Suchergebnisse

To investigate issues in transition to kindergarten for children with special needs, we explored several sources of information (peer‐reviewed literature, government websites, parent surveys, and interviews with professionals). We found that administrative issues like lack of integration and the evaluation of services available to children and families, and parent support issues like promoting advocacy were recurring themes in all sources. Although some barriers are very clear, more systematic research is needed to identify factors facilitating successful adjustment to kindergarten among children with special needs. Key words: school entry, disability, school adjustment, special education Désirant étudier les problèmes de transition à la maternelle chez les enfants ayant des besoins particuliers, les auteures ont exploré plusieurs sources d'information (publications évaluées par les pairs, sites Web gouvernementaux, sondages auprès de parents et entrevues avec des professionnels). Les auteures ont découvert que les problèmes administratifs, comme le manque d'intégration et l'évaluation des services offerts aux enfants et aux familles, et les problèmes reliés au soutien des parents, notamment la défense de leurs droits, étaient des thèmes récurrents dans toutes les sources. Bien que certains obstacles soient très clairement décrits, il faudrait une recherche plus systématique pour identifier les facteurs qui favorisent l'adaptation des enfants ayant des besoins spéciaux à la maternelle. Mots clés : entrée à l'école, déficience, adaptation scolaire, éducation de l'enfance en difficulté

Platelet transfusions are a key treatment option for a range of life threatening conditions including cancer, chemotherapy and surgery. Efficient ex vivo systems to generate donor independent platelets in clinically relevant numbers could provide a useful substitute. Large quantities of megakaryocytes (MKs) can be produced from human pluripotent stem cells, but in 2D culture the ratio of platelets harvested from MK cells has been limited and restricts production rate. The development of biomaterial cell supports that replicate vital hematopoietic micro-environment cues are one strategy that may increase in vitro platelet production rates from iPS derived Megakaryocyte cells. In this paper, we present the results obtained generating, simulating and using a novel structurally-graded collagen scaffold within a flow bioreactor system seeded with programmed stem cells. Theoretical analysis of porosity using micro-computed tomography analysis and synthetic micro-particle filtration provided a predictive tool to tailor cell distribution throughout the material. When used with MK programmed stem cells the graded scaffolds influenced cell location while maintaining the ability to continuously release metabolically active CD41 + CD42 + functional platelets. This scaffold design and novel fabrication technique offers a significant advance in understanding the influence of scaffold architectures on cell seeding, retention and platelet production. ; This work was supported by the European Research Council [ERC Advanced Grant 320598 3D-E], EPSRC grant EP/N019938/1 and grants from the NHS Blood and Transplant, the Medical Research Council (MR/L022982/1) and the European Union (SilkFusion: AMD-767309-3).