Reducing misinformation effects in children with cognitive interviews: dissociating recollection and familiarity.

Two experiments examined the effect of a cognitive interview on 4- and 8-year-old children's correct recall and subsequent reporting of misinformation. Children viewed an event followed by misinformation that was read or self-generated either before or after a cognitive interview. Children were then given a recognition test under inclusion and exclusion instructions.

Functional grouping in residential homes for people with intellectual disabilities.

The effects of functional grouping of people with intellectual disabilities on care practices in small residential homes in the community were investigated. A group comparison and a matched-pairs comparison were carried out in settings where less than or more than 75% residents were non-verbal, non-ambulant, had severe challenging behaviour, severe social impairment or were verbal and ambulant. Further analysis, focused on those with challenging behaviour was carried out using ordinal regression.

Lysozyme conjugate immune complex formation and the effects on substrate hydrolysis.

The defined estrone glucuronide-lysozyme conjugate E3, that is acylated solely at K33, was used as a probe for the steric requirements of the active site cleft of chicken type lysozymes. When the immune complex was formed with an anti-estrone glucuronide antiserum, the rate of lysis of the E3 conjugate with the large bacterial substrate Micrococcus lysodeikticus was inhibited by over 90%. However, when the small hexamer of N-acetyl glucosamine was used as the substrate, the rate of hydrolysis by the immune complex was accelerated by 350% compared with the control rate.

Nursing home closures: effects on capacity and reasons for closure.

Objectives: to identify the rate of closure of nursing homes for older people, the types of homes closing and the reasons for closure.

Design: mixed method study including a census and telephone survey of registration and inspection units and interviews with independent providers.

Participants: 81 of 96 health authority and joint registration and inspection unit managers in England completed the census and 39 managers participated in a further telephone survey.

Staff reports of setting events associated with challenging behavior.

This study identified the setting events reported by caregivers as more and less likely to be associated with challenging behaviors of people with intellectual disabilities. Sixty-five staff working with 22 individuals were interviewed using a setting event inventory. Some setting events (e.

The changing public/private mix in dentistry in the UK--a supply-side perspective.

This paper examines the factors beyond NHS dentists' remuneration which may explain the variations in the public/private mix in general dental practitioners' workload in the UK. Given that NHS dentistry is subject to a fixed price system, the study focused mainly on non-income supply-side factors. Using data from a postal survey of a national random sample of dentists practising in the NHS in England in 1997, the study found that the strategies adopted by dentists in the management of NHS lists and the evidence that dentists spent significantly more time in private consultations compared with NHS consultations support concerns over equity of access to dental care and the quality of NHS dentistry.

The cost implications of the changing population and characteristics of care homes.

Background: Recent increases in care home closures suggest that homes may not be able to balance pressures to reduce costs against pressures to increase standards. Commissioning requires an understanding of the factors affecting costs and how they change over time.

Methods: A survey of care homes for older people was conducted in 21 local authorities in England in 1996.

Persuading school-age cyclists to use safety helmets: Effectiveness of an intervention based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

OBJECTIVES: To design and evaluate a theory-based intervention to encourage the use of protective helmets in school-age cyclists. DESIGN: Two-by-three mixed design on 97 cyclists who did not initially use a helmet: Condition (intervention/control) x Time (pre-intervention/immediately post-intervention/5-month follow-up). METHOD: The intervention builds on a previous study using the Theory of Planned Behaviour in which we identified a small number of salient beliefs that predict intention to use a safety helmet and helmet use (Quine et al.

Individually elicited versus modal normative beliefs in predicting attendance at breast screening: Examining the role of belief salience in the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of an individually derived versus modal subjective norm component of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in predicting attendance at breast screening. DESIGN: A prospective, longitudinal design was employed using a postal questionnaire at Time 1 and objective attendance data from screening records at Time 2. METHOD: Questionnaires were sent to 1000 women from East Kent due to be invited for X-ray mammography under the UK's National Health Service Breast Screening Programme.

Illness representation, coping and outcome in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

OBJECTIVE: Irritable bowel syndrome has no observable symptom markers and there is little that the medical profession can do to help sufferers. Psychotherapy, antidepressants and drugs aimed at the most problematic symptoms have been shown to have limited efficacy. In an attempt to help understand the illness better, and to suggest alternative forms of intervention, the study tested whether outcome might be influenced by patients' representation of their illness and by their coping strategies.

Engineering mRNA translation initiation to enhance transient gene expression in chinese hamster ovary cells.

To increase transient expression of recombinant proteins in Chinese hamster ovary cells, we have engineered their protein synthetic capacity by directed manipulation of mRNA translation initiation. To control this process we constructed a nonphosphorylatable Ser(51)Ala site-directed mutant of eIF2alpha, a subunit of the trimeric eIF2 complex that is implicated in regulation of the global rate of mRNA translation initiation in eukaryotic cells. Phosphorylation of eIF2alpha by protein kinases inhibits eIF2 activity and is known to increase as cells perceive a range of stress conditions.

A reappraisal of the locomotion and habitat preference of Theropithecus oswaldi.

The one modern member of the genus Theropithecus, T. gelada (Primates, Cercopithecidae), inhabits grassland and is highly terrestrial. It is often supposed that Theropithecus oswaldi, one of the most common primates of the Plio-Pleistocene of East and southern Africa, was also a highly terrestrial open habitat species.

Social impairment in the "Care in the Community" cohort: the effect of deinstitutionalization and changes over time in the community.

This paper presents data from a longitudinal collaborative study of The Care in the Community Sample (Cambrdige, Hayes, Knapp, Gould, & Fenyo, 1994; Cambridge et al., 2001; Knapp et al., 1992).

Monolithic bulk shear-wave acousto-optic tunable filter.

We demonstrate a monolithic bulk shear-wave acousto-optic tunable filter combining a piezoelectric transducer array and the acoustic interaction medium in a single crystal. An X-propagating acoustic longitudinal wave is excited in the "crossed-field" scheme by an rf-Ey-field in a chirped acoustic superlattice formed by domain-inversion in lithium niobate (LiNbO3). The acoustic longitudinal wave is efficiently (97.

Both concreteness and age-of-acquisition affect reading accuracy but only concreteness affects comprehension in a deep dyslexic patient.

As concreteness correlates very highly with the age-of-acquisition (AoA) of words, we attempted to disentangle the effects of these two variables in the oral reading and comprehension performance of the deep dyslexic patient LW. The results of a multiple regression analysis of LW's reading of 217 words showed that both AoA and concreteness affect reading accuracy, with the AoA effect being most apparent for her reading of concrete words. However, concreteness and not AoA affected LW's performance in matching spoken definitions to printed words, both when the distractors were semantically unrelated and when they were related.

The impact of the Bristol Royal Infirmary disaster and inquiry on public services in the UK.

The inquiry into the services provided by the paediatric cardiac surgical team at Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1984 and 1995 marks a watershed in the development of health and social care services in the UK. There was an organisational failure of foresight based on a series of systemic and communication failures which contributed to oversight of an 'incubating' hazard which ultimately led to disaster. The recommendations of the Bristol inquiry have provided a major stimulus to the modernisation programme and especially of governance in health and social care which aims to restore public confidence and create 'high-trust' organisations.

Differential regulation of the actomyosin interaction by skeletal and cardiac troponin isoforms.

There are significant isoform differences between the skeletal and cardiac troponin complexes. Studies of the regulatory properties of these proteins have previously shown only significant differences in the calcium dependence of their regulation. Using a sensitive myosin subfragment 1 (S1) binding assay we show that in the presence of calcium, thin filaments reconstituted with either skeletal or cardiac troponin produce virtually identical S1 binding curves.

The feasibility of using ethnicity as a primary tool for antenatal selective screening for sickle cell disorders: pointers from the research evidence.

The Department of Health has announced a linked antenatal and neonatal screening programme for haemoglobinopathies by 2004 in a comprehensive national plan for the National Health Service in Britain. In response the National Screening Committee has commenced development work on how such a programme can best be implemented, including investigation of the effectiveness of a question about ethnic origin as a basis for selection. In addition, two recent health technology assessment reports have assessed alternative options for antenatal and neonatal haemoglobinopathy screening programmes in the United Kingdom.

Animal conservation, carbon and sustainability.

International conventions to reduce carbon dioxide levels focus on ecosystems and do not specifically recognize the need to conserve species. However, species are the building blocks of ecosystems, they are more widely understood among the public, and they provide means of capturing market values from ecosystems. Achieving successful conservation globally will require ensuring that the systems under which species and ecosystems are conserved are more inclusive than statutory protected areas.

Interactions of the two heads of scallop (Argopecten irradians) heavy meromyosin with actin: influence of calcium and nucleotides.

We recently proposed a co-operative model for the influence of calcium and ADP on scallop ( Argopecten irradians ) muscle heavy meromyosin (scHMM), in which scHMM exists in two conformations (designated 'off' and 'on'), and calcium and ADP are allosteric effectors of the equilibrium between the off and on conformations [Nyitrai, Szent-Gyorgyi and Geeves (2002) Biochem. J. 365, 19-30].

Residential care in the community for adults with intellectual disability: needs, characteristics and services.

Background: The pattern of residential services for people with intellectual disability in England has changed dramatically since 1971, with many more places being made available in residential homes in the community. The aim of the present study was to assess the needs and characteristics of residents and features of all the residential homes provided by a national charity.

Method: Assessments of adaptive behaviour, problem behaviour and social impairment were completed by staff who knew residents well; information about costs and staffing was provided from central records.