What mattered ten years on? Young people’s reflections on their involvement with a charitable youth participation project

Youth work in England is experiencing ongoing rapid and significant change, fuelling debate about its very function. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting original research on what young people themselves prioritised as significant in-service provision and highlights the longer-term impact that engagement with a voluntary sector organisation can have on the lives of vulnerable young people. Drawing on qualitative interviews with ten former youth participants involved in youth participation projects, the findings presented in this paper suggest that participants felt the support they received was, in many cases, ‘transformative’. However, they primarily defined their experiences and the impact through their relationships with individuals supporting them, through the sense of achievement and ability to effect change they developed and through finding a voice to affect community decisions

To bridge the gap: voluntary action in primary education

Voluntary action has had a long history in the education of our children, bringing a wide range of positive benefits to schools, children, staff, the local community and volunteers alike. Voluntary action enables schools to draw upon a wide range of additional skills and resources, can strengthen a school community and engage children in philanthropic activity from an early age. Schools continuously highlight how much they value the commitment, passion, skills and expertise brought into their community by volunteers, and recognise the advantages of fundraising in terms of community engagement, fostering philanthropic activity in children and providing additional income for the school. Unsurprisingly voluntary action in education tends to be viewed as a positive and good thing, and is increasingly encouraged within policy and practice. This research suggests that voluntary action in primary schools is indeed becoming progressively central to school activities, with many primary schools keenly seeking to strategically engage and grow this area of activity. Schools report purposefully fostering engagement of volunteers to help increase teacher capacity, support children through one-to-one activities and provide additional resources for both core and extra-curricular activities. Furthermore, schools highlight increasing focus on their fundraising activities to help support depleting budgets and growing demands. There is however very little research in the UK which explores voluntary action in education. The limited research that is available suggests significant disparities in how additional resources from voluntary action are dispersed within the UK context. This is supported by research from across Europe and the United States. Therefore this project sets out to be an exploratory study of this area to ascertain how actively schools engage with this voluntary action and what barriers they may face. The local authority of Kent was chosen as a focus for this study. Through analysis of financial data of over 600 primary schools, questionnaires completed by 114 of these and interviews with 4 case study schools this research presents initial findings and trends in activity under the separate headings of volunteering and philanthropic activity (fundraising)

To bridge the gap? Voluntary action in primary schools

Voluntary action has long played a role in state education, with Parent Teacher Associations being one of the most common forms of charitable organisation in England. However, education policy, driven by a growing free-market discourse and policy initiatives such as localism, is increasingly pushing for greater voluntary action. This article explores the distribution of voluntary action for primary schools in one local authority area in England. Drawing upon primary data from 114 questionnaires completed by head teachers and secondary data from the financial records (2013/14) of 380 primary schools, we find evidence of considerable uneven dispersal of voluntary action between schools. These disparities are related to factors including school size, location, leadership ideology and the socio-economic profile of the school. The consequence of this uneven distribution is that schools catering for more affluent communities are more likely to have additional resources than those with poorer profiles

Our Charitable Children

"Charity is a really big word, a really big deal…because it means so many things and is a way of helping so many people... it’s a very big word" (Girl, aged 7) This report presents qualitative evidence from an in-depth, participative action research project with 150 young children aged 4-8 years old regarding their perceptions and experiences of charity and charitable giving. Most young children positively engage in charitable giving through home, school and their community, however less than 20% are aware of the cause area they are being asked to support, and most have little decision making in their giving. Children’s willingness to give increases when they critically engage in the cause area and are facilitated to lead on giving decisions, coupled by increased and sustained efforts to support cause areas that matter to them

Global turbulence simulations of the tokamak edge region with GRILLIX

Turbulent dynamics in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of magnetic fusion devices is intermittent with large fluctuations in density and pressure. Therefore, a model is required that allows perturbations of similar or even larger magnitude to the time-averaged background value. The fluid-turbulence code GRILLIX is extended to such a global model, which consistently accounts for large variation in plasma parameters. Derived from the drift reduced Braginskii equations, the new GRILLIX model includes electromagnetic and electron-thermal dynamics, retains global parametric dependencies and the Boussinesq approximation is not applied. The penalisation technique is combined with the flux-coordinate independent (FCI) approach [F. Hariri and M. Ottaviani, Comput.Phys.Commun. 184:2419, (2013); A. Stegmeir et al., Comput.Phys.Commun. 198:139, (2016)], which allows to study realistic diverted geometries with X-point(s) and general boundary contours. We characterise results from turbulence simulations and investigate the effect of geometry by comparing simulations in circular geometry with toroidal limiter against realistic diverted geometry at otherwise comparable parameters. Turbulence is found to be intermittent with relative fluctuation levels of up to 40% showing that a global description is indeed important. At the same time via direct comparison, we find that the Boussinesq approximation has only a small quantitative impact in a turbulent environment. In comparison to circular geometry the fluctuations are reduced in diverted geometry, which is related to a different zonal flow structure. Moreover, the fluctuation level has a more complex spatial distribution in diverted geometry. Due to local magnetic shear, which differs fundamentally in circular and diverted geometry, turbulent structures become strongly distorted in the perpendicular direction and are eventually damped away towards the X-point

Oral ibandronate reduces the risk of skeletal complications in breast cancer patients with metastatic bone disease: results from two randomised, placebo-controlled phase III studies

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Educating Anesthesia Personnel on STOP-BANG to Predict Difficult Airway

Impact Statement: The purpose of this study is to educate the anesthesia team on the incidence of a difficult airway in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the STOP-BANG Questionnaire to predict this complication. Background: Characterized by cessation of breathing during sleep due to collapse of the upper airway, patients with OSA possess a high risk of a difficult airway during anesthesia induction. During periods of constriction, the pharynx becomes obstructed, leading to adverse reactions such as desaturation, blood gas instabilities, abrupt arousal from sleep, and daytime fatigue. A needs assessment revealed that the STOP-Bang Questionnaire, the most validated screening tool for OSA, is not incorporated by anesthesia providers in clinical practice. Method: Anesthesia personnel within the Broward Health system were asked to anonymously participate in an educational module, sent via email provided by the institution. Over the course of one month, anesthesia personnel completed an informed consent and prompted to complete a pre-evaluation examination on pathophysiology and assessment of OSA. Participants were then forwarded to a 13-minute educational video surrounding OSA, the STOP-BANG Questionnaire, and its relevancy in detecting difficult airways. When complete, the participants were asked to answer the same questions on the post-evaluation examination in effort to determine any increase in knowledge and participants willingness to change practice. Information is collected through an anonymous website, Qualtrics. Results: There was an average improvement score of 50%, demonstrating the receptiveness of the educational module. More importantly, the likeliness of utilizing the STOP-Bang Questionnaire tool during their preoperative assessment increased from 67% more likely during the pre-test, to 100% more likely in the post-test. Discussion: In the concluding assessment for participating anesthesia providers, an overwhelming amount contributors demonstrated not only an increase in knowledge, but a greater willingness to incorporate the STOP-BANG Questionnaire into the daily anesthesia patient assessment. Limitations within this quality improvement study include a small sample size was very small, only reaching six anesthesia providers, as well as holding the same pre-and post-evaluation examination questions. The STOP-BANG questionnaire can aid in alerting anesthesia providers of a potential OSA diagnosis and assist the provider in preparing for possible interventions. Potential anesthetic considerations for diagnosed or suspected OSA include minimal sedation, preparation for difficult mask ventilation and airway with glidescope and fiberoptic tools, pre-oxygenation with the head of the bed elevated, use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), and cautious use of opioids

Keeping food safer the Healing way

Promotional booklet for the Healing Refrigerator

Additive growth inhibitory effects of ibandronate and antiestrogens in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cell lines

INTRODUCTION: Bisphosphonates are inhibitors of osteoclast-mediated tumor-stimulated osteolysis, and they have become standard therapy for the management of bone metastases from breast cancer. These drugs can also directly induce growth inhibition and apoptosis of osteotropic cancer cells, including estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer cells. METHODS: We examined the anti-proliferative properties of ibandronate on two ER+ breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and IBEP-2), and on one ER negative (ER-) cell line (MDA-MB-231). Experiments were performed in steroid-free medium to assess ER regulation and the effect of ibandronate in combination with estrogen or antiestrogens. RESULTS: Ibandronate inhibited cancer cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner (approximate IC(50): 10(-4 )M for MCF-7 and IBEP-2 cells; 3 × 10(-4 )M for MDA-MB-231 cells), partly through apoptosis induction. It completely abolished the mitogenic effect induced by 17β-estradiol in ER+ breast cancer cells, but affected neither ER regulation nor estrogen-induced progesterone receptor expression, as documented in MCF-7 cells. Moreover, ibandronate enhanced the growth inhibitory action of partial (4-hydroxytamoxifen) and pure (ICI 182,780, now called fluvestrant or Faslodex™) antiestrogens in estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells. Combination analysis identified additive interactions between ibandronate and ER antagonists. CONCLUSION: These data constitute the first in vitro evidence for additive effects between ibandronate and antiestrogens, supporting their combined use for the treatment of bone metastases from breast cancer

Enhanced triage for patients with suspected cardiac chest pain: the History and Electrocardiogram-only Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes decision aid.

OBJECTIVES: Several decision aids can 'rule in' and 'rule out' acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in the Emergency Department (ED) but all require measurement of blood biomarkers. A decision aid that does not require biomarker measurement could enhance risk stratification at triage and could be used in the prehospital environment. We aimed to derive and validate the History and ECG-only Manchester ACS (HE-MACS) decision aid using only the history, physical examination and ECG. METHODS: We undertook secondary analyses in three prospective diagnostic accuracy studies that included patients presenting to the ED with suspected cardiac chest pain. Clinicians recorded clinical features at the time of arrival using a bespoke form. Patients underwent serial troponin sampling and 30-day follow-up for the primary outcome of ACS. The model was derived by logistic regression in one cohort and validated in two similar prospective studies. RESULTS: The HE-MACS model was derived in 796 patients and validated in cohorts of 474 and 659 patients. HE-MACS incorporated age, sex, systolic blood pressure plus five historical variables to stratify patients into four risk groups. On validation, 5.5 and 12.1% (pooled total 9.4%) patients were identified as 'very low risk' (potential immediate rule out) with a pooled sensitivity of 99.5% (95% confidence interval: 97.1-100.0%). CONCLUSION: Using only the patient's history and ECG, HE-MACS could 'rule out' ACS in 9.4% of patients while effectively risk stratifying remaining patients. This is a very promising tool for triage in both the prehospital environment and ED. Its impact should be prospectively evaluated in those settings