Investigation of the causes of backwardness at the qualifying stage, with particular reference to the percentage of children scholastically retarded owing to unsuitability of curriculum. Non-scholastic tests - mechanical aptitude tests, technical information tests and a practical test - for "backward” pupils

Although the utmost care was taken}in discovering the various causes of retardation for the 400 subjects, the 25.5% of cases suffering from unsuitability of curriculum and the 5.75% of cases, the cause of whose retardation was undiscovered, may be a somewhat rough estimate. The nonscholastic tests are not deemed anything but crude instruments^ and their results accordingly will lack in reliability. Many other scholastic tests may have been required.When this investigation was carried out in Edinburgh schools by the Method of Sampling}the results were strikingly similar to those obtained above. Roughly one quarter were found to be mal-adjusted to their existing curriculum. By other methods^ the Fife Education Authority reach the same conclusion. The results obtained are sufficiently reliable, at least, to indicate that there is a big proportion of scholastically retarded cases which form a serious problem waiting for us to solve. We have, by these results, a big number of children with talents and abilities lying dormant in school^ and we are not offering them work suitable^ or intrinsically interesting. The result is that they are liable to degenerate^and this degeneration may take the form of laziness^or may show itself in mischief making and waywardness. To leave children of good enough capacity in classes where they do poor school work , through lack of interest, is to tend to inculcate in them habits of laziness and discontent}and, by sheer neglect, wrong attitudes towards work which will later be a problem for us to solve. The school by failing to discover and help those backward—children—who-are-not—backward—in—intelligence, is failing to start them on their life's career as workers and useful citizens, who have learnt though young, the joy, the culture, and the dignity of work.Just as it is a notorious, though true, fact, that the class teacher objects to the loss of her brightest pupils by extra promotion^and feels the promise of clever children from the class below ,but an insufficient compensation, so is it the case that we are sometimes blind to existing abilities in children?and to account for poor educational work^suppose a retardation in general intelligence, where it does not exist. It is a great comfort to delude ourselves that, because a child is poor at reading and counting^he was born inferior mentally, and will never make much headway^in spite of our efforts. But to see that child outside, alive, full of energy and keen vivid,, eager interest in what goes on around him^or to startle him in school by some chance remark, into giving some unexpected, unusual information unknown to other boys, gives one food for thought.the whole problem of scholastic backwardness^ as distinct from mental defect ,is becoming a centre of very great interest. Educational Journals offer interesting information on the subject and holiday courses for teachers frequently advertise training for teachers of backward pupils as well as for teachers of mentally defectives. In many schools I have been in, the Headmasters are carefully considering each case of definite educational retardation^and are recording the causes in the book shown opposite. They realise the very great complexity of the problem, the many types of backwardnass^and in this area, indeed, there is a request for new terms to express the various degrees of backwardness and the various types.With regard to ordinary educational backwardness, with an innate retardation not sufficiently acute to have the pupils sent to a special school, we are beginning to make progress in this area. More of our schools are being given an extra teacher to tutor the children and here and there an infant teacher is free in the afternoons to devote her time to coaching pupils. Again, in one small 4-teacher infant school in this area we have re-classified the children. How, instead of having 4 infant classes we have three infant classes, and a smaller tutorial class. Also since the younger children now get home for good at 1 p.m., the teacher free after her lunch hour, tutors the children in the other two infant classes, who require extra help. This is an experiment, although no opportunity was given to carry it out scientifically^with a control group. Even if a school has no extra room, or teacher or special provision for backward children the names of such are entered on the record book shown above. Mental Testing and Educational Testing is done, and suggestions about apparatus and material is given, if any school applies to the Executive Officer.Professor Burt, who is our chief inspiration, states as a warning to these who think individual teaching alone is sufficient - (1) "Yet even for the backward, individual teaching may be no less wasteful - it will indeed be more wasteful than class teaching, unless it follow the appropriate method; and the appropriate method can only be discovered by an intensive study of the special needs of each particular child". With regard to the problem of the Mentally Defective we are beginning to see that he should not be sent to a Special School because of his inability to do the work of a normal class but because of his inability to make satisfactory progress in a backward, tutorial or adjustment class, after a fair trial period. / / (1). Mental & Schol. Tests. P.268.To return to backwardness of the type with which this investigation is chiefly concerned, it has been found that, as a result of a careful individual examination of all alleged mentally defectives in the whole County, are children of normal intelligence,but suffering from unsuitability of curriculum!' A very important aspect of the problem, again, is that Burt tells us in the chapters on "Intellectual Conditions" in the"Young Delinquent" that young delinquents are found to be educationally backward far more often than they are estimated as M.D., .and one of the most notable points he makes is, that even temporary ill health, by resulting in backwardness in school may help to bring about a state of disheartenment, and discontent which facilitates crime. This warning of the serious, far-reaching effects of educational retardation is surely sufficient to causee us to pay attention to the proportion of our pupils who are suffering from unsuitability of curriculum.In the past school work has not taken sufficient account of practical, mechanical and technical subjects^and while this is immaterial for the normal child, in dealing with the problem child, mainly interested in these matters, this type of work cannot, with justice be ignored

[Accepted Manuscript] Field testing a draft version of the UNICEF/Washington Group Module on child functioning and disability. Background, methodology and preliminary findings from Cameroon and India

Background Global child disability data are generally non-comparable, comprising different tools, methodologies and disability definitions. UNICEF and The Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) have developed a new tool on child functioning and disability to address this need. Aims The aim of this paper is to describe the development of the new module, and to present an independent field test of the draft module in two contrasting settings. Methods UNICEF and the WG developed a parent-reported survey module to identify children aged 2�17 years with functional difficulties in population-based surveys through: review of existing documentation, consultation with experts and cognitive testing. A field test of the draft module was undertaken in Cameroon and India within a population-based survey. Functional limitation in each of 14 domains was scored on a scale comprising �no difficulty�, �some difficulty�, �a lot of difficulty� and �cannot do�. Results In all, 1713 children in Cameroon and 1101 children in India were assessed. Sixty-four percent of children in Cameroon and 35% of children in India were reported to have at least some difficulty in one or more domain. The proportion reported to have either �a lot of difficulty� or �cannot do� was 9% in Cameroon and 4% in India. There were no significant differences in reported functional difficulties by sex but children aged 2�4 were reported to have fewer functional difficulties of any kind compared with older children in both countries. Conclusion Comparable estimates were generated between the two countries, providing an initial overview of the tool's outputs. The continued development of this standardised questionnaire for the collection of robust and reliable data on child disability is essential

Intraocular pressure in inbred mouse strains

PURPOSE: To develop a protocol to measure the intraocular pressure (IOP) of living mice and to determine the IOP of genetically different mouse strains. METHODS: Eyes of anesthetized animals were cannulated with a very fine fluid-filled glass microneedle. The microneedle was connected to a pressure transducer, and the pressure signal was analyzed with a computer system. Intraocular pressures of male C3H/He iota, C57BL/ 6 iota, A/iota, and BALB/c iota mice were determined. RESULTS: Differences in IOP were detected between genetically distinct mouse strains maintained in virtually identical environments. C3H/He iota was the strain with the highest average IOP (13.7 +/- 0.8 mm Hg). This strain average was 1.4 mm Hg higher than that for C57BL/6 iota (12.3 +/- 0.5 mm Hg; P = 0.14), 4.3 mm Hg higher than that for A/iota (9.4 +/- 0.5 mm Hg; P < 0.001), and 6 mm Hg higher than that for BALB/c iota (7.7 +/- 0.5 mm Hg; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The authors have developed an accurate and reliable procedure for measuring intraocular pressure in living mice. This procedure can detect IOP differences between groups of mice that differ by genotype

Endovascular Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm does not Improve Early Survival versus Open Repair in Patients Younger than 60 Years

AbstractObjectivesMultiple randomised trials have demonstrated lower perioperative mortality after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) compared to open surgical repair for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). However, in these trials the mortality advantage for EVAR is being lost within 2 years of repair and the patients evaluated are relatively older with no study specifically comparing EVAR and open repair for patients younger than 60 years of age.DesignA retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.Materials and methodsPatients younger than 60 years of age who underwent EVAR and open surgical repair for elective infrarenal AAA were identified from the 2007–09 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) – a prospective database maintained at 237 centres across the United States. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed.ResultsOf the 651 patients, 369 (56.7%) underwent EVAR and 282 (43.3%) underwent open repair. Thirty-day mortality for EVAR and open repair were 1.1% and 0.4%, respectively. This was not significantly different on univariate (P = 0.22) as well as multivariate (P = 0.69) analysis after controlling for other co-morbidities. On multivariate analysis, body mass index, history of stroke and bleeding disorder prior to surgery were associated with a higher 30-day mortality after AAA repair (combined open and EVAR).ConclusionsThese contemporary results demonstrate that the 30-day mortality rate after open repair is similar to that after EVAR in patients younger than 60 years with infrarenal AAA

SS25. Cryopreserved Venous Allograft: An Alternative Conduit for Reconstruction of Infected Prosthetic Aortic Grafts

Olivé Milián, ArmandPla general picat del mosaic format per tres cercles: el central, amb un sol de color ocre sobre un cel blau. El sol, somrient, està encarat cap al sud. Aquest està envoltat d'un primer anell dentat i un segon on s'hi representen les fases d

The impact of the Lesotho Child Grant Programme in the lives of children and adults with disabilities: Disaggregated analysis of a community randomized controlled trial

Globally, people with disabilities are disproportionally affected by poverty. Social protection policies, including cash transfers, are key strategies to address poverty “in all its forms”, but it is currently unclear how such programmes affect people with disabilities. This study examines differences in the impact of the Lesotho Child Grant Programme (CGP) on food security, health, education and livelihoods between people with and without disabilities using data from a community randomized control trial. Overall, this study finds the CGP had significant and differential impacts for people with disabilities across multiple health indicators (e.g. increased health expenditures, self-rated health, likelihood of seeking healthcare). The CGP also had an impact on food security, decreasing the number of months households with and without members with disabilities faced extreme food shortages. There was also a modest but significant and differential impact of the CGP on the engagement of people with disabilities in paid work. The CGP only had an impact on school enrolment for children without disabilities, however the difference in impact was non-significant and likely due to underpowered sample sizes. Overall, people with disabilities receiving the CGP still experienced high levels of absolute deprivation, and were generally still worse off compared to people without disabilities, indicating a need for adapted or complementary social protection and other poverty alleviation programmes

Homologous Flares and Magnetic Field Topology in Active Region NOAA 10501 on 20 November 2003

We present and interpret observations of two morphologically homologous flares that occurred in active region (AR) NOAA 10501 on 20 November 2003. Both flares displayed four homologous H-alpha ribbons and were both accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The central flare ribbons were located at the site of an emerging bipole in the center of the active region. The negative polarity of this bipole fragmented in two main pieces, one rotating around the positive polarity by ~ 110 deg within 32 hours. We model the coronal magnetic field and compute its topology, using as boundary condition the magnetogram closest in time to each flare. In particular, we calculate the location of quasiseparatrix layers (QSLs) in order to understand the connectivity between the flare ribbons. Though several polarities were present in AR 10501, the global magnetic field topology corresponds to a quadrupolar magnetic field distribution without magnetic null points. For both flares, the photospheric traces of QSLs are similar and match well the locations of the four H-alpha ribbons. This globally unchanged topology and the continuous shearing by the rotating bipole are two key factors responsible for the flare homology. However, our analyses also indicate that different magnetic connectivity domains of the quadrupolar configuration become unstable during each flare, so that magnetic reconnection proceeds differently in both events.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Solar Physics (accepted

A single-gene cause in 29.5% of cases of steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome

Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) is the second most frequent cause of ESRD in the first two decades of life. Effective treatment is lacking. First insights into disease mechanisms came from identification of single-gene causes of SRNS. However, the frequency of single-gene causation and its age distribution in large cohorts are unknown. We performed exon sequencing of NPHS2 and WT1 for 1783 unrelated, international families with SRNS. We then examined all patients by microfluidic multiplex PCR and next-generation sequencing for all 27 genes known to cause SRNS if mutated. We detected a single-gene cause in 29.5% (526 of 1783) of families with SRNS that manifested before 25 years of age. The fraction of families in whom a single-gene cause was identified inversely correlated with age of onset. Within clinically relevant age groups, the fraction of families with detection of the single-gene cause was as follows: onset in the first 3 months of life (69.4%), between 4 and 12 months old (49.7%), between 1 and 6 years old (25.3%), between 7 and 12 years old (17.8%), and between 13 and 18 years old (10.8%). For PLCE1, specific mutations correlated with age of onset. Notably, 1% of individuals carried mutations in genes that function within the coenzyme Q10 biosynthesis pathway, suggesting that SRNS may be treatable in these individuals. Our study results should facilitate molecular genetic diagnostics of SRNS, etiologic classification for therapeutic studies, generation of genotype-phenotype correlations, and the identification of individuals in whom a targeted treatment for SRNS may be available