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Genome maintenance ( GM) is an essential defense system against aging and cancer, as both are characterized by increased genome instability. Here, we compared the copy number variation and mutation rate of 518 GM-associated genes in the naked mole rat ( NMR), mouse, and human genomes. GM genes appeared to be strongly conserved, with copy number variation in only four genes. Interestingly, we found NMR to have a higher copy number of CEBPG, a regulator of DNA repair, and TINF2, a protector of telomere integrity. NMR, as well as human, was also found to have a lower rate of germline nucleotide substitution than the mouse. Together, the data suggest that the long-lived NMR, as well as human, has more robust GM than mouse and identifies new targets for the analysis of the exceptional longevity of the NMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the work of one project which is working to support children who are 'at risk' of being excluded. Including Primary School Children (IPSC) has been working in high excluding primary schools in one inner-London local education authority (LEA), promoting strategies for inclusion. Formally excluding children from their primary schools is a serious step. While some schools may feel they have no alternative but to exclude, a 'solution' for the school may add to the problems experienced by excluded children and their families. What is needed is early intervention, where schools can target 'at risk' children and, even more positively, prevent the damage of exclusion through promoting mental, emotional and social health for all children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent policy approaches aimed at addressing school exclusions. It begins by exploring some of the ways in which social exclusion is interpreted. The limitations of 'weak' versions that work indirectly to 'blame' the excluded and work 'on' this constituency rather than taking a broader view which encompasses those who exclude are critically evaluated. This is done through locating the debate in two UK settings: the context of exclusions from school and the policy context of multi-agency interventions that have been set up to redress this form of exclusion. The paper argues for a stronger version of exclusion that incorporates a challenge to those who exclude. The paper is divided into three sections: a discussion of what is meant by social exclusion, an account of exclusion from schools in the UK and an exploration of the potential for change which resides in multi-agency or 'joined-up' policy work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since coming to power in 1997, two successive Labour Governments in the UK have actively attempted to tackle the problem of what they have called 'social exclusion'. Their argument has been that social problems, which are overlapping and inter-related, need 'joined-up' policy solutions. For example, poor housing and low income can contribute towards and exacerbate lack of success in schooling and need to be tackled simultaneously. The Labour Government has argued that what is needed is a multi-agency partnership response which harnesses the strengths and expertise of a variety of welfare perspectives. This 'partnership' approach currently, characterizes social welfare policy-making in the UK. This paper critically explores the perceptions and experiences of those involved in one such multi-agency partnership which has been established to challenge an aspect of social exclusion: the exclusion of children from primary schools. At the same time, the paper examines the ways in which policy is constructed and enacted by those charged with its implementation. Initially, current policies are considered in respect of social exclusion focusing on some problems and dilemmas of multi-agency partnerships, as highlighted in other research. Drawing on data from one study, this paper goes on to examine partnership in one specific context, which combines health, education and social work in an inner-city primary school setting. Finally, it is argued that, if multi-agency partnerships are to achieve their potential, greater understanding of the difficulties involved in implementing new policies in such contexts needs to be considered at the outset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mammalian aging is a highly complex process, a full mechanistic understanding of which is still lacking. One way to help understand the molecular changes underlying aging is through a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome, the primary determinant of age-related phenotypic diversity. Previous studies have relied on microarray analysis to examine gene expression profiles in different tissues of aging organisms. However, studies have shown microarray-based transcriptional profiling is less accurate and not fully capable of capturing certain intricacies of the global transcriptome. Methods: Here, using directional whole transcriptome RNA-sequencing of aged mouse liver we have identified a comprehensive high-resolution profile of differentially expressed liver transcripts comprised of canonical protein-coding transcripts, transcript isoforms, and non-coding RNA transcripts, including pseudogenes, long non-coding RNAs and small RNA species. Results: Results show extensive age-related changes in every component of the mouse liver transcriptome and a pronounced increase in inter-individual variation. Functional annotation of the protein-coding mRNAs and isoforms indicated broad alterations in immune response, cell activation, metabolic processes, and RNA modification. Interestingly, multiple lncRNAs (Meg3, Rian, Mirg) from the Dlk-Dio3 microRNA locus were found up-regulated in aging liver, classifying this locus as a putative regulatory hotspot locus in aging liver. Moreover, integration of the altered non-coding RNAs and protein-coding transcripts into interaction networks of age-related change revealed inflammation, cellular proliferation, and metabolism as the dominant aging phenotypes in mouse liver. Conclusions: Our analyses provide the first comprehensive dissection of the transcriptional landscape in aging mouse liver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, policy developments in vocational and further education have created a market in post-16 education and training. This paper reports on an Economic and Social Research Council study and one small cohort of young people entering and moving through one such urban market. They enter with very different learning identities, aspirations and motivations, and their 'educational inheritances' prepare them differently for participation. Some young people simply want ajob and awage and 'nomore learning', others come with alongterm commitment to gaining higher qualifications. The authors both describe and explore a number of ways of conceptualizing these differences. Both despite and because of the changes in the local labour market 'deep sub-structures of inequality' re-emerge. The differentiation of routes and 'spaces' of opportunity confronting these young people are reproductive of social class divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the transition from school to further education or employment of young people in London, England. Characteristics of young people; Family relations; Post-adolescence status; Refusal to adulthood; Changes in identity, efficacy and self-esteem among young people.

In all the current work on education competition and the ensuing growth in marketing and promotion, one critical aspect has become sidelined, i.e. the marketing work that educational providers employ to shore up internal 'leakage' at key points of transition. Across all phases of the maintained UK educational sector, there are various possible and actual points of transition, and therefore potential losses as well as gains to be made from an internally constituted market. Not only do institutions and organisations have to look to their external competitors and external markets, they need also to attend to their internal 'natural' market; their current client-base. Drawing on a study of post-compulsory 'choice making', we explore the internal marketing tactics and strategies undertaken in Northwark Park School. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on two ESRC research studies involving longitudinal engagement with a small cohort of young people from 1995-99. The studies 'followed' these young people from their last year in secondary school through three years of post-compulsory education, training and (un)employment. Each of the young people was interviewed several times about their 'career' and life 'choices' and family and social lives. The paper presents the 'time-space biographies' of three of the young people - Michael, Wayne and Rachel - and discusses their participation in the 'new' urban economies, their spatial horizons and their different experiences of post-adolescence. We argue that the 'new' urban economies generate new and compound old inequalities and present new risks and possibilities as young people 'struggle for subjectivity' (McDonald, 1999). A number of interpretational possibilities are 'tried out for size'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-16 providers in the UK now offer a wide range of courses and training in order to respond to the expanded, diversified and 'non-traditional' post-16 market. School leavers are invited to 'choose' from a range of courses and pathways which are being provided in a variety of post-16 educational institutions. These providing institutions are in competition with one another and 'need' the students as their funds are contingent upon successful recruitment (and retention). As a result, many post-16 providers are turning to aspects of marketing in order to publicise their courses and maintain or increase their share of the market. This paper examines two major tactics in the promotion and marketing of post-16 provision--brochures and open days--in relation to issues such as access, targeting, response to 'difference' in the client group/market segment and 'professionalism' of approach. The paper argues that market tactics do semiotic 'work' as class-taste markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]