A summary of research in reading readiness

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston UniversityPurpose: To measure the various abilities presented in the readiness workbooks of basal reading series and to relate the findings to reading achievement of Grade One in January; to measure, also, the knowledge of letter names and sounds and relate the findings to reading achievement of Grade One in January. Materials Used: Workbooks of nine systems were analyzed to discover types and frequency of suggested exercises. Four general areas were in evidence; auditory discrimination, language development, motor skills, and visual discrimination. Groups tests were constructed to include exercises comparable to the published ones with ceilings in all areas beyond the workbook material. In addition to these four tests, the Boston University Individual Test and the Boston University First Grade Success Study (January Test) were given. Intelligence was measured by the Otis Quick Scoring Mental Ability Test which had been given in October [TRUNCATED

A review of bovine cases consigned under veterinary certification to emergency and casualty slaughter in Ireland during 2006 to 2008

The emergency and casualty slaughter of cattle for human consumption (in cases where animals are likely to have suffered from acute or chronic pain, respectively) in Ireland requires that the animal is accompanied to the slaughterhouse by an official veterinary certificate (VC) completed on-farm by the owner's private veterinary practitioner (PVP). No published data is currently available in Ireland based on information provided in these VCs. In this paper, we present a review of bovine cases consigned under veterinary certification to emergency and casualty slaughter in Ireland during 2006 to 2008. All VCs during the years 2006 (where available), 2007 and 2008 were collected from four large Irish slaughterhouses. The data were computerized, and analysed using descriptive and spatial methods. In total, 1,255 VCs were enrolled into the study (1,255 study animals, 1,072 study herds), 798 (63.6%) and 457 (36.4%) animals were consigned to emergency and casualty slaughter, respectively. VCs were completed throughout the year, with consigned animals travelling a mean distance of 27.2 km from farm to slaughter. The time elapsed between veterinary certification and slaughter was greater than three days for 18.2% of all study animals. In 965 (76.9%) animals, the certified suspected disability related to the locomotory system, most commonly as a result of fractures. Among animals for which data were available, 11.9% were totally condemned at post-mortem. The transport of animals with fractured limbs and/or other painful conditions is a significant animal welfare concern.Deposited by bulk impor

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Safety, immunogenicity, and reactogenicity of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines given as fourth-dose boosters following two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or BNT162b2 and a third dose of BNT162b2 (COV-BOOST): a multicentre, blinded, phase 2, randomised trial

Background Some high-income countries have deployed fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but the clinical need, effectiveness, timing, and dose of a fourth dose remain uncertain. We aimed to investigate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of fourth-dose boosters against COVID-19.Methods The COV-BOOST trial is a multicentre, blinded, phase 2, randomised controlled trial of seven COVID-19 vaccines given as third-dose boosters at 18 sites in the UK. This sub-study enrolled participants who had received BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) as their third dose in COV-BOOST and randomly assigned them (1:1) to receive a fourth dose of either BNT162b2 (30 µg in 0·30 mL; full dose) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna; 50 µg in 0·25 mL; half dose) via intramuscular injection into the upper arm. The computer-generated randomisation list was created by the study statisticians with random block sizes of two or four. Participants and all study staff not delivering the vaccines were masked to treatment allocation. The coprimary outcomes were safety and reactogenicity, and immunogenicity (antispike protein IgG titres by ELISA and cellular immune response by ELISpot). We compared immunogenicity at 28 days after the third dose versus 14 days after the fourth dose and at day 0 versus day 14 relative to the fourth dose. Safety and reactogenicity were assessed in the per-protocol population, which comprised all participants who received a fourth-dose booster regardless of their SARS-CoV-2 serostatus. Immunogenicity was primarily analysed in a modified intention-to-treat population comprising seronegative participants who had received a fourth-dose booster and had available endpoint data. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, 73765130, and is ongoing.Findings Between Jan 11 and Jan 25, 2022, 166 participants were screened, randomly assigned, and received either full-dose BNT162b2 (n=83) or half-dose mRNA-1273 (n=83) as a fourth dose. The median age of these participants was 70·1 years (IQR 51·6–77·5) and 86 (52%) of 166 participants were female and 80 (48%) were male. The median interval between the third and fourth doses was 208·5 days (IQR 203·3–214·8). Pain was the most common local solicited adverse event and fatigue was the most common systemic solicited adverse event after BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 booster doses. None of three serious adverse events reported after a fourth dose with BNT162b2 were related to the study vaccine. In the BNT162b2 group, geometric mean anti-spike protein IgG concentration at day 28 after the third dose was 23 325 ELISA laboratory units (ELU)/mL (95% CI 20 030–27 162), which increased to 37 460 ELU/mL (31 996–43 857) at day 14 after the fourth dose, representing a significant fold change (geometric mean 1·59, 95% CI 1·41–1·78). There was a significant increase in geometric mean anti-spike protein IgG concentration from 28 days after the third dose (25 317 ELU/mL, 95% CI 20 996–30 528) to 14 days after a fourth dose of mRNA-1273 (54 936 ELU/mL, 46 826–64 452), with a geometric mean fold change of 2·19 (1·90–2·52). The fold changes in anti-spike protein IgG titres from before (day 0) to after (day 14) the fourth dose were 12·19 (95% CI 10·37–14·32) and 15·90 (12·92–19·58) in the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 groups, respectively. T-cell responses were also boosted after the fourth dose (eg, the fold changes for the wild-type variant from before to after the fourth dose were 7·32 [95% CI 3·24–16·54] in the BNT162b2 group and 6·22 [3·90–9·92] in the mRNA-1273 group).Interpretation Fourth-dose COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccines are well tolerated and boost cellular and humoral immunity. Peak responses after the fourth dose were similar to, and possibly better than, peak responses after the third dose

The colours of that place: setting and memory in Irish short fiction

This creative-practice thesis explores the interplay of memory and setting in the short fiction of Colum McCann, with a view to illuminating my own collection of short stories. In Chapter one I have chosen four fundamental aspects and two functions of setting to analyse how McCann uses setting to evoke memory in his first short story collection Fishing the Sloe-Black River. The ways in which McCann experiments with narrative time to create diverse settings in his novella ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking,’ are the focus of Chapter two. In that chapter I argue that McCann’s use of homodiegetic and heterodiegetic narration provides an inventive means to depict character experience and memory. Given McCann’s recurring references to memory, I assert that his novella can be defined as a ‘fiction of memory.’ I also explore the role of figurative language in McCann’s evocation of memory in relation to setting, and illustrate how the epigraphic inclusion of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ affects the narrative content of the novella. In Chapter three I examine the function of the exegesis in creative practice research, which is followed by an exploration of the parallels between the critical theories of T.S Eliot, Harold Bloom, Gérard Genette and Mikhail Bakhtin. I then offer a commentary on my creative process, and discuss my novella Dear Billie, in relation to McCann’s novella Thirteen Ways of Looking, and the hypertextual connections of my short story ‘Falling Softly, Softly Falling’ in juxtaposition with James Joyce’s ‘The Sisters’ and McCann’s ‘Sisters.’ Chapter four summarises the discoveries of my critical and creative research by looking at how the methodological approach of ‘bricolage’ informed my knowledge as a creative practitioner and researcher. Finally, it reflects on creative-practice researcher Bradley Haseman’s appeal for the recognition of performative research to be considered as a research outcome in its own right. Therefore, in Chapter five I consider the outcome of my creative component to be my collection Nothing to Say I was Here, which, like McCann’s Thirteen Ways of Looking, comprises a novella and three short stories. By assuming a creative-practice research approach, it is my intention to offer a writerly interpretation of McCann’s short fiction in order to demonstrate the interconnection of memory and setting, and finally, to explore how this has enriched my own creative process

The colours of that place: setting and memory in Irish short fiction

This creative-practice thesis explores the interplay of memory and setting in the short fiction of Colum McCann, with a view to illuminating my own collection of short stories. In Chapter one I have chosen four fundamental aspects and two functions of setting to analyse how McCann uses setting to evoke memory in his first short story collection Fishing the Sloe-Black River. The ways in which McCann experiments with narrative time to create diverse settings in his novella ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking,’ are the focus of Chapter two. In that chapter I argue that McCann’s use of homodiegetic and heterodiegetic narration provides an inventive means to depict character experience and memory. Given McCann’s recurring references to memory, I assert that his novella can be defined as a ‘fiction of memory.’ I also explore the role of figurative language in McCann’s evocation of memory in relation to setting, and illustrate how the epigraphic inclusion of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ affects the narrative content of the novella. In Chapter three I examine the function of the exegesis in creative practice research, which is followed by an exploration of the parallels between the critical theories of T.S Eliot, Harold Bloom, Gérard Genette and Mikhail Bakhtin. I then offer a commentary on my creative process, and discuss my novella Dear Billie, in relation to McCann’s novella Thirteen Ways of Looking, and the hypertextual connections of my short story ‘Falling Softly, Softly Falling’ in juxtaposition with James Joyce’s ‘The Sisters’ and McCann’s ‘Sisters.’ Chapter four summarises the discoveries of my critical and creative research by looking at how the methodological approach of ‘bricolage’ informed my knowledge as a creative practitioner and researcher. Finally, it reflects on creative-practice researcher Bradley Haseman’s appeal for the recognition of performative research to be considered as a research outcome in its own right. Therefore, in Chapter five I consider the outcome of my creative component to be my collection Nothing to Say I was Here, which, like McCann’s Thirteen Ways of Looking, comprises a novella and three short stories. By assuming a creative-practice research approach, it is my intention to offer a writerly interpretation of McCann’s short fiction in order to demonstrate the interconnection of memory and setting, and finally, to explore how this has enriched my own creative process