Keeping the faith: reflections on religious nurture among young British Sikhs

Although young Sikhs are regularly accused of not attending gurdwara and not being interested in Sikhism, many young Sikhs are now learning about Sikhism outside traditional religious institutions. Using data gathered as part of a research project studying the transmission of Sikhism among 18- to 30-year-old British Sikhs, this essay explores how young Sikhs are learning about Sikhism in their pre-adult life stage. Examining the influences of the family and the school environment and the various methods used in gurdwaras, this essay offers a retrospective look on the ways in which young Sikhs are nurtured and socialised into Sikhism, providing an understanding from the perspective of young Sikhs themselves about which methods actually work and why

'Heaven starts at your parents' feet' : adolescent bowing to parents and associated spiritual attitudes

In a quantitative survey of religious attitudes and practices in a multi-religious sample of 369 school pupils aged between 13 and 15 in London, the practice of bowing to parents was found widespread in 22% of adolescents spanning several religious affiliations and ethnicities – especially Buddhists, Hindus and those of Indian, African and ‘Other Asian’ ethnicity. Whether an adolescent bowed correlated significantly with spiritual attitudes such as wanting to abstain from alcohol, hearing religious stories, being inspired by religious festivals and liking the idea of seeing God in everything. Findings suggest bowing to parents can have religious significance on all three levels of Jackson’s Interpretive Approach and therefore cannot be regarded as a ‘cultural accretion’ of religion. Study of bowing to parents could form a unifying exercise in shared values for study of religion in the plural classroom and facilitate community cohesion in certain religious membership groups

Is self-assessment in religious education unique?

This paper addresses the question: is self-assessment in religious education unique? It first presents an overview of some challenges for assessment from subject differences, and then reviews the generic literature on self-assessment. It builds on earlier empirical research on self-assessment in religious education, carried out in an English state secondary school (Fancourt 2010); this was used to propose a variant of self-assessment which is tailored to the demands of religious education – reflexive self-assessment. Its implications for more general understandings of the relationship between subject pedagogy and self-assessment are discussed, especially the recognition of values not only in religious education but in other subjects too, reinforcing the need to develop subject-specific variants of self-assessment that reflect the breadth of learning outcomes

Total differential cross sections for Ar–CH4 from an ab initio potential

Total differential cross sections for the Ar–CH4 scattering complex at ECM=90.1 meV were obtained from converged close-coupling calculations based on a recent ab initio potential computed by symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT). Agreement with experiment is good, which demonstrates the accuracy of the SAPT potential

Finding a moral homeground: appropriately critical religious education and transmission of spiritual values

Values-inspired issues remain an important part of the British school curriculum. Avoiding moral relativism while fostering enthusiasm for spiritual values and applying them to non-curricular learning such as school ethos or children's home lives are challenges where spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development might benefit from leadership by critical religious education (RE). Whether the school's model of spirituality is that of an individual spiritual tradition (schools of a particular religious character) or universal pluralistic religiosity (schools of plural religious character), the pedagogy of RE thought capable of leading SMSC development would be the dialogical approach with examples of successful implementation described by Gates, Ipgrave and Skeie. Marton's phenomenography, is thought to provide a valuable framework to allow the teacher to be appropriately critical in the transmission of spiritual values in schools of a particular religious character as evidenced by Hella's work in Lutheran schools

Cardiovascular risk reduction in hypertensive black patients with left ventricular hypertrophy The life study

AbstractObjectivesWe report on a subanalysis of the effects of losartan and atenolol on cardiovascular events in black patients in the Losartan Intervention For Endpoint reduction in hypertension (LIFE) study.BackgroundThe LIFE study compared losartan-based to atenolol-based therapy in 9,193 hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Overall, the risk of the primary composite end point (cardiovascular death, stroke, myocardial infarction) was reduced by 13% (p = 0.021) with losartan, with similar blood pressure (BP) reduction in both treatment groups. There was a suggestion of interaction between ethnic background and treatment (p = 0.057).MethodsExploratory analyses were performed that placed LIFE study patients into black (n = 533) and non-black (n = 8,660) categories, overall, and in the U.S. (African American [n = 523]; non-black [n = 1,184]).ResultsA significant interaction existed between the dichotomized groups (black/non-black) and treatment (p = 0.005); a test for qualitative interaction was also significant (p = 0.016). The hazard ratio (losartan relative to atenolol) for the primary end point favored atenolol in black patients (1.666 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.043 to 2.661]; p = 0.033) and favored losartan in non-blacks (0.829 [95% CI 0.733 to 0.938]; p = 0.003). In black patients, BP reduction was similar in both groups, and regression of electrocardiographic-LVH was greater with losartan.ConclusionsResults of the subanalysis are sufficient to generate the hypothesis that black patients with hypertension and LVH might not respond as favorably to losartan-based treatment as non-black patients with respect to cardiovascular outcomes, and do not support a recommendation for losartan as a first-line treatment for this purpose. The subanalysis is limited by the relatively small number of events

Epilepsy in adults with mitochondrial disease: A cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to determine the prevalence and progression of epilepsy in adult patients with mitochondrial disease. METHODS: We prospectively recruited a cohort of 182 consecutive adult patients attending a specialized mitochondrial disease clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne between January 1, 2005 and January 1, 2008. We then followed this cohort over a 7-year period, recording primary outcome measures of occurrence of first seizure, status epilepticus, stroke-like episode, and death. RESULTS: Overall prevalence of epilepsy in the cohort was 23.1%. Mean age of epilepsy onset was 29.4 years. Prevalence varied widely between genotypes, with several genotypes having no cases of epilepsy, a prevalence of 34.9% in the most common genotype (m.3243A>G mutation), and 92.3% in the m.8344A>G mutation. Among the cohort as a whole, focal seizures, with or without progression to bilateral convulsive seizures, was the most common seizure type. Conversely, all of the patients with the m.8344A>G mutation and epilepsy experienced myoclonic seizures. Patients with the m.3243A>G mutation remain at high risk of developing stroke-like episodes (1.16% per year). However, although the standardized mortality ratio for the entire cohort was high (2.86), this ratio did not differ significantly between patients with epilepsy (2.96) and those without (2.83). INTERPRETATION: Epilepsy is a common manifestation of mitochondrial disease. It develops early in the disease and, in the case of the m.3243A>G mutation, often presents in the context of a stroke-like episode or status epilepticus. However, epilepsy does not itself appear to contribute to the increased mortality in mitochondrial disease

Digital PCR methods improve detection sensitivity and measurement precision of low abundance mtDNA deletions

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are a common cause of primary mitochondrial disorders, and have also been implicated in a broad collection of conditions, including aging, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Prevalent among these pathogenic variants are mtDNA deletions, which show a strong bias for the loss of sequence in the major arc between, but not including, the heavy and light strand origins of replication. Because individual mtDNA deletions can accumulate focally, occur with multiple mixed breakpoints, and in the presence of normal mtDNA sequences, methods that detect broad-spectrum mutations with enhanced sensitivity and limited costs have both research and clinical applications. In this study, we evaluated semi-quantitative and digital PCR-based methods of mtDNA deletion detection using double-stranded reference templates or biological samples. Our aim was to describe key experimental assay parameters that will enable the analysis of low levels or small differences in mtDNA deletion load during disease progression, with limited false-positive detection. We determined that the digital PCR method significantly improved mtDNA deletion detection sensitivity through absolute quantitation, improved precision and reduced assay standard error

Scaling and Formulary cross sections for ion-atom impact ionization

The values of ion-atom ionization cross sections are frequently needed for many applications that utilize the propagation of fast ions through matter. When experimental data and theoretical calculations are not available, approximate formulas are frequently used. This paper briefly summarizes the most important theoretical results and approaches to cross section calculations in order to place the discussion in historical perspective and offer a concise introduction to the topic. Based on experimental data and theoretical predictions, a new fit for ionization cross sections is proposed. The range of validity and accuracy of several frequently used approximations (classical trajectory, the Born approximation, and so forth) are discussed using, as examples, the ionization cross sections of hydrogen and helium atoms by various fully stripped ions.Comment: 46 pages, 8 figure