A whole school approach to literacy intervention

This research project reports on the process of developing a whole school approach to literacy intervention in one multi-ethnic, designated disadvantaged primary school. The study describes how teachers worked collaboratively, using items from a resource package Successful Intervention K-3 Literacy, to critically reflect on their pedagogy in their efforts to better address the needs of those students in their classes who appeared to have difficulties with literacy learning. A modified action research method was used by the teachers to devise a context-specific school plan. Within the plan, they allocated time and resources to assist them as they shared and developed their knowledge and skills to deal with the social, cultural, emotional, linguistic and cognitive needs of the identified students. As a result, the teachers developed individual literacy intervention programs for children experiencing difficulties. The programs included all the stake holders and were devised to be used in the mainstream classrooms. In addition, in order to facilitate consistency and continuity of approach from year to year for students experiencing difficulty with literacy learning, the teachers planned a system to store and pass on students\u27 records. Of particular interest were the actions taken to explore understandings about literacy interventions, the changes in teacher perceptions, and the use of individual literacy intervention programs for children experiencing difficulties with literacy learning. As a consequence of their involvement in the project, the teachers developed an integrated literacy intervention policy and a school plan to guide future strategies for literacy intervention

Nitrous oxide fluxes from tropical peat with different disturbance history and management

Peer reviewe

The Reliability of Red Flags in Spinal Cord Compression

Background: Acute low back pain is a common cause for presentation to the emergency department (ED). Since benign etiologies account for 95% of cases, red flags are used to identify sinister causes that require prompt management. Objectives: We assessed the effectiveness of red flag signs used in the ED to identify spinal cord and cauda equine compression. Patients and Methods: It was a retrospective cohort study of 206 patients with acute back pain admitted from the ED. The presence or absence of the red flag symptoms was assessed against evidence of spinal cord or cauda equina compression on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Results: Overall, 32 (15.5%) patients had compression on MRI. Profound lower limb neurologic examination did not demonstrate a statistically significant association with this finding. The likelihood ratio (LR) for bowel and bladder dysfunction (sensitivity of 0.65 and specificity of 0.73) was 2.45. Saddle sensory disturbance (sensitivity of 0.27 and specificity of 0.87) had a LR of 2.11. When both symptoms were taken together (sensitivity of 0.27 and specificity of 0.92), they gave a LR of 3.46. Conclusions: The predictive value of the two statistically significant red flags only marginally raises the clinical suspicion of spinal cord or cauda equina compression. Effective risk stratification of patients presenting to the ED with acute back pain is crucial; however, this study did not support the use of these red flags in their current form

North Morecambe Terminal, Barrow, Ground Stabilisation and Pile Foundations

Very poor ground conditions and soils that were susceptible to liquefaction to depths of up to 20m beneath the site were major problems for the construction of the largest natural gas processing terminal in Europe. An innovative foundation solution combining deep vibro compaction with short cast in place piles driven into the treated soils was adopted as both cost and programme effective. The Design and Build project also included advance civils work comprising earthworks, drainage and road construction. The contract started in September 1991 and was completed by October 1992, with the process plant programmed to be on-stream by October 1994. This paper describes the seismic aspects of the foundation solution

Identification of candidate anti-cancer molecular mechanisms of compound kushen injection using functional genomics

Compound Kushen Injection (CKI) has been clinically used in China for over 15 years to treat various types of solid tumours. However, because such Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) preparations are complex mixtures of plant secondary metabolites, it is essential to explore their underlying molecular mechanisms in a systematic fashion. We have used the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line as an initial in vitro model to identify CKI induced changes in gene expression. Cells were treated with CKI for 24 and 48 hours at two concentrations (1 and 2 mg/mL total alkaloids), and the effect of CKI on cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured using XTT and Annexin V/Propidium Iodide staining assays respectively. Transcriptome data of cells treated with CKI or 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) for 24 and 48 hours were subsequently acquired using high-throughput Illumina RNA-seq technology. In this report we show that CKI inhibited MCF-7 cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent fashion. We integrated and applied a series of transcriptome analysis methods, including gene differential expression analysis, pathway over-representation analysis, de novo identification of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) as well as co-expression network reconstruction, to identify candidate anti-cancer molecular mechanisms of CKI. Multiple pathways were perturbed and the cell cycle was identified as the potential primary target pathway of CKI in MCF-7 cells. CKI may also induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells via a p53 independent mechanism. In addition, we identified novel lncRNAs and showed that many of them might be expressed as a response to CKI treatment.Zhipeng Qu, Jian Cui, Yuka Harata-Lee, Thazin Nwe Aung, Qianjin Feng, Joy M. Raison, Robert Daniel Kortschak, David L. Adelso

Bidirectional Psychoneuroimmune Interactions in the Early Postpartum Period Influence Risk of Postpartum Depression

More than 500,000 U.S. women develop postpartum depression (PPD) annually. Although psychosocial risks are known, the underlying biology remains unclear. Dysregulation of the immune inflammatory response and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis are associated with depression in other populations. While significant research on the contribution of these systems to the development of PPD has been conducted, results have been inconclusive. This is partly because few studies have focused on whether disruption in the bidirectional and dynamic interaction between the inflammatory response and the HPA axis together influence PPD. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that disruption in the inflammatory-HPA axis bidirectional relationship would increase the risk of PPD. Plasma pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were measured in women during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and on Days 7 and 14, and Months 1, 2, 3, and 6 after childbirth. Saliva was collected 5 times the day preceding blood draws for determination of cortisol area under the curve (AUC) and depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Survey (EPDS). Of the 152 women who completed the EPDS, 18% were depressed according to EDPS criteria within the 6 months postpartum. Cortisol AUC was higher in symptomatic women on Day 14 (p = .017). To consider the combined effects of cytokines and cortisol on predicting symptoms of PPD, a multiple logistic regression model was developed that included predictors identified in bivariate analyses to have an effect on depressive symptoms. Results indicated that family history of depression, day 14 cortisol AUC, and the day 14 IL8/IL10 ratio were significant predictors of PPD symptoms. One unit increase each in the IL8/IL10 ratio and cortisol AUC resulted in 1.50 (p = 0.06) and 2.16 (p = 0.02) fold increases respectively in the development of PPD. Overall, this model correctly classified 84.2% of individuals in their respective groups. Findings suggest that variability in the complex interaction between the inflammatory response and the HPA axis influence the risk of PPD

Estimation des propriétés de rétention en eau des sols : Utilisation de classes de pédotransfert après stratifications texturale et texturo-structurale

Un programme de mesures des propriétés de rétention en eau des sols a été développé par l'INRA depuis une dizaine d'années afin de constituer un jeu de données qui puisse être utilisé pour tester les fonctions de pédotransfert (FPT) qui ont été proposées dans la littérature, en établir de nouvelles si celles proposées se révèlent non satisfaisantes et dans ce dernier cas, tester les nouvelles FPT. Dans ce contexte général et partant du constat que les FPT proposées ne permettent pas de prédire les propriétés de rétention en eau de façon satisfaisante, cette étude se propose de suivre une autre voie que celle habituellement suivie pour établir un outil d'estimation des propriétés de rétention en eau. Des classes de pédotransfert (CPT) sont proposées par classe de texture ou par classe combinant texture et structure, cette dernière étant renseignée à l'aide de la densité apparente déterminée sur des mottes de dimensions centimétriques. Ainsi, en utilisant soit la texture seule, soit la texture et la densité apparente de motte, on dispose des teneurs en eau massiques à –10, –33, –100, –330, –1000, –3 300 et –15 000 hPa en fonction de l'appartenance de l'horizon à telle ou telle classe de texture ou, telle ou telle classe combinant texture et densité apparente de motte. La qualité de la prédiction a été testée sur un échantillon de validation ; elle a aussi été comparée à celle qui aurait été obtenue si l'on avait utilisé les CPT de Jamagne et al. (1977). Par rapport à ces CPT, les résultats montrent une importante réduction du biais et un accroissement de la précision lorsque l'on utilise les CPT par classe de texture proposées dans cette étude. Lorsque l'on compare les CPT par classes texturales aux CPT par classes texturo-structurales, il n'y a pas d'amélioration notable du biais mais celui-ci était déjà très faible avec les CPT par classes texturales. En revanche, les CPT par classes texturo-structurales, qui permettent de tenir compte à la fois de la texture et de l'état structural du sol, améliorent la précision des prédictions. Pour les CPT par classes texturales, des teneurs en eau volumiques sont déduites des teneurs en eau massiques en utilisant la densité apparente de l'horizon. Les paramètres du modèle de van Genuchten sont donnés pour chaque classe de CPT. Une démarche permettant de prédire les propriétés de rétention en eau d'un horizon est proposée

Changes in Mood States and Biomarkers During Peginterferon and Ribavirin Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74953/1/j.1572-0241.2008.02106.x.pd

Land systems as surrogates for biodiversity in conservation planning

Environmental surrogates (land classes) for the distribution of biodiversity are increasingly being used for conservation planning. However; data that demonstrate coincident patterns in land classes and biodiversity are limited. We ask the overall question, "Are land systems effective surrogates for the spatial configuration of biodiversity for conservation planning?" and we address three specific questions: (1) Do different land systems represent different biological assemblages.? (2) Do biological assemblages on the same land system remain similar with increasing geographic separation? and (3) Do biological assemblages on the same land system remain similar with increasing land system isolation? Vascular plants, invertebrates, and microbiota were surveyed from 24 sites in four land systems in and northwest New South Wales, Australia. Within each land system, sites were located to give a hierarchy of inter-site distances, and land systems were classified as either "low isolation" (large and continuous) or "high isolation" (small patches interspersed among other land systems). Each type of land system supported components of biodiversity either not found, or found infrequently, on other land systems, suggesting that land systems function as surrogates for biodiversity, and that conservation-area networks representing land-system diversity will also represent biological diversity. However, the majority of taxa were found on more than one land-system type, suggesting that a large proportion of the plant, arthropod, and microbial biodiversity may be characterized by widespread species with low fidelity to particular land systems. Significant relationships between geographic distance among sites and differences among assemblages were revealed for all taxa except the microbiota. Therefore, as sites on the same land system were located farther apart, the assemblages at those sites became more different. This finding strongly suggests that conservation planning based on land-system diversity should also sample the geographic range occupied by each land system. Land-system isolation was not revealed to be a significant Source of variation in assemblage composition. Our research finds support for environmental surrogates for biodiversity in conservation planning, specifically the use of land systems and similarly derived land classifications. However, the need for explicit modeling of geographic distance in conservation planning is clearly indicated