Literacy Coaching for Instructional Change in Guided Reading: Navigating Form and Function

The purpose of this research was to examine how one teacher’s guided reading instruction evolved while engaged in a job-embedded professional development experience across the school year. The teacher taught and debriefed multiple guided reading lessons per visit with a literacy coach. The authors employed qualitative methods to analyze the transcripts from interviews and pre- and postconferences, written reflections, and field notes from the lessons. Findings demonstrate that the teacher shifted from being hyper-focused on the form of guided reading to the actual function of guided reading. Initially, she concentrated on text level, time and planning, and management, which the authors identified as attention to form; over time she gave more attention to the decision-making aspects and instructional opportunities that the authors identified as the function of guided reading. The findings further show how the social nature of the job-embedded professional development supported the teacher’s change in instructional practices

Potential Spawning Strategy and Fecundity of Alabama Shad (Alosa alabamae) from the Apalachicola River, Florida

Alabama shad (Alosa alabamae), classified as a Species of Concern by the National Marine Fisheries Service, are native to the northern Gulf of Mexico drainages. Our study estimated the fecundity of 39 female Alabama shad from the Apalachicola River, Florida. Individuals ranged in age from 2-4 years with an average weight of 729 g. Samples (1 g) were cut from the center of each ovary, and oocytes present were counted. Diameters of 50 randomly-sampled oocytes were measured per sample. Oocyte diameters ranged from 0.3-2.7 mm, with a mode of 1.5 mm. The unimodal oocyte diameter percent frequency distribution suggests that Alabama shad spawn multiple times in a spawning season. Total mean ovary weight was 67.88 ± 25.90 (s.d.) g/individual, with average annual fecundity estimated to be 79,420 ± 26,896 (s.d.) oocytes/individual. Our results were consistent with previous Alabama shad fecundity studies out of the Apalachicola River

Short and long term outcomes of 200 patients supported by continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices

AIM: To study the institutional experience over 8 years with 200 continuous-flow (CF) - left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). METHODS: We evaluated our institution\u27s LVAD database and analyzed all patients who received a CF LVAD as a bridge to transplant (BTT) or destination therapy from March 2006 until June 2014. We identified 200 patients, of which 179 were implanted with a HeartMate II device (Thoratec Corp., Pleasanton, CA) and 21 received a Heartware HVAD (HeartWare Inc., Framingham, MA). RESULTS: The mean age of our LVAD recipients was 59.3 years (range 17-81), 76% (152/200) were males, and 49% were implanted for the indication of BTT. The survival rate for our LVAD patients at 30 d, 6 mo, 12 mo, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years was 94%, 86%, 78%, 71%, 62% and 45% respectively. The mean duration of LVAD support was 581 d (range 2-2595 d). Gastrointestinal bleeding (was the most common adverse event (43/200, 21%), followed by right ventricular failure (38/200, 19%), stroke (31/200, 15%), re exploration for bleeding (31/200, 15%), ventilator dependent respiratory failure (19/200, 9%) and pneumonia (15/200, 7%). Our driveline infection rate was 7%. Pump thrombosis occurred in 6% of patients. Device exchanged was needed in 6% of patients. On multivariate analysis, preoperative liver dysfunction, ventilator dependent respiratory failure, tracheostomy and right ventricular failure requiring right ventricular assist device support were significant predictors of post LVAD survival. CONCLUSION: Short and long term survival for patients on LVAD support are excellent, although outcomes still remain inferior compared to heart transplantation. The incidence of driveline infections, pump thrombosis and pump exchange have declined significantly in recent years

The signaling pathway for aldosterone-induced mitochondrial production of superoxide anion in the myocardium

Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonists decreasemorbidity andmortality in heart failure patients forwhom oxidative stress is usual; however, the underlying mechanism for this protection is unclear. Since aldosterone stimulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in several tissues,we explored its effect and the intracellular pathway involved in the rat myocardium. Aldosterone dose-dependently increased O2 − production inmyocardial slices. At 10 nmol/L, aldosterone increased O2 − to 165 ± 8.8% of control, an effect prevented not only by the MR antagonists eplerenone and spironolactone (107 ± 7.8 and 103 ± 5.3%, respectively) but also by AG1478 (105 ± 8.0%), antagonist of the EGF receptor (EGFR). Similar results were obtained by silencing MR expression through the direct intramyocardial injection of a lentivirus coding for a siRNA against the MR. The aldosterone effect on O2 − production was mimicked by the mKATP channel opener diazoxide and blocked by preventing its opening with 5-HD and glibenclamide, implicating the mitochondria as the source of O2 −. Inhibiting the respiratory chainwith rotenone or mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)with cyclosporine A or bongkrekic acid also canceled aldosterone-induced O2 − production. In addition, aldosterone effect depended on NADPH oxidase and phosphoinositide 3-kinase activation, as apocynin and wortmannin, respectively, inhibited it. EGF (0.1 μg/ mL) similarly increased O2 −, although in this case MR antagonists had no effect, suggesting that EGFR transactivation occurred downstream from MR activation. Inhibition of mKATP channels, the respiratory chain, or MPT did not prevent Akt phosphorylation, supporting that it happened upstreamof the mitochondria. Importantly, cardiomyocytes were confirmed as a source of aldosterone induced mitochondrial ROS production in experiments performed in isolated cardiac myocytes. These results allowus to speculate that the beneficial effects ofMRantagonists in heart failure may be related to a decrease in oxidative stress.Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculare

The Effect of COVID-19 on Mobility and Equity: A Case Study on Transit Users in Baltimore, Maryland

69A43551747123This study investigates the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public transport ridership of the Maryland Transit Administration and nine self-identified peer agencies using data collected from National Transit Data (NTD), General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), American Community Survey (ACS), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The analysis is based on passenger trips, vehicle revenue hours, and vehicles operated in maximum service. A comparison analysis is conducted by mode from March to December of 2020 (during the pandemic) versus February of 2020 (before the pandemic). The comparison between 2020 and 2019 is performed separately for each month. This study also investigates transit riders\u2019 and operators\u2019 behavior and experience during and before the pandemic via an online survey questionnaire. A dashboard was also developed to show the effect of COVID-19 on employment, mobility, transit ridership, and transit services. Based on the NTD analysis, the fewest passenger trips happened in April 2020 for most cities. The largest maximum ridership decline happened in Washington, D.C., (82.2% bus; 93.7% rail), and the smallest maximum ridership decline occurred in St. Louis (47.9% bus, 60.8% rail) and Baltimore (53.2% bus, 93.6% rail) compared to February 2020. Unlike rail, bus ridership in the 10 agencies was not correlated to the service metrics and faced a smaller decline in ridership than the rail mode, probably because of having more captive riders. While reducing bus services is financially justified, it is a more critical service. This study highlights at least one difficult decision that transit agencies have to make: where service reductions should be implemented to have the least impact on captive transit riders/essential workers

Enhancing interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education in women\u27s health

This article is from the \u27To The Point\u27 series from the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Undergraduate Medical Education Committee. The purpose of this review is to provide an understanding of the differing yet complementary nature of interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education as well as their importance to the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology. We provide a historical perspective of how interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education have become key aspects of clinical and educational programs, enhancing both patient care and learner development. Opportunities to incorporate interprofessional education within women\u27s health educational programs across organizations are suggested. This is a resource for medical educators, learners, and practicing clinicians from any field of medicine or any health-care profession

A comprehensive assessment of benign genetic variability for neurodegenerative disorders

Over the last few years, as more and more sequencing studies have been performed, it has become apparent that the identification of pathogenic mutations is, more often than not, a complex issue. Here, with a focus on neurodegenerative diseases, we have performed a survey of coding genetic variability that is unlikely to be pathogenic. We have performed whole-exome sequencing in 478 samples derived from several brain banks in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Samples were included when subjects were, at death, over 60 years of age, had no signs of neurological disease and were subjected to a neuropathological examination, which revealed no evidence of neurodegeneration. This information will be valuable to studies of genetic variability as a causal factor for neurodegenerative syndromes. We envisage it will be particularly relevant for diagnostic laboratories as a filter step to the results being produced by either genome-wide or gene-panel sequencing. We have made this data publicly available at www.alzforum.org/exomes/hex

"The Book of Negroes’ illustrated edition: circulating African-Canadian history through the Middlebrow"

This article examines the 2009 deluxe illustrated edition of Lawrence Hill’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize– and Canada Reads–winning novel The Book of Negroes, originally published in 2007. It relates the story of Aminata, a West African girl kidnapped and sold into slavery, and her experiences on an indigo plantation in the American south, followed by further displacements to Charleston, Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, and London. In New York, as the Revolutionary War comes to a close, Aminata becomes the scribe for the Book of Negroes, documenting the Black Loyalists, as well as the slaves and indentured servants of white Loyalists, granted passage by the British to Canada. Hill has commented that the Book of Negroes is an important document about which Canadians are largely ignorant. This desire to circulate knowledge about African-Canadian history through the novel is particularly manifest in the illustrated edition of 2009, where a photograph of the Book of Negroes features prominently, along with countless other images and captions which supplement and interrupt Hill’s narrative. This article considers the significance and implications of this “keepsake” or “souvenir” edition, particularly its circulation of knowledge about African-Canadian history through visual pleasure