The dose makes the poison: have “field realistic” rates of exposure of bees to neonicotinoid insecticides been overestimated in laboratory studies?

Recent laboratory based studies have demonstrated adverse sub-lethal effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on honey bees and bumble bees, and these studies have been influential in leading to a European Union moratorium on the use of three neonicotinoids, clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam on “bee attractive” crops. Yet so far, these same effects have not been observed in field studies. Here we review the three key dosage factors (concentration, duration and choice) relevant to field conditions, and conclude that these have probably been over estimated in many laboratory based studies

General Practitioners' views on the provision of nicotine replacement therapy and bupropion.

BACKGROUND: Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) and a new drug, bupropion, are licensed in several countries as aids to smoking cessation. General practitioners (GPs) play a crucial role in recommending or prescribing these medications. In the UK there has been discussion about whether the medications should be reimbursable by the National Health Service (NHS). This study assessed English GPs' attitudes towards reimbursement of NRT and bupropion. METHODS: Postal survey of a randomly selected national sample of GPs; 376 GPs completed the questionnaire after one reminder; effective response rate: 53%. There was no difference between the responses of GPs who responded to the initial request and those who responded only after a reminder suggesting minimal bias due to non-response. RESULTS: Attitudes of GPs were remarkably divided on most issues relating to the medications. Forty-three percent thought that bupropion should not be on NHS prescription while 42% thought that it should be (15% did not know); Fifty percent thought that NRT should not be on NHS prescription while 42% thought it should be (8% did not know). Requiring that smokers attend behavioural support programmes to be eligible to receive the medications on NHS prescription made no appreciable difference to the GPs' views. GPs were similarly divided on whether having the medications reimbursable would add unacceptably to their workload or offer a welcome opportunity to discuss smoking with their patients. A principal components analysis of responses to the individual questions on NRT and bupropion revealed that GPs' attitudes could be understood in terms of a single 'pro-con' dimension accounting for 53% of the total variance which made no distinction between the two medications. CONCLUSIONS: GPs in England appear to be divided in their attitudes to medications to aid smoking cessation and appear not to discriminate in their views between different types of medication or different aspects of their use. This suggests that their attitudes are generated by quite fundamental values. Addressing these values may be important in encouraging GPs to adhere more closely to national and international guidelines

Simulation Training in U.K. General Aviation: An Undervalued Aid to Reducing Loss of Control Accidents

Analysis of data from 1,007 U.K. general aviation (GA) accidents demonstrates the predominant cause of accidents is loss of control, exacerbated by a lack of recent flying experience. These are long-standing problems that can be targeted effectively with simulation training. Discussion on training strategies in commercial aviation reinforces the logic of introducing simulation training for the GA pilot. Conclusions drawn affirm the notion that GA safety would benefit from implementation of regulated simulation training

Characterisation and disposability assessment of multi-waste stream in-container vitrified products for higher activity radioactive waste

Materials from GeoMelt® In-Container Vitrification (ICV)™ of simulant UK nuclear wastes were characterised to understand the partitioning of elements, including inactive surrogates for radionuclide species of interest, within the heterogeneous products. Aqueous durability analysis was performed to assess the potential disposability of the resulting wasteforms. The vitrification trial aimed to immobilise a variety of simulant legacy waste streams representative of decommissioning operations in the UK, including plutonium contaminated material, Magnox sludges and ion-exchange materials, which were vitrified upon the addition of glass forming additives. Two trials with different wastes were characterised, with the resultant vitreous wasteforms comprising olivine and pyroxene crystalline minerals within glassy matrices. Plutonium surrogate elements were immobilised within the glassy fraction rather than partitioning into crystalline phases. All vitrified products exhibited comparable or improved durability to existing UK high level waste vitrified nuclear wasteforms over a 28 day period

Burnout in the ICU : potential consequences for staff and patient well-being

Peer reviewedAuthor versio

Prescription for nursing informatics in pre-registration nurse education.

Nurses need to be able to use information and communications technology not only to support their own practice, but also to help their patients make best use of it. This article argues that nurses are not currently adequately prepared to work with information and technology through their pre-registration education. Reflecting the lack of nursing informatics expertise, it is recommended that all pre-registration nursing programmes should have access to a nursing informatics specialist. A prescription to meet the informatics needs of the newly qualified nurse is proposed. This places the areas that need to be included in pre-registration education into broad groups that both articulate the competencies that nurses need to develop, and indicate why they are needed, rather than providing context-free checklists of skills. This is presented as a binary scatter chart with two axes, skill to knowledge and technology to information

Assessment for learning : a model for the development of a child’s self competence in the early years of education

In recent years policy documents, curricula and other educational initiatives have promoted a pedagogy founded on the concept of independent learning. This is broadly defined as ‘having the belief in yourself to think through learning activities, problems or challenges, make decisions about your learning and act upon those decisions (Blandford and Knowles, 2009:336). The central role of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in this process is often overlooked in practice. By considering the findings from a small scale research study this article addresses the central role of the teacher /practitioner in developing effective AfL in the early years classroom (3-5 years)

What makes you not a Buddhist? : a preliminary mapping of values

This study sets out to establish which Buddhist values contrasted with or were shared by adolescents from a non-Buddhist population. A survey of attitude toward a variety of Buddhist values was fielded in a sample of 352 non-Buddhist schoolchildren aged between 13 and 15 in London. Buddhist values where attitudes were least positive concerned the worth of being a monk/nun or meditating, offering candles & incense on the Buddhist shrine, friendship on Sangha Day, avoiding drinking alcohol, seeing the world as empty or impermanent and Nirvana as the ultimate peace. Buddhist values most closely shared by non-Buddhists concerned the Law of Karma, calming the mind, respecting those deserving of respect, subjectivity of happiness, welfare work, looking after parents in old age and compassion to cuddly animals. Further significant differences of attitude toward Buddhism were found in partial correlations with the independent variables of sex, age and religious affiliation. Correlation patterns paralleled those previously described in theistic religions. Findings are applied to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and for the teaching of religious to pupils of no faith adherence. The study recommends that quantitative psychometrics employed to conceptualize Buddhist values by discriminant validity in this study could be extended usefully to other aspects of the study of Buddhism, particularly in quest of validity in the conceptualization of Buddhist identity within specifically Buddhist populations

A “Learning Revolution”? Investigating Pedagogic Practices around Interactive Whiteboards in British Primary Classrooms

Interactive whiteboards have been rapidly introduced into all primary schools under UK Government initiatives. These large, touch-sensitive screens, which control a computer connected to a digital projector, seem to be the first type of educational technology particularly suited for whole-class teaching and learning. Strong claims are made for their value by manufacturers and policy makers, but there has been little research on how, if at all, they influence established pedagogic practices, communicative processes and educational goals. This study has been designed to examine this issue, using observations in primary (elementary) school classrooms. It is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and builds on the authors’ previous research on ICT in educational dialogues and collaborative activities