Learning Democracy through Self-governance: The Case of Housing Co-operative

Housing co-operatives are a unique site to learn democracy through participation in self-governance by volunteering on boards and committees. Members reported both nonformal and informal learning; the latter was particularly significant for the development of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values required for effective democratic participation

Learning to Build Sustainable Communities through Volunteer Work in Urban and Rural Settings: Insights from Four Case Studies

This paper presents findings from four Canadian settings where volunteers have acquired attitudes, skills and knowledge related to community sustainability. Most of the learning was informal, and includes the three areas of sustainability (social, environmental and economic)

Trans-disciplinary Research: An Academic-Practitioner Partnership Effort on Investigating the Relationship between the Cooperative Model and Sustainability

This article details novel research methodology developed through a researcher-practitioner partnership and employed in a three-phase research effort that explored relationships between the co-operative model and sustainable development. Firstly, a basic understanding of the characteristics of the co-operative model was established using the co-operative principles as a framework, and their complementarity to sustainable development was examined by comparing them with sustainability theory, principles and best practices (defined through seminal journal articles on the topic). Secondly, relationships between sustainability theory and the ideas and operations of currently functioning co-operatives were investigated, namely, whether co-operatives had integrated sustainability into their organizations. Thirdly, an integrated analysis that examined the relationship between co-operatives, the co-operative principles and sustainability concepts was conducted, and output from this work was used to build a visualization (referred to as the ‘Co-operative Star’), specifically designed to communicate a synthesis of research findings to diverse audiences. This study specifically focused on co-operatives and sustainability; however, the analytical techniques developed and employed have applications for other research involving comparisons between concepts and large bodies of literature, and it is particularly useful for comparing theoretical works (such as academic literature) with texts that discuss operations and practices (such as website and reports)

APRIL is a novel clinical chemo-resistance biomarker in colorectal adenocarcinoma identified by gene expression profiling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>5-Fluorouracil(5FU) and oral analogues, such as capecitabine, remain one of the most useful agents for the treatment of colorectal adenocarcinoma. Low toxicity and convenience of administration facilitate use, however clinical resistance is a major limitation. Investigation has failed to fully explain the molecular mechanisms of resistance and no clinically useful predictive biomarkers for 5FU resistance have been identified. We investigated the molecular mechanisms of clinical 5FU resistance in colorectal adenocarcinoma patients in a prospective biomarker discovery project utilising gene expression profiling. The aim was to identify novel 5FU resistance mechanisms and qualify these as candidate biomarkers and therapeutic targets.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Putative treatment specific gene expression changes were identified in a transcriptomics study of rectal adenocarcinomas, biopsied and profiled before and after pre-operative short-course radiotherapy or 5FU based chemo-radiotherapy, using microarrays. Tumour from untreated controls at diagnosis and resection identified treatment-independent gene expression changes. Candidate 5FU chemo-resistant genes were identified by comparison of gene expression data sets from these clinical specimens with gene expression signatures from our previous studies of colorectal cancer cell lines, where parental and daughter lines resistant to 5FU were compared. A colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue microarray (n = 234, resected tumours) was used as an independent set to qualify candidates thus identified.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>APRIL/TNFSF13 mRNA was significantly upregulated following 5FU based concurrent chemo-radiotherapy and in 5FU resistant colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines but not in radiotherapy alone treated colorectal adenocarcinomas. Consistent withAPRIL's known function as an autocrine or paracrine secreted molecule, stromal but not tumour cell protein expression by immunohistochemistry was correlated with poor prognosis (p = 0.019) in the independent set. Stratified analysis revealed that protein expression of APRIL in the tumour stroma is associated with survival in adjuvant 5FU treated patients only (n = 103, p < 0.001), and is independently predictive of lack of clinical benefit from adjuvant 5FU [HR 6.25 (95%CI 1.48-26.32), p = 0.013].</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A combined investigative model, analysing the transcriptional response in clinical tumour specimens and cancers cell lines, has identified APRIL, a novel chemo-resistance biomarker with independent predictive impact in 5FU-treated CRC patients, that may represent a target for novel therapeutics.</p

Trans-disciplinary Research: An Academic-Practitioner Partnership Effort on Investigating the Relationship between the Cooperative Model and Sustainability

This article details novel research methodology developed through a researcher-practitioner partnership and employed in a three-phase research effort that explored relationships between the co-operative model and sustainable development. Firstly, a basic understanding of the characteristics of the co-operative model was established using the co-operative principles as a framework, and their complementarity to sustainable development was examined by comparing them with sustainability theory, principles and best practices (defined through seminal journal articles on the topic). Secondly, relationships between sustainability theory and the ideas and operations of currently functioning co-operatives were investigated, namely, whether co-operatives had integrated sustainability into their organizations.  Thirdly, an integrated analysis that examined the relationship between co-operatives, the co-operative principles and sustainability concepts was conducted, and output from this work was used to build a visualization (referred to as the ‘Co-operative Star’), specifically designed to communicate a synthesis of research findings to diverse audiences.  This study specifically focused on co-operatives and sustainability; however, the analytical techniques developed and employed have applications for other research involving comparisons between concepts and large bodies of literature, and it is particularly useful for comparing theoretical works (such as academic literature) with texts that discuss operations and practices (such as website and reports)