Assessing the development process of the eHealth strategy for South Africa against the recommendations of the WHO/ITU National eHealth Strategy Toolkit.

Purpose: The purpose of this review is to establish the extent to which processes followed in the development of the South African eHealth Strategy conform to the recommendations provided in the National eHealth Strategy Toolkit published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2012. Method: For each of the steps recommended by the Toolkit, the processes followed in the development of the South African eHealth Strategy are rated against the recommended processes. Results: Overall, the processes followed in the development of the South African eHealth Strategy conform well to the recommended processes. Weaknesses were found with respect to management and resourcing of the development process and the engagement of multisectoral stakeholders.Conclusions: In general the processes conformed well to the recommendations

The Who, How, Why, and What of Leadership in Secondary School Improvement: Lessons Learned in England

Although arguments in scholarly journals claim that leadership is critical in initiating and sustaining school improvement, ambiguity surrounds the sources and role of leadership. In addition, little research documents how educators involved in school improvement perceive who leads, how, why, and for what purposes leadership is important. This article reports a case study of head teachers' and teachers' perspectives of leadership in an English secondary school involved in a university-based school improvement program. Specifically, we present a summary of the research as well as interpretations and themes constructed from the data analysis. Interpretations support recent theoretical claims that schools are complex organizations requiring multiple leaders and a distributed model of leadership accomplish improvement goals; and academic writing that urges a rethinking of school improvement. In concluding we argue that the development of professional expertise is to fostering successful schooling over time and call for a consideration of emergent perspectives of leadership in addressing issues related to influence and inclusion of teachers in goal-setting and leadership in school development.Alors que l'on retrouve dans les revues académiques des arguments selon lesquels le leadership est essentiel pour initier et maintenir l'amélioration des écoles, les sources et rôle du leadership sont entourés d'ambiguïté. De plus, peu de recherche a porté sur la perception du leadership qu'ont les enseignants impliqués dans l'amélioration de l'école, sur leurs interprétations du qui, comment et pourquoi du leadership et des raisons pour lesquelles il est important. Cet article présente une étude de cas portant sur les points de vue qu 'ont des chefs d'établissement et des enseignants du leadership dans une école secondaire britannique qui participe à un programme universitaire visant l'amélioration de l'école. Plus précisément, nous présentons un résumé de la recherche ainsi que les interprétations et les thèmes qui se dégagent de l'analyse des données. Les interprétations appuient d'une part, les théories récentes selon lesquelles les écoles constituent des organisations complexes exigeant plusieurs leaders et un modèle réparti de leadership pour atteindre des buts liés à leur amélioration et d'autre part, les travaux académiques prônant que l'on repense l'amélioration des écoles. Dans notre conclusion, nous évoquons l'importance cruciale de développer une expertise professionnelle pour maintenir le succès d'une école. Nous encourageons également la considération de points de vue naissants portant sur l'influence et l'inclusion des enseignants dans l'établissement d'objectifs et dans le leadership de l'école

Adapting to Diversity: Where Cultures Collide — Educational Issues in Northern Alberta

In this article, we report a case study of educational issues in northern Alberta. Using interviews and observations, we provide the different perspectives held by educators, students, parents, and community members about the goals and purposes of schools, the curriculum, and the language of instruction. Practices in the schools tended to maintain the status quo: a southern approach to education, with an emphasis on a provincial curriculum and English as the language of instruction. These schools did not reflect the realities of northern communities, such as a concern for Aboriginal languages, in spite of policies that provided for local control. Keywords: school leadership and culture, northern education, Aboriginal education, Alberta education, First Nations education Dans cet article, nous présentons une étude de cas axée sur des enjeux pédagogiques propres au nord de l’Alberta. À l’aide d’entrevues et d’observations, nous avons exploré différents points de vue exprimés par des enseignants, des élèves, des parents et des membres la communauté au sujet des buts de l’école, des programmes et de la langue d’enseignement. Les pratiques décrites au sein des diverses écoles participant à cette recherche avaient tendance à maintenir le statu quo : une approche de l’enseignement provenant du Sud avec une place de choix accordée au programme provincial et à l’anglais comme langue d’enseignement. Ces écoles ne reflétaient pas les réalités des communautés du Nord, tel le souci des langues autochtones, en dépit des politiques qui prévoient un contrôle local. Mots clés : leadership et culture de l’école, éducation en régions nordiques, éducation aux autochtone, éducation en Alberta, enseignement aux Premières nations.

INDUCTION OF BONE MARROW COLONY-STIMULATING ACTIVITY BY A FILTERABLE AGENT IN LEUKEMIC AND NORMAL MOUSE SERUM

1. Leukemic Swiss mice of ICR/Ha strain which had been injected at birth with a lymphoid-leukemia-inducing virus preparation yielded sera which produced elevations of serum colony-stimulating activity within 16 hr and significant plasma-LDH-enzyme elevation at 4 days when injected intraperitoneally into normal ICR/Ha Swiss mice. Colony-stimulating activity was assayed in vitro by the stimulation of hemopoietic colony formation by DBA/1 bone marrow cells. 2. The inducing agent in leukemic serum was passageable, filterable, sedimentable, and heat-, ether-, and UV-labile. 3. A similar agent was recovered from normal Swiss serum after blind serial passages through normal mice. 4. LDH elevating virus induced a similar elevation of serum colony-stimulating activity when injected at high titers, and cross-resistance was demonstrated between LDH virus and the passaged leukemic serum agent

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Assessment of the relationships between myocardial contractility and infarct tissue revealed by serial magnetic resonance imaging in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Imaging changes in left ventricular (LV) volumes during the cardiac cycle and LV ejection fraction do not provide information on regional contractility. Displacement ENcoding with Stimulated Echoes (DENSE) is a strain-encoded cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) technique that measures strain directly. We investigated the relationships between strain revealed by DENSE and the presence and extent of infarction in patients with recent myocardial infarction (MI). 50 male subjects were invited to undergo serial CMR within 7 days of MI (baseline) and after 6 months (follow-up; n = 47). DENSE and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) images were acquired to enable localised regional quantification of peak circumferential strain (Ecc) and the extent of infarction, respectively. We assessed: (1) receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for the classification of LGE, (2) strain differences according to LGE status (remote, adjacent, infarcted) and (3) changes in strain revealed between baseline and follow-up. 300 and 258 myocardial segments were available for analysis at baseline and follow-up respectively. LGE was present in 130/300 (43 %) and 97/258 (38 %) segments, respectively. ROC analysis revealed moderately high values for peak Ecc at baseline [threshold 12.8 %; area-under-curve (AUC) 0.88, sensitivity 84 %, specificity 78 %] and at follow-up (threshold 15.8 %; AUC 0.76, sensitivity 85 %, specificity 64 %). Differences were observed between remote, adjacent and infarcted segments. Between baseline and follow-up, increases in peak Ecc were observed in infarcted segments (median difference of 5.6 %) and in adjacent segments (1.5 %). Peak Ecc at baseline was indicative of the change in LGE status between baseline and follow-up. Strain-encoded CMR with DENSE has the potential to provide clinically useful information on contractility and its recovery over time in patients with MI

Alterations in vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) phosphorylation: associations with asthmatic phenotype, airway inflammation and β\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e-agonist use

Background Vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) mediates focal adhesion, actin filament binding and polymerization in a variety of cells, thereby inhibiting cell movement. Phosphorylation of VASP via cAMP and cGMP dependent protein kinases releases this brake on cell motility. Thus, phosphorylation of VASP may be necessary for epithelial cell repair of damage from allergen-induced inflammation. Two hypotheses were examined: (1) injury from segmental allergen challenge increases VASP phosphorylation in airway epithelium in asthmatic but not nonasthmatic normal subjects, (2) regular in vivo β2-agonist use increases VASP phosphorylation in asthmatic epithelium, altering cell adhesion. Methods Bronchial epithelium was obtained from asthmatic and non-asthmatic normal subjects before and after segmental allergen challenge, and after regularly inhaled albuterol, in three separate protocols. VASP phosphorylation was examined in Western blots of epithelial samples. DNA was obtained for β2-adrenergic receptor haplotype determination. Results Although VASP phosphorylation increased, it was not significantly greater after allergen challenge in asthmatics or normals. However, VASP phosphorylation in epithelium of nonasthmatic normal subjects was double that observed in asthmatic subjects, both at baseline and after challenge. Regularly inhaled albuterol significantly increased VASP phosphorylation in asthmatic subjects in both unchallenged and antigen challenged lung segment epithelium. There was also a significant increase in epithelial cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage of the unchallenged lung segment after regular inhalation of albuterol but not of placebo. The haplotypes of the β2-adrenergic receptor did not appear to associate with increased or decreased phosphorylation of VASP. Conclusion Decreased VASP phosphorylation was observed in epithelial cells of asthmatics compared to nonasthmatic normals, despite response to β-agonist. The decreased phosphorylation does not appear to be associated with a particular β2-adrenergic receptor haplotype. The observed decrease in VASP phosphorylation suggests greater inhibition of actin reorganization which is necessary for altering attachment and migration required during epithelial repair

Notch signaling in serous ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of all gynecologic malignancies because women commonly present with advanced stage disease and develop chemotherapy refractory tumors. While cytoreductive surgery followed by platinum based chemotherapy are initially effective, ovarian tumors have a high propensity to recur highlighting the distinct need for novel therapeutics to improve outcomes for affected women. The Notch signaling pathway plays an established role in embryologic development and deregulation of this signaling cascade has been linked to many cancers. Recent genomic profiling of serous ovarian carcinoma revealed that Notch pathway alterations are among the most prevalent detected genomic changes. A growing body of scientific literature has confirmed heightened Notch signaling activity in ovarian carcinoma, and has utilized in vitro and in vivo models to suggest that targeting this pathway with gamma secretase inhibitors (GSIs) leads to anti-tumor effects. While it is currently unknown if Notch pathway inhibition can offer clinical benefit to women with ovarian cancer, several GSIs are currently in phase I and II trials across many disease sites including ovary. This review will provide background on Notch pathway function and will focus on the pre-clinical literature that links altered Notch signaling to ovarian cancer progression