Explore the vast range of titles available.

Studies of reality monitoring (RM) often implicate medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in distinguishing internal and external information, a region linked to autism-related deficits in social and self-referential information processing, executive function, and memory. This study used two RM conditions (self-other; perceived-imagined) to investigate RM and metamemory in adults with autism. The autism group showed a deficit in RM, which did not differ across source conditions, and both groups exhibited a self-encoding benefit on recognition and source memory. Metamemory for perceived-imagined information, but not for self-other information, was significantly lower in the autism group. Therefore, reality monitoring and metamemory, sensitive to mPFC function, appear impaired in autism, highlighting a difficulty in remembering and monitoring internal and external details of past events.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, yet, due to the lack of a COVID-19-specific tool, clinicians must use pre-existing illness severity scores for initial prognostication. However, the validity of such scores in COVID-19 is unknown.MethodsThe North West Collaborative Organisation for Respiratory Research performed a multicentre prospective evaluation of adult patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed COVID-19 during a 2-week period in April 2020. Clinical variables measured as part of usual care at presentation to the hospital were recorded, including the Confusion, Urea, Respiratory Rate, Blood Pressure and Age Above or Below 65 Years (CURB-65), National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) and Quick Sequential (Sepsis-Related) Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) scores. The primary outcome of interest was 30-day mortality.ResultsData were collected for 830 people with COVID-19 admitted across seven hospitals. By 30 days, a total of 300 (36.1%) had died and 142 (17.1%) had been in the intensive care unit. All scores underestimated mortality compared with pre-COVID-19 cohorts, and overall prognostic performance was generally poor. Among the ‘low-risk’ categories (CURB-65 score<2, NEWS2<5 and qSOFA score<2), 30-day mortality was 16.7%, 32.9% and 21.4%, respectively. NEWS2≥5 had a negative predictive value of 98% for early mortality. Multivariable logistic regression identified features of respiratory compromise rather than circulatory collapse as most relevant prognostic variables.ConclusionIn the setting of COVID-19, existing prognostic scores underestimated risk. The design of new prognostic tools should focus on features of respiratory compromise rather than circulatory collapse. We provide a baseline set of variables which are relevant to COVID-19 outcomes and may be used as a basis for developing a bespoke COVID-19 prognostication tool.

In addition to those with savant skills, many individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) show superior perceptual and attentional skills relative to the general population. These superior skills and savant abilities raise important theoretical questions, including whether they develop as compensations for other underdeveloped cognitive mechanisms, and whether one skill is inversely related to another weakness via a common underlying neurocognitive mechanism. We discuss studies of perception and visual processing that show that this inverse hypothesis rarely holds true. Instead, they suggest that enhanced performance is not always accompanied by a complementary deficit and that there are undeniable difficulties in some aspects of perception that are not related to compensating strengths. Our discussion emphasizes the qualitative differences in perceptual processing revealed in these studies between individuals with and without ASCs. We argue that this research is important not only in furthering our understanding of the nature of the qualitative differences in perceptual processing in ASCs, but can also be used to highlight to society at large the exceptional skills and talent that individuals with ASCs are able to contribute in domains such as engineering, computing and mathematics that are highly valued in industry.

Classroom assistants are increasingly relied upon to support the most needy pupils, and they have had significantly less training than their colleagues with qualified teacher status. It is clear that these assistants need some very practical materials. This book provides photocopiable resources so that classroom assistants can get to work. The book covers all they need to know about literacy, it explains in very simple terms what is expected from them and: *how the National Literacy Strategy works *how to support reading, writing and spelling *how to select fiction and non-fiction *how to help children use computers It also covers issues such as: *how to help children for whom English is not their first language *how to help children with special needs *how to set targets and monitor progress. As well as providing an invaluable manual for assistants, Supporting Literacy will be useful for SENCOs and English Co-ordinators who are training support staff and volunteers in primary schools. Learning Support Assistants and others following recognised courses (eg Specialist Teacher's Assistants) will find the book helpful in the study of children's literacy. 'This book gives thorough, clear and practical advice on the subject of supporting literacy. In a readable, user-friendly style it covers reading, writing, spelling, special needs, bilingual children and the use of computers. Each chapter ends with a bullet-pointed summary of the major isues, and a list of useful and accessible books for further reading. There is also an excellent glossary and a selection of useful photocpiable resources.' - Sue Palmer, Times Educational Supplement 'This book is an excellent resource. Literacy coordinators will feel confident in using this material to lead training sessions themselves.' - Thelma Page, Teachers' Bookshelf Kate Grant is an Education Writer, Trainer and Consultant. She has trained many Classroom Assistants to support children's reading and writing. Originally a primary school teacher, she has specialised in teaching children with literacy difficulties for 20 years, and in 1994 she created the successful '15 minutes a Day' Reading Programme, used by Classroom Assistants in many schools.

Describes a case of primary spontaneous pneumothorax in a woman after having been exposed to loud music. Proposes that loud music can cause an air leak via the mechanical compression/decompression of the sound waves, creating a ‘blast injury’ against the alveolar structures or as a direct result of the pressure changes from the high energy, low frequency range of the music. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Another person’s gaze direction is a rich source of social information, especially eyes gazing toward prominent or relevant objects. To guide attention to these important stimuli, visual search mechanisms may incorporate sophisticated coding of eye-gaze and its spatial relationship to other objects. Alternatively, any guidance might reflect the action of simple perceptual ‘templates’ tuned to visual features of socially relevant objects, or intrinsic salience of direct-gazing eyes for human vision. Previous findings that direct gaze (toward oneself) is prioritised over averted gaze do not distinguish between these accounts. To resolve this issue, we compared search for eyes gazing toward a prominent object versus gazing away , finding more efficient search for eyes ‘gazing toward’ the object. This effect was most clearly seen in target-present trials when gaze was task-relevant. Visual search mechanisms appear to specify gazer-object relations, a computational building-block of theory of mind.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to review and make changes to the performance management process in place for teachers in a school for autistic children with learning disabilities. The performance management process consisted of line managers setting targets for their staff and points were given for targets met. Targets were related to improving outcomes for the children in the school. Teacher engagement in the performance management process was measured by the number of teachers reporting their points monthly and the number of points earned monthly. Design/methodology/approach The PDC (Austin, 2000) was conducted to determine changes to the process to improve teacher engagement with the performance management system. These changes to the performance management process consisted of an antecedent and information intervention (flowchart implemented summarising performance management process), equipment and processes interventions (change to graphing requirement, set rolling targets implemented) and consequence interventions (teachers set rolling targets to meet with their line manager regularly and to report on targets met monthly). Findings The number of teachers completing and submitting monthly summary forms increased following the changes made to the performance management process. The average number of points received increased significantly during the intervention. The intervention implemented following the use of the PDC led to increased teacher engagement in the performance management process and thus potentially improved the outcomes for the children within the school. Originality/value The PDC is a fairly simple tool to use to identify solutions to problems in the workplace. The procedure used herein is replicable across many settings and different workplace issues.

Contributes the lung radiographs of man presenting four distinct pathologies relating to his cannabis and cigarette smoke exposure : a) pneumothorax, b) emphysematous bulla, c) primary bronchogenic carcinoma, and d) a rib metastasis. Remarks on the toxic effect of cannabis smoking. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

The case is examined for accelerated deployment of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology in the South African electricity sector. Policy mechanisms and enabling activities that need to be defined and developed to encourage investment in CSP are reviewed. The use of a tender process, complemented by support from other policy instruments such as feed-in tariffs, is proposed as an efficient way of meeting an effective CSP target. The advantages of international support and commitment to large-scale CSP deployment include the sharing of knowledge and the incremental improvements inherent in the process of 'learning-by-doing'. Policy relevance: South Africa requires a viable alternative to coal power generation if it is to endorse decarbonization of the power sector. CSP could offer an appropriate technology but, after some years of discussions, no pilot project has yet been realized. Amongst other enabling activities, this illustrates two requirements for such a shift to a new lowcarbon technology: finance to meet the incremental costs of the initial pilot projects, and a strategy to create domestic production or attract international manufacturers to South Africa. These requirements are necessary to reduce costs and replace lost jobs from reduced coal power generation. International cooperation might unlock these opportunities by providing financial support for the incremental costs, thus enhancing the credibility of longer-term deployment strategies so as to attract investment in the supply chain; for creating technical assistance and capacity-building measures towards a suitable regulatory framework; and for manufacturing, installation and operation of plants.