Comparing the effectiveness of evidence-based parenting programmes on families with and without children with special educational needs; short term and longer term gains

Parents of children with a disability or special educational needs (SEN) have three available options when accessing parenting programmes: (a) to access a parenting programme that has been adapted for use by families with a child with disability, (b) to access a disability-specific parenting programme, or (c) to access a parenting programme developed for typically developing children. The aim of the present study was to examine whether accessing evidence-based parenting programmes (EBPPs) developed for typically developed children (option c) could benefit families of children with SEN, and whether benefits could be maintained when programme delivery takes place as part of sustained service implementation. Using data from an effectiveness trial, we found that there was no evidence of differential effectiveness: i.e., families of children with SEN experienced similar gains to families whose child did not have SEN with respect to child behaviour problems, parenting style and parental mental well-being. Using data from services’ sustained implementation, our findings indicated that gains during the implementation phase were of similar magnitude to gains during the research trial: following EBPPs, families of children with SEN experienced small to moderate improvements in behaviour problems and moderate to large improvements in parenting and parental mental well-being across the two phases. One year later, gains were significantly maintained in families who had accessed EBPPs as part of the research trial. While the study is not proposing that EBPPs developed for typically developing children are a replacement for disability-adapted or disability-specific parenting programmes, there was a pragmatic need to evaluate the effectiveness of EBPPs that are in practice accessed by families with a child with SEN. Overall, families of children with SEN can benefit from EBPPs similarly to families whose child does not have SEN, and the gains are significant and substantial even when EBPPs are offered as part of regular service provision. Longer-term maintenance of gains (one year) in service-led implementation of EBPPs likely requires more input

A cultural-historical activity theory analysis of educational psychologists’ practice with young people aged 16-25 five years on from the special educational needs and disability code of practice 0-25 (2015)

This research explores the professional practices of educational psychologists within one local authority educational psychology service with young people aged 16-25. For the purpose of this study, the local authority educational psychology service will be called ‘Drewquay’. The analysis aims to explore the extent to which EPs’ work has been adapted to work with young people aged 16-25-years-old. Cultural-historical activity theory was used as a tool to collect data from 11 educational psychologists through virtual semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using Braun & Clarke’s (2013) model of thematic analysis. The results show that the five core functions of an educational psychologist continue to be prevalent in the work of educational psychologists within the 16-25 age range, with a particular focus on engaging in assessment and consultation. Key differences occur in the outcome of educational psychologists’ work, whereby work with 16-25- year-olds focused on capturing the views and aspirations for hopes into adulthood. This influenced the choice of tools, with assessments focusing on functional skills that are deemed necessary for independence in adulthood. Supporting and constraining factors to educational psychologists’ work with young people are explored. Across the data set, contradictions are identified across different areas of educational psychologists’ work. Results from this study indicates the kinds of work that educational psychologists may complete with young people aged 16-25, along with knowledge of tools that they may wish to use in practice. Within Drewquay educational psychology service, the results will be disseminated, and in-service development will focus on addressing contradictions to collectively develop and create a new activity to move educational psychologists’ work forward in this age range

Cell-free enzymatic biosystem for the conversion of glucose to malate

Platform chemicals are essential to industrial processes. Used as starting materials for the manufacture of diverse products, their cheap availability and efficient sourcing are an industrial requirement. Increasing concerns about the depletion of natural resources and growing environmental consciousness have led to a focus on the economics and ecological viability of biobased platform chemical production. Biobased strategies such as fermentation still have limitations that restrict their large scale industrial application. Current microbial biomanufacturing is hindered by the limitations caused by cells, as synthetic pathways and their optimizations are restricted by the physiological limits of the cellular production system. Cell-free metabolic engineering is pushing the boundaries of traditional bioengineering models by focusing on the use of in vitro combinations of catalytic enzymes prepared from purified proteins or crude lysates from cells, assembled in artificial cascades, for production of target commodities.This thesis describes a cofactor balanced, cell-free, 5 enzyme biosystem for the sustainable production of malic acid from glucose, whereby 5 thermophilic proteins (glucose dehydrogenase, dihydroxy-acid dehydratase, 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate aldolase, glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase) were successfully expressed, purified and demonstrated to display enzyme activity. Enzyme immobilization has been used by many researchers to overcome instability problems and facilitate the repetitive use of enzymes. Recombinant glucose dehydrogenase from S. solfataricus was successfully purified and immobilized onto novel supports and demonstrated great potential for gluconic acid production from glucose, as well as bread waste hydrolysate in a sustainable production approach. Coupling of cofactor recycling enzymes (glucose dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase) was also explored and successfully demonstrated the simultaneous production of chemicals and cofactor recycling capabilities. The experimental work also identified potential bottlenecks affecting the feasibility of the cell-free biosystem and paves the way for optimized characterization of enzymes in the cascade, in the free-state, individually immobilized and co-immobilized

Prostate cancer and the influence of dietary factors and supplements: a systematic review

Background Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer worldwide after lung cancer. There is increasing evidence that diet and lifestyle plays a crucial role in prostate cancer biology and tumourigenesis. Prostate cancer itself represents a good model of cancer in which to look for chemopreventive agents due to the high disease prevalence, slowly progressive nature, and long latency period. Dietary agents have gained considerable attention, often receiving much publicity in the media. Aim To review the key evidence available for potential chemopreventive nutrients. Methods The methodology for this review involved a PubMed search from 1990 to 2013 using the key-words “diet and prostate cancer”, “nutrition and prostate cancer”, “dietary factors and prostate cancer”, “prostate cancer epidemiology”, “prostate cancer prevention”, “prostate cancer progression”. Results Red meat, dietary fat and milk intake should be minimised as they appear to increase the risk of prostate cancer. Fruit and vegetables and polyphenols may be preventive in prostate cancer, but further studies are needed to draw more solid conclusions and to clarify their role in patients with an established diagnosis of prostate cancer. Selenium and vitamin supplements cannot be advocated for the prevention of prostate cancer and indeed higher doses may be associated with a worse prognosis. There is no specific evidence regarding benefits of probiotics or prebiotics in prostate cancer. Conclusions From the wealth of evidence available, many recommendations can be made although more randomised control trials are required. These need to be carefully designed due to the many confounding factors and heterogeneity of the population

Bone quality assessment of osteogenic cell cultures by Raman microscopy

The use of autologous stem/progenitor cells represents a promising approach to the repair of craniofacial bone defects. The calvarium is recognized as a viable source of stem/progenitor cells that can be transplanted in vitro to form bone. However, it is unclear if bone formed in cell culture is similar in quality to that found in native bone. In this study, the quality of bone mineral formed in osteogenic cell cultures were compared against calvarial bone from postnatal mice. Given the spectroscopic resemblance that exists between cell and collagen spectra, the feasibility of extracting information on cell activity and bone matrix quality were also examined. Stem/progenitor cells isolated from fetal mouse calvaria were cultured onto fused‐quartz slides under osteogenic differentiation conditions for 28 days. At specific time intervals, slides were removed and analyzed by Raman microscopy and mineral staining techniques. We show that bone formed in culture at Day 28 resembled calvarial bone from 1‐day‐old postnatal mice with comparable mineralization, mineral crystallinity, and collagen crosslinks ratios. In contrast, bone formed at Day 28 contained a lower degree of ordered collagen fibrils compared with 1‐day‐old postnatal bone. Taken together, bone formed in osteogenic cell culture exhibited progressive matrix maturation and mineralization but could not fully replicate the high degree of collagen fibril order found in native bone.In this Raman spectroscopic study, we examined the quality of bone formed in vitro by fetal mouse calvarial stem/progenitor cells under osteogenic differentiation conditions. We characterized bone mineral and matrix cell culture components and detected the presence of lipid and glycosaminoglycan‐like components. Bone formed in vitro at Day 28 was similar to 1‐day‐old postnatal mouse calvarial bone in terms of mineralization, mineral crystallinity, and collagen crosslink ratios, but differed in the degree of collagen fibril order.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148347/1/jrs5521_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148347/2/jrs5521.pd

Comparing the Effectiveness of Evidence-Based Parenting Programs on Families with and without Children with Special Educational Needs: Short-term and Long-term Gains

Parents of children with a disability or special educational needs (SEN) have three available options when accessing parenting programs: (a) to access a parenting program that has been adapted for use by families with a child with disability, (b) to access a disability-specific parenting program, or (c) to access a parenting program developed for typically developing children. The aim of the present study was to examine whether accessing evidence-based parenting programs (EBPPs) developed for typically developed children (option c) could benefit families of children with SEN, and whether benefits could be maintained when program delivery takes place as part of sustained service implementation. Using data from an effectiveness trial, we found that there was no evidence of differential effectiveness: i.e., families of children with SEN experienced similar gains to families whose child did not have SEN with respect to child behavior problems, parenting style, and parental mental well-being. Using data from services’ sustained implementation, our findings indicated that gains during the implementation phase were of similar magnitude to gains during the research trial: following EBPPs, families of children with SEN experienced small to moderate improvements in behavior problems, and moderate to large improvements in parenting and parental mental well-being across the two phases. One year later, gains were significantly maintained in families who had accessed EBPPs as part of the research trial. While the study is not proposing that EBPPs developed for typically developing children are a replacement for disability-adapted or disability-specific parenting programs, there was a pragmatic need to evaluate the effectiveness of EBPPs that are in practice accessed by families with a child with SEN. Overall, families of children with SEN can benefit from EBPPs similarly to families whose child does not have SEN, and the gains are significant and substantial even when EBPPs are offered as part of regular service provision. Longer term maintenance of gains (1 year) in service-led implementation of EBPPs likely requires more input