Study Regarding the Effects of Brain Gym on Student Learning

Current research acknowledges and continues to investigate how the brain functions and communicates with itself and the body. The focus of this thesis project is the intersection of brain function and physical movement, and with that in mind, it explores the question, how does the Brain Gym program impact student attention, motivation, and achievement? The literature section looks at the current discussion of brain function and physical movement as well as the Brain Gym program and relevant results of educators and researchers regarding its use. The active research section of the project examines the possible benefits of physical movement on students in a third grade classroom over a four-week time frame. The researcher chose four students for this case study. Student surveys and interviews were used to gather assessment data in addition to field note documentation. Conclusions from the study include the acknowledgment that motivation is difficult to measure but the research notes some subtle indications of increased engagement as well as positive academic achievement by the case study group. The greatest measurable difference with the Brain Gym program through the study was noted in increased attention during instruction. Students reported they found it easier to focus, finish independent work, and “felt less fidgety.” The study conclusions, while understanding that motivation remains difficult to measure, affirms the positive outcomes of Brain Gym in an academic setting to increase attention and achievement

Making Reflection Assignments Meaningful and Enjoyable for Health Professions Students and Faculty

Purpose: Recognizing the professional and personal benefits of self-reflection, health professions programs routinely incorporate reflection activities into their curricula. However, designing, administering, and grading engaging, meaningful reflection activities that can be utilized for in-person or online teaching can be challenging for faculty and less than enjoyable for students. This study explored student perceptions of a shared activity using photovoice to stimulate individual and group reflection and discussion of learning during clinical experiences. Methods: Second year, doctor of physical therapy students were asked to reflect on their clinical experiences. During the semester-long assignment, each student completed a photovoice slide representing their experience. Slides were shared and discussed with classmates on the last day of class. Student impressions were captured via anonymous survey. Results: Forty-three students completed the assignment and participated in the post-activity survey. An inductive, semantic thematic analysis was utilized, and independently coded themes were discussed, refined, and externally reviewed. Three primary themes emerged from the survey data: students enjoyed the assignment; the photovoice technique encouraged meaningful, deep reflection; and reflections extended beyond the student and focused on patients. Conclusions: Students reported overwhelmingly positive responses. The photovoice project was personally meaningful, and students enjoyed the freedom to be creative without strict rubric requirements. Students also enjoyed sharing and discussing their reflections and identified this as an important difference from other more traditional reflective assignments. Easily developed and administered photovoice projects are effective at facilitating enjoyable, reflective learning activities that can be shared among classmates or across disciplines in online or in-person learning environments

Development and Evaluation of Impact Statements for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)

Extension professionals often communicate program outcomes to external stakeholders using impact statements. We developed and evaluated four impact statements for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). We drafted the statements after conducting literature reviews for core content areas of EFNEP that include diet quality, food resource management, physical activity, and food safety. Subsequently, we evaluated the statements by facilitating expert panels made up of subject matter experts and communication professionals (n=14) from 12 Land-grant Universities. These impact statements aim to support EFNEP and other Extension professionals when communicating program value with key external stakeholders

Taking Development Seriously: Critique of the 2008 \u3ci\u3eJME\u3c/i\u3e Special Issue on Moral Functioning

This essay comments on articles that composed a Journal of Moral Education Special Issue (September, 2008, 37[3]). The issue was intended to honor the 50th anniversary of Lawrence Kohlberg’s doctoral dissertation and his subsequent impact on the field of moral development and education. The articles were characterized by the issue editor (Don Collins Reed) as providing a “look forward” from Kohlberg’s work toward a more comprehensive or integrated model of moral functioning. Prominent were culturally pluralist and biologically based themes, such as cultural learning; expert skill; culturally shaped and neurobiologically based predispositions or intuitions; and moral self-relevance or centrality. Inadequately represented, however, was Kohlberg’s (and Piaget’s) key concept of development as the construction of a deeper or more adequate understanding not reducible to particular socialization practices or cultural contexts. Also neglected were related cognitive-developmental themes, along with supportive evidence. Robert Coles’s account of a sudden rescue is used as a heuristic to depict Piaget’s/Kohlberg’s approach to the development of moral functioning. We conclude that, insofar as the Special Issue does not take development seriously, it moves us not forward but, instead, back to the problems of moral relativism and moral paralysis that Kohlberg sought to redress from the start of his work more than 50 years ago

The Usher 1B protein, MYO7A, is required for normal localization and function of the visual retinoid cycle enzyme, RPE65

Mutations in the MYO7A gene cause a deaf-blindness disorder, known as Usher syndrome 1B.  In the retina, the majority of MYO7A is in the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE), where many of the reactions of the visual retinoid cycle take place.  We have observed that the retinas of Myo7a-mutant mice are resistant to acute light damage. In exploring the basis of this resistance, we found that Myo7a-mutant mice have lower levels of RPE65, the RPE isomerase that has a key role in the retinoid cycle.  We show for the first time that RPE65 normally undergoes a light-dependent translocation to become more concentrated in the central region of the RPE cells.  This translocation requires MYO7A, so that, in Myo7a-mutant mice, RPE65 is partly mislocalized in the light.  RPE65 is degraded more quickly in Myo7a-mutant mice, perhaps due to its mislocalization, providing a plausible explanation for its lower levels.  Following a 50–60% photobleach, Myo7a-mutant retinas exhibited increased all-trans-retinyl ester levels during the initial stages of dark recovery, consistent with a deficiency in RPE65 activity.  Lastly, MYO7A and RPE65 were co-immunoprecipitated from RPE cell lysate by antibodies against either of the proteins, and the two proteins were partly colocalized, suggesting a direct or indirect interaction.  Together, the results support a role for MYO7A in the translocation of RPE65, illustrating the involvement of a molecular motor in the spatiotemporal organization of the retinoid cycle in vision

The Vehicle, 1966, Vol. 8

Vol. 8 Table of Contents CommentaryBill Moser & Avis Eaglestonpage 3 The Vengeance of the DeadStephen W. Gibbspage 5 Ode To A MeadowKathleen McCormackpage 12 Row OnDavid Helmpage 13 Sonnet 63R.L. Hudsonpage 14 UntitledKathleen McCormackpage 14 The Pure GoldDavid Helmpage 15 CommunionDavid Helmpage 15 PreludeMichael Baldwinpage 15 The AlbatrossKaren Cooleypage 16 The Albatross (photo)DeWittpage 17 Ruff and the VaseDavid Helmpage 18 LaBelleKathleen McCormackpage 19 Not Quite SoR.L. Hudsonpage 20 Feeling (no number)David Reifpage 21 Song at DuskDavid Helmpage 21 Arcadia RuminationsR.L. Hudsonpage 22 The BarWayne Johnsonpage 25 HelloWilliam Framepage 26 The ProcessJerry DeWittpage 27 The KillingAdrian Beardpage 30 The Amusement Park GameStephen W. Gibbspage 38 DamnMel Tylerpage 40 PainWilliam Framepage 40 UntitledSusan Champlinpage 41 Portrait of A Scholar As A Young ManStephen W. Gibbspage 42 The TimesW.D.Mpage 46 ParadoxW.D.M.page 46 MankindDavid Helmpage 47https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1014/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, 1966, Vol. 8

Vol. 8 Table of Contents CommentaryBill Moser & Avis Eaglestonpage 3 The Vengeance of the DeadStephen W. Gibbspage 5 Ode To A MeadowKathleen McCormackpage 12 Row OnDavid Helmpage 13 Sonnet 63R.L. Hudsonpage 14 UntitledKathleen McCormackpage 14 The Pure GoldDavid Helmpage 15 CommunionDavid Helmpage 15 PreludeMichael Baldwinpage 15 The AlbatrossKaren Cooleypage 16 The Albatross (photo)DeWittpage 17 Ruff and the VaseDavid Helmpage 18 LaBelleKathleen McCormackpage 19 Not Quite SoR.L. Hudsonpage 20 Feeling (no number)David Reifpage 21 Song at DuskDavid Helmpage 21 Arcadia RuminationsR.L. Hudsonpage 22 The BarWayne Johnsonpage 25 HelloWilliam Framepage 26 The ProcessJerry DeWittpage 27 The KillingAdrian Beardpage 30 The Amusement Park GameStephen W. Gibbspage 38 DamnMel Tylerpage 40 PainWilliam Framepage 40 UntitledSusan Champlinpage 41 Portrait of A Scholar As A Young ManStephen W. Gibbspage 42 The TimesW.D.Mpage 46 ParadoxW.D.M.page 46 MankindDavid Helmpage 47https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1014/thumbnail.jp

Notch ligation by Delta1 inhibits peripheral immune responses to transplantation antigens by a CD8⁺ cell–dependent mechanism

Notch signaling plays a fundamental role in determining the outcome of differentiation processes in many tissues. Notch signaling has been implicated in T versus B cell lineage commitment, thymic differentiation, and bone marrow hematopoietic precursor renewal and differentiation. Notch receptors and their ligands are also expressed on the surface of mature lymphocytes and APCs, but the effects of Notch signaling in the peripheral immune system remain poorly defined. The aim of the studies reported here was to investigate the effects of signaling through the Notch receptor using a ligand of the Delta-like family. We show that Notch ligation in the mature immune system markedly decreases responses to transplantation antigens. Constitutive expression of Delta-like 1 on alloantigen-bearing cells renders them nonimmunogenic and able to induce specific unresponsiveness to a challenge with the same alloantigen, even in the form of a cardiac allograft. These effects could be reversed by depletion of CD8⁺ cells at the time of transplantation. Ligation of Notch on splenic CD8⁺ cells results in a dramatic decrease in IFN-γ with a concomitant enhancement of IL-10 production, suggesting that Notch signaling can alter the differentiation potential of CD8⁺ cells. These data implicate Notch signaling in regulation of peripheral immunity and suggest a novel approach for manipulating deleterious immune responses

Identification of PKD1L1 Gene Variants in Children with the Biliary Atresia Splenic Malformation Syndrome

Biliary atresia (BA) is the most common cause of end‐stage liver disease in children and the primary indication for pediatric liver transplantation, yet underlying etiologies remain unknown. Approximately 10% of infants affected by BA exhibit various laterality defects (heterotaxy) including splenic abnormalities and complex cardiac malformations — a distinctive subgroup commonly referred to as the biliary atresia splenic malformation (BASM) syndrome. We hypothesized that genetic factors linking laterality features with the etiopathogenesis of BA in BASM patients could be identified through whole exome sequencing (WES) of an affected cohort. DNA specimens from 67 BASM subjects, including 58 patient‐parent trios, from the NIDDK‐supported Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN) underwent WES. Candidate gene variants derived from a pre‐specified set of 2,016 genes associated with ciliary dysgenesis and/or dysfunction or cholestasis were prioritized according to pathogenicity, population frequency, and mode of inheritance. Five BASM subjects harbored rare and potentially deleterious bi‐allelic variants in polycystin 1‐like 1, PKD1L1, a gene associated with ciliary calcium signaling and embryonic laterality determination in fish, mice and humans. Heterozygous PKD1L1 variants were found in 3 additional subjects. Immunohistochemical analysis of liver from the one BASM subject available revealed decreased PKD1L1 expression in bile duct epithelium when compared to normal livers and livers affected by other non‐cholestatic diseases. Conclusion WES identified bi‐allelic and heterozygous PKD1L1 variants of interest in 8 BASM subjects from the ChiLDReN dataset. The dual roles for PKD1L1 in laterality determination and ciliary function suggest that PKD1L1 is a new, biologically plausible, cholangiocyte‐expressed candidate gene for the BASM syndrome