Making State Accountability Count: How New Mexico Supports Principals With Data Tools

Describes how the state is transforming assessment test data into a more useful, timely tool to help school leaders set policy and shape instruction and how the resulting data-rich environment is changing the culture of accountability in school districts

How Can Pennsylvania Protect Itself From Its Own Measles Outbreak?

When a response to inaccurate information strives to be an informative exercise of its own, it is difficult to balance the desire to respond point by point to mischaracterized, misleading, or untrue information, with the need to simply offer a complete picture of facts. This article is a response to Abigail Wenger’s article regarding vaccinations. To reply to each mischaracterization or inaccuracy in turn means this response loses its own informative intent and becomes simply a rebuttal. However, to ignore mischaracterizations and inaccuracies is to risk the reader’s acceptance of those points as true. Through illustrative examples in the United States and around the world, the authors will discuss six foundational and important concepts related to vaccination: 1) vaccination laws—history, why they matter, and effects; 2) authority to mandate—federal case law, Pennsylvania law; 3) exemptions— Pennsylvania and other states, recent changes, effect of exemptions on immunization and disease rates; 4) misinformation and its effects; 5) vaccine safety; and 6) informed consent. Within each topic, we will address some specific inaccuracies in Wenger’s piece, where possible and appropriate. Presenting facts supported by credible evidence will provide its own rebuttal of Wenger’s assertions. We note, however, that Wenger has multiple instances where information is mischaracterized, misleading, and sometimes simply untrue. Where appropriate, the authors will recognize and attempt to correct that information

The Role of Curved DNA in Promoter Selection by the Major Bacillus Subtilis RNA Polymerase.

The major RNA polymerases of Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli recognize the same conserved sequences at $-$10 and $-$35 of the promoter. The B. subtilis enzyme requires additional DNA sequences for efficient promoter utilization. Deletion mutants were used to demonstrate that the function of two B. subtilis phage SP82 promoters, Ba1129 and Alu156, was dramatically affected by sequence upstream from $-$35. The upstream DNA contained runs of four to six adenines with a 10-11 base pair periodicity. Indicative of DNA curvature, these regions decreased electrophoretic mobility of DNA fragments containing either promoter. The curved upstream DNA increased the affinity of both promoters for RNA polymerase. This resulted in increased in vivo transcription from Alu156 but decreased transcription from Ba1129. The extremely stable RNA polymerase:DNA complexes formed with the Ba1129 promoter suggested that transcription from this promoter may be limited at promoter clearance following initiation. Transcription from the Alu156 promoter was limited at the level of RNA polymerase binding and strongly dependent on the curved upstream DNA. Alu156 mutant promoters were constructed by insertion of oligonucleotides between the $-$35 region and the curved DNA to examine the structure/function relationship of these two regions. The incremental insertions altered the rotational orientations as well as the distance between the promoter and upstream curved DNA. In vivo expression, in vitro transcription, and RNA polymerase binding were all modulated by the rotational orientation. The most efficient mutant promoters were those in which the original orientation was preserved. The electrophoretic mobilities of these mutants suggested that the upstream curve directionally opposes a downstream curve, conferring an S shape to the DNA of this promoter. These results are consistent with a model in which the RNA polymerase either directly contacts the curved DNA resulting in additional protein-DNA interactions through a wraparound effect or contacts DNA upstream from the polyadenine tracts using a curvature-mediated DNA looping mechanism. The Ba1129 and Alu156 upstream regions were used to increase in vivo expression from the lambda phage P\sb{\rm L} and P\sb{\rm R} promoters in B. subtilis. No correlation was observed between RNA polymerase binding and expression for the hybrid lambda promoters

Conceptual Development Of Three- And Four-Year-Olds With Regard To Shapes And Colors And The Language Used To Describe These Concepts

As children explore the world in which they live, they learn to recognize, name, and describe objects that they see. Objects are recognized on the basis of certain physical properties (color, size, shape, or certain patterns of behavior). A child begins at an early age to classify objects into specific categories, based on certain unique characteristics or properties. As new objects are discovered, they are classified in relation to objects already discovered

Rotavirus-associated seizures and reversible corpus callosum lesion

Rotavirus is a non-enveloped double-stranded RNA virus that causes severe gastroenteritis in children, but complications are rarely reported. Some reports have shown that rotavirus can induce diverse complications of the central nervous system, such as seizures, encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion, encephalitis, cerebral white matter abnormalities, and cerebellitis. Here, we present a 2-year-old patient with seizures, who had an isolated splenial lesion in the corpus callosum on neuroimaging, and the rotavirus antigen detected in faeces. © Lietuvos mokslu akademija, 2019. Other Abstract: ROTAVIRUSO SUKELTI TRAUKULIAI IR LAIKINAS DIDZIOSIOS SMEGENU JUNGTIES PAZEIDIMAS: SantraukaRotavirusas yra dvigrandes RNR virusas be apvalkalo, sukeliantis sunku vaiku gastroenterita, taciau apie komplikacijas pranesama retai. Kai kurie atveju aprasymai rodo, kad rotavirusas gali sukelti ivairias centrines nervu sistemos komplikacijas, tokias kaip traukuliai, encefalopatija su trumpalaikiu didziosios smegenu jungties pazeidimu, encefalitas, smegenu baltosios medziagos anomalijos ir cerebelitas. Cia pristatome dveju metu pacienta su traukuliais, kuriam laikinas didziosios smegenu jungties pazeidimas buvo nustatytas neurovaizdinimo metu, o rotaviruso antigenas aptiktas ismatose.Raktazodziai: rotavirusas, vaiku traukuliai, rotaviruso komplikacijos.publishersversionPeer reviewe

The lived experience of veteran nurse educators teaching in selected baccalaureate or higher degree programs in nursing : a study of professional development

This inquiry examined the influence of changes in nursing education on the professional role development of veteran nurse educators in baccalaureate or higher degree programs in nursing. The perceptions and meanings held by nine successful women about their life experiences as teachers of nursing education in a southeastern university system were explored. Abraham Maslow's (1970) hierarchy of needs theory served as the theoretical basis to describe the extent to which the study participants had achieved personal and professional role development. The method for interpreting the study participants' lived experiences as nurse educators was dialectical hermeneutics (G1iba and Lincoln, 1989). Through the perceptual lens of a constructivist paradigm, an understanding of the multiple realities of the nurse professoriate within the traditional university disciplinary organization evolved. Through interpretive methodology, a dialectic emerged between need fulfillment challenges to professional role development and career path barriers for advancement within the academy

Fostering Global Citizens: Using Technology to Improve Intercultural Competence Among Study Abroad Students

The UMontana app is one of the current marketing strategies that the University of Montana is using to make information more easily accessible to students. Our team designed a tile for the UMontana app that would provide specific local information about UM’s twenty-one partner universities. This information will be used to help UM and international students better prepare for their study abroad experiences at these host universities. Our research shows that students studying abroad struggle to gain intercultural competence during their experience abroad because of factors like culture shock, language barriers, or sociocultural differences. The goal of this project is to increase the intercultural competence of UM students and international students coming to study at UM so that students can spend less time adjusting to their host university, and more time enjoying their study abroad experience and becoming competent global citizens. This app tile will answer practical questions like Where can I find feminine hygiene products? and What is the best bank to use in my host city? but also culturally specific questions like What are some important social customs? and What are the attitudes towards gender identity? The app is populated with survey information gathered from students that have already completed their study abroad experiences, but the page is now self-sustaining with a social media platform embedded in the tile. As students complete their experiences abroad, they can add their input into the tile, filling in the gaps from another student’s answers, and even posting pictures of their trip. Eventually, the project will expand to encompass more than the partner universities. With the help of the Global Engagement and Information Technology offices, this project became a reality

Multiple Bosses: Challenges and suggestions to improve organizational environments in academic settings.

Practice faculty members are often supervised by more than one individual, creating a reporting structure that mirrors a matrix organization. They are tasked with balancing administrative and teaching responsibilities established by the school with expectations of maintaining a pharmacy practice site. A matrix reporting structure offers opportunities for enhanced development, but risks of additional stress from the organizational complexity must be mitigated to reduce job dissatisfaction. Frequent and consistent communication, mutual agreement and alignment of expectations and priorities, and the ability to manage conflict and adapt to change will aid pharmacy practice faculty in managing the relationship between their primary employer (the school) and the contracted entity. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties.   Type: Original Researc

Options in the Treatment of Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis: Implications for Low Resource Areas

Purpose of the review Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a rare, slowly progressive, and frequently fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by measles virus. The risk of SSPE remains signifcant globally, with fuctuating incidence noted in in tandem with measles vaccine uptake. This review aims to explore the current global status of SSPE, its treatment, and preventive measures. Recent findings An increase in measles cases have been reported in various parts of the world for different reasons related to the regional context of the outbreak. With reduction in measles vaccine doses since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the future risk of SSPE can only accelerate. In recent years, subsequent cases of SSPE have been reported in the period following documented measles outbreaks in different settings. Concomitantly, there have been efforts to evaluate the effcacy of immunomodulatory, antiviral, and antiseizure therapies that could ameliorate the devastating effects of this disease. This review elucidates on these approaches and their limitations, reasons for poor vaccine coverage in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the possible solutions to the prevention of measles and eventual avoidance of SSPE. Summary Prevention of measles virus infection with the resultant sequelae would be the most effective strategy for the management of SSPE. This approach would be particularly important in low resource setting that currently bears the double burden of widespread communicable diseases and malnutrition