The effect of critical thinking skills instruction on achievement and attitudes of elementary students differing in learning style preferences

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of teacher-paced versus self-paced instruction of critical thinking skills on the achievement of higher level thinking process and student attitudes in elementary students with a high, moderate, or low preference for teacher-structured learning.;Fifth grade students (n = 135) were randomly assigned to three groups in two elementary schools, two treatment and one control, using a random block design based on a high, moderate, or low preference of students for teacher-structured learning. Trained teachers, randomly assigned, instructed students in the treatment groups in the development of critical thinking skills. A seven-week program of instruction in verbal analogies, figural analogies, deductive thinking, and inductive thinking was conducted using a curriculum guide developed for the study which contained objectives, instructional strategies, scripted lesson plans, and instructional materials. Instruction in one treatment group was teacher-paced with the material presented, practiced, and corrected as a total class. Instruction in the second treatment group was self-paced where, after initial presentation, students proceeded at their own pace and corrected their own work. The control group did not receive instruction in critical thinking skills.;The major findings of the study were: (1) Students in the groups receiving instruction in critical thinking skills, both self-paced and teacher-paced, achieved significantly higher scores (p \u3c 0.02) than the control group on measures most directly related to instruction, ability or intelligence and verbal analogy achievement. The direct teaching of the skills rather than the methodology was the significant factor in greater achievement. Scores on measures of critical thinking not directly related to the instructional program did not show significant differences between groups, suggesting no transfer occured in the ability to perform thinking tasks not specifically instructed. (2) Although there were indications that a preference for self-paced, self-structured learning resulted in higher achievement, the results were not statistically significant. A match between learning style preference and teaching methodology did not result in greater achievement. (3) Attitudes of students toward instruction of thinking skills were not affected significantly by teaching methodology nor by differing learning style preferences

Development and validation of a pregnancy symptoms inventory

Background: Physical symptoms are common in pregnancy and are predominantly associated with normal physiological changes. These symptoms have a social and economic cost, leading to absenteeism from work and additional medical interventions. There is currently no simple method for identifying common pregnancy related problems in the antenatal period. A validated tool, for use by pregnancy care providers would be useful. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a Pregnancy Symptoms Inventory for use by health professionals. Methods: A list of symptoms was generated via expert consultation with health professionals. Focus groups were conducted with pregnant women. The inventory was tested for face validity and piloted for readability and comprehension. For test-re-test reliability, the tool was administered to the same women 2 to 3 days apart. Finally, midwives trialled the inventory for 1 month and rated its usefulness on a 10cm visual analogue scale (VAS). Results: A 41-item Likert inventory assessing how often symptoms occurred and what effect they had, was developed. Individual item test re-test reliability was between .51 to 1, the majority (34 items) scoring ≥0.70. The top four " often" reported symptoms were urinary frequency (52.2%), tiredness (45.5%), poor sleep (27.5%) and back pain (19.5%). Among the women surveyed, 16.2% claimed to sometimes or often be incontinent. Referrals to the incontinence nurse increased > 8 fold during the study period. Conclusions: The PSI provides a comprehensive inventory of pregnancy related symptoms, with a mechanism for assessing their effect on function. It was robustly developed, with good test re-test reliability, face validity, comprehension and readability. This provides a validated tool for assessing the impact of interventions in pregnancy

Learning to be literate

It is well-known that Aboriginal levels of literacy are below Australian norms. The reasons for this situation are complex and involve such factors as historico-political issues, social disadvantage, cultural difference and racism. Attempts at all levels to improve literacy competencies have met with indifferent success in terms of the Aboriginal population as a whole. Literacy experience in early childhood is judged by the research to be crucial for later literacy competence. Little is known, however, about the nature of Aboriginal reading and writing skills in general let alone the emergent knowledge of young Aboriginal children and their experience of literacy events. This study examined the literacy development of a cohort of Aboriginal pre-school children over a period of more than five years. In an eighteen month period beginning in the middle of their pre-school year the children's emergent literacy knowledge was determined. Story knowledge, print knowledge, book handling knowledge, reading and writing knowledge were examined in the light of current research. Four years later, when the children were in middle primary school, their literacy development was assessed again using both standardised and non-standardised measures. Using a multi-method approach, the group data were analysed statistically via Rasch Analysis and other methods. The performances of five children were also written up individually as case studies. Thus both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis were used

Btk Regulated Macrophage Polarization in Response to Lipopolysaccharide

Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a strong inducer of inflammation and does so by inducing polarization of macrophages to the classic inflammatory M1 population. Given the role of Btk as a critical signal transducer downstream of TLR4, we investigated its role in M1/M2 induction. In Btk deficient (Btk−\−) mice we observed markedly reduced recruitment of M1 macrophages following intraperitoneal administration of LPS. Ex vivo analysis demonstrated an impaired ability of Btk−/− macrophages to polarize into M1 macrophages, instead showing enhanced induction of immunosuppressive M2-associated markers in response to M1 polarizing stimuli, a finding accompanied by reduced phosphorylation of STAT1 and enhanced STAT6 phosphorylation. In addition to STAT activation, M1 and M2 polarizing signals modulate the expression of inflammatory genes via differential activation of transcription factors and regulatory proteins, including NF-κB and SHIP1. In keeping with a critical role for Btk in macrophage polarization, we observed reduced levels of NF-κB p65 and Akt phosphorylation, as well as reduced induction of the M1 associated marker iNOS in Btk−/− macrophages in response to M1 polarizing stimuli. Additionally enhanced expression of SHIP1, a key negative regulator of macrophage polarisation, was observed in Btk−/− macrophages in response to M2 polarizing stimuli. Employing classic models of allergic M2 inflammation, treatment of Btk−/− mice with either Schistosoma mansoni eggs or chitin resulted in increased recruitment of M2 macrophages and induction of M2-associated genes. This demonstrates an enhanced M2 skew in the absence of Btk, thus promoting the development of allergic inflammation

In the beginning: Role of autonomy support on the motivation, mental health and intentions of participants entering an exercise referral scheme

Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000, Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York: Plenum Publishing) highlights the impact autonomy supportive environments can have on exercise motivation and positive health outcomes. Yet little is known about whether differential effects occur as a function of which significant other is providing this support. Further, no research has examined the relationship between motivation and the social environment with participants’ mental health and intentions to be physically active before entering an exercise intervention. Study participants were 347 British adults who were about to start an exercise referral scheme. Regression analyses revealed that the effects of autonomy support on mental health and physical activity intentions differed as a function of who provided the support (offspring, partner or physician), with the offspring having the weakest effects. A structural model was supported, indicating that autonomy support and more autonomous regulations led to more positive mental health outcomes and stronger intentions to be physically active. Knowledge of the social environmental and personal motivation of those about to commence an exercise programme can provide important insights for professionals supporting such efforts

Autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and the optimal functioning of adult male and female sport participants: A test of basic needs theory

Grounded in Basic Needs Theory (BNT; Ryan and Deci, American Psychologist, 55, 68–78, 2000a), the present study aimed to: (a) test a theoretically-based model of coach autonomy support, motivational processes and well-/ill being among a sample of adult sport participants, (b) discern which basic psychological need(s) mediate the link between autonomy support and well-/ill-being, and (c) explore gender invariance in the hypothesized model. Five hundred and thirty nine participants (Male = 271;Female = 268; Mage = 22.75) completed a multi-section questionnaire tapping the targeted variables. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that coach autonomy support predicted participants’ basic need satisfaction for autonomy, competence and relatedness. In turn, basic need satisfaction predicted greater subjective vitality when engaged in sport. Participants with low levels of autonomy were more susceptible to feeling emotionally and physically exhausted from their sport investment. Autonomy and competence partially mediated the path from autonomy support to subjective vitality. Lastly, the results supported partial invariance of the model with respect to gender

Colorectal tumour simulation using agent based modelling and high performance computing

450,000 European citizens are diagnosed every year with colorectal cancer (CRC) and more than 230,000 succumb to the disease annually. For this reason, significant resources are dedicated to the identification of more effective therapies for this disease. However, classical assessment techniques for these treatments are slow and costly. Consequently, systems biology researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) are developing computational agent-based models simulating tumour growth and treatment responses with the objective of speeding up the therapeutic development process while, at the same time, producing a tool for adapting treatments to patient-specific characteristics. However, the model complexity and the high number of agents to be simulated require a thorough optimisation of the process in order to execute realistic simulations of tumour growth on currently available platforms. We propose to apply the most advanced HPC techniques to achieve the efficient and realistic simulation of a virtual tissue model that mimics tumour growth or regression in space and time. These techniques combine extensions of the previously developed agent-based simulation software platform (FLAME) with autotuning capabilities and optimisation strategies for the current tumour model. Development of such a platform could advance the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of CRC which can also be applied other solid tumours.This work has been partially supported by MICINN-Spain under contract TIN2011- 28689-C02-01 and TIN2014-53234-C2-1-R and GenCat-DIUiE(GRR) 2014-SGR-576. This research was also funded by the European Community’s Framework Programme Seven (FP7) Programme under contract No. 278981 680 AngioPredict and supported by the DJEI/DES/SFI/HEA Irish Centre for High- End Computing (ICHEC).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Research protocol – Assessing Post-Stroke Psychology Longitudinal Evaluation (APPLE) study : A prospective cohort study in stroke

Acknowledgements The following experts provided advice on the design and conduct of the APPLE study: Prof Jonathan Evans (University of Glasgow); Prof Gillian Mead (University of Edinburgh); Prof Sarah T Pendlebury (University of Oxford) Funding This work was supported by the Chief Scientist Office and Stroke Association (funders reference PPA 2015/01_CSO).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genetics of SLE: Functional Relevance for Monocytes/Macrophages in Disease

Genetic studies in the last 5 years have greatly facilitated our understanding of how the dysregulation of diverse components of the innate immune system contributes to pathophysiology of SLE. A role for macrophages in the pathogenesis of SLE was first proposed as early as the 1980s following the discovery that SLE macrophages were defective in their ability to clear apoptotic cell debris, thus prolonging exposure of potential autoantigens to the adaptive immune response. More recently, there is an emerging appreciation of the contribution both monocytes and macrophages play in orchestrating immune responses with perturbations in their activation or regulation leading to immune dysregulation. This paper will focus on understanding the relevance of genes identified as being associated with innate immune function of monocytes and macrophages and development of SLE, particularly with respect to their role in (1) immune complex (IC) recognition and clearance, (2) nucleic acid recognition via toll-like receptors (TLRs) and downstream signalling, and (3) interferon signalling. Particular attention will be paid to the functional consequences these genetic associations have for disease susceptibility or pathogenesis