Understanding the Role of Motivation in the Reading of Children With ADHD-related Characteristics

This thesis investigated the potential reading benefits of motivation, and particularly story choice (intrinsic motivator) and reward (extrinsic motivator) in children with ADHD-related characteristics (inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, poor interference control), who attended mainstream primary schools. Children with ADHD-related characteristics are at risk of reading underachievement, irrespective of the presence of an ADHD diagnosis. Using a repeated measures design with two conditions (Choice, No Choice), Study 1 tested choice effects on the reading of a community sample of children (N = 108, aged 8 to 9 years old, 56 boys) with minimal and severe ADHD-related characteristics, with focus on inattention. Using a repeated measures design with three conditions (Choice, Reward, No Motivation), Study 2 explored choice and reward effects on the reading of children with and without diagnosed ADHD (N = 24, aged 8 to 11 years old, 16 boys). Using the Study 2 sample, Study 3 sought the perspectives of children with and without ADHD about reading motivation and checked for any group qualitative differences. Drawing on the quantitative findings, story choice increased the reading comprehension, and less consistently the reading enjoyment, of both children with minimal and severe ADHD-related characteristics. Study 2 findings pointed towards the benefits of story choice and reward for the reading comprehension and enjoyment of children with and without ADHD, however, results were relatively inconclusive. Choice and reward effects were not found to be more pronounced for children with severe ADHD-related characteristics and/or ADHD than those with such minimal characteristics. In Study 3, children with and without ADHD acknowledged similarly the contribution of motivators, including choice and reward, to reading. Overall, findings offer empirical support for the positive impact of story choice and reward on children with varying degrees of ADHD-related characteristics, stressing the need to consider further their manipulation during reading instruction in the classroom

Options for raising tax revenue in Ireland. Budget Perspectives 2022 Paper 1 May 2021.

Even before the pandemic, an ageing population, a potential over-reliance on corporation tax receipts and an inevitable decline in motor tax revenues combined to make the need for future tax rises likely. This paper examines a range of options that a government seeking to raise or replace tax revenues might consider, assessing what is known about how much they would raise, who would bear the burden and what economic effects they might have

Drug-like Properties and Fraction Lipophilicity Index as a combined metric

Fraction Lipophicity Index (FLI) has been developed as a composite drug-like metric combining logP and logD in a weighted manner. In the present study an extended data set confirmed the previously established drug-like FLI range 0-8 using two calculation systems for logP /logD assessment, the freeware MedChem Designer and ClogP. The dataset was split into two classes according to percentage of fraction absorbed (%FA) - class 1 including drugs with high to medium absorption levels and class 2 including poorly absorbed drugs. The FLI and FLI© (ClogP based FLI) drug-like range covers 93% and 90 % of class 1 drugs, respectively. The dependence of the degree of ionization to intrinsic lipophilicity within the FLI (FLI©) drug-like range as well as the inter-relation between the other Ro5 properties (Mw, HD, HA) was explored, so as to define drug-like / non drug-like combinations as a safer alternative to single properties for drug candidates’ prioritization. In this sense we propose a combined metric of Mw and number of polar atoms (Mw/NO) to account for both size and polarity. Setting the value 50 as cut off, a distinct differentiation between class 1 and class 2 drugs was obtained with Mw/NO>50 for more than 70% of class 1 drugs, while the opposite was observed for class 2 drugs

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Ligands: Potential Pharmacological Agents for Targeting the Angiogenesis Signaling Cascade in Cancer

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) has currently been considered as molecular target for the treatment of human metabolic disorders. Experimental data from in vitro cultures, animal models, and clinical trials have shown that PPAR-γ ligand activation regulates differentiation and induces cell growth arrest and apoptosis in a variety of cancer types. Tumor angiogenesis constitutes a multifaceted process implicated in complex downstream signaling pathways that triggers tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. In this aspect, accumulating in vitro and in vivo studies have provided extensive evidence that PPAR-γ ligands can function as modulators of the angiogenic signaling cascade. In the current review, the crucial role of PPAR-γ ligands and the underlying mechanisms participating in tumor angiogenesis are summarized. Targeting PPAR-γ may prove to be a potential therapeutic strategy in combined treatments with conventional chemotherapy; however, special attention should be taken as there is also substantial evidence to support that PPAR-γ ligands can enhance angiogenic phenotype in tumoral cells

Involving children, teachers and parents/carers in dialogues around child well-being in schools

Building dynamic partnerships between communities and academic institutions, via knowledge exchange, plays a vital role in generating research with mutual benefits for research partners and wider communities. Knowledge exchange between universities and schools has recently received particular interest in child and adolescent mental health research. This article outlines a knowledge exchange programme that involved children, primarily, and teachers and parents/carers in dialogues around school well-being. Using a series of co-created and multimodal creative activities, we: (1) worked closely with 25 students of an inclusive and multicultural primary school (aged 9 to 10 years old) to understand their school well-being experiences, and to co-create a school blog to communicate key messages with local communities; and (2) initiated a discussion around child and school well-being with a group of parents/carers and teachers through expanding on the children’s blog. In this article, we outline our methodology to facilitate children’s involvement with the project well-being activities. We explore key methodological strengths and challenges, and highlight lessons we learned and how these stress the significance of seeking young people’s points of view when designing school well-being initiatives

Immobilized artificial membrane chromatography: from medicinal chemistry to environmental sciences

Immobilized Artificial Membrane (IAM) chromatography constitutes a valuable tool for medicinal chemists to prioritize drug candidates in early drug development. The retention on IAM stationary phases encodes lipophilicity, electrostatic and other secondary interactions contrary to traditional octanol-water partitioning. An increasing number of publications in recent years have suggested that IAM indices, including isocratic log k(IAM) or extrapolated log kw(IAM) retention factors, chromatographic hydrophobicity index CHI(IAM) or the polarity parameter Δlog kw(IAM) can successfully model the passage of xeniobiotics through biological membranes and barriers and predict pharmacokinetic properties, often in combination with additional descriptors. Examples referring to the modeling of human oral absorption, blood-brain penetration and skin partition are described. More recently, IAM chromatography has been applied to estimate toxicological endpoints in regard to drug safety, such as phospholipidosis potential, or in regard to chemical risk hazards including the bioconcentration factor and aquatic organisms’ toxicity. The promising results in both medicinal chemistry and in environmental science in combination with the speed, reproducibility and low analyte consumption suggest that a broader application of IAM chromatography in the early drug discovery process and in ecotoxicity may save time and money in initial drug candidate selection and will contribute to a reduced risk hazard of chemicals

The impact of active HIV-1 replication on the physiological age-related decline of immature-transitional B-cells in HIV-1 infected children

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