Can the CAMCOG be a good cognitive test for patients with Alzheimer`s disease with low levels of education?

Background: The Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG) is a useful test in screening for Alzheimer`s disease (AD). However, the interpretation of CAMCOG cut-off scores is problematic and reference values are needed for different educational strata. Given the importance of earlier diagnoses of mild dementia, new cut-off values are required which take into account patients with low levels of education. This study aims to evaluate whether the CAMCOG can be used as an accurate screening test among AD patients and normal controls with different educational levels. Methods: Cross-sectional assessment was undertaken of 113 AD and 208 elderly controls with heterogeneous educational levels (group 1: 1-4 years; group 2: 5-8 years; and group 3: >= 9 years) from a geriatric clinic. submitted to a thorough diagnostic evaluation for AD including the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly (CAMDEX). Controls had no cognitive or mood complaints. Sensitivity (SE) and specificity (SP) for the CAMCOG in each educational group was assessed with receiver-operator-characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: CAMCOG mean values were lower when education was reduced in both diagnostic groups (controls - group 1: 87; group 2: 91; group 3: 96; AD - group 1: 63; group 2: 62; group 3: 77). Cutoff scores for the three education groups were 79, 80 and 90, respectively. SE and SP varied among the groups (group 1: 88.1% and 83.5%; group 2: 84.6% and 96%; group 3: 70.8% and 90%). Conclusion: The CAMCOG can be used as a cognitive test for patients with low educational level with good accuracy. Patients with higher education showed lower scores than previously reported.

Dept of Health & Children Annual Output Statement 2009 for Health Group of Votes

The overall aim of this Vote Group is to provide health and personal social services to improve the health and well being of the people of Ireland in a manner that promotes better health for every one, fair access, responsive and appropriate care delivery and high performance. The money voted goes to the Department of Health and Children (Vote 39), the Health Service Executive (Vote 40), and the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (Vote 41). The Department of Health and Children has responsibility for the overall organisational, legislative, policy and financial accountability framework for the health sector. The Health Service Executive is responsible for the management and delivery of health and personal social services within available resources. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs brings together functions relating to children and their well being, along with policy functions on Youth Justice and Early Years Education. This Output Statement is the third of its kind attempting to match outputs and strategic impacts to financial and staffing resources for the financial year. The Statement also reports on outputs achieved for 2008. Click here to download PDF 443kb

Innovación y Aprendizaje: un nuevo modelo para la formación universitaria: ¿Por qué y para qué? = Innovation and Learning: a New Model for University Education: Why and for What?

The legislative reforms in university matters driven in recent years, beyond the provoked controversies, offer to universities the possibility to develop a new model in line with the European environment, focusing on quality aims and adapting to the socioeconomic current challenges. A new educational model centered on the student, on the formation of specific and transverse competitions, on the improvement of the employability and the access to the labor market, on the attraction and fixation of talent, is an indispensable condition for the effective social mobility and for the homogeneous development of a more responsible and sustainable socioeconomic and productive model

Identification and description of the development of the relationships between mentor and mentee teachers in the Halton Board of Education "Partners in the Classroom" Program

Fifteen mentoring pairs of teachers were randomly selected from each group of teachers that had participated in the Halton Board of Education "Partners in the Classroom" program during 1988/89, 1989/90, and 1990/91. Each teacher was personally interviewed. Interviews were recorded, transcriptions were prepared and examined and analyzed. During the first part of the interview questions were asked regarding personal and professional demographics. The purpose of the second part of the interview was to gain information relating to the development of the relationships, over a three-year period, between mentor and mentee teacher participants in the "Partners in the Classroom" program. The analysis of the data suggest that there are identifiable changes in the development of the relationship between the mentor teacher and the mentee teacher over time. Implications from the study results that could enhance the induction program for new teachers are discussed.

New Teacher Perceptions of Inclusive Pedagogies: Designing New Future for the Changing Classroom

Our perceptions of knowledge attainment have changed (Bezemer & Kress, 2010). The type of students our teachers once were is vastly different from the students they currently teach. We need our next generation to thrive in a dynamically, interactive world saturated with opportunities for meaning making (Kress & Selander, 2012). Our current students are responsible for continuing our society, but that does not mean we need them to become us (Gee, 2009). Rather desperately, we need them to be thinkers and expressive in a variety of modes. The world will be different when they take their rightful place as the next generation of leaders, and so too must their thinking be different (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000). This explanatory mixed-method study (Creswell, 2013; Mertens, 2014) involved an investigation into perceptions of new teachers regarding inclusive pedagogies like Universal Design for Learning (CAST, 2011). It specifically discusses the contemporary thinking of 44 new Ontario teachers regarding inclusive pedagogies in their teacher education as well as their relative intent to utilize them in their practice. This study reveals a distinct tone of skepticism and provides suggestions for the continued improvement of teacher education programs in this province.

On the design of education conditional cash transfer programs and non education outcomes: the case of teenage pregnancy

We investigate the effect of education Conditional Cash Transfer programs (CCTs) on teenage pregnancy. Our main concern is with how the size and sign of the effect may depend on the design of the program. Using a simple model we show that an education CCT that conditions renewal on school performance reduces teenage pregnancy; the program can increase teenage pregnancy if it does not condition on school performance. Then, using an original data base, we estimate the causal impact on teenage pregnancy of two education CCTs implemented in Bogot´a (Subsidio Educativo, SE, and Familias en Acci´on, FA); both programs differ particularly on whether school success is a condition for renewal or not. We show that SE has negative average effect on teenage pregnancy while FA has a null average effect. We also find that SE has either null or no effect for adolescents in all age and grade groups while FA has positive, null or negative effects for adolescents in different age and grade groups. Since SE conditions renewal on school success and FA does not, we can argue that the empirical results are consistent with the predictions of our model and that conditioning renewal of the subsidy on school success crucially determines the effect of the subsidy on teenage pregnancy

Education for all : the future of education and training for 14-19 year olds.

Aborda varias cuestiones a la luz de las pruebas recogidas durante cinco años por el Informe Nuffield sobre la educación y formación entre los 14 y los 19 años, al plantear dos preguntas clave que están en el centro del debate actual sobre educación y formación de los jóvenes, con independencia de su origen, capacidades u objetivos: ¿Qué se considera una persona educada de 19 años, hoy en día? ¿Son los modelos de educación que hemos heredado del pasado suficientes para satisfacer las necesidades de todos los jóvenes, así como las necesidades sociales y económicas de la comunidad en general? Escrito por los co-directores del Informe Nuffield, sus autores abogan por una radical remodelación y una visión más amplia de la educación con vistas al futuro.

Influence of education and depressive symptoms on cognitive function in the elderly

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence that education and depression have on the performance of elderly people in neuropsychological tests. Methods: The study was conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, Hospital das Clinicas. All of the individuals evaluated were aged 60 or older. The study sample consisted of 59 outpatients with depressive disorders and 51 healthy controls. We stratified the sample by level of education: low = 1-4 years of schooling; high = 5 or more years of schooling. Evaluations consisted of psychiatric assessment, cognitive assessment, laboratory tests and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging. Results: We found that level of education influenced all the measures of cognitive domains investigated (intellectual efficiency, processing speed, attention, executive function and memory) except the Digit Span Forward and Fuld Object Memory Evaluation (immediate and delayed recall), whereas depressive symptoms influenced some measures of memory, attention, executive function and processing speed. Although the combination of a low level of education and depression had a significant negative influence on Stroop Test part B, Trail Making Test part B and Logical Memory (immediate recall), we found no other significant effects of the interaction between level of education and depression. Conclusion: The results of this study underscore the importance of considering the level of education in the analysis of cognitive performance in depressed elderly patients, as well as the relevance of developing new cognitive function tests in which level of education has a reduced impact on the results.

Teachers Formation in Higher Education: Some Aspects under the Light of Education-Work Relations

This text is mainly aimed to address essential aspects of teacher formation in the light of education-work relations in the higher education, from our systematic experience in higher education teaching, particularly teaching and research in the field of Didactics discipline. This formulation is justified considering our concern in seeking to situate this discussion in the context of bringing together knowledge areas and the field of teaching knowledge. Still, our choice to develop such an approach in the light of work-education relationship is due to the belief about the possibilities of seeking to overcome the requirements imposed by capitalism to our educational system, within the possible contradictions of these relationships. In this context the teachers’ formation in higher education gains social and strategic importance, taking on the task of forming individuals of “action-reflection-action” in a society established historically based on the social relations which settle in the light of capital’s multiple determinations. It appears that, in this sense, the major confrontations have been given within the discussions about what to prioritize or combine in the list of criteria and content for teacher’s formation. In Didactic, we seek to emphasize discussions that we consider with a philosophical background, referring to the orientation of teaching practice in knowledge of contemporary ideological struggle; socio-historical, referring to the possibility of formation of disciplines, among them Didactic, and curriculums and references to support its guidance in the process of teacher’s formation. This context of discussion is based on the concrete teaching practice with a view to transformation and to search for new syntheses in terms of knowledge and in terms of historical reality. Then therefore, our methodological approach grounded in the dimensions of the same unit: historical materialism as posture, method and as praxis.

The New Electoral Geography of Central Europe

Zarycki studied the political map of Central Europe today on the basis of results of recent parliamentary and/or presidential elections in the Czech Republic, Hungary, L8ithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. He identified first the structure of regional political cleavages, then the spatial patterns emerging in different countries. He also considered the significance and eventual regional differentiation of various possible influences on these patterns, including urbanisation, historical heritage, ethnic factors, population movements, economic differentiation, the effects of the transformation, demographic factors, education and religion. Virtually all the countries showed a cleavage between more traditional, anti (or non-) communist regions and secular areas with higher post-communist support. Except in Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the post-communist party is dominated by the direct heirs of the former communist parties transformed into moderate left parties. The second major class of cleavages was typical of the Visegrad countries, i.e. the conflict between liberal, mostly metropolitan, regions and a different periphery, usually with a strong populist or anti-liberal appeal. This usually depends on the existence of a sizeable well-educated class, usually pro-market and pro-Western, and on the resolution of the conflict between post and anti-Communists. The third type of cleavage is based on ethnic factors and is clearest in Lithuania and Slovakia, where there are large ethnic minorities. Of factors influencing political behaviour, the two major ones identified were the historical heritage and urbanisation.

Why Freeter and NEET are Misunderstood: Recognizing the New Precarious Conditions of Japanese Youth

In developed countries, the transition from school to work has radically changed over the past two decades. It has become prolonged, complicated and individualized (Bynner et al., 1997; Walther et al., 2004). Young people used to transition directly from school to stable employment, or with a very short unemployed period. In many European countries, this situation has been changing since the eighties: overall youth unemployment has increased, and many young people experience long periods of unemployment, government training schemes and part-time or temporary jobs. In Japan, this change has taken a decade later to appear, becoming prevalent by the late nineties (Inui, 2003). The transiting process has become not only precarious for young people, but also difficult for society to precisely understand the risks and problems. Traditionally, we have been able to recognize young people's situation by a simple category: in education, employed, in training or unemployed. However, these categories no longer accurately represent young people's state. In Japan, most young people used to move from school directly to full-time employment through the new graduate recruitment system (Inui, 1993). Therefore, in official statistics such as the School Basic Survey, 'employed' includes only those who are in regular employment, while those who are in part-time or temporary work are covered by the categories 'jobless' and 'others'. However, with the increase in non-full-time jobs in the nineties, these categories have become less useful for describing the actual employment conditions of young people. Indeed, this is why, in the late of nineties, the Japanese Ministry of Education changed the category name from 'jobless' to 'others'.

Efforts and Models of Education for Parents: the Danish Approach

The report examines the relationship between day care institutions, schools and so called “parents unfamiliar to education” as well as the relationship between the institutions. With in Danish public and professional discourse concepts like parents unfamiliar to education are usually referring to environments, parents or families with either no or just very restricted experience of education except for the basic school (folkeskole). The “grand old man” of Danish educational research, Prof. Em. Erik Jørgen Hansen, defines the concept as follows: Parents who are distant from or not familiar with education, are parents without tradition of education and by that fact they are not able to contribute constructively in order to back up their own children during their education. Many teachers and pedagogues are not used to that term; they rather prefer concepts like “socially exposed” or “socially disadvantaged” parents or social classes or strata. The report does not only focus on parents who are not capable to support the school achievements of their children, since a low level of education is usually connected with social disadvantage. Such parents are often not capable of understanding and meeting the demands from side of the school when sending their children to school. They lack the competencies or the necessary competence of action. For the moment being much attention is done from side of the Ministries of Education and Social Affairs (recently renamed Ministry of Welfare) in order to create equal possibilities for all children. Many kinds of expertise (directions, counsels, researchers, etc.) have been more than eager to promote recommendations aiming at achieving the ambitious goal: 2015 95% of all young people should complement a full education (classes 10.-12.). Research results are pointing out the importance of increased participation of parents. In other word the agenda is set for ‘parents’ education’. It seems necessary to underline that Danish welfare policy has been changing rather radical. The classic model was an understanding of welfare as social assurance and/or as social distribution – based on social solidarity. The modern model looks like welfare as social service and/or social investment. This means that citizens are changing role – from user and/or citizen to consumer and/or investor. The Danish state is in correspondence with decisions taken by the government investing in a national future shaped by global competition. The new models of welfare – “service” and “investment” – imply severe changes in hitherto known concepts of family life, relationship between parents and children etc. As an example the investment model points at a new implementation of the relationship between social rights and the rights of freedom. The service model has demonstrated that weakness that the access to qualified services in the field of health or education is becoming more and more dependent of the private purchasing power. The weakness of the investment model is that it represents a sort of “The Winner takes it all” – since a political majority is enabled to make agendas in societal fields former protected by the tripartite power and the rights of freedom of the citizens. The outcome of the Danish development seems to be an establishment of a political governed public service industry which on one side are capable of competing on market conditions and on the other are able being governed by contracts. This represents a new form of close linking of politics, economy and professional work. Attempts of controlling education, pedagogy and thereby the population are not a recent invention. In European history we could easily point at several such experiments. The real news is the linking between political priorities and exercise of public activities by economic incentives. By defining visible goals for the public servants, by introducing measurement of achievements and effects, and by implementing a new wage policy depending on achievements and/or effects a new system of accountability is manufactured. The consequences are already perceptible. The government decides to do some special interventions concerning parents, children or youngsters, the public servants on municipality level are instructed to carry out their services by following a manual, and the parents are no longer protected by privacy. Protection of privacy and minority is no longer a valuable argumentation to prevent further interventions in people’s life (health, food, school, etc.). The citizens are becoming objects of investment, also implying that people are investing in their own health, education, and family. This means that investments in changes of life style and development of competences go hand in hand. The below mentioned programmes are conditioned by this shift.