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In the field of English language teaching and learning, there is a long history of investigating students' performance while they are undergoing specific learning programmes. This research study, however, focused on students' evaluation of their English language learning experience after they have completed their programme. The data were gathered from 20 semi-structured interviews with 10 "good" students and 10 "weak" students emphasizing on factors which contributed to their proficiency level, preferred teaching approaches and learning strategies as well as their overall learning experience. The qualitative analysis indicated some different views between the "good" and the "weak" students in terms of their proficiency level and the contributing factors to their success (or lack of) in learning English. They however, shared similar opinion on preferred teaching approaches, learning strategies and classroom experience. The results have implications for pedagogy as they highlight some insights which may facilitate success in English language learning.

This paper describes the processes of curriculum and teacher development that follow an evaluation of a British University English for Academic Purposes programme. The evaluation is carried out by the teacher using a group discussion technique, as recommended by departmental policy for quality assurance purposes. It generates data that contribute to a constructive discussion in the classroom and, in the subsequent weeks, a process of rethinking core principles and teaching strategies by the teacher. The research data – ethnographic fieldnotes from the classroom and interviews with the teacher and students – document these change processes in relation to the teaching of vocabulary in the classroom. The analysis shows that evaluation is both a complex political process in the classroom and a context for teacher change and development. Thus, this micro-study of a teaching strategy within a programme underpins empirically a claim often made for evaluation and teacher development. It also suggests that such development is deeply embedded in teaching processes, and may not be evident in the reporting of evaluations for quality management purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study determined the carriage rate and serotype distribution of group B Streptococcus (GBS) in women of child-bearing age in the southern region of Ireland. A total of 2000 vaginal swabs collected in two periods in 2004 and 2006 were examined and revealed a GBS carriage rate of 16·1%. Serotyping of isolates showed that serotypes Ia, II, III, IV, and V were the most prevalent. A high prevalence of serotype IV was found, increasing from 7·6% to 15·2% between 2004 and 2006. Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis demonstrated considerable genetic heterogeneity in the serotype IV isolates. This serotype should be considered for inclusion in potential vaccines for use in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the closing of campuses, museums, and other public spaces during the pandemic, the typical avenues for recruitment, partnership, and dissemination are now unavailable to developmental labs. In this paper, we show how a shift in perspective has impacted our lab's ability to successfully transition to virtual work during the COVID-19 shut-down. This begins by recognizing that any lab that relies on local communities to engage in human research is itself a community organization . From this, we introduce a community-engaged lab model, and explain how it works using our own activities during the pandemic as an example. To begin, we introduce the vocabulary of mission-driven community organizations and show how we applied the key ideas of mission, vision, and culture to discussions of our own lab's identity. We contrast the community-engaged lab model with a traditional bi-directional model of recruitment from and dissemination to communities and describe how the community-engaged model can be used to reframe these and other ordinary lab activities. Our activities during the pandemic serve as a case study: we formed new community partnerships, engaged with child "citizen-scientists" in online research, and opened new avenues of virtual programming. One year later, we see modest but quantifiable impact of this approach: a return to pre-pandemic diversity in our samples, new engagement opportunities for trainees, and new sustainable partnerships. We end by discussing the promise and limitations of the community-engaged lab model for the future of developmental research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Liu, Partington, Suh, Finiasz, Flanagan, Kocher, Kiely, Kortenaar and Kushnir.)

Introduction: With the emergence of the 2019 novel coronavirus and its resulting pandemic status in March 2020 all routine elective orthopaedic surgery was cancelled in our institution. The developing picture in Italy, of acute hospitals becoming overwhelmed with treating patients suffering with severe and life-threatening symptoms from the disease, prompted the orthopaedic surgeons to formulate a plan to transfer trauma patients requiring surgery to the elective hospital to unburden the acute hospital system., Methods: Under the threat of this pandemic; protocols and algorithms were established for referral, acceptance and care of trauma patients from acute hospitals in the region. Each day, as new guidance on COVID-19 emerged, our process and algorithms were adjusted to reflect pertinent change., Results: The screening of all patients referred, worked well in keeping our hospital "COVID-free" with respect to patients undergoing operations. An upward trend in cases referred reflected the decreased capacity in the acute hospitals due to rising cases of COVID-19 within the hospital network. During the first 7 weeks of the pandemic 308 operations were performed, (31.1% upper limb, 33.4% lower limb, 4.1% spine, 14.1% urgent elective, 17.4% plastic surgery cases). Regular review and audit of the activity in the hospital as well as communication with the referring teams enabled appropriate planning to accommodate the increase in case-mix as the need arose., Discussion: This paper details the steps that were taken in planning for such a change in management specific to the orthopaedic surgery setting and the lessons learnt during this process. The success of the development of this pathway was facilitated by clear communication channels, flexibility to adapt to changing process and feedback from all stakeholders. The implementation of this pathway allowed the unburdening of acute hospitals dealing with the pandemic that was steadily reducing access to operating theatres and anaesthetic resources., (Copyright © 2020 Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (Scottish charity number SC005317) and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Effective communication between clinicians is essential for the success of mental health interventions in multidisciplinary contexts. This relies on a shared understanding of concepts, diagnoses and treatments. A major assumption of clinicians when discussing psychological treatments with each other is that both parties have a shared understanding of the theory, rationale and application of the respective technique. We aimed to determine to what extent there is inter-rater agreement between clinicians in describing the content of group therapy sessions. Pairs of clinicians, drawn from a large multidisciplinary team (13), were asked to provide ratings of the therapeutic content and emphasis of N = 154 group therapy sessions conducted during an intensive residential treatment program for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In most therapeutic content domains there was a moderate level of agreement between clinicians regarding session content (Cohen's Kappa 0.4 to 0.6), suggesting that clinicians have a broad shared understanding of therapeutic content, but that there are also frequent discordant understandings. The implications of these findings on multidisciplinary team communication, patient care and clinical handovers are discussed and directions for further research are outlined.

Background: It remains unclear to what extent treatment-related gains in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms translate to improvements in broader domains of personal wellbeing, such as community connectedness, life achievement and security. We sought to determine whether: 1. personal wellbeing improves during the course of a treatment program and 2. changes in core symptom domains (PTSD, anxiety and depression) were associated with improvements in overall personal wellbeing., Methods: Participants (N = 124) completed the PTSD Checklist, the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scales and the Personal Wellbeing Index at the start and end of a 4-week Trauma Focused CBT residential program, as well as 3- and 9-months post-treatment., Results: Personal wellbeing improved significantly across the 9-months of the study. Generalised estimating equations analyses indicated that (older) age and improvements in PTSD and depressive symptoms were independent predictors of personal wellbeing across time., Conclusions: Although personal wellbeing improved in tandem with PTSD symptoms, the magnitude of improvement was small. These findings highlight a need to better understand how improvements in personal wellbeing can be optimised following PTSD treatment.

In this study, we evaluated the use of EntericBio real-time Gastro Panel I (Serosep, Limerick, Ireland) for routine use in a clinical microbiology laboratory for simultaneous detection of Campylobacter jejuni, coli, and lari, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Salmonella spp., and Shigella spp. in feces. This system differs from its predecessor (the EntericBio Panel II system, Serosep) in that it allows real-time detection of pathogens directly from feces, without pre-enrichment. It also specifically detects Campylobacter jejuni, coli, and lari rather than all Campylobacter species, as is the case with the previous system. A total of 528 samples from patients presenting with acute gastroenteritis were screened prospectively with this assay, and results were compared with those of the current method, which combines screening the samples with a molecular assay (the EntericBio Panel II assay) and retrospective culture of the specimens in which the target was detected. Discrepancy analysis was conducted using culture and molecular methods. The real-time assay produced 84 positive results, specifically, Campylobacter spp. (n=44); Stx1 and/or Stx2 (n=35); Shigella spp. (n=3); and Salmonella spp. (n=6). Of these, 4 samples represented coinfections with Campylobacter spp. and STEC. The real-time assay showed an increased detection rate for pathogens, apart from Salmonella spp. Four Campylobacter-positive and 6 Stx-positive results remained unconfirmed by any other method used. The isolation rates for PCR-positive samples were as follows: Campylobacter spp., 80%; STEC, 45.7%; Salmonella spp., 100%; and Shigella spp., 66.7%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and efficiency were 100%, 97.8%, 88.1%, 100%, and 98.1%, respectively.

ADP-ribosylation is the post translational modification of proteins catalysed by ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTs). ADP-ribosylation has been implicated in a wide variety of cellular processes including cell growth and differentiation, apoptosis and transcriptional regulation. Perhaps the best characterised role, however, is in DNA repair and genome stability where ADP-ribosylation promotes resolution of DNA single strand breaks. Although ADP-ribosylation also occurs at DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), which ARTs catalyse this reaction and the molecular basis of how this modification regulates their repair remains a matter of debate. Here we review recent advances in our understanding of how ADP-ribosylation regulates DSB repair. Specifically, we highlight studies using the genetic model organism Dictyostelium, in addition to vertebrate cells that identify a third ART that accelerates DSB repair by non-homologous end-joining through promoting the interaction of repair factors with DNA lesions. The implications of these data with regards to how ADP-ribosylation regulates DNA repair and genome stability are discussed.

Poly adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosylation (PARylation) by poly ADP-ribose (PAR) polymerases (PARPs) is an early response to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In this paper, we exploit Dictyostelium discoideum to uncover a novel role for PARylation in regulating nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). PARylation occurred at single-strand breaks, and two PARPs, Adprt1b and Adprt2, were required for resistance to this kind of DNA damage. In contrast, although Adprt1b was dispensable for PARylation at DSBs, Adprt1a and, to a lesser extent, Adprt2 were required for this event. Disruption of adprt2 had a subtle impact on the ability of cells to perform NHEJ. However, disruption of adprt1a decreased the ability of cells to perform end joining with a concomitant increase in homologous recombination. PAR-dependent regulation of NHEJ was achieved through promoting recruitment and/or retention of Ku at DSBs. Furthermore, a PAR interaction motif in Ku70 was required for this regulation and efficient NHEJ. These data illustrate that PARylation at DSBs promotes NHEJ through recruitment or retention of repair factors at sites of DNA damage.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) can be repaired by homologous recombination (HR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). The mechanisms that govern whether a DSB is repaired by NHEJ or HR remain unclear. Here, we characterise DSB repair in the amoeba Dictyostelium. HR is the principal pathway responsible for resistance to DSBs during vegetative cell growth, a stage of the life cycle when cells are predominantly in G2. However, we illustrate that restriction-enzyme-mediated integration of DNA into the Dictyostelium genome is possible during this stage of the life cycle and that this is mediated by an active NHEJ pathway. We illustrate that Dclre1, a protein with similarity to the vertebrate NHEJ factor Artemis, is required for NHEJ independently of DNA termini complexity. Although vegetative dclre1(-) cells are not radiosensitive, they exhibit delayed DSB repair, further supporting a role for NHEJ during this stage of the life cycle. By contrast, cells lacking the Ku80 component of the Ku heterodimer that binds DNA ends to facilitate NHEJ exhibit no such defect and deletion of ku80 suppresses the DSB repair defect of dclre1(-) cells through increasing HR efficiency. These data illustrate a functional NHEJ pathway in vegetative Dictyostelium and the importance of Ku in regulating DSB repair choice during this phase of the life cycle.

Chromatin structure is modulated during deoxyribonucleic acid excision repair, but how this is achieved is unclear. Loss of the yeast Ino80 chromatin-remodeling complex (Ino80-C) moderately sensitizes cells to ultraviolet (UV) light. In this paper, we show that INO80 acts in the same genetic pathway as nucleotide excision repair (NER) and that the Ino80-C contributes to efficient UV photoproduct removal in a region of high nucleosome occupancy. Moreover, Ino80 interacts with the early NER damage recognition complex Rad4-Rad23 and is recruited to chromatin by Rad4 in a UV damage-dependent manner. Using a modified chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we find that chromatin disruption during UV lesion repair is normal, whereas the restoration of nucleosome structure is defective in ino80 mutant cells. Collectively, our work suggests that Ino80 is recruited to sites of UV lesion repair through interactions with the NER apparatus and is required for the restoration of chromatin structure after repair.

The NF2 tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 22 is a member of the protein 4.1 family of cytoskeletal elements. A number of single- and multiple-tumor phenotypes have been linked to alterations of NF2 since its characterization in 1993. We present a meta-analysis of 967 constitutional and somatic NF2 alterations from 93 published reports, along with 59 additional unpublished events identified in our laboratory and 115 alterations identified in clinical samples submitted to the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Neurogenetics DNA Diagnostic Laboratory. In total, these sources defined 1,070 small genetic changes detected primarily by exon scanning, 42 intragenic changes of one whole exon or larger, and 29 whole gene deletions and gross chromosomal rearrangements. Constitutional single-exon events (N=422) were significantly more likely to be nonsense or splice site changes than somatic events (N=533), which favored frameshift changes (chi(2) test; P<0.001). Somatic events also differed markedly between tumors of different pathology, most significantly in the tendency of somatic events in meningiomas to lie within the 5' FERM domain of the transcript (Fisher's exact test; P<0.01 in comparison to schwannomas) with a complete absence of mutations in exons 14 and 15. There was no statistically significant difference in mutation type or exon distribution between published constitutional events and those found by the clinical laboratory. Less than 10% of all published and unpublished small alterations are nontruncating (N=63) and these changes are clustered in exons 2 and 3, suggesting that this region may be especially crucial to tumor suppressor activity in the protein., (Published 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Objective: Since the discovery of mutations in the gene encoding Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) ten years ago, testing for SOD1 gene mutations has become a part of the investigation of patients with suspected motor neuron disease. We searched for novel SOD1 mutations and for clinical characteristics of patients with these mutations., Methods: Analysis was made of patient files at the Neurogenetic DNA Diagnostic Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. We also scrutinized available medical records and examined patients with the different SOD1 mutations., Results: One hundred and forty eight (148) of 2045 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients carried a disease-associated mutation in the SOD1 gene. The most prevalent was the A4V missense mutation, found in 41% of those patients. Sixteen novel exonic mutations (L8V, F20C, Q22L, H48R, T54R, S591, V87A, T88deltaTAD, A89T, V97M, S105deltaSL, V118L, D124G, G141X, G147R, 11515) were found, bringing the total number of SOD1 gene mutations in ALS to 105., Conclusions: Mutations in the SOD1 gene are found both in sporadic and familial ALS cases without any definite predilection for any part of the gene. A common structural denominator for the 16 novel mutations or previously reported mutations is not obvious. Similarly, the nature of the putative acquired toxic function of mutant SOD1 remains unresolved. We conclude that patients with SOD1 mutations may infrequently show symptoms and signs unrelated to the motor systems, sometimes obscuring the diagnosis of ALS.

Early-onset, generalized primary torsion dystonia (PTD) is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder, characterized by involuntary movements and abnormal postures. The majority of cases are caused by a 3-bp deletion in the DYT1 gene on chromosome 9q34 that allows for specific genetic testing. We developed a simple, reliable, and cost-effective, PCR-based screening method for this mutation. Testing results from a cohort of 550 cases, including patients with different forms of dystonia and unclassified movement disorders, revealed that 72.2% of the patients with typical early-onset generalized PTD carried the GAG deletion in the DYT1 gene. Among 300 cases with late-onset focal/segmental dystonia, only 3 patients tested positive for the GAG deletion whereas 12.8% of the patients with an unclassified movement disorder were GAG positive. Our results confirm a genotype/phenotype correlation in early-onset PTD and show that application of strict clinical criteria leads to accurate prediction of carrier status in more than two-thirds of patients with this type of dystonia. Currently, we suggest that testing be recommended in individuals with age of onset of dystonia below 30 years and/or a positive family history of early-onset PTD. Testing is not recommended in patients with onset of symptoms after 30 years or in asymptomatic individuals under the age of 18.

This article examines recent World Bank reports on the role of the state in the development process, with particular reference to the rise of the East Asian newly industrializing countries and the crisis of "governance" in sub-Saharan Africa. The concepts of market friendly intervention and good governance are critically discussed, and are found to be inadequate as explanations for East Asian "success" and African "failure." The author presents an alternative explanation for the rise of the newly industrializing countries, which draws out some of the implications for the developing world.

Increasingly, health care professionals and the public are asking questions about the role of the hospital in meeting community need including its not-for-profit tax status. This article reviews the community benefit literature, provides a framework for understanding how a hospital community benefit program was developed, and delineates through a structured case study the lessons learned from this experience. It provides the practitioner with a context in which other hospitals may replicate the program and gives researchers a substantive case study that may be used as the basis for the empirical testing of community benefit models. The authors also outline the many difficult issues faced by a typical community hospital as it attempted to examine and develop additional responses to community need.

• I am doing a research proposal on whether student nurses under stress 'comfort eat'. I am having difficulty finding information and would be grateful for help.

We have used a monoclonal antibody (Mab) raised against the fast alkali light chains of quail pectoral muscle myosin to study the expression of MLC1f and MLC3f in the hindlimb muscle of a staged series of control chick embryos and 16-day embryos that had been paralyzed with curare. The Mab (QBM-2) is highly specific for the fast myosin alkali light chains of chick, hamster, and human muscle myosin. On Western blots, MLC1f is detected in hindlimb actomyosin at all of the stages examined, whereas MLC3f cannot be detected until Embryonic Day 14 (E14). Most of the E16 embryos that had been paralyzed with curare since E4 express detectable levels of both MLC1f and MLC3f in their hindlimb muscles, even though embryos incubated under these conditions do not exhibit spontaneous limb movements. Contrary to other reports, our results demonstrate that muscle contraction is not required for the accumulation of MLC3f. In light of our previous finding that innervation is essential for MLC3f accumulation in limb buds grafted onto the chorioallantoic membrane of chick hosts, these results suggest that some neural influence other than contraction, possibly a trophic factor, may play a role in the developmentally regulated expression of MLC3f in avian limb muscle.

A generalized debilitating disease in a horse was believed to be related to hypersensitivity to migrating strongyle larvae. The clinical signs included weight loss, diarrhea, and ulcers on all 4 coronary bands. The mare's condition deteriorated rapidly, so the mare was euthanatized and necropsied. The major histopathologic findings were chronic multifocal eosinophilic pancreatitis, hepatic portal fibrosis, biliary hyperplasia, and chronic ulcerative eosinophilic colitis. This case was similar to previously reported cases of chronic eosinophilic gastroenteritis in horses. Although the etiologic agent was not evident, the distribution and character of the lesions were consistent with a hypersensitivity response to migrating parasitic larvae, most probably Strongylus equinus.