A Case Study of the Effects on Academic Achievement of an After School Program in Paterson, New Jersey

The past decade has seen an increase in the interest in after school programs, especially in urban communities throughout the United States. Community leaders, educational officials, and parents have identified after school programs as one solution to children\u27s unsupervised hours between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Although such school-based programs suggest the transformation of schools into babysitting agencies, research supports the usefulness of structured after school programs in improvement of student achievement especially for socioeconomically deprived, at-risk children. In addition, many after school programs have been designed to reduce violence, crime by youth, and drug use in the community. The focus of this dissertation was the Paterson, New Jersey School District\u27s Supplemental Educational Services (SES) program, supervised by the author. This case study examined students\u27 attendance in an after school program and their academic achievement as measured by standardized tests by individual student, by school attended, and by clusters of schools. The purpose of the study was to try to determine if program attendance and test scores were related. Results supported a positive relationship, and the quality of the program was assessed as high

Oral autoimmune vesicobullous diseases: Classification, clinical presentations, molecular mechanisms, diagnostic algorithms, and management

Mucocutaneous blistering autoimmune diseases are a group of systemic, rare, chronic disorders characterized by humoral-mediated immunologic mechanisms against epithelial, basement membrane, and subepithelial tissues. Morbidity and mortality can be completely different among these diseases, with outcome being dependent on an early and accurate diagnosis, systemic comorbidities, and the patient's response to treatment. Definitive diagnosis is based on clinical and histopathologic findings. Because clinical presentations among these diseases are often similar, different immunofluorescence tests and ELISAs are used to confirm the specific diagnosis. Oral mucosa may often be the first site of clinical manifestation from which the disease spreads to other mucosal surfaces and skin. Thus, often dentists and oral medicine specialists may be the first to encounter patients with such diseases. In this review we discuss the most frequent autoimmune vesicobullous disorders, namely pemphigus vulgaris, mucous membrane pemphigoid, bullous pemphigoid, and linear IgA disease

A study of gas contaminants and interaction with materials in RPC closed loop systems

Resistive Plate Counters (RPC) detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments use gas recirculation systems to cope with large gas mixture volumes and costs. In this paper a long-term systematic study about gas purifiers, gas contaminants and detector performance is discussed. The study aims at measuring the lifetime of purifiers with unused and used cartridge material along with contaminants release in the gas system. During the data-taking the response of several RPC double-gap detectors was monitored in order to characterize the correlation between dark currents, filter status and gas contaminants

Public and private presentations of the self and employment seeking

Facebook has become a mainstay in today's society and a new venue for employers to research their candidates. Using the theories of Erving Goffman and advice from employment etiquette guides, this exploratory study examines how the presentation of self on social networking sites. 400 Facebook profiles of current university students were examined by analyzing 17 visual presentations of self and 10 written presentations of self. Results indicated that females, African Americans, and younger college students are more likely to present negative written presentations of self, whereas males are more likely to present negative visual presentations of self. If a potential employer were to examine the applicants profile on a social networking site these presentations could affect ones chances of getting a job. The results warn that students should be aware of the way they present themselves on Facebook and could be visible to, or influence, those who are not part of their normative facework

Autoimmune mucocutaneous blistering diseases after SARS-Cov-2 vaccination: A Case report of Pemphigus Vulgaris and a literature review

Background: Cases of severe autoimmune blistering diseases (AIBDs) have recently been reported in association with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination. Aims: To describe a report of oropharyngeal Pemphigus Vulgaris (OPV) triggered by the mRNABNT162b2 vaccine (Comirnaty®/ Pfizer/ BioNTech) and to analyze the clinical and immunological characteristics of the AIBDs cases reported following the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Methods: The clinical and immunological features of our case of OPV were documented. A review of the literature was conducted and only cases of AIBDs arising after the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were included. Case report: A 60-year old female patients developed oropharyngeal and nasal bullous lesions seven days after the administration of a second dose of the mRNABNT162b2 vaccine (Comirnaty®/ Pfizer/BioNtech). According to the histology and direct immunofluorescence findings showing the presence of supra-basal blister and intercellular staining of IgG antibodies and the presence of a high level of anti-Dsg-3 antibodies (80 U/ml; normal < 7 U/ml) in the serum of the patients, a diagnosis of oropharyngeal Pemphigus Vulgaris was made. Review: A total of 35 AIBDs cases triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were found (including our report). 26 (74.3%) were diagnosed as Bullous Pemphigoid, 2 (5.7%) as Linear IgA Bullous Dermatosis, 6 (17.1%) as Pemphigus Vulgaris and 1 (2.9%) as Pemphigus Foliaceus. The mean age of the sample was 72.8 years and there was a predominance of males over females (F:M=1:1.7). In 22 (62.9%) cases, the disease developed after Pfizer vaccine administration, 6 (17.1%) after Moderna, 3 (8.6%) after AstraZeneca, 3 (8.6%) after CoronaVac (one was not specified). All patients were treated with topical and/or systemic corticosteroids, with or without the addition of immunosuppressive drugs, with a good clinical response in every case. Conclusion: Clinicians should be aware of the potential, though rare, occurrence of AIBDs as a possible adverse event after the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. However, notwithstanding, they should encourage their patients to obtain the vaccination in order to assist the public health systems to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic

Performance of the Gas Gain Monitoring system of the CMS RPC muon detector and effective working point fine tuning

The Gas Gain Monitoring (GGM) system of the Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) muon detector in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment provides fast and accurate determination of the stability in the working point conditions due to gas mixture changes in the closed loop recirculation system. In 2011 the GGM began to operate using a feedback algorithm to control the applied voltage, in order to keep the GGM response insensitive to environmental temperature and atmospheric pressure variations. Recent results are presented on the feedback method used and on alternative algorithms

Aseptic Meningitis in Oral Medicine: Exploring the Key Elements for a Challenging Diagnosis: A Review of the Literature and Two Case Reports

Aseptic meningitis (AM) is a potentially severe and life-threatening disease characterized by meningeal inflammation, usually with mononuclear pleocytosis. It represents a challenging and controversial issue in medicine for multiple etiologies, classification, and difficult diagnosis in the face of nonspecific sets of signs and symptoms. In the area of interest of oral medicine, in specific clusters of patients, even if rare, the occurrence of aseptic meningitis can pose a diagnostic and management dilemma in the following potential etiologies: (i) systemic diseases with oral and meningeal involvement, which include Behçet’s disease and Sjögren syndrome; (ii) drug-induced aseptic meningitis; (iii) aseptic viral meningitis, mostly related to herpes simplex virus infection and hand, foot, and mouth disease, caused by enteroviruses. In this review, clinical manifestations, diagnostic methodologies, incidence, treatment, and prognosis for each of these clinical entities are provided. Furthermore, two illustrative case reports are described: a patient suffering from recurrent oral ulcers, in which a sudden onset of AM allows us to diagnose Neuro Behçet’s disease, and a patient affected by pemphigus vulgaris, manifesting a drug-induced AM. Exploring this complex clinical entity scenario, it is clear that an oral medicine specialist has a place on any multidisciplinary team in making such a challenging diagnosis

V’O2 kinetics in response to High-Intensity-Interval Training (HIT) and isoinertial resistance training (IRT) in older, healthy men

High intensity exercise training (HIT) accelerates V’O2 kinetics (VO2k) in older subjects. It is controversial whether IRT may elicit the same adaptation. We explored the effect of HIT and IRT on VO2k and muscle deoxygenation during moderate intensity exercise in older, healthy men. 12 men (68 yy ± 4) were exposed to 8 weeks (3 times a week) of: i) HIT, and, after 4 months, ii) IRT performed with an isoinertial YoYo. Before and after training we measured: i) V’O2 peak (V’O2p); ii) breath-by-breath V’O2 and fractional muscle O2 extraction (∆HHb) of vastus lateralis by quantitative NIRS during step-exercise transitions of moderate intensity. VO2k was modeled by means of a double - exponential function to obtain the time constant (Tau) of its primary component. The normalized ∆HHb to ∆V’O2 ratio (∆HHb/∆V’O2) was calculated as and index of the matching between muscular O2 delivery (VO2m) and uptake (QaO2). V’O2p increased after HIT (29.9 mL min-1 kg-1 ± 4.3 - 32.6 mL min-1 kg-1± 6.0, p<0.05); it was not affected by IRT. Tau decreased after HIT (26.97 s ± 5.54 - 19.63 s ± 4.31, p<0.05); it did not change after IRT. Peak ∆HHb/∆V’O2 was smaller after HIT (1.83 ± 0.63 - 1.23 ± 0.37, p<0.05); it was not affected by IRT. 8 weeks of HIT accelerated V’O2k and improved the matching between QaO2 and VO2m. IRT did not lead to any improvement of ∆HHb/∆V’O2 and left V’O2k unchanged. Results suggest that the acceleration of V’O2k was mainly due to the improved matching of VO2m to QaO2

EFFECT OF HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING AND ISOINERTIAL TRAINING ON MUSCLE FUNCTIONS IN OLDER ADULTS

Introduction Maximal muscle strength is a strong predictor of functional skills and ability to maintain independent living in elderly. Muscle contraction properties has been shown to decline to a greater extent than muscle strength with aging and it has been considered the main responsible of the observed decline in functional status (Izquierdo et al., 1999). Endurance high intensity interval training (HIT), by involving large muscle groups, and eccentric strength exercise (IRT), by producing high mechanical loads, could be used in elderly to improve muscle function and quality of life (Milanovi et al., 2015). Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the changes in muscle properties in elderly after 8 wk of HIT and IRT. Methods 12 moderately active older adults (age: 69.4±4.3 yy; BMI: 22.9±2.7 kg/m2; V’O2max: 29.5±4.1 mL/kg/min) have completed 8 wk of: i) HIT, 7 two-minute cycling repetitions at 90% of V’O2max, 3 times/wk, and, after 4 months, ii) IRT performed with an isoinertial leg press (YoYo TechnologyAB) comprised 4×7 maximal concentric-eccentric knee extensions, 3 times/wk. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was measured using a cell load in a custom-made setup (90° knee flexion). Electrically evoked muscle single twitch was superimposed onto MVC: neuromuscular activation (NA) was calculated as the ratio between the amplitudes of the superimposed and resting twitches. Muscle volume of the quadriceps (Qvol) was obtained by MRI scans. Results MVC at 90° knee flexion, increase significantly only after IRT (P < 0.01). Both training modalities affected significantly NA (P < 0.05): +12.4% after HIT and +14.2 after IRT. Similarly, Qvol increase by 5.1% (P < 0.05) after HIT intervention and by 4.9% (P < 0.05) after IRT. Discussion Our results confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of HIT and IRT to improve muscle qualities: 8 wk of specific training are able to modify muscle mass, MVC and neuromuscular activation in elderly subjects. This stresses the importance of using effective approaches such as exercise treatment with high loads and high intensities in the prevention of disuse in elderly individuals who are concurrently exposed to the deleterious effects of aging on muscle contractile function and mass (Behrens et al., 2016). We can therefore speculate that the two proposed training modalities may be helpful in improving functional status and prevent frailty in elderly subjects. References Izquierdo M, Aguado X, Gonzalez R, Lopez JL, Hakkinen K. (1999). Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol, 79, 260-7. Milanovi Z, Sporiš G, Weston M. (2015). Sports Med, 45(10), 1469-81. Behrens M, Brown N, Bollinger R, Bubeck D, Mau-Moeller A, Weippert M, Zschorlich V, Bruhn S, Alt W. (2016). Appl Physiol Nutr Metab, 41(1), 110-3