Joint observation of student teaching and related tripartite dialogue during field experience : Partner perspectives

Peer reviewedPostprin

Policy issues in West African integration

As a result of the slight success achieved by many developing countries in their attempts to become integrated in the international division of labour and the growing fear of unilateral dependence upon the industrial nations, increased attention has been given in recent years to economic and technical cooperation between developing countries. Peter Robson examines the potential and limitations of regional integration between developing countries in the light of the experience of West Africa. This is followed by an article by Norbert Wagner who discusses the regional integration issue using South and South-East Asia as examples

Efficient Follow-Up of Exoplanet Transits Using Small Telescopes

11 pages, 5 figures, to be published in PASP, comments welcomeHere, we introduce an online tool for the prediction of exoplanet transit light curves. Small telescopes can readily capture exoplanet transits under good weather conditions when the combination of a bright star and a large transiting exoplanet results in a significant depth of transit. However, in reality there are many considerations that need to be made to obtain useful measurements. This paper and the accompanying website lay out a procedure based on timeseries differential photometry that has been successfully employed using 0.4 m aperture telescopes to predict the expected precision for a whole light curve. This enables robust planning to decide whether the observation of a particular exoplanet transit should be attempted, and in particular to be able to readily see when it should not to be attempted. This may result in a significant increase in the number of transit observations captured by non-specialists. The technique and website are also appropriate for planning a variety of variable star observations where a prediction of the light curve can be made.Peer reviewe

The perception and management of risk in UK office property development

Risk is an ever-present aspect of business, and risk taking is necessary for profit and economic progress. Speculative property development is popularly perceived as a 'risky business' yet, like other entrepreneurs, developers have opportunities to manage the risks they face; techniques include phasing and joint ventures. The associated areas of investment portfolio risk, development risk analysis and construction risk management have all been addressed by research. This article presents new knowledge about how developers perceive risks and the means they subsequently adopt to manage them. The developers of office projects across the UK were sent questionnaires by post. Respondents were asked about their perceptions of risks at the first appraisal stage and currently and about the risk management techniques that they had adopted. In-depth interviews with a selection of respondents were then used to discuss and augment the findings. Developers were most concerned about market-based risks at both stages. Concern about production-orientated risks was lower and fell significantly between the two stages. A fixed price contract was the most common risk management technique. Risk management techniques were used more often outside London and the South East. Developer type affects both the perception and management of risk. While developers do manage risk, decisions are made on the basis of professional and business experience. These findings should help development companies manage risk in a more objective and analytical way

Eccrine porocarcinoma of the head: An important differential diagnosis in the elderly patient

Background: Eccrine porocarcinoma is a rare malignant tumor of the sweat gland, characterized by a broad spectrum of clinicopathologic presentations. Surprisingly, unlike its benign counterpart eccrine poroma, eccrine porocarcinoma is seldom found in areas with a high density of eccrine sweat glands, like the palms or soles. Instead, eccrine porocarcinoma frequently occurs on the lower extremities, trunk and abdomen, but also on the head, resembling various other skin tumors, as illustrated in the patients described herein. Observations: We report 5 cases of eccrine porocarcinoma of the head. All patients were initially diagnosed as having epidermal or melanocytic skin tumors. Only after histopathologic examination were they classified as eccrine porocarcinoma, showing features of epithelial tumors with abortive ductal differentiation. Characteristic clinical, histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings of eccrine porocarcinomas are illustrated. Conclusion: Eccrine porocarcinomas are potentially fatal adnexal malignancies, in which extensive metastatic dissemination may occur. Porocarcinomas are commonly overlooked, or misinterpreted as squamous or basal cell carcinomas as well as other common malignant and even benign skin tumors. Knowledge of the clinical pattern and histologic findings, therefore, is crucial for an early therapeutic intervention, which can reduce the risk of tumor recurrence and serious complications. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Hypoxia-induced nitric oxide production and tumour perfusion is inhibited by pegylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20).

The hypoxic tumour microenvironment represents an aggressive, therapy-resistant compartment. As arginine is required for specific hypoxia-induced processes, we hypothesised that arginine-deprivation therapy may be useful in targeting hypoxic cancer cells. We explored the effects of the arginine-degrading agent ADI-PEG20 on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activation, the hypoxia-induced nitric oxide (NO) pathway and proliferation using HCT116 and UMUC3 cells and xenografts. The latter lack argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS1) making them auxotrophic for arginine. In HCT116 cells, ADI-PEG20 inhibited hypoxic-activation of HIF-1α and HIF-2α, leading to decreased inducible-nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), NO-production, and VEGF. Interestingly, combining hypoxia and ADI-PEG20 synergistically inhibited ASS1. ADI-PEG20 inhibited mTORC1 and activated the unfolded protein response providing a mechanism for inhibition of HIF and ASS1. ADI-PEG20 inhibited tumour growth, impaired hypoxia-associated NO-production, and decreased vascular perfusion. Expression of HIF-1α/HIF-2α/iNOS and VEGF were reduced, despite an increased hypoxic tumour fraction. Similar effects were observed in UMUC3 xenografts. In summary, ADI-PEG20 inhibits HIF-activated processes in two tumour models with widely different arginine biology. Thus, ADI-PEG20 may be useful in the clinic to target therapy-resistant hypoxic cells in ASS1-proficient tumours and ASS1-deficient tumours.Thanks to Dr John Bomalaski, (Polaris Pharmaceuticals, Inc) for supplying the ADI-PEG20, to Dr Simon S Hoer for useful discussions and to members of Histopathology/ISH (CRUK Cambridge Institute, UK) for IHC and imaging assistance. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre Senior Investigator Awards (to P.H.M., supporting N.B.), EU FP7 Metoxia Grant agreement no. 222741 (to P.H.M., supporting G.C.), UCL Cancer Research UK Centre (to M.R.), King’s College London and UCL Comprehensive Cancer Imaging Centre, Cancer Research UK and EPSRC in association with the Medical Research Council (MRC), the DoH (England: to R.B.P.), MRC Cancer Unit Core Funding (to C.F., supporting E.G.).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep2295