Association of the IL-10 gene family locus on chromosome 1 with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)

The cytokine IL-10 and its family members have been implicated in autoimmune diseases and we have previously reported that genetic variants in IL-10 were associated with a rare group of diseases called juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The aim of this study was to fine map genetic variants within the IL-10 cytokine family cluster on chromosome 1 using linkage disequilibrium (LD)-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) approach with imputation and conditional analysis to test for disease associations

Motivating learners through information literacy

This paper is included in the Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society, the proceedings of the European Conference on Information Literacy, 2016. The paper introduces a model for creating information literacy learning activities that motivate students. The model draws from informed learning, an approach to information literacy that emphasizes the role that information plays in fostering learning about a subject. Self-determination theory, a motivational theory that focuses on enabling self-determined learners, is applied within the informed learning framework. The results of the investigation outline characteristics of motivating learning activities that enable learning subject content through engagement with information. The model is intended to be used by librarians when working with classroom teachers to foster greater student learning gains through creative and reflective engagement with information

Chronic non-specific low back pain - sub-groups or a single mechanism?

Copyright 2008 Wand and O'Connell; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Low back pain is a substantial health problem and has subsequently attracted a considerable amount of research. Clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of a variety of interventions for chronic non-specific low back pain indicate limited effectiveness for most commonly applied interventions and approaches. Discussion: Many clinicians challenge the results of clinical trials as they feel that this lack of effectiveness is at odds with their clinical experience of managing patients with back pain. A common explanation for this discrepancy is the perceived heterogeneity of patients with chronic non-specific low back pain. It is felt that the effects of treatment may be diluted by the application of a single intervention to a complex, heterogeneous group with diverse treatment needs. This argument presupposes that current treatment is effective when applied to the correct patient. An alternative perspective is that the clinical trials are correct and current treatments have limited efficacy. Preoccupation with sub-grouping may stifle engagement with this view and it is important that the sub-grouping paradigm is closely examined. This paper argues that there are numerous problems with the sub-grouping approach and that it may not be an important reason for the disappointing results of clinical trials. We propose instead that current treatment may be ineffective because it has been misdirected. Recent evidence that demonstrates changes within the brain in chronic low back pain sufferers raises the possibility that persistent back pain may be a problem of cortical reorganisation and degeneration. This perspective offers interesting insights into the chronic low back pain experience and suggests alternative models of intervention. Summary: The disappointing results of clinical research are commonly explained by the failure of researchers to adequately attend to sub-grouping of the chronic non-specific low back pain population. Alternatively, current approaches may be ineffective and clinicians and researchers may need to radically rethink the nature of the problem and how it should best be managed

Ecological expected utility and the mythical neural code

Neural spikes are an evolutionarily ancient innovation that remains nature’s unique mechanism for rapid, long distance information transfer. It is now known that neural spikes sub serve a wide variety of functions and essentially all of the basic questions about the communication role of spikes have been answered. Current efforts focus on the neural communication of probabilities and utility values involved in decision making. Significant progress is being made, but many framing issues remain. One basic problem is that the metaphor of a neural code suggests a communication network rather than a recurrent computational system like the real brain. We propose studying the various manifestations of neural spike signaling as adaptations that optimize a utility function called ecological expected utility