I. Attempted synthesis and characterisation of an electron-deficient transition metal complex potentially useful in carbon-hydrogen bond activation. II. Investigations of mesoporous niobium oxide - cobaltocene composites: The first example of superparamagnetism in molecule-based clusters.

The attempted syntheses of electron deficient transition metal complexes proposed to be useful in C--H bond activation processes are reported. Because tris(trimethylsilyl)methane (HTsi) is sterically demanding but only donates one electron, we were interested in synthesising transition metal complexes with this ligand, under the assumption that these traits would be important in designing an extremely electron deficient transition metal complex for use in C--H bond activation processes. By means of three synthetic approaches, nucleophilic attack, oxidative addition and free radical reactions, the syntheses of several ligand complexes, Ir(Tsi)I(CO)(PPh3) 2, Rh(Tsi)I(CO)(PPh3)2, RhSiTsi(PPh3) 3, Ir(SiTsi)CO(PPh3)2, MnSiTsiCl, NbCl4Tsi, TaCl4Tsi, ZrCl3Tsi and TaMe3ClTsi) were attempted but most products were intractable. The isolation and characterisation via 1H NMR spectroscopy of a Ru--H species, (RuClH(C6H 5Tsi)PPh3), formed from the direct reaction of RuCl(Tsi)(C 6H6)PPh3 with LiTsi, is discussed. The characterisation of, and hypothesised mechanistic pathway towards a novel organic material, benzyl-Tsi, formed during the course of our investigations, is also reported. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-03, page: 0708. Adviser: David Antonelli. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2001

Are Topical Heat Patches More Effective at Relieving Pain Associated With Dysmenorrhea Than OTC NSAIDs (Ibuprofen 400 mg PO Q8h or Acetaminophen 500 mg PO Q6h) in Menstruating Women 18 and Over?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not topical heat patches are more effective at relieving pain associated with dysmenorrhea than OTC NSAIDs (Ibuprofen 400 mg PO Q8h or Acetaminophen 500mg PO Q6h) in menstruating women 18 and over. Study Design: Review of three English-language randomized control trials (RCTs) that were published in 2001, 2004, and 2012. Data Sources: Three single-blinded randomized control trials that were found using PubMed Outcome Measured: Dysmenorrhea and any associated pain relief was measured using patient-reported scales of NRS-10 Pain scale, 6-Point categorical scale, and patient reports of sensual, emotional, current, and total pain. Results: Akin et. al 2001 and 2004 studies found that topical heat patches were associated with statistically significant greater reduction in pain associated with dysmenorrhea than oral NSAIDs. A 2012 study by Navvabi Rigi, et al., however, showed no statistically significant difference in pain reduction in patients that received topical heat versus an oral NSAID. Conclusions: Some studies have shown that topical heat causes greater pain reduction than oral NSAIDs, though the results are inconclusive among all studies. Further studies with larger sample sizes and double blinding will be needed to determine the true effectiveness of topical heat in treating pain associated with dysmenorrhea versus oral NSAIDs

Beginning teachers’ perceptions of mentors and access to communities of practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore beginning teachers’ perceptions of the role of the mentor in the early stages of developing a professional identity. The beginning teachers in our study are defined as having been awarded qualified teacher status at the end of an initial teacher education programme or having completed their first term as a new teacher with responsibility for a class of pupils. Design/methodology/approach – The research design was a qualitative, inductive study. The concepts of communities of practice, legitimate peripheral participation and power dynamics within a community underpinned this study. The data set was collected over a period of 18 months, through six focus groups and 40 questionnaires with beginning teachers across 34 schools altogether. The data set was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings – The findings indicated that the ways in which mentors use their power to recognise (or not) the legitimacy of beginning teachers as being part of the school community influences the development of beginning teachers’ professional identities. The thematic analysis of the data indicated the different types of support that mentors may provide: ‘belonging’, ‘emotional’, ‘pedagogical’ and ‘space’. Research limitations/implications – Further research into how mentors perceive their role in supporting new entrants into the profession is needed. Originality/value – These findings are pertinent in England, as the increase in school-based initial teacher training provision will intensify the role of school mentors. These findings will be of value to other countries who are moving towards an increase in school-based teacher training

Suicide risk assessment in the emergency department:an investigation of current practice in Scotland

Background: Suicide is a global public health issue. Approximately one third of individuals who complete suicide have attended an emergency department in the year preceding their death. The aim of this study was to investigate current suicide risk assessment practices across emergency department clinicians in Scotland.Methods: A mixed‐methods design was employed. A total of 112 surveys for emergency department clinicians were posted to 23 emergency departments in Scotland between March and September 2016. Follow‐up semi‐structured interviews were also conducted exploring clinician's experiences of suicide risk assessment. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Fifty‐one emergency department clinicians across 17 emergency departments completed the survey. Thirty‐five (68.6%) participants were currently using a suicide risk assessment tool; with most using locally developed tools and proformas (n = 20, 62.5%) or the SAD PERSONS scale (n = 13, 40.6%). Remaining participants (n = 16, 31.4%) did not use suicide risk assessment tools during assessment. Variation in practice was found both across and within emergency departments. Six clinicians participated in follow‐up interviews, which identified four major themes: Clinician Experiences of Suicide Risk Assessment; Components of Suicide Risk Assessment; Clinical Decision‐Making; and Supporting Clinicians.Conclusions: There is substantial variation in current practice, with around two‐thirds of clinicians using a variety of empirically and locally developed tools, and a third using their judgement alone. Clinicians find suicide risk assessment a challenging part of their role and discuss the need for increased training, and appropriate and helpful guidelines to improve practice

Institutional spaces and sociable eating: young people, food, and expressions of care

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2020.1748182Young people’s social relationships are fostered, enacted, and complicated by the discursive and constitutive spatial contexts in which they occur. The focus of our study was the ways the spaces of the school canteen - and the adjacent, external food environment - organised and complicated sociable eating practices for students. Drawing on qualitative data collected from young people aged 13-15 years and staff at secondary schools, we analyse reports of the challenges posed by the school canteen space to sociable eating practices, and the importance of social relationships. The analysis highlights that young people found school canteens to be fundamentally ‘anti-social’ and schools do not adequately recognise or value the importance of building social skills during meal breaks. The data show that, for young people, food is often a secondary concern to sociality and the expression of kinship and care through eating together at school. Young people therefore sought spaces outside school to socialise and eat together. When socio-economic deprivation was an issue within friendship groups, the importance of caring for others emerged through ensuring peers had adequate food to eat. This analysis highlights the critical relationship between food, sociability and expressions of care in the school food environment.Peer reviewe

Perceived Support, Belonging, and Possible Selves Strategies Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders

Possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) suggests that future-oriented expectations, fears, and strategies are constrained by feedback in one\u27s sociocultural context. The current paper represents a preliminary look into the relationship between support in one\u27s immediate context and the development of strategies for the achievement of desired future selves. Youthful offenders (N = 543) were surveyed in secured treatment facilities in Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Program belonging was a consistent predictor of strategy generation among both males and females, and attributional support from a staff person was significant among males. The findings support further examination of interpersonal interactions as they relate to future-oriented planning and point to a need for further investigation into the development of concrete strategies

Update on celiac disease – etiology, differential diagnosis, drug targets, and management advances

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by exposure to wheat gluten and similar proteins found in rye and barley that affects genetically susceptible persons. This immune-mediated enteropathy is characterized by villous atrophy, intraepithelial lymphocytosis, and crypt hyperplasia. Once thought a disease that largely presented with malnourished children, the wide spectrum of disease activity is now better recognized and this has resulted in a shift in the presenting symptoms of most patients with CD. New advances in testing, both serologic and endoscopic, have dramatically increased the detection and diagnosis of CD. While the gluten-free diet is still the only treatment for CD, recent investigations have explored alternative approaches, including the use of altered nonimmunogenic wheat variants, enzymatic degradation of gluten, tissue transglutaminase inhibitors, induction of tolerance, and peptides to restore integrity to intestinal tight junctions

The translational benefits of sheep as large animal models of human neurological disorders

The past two decades have seen a considerable rise in the use of sheep to model human neurological disorders. While each animal model has its merits, sheep have many advantages over small animal models when it comes to studies on the brain. In particular, sheep have brains more comparable in size and structure to the human brain. They also have much longer life spans and are docile animals, making them useful for a wide range of in vivo studies. Sheep are amenable to regular blood and cerebrospinal fluid sampling which aids in biomarker discovery and monitoring of treatment efficacy. Several neurological diseases have been found to occur naturally in sheep, however sheep can also be genetically engineered or experimentally manipulated to recapitulate disease or injury. Many of these types of sheep models are currently being used for pre-clinical therapeutic trials, particularly gene therapy, with studies from several models culminating in potential treatments moving into clinical trials. This review will provide an overview of the benefits of using sheep to model neurological conditions, and highlight naturally occurring and experimentally induced sheep models that have demonstrated translational validity