The Role of Teachers' Expectations in the Association between Children's SES and Performance in Kindergarten: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study examines the role of teachers' expectations in the association between children's socio-economic background and achievement outcomes. Furthermore, the role of children's ethnicity in moderating this mediated relation is investigated. In the present study, 3,948 children from kindergarten are examined. Data are analysed by means of structural equation modeling. First, results show that teachers' expectations mediate the relation between children's SES and their later language and math achievement, after controlling for children's ethnicity, prior achievement and gender. This result indicates that teachers may exacerbate individual differences between children. Second, children's ethnicity moderates the mediation effect of teachers' expectations with respect to math outcomes. The role of teachers' expectations in mediating the relation between SES and math outcomes is stronger for majority children than for minority children

Relative effects of statin therapy on stroke and cardiovascular events in men and women - Secondary analysis of the Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels (SPARCL) study

Background and Purpose-In SPARCL, treatment with atorvastatin 80 mg daily reduced stroke risk in patients with recent stroke or TIA and no known coronary heart disease by 16% versus placebo over 4.9 years of follow-up. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to determine whether men and women similarly benefited from randomization to statin treatment. Methods-The effect of sex on treatment-related reductions in stroke and other cardiovascular outcomes were analyzed with Cox regression modeling testing for sex by treatment interactions. Results-Women (n = 1908) constituted 40% of the SPARCL study population. At baseline, men (n = 2823) were younger (62.0 +/- 0.21 ersus 63.9 +/- 0.27 years), had lower systolic BPs (138.1 +/- 0.35 versus 139.5 +/- 0.47 mm Hg), higher diastolic BPs (82.2 +/- 0.20 versus 81.0 +/- 0.25 mm Hg), more frequently had a history of smoking (73% versus 38%), and had lower total cholesterol (207.0 +/- 0.54 versus 218.9 +/- 0.67 mg/dL) and LDL-C levels (132 +/- 0.45 versus 134 +/- 0.57 mg/dL) than women. Use of antithrombotics and antihypertensives were similar. After prespecified adjustment for region, entry event, time since event, and age, there were no sex by treatment interactions for the combined risk of nonfatal and fatal stroke (treatment Hazard Ratio, HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.68, 1.02 in men versus HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.63, 1.11 in women; treatment x sex interaction P = 0.99), major cardiac events (HR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.42, 0.87 in men versus HR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.48, 1.21 in women; P = 0.45), major cardiovascular events (HR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.65, 0.93 in men versus HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.65, 1.07 in women; P = 0.63), revascularization procedures (HR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.37, 0.67 in men versus HR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.46, 1.24 in women; P = 0.17), or any CHD event (HR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.41, 0.72 in men versus 0.67 95% CI 0.46, 0.98 in women; P = 0.40). Conclusion-Stroke and other cardiovascular events are similarly reduced with atorvastatin 80 mg/d in men and women with recent stroke or TIA

Straightening and Partitioning Shapes

A method for partitioning shapes is described based on a global convexity measure. Its advantages are that its global nature makes it robust to noise, and apart from the number of partitioning cuts no parameters are required. In order to ensure that the method operates correctly on bent or undulating shapes a process is developed that identifies the underlying bending and removes it, straightening out the shape. Results are shown on a large range of shapes