The general and specific effects of educational programmes aimed at promoting awareness of and respect for diversity among young children

This article reports the findings of a mixed-method evaluation of a pilot educational programme undertaken with 6-7 year olds in a sample of primary schools in England with the aim of increasing their awareness of and respect for diversity through theatre, workshops and related teacher-led classroom activities. The qualitative feedback from the teachers involved was extremely positive and encouraging and an analysis of the actual impact of the pilot programme on the children’s attitudes and awareness, using an experimental design, demonstrated some positive effects. In particular, the programme was found to increase the children’s general awareness of diversity and their ability to recognise instances of exclusion. While not a planned objective of the pilot programme, the evaluation also examined whether it had any effects on the children’s attitudes to specific differences, in this particular case racial differences. Interestingly, however, no evidence was found of any change in the children’s racial attitudes. With this in mind the article suggests that there is a need to distinguish between the general and specific effects of such educational programmes. The article considers the implications of this for future work in the area and also stresses the need to undertake more thorough and rigorous evaluations of such initiatives.

Chemical ablation of gastric inhibitory polypeptide receptor action by daily (Pro3) GIP administration improves glucose tolerance and ameliorates insulin resistance and abnormalities of islet structure in obesity-diabetes.

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (gastric inhibitory polypeptide [GIP]) is an important incretin hormone secreted by endocrine K-cells in response to nutrient ingestion. In this study, we investigated the effects of chemical ablation of GIP receptor (GIP-R) action on aspects of obesity-related diabetes using a stable and specific GIP-R antagonist, (Pro3)GIP. Young adult ob/ob mice received once-daily intraperitoneal injections of saline vehicle or (Pro3)GIP over an 11-day period. Nonfasting plasma glucose levels and the overall glycemic excursion (area under the curve) to a glucose load were significantly reduced (1.6-fold; P <0.05) in (Pro3)GIP-treated mice compared with controls. GIP-R ablation also significantly lowered overall plasma glucose (1.4-fold; P <0.05) and insulin (1.5-fold; P <0.05) responses to feeding. These changes were associated with significantly enhanced (1.6-fold; P <0.05) insulin sensitivity in the (Pro3)GIP-treated group. Daily injection of (Pro3)GIP reduced pancreatic insulin content (1.3-fold; P <0.05) and partially corrected the obesity-related islet hypertrophy and ß-cell hyperplasia of ob/ob mice. These comprehensive beneficial effects of (Pro3)GIP were reversed 9 days after cessation of treatment and were independent of food intake and body weight, which were unchanged. These studies highlight a role for GIP in obesity-related glucose intolerance and emphasize the potential of specific GIP-R antagonists as a new class of drugs for the alleviation of insulin resistance and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Disturbances in social interaction occur along with pathophysiological deficits following sub-chronic phencyclidine administration in the rat.

A sub-chronic administration of phencyclidine to the rat brings about enduring pathophysiological and cognitive changes that resemble some features of schizophrenia. The present study aimed to determine whether the behavioural consequence of this phencyclidine regime extends to a long-term disruption of social interaction that might provide a parallel with some negative symptoms of the disease. Rats were treated with phencyclidine (2mg/kg bi-daily for 1 week) or vehicle followed by a drug-free period. Social interaction was assessed 24h, 1 week, 3 weeks and 6 weeks post-treatment. A long-lasting disturbance of social behaviour was observed in the phencyclidine group, namely more contact and non-contact interaction with an unfamiliar target rat at all time points. Six weeks post-phencyclidine, analysis of brains showed a reduction in expression of parvalbumin immunoreactive neurons in the hippocampus with significant reductions localised to the CA1 and dentate gyrus regions. These results show that sub-chronic phencyclidine produces long-lasting disruptions in social interaction that, however, do not model the social withdrawal seen in patients with schizophrenia. These disturbances of social behaviour may be associated with concurrent pathophysiological brain changes.