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Aim The aim of this paper is to introduce the reader to personal construct psychology as a theory to help understand the process of change in facilitative and mentoring relationships.Background Continuing professional development is critical if practitioners are to keep up to date with new ideas, techniques, and materials. However, is it important not only to consider whatis learnt, it is also important to understand the howof learning in order to develop an approach that leads to lifelong learning. Mentoring, coaching, and appraisal are all facilitative processes that aim to encourage professionals to engage with their own development. This leads to differing degrees of both behavioural and attitudinal change. As a result, it is useful to have a theory that can help an individual to understand these changes and to identify any difficulties that are associated with them.Approach Personal construct psychology has long been recognised as a potential framework for personal development. It has been used extensively in a broad range of domains, including clinical and educational psychology, management, and psychotherapy.Conclusion Personal construct psychology is a useful theory for understanding the facilitative process because it enables the facilitator to form a conceptual framework to comprehend behavioural and attitudinal change. Its underlying philosophical approach also supports lifelong learning, given its emphasis on an enquiring mind and reflection, both of which are key to continuing professional development.

The importance of detecting oral malignant disease is paramount. Recent government strategies have placed an emphasis on the early detection of cancer. This paper presents a brief account of the current debate around the role of oral cancer screening and provides a summary of the results of three practice-based studies that were supported by the British Society for General Dental Surgery and the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK).Overall, there appears to be a lack of rigour among some general dental practitioners when screening for potentially malignant disorders and their incidence in dental practice is perceived to be low. Barriers remain to the implementation of smoking-cessation schemes and many general dental practitioners feel out of their depth in tackling the abuse of alcohol, despite recognising its importance as a risk factor. Patients continue to present to their general medical practitioner (GMP) when they are concerned about something in their mouth that is not related to their teeth. GMPs’ ability to manage early oral cancer is discussed.A prospective randomised controlled trial (RCT), or a demonstration study, is recommended to investigate the numbers of cases of oral cancer diagnosed in primary dental care and primary medical care and to develop standardised referral criteria for early cases of this disease to reduce under- and over-referral. The RCT could also examine the potential of using auxiliary healthcare workers and examine the impact of such a programme upon secondary care services.

Aims Early diagnosis of oral cancer is an essential element of prevention, yet many patients present late, suggesting that criteria used for referral miss the small or early-stage lesions. The aims of this study were to determine what cues are used by primary care dentists when making the decision to refer a suspicious lesion, and to investigate their recent referral behaviour.Methods A cross-sectional study using a postal questionnaire was undertaken in a major conurbation in South Yorkshire. The questionnaire was sent to all 95 practices in the area concerned. Primary care dentists were asked to score a range of cues on a five-point scale and list their top ten. Experience of referrals made in the last 12 months was also recorded.Results Forty-two questionnaires were returned (44.2%). The cues that primary care dentists ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ would initiate a referral were: ‘fixed’, ‘smokes >20 cigarettes/day’, ‘indurated’, ‘ragged borders’ and ‘ulceration’. The most cited top-ten cues were ‘ulcerated’, ‘fixed to underlying tissues’, ‘smoking’ and ‘indurated’. The median number of lesions referred was 0.77 per 1000 adult patients. Twenty-six dentists recorded their experience of 29 lesions. Of these, 17% had been found by the patient whereas 80% had been found at a routine dental examination. Seventy-nine per cent had been present for more than six weeks. Reasons for referral included atypical appearance (38%), ulceration (21%) and location (21%). Fifty-four per cent of primary care dentists described their relationship with secondary care as either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.Conclusions The most cited cues related to established or advanced disease, not to ‘red’ and ‘white’ lesions, which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommend for early referral. Even allowing for the relatively poor response rate, this suggests that some small lesions of oral cancer are being missed.

A free-space optical 64×64 fibre-to-fibre crossbar switch with spatial light modulators as the crosspoint elements is described. The design and performance of the optical and electrical components is discussed, including lenses, diffraction gratings, polarising beam splitters, fibre mountings, baseplate construction, ferroelectric liquid-crystal spatial light modulators with their VLSl drive circuits and transceivers. A control system is proposed and a number of applications including avionics and computing are described. A demonstration model has been built and its performance is reported.

Antisera, raised in rats, containing specificities directed against tumor antigen of polyoma virus also react with several proteins present in the plasma membrane of mouse cells infected with the virus. The main component has an apparent molecular weight of 55,000. The appearance of this protein after infection with early temperature-sensitive A mutants was temperature-dependent like tumor antigen itself. Pulse and chase isotope experiments suggest that this protein originates from a precursor, perhaps by cleavage; its production appears to be facilitated by the A mutation. Two other components with apparent molecular weights of 61,000 and 28,000 were also present but were more variable from experiment to experiment. All proteins were absent from the plasma membranes of cells infected with a transformation-defective mutant, NG-18. Up to four virus-specific proteins could be isolated from the plasma membranes of rat, hamster, and mouse cells transformed by the virus. The possible role of the plasma membrane proteins in cell transformation is discussed.

1. The interaction of electron-transporting particles from heavy mitochondria of ox heart with several fluorescent probes was examined. 2. 1-Anilinonaphthalene-8-sulphonate and 2-(N-methylanilino)naphthalene-6-sulphonate both show an energy-dependent response. 3. Energy transfer between the electron-transporting particles and the dyes and the kinetics of the dye–particle interaction were studied in order to locate the binding regions in the membrane. 4. The energy-dependent probe responses were shown to be a result of changes in the quantum yield of fluorescence of the bound dyes together with increased binding of the dyes to the energized membrane. 5. Fluorescence lifetime measurements were also used to observe changes on energization. 6. A new type of probe was found in pyrene-3-sulphonate, which may be regarded as a ‘volume indicator’ for the internal membrane binding region, since it shows a concentration-dependent excimer fluorescence. 7. By comparing the responses of all these dyes when energized particles are uncoupled, a membrane transition with a time-constant of 2–3s is inferred.

The ability is demonstrated to use optically addressed ferroelectric spatial light modulators in designing digital optical computers inυolυing data processing and storage at high rates and contrast leυels.