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Teachers consider many different kinds of factors in determining student grades. They use a mix of achievement and non-achievement factors in grading decisions, to the criticism of educational measurement experts (Brookhart, 1991; Brookhart, 1993; Frary et al., 1993; Popham, 2009). The factors that influence this decision making are particularly salient when teachers consider borderline grades and make decisions about raising, holding, or lowering marks. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences and self-reported practices of high school physical science teachers' decision making about borderline grades. Through a series of two semi-structured interviews, twelve participants described the contexts in which they graded and what factors they considered when making final grading decisions. Despite teaching at schools which used different guidelines and policies for grading, the teachers in this study exhibited common patterns of decision making. End-of-term marking periods and the required posting of grades often made teachers consider factors other than academic achievement in their final decisions about student grades. The teachers in this study considered factors like students' effort or personal extenuating circumstances, but also sought to avoid perceived negative consequences for students when determining grades. In contrast to prior research, well-documented non-achievement factors: student ability and behavior, were absent in teachers' decision-making process about borderline grades. Moreover, the teachers in this study expressed concerns about inaccuracy, bias, and subjectivity in their grading and viewed grades as having a margin of error, which appears to be less explored in research on teachers' grading practices. Teachers utilized certain factors and reasoning consistently at high and low grade borders when deciding whether to increase the final end of term borderline grade. These practices suggest the teachers in this study framed (Tannen, 1978, 1979, 1993; Hammer et al., 2006) borderline grading differently for each border, applied different schemas to different borders, and viewed grading as more than solely the assessment of academic achievement. Previous research has characterized teachers' overall grading practices are "hodgepodge" and idiosyncratic (Brookhart, 1991; Cizek et al, 1995; Cross & Frary, 1999). The results of this study contradict this characterization and found that teachers were consistent in their decision-making about students' end-of-term borderline grades along particular borders, regardless of differences in school or district grading guidelines. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The psychological impact that food allergy may have for both children and their parents has received increased interest in recent years. This portfolio aims to offer a timely and novel contribution to this field, through firstly presenting a systematic review with meta-analysis assessing the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress in children with food allergy. An original piece of empirical research is subsequently presented, assessing worry, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms in a relatively large sample (N=104-105) of parents of children with food allergy. The systematic review found pooled prevalence estimates of 12.6% (95% CIs 6.0%-19.3%) for anxiety and 6.9% (95% CIs 1.3%-12.5%) for depression in children with food allergy. Compared to their peers without food allergy, the review found a small but significant increase in anxiety (d=0.21; 95% CIs 0.16-0.26) and depression (d=0.30; 95% CIs 0.14-0.45) in children with food allergy. However, due to high degrees of heterogeneity and relatively small sample sizes, these results remain tentative. Additionally, only one pilot study was found assessing post-traumatic stress. The empirical study used an online questionnaire to assess mental health in parents of children with food allergy. The study found 81.0% of parents reported clinically significant worry, 42.3% met the clinical cut-off for post-traumatic stress symptoms, and 39.1% reported moderate-extremely severe anxiety. Regression analyses were conducted including allergy severity, intolerance of uncertainty, and food allergy self-efficacy, which were significant for all three psychological outcomes. However, intolerance of uncertainty was the most consistent predictor of poorer mental health. Overall, the portfolio highlights the need for further consideration of the psychological impact of food allergy. In particular, the potential for post-traumatic stress in this population, which had not previously been assessed in a large-scale study. Theoretical and clinical implications, as well as recommendations for future research are discussed.

Neutrophils have capacity to cause tissue damage in chronic inflammatory disease. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) they infiltrate joints, secrete proteases and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and express cytokines. RA neutrophils express NAMPT which is a highly conserved, pleiotropic protein, that catalyses the rate-limiting step of the NAD salvage pathway, but also has cytokine-like activity. NAMPT is elevated in inflammation and exerts pro-inflammatory effects on neutrophils. The aim of this research was to determine the role of NAMPT, as a signalling molecule and as an enzyme, in regulating neutrophil activities of pathological importance. Neutrophils were isolated from the blood of healthy donors and either stimulated with NAMPT or else NAMPT was inhibited (with FK866), in the presence and absence of pro-inflammatory cytokines in vitro. Assays for specific neutrophil functions such as production of ROS, bacterial killing and apoptosis were performed, and expression of cytokines was also examined. Transcriptome sequencing of neutrophils treated with FK866 and TNFα in combination, was carried out to investigate the wider impact of NAMPT inhibition on neutrophil gene expression. NAMPT expression was also examined in control, cytokine treated and RA patient neutrophils. NAMPT had little capacity to prime neutrophils, although it did delay neutrophil apoptosis and stabilise the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1. NAMPT inhibition in neutrophils, depleted NAD(P)/H and had effects on neutrophil functions and gene expression. Notably, FK866 decreased ROS production but did not affect the ability of neutrophils to kill bacteria. NAMPT-inhibited neutrophils exhibited decreased activation of signalling pathways and a diminished response to cytokines; transcriptome analysis showed that FK866 decreased TNFα-induced expression of many genes. NAMPT expression was not dynamically regulated in control neutrophils, but in RA patient neutrophils, NAMPT mRNA correlated with TNFα expression in a cohort of patients, and NAMPT protein was elevated in synovial fluid neutrophils compared to those from paired blood. Thus, NAMPT is elevated in activated inflammatory neutrophils and correlates with other markers of inflammation in RA, suggesting that it may be a marker of inflammation in these cells. Also, as a NAD biosynthetic enzyme, NAMPT regulates neutrophil functions and gene products central to RA disease pathology, without affecting bacterial killing capacity. This suggests that inhibition of NAMPT may potentially have the capacity to decrease neutrophil mediated tissue-damage observed in chronic inflammation, without adversely compromising host defence, and thus may be a future treatment option for diseases such as RA.

Introduction: The importance of quantifying the impact of illness on functional abilities is well recognised. Previous research has indicated that the cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia may have considerable functional significance (Green, 1996. 2000). However, evidence linking these two domains in schizophrenia research has largely come from cross-sectional or prospective short-term investigations. Thus, the predictive impact of these deficits on daily living is still unclear. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between cognition and different aspects of community function. It also explored the linearity of the relationship between these domains, focusing on cognitive severity as a mediating factor, as well as task complexity. A better understanding of the degree and nature of functional limitations in schizophrenia may help focus on areas for remediation in order to maximise independence of functioning. Methods: Fifty-four patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were recruited from community psychiatric clinics serving the Hull and East Yorkshire, and South Humber Health Authorities. The patient group was initially divided into two categories, 'recent onset' and 'chronic', with the majority of these participants being treated as outpatients (57%). A small cognitive comparative group of twenty non-psychiatric, matched controls was also recruited. Symptoms, cognition and social function were comprehensively assessed at baseline, nine-months and eighteen-months. The Independent Living Skills Survey (ll.SS) and Social Behaviour Schedule (SBS) were utilised to quantify levels of community functioning, whilst a battery of manual and computerised neurocognitive tests were administered in order to establish patterns of cognitive deficit Constellations of clinical and affective symptoms were assessed with the Brief Psychiatric Research Survey (BPRS) and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HADRS). Results: Few differences were demonstrated between the two patient groups on predictor and outcome variables, thus the patient groups were pooled for subsequent analyses. Stepwise regression analyses determined that neurocognitive deficits, and in particular deficits of executive function, were important predictors of some aspects of community functioning in patients with schizophrenia, but not community functioning per se. Clinical and affective symptom variables were also found to significantly predict functional outcomes in the study, including overall social behaviour. In most models the variance explained by symptom variables was greater than that explained by cognitive variables. A non-linear relationship between cognitive functioning and social functioning was also suggested. Level of cognitive performance was found to discriminate social performance, whereby severe cognitive disturbance demonstrated poorer outcomes than either moderate or normal performance groups. However, few differences were found between 'normal performance' and 'moderate deficit' groups on social function scores. The study also implied that neurocognitive function did not differentially affect performance on basic and complex instrumental tasks. Conclusions: These findings validate the hypothesis that neurocognitive deficits and clinical symptoms are important 'rate-limiting' factors, but cannot support the notion that neurocognitive impairments are functionally more important than the clinical symptoms of the disorder. A combined psychopharmacological and psychosocial approach that takes account of an individual's neurocognitive deficits would therefore appear to offer a reasonable treatment stratagem. The study also suggests that further investigation in larger studies with increased analytical strategies for capturing the non-linear reciprocal relationships between cognition and social function are needed. Finally, a substantial unexplained variance in social functioning exists, which indicates the need for investigations to evaluate other candidate risk factors in relation to both the clinical and cognitive symptoms of the disorder.