Survey of psychosocial support provided by UK paediatric oncology centres

Aim: To obtain a comprehensive overview of current patterns of psychosocial support provided by National Health Service ( NHS) paediatric oncology treatment centres across the UK. Methods: A postal questionnaire was sent to co-ordinators in the UK Children's Cancer Study Group ( a professional body that is responsible for the organisation of treatment and management of childhood cancer in the UK) in 21 treatment centres and three separate Teenage Cancer Trus units. A range of psychosocial topics were explored, including ratio of staff providing support to patients; facilities provided for children and families; psychosocial support services such as support groups; information provision; and transition support. Results: There were many good areas of support provided by centres, but there was also a lack of standard practices and procedures. All centres employed social workers, play specialists, and paediatric oncology outreach nurses, but patient to staff ratios varied across centres. The poorest staff provision was among psychologists, where patient to staff ratios ranged from 132:1 to 1100:1. Written information was standard practice, while provision of other types of information (audiovisual, online) varied; none of the centres provided audio information specifically for children/young people. Conclusion: This variability in practices among centres frequently occurred, as centres rarely had procedures formally agreed or recorded in writing. British government policy currently seeks to develop standards and guidelines of care throughout the National Health Service. This study further demonstrates the importance of standards and the need to agree guidelines for the provision of psychosocial support for children/young people and their families throughout the course of the illness

The evolution of photo-evaporating viscous discs in binaries

A large fraction of stars are in binary systems, yet the evolution of proto-planetary discs in binaries has been little explored from the theoretical side. In this paper we investigate the evolution of the discs surrounding the primary and secondary components of binary systems on the assumption that this is driven by photoevaporation induced by X-rays from the respective star. We show how for close enough separations (20-30 AU for average X-ray luminosities) the tidal torque of the companion changes the qualitative behaviour of disc dispersal from inside out to outside in. Fewer transition discs created by photoevaporation are thus expected in binaries. We also demonstrate that in close binaries the reduction in viscous time leads to accelerated disc clearing around both components, consistent with $\textit{unresolved}$ observations. When looking at the $\textit{differential}$ disc evolution around the two components, in close binaries discs around the secondary clear first due to the shorter viscous timescale associated with the smaller outer radius. In wide binaries instead the difference in photo-evaporation rate makes the secondaries longer lived, though this is somewhat dependent on the assumed scaling of viscosity with stellar mass. We find that our models are broadly compatible with the growing sample of $\textit{resolved}$ observations of discs in binaries. We also predict that binaries have higher accretion rates than single stars for the same disc mass. Thus binaries probably contribute to the observed scatter in the relationship between disc mass and accretion rate in young stars.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures; accepted on MNRA

College and University Ranking Systems: Global Perspectives and American Challenges

Examines how higher education ranking systems function, how other countries use ranking systems, and the impact of college rankings in the United States on student access, choice, and opportunity

Reply to the comment by Carmelo Anile on the paper "Complexity analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid pulse waveform during infusion studies"

Veterinary technology is an emerging profession within the veterinary and allied animal health fields in Australia and affords graduates the opportunity to contribute to the small but growing body of literature within this discipline. This study describes the introduction of a contextualised assessment task to develop students’ research capability, competence and confidence in professional writing, and to engage them with the academic publishing process. Students worked in self-selected dyads to author a scientific case report, of publishable standard, based on authentic cases from their clinical practicum. Intrinsic to the task, students attended a series of workshops that explored topics such as critiquing the literature, professional writing styles and oral presentation skills. Assessment was multi-staged with progressive feedback, including peer review, and culminated with students presenting their abstracts at a mock conference. Students reported the task to be an enjoyable and valuable learning experience which improved their competence and confidence in scientific writing; supported by a comparison of previously submitted work. Linking scientific writing skills to clinical practice experiences enhanced learning outcomes and may foster the professionalisation of students within this emerging discipline

New tools in comparative political economy: The database of political institutions.

[Dataset available: http://hdl.handle.net/10411/15987]