3,887 research outputs found
Grouping practices in the primary school: what influences change?
During the 1990s, there was considerable emphasis on promoting particular kinds of pupil grouping as a means of raising educational standards. This survey of 2000 primary schools explored the extent to which schools had changed their grouping practices in responses to this, the nature of the changes made and the reasons for those changes. Forty eight percent of responding schools reported that they had made no change. Twenty two percent reported changes because of the literacy hour, 2% because of the numeracy hour, 7% because of a combination of these and 21% for other reasons. Important influences on decisions about the types of grouping adopted were related to pupil learning and differentiation, teaching, the implementation of the national literacy strategy, practical issues and school self-evaluation
Integrating the promotion of physical activity within a smoking cessation programme: Findings from collaborative action research in UK Stop Smoking Services
Background: Within the framework of collaborative action research, the aim was to explore the feasibility of
developing and embedding physical activity promotion as a smoking cessation aid within UK 6/7-week National
Health Service (NHS) Stop Smoking Services.
Methods: In Phase 1 three initial cycles of collaborative action research (observation, reflection, planning,
implementation and re-evaluation), in an urban Stop Smoking Service, led to the development of an integrated
intervention in which physical activity was promoted as a cessation aid, with the support of a theoretically based
self-help guide, and self monitoring using pedometers. In Phase 2 advisors underwent training and offered the
intervention, and changes in physical activity promoting behaviour and beliefs were monitored. Also, changes in
clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a cessation aid, physical activity beliefs and behaviour and
physical activity levels were assessed, among those who attended the clinic at 4-week post-quit. Qualitative data
were collected, in the form of clinic observation, informal interviews with advisors and field notes.
Results: The integrated intervention emerged through cycles of collaboration as something quite different to
previous practice. Based on field notes, there were many positive elements associated with the integrated
intervention in Phase 2. Self-reported advisors’ physical activity promoting behaviour increased as a result of
training and adapting to the intervention. There was a significant advancement in clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a smoking cessation aid.
Conclusions: Collaboration with advisors was key in ensuring that a feasible intervention was developed as an aid to smoking cessation. There is scope to further develop tailored support to increasing physical activity and
smoking cessation, mediated through changes in perceptions about the benefits of, and confidence to do physical activity
Emats for Roll-By Crack Inspection of Railroad Wheels
Railroad safety depends on many factors. The integrity of the wheels on rolling stock is one that is subject to nondestructive evaluation. For some years, ultrasonic testing has been applied to the detection of cracks in wheel treads, with particular attention to automatic, in-rail, roll-by methods. We have begun constructing a system aimed at using relatively low frequency Rayleigh waves generated by electromagnetic-acoustic transducers (EMATs). The current design uses a permanent magnet to maintain a compact structure and minimize the size of the pocket machined into the rail. Measurements thus far indicate a responsiveness, even to small flaws. With the development of a signal processing and analysis system, field tests should soon be possible.</p
International differences in self-reported health measures in 33 major metropolitan areas in Europe.
The increasing concentration of populations into large conurbations in recent decades has not been matched by international health assessments, which remain largely focused at the country level. We aimed to demonstrate the use of routine survey data to compare the health of large metropolitan centres across Europe and determine the extent to which differences are due to socio-economic factors
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Association of common genetic variants with risperidone adverse events in a Spanish schizophrenic population
Risperidone non-compliance is often high due to undesirable side effects, whose development is in part genetically determined. Studies with genetic variants involved in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of risperidone have yielded inconsistent results. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the putative association of genetic markers with the occurrence of four frequently observed adverse events secondary to risperidone treatment: sleepiness, weight gain, extrapyramidal symptoms and sexual adverse events. A series of 111 schizophrenia inpatients were genotyped for genetic variants previously associated with or potentially involved in risperidone response. Presence of adverse events was the main variable and potential confounding factors were considered. Allele 16Gly of ADRB2 was significantly associated with a higher risk of sexual adverse events. There were other non-significant trends for DRD3 9Gly and SLC6A4 S alleles. Our results, although preliminary, provide new candidate variants of potential use in risperidone safety prediction
Interplay between pleiotropy and secondary selection determines rise and fall of mutators in stress response
Dramatic rise of mutators has been found to accompany adaptation of bacteria
in response to many kinds of stress. Two views on the evolutionary origin of
this phenomenon emerged: the pleiotropic hypothesis positing that it is a
byproduct of environmental stress or other specific stress response mechanisms
and the second order selection which states that mutators hitchhike to fixation
with unrelated beneficial alleles. Conventional population genetics models
could not fully resolve this controversy because they are based on certain
assumptions about fitness landscape. Here we address this problem using a
microscopic multiscale model, which couples physically realistic molecular
descriptions of proteins and their interactions with population genetics of
carrier organisms without assuming any a priori fitness landscape. We found
that both pleiotropy and second order selection play a crucial role at
different stages of adaptation: the supply of mutators is provided through
destabilization of error correction complexes or fluctuations of production
levels of prototypic mismatch repair proteins (pleiotropic effects), while rise
and fixation of mutators occur when there is a sufficient supply of beneficial
mutations in replication-controlling genes. This general mechanism assures a
robust and reliable adaptation of organisms to unforeseen challenges. This
study highlights physical principles underlying physical biological mechanisms
of stress response and adaptation
Potential antitumor effects of nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate in hormone receptor negative breast cancer patients with bone metastases
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This retrospective study evaluated, according to hormone receptor status, the antitumor effects of bisphosphonate especially on survival and disease progression in breast cancer patients with metastatic bone disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Of 317 patients with initial bone metastasis and known breast cancer subtypes, 230 patients (72.6%) had hormone receptor (HR) positive tumors, and 87 patients (27.4%) had HR negative tumors. We assessed the primary outcome of overall survival (OS), after adjusting for other factors, comparing a group that received bisphosphonates (BPs) with a group that did not receive it.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>87.8% of HR positive and 69.0% of HR negative patients received BPs with a median number of 17.7 cycles. Although BPs treatment made no survival benefit in HR positive group, HR negative patients showed a significant prolonged survival when they received BPs treatment (hazard ratio = 0.56 [95% CI 0.34 to 0.91], <it>P </it>= 0.019). In multivariate analysis, disease free interval > 2 years (<it>P </it>= 0.036), a sum of metastatic sites < 3 (<it>P </it>= 0.034), and BP treatments (<it>P </it>= 0.007) were significant factors for survival in HR negative patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Bisphosphonate treatment can result in a survival benefit in metastatic breast cancer patients with HR negative tumors.</p
Internet-based search of randomised trials relevant to mental health originating in the Arab world
BACKGROUND:
The internet is becoming a widely used source of accessing medical research through various on-line databases. This instant access to information is of benefit to busy clinicians and service users around the world. The population of the Arab World is comparable to that of the United States, yet it is widely believed to have a greatly contrasting output of randomised controlled trials related to mental health. This study was designed to investigate the existence of such research in the Arab World and also to investigate the availability of this research on-line.
METHODS:
Survey of findings from three internet-based potential sources of randomised trials originating from the Arab world and relevant to mental health care.
RESULTS:
A manual search of an Arabic online current contents service identified 3 studies, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO searches identified only 1 study, and a manual search of a specifically indexed, study-based mental health database, PsiTri, revealed 27 trials.
CONCLUSION:
There genuinely seem to be few trials from the Arab world and accessing these on-line was problematic. Replication of some studies that guide psychiatric/psychological practice in the Arab world would seem prudent
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