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As athletes gather in France for the start of the Paralympics, an academic at the University of Salford is calling for more research into the challenges amputees face when travelling.
Dr Vikranth Harthikote Nagaraja, a University Fellow, says this research highlights the urgent need for a global and inclusive approach for people who use prosthetics and who often face discrimination and difficulties when trying to travel.
“Unfortunately, our research has found people with prostheses – including the general public and Para athletes – have faced humiliating experiences while travelling.
“For example, one woman was left without her waterproof prosthetic leg for her entire holiday after an airline lost the bag she packed it into. Another was told to remove her leg for screening by security staff. All too often, travellers with prostheses feel discriminated against.
“It would be fantastic if we could make the legacy of Paris 2024 a commitment to improving research, clinical practice and education in this area,” said Vikranth.
The authors of the report searched all major databases for peer-reviewed literature, and studied documents from professional bodies, government websites and airlines. They also directly approached amputees, including veterans and athletes and found that until now, there appears to be no academic literature published on travelling with a prosthetic limb, meaning guidance and health advice is scarce.
The University of Salford’s internationally acclaimed Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O) department hosts the £6 million UK EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in P&O. It is currently training 60 PhD students.
In addition to the Doctoral teams, Salford is currently the only university in England that offers a full-time undergraduate BSc (Hons) in Prosthetics and Orthotics, training nearly 1000 specialists since it opened in 1995.
Previously carrying out research at Oxford University, Dr Nagaraja is now preparing to share his findings widely. The full research article, published in collaboration with Dr Irmgard Bauer (James Cook University, Australia), can be found in BMC’s Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines journal.
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New research shows why arctic streams are turning orange, in the pristine brooks range in arctic alaska, streams are turning bright orange and fish are disappearing, threatening the well-being of local communities. a recent scientific paper reveals why..
By Nina Chambers
Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey / Josh Koch
The Arctic is warming much faster than the global average, and it’s altering terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems . Warmer temperatures are causing permafrost to thaw and release substances that have been locked in the frozen ground for thousands of years. For some compounds, such as the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, their release is largely invisible. But recent releases are very visible: streams in Arctic Alaska’s Brooks Range have turned bright orange. A recent paper in Nature Communications Earth & Environment describes how this is occurring and what it means to people who live in this remote region.
“We first noticed an orange stream in 2018 during regular Arctic stream monitoring ,” said Jon O’Donnell, lead author and ecologist for the National Park Service’s Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network. “We thought it was anomalous and set out to learn everything we could about what was happening and why.” O’Donnell and other scientists from the National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and several universities have since found many more streams that have turned orange across the Arctic. As this was not an isolated event, they wanted to understand the cause of the color change, when streams started to change, and the effect on aquatic ecosystems.
The Arctic Network consists of over 19 million acres of parklands—about a quarter of the total land area in the National Park System. Within that area, network ecologists conduct site visits to monitor a relatively small number of streams and rivers for changes in their chemistry and biology. To document the scope of the problem, O’Donnell and colleagues began by crowd-sourcing observations from bush pilots, wilderness guides, other scientists, and rural and Indigenous communities. Through this process, they compiled observations of more than 75 orange streams that span more than 600 miles (1,000 km) of remote terrain in Alaska’s Brooks Range.
They were able to document that streams changed color in the last decade during a period of rapid warming and permafrost thaw.
The next step was to determine when the streams turned orange, and to do that, the authors turned to satellite imagery. They collected satellite images of the area taken from 1985 to 2022, between the months of July and August, and when cloud cover was less than 30 percent. For three sites where they had conducted visits, they used the satellite images to calculate a Redness Index for each scene, removing any images that had smoke from wildfires. They identified a value of 1.5 as the threshold for when water changes from clear to orange/red.
Image credit: NPS / Ken Hill
By looking at Redness Index values over time, they were able to document that streams changed color in the last decade during a period of rapid warming and permafrost thaw . A more general review of satellite imagery across the region supported these findings, indicating that most orange streams were clear up until the last decade. “We selected study sites where streams had recently changed from clear to orange based on both the crowd-sourced observations and satellite analyses,” said O’Donnell. “From that, we also selected sites that are relatively easy to access from hub communities like Kotzebue.” Some satellite images indicated downstream shifts from orange to clear. More research could help scientists understand why.
“We lucked out by having biological data before and after that stream changed color, so we were able to directly assess impact to aquatic life.”
Between June and September 2022, O’Donnell and fellow scientists measured the chemistry of both orange streams and nearby clearwater streams, including metal concentrations, pH (or degree of acidity), temperature, and other factors. They compared water chemistry, aquatic invertebrates, and fish before and after stream discoloration, based on years of monitoring data. This enabled them to determine how biological systems were being affected. “We had been monitoring a small stream in the Akillik River basin in Kobuk Valley National Park, starting in 2017,” O’Donnell recalled. “During a 2018 site visit, we noticed that this stream had changed from clear to orange. In a way, we lucked out by having biological data before and after that stream changed color, so we were able to directly assess impact to aquatic life.”
O’Donnell and his colleagues found high levels of iron, nickel, zinc, cadmium, and copper in affected waters, although oxidized iron is what’s turning them orange. Movement of metals from thawed ground to water may cause a loss of habitat for important subsistence fish species like Dolly Varden, chum salmon, and whitefish. The metals transported downstream from headwater streams to larger rivers could also contaminate drinking water supplies for nearby villages.
Image credit: O'Donnell et al., Communications Earth & Environment, 2024. Illustration by Julia Ditto.
This image is a detailed illustration of possible factors leading to the discoloration of Arctic streams, and their consequences. Several rectangular sections are overlaid on an illustration of an arctic stream flowing down from the mountains into lowlands, ending in a cross-sectional view of the stream and surrounding soils.
Common biota of arctic streams (top left).
This rectangular section has three smaller sections showing different arctic stream organisms: First is algae, illustrated by a light green tuft. An arrow leads from this section into the next, which depicts macroinvertebrates: mayflies, stoneflies, midges, craneflies, and snails. An arrow leads from this section to the third section, which shows three species of fish: dolly varden ( Salvelinus malma ), chum salmon ( Oncorhynchus keta ), and Arctic grayling ( Thymallus arcticus ).
This rectangular section depicts processes associated with the higher reaches of the stream and points to an illustration of a mountain stream.
Text reads: As permafrost thaws by active layer thickening, sulfide minerals (e.g., pyrite) are exposed to chemical weathering, releasing sulfate, acid, and trace metals into groundwater and streams.
A diagram below shows an upland stream cross-section, clear on the left, and orange on the right. There's pyrite in the permafrost on both sides, but on the orange side, more of the surface has thawed and part of the pyrite is shown leaching into the stream with flowing groundwater, blanketing the bottom with an iron (III) particulate layer. On the clear side, the groundwater is restricted to above the pyrite, and flows cleanly into the stream, which has a layer of algae present on the bottom.
Point source.
This rectangular section points to an illustration of a patch of dead vegetation in the lowland, just upslope of the stream.
Text reads: Point sources of acidic water can occur through groundwater seeps that emerge at the ground surface, likely through thermokarst processes. In some cases, this acidic water can kill tundra and boreal vegetation.
( Thermokarst is a process that occurs when ice-rich permafrost thaws, creating distinct landforms like hummocks and hollows .)
This rectangular section points to an illustration of a cross section of the stream.
Text reads: Orange stream reaches are more turbid, acidic, and have higher concentrations of iron particulates and other trace metals than nearby clearwater streams. Stream beds are typically blanketed with precipitated iron minerals that can impact the benthic aquatic food web.
This part depicts processes associated with the lower reaches of the stream.
This rectangular section points to an illustration of a cross section of lowland soils beside the stream, where groundwater is shown flowing through saturated soils above a permafrost layer, leaching orange water into the stream.
Text reads: Permafrost thaw can result in wetter soils and the release of iron from previously frozen soil. Under these conditions, iron is reduced to the highly mobile dissolved iron(II) ion, which can be transported by groundwater to streams.
This rectangular section has two numbered parts:
1. Drinking Water
Text reads: Downstream communities that rely on rivers for domestic use, including drinking water, may be impacted by iron and trace metal mobilization.An illustration to the right of the text depicts an orange water droplet falling from a faucet into a glass of water.
2. Subsistence Fishing
Text reads: Orange streams may impact subsistence fisheries through the accumulation of toxins in fish species, the loss of habitat, and degraded spawning grounds.
An illustration to the right of the text depicts a person in a small boat pulling up a fishing net with a fish in it.
This rectangular section points to an illustration of the lower waters of the stream and a fish. It has three numbered parts:
1. Direct uptake of trace metals by fish from the water column.
An illustration to the right of the text depicts a cluster of orange dots with a curved arrow pointing at a drawing of a salmon.
2. Bioaccumulation of toxic metals in an organism with time
An illustration below the text depicts, from left to right, algae, a mayfly larva, and a fish. Each organism depicted has orange dots in or on it, with arrows pointing to the next organism.
3. Ecosystem contraction , resulting in loss of habitat due to degraded conditions
An illustration below the text depicts the same as above, but with "not" icons (circles with slashes) over the larva and the fish.
“This kind of acid rock drainage is what you expect to see at a mining site, not in the remote and pristine Brooks Range.”
In recent years, Arctic air and ground temperatures have abruptly increased compared to the preceding 30-year record, exceeding the freezing threshold for near-surface permafrost. Thawing permafrost can alter stream chemistry through changes in watershed vegetation, soil, and topography . More water reaching deeper in the ground unlocks minerals and exposes them to microbes and weathering. The weathering of sulfide minerals like pyrite releases acid, iron, sulfate, and potentially toxic metals to streams and rivers, which discolor the water and displace fish . “This kind of acid rock drainage is what you expect to see at a mining site, not in the remote and pristine Brooks Range in Alaska<,” said Brett Poulin, assistant professor in Environmental Toxicology, University of California-Davis, and a co-author of the paper.
Arctic rivers support many types of fish used by subsistence harvesters, recreational anglers, and commercial fisheries. These fish are already suffering the effects of climate change . Metal release due to thawing permafrost is one more stressor. When the Akillik River changed color from clear in 2017 to orange in 2018—and when the stream pH suddenly dropped and metal concentrations increased—it completely lost two fish species, juvenile Dolly Varden and slimy sculpin. Aquatic invertebrates also declined.
Impaired streams from metal contaminants are a serious problem for nearby villages.
Although arsenic and lead did not exceed EPA or World Health Organization recommendations in study streams, the researchers found concentrations of cadmium, nickel, and manganese that did. Impaired streams from metal contaminants are a serious problem for nearby villages. Metal contamination from this naturally occurring leaching process extends the problem to a large area.
Arctic rivers are ever-changing ecosystems. The specific causes and long-term consequences of their impairment remain to be discovered. “We are still learning about what makes certain rivers vulnerable to rusting, as the underlying causes are complex,” said O’Donnell. But this study will help scientists, parks, and communities understand why rivers are turning orange. It gives us a better idea of how big the problem is and how far it has spread. With further research, it could also help determine how long the discoloration might last .
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Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve , Kobuk Valley National Park , Noatak National Preserve
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As Ireland's foremost academic expert on addiction, Dr Jo-Hanna Ivers, Associate Professor in Addiction at Trinity College Dublin, has dedicated her career to understanding and addressing the complexities of substance use with a particular focus on opioid addiction.
‘Opioid overdose is a critical issue globally, with many regions, including Ireland, experiencing increased rates of opioid overdose. Currently, Ireland has a death rate from drugs more than three times above the European average. Drug poisoning deaths remain the leading cause of deaths. Of these deaths, 7 in 10 cases involved opioids. Thus, understanding what is driving opioid overdose remains a key priority,’ explains Dr Ivers whose extensive training, education, and experience in specialist addiction services have positioned her at the forefront of addiction research.
Here at Trinity College Dublin, she leads a broad research programme of projects aimed at tackling the opioid crisis in Ireland.
These projects include Reducing Drug-Related Stigma which aims to develop a strategy to reduce drug-related stigma. Stigma affects self-esteem, physical and psychological health, and relationships - all of which directly impact an individuals' ability to access necessary support services. The hidden nature of those living with active drug use disorders due to stigma means the public has little opportunity to challenge their prejudices. Research has shown that interacting with stigmatised individuals and hearing their stories profoundly destigmatises listeners.
The Non-Fatal Overdose study examines the experiences of individuals who have survived non-fatal opioid overdoses, aiming to improve coordination among service providers and develop timely interventions to prevent future overdoses.
A third project focuses on Treatment Patterns and Trends in Opioid Use in the older population from 2015-2021. This analysis identifies trends in opioid use and associated health issues, providing insights to shape public health policies.
Her research recommends that an effective public health response must address the criminalisation of substance use. There is also a need to develop research on policy models prioritising treatment over punishment, such as health diversion programmes.
Dr Ivers is committed to fostering collaboration among researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers to ensure their collective efforts translate into meaningful change. She has achieved this through her roles as a scientific adviser to the Citizens Assembly on Drugs, a former member of the Scientific Committee of the EMCDDA, and as an expert scientific member of the Pompidou Group of the European Council on Drug Policy and Human Rights.
New research shows that women with endometriosis may also face higher heart risks
Women with the uterine condition had higher odds for heart attack and stroke
Doctors should include endometriosis among factors that could help assess an individual woman's heart risk
MONDAY, Sept 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Endometriosis can be a painful, debilitating condition for many women, but new research suggests even more serious consequences: higher odds for heart attacks or strokes.
Endometriosis occurs when uterine tissue that normally grows on the inside of the organ grows outside of it instead. Cysts, scar tissue and other conditions can infiltrate nearby organs, resulting in pain and troubles with fertility, according to the Mayo Clinic .
The new Danish study was led by Dr. Eva Havers-Borgersen , from Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital, in Copenhagen. Her team presented its findings Thursday in London at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.
"One in three women die from cardiovascular disease and one in 10 women suffer from endometriosis ," she said in a meeting news release. "Our results suggest that it may be time to routinely consider the risk of cardiovascular disease in women with endometriosis."
The study looked at information from a Danish database that identified endometriosis cases among over 60,000 women from 1977 through 2021.
The team then compared rates of heart attack and stroke for those women to rates among more than 242,000 women without endometriosis, matched for age. The women's health was followed for an average of 16 years.
Women with endometriosis had a 35% higher odds for heart attack and a 20% higher risk for an ischemic (caused by a clot) stroke, compared to women without the condition, the study found.
Endometriosis also appeared to raise the odds for a heart arrhythmia by 21% and heart failure by 11%, the Danish team found.
"These results provide more evidence that female-specific risk factors and cardiovascular disease in women need greater attention," Havers-Borgersen said. "We suggest that women with endometriosis undergo cardiovascular disease risk assessment, and it is now time for female-specific risk factors -- such as endometriosis, but also gestational diabetes and preeclampsia -- to be considered in cardiovascular risk prediction models."
Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
Find out more about endometriosis at Johns Hopkins Medicine .
SOURCE: European Society of Cardiology, news release, Aug. 29, 2024
If you have endometriosis, you may want to talk over your heart risks with your doctor.
COMMENTS
45 Research Problem Examples & Inspiration. A research problem is an issue of concern that is the catalyst for your research. It demonstrates why the research problem needs to take place in the first place. Generally, you will write your research problem as a clear, concise, and focused statement that identifies an issue or gap in current ...
A research problem is a gap in existing knowledge, a contradiction in an established theory, or a real-world challenge that a researcher aims to address in their research. It is at the heart of any scientific inquiry, directing the trajectory of an investigation. The statement of a problem orients the reader to the importance of the topic, sets ...
Examples of practical research problems. Voter turnout in New England has been decreasing, in contrast to the rest of the country. The HR department of a local chain of restaurants has a high staff turnover rate. A non-profit organization faces a funding gap that means some of its programs will have to be cut. Theoretical research problems
To identify a research problem, you need a systematic approach and a deep understanding of the subject area. Below are some steps to guide you in this process: Conduct a thorough literature review to understand what has been studied before. Identify gaps in the existing research that could form the basis of your study.
A problem statement is a clear and concise summary of the research problem, typically contained within one paragraph. Research problems emerge from research gaps, which themselves can emerge from multiple potential sources, including new frontiers, new contexts or disagreements within the existing literature.
Applications of Research Problem. Applications of Research Problem are as follows: Academic research: Research problems are used to guide academic research in various fields, including social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and engineering. Researchers use research problems to identify gaps in knowledge, address theoretical or practical problems, and explore new areas of study.
A research problem is a definite or clear expression [statement] about an area of concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or within existing practice that points to a need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation.
A compelling research problem not only captivates the attention of your peers but also lays the foundation for impactful and meaningful research outcomes. Identifying a Research Problem. To identify a research problem, you need a systematic approach and a deep understanding of the subject area. Below are some steps to guide you in this process:
London: Sage, 2013; Jacobs, Ronald L. "Developing a Dissertation Research Problem: A Guide for Doctoral Students in Human Resource Development and Adult Education." New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development 25 (Summer 2013): 103-117; Chapter 1: Research and the Research Problem.
A research problem has two essential roles in setting your research project on a course for success. 1. They set the scope. The research problem defines what problem or opportunity you're looking at and what your research goals are. It stops you from getting side-tracked or allowing the scope of research to creep off-course.
5. Select and include important variables. A clear and manageable research problem typically includes the variables that are most relevant to the study. A research team summarizes how they plan to consider and use these variables and how they might influence the results of the study. Selecting the most important variables can help the study's ...
A research problem is a specific issue or gap in existing knowledge that you aim to address in your research. You may look for practical problems aimed at contributing to change or theoretical problems aimed at expanding knowledge. ... You need a clear problem to research that contributes new and relevant insights. Whether planning your thesis ...
A research problem statement should be clear, concise, and specific, outlining the issue, its context, and significance. While a research problem is a broad statement of the primary issue ...
A research problem statement is a brief and precise description of the problem that a researcher wishes to investigate. It defines the research's focus and serves as a framework for developing research questions or hypotheses. Typically, the problem statement begins with a broad topic or research area and then narrows down to a specific ...
Research is a procedure based on a sequence and a research problem aids in following and completing the research in a sequence. Repetition of existing literature is something that should be avoided in research. Therefore research problem in a dissertation or an essay needs to be well thought out and presented with a clear purpose.
A research problem statement is the descriptive statement which conveys the issue a researcher is trying to address through the study with the aim of informing the reader the context and significance of performing the study at hand. The research problem statement is crucial for researchers to focus on a particular component of a vast field of ...
esearch question for a study, depending on the complex-ity and breadth of your proposed work. Each question should be clear and specific, refer to the problem or phenomenon, reflect an inter. ention in experimental work, and note the target population or participants (see Figure 2.1). Identifying a research question will provide greater focus ...
Alternatively, research problems can be identified by reviewing recent literature, reports, or databases in your field. Often the section on "recommendations for future studies" provided at the end of journal articles or doctoral dissertations suggests potential research problems. In addition, major reports and databases in the field may ...
Research problems often stem from real-world challenges or problems. By examining these problems, researchers can develop innovative ideas, methods, or strategies to solve practical issues or guide decision-making. Advancing theory and knowledge. Research problems serve as a basis for developing new concepts, hypotheses, or models.
A research problem, also called a research issue, is a statement about an area or field of concern that professionals aim to understand and address. The aim of the research may be to clarify a contradiction or fill a knowledge gap. Researchers may decide to conduct research to solve a problem, contribute to social or scientific change, or add ...
"A research paper from Nature was suggesting up to 1 billion people in the tropics, where this is potentially going to be most successful, could have access to safer drinking water by using this atmospheric water harvesting," she said. But this solution can't fix the entire global problem.
Examples of practical research problems. Voter turnout in New England has been decreasing, in contrast to the rest of the country. The HR department of a local chain of restaurants has a high staff turnover rate. A non-profit organisation faces a funding gap that means some of its programs will have to be cut. Theoretical research problems
Designathons are interactive events in which people work together to design and develop creative solutions to specific problems. TDR has published a new guide for people interested in organizing a designathon for improving health and well-being. This followed a systematic review of the literature on designathons and a global crowdsourcing open call. Designathons have been used to develop ...
The third editorial offered strategies for starting or changing research projects in response to new opportunities and challenges ... effective follow-up, establishing collaborative relationships with agency and community partners, problem-solving with other partners and researchers, etc. Then, please provide tips on practices that have worked ...
Formulating a research problem is usually done under the first step of research process, i.e., defining the research problem. Identification, clarification and formulation of a research problem is done using different steps as: Discover the Management Dilemma. Define the Management Question. Define the Research Question.
Parlindungan Pardede Research in ELT (Module 1) 1. Identifyin g and Fo rmulatin g the Researc h Problem. Parlindungan Pardede. [email protected]. English Education Department. Universitas ...
New research explores problems faced by travellers with artificial limbs Categories: Research, School of Health and Society As athletes gather in France for the start of the Paralympics, an academic at the University of Salford is calling for more research into the challenges amputees face when travelling.
Determining the Extent of the Problem. The Arctic Network consists of over 19 million acres of parklands—about a quarter of the total land area in the National Park System. Within that area, network ecologists conduct site visits to monitor a relatively small number of streams and rivers for changes in their chemistry and biology.
Research has shown that interacting with stigmatised individuals and hearing their stories profoundly destigmatises listeners. The Non-Fatal Overdose study examines the experiences of individuals who have survived non-fatal opioid overdoses, aiming to improve coordination among service providers and develop timely interventions to prevent ...
New research shows that women with endometriosis may also face higher heart risks. Women with the uterine condition had higher odds for heart attack and stroke. Doctors should include endometriosis among factors that could help assess an individual woman's heart risk. MONDAY, Sept 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Endometriosis can be a painful ...