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Objectives: Our aims were to examine whether an experiential course for care partners of people living with dementia, Empowered Conversations (EC), was acceptable to participants and to explore participants' perceptions of the impact of the course upon their communicative interactions. EC is based on an integrative model derived from psychological and linguistic theory and empirical evidence. EC is based on mentalisation theory, perceptual control theory and linguistic theory (The Communicative Impact Model). Methods: Qualitative data were collected via 28 semistructured interviews. Framework analysis was used to analyse data. Results: Three superordinate themes, 'improved communication', 'improved well-being' and 'support through others' were identified. Twenty-seven out of the 28 participants described feeling that they were able to better connect with the person living with dementia that they were supporting through attending EC. Conclusions: The findings indicated that EC was acceptable and beneficial to care partners. Care partners developed a range of strategies and understandings that enabled them to communicate better with the person they were supporting, enhanced well- being and relationships, as well as developing social networks. This is the first qualitative study to examine a psychosocial intervention for care partners of people living with dementia using a non- CBT framework and indicates that perceived control could influence how care partners respond to stress and difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of educational progress and outcomes of pupils is important to all concerned with education. This includes testing which is undertaken for accountability and award bearing purposes. This article examines how students with special educational needs and disability (SEND) are included in assessment. An “inclusive assessment” framework is outlined based around three core features: (1) all students are included and benefit from assessment; (2) assessments are accessible and appropriate for the diverse range of children in the education system; and (3) the full breadth of the curriculum is assessed (including curriculum areas of particular relevance to students with SEND). Assessment policies and practice in three countries (England, Ireland and the US) are drawn upon to demonstrate how the framework usefully enables between-country comparisons and within-country analysis. This analysis shows that in comparison to Ireland, the US and England have highly developed system-based approaches to assessment which seek to “include all” (feature 1) and be “accessible and appropriate” (feature 2). However, the analysis highlights that a consequence of such assessment approaches is the narrowing of the curriculum around topics that are assessed (most notably literacy and mathematics). Such approaches therefore may be at the expense of wider curriculum areas that have value for all students, but often of particular value for those with SEND (feature 3). It is argued that within such systems there may be a danger of neglecting the third feature of the inclusive assessment framework, i.e. ensuring that the full breadth of the curriculum is assessed. A consequence of such an omission could be a failure to assess and celebrate progress in relation to educational outcomes that are relevant to a diverse range of students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the impact of the Beacon schools initiative on the social and academic characteristics of secondary schools in England. The Beacon schools programme ran from 1998 to 2004 and epitomised the (then) Labour government’s focus on school improvement through diversity, collaboration and partnership. This paper looks at variation in the academic and social characteristics of the 322 secondary Beacon schools over a nine-year period. The findings show that Beacon schools were among the most advantaged state schools in England and while they continue to outperform the general school population, the data suggest that the performance gap has decreased and there is little evidence that Beacon status conferred an advantage on schools, in terms of standard measures of academic success. The Beacon school initiative exemplifies some of the key issues with policy based education reform. First, its emphasis on collaboration provokes tensions between schools that are increasingly in competition with each other. Secondly, clearly defined and measurable medium and long term outcomes for the initiative were not prescribed, thus making it difficult to determine the efficacy of the intervention. Finally, that the initiative did not appear to have any appreciable effect on the social and academic characteristics of the Beacon schools raises issues about the usefulness of externally prescribed interventions and the potential that they have to make a real difference to educational equity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article traces some of the trends and anomalies in early modern play-book character lists, from the earliest printed plays up until the closing of the London theatres in 1642. It stresses the heterogeneity of these practices to provide a basis for further work. It draws out some of the influences in the development of this paratext, suggesting in particular where authors, theatres, genres and printers have a particular guiding role in their form and function. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. Gastrointestinal involvement occurs in up to 90% of patients with SSc. Animal models of SSc mimic some of the pathophysiological disease processes of SSc. The transgenic (TG) mouse strain TβRIIΔk-fib is characterized by ligand-dependent up-regulation of TGF-β signalling and has been shown to develop skin fibrosis, lung fibrosis and diminished aortic ring contractility and adventitial fibrosis. We investigated if similar changes are observed in the gut tissue in this mouse model.Methods. Colonic tissue was examined using histology and immunohistochemistry analyses. Tissue architecture was examined by haematoxylin and eosin (H&E), picrosirius red and immunohistochemical markers for α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), phospho-Smad 2/3 (pSmad2/3), Ki-67, protein gene product 9.5 and S-100. Fibrosis was quantified using the NIS Elements BR 2.30 system and by Sircol assay. Colonic strip contractile responses to potassium chloride (KCl) and carbachol were assessed in isolated organ baths. Confirmatory gut fibroblast and intestinal tissue biochemical assays, including cellular signalling mechanisms, were performed.Results. H&E staining and staining for α-SMA, Ki-67, pSmad2/3 or neural tissue staining showed no differences between TG and wild-type (WT) mice gut tissue. There was increased collagen deposition in the gut of TG mice. Quantitative PCR results of TG gut fibroblasts showed evidence of up-regulated collagen and CTGF transcription, and non-canonical TGF-β signalling pathways were also up-regulated. The organ bath studies showed diminished colonic strip contractility in TG mice compared with WT control mice to KCl and carbachol.Conclusion. We have shown that this TG mouse model, previously shown to develop skin and lung, develops colonic fibrosis with associated effects on colonic tissue contractility. This may offer further insight in pathological processes leading to the development of gut fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the relationship between consumer culture and the printing of plays in early modern history. Emphasis is given to the printing of editions of the play "Hamlet," by author William Shakespeare and the influence of modern consumer gratification. Other topics include book ownership in the seventeenth century, the development of consumerism in early modern England, and the role of modern individualism.

This article describes part of the findings of a study requested by the (then) Teacher Training Agency (TTA) into the factors that support high quality initial teacher training (ITT) provision in England. The study had two chief aims. The first was to characterise successful trainees in terms of data already known about them using a dataset of all 72,881 postgraduate trainees from 1998 to 2001. The second was to relate these findings to potential determinants of the effectiveness of different kinds of institutions and routes in their training of teachers. There was little variation in the success rates of trainees with different entry qualifications, backgrounds or areas of subject specialism. Almost 90% of trainees were successful in achieving qualified teacher status and 95% of these were able to secure a teaching post within six months of finishing training. This varied little according to the type of institution that was attended, its level of research activity, or its quality as determined by Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. This leads us to conclude that there is no evidence, on these existing data, of a differential institutional effect in determining the success rates of trainees in ITT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some results from a review of evidence on the barriers to participation in further and higher education in England, organised around the life-course of an individual from birth to the decision to participate in FE/HE at the traditional age. It is clear that inequalities between socioeconomic groups appear early in life and remain important in attainment at school, in the range of the options available and selected at age 14 and 16, qualifications at age 18 and in the decision to participate in higher education or not. Overcoming the identified barriers to participation may be an important step for some individuals, but the evidence is that the role of these barriers is marginal. Also marginal, therefore, is the role of institutions in widening participation during the transition at ages 16 and 18. Policy levers to widen participation must be applied elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article emerges from a recent review of evidence, conducted by the authors and others, on the lifelong barriers to widening participation in higher education in England. This has led us to a consideration of the quality and relevance of the research activity in this large field of endeavour, and to the creation of a typology of the kinds of widespread problems we then encountered. These include pseudo‐research, poor quality reporting of research, deficiencies in datasets, analytical errors, a lack of suitable comparators, obfuscation, a lack of scepticism in general, and the regular misattribution of causal links in particular. The article discusses each of these, and illustrates them using generally high‐profile research studies and publications. We found a substantial proportion of non‐empirical pieces. Of the remainder, we found a substantial proportion that did not report sufficiently well their methods or their findings. Of the remainder that were empirical and did explain their methods and findings sufficiently, we found a substantial proportion in which the findings could not support the conclusions drawn from them. The article ends with a plea for a great deal more ‘learning’ and openness to new ideas among those engaged, lifelong, in researching lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses challenges faced in prison nursing and the skills prison nurses should possess. Since prison nursing involves dealing with people who have a wide variety of complex needs, nurses should be able to make clinical decisions with a clear rationale and to be resistant to pressure to do things to suit prisoners or prison staff. Prison nurses commonly have to deal with anxiety, depression and self-harm.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of death, stroke, heart failure, cognitive decline, and healthcare costs but is often asymptomatic and undiagnosed. There is currently no national screening program for AF. The advent of validated hand-held devices allows AF to be detected in non-healthcare settings, enabling screening to be undertaken within the community., Method and Results: In this novel observational study, we embedded a MyDiagnostick single lead ECG sensor into the handles of shopping trolleys in four supermarkets in the Northwest of England: 2155 participants were recruited. Of these, 231 participants either activated the sensor or had an irregular pulse, suggesting AF. Some participants agreed to use the sensor but refused to provide their contact details, or consent to pulse assessment. In addition, some data were missing, resulting in 203 participants being included in the final analyses. Fifty-nine participants (mean age 73.6 years, 43% female) were confirmed or suspected of having AF; 20 were known to have AF and 39 were previously undiagnosed. There was no evidence of AF in 115 participants and the remaining 46 recordings were non-diagnostic, mainly due to artefact. Men and older participants were significantly more likely to have newly diagnosed AF. Due to the number of non-diagnostic ECGs (n = 46), we completed three levels of analyses, excluding all non-diagnostic ECGs, assuming all non-diagnostic ECGs were masking AF, and assuming all non-diagnostic ECGs were not AF. Based on the results of the three analyses, the sensor's sensitivity (95% CI) ranged from 0.70 to 0.93; specificity from 0.15 to 0.97; positive predictive values (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) ranged from 0.24 to 0.56 and 0.55 to 1.00, respectively. These values should be interpreted with caution, as the ideal reference standard on 1934 participants was imperfect., Conclusion: The study demonstrates that the public will engage with AF screening undertaken as part of their daily routines using hand-held devices. Sensors can play a key role in identifying asymptomatic patients in this way, but the technology must be further developed to reduce the quantity of non-diagnostic ECGs., Competing Interests: Disclosures The study is independently led by the academic team and is supported by educational grant funding from Bristol Myers Squibb. Deirdre Lane received investigator-initiated educational grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Pfizer, has been a speaker for Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and BMS/Pfizer and has consulted for BMS and Boehringer Ingelheim; all outside the submitted work. Peter Penson owns four shares in AstraZeneca PLC and has received honoraria and/or travel reimbursement for events sponsored by AKCEA, Amgen, AMRYT, Link Medical, Mylan, Napp, Sanofi. Lis Neubeck has received an investigator-initiated grant from Daiichi Sankyo, payment from Bristol Myers Squib for participation in a Global Medical Advisory Board and is the Former President of the Association for Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professionals of the ESC. Gregory Lip has been Consultant and speaker for BMS/Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Anthos. No fees are received personally. He is co-principal investigator of the AFFIRMO project on multimorbidity in AF, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 899871. No further conflicts of interest declared., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)