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The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of blood biomarkers that can signify exercise-induced heat stress in hot conditions. Fourteen males completed two heat stress tests separated by 5–7 days. Venous blood was drawn pre- and post- heat stress for the concentration of normetanephrine, metanephrine, serum osmolality, copeptin, kidney-injury molecule 1, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. No biomarker, except copeptin, displayed systematic trial order bias (p≥0.05). Normetanephrine, copeptin and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin presented acceptable reliability (CV range: 0.9–14.3%), while greater variability was present in metanephrine, osmolality and kidney-injury molecule 1 (CV range: 28.6–43.2%). Normetanephrine exhibited the largest increase (p0.05). Normetanephrine, copeptin, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin demonstrated good reliability and sensitivity to an acute bout of heat stress. These biomarkers may be suitable for application in laboratory and field research to understand the efficacy of interventions that can attenuate the risk of thermal injury whilst exercising in the heat.

One of the key points of Pauli’s proof of the spin-statistics theorem is the principle of microcausality, which essentially states “that all physical quantities at finite distance exterior to the light cone (for | x o ′ − x o ″ | < | x ′ − x ″ | ) are commutable”. Indeed, Pauli was aware that if it were not valid then neither was his version of the spin-statistics theorem. In this presentation, we explore the relationship between entanglement and microcausality and point out that in the case of spin-singlet states, microcausality does not apply. Consequenly, we revise the spin statistics theorem to incorporate entanglement and to suggest some refinements to the axiomatic structure of quantum mechanics. Ironically, singlet states are SL(2,C) invariant as is the Minkowski metric of special relativity, although the singlet state is often used to convey “spooky action at a distance” as if it were in violation of special relativity, which it is not. We also pose the question whether the paradoxes associated with “entanglement” can be understood as a special case of Gödel’s theorem.

Introduction: Intravenous therapy and medicines (IVTM) are the most common invasive interventions in use in healthcare. Prescribed IVTM play an essential role in the treatment of illness, management of chronic conditions and in maintaining health and wellbeing. The intravenous (IV) route is the administration of concentrated medications (diluted or undiluted) directly into peripherally or centrally inserted vascular access devices. Medication safety is a key priority and best practice standards are required to guide the safe preparation and administration of IVTM. Methods: We will conduct a systematic review of the literature pertaining to the preparation and administration of intravenous therapy and medicines. Our search will include studies concerned with the preparation and/or administration of IVTM via peripheral or central vascular access devices. We will be guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) in this review. Literature will include all trial designs, national/international guidelines, and expert consensus opinion made available in English from 2009 to present day. Conclusions: We will synthesise the evidence concerning safe and effective preparation and administration of intravenous therapy and medicines to inform the development of a national guideline for healthcare professionals in Ireland. The availability of up-to-date, contemporaneous evidence-based practice standards will ensure quality and safety for service-users. Registration: This study has been submitted to PROSPERO and we are awaiting confirmation of registration.

OBJECTIVE The treatment of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) aims to suppress disease activity and prevent subsequent disease flare. This study sought to explore the association of early disease control with long-term outcomes to validate early disease control as an end point for future clinical trials in AAV. METHODS Data from 4 European Vasculitis Society inception clinical trials in AAV (1995-2002) and subsequent data on long-term outcomes from the trial data registry were studied. Clinical parameters in patients with AAV at baseline and at 3 and 6 months after diagnosis were assessed to study the long-term risk of death and end-stage renal failure (ESRF). At 6 months, outcomes were defined based on a disease status of either sustained remission (remission by 3 months, sustained to 6 months), late remission (remission after 3 months and by 6 months), relapsing disease (remission by 3 months but relapse by 6 months), or refractory disease (no remission by 6 months). RESULTS Of the 354 patients with AAV who were followed up for a median of 5.7 years, 46 (13%) developed ESRF, 66 (18.6%) died, and 89 (25.1%) had either died or developed ESRF. At 6 months, predictors of the composite end point of death or ESRF were as follows: age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.02, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1-1.05; P = 0.012), estimated glomerular filtration rate (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.95; P < 0.001), and disease status at 6 months (late remission, HR 2.94, 95% CI 1.1-7.85 [P = 0.031]; relapsing disease, HR 8.21, 95% CI 2.73-24.65 [P < 0.001]; refractory disease, HR 4.89, 95% CI 1.96-12.18 [P = 0.001]). Similar results were observed when these analyses were performed separately for death and for ESRF. CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that disease status at 3 and 6 months following the diagnosis of AAV may be predictive of the long-term risk of mortality and ESRF, and therefore these may be valid end points for induction trials in AAV. The current findings need to be validated in a larger data set.

The EPR paradox dates back to 1935 when Einstein et al., through the use of non commuting operators, proposed that quantum mechanics was not complete in that it suggested a `spooky action at a distance.' Later in 1964 John Bell was able to express the dilemma in a simple inequality involving spin-singlet states. If the inequality were satisfied then Einstein was correct and if it were violated then it favored the quantum mechanics point of view. In what follows, we present two approaches to Bell's inequality, and then offer an interpretation from the viewpoint of quantum mechanics based on the principle that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This is then combined with the properties of the $SU(2)$ group to give a more intuitive understanding of non-locality and spin entanglement from the perspective of the relativistic characteristics of rotations., Comment: Accepted for publication in J. of Phy. (Conf) as proceedings for IARD2018

Previous research into student teachers’ knowledge about language concluded that overall the picture was fairly bleak. Such research focused on the knowledge about language that the student teachers possessed when they moved from secondary school education into Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. However, few studies have investigated the impact of the increasing demands on teachers, made in curricular documents throughout the last 20 years, to improve students’ abilities in language and whether student teachers’ knowledge about language had improved as a result of these curricular imperatives. This article reports on research into perceived and actual levels of knowledge about language conducted in a university in Scotland with students training to be primary teachers and secondary English and modern language teachers. Findings reveal that student teachers’ levels of linguistic knowledge, as measured by the instrument employed in this study, are generally low contrasting with their own more posit...

Summary: • Metabolic control analysis allows the study of metabolic regulation. We applied both single‐ and double‐manipulation top‐down control analysis to examine the control of lipid accumulation in developing oilseed rape (Brassica napus) embryos. • The biosynthetic pathway was conceptually divided into two blocks of reactions (fatty acid biosynthesis (Block A), lipid assembly (Block B)) connected by a single system intermediate, the acyl‐coenzyme A (acyl‐CoA) pool. Single manipulation used exogenous oleate. Triclosan was used to inhibit specifically Block A, whereas diazepam selectively manipulated flux through Block B. • Exogenous oleate inhibited the radiolabelling of fatty acids from [1‐14C]acetate, but stimulated that from [U‐14C]glycerol into acyl lipids. The calculation of group flux control coefficients showed that c. 70% of the metabolic control was in the lipid assembly block of reactions. Monte Carlo simulations gave an estimation of the error of the resulting group flux control coefficients as 0.27 ± 0.06 for Block A and 0.73 ± 0.06 for Block B. • The two methods of control analysis gave very similar results and showed that Block B reactions were more important under our conditions. This contrasts notably with data from oil palm or olive fruit cultures and is important for efforts to increase oilseed rape lipid yields.

Debate around the use of ability grouping in schools, resonates across national boundaries as concerns rise around the possible negative impact on young people, particularly those in already disadvantaged groups. In this paper, a survey focussing on primary schools in Scotland established the extent to which some form of ability grouping has emerged within classes dealing with children from 5 to 12 years of age, the rationale behind the decisions made and the issues and challenges faced by schools.

Background Multimorbidity affects up to one quarter of primary care populations. It is associated with reduced quality of life, an increased risk of mental health difficulties and increased healthcare utilisation. Functional decline is defined as developing difficulties with activities of daily living and is independently associated with poorer health outcomes. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the association between multimorbidity and functional decline and to what extent multimorbidity predicts future functional decline. Methods A systematic literature search (1990-2014) and narrative analysis was conducted. Inclusion criteria: Population; Community-dwelling adults (≥18 years), Risk; Multimorbidity defined as the presence of ≥2 chronic medical conditions in an individual, Primary outcome; Physical functional decline measured using a validated instrument, Study design; cross-sectional or cohort studies. The following databases were included: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library and the International Research Community on Multimorbidity (IRCMo) publication list. Methodological quality assessment of included studies was conducted with a suitable risk of bias tool. Results A total of 37 studies were eligible for inclusion (28 cross-sectional studies and 9 cohort studies). The majority of cross-sectional studies (n = 24/28) demonstrated a consistent association between multimorbidity and functional decline. Twelve of these studies reported that increasing numbers of chronic condition counts were associated with worsening functional decline. Nine cohort studies included 14,133 study participants with follow-up periods ranging from one to six years. The majority (n = 5) found that multimorbidity predicted functional decline. Of the five studies that reported the impact of increasing numbers of conditions, all reported greater functional decline with increasing numbers of conditions. One study examined disease severity and found that this also predicted greater functional decline. Overall, cohort studies were of good methodological quality but were mixed in terms of participants, multimorbidity definitions, follow-up duration, and outcome measures. Conclusions The available evidence indicates that multimorbidity predicts future functional decline, with greater decline in patients with higher numbers of conditions and greater disease severity. This review highlights the importance of considering physical functioning when designing interventions and systems of care for patients with multimorbidity, particularly for patients with higher numbers of conditions and greater disease severity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-015-0355-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This paper reports on a study into collaborative partnerships between community educators and the variety of partners with whom they work. It suggests that, despite a policy imperative promoting partnership working, collaboration is only one of many solutions to the problem of delivering effective services and argues that there are a number of circumstances when it is best avoided. It contends that partnerships need to build a meta-strategy that is designed to allow all relevant interests to explore possible ways forward whilst, at the same time (a) advancing their own mission, and (b) building up the capacity (trust, understanding, synergy) to engage in effective and sustained collaborative working. Finally, it is concluded that the power relations in collaborative partnerships are critical and partners must take account of the exclusionary and inclusionary practices often built on deficit ideologies that these generate.

In this article, the rotational invariance of entangled quantum states is investigated as a possible cause of the Pauli exclusion principle. First, it is shown that a certain class of rotationally invariant states can only occur in pairs. This is referred to as the coupling principle. This in turn suggests a natural classification of quantum systems into those containing coupled states and those that do not. Surprisingly, it would seem that Fermi–Dirac statistics follows as a consequence of this coupling while the Bose–Einstein follows by breaking it. In Sec. 5, the above approach is related to Pauli's original spin-statistics theorem and finally in the last two sections, a theoretical justification, based on Clebsch–Gordan coefficients and the experimental evidence respectively, is presented.

This paper is intended as a contribution to the debate and evaluation activity which in the UK is following Dearing's recommendation that more work experience should be provided for more higher education students. The paper gives an instrument for researching students’ perceptions of the roles their workplace supervisors play. Two surveys using the instrument and involving a total of 669 students on different courses in the field of teacher education are reported. In the surveys, the responses of many students suggested that they had received ‘good’ (i.e. theoretically desirable) supervision in the workplace but this was not the case for all students. There were for example clear differences across courses and, in addition, the course whose students appeared to have experienced the least desirable kind of supervision subsequently suffered the highest rate of student drop‐out. In contrast, students who had apparently received the ‘best’ kind of workplace supervision tended to be happier with their...

This research note re-analyses the grades received by primary teachers (PGCE and BEd trained) graduating from one institution in 1988 and also analyses grades from students graduating from the same college and courses in 1996. The results suggest that the two courses are producing teachers whose relative strengths are different.

The study described in this paper reports findings in line with previous studies that discern more support than challenge in the area of teacher education concerned with mentoring of student teachers by teachers. Thus, the teachers say that support was their main emphasis, and challenge a lesser emphasis when they worked with the student teachers. Their students, however, seem unaware even of the amount of challenge which the teachers thought they offered. The paper discusses these findings and puts forward an interpretation based on a comparison drawn from the field of colour perception. The paper's conclusion, in drawing attention to the effects which support and challenge might have on one another when they are in combination, endorses the view that it is important not only to study the nature of challenge and support in themselves but also to study the relationship between them.

Initial teacher training courses throughout the United Kingdom at present have been or are being changed in various ways which enlarge the role of schools and make new demands on the school teachers who act as mentors to student teachers in the schools. Despite the size of this change, it can be quite difficult to find evidence about its effects. Edwards (1994) suggested that one reason for this lack of evidence is that there has been little government support for obtaining it. As Edwards points out, however, the government in one part of the United Kingdom, namely Scotland, did ensure that evidence about the mentor teacher idea was obtained before there was a decision about applying the scheme across the country. The decision that it should be nationally applied was reported in this journal's ‘Notes and News’ section in Spring 1995, under the heading of ‘Introduction of a mentor scheme in Scotland’. This paper summarises the main outcomes of the pilot study which informed that decision. The pape...

Issues have been raised in The Cambridge Journal of Education by Edwards and by Booth about how the work of schools and colleges in initial teacher training can be complementary. In the study reported here, arrangements were made for teachers to spend time mentoring students. The students reported feeling the benefit of this. Although the mentors felt that even more time was required for mentoring than was officially allocated, they were positive about the value of mentoring. Their self‐reports showed that they had perceived themselves as playing roles which could be viewed as complementary to, rather than as duplicating, the roles of tutors. Accordingly, the study brings evidence to bear on the current debate about complementarity in the roles of colleges and schools in initial teacher training

The context of the survey reported in this paper is the new policy about teacher education in the UK. The policy is described with examples from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Scotland is farthest forward with change. The survey which is reported is of expectations among the first students enrolled for teacher education under the new arrangements in Scotland. The paper discusses the survey's findings in the light of current debate among researchers about the contributions of schools and colleges to initial teacher education.

In the eyes of many, the steel city of Gary, Indiana, entered a period of decline in the middle of the twentieth century. The once great city was seemingly racked by job loss, crime, racial division, or moral decay. Which of these caused the decline of the city depended upon the perspective of the story’s teller. Each narrative of decline contained a different moment where the city went wrong and it began to decay. For some it was the moral decay of the 1950s, for others it was the rise of black power and politics in the 1960s, for still others it was the white backlash against civil rights in the 1970s. Some saw a microcosm of America, some saw a dangerous cauldron of race and ethnicity. The source of decline and the origins of the urban crisis were largely in the eye of the beholder. The stories people chose to tell about Gary mattered because for much of the twentieth century, Gary was at the center of American narratives about industrialism. These were outsider narratives of decline read onto the Indiana steel city because Gary represented larger debates. People read onto Gary their changing expectations and anxieties about industry and industrial spaces. This article traces the changing attitudes outsiders held toward Gary from the middle of the twentieth century through the period of deindustrialization at the end of the century and examines American narratives about deindustrialization and urban decline.

In a previous article a relationship was established between the linearized metrics of General Relativity associated with geodesics and the Dirac Equation of quantum mechanics. In this paper the extension of that result to arbitrary curves is investigated. The Dirac equation is derived and shown to be related to the Lie derivative of the momentum along the curve. In addition,the equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation associated with the metric and the wave equation associated with the Hamiltonian is then shown not to commute with the Dirac operator. Finally, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is shown to be a consequence of geodesic motion., Comment: 17 pages

A paradigm shift distinguishes general relativity from classical mechanics. In general relativity the energy-momentum tensor is the effective cause of the ontological space-time curvature and vice-versa, while in classical physics, the structure of space-time is treated as an accidental cause, serving only as a backdrop against which the laws of physics unfold. This split in turn is inherited by quantum mechanics, which is usually developed by changing classical (including special relativity) Hamiltonians into quantum wave equations.

An assessment of the transcript abundance of several fatty acid and lipid biosynthetic genes has been made. Total RNA was extracted from embryos at different stages of development and mRNA was analysed by quantitative Northern blots and used to probe cDNA arrays. Central fatty acid synthase components were present at different steady-state levels, but at constant ratios throughout development; ancillary components were generally expressed at higher levels, but at constant ratios over the period of maximum fatty acid biosynthesis.

Plants with an antisense construct to β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein reductase have reduced seed and leaf fatty acid contents and show distinct phenotypes, including leaf curl, stunted growth and wrinkled seeds. The carbon resource allocation is altered in both of these tissues. In leaves there is an inability to synthesize transient starch and in seeds embryogenesis is foreshortened and storage proteins accumulate prematurely.

Many students in Britain, especially those training for the professions, do parts of their courses in the form of placements in the field. Most such placements are compulsory. During placements students are the joint concern of their tutors on the campus and their mentors in the field. The placements on the different courses seem dramatically different. For example, some placements are in primary schools, some in hospital wards, some in factory pharmacies and some in electrical power stations. This study shows, however, that despite such obvious differences in the placement settings, student feelings about placement can be remarkably similar. For staff whose courses include placement there are issues which they could usefully discuss in common.

Brassica napus cv Westar plants were transformed with 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase (KR) in antisense orientation, driven by either the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter or a seed-specific acyl carrier protein promoter to determine the effects on plant productivity and on the activity of other fatty acid synthase (FAS) components. In plants with altered KR activity, total seed yield was reduced in all cases. In less severely affected plant lines, seeds had a normal appearance and composition but the yield of seeds was reduced by approximately 50%. In more severely affected lines, reductions in both seed fatty acid content and the number of seeds produced per plant were evident, resulting in a 90% reduction in fatty acid synthesized per plant. These phenotypes were independent of the promoter used. In severely affected lines, a large proportion of seeds showed precocious germination, and these had a reduced oleate content and increased levels of polyunsaturated 18-carbon fatty acids, compared with normal seeds of the same line. This reduction in 18:1 fatty acids was mimicked on imbibition of seeds with a normal appearance, indicating a preferential use of oleate moieties in precocious germination events. The reduction in activity of KR was mirrored for a second fatty acid synthase component, enoyl-ACP reductase, indicating a mechanism to maintain the ratio of fatty acid synthase components throughout embryogenesis.

We have generated antisense plants of Brassica napus, targeting either the cytoplasmic Type I acetyl-CoA carboxylase or the β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein reductase of the Type II dissociable fatty acid synthase, in order to investigate the importance of these components in regulating lipid metabolism in plants. Using a range of down-regulated plants, it has become clear that down-regulation of these genes also causes down-regulation of other components of lipid metabolism, at the activity, translational and transcriptional levels. These plants exhibit effects, not immediately predicted, on oil yield and carbon resource allocation in seeds.

In plants, fatty acid and complex lipid synthesis requires the correct spatial and temporal activity of many gene products. Quantitative northern analysis showed that mRNA for the biotin carboxylase subunit of heteromeric acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase, fatty acid synthase components (3-oxoacyl-acyl carrier protein [ACP] reductase, enoyl-ACP reductase, and acyl-ACP thioesterase), and stearoyl-ACP desaturase accumulate in a coordinate manner duringBrassica napus embryogenesis. The mRNAs were present in a constant molar stoichiometric ratio. Transcript abundance of mRNAs for the catalytic proteins was found to be similar, whereas the number of ACP transcripts was approximately 7-fold higher. The peak of mRNA accumulation of all products was between 20 and 29 d after flowering; by 42 d after flowering, the steady-state levels of all transcripts fell to about 5% of their peak levels, which suggests that the mRNAs have similar stability and kinetics of synthesis. Biotin carboxylase was found to accumulate to a maximum of 59 fmol mg−1 total RNA in embryos, which is in general agreement with the value of 170 fmol mg−1 determined for Arabidopsis siliques (J.S. Ke, T.N. Wen, B.J. Nikolau, E.S. Wurtele [2000] Plant Physiol 122: 1057–1071). Embryos accumulated between 3- and 15-fold more transcripts per unit total RNA than young leaf tissue; the lower quantity of leaf 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase mRNA was confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. This is in conflict with analysis of B. napus transcripts using an Arabidopsis microarray (T. Girke, J. Todd, S. Ruuska, J. White, C. Benning, J. Ohlrogge [2000] Plant Physiol 124: 1570–1581) where similar leaf to seed levels of fatty acid synthase component mRNAs were reported.

In young expanding leaves of Brassica napus, the demand for fatty acids is met by de novo biosynthesis of fatty acid synthase components, as demonstrated by 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase. Using a novel radio-chemical assay for 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase and specific antibodies, we have demonstrated a direct relationship between the increase in activity and synthesis of polypeptide. The maximum rate of fatty acid synthesis was between 4 and 7 days post-emergence, but slowed after this point even though 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase activity was high. Leaf area continued to expand in a linear fashion after reductions in both enzyme activity and the rate of fatty acid synthesis.

In most text books of mechanics, Newton's laws or Hamilton's equations of motion are first written down and then solved based on initial conditions to determine the constants of the motions and to describe the trajectories of the particles. In this essay, we take a different starting point. We begin with the metrics of general relativity and show how they can be used to construct by inspection constants of motion, which can then be used to write down the equations of the trajectories. This will be achieved by deriving a Hamiltonian-Jacobi function from the metric and showing that its existence requires all of the above mentioned properties. The article concludes by showing that a consistent theory of such functions also requires the need for a universal measure of time which can be identified with the worldtime parameter, first introduced by Steuckelberg and later developed by Horwitz and Piron.

An interesting case of thrombosis of the pulmonary artery stem and its main branches in a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis is presented with a discussion of the pertinent findings and observations.

This paper describes a technique for measuring nurse students' feelings about their placements. The method is a semantic differential scale. The scale is robust and we have researched it over a long period with various professions who include placement in their training. It has not been used in nurse education before, but will be a very useful resource indeed to nurse teachers who want to know how their students feel about their placements. The scale gives a general picture of how students feel about a placement generally; it will also show you, more specifically, how students feel about the value, relevance, breadth, liveliness and organisation of their placement. The paper describes how to administer the scale and how to score the results. It also gives some results in graphic (profiled) form, as well as in tables, in order to demonstrate the method and its possibilities in the field of nursing education.