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Societal Impact Statement Large quantities of diverse native seeds are required to scale up global restoration efforts. However, it remains unclear for many ecosystems how the diversity of available seed in commercial stocks reflects the composition of the ecosystems where vegetation is being remade. This study highlights existing shortfalls in the diversity of seed presently available for use in restoration and identifies gaps in the seed supply chain while providing a new method for optimising species selection given these constraints. This work underscores how improved collaboration between stakeholders is required to strengthen the seed supply chain and help remake functionally diverse vegetation. Summary Restoration using native seed is frequently implemented to restore degraded ecosystems. However, it remains unclear how constraints on the diversity of germplasm available for use in restoration may limit the recovery of both species and plant functional diversity. Using a dataset of seed availability for Australia's major vegetation types, we explore variation in the diversity and breadth of functional traits (leaf mass per area, seed mass, plant height) for species where seed is available on commercial markets relative to unavailable. Using these data, we simulate theoretical seed mixes derived from two species pools: (1) constrained by the current market of commercially available seed, and (2) assuming all native species can be planted; then we compare differences in functional diversity (dispersion) as an exercise to explore possible limitations within the current seed supply. Seed from only 12% of Australian plant species (2992 species) is presently available for immediate purchase. Seed was more frequently available for trees and shrubs than for understorey species. Available species were on average taller, with thicker, longer‐lived leaves than unavailable species. Overall, functional dispersion was lower for seed mixes generated using available seed compared with those drawn from all species. Solutions are required to address seed shortfalls so that plantings are not only species rich but also functionally diverse. We develop two options: (1) quantifying and addressing gaps in the seed supply chain that currently limit the capacity for practitioners to restore diverse vegetation; and (2) applying a trait‐informed species‐selection method to plantings that maximises functional diversity using available seed.

BackgroundBurns are common childhood injuries, which can lead to serious physical and psychological outcomes. Appropriate first aid is essential in managing the pain and severity of these injuries; hence, parents who need timely access to such information often seek it from the web. In particular, social media allow them to reach other parents, hence these conversations may provide insight to aid the design and evaluation of burn first aid interventions for parents. ObjectiveThis study aims to determine the feasibility of finding, accessing, and analyzing parent burn first aid conversations on social media to inform intervention research. MethodsThe initial choice of the relevant social media was made based on the results of a parent focus group and survey. We considered Facebook (Meta Platforms, Inc), Mumsnet (Mumsnet Limited), Netmums (Aufeminin Group), Twitter (subsequently rebranded as “X”; X Corp), Reddit (Reddit, Inc), and YouTube (Google LLC). To locate the relevant data on these platforms, we collated a taxonomy of search terms and designed a search strategy. A combination of natural language processing and manual inspection was used to filter out irrelevant data. The remaining data were analyzed manually to determine the length of conversations, the number of participants, the purpose of the initial post (eg, asking for or offering advice), burn types, and distribution of relevant keywords. ResultsFacebook parenting groups were not accessed due to privacy, and public influencer pages yielded scant data. No relevant data were found on Reddit. Data were collected from Mumsnet, Netmums, YouTube, and Twitter. The amount of available data varied across these platforms and through time. Sunburn was identified as a topic across all 4 platforms. Conversations on the parenting forums Mumsnet and Netmums were started predominantly to seek advice (112/116, 96.6% and 25/25, 100%, respectively). Conversely, YouTube and Twitter were used mainly to provide advice (362/328, 94.8% and 126/197, 64%, respectively). Contact burns and sunburn were the most frequent burn types discussed on Mumsnet (30/94, 32% and 23/94, 25%, respectively) and Netmums (2/25, 8% and 14/26, 56%, respectively). ConclusionsThis study provides a suite of bespoke search strategies, tailored to a range of social media platforms, for the extraction and analysis of burn first aid conversation data. Our methodology provides a template for other topics not readily accessible via a specific search term or hashtag. YouTube and Twitter show potential utility in measuring advice offered before and after interventions and extending the reach of messaging. Mumsnet and Netmums present the best opportunity for informing burn first aid intervention design via an in-depth qualitative investigation into parents’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

Natural resource managers need information about both human and natural systems and interactions between those systems. Much data is available, but mostly from disparate sources and data have often been collected at different time steps and at different geographic scales. We used insights from the literature to select 270 relevant variables, available at national scale, from 33 unique (Australian) data sources. There were numerous with repeat measures, so in total we have 425 variables: 143 specific to 2016, 148 specific to 2021, and 134 available for both periods. We used GIS to summarize the variables spatially based on two geographic boundaries: one describes 63 Natural Resource Management Regions; the other describes 419 (sub) bioregions (formally, IBRA – Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia). Data deficiencies prevented us from being able to report on all variables for all regions. In the NRM dataset many regions are offshore islands, about which data are not generally available. Moreover, many IBRA regions are small and household level data are not always available at that scale. For analyses requiring a complete dataset at a single time step, our 2021 dataset for NRM regions includes 270 unique variables that describe 56 regions. Our IBRA data includes 214 variables describing 409 regions. To help managers select appropriate data for specific problems/contexts, the metadata file also categorises variables according to (a) whether they pertain to the social or ecological system, or interactions; (b) the segment of society described (where relevant); and (c) the frequency with which data are updated.

Measurement(s) plant trait Technology Type(s) digital curation Sample Characteristic - Organism Viridiplantae Sample Characteristic - Location Australia Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14545755

Most clinicians receive little or no palliative care (PC) education. Similarly, patients and their families receive little or no information on PC. Our study explored education in PC, while examining for its impacts on service delivery and utilization from the perspective of health care professionals (HCPs), patients, and their families. An ethnographic approach was utilized to gather data from 41 participants. Spradley’s ethnographic analytical framework guided data analysis. Two themes identified were inadequate HCPs’ knowledge base and impact of service-users’ inadequate health education. The findings show that most HCPs had no formal education in PC, attributed to the lack of PC residency programs and the absence of educational institutions that provide such education. Patients and families also conveyed poor understandings of their illness and palliation, rooted in the HCP culture of partial disclosure of information about their diagnosis, care, and prognosis. Findings suggest a cultural shift that supports PC education for professionals is required to promote realist medical approach in the care for patients with life-limiting illnesses.

Career salience was defined and operationalised by Greenhaus in 1971. His scale and conceptualisation of this construct have attracted critical review. Numerous authors have tested various alternative conceptualisations of career salience. However, these approaches have tended to neglect some of the valuable ideas in Greenhaus’ original construct. The present authors suggest that career salience constructs and measures have also been contaminated with an associated but unrecognised construct, namely, work salience. In this study, new work and career salience scales were developed and validated on a sample of 1078 office workers. The data supported the independent definition and measurement of work salience. Opsomming Loopbaanmarkantheid is in 1971 deur Greenhaus gedefinieer en geoperationaliseer. Sy skaal en konseptualisering van hierdie konstruk het kritiese kommentaar ontlok. Menige skrywers het verskeie alternatiewe konseptualiserings van loopbaanmarkantheid getoets. Hierdie benaderings is egter geneig om sommige van die waardevolle idees van Greenhaus se oorspronklike konstruk te verwaarloos. Die teenswoordige outeurs suggereer dat loopbaanmarkantheidkonstrukte en -maatstawe deur ‘n geassosieerde en minder, bekende konstruk, naamlik werkmarkantheid gekontamineer word. In hierdie studie is nuwe werk- en loopbaanmarkantheidskale ontwikkel en gevalideer op ‘n steekproef van 1078 kantoorwerkers. Die data ondersteun die onafhanklike definisie en meting van werkmarkantheid.

ABSTRACT Sclerostin is a potent inhibitor of osteoblastogenesis. Interestingly, newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients have high levels of circulating sclerostin that correlate with disease stage and fractures. However, the source and impact of sclerostin in MM remains to be defined. Our goal was to determine the role of sclerostin in the biology of MM and its bone microenvironment as well as investigate the effect of targeting sclerostin with a neutralizing antibody (scl-Ab) in MM bone disease. Here we confirm increased sclerostin levels in MM compared with precursor disease states like monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering MM. Furthermore, we found that a humanized MM xenograft mouse model bearing human MM cells (NOD-SCID.CB17 male mice injected intravenously with 2.5 million of MM1.S-Luc-GFP cells) demonstrated significantly higher concentrations of mouse-derived sclerostin, suggesting a microenvironmental source of sclerostin. Associated with the increased sclerostin levels, activated β-catenin expression levels were lower than normal in MM mouse bone marrow. Importantly, a high-affinity grade scl-Ab reversed osteolytic bone disease in this animal model. Because scl-Ab did not demonstrate significant in vitro anti-MM activity, we combined it with the proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib. Our data demonstrated that this combination therapy significantly inhibited tumor burden and improved bone disease in our in vivo MM mouse model. In agreement with our in vivo data, sclerostin expression was noted in marrow stromal cells and osteoblasts of MM patient bone marrow samples. Moreover, MM cells stimulated sclerostin expression in immature osteoblasts while inhibiting osteoblast differentiation in vitro. This was in part regulated by Dkk-1 secreted by MM cells and is a potential mechanism contributing to the osteoblast dysfunction noted in MM. Our data confirm the role of sclerostin as a potential therapeutic target in MM bone disease and provides the rationale for studying scl-Ab combined with proteasome inhibitors in MM. © 2016 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of a well defined nanosystem that retains its physicochemical properties and can be tracked in complex biological environments is one reason why the study of NP transport across biological barriers is currently so difficult. As a result, surprisingly little is known about the fate of sub-micron particles once they deposit in the airways of the lung. The aim of this study was to design and manufacture a novel nanoparticle (NP) core that would be physically stable, i.e., not aggregate in biological fluids, and act as a tracking system to investigate NP distribution in the lung. Accordingly, covalent fluorescent labeling (to allow particle tracking) of 40% hydrolyzed poly(vinyl alcohol) was undertaken by inducing dissociation of the carboxylic acid group (ArCOO−) of 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (CF) which then reacted with the hydroxyl group of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) to produce a covalently linked PVA-CF ester. Polymer purification was followed by NP manufacture and characterization in biological media. In contrast to commercial latex particles which aggregated in both cell culture medium and Hank’s balanced salt solution (HBSS), the PVA nanoparticles retained their original size (ca. 220 nm), maintained a neutral surface charge in cell culture medium for 24 h and were not acutely toxic to respiratory cells in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Introduction  Late systemic right ventricular (RV) dysfunction after atrial redirection surgery is common. Patients may require cardiac transplantation in early adulthood. Methods  We undertook cardiac resynchronisation (CRT)/defibrillator therapy in two patients as a bridge to transplantation. Results  Two males (aged 24, 110 kg and 26 years, 106 kg); having undergone a Mustard procedure for dextro-transposition of the great arteries at 7 and 6 months of age respectively, presented with impaired systemic RV function and New York Heart Association III symptoms. Both patients had dual chamber pacemakers in-situ for sinus bradycardia. Upgrade to CRT was performed by conserving the existing endocardial leads and placement of epicardial electrodes. One demonstrated sustained improvement over a 24 month follow-up period. Conclusion  A hybrid CRT strategy is feasible in patients with failing systemic RVs and pre-existent endocardial dual chamber pacemakers. Appropriate patient selection criteria and optimum lead placement, however, still needs further evaluation in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a highly versatile synthetic polymer that is formed by full or partial hydrolysis of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc). A wide range of PVA partially hydrolysed grades are commercially available, but the amphiphilic grades of the polymer (30-60% hydrolysis), which probably the most interesting in terms of drug delivery, are not readily available. As a consequence few studies have assessed the application of low hydrolysis PVA polymers to form nanocarriers. The aims of this study were to synthesise amphiphilic grades of PVA on a laboratory scale, analyse their chemical properties and determine whether these grades could be used to form nanoparticles. PVA 30%, PVA 40%, PVA 50% and PVA 60% were synthesised via direct saponification of PVAc. All grades of PVA synthesised had degrees of hydrolysis close to those predicted from the stoichiometry of the saponification reaction. The PVA grades displayed <1.5% batch to batch variability (n=3) in terms of percentage hydrolysis, demonstrating the manufacture process was both reproducible and predictable. Analysis of the polymer characteristics using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance and differential scanning calorimetry revealed that all PVA grades contained block distributions (i.e., eta <1) of vinyl alcohol monomers (eta ranged from 0.33-0.45) with a high probability of adjacency calculated for the hydroxylated units (P(OH) ranged 0.926-0.931). All the grades of PVA formed nanoparticles using a precipitation technique with a trend towards smaller particle size with increasing degree of PVA hydrolysis; PVA 30% resulted in significantly larger nanoparticles (225 nm) compared to PVA 40-60% (137-174 nm).