A Comparison of Administrator and Teacher Attitudes Toward the Concept of Career Ladders for Teachers

Education, like any facet of the business world, has problems. Some of these problems, such as financial obligations, are major. Some, such as a lost library book, are minor. Regardless, there remains many problems. In today\u27s educational society, the common perception is that teachers are happy when best left alone. However, there is a growing feeling that teachers feel very isolated, have no way of moving up the career ladder, and fear the process of supervision and evaluation. Chapman and Lowther, in their article Teacher Satisfaction with Teaching, explained that teachers want to learn and be motivated. We must increase their job satisfaction, recognize accomplishments, and provide for change and challenge

Older parents of people who have a learning disability : perceptions of future accomodation needs

The aim of this qualitative study was to provide an insight into the perceptions of older parents of learning disabled people on the future accommodation needs of their adult children. Semi-structured interviews were used to seek parental awareness of residential options available, concerns in relation to future accommodation and the preferred accommodation options for their offspring. Four couples who shared the family home with an adult who has a learning disability took part in the study and data was analysed using a step by step form of content analysis as described by Burnard (1991). Emergent themes from transcripts were then organised into main categories The results of this study suggest that older parents are dissatisfied with both statutory and private services, that they have concerns for their non-disabled children and their own ageing. Being a parent to a person who has a learning disability is seen to be a difficult task and yet parents may want to provide support at home for as long a possible. Of the parents who participated in this study, three couples wanted to maintain their adult child at home for as long as possible and the parents who were actively seeking accommodation outside the family home expected to be involved in all aspects of their daughter�s care for the long term future

Cyclin D1 and mammary carcinoma: new insights from transgenic mouse models

Cyclin D1 is one of the most commonly overexpressed oncogenes in breast cancer, with 45–50% of primary ductal carcinomas overexpressing this oncoprotein. Targeted deletion of the gene encoding cyclin D1 demonstrates an essential role in normal mammary gland development while transgenic studies provide evidence that cyclin D1 is a weak oncogene in mammary epithelium. In a recent exciting development, Yu et al. demonstrate that cyclin D1-deficient mice are resistant to mammary carcinomas induced by c-neu and v-Ha-ras, but not those induced by c-myc or Wnt-1. These findings define a pivotal role for cyclin D1 in a subset of mammary cancers in mice and imply a functional role for cyclin D1 overexpression in human breast cancer

Impact of gender on risk stratification by exercise and dobutamine stress echocardiography: long-term mortality in 4234 women and 6898 men

Aims Prior research is limited with regard to the diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of commonplace cardiac imaging modalities in women. The aim of this study was to examine 5-year mortality in 4234 women and 6898 men undergoing exercise or dobutamine stress echocardiography at three hospitals. Methods and results Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate time to cardiac death in this multi-centre, observational registry. Of the 11 132 patients, women had a greater frequency of cardiac risk factors (P < 0.0001). However, men more often had a history of coronary disease including a greater frequency of echocardiographic wall motion abnormalities (P < 0.0001). During 5 years of follow-up, 103 women and 226 men died from ischaernic heart disease (P < 0.0001). Echocardiographic estimates of left ventricular function (P < 0.0001) and the extent of ischaernic watt motion abnormalities (P < 0.0001) were highly predictive of cardiac death. Risk-adjusted 5-year survival was 99.4, 97.6, and 95% for exercising women with no, single, and multi-vessel ischaemia (P < 0.0001). For women undergoing dobutamine stress, 5-year survival was 95, 89, and 86.6% for those with 0, 1, and 2-3 vessel ischaemia (P < 0.0001). Exercising men had a 2.0-fold higher risk at every level of worsening ischaemia (P < 0.0001). Significantly worsening cardiac survival was noted for the 1568 men undergoing dobutamine stress echocardiography (P < 0.0001); no ischaemia was associated with 92% 5-year survival as compared with death rates of ≥ 16% for men with ischaemia on dobutamine stress echocardiography (P < 0.0001). Conclusion Echocardiographic measures of inducible wall motion abnormalities and global and regional left ventricutar function are highly predictive of long-term outcome for women and men alike

Correlation of myocardial doppler velocity response to exercise with independent evidence of myocardial ischemia by dual-isotope single-photon emission computed tomography

Myocardial Doppler velocity (MDV) imaging may provide an objective correlate of ischemia, thereby reducing the expertise needed for interpreting stress echocardiography and improving its reproducibility. This study sought to independently validate the results of exercise MDV imaging with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) perfusion imaging in 116 patients (age 60 ± 12 years, 28 women) referred for exercise SPECT for diagnostic or prognostic assessment of coronary artery disease. Two-dimensional echocardiography was performed with simultaneous color MDV data acquisition before and after exercise treadmill testing. MDV data were processed off-line to display myocardial velocity profiles in each segment at rest and peak exercise. SPECT was analyzed using a 16-segment model and segments were classified as normal or showing resting or stress defects. Resting defects within segments showing normal function were attributed to attenuation. Color MDV data were compared with SPECT results, and a multivariate analysis (including exercise and SPECT results) was performed to identify the determinants of the exercise MDV response. Patients exercised maximally (peak rate-pressure product 27.6 ± 6.1 × 10), and SPECT was abnormal in 33 patients. Of the 1,333 left ventricular segments evaluable by SPECT and MDV, 1,217 segments were classified as normal, 43 showed a stress defect, and 73 a rest defect. Segmental comparison of thallium findings and MDV showed that segments with a rest defect had a lower velocity at rest and stress than normal segments (

Exercise echocardiography predicts development of left ventricular dysfunction in medically and surgically treated patients with asymptomatic severe aortic regurgitation

OBJECTIVE—To assess resting and exercise echocardiography for prediction of left ventricular dysfunction in patients with significant asymptomatic aortic regurgitation.
DESIGN—Cohort study of patients with aortic regurgitation.
SETTING—Tertiary referral centre specialising in valvar surgery.
PATIENTS—61 patients (38 men, 23 women; mean (SD) age 53 (14) years) with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic aortic regurgitation and no known coronary artery disease; 35 were treated medically and 26 had aortic valve replacement.
INTERVENTIONS—Exercise echocardiography was used to evaluate ejection fraction, which was measured on the resting and post-stress images using the modified Simpson method. Patients with an increment of ejection fraction after exercise were denoted as having contractile reserve (CR+); those without an increment were labelled CR−.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES—Standard univariate and multivariate methods and receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to assess the ability of contractile reserve to predict follow up ejection fraction.
RESULTS—In the 35 medically treated patients, 13 of 21 (62%) with CR+ (mean (SD) ejection fraction increment 7 (3)%) had preserved ejection fraction on follow up. In the 14 patients with CR− (ejection fraction decrement 8 (4)%), 13 (93%) had a decrement of ejection fraction on follow up from 60 (5)% at baseline to 54 (3)% on follow up (p = 0.005). Age, resting left ventricular dimensions, medical treatment, aortic regurgitation severity, exercise capacity, and rate-pressure product were similar in both CR+ and CR− groups. Among the 26 surgical patients, 13 showed CR+ (ejection fraction increase 9 (5)%), all of whom had an increase in ejection fraction on follow up (from 49% to 59%). Of 13 surgical patients with CR− (ejection fraction decrease 7 (5)%), 10 (77%) showed the same or worse ejection fraction on postoperative follow up.
CONCLUSIONS—Contractile reserve on exercise echocardiography is a better predictor of left ventricular decompensation than resting indices in asymptomatic patients with aortic regurgitation. In patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, contractile reserve had a better correlation with resting ejection fraction on postoperative follow up. Measurement of contractile reserve may be useful to monitor the early development of myocardial dysfunction in asymptomatic patients with aortic regurgitation, and may help to optimise the timing of surgery.


Keywords: aortic regurgitation; contractile reserve; exercise testing; ejection fractio