Circulating resistin protein and mRNA concentrations and clinical severity of coronary artery disease

Introduction

Previous studies have implicated a strong link between circulating plasma resistin and coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) resistin mRNA and its plasma protein concentrations between the patients with CAD of different clinical severity.

Material and methods

This study included 33 healthy subjects as the control group (CG) and 77 patients requiring coronary angiography. Of the latter 30 was CAD negative whereas 47 were CAD positive [18 with stable angina pectoris (SAP) and 29 with acute coronary syndrome (ACS)]. Circulating resistin was measured by ELISA; PBMC resistin mRNA was determined by real-time PCR.

Results

Resistin protein was significantly higher in the ACS group compared to the CG (P = 0.001) and the CAD negative group (P = 0.018). Resistin mRNA expression did not vary across the study groups, despite the positive correlation seen with plasma resistin (ρ = 0.305, P = 0.008). In patients, plasma resistin and PBMC resistin mRNA negatively correlated with HDL-C (ρ = -0.404, P < 0.001 and ρ = -0.257, P = 0.032, respectively). Furthermore, the highest plasma resistin tertile showed the lowest HDL-C (P = 0.006). Plasma resistin was positively associated with serum creatinine (ρ = 0.353, P = 0.002).

Conclusion

Significant increase of plasma resistin in patients with ACS compared to CG and CAD negative patients was observed. Despite no change in PBMC resistin mRNA in different disease conditions a positive association between resistin mRNA and resistin plasma protein was evident. Both plasma resistin and PBMC resistin mRNA were negatively associated with plasma HDL-C, and plasma resistin positively with serum creatinine.Key words: resistin, human; gene expression; coronary artery disease; acute coronary syndrome     

Teenage social behaviour and emotional well‐being: the role of gender and socio‐economic factors

This article draws on the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine parent ratings of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and prosocial behaviour in pre‐ and mid‐adolescents. A series of mixed‐design ANOVAs yielded interesting results. Parent ratings of emotional difficulties in girls increased as they moved from pre‐ to mid‐adolescence whereas for boys the reverse was found. Peer problems were found to be on the rise, whereas prosocial skills decreased for 14‐year‐olds. Most importantly, significant associations were found between socio‐economic measures (that is, family income and parent education) and ratings across the domains of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, highlighting the socio‐economic specificity of behaviour and well‐being in adolescents. These findings have significant implications for understanding trends in young people's social behaviour and emotional well‐being from pre‐ to mid‐adolescence within their socio‐economic context.     

Identifying and selecting able students for the NAGTY summer school: emerging issues and future considerations

In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition that the educational needs of able students were not being adequately met in British schools resulting in a series of governmental educational initiatives aiming at improving the education of able students. The establishment of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) at the University of Warwick was a development aimed at enhancing able students' educational provision. An evaluation of the first summer school, established under the auspices of NAGTY, took place to address issues of identifying and selecting able students, exploring the relative value of different sources of evidence for determining eligibility, and looking at the overall effectiveness of the selection process. Qualitative methods (i.e., interviews, observations, document analysis) were employed to collect data on the process of identifying and selecting able students. The evaluation yielded interesting results with regard to the criteria/eligibility for selection, decisions about what counts as evidence of giftedness and its relative value.     

The Idiom of Love and Sacrifice: Emotional Vocabularies of Motherhood in Nineteenth-Century Greece

In this article, I draw on a rich body of family correspondence from the second half of the nineteenth century in Greece. I perceive letters in correspondences as textual and material in-between places, and therefore as key sites for the creation and negotiation of maternal feelings. Switching constantly between small-scale autobiographical accounts and contemporary cultural perceptions of good motherhood, I argue that maternal love, the most crucial term of the emotional vocabulary at the time, overlaps with feelings and practices of self-sacrifice and suffering. Paradoxically, the rhetoric of selflessness, as a strong indication of a life-long maternal offering to children, requires specific obligations as a way of repayment. In researching the genealogy of maternal love, sacrifice and selflessness, the article shows the clear proximity of these notions to the wordings of Christian indoctrination and moral teaching of the period.     

Vulnerable young people and post-16 educational aspirations during Covid-19

This study used a longitudinal, probability sample survey, Understanding Society Covid-19, to examine young people's post-16 educational aspirations at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular emphasis on four vulnerable groups (namely, young carers; Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic young people; young people with long-term illness and disability; and people with internalising and externalising behavioural difficulties). The findings from this study showed young carers and young people with health conditions to be less likely to choose A levels, despite reporting roughly equal levels of school engagement and school-related support. The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the obstacles often faced by young carers and young people with pre-existing health conditions and behaviour difficulties. It is hoped that the findings will contribute to debates about social care and education and will have implications for public policy and action, especially as public services are under enormous strain and are less likely to reach those who need them most.     

Promoting effective parenting practices and preventing child behavior problems in school among ethnically diverse families from underserved, urban communities

This study examines the efficacy of ParentCorps among 4-year-old children (N = 171) enrolled in prekindergarten in schools in a large urban school district. ParentCorps includes a series of 13 group sessions for parents and children held at the school during early evening hours and facilitated by teachers and mental health professionals. ParentCorps resulted in significant benefits on effective parenting practices and teacher ratings of child behavior problems in school. Intervention effects were of similar magnitude for families at different levels of risk and for Black and Latino families. The number of sessions attended was related to improvements in parenting. Study findings support investment in and further study of school-based family interventions for children from underserved, urban communities.     

Testing two path models to explore relationships between students’ experiences of the teaching–learning environment,approaches to learning and academic achievement

The study explores the relationships between students’ experiences of the teaching–learning environment and their approaches to learning, and the effects of these variables on academic achievement. Two three-stage models were tested with structural equation modelling techniques. The Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) and the Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ) were used to assess approaches to learning and student’s experiences of the teaching–learning environment, respectively. These two constructs were then used as either first- or second-stage variables within the path analysis. The model using approaches to learning as a mediating variable showed the best fit with our data; variations in our students’ experiences of the teaching–learning environment appear to give rise to their approaches to studying, which subsequently affect their achievement. The deep approach shows no detectable influence on academic achievement in this sample, neither there are any direct effects of experiences of the teaching–learning environment on it. The indirect effects of these experiences on achievement, acting through the strategic and the surface approaches, are related to two aspects of the teaching–learning environment only, namely congruence and coherence in course organisation, and integrative learning and critical thinking. The finding of a reciprocal relation between approaches to learning and experiences of the teaching–learning environment supports previous conclusions about the association between these constructs. The indirect effect of experiences of the teaching–learning environment on achievement, acting through approaches to learning, shows those approaches as a dynamic construct that varies in line with experiences of the teaching-learning environment, and so influences achievement.     

Social inclusion: The case of travellers' children

In this article, we explore distinctions between creative practice and a practice which fosters creativity, drawing on case study data from an English nursery and a first school. We suggest that, in practice, these distinctions are very blurred.