The sense in humour : a personal exploration of humour in the teaching of adults : some questions and tentative answers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education at Massey University

This thesis is a personal exploration of the potential applications of humour in the teaching of adults. I have provided some questions and tentative answers about the use of humour in the facilitation of adult learning. Having recognised the value of humour in my own teaching practice, I have examined the ways in which humour, when applied appropriately, can promote creative thinking by enhancing the processes of knowing, perceiving and discovering. Adult learning has been said to be a means of gaining knowledge and skills, a way to satisfy learner needs and a process of critical self-reflection that may lead to transformation. Adult education can involve challenging periods of transformation and students may require assistance to overcome inhibitions, behaviours and beliefs about themselves their culture and learning. In this thesis I have sought to explore how humour, manifesting itself in verbal, written and visual formats, may be a valuable pedagogical tool to address such issues. One of the purposes of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge in teaching practice by demonstrating that the systematic and informed introduction of humour into individual teaching strategics may provide a more people-centred climate which addresses individual and group learning needs from the perspective of teacher and student

Negative regulation of the androgen receptor gene through a primate specific androgen response element present in the 5' UTR

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. Acknowledgements This work was supported by funding from the Chief Scientist Office, Government of Scotland (Grant Nos CZB/4/477 and ETM/258). DNL was supported by the Association for International Cancer Research (Grant No. 03–127)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Natural disordered sequences in the amino terminal domain of nuclear receptors: lessons from the androgen and glucocorticoid receptors

Steroid hormones are a diverse class of structurally related molecules, derived from cholesterol, that include androgens, estrogens, progesterone and corticosteroids. They represent an important group of physiologically active signalling molecules that bind intracellular receptor proteins and regulate genes involved in developmental, reproductive and metabolic processes. The receptor proteins share structurally and functionally related ligand binding and DNA-binding domains, but possess distinct N-terminal domains (NTD) of unique length and amino acids sequence. The NTD contains sequences important for gene regulation, exhibit structure plasticity and are likely to contribute to the specificity of the steroid hormone/receptor response

Tissue control of androgen action : The ups and downs of androgen receptor expression

Work in the McEwan Laboratory is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of Scottish Government: Grants ETM-258 and ETM-382. BE is supported by an Erasmus scholarship.Peer reviewedPostprin

Liberal market economies, business, and political finance: Britain under New Labour

The extent and nature of business financing of parties is an important feature of political finance. Britain’s transparent and permissive regulatory system provides an excellent opportunity to study business financing of parties. Business donations have been very important to the Conservative party over the last decade, and of only marginal importance to Labour. Unlike other Conservative contributors, business donors are more likely to contribute when the party is popular. In contrast to the previous period of Conservative government, the biggest British businesses tended to abstain from political finance under New Labour. However, their bias towards the Conservatives is affected by the party’s popularity and the closeness of an election. Britain shares the political importance of business financing of parties and its mixture of ideological and pragmatic motivations with other liberal market economies. However, in Britain the bias towards the right is much stronger and the role of big business more marginal

Do MRI features at baseline predict radiographic joint space narrowing in the medial compartment of the osteoarthritic knee 2 years later?

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to relate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features at baseline with radiographically determined joint space narrowing (JSN) in the medial compartment of the knee after 2 years in a group of patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis at multiple joint sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MRI of the knee and standardized radiographs were obtained at baseline and after 2 years in 186 patients (81% female; aged 43-76 years; mean 60 years). MRI was analyzed for bone marrow lesions, cysts, osteophytes, hyaline cartilage defects, joint effusion, and meniscal pathology in the medial compartment. Radiographs were scored semiquantitatively for JSN in the medial tibiofemoral joint using the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) atlas. Radiological progression was defined as > or =1 grade increase. Associations between baseline magnetic resonance (MR) parameters and subsequent radiographic JSN changes were assessed using logistic regression. Relative risk (RR) was then calculated. RESULTS: Radiographic progression of JSN was observed in 17 (9.1%) of 186 patients. Eleven patients had a Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) score of > or =2. A significant association was observed between all patients and meniscal tears (RR 3.57; confidence interval (CI) 1.08-10.0) and meniscal subluxation (RR 2.73; CI 1.20-5.41), between KL or = 2 and meniscus tears (RR 8.91; CI 1.13-22.84) and radiographic JSN 2 years later. Follow-up MR in 15 of 17 patients with progressive JSN showed only new meniscal abnormalities and no progression of cartilage loss. CONCLUSION: Meniscal pathology (tears and/or meniscal subluxation) was the only MRI parameter to be associated with subsequent radiographic progression of JSN in the medial tibiofemoral compartment on a radiograph 2 years later, as assessed by the OARSI score

Visualising and Quantifying Cereal Root Responses to Phosphorus

Phosphorus (P) and nitrogen macronutrient deficiencies remain a primary constraint to global agricultural production. Expectations for decreasing fertiliser availability and increased food demand provide impetus for improving plant nutrient efficiencies. While significant genetic advances have been made based on plant shoot characteristics, the root system traits have remained largely untargeted in breeding programs. This is largely due to the difficulties in rapidly assessing root system attributes. Since the spatial distribution of the root system (root architecture) determines the edaphic resources available to plants, it is logical to target root architecture in an effort to improve plant nutrient acquisition efficiency. Characteristics such as localised root proliferation in response to high nutrient patches could be improved to increase nutrient capture from point source fertiliser applications

Bone marrow edema-like lesions change in volume in the majority of patients with osteoarthritis; associations with clinical features

It has been suggested that bone marrow edema-like (BME) lesions in the knee are associated with progression of osteoarthritis (OA). The purpose of our study in patients with OA was to evaluate prospectively changes of BME lesions over 2 years and their relationship with clinical features. Magnetic resonance (MR) images of the knee were obtained from 182 patients (20% male; aged 43–76 years; mean age 59 years) who had been diagnosed with familial symptomatic OA at multiple joint sites. MR images were made at baseline and at 2 years follow-up. BME lesions in 2 years were associated with clinical features assessed by Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) scores. A total of 327 BME lesions were recorded. Total size of BME lesions changed in 90 patients (66%). Size of individual lesions changed in 147 foci (45%): new lesions appeared in 69 (21%), existing lesions disappeared in 32 (10%), increased in size in 26 (8%) and decreased in size in 20 (6%) lesions. Increase or decrease of BME lesions, over a 2-year time period, was not associated with severity of WOMAC scores. BME lesions fluctuated in the majority of patients with OA over a 2-year time period. These changes were not associated with severity of WOMAC scores at the study end point

Regulation of the androgen receptor by SET9-mediated methylation

The androgen receptor (AR) is a member of the nuclear hormone receptor family of transcription factors that plays a critical role in regulating expression of genes involved in prostate development and transformation. Upon hormone binding, the AR associates with numerous co-regulator proteins that regulate the activation status of target genes via flux to the post-translational modification status of histones and the receptor. Here we show that the AR interacts with and is directly methylated by the histone methyltransferase enzyme SET9. Methylation of the AR on lysine 632 is necessary for enhancing transcriptional activity of the receptor by facilitating both inter-domain communication between the N- and C-termini and recruitment to androgen-target genes. We also show that SET9 is pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic in prostate cancer cells and demonstrates up-regulated nuclear expression in prostate cancer tissue. In all, our date indicate a new mechanism of AR regulation that may be therapeutically exploitable for prostate cancer treatment