2,220 research outputs found

    One Schools Turnaround Journey: Facing Reality, Determining the Big Rocks, and Keeping the Eye on the Prize

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    A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Kelly A. Foster on April 19, 2013

    The relationship between active travel to school and health-related fitness in children and adolescents: a systematic review

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    Background: Active travel to school (ATS) has been identified as an important source of physical activity for youth. However, the relationship between ATS and health-related fitness (HRF) among youth remains unclear. Methods: A systematic search of seven electronic databases (EMBASE, OVID MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus and TRIS on line) was conducted in December 2009 and studies published since 1980 were considered for inclusion. Results: Twenty seven articles were identified that explored the relationship between ATS and the following aspects of HRF: weight status/body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness and flexibility. Forty-eight percent of the studies that examined the relationship between ATS and weight status/body composition reported significant associations, this increased to 55% once poor quality studies were removed. Furthermore, the findings from five studies, including one longitudinal study, indicate that ATS is positively associated with cardiorespiratory fitness in youth. However, the evidence for the relationships between ATS and muscular fitness or flexibility is equivocal and limited by low study numbers. Conclusions: There is some evidence to suggest that ATS is associated with a healthier body composition and level of cardiorespiratory fitness among youth. Strategies to increase ATS are warranted and should be included in whole-of-school approaches to the promotion of physical activity

    Depression, anxiety, substance misuse and self-harm in children and young people with rare chronic liver disease

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    The burden of mental illness in young people with chronic liver disease is not known. In this population cohort study in England, we identified 358 individuals (aged ≤25 years) diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis or liver disease related to cystic fibrosis and 1541 propensity-score-matched controls. By the first year of follow-up, the cumulative burden of psychiatric events in participants with liver disease was high compared with controls: anxiety disorder (6.87 per 100 individuals [95% CI 4.00-9.73] v. 2.22 [95% CI 1.37-3.07]), depression (5.10 [95% CI 2.83-7.37] v. 0.86 [95% CI 0.53-1.19]), substance misuse (10.61 [95% CI 9.50-11.73] v. 1.23 [95% CI 0.71-1.75]) and self-harm (3.09 [95% CI 1.12-5.05] v. 0.20 [95% CI 0.07-0.33]). Participants with liver disease had a 2-fold increase (OR = 1.94, 95% CI 1.45-2.58), a 2.5-fold increase (OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.91-3.50) and 4.4-fold increase (OR = 4.44; 95% CI 3.46-5.71) in the risk of anxiety, depression and substance misuse, respectively. These findings highlight the need for effective intervention in psychiatric disorders in young people with rare liver disease

    Early Contrast Enhancement: a novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging biomarker of pleural malignancy

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    Introduction: Pleural Malignancy (PM) is often occult on subjective radiological assessment. We sought to define a novel, semi-objective Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) biomarker of PM, targeted to increased tumour microvessel density (MVD) and applicable to minimal pleural thickening. Materials and methods: 60 consecutive patients with suspected PM underwent contrast-enhanced 3-T MRI then pleural biopsy. In 58/60, parietal pleura signal intensity (SI) was measured in multiple regions of interest (ROI) at multiple time-points, generating ROI SI/time curves and Mean SI gradient (MSIG: SI increment/time). The diagnostic performance of Early Contrast Enhancement (ECE; which was defined as a SI peak in at least one ROI at or before 4.5 min) was compared with subjective MRI and Computed Tomography (CT) morphology results. MSIG was correlated against tumour MVD (based on Factor VIII immunostain) in 31 patients with Mesothelioma. Results: 71% (41/58) patients had PM. Pleural thickening was <10 mm in 49/58 (84%). ECE sensitivity was 83% (95% CI 61–94%), specificity 83% (95% CI 68–91%), positive predictive value 68% (95% CI 47–84%), negative predictive value 92% (78–97%). ECE performance was similar or superior to subjective CT and MRI. MSIG correlated with MVD (r = 0.4258, p = .02). Discussion: ECE is a semi-objective, perfusion-based biomarker of PM, measurable in minimal pleural thickening. Further studies are warranted

    Zirconium Carbide Oxidation and Passivation for Nuclear Fuel Applications

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    Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the presentation

    Effects of hay management and native species sowing on grassland community structure, biomass, and restoration

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    This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.esa.org/esa.Prairie hay meadows are important reservoirs of grassland biodiversity in the tallgrass prairie regions of the central United States and are the object of increasing attention for conservation and restoration. In addition, there is growing interest in the potential use of such low-input, high-diversity (LIHD) native grasslands for biofuel production. The uplands of eastern Kansas, USA, which prior to European settlement were dominated by tallgrass prairie, are currently utilized for intensive agriculture or exist in a state of abandonment from agriculture. The dominant grasslands in the region are currently high-input, low-diversity (HILD) hay fields seeded to introduced C3 hay grasses. We present results from a long-term experiment conducted in a recently abandoned HILD hay field in eastern Kansas to evaluate effects of fertilization, haying, and native species sowing on community dynamics, biomass, and potential for restoration to native LIHD hay meadow. Fertilized plots maintained dominance by introduced grasses, maintained low diversity, and were largely resistant to colonization throughout the study. Non-fertilized plots exhibited rapid successional turnover, increased diversity, and increased abundance of C4 grasses over time. Haying led to modest changes in species composition and lessened the negative impact of fertilization on diversity. In non-fertilized plots, sowing increased representation by native species and increased diversity, successional turnover, and biomass production. Our results support the shifting limitations hypothesis of community organization and highlight the importance of species pools and seed limitations in constraining successional turnover, community structure, and ecosystem productivity under conditions of low fertility. Our findings also indicate that several biological and functional aspects of LIHD hay meadows can be restored from abandoned HILD hay fields by ceasing fertilization and reintroducing native species through sowing. Declines in primary production and hay yield that result from the cessation of fertilization may be at least partially compensated for by restoration

    Characterising generalism in clinical practice: a systematic mixed studies review protocol.

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    Background: Generalist physician care is associated with improved patient outcomes. Despite initiatives to promote generalism in educational settings, recruitment to generalist disciplines remains less than required to serve societal needs. Increasingly this impacts not just general practice but generalist specialties such as internal medicine, surgery and paediatrics. One potential factor for this deficit is a lack of explicit attention to generalism as a praxis, including clarifying key aspects of generalist expertise. / Aim: To examine empirical clinical literature on generalism and characterise how generalism is described and delivered by physicians in primary and secondary care. / Design & Setting: Systematic mixed studies review including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods studies and systematic reviews of physician generalist practice. / Method: Medline, Psycinfo, Socioindex, EMBASE, OVID Healthstar, Scopus, Web of Science will be searched for English language studies from 1999 to present, using a structured search. Given study heterogeneity we will not perform quality appraisal. Two reviewers will perform study selection for each study. Data extraction will focus on how generalism is defined and characterised, including the clinical care provided by generalists and patient experiences of generalist care. Quantitative and qualitative data will be summarised in tabular and narrative form. Convergent synthesis design will then be used to synthesise quantitative and qualitative data. / Conclusion: Findings will characterise generalism and generalist practice from a grass-roots clinical perspective. By identifying similarities and differences across generalist disciplines, this work will inform more focused educational initiatives on generalism at undergraduate and postgraduate level, including collaborations between generalist disciplines

    A Review of Global Satellite-Derived Snow Products

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    Snow cover over the Northern Hemisphere plays a crucial role in the Earth's hydrology and surface energy balance, and modulates feedbacks that control variations of global climate. While many of these variations are associated with exchanges of energy and mass between the land surface and the atmosphere, other expected changes are likely to propagate downstream and affect oceanic processes in coastal zones. For example, a large component of the freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean comes from snow melt. The timing and magnitude of this flux affects biological and thermodynamic processes in the Arctic Ocean, and potentially across the globe through their impact on North Atlantic Deep Water formation. Several recent global remotely sensed products provide information at unprecedented temporal, spatial, and spectral resolutions. In this article we review the theoretical underpinnings and characteristics of three key products. We also demonstrate the seasonal and spatial patterns of agreement and disagreement amongst them, and discuss current and future directions in their application and development. Though there is general agreement amongst these products, there can be disagreement over certain geographic regions and under conditions of ephemeral, patchy and melting snow

    Preliminary Evaluation of the AFWA-NASA (ANSA) Blended Snow-Cover Product over the Lower Great Lakes Region

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    The Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) - NASA (ANSA) blended-snow product utilizes EOS standard snow products from the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) to map daily snow cover and snow-water equivalent (SWE) globally. We have compared ANSA-derived SWE. with SWE values calculated from snow depths reported at approx.1500 National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) coop stations in the Lower Great Lakes basin. Our preliminary results show that conversion of snow depth to SWE is very sensitive to the choice of snow density (we used either 0.2 or 03 as conversion factors). We found overall better agreement between the ANSA-derived SWE and the co-op station data when we use a snow density of 0.3 to convert the snow depths to SWE. In addition, we show that the ANSA underestimates SWE in densely-forested areas, using January and February 2008 ANSA and co-op data. Furthermore, apparent large SWE changes from one day to the next may be caused by thaw-re-freeze events, and do not always represent a real change in SWE. In the near future we will continue the analysis in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 snow seasons
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