Making a Case for Using Visual Inquiry Discussion in Preparing Elementary Social Studies Teachers.

This dissertation research examines a teacher educator’s instructional practices and preservice teachers’ learning in two elementary social studies methods courses. As self-study, it focuses on learning to teach preservice teachers how to select and use visual images to teacher history and social studies. The research uses the Grossman Framework for professional education in representing, decomposing and providing opportunities for preservice teachers to approximate practice while learning to enact an Inquiry with Visual Images Discussion (VID) in elementary field classrooms (Grossman, 2011; Grossman et al., 2009). Preservice teachers working in pairs from each course serve as case study examples to describe preservice teachers’ learning about image selection, content knowledge, lesson planning, rehearsal and enactment. Analysis of two years of instruction suggests the importance of preservice teachers understanding and applying criteria for effective image selection, in addition to increasing their content knowledge of the selected image and its context. This study also points to role that metacognition and rehearsal play in developing preservice teachers’ skillful practice. Preservice teachers benefitted through strategic opportunities to practice responding to children in increasingly authentic settings. The findings pointed to three factors critical in teaching others the Visual Inquiry Discussion strategy, and possibly other multi-faceted instructional practices: the importance of increasingly sophisticated opportunities to approximate practices, including rehearsal in the teacher education classroom, and the role of identifying detailed features of the instructional strategy This study details the ways the teacher educator represented, decomposed and provided opportunities to successively approximate the Visual Inquiry Discussion practice across two different classes in two years. The analysis of preservice teachers’ lesson plans and reflections on their experiences trying to engage children in Visual Inquiry Discussion revealed significant challenges preservice teachers faced. The study explains the modifications the teacher educator made to her practice and describes the improvements in preservice teachers’ performance. Overall, preservice teachers reported successes in enacting the VID in field classrooms with pupils. This dissertation research adds to the literature on the relationship between teacher educators’ instructional practices for preservice teachers’ learning to enact an inquiry lesson with visual images in the elementary social studies classroom.PHDEducational StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102414/1/cathyjo_1.pd

Securing recruitment and obtaining informed consent in minority ethnic groups in the UK

Background: Previous health research has often explicitly excluded individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds due to perceived cultural and communication difficulties, including studies where there might be language/literacy problems in obtaining informed consent. This study addressed these difficulties by developing audio-recorded methods of obtaining informed consent and recording data. This report outlines 1) our experiences with securing recruitment to a qualitative study investigating alternative methods of data collection, and 2) the development of a standardised process for obtaining informed consent from individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds whose main language does not have an agreed written form. Methods: Two researchers from South Asian backgrounds recruited adults with Type 2 diabetes whose main language was spoken and not written, to attend a series of focus groups. A screening tool was used at recruitment in order to assess literacy skills in potential participants. Informed consent was obtained using audio-recordings of the patient information and recording patients' verbal consent. Participants' perceptions of this method of obtaining consent were recorded. Results: Recruitment rates were improved by using telephone compared to face-to-face methods. The screening tool was found to be acceptable by all potential participants. Audio-recorded methods of obtaining informed consent were easy to implement and accepted by all participants. Attrition rates differed according to ethnic group. Snowballing techniques only partly improved participation rates. Conclusion: Audio-recorded methods of obtaining informed consent are an acceptable alternative to written consent in study populations where literacy skills are variable. Further exploration of issues relating to attrition is required, and a range of methods may be necessary in order to maximise response and participation

Risk Factors for Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever, Democratic Republic of the Congo

We conducted two antibody surveys to assess risk factors for Marburg hemorrhagic fever in an area of confirmed Marburg virus transmission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Questionnaires were administered and serum samples tested for Marburg-specific antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Fifteen (2%) of 912 participants in a general village cross-sectional antibody survey were positive for Marburg immunoglobulin G antibody. Thirteen (87%) of these 15 were men who worked in the local gold mines. Working as a miner (odds ratio [OR] 13.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.1 to 62.1) and receiving injections (OR 7.4, 95% CI 1.6 to 33.2) were associated with a positive antibody result. All 103 participants in a targeted antibody survey of healthcare workers were antibody negative. Primary transmission of Marburg virus to humans likely occurred via exposure to a still unidentified reservoir in the local mines. Secondary transmission appears to be less common with Marburg virus than with Ebola virus, the other known filovirus

Moving beyond the 2018 minimum international care considerations for osteoporosis management in duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD): Meeting report from the 3rd International Muscle-Bone Interactions Meeting 7th and 14th November 2022

This current manuscript summarizes the proceedings of the “Third Muscle-bone interactions in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Symposium: Moving Beyond the 2018 Minimum International Standards of Care for Osteoporosis Management”, an event co-organized by the World Duchenne Organization (www.worldduchenne.org) and the International Conference on Children’s Bone Health (www.theiscbh.org). This virtual symposium, held on November 7th and 14th 2022, brought together a total of 385 delegates representing 55 countries registered for the symposium, which included 239 clinicians, 70 researchers, 40 patient representatives and others from pharmaceutical companies and regulators. This symposium aimed to review the evidence base that informed the 2018 international minimum Care Considerations, best practices for implementation of these Care Considerations, and emerging knowledge that has arisen from research since the 2018 Care Considerations that shines light on the path forward. The online symposium and this report cover the following areas: 1. Current understanding of the bone morbidity in DMD, especially in relation to conventional glucocorticoid therapy. 2. The published, 2018 minimum international Care Considerations for osteoporosis monitoring and management in DMD. 3. Real world initiatives and challenges in the implementation of the 2018 minimum international Care Considerations for osteoporosis monitoring and management in DMD. 4. The need to consider strategies to move beyond the 2018 minimum international Care Considerations to prevent first fractures in DMD. 5. New therapies in DMD with potential impact on skeletal outcomes

Moving Beyond the 2018 Minimum International Care Considerations for Osteoporosis Management in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)

Individuals living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are at significant risk of bone fragility due to osteoporosis, with the most potent drivers of fragility fractures in this context stemming from the aggressive myopathy and long term oral glucocorticoid therapy. Young people with DMD have a high fracture burden, with reported total and vertebral fracture rates that are four [1, 2] and 535 times [1] higher than those of healthy growing boys, respectively. Vertebral fractures can occur as early as six months following daily glucocorticoid initiation [3]. Up to 75% of young people with DMD sustain at least one fracture after eight years of glucocorticoid therapy [4]. Fractures in DMD can lead to devastating outcomes, including steeper rates of functional decline, premature and permanent loss of ambulation, chronic pain, and even death from fat embolism syndrome or adrenal crisis following long bone fractures [2, 5–8]. The potential for serious consequences and medical complications linked to fractures has driven efforts to develop effective guidelines for timely bone health surveillance and treatment with more recent efforts to develop fracture prevention strategies.To guide clinicians in the management of DMD and its related co-morbidities (including skeletal health), the first internationally-endorsed, minimum standards of care were published in 2010 under the moniker “Clinical Care Considerations” [9, 10]. This document recommends that osteoporosis monitoring include spine x-rays if back pain or kyphosis is present, followed by initiation of intravenous bisphosphonate therapy if vertebral fractures are identified [10]. In the years following the inaugural 2010 Clinical Care Considerations, studies were published showing that vertebral fractures, a key manifestation of bone fragility among children and adults living with glucorticoid-treated chronic conditions, were frequently asymptomatic, necessitating routine surveillance for early detection [3, 11]. It was also better appreciated that even a single long bone fracture can signal osteoporosis in a persistently high-risk setting such as DMD, and prompt initiation of bone protection therapy is important.With this new knowledge, the latest international, minimum standards of clinical care for DMD published in 2018, known as Care Considerations [12–14], recommended routine, standardized spine imaging for early detection of vertebral fractures, combined with more timely bone-targeted (bisphosphonate) intervention in the presence of vertebral or low trauma long bone fractures [12]. At the same time, the ever-changing therapeutic landscape for the treatment of the underlying condition calls for ongoing examination of the intimate relationship between muscle and bone development in DMD, including the effect of different DMD treatment approaches on the skeletal and endocrine systems. The overall goal of such focus is to harvest discussions about optimal management that will foster bone strength and prevent fractures in this high-risk setting across all underlying disease-targeted treatment paradigms for people with DMD

Expression profile of the N-myc Downstream Regulated Gene 2 (NDRG2) in human cancers with focus on breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several studies have shown that <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA is down-regulated or undetectable in various human cancers and cancer cell-lines. Although the function of <it>NDRG2 </it>is currently unknown, high <it>NDRG2 </it>expression correlates with improved prognosis in high-grade gliomas, gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinomas. Furthermore, <it>in vitro </it>studies have revealed that over-expression of NDRG2 in cell-lines causes a significant reduction in their growth. The aim of this study was to examine levels of <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA in several human cancers, with focus on breast cancer, by examining affected and normal tissue.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>By labelling a human Cancer Profiling Array with a radioactive probe against <it>NDRG2</it>, we evaluated the level of <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA in 154 paired normal and tumor samples encompassing 19 different human cancers. Furthermore, we used quantitative real-time RT-PCR to quantify the levels of <it>NDRG2 </it>and <it>MYC </it>mRNA in thyroid gland cancer and breast cancer, using a distinct set of normal and tumor samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From the Cancer Profiling Array, we saw that the level of <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA was reduced by at least 2-fold in almost a third of the tumor samples, compared to the normal counterpart, and we observed a marked decreased level in colon, cervix, thyroid gland and testis. However, a Benjamini-Hochberg correction showed that none of the tissues showed a significant reduction in <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA expression in tumor tissue compared to normal tissue. Using quantitative RT-PCR, we observed a significant reduction in the level of <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA in a distinct set of tumor samples from both thyroid gland cancer (p = 0.02) and breast cancer (p = 0.004), compared with normal tissue. <it>MYC </it>mRNA was not significantly altered in breast cancer or in thyroid gland cancer, compared with normal tissue. In thyroid gland, no correlation was found between <it>MYC </it>and <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA levels, but in breast tissue we found a weakly significant correlation with a positive r-value in both normal and tumor tissues, suggesting that <it>MYC </it>and <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA are regulated together.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Expression of <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA is reduced in many different human cancers. Using quantitative RT-PCR, we have verified a reduction in thyroid cancer and shown, for the first time, that <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA is statistically significantly down-regulated in breast cancer. Furthermore, our observations indicate that other tissues such as cervix and testis can have lower levels of <it>NDRG2 </it>mRNA in tumor tissue compared to normal tissue.</p

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version