CLAE to move to online format

Editorial: The 2015 BCLA annual conference was another fantastic affair. It was the first time the conference was held in the beautiful city of Liverpool. The venue was great and the programme was excellent. The venue overlooked the River Mersey and many of the hotels were local boutique hotels. I stayed in one which was formerly the offices of White Star Liners—where the RMS Titanic was originally registered. The hotel decor was consistent with its historic significance. The BCLA gala dinner was held in the hugely impressive Anglican Cathedral with entertainment from a Beatles tribute band. That will certainly be a hard act to follow at the next conference in 2017. Brian Tompkins took the reigns as the new BCLA president. Professor Fiona Stapleton was the recipient of the BCLA Gold Medal Award. The winner of the poster competition was Dorota Szczesna-Iskander with a poster entitled ‘Dry Contact lens poor wettability and visual performance’. Second place was Renee Reeder with her poster entitled ‘Abnormal Rosacea as a differential diagnosis in corneal scarring’. And third place was Maria Jesus Gonzalez-Garcia with her poster entitled ‘Dry Effect of the Environmental Conditions on Tear Inflammatory Mediators Concentration in Contact Lens Wearers’. The photographic competition winner was Professor Wolfgang Sickenberger from Jena in Germany. The Editorial Panel of CLAE met at the BCLA conference for their first biannual meeting. The journal metrics were discussed. In terms of number of submissions of new papers CLAE seems to have plateaued after seeing a rapid growth in the number of submissions over the last few years. The increase over the last few years could be attributed to the fact that CLAE was awarded an impact factor for the first time in 2012. This year it seems that impact factors across nearly all ophthalmic related journals has dropped. This could in part be due to the fact that last year was a ‘Research Exercise Framework (REF) year for UK universities, where they are judged on quality of their research output. The next REF is in 2020 so we may see changes nearing that time. Looking at article downloads, there seems to be a continued rise in figures. Currently CLAE attracts around 85,000 downloads per year (this is an increase of around 10,000 per year for the last few years) and the 2015 prediction is 120,000! With this in mind and with other contributing factors too, the BCLA has decided to move to online delivery of CLAE to its members starting from issue 5 of 2015. Some members do like to flick through the pages of a hard copy of the journal so members will still have the option of receiving a hard copy through the post but the default journal delivery method will now be online. The BCLA office will send various alerts and content details to members email addresses. To access CLAE online you will need to log in via the BCLA web page, currently you then click on ‘Resources’ and then under ‘Free and Discounted Publications’ you will see CLAE. This actually takes you to CLAE’s own webpage (www.contactlensjournal.com) but you need to log in via the BCLA web page. The BCLA plans to change these weblinks so that from the BCLA web page you can link to the journal website much more easily and you have the choice of going directly into the general website for CLAE or straight to the current issue. In 2016 you will see an even easier way of accessing CLAE online as the BCLA will launch a CLAE application for mobile devices where the journal can be downloaded as a ‘flick-book’. This is a great way of bringing CLAE into the modern era where people access their information in newer ways. For many the BCLA conference was part of a very busy conference week as it was preceded by the International Association of Contact Lens Educators’ (IACLE) Third World Congress, held in Manchester on the 4 days before the BCLA conference. The first and second IACE World Congresses were held in Waterloo, Canada in 1994 and 2000 respectively and hosted by Professor Des Fonn. Professor Fonn was the recipient of the first ever IACLE lifetime achievement award. The Third IACLE World Congress saw more than 100 contact lens educators and industry representatives from around 30 countries gather in the UK for the four-day event, hosted by The University of Manchester. Delegates gained hands-on experience of innovations in teaching, such as learning delivery systems, the use of iPads in the classroom and for creating ePub content, and augmented and virtual reality technologies. IACLE members around the world also took part via a live online broadcast. The Third IACLE World Congress was made possible by the generous support of Sponsors Alcon, CooperVision and Johnson & Johnson Vision Care., for more information look at the IACLE web page (www.iacle.org).

Orthodox Christianity and Nationalism:an introduction

On the morning of January 5, 1859, at the end of the liturgy in the Orthodox cathedral in Iaşi, the capital of the principality of Moldavia, Father Neofit Scriban addressed the congregation. He had given many sermons in the cathedral; however, on this par tic u lar date Father Neofit faced an unusual audience. Among the faithful who regularly worshipped at the relics of Saint Parascheva, the protector of Moldavia, were the members of the assembly who would decide the future of the principality. They had a specific mission: to elect a new prince, a key figure in their plan to unite Moldavia with the neighboring principality of Wallachia. Father Neofit, a supporter of the unionist cause and fully aware of the significance of the moment, stated: Brethren, Jesus Christ has said that "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." You, Brethren, are not two, or three, but a real gathering in the name of God. God is in your midst. You are here in the name of the Romanian nation [and] the Romanian nation is in your midst. On the flag under which you have assembled, the flag of the Romanian nation, great events, the Romanian faith, unity, are written in large letters. The church, which is founded on faith, blesses the flag of this faith⋯. You, Brethren, through the faith of the Romanian nation, by remaining faithful to this flag, will find the same strength as the church [finds] in its own saints. The faith of the Romanian nation was not, is not, and will not be anything else, but the unity of all Romanians in a single state, the only anchor of salvation, the only port in which the national boat could be saved from surrounding waves. You, Brethren, have gathered here in the church of Stephen the Great; looking at the altar that he raised to the God of your parents, I think that, through this [altar], you will be able to enter into the wishes of this hero of our nation. You, [remember that] by leaving this place, you are leaving [in order to fulfill] a great gesture that for many centuries has been lost for us; you are about to elect a successor to this great hero; therefore, as his true sons, you could not be anything other than the true expression of his wishes. Myself, [as] last year, from this altar, I said and I will continue to say that this great hero has told us that "the God of our parents will send us a Redeemer who will heal our wounds and accomplish our wishes." May your chosen leader today be the redeemer expected by the Romanian nation. May he heal its wounds and achieve its wishes. Therefore, Brethren, may your election today be that of a real Messiah of Romania. God and the world are looking at you, the church is blessing you and the whole Romanian nation is waiting for you!1 A few hours after Father Neofit's sermon, the assembly elected Alexandru Ioan Cuza to be the prince of the principality of Moldavia; a few days later, on January 24, 1859, the assembly of the neighboring principality of Wallachia decided that Cuza should also be their prince, thus confirming the unification of the two states. A new country was inscribed on the map of Southeastern Europe, titled "The United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia," also known as "The United Romanian Principalities".

Proceedings of the 6th CIRP-Sponsored International Conference on Digital Enterprise Technology

This Proceedings volume contains articles presented at the CIRP-Sponsored International Conference on Digital Enterprise Technology (DET2009) that takes place 14-16 December 2009 in Hong Kong. This is the 6th DET conference in the series and the first to be held in Asia. Professor Paul Maropoulos initiated, hosted and chaired the 1st International DET Conference held in 2002 at the University of Durham. Since this inaugural first DET conference, DET conference series has been successfully held in 2004 at Seattle, Washington USA, in 2006 at Setubal Portugal, in 2007 at Bath England, and in 2008 at Nantes France. The DET2009 conference continues to bring together International expertise from the academic and industrial fields, pushing forward the boundaries of research knowledge and best practice in digital enterprise technology for design and manufacturing, and logistics and supply chain management. Over 120 papers from over 10 countries have been accepted for presentation at DET2009 and inclusion in this Proceedings volume after stringent refereeing process.

Book Review: Travel Law, Cases, and Materials

Travel Law, Cases and Materi als, by Robert M. Jarvis, John R. Goodwin, William D. Henslee (Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 19981, ISBN 0-89089-802-2,1998, vii + 738 pp., including tables, acknowledgments, appendices, index. $80 hardback.

Glacial landscape evolution in the Uummannaq region, West Greenland

Funded by Department of Geography (Durham University) Department of Geography and the Environment (University of Aberdeen) Royal Geographical Society-IBG Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland

Scaling up strategies of the chronic respiratory disease programme of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (Action Plan B3: Area 5)

Peer reviewed

Guideline-based decision support has a small, non-sustained effect on transthoracic echocardiography ordering frequency.

BACKGROUND: Guidance for appropriate utilisation of transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) can be incorporated into ordering prompts, potentially affecting the number of requests. METHODS: We incorporated data from the 2011 Appropriate Use Criteria for Echocardiography, the 2010 National Institute for Clinical Excellence Guideline on Chronic Heart Failure, and American College of Cardiology Choosing Wisely list on TTE use for dyspnoea, oedema and valvular disease into electronic ordering systems at Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Our primary outcome was TTE orders per month. Secondary outcomes included rates of outpatient TTE ordering per 100 visits and frequency of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) ordering prior to TTE. Outcomes were measured for 20 months before and 12 months after the intervention. RESULTS: The number of TTEs ordered did not decrease (338±32 TTEs/month prior vs 320±33 afterwards, p=0.12). Rates of outpatient TTE ordering decreased minimally post intervention (2.28 per 100 primary care/cardiology visits prior vs 1.99 afterwards, p<0.01). Effects on TTE ordering and ordering rate significantly interacted with time from intervention (p<0.02 for both), as the small initial effects waned after 6 months. The percentage of TTE orders with preceding BNP increased (36.5% prior vs 42.2% after for inpatients, p=0.01; 10.8% prior vs 14.5% after for outpatients, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Ordering prompts for TTEs initially minimally reduced the number of TTEs ordered and increased BNP measurement at a single institution, but the effect on TTEs ordered was likely insignificant from a utilisation standpoint and decayed over time.

Can a Broader Education Narrow the Gap? Evidence on Non-Academic Features of Schooling

Empirical studies of education programs and systems, by nature, rely upon use of student outcomes that are measurable. Often, these come in the form of test scores. However, in light of growing evidence about the long-run importance of other student skills and behaviors, the time has come for a broader approach to evaluating education. This dissertation undertakes experimental, quasi-experimental, and descriptive analyses to examine social, behavioral, and health-related mechanisms of the educational process. My overarching research question is simply, which inside- and outside-the-classroom features of schools and educational interventions are most beneficial to students in the long term? Furthermore, how can we apply this evidence toward informing policy that could effectively reduce stark social, educational, and economic inequalities?

The first study of three assesses mechanisms by which the Fast Track project, a randomized intervention in the early 1990s for high-risk children in four communities (Durham, NC; Nashville, TN; rural PA; and Seattle, WA), reduced delinquency, arrests, and health and mental health service utilization in adolescence through young adulthood (ages 12-20). A decomposition of treatment effects indicates that about a third of Fast Track’s impact on later crime outcomes can be accounted for by improvements in social and self-regulation skills during childhood (ages 6-11), such as prosocial behavior, emotion regulation and problem solving. These skills proved less valuable for the prevention of mental and physical health problems.

The second study contributes new evidence on how non-instructional investments – such as increased spending on school social workers, guidance counselors, and health services – affect multiple aspects of student performance and well-being. Merging several administrative data sources spanning the 1996-2013 school years in North Carolina, I use an instrumental variables approach to estimate the extent to which local expenditure shifts affect students’ academic and behavioral outcomes. My findings indicate that exogenous increases in spending on non-instructional services not only reduce student absenteeism and disciplinary problems (important predictors of long-term outcomes) but also significantly raise student achievement, in similar magnitude to corresponding increases in instructional spending. Furthermore, subgroup analyses suggest that investments in student support personnel such as social workers, health services, and guidance counselors, in schools with concentrated low-income student populations could go a long way toward closing socioeconomic achievement gaps.

The third study examines individual pathways that lead to high school graduation or dropout. It employs a variety of machine learning techniques, including decision trees, random forests with bagging and boosting, and support vector machines, to predict student dropout using longitudinal administrative data from North Carolina. I consider a large set of predictor measures from grades three through eight including academic achievement, behavioral indicators, and background characteristics. My findings indicate that the most important predictors include eighth grade absences, math scores, and age-for-grade as well as early reading scores. Support vector classification (with a high cost parameter and low gamma parameter) predicts high school dropout with the highest overall validity in the testing dataset at 90.1 percent followed by decision trees with boosting and interaction terms at 89.5 percent.

"A New Genesis": The "Silent Vigil" at Duke University, April 5th-12th, 1968

Honors thesis

2012 09 February Jean Weissenbach interview

Jean Weissenbach, telephone interview by Kathryn Maxson and Robert Cook-Deegan, conducted from Durham, NC 09 February 2012. Jean Weissenbach, a leader in French genetic mapping, directed the French national sequencing center, Généthon, during the HGP and was instrumental in helping to build agreement to the Bermuda Principles in France.

The Effects of Brominated Flame Retardants on Thyroid Hormone Homeostasis in Human Placenta Tissues and Cell Culture

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) that have been heavily used in consumer products such as furniture foams, plastics, and textiles since the mid-1970’s. BFRs are added to products in order to meet state flammability standards intended to increase indoor safety in the event of a fire. The three commercial PBDE mixtures, Penta-, Octa-, and DecaBDE, have all been banned in the United States, however, limited use of DecaBDE is still permitted. PBDEs were phased out of production and added to the Stockholm Convention due to concerns over their environmental persistence and toxicity. Human exposure to PBDEs occurs primarily through the inadvertent ingestion of contaminated house dust, as well as though dietary sources. Despite the phase-out and discontinued use of PBDEs, human exposure to this class of chemicals is likely to continue for decades due to the continued use of treated products and existing environmental reservoirs of PBDEs. Extensive research over the years has shown that PBDEs disrupt thyroid hormone (TH) levels and neurodevelopmental endpoints in rodent and fish models. Additionally, there is growing epidemiological evidence linking PBDE exposure in humans to altered TH homeostasis and neurodevelopmental impairments in children. Due to the importance of THs throughout gestation, there is a great need to understand the effects of BFRs on the developing fetus. Specifically, the placenta plays a critical role in the transport, metabolism, and delivery of THs to the fetal compartment during pregnancy and is a likely target for BFR bioaccumulation and endocrine disruption. The central hypothesis of this dissertation research is that BFRs disrupt the activity of TH sulfotransferase (SULT) enzymes, thereby altering TH concentrations in the placenta.

In the first aim of this dissertation research, the concentrations of PBDEs and 2,4,6-TBP were measured in a cohort of 102 placenta tissue samples from an ongoing pregnancy cohort in Durham, NC. Methods were developed for the extraction and analysis of the BFR analytes. It was found that 2,4,6-TBP was significantly correlated with all PBDE analytes, indicating that 2,4,6-TBP may share common product applications with PBDEs or that 2,4,6-TBP is a metabolite of PBDE compounds. Additionally, this was the first study to measure 2,4,6-TBP in human placenta tissues.

In the second aim of this dissertation research, the placenta tissue concentrations of THs, as well as the endogenous activity of deiodinase (DI) and TH SULT enzymes were quantified using the same cohort of 102 placenta tissue samples. Enzyme activity was detected in all samples and this was the first study to measure TH DI and SULT activity in human placenta tissues. Enzyme activities and TH concentrations were compared with BFR concentrations measured in Aim 1. There were few statistically significant associations observed for the combined data, however, upon stratifying the data set based on infant sex, additional significant associations were observed. For example, among males, those with the highest concentrations of BDE-99 in placenta had T3 levels 0.80 times those with the lowest concentration of BDE-99 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.59, 1.07). Whereas females with the highest concentrations of BDE-99 in placenta had T3 levels 1.50 times those with the lowest concentration of BDE-99 (95% CI: 1.10, 2.04). Additionally, all BFR analyte concentrations were higher in the placenta of males versus females and they were significantly higher for 2,4,6-TBP and BDE-209. 3,3’-T2 SULT activity was significantly higher in female placenta tissues, while type 3 DI activity was significantly higher in male placenta tissues. This research is the first to show sex-specific differences in the bioaccumulation of BFRs in human placenta tissue, as well as differences in TH concentrations and endogenous DI and SULT activity. The underlying mechanisms of these observed sex differences warrant further investigation.

In the third aim of this dissertation research, the effects of BFRs were examined in a human choriocarcinoma placenta cell line, BeWo. Michaelis-Menten parameters and inhibition curves were calculated for 2,4,6-TBP, 3-OH BDE-47, and 6-OH BDE-47. 2,4,6-TBP was shown to be the most potent inhibitor of 3,3’-T2 SULT activity with a calculated IC50 value of 11.6 nM. It was also shown that 2,4,6-TBP and 3-OH BDE-47 exhibit mixed inhibition of 3,3’-T2 sulfation in BeWo cell homogenates. Next, a series of cell culture exposure experiments were performed using 1, 6, 12, and 24 hour exposure durations. Once again, 2,4,6-TBP was shown to be the most potent inhibitor of basal 3,3’-T2 SULT activity by significantly decreasing activity at the high and medium dose (1 M and 0.5 M, respectively) at all measured time points. Interestingly, BDE-99 was also shown to inhibit basal 3,3’-T2 SULT activity in BeWo cells following the 24 hour exposure, despite exhibiting no inhibitory effects in the BeWo cell homogenate experiments. This indicates that BDE-99 must act through a pathway other than direct enzyme inhibition. Following exposures, the TH concentrations in the cell culture growth media and mRNA expression of TH-related genes were also examined. There was no observed effect of BFR treatment on these endpoints. Future work should focus on determining the downstream biological effects of TH SULT disruption in placental cells, as well as the underlying mechanisms of action responsible for reductions in basal TH SULT activity following BFR exposure.

This was one of the first studies to measure BFRs in a cohort of placenta tissue samples from the United States and the first study to measure THs, DI activity, and SULT activity in human placenta tissues. This research provides a novel contribution to our growing understanding of the effects of BFRs on TH homeostasis within the human placenta, and provides further evidence for sex-specific differences within this important organ. Future research should continue to investigate the effects of environmental contaminants on TH homeostasis within the placenta, as this represents the most critical and vulnerable stage of human development.

R-ArcticNet, A Regional Hydrographic Data Network for the Pan-Arctic Region (ISO-image of CD-ROM)

We describe the contemporary hydrography of the pan-Arctic land area draining into the Arctic Ocean, northern Bering Sea, and Hudson Bay on the basis of observational records of river discharge and computed runoff. The Regional Arctic Hydrographic Network data set, R-ArcticNET, is presented, which is based on 3754 recording stations drawn from Russian, Canadian, European, and U.S. archives. R-ArcticNET represents the single largest data compendium of observed discharge in the Arctic. Approximately 73% of the nonglaciated area of the pan-Arctic is monitored by at least one river discharge gage giving a mean gage density of 168 gages per 106 km2. Average annual runoff is 212 mm yr?1 with approximately 60% of the river discharge occurring from April to July. Gridded runoff surfaces are generated for the gaged portion of the pan-Arctic region to investigate global change signals. Siberia and Alaska showed increases in winter runoff during the 1980s relative to the 1960s and 1970s during annual and seasonal periods. These changes are consistent with observations of change in the climatology of the region. Western Canada experienced decreased spring and summer runoff.

English Cathedrals: Events and Spiritual Capital

This paper investigates the recent trend for cathedrals in England to develop a wider and more ambitious scope to their event and activity programmes. It sets out to explore the types of events now hosted at cathedrals, to consider barriers to such ambitions and the opportunities presented by event programming to develop new audiences and grow attendances. The research focuses on the 42 Anglican cathedrals of England and has involved a review of recent reports published by church and cathedral organisations, supported by an in-depth review of event activity and objectives at five selected cathedrals in southern England. Despite declining general church attendance in England, cathedrals have enjoyed two decades of attendance growth both as places of worship and as tourist attractions, partly a reflection of a more complex contemporary search for multi-faceted types of spirituality. The paper explores how events can tap into the realm of individual spiritual capital and demonstrates the rich diversity of events now being hosted by cathedrals. The paper offers a new categorisation of ecclesiastical/liturgical events, cultural and community events and openly commercial event activity. Barriers remain but key facilitating factors have been new investment in event expertise and professionalism, encouragement to experiment by key funding bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and the embracing of new forms of spirituality. The diversity of cathedral events reflects a new found growth in the nurturing of “spiritual capital” amongst both worshippers and tourists.