Educational studies in the Scottish Universities : 1870-1970

In 1876, after an enthusiastic campaign by the main teachers' organisation, Edinburgh and St. Andrews became the first English-speaking universities in the world to establish permanent chairs of Education. Half a century later Scotland became the first country in the British Isles to demand university graduation of all male and secondary teachers in the public sector, except for those involved in art, crafts and physical education. Yet by the 1970s the Education Departments in the Scottish Universities were considerably smaller than in most English universities and,indeed,St.Andrews had abandoned the study of Education altogether. The thesis suggests that the primary reason for this course of events lay in the persistent refusal of the Scottish Education Department, except for a few years at the turn of the century ,to allow the universities any role in the professional, as opposed to the general higher education of teachers. With the training role denied them, the universities had thus to seek other tasks in the field of Educational Studies, notably the teaching of a postgraduate honours degree, unique within Britain,the old Scottish Bachelor of Education. Established at the end of the first world war, this degree was also recognised as a professional qualification by the British Psychological Society and during the next fifty years it not only provided a major stimulus to the professional development of school-teachers, training college lecturers and educational administrators but also became a key factor in the development of mental testing and of the educational psychology service throughout the United Kingdom. The final chapters of the thesis explore the· nature and teaching. If this degree along with the eventual career patterns of graduates. This exploration is based on the hitherto unpublished findings of a questionnaire survey and series of interviews carried out by the author during the late 1960s

Towards Harmonisation of Construction Industry Payment Legislation: A Consideration of the Success Afforded by the East and West Coast Models in Australia

This article considers the success of the two distinct construction industry payment legislative models operating in Australia – “East Coast” and “West Coast” – in achieving their objective of improving cash flow throughout the construction industry. Success parameters are identified by the authors – namely: the levels of justice afforded by the legislation, the administrative and legal burden generated by the legislation, and the impact of the legislation on the relationships between the contracting parties – which are used as a basis to discuss and compare the performances of the East and West Coast models. It is concluded that the West Coast model provides a more just dispute resolution process, generates less administrative and legal burden, and is more conducive towards establishing positive relationships between contracting parties. However, it is recognised that there is a need for more data to be gathered from construction industry stakeholders before any firm recommendations can start to be made as to the most appropriate conceptual framework and detail for a harmonised approach

Comparing helpful and hindering processes in good and poor outcome cases : a qualitative metasynthesis of eight Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design studies

Objective: We tested qualitative metasynthesis of a series of Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design (HSCED) studies as a method for comparing within-session processes that may explain good and poor therapeutic outcome. Method: We selected eight HSCED studies according to change in clients' scores on the Strathclyde Inventory (SI), a brief self-report instrument used to measure outcome in person-centered psychotherapy. Four of the case studies investigated the experience of clients whose pre-post change in SI scores showed improvement by the end of therapy, and the other four focused on clients whose change in SI scores indicated deterioration. We conducted a qualitative metasynthesis, adopting a generic descriptive-interpretive approach to analyze and compare the data generated by the HSCED studies. Results: In contrast to improvers, deteriorators appeared to be less ready to engage in therapeutic work at the beginning of therapy, and found the process more difficult; their therapists were less able to respond to these difficulties in a responsive, empathic manner; deteriorators were less able to cope successfully with changes of therapist and, eventually, gave up on therapy. Conclusion: We found that our qualitative metasynthesis of a series of HSCED studies produced a plausible explanation for the contrasting outcomes that occurred

NKX2-5 regulates human cardiomyogenesis via a HEY2 dependent transcriptional network.

Congenital heart defects can be caused by mutations in genes that guide cardiac lineage formation. Here, we show deletion of NKX2-5, a critical component of the cardiac gene regulatory network, in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), results in impaired cardiomyogenesis, failure to activate VCAM1 and to downregulate the progenitor marker PDGFRα. Furthermore, NKX2-5 null cardiomyocytes have abnormal physiology, with asynchronous contractions and altered action potentials. Molecular profiling and genetic rescue experiments demonstrate that the bHLH protein HEY2 is a key mediator of NKX2-5 function during human cardiomyogenesis. These findings identify HEY2 as a novel component of the NKX2-5 cardiac transcriptional network, providing tangible evidence that hESC models can decipher the complex pathways that regulate early stage human heart development. These data provide a human context for the evaluation of pathogenic mutations in congenital heart disease.Nat Commun 2018 Apr 10; 9(1):1373

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Sp6 and Sp8 transcription factors control AER formation and dorsal-ventral patterning in limb development

The formation and maintenance of the apical ectodermal ridge (AER) is critical for the outgrowth and patterning of the vertebrate limb. The induction of the AER is a complex process that relies on integrated interactions among the Fgf, Wnt, and Bmp signaling pathways that operate within the ectoderm and between the ectoderm and the mesoderm of the early limb bud. The transcription factors Sp6 and Sp8 are expressed in the limb ectoderm and AER during limb development. Sp6 mutant mice display a mild syndactyly phenotype while Sp8 mutants exhibit severe limb truncations. Both mutants show defects in AER maturation and in dorsal-ventral patterning. To gain further insights into the role Sp6 and Sp8 play in limb development, we have produced mice lacking both Sp6 and Sp8 activity in the limb ectoderm. Remarkably, the elimination or significant reduction in Sp6;Sp8 gene dosage leads to tetra-amelia; initial budding occurs, but neither Fgf8 nor En1 are activated. Mutants bearing a single functional allele of Sp8 (Sp6-/-;Sp8+/-) exhibit a split-hand/foot malformation phenotype with double dorsal digit tips probably due to an irregular and immature AER that is not maintained in the center of the bud and on the abnormal expansion of Wnt7a expression to the ventral ectoderm. Our data are compatible with Sp6 and Sp8 working together and in a dose-dependent manner as indispensable mediators of Wnt/βcatenin and Bmp signaling in the limb ectoderm. We suggest that the function of these factors links proximal-distal and dorsal-ventral patterning

Aspects of microbial communities in peatland carbon cycling under changing climate and land use pressures

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Finnish Peatland Society via the DOI in this record. Globally, major efforts are being made to restore peatlands to maximise their resilience to anthropogenic climate change, which puts continuous pressure on peatland ecosystems and modifies the geography of the environmental envelope that underpins peatland functioning. A probable effect of climate change is reduction in the waterlogged conditions that are key to peatland formation and continued accumulation of carbon (C) in peat. C sequestration in peatlands arises from a delicate imbalance between primary production and decomposition, and microbial processes are potentially pivotal in regulating feedbacks between environmental change and the peatland C cycle. Increased soil temperature, caused by climate warming or disturbance of the natural vegetation cover and drainage, may result in reductions of long-term C storage via changes in microbial community composition and metabolic rates. Moreover, changes in water table depth alter the redox state and hence have broad consequences for microbial functions, including effects on fungal and bacterial communities especially methanogens and methanotrophs. This article is a perspective review of the effects of climate change and ecosystem restoration on peatland microbial communities and the implications for C sequestration and climate regulation. It is authored by peatland scientists, microbial ecologists, land managers and non-governmental organisations who were attendees at a series of three workshops held at The University of Manchester (UK) in 2019–2020. Our review suggests that the increase in methane flux sometimes observed when water tables are restored is predicated on the availability of labile carbon from vegetation and the absence of alternative terminal electron acceptors. Peatland microbial communities respond relatively rapidly to shifts in vegetation induced by climate change and subsequent changes in the quantity and quality of below-ground C substrate inputs. Other consequences of climate change that affect peatland microbial communities and C cycling include alterations in snow cover and permafrost thaw. In the face of rapid climate change, restoration of a resilient microbiome is essential to sustaining the climate regulation functions of peatland systems. Technological developments enabling faster characterisation of microbial communities and functions support progress towards this goal, which will require a strongly interdisciplinary approach.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC

nSeP: immune and metabolic biomarkers for early detection of neonatal sepsis-protocol for a prospective multicohort study

Introduction Diagnosing neonatal sepsis is heavily dependent on clinical phenotyping as culture-positive body fluid has poor sensitivity, and existing blood biomarkers have poor specificity. A combination of machine learning, statistical and deep pathway biology analyses led to the identification of a tripartite panel of biologically connected immune and metabolic markers that showed greater than 99% accuracy for detecting bacterial infection with 100% sensitivity. The cohort study described here is designed as a large-scale clinical validation of this previous work. Methods and analysis This multicentre observational study will prospectively recruit a total of 1445 newborn infants (all gestations)—1084 with suspected early—or late-onset sepsis, and 361 controls—over 4 years. A small volume of whole blood will be collected from infants with suspected sepsis at the time of presentation. This sample will be used for integrated transcriptomic, lipidomic and targeted proteomics profiling. In addition, a subset of samples will be subjected to cellular phenotype and proteomic analyses. A second sample from the same patient will be collected at 24 hours, with an opportunistic sampling for stool culture. For control infants, only one set of blood and stool sample will be collected to coincide with clinical blood sampling. Along with detailed clinical information, blood and stool samples will be analysed and the information will be used to identify and validate the efficacy of immune-metabolic networks in the diagnosis of bacterial neonatal sepsis and to identify new host biomarkers for viral sepsis

Sound Signalling in Orthoptera

The sounds produced by orthopteran insects are very diverse. They are widely studied for the insight they give into acoustic behaviour and the biophysical aspects of sound production and hearing, as well as the transduction of sound to neural signals in the ear and the subsequent processing of information in the central nervous system. The study of sound signalling is a multidisciplinary area of research, with a strong physiological contribution. This review considers recent research in physiology and the links with related areas of acoustic work on the Orthoptera