Adaptations and accommodations: The use of the WAIS III with people with a Learning Disability

Evidence of significant impairment in cognitive functioning has always been one of the main criteria of a learning disability (Pulsifer, 1996) and intellectual assessment is, therefore, one of the tasks of clinical psychologists working within learning disability services. Such assessments are commonly used to help establish of an individual’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, support needs and more specifically, to help determine if an individual falls within the remit of learning disability services (McKenzie & Murray, 2002, Evers & Hill, 1999). Intellectual assessments also have important implications in terms of mental health legislation, accessing benefits and services and informing legal decision-making processes (British Psychological Society, 2001, McKay, 1991). It is, therefore, crucial that the assessments are valid, reliable and used only by appropriately trained and qualified professionals. In Britain, it is emphasised that assessing an individual’s intellectual functioning requires an individually administered, standardised psychometric assessment which is reliable and valid (British Psychological Society, 2001), while in America professional mandates, such as the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA,APA & NCME, 1985) highlight the need for high standards of administrative accuracy from psychologists. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales - Third Edition (Wechsler, 1998) are commonly used in intellectual and neuropsychological assessment and are considered to be valid, reliable and well-standardised (Groth-Marnat et al, 2000). The Wechsler Scales have a long history and have undergone a number of revisions with the most recent being in 1997 with the development of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III). The purpose of these revisions was to insure that the standardisation sample was representative of current demographics and performance, to update the subtests, incorporate new subtests, and refine the instructions and test materials. Each revision has been well researched and validated (Groth Marnat et al, 2000)

BindingDB in 2015: A public database for medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry and systems pharmacology.

BindingDB, www.bindingdb.org, is a publicly accessible database of experimental protein-small molecule interaction data. Its collection of over a million data entries derives primarily from scientific articles and, increasingly, US patents. BindingDB provides many ways to browse and search for data of interest, including an advanced search tool, which can cross searches of multiple query types, including text, chemical structure, protein sequence and numerical affinities. The PDB and PubMed provide links to data in BindingDB, and vice versa; and BindingDB provides links to pathway information, the ZINC catalog of available compounds, and other resources. The BindingDB website offers specialized tools that take advantage of its large data collection, including ones to generate hypotheses for the protein targets bound by a bioactive compound, and for the compounds bound by a new protein of known sequence; and virtual compound screening by maximal chemical similarity, binary kernel discrimination, and support vector machine methods. Specialized data sets are also available, such as binding data for hundreds of congeneric series of ligands, drawn from BindingDB and organized for use in validating drug design methods. BindingDB offers several forms of programmatic access, and comes with extensive background material and documentation. Here, we provide the first update of BindingDB since 2007, focusing on new and unique features and highlighting directions of importance to the field as a whole

The cAMP-producing agonist beraprost inhibits human vascular smooth muscle cell migration via exchange protein directly activated by cAMP

This work was supported by the British Heart foundation (grant FS/11/23/28730). J.S.M. was funded by a British Heart Foundation PhD studentship. Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by the Charities Open Access Fund (UK).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Comparative Study of the Views of Planning Students and Professionals About Planning Education in Western Australia

This paper reports the finding of a study into the relevance of Planning Education in Western Australia (WA). Phase one involved surveying students Planning at both Curtin and Edith Cowan Universities and WA Planning professionals. Participants were asked to rate the importance of the various \u27streams\u27 of planning education, their passion for planning, and to identify what were the key attributes of an \u27excellent\u27 planner. The survey was followed up with qualitative research involving focus groups of selected students to explore in depth the similarities and differences between the views of students and professionals and the issues raised by the results. The key similarities in views on the planning education streams showed the importance of environmental and sustainability planning, regional planning, strategic planning and infrastructure planning. There was agreement that research methods, planning history and computer aided design were the least important. The key differences concerned the importance of statutory planning and evaluation techniques (professionals saw these as important and students saw them as unimportant). In regard to key attributes of an \u27excellent\u27 planner, there was agreement that communication and negotiations skills, being ethical, being adaptable, being innovative and thinking strategically were key attributes. The passion participants expressed for planning from all groups was high, being over 7 out of 10 for all groups. The results of the focus groups are reported and explored

Preliminary Results of American Eel Sampling Efforts in Gulf of Mexico Drainages of Texas

American Eel Anguilla rostrata has a unique and complex life history that is fairly well-studied on the eastern coast of the United States, but few studies have been done on Gulf of Mexico drainages. To inform conservation and management decisions, efforts to better understand the population structure, seasonal dynamics, and life history of American Eel are underway. The primary objectives of our efforts are to assess the current and historical distribution and abundance, habitat use, movement patterns, parasite occurrence, diet and population structure of American Eel across all life stages in Gulf of Mexico drainages of Texas.Texas State Wildlife Grant Program grants T-173-R-1 and T-172-R-1 in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration ProgramIntegrative Biolog

Only Children and Cognitive Ability in Childhood: A Cross-Cohort Analysis over 50 Years in the United Kingdom

Only children's uniqueness has intrigued researchers for decades, but many gaps in knowledge remain as to whether only children differ from children who have siblings. We use data from four British birth cohorts (born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 2000–2002) to investigate cross-cohort differences in the composition of only child families and whether the association between being an only child and cognitive ability in childhood has changed over time. Only children show similar scores to children from two child families and higher scores than children with two or more siblings across each of the cohorts analyzed. However, the results also show that—consistent with the finding that, across cohorts, the composition of the only child group has become more associated with social disadvantage—the “only child advantage” has weakened when comparing the most recent birth cohort to the older ones. Adjustment by family sociodemographic characteristics attenuates within and cross-cohort differences. Moreover, the results show that the cognitive advantages associated with being an only child vary considerably by whether the cohort member has been exposed to parental separation or is growing up in a family with lower socioeconomic status. The results highlight diversity in being an only child whose characteristics are conditional on changes throughout time and society

Squeezed In: The Intersecting Paradoxes of Care for Immigrant Informal Caregivers

While the feasibility of maintaining informal care for older adults is a growing concern for many Canadians, support is not the same for everyone. The situation for immigrants is even more precarious because of their unique social locations. They find themselves squeezed into a system that neither reflects their realities nor addresses their needs. This thesis argues that, due to their multiple marginalities as gendered and racialized newcomers, immigrant informal caregivers lack needed resources in caring for aging family, friends, and neighbours. It also argues that mainstream home care and long-term care providers face challenges in caring for older immigrants because health care provision for older adults was not developed to advance immigrant interests. To develop this argument in an empirically grounded way, I use a theoretical framework combining feminist theories of care work and intersectionality theories in order to analyze a series of semi-structured interviews with informal immigrant and Canadian-born caregivers, as well as management and staff in home care and four long-term care facilities in Southern Ontario. The results show that immigrant informal caregivers in Southern Ontario face challenges in accessing supports, services, and resources because of the gendered nature of care work and their immigrant social locations. My research indicates that many immigrant informal caregivers experience a burden as a result of taking on the caregiver role, often squeezed between the expectations of care from their home countries and the demands of caregiving in a Canadian context. Moreover, when informal care can no longer be provided by immigrant informal caregivers in the home, a host of systemic barriers restrict access to, and accommodation in, long-term care facilities. The dissertation concludes by demonstrating how proposed improvements in the delivery of long term care facilities are contingent on formal service providers being respectful, reflective, and responsive to the diversities among immigrants (‘inclusion’), rather than fitting them into existing mainstream programs (‘integration’). In doing so, this dissertation adds to the sociology of care by reinforcing a multidimensional approach for accommodating complex diversities in ways that are workable, necessary and inclusive

Propionibacterium acnes Induces an IL-17 Response in Acne Vulgaris that Is Regulated by Vitamin A and Vitamin D.

Acne vulgaris is the most common skin disorder affecting millions of people worldwide and inflammation resulting from the immune response targeting Propionibacterium acnes has a significant role in its pathogenesis. In this study, we have demonstrated that P. acnes is a potent inducer of T helper 17 (Th17) and Th1, but not Th2 responses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). P. acnes stimulated expression of key Th17-related genes, including IL-17A, RORα, RORc, IL-17RA, and IL-17RC, and triggered IL-17 secretion from CD4(+), but not from CD8(+) T cells. Supernatants from P. acnes-stimulated PBMCs were sufficient to promote the differentiation of naive CD4(+)CD45RA T cells into Th17 cells. Furthermore, we found that the combination of IL-1β, IL-6, and transforming growth factor-β-neutralizing antibodies completely inhibited P. acnes-induced IL-17 production. Importantly, we showed that IL-17-expressing cells were present in skin biopsies from acne patients but not from normal donors. Finally, vitamin A (all-trans retinoic acid) and vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3) inhibited P. acnes-induced Th17 differentiation. Together, our data demonstrate that IL-17 is induced by P. acnes and expressed in acne lesions and that both vitamin A and D could be effective tools to modulate Th17-mediated diseases such as acne

Liposclerosing Myxofibrous Tumor of the Cranial Vault

Background and Importance: Liposclerosing myxofibrous tumor (LSMFT) are rare benign fibro-osseous tumors most frequently occurring in the proximal femur. We report the first case of this rare tumor occurring within the calvarium. Clinical Presentation: Our patient presented with a 2-year history of enlarging, painless, fixed mass over the left forehead. She underwent surgical resection and the mass was histologically confirmed to be a liposclerosing myxofibrous tumor. Conclusion: LSMFT is a rare tumor that should remain on the differential for lesions of the calvarium. When diagnosed, this lesion can be removed with the goal of gross total resection and excellent cosmesis can be achieved