Project description:Conservation gardening (CG) represents a socio-ecological approach to address the decline of native plant species and transform the gardening industry into an innovative conservation tool. However, essential information regarding amenable plants, their ecological requirements for gardening, and commercial availability remains limited and not readily available. In this study, we present a workflow using Germany as a case study to bridge this knowledge gap. We synthesized the Red Lists of all 16 federal states in Germany, and text-mined a comprehensive platform for garden plants, as well as multiple German producers of native plants. To provide accessible information, we developed a user-friendly app ( https://conservation-gardening.shinyapps.io/app-en/ ) that offers region-specific lists of CG plants, along with practical guidance for planting and purchasing. Our findings reveal that a median of 845 plant species are red-listed across federal states (ranging from 515 to 1123), with 41% of these species amenable to gardening (ranging from 29 to 53%), resulting in a total of 988 CG species. Notably, 66% of these species (650) are already available for purchase. Additionally, we observed that many CG plants exhibit drought tolerance and require less fertilizer on average, with implications for long-term urban planning and climate adaptation. Collaborating with gardening experts, we present a selection of purchasable CG balcony plants for each federal state, highlighting the feasibility of CG even for individuals without gardens. With a multitude of declining plants amenable to gardening and the vital role of gardens as refuges and green corridors, CG holds substantial potential to catalyze transformative change in bending the curve of biodiversity loss.
Project description:UnlabelledCollaborative care models for depression in primary care are effective and cost-effective, but difficult to spread to new sites. Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) is an initiative to promote evidence-based collaborative care in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Social marketing applies marketing techniques to promote positive behavior change. Described in this paper, TIDES used a social marketing approach to foster national spread of collaborative care models.Tides social marketing approachThe approach relied on a sequential model of behavior change and explicit attention to audience segmentation. Segments included VHA national leadership, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) regional leadership, facility managers, frontline providers, and veterans. TIDES communications, materials and messages targeted each segment, guided by an overall marketing plan.ResultsDepression collaborative care based on the TIDES model was adopted by VHA as part of the new Primary Care Mental Health Initiative and associated policies. It is currently in use in more than 50 primary care practices across the United States, and continues to spread, suggesting success for its social marketing-based dissemination strategy.Discussion and conclusionDevelopment, execution and evaluation of the TIDES marketing effort shows that social marketing is a promising approach for promoting implementation of evidence-based interventions in integrated healthcare systems.
Project description:BackgroundSince 2012, several states have legalized non-medical cannabis, and cannabis businesses have used social media as a primary form of marketing. There are concerns that social media cannabis exposure may reach underage viewers. Our objective was to identify how cannabis businesses cultivate an online presence and exert influence that may reach youth.MethodsWe chose a cyber-ethnographic approach to explore cannabis retailers on social media. We searched cannabis retailers with Facebook and Instagram presence from Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington, and identified 28 social media business profiles. One year of content was evaluated from each profile. In-depth, observational field notes were collected from researchers immersed in data collection on business profiles. Field notes were analyzed to uncover common themes associated with social media cannabis marketing.ResultsA total of 14 businesses were evaluated across both Facebook and Instagram, resulting in 14 sets of combined field notes. A major theme was Normalization of Cannabis, involving both Broad Appeal and Specific Targeting.ConclusionsIt is concerning that Normalization of Cannabis by cannabis businesses may increase cannabis acceptability among youth. In a digital world where the majority of youth are spending time online, it is important for policymakers to examine additional restrictions for cannabis businesses marketing through social media.
Project description:IntroductionGlobally, sexually transmissible infections (STIs) continue to disproportionately affect young people. Regular STI testing is an important public health strategy but remains low among this age group. Raising awareness of testing is an essential step and requires effective interventions designed for young people. To inform the development of effective interventions that promote STI testing among young people, we conducted a systematic literature review to describe the social marketing and visual design components commonly found in STI testing interventions and explore associations of these components with intervention effectiveness.MethodsWe used a systemic review methodology to identify peer-reviewed articles that met pre-defined inclusion criteria. Social marketing and visual component analyses were conducted using structured data extraction tools and coding schemes, based on the eight key social marketing principles and 28 descriptive dimensions for visual analysis.Results18 studies focusing on 13 separate interventions met the inclusion criteria. Most interventions used photograph-based images, using conventionally attractive actors, positioned centrally and making direct eye contact to engage the viewer. The majority of interventions featured text sparingly and drew on a range of tones (e.g. serious, humorous, positive, reassuring, empowering and informative) and three interventions used sexualised content. Four articles explicitly stated that the interventions was informed by social marketing principles, with two explicitly referencing all eight principles. Around half of the articles reported using a formal theoretical framework, but most were considered to have theoretical constructs implicit in interventions materials. Four articles provided detailed information regarding developmental consumer research or pre-testing. All articles suggested segmentation and development of materials specifically for young people. Explicit consideration of motivation and competition was lacking across all articles. This study found that there were some design elements common to interventions which were considered more effective. High social marketing complexity (where interventions met at least seven of the 11 criteria for complexity) seemed to be associated with more effective interventions.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the incorporation of social marketing principles, could be more important for intervention effectiveness than specific elements of visual design. Effective and systematic use of social marketing principles may help to inform future evidence-informed and theoretically based interventions and should be employed within sexual health improvement efforts.
Project description:PDZ domains recognise short sequence motifs at the extreme C-termini of proteins. A model based on microarray data has been recently published for predicting the binding preferences of PDZ domains to five residue long C-terminal sequences. Here we investigated the potential of this predictor for discovering novel protein interactions that involve PDZ domains. When tested on real negative data assembled from published literature, the predictor displayed a high false positive rate (FPR). We predicted and experimentally validated interactions between four PDZ domains derived from the human proteins MAGI1 and SCRIB and 19 peptides derived from human and viral C-termini of proteins. Measured binding intensities did not correlate with prediction scores, and the high FPR of the predictor was confirmed. Results indicate that limitations of the predictor may arise from an incomplete model definition and improper training of the model. Taking into account these limitations, we identified several novel putative interactions between PDZ domains of MAGI1 and SCRIB and the C-termini of the proteins FZD4, ARHGAP6, NET1, TANC1, GLUT7, MARCH3, MAS, ABC1, DLL1, TMEM215 and CYSLTR2. These proteins are localised to the membrane or suggested to act close to it and are often involved in G protein signalling. Furthermore, we showed that, while extension of minimal interacting domains or peptides toward tandem constructs or longer peptides never suppressed their ability to interact, the measured affinities and inferred specificity patterns often changed significantly. This suggests that if protein fragments interact, the full length proteins are also likely to interact, albeit possibly with altered affinities and specificities. Therefore, predictors dealing with protein fragments are promising tools for discovering protein interaction networks but their application to predict binding preferences within networks may be limited.
Project description:Background The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many countries to formulate guidelines on how to deal with a worst-case scenario in which the number of patients needing intensive care unit (ICU) care exceeds the number of available beds. This study aims to explore the experiences of triage teams when triaging fictitious patients with the Dutch triage guidelines. It provides an overview of the factors that influence decision-making when performing ICU triage with triage guidelines. Methods Eight triage teams from four hospitals were given files of fictitious patients needing intensive care and instructed to triage these patients. Sessions were observed and audio-recorded. Four focus group interviews with triage team members were held to reflect on the sessions and the Dutch guidelines. The results were analyzed by inductive content analysis. Results The Dutch triage guidelines were the main basis for making triage decisions. However, some teams also allowed their own considerations (outside of the guidelines) to play a role when making triage decisions, for example to help avoid using non-medical criteria such as prioritization based on age group. Group processes also played a role in decision-making: triage choices can be influenced by the triagists’ opinion on the guidelines and the carefulness with which they are applied. Intensivists, being most experienced in prognostication of critical illness, often had the most decisive role during triage sessions. Conclusions Using the Dutch triage guidelines is feasible, but there were some inconsistencies in prioritization between teams that may be undesirable. ICU triage guideline writers should consider which aspects of their criteria might, when applied in practice, lead to inconsistencies or ethically questionable prioritization of patients. Practical training of triage team members in applying the guidelines, including explanation of the rationale underlying the triage criteria, might improve the willingness and ability of triage teams to follow the guidelines closely.
Project description:Practice of a motor skill results in improved performance and decreased movement awareness. The psychomotor efficiency hypothesis proposes that the development of motor expertise through practice is accompanied by physiological refinements whereby irrelevant processes are suppressed and relevant processes are enhanced. The present study employed a test-retest design to evaluate the presence of greater neurophysiological efficiency with practice and mediation analyses to identify the factors accounting for performance improvements, in a golf putting task. Putting performance, movement-specific conscious processing, electroencephalographic alpha power and alpha connectivity were measured from 12 right-handed recreational golfers (age: M = 21 years; handicap: M = 23) before and after 3 practice sessions. As expected, performance improved and conscious processing decreased with training. Mediation analyses revealed that improvements in performance were partly attributable to increased regional gating of alpha power and reduced cross-regional alpha connectivity. However, changes in conscious processing were not associated with performance improvements. Increased efficiency was manifested at the neurophysiological level as selective inhibition and functional isolation of task-irrelevant cortical regions (temporal regions) and concomitant functional activation of task-relevant regions (central regions). These findings provide preliminary evidence for the development of greater psychomotor efficiency with practice in a precision aiming task.
Project description:Of the various types of preperformance preparatory behavior that are acquired during motor learning, the effect of a practice motion performed just prior to execution of an actual motion is not yet fully understood. Thus, the present study employed a golf putting task to investigate how a practice motion in the preparation phase would affect the accuracy of motor control in the execution phase and how proficiency would influence this relationship. To examine the impacts on kinematics and final ball position, the velocities of practice strokes made by tour professional and amateur golfers were experimentally manipulated in the following three conditions: the equal condition, which presented a target that was at the same distance during the practice strokes and the actual stroke; the confusing condition, which had two different distances during the practice and actual strokes; and the no condition, which did not include a practice stroke. The results, based on final ball position, indicated that practice strokes in the equal condition were linked with the highest accuracy levels during the actual stroke in both professionals and amateurs. In the confusing condition, regardless of skill level, the velocity of the actual stroke was influenced by a faster or slower stroke during the pre-shot phase. These relationships between the practice and actual strokes imply that the golfers effectively utilized kinesthetic information obtained during the practice strokes as a reference for the actual stroke. Furthermore, the differences in proficiency level indicated that the club head velocity of amateurs in the no condition was significantly faster than in the equal condition. Therefore, the present results imply that the role of a practice stroke may differ between professionals and amateurs.
Project description:Active transportation to school (ATS) is a recognized way to increase physical activity (PA). However, girls and young women do not regularly use ATS despite the many documented physical, mental, and community health benefits. Social Marketing (SM) may provide a framework for understanding girls' perspectives of and experience with ATS and inform messages for use in a public health marketing campaign. Focus groups with 79 girls between the ages of 7 and 15 were conducted in Spring 2017 in Victoria, Canada. Transcripts and poster data were initially categorized using the '4Ps' from social marking (Product, Price, Place and Promotion). Participant groups were segmented into three age categories for designing tailored messaging. Thematic analysis revealed elementary school aged participants identified health and fun while middle school participants valued socializing and helping the environment as reasons for engaging in ATS. For secondary school students, ATS was seen as a way to become more independent. All three highlighted fun and enjoyment as important benefits of ATS, and suggested positive and lighthearted messaging. Segmenting into different audiences highlighted how campaign segmentation would resonate with different audiences based on core values and beliefs. Further segmentation of the audience could result in different core values and beliefs held by diverse groups.