Evaluation of an online youth ambassador program to promote mental health

To evaluate an online Youth Ambassador (YA) program designed to promote internet resources for mental health in an adolescent population, 56 YAs and 357 of their Year 10 peers from 11 Tasmanian schools completed e-mental health questionnaires before and after the YAs attended a single workshop session. The workshops, which were delivered in the high school setting, were either facilitated or self-directed. Self-reported awareness of e-mental health resources increased among both YAs and their peers. The peer group also showed increased frequency of recommending help-seeking to others. There were no differences in outcomes for facilitated or self-directed workshop formats. The results suggest that an online YA program delivered in school is useful in improving mental health awareness for workshop participants. While their Year 10 peer groups also showed increased awareness, this could not necessarily be attributed to the participation of all 11 schools in the YA program

Trapping and rotating microparticles and bacteria with moire-based optical propelling beams

We propose and demonstrate trapping and rotation of microparticles and biological samples with a moire-based rotating optical tweezers. We show that polystyrene beads, as well as Escherichia coli cells, can be rotated with ease, while the speed and direction of rotation are fully controllable by a computer, obviating mechanical movement or phase-sensitive interference. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally the generation of white-light propelling beams and arrays, and discuss the possibility of optical tweezing and particle micro-manipulation based on incoherent white-light rotating patterns

Impact of Scottish vocational qualifications on residential child care : have they fulfilled the promise?

This article will present findings from a doctoral study exploring the impact of 'SVQ Care: Promoting Independence (level III)' within children's homes. The study focuses on the extent to which SVQs enhance practice and their function within a 'learning society'. A total of 30 staff were selected from seven children's homes in two different local authority social work departments in Scotland. Each member of staff was interviewed on four separate occasions over a period of 9 months. Interviews were structured using a combination of repertory grids and questions. Particular focus was given to the assessment process, the extent to which SVQs enhance practice and the learning experiences of staff. The findings suggest that there are considerable deficiencies both in terms of the SVQ format and the way in which children's homes are structured for the assessment of competence. Rather than address the history of failure within residential care, it appears that SVQs have enabled the status quo to be maintained whilst creating an 'illusion' of change within a learning society

School violence, school differences and school discourses

This article highlights one strand of a study which investigated the concept of the violenceresilient school. In six inner-city secondary schools, data on violent incidents in school and violent crime in the neighbourhood were gathered, and compared with school practices to minimise violence, accessed through interviews. Some degree of association between the patterns of behaviour and school practices was found: schools with a wider range of wellconnected practices seemed to have less difficult behaviour. Interviews also showed that the different schools had different organisational discourses for construing school violence, its possible causes and the possible solutions. Differences in practices are best understood in connection with differences in these discourses. Some of the features of school discourses are outlined, including their range, their core metaphor and their silences. We suggest that organisational discourse is an important concept in explaining school effects and school differences, and that improvement attempts could have clearer regard to this concept

Increased expression of vascular endothelin type B and angiotensin type 1 receptors in patients with ischemic heart disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endothelin-1 and angiotensin II are strong vasoconstrictors. Patients with ischemic heart disease have elevated plasma levels of endothelin-1 and angiotensin II and show increased vascular tone. The aim of the present study was to examine the endothelin and angiotensin II receptor expression in subcutaneous arteries from patients with different degrees of ischemic heart disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subcutaneous arteries were obtained, by biopsy from the abdomen, from patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery because of ischemic heart disease (n = 15), patients with angina pectoris without established myocardial infarction (n = 15) and matched cardiovascular healthy controls (n = 15). Endothelin type A (ET_A) and type B (ET_B), and angiotensin type 1 (AT₁) and type 2 (AT₂) receptors expression and function were examined using immunohistochemistry, Western blot and <it>in vitro </it>pharmacology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ET_Aand, to a lesser extent, ET_Breceptor staining was observed in the healthy vascular smooth muscle cells. The level of ET_Breceptor expression was higher in patients undergoing CABG surgery (250% ± 23%; P < 0.05) and in the patients with angina pectoris (199% ± 6%; P < 0.05), than in the healthy controls (100% ± 28%). The data was confirmed by Western blotting. Arteries from CABG patients showed increased vasoconstriction upon administration of the selective ET_Breceptor agonist sarafotoxin S6c, compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05). No such difference was found for the ET_Areceptors. AT₁and, to a lesser extent, AT₂receptor immunostaining was seen in the vascular smooth muscle cells. The level of AT₁receptor expression was higher in both the angina pectoris (128% ± 25%; P < 0.05) and in the CABG patients (203% ± 41%; P < 0.05), as compared to the healthy controls (100% ± 25%). The increased AT₁receptor expression was confirmed by Western blotting. Myograph experiment did however not show any change in vasoconstriction to angiotensin II in CABG patients compared to healthy controls (P = n.s).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results demonstrate, for the first time, upregulation of ET_Band AT₁receptors in vascular smooth muscle cells in ischemic heart disease. These receptors may play a role in the pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease and could provide important targets for pharmaceutical interventions.</p

Deletions of the region 17p11-13 in advanced melanoma revealed by cytogenetic analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization

The significance of the p53 tumour-suppressor gene in the oncogenesis of a variety of malignant tumours has been demonstrated over recent years. However, the role of p53 in human malignant melanoma is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated melanoma metastases from 11 patients cytogenetically and with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) after short-term culture, employing a p53 region-specific probe for 17p13.1 and a probe detecting the centromere of chromosome 17. Furthermore, paraffin-embedded tissue samples from nine of these patients were investigated immunohistochemically for expression of the p53 protein. Deletions of the short arm of chromosome 17 were seen in six melanomas in cytogenetic analysis. With FISH, three malignant melanomas had clones with only one p53-allele and an additional four malignant melanomas showed a reduced number of signals at the p53 tumour-suppressor gene locus compared with signals for the centromeric region of chromosome 17. This was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Our results suggest that the 17p11–13 region is frequently deleted in malignant melanomas and that p53 or other genes located on this band might contribute to the malignant potential of advanced melanoma. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Analysis of Marker-Defined HNSCC Subpopulations Reveals a Dynamic Regulation of Tumor Initiating Properties

Head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSCC) tumors carry dismal long-term prognosis and the role of tumor initiating cells (TICs) in this cancer is unclear. We investigated in HNSCC xenografts whether specific tumor subpopulations contributed to tumor growth. We used a CFSE-based label retentions assay, CD49f (α6-integrin) surface levels and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity to profile HNSCC subpopulations. The tumorigenic potential of marker-positive and -negative subpopulations was tested in nude (Balb/c nu/nu) and NSG (NOD.Cg-Prkdcscid Il2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ) mice and chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assays. Here we identified in HEp3, SQ20b and FaDu HNSCC xenografts a subpopulation of G0/G1-arrested slow-cycling CD49fhigh/ALDH1A1high/H3K4/K27me3low subpopulation (CD49f+) of tumor cells. A strikingly similar CD49fhigh/H3K27me3low subpopulation is also present in primary human HNSCC tumors and metastases. While only sorted CD49fhigh/ALDHhigh, label retaining cells (LRC) proliferated immediately in vivo, with time the CD49flow/ALDHlow, non-LRC (NLRC) tumor cell subpopulations were also able to regain tumorigenic capacity; this was linked to restoration of CD49fhigh/ALDHhigh, label retaining cells. In addition, CD49f is required for HEp3 cell tumorigenicity and to maintain low levels of H3K4/K27me3. CD49f+ cells also displayed reduced expression of the histone-lysine N-methyltransferase EZH2 and ERK1/2phosphorylation. This suggests that although transiently quiescent, their unique chromatin structure is poised for rapid transcriptional activation. CD49f− cells can “reprogram” and also achieve this state eventually. We propose that in HNSCC tumors, epigenetic mechanisms likely driven by CD49f signaling dynamically regulate HNSCC xenograft phenotypic heterogeneity. This allows multiple tumor cell subpopulations to drive tumor growth suggesting that their dynamic nature renders them a “moving target” and their eradication might require more persistent strategies

T2-weighted cardiovascular magnetic resonance in acute cardiac disease

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) using T2-weighted sequences can visualize myocardial edema. When compared to previous protocols, newer pulse sequences with substantially improved image quality have increased its clinical utility. The assessment of myocardial edema provides useful incremental diagnostic and prognostic information in a variety of clinical settings associated with acute myocardial injury. In patients with acute chest pain, T2-weighted CMR is able to identify acute or recent myocardial ischemic injury and has been employed to distinguish acute coronary syndrome (ACS) from non-ACS as well as acute from chronic myocardial infarction

Adam Smith and Competitive Equilibrium

A view has emerged which sees Adam Smith’s main contribution to economics in terms of his equilibrium theory. This paper argues that equilibrium economics was neither Smith’s main contribution nor his chief concern. It is true that Smith made a few observations which may be construed as equilibrium economics in some loose sense. For example, his observation that the market price of a commodity has a tendency to gravitate towards its natural price; or the rate of profit in different employments tends towards equality. But from this it cannot be concluded that Smith was chiefly an equilibrium theorist. In the first place, it needs to be emphasised that the ‘tendency’ towards equilibrium, which Smith talked about, is not the same thing as an equilibrium ‘outcome’. Equilibrium as an outcome is more likely to be reached in a stationary state than in an evolutionary system in the process of continuous dynamic motion. Smith’s evolutionary perspective, his analysis of the division of labour, capital accumulation, and the institutions most conducive to the generation of wealth, all point to the fact that Smith was more concerned with dynamic analysis than with static equilibrium. Finally, barring a few observations on the equilibrating tendency in the system, most of the Wealth of Nations is not devoted to this question