À propos du National Curriculum

Depuis 1988, l’instauration d’un curriculum national obligatoire a bouleversé les pratiques éducatives en Angleterre. Étroitement associé à cette réforme, un système d’évaluation est progressivement introduit : mise en place, objectifs, perspectives constituent autant d’aspects marqués par d’importants débats entre les responsables politiques et les acteurs de l’éducation

Childhood obesity: Evidence for distinct early and late environmental determinants a 12-year longitudinal cohort study (EarlyBird 62)

Background/objective:The prevalence of childhood obesity continues to rise in most countries, but the exposures responsible remain unclear. The shape of the body mass index (BMI) distribution curve defines how a population responds, and can be described by its three parameters-skew (L), median (M) and variance (S). We used LMS analysis to explore differences in the BMI trajectories of contemporary UK children with those of 25 years ago, and to draw inferences on the exposures responsible.Subjects/methods:We applied Cole's LMS method to compare the BMI trajectories of 307 UK children (EarlyBird cohort) measured annually from 5-16 years (2000-2012) with those of the BMI data set used to construct the UK 1990 growth centiles, and used group-based trajectory modelling (GBTM) to establish whether categorical trajectories emerged.Results:Gender-specific birth weights were normally distributed and similar between both data sets. The skew and variance established by 5 years in the 1990 children remained stable during the remainder of their childhood, but the pattern was different for children 25 years on. The skew at 5 years among the EarlyBird children was greatly exaggerated, and involved selectively the offspring of obese parents, but returned to 1990 levels by puberty. As the skew diminished, so the variance in BMI rose sharply. The median BMI of the EarlyBird children differed little from that of 1990 before puberty, but diverged from it as the variance rose. GBTM uncovered four groups with distinct trajectories, which were related to parental obesity.Conclusions:There appear to be two distinct environmental interactions with body mass among contemporary children, the one operating selectively according to parental BMI during early childhood, the second more generally in puberty.Bright Future TrustBUPA FoundationPeninsula FoundationKirby Laing TrustEarlyBird Diabetes Trus

Trends in silicosis prevalence and the healthy worker effect among gold miners in South Africa: a prevalence study with follow up of employment status.

BACKGROUND: Given the intimate association between silicosis and tuberculosis, understanding the epidemiology of the South African gold mining industry silicosis epidemic is essential to current initiatives to control both silicosis and tuberculosis in this population, one of the most heavily affected globally. The study's objectives were to compare the prevalence of silicosis among working black gold miners in South Africa during 2004-2009 to that of previous studies, including autopsy series, and to analyse the influence of silicosis and/or tuberculosis on exiting employment. METHODS: Routine chest radiographs from a cohort of gold miners were read for silicosis by an experienced reader (I), and a subset re-read by a B-trained reader (II). Two methods of presenting the readings were used. Additionally, with baseline status of silicosis and previous or active tuberculosis as predictors, survival analysis examined the probability of exiting the workforce for any reason during 2006-2011. RESULTS: Reader I read 11 557 chest radiographs and reader II re-read 841. Overall, silicosis prevalence (ILO ≥ 1/0: 5.7 and 6.2% depending on reader method) was similar to the age adjusted prevalence found in a large study in 1984 (5.0%). When comparison was restricted to a single mine shaft previously studied in 2000, a decline in prevalence (ILO ≥ 1/1) was suggested for one of the reading methods (duration adjusted 20.5% vs. 13.0% in the current study). These findings are discordant with a long-term rising autopsy prevalence of silicosis over this period. Overall, relative to miners with neither disease, the adjusted hazard ratio for exiting employment during the follow-up period was 1.54 for baseline silicosis [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17, 2.04], 1.71 for tuberculosis (95% CI 1.51, 1.94) and 1.53 for combined disease (95% CI 1.20, 1.96). CONCLUSIONS: This study found, a) there was no significant decline in overall silicosis prevalence among working black miners in the South African gold mining industry between 1984 and 2004-2009, and b) a possible decline at one mine shaft more recently. In the absence of evidence of declining respirable silica concentrations between the 1980s and 2000s, the trends found are plausibly due to a healthy worker survivor effect, which may be accelerating

Mars Global Surveyor: Aerobraking and Observations Support Using a Mars Global Circulation Model

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. Using a global atmospheric circulation model for Mars, the focus of this JRI has been to provide support for the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft aerobraking activities and interpretation guidance of preliminary observations. The primary atmospheric model applied in this investigation has been a high-top version of the NASA Ames Mars general circulation model (MGCM). Comparisons with an atmospheric model designed primarily for engineering purposes (Mars-GRAM) has also been carried out. From a suite of MGCM simulations, we have assessed plausible spatial and temporal variability in atmospheric density at high altitudes (e.g., 70-110 km) for seasonal dates and locations during Phase I aerobraking. Diagnostic tools have been developed to analyze circulation fields from the MGCM simulations, and these tools have been applied in the creation of a Mars climate catalogue database. Throughout Phase I aerobraking activities, analysis products have been provided to the MGS aerobraking atmospheric advisory group (AAG). Analyses of circulation variability at the coupling level between the MGCM and a Mars thermospheric global circulation model (MTGCM) has also been assessed. Finally, using a quasi-geostrophic dynamical formulation with the MGCM simulations, diagnosis of breaking planetary (Rossby) waves in Mars' middle atmosphere has been carried out. Titles of papers presented at scientific workshops and seminars, and a publication in the scientific literature are provided

An Intercomparison of the Dynamical Cores of Global Atmospheric Circulation Models for Mars

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. The focus of this JRI has been to evaluate the dynamical 'cores' of two global atmospheric circulation models for Mars that are in operation at the NASA Ames Research Center. The two global circulation models in use are fundamentally different: one uses spherical harmonics in its horizontal representation of field variables; the other uses finite differences on a uniform longitude-latitude grid. Several simulations have been conducted to assess how the dynamical processors of each of these circulation models perform using identical 'simple physics' parameterizations. A variety of climate statistics (e.g., time-mean flows and eddy fields) have been compared for realistic solstitial mean basic states. Results of this research have demonstrated that the two Mars circulation models with completely different spatial representations and discretizations produce rather similar circulation statistics for first-order meteorological fields, suggestive of a tendency for convergence of numerical solutions. Second and higher-order fields can, however, vary significantly between the two models

Mars Global Surveyor: Aerobraking and Observations Support Using a Mars Global Circulation Model

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. Using a global atmospheric circulation model for Mars, the focus of this JRI has been to provide support for the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft aerobraking activities and interpretation guidance of preliminary observations. ne primary atmospheric model applied in this investigation has been a high-top version of the NASA Ames Mars general circulation model (MGCM). Comparisons with an atmospheric model designed primarily for engineering purposes (Mars-GRAM) has also been carried out. From a suite of MGCM simulations, we have assessed plausible spatial and temporal variability in atmospheric density at high altitudes (e.g., 70-110 km) for seasonal dates and locations during Phase 1 aerobraking. Diagnostic tools have been developed to analyze circulation fields from the MGCM simulations, and these tools have been applied in the creation of a Mars climate catalogue database. Throughout Phase 1 aerobraking activities, analysis products have been provided to the MGS aerobraking atmospheric advisory group (AAG). Analyses of circulation variability at the coupling level between the MGCM and a Mars thermospheric global circulation model (MTGCM) has also been assessed. Finally, using a quasi-geostrophic dynamical formulation with the MGCM simulations, diagnosis of breaking planetary (Rossby) waves in Mars' middle atmosphere has been carried out. Titles of papers presented at scientific workshops and seminars, and a publication in the scientific literature are provided

An Intercomparison of the Dynamical Cores of Global Atmospheric Circulation Models for Mars

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Cen- ter and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. The focus of this JRI has been to evaluate the dynamical "cores" of two global atmospheric circulation models for Mars that are in operation at the NASA Ames Research Center. ne two global circulation models in use are fundamentally different: one uses spherical harmonics in its horizontal representation of field variables; the other uses finite differences on a uniform longitude-latitude grid. Several simulations have been conducted to assess how the dynamical processors of each of these circulation models perform using identical "simple physics" parameterizations. A variety of climate statistics (e.g., time-mean flows and eddy fields) have been compared for realistic solstitial mean basic states. Results of this research have demonstrated that the two Mars circulation models with completely different spatial representations and discretizations produce rather similar circulation statistics for first-order meteorological fields, suggestive of a tendency for convergence of numerical solutions. Second and higher-order fields can, however, vary significantly between the two models

An Intercomparison of the Dynamical Cores of Global Atmospheric Circulation Models for Mars

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. The focus of this JRI has been to evaluate the dynamical "cores" of two global atmospheric circulation models for Mars that are in operation at the NASA Ames Research Center. The two global circulation models in use are fundamentally different: one uses spherical harmonics in its horizontal representation of field variables; the other uses finite differences on a uniform longitude-latitude grid. Several simulations have been conducted to assess how the dynamical processors of each of these circulation models perform using identical "simple physics" parameterizations. A variety of climate statistics (e.g., time-mean flows and eddy fields) have been compared for realistic solstitial mean basic states. Results of this research have demonstrated that the two Mars circulation models with completely different spatial representations and discretizations produce rather similar circulation statistics for first-order meteorological fields, suggestive of a tendency for convergence of numerical solutions. Second and higher-order fields can, however, vary significantly between the two models

Exploring the Adolescent Fall in Physical Activity: A 10-yr Cohort Study (EarlyBird 41)

This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Vol. 47 (10), pp. 2084–2092 (2015)INTRODUCTION: Contemporary adolescents are deemed inactive, especially girls, but whether for biological reasons associated with their maturation, changes in their behavior or because of environmental constraints, is uncertain. We examined the trends in physical activity (PA) in relation to both biological and environmental factors in an attempt to establish what drives activity patterns from childhood through adolescence. METHODS: Physical activity (7-d Actigraph accelerometry) was measured annually from 5 to 15 yr in a single cohort of some 300 UK children. Total PA (TPA; in-school and out-of-school separately and combined as whole day) and intensity-specific PA (sedentary, light, and moderate-and-vigorous [MVPA]) were analyzed. Biological age (years before/after measured peak height velocity) and pubertal stage (self-reported pubic hair development-Tanner staging) were also measured as was socioeconomic status (postcode-derived index of multiple deprivation [IMD]). RESULTS: Total PA was stable from 5 to 8 yr (trend P = 0.10) but fell progressively from 9 to 15 yr (by approximately 30% in girls and approximately 20% in boys, both P < 0.001; sex interaction, P < 0.01). Half of this fall was attributable to light intensity PA and only a quarter to MVPA. The decline in PA was related similarly to chronological and biological age, whereas pubertal stage explained the more rapid PA decline in girls (puberty-adjusted sex interaction, P = 0.51). Total PA fell to the same extent for in-school and out-of-school settings (both P < 0.001), and for lower and higher IMD areas (both P < 0.001). Total PA tracked moderately to strongly from childhood into adolescence (r = 0.58; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The adolescent decline in PA is consistent across different environmental settings, attributable to falls in light-intensity/habitual activity and influenced by puberty, suggesting that the inactivity of adolescence may, in part, be under biological control.Bright Future TrustKirby Laing FoundationPeninsula FoundationEarlyBird Diabetes TrustNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC