Counseling Challenges in the New Normal : Inputs for Quality Guidance and Counseling Program

With no face-to-face classes until a vaccine is available, schools have to adjust and learning must continue in different modalities. In the Philippines, online learning delivery is the primary mode of learning with many private schools adapting it. Learning continuity plan was created and the Department of Education set the most essential learning competencies for school year 2020-2021. Since education is a holistic approach, the mental and emotional well-being of the students must also be given significant attention. Counseling, a strong support in the welfare of the students, is needed to address the different concerns of the students. However, guidance counselors see a lot of challenges in providing counseling to students in an online environment. They have doubts in being truly present with the students. Potential mental and emotional health issues have been identified and preparations were made that will make the guidance and counseling services more felt and reliable despite being in an online modality. This study aims to find out the challenges that the guidance counselors encountered in providing counseling service to students. It also aims to identify the issues and concerns experienced by the students in online learning and the interventions provided by the guidance counselors in handling them. It found out that mental health issues, feeling of isolation, voluminous requirements and unstable internet connection were the concerns of the students. In addressing them, they provided individual and group counseling, communicated with the parents, collaborated more closely with the class advisers, teachers, and academic heads, strengthened the homeroom and guidance period, and held mental health activities. From the experiences, their realizations and new gained insights will be used as bases in enhancing the guidance and counseling program for school year 2021-2022

The effect of disgust-related side-effects on symptoms of depression and anxiety in people treated for cancer: a moderated mediation model

As maladaptive disgust responses are linked to mental health problems, and cancer patients may experience heightened disgust as a result of treatments they receive, we explored the associations between disgust-related side-effects and symptoms of depression and anxiety in people treated for cancer. One hundred and thirty two (83 women, Mage = 57.48 years) participants answered questions about their treatments, side-effects, disgust responding, and mental health. Experiencing bowel and/or bladder problems, sickness and/or nausea (referred to here as “core” disgust-related side-effects) was significantly related to greater symptoms of depression and borderline increased anxiety. Further, these links were explained by a moderated mediation model, whereby the effects of core disgust side-effects on depression and anxiety were mediated by (physical and behavioural) self-directed disgust, and disgust propensity moderated the effect of core disgust side-effects on self-disgust. These findings stress the importance of emotional responses, like disgust, in psychological adaptation to the side-effects of cancer treatments

Current understanding of the human microbiome

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2018. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Medicine 24 (2018): 392–400, doi:10.1038/nm.4517.Our understanding of the link between the human microbiome and disease, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis and autism, is rapidly expanding. Improvements in the throughput and accuracy of DNA sequencing of the genomes of microbial communities associated with human samples, complemented by analysis of transcriptomes, proteomes, metabolomes and immunomes, and mechanistic experiments in model systems, have vastly improved our ability to understand the structure and function of the microbiome in both diseased and healthy states. However, many challenges remain. In this Review, we focus on studies in humans to describe these challenges, and propose strategies that leverage existing knowledge to move rapidly from correlation to causation, and ultimately to translation.Many of the studies described here in our laboratories were supported by the NIH, NSF, DOE, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.2018-10-1

Effects of the neurogranin variant rs12807809 on thalamocortical morphology in schizophrenia

10.1371/journal.pone.0085603PLoS ONE812-POLN

First measurement of electron neutrino appearance in NOvA

We report results from the first search for νμ→νe transitions by the NOvA experiment. In an exposure equivalent to 2.74×1020 protons on target in the upgraded NuMI beam at Fermilab, we observe 6 events in the Far Detector, compared to a background expectation of 0.99±0.11(syst) events based on the Near Detector measurement. A secondary analysis observes 11 events with a background of 1.07±0.14(syst). The 3.3σ excess of events observed in the primary analysis disfavors 0.1π<δCP<0.5π in the inverted mass hierarchy at the 90% C.L

First measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance in NOvA

This paper reports the first measurement using the NOvA detectors of νμ disappearance in a νμ beam. The analysis uses a 14 kton-equivalent exposure of 2.74×1020 protons-on-target from the Fermilab NuMI beam. Assuming the normal neutrino mass hierarchy, we measure Δm232=(2.52+0.20−0.18)×10−3  eV2 and sin2θ23 in the range 0.38–0.65, both at the 68% confidence level, with two statistically degenerate best-fit points at sin2θ23=0.43 and 0.60. Results for the inverted mass hierarchy are also presented

Curriculum Evaluation: Inputs for Principal’s Instructional Leadership

One of the most important components in education is the curriculum. It undergoes evaluation and development to be responsive to the needs of the times. It adapts to the kind of teachers and learners because teaching and learning are dynamic. The main drivers of the curriculum are the education leaders primarily the principals who are the instructional leaders. The main task of the principal is instructional leadership which means overseeing the teaching and learning process starting with the curriculum. However, the administrative tasks of the principals deprive them of becoming effective instructional leaders. This study aims to present the experiences of the researcher in curriculum evaluation under different principals in a private sectarian school in Manila and seeks to identify how principals can take a strong leadership presence in the challenges in instruction and curriculum evaluation. A critical reflection which is an extension of “critical thinking” and asks us to think about our practice and ideas and then it challenges us to step back and examine our thinking by asking probing questions was used as the method in this study. The researcher looks back into his experiences and identifies the key points in curriculum evaluation vis-à-vis the tasks of instructional leadership. It found out that curriculum evaluation, primarily an integral part of instructional leadership. The principals have to do curriculum evaluation as a collaborative task and process. Moreover, curriculum evaluation with instructional leadership should be giving importance to professional development and mentoring of academic heads and teachers