The Conduct of Monetary Policy

The implementation of health information technology interventions is at the forefront of most policy agendas internationally. However, such undertakings are often far from straightforward as they require complex strategic planning accompanying the systemic organizational changes associated with such programs. Building on our experiences of designing and evaluating the implementation of large-scale health information technology interventions in the USA and the UK, we highlight key lessons learned in the hope of informing the on-going international efforts of policymakers, health directorates, healthcare management, and senior clinicians

Persistent rhinitis and epithelial remodeling induced by cyclic ozone exposure in the nasal airways of infant monkeys

Children chronically exposed to high levels of ozone (O3), the principal oxidant pollutant in photochemical smog, are more vulnerable to respiratory illness and infections. The specific factors underlying this differential susceptibility are unknown but may be related to air pollutant-induced nasal alterations during postnatal development that impair the normal physiological functions (e.g., filtration and mucociliary clearance) serving to protect the more distal airways from inhaled xenobiotics. In adult animal models, chronic ozone exposure is associated with adaptations leading to a decrease in airway injury. The purpose of our study was to determine whether cyclic ozone exposure induces persistent morphological and biochemical effects on the developing nasal airways of infant monkeys early in life. Infant (180-day-old) rhesus macaques were exposed to 5 consecutive days of O3 [0.5 parts per million (ppm), 8 h/day; “1-cycle”] or filtered air (FA) or 11 biweekly cycles of O3 (FA days 1–9; 0.5 ppm, 8 h/day on days 10–14; “11-cycle”). The left nasal passage was processed for light microscopy and morphometric analysis. Mucosal samples from the right nasal passage were processed for GSH, GSSG, ascorbate (AH2), and uric acid (UA) concentration. Eleven-cycle O3 induced persistent rhinitis, squamous metaplasia, and epithelial hyperplasia in the anterior nasal airways of infant monkeys, resulting in a 39% increase in the numeric density of epithelial cells. Eleven-cycle O3 also induced a 65% increase in GSH concentrations at this site. The persistence of epithelial hyperplasia was positively correlated with changes in GSH. These results indicate that early life ozone exposure causes persistent nasal epithelial alterations in infant monkeys and provide a potential mechanism for the increased susceptibility to respiratory illness exhibited by children in polluted environments

Conceptualising Assessment and Learning in the CLIL Context. An Introduction

Multiple CLIL writers (e.g. Ball et al. 2015) have emphasised the significant role of assessment in promoting learning in CLIL classrooms, where there is a dual focus on learning content and language (Genesee and Hamayan 2016). Because of this dual focus, the assessment process in CLIL becomes more complex. Assessment in CLIL should provide insights into learner content and linguistic knowledge as well as strategies used to learn both content and language in order to identify student progress and needs. This should inform both teachers and students about how to enhance learning. Despite excellent overviews, guidelines, and practical activities in CLIL assessment (Lin 2016; Mehisto and Ting 2017; Quartapelle 2012), teachers express concerns about adopting new assessment practices, principles, and techniques and are underusing the potential to support learning (deLuca and Bellara 2013; Hill 2017a; Tsagari and Vogt 2017).peerReviewe