Category / Research themes

SPARCing up the heart in flies…

The heart of a fly. Two cells wide and capable of beatign 5 times per second. Genes controlling the hearts contractile function are conserved in humans.

The heart of a fly. Two cells wide and capable of beating five times per second, the fly heart is helping us unlock the secrets governing our own heart’s function.

Research funded by the British Heart Foundation and conducted both here and at the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discover Institute near San Diego in California, is to be published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics.

The work identified a genetic pathway linking cardiac function with expression of a protein called SPARC (Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine). In humans, increases in SPARC accompany cardiac ageing, inflammatory disease, obesity and cancer. As a consequence SPARC is a potentially very important therapeutic target in a wide range of important clinical settings. Our work, which utilised the fly Drosophila, demonstrated that heart dysfunction (cardiomyopathy) could be cured by reducing SPARC gene expression. Establishing this link allows us to ascertain the mechanism by which SPARC contributes to cardiac function in humans. Whilst the human heart is significantly more complex than that of a fly, their early development and function are controlled by similar genetic pathways; evolution may have added to the human heart but it has not changed its fundamentals. Hence, we’re able to learn a lot about ourselves by studying this simple, yet very sophisticated, little insect.

Editorial by Dr. Way in top journal highlights midwifery education

Fusion, international, Publishing

Way editorial 2016The forthcoming editorial in Midwifery (Elsevier) by FHSS’s Dr Susan Way highlights the importance of midwifery education and its educators.[1]  This editorial makes reference to the recent series on midwifery in The Lancet.[2]  Of course, midwifery plays a vital role in improving the quality of care of women and infants globally. Dr. Way reminds us that consistent, high-quality midwifery care has a vital role to play in the reduction of maternal and newborn mortality. Outcomes are enhanced when care is led by midwives who are educated, licensed, regulated, integrated in the health system, and working in interdisciplinary teams, with ready access to specialised care when needed.

Midwifery one of the leading academic journals globally in the field of midwifery and maternity care.  Dr.Way is based in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health in FHSS at the Lansdowne Campus.

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

  1. Way, S. (2015) Consistent, quality midwifery care: How midwifery education and the role of the midwife teacher are important contributions to the Lancet Series, Midwifery (online first) see: http://www.midwiferyjournal.com/article/S0266-6138(16)00021-8/abstract
  2. Renfrew, M.J., McFadden, A., Bastos, M.H. et al. (2014) Midwifery and quality care: findings from a new evidence-informed framework for maternal and newborn care. the Lancet. 384:1129–1145.

Systematic Review Masterclass – 15-16 February 2016

PG research

A reminder that this two-day Systematic Review Masterclass will be taking place at the Executive Business Centre, Holdenhurst Road on 15 & 16 February.

One way of collating and assessing the best possible evidence is through a method called ‘systematic reviewing’. Systematic reviewing is a specific research method whereby a structured, rigorous, and objective approach is used to provide a critical synthesis of the available evidence on a particular topic. This masterclass will examine the rationale for systematic reviews and take participants through the various elements of a systematic review: selecting (electronic) databases; literature searching; data extraction; data synthesis; interpretation and reporting.

Booking price and information: The fee of £200 for this masterclass includes two full days with the course facilitators, all refreshments and all class materials. Accomodation and travel costs are not included.

Book your place now at http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclass-systematic-review-2016-tickets-18954206542 .  Places must be booked by 1 February 2016.

For further information please contact: Tel: 01202 962184 or email: epegrum@bournemouth.ac.uk

Presentation by PhD student Preeti Mahato Jan 27th.

international, PG research, student research

On Wednesday Jan. 27th CMMPH PhD student Preeti Mahato will present her PhD research ideas under the title “Addressing quality of care and equity of services available at birthing centres to improve maternal and neonatal health in western Nepal.”  Her presentation will be held at the Lansdowne Campus at 13.00 in room 301 in Royal London House.

IMG_6459Preeti’s research focuses on birthing centres in western Nepal; and quality and equity of service available at these facilities. In Nepal, birthing centres act as first contact point for the women seeking maternity services especially the basic obstetric care. The focus of this presentation will be to talk about the first review article Preeti Mahato wrote for the ‘Journal of Asian Midwives’ entitled “Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent development, obstacles and opportunities”. The article has been accepted for publication in June 2016 and focuses on introducing birthing centres, their current state of operation under the health system of Nepal, barriers they are facing and what could be done to improve their present state. The quality of care issue available at birthing centre is emphasised, since the number of these facilities are increasing however there is a growing trend to bypass and uptake services at hospitals. Despite barriers to utilisation of services at birthing centres, they can play an important role in increasing institutional delivery rate and proportion of births benefiting from a skilled birth attendant.IMG_6591

The second part of presentation will provide a brief summary on what Preeti has done since writing a review article, as she has worked on a systematic review on quality of basic obstetric care facilities in low and middle income countries.

Preeti Mahato has worked in the field of public health in Nepal for three years after completing her Master of Public Health. She has an interest in sexual and reproductive health, women’s health and maternal and child health. Working as a public health officer she was involved in maternal and neonatal health that developed her interest in pursuing a doctorate related to maternal and neonatal health. Part of her work in Nepal also included monitoring and supervision of birthing centres in rural areas of Nepal and that is how she became motivated to start a PhD at BU.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Research seminar by Fulgoni Professor Consumer Behaviour and Marketing – Please note change in venue

margaret hogg

Margaret Hogg, Fulgoni Professor of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing at Lancaster University, will be visiting the University on Wednesday, 10th February, to give a research seminar.  This will be held at 3pm in the Lawrence Lecture Theatre on the Talbot Campus.  Refreshments will be available after the seminar.

Professor Hogg is on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Marketing Management and the Handbook of Marketing Theory and she is co-author of Consumer Research: A European Perspective (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013).  Margaret’s research has a broad inter-disciplinary base  with a particular interest in family consumption and buying behaviour including consumer behaviour in single mothers, care leavers, and fatherhood.  Margaret’s talk is entitled ‘Becoming Respectable: Low income young women, consumption and the pursuit of socially appropriate mothering’.

 

 

New CMMPH international midwifery publication

international, Publishing, writing

Congratulations to Professor Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the publication of her latest international paper ‘How do midwives in Slovenia view their professional status?’ [1]. slovenia midwifery 2015

The paper explores Slovenian midwives’ views of their professional status, linkng this to the participants’ educational background. Most participants did not consider midwifery to be a profession in its ow right. Midwives with secondary education were more likely to consider practical skills to be important than theoretical midwifery knowledge. In general Slovenian midwives did not feel enabled to practise autonomously causing them several ethical dilemmas. All participants with midwifery secondary school education thought that obstetrics jeopardises midwifery scope of practice, but only half of the B.Sc. participants thought this. One-fifth of all participants estimated that midwifery is also threatened by nursing. The respondents reported feeling a lack of control over their professional activity and policy making; however the majority of midwives claimed that they were willing to take on more responsibility for independent practice. The authors conclude that Slovenian midwifery cannot be considered to be a profession yet. It faces several hindrances, due to its historical development.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

Mivšek, P., Pahor, M., Hlebec, V., Hundley, V. (2015) How do midwives in Slovenia view their professional status? Midwifery 31(12):1193-201

Psychology & Marketing Publication co-authored by Miguel Moital, PhD

Congratulations to Miguel Moital from the Department of Events & Leisure, Faculty of Management, on his new publication which appears in the latest issue of Psychology & Marketing. The paper, entitled “Segmenting the Business Traveler Based on Emotions, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intention” is the result of a collaboration with Angel Millan and Maria Luisa Fanjul from Spain. The study demonstrates that the relationship between emotions and satisfaction is not unidirectional as far as business tourism is concerned. For two of the four segments, the valence of emotions translated into an opposite level of satisfaction/intention.

Miguel Moital, PhD

Screenshot of Psychology & Marketing Article

 

Full reference

Campos, A. M, Fanjul, M. L., and Moital, M., 2016. Segmenting the business traveler based on emotions, satisfaction and behavioral intention, Psychology & Marketing, 33(2), 82-93

 

 

 

I like a good spreadsheet!

I’m Sharon Docherty and I have just joined the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) team as a Research Fellow in Quantitative Methods. My background is in Biology with a particular interest in Physiology and I’ve been involved in clinical research for the past 12 years. I also have lots of experience working with large datasets (too many years to think about) and love trying to figure out the best way of presenting results.

My main area of research interest is looking at the effects of clinical conditions (neck pain, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes) on people’s perception of vertical. How we perceive upright is dependent on our brain’s ability to integrate visual, vestibular (inner ear) and proprioceptive (positioning of joints) information. When the information from one of these systems is faulty, the brain has to overcome this by relying on signals from the other sources. This could lead to problems such as an increased risk of falling.

Some of you may already know me as I have taught across various programmes (Anatomy and Physiology, Research Methodology) within Health and Social Sciences. I’m also one of the co-founders and organisers of Bournemouth Café Scientifique, a public engagement forum for discussing scientific ideas.

So what will I be doing? As a member of the BUCRU team I am here to help you with any health related research you may be doing/thinking about doing. In particular, I can help with the design of quantitative studies as well as what to do with the collected data. I am also here to support you with developing grant proposals. You can find me on the 5th floor of Royal London House or email me sdocherty@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Shakespeare festival: open call for digital ideas

international

British Council

What is it about?

BBC Arts Online and the British Council, supported by the GREAT Britain campaign, are collaborating to enable audiences, in the UK and overseas, to experience and discover the best of British Shakespeare in all art forms. The plan is to open with a 24 hour live-stream on 23 April 2016 and to offer new content on a regular basis over six months.

The British Council, on behalf of the GREAT Britain campaign, is calling for ideas from artists and cultural organisations across the UK. Funding is available for international rights clearances and to support the production of new content.

Five key cultural organisations are already working with  to provide world-class content – Shakespeare’s Globe, The Royal Opera House, the British Film Institute, Hay Festivals and the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Shakespeare400 consortium coordinated by King’s College.

The content will be hosted on BBC Shakespeare Lives (bbc.co.uk/shakespearelives ) and promoted internationally by BBC Worldwide online ( bbc.com/culture) so global rights need to be cleared . The campaign will be supported by social media campaigns in order to drive audiences to this unique festival.

This is an unprecedented partnership project for the BBC and the British Council and  believe it has great potential for all organisations involved to increase their international reach and reputation.

How can I get involved?

We are particularly looking for ideas which appeal to younger audiences and convey the diversity and creativity of the UK’s Arts sector. If you are interested in applying, please complete the attached form.

APPLICATIONS CLOSE TUESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2016

Click here for more information including the application form.

Latest BU Nursing publication

Centre for Excellence in Learning, writing

Scammel J Clin Nurse 2016Congratulations to Janet Scammell, Vanessa Heaslip and Emma Crowley in FHSS on their new publication which appeared at the very end of 2015.  Their most recent paper is the first systematic review of service user involvement in non-mental health specific preregistration  nurse education.  The paper ‘Service user involvement in preregistration general nurse education: a systematic review’ is published in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. [1]

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

  1. Scammell, J., Heaslip, V., Crowley, E. (2015) ‘Service user involvement in preregistration general nurse education: a systematic review’ Journal of Clinical Nursing 25:53-69.

Mental health & maternity care in Nepal: THET-funded training

international, open access

group work NawalparasiIMG_6649

A few days I posted a short report of our first session as part of the THET-funded project ‘Mental Health Training for Community-based Maternity Providers in Nepal’, see this previous post here.  Yesterday we completed the final third day training of the first session of this BU-led project.  Over three days we had 70 ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) in attendance, which we think is (nearly) all such staff based in all birthing centres in the district (=province).  The three days were the same, i.e. each session was repeated twice so each day one third of the ANMs could attend, and two-third could be at work in the birthing centre ensuring women could deliver safely.

logo THETAs part of this project we send UK volunteers (health and/or education) experts to Nepal to offer high quality training in areas where it is most needed.  Further detail on this BU-led THET project can be found in our scientific paper Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal  published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology available through Open Access.  Mental illness is still very much a taboo topic in Nepal as it has often a serious stigma attached to it.  Moreover, the relatively short training of ANMs is often fairly basic and the national curriculum does not cover mental health issues in any detail.  This joint project between Bournemouth University, Liverpool John Mooores University, Tribhuvan University and the local charity Green Tata Nepal addresses issues about mental health in general and in pregnant women and new mothers in particular.  Tribhuvan University is the oldest university in Nepal and one of the ten largest universities in the world (based on student numbers).  The project is multi-disciplinary involving midwives, (mental health) nurses, and doctors as well as global health researchers, educationalists and sociologists.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

Human Body Decomposition in CGI: Simulating Livor Mortis

PG research, student research

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Dhana Frerichs

Title:   Human Body Decomposition in CGI: Simulating Livor Mortis

Human Body Decomposition in CGI

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 20th January 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

Creating realistic looking scenes is an important goal in computer graphics. In particular, in the real-time games industry, one can observe an increasing trend towards realism. Despite this, ageing effects, such as rotting, are often neglected. This is particularly noticeable in the way corpses are depicted in game worlds, which show no signs of decay and tend to simply disappear from the world after a while. We aim to simulate these post-mortem appearance changes.

There are a number of different processes that affect a body’s appearance after death. In this talk we concentrate on the simulation of skin discolouration after death caused by blood pooling, which is referred to as livor mortis. The skin colour is affected by the red chromophore haemoglobin that is found in red blood cells, and the brown chromophore melanin, found in the outer skin layer. The skin discoloration is due to the changes in the haemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation in the body. Our approach consists of a simulation of post mortem blood dynamics in a volumetric mesh and a layered skin shader that is controlled by the haemoglobin and oxygen levels in blood.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

 

2016 Geovation Challenge – ‘How can we better manage water in Britain, sustainably?’

Funding opportunities, innovation

Environment

Competition offering cash prizes for the most innovative ideas that can be turned into a commercial success. The 2016 Geovation Challenge question is ‘How can we better manage water in Britain, sustainably?’

Funding body:                      Ordnance Survey
Maximum value:                  £ 20,000
Application deadline:          27/01/2016
Location:                               United Kingdom

Background

The Geovation Challenge was initiated, funded and managed by Ordnance Survey. Its current collaborators include Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Environment Agency, OCG, Springwise and United Utilities.

Objectives of Fund

The GeoVation Challenge aims to encourage open collaboration in addressing communities’ needs where geography is a key enabler. Open innovation, data, tools and information can be combined to create new ventures which generate social and environmental value.

The current GeoVation Challenge is focused on tackling the global issues around water. The Geovation Challenge question is ‘How can we improve water use in Britain sustainably?

Value Notes

The Programme is divided into two parts:

  • Part one (phases one to three over a period of six months) provides a total of £10,000 in funding.
  • Part two (for those who successfully deliver a prototype at the end of this and move on to phase four which is another six months on the Programme) provides an additional £10,000 in funding.

Funding will be given during each of the phases to progress the idea to the next level.

Those who are successful at phase four will receive help in seeking extra funding so that they have more than one source of investment and can move toward product launch.

Match Funding Restrictions

Match funding is not a specified requirement.

 Who Can Apply

The Challenge is open to UK based organisations and residents over 18 years of age. This includes community groups, entrepreneurs, developers, innovators and local authorities.

Those who join the Programme will be expected to spend a minimum of 20 hours per week working on their project and attending core workshops at the Geovation Hub in London.

Restrictions

The following cannot enter the competition:

  • Members of the civil service.
  • Individuals involved in the administration of the GeoVation Awards Programme.

Eligible Expenditure

This year’s GeoVation Challenge is focused on tackling the global issues around water.

Ideas must help address the GeoVation Challenge question: ‘How can we better manage water in Britain, sustainably?’

The Geovation Water Challenge is focusing on five themes:

  • Too little water.
  • Too much water.
  • Poor water quality.
  • Ageing infrastructure.
  • Water use behaviour.

How To Apply

Deadline(s):

The deadine for submission is 27 January 2016.

Frequency: Biannual

Link to guidelines: https://geovation.uk/challenge/#challenge

Useful Links

GeoVation
http://www.geovation.org.uk/

Geovation Challenge 2015: Water
https://geovation.uk/challenge/#difference

Useful Contacts

GeoVation
Ordnance Survey
Urban Innovation Centre
1 Sekforde Street
Clerkenwell Green
London
EC1R 0BE

E-Mail: challenge@geovation.uk

If you are interested please contact the funding development team within RKEO.