Social Studies Preservice Teachers’ Citizenship Knowledge and Perceptions of the U.S. Naturalization Test

Teacher educators from six states invited their social studies methodology students to complete an abbreviated version of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Naturalization Test. The preservice teachers were also asked to share their conceptions of citizenship and evaluate the naturalization test. The findings from this study indicated that although this sample of preservice teachers had limited conceptions of citizenship, most were able to get a satisfactory score on the test. The authors discuss the implications of these results and suggest ways to broaden citizenship education in teacher preparation programs

Controlling crystallization and its absence: Proteins, colloids and patchy models

The ability to control the crystallization behaviour (including its absence) of particles, be they biomolecules such as globular proteins, inorganic colloids, nanoparticles, or metal atoms in an alloy, is of both fundamental and technological importance. Much can be learnt from the exquisite control that biological systems exert over the behaviour of proteins, where protein crystallization and aggregation are generally suppressed, but where in particular instances complex crystalline assemblies can be formed that have a functional purpose. We also explore the insights that can be obtained from computational modelling, focussing on the subtle interplay between the interparticle interactions, the preferred local order and the resulting crystallization kinetics. In particular, we highlight the role played by ``frustration'', where there is an incompatibility between the preferred local order and the global crystalline order, using examples from atomic glass formers and model anisotropic particles.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

OKCAM: an ontology-based, human-centered knowledgebase for cell adhesion molecules

‘Cell adhesion molecules’ (CAMs) are essential elements of cell/cell communication that are important for proper development and plasticity of a variety of organs and tissues. In the brain, appropriate assembly and tuning of neuronal connections is likely to require appropriate function of many cell adhesion processes. Genetic studies have linked and/or associated CAM variants with psychiatric, neurologic, neoplastic, immunologic and developmental phenotypes. However, despite increasing recognition of their functional and pathological significance, no systematic study has enumerated CAMs or documented their global features. We now report compilation of 496 human CAM genes in six gene families based on manual curation of protein domain structures, Gene Ontology annotations, and 1487 NCBI Entrez annotations. We map these genes onto a cell adhesion molecule ontology that contains 850 terms, up to seven levels of depth and provides a hierarchical description of these molecules and their functions. We develop OKCAM, a CAM knowledgebase that provides ready access to these data and ontologic system at http://okcam.cbi.pku.edu.cn. We identify global CAM properties that include: (i) functional enrichment, (ii) over-represented regulation modes and expression patterns and (iii) relationships to human Mendelian and complex diseases, and discuss the strengths and limitations of these data

The Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA) birth cohort study: design, methods, and study population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The incidence and morbidity of wheezing illnesses and childhood asthma is especially high in poor urban areas. This paper describes the study design, methods, and population of the Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA) study, which was established to investigate the immunologic causes of asthma among inner-city children.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>URECA is an observational prospective study that enrolled pregnant women in central urban areas of Baltimore, Boston, New York City, and St. Louis and is following their offspring from birth through age 7 years. The birth cohort consists of 560 inner-city children who have at least one parent with an allergic disease or asthma, and all families live in areas in which at least 20% of the population has incomes below the poverty line. In addition, 49 inner-city children with no parental history of allergies or asthma were enrolled. The primary hypothesis is that specific urban exposures in early life promote a unique pattern of immune development (impaired antiviral and increased Th2 responses) that increases the risk of recurrent wheezing and allergic sensitization in early childhood, and of asthma by age 7 years. To track immune development, cytokine responses of blood mononuclear cells stimulated <it>ex vivo </it>are measured at birth and then annually. Environmental assessments include allergen and endotoxin levels in house dust, pre- and postnatal maternal stress, and indoor air nicotine and nitrogen dioxide. Nasal mucous samples are collected from the children during respiratory illnesses and analyzed for respiratory viruses. The complex interactions between environmental exposures and immune development will be assessed with respect to recurrent wheeze at age 3 years and asthma at age 7 years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The overall goal of the URECA study is to develop a better understanding of how specific urban exposures affect immune development to promote wheezing illnesses and asthma.</p

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Pressure UlceR Programme Of reSEarch (PURPOSE): using mixed methods (systematic reviews, prospective cohort, case study, consensus and psychometrics) to identify patient and organisational risk, develop a risk assessment tool and patient-reported outcome Quality of Life and Health Utility measures

Background: The Pressure UlceR Programme Of reSEarch (PURPOSE) consisted of two themes. Theme 1 focused on improving our understanding of individuals’ and organisational risk factors and on improving the quality of risk assessments (work packages 1–3) and theme 2 focused on developing patient-reported outcome measures (work packages 4 and 5). Methods: The programme comprised 21 individual pieces of work. Pain: (1) multicentre pain prevalence study in acute hospitals, (2) multicentre pain prevalence study in community localities incorporating (3) a comparison of case-finding methods, and (4) multicentre, prospective cohort study. Severe pressure ulcers: (5) retrospective case study, (6) patient involvement workshop with the Pressure Ulcer Research Service User Network for the UK (PURSUN UK) and (7) development of root cause analysis methodology. Risk assessment: (8) systematic review, (9) consensus study, (10) conceptual framework development and theoretical causal pathway, (11) design and pretesting of draft Risk Assessment Framework and (12) field test to assess reliability, validity, data completeness and clinical usability. Quality of life: (13) conceptual framework development (systematic review, patient interviews), (14 and 15) provisional instrument development, with items generated from patient interviews [from (1) above] two systematic reviews and experts, (16) pretesting of the provisional Pressure Ulcer Quality of Life (PU-QOL) instrument using mixed methods, (17) field test 1 including (18) optimal mode of administration substudy and item reduction with testing of scale formation, acceptability, scaling assumptions, reliability and validity, and (19) field test 2 – final psychometric evaluation to test scale targeting, item response categories, item fit, response bias, acceptability, scaling assumptions, reliability and validity. Cost–utility: (20) time trade-off task valuations of health states derived from selected PU-QOL items, and (21) validation of the items selected and psychometric properties of the new Pressure Ulcer Quality of Life Utility Index (PUQOL-UI). Key findings:Pain: prevalence studies – hospital and community patients experience both pressure area-related and pressure ulcer pain; pain cohort study – indicates that pain is independently predictive of category 2 (and above) pressure ulcer development. Severe pressure ulcers: these were more likely to develop in contexts in which clinicians failed to listen to patients/carers or recognise/respond to high risk or the presence of an existing pressure ulcer and services were not effectively co-ordinated; service users found the interactive workshop format valuable; including novel components (interviews with patients and carers) in root cause analysis improves the quality of the insights captured. Risk assessment: we developed a Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Framework, the PURPOSE-T, incorporating the Minimum Data Set, a screening stage, a full assessment stage, use of colour to support decision-making, and decision pathways that make a clear distinction between patients with an existing pressure ulcer(s) (or scarring from previous ulcers) who require secondary prevention and treatment and those at risk who require primary prevention (http://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/accesspurposet). Quality of life: the final PU-QOL instrument consists of 10 scales to measure pain, exudate, odour, sleep, vitality, mobility/movement, daily activities, emotional well-being, self-consciousness and appearance, and participation (http://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/puqol-ques). Cost–utility: seven items were selected from the PU-QOL instrument for inclusion in the PUQOL-UI (http://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/puqol-ui); secondary study analysis indicated that item selection for the PUQOL-UI was appropriate and that the index was acceptable to patients and had adequate levels of validity. Conclusions: The PURPOSE programme has provided important insights for pressure ulcer prevention and treatment and involvement of service users in research and development, with implications for patient and public involvement, clinical practice, quality/safety/health service management and research including replication of the pain risk factor study, work exploring ‘best practice’ settings, the impact of including skin status as an indicator for escalation of preventative interventions, further psychometric evaluation of PU-QOL and PUQOL-UI the measurement of ‘disease attribution.’ Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Programme Grants for Applied Research programme

Применение программного продукта «Яндекс.Сервер» для организации поиска в электронном каталоге библиотеки

The huge amounts of information accumulated by libraries in recent years put before developers a problem of the organization of fast and qualitative search which decision is possible with the use of modern search tools of Web-technology. The author examines one of these tools the software product “Yandex. Server”, allowing to organize optimum search in the electronic library catalog. The software product “Yandex. Server” gives a chance to carry out optimum search taking into account morphology of Russian and English languages, as well as the various logical conditions that provides effective and flexible search in the electronic library catalog.Накопленные библиотеками за последние годы огромные массивы информации ставят перед разработчиками задачу организации быстрого и качественного поиска, решение которой возможно с использованием современных поисковых инструментов веб-технологии. Автор рассматривает один из таких инструментов - программный продукт «Яндекс. Сервер», позволяющий организовать оптимальный поиск в электронном каталоге библиотеки с учетом морфологии русского и английского языков, а также различных логических условий

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome