The DIP-approach:Student-staff partnerships as a vital tool for learning developers and educators to develop academic [and digital] literacies

Student-staff partnerships can be used to support the development of contextualised digital learning and teaching practices. This can be done by shifting the focus from IT skills to addressing a priority in learning and teaching using a digital approach that is appropriate for that discipline. The development of a formal ‘Digital Innovation Partnership’ (DIP) scheme at the University of Leicester brings students’ digital confidence, perspectives and motivation to enhance learning and teaching. It also recognises the valuable contribution and expertise of student and staff participants. This draws on the academic literacies work of Lea and Street (1998; 2006) and digital literacies work of Sharpe and Beetham (2010) to appreciate that staff and students are developing social practices that are situated within a discipline and intertwined with social, cultural and political factors, power and identity. The reasons for the success of the scheme are explored here, with recommendations for how the model can be applied more generally to educational design to support students’ academic literacies development

Psychosocial impact of undergoing prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

OBJECTIVES: To report the baseline results of a longitudinal psychosocial study that forms part of the IMPACT study, a multi-national investigation of targeted prostate cancer (PCa) screening among men with a known pathogenic germline mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. PARTICPANTS AND METHODS: Men enrolled in the IMPACT study were invited to complete a questionnaire at collaborating sites prior to each annual screening visit. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics and the following measures: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Impact of Event Scale (IES), 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer, Cancer Worry Scale-Revised, risk perception and knowledge. The results of the baseline questionnaire are presented. RESULTS: A total of 432 men completed questionnaires: 98 and 160 had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, respectively, and 174 were controls (familial mutation negative). Participants' perception of PCa risk was influenced by genetic status. Knowledge levels were high and unrelated to genetic status. Mean scores for the HADS and SF-36 were within reported general population norms and mean IES scores were within normal range. IES mean intrusion and avoidance scores were significantly higher in BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers than in controls and were higher in men with increased PCa risk perception. At the multivariate level, risk perception contributed more significantly to variance in IES scores than genetic status. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to report the psychosocial profile of men with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations undergoing PCa screening. No clinically concerning levels of general or cancer-specific distress or poor quality of life were detected in the cohort as a whole. A small subset of participants reported higher levels of distress, suggesting the need for healthcare professionals offering PCa screening to identify these risk factors and offer additional information and support to men seeking PCa screening

Human agency and the formation of tableware distribution patterns in Hellenistic Greece and Asia Minor

This thesis utilizes ceramic legacy data to examine the influence of human agency upon the formation of tableware distribution patterns in Hellenistic Greece and Asia Minor. The formation of distribution patterns is a neglected area in Hellenistic pottery studies; differences between sites are usually taken at face value, paying scant attention to the human choices and behaviours responsible for observed variations. Tableware from Athens and New Halos in Greece and Ilion, Ephesus, Sardis, Gordion and Sagalassos in Asia Minor is employed for comparative analysis. Agency and network theory is utilized, along with a close reading of the wider contextual background of the case-studies, to explore local consumer choices and address distributional differences. This approach is enabled by the systematic collection of tableware data in the ICRATES database. This research shows that differences between sites, in terms of tableware consumption, can only be understood as reflecting human behaviour and choice. It is demonstrated that New Halos focused on Hellenistic shapes of more ‘Classical’ appearance and relied primarily for its tableware supply upon the wider region. Athens principally used local tableware focusing on a more properly Hellenistic repertoire, but an antiquated shape like the bolsal was produced specifically for the foreign market. Ilion, Ephesus, Sardis and Sagalassos similarly made different choices in tableware production and consumption. Observed differences relate to preferences, practices, and opportunities. Consumption at Ilion is influenced by Pergamum, whereas Ephesus develops a repertoire partly specific to itself. At Sagalassos producers and consumers used a repertoire which, while distinct and building upon local traditions, forms part of more widely shared tableware preferences. This study shows that within a general pottery koine various sub-koinai existed and interacted, reflecting varying contextualized choices. The results have important and wide-ranging implications for current approaches to cultural interaction, material culture and society

Sagalassian Mastoi in an Eastern Mediterranean Context

status: publishe

From Hellenistic to Roman Imperial in Pisidian Tableware. The Genesis of Sagalassos Red Slip Ware

status: publishe

Making assessment accessible: a student-staff partnership perspective

Student assessment literacy, and staff assessment practices can be enhanced through constructive dialogue, designed to help build better shared understandings, and in which both students and staff can meaningfully contribute. Such a dialogue has great potential to increase student engagement with their own learning. Focusing on a UK university law school’s staff–student partnership initiative called Getting It Right: Assessment and Feedback in Translation (GRAFT) and aimed at improving assessment feedback practices, this paper demonstrates how students and staff working as partners in this context can make a major contribution to assessment literacy and student engagement

A pottery kiln underneath the Odeon of ancient Sagalassos, SW Turkey. The excavation results, the table wares and their archaeometrical analysis

status: publishe

Towards the automatic classification of pottery sherds: two complementary approaches

status: publishe

Propionic acidemia as a cause of adult-onset dilated cardiomyopathy

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is extremely heterogeneous with a large proportion due to dominantly inherited disease-causing variants in sarcomeric genes. Recessive metabolic diseases may cause DCM, usually with onset in childhood, and in the context of systemic disease. Whether metabolic defects can also cause adult-onset DCM is currently unknown. Therefore, we performed an extensive metabolic screening in 36 consecutive adult-onset DCM patients. Diagnoses were confirmed by Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Measurement of propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC) activity was done in fibroblasts. Whole exome sequencing (WES) data of 157 additional DCM patients were analyzed for genetic defects. We found a metabolic profile characteristic for propionic acidemia in a patient with severe DCM from 55 years of age. Genetic analysis demonstrated compound heterozygous variants in PCCA. Enzymatic activity of PCC in fibroblasts was markedly reduced. A targeted analysis of the PCCA and PCCB genes using available WES data from 157 further DCM patients subsequently identified another patient with propionic acidemia. This patient had compound heterozygous variants in PCCB, and developed severe DCM from 42 years of age. Adult-onset DCM can be caused by propionic acidemia, an autosomal recessive inheritable metabolic disorder usually presenting as neonatal or childhood disease. Current guidelines advise a low-protein diet to ameliorate or prevent detrimental aspects of the disease. Long-term follow-up of a larger group of patients may show whether this diet would also ameliorate DCM. Our results suggest that diagnostic metabolic screening to identify propionic acidemia and related disorders in DCM patients is justified