Digital Collaboration and Classroom Practice: Educator Use of ARIS Connect

A major focus of the booming education technology sector is on products that aim to help teachers improve classroom practice. For their part, districts must figure out which of these resources will be most useful to schools. In New York City, the Department of Education developed its own Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS), which was rolled out in 2008. ARIS was an early effort at a system-wide data and teacher collaboration platform, and a major undertaking for the nation's largest school district. In 2011, the Research Alliance received a grant from the Spencer Foundation to investigate how this ambitious initiative played out in schools. Our first report focused on overall use and perceptions of ARIS. In the current phase of our study, we honed our focus onto ARIS Connect -- a component designed specifically to help educators improve their practice by sharing resources, posting questions, and giving one another feedback, both within schools and across the district. Our investigation sought to understand what educators thought of Connect, and whether, as its designers intended, Connect supported their ability to communicate with other educators and improve classroom practice. The study is based on two years of "clickstream" data, which tracks user visits to and navigation through ARIS. We also visited nine middle schools that recorded higher-than-average use of Connect, where we interviewed administrators and held focus groups with teachers. This report presents our findings, including insights on why educators did or did not use Connect; what might have made Connect more useful; and what external tools educators use for similar purposes

The amino-acid stress sensing eIF2α kinase GCN2 is a survival biomarker for malignant mesothelioma

BackgroundMalignant mesothelioma is a tumour that is strongly associated with a history of asbestos exposure, and which derives from mesothelial cells that line the serous cavities of the body. The tumour most commonly arises in the pleural cavity, but can also arise in the pericardium, peritoneum, and tunica vaginalis. At present the lesion has a very poor prognosis and is an incurable form of cancer with median survival times of up to 19 months being quoted for some histological subtypes. A large proportion of mesotheliomas have been shown to be arginine auxotrophic, leading to new research for therapeutics which might exploit this potential vulnerability.MethodsWe measured the levels of General Control Non-derepressible 2 (GCN2) protein in malignant mesothelioma tumour samples and determined whether these levels correlate with clinical outcomes.ResultsWe observed that the expression levels of GCN2 correlated with patient survival and was an independent prognostic variable in pairwise comparisons with all available clinical data.ConclusionThese findings suggest that GCN2 levels provides prognostic information and may allow for stratification of care pathways. It may suggest that targeting GCN2 is a viable strategy for mesothelioma therapy development

Optimal Point Placement for Mesh Smoothing

We study the problem of moving a vertex in an unstructured mesh of triangular, quadrilateral, or tetrahedral elements to optimize the shapes of adjacent elements. We show that many such problems can be solved in linear time using generalized linear programming. We also give efficient algorithms for some mesh smoothing problems that do not fit into the generalized linear programming paradigm.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the 8th ACM/SIAM Symp. on Discrete Algorithms (SODA '97). This is the final version, and will appear in a special issue of J. Algorithms for papers from SODA '9

Leksičko obilježje predočivosti u mentalnom leksikonu osoba s afazijom

U ovome se radu istražuje utjecaj obilježja predočivosti na emantičko procesiranje riječi u zadacima s pisanim i auditivnim stimulusom. Rezultati osoba s afazijom pritom su uspoređeni s rezultatima osoba bez jezičnih poteškoća. Za potrebe istraživanja korištena su tri testa iz baterije testova PALPA: Procjena auditivne sinonimije, Procjena pisane sinonimije i Test semantičkih asocijacija čiji je ispitni materijal oblikovan prema stupnju predočivosti stimulusa. Sukladno hipotezi, uočena je značajna razlika u uspješnosti eksperimentalne i kontrolne skupine na svim testovima, pri čemu je eksperimentalna skupina u prosjeku ostvarivala lošije rezultate i to ponajprije u dijelovima zadataka koji su obuhvaćali nisko predočive riječi. Rezultati istraživanja interpretirani su prema modularnome modelu PALPA dovedenom u odnos s hipotezom o dostupnosti konteksta i teorijom dvostrukoga kodiranja.Poteškoće u prepoznavanju nisko predočivih riječi kod osoba s afazijom uzrokovane su otežanim pronalaženjem odgovarajuće reprezentacije u mentalnom leksikonu govornika u kojemu su aktivirani različiti mentalni putovi obrade jezičnih podataka ovisno o modalitetu u kojem je riječ predstavljena

The lexical feature of imageability in the mental lexicon of people with aphasia

U ovome se radu istražuje utjecaj obilježja predočivosti na semantičko procesiranje riječi u zadacima s pisanim i auditivnim stimulusom. Rezultati osoba s afazijom pritom su uspoređeni s rezultatima osoba bez jezičnih poteškoća. Za potrebe istraživanja korištena su tri testa iz baterije testova PALPA: Procjena auditivne sinonimije, Procjena pisane sinonimije i Test semantičkih asocijacija čiji je ispitni materijal oblikovan prema stupnju predočivosti stimulusa. Sukladno hipotezi, uočena je značajna razlika u uspješnosti eksperimentalne i kontrolne skupine na svim testovima, pri čemu je eksperimentalna skupina u prosjeku ostvarivala lošije rezultate i to ponajprije u dijelovima zadataka koji su obuhvaćali nisko predočive riječi. Rezultati istraživanja interpretirani su prema modularnome modelu PALPA dovedenom u odnos s hipotezom o dostupnosti konteksta i teorijom dvostrukoga kodiranja. Poteškoće u prepoznavanju nisko predočivih riječi kod osoba s afazijom uzrokovane su otežanim pronalaženjem odgovarajuće reprezentacije u mentalnom leksikonu govornika u kojemu su aktivirani različiti mentalni putovi obrade jezičnih podataka ovisno o modalitetu u kojem je riječ predstavljena.The lexical feature of imageability is a semantic category of a word which refers to the greater or smaller degree of picturability of a lexeme. While high imageable words are easier to imagine as they evoke a relatively clear mental picture, low imageable words are harder to imagine as they are more abstract. In this paper, we will present the results of the research of lexical processing of spoken and written word in relation to the feature of imageability conducted on the sample of 25 people with aphasia and on 21 participants of the control group. The study investigates whether there is a significant difference in the semantic processing of high and low imageable words in people with aphasia compared to the participants of the control group when presented with a visual or auditive stimulus. The research is motivated by two hypotheses. Firstly, the greater asymmetry in semantic processing of high and low imageable words will be found in people with aphasia compared to the participants of the control group; and secondly, the processing of low imageable words will be less successful in both groups. The research was conducted on the basis of three tests designed to examine the processing of the lexical feature of imageability: Auditory Synonym Judgements, Written Synonym Judgements and Word Semantic Association from the battery of tests PALPA (Psycholinguistic Assessments of Language Processing in Aphasia, Kay at al., 1992), translated into Croatian language and adapted for Croatian speakers. Both hypotheses were confirmed by the results of quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (linguistic – semantic) analysis. Modality dependent pathways of mental processing were interpreted according to the modular model on which PALPA tests were based contextualized within dual-coding theory and context availability theory. The problems with the recognition of the low imageable words are caused by the difficulties in finding appropriate semantic representations in the mental lexicons of speakers. (Balota et al., 2006) This study examines to which extent the abstractness of a word influences its recognition as well as explores how the imageability feature is incorporated in the processing of meaning in the mental lexicon

Clinical Subtypes of Depression Are Associated with Specific Metabolic Parameters and Circadian Endocrine Profiles in Women: The Power Study

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with adverse medical consequences, including cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Patients with MDD may be classified as having melancholic, atypical, or undifferentiated features. The goal of the present study was to assess whether these clinical subtypes of depression have different endocrine and metabolic features and consequently, varying medical outcomes.Premenopausal women, ages 21 to 45 years, with MDD (N = 89) and healthy controls (N = 44) were recruited for a prospective study of bone turnover. Women with MDD were classified as having melancholic (N = 51), atypical (N = 16), or undifferentiated (N = 22) features. Outcome measures included: metabolic parameters, body composition, bone mineral density (BMD), and 24 hourly sampling of plasma adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), cortisol, and leptin.Compared with control subjects, women with undifferentiated and atypical features of MDD exhibited greater BMI, waist/hip ratio, and whole body and abdominal fat mass. Women with undifferentiated MDD characteristics also had higher lipid and fasting glucose levels in addition to a greater prevalence of low BMD at the femoral neck compared to controls. Elevated ACTH levels were demonstrated in women with atypical features of depression, whereas higher mean 24-hour leptin levels were observed in the melancholic subgroup.Pre-menopausal women with various features of MDD exhibit metabolic, endocrine, and BMD features that may be associated with different health consequences.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00006180

Response to Beretich and Beretich

no abstract availabl

USP27X variants underlying X-linked intellectual disability disrupt protein function via distinct mechanisms

Neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disability (ND/ID) are a heterogeneous group of diseases driving lifelong deficits in cognition and behavior with no definitive cure. X-linked intellectual disability disorder 105 (XLID105, #300984; OMIM) is a ND/ID driven by hemizygous variants in the USP27X gene encoding a protein deubiquitylase with a role in cell proliferation and neural development. Currently, only four genetically diagnosed individuals from two unrelated families have been described with limited clinical data. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying the disorder are unknown. Here, we report 10 new XLID105 individuals from nine families and determine the impact of gene variants on USP27X protein function. Using a combination of clinical genetics, bioinformatics, biochemical, and cell biology approaches, we determined that XLID105 variants alter USP27X protein biology via distinct mechanisms including changes in developmentally relevant protein-protein interactions and deubiquitylating activity. Our data better define the phenotypic spectrum of XLID105 and suggest that XLID105 is driven by USP27X functional disruption. Understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of XLID105 variants will provide molecular insight into USP27X biology and may create the potential for therapy development.</p

Active, but not passive cigarette smoking was inversely associated with mammographic density

The opposing carcinogenic and antiestrogenic properties of tobacco smoke may explain why epidemiologic studies have not consistently reported positive associations for active smoking and breast cancer risk. A negative relation between mammographic density, a strong breast cancer risk factor, and active smoking would lend support for an antiestrogenic mechanism. We used multivariable linear regression to assess the associations of active smoking and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure with mammographic density in 799 pre- and early perimenopausal women in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). We observed that current active smoking was associated with 7.2% lower mammographic density, compared to never active smoking and no SHS exposure (p = 0.02). Starting to smoke before 18 years of age and having smoked ≥20 cigarettes/day were also associated with statistically significantly lower percent densities. Among nulliparous women having smoked ≥20 cigarettes/day was associated with 23.8% lower density, compared to having smoked ≤9 cigarettes/day (p &lt; 0.001). Our findings support the hypothesis that tobacco smoke exerts an antiestrogenic effect on breast tissue, but counters the known increased risk of breast cancer with smoking prior to first full-term birth. Thus, our data suggest that the antiestrogenic but not the carcinogenic effects of smoking may be reflected by breast density