The Haunted School on Horror Hill

As gaming technology for personal computers has advanced over the last two decades, the text-adventures that predominated in the 1980s ceased to be commercially viable. However, the easy availability of powerful authoring systems developed by enthusiasts and distributed free over the Internet has led to a renaissance in text-adventures, now called “Interactive Fiction.” The educational potential in playing these text-based games and simulations was recognised when they were first popular; the new authoring systems now allow educators to explore the educational potential of creating these works. The authors present here a case-study using the ADRIFT authoring system to create a work of interactive fiction in a split grade 4/5 class (9 and 10 year-olds) in Quebec. They find that the process of creating the game helped improve literary and social skills amongst the student

Sex Without the Head or the Hips: The Inferences Made on Bone and the Use of the Lower Body to Estimate Sex

When it comes to the sex estimation of a skeleton, the main factors contributing to which methods are used depend on which skeletal elements are present. When a skeleton is uncovered that is essentially complete, with little deterioration due to taphonomic processes, it can be easy to use morphological methods in identifying sex. These methods generally rely on the use of the skull and the pelvic gridle. However, when it comes to archaeological excavations and forensic cases, the remains that are uncovered are rarely in perfect condition and seldom complete. It has become essential within studies to identify methods revolving around the estimation of sex through a variety of skeletal remains, such as the bones of the lower body. Although the postcranial bones of the lower body can be sexed, the methods are less widely applicable since they are much more population specific than the sexually dimorphic traits of the skull and pelvis. However, more work must be done in the use of the lower body in order to standardize these methods and broaden their applicability. Through an examination of the literature and published studies, a database has been created that focuses on investigations that analyze sex methodologies from the bones of the lower body. It is through the analysis associated with this database in which themes have been uncovered that need to be addressed. These themes involve the correlation between elements, the use of univariate and multivariate analysis, the measurements taken on the bones and which show more dimorphism than others, discussions surrounding which side of the bones have been utilized and evidence of asymmetry. By utilizing metric methods and creating a database that addresses the standards and problems surrounding these methods, we have the ability to offer other options, as well as provide the opportunity to highlight the ability to identify the diversity of past peoples’ social and biological identity through a much wider selection of skeletal elements

Naming the Spiritual: The Hidden Dimension of Social Work Practice

The history of spirituality and the social work profession is marked by ambivalence, even avoidance. This paper expands the definition of social work practice to include a spiritual dimension. The authors suggest that this dimension is not new, but its importance has not been sufficiently articulated. The spiritual dimension of practice includes consciousness of and attention to the client\u27s search for meaning. Both the helping relationship and many of the issues that clients bring are spiritual in nature. A simple framework to help practitioners identify spiritual issues is presented and illustrated by a case example

The acute and long-term management of anaphylaxis: protocol for a systematic review

Background:The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology is in the process of developing its Guideline for Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis, and this systematic review is one of seven inter-linked evidence syntheses that are being undertaken in order to provide a state-of-the-art synopsis of the current evidence base in relation to epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis and clinical management and impact on quality of life, which will be used to inform clinical recommendations.The aims of this systematic review will be to assess the effectiveness of interventions for the acute management of anaphylaxis, and pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches for the long-term management of anaphylaxis. Methods:A highly sensitive search strategy has been developed, and validated study design filters will be applied to retrieve all articles pertaining to the management of anaphylaxis from electronic bibliographic databases. We will systematically review the literature on the acute management of anaphylaxis by assessing the effectiveness of epinephrine, H1-antihistamines (versus placebo), systemic glucocorticosteroids, methylxanthines or any other treatments for the emergency management of people experiencing anaphylaxis. The main interventions that have been studied in the context of long-term management are anaphylaxis management plans and allergen-specific immunotherapy. Discussion:There is at present little in the way of robust evidence to guide decisions on the acute and/or long-term management of anaphylaxis. Given the risk of death and the considerable morbidity associated with anaphylaxis these evidence gaps need to be filled wherever possible; this systematic review will make a start in this area

Marketing-erőforrások koncepcionális megközelítése

A versenyképesség-kutatás egyik központi témája a versenyelőnyök meghatározásának és fenntarthatóságának vizsgálata. Két fő kutatási irány alakult ki: az egyik, a külső környezetre, az iparági elemzésre helyezi a hangsúlyt, a másik pedig, a vállalat belső tényezőit, erősségeit és gyengeségeit állítja a középpontba. A tanulmány az utóbbi elméleti irányzatot követve, a marketing helyzetét átfogóan vizsgáló kutatás- sorozat legújabb eredményeinek a marketing-erőforrásokra vonatkozó részleteit ismerteti. A Magyarországon folyó empirikus kutatásokban1 a marketing-erőforrásokat a marketingeszközök és -képességek jelenítik meg. A mérésükre kifejlesztett skála tesztelésére a kutatásokhoz csatlakozó országok között Magyarországon is sor került. A közgazdasági irányból megközelített erőforrás-alapú vállalatelméletre támaszkodva kimutatják, hogy a marketing-erőforrások koncepcionális rendszerezése empirikusan is helytálló. A skála megbízhatóságát különböző elemzési módszerekkel bizonyítják

The Beneficial Effects of Melatonin Administration Following Hypoxia-Ischemia in Preterm Fetal Sheep

Melatonin (MLT) is an endogenous hormone that controls circadian cycle. MLT has additional important properties that make it appealing as a neuroprotective agent—it is a potent anti-oxidant, with anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties. MLT is safe for administration during pregnancy or to the newborn after birth, and can reduce white matter brain injury under conditions of chronic fetal hypoxia. Accordingly, in the current study, we examined whether an intermediate dose of MLT could restore white matter brain development when administered after an acute hypoxic ischemic (HI) insult in preterm fetal sheep. Fifteen fetal sheep at 95–98 days gestation were instrumented with femoral artery and vein catheters, and a silastic cuff placed around the umbilical cord. At 102 days gestation, the cuff was inflated, causing complete umbilical cord occlusion for 25 min in 10 fetuses, to induce acute severe HI. Five HI fetuses received intravenous MLT for 24 h beginning at 2 h after HI. The remaining five fetuses were administered saline alone. Ten days after HI, the fetal brain was collected from each animal and white and gray matter neuropathology assessed. HI caused a significant increase in apoptotic cell death (TUNEL+), activated microglia (Iba-1+), and oxidative stress (8-OHdG+) within the subventricular and subcortical white matter. HI reduced the total number of oligodendrocytes and CNPase+ myelin density. MLT administration following HI decreased apoptosis, inflammation and oxidative stress within the white matter. MLT had intermediate benefits for the developing white matter: it increased oligodendrocyte cell number within the periventricular white matter only, and improved CNPase+ myelin density within the subcortical but not the striatal white matter. MLT administration following HI was also associated with improved neuronal survival within the cortex. Neuropathology in preterm infants is complex and mediated by multiple mechanisms, including inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptotic pathways. Treatment with MLT presents a safe approach to neuroprotective therapy in preterm infants but appears to have brain region-specific benefits within the white matter

Corrigendum: Extensive microRNA-mediated crosstalk between lncRNAs and mRNAs in mouse embryonic stem cells

In the above-mentioned article, one result reported in the third paragraph of the Results subsection “ceRNAts of individual lnceRNAs tend to be functionally related” was in error. This paragraph should now read: “On average, mESC-expressed lnceRNAs have 20.2 predicted MREs per kb of transcript that are specific to 12 different mESC-expressed miRNAs. This MRE density is similar to the density within 3′ UTRs of ceRNAts (20.4 MREs predicted per kb; P = 0.34, two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test) (Supplemental Fig. S9; Supplemental Table S8). A single lnceRNA might, therefore, be as likely as an mRNA to regulate post-transcriptionally the transcript abundance of many mRNAs via crosstalk with many miRNAs.” Corrected versions of Supplemental Figure S9 and Supplemental Table S8 are also now provided online. This correction does not affect any of the conclusions of the paper. The authors apologize for any confusion caused by this error

The epidemiology of food allergy in Europe: protocol for a systematic review

BackgroundThe European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology is in the process of developing its Guideline for Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis, and this protocol of a systematic review is one of seven inter-linked evidence syntheses that are being undertaken in order to provide a state-of-the-art synopsis of the current evidence base in relation to epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis and clinical management and impact on quality of life, which will be used to inform the formulation of clinical recommendations.The aims of the systematic review will be to understand and describe the epidemiology of food allergy, i.e. frequency, risk factors and outcomes of patients suffering from food allergy, and to describe how these characteristics vary by person, place and time.MethodsA highly sensitive search strategy has been developed to retrieve articles that have investigated the various aspects of the epidemiology of food allergy. The search will be implemented by combining the concepts of food allergy and its epidemiology from electronic bibliographic databases.DiscussionThis systematic review will provide the most up to date estimates of the frequency of food allergy in Europe. We will attempt to break these down by age and geographical region in Europe. Our analysis will take into account the suitability of the study design and the respective study biases that could affect exposure and outcome. We will examine the different methods to diagnose food allergy and the associated measures of occurrence