‘Eliciting the voices of children and young people diagnosed with ADHD, who have experienced exclusion and been placed in a Pupil Referral Unit, to understand their experiences and perceptions of ADHD diagnosis and intervention processes’

Significant international increase over the past 30 years in the number of children and young people diagnosed with ADHD as a behavioural disorder and consequently prescribed medication for ADHD has raised concern amongst EPs. Despite government guidelines stating children and families should first receive psychological intervention before medication, the prescription rates continue to increase. Existing literature places the value of the ADHD diagnosis into question. Furthermore, diagnosis rates are disproportionately higher amongst children who have experienced school failure. Reviews of existing practice indicate a lack of robust measures amongst EPs to support children during ADHD assessment and in developing effective interventions. Legislative guidelines recommend that children’s voices are listened to and incorporated into school intervention and care plans. This research aimed to give a voice to ADHD diagnosed children and young people who had experienced exclusion and placement into Pupil Referral Units. Suggestions of how their views and experiences may be embedded into EP practice are proposed in order to enhance the quality of the EP role in ADHD diagnosis and intervention processes. Semi-structured interviews employing dynamic interactive tools were carried out with 15 children and young people. The findings illustrated the importance of the EP working therapeutically and promoting awareness of impacting context on a child or young person’s behavioural presentation, during ADHD diagnosis and intervention processes. Prominent themes included: a lack of supportive relationships from key adults, needing to be understood and how their personal situations affected them. Additionally, references to improved psychosocial functioning and a reduction in ADHD related challenges as a result of being understood by key adults were made. Inadequate resources for psychological containment and isolation and exclusion appeared to have facilitated adverse functioning and upkeep of ADHD behaviour. Suggestions for EP practice are proposed, as a ‘Six-Step’ model

Sleep oscillation-specific associations with Alzheimer’s disease CSF biomarkers : novel roles for sleep spindles and tau

Background: Based on associations between sleep spindles, cognition, and sleep-dependent memory processing, here we evaluated potential relationships between levels of CSF Aβ42, P-tau, and T-tau with sleep spindle density and other biophysical properties of sleep spindles in a sample of cognitively normal elderly individuals. Methods: One-night in-lab nocturnal polysomnography (NPSG) and morning to early afternoon CSF collection were performed to measure CSF Aβ42, P-tau and T-tau. Seven days of actigraphy were collected to assess habitual total sleep time. Results: Spindle density during NREM stage 2 (N2) sleep was negatively correlated with CSF Aβ42, P-tau and T-tau. From the three, CSF T-tau was the most significantly associated with spindle density, after adjusting for age, sex and ApoE4. Spindle duration, count and fast spindle density were also negatively correlated with T-tau levels. Sleep duration and other measures of sleep quality were not correlated with spindle characteristics and did not modify the associations between sleep spindle characteristics and the CSF biomarkers of AD. Conclusions: Reduced spindles during N2 sleep may represent an early dysfunction related to tau, possibly reflecting axonal damage or altered neuronal tau secretion, rendering it a potentially novel biomarker for early neuronal dysfunction. Given their putative role in memory consolidation and neuroplasticity, sleep spindles may represent a mechanism by which tau impairs memory consolidation, as well as a possible target for therapeutic interventions in cognitive decline

Editors' Note

[No abstract

Editors' Note

[no abstract

Effects of gamma irradiation on Holcus lanatus (Yorkshire fog grass) and associated soil microorganisms

An investigation was conducted to determine the impact of acute doses of gamma radiation on the microbial community structure of a Holcus lanatus dominated grassland soil. Mesocosms containing soil and established grass were irradiated using a sealed 137Cs source (7.0 Gy min–1). Doses ranged from 5 to 160 Gy, analyses were conducted on the day of irradiation, then 7 and 30 days later. Plant growth and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation of roots were reduced by irradiation. Gram-negative bacteria, and microbial metabolic capacity were also negatively affected by treatment. Microbial biomass measured by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, showed an increase at doses above 20 Gy, 7 and 30 days after treatment. Proportions of Gram-positive bacterial and fungal PLFAs fluctuated inversely to each other, in response to both sampling time and radiation dose. We hypothesise that many of the observed soil microbial responses are indirect effects mediated by the influence of ionising radiation on the plants in this system

An inter-laboratory comparison of multi-enzyme and multiple substrate-induced respiration assays to assess method consistency in soil monitoring

peer-reviewedThe use of indicators in soil monitoring schemes to detect changes in soil quality is receiving increased attention, particularly the application of soil biological methods. However, to date, the ability to compare information from different laboratories applying soil microbiological techniques in broad-scale monitoring has rarely been taken into account. This study aimed to assess the consistency and repeatability of two techniques that are being evaluated for use as microbiological indicators of soil quality; multi-enzyme activity assay and multiple substrate induced respiration (MSIR). Data was tested for intrinsic (within-plate) variation, inter-laboratory repeatability (geometric mean regression and correlation coefficient) and land-use discrimination (principal components analysis, PCA). Intrinsic variation was large for both assays suggesting that high replicate numbers will be required. Inter-laboratory repeatability showed diverging patterns for the enzyme assay and MSIR. Discrimination of soils was significant for both techniques with relatively consistent patterns, however combined laboratory discrimination analyses for each technique showed inconsistent correspondence between the laboratories. These issues could be addressed through the adoption of reliable analytical standards for biological methods along with adequate replication. However, until the former is addressed, dispersed analyses are not currently advisable for monitoring schemes.UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease