Do Parents Know they Matter? Raising Achievement through Parental Engagement

This is a powerful resource for teachers about the benefits of parental engagement along with methods foster and develop good practice. It is commonly agreed that engaging parents with their child's learning is positive with wide reaching benefits. This book articulates why parental engagement is of value and how it can be achieved with positive results. Beyond the why and how, the book explores what effective parental engagement is and makes explicit the link between this and impact on the learning of the child - to support this, practical, workable solutions and strategies are provided through case studies.The book provides a powerful combination of academic theory supported with quantifiable and qualitative evidence from students, parents and schools, alongside answers provided by those who work with the challenges of this agenda on a daily basis. It will challenge, motivate and inspire understanding through the political agenda, and empower and enable schools to develop their practice

Do Parents Know They Matter? Raising Achievement through Parental Engagement

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Type 2 Diabetes TCF7L2 Risk Genotypes Alter Birth Weight: A Study of 24,053 Individuals

The role of genes in normal birth-weight variation is poorly understood, and it has been suggested that the genetic component of fetal growth is small. Type 2 diabetes genes may influence birth weight through maternal genotype, by increasing maternal glycemia in pregnancy, or through fetal genotype, by altering fetal insulin secretion. We aimed to assess the role of the recently described type 2 diabetes gene TCF7L2 in birth weight. We genotyped the polymorphism rs7903146 in 15,709 individuals whose birth weight was available from six studies and in 8,344 mothers from three studies. Each fetal copy of the predisposing allele was associated with an 18-g (95% confidence interval [CI] 7–29 g) increase in birth weight (P=.001) and each maternal copy with a 30-g (95% CI 15–45 g) increase in offspring birth weight (P=2.8×10(-5)). Stratification by fetal genotype suggested that the association was driven by maternal genotype (31-g [95% CI 9–48 g] increase per allele; corrected P=.003). Analysis of diabetes-related traits in 10,314 nondiabetic individuals suggested the most likely mechanism is that the risk allele reduces maternal insulin secretion (disposition index reduced by ∼0.15 standard deviation; P=1×10(-4)), which results in increased maternal glycemia in pregnancy and hence increased offspring birth weight. We combined information with the other common variant known to alter fetal growth, the −30G→A polymorphism of glucokinase (rs1799884). The 4% of offspring born to mothers carrying three or four risk alleles were 119 g (95% CI 62–172 g) heavier than were the 32% born to mothers with none (for overall trend, P=2×10(-7)), comparable to the impact of maternal smoking during pregnancy. In conclusion, we have identified the first type 2 diabetes–susceptibility allele to be reproducibly associated with birth weight. Common gene variants can substantially influence normal birth-weight variation

Management of oral and maxillofacial trauma during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

We assess the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on UK oral and maxillofacial (OMF) trauma services and patient treatment during the first wave of the pandemic. From 1 April 2020 until 31 July 2020, OMF surgery units in the UK were invited to prospectively record all patients presenting with OMF trauma. Information included clinical presentation, mechanism of injury, how it was managed, and whether or not treatment included surgery. Participants were also asked to compare the patient’s care with the treatment that would normally have been given before the crisis. Twenty-nine units across the UK contributed with 2,229 entries. The most common aetiology was mechanical fall (39%). The most common injuries were soft tissue wounds (52%) and, for hard tissues, mandibular fractures (13%). Of 876 facial fractures, 79 patients’ treatment differed from what would have been normal pre-COVID, and 33 had their treatment deferred. Therefore the care of 112 (14%) patients was at variance with normal practice because of COVID restrictions. The pattern of OMFS injuries changed during the first COVID-19 lockdown. For the majority, best practice and delivery of quality trauma care continued despite the on-going operational challenges, and only a small proportion of patients had changes to their treatment. The lessons learnt from the first wave, combined with adequate resources and preoperative testing of patients, should allow those facial injuries in the second wave to receive best-practice care