I Want to be the Inquiry Guy! How Research Experiences for Teachers Change Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values About Teaching Science as Inquiry

This qualitative study examined how and why research experiences for teachers (RETs) influenced middle and high school science teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and values about teaching science as inquiry. Changes teachers reported after participating in the RET ranged from modifying a few lessons (belief change) to a comprehensive revision of what and how they taught to better reflect inquiry (attitude change). Some teachers who described comprehensively changing their instruction also described implementing actions meant to change science education within their respective schools, not just their own classrooms (value change). We present how and why teachers went about changes in their practices in relation to the researcher-created teacher inquiry beliefs system spectrum (TIBSS). The TIBSS conceptualizes the range of changes observed in participating teachers. We also describe the features of the RET and external factors, such as personal experiences and school contexts, that teachers cited as influential to these changes

Post-Stall Aerodynamic Modeling and Gain-Scheduled Control Design

A multidisciplinary research e.ort that combines aerodynamic modeling and gain-scheduled control design for aircraft flight at post-stall conditions is described. The aerodynamic modeling uses a decambering approach for rapid prediction of post-stall aerodynamic characteristics of multiple-wing con.gurations using known section data. The approach is successful in bringing to light multiple solutions at post-stall angles of attack right during the iteration process. The predictions agree fairly well with experimental results from wind tunnel tests. The control research was focused on actuator saturation and .ight transition between low and high angles of attack regions for near- and post-stall aircraft using advanced LPV control techniques. The new control approaches maintain adequate control capability to handle high angle of attack aircraft control with stability and performance guarantee

White blood cell DNA methylation and risk of breast cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO)

Background Several studies have suggested that global DNA methylation in circulating white blood cells (WBC) is associated with breast cancer risk. Methods To address conflicting results and concerns that the findings for WBC DNA methylation in some prior studies may reflect disease effects, we evaluated the relationship between global levels of WBC DNA methylation in white blood cells and breast cancer risk in a case-control study nested within the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) cohort. A total of 428 invasive breast cancer cases and 419 controls, frequency matched on age at entry (55–59, 60–64, 65–69, ≥70 years), year of entry (on/before September 30, 1997, on/after October 1, 1997) and period of DNA extraction (previously extracted, newly extracted) were included. The ratio of 5-methyl-2’ deoxycytidine [5-mdC] to 2’-deoxyguanine [dG], assuming [dG] = [5-mdC] + [2’-deoxycytidine [dC]] (%5-mdC), was determined by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry, an especially accurate method for assessing total genomic DNA methylation. Results Odds ratio (OR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for breast cancer risk adjusted for age at entry, year of entry, and period of DNA extraction, were 1.0 (referent), 0.89 (95% CI, 0.6–1.3), 0.88 (95% CI, 0.6–1.3), and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.6–1.2) for women in the highest compared to lowest quartile levels of %5md-C (p for trend = .39). Effects did not meaningfully vary by time elapsed from WBC collection to diagnosis. Discussion These results do not support the hypothesis that global DNA hypomethylation in WBC DNA is associated with increased breast cancer risk prior to the appearance of clinical disease

Hormone replacement therapy before breast cancer diagnosis significantly reduces the overall death rate compared with never-use among 984 breast cancer patients

Nine hundred and eighty-four breast cancer patients were interviewed regarding exogenous hormonal use. This represents a random sample of breast cancer patients in Southern Sweden referred to the Department of Oncology at Lund for treatment between 1978 and 1997 (excluding 1980 and 1981) with a 100% follow-up. Ever-use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prior to diagnosis was significantly associated with a longer overall survival in women with their breast cancer diagnosed at ages 45 and above, relative risk (RR) of dying 0.73 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.62-0.87; P = 0.0005). Ever use of HRT prior to breast cancer diagnosis was significantly positively associated with overall longer survival after adjustment for T-stage, N-stage, M-stage, year of diagnosis and age at diagnosis, RR of dying 0.78 (95% CI 0.65-0.93; P = 0.006). Hormone replacement therapy use and oestrogen receptor positivity were independently significantly associated with overall longer survival, P = 0.005 and P < 0.0001, respectively, in one model. HRT use and progesterone receptor positivity were also independently significantly associated with longer overall survival, P = 0.003 and P = 0.0003, respectively, in another model. The mode of diagnosis was known in 705 women. Mammography screening was not more common among HRT users compared with never-users, where this information was available. Both mammography screening and HRT use were independently associated with longer survival, P = 0.002 and P = 0.038 respectively

Steroid hormone measurements from different types of assays in relation to body mass index and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women: Reanalysis of eighteen prospective studies

Epidemiological studies have examined breast cancer risk in relation to sex hormone concentrations measured by different methods: "extraction" immunoassays (with prior purification by organic solvent extraction, with or without column chromatography), "direct" immunoassays (no prior extraction or column chromatography), and more recently with mass spectrometry-based assays. We describe the associations of estradiol, estrone and testosterone with both body mass index and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women according to assay method, using data from a collaborative pooled analysis of 18 prospective studies. In general, hormone concentrations were highest in studies that used direct assays and lowest in studies that used mass spectrometry-based assays. Estradiol and estrone were strongly positively associated with body mass index, regardless of the assay method; testosterone was positively associated with body mass index for direct assays, but less clearly for extraction assays, and there were few data for mass spectrometry assays. The correlations of estradiol with body mass index, estrone and testosterone were lower for direct assays than for extraction and mass spectrometry assays, suggesting that the estimates from the direct assays were less precise. For breast cancer risk, all three hormones were strongly positively associated with risk regardless of assay method (except for testosterone by mass spectrometry where there were few data), with no statistically significant differences in the trends, but differences may emerge as new data accumulate. Future epidemiological and clinical research studies should continue to use the most accurate assays that are feasible within the design characteristics of each study

Suicide in cancer patients in South East England from 1996 to 2005: a population-based study

BACKGROUND: Studies from around the world have shown that suicide risk is increased in cancer patients, but no previous detailed analysis has been carried out in England

Effect of Al2O3 and Cr2O3 on loquidus temperatures in the cristobalite and tridymite primary phase fields of the MgO-"FeO"-SiO2 ststem in equilibrium with metallic iron

The effects of alumina and chromite impurities on the liquidus temperatures in the cristobalite/tridymite (SiO2) primary phase fields in the MgO-FeO-SiO, system in equilibrium with metallic iron have been investigated experimentally. Using high temperature equilibration and quenching followed by electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA), liquiclus isotherms have been determined in the temperatures range 1 673 to 1 898 K. The results are presented in the form of pseudo-ternary sections of the MgO-FeO-SiO, system at 2, 3 and 5 wt% Al2O3, 2 wt% Cr2O3, and 2 wt% Cr2O3+2 wt% Al2O3. The study enables the liquidus to be described for a range of SiO2/MgO and MgO/FeO ratios. It was found that liquiclus temperatures in the cristobalite and tridymite primary phase fields, decrease significantly with the addition of Al2O3 and Cr2O3