What makes a good induction supporter?

The Teacher Induction Scheme, introduced in 2002, marked the first major change to new teacher induction in Scotland in 37 years. This paper gives an outline of these changes set against developments in mentoring theory in the wider context. It argues that the personal qualities of the induction supporter are crucial to developing an effective mentoring relationship. The views of student teachers are used to describe preferred characteristics of effective mentors and effective induction provision. A person specification is created by the comments of the "Class of 2002" — the first probationer teachers to have taken part in the Scheme

Mineralogy of Juventae Chasma: Sulfates in the light‐toned mounds, mafic minerals in the bedrock, and hydrated silica and hydroxylated ferric sulfate on the plateau

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95351/1/jgre2657.pd

Executive function in Williams and Down syndromes

Williams (WS) and Down (DS) syndromes are characterised by roughly opposing ability profiles. Relative verbal strengths and visuospatial difficulties have been reported in those with WS, while expressive language difficulties have been observed in individuals with DS. Few investigations into the executive function (EF) skills of these groups have examined the effect of verbal/visuospatial task type on performance. Analogous verbal and visuospatial measures were administered to these populations within four EF domains: executive-loaded working memory (ELWM), inhibition, fluency and set-shifting. Performance in both groups was compared to that of typically developing (TD) children using regression techniques controlling for potentially influential cognitive/developmental factors. Individuals with WS showed the expected relative visuospatial difficulties, as indicated by poorer performance than TD individuals, on tests of ELWM and fluency. Individuals with DS displayed the expected relative verbal difficulty in the domain of set-shifting. In addition, each population showed pervasive deficits across modality in one domain; ELWM for individuals with DS, and inhibition for individuals with WS. Individuals with WS and DS showed EF difficulties in comparison to a TD group, but, their executive performance was affected by EF task type (verbal/visuospatial) and EF domain in different ways. While the findings indicated that EF in these populations is characterised by a range of specific strengths and weaknesses, it was also suggested that the relative verbal/visuospatial strengths associated with each population do not consistently manifest across EF domains. Lastly, syndrome specificity was indicated by the differences in groups’ performance patterns

Differential protein profiling as a potential multi-marker approach for TSE diagnosis

Rona Barron - ORCID: 0000-0003-4512-9177 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4512-9177This "proof of concept" study, examines the use of differential protein expression profiling using surface enhanced laser desorption and ionisationtime of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF) for the diagnosis of TSE disease. Spectral output from all proteins selectively captured from individual murine brain homogenate samples, are compared as "profiles" in groups of infected and non-infected animals. Differential protein expression between groups is thus highlighted and statistically significant protein "peaks" used to construct a panel of disease specific markers. Studies at both terminal stages of disease and throughout the time course of disease have shown a disease specific protein profile or "disease fingerprint" which could be used to distinguish between groups of TSE infected and uninfected animals at an early time point of disease. Results Our results show many differentially expressed proteins in diseased and control animals, some at early stages of disease. Three proteins identified by SELDI-TOF analysis were verified by immunohistochemistry in brain tissue sections. We demonstrate that by combining the most statistically significant changes in expression, a panel of markers can be constructed that can distinguish between TSE diseased and normal animals. Conclusion Differential protein expression profiling has the potential to be used for the detection of disease in TSE infected animals. Having established that a "training set" of potential markers can be constructed, more work would be required to further test the specificity and sensitivity of the assay in a "testing set". Based on these promising results, further studies are being performed using blood samples from infected sheep to assess the potential use of SELDI-TOF as a pre-mortem blood based diagnostic.https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-9-1889pubpub

Determination of Unbound Partition Coefficient and in Vitro-in Vivo Extrapolation for SLC13A Transporter-Mediated Uptake.

ABSTRACT Unbound partition coefficient (K puu ) is important to an understanding of the asymmetric free drug distribution of a compound between cells and medium in vitro, as well as between tissue and plasma in vivo, especially for transporter-mediated processes. K puu was determined for a set of compounds from the SLC13A family that are inhibitors and substrates of transporters in hepatocytes and transportertransfected cell lines. Enantioselectivity was observed, with (R)-enantiomers achieving much higher K puu (>4) than the (S)-enantiomers (<1) in human hepatocytes and SLC13A5-transfected human embryonic 293 cells. The intracellular free drug concentration correlated directly with in vitro pharmacological activity rather than the nominal concentration in the assay because of the high K puu mediated by SLC13A5 transporter uptake. Delivery of the diacid PF-06649298 directly or via hydrolysis of the ethyl ester prodrug PF-06757303 resulted in quite different K puu values in human hepatocytes (K puu of 3 for diacid versus 59 for prodrug), which was successfully modeled on the basis of passive diffusion, active uptake, and conversion rate from ester to diacid using a compartmental model. K puu values changed with drug concentrations; lower values were observed at higher concentrations possibly owing to a saturation of transporters. Michaelis-Menten constant (K m ) of SLC13A5 was estimated to be 24 mM for PF-06649298 in human hepatocytes. In vitro K puu obtained from rat suspension hepatocytes supplemented with 4% fatty acid free bovine serum albumin showed good correlation with in vivo K puu of liver-to-plasma, illustrating the potential of this approach to predict in vivo K puu from in vitro systems

Microdissection: A method developed to investigate mechanisms involved in transmissible spongiform encephalopathy pathogenesis

BACKGROUND: The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a group of neurodegenerative diseases affecting both human and animals. The neuroanatomical changes which occur in the central nervous system (CNS) of TSE infected animals include vacuolation, gliosis, neuronal loss and the deposition of a disease specific protein, PrP(Sc). Experimental murine models of scrapie, a TSE of sheep, have revealed that pathology may be confined to specific brain areas with targeting of particular neuronal subsets depending on route of injection and scrapie isolate. To assess the biochemical changes which are taking place in these targeted areas it was necessary to develop a reliable sampling procedure (microdissection) which could be used for a variety of tests such as western blotting and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. METHODS: The method described is for the microdissection of murine brains. To assess the usefulness of this dissection technique for producing similar sample types for analysis by various down-stream biochemical techniques, the areas dissected were analysed for PrP(Sc )by western blotting and compared to immunocytochemical (ICC) techniques. RESULTS: Results show that the method generates samples yielding a consistent protein content which can be analysed for PrP(Sc). The areas in which PrP(Sc )is found by western blotting compares well with localisation visualised by immunocytochemistry. CONCLUSION: The microdisssection method described can be used to generate samples suitable for a range of biochemical techniques. Using these samples a range of assays can be carried out which will help to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying TSE pathogenesis. The method would also be useful for any study requiring the investigation of discrete areas within the murine brain

Recombination Resulting in Virulence Shift in Avian Influenza Outbreak, Chile

Influenza A viruses occur worldwide in wild birds and are occasionally associated with outbreaks in commercial chickens and turkeys. However, avian influenza viruses have not been isolated from wild birds or poultry in South America. A recent outbreak in chickens of H7N3 low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) occurred in Chile. One month later, after a sudden increase in deaths, H7N3 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus was isolated. Sequence analysis of all eight genes of the LPAI virus and the HPAI viruses showed minor differences between the viruses except at the hemagglutinin (HA) cleavage site. The LPAI virus had a cleavage site similar to other low pathogenic H7 viruses, but the HPAI isolates had a 30 nucleotide insert. The insertion likely occurred by recombination between the HA and nucleoprotein genes of the LPAI virus, resulting in a virulence shift. Sequence comparison of all eight gene segments showed the Chilean viruses were also distinct from all other avian influenza viruses and represent a distinct South American clade

Using developmental trajectories to examine verbal and visuospatial short-term memory development in children and adolescents with Williams and Down syndromes

Williams (WS) and Down (DS) syndromes have been associated with specifically compromised short-term memory (STM) subsystems. Individuals with WS have shown impairments in visuospatial STM, while individuals with DS have often shown problems with the recall of verbal material. However, studies have not usually compared the development of STM skills in these domains, in these populations. The present study employed a cross sectional developmental trajectories approach, plotting verbal and visuospatial STM performance against more general cognitive and chronological development, to investigate how the domain-specific skills of individuals with WS and DS may change as development progresses, as well as whether the difference between STM skill domains increases, in either group, as development progresses. Typically developing children, of broadly similar cognitive ability to the clinical groups, were also included. Planned between- and within group comparisons were carried out. Individuals with WS and DS both showed the domain specific STM weaknesses in overall performance that were expected based on the respective cognitive profiles. However, skills in both groups developed, according to general cognitive development, at similar rates to those of the TD group. In addition, no significant developmental divergence between STM domains was observed in either clinical group according to mental age or chronological age, although the general pattern of findings indicated that the influence of the latter variable across STM domains, particularly in WS, might merit further investigation