Assessing Social-Emotional Abilities of Preschool-Aged Children Within a Social-Emotional Learning Framework

During the past decade, there has been an increasing amount of research demonstrating a positive relationship between early childhood social-emotional abilities and later life outcomes. As such, practitioners who work with preschool-aged children are called to understand the social-emotional abilities that constitute healthy development. Doing so provides practitioners with a social-emotional framework from which to work so that they may efficiently assess and intervene in these abilities. This manuscript grounds social-emotional abilities within the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) Framework for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). We describe the need for a multi-method, multi-sourced, multi-setting comprehensive social-emotional assessment of preschool-aged children and describe a rating scale that can be used as a part of the assessment process. The manuscript concludes with a discussion regarding the importance of intervening early to prepare preschool-aged children for future academic and life success

Host Plants and Climate Structure Habitat Associations of the Western Monarch Butterfly

The monarch butterfly is one of the most easily recognized and frequently studied insects in the world, and has recently come into the spotlight of public attention and conservation concern because of declining numbers of individuals associated with both the eastern and western migrations. Historically, the larger eastern migration has received the most scientific attention, but this has been changing in recent years, and here we report the largest-ever attempt to map and characterize non-overwintering habitat for the western monarch butterfly. Across the environmentally and topographically complex western landscape, we include 8,427 observations of adults and juvenile monarchs, as well as 20,696 records from 13 milkweed host plant species. We find high heterogeneity of suitable habitats across the geographic range, with extensive concentrations in the California floristic province in particular. We also find habitat suitability for the butterfly to be structured primarily by host plant habitat associations, which are in turn structured by a diverse suite of climatic variables. These results add to our knowledge of range and occupancy determinants for migratory species and provide a tool that can be used by conservation biologists and researchers interested in interactions among climate, hosts and host-specific animals, and by managers for prioritizing future conservation actions at regional to watershed scales

Concave Pit-Containing Scaffold Surfaces Improve Stem Cell-Derived Osteoblast Performance and Lead to Significant Bone Tissue Formation

Scaffold surface features are thought to be important regulators of stem cell performance and endurance in tissue engineering applications, but details about these fundamental aspects of stem cell biology remain largely unclear.In the present study, smooth clinical-grade lactide-coglyolic acid 85:15 (PLGA) scaffolds were carved as membranes and treated with NMP (N-metil-pyrrolidone) to create controlled subtractive pits or microcavities. Scanning electron and confocal microscopy revealed that the NMP-treated membranes contained: (i) large microcavities of 80-120 microm in diameter and 40-100 microm in depth, which we termed primary; and (ii) smaller microcavities of 10-20 microm in diameter and 3-10 microm in depth located within the primary cavities, which we termed secondary. We asked whether a microcavity-rich scaffold had distinct bone-forming capabilities compared to a smooth one. To do so, mesenchymal stem cells derived from human dental pulp were seeded onto the two types of scaffold and monitored over time for cytoarchitectural characteristics, differentiation status and production of important factors, including bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). We found that the microcavity-rich scaffold enhanced cell adhesion: the cells created intimate contact with secondary microcavities and were polarized. These cytological responses were not seen with the smooth-surface scaffold. Moreover, cells on the microcavity-rich scaffold released larger amounts of BMP-2 and VEGF into the culture medium and expressed higher alkaline phosphatase activity. When this type of scaffold was transplanted into rats, superior bone formation was elicited compared to cells seeded on the smooth scaffold.In conclusion, surface microcavities appear to support a more vigorous osteogenic response of stem cells and should be used in the design of therapeutic substrates to improve bone repair and bioengineering applications in the future

Glioma Through the Looking GLASS: Molecular Evolution of Diffuse Gliomas and the Glioma Longitudinal AnalySiS Consortium

Adult diffuse gliomas are a diverse group of brain neoplasms that inflict a high emotional toll on patients and their families. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and similar projects have provided a comprehensive understanding of the somatic alterations and molecular subtypes of glioma at diagnosis. However, gliomas undergo significant cellular and molecular evolution during disease progression. We review the current knowledge on the genomic and epigenetic abnormalities in primary tumors and after disease recurrence, highlight the gaps in the literature, and elaborate on the need for a new multi-institutional effort to bridge these knowledge gaps and how the Glioma Longitudinal AnalySiS Consortium (GLASS) aims to systemically catalog the longitudinal changes in gliomas. The GLASS initiative will provide essential insights into the evolution of glioma toward a lethal phenotype, with the potential to reveal targetable vulnerabilities, and ultimately, improved outcomes for a patient population in need

WINTER DISTRIBUTION OF GREATER SANDHILL CRANES MARKED AT BREEDING AREAS IN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND WASHINGTON

Large numbers of greater sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis tabida) have been banded and color-marked at several important breeding sites in the western U.S. since the late 1960s. Crane color-marking began in the late 1960s at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in eastern Oregon. Crane marking programs were initiated at Sycan Marsh, Summer Lake Wildlife Area (both in south-central Oregon), as well as at Modoc NWR in the mid-1980s. In the mid-1990s, a marking program was initiated at Conboy Lake NWR in south-central Washington. This paper reviews winter records and distribution of marked birds from these sites within the Central Valley of California, reviews their movements between wintering areas, assesses their fidelity to wintering sites and discusses conservation implications of this information

Bees of the Pacific Northwest : key to Lasioglossum species for females of the subgenera Hemihalictus, Sphecodogastra, and Evylaeus in Oregon (Hymenoptera : Halictidae)

The following taxonomic keys are adapted in part from the subgeneric and species descriptions and keys produced by McGinley (2003), Gibbs et al. (2013) and Gardner and Gibbs (2022). Additional identification information was provided by Jason Gibbs, Thilina Hettiarachchi (University of Manitoba), and Joel Gardner (Washington State University). While these resources were invaluable for crafting the keys provided below, only 6 of the 22 Oregon species presented below are treated within these earlier keys. This key to the species of Oregon is intended to fill the gap in knowledge and available identification resources for these subgenera in the region while acknowledging that the subgenera still require thorough taxonomic revision. Only a revision for the subgenus Hemihalictus is currently in progress (J. Gibbs pers. comm., Sept. 2021, Thilina Hettiarachchi pers. comm., Jan. 2024)