4,968 research outputs found
The quality of different types of child care at 10 and 18 months. A comparison between types and factors related to quality.
The quality of care offered in four different types of non-parental child care to 307 infants at 10 months old and 331 infants at 18 months old was compared and factors associated with higher quality were identified. Observed quality was lowest in nurseries at each age point, except that at 18 months they offered more learning activities. There were few differences in the observed quality of care by child-minders, grandparents and nannies, although grandparents had somewhat lower safety and health scores and offered children fewer activities. Cost was largely unrelated to quality of care except in child-minding, where higher cost was associated with higher quality. Observed ratios of children to adults had a significant impact on quality of nursery care; the more infants or toddlers each adult had to care for, the lower the quality of the care she gave them. Mothers' overall satisfaction with their child's care was positively associated with its quality for home-based care but not for nursery settings
Rapid identification of mutations in GJC2 in primary lymphoedema using whole exome sequencing combined with linkage analysis with delineation of the phenotype.
Background: Primary lymphoedema describes a chronic, frequently progressive, failure of lymphatic drainage. This disorder is frequently genetic in origin, and a multigenerational family in which eight individuals developed postnatal lymphoedema of all four limbs was ascertained from the joint Lymphoedema/Genetic clinic at St George's Hospital.
Methods: Linkage analysis was used to determine a locus, and exome sequencing was employed to look for causative variants.
Results: Linkage analysis revealed cosegregation of a 16.1 Mb haplotype on chromosome 1q42 that contained 173 known or predicted genes. Whole exome sequencing in a single affected individual was undertaken, and the search for the causative variant was focused to within the linkage interval. This approach revealed two novel non-synonymous single nucleotide substitutions within the chromosome 1 locus, in NVL and GJC2. NVL and GJC2 were sequenced in an additional cohort of individuals with a similar phenotype and non-synonymous variants were found in GJC2 in four additional families.
Conclusion: This report demonstrates the power of exome sequencing efficiently applied to a traditional positional cloning pipeline in disease gene discovery, and suggests that the phenotype produced by GJC2 mutations is predominantly one of 4 limb lymphoedema
Is early center-based child care associated with tantrums and unmanageable behavior over time up to school entry?
Background. Existing research suggests that there is a relationship between greater exposure to center-based child care and child behavioral problems though the mechanism for the impact is unclear. However the measure used to document child care has usually been average hours, which may be particularly unreliable in the early months when fewer children are in center care. In addition individual trajectories for behavior difficulties have not been studied.
Objective. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether the extent of exposure to center-based child care before two years predicted the trajectory of childrenâs difficult behavior (i.e., tantrums and unmanageable behavior) from 30 to 51 months controlling for child and maternal characteristics.
Method. Data were drawn from UK-based Families, Children and Child Care (FCCC) study (n=1201). Individual growth models were fitted to test the relation between early center-based child care experiences and subsequent difficult behavior.
Results. Children with more exposure to center-based care before two had less difficult behavior at 30 months, but more increase over time. Initial levels were predicted by higher difficult temperament and lower verbal ability. Higher difficult temperament and lower family socio-economic status predicted its change over time.
Conclusion. Findings suggest that early exposure to center-based care before two years old is a risk factor for subsequent behavior problems especially when children have a longer period of exposure. A possible explanatory process is that child coping strategies to manage frustration are less well developed in a group context, especially when they lag behind in expressive language
Humidtropics strategic research theme 1 - systems analysis and global synthesis presenting activity 1.1 - situational analysis
The characterisation of two members of the cytochrome P450 CYP150 family: CYP150A5 and CYP150A6 from Mycobacterium marinum
Background: Actinobacteria, including the Mycobacteria, have a large component of cytochrome P450 family monooxygenases. This includes Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. ulcerans and M. marinum, and M. vanbaalenii. These enzymes can abstract CH bonds and have important roles in natural product biosynthesis. Methohds: Two members of the bacterial CYP150 family, CYP150A5 and CYP150A6 from M. marinum, were produced, purified and characterised. The potential substrate ranges of both enzymes were analysed and the monooxygenase activity of CYP150A5 was reconstituted using a physiological electron transfer partner system. CYP150A6 was structurally characterised by X-ray crystallography. Results: CYP150A5 was shown to bind various norisoprenoids and terpenoids. It could regioselectively hydroxylate ÎČ-ionol. The X-ray crystal structure of substrate-free CYP150A6 was solved to 1.5âŻĂ
. This displayed an open conformation with short F and G helices, an unresolved F-G loop region and exposed active site pocket. The active site residues could be identified and important variations were found among the CYP150A enzymes. Haem-binding azole inhibitors were identified for both enzymes. Conclusions: The structure of CYP150A6 will facilitate the identification of physiological substrates and the design of better inhibitors for members of this P450 family. Based on the observed differences in substrate binding preference and sequence variations among the active site residues, their roles are predicted to be different. General Significance: Multiple CYP150 family members were found in many bacteria and are prevalent in the Mycobacteria including several human pathogens. Inhibition and structural data are reported here for these enzymes for the first time.Stella A. Child, Kate L. Flint, John B. Bruning, Stephen G. Bel
Application of Absorbing Boundary Condition to Nuclear Breakup Reactions
Absorbing boundary condition approach to nuclear breakup reactions is
investigated. A key ingredient of the method is an absorbing potential outside
the physical area, which simulates the outgoing boundary condition for
scattered waves. After discretizing the radial variables, the problem results
in a linear algebraic equation with a sparse coefficient matrix, to which
efficient iterative methods can be applicable. No virtual state such as
discretized continuum channel needs to be introduced in the method. Basic
aspects of the method are discussed by considering a nuclear two-body
scattering problem described with an optical potential. We then apply the
method to the breakup reactions of deuterons described in a three-body direct
reaction model. Results employing the absorbing boundary condition are found to
accurately coincide with those of the existing method which utilizes
discretized continuum channels.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX
Quantum and Semiclassical Calculations of Cold Atom Collisions in Light Fields
We derive and apply an optical Bloch equation (OBE) model for describing
collisions of ground and excited laser cooled alkali atoms in the presence of
near-resonant light. Typically these collisions lead to loss of atoms from
traps. We compare the results obtained with a quantum mechanical complex
potential treatment, semiclassical Landau-Zener models with decay, and a
quantum time-dependent Monte-Carlo wave packet (MCWP) calculation. We formulate
the OBE method in both adiabatic and diabatic representations. We calculate the
laser intensity dependence of collision probabilities and find that the
adiabatic OBE results agree quantitatively with those of the MCWP calculation,
and qualitatively with the semiclassical Landau-Zener model with delayed decay,
but that the complex potential method or the traditional Landau-Zener model
fail in the saturation limit.Comment: 21 pages, RevTex, 7 eps figures embedded using psfig, see also
http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~kasuomin
Inelastic semiclassical Coulomb scattering
We present a semiclassical S-matrix study of inelastic collinear
electron-hydrogen scattering. A simple way to extract all necessary information
from the deflection function alone without having to compute the stability
matrix is described. This includes the determination of the relevant Maslov
indices. Results of singlet and triplet cross sections for excitation and
ionization are reported. The different levels of approximation -- classical,
semiclassical, and uniform semiclassical -- are compared among each other and
to the full quantum result.Comment: 9 figure
Linear response theory in the continuum for deformed nuclei: Green's function vs. time-dependent Hartree-Fock with the absorbing-boundary condition
The continuum random-phase approximation is extended to the one applicable to
deformed nuclei. We propose two different approaches. One is based on the use
of the three dimensional (3D) Green's function and the other is the
small-amplitude TDHF with the absorbing-boundary condition. Both methods are
based on the 3D Cartesian grid representation and applicable to systems without
any symmetry on nuclear shape. The accuracy and identity of these two methods
are examined with the BKN interaction. Using the full Skyrme energy functional
in the small-amplitude TDHF approach, we study the isovector giant dipole
states in the continuum for O-16 and for even-even Be isotopes.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
The Ethics of Corporate Governance
How should corporate directors determine what is the right decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from ethical investors, to do the good thing when they seek to make the right choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' decisions. While useful for those purposes, agency theory provides only limited guidance. Supplementing it with the alternatives - stakeholder theory and stewardship theory - tends to put directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of shareholders. This paper seeks to reframe the discussion about corporate governance in terms of the ethical debate between consequential, teleological approaches to ethics and idealist, deontological ones, suggesting that directors are - for good reason - more inclined toward utilitarian judgments like those underpinning shareholder value. But the problems with shareholder value have become so great that a different framework is needed: strategic value, with an emphasis on long-term value creation judged from a decidedly utilitarian standpoint
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