"Dreaming in colour’: disabled higher education students’ perspectives on improving design practices that would enable them to benefit from their use of technologies"

The focus of this paper is the design of technology products and services for disabled students in higher education. It analyses the perspectives of disabled students studying in the US, the UK, Germany, Israel and Canada, regarding their experiences of using technologies to support their learning. The students shared how the functionality of the technologies supported them to study and enabled them to achieve their academic potential. Despite these positive outcomes, the students also reported difficulties associated with: i) the design of the technologies, ii) a lack of technology know-how and iii) a lack of social capital. When identifying potential solutions to these difficulties the disabled students imagined both preferable and possible futures where faculty, higher education institutions, researchers and technology companies are challenged to push the boundaries of their current design practices

Arthropathies Associated with Basic Calcium Phosphate Crystals

Basic calcium phosphate (BCP) crystals refer to a family of crystals including partially carbonate substituted hydroxyapatite, octacalcium phosphate, and tricalcium phosphate. These crystals have been found in and around joints and have been associated with several forms of arthritis and periarthritis. Identification of BCP crystals remains problematic because of the lack of a simple, reliable analytic procedure. Methods currently in use include alizarin red S staining, labelled diphosphonate binding, scanning and transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. Periarthropathies associated with BCP crystals include calcific tendinitis and bursitis. Intra-articular BCP crystal deposition is common in osteoarthritis, often found together with calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals. Uncommon conditions in which BCP crystals are found include destructive shoulder arthropathies, acute inflammatory attacks of arthritis, and erosive arthritis. Secondary deposition of BCP crystals has been observed in chronic renal failure, in patients with collagen vascular diseases, following neurologic injury and after local corticosteroid injection

Healthy ageing: The natural consequences of good nutrition\u2014A conference report

Many countries are witnessing a marked increase in longevity and with this increased lifespan and the desire for healthy ageing, many, however, suffer from the opposite including mental and physical deterioration, lost productivity and quality of life, and increased medical costs. While adequate nutrition is fundamental for good health, it remains unclear what impact various dietary interventions may have on prolonging good quality of life. Studies which span age, geography and income all suggest that access to quality foods, host immunity and response to inflammation/infections, impaired senses (i.e., sight, taste, smell) or mobility are all factors which can limit intake or increase the body\u2019s need for specific micronutrients. New clinical studies of healthy ageing are needed and quantitative biomarkers are an essential component, particularly tools which can measure improvements in physiological integrity throughout life, thought to be a primary contributor to a long and productive life (a healthy \u201clifespan\u201d). A framework for progress has recently been proposed in a WHO report which takes a broad, person-centered focus on healthy ageing, emphasizing the need to better understand an individual\u2019s intrinsic capacity, their functional abilities at various life stages, and the impact by mental, and physical health, and the environments they inhabit. \ua9 The Author(s) 2018

The role of systemic inflammation linking maternal BMI to neurodevelopment in children

Children of obese mothers are at increased risk of developmental adversities. Maternal obesity is linked to an inflammatory in utero environment, which, in turn, is associated with neurodevelopmental impairments in the offspring. This is an integrated mechanism review of animal and human literature related to the hypothesis that maternal obesity causes maternal and fetal inflammation, and that this inflammation adversely affects the neurodevelopment of children. We propose integrative models in which several aspects of inflammation are considered along the causative pathway linking maternal obesity with neurodevelopmental limitations