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Additional file 1 Supplemental Table A. Patients by health system grouped by enrollment.

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While teaching is largely a White, middle-class profession, some teachers, including White teachers, come from low socio-economic backgrounds. This paper examines how one working-class pre-service teacher in Australia experiences studying in a predominantly middle-class teacher-education program. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper seeks to explore what we can learn from the reflections of a female pre-service teacher who is a member of this much smaller group of working-class teachers and who brings to her teaching the habitus and life history that aligns with many of her students and the low socio-economic communities in which she teaches.

This chapter argues that discussions around quality teachers and quality teaching have become so politicised that the mere mention of quality fuels immediate debate about definitions and measurement. The lack of precision about the use of the keyword quality causes confusion and it is often linked to measurable outcomes across a range of basic skills. Many aspects of the quality teacher/quality teaching debate are closely tied to broader neoliberal discourses that lead to an over-emphasis on individual teacher quality. Neoliberal 'quality teacher' discourses in Australia are manifested through standardised teaching matrices such as the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and testable outcomes, seen through prescribed curriculum and literacy and numeracy testing. One of the main concerns about the 'quality teacher' debate is how it has become less about social justice and increasingly linked to economic arguments. The 'quality teacher' discourse focuses on the individual teacher.

Clinician study information and informed consent form. (PDF 160 kb)

Patient study information and informed consent form. (PDF 129 kb)

Patient post-encounter survey. (PDF 1449 kb)

SPIRIT checklist. (PDF 129 kb)

Clinician post-encounter survey. (PDF 42 kb)

The Anticoagulation Choice conversation tool. This conversation tool is an online tool intended for use by a patient and clinician together in a clinical encounter in which they are discussing how to respond to the patientâ s risk of stroke due to nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF). The tool is intended to provide a supportive structure and information that patient and clinician may draw on during clinical conversations in various settings e.g. primary care, emergency department, cardiology and other specialty practices. Details on the full developmental process of the ANTICOAGULATION CHOICE conversation tool is described elsewhere (Hargraves et al, The Lion and the Snake: Design in Support of Shared Decision Making in Atrial Fibrillation. Manuscript in preparation). (PDF 742 kb)

Bryon W Petschow, Bruce Burnett, Audrey L Shaw, Eric M Weaver, Gerald L Klein Entera Health, Inc., Cary, NC, USA Abstract: The health and performance of the gastrointestinal tract is influenced by the interaction of a variety of factors, including diet, nutritional status, genetics, environment, stress, the intestinal microbiota, immune status, and gut barrier. Disruptions in one or more of these factors can lead to enteropathy or intestinal disorders that are known to occur in concert with certain disease states or conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Nutritional support in the form of a medical food along with current therapies could help manage the adverse effects of enteropathy, which include effects on nutrient digestion, absorption, and metabolism, as well as utilization of nutrients from foodstuffs. Numerous studies have demonstrated that oral administration of plasma- or serum-derived protein concentrates containing high levels of immunoglobulins can improve weight management, normalize gut barrier function, and reduce the severity of enteropathy in animals. Recent trials in humans provide preliminary evidence that a serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate is safe and improves symptoms, nutritional status, and various biomarkers associated with enteropathy in patients with HIV infection or diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. This review summarizes data from preclinical and clinical studies with immunoglobulin-containing plasma/serum protein concentrates, with a focus on the postulated mode of action of serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate for patients with enteropathy. Keywords: bovine immunoglobulins, nutrient, gut barrier, microbiota

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health convened the Cell Therapy for Lung Disease Working Group on November 13-14, 2012, to review and formulate recommendations for future research directions. The workshop brought together investigators studying basic mechanisms and the roles of cell therapy in preclinical models of lung injury and pulmonary vascular disease, with clinical trial experts in cell therapy for cardiovascular diseases and experts from the NHLBI Production Assistance for Cell Therapy program. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the current status of basic investigations in lung cell therapy, to identify some of the scientific gaps in current knowledge regarding the potential roles and mechanisms of cell therapy in the treatment of lung diseases, and to develop recommendations to the NHLBI and the research community on scientific priorities and practical steps that would lead to first-in-human trials of lung cell therapy.

This paper explores the use of guided narrative reflection as a strategy used with high-achieving non-Indigenous pre-service teachers in Australia on teaching practicum. We suggest that reflections (and subsequent dialogue) can provide opportunities for non-Indigenous preservice teachers to re-think their beliefs and actions in ways that may intervene in the teaching that often causes educational disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic and slowly progressive disease for which biomarkers may be able to provide a more rapid indication of therapeutic responses to therapy than is currently available; this could accelerate and facilitate OA drug discovery and development programs. The goal of this document is to provide a summary and guide to the application of in vitro (biochemical and other soluble) biomarkers in the development of drugs for OA and to outline and stimulate a research agenda that will further this goal.The Biomarkers Working Group representing experts in the field of OA biomarker research from both academia and industry developed this consensus document between 2007 and 2009 at the behest of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International Federal Drug Administration initiative (OARSI FDA initiative).This document summarizes definitions and classification systems for biomarkers, the current outcome measures used in OA clinical trials, applications and potential utility of biomarkers for development of OA therapeutics, the current state of qualification of OA-related biomarkers, pathways for biomarker qualification, critical needs to advance the use of biomarkers for drug development, recommendations regarding practices and clinical trials, and a research agenda to advance the science of OA-related biomarkers.Although many OA-related biomarkers are currently available they exist in various states of qualification and validation. The biomarkers that are likely to have the earliest beneficial impact on clinical trials fall into two general categories, those that will allow targeting of subjects most likely to either respond and/or progress (prognostic value) within a reasonable and manageable time frame for a clinical study (for instance within 1-2 years for an OA trial), and those that provide early feedback for preclinical decision-making and for trial organizers that a drug is having the desired biochemical effect. As in vitro biomarkers are increasingly investigated in the context of specific drug treatments, advances in the field can be expected that will lead to rapid expansion of the list of available biomarkers with increasing understanding of the molecular processes that they represent.

This paper draws upon the current situation within Japanese Higher Education. In particular the paper focuses on educational reforms and how they relate to the notions of Yutori Kyoiku which constituted a major attempt by Japanese education to develop individual student capacity. A clear subtext of the recent neo-liberal reform agenda is a desire to incorporated free-market ideals into the Japanese educational system. This paper raises several important problems connected to the reforms such as the decrease in classroom hours, changes to the contents of textbooks and a growing discrepancy in academic skills between students in different localities. These education reforms have impacted on notions of Yutori Kyoiku through the continuation of nationally standardized testing and changes directed at controlling the practices of classroom teachers. While acknowledging the current Japanese cabinet’s (DP) education policy has been inherited from an earlier LDP government, the paper points to similarities between the current reforms and the iconic Meiji era reforms of the late 1800s.

Robert M Levy1, Lakshmi Pillai2, Bruce P Burnett21Department of Clinical Development, 2Department of Medical Education and Scientific Affairs, Primus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ, USAAbstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major age-related, chronic disease in the United States that results in significant morbidity and functional loss as well as substantial financial outlay. Dietary habits have been shown to influence the metabolic and inflammatory processes involved in OA. For example, a lower intake of antioxidants is associated with increased incidence of OA while an increased intake of flavonoids and omega-3 polyunsaturated acids decreases production of inflammatory mediators and the incidence of OA. These observations argue that dietary habits contribute to the metabolic and inflammatory etiology of chronic diseases such as OA. Flavocoxid is a botanically-based formula composed of concentrated and standardized flavonoids from the botanicals Scutellaria baicalensis and Acacia catechu. Flavonoids constitute a large class of compounds known as polyphenols, ubiquitous in plants and consumed regularly in the human diet. Flavocoxid was developed by extensive high throughput screening and enzymatic testing and two specific flavonoids, catechin and baicalin, were identified that possess potent anti-inflammatory properties. Flavocoxid acts by managing both the cyclooxygenase and 5-lipoxygenase pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism thought to underlie the pathological processes of OA. Preclinical and clinical evidence suggests that flavocoxid provides effective and safe dietary management of the underlying metabolic processes of OA.Keywords: cyclooxygenase, 5-lipoxygenase, inflammation, flavonoids

This article examines the accounts of actions undertaken by Early Career Teachers (ECTs) recently graduated from a social justice-oriented Initial Teacher Education (ITE) program and employed in complex school settings with high levels of student diversity, disadvantage, and poverty. The study drew on theories of teacher agency and agency more broadly to examine the workshadowing observations of the teachers’ practice in classrooms augmented by their reflective accounts in interviews. The study found that the ECTs’ agency, or contextualised social action, can be conceptualised as temporally embedded social engagement directed at addressing their students’ cultural, social and academic needs. The teachers drew on past learnings from their ITE program, committed to future-oriented innovations in teaching, and made in-the-present decisions about actions to resolve emergent contingencies such as resource shortages. We argue that these understandings are usefully enhanced by recognising contingency, consciousness, criticality and creativity as additional features of the teachers’ deliberative programs of action Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This chapter argues that discussions around quality teachers and quality teaching have become so politicised that the mere mention of quality fuels immediate debate about definitions and measurement. The lack of precision about the use of the keyword quality causes confusion and it is often linked to measurable outcomes across a range of basic skills. Many aspects of the quality teacher/quality teaching debate are closely tied to broader neoliberal discourses that lead to an over-emphasis on individual teacher quality. Neoliberal ‘quality teacher’ discourses in Australia are manifested through standardised teaching matrices such as the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and testable outcomes, seen through prescribed curriculum and literacy and numeracy testing. One of the main concerns about the ‘quality teacher’ debate is how it has become less about social justice and increasingly linked to economic arguments. The ‘quality teacher’ discourse focuses on the individual teacher.

This article explores how early-career teachers working in high-poverty schools in Australia account for their decision-making during critical classroom incidents. Classroom management solutions are problematized by investigating how two teachers take up particular positions, make decisions, and enact what they believe to be ‘quality teaching’ in context. Through a combination of interviews and observations of teachers ‘in situ’, we examine what these teachers do, why they do it, what informs their decisions, and how they reflect on their actions. The complexity of teachers’ work in schools located in high-poverty areas is highlighted. We argue that both early-career teachers prefer to position themselves within ‘pastoral’, in contrast to ‘disciplinarian’, discourses, as part of constituting the school as a site of possibility and teachers who advocate for youth growing up in poverty. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Improving the quality of education for young people growing up in high poverty and culturally diverse communities is an escalating problem in affluent nations with increasing gaps between the wealthy and the poor. Improving the quality of teachers and improving the quality of teaching are amongst the prominent solutions offered to redress the differences between student academic performances related to socio-economic family circumstances. This article examines the different discourses of 'quality' in relation to the preparation of pre-service teachers to work in high poverty schools such as graduates of the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools pre-service teacher education program. Key tenets of 'quality teacher' and 'quality teaching' solutions are summarized along with their critiques. An alternative approach starting from a position of social justice is considered. This approach situates the work of teaching within high poverty school communities and considers what pre-service teachers need to understand and learn to do with respect to context. Refereed/Peer-reviewed