Using formative research to develop CHANGE! : a curriculum-based physical activity promoting intervention

Background : Low childhood physical activity levels are currently one of the most pressing public health concerns. Numerous school-based physical activity interventions have been conducted with varied success. Identifying effective child-based physical activity interventions are warranted. The purpose of this formative study was to elicit subjective views of children, their parents, and teachers about physical activity to inform the design of the CHANGE! (Children's Health, Activity, and Nutrition: Get Educated!) intervention programme.

Methods : Semi-structured mixed-gender interviews (group and individual) were conducted in 11 primary schools, stratified by socioeconomic status, with 60 children aged 9-10 years (24 boys, 36 girls), 33 parents (4 male, 29 female) and 10 teachers (4 male, 6 female). Questions for interviews were structured around the PRECEDE stage of the PRECEDE-PROCEDE model and addressed knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards physical activity, as well as views on barriers to participation. All data were transcribed verbatim. Pen profiles were constructed from the transcripts in a deductive manner using the Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model framework. The profiles represented analysis outcomes via a diagram of key emergent themes.

Results : Analyses revealed an understanding of the relationship between physical activity and health, although some children had limited understanding of what constitutes physical activity. Views elicited by children and parents were generally consistent. Fun, enjoyment and social support were important predictors of physical activity participation, though several barriers such as lack of parental support were identified across all group interviews. The perception of family invested time was positively linked to physical activity engagement.

Conclusions : Families have a powerful and important role in promoting health-enhancing behaviours. Involvement of parents and the whole family is a strategy that could be significant to increase children's physical activity levels. Addressing various perceived barriers to such behaviours therefore, remains imperative.

Learning science through representational generation/negotiation

This paper will describe the key features and theoretical underpinnings of a representation-intensive pedagogy developed in a six-year research program, and its relationship to the epistemic practices of science. The pedagogy draws on socio cultural, pragmatist perspectives on learning and cognition that view knowledge as grounded in multi modal representations that are discursively generated, negotiated and coordinated in science classrooms. From this perspective, the learning challenges identified by research in the conceptual change tradition are seen as inherently representational in nature, and the central feature of the pedagogy involves students generating representations in response to structured challenges. The paper will interrogate the key aspects of the pedagogy and the way it supports learning, using evidence from a range of units designed by the researchers working in partnership with a small group of teachers. The role of representations in supporting learning will be explored in terms of the way they afford and productively constrain knowledge generation, mirroring the epistemic practices of science. Lesson transcripts, and examples of student artefacts will be presented to demonstrate significant reasoning and learning outcomes.

Mutations in the kissing-loop hairpin of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reduce viral infectivity as well as genomic RNA packaging and dimerization

A stem-loop termed the kissing-loop hairpin is one of the most highly conserved structures within the leader of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and chimpanzee immunodeficiency virus genomic RNA. Because it plays a key role in the in vitro dimerization of short HIV-1 RNA transcripts (M. Laughrea and L. Jette, Biochemistry 35:1589-1598, 1996, and references therein; M. Laughrea and L. Jette, Biochemistry 35:9366-9374, 1996, and references therein) and because dimeric RNAs may be preferably encapsidated into the HIV-1 virus, alterations of the kissing-loop hairpin might affect the in vivo dimerization and encapsidation processes. Accordingly, substitution and deletion mutations were introduced into the kissing-loop hairpin of an infectious HIV-1 molecular clone in order to produce viruses by transfection methods. The infectivity of the resulting viruses was decreased by at least 99%, the amount of genomic RNA packaged per virus was decreased by 50 to 75%, and the proportion of dimeric genomic RNA was reduced from >80 to 40 to 50%, but the dissociation temperature of the genomic RNA was unchanged. There is evidence suggesting that the deletion mutations moderately inhibited CAp24 production but had no significant effect on RNA splicing. These results are consistent with the kissing-loop model of HIV-1 RNA dimerization. In fact, because intracellular viral RNAs are probably more concentrated in transfected cells than in cells infected by one virus and because the dimerization and encapsidation processes are concentration dependent, it is likely that much larger dimerization and encapsidation defects would have been manifested within cells infected by no more than one virus.

Potentials of social media for tacit knowledge sharing amongst physicians : preliminary findings

Tacit knowledge sharing amongst physicians, such as the sharing of clinical experiences, skills, or know-how, or know-whom, is known to have a significant impact on the quality of medical diagnosis and decisions. This paper posits that social media can provide new opportunities for tacit knowledge sharing amongst physicians, and demonstrates this by presenting findings from a review of relevant literature and a survey conducted with physicians. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten physicians from around the world who were active users of social media. Initial thematic analysis revealed eight themes as potential contributions of social web tools to facilitate tacit knowledge flow amongst physicians. The emergent themes are defined, linked to the literature, and supported by instances of interview transcripts. Findings presented here are preliminary, and final results will be reported after accomplishing all phases of data collection and analysis.

Fructose containing sugars modulate mRNA of lipogenic genes ACC and FAS and protein levels of transcription factors ChREBP and SREBPIc with no effect on body weight or liver fat

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of high-glucose, high-fructose and high-sucrose diets on weight gain, liver lipid metabolism and gene expression of proteins involved with hepatic fat metabolism. Rats were fed a diet containing either 60% glucose, 60% fructose, 60% sucrose, or a standard chow for 28 days. Results indicated that high-fructose and high-sucrose diets were associated with higher mRNA levels of gene transcripts involved with fat synthesis; ACC, FAS and ChREBP, with no change in SREBP-1C mRNA. The protein level of ChREBP and SREBP1c was similar in liver homogenates from all groups, but were higher in nuclear fractions from the liver of high-fructose and high-sucrose fed rats. The mRNA level of gene transcripts involved with fat oxidation was the same in all three diets, whilst a high-fructose diet was associated with greater amount of mRNA of the fat transporter CD36. Despite the changes in mRNA of lipogenic proteins, the body weight of animals from each group was the same and the livers from rats fed high-fructose and high-sucrose diets did not contain more fat than control diet livers. In conclusion, changing the composition of the principal monosaccharide in the diet to a fructose containing sugar elicits changes in the level of hepatic mRNA of lipogenic and fat transport proteins and protein levels of their transcriptional regulators; however this is not associated with any changes in body weight or liver fat content.

Association of differential gene expression with imatinib mesylate and omacetaxine mepesuccinate toxicity in lymphoblastoid cell lines

Background

Imatinib mesylate is currently the drug of choice to treat chronic myeloid leukemia. However, patient resistance and cytotoxicity make secondary lines of treatment, such as omacetaxine mepesuccinate, a necessity. Given that drug cytotoxicity represents a major problem during treatment, it is essential to understand the biological pathways affected to better predict poor drug response and prioritize a treatment regime.
Methods

We conducted cell viability and gene expression assays to determine heritability and gene expression changes associated with imatinib and omacetaxine treatment of 55 non-cancerous lymphoblastoid cell lines, derived from 17 pedigrees. In total, 48,803 transcripts derived from Illumina Human WG-6 BeadChips were analyzed for each sample using SOLAR, whilst correcting for kinship structure.
Results

Cytotoxicity within cell lines was highly heritable following imatinib treatment (h2 = 0.60-0.73), but not omacetaxine treatment. Cell lines treated with an IC20 dose of imatinib or omacetaxine showed differential gene expression for 956 (1.96%) and 3,892 transcripts (7.97%), respectively; 395 of these (0.8%) were significantly influenced by both imatinib and omacetaxine treatment. k-means clustering and DAVID functional annotation showed expression changes in genes related to kinase binding and vacuole-related functions following imatinib treatment, whilst expression changes in genes related to cell division and apoptosis were evident following treatment with omacetaxine. The enrichment scores for these ontologies were very high (mostly >10).
Conclusions

Induction of gene expression changes related to different pathways following imatinib and omacetaxine treatment suggests that the cytotoxicity of such drugs may be differentially tolerated by individuals based on their genetic background.

Making meaning from collective apologies : Australia's apology to its indigenous peoples

This article considers the meaning of intergroup apologies for their recipients. Our research examined Indigenous people’s responses to the 2008 Australian apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples forcibly removed from their families under previous governments (the Stolen Generations). We interviewed Indigenous men (n=10) and women (n=22) about their attitudes toward the apology and forgiveness. To cover the breadth of Indigenous responses to the Australian apology, we sought out participants from diverse geographic, cultural, and occupational contexts across Australia. After pooling the transcripts and entering them into NVivo, we identified key concepts and themes. Participants expressed positive, negative, and mixed views toward the apology and forgiveness. A dominant theme emerged as participants indicated that for the apology to be truly meaningful, there needed to be action commensurate with the emotion of the apology. Though participants indicated that the apology promoted reconciliation, this was not true for forgiveness. We conclude by discussing implications of these findings for theoretical models of intergroup apology.

The notion of self in the journey back from addiction

In this study we explored how those recovering from addiction negotiated self, and the role supported accommodation played in the journey back from addiction. Transcripts from 11 in-depth interviews were analyzed by 2 coders who identified the most salient themes relevant to the self in recovery within the personal contexts of participants. The participants noted that reclaiming the self that had been lost to addiction was of primary importance to them. The recovery journey exposed a self that had reached the lowest point in life; one that was hardly recognizable; one that was undesirable. Engaging with supported accommodation provided participants with a sanctuary within which to reclaim the self, and was seen as central to their recovery.

Using images to communicate the hidden struggles of life on dialysis

Background Nurse‐patient communication in the hemodialysis context is unique given the amount of time spent together in a confined clinical room. Poor communication may lead to low-quality nursing care and undesirable patient outcomes.

Aim To explore the use of images as a visual communication technique for nurses and patients in the hemodialysis context.

Methods Descriptive qualitative design. Fifty-two cards containing specific photos, illustrations, and words were used to facilitate conversations about being on hemodialysis between patients (n = 9) and two nurse interviewers. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed.

Findings An overall theme titled ‘revealing the hidden struggles of living on dialysis’ conceptually captured three sub-themes: (1) the increased importance of relationships; (2) the struggle with money; and (3) quality over quantity of life. The cards assisted in uncovering these often covert (to nurses) aspects of dialysis patients' lives.

Conclusion Nurses may need to be aware of the dialysis patients' hidden struggles which include the importance of relationships, financial issues, and the importance of quality aspects such as travel. The use of images may assist in revealing the important issues for each patient struggling with the restrictive life that is imposed by dialysis.

Simulated jury decision making in online focus groups

Purpose – A significant issue in jury research has been the use of individual jurors to analyse jury decision-making. This paper aimed to examine the applicability of computer-mediated communication to a mock jury deliberation study.

Design/methodology/approach – Groups of three to five Australian residents anonymously attended a secure chat room and participated in a semi-structured discussion about a simulated child sexual assault scenario. Deliberation transcripts were analysed thematically using NVivo. A hermeneutic framework was used to analyse the deliberation transcripts.

Findings – Five interrelated themes were revealed, each reflecting the tools online juries used to communicate, create meaning, and arrive at a verdict. Electronic jury deliberation promoted an understanding of how people make sense of child sexual assault cases in Australia today.

Originality/value – This study advanced the understanding of online decision making in a child sexual assault scenario. It demonstrated that knowledge of how juries deliberate and create meaning could improve our understanding of how verdicts are achieved. Electronic mock juries are a valuable adjunct to traditional jury deliberation studies because they are cost effective, time efficient, and offer wider recruitment opportunities.

Adolescents' perception of the relationship between movement skills, physical activity and sport

Movement skill competence is important to organised youth physical activity participation, but it is unclear how adolescents view this relationship. The primary aim of this study was to explore adolescents’ perception of the relationship between movement skills, physical activity and sport, and whether their perceptions differed according to extent of participation in organised physical activities. We recruited 33 (17 male) Grade 11 and 12 students (aged 16 to 18) from two secondary schools in Australia. Focus groups were allocated according to whether or not students participated in organised physical activity, where ‘organised activity’ was defined as activity which involved regular classes, training or competition, was reasonably structured or formal, or had a teacher, instructor or coach. There were three all-male ‘organised’ groups, one mixed-gender ‘organised’ group and one all-female ‘not-organised’ group. Students were asked about their attitudes towards physical activity and sport, the relationship between childhood skill proficiency and later physical activity and their perceptions of the appropriate time taken to learn movement skills. Group discussions lasted for approximately 50 minutes, were recorded and were then transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were read using a constant comparison method, in which quotes were continually compared to other quotes. A thematic analysis was conducted in which the transcripts were analysed inductively. Participation in organised sport had no bearing on opinions regarding whether lack of childhood skill development would negatively impact latter participation. It did, however, subtly influence opinions regarding whether skill could be successfully acquired later in life. When asked whether not having well-developed skills as a child would negatively impact on participation in sport/physical activity later in life, the response was mixed, but this was not related to their involvement in organised sport or activities. Students who believed early skill proficiency related to subsequent activity thought this was due to skill ability and motivation. An alternate view was that subsequent activity did not need to be based on skill proficiency; also, one’s environment might change, resulting in differing opportunities/constraints. Students felt skills could be learnt at any time in life (dependent on motivation), but that learning skills at a younger age would be easier and that skills learnt later would not be as developed. Fear of failure was identified as a barrier to learning when older. We conclude that motivation towards participation in sport and physical activity is affected by adolescents’ perception of their own movement skill ability. Therefore, developing children’s actual and perceived movement skills may help to increase adolescent physical activity. Since those with intrinsic achievement orientations were not as inclined towards organised activity, we may also need to provide physical activity options that resonate with intrinsic achievement motivations.

Coupled RNA polymerase II transcription and 3′ end formation with yeast whole-cell extracts

 RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) transcription and pre-mRNA 3' end formation are linked through physical and functional interactions. We describe here a highly efficient yeast in vitro system that reproduces both transcription and 3' end formation in a single reaction. The system is based on simple whole-cell extracts that were supplemented with a hybrid Gal4-VP16 transcriptional activator and supercoiled plasmid DNA templates encoding G-less cassette reporters. We found that the coupling of transcription and processing in vitro enhanced pre-mRNA 3' end formation and reproduced requirements for poly(A) signals and polyadenylation factors. Unexpectedly, however, we show that in vitro transcripts lacked m⁷G-caps. Reconstitution experiments with CF IA factor assembled entirely from heterologous components suggested that the CTD interaction domain of the Pcf11 subunit was required for proper RNAP II termination but not 3' end formation. Moreover, we observed reduced termination activity associated with extracts prepared from cells carrying a mutation in the 5'-3' exonuclease Rat1 or following chemical inhibition of exonuclease activity. Thus, in vitro transcription coupled to pre-mRNA processing recapitulates hallmarks of poly(A)-dependent RNAP II termination. The in vitro transcription/processing system presented here should provide a useful tool to further define the role of factors involved in coupling.

Cotranslational assembly of the yeast SET1C histone methyltransferase complex

 While probing the role of RNA for the function of SET1C/COMPASS histone methyltransferase, we identified SET1RC (SET1 mRNA-associated complex), a complex that contains SET1 mRNA and Set1, Swd1, Spp1 and Shg1, four of the eight polypeptides that constitute SET1C. Characterization of SET1RC showed that SET1 mRNA binding did not require associated Swd1, Spp1 and Shg1 proteins or RNA recognition motifs present in Set1. RNA binding was not observed when Set1 protein and SET1 mRNA were derived from independent genes or when SET1 transcripts were restricted to the nucleus. Importantly, the protein-RNA interaction was sensitive to EDTA, to the translation elongation inhibitor puromycin and to the inhibition of translation initiation in prt1-1 mutants. Taken together, our results support the idea that SET1 mRNA binding was dependent on translation and that SET1RC assembled on nascent Set1 in a cotranslational manner. Moreover, we show that cellular accumulation of Set1 is limited by the availability of certain SET1C components, such as Swd1 and Swd3, and suggest that cotranslational protein interactions may exert an effect in the protection of nascent Set1 from degradation.

An examination of police officers' beliefs about how children report abuse

The aim of this study was to examine police officers’ beliefs about how children report abuse. Fifty-two officers read transcripts of nine interviews, which were conducted with actual children or adults playing the role of the child witness. Officers indicated whether they thought the interviews were with an actual child and justified their decisions. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine the reasons behind their decisions. Overall, officers’ decisions were no better than chance. When making these decisions, officers focused on three areas: whether they considered the child's language to be age-appropriate, whether they thought that the content of the statement was plausible, and whether they thought that the child had acted in a manner consistent with recollecting a traumatic event. The findings suggest that the characteristics officers rely on when evaluating children's statements of abuse are not reliable indicators. They suggest that officers’ beliefs about these statements need to be challenged during training to reduce the effects of those beliefs on their later decisions.

You won’t know if you don’t ask discrepancy and ambivalence in attitudes toward behavior change

Background: Behavior change is challenging following an acute cardiac event, and commonly, individuals are ambivalent. Aim: The objective of this study was to describe the experience of behavior change of survivors of an acute cardiac event. Method: Semistructured interviews were undertaken with 25 participants attending 3 cardiac rehabilitation programs. An inductive process of qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts. Results: Analysis revealed ambivalence to change, misconceptions, and confusion about terminology. Discrepancies between what participants felt they should be doing and what they actually were doing reflected their ambivalence. Further inconsistencies were reflected in participants' misunderstandings and confusion regarding disease processes and management of heart disease. Conclusions: These findings reflect the misconception and ambivalence regarding behavior change that individuals experience. Clinicians may require greater skills in detecting conflicting or ambivalent discourse to support patients through sustainable health behavior change.