Teacher quality in the twenty first century: new lives, old truths

This chapter is based upon a keynote address to the first global teacher education summit, organised by Beijing Normal University in 2011, in which research across the world about influences which affect teachers' sense of professional identity, capacity for compassion, commitment, resilience and effectiveness long after they have graduated from their pre-service education and training programmes in universities and colleges were shared. The findings suggest that teaching pre-service students about how the conditions in which they work may enhance or diminish their capacity to teach to their best and how they might act to mediate these is a key part of the work of all teacher educators and an important focus for the work of educational researchers

Cardiovascular disease in a cohort exposed to the 1940-45 Channel Islands occupation

BACKGROUND To clarify the nature of the relationship between food deprivation/undernutrition during pre- and postnatal development and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in later life, this study examined the relationship between birth weight (as a marker of prenatal nutrition) and the incidence of hospital admissions for CVD from 1997–2005 amongst 873 Guernsey islanders (born in 1923–1937), 225 of whom had been exposed to food deprivation as children, adolescents or young adults (i.e. postnatal undernutrition) during the 1940–45 German occupation of the Channel Islands, and 648 of whom had left or been evacuated from the islands before the occupation began. METHODS Three sets of Cox regression models were used to investigate (A) the relationship between birth weight and CVD, (B) the relationship between postnatal exposure to the occupation and CVD and (C) any interaction between birth weight, postnatal exposure to the occupation and CVD. These models also tested for any interactions between birth weight and sex, and postnatal exposure to the occupation and parish of residence at birth (as a marker of parish residence during the occupation and related variation in the severity of food deprivation). RESULTS The first set of models (A) found no relationship between birth weight and CVD even after adjustment for potential confounders (hazard ratio (HR) per kg increase in birth weight: 1.12; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.70 – 1.78), and there was no significant interaction between birth weight and sex (p = 0.60). The second set of models (B) found a significant relationship between postnatal exposure to the occupation and CVD after adjustment for potential confounders (HR for exposed vs. unexposed group: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.54 – 4.13), as well as a significant interaction between postnatal exposure to the occupation and parish of residence at birth (p = 0.01), such that those born in urban parishes (where food deprivation was worst) had a greater HR for CVD than those born in rural parishes. The third model (C) found no interaction between birth weight and exposure to the occupation (p = 0.43). CONCLUSION These findings suggest that the levels of postnatal undernutrition experienced by children, adolescents and young adults exposed to food deprivation during the 1940–45 occupation of the Channel Islands were a more important determinant of CVD in later life than the levels of prenatal undernutrition experienced in utero prior to the occupatio

Individual variation in levels of haptoglobin-related protein in children from Gabon

Background: Haptoglobin related protein (Hpr) is a key component of trypanosome lytic factors (TLF), a subset of highdensity lipoproteins (HDL) that form the first line of human defence against African trypanosomes. Hpr, like haptoglobin (Hp) can bind to hemoglobin (Hb) and it is the Hpr-Hb complexes which bind to these parasites allowing uptake of TLF. This unique form of innate immunity is primate-specific. To date, there have been no population studies of plasma levels of Hpr, particularly in relation to hemolysis and a high prevalence of ahaptoglobinemia as found in malaria endemic areas. Methods and Principal Findings: We developed a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure levels of plasma Hpr in Gabonese children sampled during a period of seasonal malaria transmission when acute phase responses (APR), malaria infection and associated hemolysis were prevalent. Median Hpr concentration was 0.28 mg/ml (range 0.03-1.1). This was 5-fold higher than that found in Caucasian children (0.049 mg/ml, range 0.002-0.26) with no evidence of an APR. A general linear model was used to investigate associations between Hpr levels, host polymorphisms, parasitological factors and the acute phase proteins, Hp, C-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin. Levels of Hpr were associated with Hp genotype, decreased with age and were higher in females. Hpr concentration was strongly correlated with that of Hp, but not CRP

Keep looking ahead? Re-direction of visual fixation does not always occur during an unpredictable obstacle avoidance task

Visual information about the environment, especially fixation of key objects such as obstacles, is critical for safe locomotion. However, in unpredictable situations where an obstacle suddenly appears it is not known whether central vision of the obstacle and/or landing area is required or if peripheral vision is sufficient. We examined whether there is a re-direction of visual fixation from an object fixated ahead to a suddenly appearing obstacle during treadmill walking. Furthermore, we investigated the temporal relationship between the onset of muscle activity to avoid the obstacle and saccadic eye and head movements to shift fixation. Eight females (mean SD; age = 24.8 2.3 years) participated in this experiment. There were two visual conditions: a central vision condition where participants fixated on two obstacles attached to a bridge on the treadmill and a peripheral vision condition where participants fixated an object two steps ahead. There were two obstacle release conditions: only an obstacle in front of the left foot was released or an obstacle in front of either foot could be released. Only trials when the obstacle was released in front of the left foot were analyzed such that the difference in the two obstacle conditions was whether there was a choice of which foot to step over the obstacle. Obstacles were released randomly in one of three phases during the step cycle corresponding to available response times between 219 and 462 ms. We monitored eye and head movements along with muscle activity and spatial foot parameters. Performance on the task was not different between vision conditions. The results indicated that saccades are rarely made (< 18% of trials) and, when present, are initiated ∼ 350 ms after muscle activity for limb elevation, often accompanied by a downward head movement, and always directed to the landing area. Therefore, peripheral vision of a suddenly appearing obstacle in the travel path is sufficient for successful obstacle avoidance during locomotion: visual fixation is generally not re-directed to either the obstacle or landing area

LRP5 Is Required for Vascular Development in Deeper Layers of the Retina

Background: The low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5) plays an important role in the development of retinal vasculature. LRP5 loss-of-function mutations cause incomplete development of retinal vessel network in humans as well as in mice. To understand the underlying mechanism for how LRP5 mutations lead to retinal vascular abnormalities, we have determined the retinal cell types that express LRP5 and investigated specific molecular and cellular functions that may be regulated by LRP5 signaling in the retina. Methods and Findings: We characterized the development of retinal vasculature in LRP5 mutant mice using specific retinal cell makers and a GFP transgene expressed in retinal endothelial cells. Our data revealed that retinal vascular endothelial cells predominantly formed cell clusters in the inner-plexiform layer of LRP5 mutant retina rather than sprouting out or migrating into deeper layers to form normal vascular network in the retina. The IRES-b-galactosidase (LacZ) report gene under the control of the endogenous LRP5 promoter was highly expressed in Müller cells and was also weakly detected in endothelial cells of the retinal surface vasculature. Moreover, the LRP5 mutant mice had a reduction of a Müller cell-specific glutamine transporter, Slc38a5, and showed a decrease in b-wave amplitude of electroretinogram. Conclusions: LRP5 is not only essential for vascular endothelial cells to sprout, migrate and/or anastomose in the deeper plexus during retinal vasculature development but is also important for the functions of Müller cells and retina

The deuteron: structure and form factors

A brief review of the history of the discovery of the deuteron in provided. The current status of both experiment and theory for the elastic electron scattering is then presented.Comment: 80 pages, 33 figures, submited to Advances in Nuclear Physic

Watching People Making Decisions: A Gogglebox on Online Consumer Interaction

This paper presents a research study, using eye tracking technology, to measure participant cognitive load when encountering micro-decision. It elaborates and improves on a pilot study that was used to test the experiment design. Prior research that led to a taxonomy of decision constructs faced in online transactional processes is discussed. The main findings relate to participants’ subjective cognitive load and task error rates

The Complement Anaphylatoxin C5a Induces Apoptosis in Adrenomedullary Cells during Experimental Sepsis

Sepsis remains a poorly understood, enigmatic disease. One of the cascades crucially involved in its pathogenesis is the complement system. Especially the anaphylatoxin C5a has been shown to have numerous harmful effects during sepsis. We have investigated the impact of high levels of C5a on the adrenal medulla following cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis in rats as well as the role of C5a on catecholamine production from pheochromocytoma-derived PC12 cells. There was significant apoptosis of adrenal medulla cells in rats 24 hrs after CLP, as assessed by the TUNEL technique. These effects could be reversed by dual-blockade of the C5a receptors, C5aR and C5L2. When rats were subjected to CLP, levels of C5a and norepinephrine were found to be antipodal as a function of time. PC12 cell production of norepinephrine and dopamine was significantly blunted following exposure to recombinant rat C5a in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner. This impaired production could be related to C5a-induced initiation of apoptosis as defined by binding of Annexin V and Propidium Iodine to PC12 cells. Collectively, we describe a C5a-dependent induction of apoptotic events in cells of adrenal medulla in vivo and pheochromocytoma PC12 cells in vitro. These data suggest that experimental sepsis induces apoptosis of adrenomedullary cells, which are responsible for the bulk of endogenous catecholamines. Septic shock may be linked to these events. Since blockade of both C5a receptors virtually abolished adrenomedullary apoptosis in vivo, C5aR and C5L2 become promising targets with implications on future complement-blocking strategies in the clinical setting of sepsis