School Administrators’ Perceptions of School Violence

Across America, waves of violence within the school system have shocked and horrified American society. A generation of young people whose main focus should have been on hanging out with friends, getting homework done, not being late to class, going to the mall, or who their date to the prom was to be, instead, are engaged in a sometimes life and death struggle to survive the school day. The tragedy of Columbine High School, where two high school-aged gunmen took the lives of 13 students and teachers and wounded 23 others (Klein and Chancer 2000), while never to be forgotten, should not eclipse the smaller outbreaks of violence that happen in America’s schools on a daily basis

Persistent post-concussion symptoms and recovery in children and adolescents

Objective: This systematic review explores psychological interventions for Persistent Post-Concussion Symptoms (PPCS) in children. Methods: Literature published until July 2021 was retrieved from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, NeuroBITE and CINAHL. Inclusion criteria were (1) sample with a mean age under 19 and PPCS (2) studies exploring psychological intervention or multimodal interventions that include a psychological component to treatment (3) any study design except single case (4) a measure of at least one of the following: PPCS, Quality of Life (QOL), anxiety or depression. Risk of bias was assessed using NHLBI quality tools. A narrative synthesis of results is presented. Results: Twenty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. Only eleven studies were of good quality and low risk of bias. Interventions were highly heterogenous but typically included one or more of the following: psychoeducation, neuropsychological assessment, psychological therapy, or psychological skills-based exercises. Improvements in PPCS and QOL were evidenced across studies however, due to a variety of methodological limitations, these findings must be understood tentatively. Conclusion: In the context of the literature which is limited and of low quality, psychoeducation as a standalone treatment, and active rehabilitation with CBT show the best promise of improvements in PPCS and QOL. Research on psychological interventions for children with PPCS is in its infancy and there are significant gaps that warrant further research to develop meaningful recommendations for treatment. Key Words: persistent post-concussion symptoms, PCS, PPCS, paediatric, brain injury, post-concussion syndrom

The Effects of Administrative Burden on Program Equity and Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in a Foreclosure Prevention Program

In this article, we examine the effects of reforms to reduce administrative burden in a foreclosure prevention program by streamlining the application process and reducing applicant wait times. We find that the reforms are associated with a significant 23 percent increase in the rate of benefit receipt and a 7.5 percent decrease in the foreclosure rate. These effects are even larger for applicants with more difficult-to-document hardship situations. However, we also find evidence of congestion, where the elimination of documentation requirements increased processing times for applicants, undoing some of the positive benefits. These findings suggest that shifting the documentation burden to the state without sufficiently expanding state capacity may substitute one form of administrative burden for another

A Safe, Stable Place to Call Home Supports Young Children's Health in Arkansas

Families should be able to afford a roof over their heads and still have enough money to pay for food, utilities, and healthcare. Unfortunately, for many Arkansans, wages are not keeping up with housing costs. Presently, fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $216 more a month than a full-time minimum wage employee earning$7.25/hour can afford. Children's HealthWatch research shows families are forced to sacrifice basic necessities when they confront the gap between the cost of housing and their ability to pay for it

Statistics as Unbiased Estimators: Exploring the Teaching of Standard Deviation

This manuscript presents findings from a study about the knowledge for and planned teaching of standard deviation. We investigate how understanding variance as an unbiased (inferential) estimator – not just a descriptive statistic for the variation (spread) in data – is related to teachers’ instruction regarding standard deviation, particularly around the issue of division by n-1. In this regard, the study contributes to our understanding about how knowledge of mathematics beyond the current instructional level, what we refer to as nonlocal mathematics, becomes important for teaching. The findings indicate that acquired knowledge of nonlocal mathematics can play a role in altering teachers’ planned instructional approaches in terms of student activity and cognitive demand in their instruction

Atraumatic Back Pain Due to Quadratus Lumborum Spasm Treated by Physical Therapy with Manual Trigger Point Therapy in the Emergency Department

Manual trigger point therapy is effective for treating myofascial pain, yet it is not frequently used in emergency department (ED) settings. A 42-year-old female presented to the ED with atraumatic back pain. Her pain was thought to be myofascial, and we obtained a physical therapy consultation. Diagnosing the patient with quadratus lumborum spasm, the physical therapist treated her in the ED using manual trigger point therapy, and completely relieved her pain without requiring any medications. Manual trigger point therapy can provide non-opioid pain relief in ED patients, and physical therapists can apply this technique effectively in the ED

Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Planned Approaches For Teaching Standard Deviation

Research-based guidelines for learning variation exist (e.g., Franklin et al., 2007; Garfield, delMas, & Chance, 2007), but little is known about how teachers plan to teach standard deviation, or how these plans align with recent recommendations. In this article, we survey lesson plans designed by inservice and preservice secondary mathematical teachers. We report on the accuracy, technology usage, and visual representations in the lesson plans. We consider how many elements are used, the level of conceptual development, and the mathematical nature. Findings support differences between preservice and master’s level students in education, as well as a tendency by in-service teachers to teach in alignment with prior learning experiences, despite professional development. Implications for teacher education and curricular development are offered

A Naturally-Occurring Histone Acetyltransferase Inhibitor Derived from Garcinia indica Impairs Newly Acquired and Reactivated Fear Memories

The study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the consolidation and reconsolidation of traumatic fear memories has progressed rapidly in recent years, yet few compounds have emerged that are readily useful in a clinical setting for the treatment of anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here, we use a combination of biochemical, behavioral, and neurophysiological methods to systematically investigate the ability of garcinol, a naturallyoccurring histone acetyltransferase (HAT) inhibitor derived from the rind of the fruit of the Kokum tree (Garcina indica), to disrupt the consolidation and reconsolidation of Pavlovian fear conditioning, a widely studied rodent model of PTSD. We show that local infusion of garcinol into the rat lateral amygdala (LA) impairs the training and retrieval-related acetylation of histone H3 in the LA. Further, we show that either intra-LA or systemic administration of garcinol within a narrow window after either fear conditioning or fear memory retrieval significantly impairs the consolidation and reconsolidation of a Pavlovian fear memory and associated neural plasticity in the LA. Our findings suggest that a naturally-occurring compound derived from the diet that regulates chromatin function may be useful in the treatment of newly acquired or recently reactivated traumatic memories