Explorations of Preservice Teachers’ Learning Strategy Use

The objectives were to identify learning strategy strengths and weaknesses of preservice teachers (n = 90) in an entry level educational psychology course that incorporated strategy instruction. Strategy use was assessed at the beginning and end of the course by the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), a diagnostic inventory of 10 scales. A comparison of mean percentiles with LASSI norms on all scales indicated need for remediation by students. The results indicated that learning strategy scores varied according to student GPA and final course grade. Implications for preservice teachers as learners and potential teachers of strategies were discussed

Assessing the associations of sodium intake with long-term all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a hypertensive cohort

BACKGROUND: Although higher sodium intake is known to increase blood pressure, its association with cardiovascular mortality is less established. We examined the association of baseline sodium intake in a hypertensive cohort with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality over a mean follow-up of 18.6 years. METHODS: Three thousand five hundred five subjects were participants in a worksite hypertension program. Sodium intake was estimated by 24-hour urine excretion. Mortality data were obtained from the U.S. National Death Index. Unadjusted and multivariable-adjusted associations between sodium quartiles (quartile I (QI) to quartile IV (QIV)) and mortality were assessed using Cox models. RESULTS: Estimated mean +/- SD sodium intake was 130+/-69 mmol overall (55+/-20 mmol in QI; 220+/-56 mmol in QIV). Baseline systolic blood pressure did not vary significantly between groups. Last available mean systolic blood pressure was highest in QI and lowest in QIV (137+/-16 vs. 134+/-14 mm Hg; P = 0.009). Overall there were 1,013 deaths (399 cardiovascular). Unadjusted models exhibited significant inverse relationships between sodium and mortality outcomes. In adjusted models, sodium intake was not significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality (QI vs. QIV: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.00; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.71-1.42; P = 0.99). A borderline significant direct association with all-cause mortality was observed (QI vs. QIV: HR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.66-1.00; P = 0.05) driven partly by noncardiovascular deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found no significant association between sodium intake and cardiovascular outcomes, although a significant association with all-cause mortality was observed. Although these findings suggest that sodium may not have a strong relationship with cardiovascular mortality, the inconsistent results cast doubt on whether a single measurement can reliably predict mortality over a prolonged follow-up period

Which table salt to chose?

The link between salt consumption and hypertension has been the focus of many studies and clinical trials in the past few years. It is recommended that table salt intake does not exceed the maximum of 5g per day and yet most people find almost impossible to comply with this recommendation. New types of salt have recently appeared in the market and they claim to be less harmful to health than current commercial salt. Besides being less salty to the taste these new types of salt contain less sodium and more trace minerals than commercial salt but there is a need of experiments and studies in order to establish their benefit to health.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Atomic displacements accompanying deformation twinning: shears and shuffles

Deformation twins grow by the motion of disconnections along their interfaces, thereby coupling shear with migration. Atomic-scale simulations of this mechanism have advanced to the point where the trajectory of each atom can be followed as it transits from a site in the shrinking grain, through the interface, and onwards to a site in the growing twin. Historically, such trajectories have been factorised into shear and shuffle components according to some defined convention. In the present article, we introduce a method of factorisation consistent with disconnection motion. This procedure is illustrated for the case of {10-12} twinning in hcp materials, and shown to agree with simulated atomic trajectories for Zr.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The effect of atorvastatin on pancreatic beta cell requirement in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background There is an increased risk of developing T2DM in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and there is evidence that statins improve metabolic parameters in these patients. However, there is some data to show that statins increase the risk of incipient diabetes. Material and Methods We have previously shown that 12-weeks of atorvastatin improves insulin resistance when measured using HOMA-IR. This post hoc-analysis was designed to look at the effect of atorvastatin on pancreatic β cell function using HOMA-β in the same study. In this randomised, double blind placebo controlled study, 40 medication naïve patients with PCOS were randomized to either atorvastatin 20 mg daily or placebo for 3 months. A 3-month extension study for both groups of patients was undertaken with metformin 1500 mg daily after completing initial 3 months of atorvastatin or placebo. Results There was a significant reduction in HOMA-β (240±3.2vs.177±2.3; pvalue<0.01) after 12 weeks of atorvastatin treatment which was maintained by metformin in the subsequent 12 weeks. There were no changes in HOMA-β after the placebo or after subsequent metformin treatment. There was no linear correlation between reduction in HOMA-β with improvement of free androgen index (FAI) (r2=0.02;p=0.72), testosterone (r2=0.13;p=0.49), SHBG (r2=0.22;p=0.48), hsCRP (r2=0.19;p=0.64), triglycerides (r2=0.09;p=0.12), total cholesterol (r2=0.11;p=0.32) or LDL-C (r2=0.19;p=0.38). Conclusion Treatment with atorvastatin for 12 weeks in women with PCOS significantly reduced HOMA-β. This could be potentially due to fall in βcell requirement with improvement of insulin resistance rather than a reduction of βcell function

Allopurinol use yields potentially beneficial effects on inflammatory indices in those with recent ischemic stroke: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

<p><b>Background and Purpose</b>: Elevated serum uric acid level is associated with poor outcome and increased risk of recurrent events after stroke. The xanthine oxidase inhibitor allopurinol lowers uric acid but also attenuates expression of inflammatory adhesion molecules in murine models, reduces oxidative stress in the vasculature, and improves endothelial function. We sought to investigate whether allopurinol alters expression of inflammatory markers after acute ischemic stroke.</p> <p><b>Methods</b>: We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the safety, tolerability, and effect of 6 weeks’ treatment with high- (300 mg once a day) or low- (100 mg once a day) dose allopurinol on levels of uric acid and circulating inflammatory markers after ischemic stroke.</p> <p><b>Results</b>: We enrolled 50 patients with acute ischemic stroke (17, 17, and 16 in the high, low, and placebo groups, respectively). Mean (±SD) age was 70 (±13) years. Groups had similar characteristics at baseline. There were no serious adverse events. Uric acid levels were significantly reduced at both 7 days and 6 weeks in the high-dose group (by 0.14 mmol/L at 6 weeks, P=0.002). Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 concentration (ng/mL) rose by 51.2 in the placebo group, rose slightly (by 10.6) in the low-dose allopurinol group, but fell in the high-dose group (by 2.6; difference between groups P=0.012, Kruskal-Wallis test).</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b>: Allopurinol treatment is well tolerated and attenuates the rise in intercellular adhesion molecule-1 levels seen after stroke. Uric acid levels were lowered with high doses. These findings support further evaluation of allopurinol as a preventive measure after stroke.</p&gt

Gender-Related Differences in the Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and their Correlates in Urban Tanzania.

\ud Urban areas in Africa suffer a serious problem with dual burden of infectious diseases and emerging chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes which pose a serious threat to population health and health care resources. However in East Africa, there is limited literature in this research area. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors and their correlates among adults in Temeke, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Results of this study will help inform future research and potential preventive and therapeutic interventions against such chronic diseases. The study design was a cross sectional epidemiological study. A total of 209 participants aged between 44 and 66 years were included in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to evaluate socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics. Blood samples were collected and analyzed to measure lipid profile and fasting glucose levels. Cardiovascular risk factors were defined using World Health Organization criteria. The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity (BMI > or = 30) was 13% and 35%, among men and women (p = 0.0003), respectively. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 11% and 58% (p < 0.0001), and high WHR (men: >0.9, women: >0.85) was 51% and 73% (p = 0.002) for men and women respectively. Women had 4.3 times greater odds of obesity (95% CI: 1.9-10.1), 14.2-fold increased odds for abdominal adiposity (95% CI: 5.8-34.6), and 2.8 times greater odds of high waist-hip-ratio (95% CI: 1.4-5.7), compared to men. Women had more than three-fold greater odds of having metabolic syndrome (p = 0.001) compared to male counterparts, including abdominal obesity, low HDL-cholesterol, and high fasting blood glucose components. In contrast, female participants had 50% lower odds of having hypertension, compared to men (95%CI: 0.3-1.0). Among men, BMI and waist circumference were significantly correlated with blood pressure, triglycerides, total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol (BMI only), and fasting glucose; in contrast, only blood pressure was positively associated with BMI and waist circumference in women. The prevalence of CVD risk factors was high in this population, particularly among women. Health promotion, primary prevention, and health screening strategies are needed to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Tanzania.\u