Newly qualified physical education teachers’ experiences of developing subject knowledge prior to, during and after a Postgraduate Certificate in Education course

Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections of secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) physical education courses in England between 1996 and 1998 (OFSTED, 1999) were critical of student teachers' subject knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of subject knowledge and influences on the development of that subject knowledge in a sample of three newly qualified teachers (NQTs) who had completed a PGCE physical education course in England. The research comprised semi-structured interviews and analysis of documentation. Among these three NQTs there were some similarities, but more differences in terms of the development of subject knowledge as well as different influences on the development of subject knowledge. These results suggest that teacher educators may need to be flexible in how they approach and support the development of student teachers' subject knowledge. Results also suggest that teacher educators should work more closely with colleagues teaching sports-related undergraduate degree courses to support the development of subject knowledge for those students who wish to progress to a PGCE physical education course

Comparable Vδ2 Cell Functional Characteristics in Virally Suppressed People Living with HIV and Uninfected Individuals.

Crosstalk between innate and adaptive pathways is a critical component to developing an effective, lasting immune response. Among natural effector cells, innate-like γδ T cells promote immunity by facilitating communication between the two compartments and exerting cytotoxic effector functions. Dysregulation of γδ T cell populations is a byproduct of primary Humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This is most pronounced in the depletion and loss of function within cells expressing a Vγ9Vδ2 TCR (Vδ2 cells). Whether or not prolonged viral suppression mediated by antiretroviral therapy (ART) can reverse these effects has yet to be determined. In this study, we present evidence of similar Vδ2 cell functional responses within a cohort of people living with HIV (PLWH) that has been stably suppressed for >1 year and uninfected donors. Through the use of aminobisphosphonate drugs, we were able to generate a comprehensive comparison between ex vivo and expanded Vδ2 cells within each group. Both groups had largely similar compositions of memory and effector phenotypes, post-expansion TCR repertoire diversity, and cytotoxic capabilities. Our findings support the notion that ART promotes the recovery of Vδ2 polyfunctionality and provides insight for strategies aiming to reconstitute the full immune response after infection with HIV

Invasion speeds for structured populations in fluctuating environments

We live in a time where climate models predict future increases in environmental variability and biological invasions are becoming increasingly frequent. A key to developing effective responses to biological invasions in increasingly variable environments will be estimates of their rates of spatial spread and the associated uncertainty of these estimates. Using stochastic, stage-structured, integro-difference equation models, we show analytically that invasion speeds are asymptotically normally distributed with a variance that decreases in time. We apply our methods to a simple juvenile-adult model with stochastic variation in reproduction and an illustrative example with published data for the perennial herb, \emph{Calathea ovandensis}. These examples buttressed by additional analysis reveal that increased variability in vital rates simultaneously slow down invasions yet generate greater uncertainty about rates of spatial spread. Moreover, while temporal autocorrelations in vital rates inflate variability in invasion speeds, the effect of these autocorrelations on the average invasion speed can be positive or negative depending on life history traits and how well vital rates ``remember'' the past

MicroRNAs in cardiac arrhythmia: DNA sequence variation of MiR-1 and MiR-133A in long QT syndrome.

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a genetic cardiac condition associated with prolonged ventricular repolarization, primarily a result of perturbations in cardiac ion channels, which predisposes individuals to life-threatening arrhythmias. Using DNA screening and sequencing methods, over 700 different LQTS-causing mutations have been identified in 13 genes worldwide. Despite this, the genetic cause of 30-50% of LQTS is presently unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (∼ 22 nucleotides) noncoding RNAs which post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression by binding complementary sequences within messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The human genome encodes over 1800 miRNAs, which target about 60% of human genes. Consequently, miRNAs are likely to regulate many complex processes in the body, indeed aberrant expression of various miRNA species has been implicated in numerous disease states, including cardiovascular diseases. MiR-1 and MiR-133A are the most abundant miRNAs in the heart and have both been reported to regulate cardiac ion channels. We hypothesized that, as a consequence of their role in regulating cardiac ion channels, genetic variation in the genes which encode MiR-1 and MiR-133A might explain some cases of LQTS. Four miRNA genes (miR-1-1, miR-1-2, miR-133a-1 and miR-133a-2), which encode MiR-1 and MiR-133A, were sequenced in 125 LQTS probands. No genetic variants were identified in miR-1-1 or miR-133a-1; but in miR-1-2 we identified a single substitution (n.100A> G) and in miR-133a-2 we identified two substitutions (n.-19G> A and n.98C> T). None of the variants affect the mature miRNA products. Our findings indicate that sequence variants of miR-1-1, miR-1-2, miR-133a-1 and miR-133a-2 are not a cause of LQTS in this cohort

Relationship Between Brassiere Cup Size and Shoulder-Neck Pain in Women

There are very few reports in regard to relationship between breast size and shoulder-neck pain. The purpose of this study is to examine the correlations among breast size, brassiere cup size, and moment-in-time reporting of shoulderneck pain in a group of adult women. Three hundred thirty nine female volunteers from the hospital staff answered the questionnaire. Breast size, brassiere cup size, and shoulder-neck pain were self-reported by each participant. The relationship among breast size, brassiere cup size and shoulder-neck pain was investigated. Spearman’s test showed no significant relationship between shoulder-neck pain and brassiere cup size. However, after participants were classified into two groups (small brassiere cup size and large brassiere cup size with 219 and 120 participants, respectively), there was a significant positive correlation between shoulder-neck pain and large brassiere cup size (p<0.05). There was no significant relationship between shoulder-neck pain and breast size. In conclusion, large brassiere cup size is an important cause of shoulder-neck pain

Active wetting of epithelial tissues

Development, regeneration and cancer involve drastic transitions in tissue morphology. In analogy with the behavior of inert fluids, some of these transitions have been interpreted as wetting transitions. The validity and scope of this analogy are unclear, however, because the active cellular forces that drive tissue wetting have been neither measured nor theoretically accounted for. Here we show that the transition between 2D epithelial monolayers and 3D spheroidal aggregates can be understood as an active wetting transition whose physics differs fundamentally from that of passive wetting phenomena. By combining an active polar fluid model with measurements of physical forces as a function of tissue size, contractility, cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesion, and substrate stiffness, we show that the wetting transition results from the competition between traction forces and contractile intercellular stresses. This competition defines a new intrinsic lengthscale that gives rise to a critical size for the wetting transition in tissues, a striking feature that has no counterpart in classical wetting. Finally, we show that active shape fluctuations are dynamically amplified during tissue dewetting. Overall, we conclude that tissue spreading constitutes a prominent example of active wetting --- a novel physical scenario that may explain morphological transitions during tissue morphogenesis and tumor progression

Potential effects of oilseed rape expressing oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) and of purified insecticidal proteins on larvae of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis

Despite their importance as pollinators in crops and wild plants, solitary bees have not previously been included in non-target testing of insect-resistant transgenic crop plants. Larvae of many solitary bees feed almost exclusively on pollen and thus could be highly exposed to transgene products expressed in the pollen. The potential effects of pollen from oilseed rape expressing the cysteine protease inhibitor oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) were investigated on larvae of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis (= O. rufa). Furthermore, recombinant OC-1 (rOC-1), the Bt toxin Cry1Ab and the snowdrop lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) were evaluated for effects on the life history parameters of this important pollinator. Pollen provisions from transgenic OC-1 oilseed rape did not affect overall development. Similarly, high doses of rOC-1 and Cry1Ab as well as a low dose of GNA failed to cause any significant effects. However, a high dose of GNA (0.1%) in the larval diet resulted in significantly increased development time and reduced efficiency in conversion of pollen food into larval body weight. Our results suggest that OC-1 and Cry1Ab expressing transgenic crops would pose a negligible risk for O. bicornis larvae, whereas GNA expressing plants could cause detrimental effects, but only if bees were exposed to high levels of the protein. The described bioassay with bee brood is not only suitable for early tier non-target tests of transgenic plants, but also has broader applicability to other crop protection products

Lambda and Antilambda polarization from deep inelastic muon scattering

We report results of the first measurements of Lambda and Antilambda polarization produced in deep inelastic polarized muon scattering on the nucleon. The results are consistent with an expected trend towards positive polarization with increasing x_F. The polarizations of Lambda and Antilambda appear to have opposite signs. A large negative polarization for Lambda at low positive x_F is observed and is not explained by existing models.A possible interpretation is presented.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Evaluating Health Workers' Potential Resistance to New Interventions: A Role for Discrete Choice Experiments

BACKGROUND: The currently recommended approach for preventing malaria in pregnancy (MiP), intermittent preventive treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP-IPT), has been questioned due to the spread of resistance to SP. Whilst trials are underway to test the efficacy of future alternative approaches, it is important to start exploring the feasibility of their implementation. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) method to assess the potential resistance of health workers to changing strategies for control of MiP. In Ashanti region in Ghana, 133 antenatal clinic health workers were presented with 16 choice sets of two alternative policy options, each consisting of a bundle of six attributes representing certain clinical guidelines for controlling MiP (type of approach and drug used), possible associated maternal and neo-natal outcomes, workload and financial incentives. The data were analysed using a random effects logit model. Overall, staff showed a preference for a curative approach with pregnant women tested for malaria parasites and treated only if positive, compared to a preventive approach (OR 1.6; p = 0.001). Increasing the incidence of low birth weight or severe anaemia by 1% would reduce the odds of preferring an approach by 18% and 10% respectively. Midwives were more resistant to potential changes to current guidelines than lower-level cadres. CONCLUSIONS: In Ashanti Region, resistance to change by antenatal clinic workers from a policy of SP-IPT to IST would generally be low, and it would disappear amongst midwives if health outcomes for the mother and baby were improved by the new strategy. DCEs are a promising approach to identifying factors that will increase the likelihood of effective implementation of new interventions immediately after their efficacy has been proven

Methods to study splicing from high-throughput RNA Sequencing data

The development of novel high-throughput sequencing (HTS) methods for RNA (RNA-Seq) has provided a very powerful mean to study splicing under multiple conditions at unprecedented depth. However, the complexity of the information to be analyzed has turned this into a challenging task. In the last few years, a plethora of tools have been developed, allowing researchers to process RNA-Seq data to study the expression of isoforms and splicing events, and their relative changes under different conditions. We provide an overview of the methods available to study splicing from short RNA-Seq data. We group the methods according to the different questions they address: 1) Assignment of the sequencing reads to their likely gene of origin. This is addressed by methods that map reads to the genome and/or to the available gene annotations. 2) Recovering the sequence of splicing events and isoforms. This is addressed by transcript reconstruction and de novo assembly methods. 3) Quantification of events and isoforms. Either after reconstructing transcripts or using an annotation, many methods estimate the expression level or the relative usage of isoforms and/or events. 4) Providing an isoform or event view of differential splicing or expression. These include methods that compare relative event/isoform abundance or isoform expression across two or more conditions. 5) Visualizing splicing regulation. Various tools facilitate the visualization of the RNA-Seq data in the context of alternative splicing. In this review, we do not describe the specific mathematical models behind each method. Our aim is rather to provide an overview that could serve as an entry point for users who need to decide on a suitable tool for a specific analysis. We also attempt to propose a classification of the tools according to the operations they do, to facilitate the comparison and choice of methods.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, 9 tables. Small corrections adde