chapter 12: The Role of Mathematics in Education for Democracy 1

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72282/1/j.1744-7984.2008.00140.x.pd

Knowing Mathematics for Teaching: Who Knows Mathematics Well Enough To Teach Third Grade, and How Can We Decide?

Reprinted with permission from the Fall 2005 issue of American Educator, the quarterly journal of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.In this article, the authors describe a program of research they have been developing for more than a decade into the mathematical knowledge and skills that are used in teaching. Their research begins with examining the actual work of teaching elementary school mathematics and noting all of the challenges in this work that draw on mathematical resources; this is followed by analyzing of the nature of such mathematical knowledge and skills – how they are held and used – in the work of teaching. Through this type of analyses, they've derived a practice-based portrait of what they call “mathematical knowledge for teaching.” This article traces the development of these ideas and describes this professional knowledge of mathematics for teaching.The research reported in this paper was supported in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education to the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) at the University of Pennsylvania (OERI-R308A60003) and the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy at the University of Washington (OERI-R308B70003); the National Science Foundation (REC-9979863 & REC-0129421, REC-0207649, EHR-0233456, and EHR-0335411), and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Atlantic Philanthropies.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65072/4/Ball_F05.pd

Distinct Pools of β-Amyloid in Alzheimer Disease-Affected Brain: A Clinicopathologic Study

Objective: To determine whether β-amyloid (Aβ) peptides segregated into distinct biochemical compartments would differentially correlate with clinical severity of Alzheimer disease (AD). Design: Clinicopathologic correlation study. Participants: Twenty-seven patients from a longitudinal study of AD and 13 age- and sex-matched controls without a known history of cognitive impairment or dementia were included in this study. Interventions: Temporal and cingulate neocortex were processed using a 4-step extraction, yielding biochemical fractions that are hypothesized to be enriched with proteins from distinct anatomical compartments: TRIS (extracellular soluble), Triton (intracellular soluble), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) (membrane associated), and formic acid (extracellular insoluble). Levels of Aβ₄₀ and Aβ₄₂ were quantified in each biochemical compartment by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The Aβ₄₂ level in all biochemical compartments was significantly elevated in patients with AD vs controls (P < .01). The Aβ₄₀ levels in the TRIS and formic acid fractions were elevated in patients with AD (temporal, P < .01; cingulate, P = .03); however, Triton and SDS Aβ₄₀ levels were similar in patients with AD and in controls. Functional impairment proximal to death correlated with Triton Aβ₄₂ (r = 0.48, P = .02) and SDS Aβ₄₂ (r = 0.41, P = .04) in the temporal cortex. Faster cognitive decline was associated with elevated temporal SDS Aβ₄₂ levels (P < .001), whereas slower decline was associated with elevated cingulate formic acid Aβ₄₂ and SDS Aβ₄₂ levels (P = .02 and P = .01, respectively). Conclusion: Intracellular and membrane-associated Aβ, especially Aβ₄₂ in the temporal neocortex, may be more closely related to AD symptoms than other measured Aβ species

Quality of Life Changes during the Pre- to Post-Diagnosis Period and Treatment-Related Recovery Time in Older Women with Breast Cancer

Healthcare providers have little population-based evidence about health-related quality of life (HRQOL) changes, from the pre- to post-diagnosis period, and treatment-related recovery time for women ages 65 and older diagnosed with breast cancer

Use of ED and hospital services for patients with acute leukemia after induction therapy: One year follow-up

Previous studies have documented use of health care services by oncology patients in the Emergency Department (ED), but little is known about the utilization of health services of patients with acute leukemia after induction therapy. The aim of this study was to examine chief reasons for ED and hospital use by patients newly diagnosed with acute leukemia patients after induction therapy up to one year after discharge. A retrospective, longitudinal study of all visits to the ED or unplanned hospital admissions at a single institution for patients with acute leukemia was conducted. Inclusion criteria were patients ≥18 years of age at time of diagnosis, a confirmed diagnosis of AML or ALL, and received and discharged from induction treatment between 2007–2010. Donabedian’s structure-process-outcome framework guided this study examining health services utilization and assessing patient outcomes. 80 patients met the inclusion criteria; 52 had AML and 28 had ALL; median age was 48 (range: 18–76) and 29% (n=23) were non-Caucasian. 70% (n=56) were discharged from induction in remission. 81% (n=65) had at least 1 ED or hospitalization event, and 44% (n=35) had 2 or more events. Of 137 events in 65 patients, the most common reason was neutropenic fever/infection (55%), bleeding (12%), and GI problems (11%). Mean number of events for ALL was 2.43 compared to 1.33 for AML patients (p=0.02), and 2.23 for <50 years of age compared to 1.20 for those older (p=0.002). 20 patients died within one year of diagnosis. Findings from this study can help inform health services delivery and utilization among patients with acute leukemia after induction therapy. Oncology providers can anticipate discharge needs and enhance follow-up care for those at higher risk for problems needing hospitalization

Childhood Obesity Evidence Base Project: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of a New Taxonomy of Intervention Components to Improve Weight Status in Children 2-5 Years of Age, 2005-2019.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of childhood obesity interventions and conduct a taxonomy of intervention components that are most effective in changing obesity-related health outcomes in children 2-5 years of age. Methods: Comprehensive searches located 51 studies from 18,335 unique records. Eligible studies: (1) assessed children aged 2-5, living in the United States; (2) evaluated an intervention to improve weight status; (3) identified a same-aged comparison group; (4) measured BMI; and (5) were available between January 2005 and August 2019. Coders extracted study, sample, and intervention characteristics. Effect sizes [ESs; and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)] were calculated by using random-effects models. Meta-regression was used to determine which intervention components explain variability in ESs. Results: Included were 51 studies evaluating 58 interventions (N = 29,085; mean age = 4 years; 50% girls). Relative to controls, children receiving an intervention had a lower BMI at the end of the intervention (g = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.02-0.18; k = 55) and at the last follow-up (g = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.04-0.30; k = 14; range = 18-143 weeks). Three intervention components moderated efficacy: engage caregivers in praise/encouragement for positive health-related behavior; provide education about the importance of screen time reduction to caregivers; and engage pediatricians/health care providers. Conclusions: Early childhood obesity interventions are effective in reducing BMI in preschool children. Our findings suggest that facilitating caregiver education about the importance of screen time reduction may be an important strategy in reducing early childhood obesity

Childhood Obesity Evidence Base Project: Methods for Taxonomy Development for Application in Taxonomic Meta-Analysis.

Meta-analysis has been used to examine the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention efforts, yet traditional conventional meta-analytic methods restrict the kinds of studies included, and either narrowly define mechanisms and agents of change, or examine the effectiveness of whole interventions as opposed to the specific actions that comprise interventions. Taxonomic meta-analytic methods widen the aperture of what can be included in a meta-analysis data set, allowing for inclusion of many types of interventions and study designs. The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research Childhood Obesity Evidence Base (COEB) project focuses on interventions intended to prevent childhood obesity in children 2-5 years old who have an outcome measure of BMI. The COEB created taxonomies, anchored in the Social Ecological Model, which catalog specific outcomes, intervention components, intended recipients, and contexts of policies, initiatives, and interventions conducted at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal level. Taxonomies were created by discovery from the literature itself using grounded theory. This article describes the process used for a novel taxonomic meta-analysis of childhood obesity prevention studies between the years 2010 and 2019. This method can be applied to other areas of research, including obesity prevention in additional populations

The Cortical Signature of Alzheimer's Disease: Regionally Specific Cortical Thinning Relates to Symptom Severity in Very Mild to Mild AD Dementia and is Detectable in Asymptomatic Amyloid-Positive Individuals

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with neurodegeneration in vulnerable limbic and heteromodal regions of the cerebral cortex, detectable in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging. It is not clear whether abnormalities of cortical anatomy in AD can be reliably measured across different subject samples, how closely they track symptoms, and whether they are detectable prior to symptoms. An exploratory map of cortical thinning in mild AD was used to define regions of interest that were applied in a hypothesis-driven fashion to other subject samples. Results demonstrate a reliably quantifiable in vivo signature of abnormal cortical anatomy in AD, which parallels known regional vulnerability to AD neuropathology. Thinning in vulnerable cortical regions relates to symptom severity even in the earliest stages of clinical symptoms. Furthermore, subtle thinning is present in asymptomatic older controls with brain amyloid binding as detected with amyloid imaging. The reliability and clinical validity of AD-related cortical thinning suggests potential utility as an imaging biomarker. This “disease signature” approach to cortical morphometry, in which disease effects are mapped across the cortical mantle and then used to define ROIs for hypothesis-driven analyses, may provide a powerful methodological framework for studies of neuropsychiatric diseases.Psycholog