Not on our own: peer coaching our way through COVID:19

This reflective piece will explore the importance of peer coaching as a tool to support studies, while also addressing the isolative nature of not just doctoral study but also in the authors’ wider professional leadership lives. As we all face an extended period at home (and for Lacey and Kerry this means also juggling caring responsibilities and home schooling) the reflective piece will examine how this peer coaching relationship has enabled them to navigate COVID-19, re-constituting themselves as leaders in a spatially and temporally different environment

Influence of 4-Week Exercise Program on Clinical and Biomechanical Measures of Foot Function

The significance of foot muscle function associated with flat feet is unclear. It is reported that flat feet have significantly decreased lateral forefoot pressure during ambulation with increased midfoot contact area and increased pressure under the big toe. There are passive mechanisms in the foot that support the arch during static standing, but cannot produce energy for dynamic activity. The two most plausible explanations for energy generation of the midfoot for dynamic activity are muscle contributions or recoil of stretched soft tissue (i.e. plantar fascia and other ligaments) or a combination. No studies to date evaluate the ability of foot muscle training to alter foot pressure patterns in participants with flat feet

Can Foot Exercises Alter Foot Posture, Strength, and Walking Foot Pressure Patterns in People with Severe Flat Foot?

Introduction/Purpose: Muscle training muscle control for barefoot running (i.e. doming seated[DS] and standing[DSt]) and post foot and ankle injury (i.e. seated plantar flexion and inversion[SPFI]) are common. Although studies demonstrated improvement in foot posture (validated foot posture index [FPI]) immediately following a 4-week exercise program this was not assessed in people with flatfoot. Also, more rigorous assessment of foot function is lacking (i.e. foot posture, strength, and plantar pressure during walking). There is clearly a need for more rigorous clinical data on the effect of foot exercises. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the immediate effect of a 4-week exercise program on a comprehensive assessment of foot function to evaluate the potential for a more rigorous clinical trial

Nature and Nurture in Dark Matter Halos

Cosmological simulations consistently predict specific properties of dark matter halos, but these have not yet led to a physical understanding that is generally accepted. This is especially true for the central regions of these structures. Recently two major themes have emerged. In one, the dark matter halo is primarily a result of the sequential accretion of primordial structure (ie `Nature'); while in the other, dynamical relaxation (ie `Nurture') dominates at least in the central regions. Some relaxation is however required in either mechanism. In this paper we accept the recently established scale-free sub-structure of halos as an essential part of both mechanisms. Consequently; a simple model for the central relaxation based on a self-similar cascade of tidal interactions, is contrasted with a model based on the accretion of adiabatically self-similar, primordial structure. We conclude that a weak form of this relaxation is present in the simulations, but that is normally described as the radial orbit instability.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, fig with parts 1 to d, fig 3 with parts a to

What makes a good induction supporter?

The Teacher Induction Scheme, introduced in 2002, marked the first major change to new teacher induction in Scotland in 37 years. This paper gives an outline of these changes set against developments in mentoring theory in the wider context. It argues that the personal qualities of the induction supporter are crucial to developing an effective mentoring relationship. The views of student teachers are used to describe preferred characteristics of effective mentors and effective induction provision. A person specification is created by the comments of the "Class of 2002" — the first probationer teachers to have taken part in the Scheme

Dark Matter Equilibria in Galaxies and Galaxy Systems

[abridged] In the dark matter (DM) halos embedding galaxies and galaxy systems the `entropy' K = \sigma^2 / \rho^{2/3} (a quantity that combines the radial velocity dispersion \sigma with the density \rho) is found from intensive N-body simulations to follow a powerlaw run K ~ r^{\alpha} throughout the halos' bulk, with \alpha around 1.25. Taking up from phenomenology just that \alpha ~ const applies, we cut through the rich analytic contents of the Jeans equation describing the self-gravitating equilibria of the DM; we specifically focus on computing and discussing a set of novel physical solutions that we name \alpha-profiles, marked by the entropy slope \alpha itself, and by the maximal gravitational pull \kappa_crit required for a viable equilibrium to hold. We then use an advanced semianalytic description for the cosmological buildup of halos to constrain the values of \alpha to within the narrow range 1.25-1.29 from galaxies to galaxy systems. Our range of \alpha applies since the transition time that - both in oursemianalytic description and in state-of-the-art numerical simulations - separates two development stages: an early violent collapse that comprises a few major mergers and enforces dynamical mixing, followed by smoother mass addition through slow accretion. We also give an accurate analytic representation of the \alpha-profiles with parameters derived from the Jeans equation. We finally stress how our findings and predictions as to \alpha and \kappa_crit contribute to understand hitherto unsolved issues concerning the fundamental structure of DM halos.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, uses RevTeX4 + emulateapj.cls and apjfonts.sty. Typos corrected. Accepted by Ap

MicroRNA inhibition using antimiRs in acute human brain tissue sections

Antisense inhibition of microRNAs is an emerging preclinical approach to pharmacoresistant epilepsy. A leading candidate is an "antimiR" targeting microRNA-134 (ant-134), but testing to date has used rodent models. Here, we develop an antimiR testing platform in human brain tissue sections. Brain specimens were obtained from patients undergoing resective surgery to treat pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Neocortical specimens were submerged in modified artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) and dissected for clinical neuropathological examination, and unused material was transferred for sectioning. Individual sections were incubated in oxygenated ACSF, containing either ant-134 or a nontargeting control antimiR, for 24 h at room temperature. RNA integrity was assessed using BioAnalyzer processing, and individual miRNA levels were measured using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Specimens transported in ACSF could be used for neuropathological diagnosis and had good RNA integrity. Ant-134 mediated a dose-dependent knockdown of miR-134, with approximately 75% reduction of miR-134 at 1 μmol L-1 and 90% reduction at 3 μmol L-1 . These doses did not have off-target effects on expression of a selection of three other miRNAs. This is the first demonstration of ant-134 effects in live human brain tissues. The findings lend further support to the preclinical development of a therapy that targets miR-134 and offer a flexible platform for the preclinical testing of antimiRs, and other antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics, in human brain

Anti-Transforming Growth Factor ß Antibody Treatment Rescues Bone Loss and Prevents Breast Cancer Metastasis to Bone

Breast cancer often metastasizes to bone causing osteolytic bone resorption which releases active TGFβ. Because TGFβ favors progression of breast cancer metastasis to bone, we hypothesized that treatment using anti-TGFβ antibody may reduce tumor burden and rescue tumor-associated bone loss in metastatic breast cancer. In this study we have tested the efficacy of an anti-TGFβ antibody 1D11 preventing breast cancer bone metastasis. We have used two preclinical breast cancer bone metastasis models, in which either human breast cancer cells or murine mammary tumor cells were injected in host mice via left cardiac ventricle. Using several in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo assays, we have demonstrated that anti-TGFβ antibody treatment have significantly reduced tumor burden in the bone along with a statistically significant threefold reduction in osteolytic lesion number and tenfold reduction in osteolytic lesion area. A decrease in osteoclast numbers (p = 0.027) in vivo and osteoclastogenesis ex vivo were also observed. Most importantly, in tumor-bearing mice, anti-TGFβ treatment resulted in a twofold increase in bone volume (p<0.01). In addition, treatment with anti-TGFβ antibody increased the mineral-to-collagen ratio in vivo, a reflection of improved tissue level properties. Moreover, anti-TGFβ antibody directly increased mineralized matrix formation in calverial osteoblast (p = 0.005), suggesting a direct beneficial role of anti-TGFβ antibody treatment on osteoblasts. Data presented here demonstrate that anti-TGFβ treatment may offer a novel therapeutic option for tumor-induced bone disease and has the dual potential for simultaneously decreasing tumor burden and rescue bone loss in breast cancer to bone metastases. This approach of intervention has the potential to reduce skeletal related events (SREs) in breast cancer survivors

Enter Mercury, Sleeping: Delivering Prayers on the Early Modern Stage

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from CUP via the DOI in this recor