Examining the Relationship Between Preschool Teachers’ Use of Social and Emotional Teaching Strategies and Children’s Challenging Behavior and Social Skills

Because there are immediate and long-term implications when preschool children exhibit challenging behavior in the classroom, it is crucial to prevent and address challenging behavior as early as possible. Social and emotional teaching strategies have been shown to reduce challenging behavior of preschoolers and increase social and emotional skills. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if social and emotional teaching strategies correlated with changes in the challenging behavior and social skills of preschoolers with persistent challenging behavior. Data were obtained from an archival data set of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) efficacy study of an intervention for preschoolers with persistent challenging behavior. The data set included baseline measures of teaching practices in classrooms as measured by the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) and changes in preschooler’s challenging behavior and social skills using the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) collected at pre- and post-test of study participation (spanning 4 months). Pearson correlations of the teaching practices and children’s change scores for challenging behavior and social skills were analyzed for possible statistical significance. Results showed that teaching behavior expectations and teaching problem solving were associated with statistically significant reductions in preschoolers’ challenging behavior for children who participated in the intervention group of the original RCT. No statistically significant relationships were identified for teaching social and emotional competencies, friendship skills, or expressing emotions. Implications for persistent challenging behavior in preschool classrooms are discussed

Medicine and magic in the Lapidario del rey don Alfonso X

The glittering sight of a precious stone has always attracted the human eye, an attraction which is more profound than the stone's color and obvious beauty, an attraction which lies in the durability of the stone itself. Spring storms come and quickly go; summer suns rise then fade into night; yet the brilliant quality of a precious stone has endured in ages past and will continue to do so. It is the realization of this durability and permanence amidst changeability that lends charm to the stone

Effect of Temperature Cumulation on Milk Yield of Czech Fleckvieh-Simmental Cattle

The aim of this study was to asses the effect of temperature cumulation on milk yield of Czech Fleckvieh-Simmental cattle. Experiment for this study was executed on private farm in Czech Republic with permanently open-sided barn, in which were cows stabled (49o12'36.7"N 16o23'42.1"E). Cows were stabled in free stall box system. Experiment lasted three months (May-July) of 2016. In total 114 cows were include in this study. They were divided according to yield to three groups: more than 25 kg of milk per day, 20.1-24.9 kg of milk per day and less than 20 kg of milk per day. The data loggers placed inside the stable collected data about temperature every 30 minutes. Data about milk yield were obtained from software in milk parlour. After data were collected, the sum of effective temperatures (SET) was calculated. The SET was calculated for temperatures surpassing 21 oC. Data shows that all groups were affected by rising SET. The group with yield above 25 kg of milk per day was the most affected by the high SET (r = MINUS SIGN 0.4931) in contrary with the group with less than 20 kg of milk per day (r = MINUS SIGN 0.1380). Our result suggest, that the SET might be better marker for evaluation of the impact of heat stress than temperature itself. The results of this paper also shows, that the high-yield cows are affected by cumulation of temperature more.O

Pharmacologic targeting of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury using a normothermic machine perfusion platform.

Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) is an emerging modality for kidney preservation prior to transplantation. NMP may allow directed pharmacomodulation of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) without the need for systemic donor/recipient therapies. Three proven anti-IRI agents not in widespread clinical use, CD47-blocking antibody (αCD47Ab), soluble complement receptor 1 (sCR1), and recombinant thrombomodulin (rTM), were compared in a murine model of kidney IRI. The most effective agent was then utilized in a custom NMP circuit for the treatment of isolated porcine kidneys, ascertaining the impact of the drug on perfusion and IRI-related parameters. αCD47Ab conferred the greatest protection against IRI in mice after 24 hours. αCD47Ab was therefore chosen as the candidate agent for addition to the NMP circuit. CD47 receptor binding was demonstrated by immunofluorescence. Renal perfusion/flow improved with CD47 blockade, with a corresponding reduction in oxidative stress and histologic damage compared to untreated NMP kidneys. Tubular and glomerular functional parameters were not significantly impacted by αCD47Ab treatment during NMP. In a murine renal IRI model, αCD47Ab was confirmed as a superior anti-IRI agent compared to therapies targeting other pathways. NMP enabled effective, direct delivery of this drug to porcine kidneys, although further efficacy needs to be proven in the transplantation setting

Transcriptomic profiles of muscle, heart, and spleen in reaction to circadian heat stress in Ethiopian highland and lowland male chicken

Temperature stress impacts both welfare and productivity of livestock. Global warming is expected to increase the impact, especially in tropical areas. We investigated the biological mechanisms regulated by temperature stress due to the circadian temperature cycle in temperature adapted and non-adapted chicken under tropical conditions. We studied transcriptome profiles of heart, breast muscle, and spleen tissues of Ethiopian lowland chicken adapted to high circadian temperatures and non-adapted Ethiopian highland chicken under lowland conditions at three points during the day: morning, noon, and evening. Functional annotations and network analyses of genes differentially expressed among the time points of the day indicate major differences in the reactions of the tissues to increasing and decreasing temperatures, and also the two chickens lines differ. However, epigenetic changes of chromatin methylation and histone (de)acetylation seemed to be central regulatory mechanisms in all tissues in both chicken lines. Finally, all tissues showed differentially expressed genes between morning and evening times indicating biological mechanisms that need to change during the night to reach morning levels again the next day.</p