The effectiveness of two grammar treatment procedures for children with SLI: A randomized clinical trial

Purpose: This study compared the effectiveness of two grammar treatment procedures for children with specific language impairment. Method: A double-blind superiority trial with cluster randomization was used to compare a cueing procedure, designed to elicit a correct production following an initial error, to a recasting procedure, which required no further production. Thirty-one 5-year-old children with specific language impairment participated in 8 small group, classroom-based treatment sessions. Fourteen children received the cueing approach and 17 received the recasting approach. Results: The cueing group made significantly more progress over the 8-week treatment period than the recasting group. There was a medium–large treatment effect in the cueing group and a negligible effect size in the recasting group. The groups did not differ in maintenance of treatment effects 8 weeks after treatment. In single-subject analyses, 50% of children in the cueing group and 12% in the recasting group showed a significant treatment effect. Half of these children maintained the treatment effect 8 weeks later. Conclusion: Treatment that used a structured cueing hierarchy designed to elicit a correct production following a child’s error resulted in significantly greater improvement in expressive grammar than treatment that provided a recast following an error

Daily or weekly? The role of treatment frequency in the effectiveness of grammar treatment for children with specific language impairment.

This study compared the effectiveness of a school-based treatment for expressive grammar in 5-year-olds with specific language impairment delivered in two different dose frequencies: eight sessions delivered daily over 8 consecutive school days or eight sessions delivered weekly over 8 consecutive weeks. Eighteen children received treatment daily and 13 children received treatment weekly. In both groups, treatment consisted of eight 1-hour sessions of small group activities in a classroom setting. Techniques included explicit instruction, focused stimulation, recasting, and imitation. Results were analysed at the group level and as a case series with each child as their own control in a single-subject design. The 8-weeks group showed significantly greater gain in test scores over the treatment period than in an equal time period prior to treatment, whereas the 8-days group did not (Cohen's d = 1.64 for 8-weeks group). Single-subject analyses indicated that 46% of children in the 8-week group and 17% of children in the 8-day group showed a significant treatment effect. It is concluded that expressive grammar treatment was most effective when dose frequency was weekly over 8 weeks rather than daily over 8 days for 5-year-old children with specific language impairment.13 page(s

In vivo activity of the dual SYK/FLT3 inhibitor TAK-659 against pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia xenografts

Background: While children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) experience close to a 90% likelihood of cure, the outcome for certain high-risk pediatric ALL subtypes remains dismal. Spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) is a prominent cytosolic nonreceptor tyrosine kinase in pediatric B-lineage ALL (B-ALL). Activating mutations or overexpression of Fms-related receptor tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) are associated with poor outcome in hematological malignancies. TAK-659 (mivavotinib) is a dual SYK/FLT3 reversible inhibitor, which has been clinically evaluated in several other hematological malignancies. Here, we investigate the in vivo efficacy of TAK-659 against pediatric ALL patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). Methods: SYK and FLT3 mRNA expression was quantified by RNA-seq. PDX engraftment and drug responses in NSG mice were evaluated by enumerating the proportion of human CD45+ cells (%huCD45+) in the peripheral blood. TAK-659 was administered per oral at 60 mg/kg daily for 21 days. Events were defined as %huCD45+ ≥ 25%. In addition, mice were humanely killed to assess leukemia infiltration in the spleen and bone marrow (BM). Drug efficacy was assessed by event-free survival and stringent objective response measures. Results: FLT3 and SYK mRNA expression was significantly higher in B-lineage compared with T-lineage PDXs. TAK-659 was well tolerated and significantly prolonged the time to event in six out of eight PDXs tested. However, only one PDX achieved an objective response. The minimum mean %huCD45+ was significantly reduced in five out of eight PDXs in TAK-659-treated mice compared with vehicle controls. Conclusions: TAK-659 exhibited low to moderate single-agent in vivo activity against pediatric ALL PDXs representative of diverse subtypes

Brexit, Rights and Devolution

This report records the final meeting and roundtable of the Brexit and Rights Engagement Network (BREN) on Friday 7 December 2018 at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in London. Attendees at the roundtable included network members, fellow academics, representatives of the UK Government, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, law firms, civil society, and NGOs. This roundtable followed two successful roundtables held at Edinburgh and Belfast earlier in the year. It combined the topics of both and brought all available network members together The purpose of the roundtable was to ignite debate amongst legal scholars and policy makers, and others working in a rights and devolution environment relating to interpretation, adjudication and enforcement of rights in the lead up to, and following “Brexit Day,” (29 March 2019). This report is split into four sections mirroring the programme of the day. Part A considers the adjudication of EU rights, but also their enforcement under the 2018 Act and the Withdrawal Agreement. Part B is dedicated to the same broad theme but focuses on ‘options for the postBrexit future’. Part C deals with possible development and opportunities as far as rights and devolution are concerned; and Part D shows how Brexit affects the devolution settlement. Most of the contributions to this and the other roundtables have been published as blog posts on the Europa Institute’s Europeanfutures blog. They can be found here: http://www.europeanfutures.ed.ac.uk/topics/bren Furthermore, there are audio recordings of the roundtable available, which can be found here: www.europa.ed.ac.uk/bren

Integrating agriculture and health research for development: LCIRAH as an interdisciplinary programme to address a global challenge

The multiple burdens of persistent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, along with the rapidly growing rates of overweight, obesity, and associated chronic diseases, are major challenges globally. The role of agriculture and the food system in meeting these challenges is very poorly understood. Achieving food security and addressing malnutrition in all its forms, a Sustainable Development Goal, requires an understanding of how changing food systems affect health outcomes and the development of new tools to design and evaluate interventions. An interinstitutional programme to address this interdisciplinary research challenge is described. Over the past seven years, the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health has built a portfolio of successful and innovative research, trained a new cadre of interdisciplinary researchers in “Agri‐Health,” and built an international research community with a particular focus on strengthening research capacity in low‐ and middle‐income countries. The evolution of this programme is described, and key factors contributing to its success are discussed that may be of general value in designing interdisciplinary research programmes directed at supporting global development goals

Feeding the Worlth Healthily: the Challenge of Measuring the effects of Agriculture on Health

Agricultural production, food systems and population health are intimately linked. While there is a strong evidence base to inform our knowledge of what constitutes a healthy human diet, we know little about actual food production or consumption in many populations and how developments in the food and agricultural system will affect dietary intake patterns and health. The paucity of information on food production and consumption is arguably most acute in low- and middle-income countries, where it is most urgently needed to monitor levels of under-nutrition, the health impacts of rapid dietary transition and the increasing ‘double burden’ of nutrition-related disease. Food availability statistics based on food commodity production data are currently widely used as a proxy measure of national-level food consumption, but using data from the UK and Mexico we highlight the potential pitfalls of this approach. Despite limited resources for data collection, better systems of measurement are possible. Important drivers to improve collection systems may include efforts to meet international development goals and partnership with the private sector. A clearer understanding of the links between the agriculture and food system and population health will ensure that health becomes a critical driver of agricultural change

Effectiveness of interventions to promote healthy diet in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Background A diet rich in fruit, vegetables and dietary fibre and low in fat is associated with reduced risk of chronic disease. This review aimed to estimate the effectiveness of interventions to promote healthy diet for primary prevention among participants attending primary care.<p></p> Methods A systematic review of trials using individual or cluster randomisation of interventions delivered in primary care to promote dietary change over 12 months in healthy participants free from chronic disease or defined high risk states. Outcomes were change in fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of total fat and fibre and changes in serum cholesterol concentration.<p></p> Results Ten studies were included with 12,414 participants. The design and delivery of interventions were diverse with respect to grounding in behavioural theory and intervention intensity. A meta-analysis of three studies showed an increase in fruit consumption of 0.25 (0.01 to 0.49) servings per day, with an increase in vegetable consumption of 0.25 (0.06 to 0.44) serving per day. A further three studies that reported on fruit and vegetable consumption together showed a pooled increment of 0.50 (0.13 to 0.87) servings per day. The pooled effect on consumption of dietary fibre, from four studies, was estimated to be 1.97 (0.43 to 3.52) gm fibre per day. Data from five studies showed a mean decrease in total fat intake of 5.2% of total energy (1.5 to 8.8%). Data from three studies showed a mean decrease in serum cholesterol of 0.10 (-0.19 to 0.00) mmol/L.<p></p> Conclusion Presently-reported interventions to promote healthy diet for primary prevention in primary care, which illustrate a diverse range of intervention methods, may yield small beneficial changes in consumption of fruit, vegetables, fibre and fat over 12 months. The present results do not exclude the possibility that more effective intervention strategies might be developed.<p></p&gt

Review and assessment of latent and sensible heat flux accuracy over the global oceans

For over a decade, several research groups have been developing air-sea heat flux information over the global ocean, including latent (LHF) and sensible (SHF) heat fluxes over the global ocean. This paper aims to provide new insight into the quality and error characteristics of turbulent heat flux estimates at various spatial and temporal scales (from daily upwards). The study is performed within the European Space Agency (ESA) Ocean Heat Flux (OHF) project. One of the main objectives of the OHF project is to meet the recommendations and requirements expressed by various international programs such as the World Research Climate Program (WCRP) and Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability, and Change (CLIVAR), recognizing the need for better characterization of existing flux errors with respect to the input bulk variables (e.g. surface wind, air and sea surface temperatures, air and surface specific humidities), and to the atmospheric and oceanic conditions (e.g. wind conditions and sea state). The analysis is based on the use of daily averaged LHF and SHF and the asso- ciated bulk variables derived from major satellite-based and atmospheric reanalysis products. Inter-comparisons of heat flux products indicate that all of them exhibit similar space and time patterns. However, they also reveal significant differences in magnitude in some specific regions such as the western ocean boundaries during the Northern Hemisphere winter season, and the high southern latitudes. The differences tend to be closely related to large differences in surface wind speed and/or specific air humidity (for LHF) and to air and sea temperature differences (for SHF). Further quality investigations are performed through comprehensive comparisons with daily-averaged LHF and SHF estimated from moorings. The resulting statistics are used to assess the error of each OHF product. Consideration of error correlation between products and observations (e.g., by their assimilation) is also given. This reveals generally high noise variance in all products and a weak signal in common with in situ observations, with some products only slightly better than others. The OHF LHF and SHF products, and their associated error characteristics, are used to compute daily OHF multiproduct-ensemble (OHF/MPE) estimates of LHF and SHF over the ice-free global ocean on a 0.25° × 0.25° grid. The accuracy of this heat multiproduct, determined from comparisons with mooring data, is greater than for any individual product. It is used as a reference for the anomaly characterization of each individual OHF product

Emerging Synergisms Between Drugs and Physiologically-Patterned Weak Magnetic Fields: Implications for Neuropharmacology and the Human Population in the Twenty-First Century

Synergisms between pharmacological agents and endogenous neurotransmitters are familiar and frequent. The present review describes the experimental evidence for interactions between neuropharmacological compounds and the classes of weak magnetic fields that might be encountered in our daily environments. Whereas drugs mediate their effects through specific spatial (molecular) structures, magnetic fields mediate their effects through specific temporal patterns. Very weak (microT range) physiologically-patterned magnetic fields synergistically interact with drugs to strongly potentiate effects that have classically involved opiate, cholinergic, dopaminergic, serotonergic, and nitric oxide pathways. The combinations of the appropriately patterned magnetic fields and specific drugs can evoke changes that are several times larger than those evoked by the drugs alone. These novel synergisms provide a challenge for a future within an electromagnetic, technological world. They may also reveal fundamental, common physical mechanisms by which magnetic fields and chemical reactions affect the organism from the level of fundamental particles to the entire living system

Participatory Augering: A methodology for challenging perceptions of archaeology and landscape change

Public engagement is a significant feature of twenty-first-century archaeological practice. While more diverse audiences are connecting with the discipline in a multitude of ways, public perceptions of archaeology are still marred by stereotypes. Community excavations of ‘sites’ to discover ‘treasures’ which tell us about the ‘past’ overshadow other forms of public research output and hinder the potential of the discipline to contribute to contemporary society more widely. This paper proposes participatory augering as an active public engagement method that challenges assumptions about the nature of archaeological practice by focusing on interpretation at a landscape-scale. Through exploration of recent participatory augering research by the REFIT Project and Environmental Archaeologist Mike Allen, this paper demonstrates how the public can contribute to active archaeological research by exploring narratives of landscape change. Evaluation of the existing case studies reflects the potential of the approach to engage audiences with new archaeological methods and narratives which have the potential to transform perceptions of the discipline and, through knowledge exchange, drive community-led contributions to contemporary landscape management