The social and emotional wellbeing needs of Aboriginal staff in out of home care: Walking in two worlds.

BACKGROUND: There is a disproportionate representation of Aboriginal children in the Australian Out of Home Care system. An important strategy to ensure Aboriginal children experience trauma informed care that is culturally situated is to have access to Aboriginal practitioners. The experiences of Aboriginal practitioners working in Aboriginal Out of Home Care have not been explored thoroughly. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This community led research was undertaken on Dharawal Country on the South Coast of the Illawarra region, Australia with an Out of Home Care program managed by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. The study included Aboriginal (n = 50) and non-Aboriginal (n = 3) participants connected through employment or community membership to the organisation. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore the wellbeing needs of Aboriginal practitioners working with Aboriginal children in Aboriginal Out of Home Care. METHODS: This co-designed qualitative research project used yarning sessions (individual and group), co-analysis with co-researchers, document analysis and reflexive writing. FINDINGS: Aboriginal practitioners are required to bring their cultural expertise to their work and with this, there is an expectation of cultural leadership and the fulfilling of cultural responsibilities. These elements bring with them emotional labour that must be acknowledged and accounted for in working in the Out of Home Care sector. CONCLUSION: The findings point to the importance of establishing an organisational social and emotional wellbeing framework in recognition of Aboriginal practitioner's specific needs, centring cultural participation as a key wellbeing and trauma informed strategy.

The clinical utility of genetic testing of tissues from pregnancy losses.

OBJECTIVE: To map the current testing being undertaken following pregnancy loss across the UK and to examine the clinical utility in terms of identifying a cause for the loss and in identifying couples at risk of an unbalanced liveborn child. DESIGN: Retrospective audit. SETTING: UK, for the year 2014. POPULATION: An audit of 6465 referrals for genetic testing of tissue samples following pregnancy loss. METHODS: Data were obtained by questionnaire from 15 UK regional genetics laboratories. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data were analysed with respect to gestational age, the presence of identified fetal anomalies, methodologies used, abnormality rates and the presence of a parental balanced rearrangement. RESULTS: Of 6465 referrals a genetic cause was identified in 22% of cases (before 12 weeks' gestation, in 47%; at 12-24 weeks, in 14%; after 24 weeks, in 6%). In 0.4% of cases a balanced parental rearrangement was identified where there was a risk of an affected liveborn child in a future pregnancy. Eighty percent of genetic imbalances identified were aneuploidy or triploidy and could be identified by quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction alone. There was significant variation across the UK in acceptance criteria, testing strategies and thus level of resolution of testing. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic testing of tissues following pregnancy loss identifies a probable cause of fetal demise in 22% of cases, but it is of low clinical utility in identifying couples at risk of a future unbalanced liveborn child. A comprehensive multidisciplinary review is needed to develop proposals for an affordable and equitable service. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: UK audit of genetic testing of fetal loss shows variation in access to and resolution of analysis.

Distinctive neurological phenotype associated with partial trisomy of chromosome 16.

We present a case of a live born female infant who presented in early life with a movement disorder, lack of developmental progress and neutropenia. Extensive neuro-metabolic investigation was non-diagnostic. Chromosome analysis of cultured lymphocyte cells showed an abnormal chromosome 16 with additional material noted in the proximal long arm. Additional fluorescence in situ hybridisation studies identified this additional material to represent a duplication of the long arm of chromosome 16 between 16q11.2 and 16q21. There was progressive decline and death by 10 months. Dystonia cortical blindness and neutropenia have not been a reported feature of trisomy 16 to date.

Monopolar needle evaluation of paraspinal musculature in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions and the effects of aging.

Motor unit characteristics (phases, turns, amplitude, duration, and area) were measured using a monopolar needle and narrowed bandpass (500 Hz to 10 kHz) in cervical, thoracic, and lumbar paraspinal muscles in 66 subjects (36 women and 30 men) aged 22-81 years (mean age 45.7 years). Cervical motor units were of lower amplitude and area than thoracic and lumbar motor units (P = 0.0001), respectively. The durations of lumbar motor units were longer and larger than cervical and thoracic motor units (P = 0.0004). Analysis of covariance of the measured characteristics against age showed no significance in the cervical and thoracic regions. In lumbar paraspinal motor units, phases and turns increased significantly with age (P = 0.044 and P = 0.016, respectively). The increase was < 1.0 phase over 30 years. Motor unit amplitude increased with aging (P = 0.055) showing an increase of 360 microV over a 30-year time period. It is appropriate to assess the number of phases and turns, as well as the duration of the motor units in the cervical and thoracic (but not lumbar) spines in addition to seeking evidence of spontaneous, single fiber discharges.

Dispersal of Eucalyptus torelliana seeds by the resin-collecting stingless bee, Trigona carbonaria.

Ants are the only group of invertebrates currently identified as significant dispersers of seeds, but we report here the dispersal of Eucalyptus torelliana seeds by bees. Fruits of E. torelliana produce resin which is collected by workers of the stingless bee Trigona carbonaria. Seeds adhere to resin in the workers' corbiculate and are transported to the nest. Workers transported seeds distances of more than 300 m from the parent tree and seeds at the nest were viable and capable of germination. Seeds were removed from the nests by workers and discarded away from the nest, and E. torelliana trees became established in the vicinity of colonies of T. carbonaria. 'Mellitochory' may be a novel method of seed dispersal where bees are dispersers, and associated with fruits that produce resin as an attractant for bees.

Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis in the prediction of carpal tunnel syndrome: a model for reporting electrophysiological data.

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to predict the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Patients were classified clinically as: (1) normal exam and no symptoms (169 hands); (2) having a motor and/or sensory deficit typical of CTS (115 hands); (3) having a history characteristic of CTS (156 hands); and (4) nondiagnostic symptomatology (122 hands). Electrophysiological studies consisted of median and ulnar motor, sensory, and palmar measurements. Group mean values for group 1 differed significantly from groups 2 and 3 (not 4) for all measurements, but values overlapped considerably. Median distal motor latency (DMML) combined with median-ulnar palmar latency differences (MUPLD) had significantly superior discriminant power than other measurements and correlated highly for all groups (r values = 0.71-0.73). These variables were used to construct ROC curves and prediction tables. The approach used allows one to assign a percentage risk of having a CTS and can be used in outcome studies.

Serological relatedness of herpes simplex viruses. Type-specificity of antibody response.

The serological relatedness of forty-seven strains of type 1 and type 2 herpes simplex virus was investigated by reciprocal and non-reciprocal neutralization kinetics. Early rabbit antisera divided the virus strains into two distinct groups where confident indentification of virus type was possible. Hyperimmune mouse and rabbit antisera did not divide the two virus types into two distinct non-over-lapping groups. The extent of overlap varied with the particular attribute of the virus being studied. The virus types were best discriminated by their neutralizability by type 1 antisera and least well by their neutralizability by type 2 antisera. The results of reciprocal kinetic neutralization test with hyperimmune mouse antisera were analysed by multi-dimensional cluster analysis. Hyperimmune mouse or rabbit antisera could not be discriminated with respect to their immunogenic type by their absolute neutralization rate constants against either type 1 or type 2 virus, but could be distinguished on a group basis by their relative neutralizability against both virus types (antiserum specificity attribute); however, using this latter criterion, the type of immunogen could only be predicted in seven of the forty antisera under test. 'Early' mouse antisera could also be distinguished as groups by their absolute k-values against type 1 herpes virus. Thus, immunogenic identification, on other than a group basis, was unreliable. The specificity of a given serum was inversely related to its titre. There was a positive correlation between the specificity of a given virus strain and of its corresponding antiserum.