Students Arts Participation Increases STEM Motivation via Self-Efficacy

This work found that there exists a correlation between student motivation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and student participation in the arts during high school with self-efficacy being a mediator. STEM is an important component of student success from a broad, national, perspective, as well as from a domain-specific point of view. The results of this work may provide aid to teachers, parents, administrators, and even students seeking to find ways to increase student motivation and performance in the STEM subjects. Additionally, this work may be of interest to advocates of the arts. This quantitative correlational study was done using Hayes’ PROCESS via data resampling via bootstrapping 5,000 times with a 95% confidence interval at a statistical significance at the a = 0.05 level. The results of this study found an indirect effect of the predictor variable of arts participation on the dependent variable of STEM motivation of b = 0.003, 95% CI [ 0.000, 0.009], and a direct effect of b = 0.003 p \u3c 0.05. Additionally, this study found the predictor variable of arts participation was correlated to the mediator variable of self-efficacy. b = 0.006 at p \u3c 0.05

Hyperfiltration and renal disease in glycogen storage disease, type I

Hyperfiltration and renal disease in glycogen storage disease, type I. A prospective study of 14 patients (ages 6 months to 33 years) with glycogen storage disease, Type I (GSD-I) was carried out in order to define the character and frequency of renal dysfunction. A marked increase in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was documented in virtually all subjects, with the mean GFR raised by approximately 50%, to the range of 170 ml/min/1.73m2. While this constituted the only renal abnormality found in the younger patients, a significant increase in urinary albumin excretion was seen in three teen-aged individuals; three patients over 20 years of age exhibited frank proteinuria (2 to 8 g/day). Renal biopsy on two of the proteinuric subjects revealed focal and global glomerulosclerosis and interstitial fibrosis. Evaluation of factors known to cause an increase in GFR did not define the precise etiology for its elevation in GSD-I. These studies suggest that: (1) glomerular damage and chronic renal disease are common in older patients with GSD-I; (2) the renal injury appears to be specifically related to GSD-I and is not secondary to the treatment of the disease; and (3) the natural history of the renal lesion in GSD-I may be analogous to that seen in insulin-dependent diabetes, with a “silent” period where hyperfiltration is the only demonstrable renal abnormality, followed by evidence of increasing glomerular damage progressing from microalbuminuria to frank proteinuria

ROSAT observations of the X-Ray nebula around ARP 220

We report on the X-ray properties of Arp 22(#the most luminous object in the local universe and the nearest, brightest, and best-studied example of the class of "ultraluminous" infrared galaxies. New X-ray images and spectra obtained with ROSAT show that the X-ray emission in the 0.1-2.4 keV band is spatially extended with a size of ˜30 × 11 kpc, has a luminosity of between 4.3 × 1040 and 2.3 × 1041 ergs s-1 (depending on the amount of X-ray absorption), and can be fitted by a thermal spectrum with T ˜ 107 K. The total thermal energy associated with the hot gas is ˜2 x 1057 ergs. At most ˜20% of the observed X-ray emission can be associated with any single point source (e.g., a "buried" QSO). The X-ray nebula bears a strong morphological relationship to the expanding "double-bubble" system seen in optical emission-line images. We suggest that the X-ray and optical emission arise as the result of a bipolar "superwind" driven out from the nucleus by a starburst or a dust-shrouded QSO. A simple model of an expanding structure driven over a timescale of a few times 107 yr by a mechanical luminosity of ˜1043 ergs s-1 into a galactic halo with mean density ˜10-2 cm-3 satisfactorily accounts for all the observed global X-ray and optical properties of the nebula. Such a mechanical luminosity agrees with estimates for an ultraluminous starburst; however, a QSO-driven wind cannot be ruled out. We note that this energetic outflow in Arp 220 represents a local laboratory to study how newly formed galaxies and/or QSOs may have pumped energy and metals into the intergalactic medium at early epochs. Alternative models for the nebula are less attractive. Gas shock-heated as a result of a galactic merger will probably be too cool (T less than a few times 106 K) and would not be expected to have the regular, symmetric morphology we observe in Hα. Electron scattering of X-rays from a hidden QSO by warm (T < 106 K) halo gas underpredicts the total observed X-ray luminosity by more than an order of magnitude. However, it is possible that this mechanism may produce a bright central pair of pointlike X-ray sources that straddle the nucleus, which together account for ˜40% of the total X-ray emission. Our X-ray images also show a diffuse source located about 2' south-southwest of Arp 220. Optical images show that the source is probably associated with a group or poor cluster of galaxies at an estimated redshift of ˜0.1. This source contributes about half the emission seen in earlier Einstein X-ray observations of Arp 220

Pathological Manifestations of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) Infection in Wild African Lions

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) causes AIDS in the domestic cat (Felis catus) but has not been explicitly associated with AIDS pathology in any of the eight free-ranging species of Felidae that are endemic with circulating FIV strains. African lion (Panthera leo) populations are infected with lion-specific FIV strains (FIVple), yet there remains uncertainty about the degree to which FIV infection impacts their health. Reported CD4+ T-lymphocyte depletion in FIVple-infected lions and anecdotal reports of lion morbidity associated with FIV seroprevalence emphasize the concern as to whether FIVple is innocuous or pathogenic. Here we monitored clinical, biochemical, histological and serological parameters among FIVple-positive (N = 47) as compared to FIVple-negative (N = 17) lions anesthetized and sampled on multiple occasions between 1999 and 2006 in Botswana. Relative to uninfected lions, FIVple-infected lions displayed a significant elevation in the prevalence of AIDS-defining conditions: lymphadenopathy, gingivitis, tongue papillomas, dehydration, and poor coat condition, as well as displaying abnormal red blood cell parameters, depressed serum albumin, and elevated liver enzymes and gamma globulin. Spleen and lymph node biopsies from free-ranging FIVple-infected lions (N = 9) revealed evidence of lymphoid depletion, the hallmark pathology documented in immunodeficiency virus infections of humans (HIV-1), macaques, and domestic cats. We conclude that over time FIVple infections in free-ranging lions can lead to adverse clinical, immunological, and pathological outcomes in some individuals that parallel sequelae caused by lentivirus infection in humans (HIV), Asian macaques (SIV) and domestic cats (FIVfca)