Predicting Faculty Integration of Faith and Learning

Concern regarding the secularization of Christian higher education has prompted researchers to investigate the extent that faith and learning is integrated at a faculty level and what factors might predict faculty integration (Lyon, Beaty, Parker, & Mencken, 2005). This research attempted to replicate Lyon et al.’s (2005) logistic regression model predicting faculty integration of faith using survey responses gathered as part of Phase II of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) Denominational Study (Rine, Glanzer, & Davignon, 2013). Respondents included 2,074 faculty from 55 institutions. The first model used in this study suggested that the most powerful predictors of faculty integration are full-time employment status, earning a degree from an institution that shares the same denominational affiliation, and a match between the faculty member’s religious denominational affiliation and the institutional affiliation. A second logistic regression model added faculty academic specialization as a predictor of integration to investigate if that model was a better fit. Results suggested that religion and philosophy instructors are the most likely to integrate faith into their teaching, and professors specializing in computer science, math, and engineering were the least likely. As faculty are considered the primary influence on the integration of faith and learning, existing faculty and institutional administrators concerned with maintaining faith in the classroom may want to consider the contributing factors discussed

Inadequate Sedation During Therapeutic Paralysis: Use of Bispectral Index in Critically Ill Patients

Background: Patients receiving therapeutic paralysis may experience inadequate sedation due to intrinsic limitations of behavioral sedation assessment. Bispectral index (BISTM) provides an objective measure of sedation; however, the role of BISTM is not well defined in intensive care unit (ICU) patients on neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA). Objective: The aim of this study was to delineate the relationship between BISTM and level of sedation for critically ill patients during therapeutic paralysis. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted in ICU patients receiving continuous infusion NMBA and BISTM monitoring. The primary endpoint was the correlation of BISTM\60 during therapeutic paralysis with a Richmond Agitation Sedation Score (RASS) of -4 to -5 (i.e., deep or unarousable sedation) at the time of emergence from therapeutic paralysis. Results: Thirty-one patients were included in the analysis. Three of these patients (9.6 %) were inadequately sedated upon emergence from paralysis; that is, restless or agitated (RASS ?1 to ?2). We did not observe a correlation between BISTM and RASS upon emergence from paralysis (r = 0.27, p = 0.14). The sensitivity of BISTM\60 in predicting deep sedation (RASS -5 to -4) was 100 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] 0–100) with a positive predictive value of 35.7 %. The sensitivity and positive predictive value of BISTM\60 in predicting light sedation or deeper (RASS -5 to -2) was 92.9 % (95 %CI 83.3–100) and 92.9 %, respectively. Conclusion: These results suggest that 1 in 10 critically ill patients receiving therapeutic paralysis may be inadequately sedated. BISTM monitoring may serve as a useful adjunctive measure of sedation in critically ill patients receiving therapeutic paralysis

Inadequate Sedation During Therapeutic Paralysis: Use of Bispectral Index in Critically Ill Patients

Background Patients receiving therapeutic paralysis may experience inadequate sedation due to intrinsic limitations of behavioral sedation assessment. Bispectral index (BIS™) provides an objective measure of sedation; however, the role of BIS™ is not well defined in intensive care unit (ICU) patients on neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA). Objective The aim of this study was to delineate the relationship between BIS™ and level of sedation for critically ill patients during therapeutic paralysis. Methods This was a retrospective observational study conducted in ICU patients receiving continuous infusion NMBA and BIS™ monitoring. The primary endpoint was the correlation of BIS™ \u3c 60 during therapeutic paralysis with a Richmond Agitation Sedation Score (RASS) of −4 to −5 (i.e., deep or unarousable sedation) at the time of emergence from therapeutic paralysis. Results Thirty-one patients were included in the analysis. Three of these patients (9.6 %) were inadequately sedated upon emergence from paralysis; that is, restless or agitated (RASS +1 to +2). We did not observe a correlation between BIS™ and RASS upon emergence from paralysis (r = 0.27, p = 0.14). The sensitivity of BIS™ \u3c 60 in predicting deep sedation (RASS −5 to −4) was 100 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] 0–100) with a positive predictive value of 35.7 %. The sensitivity and positive predictive value of BIS™ \u3c 60 in predicting light sedation or deeper (RASS −5 to −2) was 92.9 % (95 %CI 83.3–100) and 92.9 %, respectively. Conclusion These results suggest that 1 in 10 critically ill patients receiving therapeutic paralysis may be inadequately sedated. BIS™ monitoring may serve as a useful adjunctive measure of sedation in critically ill patients receiving therapeutic paralysis

Comparative Genomic Characterization of the Multimammate Mouse Mastomys coucha.

Mastomys are the most widespread African rodent and carriers of various diseases such as the plague or Lassa virus. In addition, mastomys have rapidly gained a large number of mammary glands. Here, we generated a genome, variome, and transcriptomes for Mastomys coucha. As mastomys diverged at similar times from mouse and rat, we demonstrate their utility as a comparative genomic tool for these commonly used animal models. Furthermore, we identified over 500 mastomys accelerated regions, often residing near important mammary developmental genes or within their exons leading to protein sequence changes. Functional characterization of a noncoding mastomys accelerated region, located in the HoxD locus, showed enhancer activity in mouse developing mammary glands. Combined, our results provide genomic resources for mastomys and highlight their potential both as a comparative genomic tool and for the identification of mammary gland number determining factors

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Effects of Foldables® on teacher instruction.

Teachers are continuously seeking effective methods for presenting, processing and practicing concepts that they are responsible for teaching. Note taking and graphic organizers, in many forms, are common instructional tools used in the classroom for the delivery of new information. Research suggests that presenting information in a more structured or pictorial form helps students focus on key ideas, easily access information, and stimulate learning. The majority of research on the effects of note taking and graphic organizers has involved the use of traditional outline notes and two-dimensional graphic organizer formats. The specific instructional strategy studied in this research is called a Foldable®, which is a three-dimensional tool that combines note taking and graphic organizer strategies with a kinesthetic integration. An instrumental case study design was used to examine the effects of Foldables® on teachers’ depth of knowledge, planning, and instructional practices. In an effort to closely examine variables, the researcher observed three teacher participants in their classrooms, conducted interviews, reviewed lesson planning data, and collected Foldable® reflections. Using Gagné’s (1985) Conditions of Learning and Bruner’s (1960, 1961) Concept Learning, along with Gagné and Driskoll’s (1988) Learning Outcomes as frameworks, the researcher analyzed the individual teachers’ cases and then conducted a cross-case analysis to identify the effects of Foldables® at the teacher level. Overall, the findings suggest that Foldables® are beneficial to teachers by increasing their depth of knowledge about the standards they are required to teach. Teachers also reported an increased awareness and attention to content-specific vocabulary during their planning process as a result of integrating necessary vocabulary, definitions, and examples into the Foldables® they created. Additionally, Teachers reported feeling more organized during instruction when using Foldables® due to the high level of structure and the breaking down, or task analysis, of standards required when creating Foldables®

The Feasibility and Utility of Level III Portable Sleep Studies in the Pediatric Inpatient Setting.

Study objectivesSleep-disordered breathing (SDB) may significantly impact the course of medical illness in hospitalized children. Polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for establishing diagnosis of SDB, but its availability is limited. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility and utility of level III portable sleep studies in hospitalized children with SDB.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary hospital over the preceding 2 years in hospitalized children &lt; 18 years who had undergone a level III sleep study using the Nox T3 system. The information obtained included demographic data, comorbidities, indication for admission and sleep study, time interval between the study ordered and done, adequacy of technical data from sleep study, study diagnosis, and subsequent management interventions for SDB.ResultsA total of 51 hospitalized children had these studies; 32 were female and mean age was 4.3 years. Approximately 90% of children had significant comorbidities, including neurological and craniofacial abnormalities. The majority (80%) of studies were conducted within 24 hours of the time requested and 92.1% studies had technically adequate data for analysis. Thirty-nine (76.5%) children were identified with SDB; all but one patient underwent therapy for SDB during that same hospitalization, including supplemental oxygen (48.7%), positive airway pressure therapy (23%), surgical intervention (38.2%) or caffeine (10.2%). Twelve percent of children had more than one intervention done.ConclusionsThe level III portable sleep study is readily available, sufficient to diagnose SDB, and help to provide appropriate medical and/or surgical therapies in hospitalized children with complex medical conditions