While the burden of caring for people living with dementia has been well documented, considerably less is known about how carers transition into post-care life. This study aimed to understand the experiences of primary family care-givers of people with dementia after the person with dementia has died. A specific focus of the research was understanding the barriers to transitioning into a positive post-care life, and facilitators that help sustain carers as they move forward after their care journey has ended. A qualitative exploratory, descriptive study was undertaken with nine primary carers for a family member who died with dementia (five spouses and four adult children). Semi-structured face-to-face or telephone interviews were conducted with carers between July and August 2016. Interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic approach. A number of factors that can act as barriers or facilitators to transition for carers were identified. Contextualising loss, restructuring identity, psychological health issues and the influence of social attitudes seemed to have a strong influence on carer outcomes. The findings highlight the need for further systematic social and informational support for carers to moderate post-care trajectories and improve carer transition.

Birth weight and early growth have been associated with later blood pressure. However, not all studies consistently find a significant reduction in blood pressure with an increase in birth weight. In addition, the relative importance of birth weight and of other lifestyle and environmental factors is often overlooked and the association is rarely studied in adolescents. We investigated early life predictors, including birth weight, of adolescent blood pressure in the Gateshead Millennium Study (GMS). The GMS is a cohort of 1029 individuals born in 1999–2000 in Gateshead in Northern England. Throughout infancy and early childhood, detailed information were collected, including birth weight and measures of height and weight. Assessments of 491 returning participants at age 12 years included measures of body mass and blood pressure. Linear regression and path analysis were used to determine predictors and their relative importance on blood pressure. Birth weight was not directly associated with blood pressure at the age of 12. However, after adjustment for contemporaneous body mass index (BMI), an inverse association of standardized birth weight on systolic blood pressure was significant. The relative importance of birth weight on later systolic blood pressure was smaller than other contemporaneous body measures (height and BMI). There was no independent association of birth weight on blood pressure seen in this adolescent population. Contemporaneous body measures have an important role to play. Lifestyle factors that influence body mass or size, such as diet and physical activity, where interventions are directed at early prevention of hypertension should be targeted.

Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. are common intestinal protozoa that can cause diarrhoeal disease. Although cases of infection with Giardia and Cryptosporidium have been reported in Alaska, the seroprevalence and correlates of exposure to these parasites have not been characterised. We conducted a seroprevalence survey among 887 residents of Alaska, including sport hunters, wildlife biologists, subsistence bird hunters and their families and non-exposed persons. We tested serum using a multiplex bead assay to evaluate antibodies to the Giardia duodenalis variant-specific surface protein conserved structural regions and to the Cryptosporidium parvum 17- and 27-kDa antigens. Approximately one third of participants in each group had evidence of exposure to Cryptosporidium. Prevalence of Giardia antibody was highest among subsistence hunters and their families (30%), among whom positivity was associated with lack of community access to in-home running water (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.28) or collecting rain, ice, or snow to use as drinking water (aPR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01–1.18). Improving in-home water access for entire communities could decrease the risk of exposure to Giardia.

To achieve high yields of total solids in a dairy herd requires the implementation of appropriate breeding and feeding strategies. The Edinburgh School of Agriculture's Langhill herd, which consists of 200 cows, embarked on a long-term breeding programme in the early 1970s to demonstrate to what extent genetic improvement might be achieved within a herd, using selection methods available to commercial dairy farmers. The specific selection objective was yield of total solids, with artificial insemination (AI) sires being chosen on their improved contemporary comparison for fat plus protein production and females being selected on their genetic index for the same traits. To measure genetic change, a genetic control population was established. Thus, a section of the herd, currently 25 animals but increasing to 20% of the total herd, are bred from a panel of 50 AI sires selected randomly from the 1976 Milk Marketing Board and Scottish Milk Marketing Board Dairy Bull Progeny Testing Schemes. The herd is given complete diets during the winter housing period, September to May, and grazed on a paddock system in the summer months. The average 305-day yield in the selected herd in 1983 was 6924 kg at 41.8 g fat and 34.2 g protein/kg. This yield shows an increase from the 1977 yield of 5732 kg at 38.7 g fat and 32.5 g protein/kg. Current first-lactation yields average 6107 kg at 42.5 g fat and 33.9 g protein/kg. The food intake of a section of the herd is recorded and initial results suggest that cows producing high yields of solids are more efficient than cows producing lower yields.

The Star Centre is a national astronomy and space science base which

1. facilitates public access to news and information
2. promotes public awareness, interest, enjoyment and understanding.

The Star Centre meets these twin aims by providing an information service which can be accessed in a variety of ways and by offering a menu of public observing events.

The concept of a national astronomy base developed as part of the Centre for Science Educations growing portfolio of initiatives in both the formal education sector and the wider umbrella of the Public Understanding of Science. In December 1996 the Star Centre was launched with the aid of a Royal Society COPUS development grant and matching funding from Sheffield Hallam University.

This article contributes to the growing research base in Turkish popular music studies with a focus on indie music from Istanbul. It situates this music within Turkey's contemporary social, cultural and political landscapes, and in relation to the country's historical cultural narrative. Istanbul indie musicians’ responses to the 2013 Gezi protests suggest that indie's counter-hegemonic aesthetics are being explored and engaged with in alignment with ‘Third Republicanism’, an emerging vision for Turkey that holds liberalism and human rights as its core ideals where the ‘First’ and ‘Second’ Republican visions held secularism and Islam respectively.

Direct photoelectrochemical water splitting offers several advantages over PV-powered electrolysis and may become the technology of choice in the future. However, significant R&D efforts and breakthroughs are needed to accomplish this goal.

The sustainable production of hydrogen would be an important first step for both powering fuel cells and for enabling large-scale and technologically mature gas phase processes to reduce CO2 and nitrogen to get desired products. Specifically, the central challenge is to produce hydrogen from water using sunlight. Photovoltaics and wind-powered electrolysis are likely to be the technology of choice to produce renewable hydrogen for the next few decades. However, the integration of light absorption and catalysis in ‘direct’ photoelectrolysis routes offers several advantages, such as lower current densities and better heat management, and may become technologically relevant in the second half of this century. This article discusses the research and development efforts and needed breakthroughs to achieve this goal. New chemically stable semiconductors with a band gap between 1.5 and 2.0 eV and long carrier lifetimes are urgently needed to make efficient tandem devices. Scale-up of these research level devices beyond a few cm2 introduces mass transport limitations that require creative electrochemical engineering solutions. Last but not least, standardized methods for measuring efficiencies and stabilities need to be implemented and should lead to official benchmarking and certification laboratories to guide commercial scale up efforts.

In pasture-based dairying systems it is important to maintain a 365-day calving interval, which requires that cows have a rapid resumption of postpartum ovulatory activity and high conception rates. The major form of infertility in New Zealand (NZ) dairy cows is an extended postpartum anovulatory interval (ppai; Macmillan, 2002), a problem that can be exacerbated by low body condition score (BCS) at calving (McDougall, 1995). Furthermore, Holstein cows, originating from North American genetic strains (Overseas; OS), which have been widely used in NZ in recent years, have longer intervals to first mating and conceive later than do NZ strains, suggesting a possible delay in the initiation of postpartum cyclicity (Harris and Winkleman, 2000). Worldwide, there is concern over an apparent decline in the fertility of Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle (Butler et al., 1995; Royal et al., 2000). The purpose of this trial was to determine whether there was a difference in ppai and BCS between NZ and OS Holstein Friesians that may affect reproductive performance.