Management of RH Services in India and the Need for Health System Reform

For the last ten to fifteen years, a comprehensive agenda of health sector reforms and health systems development has engulfed the health system in many countries in structural and organisational changes. Experience with varying degrees and types of reforms have now been reported from many countries. In our paper, we begin by describing some important issues facing the management of RH programs in India, based on our research done in a few states over the last five years. The failures in the management of RH services are complex and multi-factorial, and cannot all be addressed through health system reform. It is therefore necessary to identify which failures in service are attributable to causes, which could be removed or changed by reform in the health system. In our paper, we identify those failures and causes which could be corrected through health system reforms and propose certain concrete steps to expedite the reforms in the health system to enable the improvement of RH services in India.

Measuring unmet need for social care among older people

Recent spending cuts in the area of adult social care raise policy concerns about the proportion of older people whose need for social care is not met. Such concerns are emphasised in the context of population ageing and other demographic changes. This briefing summarises research published in Population Trends no. 145 which explores the concept of ‘unmet need’ for Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs), using data on the receipt of support (informal, state or privately paid for). The results show that each of the three different support sectors tend to provide help for different kinds of need, and that worryingly, there is a significant level of ‘unmet need’ for certain activities

Teaching homophones in grades one, two and three

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Destructive leadership: Causes, consequences and countermeasures

In 2010, David Matsuda, an anthropology professor, was asked to study why almost 30 U.S. soldiers in Iraq had committed or attempted suicide in the past year. His investigation showed that while those soldiers often had major problems in their personal lives, the victims also had in common at least one leader (sometimes a couple of leaders) who made their lives hell. While the evidence did not show that the soldiers’ leaders directly caused them to commit or attempt suicide, it did support the notion that the leaders who had made their lives hell had helped to push them over the brink. It was this finding that forced the U.S. military to confront the problem of “toxic” leadership in the army.Full Tex

Connexin 43 plays a role in pulmonary vascular reactivity in mice

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a chronic condition characterized by vascular remodeling and increased vaso-reactivity. PAH is more common in females than in males (~3:1). Connexin (Cx)43 has been shown to be involved in cellular communication within the pulmonary vasculature. Therefore, we investigated the role of Cx43 in pulmonary vascular reactivity using Cx43 heterozygous (Cx43+/−) mice and 37,43Gap27, which is a pharmacological inhibitor of Cx37 and Cx43. Contraction and relaxation responses were studied in intra-lobar pulmonary arteries (IPAs) derived from normoxic mice and hypoxic mice using wire myography. IPAs from male Cx43+/− mice displayed a small but significant increase in the contractile response to endothelin-1 (but not 5-hydroxytryptamine) under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. There was no difference in the contractile response to endothelin-1 (ET-1) or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in IPAs derived from female Cx43+/−mice compared to wildtype mice. Relaxation responses to methacholine (MCh) were attenuated in IPAs from male and female Cx43+/− mice or by pre-incubation of IPAs with 37,43Gap27. Nω-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) fully inhibited MCh-induced relaxation. In conclusion, Cx43 is involved in nitric oxide (NO)-induced pulmonary vascular relaxation and plays a gender-specific and agonist-specific role in pulmonary vascular contractility. Therefore, reduced Cx43 signaling may contribute to pulmonary vascular dysfunction

Regulating UK supermarkets: an oral-history perspective

The possible tightening of regulation of supermarket retailing through competition legislation and town planning has become a prominent issue for policy makers and communities. In the past five years, the debate has intensified. The growth of large supermarkets is seen by some to have led to the decay of the high street and has raised questions of land use.AHRC Reconstructing Consumer Landscapes Projec

Selective Targeting to Glioma with Nucleic Acid Aptamers

Malignant glioma is characterised by a rapid growth rate and high capacity for invasive infiltration to surrounding brain tissue; hence, diagnosis and treatment is difficult and patient survival is poor. Aptamers contribute a promising and unique technology for the in vitro imaging of live cells and tissues, with a potentially bright future in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics for malignant glioma. The binding selectivity, uptake capacity and binding target of two DNA aptamers, SA43 and SA44, were investigated in glioma cells and patient tissues. The binding assay showed that SA43 and SA44 bound with strong affinity (Kd, 21.56 ± 4.60 nM and Kd, 21.11 ± 3.30 nM respectively) to the target U87MG cells. Quantitative analysis by flow cytometry showed that the aptamers were able to actively internalise in U87MG and 1321N1 glioma cells compared to the non-cancerous and non-glioma cell types. Confocal microscopy confirmed staining in the cytoplasm, and co-localisation studies with endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lysosomal markers suggested internalisation and compartmentalisation within the endomembrane system. Both aptamers selectively bound to Ku 70 and Ku 80 DNA repair proteins as determined by aptoprecipitation (AP) followed by mass spectrometry analysis and confirmation by Western blot. In addition, aptohistochemical (AHC) staining on paraffin embedded, formalin fixed patient tissues revealed that the binding selectivity was significantly higher for SA43 aptamer in glioma tissues (grade I, II, III and IV) compared to the non-cancerous tissues, whereas SA44 did not show selectivity towards glioma tissues. The results indicate that SA43 aptamer can differentiate between glioma and non-cancerous cells and tissues and therefore, shows promise for histological diagnosis of glioma

Heterotopia and hauntings: troubling the spaces and artefacts of early years’ education and care in England

In 1966 Foucault broadcast a talk on French radio about ‘heterotopia’. These, he claimed, were institutional spaces which could be identified as being part of society but at the same time outside of contemporary social and political norms in their structure, discourses and iconography. A key feature of these ‘different spaces’ is that they are ‘haunted by fantasy’. This research takes the notion of early years’ education and care spaces as heterotopia but expands the notion of haunting to include the ghostly presence of pedagogical theories which co-exist within the articulations and enactments of early years’ practices in England. The intention is to engage with the complexity of regimes of educational and other truths to better understand and share alternative articulations and enactments. Gordon’s (2008) proposition that social haunting can be identified by seeking out the absences, silences and hidden discourses of social practices is employed to trouble early years’ education and care in terms of social justice as an important concept which is juxtaposed with other discourses which emphasise individual outcomes. Using participant observation within a broadly ethnomethodological approach the author records and analyses data collected in six early years’ education and care settings between 2011 and 2015. In place of scientific preoccupations with research purity (Barron et al., 2017) leading to a ‘best practice’ model of an education and care environment, the author deconstructs the possible meanings of her encounters with early years’ discourses and pedagogies. The data is analysed in relation to the indoor and outdoor spaces; the objects artefacts and materials awarded importance within settings and quality liaison reports designed to ‘improve practice’. The research revealed enduring tensions for practitioners and children in the dichotomous conceptualisations of indoor and outdoor play; caring and educating, child and pupil and the terms teacher and professional. The specialist language(s) of early years education and care were revealed to constrain as much as enable creative pedagogies. Poststructuralist feminism, including the notions of heterotopia and social haunting, proved a useful lens through which to re-evaluate ‘enabling environments’ provided for (and with) young children. The thesis concludes by considering the complex relationship between theory, research and practice in order to present new possibilities for enacting and articulating early years pedagogy