The parent-therapist alliance in the psychological treatment of children

This thesis explores the association between therapeutic process factors and outcomes in the psychological treatment of children. Specifically, it addresses a relatively under-researched area of process research: the therapeutic alliance between therapist and parent(s) and its impact on child outcomes. Part one is a literature review that explores the role of the parent-therapist alliance in child and family treatment with a particular focus on child outcomes. It considers the importance of parental involvement in child treatment, across problem type, measurement method (measurement scale, rater, time of measurement), and type of treatment. Part two is an empirical paper exploring the association between the parent-therapist alliance and therapist adherence to child outcomes in a guided manualised self-help CBT intervention for anxious children. The results are discussed in relation to the wider process-outcome literature and presents clinical, training, and research implications. Part three is a critical appraisal of parts one and two, primarily reflecting on the challenges of process research in terms of measurement. It also outlines the background context to the research and discusses the potential influence of the parent-child attachment in indirect treatment

OLA! A Scenario-Based Approach to Enhance Open Learning Through Accessibility

Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) have not developed with an inherent capacity to attend to the needs of disabled students. In our research, we aim to understand the social, contextual and organisational issues behind these inadequacies. Through this, interventions and best practices can be developed to improve the situation

Experiencing the Transition to Remote Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted universities around the world. In the two weeks following a shelter–in-place order, all the actors of the educational system were forced to transition to remote education. This shift required a new reliance upon technologies that these individuals might never have adopted at all, often with significant difficulties. In this paper, we present a qualitative study on a university-wide survey dataset describing student and faculty experiences of abruptly transitioning to remote teaching and learning during the spring 2020 semester at the Pennsylvania State University. We performed an inductive thematic analysis to identify the challenges and opportunities that arose during the transition. Our findings contribute to building better tools, curriculum, and supports for remote education, particularly during an unexpected crisis

Pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema following closed percutaneous pleural biopsy: a case report

Minimally invasive investigations, such as pleural fluid cytological assessment and closed percutaneous pleural biopsy, are often performed first in the investigation of suspected malignant pleural effusions. Malignant pleural effusions can be diagnosed with pleural fluid cytology alone in most cases; however, closed pleural biopsy is performed to increase the diagnostic yield when pleural fluid cytology is negative. This additional yield is at the expense of increased complication rates. We report a 64-year old man with a negative pleural fluid cytology but suspected malignant pleural effusion who underwent a closed pleural biopsy, which was complicated by pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and severe subcutaneous emphysema. Pulmonary laceration by the pleural biopsy needle is the most likely aetiology of these complications. Our case report highlights an infrequent but significant complication of closed percutaneous pleural biopsy

Picturing One\u27s Self: Camera Use in Zoom Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Starting from the spring of 2020, higher institutions in the US underwent a rapid shift from in-person classes to emergency remote education, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Under this circumstance, a variety of video conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) have been adopted for distance education, which pose a set of new challenges arising from synchronous online classes. Among these, one significant issue was students\u27 unwillingness to open cameras, resulting in a lack of non-verbal cues that instructors could rely on to gauge students\u27 understanding and adjust their teachings. Towards addressing this issue, our qualitative study aims at investigating the rationales behind students\u27 camera avoidance. Through a series of semi-structured interviews on undergraduate students in the U.S, we identified prominent factors -- namely the class size, lecture style, level of interactivity and privacy concerns -- that influenced students\u27 motivation for opening their cameras. At the same time, we uncovered several difficulties, such as heightened self-awareness, feeling of minority and academic perspective, that discouraged students from opening camera, with more substantial impacts on international students. We conclude with actionable insights into the design of online classes, video-conferencing platforms and camera technology that can promote camera usage, thereby contributing to scalable and inclusive interventions for facilitating the transition into remote education

Evolution of oesophageal adenocarcinoma from metaplastic columnar epithelium without goblet cells in Barrett's oesophagus

Supported by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) and Cancer Research UK (CR-UK). This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (grant number A14895

Supramolecular threading of peptide hydrogel fibrils

There is an increasing demand for biocompatible materials in biomedical applications. Herein, we report a modified α-helical decapeptide segment from the cardiac troponin C, which self-assembles into fibers with a secondary β-sheet structure. These fibers cross-link via a novel supramolecular threading mechanism which results in an atypical stiff hydrogel (G′ ≈ 13 kPa). In this work, we provide a first insight into the understanding of such remarkable cross-linking mechanism, which will aid in the development of new biomaterials with unique properties

A Close Nuclear Black Hole Pair in the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3393

The current picture of galaxy evolution advocates co-evolution of galaxies and their nuclear massive black holes (MBHs), through accretion and merging. Quasar pairs (6,000-300,000 light-years separation) exemplify the first stages of this gravitational interaction. The final stages, through binary MBHs and final collapse with gravitational wave emission, are consistent with the sub-light-year separation MBHs inferred from optical spectra and light-variability of two quasars. The double active nuclei of few nearby galaxies with disrupted morphology and intense star formation (e.g., NGC 6240 and Mkn 463; ~2,400 and ~12,000 light-years separation respectively) demonstrate the importance of major mergers of equal mass spirals in this evolution, leading to an elliptical galaxy, as in the case of the double radio nucleus (~15 light-years separation) elliptical 0402+379. Minor mergers of galaxies with a smaller companion should be a more common occurrence, evolving into spiral galaxies with active MBH pairs, but have hitherto not been seen. Here we report the presence of two active MBHs, separated by ~430 light-years, in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3393. The regular spiral morphology and predominantly old circum-nuclear stellar population of this galaxy, and the closeness of the MBHs embedded in the bulge, suggest the result of minor merger evolution.Comment: Preprint (not final) version of a paper to appear in Natur