Beyond the metaphor: Time to take over the castle

The twelve princesses may have been dancing secretly for years, with Further Education teachers publicly acquiescing to being locked in within policy and managerial confines, while persisting in doing their ‘own thing’ surreptitiously, but this clandestine dancing must come to an end. It is high time the princesses defy the king, own up to their subversive activity and out themselves as the great dancers they are. It is time we restore our autonomy and voice, rather than persisting in living this double life that is keeping us under the metaphorical lock and key, and eroding our professionalism. The king will never allow the princesses out to dance and we need to stop waiting for his permission. It’s gone past the time of subversion. It’s high time for revolution

Faith in the Academy: religion at University

Recently universities have found themselves torn between upholding academic values of freedom of speech and expression, and pandering to the new orthodoxy that defines students as vulnerable adults and likely to be 'damaged' by contrary opinions. This has been most marked when it comes to issues of faith and students' religious identity and beliefs. This chapter will look at the contradictory position universities find themselves in, on one hand seeking to protect students' religious sensibilities by sanctioning illiberal practices and restricting criticism, and on the other seeking to limit freedom of expression by banning certain faith speakers in the fear they will 'radicalise' vulnerable students. This chapter will also argue that it is time for the academy to rediscover its faith in its own mission and purpose, and the values of intellectual freedom and expression

Professionalism without autonomy

Further Education lecturers appear to be stranded in a professional wilderness, deemed to fall short of the virtues of school teachers and lacking the academic credentials of university lecturers. One response to this apparent lack of status was an attempt to re-professionalise the FE workforce, most notably through the work of its first professional body, the Institute for Learning (IfL). This essay charts the ups and downs of the professionalisation agenda in Further Education and its impact on FE teacher

Supporting FE teachers, tutors and managers to create and sustain a climate of practitioner inquiry: London Learning and Skills Research Network

Covid-19 has impacted our lives over the past one and a half years, even for those fortunate enough not to be furloughed or made redundant. For these privileged people, their private and living spaces have become more public amid working, learning and teaching habitus for those working in education sectors. As co-convenors of the London LSRN network[1], we host workshops and conference-style sessions for all those working or with an interest in the Further Education and Skills (FE) Sector

Rethinking the concept of social construction from a complexity perspective

This paper is an explicitly interdisciplinary critique of the limits of the concept of social construction and the analytic implications of breaking those limits. The proposition rests on the rejection of social phenomena as sui generic, in Durkheim’s sense and the proposition that they are ecologically emergent outcomes of complex, multi-dimensional processes. The consequence is an epistemic commitment to Fuzzy Logic, deep ecology, a more biosemiotic approach to human understanding, including the prioritisation of survival and the emotions. It draws on Complexity Theory, Biosemiotics, Affect Theory, and a more biologically and emotionally rooted concept of the social

Definitive salvage chemotherapy for the treatment of refractory/relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a single center experience

Objective: Non Hodgkin Lymphomas (NHL)s are a group of malignancies which affect the lymphatic system. A significant proportion of NHL patients experience either relapse or failure of treatment which is called refractory disease. Relapsed or refractory NHL usually have poor prognosis due to shortage of randomized trials comparing efficacy of different treatment protocols to define the optimal salvage chemotherapy regimen in these cases. In this study, we are trying to define the best salvage chemotherapy regimen with low toxicity and better quality of life for patients by comparing outcome of 2 salvage chemotherapy regimens GDP & DHAP.Patients and methods: 100 patients diagnosed as relapsed or refractory NHL were randomly assigned to receive either Gemcitabine, Dexamethasone and Cisplatin (GDP) or Dexamethasone, Cytarabine and Cysplatin (DHAP) for 4 to 6 cycles. Primary endpoints of the study were overall survival and progression free survival. Secondary endpoints were response to treatment, toxicity profile of each regimen, and quality of life assessment.Results: The overall response rate was 70% in GDP group & 64% in DHAP group with no statistically significant difference between them (p-value 0.5). There was no significant difference between both groups regarding toxicity profile except in febrile neutropenia episodes which was much less in GDP group (p-value 0.04). Quality of life was better in GDP group than DHAP with significant difference (p-value < 0.05). There was no statistical significant difference between both groups regarding OS or PFS.Conclusion: GDP is as effective as DHAP for relapsed or refractory lymphoma with less toxicity and better quality of life.Keywords: DHAP, GDP, NHL, Relapsed, Refractory lymphom

Improving emergency departments: simulation-based optimization of patients waiting time and the number of staff present in a hospital

The emergency department (ED), operating around the clock every day of the year, serves a diverse range of patients with varying medical conditions, making it the vital core of a hospital. Consequently, optimizing and simulating the ED's processes becomes essential to enhance the quality of care provided. This study offers a case analysis employing simulation to assess patient flows in a hospital's emergency department. Our objective is to evaluate the impacts of system enhancements within the ED. This model aims to measure patients' time from their ED entry, determine daily patient numbers, and calculate the overall patient movement time within the department. If the patient's condition is serious, he will be presented immediately to the doctor without waiting. A doctor will be added to the unit if the number of patients exceeds the standard limit.</p

Derangement of Basic Amino Acids and Nitric Oxide Levels in Patients Undergoing Cardiothoracic Surgery

Background: A cyclic relationship exists, between; arginine, citrulline, and ornithine. Arginase is a specific enzyme that plays a role in this relationship. This study aimed to elucidate the role of surgical trauma and anesthesia on plasma levels of the previous acids and nitric oxide (NO) and to determine whether the changes in these levels can be correlated to the duration of surgery and anesthesia exposure. Patients and methods: The study included: group A 41 patients who underwent coronary bypasses and group B 17 patients who underwent lung cancer surgery. The amino acid analyzer was used for the detection of amino acids, while NO was estimated by a Spectro-photometric method. Results: The study revealed a significant decrease in the intra-operative levels of arginine, citrulline, ornithine, and NO compared to their pre-operative levels in both groups. Conclusion: Depletion of these basic amino acids is possibly multifunctional and can be associated with an increase in arginase, surgical trauma, anesthesia, and stress

Dual stimuli-responsive polypyrrole nanoparticles for anticancer therapy

We report the development of dual stimuli-responsive nanoparticles with potential for anticancer therapy. The nanoparticles are composed of a conjugated polymer (polypyrrole, PPY) loaded with an anticancer drug (allicin), and were characterized by a variety of physicochemical techniques. The dual stimuli-responsive nature of the PPY nanoparticles was validated in vitro: the PPY nanoparticles delivered an anticancer drug (allicin) in response to exposure to an electric field in vitro as demonstrated with UV–vis spectroscopy; and the PPY nanoparticles exhibited photothermal activity upon irradiation with near infrared light which resulted in resulted in toxicity towards HEP G2 cells in vitro. We believe that such nanoparticles have long term potential for application in cancer therapy in a variety of tissue niches (e.g. breast cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer)