Multiple acquired portosystemic shunts in a cat secondary to chronic diaphragmatic rupture

A cat with a chronic diaphragmatic rupture presented with neurological signs, including twitching and focal seizures. Blood ammonia level was markedly elevated and therefore neurological signs were thought to be related to hepatic encephalopathy. Exploratory laparotomy revealed that the left lateral and medial liver lobes were herniated into the thorax and multiple acquired portosystemic shunts (MAPSS) were present. The hernia was reduced and the diaphragm repaired. Neurological signs gradually resolved following surgery and 1 year postoperatively the cat was clinically normal, was not on any medication and had no evidence of hepatic dysfunction

Archaeological evaluation : New High School, Matthews Lane, Gorton, Manchester

In February 2017, Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Laing O’Rourke to undertake an archaeological evaluation on land located adjacent to Matthews Lane, Gorton, Manchester (centred on NGR SJ 87861 95024). The Site Area comprises an open space heath land currently undeveloped within the Gorton area of Manchester. The assessment aimed to identify, as far as possible, the nature, extent and significance of the archaeological resource, so as to enable informed recommendations to be made for the future treatment of any surviving remains. Trenches were located to investigate the remains of the late 19th century Yew Tree Farm and the possibility of remains associated with Nico Ditch. Trench 1 was excavated over the site of the farmhouse and was able to uncover limited evidence of structures. Trench 2 was located to investigate the southern farm outbuildings and possible deposits associated with Nico Ditch and uncovered remains of features relating to the farm only. A third was excavated over the site of the main barn but was abandoned due to the removal of archaeological deposits by later landfill. The evaluation was able to confirm that evidence of 19th century structures remains within 15m of the present site boundary but that all other deposits outside this area were removed by later landfill activity. Nevertheless those areas to have escaped the excavation of the clay pit do retain moderately well preserved evidence of earlier occupation

‘Workers’ Educational Association: A Crisis of Identity? Personal Perspectives on Changing Professional Identities.

This work is concerned with how the State’s general educational policy affects the structure, identity and practices of the informal adult education sector. The poster focuses on the Workers’ Educational Association, a voluntary movement established over one hundred years ago to provide purposeful education for the working class -and which today is the largest voluntary provider of adult education. However, regardless of the organisation’s expansion, there are fears for the WEA’s future as it increasingly relies upon government funds and processes which tend to promote and enforce the re-structuring of state education. It is this wholesale political re-structuring of education which is believed to be eroding the WEA’s distinctive identity and contribution to transformative adult education (Doyle, 2003). The Worker’s Educational Association has, however, always been a contested site of struggle; a struggle for existence, an ideological struggle against the State and other independent working class educational organisations and a methodological struggle to deliver really ‘useful knowledge’ to the disadvantaged. This qualitative research uses a broad critical realist approach to investigate the validity of this present struggle, looking at it over time through the personal lens of six long serving WEA Tutor Organisers. These men and women drawn from the Midlands and the North, give their own highly personalised, differentiated and reflexive perspectives of the WEA and reveal it to be an organisation that has to continuously renegotiate itself. Yet, past reflections of the whole cohort single out human agency as a defining WEA characteristic, one that informed personal, professional and organisational identity and it is clear from the narrative analysis that this has been compromised. Using Archer’s ‘morphogenetic’ insights (Archer, 1995) has allowed an analytical framework to be used to understand just exactly what is taking place in this multi-faceted crisis of identity

Extracorporeal support for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygen (ECMO) has been used for many years in patients with life-threatening hypoxaemia and/or hypercarbia. While early trials demonstrated that it was associated with poor outcomes and extensive haemorrhage, the technique has evolved. It now encompasses new technologies and understanding that the lung protective mechanical ventilation it can facilitate is inextricably linked to improving outcomes for patients. The positive results from the CESAR (Conventional ventilation or ECMO for Severe Adult Respiratory failure) study and excellent outcomes in patients who suffered severe influenza A (H1N1/09) infection have established ECMO in the care of patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. Controversy remains as to at what point in the clinical pathway ECMO should be employed; as a rescue therapy or more pro-actively to enable and ensure high-quality lung protective mechanical ventilation. The primary aims of this article are to discuss: 1) the types of extracorporeal support available; 2) the rationale for its use; 3) the relationship with lung protective ventilation; and 4) the current evidence for its use

Evolution in Archaeology

This review begins with a brief outline of the key concepts of Darwinian archaeology. Its history is then summarized, beginning with its emergence as a significant theoretical focus within the discipline in the early 1980s; its main present-day currents are then presented, citing examples of recent work. The developments in archaeology are part of broader trends in anthropology and psychology and are characterized by the same theoretical disagreements. There are two distinct research traditions: one centered on cultural transmission and dual inheritance theory and the other on human behavioral ecology. The development of specifically archaeological methodologies within these two traditions for testing evolutionary hypotheses relating to diachronic questions using archaeological data is discussed. Finally, this review suggests that the greatest challenge for the future lies in finding ways of using archaeological data to address current major debates in evolutionary social science as a whole concerning, for example, the emergence of largescale cooperation