Mapping training and development provision for early years practitioners

Final report for Creativity, Culture and Educatio

Becoming Awesomestow - profiling investments in cultural assets and creative quarters in British towns and their impact on regeneration

This was one of six projects funded out of 130 applications to the Nesta Bright Ideas Fund. The project aimed to look at three case studies of investments in cultural assets and to consider the impact on the local economy that these had. We used background desk research supported by face to face interviews with stakeholders in each of the case study towns. The research is unusual in that it considers cultural regeneration in small and medium sized towns - away from the usual city focus. We used a standard 'Impact Evaluation Framework' approach as the basis for the work, attempting to find pictorial and narrative evidence for the 'strategic added value' that is often referred to in economic evaluations. This written output accompanies the exhibition that was staged at the Glasgow School of Art

Becoming Awesomestow - profiling investments in cultural assets and creative quarters in British towns and their impact on regeneration

The project title was taken from one of the 2013 Reith Lectures that was presented by the artist, Grayson Perry. Perry was talking about the impact of artists and the cultural sector on general regeneration. His term 'Becoming Awesomestow' was applied to the London borough of Walthamstow, from which Perry had just recently moved. “This idea, you know the currency of bohemian-ness…especially in the urban ecology…artists move into the cheap housing and the cheap spaces and they make them...” Perry’s reference was to a phenomenon in urban regeneration, made popular in the 1990s and 2000s [and accounted by Florida, Leadbeater, Markusen and others in the academic literature], whereby run-down, post-industrial areas become inhabited for work and living by artists and creatives and which subsequently take on a bohemian charm or cool and grow in popularity and value and hence becoming ‘Awesomestow’ (a reference to Walthamstow, where Perry had a studio). During the late 1990s and 2000s many UK cities and towns attempted some form of creative industries or cultural quarter initiatives. These often aimed to regenerate town centres, address issues of urban decline, redress some town planning decisions undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s and tackle socio-economic problems (worklessness and participation, skills etc). Cultural assets (threatres, concert halls, galleries etc) were sometimes regarded as catalysts within such initiatives, attracting further investment and creative talent. With relatively predictable budgets and organisational structures, such cultural assets they were also seen as supporting less structured parts of the sector (predominantly small and micro-businesses) at policy level and in the development of sector skills and audiences. the creative and cultural sector became known for its promise of contributing to regeneration. The work of Richard Florida on the 'Creative Class', in particular, was widely adopted into the Economic Development In 2004, DCMS published ‘Culture at the Heart of Regeneration’ . In its introduction, the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell stated that ‘there are many fantastic examples of culture acting as a catalyst to turn round whole communities’ In this project we wanted to see if we can see evidence of this kind of change outside of the main cities and in some small, lesser celebrated towns. Our aim was to use a combination of visual and oral narrative accounts sourced from stakeholders in each town to assemble evidence of ‘Strategic Added Value’ that the formal economic impact assessments often refer to, but do not always fully capture. Our investigations show that while the original visions and masterplans for creating cultural quarters and creative districts in these towns were often idealistic, the new venues have stimulated practical and varied activities and benefits, in keeping with local needs

Health Behaviour Changes after Diagnosis of Chronic Illness Among Canadians Aged 50 or Older

Changes in health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and fruit and vegetable consumption) after diagnosis of chronic health conditions (heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory disease, and diabetes) were examined among Canadians aged 50 or older. Results from 12 years of longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey indicated relatively modest changes in behavior. Although significant decreases in smoking were observed among all groups except those with respiratory disease, at least 75% of smokers did not quit. No significant changes emerged in the percentage meeting physical activity recommendations, except those with diabetes, or in excessive alcohol consumption, except those with diabetes and respiratory disease. The percentage reporting the recommended minimum fruit and vegetable intake did not increase significantly among any group

Rapid tests and urine sampling techniques for the diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI) in children under five years: a systematic review

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common sources of infection in children under five. Prompt diagnosis and treatment is important to reduce the risk of renal scarring. Rapid, cost-effective, methods of UTI diagnosis are required as an alternative to culture. Methods: We conducted a systematic review to determine the diagnostic accuracy of rapid tests for detecting UTI in children under five years of age. Results: The evidence supports the use of dipstick positive for both leukocyte esterase and nitrite (pooled LR+ = 28.2, 95% CI: 17.3, 46.0) or microscopy positive for both pyuria and bacteriuria (pooled LR+ = 37.0, 95% CI: 11.0, 125.9) to rule in UTI. Similarly dipstick negative for both LE and nitrite (Pooled LR- = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.26) or microscopy negative for both pyuria and bacteriuria (Pooled LR- = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.23) can be used to rule out UTI. A test for glucose showed promise in potty-trained children. However, all studies were over 30 years old. Further evaluation of this test may be useful. Conclusion: Dipstick negative for both LE and nitrite or microscopic analysis negative for both pyuria and bacteriuria of a clean voided urine, bag, or nappy/pad specimen may reasonably be used to rule out UTI. These patients can then reasonably be excluded from further investigation, without the need for confirmatory culture. Similarly, combinations of positive tests could be used to rule in UTI, and trigger further investigation

Stromal fibroblasts support dendritic cells to maintain IL-23/Th17 responses after exposure to ionizing radiation

Dendritic cell function is modulated by stromal cells, including fibroblasts. Although poorly understood, the signals delivered through this crosstalk substantially alter dendritic cell biology. This is well illustrated with release of TNF-0/IL-113 from activated dendritic cells, promoting PGE2 secretion from stromal fibroblasts. This instructs dendritic cells to up-regulate IL-23, a key Th17-polarizing cytokine. We previously showed that ionizing radiation inhibited IL-23 production by human dendritic cells in vitro. In the present study, we investigated the hypothesis that dendritic cell-fibroblast crosstalk over¬comes the suppressive effect of ionizing radiation to support appropriately polarized Th17 responses. Radia¬tion (1–6 Gy) markedly suppressed IL-23 secretion by activated dendritic cells (P < 0.0001) without adversely impacting their viability and consequently, inhibited the generation of Th17 responses. Cytokine suppression by ionizing radiation was selective, as there was no effect on IL-10, -6, -10, and -27 or TNF-a and only a modest (11%) decrease in IL-12p70 secretion. Coculture with fibroblasts augmented IL-23 secretion by irradiated dendritic cells and increased Th17 responses. Impor¬tantly, in contrast to dendritic cells, irradiated fibroblasts maintained their capacity to respond to TNF-0/IL-10 and produce PGE2, thus providing the key intermediary signals for successful dendritic cell-fibroblasts crosstalk. In summary, stromal fibroblasts support Th17-polarizing cytokine production by dendritic cells that would other¬wise be suppressed in an irradiated microenvironment. This has potential ramifications for understanding the immune response to local radiotherapy. These findings underscore the need to account for the impact of microenvironmental factors, including stromal cells, in understanding the control of immunity. J. Leukoc. Biol. 100: 000–000; 2016

The BioGRID interaction database: 2013 update

The Biological General Repository for Interaction Datasets (BioGRID: http//thebiogrid.org) is an open access archive of genetic and protein interactions that are curated from the primary biomedical literature for all major model organism species. As of September 2012, BioGRID houses more than 500 000 manually annotated interactions from more than 30 model organisms. BioGRID maintains complete curation coverage of the literature for the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A number of themed curation projects in areas of biomedical importance are also supported. BioGRID has established collaborations and/or shares data records for the annotation of interactions and phenotypes with most major model organism databases, including Saccharomyces Genome Database, PomBase, WormBase, FlyBase and The Arabidopsis Information Resource. BioGRID also actively engages with the text-mining community to benchmark and deploy automated tools to expedite curation workflows. BioGRID data are freely accessible through both a user-defined interactive interface and in batch downloads in a wide variety of formats, including PSI-MI2.5 and tab-delimited files. BioGRID records can also be interrogated and analyzed with a series of new bioinformatics tools, which include a post-translational modification viewer, a graphical viewer, a REST service and a Cytoscape plugin

The BioGRID interaction database: 2015 update

The Biological General Repository for Interaction Datasets (BioGRID: http://thebiogrid.org) is an open access database that houses genetic and protein interactions curated from the primary biomedical literature for all major model organism species and humans. As of September 2014, the BioGRID contains 749 912 interactions as drawn from 43 149 publications that represent 30 model organisms. This interaction count represents a 50% increase compared to our previous 2013 BioGRID update. BioGRID data are freely distributed through partner model organism databases and meta-databases and are directly downloadable in a variety of formats. In addition to general curation of the published literature for the major model species, BioGRID undertakes themed curation projects in areas of particular relevance for biomedical sciences, such as the ubiquitin-proteasome system and various human disease-associated interaction networks. BioGRID curation is coordinated through an Interaction Management System (IMS) that facilitates the compilation interaction records through structured evidence codes, phenotype ontologies, and gene annotation. The BioGRID architecture has been improved in order to support a broader range of interaction and post-translational modification types, to allow the representation of more complex multi-gene/protein interactions, to account for cellular phenotypes through structured ontologies, to expedite curation through semi-automated text-mining approaches, and to enhance curation quality control