Comparison of the Performance of Two Different ALK Antibody Clones (D5F3 and ALK1) in Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL)

Background:Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a T-cell lymphoma characterized by CD30 expression and subdivided into anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive and negative subtypes that show clinically significant differences in outcomes. The current standard for evaluating ALK status is immunohistochemistry using the mouse monoclonal anti-human CD246 (ALK1) or fluorescence in situ hybridization. The novel rabbit monoclonal anti-human CD246 (D5F3) is proposed as an alternative to ALK1 and FDA approved for diagnosis of ALK-rearranged lung adenocarcinoma. However, its performance has not been systematically tested and compared to ALK1 in ALCL. Design: Twenty-seven cases of ALCL were identified from institutional database searches and retrieved. A representative slide from each case was stained using ALK1 and D5F3 in an automated slide stainer. The intensity of cytoplasmic staining (graded 0-3, none, faint, moderate and strong) and percentage of positive cells (0, \u3c5, 5-50%, 50-75% and \u3e75%) were evaluated for each individual clone and subsequently compared between the two clones. Results: Of the twenty-seven cases, nine were previously diagnosed as ALK expression positive by ALK-1 staining. Nine cases were positive for ALK expression by ALK1 staining (34.6%; 1 1+; 0 2+; 8 3+), while fourteen were positive by D5F3 staining (48.1%; 3 1+; 2 2+; 9 3+). There were no cases that were positive by ALK1, but not by D5F3, which had identified the five additional cases. For three of the nine cases (33.3%) positive by both stains, the D5F3 stained slides showed greater percentage of cells stained. The staining intensity was greater by D5F3 in one of nine cases, the other eight cases showed the same (3+) intensity by D5F3 and ALK1. FISH results are available in five cases (19.2%) and demonstrated 100% concordance with ALK expression by both IHC stains (four positive, one negative). Conclusion: These findings support the use of D5F3 as an equivalent and potentially more sensitive alternative to ALK1 for the evaluation of ALK positivity in ALCL

Effects of Brand Local and Nonlocal Origin on Consumer Attitudes in Developing Countries

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142164/1/jcpy83.pd

Prospective Elementary Teacher Mathematics Content Knowledge: An Introduction

This Special Issue on the mathematical content knowledge of prospective elementary teachers (PTs) provides summaries of the extant peer-­‐reviewed research literature from 1978 to 2012 on PTs’ content knowledge across several mathematical topics, specifically whole number and operations, fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement, and algebra. Each topic-­‐specific summary of the literature is presented in a self-­‐contained paper, written by a subgroup of a larger Working Group that has collaborated across several years, resulting in this Special Issue sharing the final work. The authors hope this summative look at prospective teacher content knowledge will be of interest to the mathematics education community and will be a useful resource when considering future research as well as designing mathematics content courses for prospective elementary teachers

Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: What Do We Know, What Do We Not Know, and Where Do We Go?

In this Special Issue, the authors reviewed 112 research studies from 1978 to 2012 on prospective elementary teachers’ content knowledge in five content areas: whole numbers and operations, fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement, and algebra. Looking across these studies, this final paper identifies the trends and common themes in terms of the counts and types of studies and commonalities among findings. Analyses of the counts show that the number of articles published each year focusing on prospective teacher (PT) content knowledge is increasing. Most articles across the content areas show that PTs tend to rely on procedures rather than concepts. However, the focus of most articles is identifying PTs’ misconceptions rather than understanding PTs’ conceptions and the development thereof. Both the limitations of the reviews and the directions for future research studies are elaborated

Evaluation strategies of American and Thai consumers

ABSTRACT The effects of two factors (congruity of product information with consumer expectations and perceived risk associated with the product) on strategies used by consumers to evaluate products are tested in the United States and Thailand. When product information does not match expectations, consumers in both cultures increase evaluation effort and shift from using summary representations stored in memory to evaluation based on actual product attributes. Perceived risk also enhances evaluation effort in both cultures, but does not result in a similar shift from category-based to attributebased processing

Reduction in \u3ci\u3eMusca domestica\u3c/i\u3e fecundity by dsRNA-mediated gene knockdown

House flies (Musca domestica) are worldwide agricultural pests with estimated control costs at $375 million annually in the U.S. Non-target effects and widespread resistance challenge the efficacy of traditional chemical control. Double stranded RNA (dsRNA) has been suggested as a biopesticide for M. domestica but a phenotypic response due to the induction of the RNAi pathway has not been demonstrated in adults. In this study female house flies were injected with dsRNA targeting actin-5C or ribosomal protein (RP) transcripts RPL26 and RPS6. Ovaries showed highly reduced provisioning and clutch reductions of 94±99% in RP dsRNA treated flies but not in actin-5C or GFP treated flies. Gene expression levels were significantly and specifically reduced in dsRNA injected groups but remained unchanged in the control dsGFP treated group. Furthermore, injections with an Aedes aegypti conspecific dsRNA designed against RPS6 did not impact fecundity, demonstrating species specificity of the RNAi response. Analysis of M. domestica tissues following RPS6 dsRNA injection showed significant reduction of transcript levels in the head, thorax, and abdomen but increased expression in ovarian tissues. This study demonstrates that exogenous dsRNA is specifically effective and has potential efficacy as a highly specific biocontrol intervention in adult house flies. Further work is required to develop effective methods for delivery of dsRNA to adult flies

Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: What Do We Know, What Do We Not Know, and Where Do We Go?

The authors reviewed 112 research studies from 1978 to 2012 on prospective elementary teachers\u27 content knowledge in five content areas: whole numbers and operations, fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement, and algebra. Looking across these studies, this final paper identifies the trends and common themes in terms of the counts and types of studies and commonalities among findings. Analyses of the counts show that the number of articles published each year focusing on prospective teacher (PT) content knowledge is increasing. Most articles across the content areas show that PTs tend to rely on procedures rather than concepts. However, the focus of most articles is identifying PTs\u27 misconceptions rather than understanding PTs\u27 conceptions and the development thereof. Both the limitations of the reviews and the directions for future research studies are elaborated

What is a good medical decision? A research agenda guided by perspectives from multiple stakeholders

Informed and shared decision making are critical aspects of patient-centered care, which has contributed to an emphasis on decision support interventions to promote good medical decision making. However, researchers and healthcare providers have not reached a consensus on what defines a good decision, nor how to evaluate it. This position paper, informed by conference sessions featuring diverse stakeholders held at the 2015 Society of Behavioral Medicine and Society for Medical Decision Making annual meetings, describes key concepts that influence the decision making process itself and that may change what it means to make a good decision: interpersonal factors, structural constraints, affective influences, and values clarification methods. This paper also proposes specific research questions within each of these priority areas, with the goal of moving medical decision making research to a more comprehensive definition of a good medical decision, and enhancing the ability to measure and improve the decision making process

Who decides: me or we? family involvement in medical decision making in eastern and western countries

Background: Research suggests that desired family involvement (FI) in medical decision making may depend on cultural values. Unfortunately, the field lacks cross-cultural studies that test this assumption. As a result, providers may be guided by incomplete information or cultural biases rather than patient preferences. Methods: Researchers developed 6 culturally relevant disease scenarios varying from low to high medical seriousness. Quota samples of approximately 290 middle-aged urban residents in Australia, China, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Thailand, and the USA completed an online survey that examined desired levels of FI and identified individual difference predictors in each country. All reliability coefficients were acceptable. Regression models met standard assumptions. Results: The strongest finding across all 7 countries was that those who desired higher self-involvement (SI) in medical decision making also wanted lower FI. On the other hand, respondents who valued relational-interdependence tended to want their families involved – a key finding in 5 of 7 countries. In addition, in 4 of 7 countries, respondents who valued social hierarchy desired higher FI. Other antecedents were less consistent. Conclusion: These results suggest that it is important for health providers to avoid East–West cultural stereotypes. There are meaningful numbers of patients in all 7 countries who want to be individually involved and those individuals tend to prefer lower FI. On the other hand, more interdependent patients are likely to want families involved in many of the countries studied. Thus, individual differences within culture appear to be important in predicting whether a patient desires FI. For this reason, avoiding culture-based assumptions about desired FI during medical decision making is central to providing more effective patient centered care