Barriers to technology adoption in teaching and learning are well documented, with a corresponding body of research focused on how these can be addressed. As a way to combine a variety of these adoption strategies, the University of Sheffield developed a Technology Enhanced Learning Festival, TELFest. This annual, week-long event, emphasises the role technology can play through an engaging learning experience which combines expert-led practical workshops, sharing of practice, discussions and presentations by practitioners. As the popularity of the event has grown and the range of topics expanded, a community of practice has organically coalesced among attendees, supporting the mainstream adoption of several technologies and helping to broaden educational innovation beyond isolated pockets. This paper situates TELFest within the technology adoption literature by providing details about TELFest, outlining the results of an investigation into the impact that it has had on attendees' teaching practice and summarising some of the limitations of the method along with reflections on how to address these limitations in the future.

Pneumococcal meningitis is the most important cause of community-acquired meningitis in children resulting in high morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate immunochromatographic test (ICT), a rapid detection method, for pneumococci in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and also to assess antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the clinical isolates. The findings of CSF-ICT of suspected meningitis cases were also compared with the results of CSF culture, latex agglutination test (LAT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among these diagnostic methods, ICT and PCR showed 100% specificity. A total of 401 CSF specimens were cultured but culture positivity was observed with 55 (13.7%) cases in which Streptococcus pneumoniae was identified from 20 (36.4%) culture-positive cases. A remarkably high resistance rate to gentamicin (95%) and cotrimoxazole (60%) among the invasive strains of S. pneumoniae was observed, while none of the isolates exhibited resistance to penicillin, ceftriaxone and chloramphenicol by disk diffusion test. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) showed similar susceptibility pattern. The invasive strains (n = 18) belonged to 9 different serotypes including 1, 2, 4, 34, 12A, 38, 19F, 35A and 45. The prevalent serotypes were 2 (23.5%), 1 (17.6%) and 45 (11.8%). The study shows that a remarkable proportion of meningitis cases in children are caused by S. pneumoniae. Diagnostic methods like ICT and PCR can be considered as effective methods for the detection of pneumococcal meningitis even with the patients who have been treated with empirical antibiotics. Ceftriaxone is a safe choice for empirical therapy, while the use of cotrimoxazole for the treatment of meningitis infections is debatable. Keywords: Pyogenic meningitis, Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), Streptococcus pneumoniae Immunochromatographic test (ICT), Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), SerotyingDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjm.v24i1.1232 Bangladesh J Microbiol, Volume 24, Number 1, June 2007, pp 24-29

Aim: The aim of the present study is to use human amniotic membrane (HAM) for in vitro chondrogenesis of placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and umbilical cord-derived MSCs. Materials & methods: MSCs from the placenta and umbilical cord were isolated, characterized by immunophenotyping and after analyzing their rate of proliferation, cytotoxicity and viability, chondrogenesis was performed on plastic adherent surface and on HAM. Results: Successfully isolated and characterized placenta-derived MSCs and umbilical cord-derived MSCs revealed positive expression of MSCs markers CD90, CD73, CD105 and CD49d, while they were negative for CD45. Both types of cells in the presence of chondrogenic induction medium on plastic adherent surface and HAM showed aggregates of proteoglycan and strong expression of COL2A1 (collagen 2) and ACAN1 (aggrecan). Conclusion: HAM supported proliferation as well as chondrogenesis of MSCs and provide novelty of HAM utilization as an efficient natural delivery matrix for stem cell transplantation.

City University London committed in 2009 to make Moodle the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at the core of a new Strategic Learning Environment (SLE) comprised of VLE, externally facing website and related systems such as video streaming and virtual classrooms. Previously, the WebCT VLE had been separate from most of the other systems at the institution with very limited connections to other tools. Each of the schools within the institution was able to pursue their own strategy and timeframe for the migration and embedding of Moodle within their subject areas, within an absolute limit of 2 years. This paper outlines the approaches taken by the various schools, highlighting similarities and differences, and draws out common aspects from the project to make recommendations for institutions seeking to undertake similar migrations