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As a contribution to the scholarship of teaching (Boyer, 1990), the author conducted a self-study of praxis (Kemmis & Smith, 2008) to identify and describe how certain pedagogies help students meet "stage one" challenges in doctoral education (Lovitts, 2001) at one university. Findings from a literature review identified the challenges typically experienced at "entry and adjustment," including gaining formal knowledge about the structure of a discipline; experiencing growth in conceptual development and modes of scholarly inquiry; learning about and experiencing the role of graduate student and independent researcher; forming relationships with peers and faculty, and participating in department culture and professional networks; and learning about the role, responsibilities, and work of faculty as teachers, researchers, and stewards of a discipline, field, and profession. The author identified seven core strategies associated with stage one doctoral pedagogy and analyzed how and why they supported students in their journey to become scholars and independent researchers.

Medieval Affect, Feeling, and Emotion. Edited by Glenn D. Burger and Holly A. Crocker. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. x + 249. $99-99 With their edited collection, Medieval [...]

This paper describes preliminary findings from a study of teacher and professor learning. Using narrative inquiry, the author interviewed expert teachers and examined the process of teacher and professor learning. The study focused on how teachers learn as a form of self-study in informal action research. The study examined (1) the challenges requiring resolution during the early stages of a career, (2) experiences of struggle, (3) the principles and practices leading to expertise, and (4) the long lasting effects of teacher and professor learning on professional practice. Using threshold theory (Meyer & Land, 2003/2005) and a model of informal action research called REAL (Noonan, 2013), the author illustrates how the experiences of expert teachers during the early phases of their career result in permanent changes in practice and the development of a professional identity.

Randy Shilts (1987), author of "And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic," uses the analogy of the sinking ship and the "band playing on" to draw attention to America's false sense of security in the midst of the growing AIDS crisis. We describe a doctoral curriculum in which students examine the conflicts inherent in their ethical practice through a case study analysis of the AIDS epidemic. Moral development theory and critical pedagogy provide a rationale for the selection of subject matter and method designed to awaken the critical consciousness of students to social justice. The curriculum encourages students to explore how acts of discrimination and oppression related to race/ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation influenced the responses of leaders to the AIDS epidemic.

PATIENT READING/READING PATIENCE: OXFORD ESSAYS ON MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE. By Ralph Hanna. Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2017. Pp. xii + 370. $140. With Patient Reading/Reading [...]

Objective: To determine associations between maternal characteristics, labour interventions, delivery mode and maternal antenatal complications in a NSW rural hospital, and compare these to state data. Methods: Data (maternal characteristics, labour type, delivery mode and maternal antenatal complications) pertaining to women who had delivered a singleton birth at Griffith Base hospital were analysed. Design: Retrospective data analysis of Griffith Base Hospital 'eMaternity' database Setting: Single large rural town in NSW. Participants: Women who delivered a singleton birth between July 2018 and June 2019 inclusive at Griffith Base Hospital. Main outcome measures: 1. Comparison of maternal characteristics of age, BMI, gravida, parity and gestation data between labour type (spontaneous, augmented, induced and planned caesarean section) and delivery modes (vaginal, instrumental vaginal and caesarean section). 2. Associations between labour type, augmentation or induction method, delivery mode and maternal antenatal complications. 3. Multiple regression analysis for influence of age, BMI, parity and labour type on emergency caesarean section outcome. 4. Comparison of maternal, labour and delivery data with NSW state data. Results: Among 457 women, there were higher rates of obesity and spontaneous labour, lower rates of planned caesarean section and augmented labour, and similar rates of induction of labour and emergency caesarean section, compared with NSW. Emergency caesarean section was significantly associated with older age (β = 0.163), and labour augmentation (β = 0.114) and induction (β = 0.169). Labour augmentation with synthetic oxytocin, and induction with balloon catheter, were associated with the highest rates of emergency caesarean section. Conclusion: This large rural town had fewer labour and delivery medical interventions compared with NSW overall. Augmentation and induction of labour contribute to increasing caesarean section rates: directly via associations with emergency caesarean section, and indirectly because previous caesarean section was the most common reason for elective caesarean section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author shares her experience in working with a small group of teachers and the director of an alternative high school program who were experiencing significant conflict during team meetings. Every member, including the director, agreed that the group suffered from serious breakdowns in communication. As the facilitator of the group, the author simply established the ground rules for respectful dialogue, asked them to share their important stories and reflect on their meaning and listen without interruption to their colleagues. The author discusses the conditions that cause a breakdown in communication and how breakdowns can be repaired with guided episodes of communication involving the mutual exchange of stories and the meaning associated with them. The author stresses that sharing personal stories, with a facilitator, helps accomplish leadership and resolve communication obstacles among a school's staff. To use stories to their fullest, leaders need to be aware of how the exchange of powerful stories, containing a moral or purpose, helps others to discover identity, become empowered and move forward.

Introduction: Surgical site infections remain one of the most common complications associated with surgery in Australia and the world. Many factors contribute to infection risk, however, immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory drugs such as DMARDs, biological DMARDs and glucocorticoids pose a unique risk. Case Overview: A 70-year-old female developed a surgical site infection post-repair of a ruptured Achilles tendon. She had a background of psoriatic arthritis treated with immunosuppressive agents which were not ceased prior to the surgical treatment. Discussion Overview: The current literature suggests that biologic DMARDs and glucocorticoids increase the risk of surgical site infections in patients undergoing a procedure. It is therefore imperative to emphasize the importance of careful medication histories and recognition of medication side effects with a risk versus benefit balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Peripheral Manuscripts Project, which aims to digitize and make accessible medieval manuscript materials held by smaller institutions in the American Midwest. The project involves collaboration among 22 partner institutions across eight states and is funded by a grant. The project team has made preliminary descriptions of 343 items, including codices, documents, and fragments, with the majority dating from the 15th century. The items are written in various languages, including Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch, English, German, and Portuguese, and include liturgical books, letters, papal bulls, devotional works, treatises, bibles, and legal documents. The project aims to increase access to these manuscripts through a digital repository and promote collaboration among project partners. [Extracted from the article]

Although sustaining a moderate level of attention is critical in daily life, evidence suggests that attention is not deployed consis-tently, but rather fluctuates from moment to moment between optimal and suboptimal states. To better characterize these states in humans, the present study uses a gradual-onset continuous performance task with irrelevant background distractors to explore the relationship among behavioral fluctuations, brain activity, and, in particular, the processing of visual distractors. Using fMRI, we found that reaction time variability, a continuous measure of attentional instability, was positively correlated with activity in task-positive networks and negatively correlated with activity in the task-negative default mode network. We also observed greater processing of distractor images during more stable and less error prone "in the zone" epochs compared with suboptimal "out of the zone" epochs of the task. Overall, the data suggest that optimal states of attention are accomplished with more efficient and potentially less effortful recruitment of task-relevant resources, freeing remaining resources to process task irrelevant features of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on how readers might have interacted with the British Library manuscript "Symbols of the Passion." It offers suggestions that the predominant use of the roll format for the manuscript could point that mirror symmetry existed between how Christ'3s body and this devotional text were read by audiences.