352 research outputs found
Social pedagogical perspectives on fidelity to a manual: Professional principles and dilemmas in everyday expertise
Manualised interventions, in use across the UK for decades and increasingly in use in Denmark, aim
to support change through professional practitioners following detailed prescriptions of what they must
do to affect a particular change in the target group. Social pedagogy, a strong professional tradition in
Denmark and an emerging profession in the UK, takes an approach that responds to the individualâs
experience of the immediate situation, seeks to nurture relational opportunities and to empower people
to fully participate in their lives and society. Harboâs research reveals that this approach can be at odds
with manualised interventions for a variety of reasons. A social pedagogically informed programme
has been developed in London that uses a clear ethical stance and key theories as its foundation, and
upon which structures have been developed, but no manual. This article explores the use of these
manualised and non-manualised interventions in Denmark and the UK and the roles of social pedagogues
in supporting change through programmatic interventions. Harboâs doctoral research findings on practice surrounding the highly prescriptive manual Aggression Replacement Training in Denmark
(Harbo, 2019) is explored alongside Kempâs reflections on the social pedagogically informed Family
Learning Intervention Programme in England, examining the tensions and synergies that emerge around
each programme when they meet reality and the individual characteristics of day-to-day situations.
The perspectives presented emerge from practice research and reflections, and as such are based in an
experiential research tradition. Finally, we draw together our learning and openings for further research
and policy development
Cognitive Change during the Life Course and Leukocyte Telomere Length in Late Middle-Aged Men
AbstractImportance: Cognitive skills are known to decline through the lifespan with large individual differences. The molecular mechanisms for this decline are incompletely understood. Although leukocyte telomere length provides an index of cellular age that predicts the incidence of age-related diseases, it is unclear whether there is an association between cognitive decline and leukocyte telomere length. Objective: To examine the association between changes in cognitive function during adult life and leukocyte telomere length after adjusting for confounding factors such as education, mental health and life style. Design, setting and participants: Two groups of men with negative (n=97) and positive (n=93) change in cognitive performance were selected from a birth cohort of 1985 Danish men born in 1953. Cognitive performance of each individual was assessed at age ~20 and ~56 years. Leukocyte telomere length at age ~58 was measured using qPCR. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association between cognitive function and leukocyte telomere length. Results: Men with negative change in cognitive performance during adult life had significantly shorter mean leukocyte telomere length than men with positive change in cognitive performance (unadjusted difference ÎČ= - 0.09, 95% CI -0.16 - -0.02, p= 0.02). This association remained significant after adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure time activity, body mass index and cholesterol (adjusted difference ÎČ= -0.09, 95% CI -0.17 - -0.01, p= 0.02) but was nonsignificant after adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure time activity, body mass index cholesterol, current cognitive function, depression and education (adjusted difference ÎČ= -0.07, 95% CI -0.16 - -0.01, p= 0.08). Conclusion and relevance: Preclinical cognitive changes may be associated with leukocyte telomere length
The riskâtaking channel in the United States : A GVAR approach
Using a panel of large U.S. banks, we examine banks' riskâtaking behaviour in response to monetary policy shocks. Our investigation provides support for the presence of a riskâtaking channel: banks' nonâperforming loans increase in the medium to longârun following an expansionary monetary policy shock. We also find that banks' capital structure plays an important role in explaining bank's riskâtaking appetite. Impulse response analysis shows that shocks emanating from larger banks spill over to the rest of the sector but no such effect is observed for smaller banks. These findings are confirmed for banks' Zâscore
The Chandra Source Catalog
The Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) is a general purpose virtual X-ray
astrophysics facility that provides access to a carefully selected set of
generally useful quantities for individual X-ray sources, and is designed to
satisfy the needs of a broad-based group of scientists, including those who may
be less familiar with astronomical data analysis in the X-ray regime. The first
release of the CSC includes information about 94,676 distinct X-ray sources
detected in a subset of public ACIS imaging observations from roughly the first
eight years of the Chandra mission. This release of the catalog includes point
and compact sources with observed spatial extents <~ 30''. The catalog (1)
provides access to the best estimates of the X-ray source properties for
detected sources, with good scientific fidelity, and directly supports
scientific analysis using the individual source data; (2) facilitates analysis
of a wide range of statistical properties for classes of X-ray sources; and (3)
provides efficient access to calibrated observational data and ancillary data
products for individual X-ray sources, so that users can perform detailed
further analysis using existing tools. The catalog includes real X-ray sources
detected with flux estimates that are at least 3 times their estimated 1 sigma
uncertainties in at least one energy band, while maintaining the number of
spurious sources at a level of <~ 1 false source per field for a 100 ks
observation. For each detected source, the CSC provides commonly tabulated
quantities, including source position, extent, multi-band fluxes, hardness
ratios, and variability statistics, derived from the observations in which the
source is detected. In addition to these traditional catalog elements, for each
X-ray source the CSC includes an extensive set of file-based data products that
can be manipulated interactively.Comment: To appear in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 53 pages,
27 figure
International Guillain-Barré Syndrome Outcome Study (IGOS): protocol of a prospective observational cohort study on clinical and biological predictors of disease course and outcome in Guillain-Barré syndrome
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute polyradiculoneuropathy with a highly variable clinical presentation, course, and outcome. The factors that determine the clinical variation of GBS are poorly understood which complicates the care and treatment of individual patients. The protocol of the ongoing International GBS Outcome Study (IGOS), a prospective, observational, multi-centre cohort study that aims to identify the clinical and biological determinants and predictors of disease onset, subtype, course and outcome of GBS is presented here. Patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for GBS, regardless of age, disease severity, variant forms, or treatment, can participate if included within two weeks after onset of weakness. Information about demography, preceding infections, clinical features, diagnostic findings, treatment, course and outcome is collected. In addition, cerebrospinal fluid and serial blood samples for serum and DNA is collected at standard time points. The original aim was to include at least 1000 patients with a follow-up of 1-3 years. Data are collected via a web-based data entry system and stored anonymously. IGOS started in May 2012 and by January 2017 included more than 1400 participants from 143 active centres in 19 countries across 5 continents. The IGOS data/biobank is available for research projects conducted by expertise groups focusing on specific topics including epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, clinimetrics, electrophysiology, antecedent events, antibodies, genetics, prognostic modelling, treatment effects and long-term outcome of GBS. The IGOS will help to standardize the international collection of data and biosamples for future research of GBS. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01582763
Statistical Characterization of the Chandra Source Catalog
The first release of the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) contains ~95,000 X-ray
sources in a total area of ~0.75% of the entire sky, using data from ~3,900
separate ACIS observations of a multitude of different types of X-ray sources.
In order to maximize the scientific benefit of such a large, heterogeneous
data-set, careful characterization of the statistical properties of the
catalog, i.e., completeness, sensitivity, false source rate, and accuracy of
source properties, is required. Characterization efforts of other, large
Chandra catalogs, such as the ChaMP Point Source Catalog (Kim et al. 2007) or
the 2 Mega-second Deep Field Surveys (Alexander et al. 2003), while
informative, cannot serve this purpose, since the CSC analysis procedures are
significantly different and the range of allowable data is much less
restrictive. We describe here the characterization process for the CSC. This
process includes both a comparison of real CSC results with those of other,
deeper Chandra catalogs of the same targets and extensive simulations of
blank-sky and point source populations.Comment: To be published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (Fig.
52 replaced with a version which astro-ph can convert to PDF without issues.
Association of Genetic Markers with CSF Oligoclonal Bands in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Objective:to explore the association between genetic markers and Oligoclonal Bands (OCB) in the Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) of Italian Multiple Sclerosis patients.Methods:We genotyped 1115 Italian patients for HLA-DRB1*15 and HLA-A*02. In a subset of 925 patients we tested association with 52 non-HLA SNPs associated with MS susceptibility and we calculated a weighted Genetic Risk Score. Finally, we performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) with OCB status on a subset of 562 patients. The best associated SNPs of the Italian GWAS were replicated in silico in Scandinavian and Belgian populations, and meta-analyzed.Results:HLA-DRB1*15 is associated with OCB+: p = 0.03, Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.6, 95% Confidence Limits (CL) = 1.1-2.4. None of the 52 non-HLA MS susceptibility loci was associated with OCB, except one SNP (rs2546890) near IL12B gene (OR: 1.45; 1.09-1.92). The weighted Genetic Risk Score mean was significantly (p = 0.0008) higher in OCB+ (7.668) than in OCB- (7.412) patients. After meta-analysis on the three datasets (Italian, Scandinavian and Belgian) for the best associated signals resulted from the Italian GWAS, the strongest signal was a SNP (rs9320598) on chromosome 6q (p = 9.4Ă10-7) outside the HLA region (65 Mb).Discussion:genetic factors predispose to the development of OCB
Creating a learning space: Using experiential learning and creativity in the teaching and learning of social pedagogy
This reflective account has been co-developed, produced and written by students and the teaching staff on the BA Hons Social Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Participation degree at the University of Central Lancashire. The account focuses on the use of experiential and creative teaching methods utilised on the course and how this enhances the understanding and application of social pedagogy. The article critically analyses the link between how the social pedagogical theories, concepts and methods are taught and the advancement of the student and lecturer understanding of this field of study. In developing this reflective account, the current student cohort and lecturers were given the opportunity to participate in a collaborative reflection across all years of the course. They discussed their own learning journey and how this has shaped development of creativity within their practice. During the discussions around the use of blended, experiential learning and creativity, three key themes emerged: (1) the importance of the environment on creativity and learning; (2) the importance of relationships, creativity and learning; and (3) Haltung, psychological safety and creativity. In the reflections on what they have learned so far, the students and lecturers hope to inspire other education providers to use creative and experiential teaching
methods within their courses. The authors feel that the reflective account contains useful information around the learning that has taken place over the last three years of this course being taugh
EFNS guidelines on the molecular diagnosis of ataxias and spastic paraplegias
Background and purpose:â These EFNS guidelines on the molecular diagnosis of neurogenetic disorders are designed to provide practical help for the general neurologist to make appropriate use of molecular genetics in diagnosing neurogenetic disorders.Methods:â Literature searches were performed before expert members of the task force wrote proposals, which were discussed in detail until final consensus had been reached among all task force members.Results and conclusion:â This paper provides updated guidelines for molecular diagnosis of two particularly complex groups of disorders, the ataxias and spastic paraplegias. Possibilities and limitations of molecular genetic diagnosis of these disorders are evaluated and recommendations are provided
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