The opportunity to experience work placements that complement taught and practical courses in higher education has become a central strand of many undergraduate degree programmes. While there is tacit agreement that such placements are a good thing, in recent years the numbers of students opting for work placements has been declining. This paper uses a mixed method research design to probe the learning outcomes, attitudes and perceptions of undergraduate students who choose not to go on a work placement. Findings highlight some areas of concern that could be considered by institutions of higher education working to enhance good practice in students' work placement experiences.

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S-y AQ4N (l,4-bLs-q25ddimthyai oo y}amin5dydroxy-anthrane-9,10-dione) is a novel alkylaminoanthraquinone N-oxide which, on reducin, forms a stable DNA affinic cytotoxi compound AQ4. The The failure to cure tumours with radiotherapy and chemotherapy has been attributed in part to the presence of treatment-resistant subpopulations of hypoxic tumour cells (Bush et at., 1978). Bioreductive agents provide a novel approach to this problem: reduction of the prodrug within a hypoxic cell to produce a cytotoxic metabolite should selectively target this sub population within tumours. Since normal tissus contain few, if any, poorly oxygenated cells, systemic reductive activation and its attendant toxicity should be minimal. Several classe of bioreductive agents have been described, icluding the nitroimidazoles, benzotriazene di-N-oXides and mitosenes (Workman, 1992). Using a different class of compounds, i.e. the anthraquinones, we have developed a novel alkylamnoanthraquinone N-oxide, AQ4N (1,4-bis-{[2-(di-methylamino-N-oxide)ethylarmino}5,8-dihydroxyanthracene-9,10-ione), which is susceptible to reduction under hypoxic conditions (Patterson, 1993). AQ4N is a weak DNA-binding agent and weak topoisomerase H inhibitor, critically, the electrically neutral N-oxide function prevents stable binding to the DNA helix (Patterson, 1993). In contrast, the reduction product of AQ4N, i.e. AQ4 (1,4-bis-{[2-(dimethylamino) ethylnamino}5,8-dihydroxyanthracene-9,10-dione) (Figure 1), is a cationic compound with high affinity for DNA. Interaction of AQ4 with DNA is facilitated by the planar, eletrondeficient antraquinone chromophore intercalating between adjcent DNA bases. Tlis complex is further stabiised by electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding with the deoxyribose phosphate backbone, as has been observed for similar anthraquinones (Denny and Wakelin, 1990 al., 1992). This will allow metabolism of the drug in cells which will contribute, when the hypoxic stimulus is removed, to the main growth frction within the tumour. Secondly, the drug can be combined with an agent which is selectively toxic to well-oxygenated cells to evahuate the effect of targeting the two subpopulations of cells (Brown and Lemmon, 1991;Grau and Overgaard, 1991). We have used both these approaches to study the effect of AQ4N on tumour growth in vivo. Firstly, we tested the anti-tumour effect of AQ4N when combined with hypobaric hypoxia. Following this we combined AQ4N with radiation as both single and fractionated doses. Materiak an mth Tumour systemThe T50/80 tumour is a poorly differentiated mammary carcinoma which arose in a B6D2FI mouse. Tumour and breeding colonies for mice were obtained from Dr JV Moore, Paterson Laboratory, Christie Hospital, Manchster, UK.Male B6D2FI mice aged 8-12 weeks were used for all studies, which were carried out in accordance with the UK. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The tumour has been maintained by intadermal passage for up to ten passages and then re-establshed from frozm stock. Tumour brei (0.05 ml) w...

What is the best way to teach evolution? As microevolution may be configured as a branch of genetics, it being a short conceptual leap from understanding the concepts of mutation and alleles (i.e., genetics) to allele frequency change (i.e., evolution), we hypothesised that learning genetics prior to evolution might improve student understanding of evolution. In the UK, genetics and evolution are typically taught to 14- to 16-y-old secondary school students as separate topics with few links, in no particular order and sometimes with a large time span between. Here, then, we report the results of a large trial into teaching order of evolution and genetics. We modified extant questionnaires to ascertain students’ understanding of evolution and genetics along with acceptance of evolution. Students were assessed prior to teaching, immediately post teaching and again after several months. Teachers were not instructed what to teach, just to teach in a given order. Regardless of order, teaching increased understanding and acceptance, with robust signs of longer-term retention. Importantly, teaching genetics before teaching evolution has a significant (p < 0.001) impact on improving evolution understanding by 7% in questionnaire scores beyond the increase seen for those taught in the inverse order. For lower ability students, an improvement in evolution understanding was seen only if genetics was taught first. Teaching genetics first additionally had positive effects on genetics understanding, by increasing knowledge. These results suggest a simple, minimally disruptive, zero-cost intervention to improve evolution understanding: teach genetics first. This same alteration does not, however, result in a significantly increased acceptance of evolution, which reflects a weak correlation between knowledge and acceptance of evolution. Qualitative focus group data highlights the role of authority figures in determination of acceptance.

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