Examining associations between classroom environment and processes and early mathematics performance from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten.

One benefit of the No Child Left Behind legislation (2001) has been the increasing attention on the importance of the skills learned in the pre-kindergarten period for later academic achievement. There is a growing awareness that mathematics skills in kindergarten and beyond are influenced by the formal and informal mathematics skills acquired in the pre-kindergarten classroom. In recent years, a body of research has emerged pointing to the contributions to children’s learning from pre-kindergarten program quality as indexed by structure and process elements in the classroom. Results from this study point to three major findings. First, the growth of mathematics skills from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten for the full sample varied between classes but was not significantly associated with the elements of the classroom environment selected for study. Second, classroom elements were differentially related to growth of mathematics scores depending on children’s scores at pre-kindergarten entry. Third, overall differences between high- and low-performing children at pre-kindergarten entry are evident in their growth through kindergarten

The Marine Microbial Eukaryote Transcriptome Sequencing Project (MMETSP): illuminating the functional diversity of eukaryotic life in the oceans through transcriptome sequencing

International audienceCurrent sampling of genomic sequence data from eukaryotes is relatively poor, biased, and inadequate to address important questions about their biology, evolution, and ecology; this Community Page describes a resource of 700 transcriptomes from marine microbial eukaryotes to help understand their role in the world's oceans

The Sepsis Chain of Survival:A Comprehensive Framework for Improving Sepsis Outcomes

The "Chain of Survival"concept, developed for cardiac arrest, emphasizes a seamless and interconnected set, of time-critical interventions that are not strictly linear, to improve survival. This paradigm of urgent recognition and response to life-threatening conditions has evolved to apply to acute medical conditions, including sepsis. The "Sepsis Chain of Survival"underscores the importance of early recognition, prompt emergency medical services activation, timely antimicrobial administration and appropriate fluid resuscitation, optimized critical care management, effective source control and infection management, and comprehensive post-sepsis care. By adopting this approach, healthcare systems can improve sepsis outcomes through a coordinated, multifaceted strategy. This model highlights the critical role of public and healthcare worker awareness, education, community response, and continuous monitoring. Addressing the importance and interdependence of each link, this framework aims to improve survival rates and patient recovery by ensuring timely and effective sepsis management across diverse resource settings in infants, children, and adults.</p

Naming Names: The Impact of Supreme Court Opinion Attribution on Citizen Assessment of Policy Outcomes

The manner in which political institutions convey their policy outcomes can have important implications for how the public views institutions\u27 policy decisions. This paper explores whether the way in which the U.S. Supreme Court communicates its policy decrees affects how favorably members of the public assess its decisions. Specifically, we investigate whether attributing a decision to the nation\u27s High Court or to an individual justice influences the public\u27s agreement with the Court\u27s rulings. Using an experimental design, we find that when a Supreme Court outcome is ascribed to the institution as a whole, rather than to a particular justice, people are more apt to agree with the policy decision. We also find that identifying the gender of the opinion author affects public agreement under certain conditions. Our findings have important implications for how public support for institutional policymaking operates, as well as the dynamics of how the Supreme Court manages to accumulate and maintain public goodwill

2019 Scholars at Work Conference Program

Program for the 2019 Scholars at Work Conference at Minnesota State University, Mankato on March 29, 2019

Consensus Recommendations for Clinical Outcome Assessments and Registry Development in Ataxias: Ataxia Global Initiative (AGI) Working Group Expert Guidance

To accelerate and facilitate clinical trials, the Ataxia Global Initiative (AGI) was established as a worldwide research platform for trial readiness in ataxias. One of AGI's major goals is the harmonization and standardization of outcome assessments. Clinical outcome assessments (COAs) that describe or reflect how a patient feels or functions are indispensable for clinical trials, but similarly important for observational studies and in routine patient care. The AGI working group on COAs has defined a set of data including a graded catalog of COAs that are recommended as a standard for future assessment and sharing of clinical data and joint clinical studies. Two datasets were defined: a mandatory dataset (minimal dataset) that can ideally be obtained during a routine clinical consultation and a more demanding extended dataset that is useful for research purposes. In the future, the currently most widely used clinician-reported outcome measure (ClinRO) in ataxia, the scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA), should be developed into a generally accepted instrument that can be used in upcoming clinical trials. Furthermore, there is an urgent need (i) to obtain more data on ataxia-specific, patient-reported outcome measures (PROs), (ii) to demonstrate and optimize sensitivity to change of many COAs, and (iii) to establish methods and evidence of anchoring change in COAs in patient meaningfulness, e.g., by determining patient-derived minimally meaningful thresholds of change

Effects of environmental and genetic factors on Sir2 activity and DNA damage repair

Environmental and genetic factors influence epigenetic states and affect cellular processes. Environmental factors cause heritable changes in gene expression patterns by affecting regulators of epigenetic processes. The plant secondary metabolite dihydrocoumarin (DHC), which is produced in several botanicals and is commonly used as a food, tobacco, and cosmetic additive, inhibits the Sir2p/SIRT1 family of NAD+-dependent histone deacetylases. In S. cerevisiae, Sir2p maintains silent chromatin at the HM loci, telomeres, and rDNA, whereas in mammals, SIRT1 regulates gene expression and other cellular processes. DHC causes disassembly of silent chromatin leading to loss of silencing at reporter and endogenous genes. Examination of the bioavailability and digestive stability of DHC in vivo and in vitro revealed that DHC was unstable and converted to melilotic acid (MA), a less bioactive compound. DHC did not accumulate to high levels in most rat tissues and was cleared from the animals 6 hr after DHC was administered. MA was present in the blood plasma, interstitial fluid, and urine of the animal and DHC was not detected in these samples suggesting that the conversion of DHC to MA occurs rapidly in the animals and is potentially catalyzed by enzymes in the bloodstream. To confirm that lower concentration of DHC could inhibit Sir2p activity independent of DHC hydrolysis to MA, α-factor confrontation assays were performed in strains lacking the multidrug transporter PDR5. Genetic factors also influence epigenetic processes. Asf1p, a chromatin assembly factor required for H3 K56ac by Rtt109p, binds H3/H4 dimers. Deletion of ASF1 leads to defects in silencing and sensitivity to DNA damaging agents. These phenotypes are attributed to H3 K56ac as strains lacking RTT109 and H3 K56R mutants have similar phenotypes to asf1δ strains. To separate genetically the role of Asf1p in chromatin assembly and H3 K56ac from DNA damage repair and binding to Rad53p, mutations were made to the surface of histone H3 that is bound by Asf1p. These mutations resulted in phenotypes that mimicked an asf1δ in all phenotypes tested except for H3 K56ac. H3 K56ac remained acetylated in all mutants tested, indicating that the H3-Asf1p interaction was not disrupted or the requirement for interaction between Asf1p and H3 for H3 K56ac had been bypassed in these mutants. These results appear to challenge the current understanding in the field as these phenotypes have previously been attributed to loss of H3 K56ac. Together, these two studies demonstrate the effects of a dietary factor, DHC, and genetic factors, Asf1p and H3/H4, on epigenetic processes in the cell