Review of State Policies on Teacher Induction

Outlines criteria and recommendations for state policies on providing mentoring support for new teachers and administrators, including universality, program standards on design and operation, mentor quality, program delivery, funding, and accountability

Gait and cognition: mapping the global and discrete relationships in ageing and neurodegenerative disease

Recent research highlights the association of gait and cognition in older adults but a stronger understanding is needed to discern coincident pathophysiology, patterns of change, examine underlying mechanisms and aid diagnosis. This structured review mapped associations and predictors of gait and cognition in older adults with and without cognitive impairment, and Parkinson's disease. Fifty papers out of an initial yield of 22,128 were reviewed and a model of gait guided analysis and interpretation. Associations were dominated by the pace domain of gait; the most frequently studied domain. In older adults pace was identified as a predictor for cognitive decline. Where comprehensive measurement of gait was conducted, more specific pathological patterns of association were evident highlighting the importance of this approach. This review confirmed a robust association between gait and cognition and argues for a selective, comprehensive measurement approach. Results suggest gait may be a surrogate marker of cognitive impairment and cognitive decline. Understanding the specific nature of this relationship is essential for refinement of diagnostics and development of novel therapies

Cultivating Effective Teachers Through Evaluation and Support: A Guide for Illinois Policymakers and Educational Leaders

Reform of educator evaluation, in Illinois and around the nation, is intended to more accurately identify effective and ineffective teachers and to inform teacher development. The reality is that more effort and attention has been focused on how to rate teachers within such systems than on how to design these systems to provide regular and useful feedback on teaching. If the 2010 Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) is to achieve its aims in Illinois, it must help teachers to learn and improve on the job.For beginning teachers, the challenge is more pronounced. On average, new teachers are less effective than their more experienced peers. Improvements in individual teaching practices tend to occur during these early years in the classroom, when teachers are applying lessons learned during preparation and developing their own pedagogical approach. While beginning teachers should not be held to a different performance standard, they do require more intensive support and more frequent feedback to grow into highly effective practitioners. This is one reason why highly structured, intensive new teacher support is prized by beginning teachers -- and strengthens their teaching.If PERA is to accelerate new teacher effectiveness, beginning teachers in Illinois will require more feedback and support than what is provided by this law alone. An aligned system of high-quality induction -- featuring regular contact with a mentor, frequent classroom observation, on -- going opportunities to engage in reflection and self-assessment, and actionable, "real time" feedback to inform instructional improvement throughout the school year -- would provide the necessary intensity of instructional support. To accomplish this, Illinois should design and articulate a comprehensive talent development system with teacher learning at its center.Illinois is well-positioned to succeed. Its deep commitment to successful PERA design coupled with a gradual approach to implementation has put the state on the right track. Its existing induction program standards and new induction rules lend important tools to the effort to address the unique learning curve of beginning teachers.This Guide explores how the state can solidify PERA's role in informing and supporting new teacher development. In this effort, we have identified two main priorities for Illinois policymakers and PERA implementers.Design a comprehensive educator effectiveness system that encompasses both evaluation and robust instructional feedback and support. For new teachers, this system must include induction support aligned with PERA's evaluation requirements.Encourage and enable teacher leaders to serve as teacher mentors and as peer evaluators. Instructional improvement is a collective responsibility and is too critical and time-intensive an endeavor to leave solely to school administrators

Housing and Environmental Enrichment of the Domestic Ferret: A Multi-Sector Survey

Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are kept and used in multiple sectors of society, but little is known about how they are housed and what environmental enrichment (EE) they may benefit from. We aimed to help guide caretakers about what housing and EE can be provided for ferrets. Through an online questionnaire of ferret caretakers, including pet, laboratory, zoological collection, rescue and working animal sectors internationally, we described ferret housing, opportunities for exploration, EE provision and caretaker opinions on ferrets' preferred EE types, and problematic EE. In total, 754 valid responses from 17 countries were analysed, with most (82.4%) coming from pet owners. Most ferrets were housed socially, with housing varying across sectors from single-level cages to free-range housing in a room or outdoor enclosure; pet owners mostly used multi-level cages. The most commonly reported EE included hammocks, tunnels and tactile interaction with caretakers. Respondents reported that ferrets particularly enjoyed digging substrates, tunnels, human interaction and exploration. The most frequently reported problems were that ingestion of unsuitable chew toys and rubber items could cause internal blockages, narrow tunnels could trap ferrets, and certain fabrics that could catch claws. This suggests a need for increased awareness of the risks of these EE types and for more commercially available safety-tested ferret EE. Scent trails were relatively rarely provided but were reported to be enjoyed and harmless, so we recommend that these should be provided more commonly. Our results suggest that there is scope to improve ferret housing and EE provision to benefit ferret welfare across all sectors

Interventions to promote access to eye care for non-Indigenous, non-dominant ethnic groups in high-income countries: a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: For many people, settling in a new country is associated with a new identity as an 'ethnic minority', one that can remain through future generations. People who are culturally distinct from the dominant population group may experience a variety of barriers to accessing healthcare, including linguistic and cultural barriers in communication, navigation of an unfamiliar health system and unconscious or overt discrimination. Here, we outline the protocol of a scoping review to identify, describe and summarise interventions aimed at improving access to eye care for non-Indigenous, non-dominant ethnic groups residing in high-income countries. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search MEDLINE, Embase and Global Health from their inception to July 2019. We will include studies of any design that describe an intervention to promote access to eye care for non-Indigenous, non-dominant ethnic groups. Two authors will independently review titles, abstracts and full-text articles for inclusion. Reference lists from all included articles will also be searched. In cases of disagreement between initial reviewers, a third author will help resolve the conflict. For each included article, we will extract data about the target population, details of the intervention delivered and the effectiveness of or feedback from the intervention. Overall findings will be summarised with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This review will summarise existing literature and as such ethics approval is not required. We will publish the review in an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, and draft appropriate summaries for dissemination to the wider community. This wider community could include clinicians, policymakers, health service managers and organisations that work with non-dominant ethnic groups. Our findings will also feed into the ongoing Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health

Eye care delivery models to improve access to eye care for Indigenous people in high-income countries: protocol for a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Globally, there are an estimated 370 million Indigenous people across 90 countries. Indigenous people experience worse health compared with non-Indigenous people, including higher rates of avoidable visual impairment. Countries such as Australia and Canada have service delivery models aimed at improving access to eye care for Indigenous people. We will conduct a scoping review to identify and summarise these service delivery models to improve access to eye care for Indigenous people in high-income countries. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: An information specialist will conduct searches on MEDLINE, Embase and Global Health. All databases will be searched from their inception date with no language limits used. We will search the grey literature via websites of relevant government and service provider agencies. Field experts will be contacted to identify additional articles, and reference lists of relevant articles will be searched. All quantitative and qualitative study designs will be eligible if they describe a model of eye care service delivery aimed at Indigenous populations. Two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and full-text articles; and complete data extraction. For each service delivery model, we will extract data on the context, inputs, outputs, Indigenous engagement and enabling health system functions. Where models were evaluated, we will extract details. We will summarise findings using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not required, as our review will include published and publicly accessible data. This review is part of a project to improve access to eye care services for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. The findings will be useful to policymakers, health service managers and clinicians responsible for eye care services in New Zealand, and other high-income countries with Indigenous populations. We will publish our findings in a peer-reviewed journal and develop an accessible summary of results for website posting and stakeholder meetings

Eye care delivery models to improve access to eye care for Indigenous peoples in high-income countries: a scoping review.

PURPOSE: Globally, there are ~370 million Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples typically experience worse health compared with non-Indigenous people, including higher rates of avoidable vision impairment. Much of this gap in eye health can be attributed to barriers that impede access to eye care services. We conducted a scoping review to identify and summarise service delivery models designed to improve access to eye care for Indigenous peoples in high-income countries. METHODS: Searches were conducted on MEDLINE, Embase and Global Health in January 2019 and updated in July 2020. All study designs were eligible if they described a model of eye care service delivery aimed at populations with over 50% Indigenous peoples. Two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts and full-text articles and completed data charting. We extracted data on publication details, study context, service delivery interventions, outcomes and evaluations, engagement with Indigenous peoples and access dimensions targeted. We summarised findings descriptively following thematic analysis. RESULTS: We screened 2604 abstracts and 67 studies fulfilled our eligibility criteria. Studies were focused on Indigenous peoples in Australia (n=45), USA (n=11), Canada (n=7), New Zealand (n=2), Taiwan (n=1) and Greenland (n=1). The main disease focus was diabetic retinopathy (n=30, 45%), followed by 'all eye care' (n=16, 24%). Most studies focused on targeted interventions to increase availability of services. Fewer than one-third of studies reported involving Indigenous communities when designing the service. 41 studies reflected on whether the model improved access, but none undertook rigorous evaluation or quantitative assessment. CONCLUSIONS: The geographical and clinical scope of service delivery models to improve access to eye care for Indigenous peoples in high-income countries is narrow, with most studies focused on Australia and services for diabetic retinopathy. More and better engagement with Indigenous communities is required to design and implement accessible eye care services

Gene expression in cardiac tissues from infants with idiopathic conotruncal defects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most commonly observed conotruncal congenital heart defect. Treatment of these patients has evolved dramatically in the last few decades, yet a genetic explanation is lacking for the failure of cardiac development for the majority of children with TOF. Our goal was to perform genome wide analyses and characterize expression patterns in cardiovascular tissue (right ventricle, pulmonary valve and pulmonary artery) obtained at the time of reconstructive surgery from 19 children with tetralogy of Fallot.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We employed genome wide gene expression microarrays to characterize cardiovascular tissue (right ventricle, pulmonary valve and pulmonary artery) obtained at the time of reconstructive surgery from 19 children with TOF (16 idiopathic and three with 22q11.2 deletions) and compared gene expression patterns to normally developing subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We detected a signal from approximately 26,000 probes reflecting expression from about half of all genes, ranging from 35% to 49% of array probes in the three tissues. More than 1,000 genes had a 2-fold change in expression in the right ventricle (RV) of children with TOF as compared to the RV from matched control infants. Most of these genes were involved in compensatory functions (e.g., hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis and cardiac dilation). However, two canonical pathways involved in spatial and temporal cell differentiation (WNT, <it>p </it>= 0.017 and Notch, <it>p </it>= 0.003) appeared to be generally suppressed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The suppression of developmental networks may represent a remnant of a broad malfunction of regulatory pathways leading to inaccurate boundary formation and improper structural development in the embryonic heart. We suggest that small tissue specific genomic and/or epigenetic fluctuations could be cumulative, leading to regulatory network disruption and failure of proper cardiac development.</p

Interventions to promote access to eyecare for non-dominant ethnic groups in high-income countries: a scoping review

Purpose People who are distinct from the dominant ethnic group within a country can experience a variety of barriers to accessing eyecare services. We conducted a scoping review to map published interventions aimed at improving access to eyecare for non-Indigenous, non-dominant ethnic groups residing in high-income countries. Methods We searched MEDLINE, Embase and Global Health for studies that described an intervention to promote access to eyecare for the target population. Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts followed by review of the full text of potentially relevant sources. For included studies, data extraction was carried out independently by two authors. Findings were summarised using a combination of descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results We screened 5220 titles/abstracts, of which 82 reports describing 67 studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies were conducted in the USA (90%), attempted to improve access for Black (48%) or Latinx (28%) communities at-risk for diabetic retinopathy (42%) and glaucoma (18%). Only 30% included the target population in the design of the intervention; those that did tended to be larger, collaborative initiatives, which addressed both patient and provider components of access. Forty-eight studies (72%) evaluated whether an intervention changed an outcome measure. Among these, attendance at a follow-up eye examination after screening was the most common (n=20/48, 42%), and directly supporting patients to overcome barriers to attendance was reported as the most effective approach. Building relationships between patients and providers, running coordinated, longitudinal initiatives and supporting reduction of root causes for inequity (education and economic) were key themes highlighted for success. Conclusion Although research evaluating interventions for non-dominant, non-Indigenous ethnic groups exist, key gaps remain. In particular, the paucity of relevant studies outside the USA needs to be addressed, and target communities need to be involved in the design and implementation of interventions more frequently

Interaction between polymorphisms in aspirin metabolic pathways, regular aspirin use and colorectal cancer risk: A case-control study in unselected white European populations

Regular aspirin use is associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Variation in aspirin’s chemoprevention efficacy has been attributed to the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We conducted a meta-analysis using two large population-based case-control datasets, the UK-Leeds Colorectal Cancer Study Group and the NIH-Colon Cancer Family Registry, having a combined total of 3325 cases and 2262 controls. The aim was to assess 42 candidate SNPs in 15 genes whose association with colorectal cancer risk was putatively modified by aspirin use, in the literature. Log odds ratios (ORs) and standard errors were estimated for each dataset separately using logistic regression adjusting for age, sex and study site, and dataset-specific results were combined using random effects meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed association between SNPs rs6983267, rs11694911 and rs2302615 with CRC risk reduction (All P<0.05). Association for SNP rs6983267 in the CCAT2 gene only was noteworthy after multiple test correction (P = 0.001). Site-specific analysis showed association between SNPs rs1799853 and rs2302615 with reduced colon cancer risk only (P = 0.01 and P = 0.004, respectively), however neither reached significance threshold following multiple test correction. Meta-analysis of SNPs rs2070959 and rs1105879 in UGT1A6 gene showed interaction between aspirin use and CRC risk (Pinteraction = 0.01 and 0.02, respectively); stratification by aspirin use showed an association for decreased CRC risk for aspirin users having a wild-type genotype (rs2070959 OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.68–0.86; rs1105879 OR = 0.77 95% CI = 0.69–0.86) compared to variant allele cariers. The direction of the interaction however is in contrast to that published in studies on colorectal adenomas. Both SNPs showed potential site-specific interaction with aspirin use and colon cancer risk only (Pinteraction = 0.006 and 0.008, respectively), with the direction of association similar to that observed for CRC. Additionally, they showed interaction between any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (including aspirin) use and CRC risk (Pinteraction = 0.01 for both). All gene x environment (GxE) interactions however were not significant after multiple test correction. Candidate gene investigation indicated no evidence of GxE interaction between genetic variants in genes involved in aspirin pathways, regular aspirin use and colorectal cancer risk