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Purpose: People living with HIV (PLHIV) are at an increased risk for many chronic diseases due, in part, to low physical activity (PA) levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physical activity patterns and health-related fitness indicators of adults living with HIV in South Texas. Methods: Participants ('N' = 172) were mostly Hispanic/Latino ('n' = 105) adults with HIV. Measurements included a 7-day Physical Activity Recall (PAR) assessing light, moderate, and vigorous PA; a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) to assess cardiovascular fitness; a hand grip strength test to assess muscular strength; a back scratch test for flexibility; and anthropometrics (body mass index (BMI) and hip-waist ratio). Data were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics, an independent samples t-test, Pearson’s correlations and partial correlations, and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis (HMRA). Results: There was a significant relationship between total PA and muscular strength. Light and total PA were associated with lower hip-waist ratios. In Hispanics/Latinos, both moderate and total PA were associated with muscular strength. All findings remained after controlling for age. Hispanics/Latinos had higher hip-waist ratios than non-Hispanics/Latinos. Conclusions: Results suggest a relationship between PA and muscular strength as well as between PA and hip-waist ratio for this population of adults living with HIV, but not between PA and other health-related fitness indicators. There appears to be some benefit associated with even low intensity PA for PLHIV. Future intervention studies may wish to examine strategies to increase PA- particularly that of moderate and vigorous intensity- in PLHIV.

This article explores academics’ writing practices, focusing on the ways in which they use digital platforms in their processes of collaborative learning. It draws on interview data from a research project that has involved working closely with academics across different disciplines and institutions to explore their writing practices, understanding academic literacies as situated social practices. The article outlines the characteristics of academics’ ongoing professional learning, demonstrating the importance of collaborations on specific projects in generating learning in relation to using digital platforms and for sharing and collaborating on scholarly writing. A very wide range of digital platforms have been identified by these academics, enabling new kinds of collaboration across time and space on writing and research; but challenges around online learning are also identified, particularly the dangers of engaging in learning in public, the pressures of ‘always-on’-ness and the different values systems around publishing in different forums.

This paper offers a working conversation between the authors about the uneasy relationship between literacy studies and learning technologies. We come from the field of literacy studies but from contrasting perspectives: from academic literacies and work on literacies and technologies in higher education; from an interest in media theory and the implications of digital mediation for the contemporary university; from everyday literacies in informal settings and a concern for the gaps between policy and practice. We illustrate our perspectives through reference to post-compulsory education, especially higher education, but intend our arguments to be of broader value to all sectors of education and learning. We argue that it is probably inevitable that terms such as literacy/digital/network will be taken up by different arenas of scholarship and practice to mean different things, but what is important is finding spaces to make visible the embedded and implicit understandings, assumptions and ideological positions that are carried by these terms. In the paper, we attempt to lay bare some of the tendencies in the different approaches and argue the case for building on these differences in our work rather than seeing them as paradigm contests. We suggest that it would be more generative to the field to acknowledge the richness and diversity of these different traditions, rather than attempting the impossible task of forcing them into a superficial reconciliation.

Oleaginous microalgae are considered as a promising resource for the production of biofuels. Especially diatoms arouse interest as biofuel producers since they are most productive in carbon fixation and very flexible to environmental changes in the nature. Naturally, triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation in algae only occurs under stress conditions like nitrogen-limitation. We focused on Phaeodactylum strain Pt4 (UTEX 646), because of its ability to grow in medium with low salinity and therefore being suited when saline water is less available or for wastewater cultivation strategies. Our data show an increase in neutral lipids during nitrogen-depletion and predominantly 16:0 and 16:1(n-7) accumulated in the TAG fraction. The molecular species composition of TAG suggests a remodeling primarily from the betaine lipid diacylglyceroltrimethylhomoserine (DGTS), but a contribution of the chloroplast galactolipid monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) cannot be excluded. Interestingly, the acyl-CoA pool is rich in 20:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3) in all analyzed conditions, but these fatty acids are almost excluded from TAG. Other metabolites most obviously depleted under nitrogen-starvation were amino acids, lyso-phospholipids and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates, whereas sulfur-containing metabolites as dimethylsulfoniopropionate, dimethylsulfoniobutyrate and methylsulfate as well as short acyl chain carnitines, propanoyl-carnitine and butanoyl-carnitine increased upon nitrogen-starvation. Moreover, the Calvin cycle may be de-regulated since sedoheptulose accumulated after nitrogen-depletion. Together the data provide now the basis for new strategies to improve lipid production and storage in Phaeodactylum strain Pt4.

This short paper refers back to the pre-conference presentation I gave at last year’s CSSE meeting in Montreal. It uses a contemporary example from everyday social practice to discuss the powers of literacy in social ordering.