Sir Malcolm Robertson and the British trade mission to South America in 1929

This article evaluates the British government’s attitude to the trade mission to Argentina led by Viscount D’Abernon in 1929 and analyses its impact on Anglo-Argentina commercial relations. It explores notions of informal empire in South America and the dynamics of Anglo-Argentine and US–Argentine relations. At the centre of the analysis is Sir Malcolm Robertson, the British ambassador to Buenos Aires, whose activities were negatively impacted by British prejudice towards the region. This is the first evaluation of the mission since the 1980s and is based on a wider reading of UK archives. It is the first analysis of Robertson’s diplomatic career

Dipyn o Gymraeg? A bit of Welsh? Bilingualism and automatic translation in clinical practiceaAssessment documentation?

National and CU Policy on Assessment in Cymraeg Cymraeg must enjoy parity with Saesneg, moving towards ‘Cymraeg yn gyntaf’. Students must notify University 6 weeks ahead of using Cymraeg in written assessment. Digital innovation in language Automatic translation of text becoming mainstream (email, social media). This may afford increased opportunities to use Cymraeg in formal settings, e.g., clinical practice assessment. Take-up of Cymraeg How can Cymraeg break ‘glass ceiling’ of use in formal settings? Professional conversations are in Saesneg, biasing future language choice (yn Ne Cymru). Cymraeg in professional settings may be limited to verbal exchanges. Documentation is predominantly monoglot (e.g. WNCR) Paucity of professional terminology in existence or use, in spite of ‘Caring In Welsh’ App. Clinical Practice Assessment Objective/descriptive emphasis in responses is more resilient to vagaries of automatic translation, compared with prosaic assessment types (e.g., extended essay). Professional terminology dominated by English terms with no equivalent in Cymraeg, and therefore less scope for mistranslation. Built-in (not bolt-on) translation legitimises Cymraeg Invites those lacking confidence with Cymraeg to attempt few/many responses in Cymraeg as desired. Students are keen/not keen? Students expressed concern at being judged on automatically translated versions of responses. Robust data across healthcare is necessary

Place based learning in Skills in Schools and science teacher education programmes: student perspectives to moving learning online due to Covid-19

The development of science teachers requires lab-based, inquiry based and place-based learning in universities and schools. This is inherent to understanding the nature of learning science and associated pedagogy. Place based learning requires the development of teaching skills through working in a community of practice.1 In March 2020, with the outbreak of Covid-19 and lockdown, teacher education programmes had to adapt to a blended learning approach. This project explores that journey across three teacher development programmes within one Higher Education Institute (HEI). The programmes were SKE (Subject Knowledge Enhancement), Skills and Schools and PGCE Secondary Science. It unpicks how the participants responded to that provision and how the TEL (technology enhanced learning) pedagogy evolved. This paper discusses the approaches taken in overcoming the challenges to deliver place-based learning online, whilst maintaining the essence of social learning and collaborative learning.2 It draws on Salmon’s five stage model of e-learning to describe the process and presents insights from a student perspective, drawn from feedback and focus groups.3 The HEI TEL strategy was to make use of MS Teams and Blackboard VLE. Laboratory work and school experiences made use of a combination of videos, home labs and group meetings and taught sessions, which will be discussed. The unique contribution of this research is that it is a collaborative project that can allow some comparisons to be drawn. Offering lessons to be learnt in improving online provision and TEL pedagogy. The research questions focus on the participants perceptions of learning and reflections on learning

コミュニケーションが元で 団結的な英語カリキュラムへ

The English curriculum at Muroran Institute of Technology has gone through many changes over the last few years. Many improvements have been seen but there are still parts of it that need refinement. This paper looks at a number of areas that will be researched in the hope that the curriculum can continue to develop and progress. In particular we look at four areas: reasoning behind the materials we use; how we assess materials; creation of an e-learning system; and the Common European Framework of Reference.教育改善報

Endosome to Golgi Retrieval of the Vacuolar Protein Sorting Receptor, Vps10p, Requires the Function of the VPS29, VPS30, and VPS35 Gene Products

Mutations in the S. cerevisiae VPS29 and VPS30 genes lead to a selective protein sorting defect in which the vacuolar protein carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) is missorted and secreted from the cell, while other soluble vacuolar hydrolases like proteinase A (PrA) are delivered to the vacuole. This phenotype is similar to that seen in cells with mutations in the previously characterized VPS10 and VPS35 genes. Vps10p is a late Golgi transmembrane protein that acts as the sorting receptor for soluble vacuolar hydrolases like CPY and PrA, while Vps35p is a peripheral membrane protein which cofractionates with membranes enriched in Vps10p. The sequences of the VPS29, VPS30, and VPS35 genes do not yet give any clues to the functions of their products. Each is predicted to encode a hydrophilic protein with homologues in the human and C. elegans genomes. Interestingly, mutations in the VPS29, VPS30, or VPS35 genes change the subcellular distribution of the Vps10 protein, resulting in a shift of Vps10p from the Golgi to the vacuolar membrane. The route that Vps10p takes to reach the vacuole in a vps35 mutant does not depend upon Sec1p mediated arrival at the plasma membrane but does require the activity of the pre-vacuolar endosomal t-SNARE, Pep12p. A temperature conditional allele of the VPS35 gene was generated and has been found to cause missorting/secretion of CPY and also Vps10p to mislocalize to a vacuolar membrane fraction at the nonpermissive temperature. Vps35p continues to cofractionate with Vps10p in vps29 mutants, suggesting that Vps10p and Vps35p may directly interact. Together, the data indicate that the VPS29, VPS30, and VPS35 gene products are required for the normal recycling of Vps10p from the prevacuolar endosome back to the Golgi where it can initiate additional rounds of vacuolar hydrolase sorting

Macaque models of human infectious disease.

Macaques have served as models for more than 70 human infectious diseases of diverse etiologies, including a multitude of agents-bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, prions. The remarkable diversity of human infectious diseases that have been modeled in the macaque includes global, childhood, and tropical diseases as well as newly emergent, sexually transmitted, oncogenic, degenerative neurologic, potential bioterrorism, and miscellaneous other diseases. Historically, macaques played a major role in establishing the etiology of yellow fever, polio, and prion diseases. With rare exceptions (Chagas disease, bartonellosis), all of the infectious diseases in this review are of Old World origin. Perhaps most surprising is the large number of tropical (16), newly emergent (7), and bioterrorism diseases (9) that have been modeled in macaques. Many of these human diseases (e.g., AIDS, hepatitis E, bartonellosis) are a consequence of zoonotic infection. However, infectious agents of certain diseases, including measles and tuberculosis, can sometimes go both ways, and thus several human pathogens are threats to nonhuman primates including macaques. Through experimental studies in macaques, researchers have gained insight into pathogenic mechanisms and novel treatment and vaccine approaches for many human infectious diseases, most notably acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is caused by infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Other infectious agents for which macaques have been a uniquely valuable resource for biomedical research, and particularly vaccinology, include influenza virus, paramyxoviruses, flaviviruses, arenaviruses, hepatitis E virus, papillomavirus, smallpox virus, Mycobacteria, Bacillus anthracis, Helicobacter pylori, Yersinia pestis, and Plasmodium species. This review summarizes the extensive past and present research on macaque models of human infectious disease

Having a word with yourself:neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance

Self-criticism is strongly correlated with a range of psychopathologies, such as depression, eating disorders and anxiety. In contrast, self-reassurance is inversely associated with such psychopathologies. Despite the importance of self-judgements and evaluations, little is known about the neurophysiology of these internal processes. The current study therefore used a novel fMRI task to investigate the neuronal correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. Participants were presented statements describing two types of scenario, with the instruction to either imagine being self-critical or self-reassuring in that situation. One scenario type focused on a personal setback, mistake or failure, which would elicit negative emotions, whilst the second was of a matched neutral event. Self-criticism was associated with activity in lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions and dorsal anterior cingulate (dAC), therefore linking self-critical thinking to error processing and resolution, and also behavioural inhibition. Self-reassurance was associated with left temporal pole and insula activation, suggesting that efforts to be self-reassuring engage similar regions to expressing compassion and empathy towards others. Additionally, we found a dorsal/ventral PFC divide between an individual's tendency to be self-critical or self-reassuring. Using multiple regression analyses, dorsolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high levels of self-criticism (assessed via self-report measure), suggesting greater error processing and behavioural inhibition in such individuals. Ventrolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high self-reassurance. Our findings may have implications for the neural basis of a range of mood disorders that are characterised by a preoccupation with personal mistakes and failures, and a self-critical response to such events

Identification of hyperinvasive Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated from poultry and human clinical sources

Campylobacter jejuni causes gastroenteritis with a variety of symptoms in humans. In the absence of a suitable animal model, in vitro models have been used to study virulence traits such as invasion and toxin production. In this study, 113 C. jejuni isolates from poultry and poultry-related (n=74) environments as well as isolates from human cases (n=39) of campylobacteriosis and bacteraemia were tested for invasiveness using INT 407 cells. The method was sufficiently reproducible to observe a spectrum of invasiveness amongst strains. As a result, strains were classified as low, high and hyper-invasive. The majority of strains (poultry and human) were low invaders (82 % and 88 %, respectively). High invasion was found for 5 % of human strains and 11 % of poultry-related isolates. However, only 1 % of poultry strains were classified as hyperinvasive compared to 13 % of human isolates (P=0.0182). Of those isolates derived from the blood of bacteraemic patients, 20 % were hyperinvasive, though this correlation was not statistically significant. An attempt was made to correlate invasiveness with the presence of seven genes previously reported to be associated with virulence. Most of these genes did not correlate with invasiveness, but gene cj0486 was weakly over-represented, and a negative correlation was observed for the gene ciaB. This trend was stronger when the two genes were analysed together, thus ciaB– cj0486+ was over-represented in high and hyperinvasive strains, with low invaders more commonly found to lack these genes (P=0.0064)