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Objective: To describe the nature and trajectory of recovery across multiple domains of health in the 6 months after diagnosis of arterial ischaemic stroke in children. Background(s): It is recognized that paediatric stroke has longterm health consequences. Stroke outcome studies are predominantly cross-sectional and describing neurological outcome. Clinical experience suggests this population have diverse outcomes. Prospective studies tracking early trajectory of recovery in terms of impairments and activity limitations in the months following stroke are lacking. This information is important in early identification of medical and rehabilitation needs. Design/Method: A consecutive sample of twenty-seven children, aged between term neonates to 16 years admitted to a single tertiary centre were recruited upon diagnosis of first arterial ischaemic stroke. Detailed neurological examination during the acute phase was following by screening assessment of motor, language, social-emotional, cognitive skills and adaptive behaviour at one and 6 months following diagnosis. Diversity of outcome was anticipated given the wide range of age and brain injury characteristics. Result(s): Neonates and older children were analysed separately, with findings compared with population norms, changes over time, and differences between age groups examined. Severity of overall neurological impairment decreased over time, however nature of impairments changed with more cognitive and language impairments evident later. The older children showed wider variation in scores and across the group with some improvement between one and six months. Language, cognitive and social-emotional screening showed no significant deficits for either age group. Adaptive behaviour screening at six months reveal 5/27 children had adaptive impairments across the domains of communication, socialization and self-care. Conclusion(s): Neurological impairments change in nature and severity over the first 6 months after s

Drama enactments by trainees (DETs) include verbal and contextual exchanges by two or more trainees in customer-server dramas usually in the presence of trainee observers and trainers. DETs' objectives include nurturing the conscious, decoding unconscious thinking and action, and informing learning of customer-server exchanges. Training in DETs provides an opportunity to practice which increases knowledge and skills necessary for performing customer-server exchanges accurately and achieving high customer satisfaction. This chapter is a case study report on an in-class drama enactment of a hotel guest and receptionist face-toface encounter. The enactment includes face-to-face conversations between two actors and within selves.

Social dysfunction is commonly reported by survivors of brain insult, and is often rated as the most debilitating of all sequelae, impacting on many areas of daily life, as well as overall quality of life. Within the early brain insult (EBI) literature, physical and cognitive domains have been of primary interest and social skills have received scant attention. As a result it remains unclear how common these problems are, and whether factors predictive of recovery (insult severity, lesion location, age at insult, environment) in other functional domains (motor, speech, cognition) also contribute to social outcome. This study compared social outcomes for children sustaining EBI at different times from gestation to late childhood to determine whether EBI was associated with an increased risk of problems. Children with focal brain insults were categorized according to timing of brain insult: (i) Congenital (n = 38): EBI: first-second trimester; (ii) Perinatal (n = 33); EBI: third trimester to 1-month post-natal; (iii) Infancy (n = 23): EBI: 2 months-2 years post-birth; (iv) Preschool (n = 19): EBI: 3-6 years; (v) Middle Childhood (n = 31): EBI: 7-9 years; and (vi) Late Childhood (n = 19): EBI: after age 10. Children's teachers completed questionnaires measuring social function (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment). Results showed that children with EBI were at increased risk for social impairment compared to normative expectations. EBI before age 2 years was associated with most significant social impairment, while children with EBI in the preschool years and in late childhood recorded scores closer to normal. Lesion location and laterality were not predictive of social outcome, and nor was social risk. In contrast, presence of disability (seizures) and family function were shown to contribute to aspects of social function.

This article uses the extended case method to explore senior executives’ corporate finance decisions. We quantified firm’s finance practices using a mail survey, and then – to resolve puzzles in managers’ decision processes – conducted face‐to‐face interviews with chief finance officers of large listed firms. The interviews identified six themes as consistent influences on finance decisions: pressures imposed by clienteles; constraints on resources; risk management; heuristics; real options; and sustainability. We conclude that managers are logical and rational in their decisions, but employ a wider range of criteria than assumed in conventional finance theories.

Increased eIF4E expression occurs in many breast cancers and makes fundamental contributions to carcinogenesis by stimulating expression of cancer-related genes at post-transcriptional levels. This key role is highlighted by the facts that eIF4E levels can predict prognosis and that eIF4E is an established therapeutic target. However, eIF4E activity is a complex function of expression levels and phosphorylation statuses of eIF4E and its regulatory proteins. Our hypothesis was that combined analyses of these pathway components would allow insights into eIF4E activity and its influence on cancer. We have established that mathematically combining assessments of expressions of eIF4E-regulators with assessments of expression of eIF4E in clinical tumors provides improved prognostic insights over examination of eIF4E alone. In doing so we have determined the mathematical relationships between expression of each pathway component and pathway activity. Using human cell lines, we have experimentally demonstrated that this combinatorial estimate of eIF4E activity does indeed reflect eIF4E activity in breast cells. This represents a critical validation of our technique for estimation of eIF4E activity and allows us to propose that the estimate may act as a potentially powerful therapy predictive marker for cancer therapies directed against the eIF4E pathway., The original document contains color images.