The Relationship of Special Education Placement and Student Academic Outcomes

This study investigates the academic outcomes of a special education student cohort in the state of Indiana placed in high and low inclusion settings. Student scores in these two settings from the Indiana State Test of Educational Progress (ISTEP+ English/Language Arts and math) were compared from fourth grade in 2014 through the eighth grade in 2018. Results of this study show that students with disabilities who spent 80% or more of their time in a general education inclusive classroom did significantly better in both reading and math assessment than their peers who spent more time in separate special education classrooms

21-cm synthesis observations of VIRGOHI 21 - a possible dark galaxy in the Virgo Cluster

Many observations indicate that dark matter dominates the extra-galactic Universe, yet no totally dark structure of galactic proportions has ever been convincingly identified. Previously we have suggested that VIRGOHI 21, a 21-cm source we found in the Virgo Cluster using Jodrell Bank, was a possible dark galaxy because of its broad line-width (~200 km/s) unaccompanied by any visible gravitational source to account for it. We have now imaged VIRGOHI 21 in the neutral-hydrogen line and find what could be a dark, edge-on, spinning disk with the mass and diameter of a typical spiral galaxy. Moreover, VIRGOHI 21 has unquestionably been involved in an interaction with NGC 4254, a luminous spiral with an odd one-armed morphology, but lacking the massive interactor normally linked with such a feature. Numerical models of NGC 4254 call for a close interaction ~10^8 years ago with a perturber of ~10^11 solar masses. This we take as additional evidence for the massive nature of VIRGOHI 21 as there does not appear to be any other viable candidate. We have also used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for stars associated with the HI and find none down to an I band surface brightness limit of 31.1 +/- 0.2 mag/sq. arcsec.Comment: 8 pages, accepted to ApJ, uses emulateapj.cls. Mpeg animation (Fig. 2) available at ftp://ftp.naic.edu/pub/publications/minchin/video2.mp

Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery II: Surgical Technique and Postoperative Management.

Techniques for minimally invasive mitral valve repair and replacement continue to evolve. This expert opinion, the second of a 3-part series, outlines current best practices for nonrobotic, minimally invasive mitral valve procedures, and for postoperative care after minimally invasive mitral valve surgery

Effect of the tether length upon Truce‐Smiles rearrangement reactions

post-printThis report examines the effect of substrate design upon the Truce‐Smiles rearrangement, an intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction. The length of the molecular spacer that tethers the carbanion nucleophile to the substituted benzene ring was found to have a strong influence on the ability of the substrate to undergo the reaction successfully. Our experimental results show highest yield of desired aryl migration product for substrates designed with a 3‐atom tether, which proceed through a 5‐membered spirocyclic intermediate. The results are interpreted in comparison with a survey of Truce‐Smiles rearrangements described in the literature and found to be consistent. Computational studies support the observed reactivity trend and suggest an explanation of a favorable combination of ring strain and electrostatic repulsion leading to optimal reactivity of the substrate designed with a 3‐atom tether. Comparison of our results with trends for related ring‐closing reactions illustrate the unique electrostatic features of the system studied herein."Financial support for this work was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada (402608‐2011‐RGPIN, 435374‐2013‐RGPIN), the University of Winnipeg, and the Government of Manitoba Career Focus Program. We thank Westgrid and Compute Canada for supercomputing resources."https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/poc.374

Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery I: Patient Selection, Evaluation, and Planning.

Widespread adoption of minimally invasive mitral valve repair and replacement may be fostered by practice consensus and standardization. This expert opinion, first of a 3-part series, outlines current best practices in patient evaluation and selection for minimally invasive mitral valve procedures, and discusses preoperative planning for cannulation and myocardial protection

Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery III: Training and Robotic-Assisted Approaches.

Minimally invasive mitral valve operations are increasingly common in the United States, but robotic-assisted approaches have not been widely adopted for a variety of reasons. This expert opinion reviews the state of the art and defines best practices, training, and techniques for developing a successful robotics program

Shifting attention in viewer- and object-based reference frames after unilateral brain injury

The aims of the present study were to investigate the respective roles that object- and viewer-based reference frames play in reorienting visual attention, and to assess their influence after unilateral brain injury. To do so, we studied 16 right hemisphere injured (RHI) and 13 left hemisphere injured (LHI) patients. We used a cueing design that manipulates the location of cues and targets relative to a display comprised of two rectangles (i.e., objects). Unlike previous studies with patients, we presented all cues at midline rather than in the left or right visual fields. Thus, in the critical conditions in which targets were presented laterally, reorienting of attention was always from a midline cue. Performance was measured for lateralized target detection as a function of viewer-based (contra- and ipsilesional sides) and object-based (requiring reorienting within or between objects) reference frames. As expected, contralesional detection was slower than ipsilesional detection for the patients. More importantly, objects influenced target detection differently in the contralesional and ipsilesional fields. Contralesionally, reorienting to a target within the cued object took longer than reorienting to a target in the same location but in the uncued object. This finding is consistent with object-based neglect. Ipsilesionally, the means were in the opposite direction. Furthermore, no significant difference was found in object-based influences between the patient groups (RHI vs. LHI). These findings are discussed in the context of reference frames used in reorienting attention for target detection

TRANSFORM (Multicenter Experience With Rapid Deployment Edwards INTUITY Valve System for Aortic Valve Replacement) US clinical trial: Performance of a rapid deployment aortic valve

Background: The TRANSFORM (Multicenter Experience With Rapid Deployment Edwards INTUITY Valve System for Aortic Valve Replacement) trial (NCT01700439) evaluated the performance of the INTUITY rapid deployment aortic valve replacement (RDAVR) system in patients with severe aortic stenosis. Methods: TRANSFORM was a prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter (n 1�4 29), single-arm trial. INTUITY is comprised of a cloth-covered balloon- expandable frame attached to a Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Magna Ease aortic valve. Primary and effectiveness endpoints were evaluated at 1 year. Results: Between 2012 and 2015, 839 patients underwent RDAVR. Mean age was 73.5 8.3 years. Full sternotomy (FS) was used in 59% and minimally invasive surgical incisions in 41%. Technical success rate was 95%. For isolated RDAVR, mean crossclamp and cardiopulmonary bypass times for FS were 49.3 26.9 minutes and 69.2 34.7 minutes, respectively, and for minimally invasive surgical 63.1 25.4 minutes and 84.6 33.5 minutes, respectively. These times were favorable compared with Society of Thoracic Surgeons data- base comparators for FS: 76.3 minutes and 104.2 minutes, respectively, and for minimally invasive surgical, 82.9 minutes and 111.4 minutes, respectively (P<.001). At 30 days, all-cause mortality was 0.8%; valve explant, 0.1%; throm- boembolism, 3.5%; and major bleeding, 1.3%. In patients with isolated aortic valve replacement, the rate of permanent pacemaker implantation was 11.9%. At 1 year, mean effective orifice area was 1.7 cm2; mean gradient, 10.3 mm Hg; and moderate and severe paravalvular leak, 1.2% and 0.4%, respectively

Electrolytic ablation of the rat pancreas: a feasibility trial

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer is a biologically aggressive disease with less than 20% of patients suitable for a "curative" surgical resection. This, combined with the poor 5-year survival indicates that effective palliative methods for symptom relief are required. Currently there are no ablative techniques to treat pancreatic cancer in clinical use. Tissue electrolysis is the delivery of a direct current between an anode and cathode to induce localised necrosis. Electrolysis has been shown to be safe and reliable in producing hepatic tissue and tumour ablation in animal models and in a limited number of patients. This study investigates the feasibility of using electrolysis to produce localised pancreatic necrosis in a healthy rat model. METHOD: Ten rats were studied in total. Eight rats were treated with variable "doses" of coulombs, and the systemic and local effects were assessed; 2 rats were used as controls. RESULTS: Seven rats tolerated the procedure well without morbidity or mortality, and one died immediately post procedure. One control rat died on induction of anaesthesia. Serum amylase and glucose were not significantly affected. CONCLUSION: Electrolysis in the rat pancreas produced localised necrosis and appears both safe, and reproducible. This novel technique could offer significant advantages for patients with unresectable pancreatic tumours. The next stage of the study is to assess pancreatic electrolysis in a pig model, prior to human pilot studies