Where are all the good men? A case study of male elementary and early childhood education majors at the University of Central Missouri

The low number of male elementary and early childhood teachers is problematic in the United States (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2020). Of the 1.8 million public school elementary teachers (pre-Kindergarten-6th grade) in the 2017-2018, and male elementary teachers accounted for 11 percent of the total (NCES, 2020). Colleges of education have also experienced low numbers of enrollment for male preservice teachers. This qualitative case study sought to understand the experiences of male preservice teachers and graduates of the elementary and/or early childhood education program at the University of Central Missouri. Interviews with current male preservice teachers, male graduates, and current and former faculty at UCM, as well as a focus group and observations, were conducted to understand the experiences of these male elementary preservice teachers. The study produced the overarching theme of the power of social connections, which influenced recruitment and retention of male elementary preservice teachers and male elementary teachers. Recommendations for practices of colleges of education include recommendations in the areas of administration, curriculum, faculty behaviors, and collaboration, all stemming from the overarching theme of social connection and the findings from interviews, observations, and focus grouping.Includes bibliographical references

An Analysis of Sexist Communications: Women’s Resistance to Harassment

This paper analyzes the nature of sexism, sexual harassment, and women’s resistance and coping strategies. Sexual harassment takes on many different forms, and the specific types of harassment impact how a women will respond to the perpetrator. Harassment consists of verbal and nonverbal interactions, microaggressions, and other forms of sexual objectification. Previous research has concluded that women’s imagined reactions to harassment vary from their real responses. In actual situations of sexual harassment, women feel fear more than anger. Psychological distress was a repeatedly reported repercussion of sexual harassment. The current study focuses on specific sentiments of insults, such as age, appearance, intelligence, sexual experience, and mental stability. I expect that specific sentiments will elicit one of the four reactions: behavioral engagement, behavioral disengagement, cognitive engagement, or cognitive disengagement. I hope that this research will contribute to reducing sexism through better understanding of women’s subjective experiences of resistance to misogyny

Comprehensive Analysis of Arkansas Teacher Salaries: State, Region, and District

School funding has been an area of contention in the courts of nearly every state. Many of these court cases have challenged the constitutionality of state funding formulas, arguing the funding system was inadequate or inequitable because poor urban or rural districts often faced a disadvantage in garnering tax dollars for education. Specific to Arkansas, in the 1983 decision Dupree v. Alma School District, the Arkansas Supreme Court declared the state’s funding system was not meeting its constitutional requirements

An Evaluation of the Educational Impact of College Campus Visits:A Randomized Experiment

We hypothesize that a lack of experience with college poses a non-trivial barrier to college access for historically underrepresented students. We study whether visits to a college campus during the eighth grade can reduce these psychological barriers to college access. Using an experimental design, we study whether college visits affect students’ knowledge about college, postsecondary intentions, college-going behaviors, academic engagement, and ninth grade course enrollment decisions. We recruited 885 students across 15 schools who participated in our project during the academic year 2017-2018. We randomized students within schools to either a treatment or control condition. Students in the control condition receive an information packet about college. Students in the treatment condition receive the same information and visit a flagship university three times during their 8th-grade academic year. Students assigned to participate in these campus visits demonstrate higher levels of knowledge about college, higher levels of effort while completing the survey, a higher likelihood of having conversations with school personnel about college, and a decreased desire to attend technical school. Additionally, treated students are more likely to enroll in advanced math and science/social science courses in 9th grade

Distinctive expression patterns of 185/333 genes in the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus: an unexpectedly diverse family of transcripts in response to LPS, β-1,3-glucan, and dsRNA

BACKGROUND: A diverse set of transcripts called 185/333 is strongly expressed in sea urchins responding to immune challenge. Optimal alignments of full-length 185/333 cDNAs requires the insertion of large gaps that define 25 blocks of sequence called elements. The presence or absence of individual elements also defines a specific element pattern for each message. Individual sea urchins were challenged with pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) (lipopolysaccharide, β-1,3-glucan, or double stranded RNA), and changes in the 185/333 message repertoire were followed over time. RESULTS: Each animal expressed a diverse set of 185/333 messages prior to challenge and a 0.96 kb message was the predominant size after challenge. Sequence analysis of the cloned messages indicated that the major element pattern expressed in immunoquiescent sea urchins was either C1 or E2.1. In contrast, most animals responding to lipopolysaccharide, β-1,3-glucan or injury, predominantly expressed messages of the E2 pattern. In addition to the major patterns, extensive element pattern diversity was observed among the different animals before and after challenge. Nucleotide sequence diversity of the transcripts increased in response to β-1,3-glucan, double stranded RNA and injury, whereas diversity decreased in response to LPS. CONCLUSION: These results illustrate that sea urchins appear to be able to differentiate among different PAMPs by inducing the transcription of different sets of 185/333 genes. Furthermore, animals may share a suite of 185/333 genes that are expressed in response to common pathogens, while also maintaining a large number of unique genes within the population

Safety of Empagliflozin in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease: Pooled Analysis of Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials

OBJECTIVE: To assess the safety of empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes and moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) (category G3-4) enrolled in clinical trials. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This analysis pooled data from 19 randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 1-4 clinical trials and 1 randomized, placebo-controlled extension study in which patients received empagliflozin 10 mg or 25 mg daily. Time to first occurrence of adverse events (AEs) was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariable Cox regression models. RESULTS: Among a total of 15,081 patients who received at least one study drug dose, 1,522, 722, and 123 were classified as having G3A, G3B, and G4 CKD, respectively, at baseline. Demographic and clinical characteristics were similar between treatment groups across CKD categories. Rates of serious AEs, AEs leading to discontinuation, and events of special interest (including lower limb amputations and acute renal failure [ARF]) were also similar between empagliflozin and placebo across CKD subgroups. In adjusted Cox regression analyses, risks for volume depletion and ARF were similar for empagliflozin and placebo in the combined group with CKD categories G3B and G4 and the G3A group. Notably lower risks were observed in both groups for hyperkalemia (hazard ratio 0.59 [95% CI 0.37-0.96, P = 0.0323] and 0.48 [0.26-0.91, P = 0.0243], respectively) and edema (0.47 [0.33-0.68, P < 0.0001] and 0.44 [0.28-0.68, P = 0.0002], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Use of empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes and advanced CKD raised no new safety concerns and may have beneficial effects on the development of hyperkalemia and edema

Evaluation of Esophageal Motility Utilizing the Functional Lumen Imaging Probe

© 2016 by the American College of Gastroenterology. Objectives:Esophagogastric junction (EGJ) distensibility and distension-mediated peristalsis can be assessed with the functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) during a sedated upper endoscopy. We aimed to describe esophageal motility assessment using FLIP topography in patients presenting with dysphagia.Methods:In all, 145 patients (aged 18-85 years, 54% female) with dysphagia that completed up per endoscopy with a 16-cm FLIP assembly and high-resolution manometry (HRM) were included. HRM was analyzed according to the Chicago Classification of esophageal motility disorders; major esophageal motility disorders were considered "abnormal". FLIP studies were analyzed using a customized program to calculate the EGJ-distensibility index (DI) and generate FLIP topography plots to identify esophageal contractility patterns. FLIP topography was considered "abnormal" if EGJ-DI was < 2.8 mm 2 /mm Hg or contractility pattern demonstrated absent contractility or repetitive, retrograde contractions.Results:HRM was abnormal in 111 (77%) patients: 70 achalasia (19 type I, 39 type II, and 12 type III), 38 EGJ outflow obstruction, and three jackhammer esophagus. FLIP topography was abnormal in 106 (95%) of these patients, including all 70 achalasia patients. HRM was "normal" in 34 (23%) patients: five ineffective esophageal motility and 29 normal motility. In all, 17 (50%) had abnormal FLIP topography including 13 (37%) with abnormal EGJ-DI.Conclusions:FLIP topography provides a well-tolerated method for esophageal motility assessment (especially to identify achalasia) at the time of upper endoscopy. FLIP topography findings that are discordant with HRM may indicate otherwise undetected abnormalities of esophageal function, thus FLIP provides an alternative and complementary method to HRM for evaluation of non-obstructive dysphagia.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Impact of helminth infections on female reproductive health and associated diseases

A growing body of knowledge exists on the influence of helminth infections on allergies and unrelated infections in the lung and gastrointestinal (GI) mucosa. However, the bystander effects of helminth infections on the female genital mucosa and reproductive health is understudied but important considering the high prevalence of helminth exposure and sexually transmitted infections in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this review, we explore current knowledge about the direct and systemic effects of helminth infections on unrelated diseases. We summarize host disease-controlling immunity of important sexually transmitted infections and introduce the limited knowledge of how helminths infections directly cause pathology to female reproductive tract (FRT), alter susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections and reproduction. We also review work by others on type 2 immunity in the FRT and hypothesize how these insights may guide future work to help understand how helminths alter FRT health

Within-Compound Versus Public Latrine Access and Child Feces Disposal Practices in Low-Income Neighborhoods of Accra, Ghana.

In crowded urban settlements in low-income countries, many households rely on shared sanitation facilities. Shared facilities are not currently considered "improved sanitation" because of concerns about whether hygiene conditions sufficiently protect users from the feces of others. Prevention of fecal exposure at a latrine is only one aspect of sanitary safety. Ensuring consistent use of latrines for feces disposal, especially child feces, is required to reduce fecal contamination in households and communities. Household crowding and shared latrine access are correlated in these settings, rendering latrine use by neighbors sharing communal living areas as critically important for protecting one's own household. This study in Accra, Ghana, found that household access to a within-compound basic latrine was associated with higher latrine use by children of ages 5-12 years and for disposal of feces of children < 5 years, compared with households using public latrines. However, within-compound access was not associated with improved child feces disposal by other caregivers in the compound. Feces was rarely observed in household compounds but was observed more often in compounds with latrines versus compounds relying on public latrines. Escherichia coli and human adenovirus were detected frequently on household surfaces, but concentrations did not differ when compared by latrine access or usage practices. The differences in latrine use for households sharing within-compound versus public latrines in Accra suggest that disaggregated shared sanitation categories may be useful in monitoring global progress in sanitation coverage. However, compound access did not completely ensure that households were protected from feces and microbial contamination