A cross-national mixed-method study of reality pedagogy

This mixed-methods cross-national study investigated the effectiveness of reality pedagogy (an approach in which teachers become part of students’ activities, practices and rituals) in terms of changes in student perceptions of their learning environment and attitudes towards science. A questionnaire was administered to 142 students in grades 8–10 in the Bronx, New York City and Dresden, Germany. The questionnaire combines learning environment scales from the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and the What Is Happening In this Class? Questionnaire with attitude scales from the Test of Science-Related Attitudes. Student interviews were used to support questionnaire findings. Quantitative data analyses revealed that reality pedagogy had a greater impact on students in the Bronx than in Dresden, with qualitative data clarifying differences in how reality pedagogy was enacted in each geographic area. Overall, our findings add to the body of evidence concerning the effectiveness of reality pedagogy as an approach to teaching and learning science across a variety of contexts. © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrech

Repair of cartilage defects with periosteal grafts.

Alternative sources for repair of cartilage defects are limited and donor sites are associated with morbidity. It is known that cartilage development from periosteal grafts is possible. Various factors have been found positively to affect this process in experimental settings. However, all of these studies were limited to joint cartilage

Prognostic significance of nuclear morphometry in superficial bladder cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the significance of nuclear morphometry in predicting the clinical course in superficial (pTa and pT1) bladder cancer

Power comparison of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test under ranked set sampling and simple random sampling

Many studies have been used to compare the power of several goodness-of-fit (GOF) tests under simple random sampling (SRS) and ranked set sampling (RSS). In our study, a different design procedure and ranking process in RSS are thoroughly investigated. A simulation study is conducted to compare the power of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test under SRS and RSS with different sets and cycle sizes for several distributions. Level-2 sampling design and partially rank-ordered sets are used. Also, we benefited from auxiliary variables in the ranking process. Finally, results are presented with tables and figures. Under these conditions we show that the RSS has better performance against the SRS in finite population

Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposition disease mimicking malignant soft tissue tumor

Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) crystal deposition disease has multiple clinical features with variable courses creating several pitfalls in clinical diagnosis. There are number of reported cases mimicking malignant skeletal tumors such as chondrosarcoma. However, no case of CPPD disease with radiographic noncalcified soft tissue mass has been reported in the literature. Here we report a case of CPPD disease clinically mimicking soft tissue tumor with its magnetic resonance imaging appearance and histopathology

Prognostic significance of anaplasia and angiogenesis in childhood medulloblastoma: a pediatric oncology group study.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether quantitative assessment of cytologic anaplasia and angiogenesis may predict the clinical prognosis in medulloblastoma and stratify the patients to avoid both undertreatment and overtreatment. Medulloblastomas from 23 patients belonging to the Pediatric Oncology Group were evaluated with respect to some prognostic variables, including histologic assessment of nodularity and desmoplasia, grading of anaplasia, measurement of nuclear size, mitotic cell count, quantification of angiogenesis, including vascular surface density (VSD) and microvessel number (NVES), and immunohistochemical scoring of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. Univariate and multivariate analyses for prognostic indicators for survival were performed. Univariate analysis revealed that extensive nodularity was a significant favorable prognostic factor, whereas the presence of anaplasia, increased nuclear size, mitotic rate, VSD, and NVES were significant unfavorable prognostic factors. Using multivariate analysis, increased nuclear size was found to be an independent unfavorable prognostic factor for survival. Neither the presence of desmoplasia nor VEGF expression was significantly related to patient survival. Although care must be taken not to overstate the importance of the results of this single-institution preliminary report, pathologic grading of medulloblastomas with respect to grading of anaplasia and quantification of nodularity. nuclear size, and microvessel profiles may be clinically useful for the treatment of medulloblastomas. Further validation of the independent prognostic significance of nuclear size in stratifying patients is required. (C) 2004 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved