Celtic Connections

IT’S strange the different things people took away from Theresa May’s teary goodbye in Downing Street yesterday.

WELL that didn’t take long. Scotland’s latest experiment in direct democracy was all but killed off this week, barely two months after Nicola Sturgeon announced it.

Shortly before the second general election of 1974, the late John P Mackintosh attempted to explain the rise of the Scottish National Party to a predominantly left-wing (and English) audience in an essay for the New Statesman.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans has always had a gothic element. The voodoo culture dates from the African American diaspora, though it’s now mostly for tourists. But this year there was an authentically macabre dimension to Fat Tuesday.

SCOTLAND’S universities must play their part in adapting to the “new normal” amid warnings that institutions could be forced to merge in return for government support.

Assuring a positive student-teacher relationship is easier said than done. Here’s what veteran educators advise about how to make that relationship work, and what to do when things fall apart.

Schools can't even afford to hire enough teachers, so why are we surprised that teachers are turning to a website for resources? asks Kat Tipton.

YouthTruth asked 104,000 school staff, students, and their families how they perceive the fairness of discipline at their schools. The results can help start conversations about discipline policy and leading by listening.

Brian Beacom

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210.”

How should schools address learning loss from coronavirus-related closures? A new survey from the Collaborative for Student Success asked teachers, administrators, and policymakers.

RIGHT now, Tori Amos says, the big thing is to resist despondency. “That is an illness,” she tells me near the end of our conversation. “That is cancerous. And it can spread through your whole being and you don’t even realise. You’re in a mental war and you don’t know how to get out of it, and you do have to have words with yourself.”

Nearly half of U.S. children experience adversity, but community-school partnerships can make a difference, write Olga Acosta Price and Wendy Ellis.

Issues with Microsoft's Windows 10 April 2018 Update are a warning of what's to come.

Amid the Trump administration's push to slash federal red tape, educators, advocates, and parents tell the U.S. secretary of education they're worried about the effect that could have on historically overlooked groups of students.

IN pre-lockdown days I had a much-ridiculed addiction. Using Snapchat Maps online, I would click all over the map to see the ‘stories’ of random people I didn’t know in all corners of the world.

CAN I tell you how I feel? I feel, sometimes, like everyone in my life has suddenly been reduced to flat, distant images on a computer screen, like we’re in Star Trek. And I don’t like it.

Rare diseases in childhood can be debilitating and require lifelong care. Since 1983, the Orphan Drug Act incentives have stimulated the development and significantly improved the availability of treatment products for patients with rare diseases.

We report an increasing pediatric orphan product designations and approvals from 2000 to 2009. The trend indicates that the Orphan Drug Act has continued to address this important unmet need. (Read the full article)

Some but not all randomized trials have shown effects of probiotics on incidence and duration of diarrhea and respiratory tract infections among children in developing countries. Calcium improves resistance to intestinal infections in adults, but efficacy in children is unknown.

Lactobacillus reuteri DSM17938 may prevent diarrhea, especially in children with lower nutritional status. Regular calcium milk, alone or with Lactobacillus casei CRL431, did not reduce diarrhea. None of the interventions affected respiratory tract infections in these Indonesian children. (Read the full article)

Micronutrients are essential for brain development during gestation and infancy. Few randomized trials of maternal multiple micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy and postpartum have examined child outcomes beyond the neonatal period or tested which cognitive domains show long-term effects.

Children of undernourished mothers given multiple micronutrients performed as well as children of well-nourished mothers in motor and visual attention/spatial ability at age 42 months; children of undernourished mothers given iron/folic acid showed 4- to 5-month delays in these abilities. (Read the full article)

Impaired visual development has been reported in infants born to mothers prescribed methadone in pregnancy. Immature visual evoked potentials have been reported in this population, but data were confounded by gestation, growth restriction, and illicit drug use.

Visual evoked potentials are small and immature in infants exposed to methadone and other drugs of misuse in utero. These changes are independently associated with methadone exposure and persist after controlling for gestation, socioeconomic deprivation, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking. (Read the full article)

The gap between organ availability and need continues to grow, and infants are among the most vulnerable candidates on the wait-list. The scarcity of donor organs has led the transplant community to look for alternative donor sources.

Children are receiving more grafts from pediatric donors, but they also continue to receive adult donor grafts. Donation after circulatory determination of death increases organ availability. Allocation changes have also helped increase pediatric transplantation and decrease wait-list deaths. (Read the full article)

The demand for donor kidneys for transplantation exceeds supply. En bloc kidney transplantation and donation after determination of circulatory death from pediatric donors increases the potential donor pool.

Newborn infants undergoing elective withdrawal of life support in the NICU are a previously unrecognized source of potential kidney donors. (Read the full article)

Pediatric patients suffer higher mortality due to the shortage of transplantable organs. Factors influencing families’ donation decisions are similar for pediatric and adult patients. However, the general perception that families of pediatric patients are less willing to donate persists.

Communication emerged as a critical factor of family authorization, reinforcing its importance in the organ donation process. Patient age (ie, adult versus pediatric) was not predictive of family authorization. (Read the full article)

High-quality professional learning is difficult to provide in education, principal Jasmine Kullar writes. Here's a solution.

Many teachers are tapped to teach physics without prior training or experience. A new study explores a possible solution.

Like other Americans, liberal and conservative teachers perceive news sources' credibility differently. How does that affect their teaching of media literacy?

Indonesia was rattled by more than 11 500 earthquakes last year, almost double the annual average of the past decade, according to the nation’s meteorological agency.

Penn State and the Palmer Museum of Art mourn the loss of dear friend, generous donor, and loyal champion John P. Driscoll, who died from complications due to COVID-19 on Friday, April 10. Driscoll, owner of Driscoll Babcock Galleries in New York, was a longtime friend and supporter of the Palmer Museum and will be remembered for his role as a leader, gracious mentor and trusted adviser, as well as for the expansive gifts he made to the collection and to his alma mater, Penn State.

There’s always been massive inequality in South Africa, but those who have the money and power still aren’t getting it, says Carmen Williams.

Peroxidases are a group of heterogeneous family of enzyme that plays diverse biological functions. Ascorbate peroxidase is a redox enzyme that is reduced by trypanothione, which plays a central role in the redox defence system of Leishmania. In view of developing new and novel therapeutics, we have performed in silico studies in order to search for ligand library and identification of new drug candidates and its physiological role against promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania donovani. Our results demonstrated that the selected inhibitor ZINC96021026 has significant anti-leishmanial effect and effectively killed both free and intracellular forms of the parasite. ZINC96021026 was found to be identical to ML-240, a selective inhibitor of Valosin-containing protein (VCP) or p97, a member of AAA-ATPase protein family which was derived from the scaffold of DBeQ, targeting the D2-ATPase domain of the enzyme. ZINC96021026 (ML-240) thus have broad range of cellular functions, thought to be derived from its ability to unfold proteins or disassemble protein complexes besides inhibiting the ascorbate peroxidase activity. ML-240 may inhibits the parasite's ascorbate peroxidase leading to extensive apoptosis and inducing generation of reactive oxygen species. Taken together, our results demonstrated that ML-240 could be an attractive therapeutic option for treatment against leishmaniasis.

Noy shares her journey of experiencing God's love for herself and forgiving the community that persecuted her family.

Are you sure you know what the "insurance speak" in your policy means?

Noy shares her journey of experiencing God's love for herself and forgiving the community that persecuted her family.

Google removes the free WireGuard app from the Play Store for having a donation button, reigniting a debate over whether its policy hurts the open-source community.

RANGERS vice-chairman John Bennett last night dismissed a claim that Ibrox chairman Douglas Park had threatened SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster as “unfounded”.

A family of four was caught flouting lockdown restrictions after attempting to travel to Motherwell for a mini-break.

Hongyan “Red” Yuan, an instructional designer at Penn State Berks and member of the board of the Reading Chinese Association (RCA), recently helped to coordinate the donation of 1,500 surgical masks to Penn State Health St. Joseph.

Like other Americans, liberal and conservative teachers perceive news sources' credibility differently. How does that affect their teaching of media literacy?

Basing teachers' pay on merit might give a small boost to students' reading achievement—if teachers understand how it works.

Denver Newsroom, Apr 28, 2020 / 05:17 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Michael Miller of Vancouver has announced that he is donating to the University of British Columbia’s research toward a COVID-19 vaccine.

“May the search for COVID-19 solutions also be a moment of solidarity, of collaboration, and of growing together as a visible sign to the world of the healing and reconciliation so needed right now,” Archbishop Miller said April 27 as reported by the B.C. Catholic.

Ryan Thomas, a special advisor to the archdiocese, told CNA that Archbishop Miller wanted to express, through his donation, the Catholic Church’s support for science and medicine that contribute to the common good.

“The Church— as Pope Francis has said from the beginning of his pontificate— is called to go out, we're called to engage, not called to retreat,” Thomas told CNA.

“From a scientific standpoint, that means identifying the research that is worthy of our investment, that meets the high standards that we have to protect life,” he said.

Thomas declined to specify the amount of the donation, but said that it was in the thousands of dollars.

The global effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine includes at least 50 other research teams, the university says, many of which in the U.S. and Canada have received government funding and are being conducted by large pharmaceutical companies.

Pro-life leaders have warned in recent months that among the many COVID-19 vaccines currently in development worldwide, in some cases researchers are using old cell lines derived from the cells of aborted babies.

It was important to Archbishop Miller, Thomas said, that the Church be seen to be promoting research into a vaccine that Catholics can support in good conscience.

A group of Evangelical Christians and Catholics in Vancouver began to rally around the idea of supporting a vaccine that corresponded to Christian ethical standards, and eventually presented the idea of supporting UBC’s research to Archbishop Miller.

Thomas said Miller made sure to inquire about whether UBC’s vaccine research makes use of aborted fetal cells, which it does not.

Dr. Wilf Jefferies, the project’s lead researcher, told CNA via email that his research team is currently in the process of validating the potency of vaccine candidates in preclinical trials, in order to assess their potential toxicity before trying them in human subjects.

The UBC lab is using immune-boosting components called adjuvants in its vaccine candidate, with the hopes of reducing the dosage of vaccine required for complete protection against the disease. In addition, Jefferies hopes that UBC’s vaccine will continue to provide protection against COVID-19 even if the virus mutates over time.

“I am heartened by the unity and kindness that is being demonstrated during this pandemic,” Jefferies told CNA.

“I think the response by the archdiocese is an affirmative and practical way to address the critical need in our society to develop a vaccine...I am sincerely humbled by the support we have received from the archdiocese and from other groups and individuals.”

So far, Jefferies’ lab has received grants from the government-funded Michael Smith Health Research Foundation and the Sullivan Urology Foundation affiliated with the University of British Columbia, as well as a number of private donations.

There are at least 1,000 clinical trials currently taking place around the world to test potential COVID-19 vaccines.

A group of pro-life leaders in a letter to the Trump administration earlier this month reiterated that development of a COVID-19 vaccine should avoid unethical links to abortion.

“No American should be forced to choose between being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus and violating his or her conscience,” reads the April 17 letter to Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“Fortunately, there is no need to use ethically problematic cell lines to produce a COVID vaccine, or any vaccine, as other cell lines or processes that do not involve cells from abortions are available and are regularly being used to produce other vaccines,” it continued.

The letter’s signers include Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities; the heads of three other bishops’ conference committees; and leaders of many other Catholic and non-Catholic groups.

The Pontifical Academy for Life has noted that Catholics have an obligation to use ethically-sourced vaccines when available, and have an obligation to speak up and request the development of new cell lines that are not derived from aborted fetuses.

The 2008 Vatican document Dignitatis personae strongly criticized aborted fetal tissue research. However, as regards common vaccines, such as those for chicken pox and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), that may be derived from cell lines of aborted babies, the Vatican said they could be used by parents for “grave reasons” such as danger to their children’s health.

In a 2017 document on vaccines, the academy noted a “moral obligation to guarantee the vaccination coverage necessary for the safety of others… especially the safety of more vulnerable subjects such as pregnant women and those affected by immunodeficiency who cannot be vaccinated against these diseases.”

 

Ross LaJeunesse, Google's former head of international relations, published a scathing 2,175-word blog post today about his former employer. But he's also running for Senate in Maine, so it could be a good move, politically.

Bridget O’Donnell, assistant director of student engagement at Penn State Brandywine, has been recognized as Advisor of the Year by the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities.

Security expert Max Eddy doesn't want creepers spying on him (or his dog) through insecure hardware, but that's not why he doesn't have internet-connected cameras in his home.

When we talk about VPNs, it's often in the context of unsafe situations. Senior Security Analyst Max Eddy argues that these tools are still valuable, even when the risk is low.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact communities throughout Pennsylvania, Penn State staff members are fighting food insecurity by donating to food banks and organizations across the state.

The International Crisis Group is honoured to announce the creation of the Giustra Fellowship for Conflict Prevention, made possible by a generous gift of $1 million from Canadian businessman and philanthropic leader Frank Giustra through The Radcliffe Foundation. Mr. Giustra has been a long-time advocate for Crisis Group, providing transformational financial support since joining its Board of Trustees in 2005.

• National team and staff raise money for health service