exercise successfully informed the development of Standards after the initial drafting. It contributed to the establishment of face validity of the 'Standards', especially when consistent with what is reported in the literature. Further research is needed to explore approaches to involving and standardising Patient and Public Involvement in the development of clinical standards.</p
Speciesism and perceptions of animal farming practices as predictors of meat consumption in Australia and Hong Kong
No full textMany people care about animals and do not wish to cause them harm yet continue to eat them. Past research, largely in Western cultural contexts, has found that people’s meat consumption is negatively related to how much they know about animal farming practices, and positively related to their endorsement of speciesism (the assignment of moral worth based on species membership). Little is known, however, about how these variables are related to meat consumption in non-Western samples. The present study aimed to determine to what extent perceptions of farming practices and speciesism predict meat consumption among people living in Australia and Hong Kong. Participants were recruited through Facebook advertising and asked to complete a questionnaire that measured speciesism, animal farming perceptions, meat consumption, and meat reduction intentions. Speciesism and perceptions of animal farming practices significantly predicted meat consumption and meat reduction intentions in the Australian sample, but only predicted some of the outcomes in the Hong Kong sample.</p
Racism, colonialism and whiteness in development: insights from Pacific professionals following repatriation of white staff during Covid-19
No full textAbstract: The sudden departure of foreign, mostly white, development staff from Pacific countries in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, created a ‘natural experiment’ where local staff continued to work but without the accompaniment (and oversight) of their foreign counterparts. This paper reflects on evidence from the lived experiences of 12 experienced local development staff during this time. They detail how the absence of foreign staff led to increased opportunities for local staff, greater cultural sensitivity and relativity in the workplace, and the successful on-going operations of programs left in the hands of local workers. We position these experiences in relation to broader issues of racism, neo/colonialism and the centring of whiteness in the development industry to highlight the on-going structures that inhibit black and brown colleagues, and to provoke white development actors to work to redress on-going injustices in the industry. We specifically recommend white development actors openly discuss racism in the industry, enhance their knowledge of local cultures and politics, and work to cede space to local staff.</p
Establishment of single-cell transcriptional states during seed germination
No full textGermination involves highly dynamic transcriptional programs as the cells of seeds reactivate and express the functions necessary for establishment in the environment. Individual cell types have distinct roles within the embryo, so must therefore have cell type-specific gene expression and gene regulatory networks. We can better understand how the functions of different cell types are established and contribute to the embryo by determining how cell type-specific transcription begins and changes through germination. Here we describe a temporal analysis of the germinating Arabidopsis thaliana embryo at single-cell resolution. We define the highly dynamic cell type-specific patterns of gene expression and how these relate to changing cellular function as germination progresses. Underlying these are unique gene regulatory networks and transcription factor activity. We unexpectedly discover that most embryo cells transition through the same initial transcriptional state early in germination, even though cell identity has already been established during embryogenesis. Cells later transition to cell type-specific gene expression patterns. Furthermore, our analyses support previous findings that the earliest events leading to the induction of seed germination take place in the vasculature. Overall, our study constitutes a general framework with which to characterize Arabidopsis cell transcriptional states through seed germination, allowing investigation of different genotypes and other plant species whose seed strategies may differ.</p
Set aside-A qualitative study of partners' experiences of pregnancy, labour, and postnatal care in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textBackground: Due to changes in Swedish maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic, partners were often excluded from antenatal and postnatal care. Aim: To explore partners’ experiences of pregnancy, labour, and postnatal care in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Methods: A descriptive qualitative interview study with 15 partners of women who gave birth from March 2020 to March 2022. Data was collected from April to November 2022, and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings: Two themes and six subthemes were identified. The first theme, Feelings of loss and exclusion, emphasises the expectation and desire to share the journey of becoming a parent together with the pregnant partner. When excluded from maternity care, a feeling of missing out was described which could create a sense of distance from the unborn child. The second theme, Dealing with powerlessness, relates to the fear of infection and not being able to participate during the birth, and life being adapted to restrictions. Mixed feelings regarding the restrictions were described since the reasons behind were not always perceived as clear and logical. Discussion: Sweden prides itself on gender equality, where partners normally are a natural part of maternity care. This likely contributed to strong feelings of exclusion when partners were prevented from participating in maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Partners of women giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic were substantially affected by the restrictions within maternity care. Partners wish to be involved in pregnancy and birth and want to receive clear information as part of their preparation for parenthood. Society–including maternity care–must decide how to address these needs.</p
Speed of lung inflation at birth influences the initiation of lung injury in preterm lambs
No full textGas flow is fundamental for driving tidal ventilation and, thus, the speed of lung motion, but current bias flow settings to support the preterm lung after birth do not have an evidence base. We aimed to determine the role of gas bias flow rates to generate positive pressure ventilation in initiating early lung injury pathways in the preterm lamb. Using slower speeds to inflate the lung during tidal ventilation (gas flow rates 4–6 L/min) did not affect lung mechanics, mechanical power, or gas exchange compared with those currently used in clinical practice (8–10 L/min). Speed of pressure and volume change during inflation were faster with higher flow rates. Lower flow rates resulted in less bronchoalveolar fluid protein, better lung morphology, and fewer detached epithelial cells. Overall, relative to unventilated fetal controls, there was greater protein change using 8-10 L/ min, which was associated with enrichment of acute inflammatory and innate responses. Slowing the speed of lung motion by supporting the preterm lung from birth with lower flow rates than in current clinical use resulted in less lung injury without compromising tidal ventilation or gas exchange
Prenatal testing technologies in Australia: Unintended clinical and emotional complexities in underprepared systems
No full textThe past decade has seen technological advances in prenatal screening technologies rapidly integrated into clinical practice. These technologies have revolutionised healthcare and raised complex socio-ethical issues such as equitable access, medical commercialisation, and new eugenics. However, the important issue of the impact of these technologies on healthcare professionals is receiving less attention. Exploring this issue in the Australian context, we conducted a survey from August to November 2022, targeting health and allied health professionals who work with parents in the perinatal period who have received a fetal diagnosis. We received 75 substantive responses from a diversity of professionals, including sonographers, midwives, genetic counsellors and medical providers. In this article, we consider the unintended impacts of prenatal screening technologies on healthcare workers, drawing from Ziebland et al., ’s 2021 unintended consequences framework. Our reflexive thematic analysis produced three key themes: “Unintended Clinical Complexities”, “Adapting Work Practices to Keep Up in Systems that Lack”, and “Unintended Intensification of Emotional Labour”. Prenatal testing technologies have intentionally increased early testing and fetal information, offering veiled promises of increased certainty in pregnancy. However, our analysis highlights that these advancing technologies also generate more ambiguous results, creating unintended clinical and emotional complexities for healthcare providers. Workers must manage increased clinical uncertainty and constant change, creating intensified emotional labour in under-prepared systems. We conclude by identifying the need to recognise the impacts of advancing prenatal screening technologies on healthcare workers and for targeted professional training to prepare healthcare professionals for the complexities introduced by these new technologies.</p
Evolving Images of Resistance: Capturing Continuity and Change in the Linguistic Landscape of Protests in Venezuela
No full textSubmitted in total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Education, La Trobe University, Victoria, AustraliaThis thesis was a recipient of the Nancy Millis Award for theses of exceptional merit.</p
The Role of Aberrant Calcium Signalling in Parkinson's Disease
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science to the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p