Maternal Effects of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection during Pregnancy.

Given the illness and deaths caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection during the first year of life, preventing infant RSV infections through maternal vaccination is intriguing. However, little is known about the extent and maternal effects of RSV infection during pregnancy. We describe 3 cases of maternal RSV infection diagnosed at a US center during winter 2014. Case-patient 1 (26 years old, week 33 of gestation) received a diagnosis of RSV infection and required mechanical ventilation. Case-patient 2 (27 years old, week 34 of gestation) received a diagnosis of infection with influenza A(H1N1) virus and RSV and required mechanical ventilation. Case-patient 3 (21 years old, week 32 of gestation) received a diagnosis of group A streptococcus pharyngitis and RSV infection and was monitored as an outpatient. Clarifying the effects of maternal RSV infection could yield valuable insights into potential maternal and fetal benefits of an effective RSV vaccination program.

Identification of pertussis-specific effector memory T cells in preschool children

Whooping cough remains a problem despite vaccination, and worldwide resurgence of pertussis is evident. Since cellular immunity plays a role in long-term protection against pertussis, we studied pertussis-specific T-cell responses. Around the time of the preschool acellular pertussis (aP) booster dose at 4 years of age, T-cell memory responses were compared in children who were primed during infancy with either a whole-cell pertussis (wP) or an aP vaccine. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated and stimulated with pertussis vaccine antigens for 5 days. T cells were characterized by flow-based analysis of carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) dilution and CD4, CD3, CD45RA, CCR7, gamma interferon (IFN-γ), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) expression. Before the aP preschool booster vaccination, both the proliferated pertussis toxin (PT)-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell fractions (CFSE^dim) were higher in aP-than in wP-primed children. Post-booster vaccination, more pertussis-specific CD4⁺ effector memory cells (CD45RA^- CCR7^-) were induced in aP-primed children than in those primed with wP. The booster vaccination did not appear to significantly affect the T-cell memory subsets and functionality in aP-primed or wP-primed children. Although the percentages of Th1 cytokine-producing cells were alike in aP- and wP-primed children pre-booster vaccination, aP-primed children produced more Th1 cytokines due to higher numbers of proliferated pertussis-specific effector memory cells. At present, infant vaccinations with four aP vaccines in the first year of life result in pertussis-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ effector memory T-cell responses that persist in children until 4 years of age and are higher than those in wP-primed children. The booster at 4 years of age is therefore questionable; this may be postponed to 6 years of age.

Research in statistical education — planning of an international survey

As announced in the November 2000 issue of MathStats&OR [1], one of the projects supported by the Maths, Stats & OR Network funds is an international survey of research into pedagogic issues in statistics and OR. I am taking the lead on this and report here on the progress that has been made during the first year. A paper giving some background to the project and describing initial thinking on how it might be implemented was presented at the 53rd session of the International Statistical Institute in Seoul, Korea, in August 2001 in a session on The future of statistics education research [2]. It sounded easy. I considered that I was something of an expert on surveys having lectured on the topic for many years and having helped students and others who were doing surveys, particularly with the design of their questionnaires. Surely all I had to do was to draft a few questions, send them electronically to colleagues in statistical education who would be only to happy to respond, and summarise their responses? I should have learnt from my experience of advising all those students who thought that doing a survey was easy and to whom I had to explain that their ideas were too ambitious. There are several inter-related stages in survey research and it is important to think about these before rushing into the collection of data. In the case of the survey in question, this planning stage revealed several challenges. Surveys are usually done for a purpose so even before planning how to do them, it is advisable to think about the final product and the dissemination of results. This is the route I followed.

The Students' Experience of E-learning

The Student Experience of E-learning Laboratory (SEEL) is a three year initiative that seeks to develop the University’s capacity to discover more about the impact of e-learning on our students in an attempt to narrow the gap between the digital natives and immigrants (Prensky, 2001). In its first year the project team have gathered data on the student experience of using technology in support of their learning from across the University. Initial analysis suggests we should listen more carefully to our students and may need to review some of our current practices in relation to e-learning and explore some new ways of working. In this workshop we will outline some of the findings and consider implications for our future practice.

Induction Of Enzymes As A Mechanism For The Seasonal Control Of Metabolism In Marine-Invertebrates - Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenases From The Mantle And Hepatopancreas Of The Common Mussel Mytilus-Edulis-L

1. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from the hepatopancreas and mantle tissue of M. edulis was investigated over two years for changes in specific activity (crude enzyme preparations) and the apparent Michaelis constants for G6P and NADP+ (highly purified enzyme preparations). 2. The specific activity of the mantle enzyme was low in summer and autumn and increased in the winter during the time of lipid deposition. In contrast, the specific activity of the hepatopancreas enzyme was high in summer and declined during the autumn and winter. 3. The apparent values for G6P and NADP+ of the mantle enzymechange little during a year. Changes were observed for the hepatopancreas enzyme during the first year but not the second.

MARKERS OF CARDIOVASCULAR DYSFUNCTION AFTER PREGNANCIES COMPLICATED BY PRE-ECLAMPSIA

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy characterized by maternal systemic endothelial dysfunction. While the clinical manifestations resolve soon after delivery, a large body of epidemiological evidence indicates significant long-term maternal risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) after PE. The mechanisms by which PE and future CVD are associated are unclear, although shared constitutional risk factors likely contribute to the features of endothelial dysfunction characteristic to both. We postulate that PE offers a window of opportunity for the identification of unique markers of dysfunction in the earliest stages of disease that may be used to validate cardiovascular risk screening in the early postpartum period. The studies presented in this thesis provide evidence of changes in circulating factors in women with a recent history of PE. Using blood samples collected within the first year of pregnancy, unique patterns of microRNA expression, enrichment of coagulation system proteins and endothelial progenitor cell dysfunction were described. Many of the described changes appear to be independent of cardiovascular risk. In addition to alterations in circulating factors however, longitudinal postpartum assessments demonstrated that microvascular and cardiac abnormalities were evident in the early periods postpartum after a pre-eclamptic pregnancy. Collectively, the data presented in this thesis reveal that physiological alterations in women with a recent history of PE are not necessarily dependent on clinical parameters of cardiovascular risk, and that resulting dysfunction may be demonstrated within the first year postpartum. Importantly, the biomarkers presented herein are all demonstrated elsewhere in the literature to benefit from lifestyle modification and risk reduction. In closing, the findings of this thesis support a need for cardiovascular risk screening based on obstetrical history, namely after pregnancies complicated by PE.

Project evaluation SOU-estuTUtor: mentors’ perception

The introduction of new degrees in the Faculty of Education and the relevance of educational guidance comes to them, as a compulsory subject in all four grades started from 2009-2010, gives the opportunity to return and boost the University Guidance Service (UGS) as a means of consistency with the profile of their education and professional development of its students. The aim of the paper focuses on the evaluation of the results after the first year of implementing a peer mentoring project, SOU-estuTUtor Project, developed from UGS with all degree students of the Faculty of Education for Students new entrants. Program has been evaluated through the perception and satisfaction of the mentors on the organization, training, skills developed and adapted to the needs of students. After one academic year of implementation, the results show, on the one hand, the satisfaction and commitment of those involved and the partial response to the needs of the students served, as well as the optimization of the personal resources of the university but also some limitations that make it necessary to review the mentoring program in terms of control and duration of the process.

Co-evaluation as a strategy to improve working group dynamics: an experience in Sport Sciences

The aim of this study was to analyze if the perceptions of students before and after carrying out the work, that is, their perception of different aspects of the functioning of the group, the working skills acquired as well as those they think that need to be improved, varied depending on whether the contribution of the different members of the group was being co-evaluated or not. 144 students of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences participated in this study. In order to analyze the students' perception of group work the adapted questionnaire by Bourne et al. (2001) was used. Results showed that groups which implemented co-evaluation assessed more negatively the experience in general than those which did not. However, co-evaluation groups perceived their competence to work as a team had improved to a greater extent than the groups without co-evaluation, evaluating more positively both the performance and the result of work and increasing their knowledge of the other team members. Using a co-evaluation system seems to generate both a better assessment of the running of the team and the result of its work.

The Growth, Learning and Development Study: Summary of Research, Findings and Recommendations.

The Growth, Learning and Development (GLAD) study aimed to examine how a broad range of factors influence child weight during the first year of life. Assessments were undertaken within a multidisciplinary team framework. The sample was drawn from the community and data collection was undertaken in the four Greater Belfast Trusts. Twohundred and thirty-four families took part, each receiving a total of five home visits during which physical growth, oral-motor skills and development were assessed. Psychosocial evaluation examined parent-child interaction, feeding and other parental and child characteristics using quantitative and observational techniques. This paper outlines the main findings and recommendations from the GLAD study.

Application of a Generic Curriculum Change Management Process to Motivate and Excite Students

The School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast is committed to enhancing the quality of student learning. A plan to implement curriculum change around this goal has been formulated and is already several years underway. A specific part of the plan involved instigating a first year introductory module to engage the students in the practice of their engineering discipline. The complicated nature of devising this type of module with regard to objectives, resources, timeframe and the number of students involved meant that a very systematic approach had to be adopted. This paper presents the simple but definitive change management process that facilitated in the creation of a first year Introduction to Engineering module. The generic nature of this process is described and its application to other facets of curriculum change is discussed. Within this process the importance of collaboration to establish a forward momentum is emphasised. This enables academic staff to progress as a group and build curriculum development based on their own experiences, expertise and established practice

Right-left discrimination among medical students: Getting it right all of the time?

Objective To determine medical students’ self awareness and ability to discriminate right from left; to identify characteristics associated with this ability; and to identify any techniques used to aid discrimination. Design Questionnaire and psychometric study. Setting Undergraduate medical school, Northern Ireland. Participants 290 first year undergraduate students. Main outcome measure Medical students’ ability to discriminate right from left using the Bergen right-left discrimination test. Results Test scores ranged from 31 to 143 on a scale of 0- 144 (mean 112 (standard deviation 22.2)). Male students significantly outperformed female students (117.18 (26.96) v 110.80 (28.94)). Students who wanted to be surgeons performed significantly better than those who wanted to be general practitioners or medical doctors (119.87 (25.15) v 110.55 (27.36) v 112.50 (26.88)). The interaction effect for sex and career wishes was not significant (P=0.370). Students who used learnt techniques to help them discriminate scored significantly less than those who did not (P

Enhancing the teaching of professional practice and key skills in engineering through the use of computer animation

This paper presents some observations on how computer animation was used in the early years of a degree program in Electrical and Electronic Engineering to enhance the teaching of key skills and professional practice. This paper presents the results from two case studies. First, in a first year course which seeks to teach students how to manage and report on group projects in a professional way. Secondly, in a technical course on virtual reality, where the students are asked to use computer animation in a way that subliminally coerces them to come to terms with the fine detail of the mathematical principles that underlie 3D graphics, geometry, etc. as well as the most significant principles of computer architecture and software engineering. In addition, the findings reveal that by including a significant element of self and peer review processes into the assessment procedure students became more engaged with the course and achieved a deeper level of comprehension of the material in the course.

The effect of statistics anxiety on students’ predicted and actual test scores

This study investigated the effect of statistics anxiety and attitudes on first year psychology students’ predicted and actual statistics class test scores. A total of 52 students completed the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale and estimated their class test scores one week before their test at the end of first year. Regression models were conducted with the six attitude and anxiety subscales as predictors and the predicted and actual test scores as criterion variables. The results showed that computation self concept and fear of asking for help accounted for 37% of the variance in predicted test scores. However, when actual test scores were analysed the significant predictors were worth of statistics and interpretation anxiety, which accounted for 20% of the variance. These results suggested that while statistics anxiety does influence students’ perceptions of their competence it appears to have less effect on their actual performance. Results also suggested that students were unaware of their own statistical competence. Remedial action is required to address the level of statistics anxiety experienced by first year undergraduate psychology students, as it appears to result in unrealistic assessments of their ability and has detrimental effects on their statistics self-efficacy.

A Review of an Initiative to Introduce a Short Ethics Component into a Non-Ethics Course at a U.K. University

This paper discusses the introduction of a short ethics component into a first-year undergraduate accounting information systems course at a UK university. The influence of this ethics component on students’ ethical perceptions – where ethical perceptions are represented by the extent to which students’ conclusions regarding unethical actions coincide with those of experts in the field – is then assessed using computer-based scenarios to represent seven categories of ethical norms. The ethical perceptions in each of the scenarios are then statistically compared between two groups of students, namely those who have studied the ethics component and those who have not. Results indicate no significant difference in ethical perceptions between the two groups across all of the ethical norms. Possible explanations for this result are discussed and implications for future ethics teaching are considered.

Statin prescribing in Northern Ireland and England pre and post introduction of the quality and outcomes framework

Objective The objective of this research was to examine differences in patterns of statin prescribing between Northern Ireland and England both before and after the introduction of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). Setting: Primary care practices in Northern Ireland and England. Method Northern Ireland practices were matched with practices in England, statin prescribing data and QOF achievement scores (for the first year post-QOF) were obtained. Crude prescribing data from matched practices were manipulated to provide a data set of Defined Daily Doses (DDDs)/1,000 patients and cost/DDD/1,000 patients for each statin drug entity covering 1 year before and after the introduction of QOF. QOF achievements were converted into percentage scores for matched practices. Main outcome measure Cost per defined daily dose (DDD) per 1,000 patients. Results Significantly less statins (DDD/1,000 patients) were dispensed in Northern Ireland compared with the matched region in England both before and after the introduction of QOF (P