410 research outputs found
Toezichthouders op de tram. Een studie naar de handhaving van het ov-verbod in Amsterdam en Rotterdam
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Global Gene Expression Analysis Identifies Age-Related Differences in Knee Joint Transcriptome during the Development of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis in Mice.
Aging and injury are two major risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA). Yet, very little is known about how aging and injury interact and contribute to OA pathogenesis. In the present study, we examined age- and injury-related molecular changes in mouse knee joints that could contribute to OA. Using RNA-seq, first we profiled the knee joint transcriptome of 10-week-old, 62-week-old, and 95-week-old mice and found that the expression of several inflammatory-response related genes increased as a result of aging, whereas the expression of several genes involved in cartilage metabolism decreased with age. To determine how aging impacts post-traumatic arthritis (PTOA) development, the right knee joints of 10-week-old and 62-week-old mice were injured using a non-invasive tibial compression injury model and injury-induced structural and molecular changes were assessed. At six-week post-injury, 62-week-old mice displayed significantly more cartilage degeneration and osteophyte formation compared with young mice. Although both age groups elicited similar transcriptional responses to injury, 62-week-old mice had higher activation of inflammatory cytokines than 10-week-old mice, whereas cartilage/bone metabolism genes had higher expression in 10-week-old mice, suggesting that the differential expression of these genes might contribute to the differences in PTOA severity observed between these age groups
The spectrum of gastric cancer as seen in a large quaternary hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Background. Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, with the third-highest associated mortality. It has a varying geographical, ethnic and socioeconomic distribution.Objective. To assess the presentation and management of GC in the Durban metropolitan area, South Africa.Methods. A retrospective review of 131 patients treated at the quaternary Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban from 2009 to 2014 was performed.Results. The 131 patients were predominantly black African (n=59, 45.0%) and Indian (n=63, 48.1%). Gender was evenly distributed, with 72 males (55.0%) and 59 females (45.0%). The average age of the patients was 60 years (standard deviation 13.3). More than 70% were in advanced stages of cancer and were treated conservatively. There was no significant relationship between body mass index (BMI) and the position of the tumour (p=0.175). Creatinine and albumin levels differed significantly between the genders (p<0.001 and p=0.01, respectively).Conclusions. GC appears to have a disproportionately high prevalence among Indians in Durban, and the prevalence of GC appears to be slightly higher among males. Both these observations may simply reflect referral patterns and warrant further investigation. More than 70% of patients presented with advanced-stage disease, and anaemia was common. No relationship was found between BMI and the location of the tumour, although most of the cancers were in the body and distal part of the stomach
A statistical scheme to forecast the daily lightning threat over southern Africa using the Unified Model
Cloud-to-ground lightning data from the Southern Africa Lightning Detection Network and numerical weather prediction model parameters from the Unified Model are used to develop a lightning threat index (LTI) for South Africa. The aim is to predict lightning for austral summer days (September to February) by means of a statistical approach. The austral summer months are divided into spring and summer seasons and analysed separately. Stepwise logistic regression techniques are used to select the most appropriate model parameters to predict lightning. These parameters are then utilized in a rare-event logistic regression analysis to produce equations for the LTI that predicts the probability of the occurrence of lightning. Results show that LTI forecasts have a high sensitivity and specificity for spring and summer. The LTI is less reliable during spring, since it over-forecasts the occurrence of lightning. However, during summer, the LTI forecast is reliable, only slightly over-forecasting lightning activity. The LTI produces sharp forecasts during spring and summer. These results show that the LTI will be useful early in the morning in areas where lightning can be expected during the day.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos2018-09-15Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog
Young musicians’ career identities: do bohemian and entrepreneurial career identities compete or cohere?
One of the most-discussed tensions in the cultural and creative industries is that between art and commerce, creativity and business, the artistic and the economic logic. This paper investigates in how far this discrepancy manifests itself in young musicians’ career identities. Based on extant qualitative research, we distinguish between bohemian and entrepreneurial career identities. The goal of our study is to understand whether the two compete (stand in tension) or cohere (harmonise). We address this in a quantitative manner, by surveying 146 music students from two Dutch music schools. An exploratory factor analysis reveals three components of musicians’ career identities, which pertain to ‘open-mindedness’, ‘career-mindedness’ and ‘money-mindedness’. The former two unite bohemian and entrepreneurial career identity items. None of the components exhibits exclusively bohemian career identity items. This leads us to conclude that young musicians do not necessarily experience tensions between bohemian and entrepreneurial imperatives. Rather, they hold career identities that combine bohemian and entrepreneurial elements in a synergetic manner
With their feet on the ground: a quantitative study of music students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship education
The present study examines students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship education. The context of the study are the arts, where we empirically test whether different dimensions of arts entrepreneurship education are recognized by students from higher music education institutes in the Netherlands. Specifically, we investigate 167 music students’ perceived need for various entrepreneurship education topics, because students’ concurrent attitudes toward entrepreneurship education may affect their future career behaviours. Our findings suggest that students embrace a holistic approach to entrepreneurship education, in terms of new venture creation, being enterprising, and employability and career self-management. Values such as a passion for music and the need for autonomy are not at odds with the perceived need for entrepreneurship education in relation to vocational work. As one of the first attempts to quantitatively investigate students’ perceived need for entrepreneurship education (PNEE), this study is a stepping stone for future quantitative research in this area
Teachers addressing HIV&AIDS-related challenges resourcefully
Teachers, in their relationship with children and their families, face challenges
related to cumulative risk, including HIV&AIDS. In this paper we use Sense of
Coherence to explain why teachers are able to address such barriers by using assets.
We explore the way that teachers (N=28) in four South African schools opted to
tackle the cumulative risk associated with HIV&AIDS, following participation in an
asset-based intervention (STAR – Supportive Teachers Assets and Resilience).
Data sources include six years’ longitudinal Participatory Reflection and Action
(PRA) data. Observation-in-the-context-of-interaction data was documented in
research diaries, field notes, visually as photographs and audiovisual recordings.
Informal conversational interviews, unstructured face-to-face interviews and focus
group interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. In the thematic analysis
HIV&AIDS-related barriers emerged as a socio-economic challenge that teachers
addressed by mobilising identified resources. Teachers’ experiences of barriers were
interwoven with narratives of confronting barriers by establishing school-based
support structures. This study provides empirical evidence for the theoretical
supposition that schools are well placed to function as intersections of care and
support in communities by theorising that teachers’ use of asset-based
competencies results in their experiencing eustress (rather than distress) when
faced with HIV&AIDS-related barriers, as they feel equipped to mediate the effects
of ongoing HIV&AIDS-related risk.http://www.saches.co.za/sare.htmlgv201
Taking note of obstacles research partners negotiate in long-term higher education community engagement partnerships
This article describes the challenges that teachers negotiated in a rural school (thwarted by rurality in an
emerging-economy context) to remain partners in a long-term research project. We use the generative
theory of rurality to theoretically locate the challenges and thematic analysis of six years' Participatory
Reflection and Action (PRA) data with South African teachers (n ¼ 9) in a rural school. Insights may
contribute to knowledge about partnerships with marginalised-school partners. Knowing which obstacles
teacher-partners had to overcome to continue in a project, may inform the conceptualisation and
implementation of enduring partnerships.A grant from
the National Research Foundation (NRF) for the Flourishing
Learning Youth (FLY) project (Grant Number: 82620.CEC12091412827).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/tatehb2016Educational Psycholog
In-service teacher training to provide psychosocial support and care in high-risk and high-need schools: school-based intervention partnerships
This article uses a South African case study to argue that postcolonial, emerging
economy societies in transition often contain schools characterised as high risk
and high need. Such schools require teachers to adapt to roles other than
facilitating learning, such as psychosocial support and care, and which requires
additional professional development. In the absence of structured teacher professional
development programmes, alternatives are required to assist teachers. The
paper describes a nine-year partnership between higher education researchers
and teachers in high-risk and high-need schools in three South African
provinces. The participatory reflection and action (PRA) study served as
platform for a school-based intervention to assist in-service teachers to adapt to
their additional responsibilities. Thematic analysis was used to identify the ways
in which teachers’ adaptation to high risk benefitted from the programme, and
self-determination theory is used to argue for a dynamic and interconnected relationship
between the teachers’ demonstrated pathways to psychosocial support
and care. The article argues that in socio-politically transforming societies where
need is high for in-service teacher training and formal structures for teacher professional
development may be limited, partnerships between researchers and
teachers appear to be useful platforms for school-based interventions to support
teacher resilience.National Research Foundation [grant number 82620.CEC12091412827] for the Flourishing Learning Youth (FLY) project.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjet202016-11-30hb201
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