Measuring children’s involvement as an indicator of curriculum effectiveness : a curriculum evaluation of a selected child study centre in Singapore

This paper presents one aspect of a research project evaluating a curriculum model of a selected child study centre in Singapore. An issue of worldwide interest and concern is the ‘quality of learning’ debate as it relates to early childhood centres. In Singapore, the government is focusing on expansion in child care settings and increases in the amount of funded training. One of the issues surrounding prior-to-school education raises the question of how one measures the quality of teaching and learning, to describe the value of using, funding and promoting early education. The research reported in this study used a quasi experimental research paradigm to assess one aspect of the quality of a curriculum programme in a child study centre in Singapore. Children aged between 18 months and 6 years (N = 81) participated in the research. Using the observation scale of Laevers’ Child Involvement Scale, the active involvement of children in learning experiences was measured. The findings are presented and discussed

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Surface magnetism in iron, cobalt, and nickel

We have calculated magnetic moments, work functions, and surface energies for several of the most closely packed surfaces of iron, cobalt, and nickel by means of a spin-polarized Green’s-function technique based on the linear muffin-tin orbitals method within the tight-binding and atomic sphere approximations. We find enhanced spin moments at all the surfaces considered except for Ni fcc(111), where the moment at the surface reverts to its bulk value. This is in close agreement with earlier slab calculations. In addition, we find that the calculated work functions and surface energies agree with experimental values to within 10%, which may be considered most satisfactory in view of the computational efficiency of the Green’s function technique. Exchange and correlation have been treated wihtin the local spin-density approximation and we have considered three different parametrizations of the original many-body data. We find that the calculated work functions depend as much on the choice of this parametrization as on the effect of spin polarization

A case-only study to identify genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers

Breast cancer (BC) risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers varies by genetic and familial factors. About 50 common variants have been shown to modify BC risk for mutation carriers. All but three, were identified in general population studies. Other mutation carrier-specific susceptibility variants may exist but studies of mutation carriers have so far been underpowered. We conduct a novel case-only genome-wide association study comparing genotype frequencies between 60,212 general population BC cases and 13,007 cases with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. We identify robust novel associations for 2 variants with BC for BRCA1 and 3 for BRCA2 mutation carriers, P < 10−8, at 5 loci, which are not associated with risk in the general population. They include rs60882887 at 11p11.2 where MADD, SP11 and EIF1, genes previously implicated in BC biology, are predicted as potential targets. These findings will contribute towards customising BC polygenic risk scores for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Do temporal and spatial heterogeneity modulate biodiversity–functioning relationships in com-munities of methanotrophic bacteria?

Positive relationships between biodiversity functioning have been found in communities of plants but also of soil microbes. The beneficial effects of diversity are thought to be driven by niche partitioning among community members, which leads to more complete or more efficient community-level resource use through various mechanisms. An intriguing related question is whether environmentally more heterogeneous habitats provide a larger total niche space and support stronger diversity—functioning relationships because they harbor more species or allow species to partition the available niche space more efficiently. Here, we tested this hypothesis by assembling communities of 1, 2 or 4 methanotrophic isolates and exposing them to temporally (constant or diurnal temperature cycling) and structurally (one or two aggregate size classes) more heterogeneous conditions. In total, we incubated 396 microcosms for 41 days and found that more biodiverse communities consumed more methane (CH4) and tended to have a larger community size (higher pmoA copy numbers). Diurnal temperature cycling strongly reduced CH4 oxidation and growth, whereas soil aggregate composition and diversity had no detectable effect. Biodiversity effects varied greatly with the identity of the community members that were combined. With respect to community level CH4 consumption, strain interactions were positive or neutral but never negative, and could neither be explained by 14 structural and function traits we collected or by the observed competitive hierarchy among the strains. Overall, our results indicate that methanotrophic diversity promotes methanotrophic community functioning. The strains that performed best varied with environmental conditions, suggesting that a high biodiversity is important for maintaining methanotrophic functioning as environmental conditions fluctuate over time.ISSN:0038-0717ISSN:1879-342

Experimental erosion of microbial diversity decreases soil CH₄ consumption rates

Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) experiments have predominantly focused on communities of higher organisms, in particular plants, with comparably little known to date about the relevance of biodiversity for microbially driven biogeochemical processes. Methanotrophic bacteria play a key role in Earth's methane (CH₄) cycle by removing atmospheric CH₄ and reducing emissions from methanogenesis in wetlands and landfills. Here, we used a dilution-to-extinction approach to simulate diversity loss in a methanotrophic landfill cover soil community. Replicate samples were diluted 10¹–10⁷-fold, preincubated under a high CH₄ atmosphere for microbial communities to recover to comparable size, and then incubated for 86 days at constant or diurnally cycling temperature. We hypothesize that (1) CH₄ consumption decreases as methanotrophic diversity is lost, and (2) this effect is more pronounced under variable temperatures. Net CH₄ consumption was determined by gas chromatography. Microbial community composition was determined by DNA extraction and sequencing of amplicons specific to methanotrophs and bacteria (pmoA and 16S gene fragments). The richness of operational taxonomic units (OTU) of methanotrophic and nonmethanotrophic bacteria decreased approximately linearly with log-dilution. CH₄ consumption decreased with the number of OTUs lost, independent of community size. These effects were independent of temperature cycling. The diversity effects we found occured in relatively diverse communities, challenging the notion of high functional redundancy mediating high resistance to diversity erosion in natural microbial systems. The effects also resemble the ones for higher organisms, suggesting that BEF relationships are universal across taxa and spatial scales.ISSN:0012-9658ISSN:1939-917

Conclusions on severe accident research priorities

The objectives of SARNET2 FP7 are to define and work on common research programs in the field of severe accidents in Gen.II-III nuclear power plants (NPP) and to further develop common tools and methodologies for safety assessment in this area. Ensuring that the research conducted on severe accidents is efficient and well-focused, the Severe Accident Research Priority (SARP) work performed in SARNET FP6 is being updated by evaluating the most recent experimental results and taking into account the remaining safety issues as e.g. highlighted by Level 2 PSA studies and the results of the recent EU-ASAMPSA2 Project. These evaluation activities are conducted in close relation with the work performed under the auspices of international organizations like OECD or IAEA. The severe accidents in Fukushima, which occurred while SARNET2 was running, had some effects on the prioritization and definition of new research topics. Although significant progress has been gained and simulation models (e.g. ASTEC integral code) are improved, leading to an increased confidence in the predictive capabilities needed for assessing the success potential of countermeasures and/or mitigation measures, most of the selected research topics are still of high priority. Notably after the Fukushima’s accident, research to improve SAM efficiency was seen as necessary. The final status of the SARP work conducted within SARNET2 FP7 will be presented.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen