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Knowing-in-action that centres humanising relationships on stroke units: an appreciative action research study
- Clare Gordon, Caroline Ellis-Hill, Belinda Dewar, Caroline Watkins
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- Journal:
- Brain Impairment / Volume 23 / Issue 1 / March 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 19 April 2022, pp. 60-75
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Background:
Equal, collaborative and therapeutic relationships centred on the person affected by stroke are important for supporting recovery and adjustment. However, realising these relationships in hospital practice is challenging when there is increasing focus on biomedical needs and organisational pressures. Despite a body of evidence advocating for quality relationships, there remains limited research describing how to achieve this in clinical practice. This appreciative action research (AAR) study aimed to describe the processes involved in co-creating meaningful relationships on stroke units.
Design and methods:An AAR approach was used to develop humanising relationship-centred care (RCC) within two hospital stroke units. Participants were staff (n = 65), patients (n = 17) and relatives (n = 7). Data generation comprised of interviews, observations and discussion groups. Data were analysed collaboratively with participants using sense-making as part of the AAR cyclical process. Further in-depth analysis using immersion crystallisation confirmed and broadened the original themes.
Findings:All participants valued similar relational experiences around human connections to support existential well-being. The AAR process supported changes in self, and the culture on the stroke units, towards increased value being placed on human relationships. The processes supporting human connections in practice were: (i) sensitising to humanising relational knowing; (ii) valuing, reflecting and sharing relational experiences with others that co-created a relational discourse; and (iii) having the freedom to act, enabling human connections. The outcomes from this study build on existing lifeworld-led care theories through developing orientations for practice that support relational knowing and propose the development of RCC to include humanising values.
Evolution of the sheep coat: the impact of domestication on its structure and development
- Neville Jackson, Ian G. Maddocks, James E. Watts, David Scobie, Rebecca S. Mason, Clare Gordon-Thomson, Sally Stockwell, Geoffrey P.M. Moore
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- Journal:
- Genetics Research / Volume 102 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 June 2020, e4
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Wild sheep and many primitive domesticated breeds have two coats: coarse hairs covering shorter, finer fibres. Both are shed annually. Exploitation of wool for apparel in the Bronze Age encouraged breeding for denser fleeces and continuously growing white fibres. The Merino is regarded as the culmination of this process. Archaeological discoveries, ancient images and parchment records portray this as an evolutionary progression, spanning millennia. However, examination of the fleeces from feral, two-coated and woolled sheep has revealed a ready facility of the follicle population to change from shedding to continuous growth and to revert from domesticated to primitive states. Modifications to coat structure, colour and composition have occurred in timeframes and to sheep population sizes that exclude the likelihood of variations arising from mutations and natural selection. The features are characteristic of the domestication phenotype: an assemblage of developmental, physiological, skeletal and hormonal modifications common to a wide variety of species under human control. The phenotypic similarities appeared to result from an accumulation of cryptic genetic changes early during vertebrate evolution. Because they did not affect fitness in the wild, the mutations were protected from adverse selection, becoming apparent only after exposure to a domestic environment. The neural crest, a transient embryonic cell population unique to vertebrates, has been implicated in the manifestations of the domesticated phenotype. This hypothesis is discussed with reference to the development of the wool follicle population and the particular roles of Notch pathway genes, culminating in the specific cell interactions that typify follicle initiation.
Rodents, goats and dogs – their potential roles in the transmission of schistosomiasis in China
- CLARE F. VAN DORSSEN, CATHERINE A. GORDON, YUESHENG LI, GAIL M. WILLIAMS, YUANYUAN WANG, ZHENHUA LUO, GEOFFREY N. GOBERT, HONG YOU, DONALD P. MCMANUS, DARREN J. GRAY
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- Journal:
- Parasitology / Volume 144 / Issue 12 / October 2017
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 22 June 2017, pp. 1633-1642
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Schistosomiasis in China has been substantially reduced due to an effective control programme employing various measures including bovine and human chemotherapy, and the removal of bovines from endemic areas. To fulfil elimination targets, it will be necessary to identify other possible reservoir hosts for Schistosoma japonicum and include them in future control efforts. This study determined the infection prevalence of S. japonicum in rodents (0–9·21%), dogs (0–18·37%) and goats (6·9–46·4%) from the Dongting Lake area of Hunan province, using a combination of traditional coproparasitological techniques (miracidial hatching technique and Kato-Katz thick smear technique) and molecular methods [quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR)]. We found a much higher prevalence in goats than previously recorded in this setting. Cattle and water buffalo were also examined using the same procedures and all were found to be infected, emphasising the occurrence of active transmission. qPCR and ddPCR were much more sensitive than the coproparasitological procedures with both KK and MHT considerably underestimating the true prevalence in all animals surveyed. The high level of S. japonicum prevalence in goats indicates that they are likely important reservoirs in schistosomiasis transmission, necessitating their inclusion as targets of control, if the goal of elimination is to be achieved in China.
18 - Placing the Flood Recovery Process
- Edited by Ian Convery, Gerard Corsane, Peter Davis
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- Book:
- Displaced Heritage
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 24 February 2023
- Print publication:
- 18 December 2014, pp 199-206
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Summary
Contrarily, and without apparent irony, the preferred story in a natural disaster is one of good news: miraculous rescues and escapes; acts of heroism and bravery; selfless rescue workers from Rotherham; sniffer dogs from Barking; saintly surgeons from Surbiton. As the hope of more wide-eyed victims being plucked from the grave diminishes, as the disaster medics wrap up their kit and go, so too do the 24-hour rolling news teams. This is very expensive stuff, and nobody has the budget or the audience for the grim, dull depression of resurrection. (Gill 2010)
The writer A A Gill’s heartbreaking portrait of the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake of January 2010, in which up to 230,000 people died and more than 1 million were made homeless, raises the question of what it means to recover from a disaster. In the immediate aftermath of an event like Haiti, there is inevitably a focus on physical action and progress – the rubble is moved, survivors treated, fed and clothed – all of which corresponds to what emergency planners term the ‘response’ phase of the emergency. And yet what Gill is hinting at, beautifully captured in the notion of resurrection, amounts to something else entirely: the idea of recovery as a spiritual, physical and emotional process that is deeply hard to achieve and much less visible than the usual metrics applied to such situations would suggest (How many people are back in their homes? How many businesses are open for trading? What aspects of key infrastructure have been reopened?).
This chapter argues that, if we want to understand the recovery process then it is essential to think about just exactly what it is that is being recovered. Our case study is a qualitative, longitudinal study of people’s recovery from the floods of June 2007 in Kingston-upon-Hull, UK, in which over 8600 households were affected and one man died (Coulthard et al 2007). The aim of the research was to discover what the long-term disaster recovery process was like for people as they struggled to get their lives and homes back on track. The project, which is described extensively elsewhere (Whittle et al 2010), used in-depth qualitative methods that had been previously used to investigate people’s recovery from the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) disaster in Cumbria (Mort et al 2004).
Contributors
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- By Victoria M. Allen, Frederic Amant, Sarah Armstrong, Thomas F. Baskett, Michael A. Belfort, Meredith Birsner, Renee D. Boss, Leanne Bricker, Josaphat K. Byamugisha, Giorgio Capogna, Michael P. Casaer, Frank A. Chervenak, Vicki Clark, Filip Claus, Malachy O. Columb, Charles Cox, Jean T. Cox, Vegard Dahl, John Davison, Jan Deprest, Clifford S. Deutschman, Roland Devlieger, Karim Djekidel, Steven Dymarkowski, Roshan Fernando, Clare Fitzpatrick, Sreedhar Gaddipati, Thierry Girard, Emily Gordon, Ian A. Greer, David Grooms, Sina Haeri, Katy Harrison, Edward J. Hayes, Michelle Hladunewich, Andra H. James, Tracey Johnston, Bellal Joseph, Erin Keely, Ruth Landau, Stephen E. Lapinsky, Susanna I. Lee, Larry Leeman, Hennie Lombaard, Stephen Lu, Alison MacArthur, Laura A. Magee, Paul E. Marik, Laurence B. McCullough, Alexandre Mignon, Carlo Missant, Jack Moodley, Lisa E. Moore, Kate Morse, Warwick D. Ngan Kee, Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Clemens M. Ortner, Geraldine O’Sullivan, Luis D. Pacheco, Fathima Paruk, Melina Pectasides, Nigel Pereira, Patricia Peticca, Sharon T. Phelan, Felicity Plaat, Lauren A. Plante, Michael P. Plevyak, Dianne Plews, Wendy Pollock, Laura C. Price, Peter Rhee, Leiv Arne Rosseland, Kathryn M. Rowan, Helen Ryan, Helen Scholefield, Neil S. Seligman, Nadir Sharawi, Alex Sia, Bob Silver, Mieke Soens, Ulrich J. Spreng, Silvia Stirparo, Nova Szoka, Andrew Tang, Kha M. Tran, Els Troost, Lawrence C. Tsen, Derek Tuffnell, Kristel Van Calsteren, Marc Van de Velde, Marcel Vercauteren, Chris Verslype, Peter von Dadelszen, Carl Waldman, Michelle Walters, Linda Watkins, Paul Westhead, Cynthia A. Wong, Gerda G. Zeeman, Joost J. Zwart
- Edited by Marc van de Velde, Helen Scholefield, Lauren A. Plante
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- Book:
- Maternal Critical Care
- Published online:
- 05 July 2013
- Print publication:
- 04 July 2013, pp ix-xiv
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Chapter 9 - Case Studies
- from Section III
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- By Virginia Murray, Gordon McBean, Mihir Bhatt, Sergey Borsch, Tae Sung Cheong, Wadid Fawzy Erian, Silvia Llosa, Farrokh Nadim, Mario Nunez, Ravsal Oyun, Avelino G. Suarez, John Hay, Mai Trong Nhuan, Jose Moreno, Peter Berry, Harriet Caldin, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Catriona Carmichael, Anita Cooper, Cherif Diop, Justin Ginnetti, Delphine Grynzspan, Clare Heaviside, Jeremy Hess, James Kossin, Paul Kovacs, Sari Kovats, Irene Kreis, Reza Lahidji, Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer, Felipe Lucio, Simon Mason, Sabrina McCormick, Reinhard Mechler, Bettina Menne, Soojeong Myeong, Arona Ngari, Neville Nicholls, Ursula Oswald Spring, Pascal Peduzzi, Rosa Perez, Caroline Rodgers, Hannah Rowlatt, Sohel Saikat, Sonia Seneviratne, Addis Taye, Richard Thornton, Sotiris Vardoulakis, Koko Warner, Irina Zodrow
- Edited by Christopher B. Field, Vicente Barros, Thomas F. Stocker, Qin Dahe
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- Book:
- Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation
- Published online:
- 05 August 2012
- Print publication:
- 28 May 2012, pp 487-542
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Summary
Executive Summary
Case studies contribute more focused analyses which, in the context of human loss and damage, demonstrate the effectiveness of response strategies and prevention measures and identify lessons about success in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The case studies were chosen to complement and be consistent with the information in the preceding chapters, and to demonstrate aspects of the key messages in the Summary for Policymakers and the Hyogo Framework for Action Priorities.
The case studies were grouped to examine types of extreme events, vulnerable regions, and methodological approaches. For the extreme event examples, the first two case studies pertain to events of extreme temperature with moisture deficiencies in Europe and Australia and their impacts including on health. These are followed by case studies on drought in Syria and dzud, cold-dry conditions in Mongolia. Tropical cyclones in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Mesoamerica, and then floods in Mozambique are discussed in the context of community actions. The last of the extreme events case studies is about disastrous epidemic disease, using the case of cholera in Zimbabwe, as the example.
The case studies chosen to reflect vulnerable regions demonstrate how a changing climate provides significant concerns for people, societies, and their infrastructure. These are: Mumbai as an example of a coastal megacity; the Republic of the Marshall Islands, as an example of small island developing states with special challenges for adaptation; and Canada's northern regions as an example of cold climate vulnerabilities focusing on infrastructures.
Requirements for mini-exon inclusion in potato invertase mRNAs provides evidence for exon-scanning interactions in plants
- CRAIG G. SIMPSON, PETER E. HEDLEY, JENNIFER A. WATTERS, GILLIAN P. CLARK, CLARE McQUADE, GORDON C. MACHRAY, JOHN W.S. BROWN
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Invertases are responsible for the breakdown of sucrose to fructose and glucose. In all but one plant invertase gene, the second exon is only 9 nt in length and encodes three amino acids of a five-amino-acid sequence that is highly conserved in all invertases of plant origin. Sequences responsible for normal splicing (inclusion) of exon 2 have been investigated in vivo using the potato invertase, invGF gene. The upstream intron 1 is required for inclusion whereas the downstream intron 2 is not. Mutations within intron 1 have identified two sequence elements that are needed for inclusion: a putative branchpoint sequence and an adjacent U-rich region. Both are recognized plant intron splicing signals. The branchpoint sequence lies further upstream from the 3′ splice site of intron 1 than is normally seen in plant introns. All dicotyledonous plant invertase genes contain this arrangement of sequence elements: a distal branchpoint sequence and adjacent, downstream U-rich region. Intron 1 sequences upstream of the branchpoint and sequences in exons 1, 2, or 3 do not determine inclusion, suggesting that intron or exon splicing enhancer elements seen in vertebrate mini-exon systems are absent. In addition, mutation of the 3′ and 5′ splice sites flanking the mini-exon cause skipping of the mini-exon, suggesting that both splice sites are required. The branchpoint/U-rich sequence is able to promote splicing of mini-exons of 6, 3, and 1 nt in length and of a chicken cTNT mini-exon of 6 nt. These sequence elements therefore act as a splicing enhancer and appear to function via interactions between factors bound at the branchpoint/U-rich region and at the 5′ splice site of intron 2, activating removal of this intron followed by removal of intron 1. This first example of splicing of a plant mini-exon to be analyzed demonstrates that particular arrangement of standard plant intron splicing signals can drive constitutive splicing of a mini-exon.