Application of educational research to planning and policy

Meeting: Research for Development : Mid-Canada and the Third World, 19-21 Apr. 1983, Winnipeg, MB, C

Successful ageing in an area of deprivation: Part 1—A qualitative exploration of the role of life experiences in good health in old age

Objectives: To determine the life histories and current circumstances of healthy and unhealthy older people who share an ecology marked by relative deprivation and generally poor health. Study design: In-depth interview study with a qualitative analysis. Methods: Matched pairs of healthy and unhealthy ‘agers’ were interviewed face-to-face. Healthy ageing was assessed in terms of hospital morbidity and self-reported health. Study participants consisted of 22 pairs (44 individuals), aged 72–89 years, matched for sex, age and deprivation category, and currently resident in the West of Scotland. All study participants were survivors of the Paisley/Renfrew (MIDSPAN) survey, a longitudinal study commenced in 1972 with continuous recording of morbidity and mortality since. Detailed life histories were obtained which focused on family, residence, employment, leisure and health. This information was supplemented by more focused data on ‘critical incidents’, financial situation and position in social hierarchies. Results: Data provided rich insights into life histories and current circumstances but no differences were found between healthy and unhealthy agers. Conclusions: It is important to understand what differentiates individuals who have lived in circumstances characterized by relative deprivation and poor health, yet have aged healthily. This study collected rich and detailed qualitative data. Yet, no important differences were detected between healthy and unhealthy agers. This is an important negative result as it suggests that the phenomenon of healthy ageing and the factors that promote healthy ageing over a lifetime are so complex that they will require even more detailed studies to disentangle

Diagnostic work-up of patients presenting in primary care with lower abdominal symptoms:which faecal test and triage strategy should be used?

Bowel endoscopy referrals from primary care have increased steadily over recent years. However, most patients do not have significant colorectal disease (SCD). Therefore, strategies to select those who would benefit most from endoscopy are of current interest. A recent study developed a multivariable diagnostic model for SCD with routine clinical information, extended with quantitative faecal calprotectin (f-C) point-of-care (POC) testing and/or qualitative POC faecal immunochemical test (FIT) for haemoglobin (f-Hb) results. This study used POC tests for both f-C and f-Hb; however, POC tests have many disadvantages and there are several reasons why quantitative measurements of f-Hb are advantageous. Quantitative faecal immunochemical tests have been used very successfully in triage of patients presenting in primary care as a rule-out test. Studies have compared f-C and f-Hb in this clinical context and consider that f-C is not required in diagnosis. A single quantitative f-Hb result, without any clinical information, could be sufficient to decide whom to refer for endoscopy and, because of the significant overlap of symptoms in those with and without SCD, could be the primary investigation performed. Please see related article: http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-0684-5

A dedicated haem lyase is required for the maturation of a novel bacterial cytochrome c with unconventional covalent haem binding

In bacterial c-type cytochromes, the haem cofactor is covalently attached via two cysteine residues organized in a haem c-binding motif. Here, a novel octa-haem c protein, MccA, is described that contains only seven conventional haem c-binding motifs (CXXCH), in addition to several single cysteine residues and a conserved CH signature. Mass spectrometric analysis of purified MccA from Wolinella succinogenes suggests that two of the single cysteine residues are actually part of an unprecedented CX15CH sequence involved in haem c binding. Spectroscopic characterization of MccA identified an unusual high-potential haem c with a red-shifted absorption maximum, not unlike that of certain eukaryotic cytochromes c that exceptionally bind haem via only one thioether bridge. A haem lyase gene was found to be specifically required for the maturation of MccA in W. succinogenes. Equivalent haem lyase-encoding genes belonging to either the bacterial cytochrome c biogenesis system I or II are present in the vicinity of every known mccA gene suggesting a dedicated cytochrome c maturation pathway. The results necessitate reconsideration of computer-based prediction of putative haem c-binding motifs in bacterial proteomes

Fire-mediated niche-separation between two sympatric small mammal species

Abstract Fire is a key ecological process influencing the population dynamics of small mammals. Whilst shifting competitive advantage amongst small mammal species following a single fire event is well-documented, there has been little investigation of the potential influence of fire frequency on small mammal interspecific interactions. In this study, we investigated the effect of fire frequency on the abundance of two small dasyurid mammals, Antechinus stuartii and A. flavipes, which occur sympatrically in some parts of their range. The two antechinus species are known to have different habitat preferences, so it is possible that fire regimes may promote their coexistence in areas of sympatry by altering vegetation structure. To investigate this possibility, we estimated the abundance of both species using replicate sites which differed in the number of times burnt (1-4) during the last four decades, but with identical time-since-fire. Proportionally, we captured greater numbers of A. stuartii in less frequently burnt sites and greater numbers of A. flavipes in more-frequently burnt sites. Hence, fire may mediate niche-separation between these two species. To clarify further this pattern of response to fire frequency, we investigated which structural habitat variables differed between fire frequencies, and compared antechinus abundances with structural vegetation characteristics. We found a trend for lower ground cover density under higher fire frequencies. This offers one potential explanation of the patterns of abundance that we observed. Our study provided insights into the complexities of small mammal responses to fire, and strongly suggests that fire could mediate competitive interactions between species

Pore Shape Modification of a Microporous Metal-Organic Framework Using High Pressure:Accessing a New Phase with Oversized Guest Molecules

The authors thank the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Scottish Government for a fellowship to S.A.M. The authors thank EPSRC (EP/J02077X/1) and Leverhulme Trust for a research project grant (RPG-209) for financial support. They also thank the UK Carr Parinello consortium for allocation of computing time on the EPSRC high performance computing resource ARCHER (managed by the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, the EaSTCHEM Research Computing Facility and the University of Edinburgh ECDF facility).Pressures up to 0.8 GPa have been used to squeeze a range of sterically "oversized" C5-C8 alkane guest molecules into the cavities of a small-pore Sc-based metal?organic framework. Guest inclusion causes a pronounced reorientation of the aromatic rings of one-third of the terephthalate linkers, which act as "torsion springs", resulting in a fully reversible change in the local pore structure. The study demonstrates how pressure-induced guest uptake can be used to investigate framework flexibility relevant to "breathing" behavior and to understand the uptake of guest molecules in MOFs relevant to hydrocarbon separation.PostprintPeer reviewe

A Gradualist Approach to Criminality: Early British Socialists, Utopia and Crime

The attitudes of early British socialists to criminality are a thoroughly under-researched area of historical scholarship. This paper draws on the utopian ideas of Robert Owen, William Morris, H. G. Wells, Robert Blatchford, Edward Carpenter and Ramsay MacDonald as a vehicle for investigating the attitudes of mainstream fin de siècle British socialists to crime, punishment and penal reform. Placing these figures and their utopias along a spectrum that sees radical ‘Arcadian’ socialists on the far left, ‘technological’ socialists on the far right, and moderate socialists occupying the middle ground, it presents two principal findings. First it demonstrates how crime was predicted by most of the left to decrease to a minimum level under socialism. ‘Arcadians’, ‘technological’ and moderate socialists invoked different methods in this pursuit, but each were in essence grappling with the same broader issue of the relationship of the individual to the state under socialism. Secondly, examining the multifaceted ideological heritage of the British left in relation to their approaches to crime, it is argued that, despite the left’s gradualist philosophy, their own attitudes to criminality actually closely reflected utopian conceptions. Examination of these issues offers an important opportunity to re-evaluate the evolution of British socialist thought

Dielectronic Recombination in He+ Ions

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Mercaptopurine versus placebo to prevent recurrence of Crohn's disease after surgical resection (TOPPIC):a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial

SummaryBackgroundUp to 60% of patients with Crohn's disease need intestinal resection within the first 10 years of diagnosis, and postoperative recurrence is common. We investigated whether mercaptopurine can prevent or delay postoperative clinical recurrence of Crohn's disease.MethodsWe did a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial at 29 UK secondary and tertiary hospitals of patients (aged >16 years in Scotland or >18 years in England and Wales) who had a confirmed diagnosis of Crohn's disease and had undergone intestinal resection. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) by a computer-generated web-based randomisation system to oral daily mercaptopurine at a dose of 1 mg/kg bodyweight rounded to the nearest 25 mg or placebo; patients with low thiopurine methyltransferase activity received half the normal dose. Patients and their carers and physicians were masked to the treatment allocation. Patients were followed up for 3 years. The primary endpoint was clinical recurrence of Crohn's disease (Crohn's Disease Activity Index >150 plus 100-point increase in score) and the need for anti-inflammatory rescue treatment or primary surgical intervention. Primary and safety analyses were by intention to treat. Subgroup analyses by smoking status, previous thiopurines, previous infliximab or methotrexate, previous surgery, duration of disease, or age at diagnosis were also done. This trial is registered with the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Register (ISRCTN89489788) and the European Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT number 2006-005800-15).FindingsBetween June 6, 2008, and April 23, 2012, 240 patients with Crohn's disease were randomly assigned: 128 to mercaptopurine and 112 to placebo. All patients received at least one dose of study drug, and no randomly assigned patients were excluded from the analysis. 16 (13%) of patients in the mercaptopurine group versus 26 (23%) patients in the placebo group had a clinical recurrence of Crohn's disease and needed anti-inflammatory rescue treatment or primary surgical intervention (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0·54, 95% CI 0·27–1·06; p=0·07; unadjusted HR 0·53, 95% CI 0·28–0·99; p=0·046). In a subgroup analysis, three (10%) of 29 smokers in the mercaptopurine group and 12 (46%) of 26 in the placebo group had a clinical recurrence that needed treatment (HR 0·13, 95% CI 0·04–0·46), compared with 13 (13%) of 99 non-smokers in the mercaptopurine group and 14 (16%) of 86 in the placebo group (0·90, 0·42–1·94; pinteraction=0·018). The effect of mercaptopurine did not significantly differ from placebo for any of the other planned subgroup analyses (previous thiopurines, previous infliximab or methotrexate, previous surgery, duration of disease, or age at diagnosis). The incidence and types of adverse events were similar in the mercaptopurine and placebo groups. One patient on placebo died of ischaemic heart disease. Adverse events caused discontinuation of treatment in 39 (30%) of 128 patients in the mercaptopurine group versus 41 (37%) of 112 in the placebo group.InterpretationMercaptopurine is effective in preventing postoperative clinical recurrence of Crohn's disease, but only in patients who are smokers. Thus, in smokers, thiopurine treatment seems to be justified in the postoperative period, although smoking cessation should be strongly encouraged given that smoking increases the risk of recurrence.FundingMedical Research Council