Biochemical parameters response to weight loss in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Background: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a chronic liver disease that is capable of progressing to end-stage liver disease, but generally has a benign course. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a growing public health problem with no approved therapy. NASH projected to be the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States by 2020. Obesity, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidaemia are the most common associations of the disease. Global prevalence of NASH is 10-24% amongst general population but increases to 25-75% in obese diabetic individuals. Objective: There is an urgent need for efficient therapeutic options as there is still no approved medication. The aim of this study was to detect changes in biochemical parameters including insulin resistance, cytokines, blood lipid profile and liver enzymes following weight loss in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Materials and methods: One hundred obese patients with NASH, their age between 35-50 years, body mass index (BMI) from 30 to 35 Kg/m2 were included in the study in two subgroups; the first group (A) received moderate aerobic exercise training in addition to diet regimen , where the second group (B) received no treatment intervention. Results: The mean values of leptin, TNF-α, IL6, IL8, Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance- index (HOMA-IR), Total Cholesterol (TC), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-c) , Triglycerides (TG) and BMI were significantly decreased in group (A), where the mean value of Adiponectin and High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-c) were significantly increased, while there were no significant changes in group (B). Also, there was a significant difference between both groups at the end of the study. Conclusion: Weight loss modulates insulin resistance, adiponectin, leptin, inflammatory cytokine levels and markers of hepatic function in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS FOR STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL DISABILITIES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOL CASE MANAGERS

Placement of students with disabilities in private special-education schools remains costly and controversial. This is particularly concerning, given the lack of research on the characteristics and quality of these restrictive settings. The purpose of this study was to identify the academic and vocational course offerings and behavioral supports provided in private special-education schools the serve high school students with emotional disabilities (ED). Second, the research examined the perceptions of the quality of services in these setting from the perspectives of public school case managers. Using a mixed-method design to collect data, 9 administrative heads of private special-education schools were surveyed, and 7 public school case managers were interviewed. Results indicated that (a) private special-education schools offer the basic academic core courses needed to meet graduation requirements, (b) vocational options for students enrolled in these schools are quite limited, (c) these schools provide a variety of behavioral interventions and supports, and (d) case managers are concerned with the lack of academic rigor and inconsistent programming at these schools but applauded the notion that students with ED are exiting with a high school diploma. Findings from this study may have policy implications for improving and developing programming options for high school students with ED.

Pediatric Intussusception in Northern Iran: Comparison of Recurrent With Non-Recurrent Cases

Background: Intussusception represents as the invagination of a part of the intestine into itself and is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in infants and children between 6 months to 3-years-old. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the recurrence rate and predisposing factors of recurrent intussusception. Patients and Methods: The medical records of children aged less than 13-years-old with confirmed intussusception who underwent reduction at a tertiary academic care in northern Iran (Mazandran), from 2001 to 2013 were reviewed. Data were extracted and recurrence rate was determined. The two groups were compared by chi square, Fisher, Mann-Whitney and t-test. Diagnosed cases of intussusception consisted of 237 children. Results: Average age of the patients was 19.57 ± 19.43 months with a peak of 3 to 30 months. Male to female ratio was 1.65 and this increased by aging. Recurrence rate was 16% (38 cases). 87 (36.7%) underwent surgery. These were mainly children under one year old. In 71% (40) of episodes recurrence occurred 1 to 7 times within 6 months. The recurrence occurred in 29 (23.5%) children in whom a first reduction was achieved with barium enema (BE) and 5 (5.7%) children who had an operative reduction (P < 0.001) in the first episode. Pathological leading points (PLPs) were observed in 5 cases; 2.6% in recurrence group versus 2% in non-recurrence group (P = 0.91). Three patients had intestinal polyp, 2 patient’s lymphoma and Mackle’s diverticulum. Age (P = 0.77) and sex (P = 0.38) showed no difference between the two groups. PLPs were observed in 1.4% of children aged 3 months to 5 years. This was 13.3%, in older children (P = 0.02). Conclusions: The recurrence of intussusception was related to the method of treatment in the first episode and it was 5-fold higher in children with BE than in operative reduction. Recurrent intussusceptions were not associated with PLPs, they were more idiopathic.

Developing career aspirations of information technology students at Deakin University

It is important for students to develop informed and realistic career aspirations to gain the most value from their university studies towards achieving their initial career goals. However developing students’ career aspirations, goals, and expectations is a complex and discipline-specific process. In Information Technology (IT) no clear career development framework is evident in the literature. Recent research in Australia argues that electronic portfolios are a useful way for students to develop, articulate and document career objectives to enhance their employability. IT students at Deakin engage in formal training and assessment with respect to developing their professional skills and career understandings. Currently electronic portfolios feature as a useful method for evidencing professional competencies for employability. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 306 students’ articulated current career aspirations, qualitative analysis of 7 staff opinions of desired student career competencies, and a quantitative analysis of 28 students’ current work personality traits assessments (Work Personality Index), this work presents an analysis of the current state of IT students’ career development. The results indicate that while students reported short-term career aspirations, navigating to their long-term career goals is going to require addressing difficult barriers such as confidence (self-perception) and motivation. This research will influence a larger program-wide endeavour to build student career competencies for employability in IT at Deakin University.

Planning for country: empowering built environment students with Indigenous protocols and knowledge

Increasingly, Built Environment (BE) professionals, including planner, architect and landscape architect practitioners, are becoming involved in the planning and design of projects for, and in direct consultation with Indigenous communities and their proponents. These projects range from inserting Indigenous cultural landscape analysis into planning schemes, including Indigenous protocols and aspirations in policy statements; designing cultural centres, information centres and housing; drafting cultural tourism strategies and devising cross-cultural land management plans. This entails working with Indigenous communities or their nominated representatives as stakeholders in community engagement, consultation, and planning processes. Critically, BE professionals must be able to plan and design with regard to Indigenous community’s cultural protocols, issues and values. Yet many (domestic and or international) students graduate with little or no comprehension of Indigenous knowledge systems or the protocols for engagement with the communities in which they are required to work, whether they be Australian or international Indigenous communities. Contextually, both PIA and the planning academe have struggled with coming to terms with this realm over the last 10 years. This paper will report on a recently completed Australian Government Office of Learning & Teaching (OLT) funded research project that has sought to improve opportunities to improve the knowledge and skills of tertiary students in the BE professions through the enhancement of their competency, appreciation and respect for Indigenous protocols and processes that also implicates the professional accreditation systems that these courses are accountable. It has proposed strategies and processes to expose students in the BE professions to Australian Indigenous knowledge and cultural systems and the protocols for engaging with Indigenous Australians about their rights, interests, needs and aspirations. Included in these findings is the provision of a tool that enables and offers guidance to BE tertiary students and academics how to enhance comprehension, exposure to, and knowledge and cultural systems of, Indigenous Australians. While the scope of this report is cross-BE, this paper will focus upon the planning practice, policy and academe realms.

Health-inclusive higher education : listening to students with disabilities or chronic illnesses

This paper reports on a small-scale project undertaken with tertiary students who identified as having an impairment either at enrolment or by registering with the university's Disability Support Unit (DSU). The aim of the study was to explore with these students ways in which the university was currently meeting their academic support needs and the ways in which these needs might be better met. Consistent with the definition of disability within the Australian Disability Discrimination Act, it became apparent that a significant number of students who identified with that definition, or sought help from disability services, also presented with needs arising from chronic illness. The majority of participants cited an emotional or psychological illness, rather than a physical, intellectual or sensory one, as a possible precursor to difficulties in engagement with the university. We conclude by considering whether commonly used institutional categories are apposite to an understanding of the ways in which students perceive themselves and, importantly, their engagement with the university and success within it.

Educating for designing in and planning for country: Empowering built environment students with Indigenous protocols and knowledge

Increasingly, built environment professionals in Australia, including architect, landscape architect and planner practitioners, are becoming involved in planning and design of projects for, and in direct consultation with Indigenous communities and their proponents. Critically, built environment professionals must be able to plan and design, and demonstrate respect for Indigenous protocols, cultural issues and their community values. Yet many students graduate with little or no comprehension of Indigenous knowledge systems or the protocols for engagement with Australian or international Indigenous communities in which they are required to work. This paper reports on a recently completed Office of Learning & Teaching funded project that was designed to improve the knowledge and skills of tertiary students in the built environment professions including proposing strategies and processes to expose students in the built environment professions to Australian Indigenous knowledge systems. This is a positive beginning in a long-term decolonising project.

A Petrov-Galerkin method for a singularly perturbed ordinary differential equation with non-smooth data

In this paper, a singularly perturbed ordinary differential equation with non-smooth data is considered. The numerical method is generated by means of a Petrov-Galerkin finite element method with the piecewise-exponential test function and the piecewise-linear trial function. At the discontinuous point of the coefficient, a special technique is used. The method is shown to be first-order accurate and singular perturbation parameter uniform convergence. Finally, numerical results are presented, which are in agreement with theoretical results.

Education for all : providing curriculum for students with disabilities in a standards-based environment : implications for Queensland schools

This report investigates lessons learned by educators in the United States when providing a standards-based curriculum for all students including Students with Disabilities (SWD). Assumptions about implementation of these lessons are then made to the Queensland school system. Queensland mainstream schools currently provide a standards-based curriculum for over sixteen thousand-four hundred students with mild-moderate disabilities and appear to be challenged by this new educational reform and its implications to school and teacher practices, beliefs and attitudes. The analysis of US research, literature and educational policy for this report, has provided some implications for Queensland schools in the areas of student participation, achievement and curriculum planning to provide an “education for all”. The analysis and comparison of legislation and policy, which demonstrates some significant similarities, provides greater validity for the application of lessons learned in the United States to the Queensland context. The key findings about lessons learned provides Queensland schools with some assumptions as to why and how they need to refocus school leader and teachers’ practices, beliefs and attitudes to provide an “education for all”. These lessons infer that school leaders and teachers to explicitly focus on equity, expectation, accountability, performance, alignment and collaboration so that effective curriculum is provided for SWD, indeed all students, in the Queensland standards-based curriculum environment.

Discriminating between primary school students with high and low self-esteem.

From an initial sample of 747 primary school students, the top 16 percent (n =116) with high self-esteem (HSE) and the bottom 15 percent (n = I1 I) with low selfesteem (LSE) were se/eeted. These two groups were then compared on personal and classroom variables. Significant differences were found for all personal (self-talk, selfconcepts) and classroom (teacher feedback, praise, teacher-student relationship, and classroom environment) variables. Students with HSE scored more highly on all variables. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was then used to determine which variables discriminated between these two groups of students. Learner self-concept, positive and negative self-talk, classroom environment, and effort feedback were the best discriminators of students with high and low self-esteem. Implications for educational psychologists and teachers are discussed.

Understanding the literacy difficulties of students with Asperger's syndrome in middle years' classrooms

Among the students in Australian classrooms who are experiencing learning difficulties are increasing numbers of children who have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Although the general cognitive and language abilities of these students are comparable with most of their peers, they experience significant difficulties with social communication, social interactions and social-emotional/behavioural functioning. Despite indications that there are features inherent in Asperger's syndrome that are likely to have a negative effect on the development of advanced literacy skills, studies to date have primarily focused on social-emotional/behavioural challenges. Without effective literacy skills, however, students' access to educational and career opportunities may be curtailed. This article reviews features of Asperger's syndrome that appear to have a negative impact upon the development of advanced literacy skills and suggests ways in which inclusive classroom teachers could support the development of their learners.

Homework for refugee middle school students with backgrounds marked by low levels of engagement with English school literacy

Homework presents many challenges for refugees from Africa who are arriving in Australian schools with histories of little, no or severely interrupted schooling. This is evident in the emergence of school- and community-based homework help, clubs and tutoring programs for the students. The aim of this article is to describe the homework support options accessed by eight students from Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea and Sudan who participated in a study of pedagogy for middle school-aged African refugees, and the views on homework of their parents and teachers. The article shows some tensions between family and school expectations and the dilemmas that arise for teachers in a broader context of public concern about and official policy statement on excessive and repetitive homework. It is argued that application of policy guidelines needs to account for disadvantages that potentially accrue to students who cannot design their own independent study programs. Further, it is suggested that integration of skills and meaning-based pedagogy inherent in recent approaches to literacy education has potential for ensuring that students receive the forms of homework they require.

Mainstreamed students with learning difficulties : failing and underachieving in the secondary school

Despite the rhetoric that students with learning difficulties are adequately supported within schools, the evidence suggests that they continue to experience school failure with devastating consequences. Students with learning difficulties are disproportionately represented as juvenile delinquents, as the unemployed and in mental health statistics. However, the defining of this group remains confused and imprecise and has not been a national priority. This has repercussions for both secondary schools and for the students themselves. This paper highlights research related to teaching practices, policies and school structure and their effects on the academic outcomes and emotional well being of students with learning difficulties. Finally, it makes a number of recommendations to change the status quo for these students.