“We have no idea what she’s saying, but we’re really proud she’s saying it”: exploring the experiences of non-Welsh speaking parents who chose Welsh-medium education for their children

The Welsh Government’s Welsh language strategy, Cymraeg: A million Welsh speakers [Welsh Government. 2017a. Cymraeg 2050: A Million Welsh Speakers. Cardiff: Welsh Government], aims to increase the numbers of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050. The creation of new Welsh speakers and immersion education form an integral part of the Welsh Government’s language revitalisation strategy and this study revisits new Welsh speakers from the Rhymney Valley, South Wales in 2016/2017 a decade on from the 2006 research study [Hodges, R. 2009. “Welsh Language Use Among Young People in the Rhymney Valley.” Contemporary Wales 22: 16–35. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uwp/cowa/2009/00000022/00000001/art00004]. This longitudinal research provides further insights into their continuing language journeys, and indicates there has been a sustained reduction in this group’s use of Welsh by 2016/2017 due to factors relating to fluency, confidence and a lack of opportunities to use Welsh. However, the results indicate that new speakers play an important role in influencing family language transmission and in increasing language awareness within the workplace. This paper calls for further longitudinal research on new Welsh speakers’ language journeys so that this group may be appropriately supported as they make a crucial contribution to language revitalisation in Wales.

This article offers a new analysis into young people’s perspectives towards Welsh-medium study at post-compulsory level. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with twenty-six 15–16-year olds attending a Welsh-medium secondary school in the South Wales Valleys (an area of Wales with a low proportion of Welsh speakers), this article will highlight how the linguistic context of the area affects perspectives towards Welsh-medium study. This paper will also illustrate how perspectives towards language of study is shaped by the types of educational pathways that young people aspire to pursue at post-compulsory level with different factors impacting on the perspectives of academically orientated and vocationally orientated students.

This article shares findings on what literatures are taught in secondary schools in Wales, and why, from a survey of forty-seven teachers across Wales in 2022. Our participants taught literatures in Welsh, English, drama, French and Spanish. This represents a cross-disciplinary and plurilingual approach to literatures in schools in Wales that distinguishes this research from previous studies. The research is closely concerned with the gender and ethnic diversity of authors in terms of meeting Welsh Government objectives for education and society. The results show that women continue to be under-represented as authors of poems, plays, and – to a slightly lesser extent – novels. They are somewhat better represented in Welsh-language literary studies than English-language ones. Only a handful of Authors of Colour were taught: they are located exclusively among the English- and French-language texts. No Authors of Colour of Welsh-language texts were taught. Our discussion contextualises an overall lack of diversity in teaching literatures in Wales – which jeopardises Welsh Government ambitions for Anti-racist Wales 2030 and the teaching of BAME histories and experiences – through comparisons with international research. It concludes by outlining recommendations for government, publishing, schools and teachers in terms of training, resources, and curriculum design, as well as areas for future research.

Limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) 2A/R1, caused by mutations in the CAPN3 gene and CAPN3 loss of function, is known to play a role in disease pathogenicity. In this study, AAVrh74.tMCK.CAPN3 was delivered systemically to two different age groups of CAPN3 knockout (KO) mice; each group included two treatment cohorts receiving low (1.17 × 1014 vg/kg) and high (2.35 × 1014 vg/kg) doses of the vector and untreated controls. Treatment efficacy was tested 20 weeks after gene delivery using functional (treadmill), physiological (in vivo muscle contractility assay), and histopathological outcomes. AAV.CAPN3 gene therapy resulted in significant, robust improvements in functional outcomes and muscle physiology at low and high doses in both age groups. Histological analyses of skeletal muscle showed remodeling of muscle, a switch to fatigue-resistant oxidative fibers in females, and fiber size increases in both sexes. Safety studies revealed no organ tissue abnormalities; specifically, there was no histopathological evidence of cardiotoxicity. These results show that CAPN3 gene replacement therapy improved the phenotype in the CAPN3 KO mouse model at both doses independent of age at the time of vector administration. The improvements were supported by an absence of cardiotoxicity, showing the efficacy and safety of the AAV.CAPN3 vector as a potential gene therapy for LGMDR1.

Multiplicity 1: Subgroup analyses

When you're making plans to get people using your language as much and as often as possible, there's a list of things related to Wikipedia which can really help. I'll share our experience with the Welsh language.
 Supporting the Welsh-language Wikipedia community forms Work Package 15 of 27 in the Welsh Government's Welsh Language Technology Action Plan https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-12/welsh-language-technology-and-digital-media-action-plan.pdf. We like supporting Welsh language Wikipedia editing workshops, video workshops and other channels that encourage people to create and publish Welsh-language video, audio, graphic and text content because we're on a mission to try to help double daily use of Welsh by 2050.
 I'll share developments we're funding in speech, translation and conversational AI. The partners we're giving grants to publish what they develop under open licence. So we can share what we've funded with many companies. We think Microsoft might have used some to make their new synthetic voices in Welsh.
 We're excited by the potential Wikidata offers. We'll look at its potential in populating Welsh maps this year. We've already used Wikipedia search data as a way of prioritising the training of a Welsh virtual assistant.
 Welsh may not be spending as much as Icelandic and Estonian do on language technologies, but we'd like to share what we're learning as a smaller language about the important areas to focus on and how Wikipedia can help.

Aims: The Welsh Government’s strategic framework for promoting the Welsh language in health and social care places a responsibility on providers to proactively offer services in Welsh.For many Welsh speakers, accessing Welsh language services significantly improves their overall experience and health and wellbeing outcomes. However, people often find it difficult to access these services and are reluctant to ask for them.All healthcare workers have the potential to make a difference. Our aim was to develop a programme to support psychiatrists to increase their Welsh language skills in the workplace.Methods: In June 2024, the Royal College of Psychiatrists Wales (RCPsych Wales) collaborated with the National Centre for Learning Welsh (NCLW) to realise our ambition. Our members were surveyed to gather expressions of interest in accessing tuition. 43 responses were received (around 10% of our membership) covering all health boards. A broad range of specialities and grades were represented.7 respondents described their Welsh language skills as ‘Foundational’, ‘Intermediate’ or ‘Advanced’. These were referred to the National Centre’s Increasing Confidence programmes offered in Welsh Health Boards The remaining 36 said they had no skills or were ‘Beginners’. RCPsych Wales and NCLW agreed to develop bespoke provision for this group.We also hosted a members’ webinar on the importance of learning Welsh and our partnership with NCLW.Results: Following a tender exercise conducted by NCLW in December 2024, the Centre’s provider in the North West was contracted to provide a 10-week Welsh language taster course for psychiatrists.A welcome meeting was held on 29 January 2025, with the course starting a fortnight later. Members were offered the flexibility to choose from 1 of 5 classes per week. These were delivered virtually and free of charge, each lasting an hour. Participants’ progress was also tracked to inform further future tuition.The collaboration between RCPsych Wales and NCLW builds on the Centre’s previous experience with other colleges, e.g. the Royal College of GPs, and offers a valuable case study for future engagement.Conclusion: When people experience ill-health, it is vital that they are able to access care in the language that best meets their needs. As a result of ‘Dysgu Cymraeg’, more psychiatrists know how to say a few words in Welsh and have been inspired to continue their language journey. The programme supports professional development, positively impacts patients’ lives, and contributes to the Welsh Government’s vision of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

This article reflects upon an extensive report written by Paul Carr for the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee (CWLCC), a body that recommends policy to Welsh Government and holds it to account. After initially providing a brief historical account of the ways in which the UK and more specifically the Welsh Government responded to the pandemic in terms of generic and targeted support, in addition to how private sector bodies “filled the gaps”, the article discusses how the report’s recommendations resonated with both the CWLCC Turn Up the Volume report and the official Welsh Government response, providing an account of how three distinct narratives (the reports from Carr, the CWLCC and Welsh Government) have been able to improve the prospects of live music stakeholders in Wales.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESUnderstanding the nature and pattern of young coronary artery disease (CAD) is important due to the tremendous impact on these patients’ socio-economic and physical aspect. Data on young CAD in the southeast Asian region is rather patchy and limited. Hence we utilized our National Cardiovascular Disease Database (NCVD)—Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Registry to analyze young patients who underwent PCI in the year 2007 to 2009.DESIGN AND SETTINGSThis is a retrospective study of all patients who had undergone coronary angioplasty from 2007 to 2009 in 11 hospitals across Malaysia.METHODSData were obtained from the NCVD—PCI Registry, 2007 to 2009. Patients were categorized into 2 groups—young and old, where young was defined as less than 45 years for men and less than 55 years for women and old was defined as more than or equals to 45 years for men and more than or equals to 55 years for women. Patients’ baseline characteristics, risk factor profile, extent of coronary disease and outcome on discharge, and 30-day and 1-year follow-up were compared between the 2 groups.RESULTSWe analyzed 10 268 patients, and the prevalence of young CAD was 16% (1595 patients). There was a significantly low prevalence of Chinese patients compared to other major ethnic groups. Active smoking (30.2% vs 17.7%) and obesity (20.9% vs 17.3%) were the 2 risk factors more associated with young CAD. There is a preponderance toward single vessel disease in the young CAD group, and they had a favorable clinical outcome in terms of all-cause mortality at discharge (RR 0.49 [CI 0.26–0.94]) and 1-year follow-up (RR 0.47 [CI 0.19–1.15]).CONCLUSIONWe observed distinctive features of young CAD that would serve as a framework in the primary and secondary prevention of the early onset CAD.

BackgroundWe tested the hypothesis that the course and outcome of juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) in children seen at one center with the JDM disease onset at or below three years of age is different from that in the children with disease onset at greater than three years of age.MethodsInstitutional Review Board approval was obtained to retrospectively review the charts of 78 patients from age 0–18 years with JDM seen in the pediatric rheumatology clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio over the past 23 years from January 1988. The diagnosis was made by the treating pediatric rheumatologist. Not all the patients met the Bohan and Peter criteria, as muscle biopsy and EMG were not always performed and we utilized a modified JDM criteria. The data regarding disease course and outcome were collected as of the last clinic follow-up or to July 1, 2010. We used the Wilcoxon Two-Sample test to compare numerical variables between two age groups, and used logistic regression to compare categorical variables between two age groups in SAS 9.1.3. Minitab-16 was used to calculate various mean, median, modes, standard deviations and range. For survival analysis, we used Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test.ResultsThe mean age of onset in the two groups at Nationwide Children’s Hospital was 27 months and 91 months. The mean times between onset of symptoms to diagnosis in the younger and older age groups was 5.6 months and 4.5 months, respectively, not a statistically significant difference. The younger onset group had more females (p=0.05) and their disease onset occurred less frequently during the typical winter-spring seasons (p=0.031). The younger onset group was more likely to have a preceding fever (p=0.029) and family history of autoimmune diseases (p=0.012). The younger onset group was less likely to have heliotrope rash (p=0.04), Gottron’s sign (p=0.049), capillary loop abnormalities (p=0.010), or elevations in creatine kinase (CK, p=0.022), aspartate aminotransferase (AST, p=0.021) or aldolase (p=0.035). The younger onset group was treated less often with pulse methylprednisolone at diagnosis (p=0.043) and less often with hydroxychloroquine (p=0.035). There were no differences between the two groups regarding initial oral steroid dose (p=0.8017), number of patients who received methotrexate at diagnosis (p=0.709), and the number who ever received other immunosuppressants (p=0.323). The mean and maximum duration (mean duration 24.3 months vs. 35.2 months, maximum duration 51 vs. 124 months in younger and older onset group respectively) of methotrexate therapy, and the mean and maximum duration of oral steroid therapy (Mean duration 16.8 months vs. 33.3 months, maximum duration 50 vs. 151 months in younger and older onset group respectively), was shorter in the younger group. The younger onset patients were less likely to have active disease at 5 years (9% vs. 35.7%, p=0.015) and 10 years post-diagnosis (9% vs. 45.1%, p=0.011, Table 7). The younger patients were less likely to have osteonecrosis (p=0.023). Two disease-related deaths occurred in the younger group, none in the older group. The results of the survival analysis showed that the difference between the age groups was statistically significant (p < 0.012). The sex and race were not significant (p> 0.26 and p>0.95, respectively).ConclusionsThere were significant differences between JDM patients with disease onset at or below age three years at our center, compared to their older counterparts. Younger patients in our cohort had fewer typical findings at diagnosis and a milder disease course without needing as long a duration of corticosteroids and immunosuppression. Patients with a younger onset had a higher mortality rate but mortalities were unusual and numbers small. The younger group had a similar complication rate compared to the older onset patients, except for osteonecrosis which was higher in the older onset group. These findings differ from the previous reports that a younger age of onset in JDM is often associated with a more severe disease, as results at our center suggest that children with younger onset JDM appear to be atypical but may do well compared to the older JDM patients.

This chapter investigates key factors in the development of tourism-led local innovative heritage entrepreneurship in the South Wales Valleys. It is concerned with opportunities to develop industrial heritage tourism enterprises in the South Wales Valleys, with special reference to Merthyr Tydfil. The analysis involved key partners across community and voluntary sectors, local authorities, funding and tourism bodies under the auspices of the Welsh Government. The research reported on eight case study structured interviews and collated data to investigate, in combination with contemporary literature, key factors including network capital to achieve a sustainable regeneration scheme for innovative heritage entrepreneurship development.

Background Gastric cancer is usually an age-related disease and mostly diagnosed after the sixth decade of life, though it may also be diagnosed earlier. Objective The aim of this study is to explore the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of gastric carcinoma in young patients. Methods A total of 1379 patients younger than 75 years histologically diagnosed with primary gastric carcinoma underwent gastrectomy. Patients were categorized into three groups based on their age which included young age group (≤40 years), middle-aged group (age 41-60 years), and elderly group (age 61-75 years). The young age group was further subdivided into two groups: Group A (age ≤35 years) and Group B (age 35-40 years). The analysis of the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis followed thereafter. Results Females predominate in young group (p < 0.001). A significantly higher undifferentiated histological pattern was found in the young age group from the other two groups (p < 0.001). Tumor location in the lower third of the stomach was significantly higher in the young group than the other groups (p < 0.001). T4 stage was common in young patients similar to the middle and old age group (p = 0.049). Distal gastrectomy was performed more in the young age group rather than the middle and old age groups with the following percentage ratios: young group 74.5% (123/165), middle age group 59.9% (429/716), and old age group 52.2% (260/498) (p < 0.001). The 5-year overall survival rate of the young, middle, and old age groups were 46%, 48%, and 39%, respectively, whereas the 5-year overall survival rates of the subgroups of young patients, Group A and Group B, were 33% and 49%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that independent negative prognostic factors were as follows: tumor location (L), p = 0.016, OR = 0.795, 95%CI = [0.659; 0.959]; larger tumor size, p = 0.026, OR = 1.727, 95%CI = [1.067; 2.797]; resection margin, p < 0.001, OR = 2.167, 95%CI = [1.751; 2.682]; tumor stage (T4), p < 0.001, OR = 2.572, 95%CI = [1.709; 3.870]; and nodal involvement N1, p = 0.005, OR = 1.506, 95%CI = [1.123; 2.020]; N2, p < 0.001, OR = 1.708, 95%CI = [1.289; 2.263]; and N3, p < 0.001, OR = 2.986, 95%CI = [2.314; 3.854]. Conclusion The young age groups of patients were predominantly female and had a higher proportion of poorly differentiated and undifferentiated type of tumor; moreover, patients aged <35 years had a poor prognosis. In addition, gastric cancer can occur in patients less than 30 years old, and symptoms suggestive of gastric cancer should be investigated aggressively; therefore, a close scrutiny and monitoring should be done in younger patients especially those associated with high-risk factors which could indicate the presence of the disease at an early stage.

Clinical implications of young-onset pancreatic cancer patients after curative resection in Korea: a Korea Tumor Registry System Biliary Pancreas database analysis

Comparison of acellular pertussis-diphtheria-tetanus toxoids and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines administered separately vs. combined in younger vs. older toddlers.

The recanalization rate after coil embolization of unruptured aneurysms was compared between young and old age groups. From May 2003 to December 2010, 636 patients with 715 saccular unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIA) underwent endovascular coiling and were followed for at least 6 months. For comparative analysis, patients were categorized into two groups according to age 40: 42 patients with 46 aneurysms who were 40 years or younger (young age group) and 594 patients with 669 aneurysms who were older than 40 years (old age group). Angiographic and clinical outcomes including recanalization rates were compared. Angiographically, class 1 or 2 occlusion according to the Raymond-Roy Occlusion Classification system was achieved in 89.2 % of the patients (91.3 % in the young age group and 89.1 % in the old age group, p = 0.74). Procedure-related complication rate was 2.2 % and 3.4 % in the young and the old age group (p = 0.16), respectively. The mean follow-up duration was 30.51 ± 18.59 months. Major recanalization occurred in seven aneurysms (15.2 %) in the young age group and in 44 aneurysms (6.6 %) in the old age group (p = 0.03). Retreatment was performed in seven patients (15.2 %) in the young age group and in 35 patients (5.2 %) in the old age group (p = 0.01). The present study showed that the technical feasibility and safety of endovascular coiling for UIA did not differ between the two age groups. However, the major recanalization rate was higher in the young age group.