Responding to research evidence in Parliament: a case study on selective education policy

This research focusses on how members of the UK Parliament engaged with evidence in relation to the policy decision leading to the Selective Schools Expansion Fund, a policy designed to enable the existing 163 English Grammar Schools to apply for additional funds to expand their intake. Although a small case study, the narrow focus provides a fertile setting for analysis of the relationship between research evidence, Parliamentary debates, and policy decisions. The article provides contextual background in relation to the dominant political parties’ (Conservative and Labour) education policy manifesto statements and a discussion on the nature and understanding of evidence. Particular attention is given to how evidence can be used to support claims and the importance of justified warrants. Using NVivo software, we identified the thematic content of 11 Parliamentary debates and analysed the findings using descriptive statistics, which we tested with a playful, carnivalesque extrapolation of the data. Argumentative analysis shows that within the debates a number of rhetorical tools are used to avoid empirical evidence, including the deployment of a ‘moral sidestep’ which discourse analysis reveals in this case to be the repeated communication that grammar schools are ‘good’. In this way, Ofsted ratings are conflated with moral goodness, leading to a disproportionate diversion of school funding in their favour. This case study exposes strengths and weaknesses of Parliamentary debate, which might be relevant to educational researchers who focus on evidence-based policy and to the policy makers and other stakeholders who engage with the evidence such researchers offer

Quantum Correlations from the Conditional Statistics of Incomplete Data

We study, in theory and experiment, the quantum properties of correlated light fields measured with click-counting detectors providing incomplete information on the photon statistics. We establish a correlation parameter for the conditional statistics, and we derive the corresponding nonclassicality criteria for detecting conditional quantum correlations. Classical bounds for Pearson's correlation parameter are formulated that allow us, once they are violated, to determine nonclassical correlations via the joint statistics. On the one hand, we demonstrate nonclassical correlations in terms of the joint click statistics of light produced by a parametric down conversion source. On the other hand, we verify quantum correlations of a heralded, split single-photon state via the conditional click statistics together with a generalization to higher-order moments. We discuss the performance of the presented nonclassicality criteria to successfully discern joint and conditional quantum correlations. Remarkably, our results are obtained without making any assumptions on the response function, quantum efficiency, and dark-count rate of the photodetectors

The cytochrome P450 family in the parasitic nematode <i>Haemonchus contortus</i>

&lt;i&gt;Haemonchus contortus&lt;/i&gt;, a highly pathogenic and economically important parasitic nematode of sheep, is particularly adept at developing resistance to the anthelmintic drugs used in its treatment and control. The basis of anthelmintic resistance is poorly understood for many commonly used drugs with most research being focused on mechanisms involving drug targets or drug efflux. Altered or increased drug metabolism is a possible mechanism that has yet to receive much attention despite the clear role of xenobiotic metabolism in pesticide resistance in insects. The cytochrome P450s (CYPs) are a large family of drug-metabolising enzymes present in almost all living organisms, but for many years thought to be absent from parasitic nematodes. In this paper, we describe the CYP sequences encoded in the &lt;i&gt;H. Contortus&lt;/i&gt; genome and compare their expression in different parasite life-stages, sexes and tissues. We developed a novel real-time PCR approach based on partially assembled CYP sequences “tags” and confirmed findings in the subsequent draft genome with RNA-seq. Constitutive expression was highest in larval stages for the majority of CYPs, although higher expression was detected in the adult male or female for a small subset of genes. Many CYPs were expressed in the worm intestine. A number of &lt;i&gt;H. Contortus&lt;/i&gt; genes share high identity with &lt;i&gt;Caenorhabditis elegans&lt;/i&gt; CYPs and the similarity in their expression profiles supports their classification as putative orthologues. Notably, &lt;i&gt;H. Contortus&lt;/i&gt; appears to lack the dramatic CYP subfamily expansions seen in &lt;i&gt;C. elegans&lt;/i&gt; and other species, which are typical of CYPs with exogenous roles. However, a small group of &lt;i&gt;H. Contortus&lt;/i&gt; genes cluster with the &lt;i&gt;C. elegans&lt;/i&gt; CYP34 and CYP35 subfamilies and may represent candidate xenobiotic metabolising genes in the parasite

Glucose Metabolite Patterns as Markers of Functional Differentiation in Freshly Isolated and Cultured Mouse Mammary Epithelial Cells

In the mammary gland of nonruminant animals, glucose is utilized in a characteristic and unique way during lactation. We have measured the incorporation of glucose carbon from [U-{sup 14}C] glucose into intermediary metabolites and metabolic products in mammary epithelial cells from virgin, pregnant, and lactating mice and demonstrate that glucose metabolite patterns can be used to recognize stages of differentiated function. For these cells, the rates of synthesis of glycogen and lactose, the ratio of lactate to alanine, and the ratio of citrate to malate were important parameters in identifying the degree of expression of differentiation. We further show that these patterns can be used as markers to determine the differentiated state of cultured mammary epithelial cells. Cells maintained on plastic substrates lose their distinctive glucose metabolite patterns while those on floating collagen gels do not. Cells from pregnant mice have a pattern similar to freshly isolated cells from pregnant mice. The pattern of cells from lactating mice is different from that of the cells of origin, and resembles that of the cells from pregnant mice. Our findings suggest that the floating collagen gels under the culture conditions used in these experiments provide an environment for the functional expression of the pregnant state, while additional factors are needed for the expression of the lactating state

Quantum state and mode profile tomography by the overlap

VS acknowledge support from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) of Brazil, grant 304129/2015-1, and by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grant 2015/23296-8. DM acknowledge support from the EUproject Horizon-2020 SUPERTWIN id.686731, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus program ‘Convergence’ and FAPESP grant 2014/21188-0. NK acknowledges the support from the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) and from the International Max Planck Partnership (IMPP) with Scottish Universities. JT and CS acknowledge support from European Union Grant No. 665148 (QCUMbER). TB acknowledges support from theDFG under TRR 142.Any measurement scheme involving interference of quantum states of the electromagnetic field necessarily mixes information about the spatiotemporal structure of these fields and quantum states in the recorded data. Weshow that in this case, a trade-off is possible between extracting information about the quantum states and the structure of the underlying fields, with the modal overlap being either a goal or a convenient tool of the reconstruction. Weshow that varying quantum states in a controlled way allows one to infer temporal profiles of modes. Vice versa, for the known quantum state of the probe and controlled variable overlap, one can infer the quantum state of the signal. We demonstrate this trade-off. by performing an experiment using the simplest on-off detection in an unbalanced weak homodyning scheme. For the single-mode case, we demonstrate experimentally inference of the overlap and a few-photon signal state. Moreover, we show theoretically that the same single-detector scheme is sufficient even for arbitrary multi-mode fields.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Assessment of the Influence of Demographic and Professional Characteristics on Health Care Providers' Pain Management Decisions Using Virtual Humans

Disparities in health care associated with patients’ gender, race, and age are well documented. Previous studies using virtual human (VH) technology have demonstrated that provider characteristics may play an important role in pain management decisions. However, these studies have largely emphasized group differences. The aims of this study were to examine dentists’ and physicians’ use of VH characteristics when making clinical judgments (i.e., cue use) and to identify provider characteristics associated with the magnitude of the impact of these cues (β-weights). Providers (N=152; 76 physicians, 76 dentists) viewed video vignettes of VH patients varying in gender (male/female), race (white/black), and age (younger/older). Participants rated VH patients’ pain intensity and unpleasantness and then rated their own likelihood of administering non-opioid and opioid analgesics. Compared to physicians, dentists had significantly lower β-weights associated with VH age cues for all ratings (p0.69). These effects varied by provider race and gender. For pain intensity, professional differences were present only among non-white providers. White providers had greater β-weights than non-white providers for pain unpleasantness but only among men. Provider differences regarding the use of VH age cues in non-opioid analgesic administration were present among all providers except non-white males. These findings highlight the interaction of patient and provider factors in driving clinical decision making. Although profession was related to use of VH age cues in pain-related clinical judgments, this relationship was modified by providers’ personal characteristics. Additional research is needed to understand what aspects of professional training or practice may account for differences between physicians and dentists and what forms of continuing education may help to mitigate the disparities

A novel, high-welfare methodology for evaluating poultry red mite interventions in vivo

Optimisation and use of a device for the on-hen in vivo feeding of all hematophagous stages of Dermanyssus gallinae is described. The sealed mesh device contains the mites and is applied to the skin of the hen’s thigh where mites can feed on the bird through a mesh which has apertures large enough to allow the mites’ mouth-parts to access to the bird but small enough to contain the mites. By optimising the depth and width of the mesh aperture size we have produced a device which will lead to both reduction and refinement in the use of animals in research, allowing the pre-screening of new vaccines and systemic acaricides/insecticides which have been developed for the control of these blood-feeding parasites before progressing to large field trials. For optimal use,the device should be constructed from 105μm aperture width, 63 μm depth, polyester mesh and the mites (irrespective of life stage) should be conditioned with no access to food for 3 weeks at 4 °C for optimal feeding and post-feeding survival

Using smart‐messaging to enhance mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for cancer patients: A mixed methods proof of concept evaluation

Objective Depression and anxiety lead to reduced treatment adherence, poorer quality of life, and increased care costs amongst cancer patients. Mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an effective treatment, but dropout reduces potential benefits. Smart‐message reminders can prevent dropout and improve effectiveness. However, smart‐messaging is untested for MBCT in cancer. This study evaluates smart‐messaging to reduce dropout and improve effectiveness in MBCT for cancer patients with depression or anxiety.MethodsFifty‐one cancer patients attending MBCT in a psycho‐oncology service were offered a smart‐messaging intervention, which reminded them of prescribed between‐session activities. Thirty patients accepted smart‐messaging and 21 did not. Assessments of depression and anxiety were taken at baseline, session‐by‐session, and one‐month follow‐up. Logistic regression and multilevel modelling compared the groups on treatment completion and clinical effectiveness. Fifteen post‐treatment patient interviews explored smart‐messaging use.ResultsThe odds of programme completion were eight times greater for patients using smart‐messaging compared with non‐users, controlling for age, gender, baseline depression, and baseline anxiety (OR = 7.79, 95% CI 1.75 to 34.58, p = .007). Smart‐messaging users also reported greater improvement in depression over the programme (B = ‐2.33, SEB = .78, p = .004) when controlling for baseline severity, change over time, age, and number of sessions attended. There was no difference between groups in anxiety improvement (B = ‐1.46, SEB = .86, p = .097). In interviews, smart‐messaging was described as a motivating reminder and source of personal connection. ConclusionsSmart‐messaging may be an easily integrated telehealth intervention to improve MBCT for cancer patients