Investigating the effects of commonly implemented school safety strategies on school social work practitioners

A primary objective of the school social work profession is to maintain equality and empower students while promoting educational achievement for troubled and disadvantaged youth in schools. They are among the leading mental health care providers for youth in United States schools today. As school social workers are increasingly being used in United States schools, many find themselves working within practice contexts with complex security environments. These environments can introduce a number of complexities to their practice as well as the students they serve; however, the relationship between school safety strategies and school social work practice, and the role school social workers play in protecting students’ rights in complex security environments has not been adequately researched. This dissertation examines evidence for the validity of an instrument designed to measure two distinct types of school safety strategies and various school social work practices as outlined by a widely accepted school social work practice model. Using data collected with this instrument, this dissertation then explores the responses of 229 school social workers across the United States to determine: 1) the extent to which student- and school-level factors predict the implementation of authoritarian and educational/therapeutic safety strategies; and 2) how these types of strategies influence school social workers’ engagement in various practices as outlined by The School Social Work Practice Model. Results suggest that authoritarian and educational/therapeutic strategies both have significant effects on the types of practices in which school social workers engage. Findings have implications for school social work practice and for improving the effectiveness of commonly implemented school safety strategies that will remain fixtures in United States schools. This study serves as a next step in understanding school safety in United States schools by discussing how the school security environment might affect school social workers in practice

Data-Driven Recommendations for Promoting Collaboration Among School Security Personnel and School Social Workers in the United States

In response to recent incidents of school violence in the United States over the last two decades, there has been a nationwide increase in the use of school security personnel in today’s schools. Concurrently, school social work practice continues to grow as a subspecialty of social work that provides crucial services to youth in school. Despite this increase in demand across both fields of practice, and an overlap in professional interests, current research suggests that we know little about how school social workers interact with and perceive school security personnel within their schools, and ultimately how such interaction and collaboration among professionals might influence school safety. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by exploring survey responses from a nation-wide sample of school social workers who report working in schools with different types of security personnel (n = 151). Findings suggest that increased interaction and positive perceptions of school security personnel are positively associated with perceived overall safety in school. Additionally, qualitative responses suggest a considerable percentage of school social workers feel that school security personnel might benefit from additional training and increased accessibility and collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to provide timely implications for school policing using the perspective of school social workers with the goal of promoting safety and collaboration in schools

Recognition of nucleotides and peptides using designed betahairpin peptides and dynamic combinatorial chemistry

Non-covalent interactions contribute to the stability and formation of biomolecules, e.g. proteins, DNA, and RNA. More relevant to this dissertation, they also contribute to the interaction between these biomolecules, e.g. protein-protein, protein-RNA, and protein-DNA interactions. This work describes the use of model systems (peptide and small molecule) to mimic protein-RNA and protein-protein interactions. This dissertation is divided into three parts. The first part describes the attempted use of designed beta-hairpin peptides to selectively bind 7mGTP. Despite attempts using different binding techniques (fluorescence titration, microcalorimetry, and NMR titration), the binding of 7mGTP by the beta-hairpin peptides could not be quantified. The second part describes the use of designed beta-hairpin peptides for recognition of polyproline (PPII) helices in a model system. This work demonstrates the use of disulfide exchange to investigate non-covalent interactions in a peptide model system. The third part describes the development and the use of dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC) mediated by disulfide exchange. The development of analytical methodology using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry analysis (UPLC/MS) is described. DCC was used to synthesize and identify receptors for both nucleotides and peptides containing a lysine residue with different methylation states

Leadership in School Social Work: Implications for Promoting the Preparedness of Tomorrow’s Practitioners

Current research suggests that leadership skills in the field of school social work are valuable and needed. However, these skills are not always clearly outlined by governing entities as a result of little examination and research. This article examines differences of perceptions toward and engagement in professional leadership skills among school social work practitioners across the United States (N = 686). Using descriptive and multivariate methods, this paper examines practitioner perceptions toward and engagement in school-based leadership and what this leadership looks like in today’s schools. Findings call for educators and practitioners to advocate for the incorporation of leadership training, culturally sensitive cross-discipline collaboration, and preparedness guidelines in both generalist bachelor- and master-level social work curricula in which students are trained to work in school settings. Moreover, access to training and availability of resources pertaining to leadership appear to be a point of concern. Implications for social work practice, education, and research are discussed

International multicentre observational study to evaluate the association between perioperative red blood cell transfusions and 1-year mortality after major cancer surgery (ARCA-1) : Study design, statistical analysis plan and study protocol

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A global alliance declaring war on cassava viruses in Africa

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Genome-wide survey of parent-of-origin effects on DNA methylation identifies candidate imprinted loci in humans

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism leading to parent-of-origin silencing of alleles. So far, the precise number of imprinted regions in humans is uncertain. In this study, we leveraged genome-wide DNA methylation in whole blood measured longitudinally at 3 time points (birth, childhood and adolescence) and GWAS data in 740 Mother-Child duos from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to identify candidate imprinted loci. We reasoned that cis-meQTLs at genomic regions that were imprinted would show strong evidence of parent-of-origin associations with DNA methylation, enabling the detection of imprinted regions. Using this approach, we identified genome-wide significant cis-meQTLs that exhibited parent-of-origin effects (POEs) at 82 loci, 34 novel and 48 regions previously implicated in imprinting (3.7-10< P

Characterization of caspase‐2 inhibitors based on specific sites of caspase‐2‐mediated proteolysis

Since the discovery of the caspase-2 (Casp2)-mediated ∆tau314 cleavage product and its associated impact on tauopathies such as Alzheimer's disease, the design of selective Casp2 inhibitors has become a focus in medicinal chemistry research. In the search for new lead structures with respect to Casp2 selectivity and drug-likeness, we have taken an approach by looking more closely at the specific sites of Casp2-mediated proteolysis. Using seven selected protein cleavage sequences, we synthesized a peptide series of 53 novel molecules and studied them using in vitro pharmacology, molecular modeling, and crystallography. Regarding Casp2 selectivity, AcITV(Dab)D-CHO (23) and AcITV(Dap)D-CHO (26) demonstrated the best selectivity (1–6-fold), although these trends were only moderate. However, some analogous tetrapeptides, most notably AcDKVD-CHO (45), showed significantly increased Casp3 selectivities (>100-fold). Tetra- and tripeptides display decreased or no Casp2 affinity, supporting the assumption that a motif of five amino acids is required for efficient Casp2 inhibition. Overall, the results provide a reasonable basis for the development of both selective Casp2 and Casp3 inhibitors

Anastrozole has an association between degree of estrogen suppression and outcomes in early breast cancer and is a ligand for estrogen receptor α

Purpose: To determine if the degree of estrogen suppression with aromatase inhibitors (AI: anastrozole, exemestane, letrozole) is associated with efficacy in early-stage breast cancer, and to examine for differences in the mechanism of action between the three AIs. Experimental design: Matched case-control studies [247 matched sets from MA.27 (anastrozole vs. exemestane) and PreFace (letrozole) trials] were undertaken to assess whether estrone (E1) or estradiol (E2) concentrations after 6 months of adjuvant therapy were associated with risk of an early breast cancer event (EBCE). Preclinical laboratory studies included luciferase activity, cell proliferation, radio-labeled ligand estrogen receptor binding, surface plasmon resonance ligand receptor binding, and nuclear magnetic resonance assays. Results: Women with E1 ≥1.3 pg/mL and E2 ≥0.5 pg/mL after 6 months of AI treatment had a 2.2-fold increase in risk (P = 0.0005) of an EBCE, and in the anastrozole subgroup, the increase in risk of an EBCE was 3.0-fold (P = 0.001). Preclinical laboratory studies examined mechanisms of action in addition to aromatase inhibition and showed that only anastrozole could directly bind to estrogen receptor α (ERα), activate estrogen response element-dependent transcription, and stimulate growth of an aromatase-deficient CYP19A1-/- T47D breast cancer cell line. Conclusions: This matched case-control clinical study revealed that levels of estrone and estradiol above identified thresholds after 6 months of adjuvant anastrozole treatment were associated with increased risk of an EBCE. Preclinical laboratory studies revealed that anastrozole, but not exemestane or letrozole, is a ligand for ERα. These findings represent potential steps towards individualized anastrozole therapy