An empirical investigation of factors influencing teacher attraction to a career as school counselor.

This study addressed the administrative task of recruiting school counselors in the largest school district of Kentucky, a state undergoing systemic school reform. The participants (N = 553) were elementary (n = 162), middle (n = 113), and high (n = 278) school teachers.The independent variables included personal characteristics of the participants (age, gender, number of dependent children, ethnicity, education, current school enrollment, current school level, current school CATS level, years of teaching experience, years of teaching experience in JCPS, years of teaching experience in Kentucky) serving as control variables. The other independent variables were counselor job facets (predictor variables) and job satisfaction (current, expected). The dependent variable was a two-item composite score for applicant rating of a school counselor position as depicted in a simulated counselor job description. The coefficient alpha for the composite rating was .9531. This research study utilized a correlation design with hierarchical multiple regression analysis as the primary analytical procedure. The results indicated one control variable (years of experience in JCPS) and four predictor variables (ECE paperwork, administration, testing/assessment, counsel/mentor) explained significant variance in the dependent variable (rating of a school counselor). JCPS experience (beta = -.20, p \u3c .01) was a negative coefficient indicating as teaching experience in JCPS increased, participant rating of a counselor job decreased. The full model (adjusted-R2 = .35) explained 35% of the variance in the rating of a counselor job. Additional statistical procedures included the independent-samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze group mean scores with the two-item composite (counselor job rating) serving as the dependent variable. The one-way ANOVA with highest degree serving as the independent variable was significant (p \u3c; .05). The participants with a bachelors degree (M = 6.0) as the highest degree earned was significantly higher than the mean for participants with masters degree +30 hours (M = 5.1) as the highest degree earned. The Pearson correlation between age and job rating (R = -.19) was significant (p \u3c .0001) indicating as age increased, the score for job rating decreased. Paired t-tests results indicated that teachers rated their current satisfaction with six job factors as teachers higher than they did their expected job satisfaction as a school counselor. The participants completed three open-ended questions which have implications for counselor recruitment and job restructuring. Implications for future research might involve casting practicing counselors in the role of simulated applicants for position vacancies

Harnessing Genomic and Bioinformatic Tools To Inform Conservation Decisions of Species That Are Vulnerable to Human-driven Impacts of Climate Change

The field of bioinformatics began late in the 20th century to enable the analysis of proteomic, genetic, and genomic datasets. Since the 1990s and the advent of 'big data', there has been a glut of genomic data, and a dearth of people with the skillsets to analyze them. As of 2019, the world&rsquo;s largest genetic sequence archive, NCBI's Short-Read Archive, was home to over 40 petabytes of genetic data, and that number is growing larger every day. Hidden within those sequences of As, Cs, Ts, and Gs, are the answers to many biological questions, including those pertaining to how we may best conserve species in the face of the existential threat of a drastically changing climate. One such species is the Warm Springs pupfish, which is endemic to several low-flow springs in the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Southwestern Nevada. One population, at South Scruggs Spring, was facing a demographic collapse due to predation by invasive species, declining spring flow, and what may have been an extinction vortex. An extinction vortex is caused when inbreeding in small populations leads to the accumulation of deleterious genotypes, which causes low fecundity, feeding back into the low population size. Once a species enters into one, there is little we know of outside of human-facilitated introgression of novel genetic material that can save the population from extirpation. In 2009, ten individuals from a neighboring spring were added to South Scruggs and the population demographics were monitored over the following three years using mark-recapture combined with microsatellite genotyping. Based on the probability of recapture, I calculated that hybrid offspring of the ten introgressed individuals had a probability of survival between mark/recapture events that was 20% higher than that of the genetically poor resident individuals. In the process of the study, I sequenced and assembled the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of the Warm Springs pupfish, which are resources that may be used to monitor the health of these isolated populations of endangered fish. Another class of organisms that is especially sensitive to changing environmental conditions are lichens, which are visually stunning symbiotic assemblages of a fungus, or mycobiont, and at least one photosynthetic partner, called the photobiont. Their genomes are relatively small, enabling a low cost of sequencing the genomes of both partners in the symbiosis. I was able to sequence and assemble the genomes of over 500 lichen specimens. Many of the mitochondrial genomes of these species were assembled, annotated, and published on NCBI as a result of this study. One of the primary resources to come from these sequences is a formidable database of molecular barcoding sequences&ndash;the ribosomal DNA complexes of over 400 of the different lichen species assemblies came together. Using this database, I developed a novel bioinformatic pipeline that was able to detect which lichen propagules are present in environmental metagenomic samples. Such a tool should enable researchers to evaluate factors leading to the ability of a lichen to establish in an area, versus which ones are only able to disperse into it, but not establish. In addition to the fungal rDNA complexes, algal rDNA complexes also assembled. By aligning metagenomic reads to these algal and cyanobacterial complexes, I was able to calculate the diversity of the photobiont communities within each lichen thallus and test the conditions determining photobiont diversity. I concluded that algal photobiont diversity is highest in the surface-adhering crustose lichens, and lowest in the tufty, three-dimensional fruticose lichens. In lichens that use cyanobacteria as their photobiont, diversity decreases with elevation. Surprisingly, and contrary to our expectations, lichen photobiont diversity did not differ between sexual and asexual species. The bioinformatic pipelines and data sets generated in this thesis provide valuable information on understudied and threatened species. These resources will enable adjacent researchers to make better decisions about conservation of these species in the face of habitat loss, pollution, and a changing climate.</p

Behavioural addiction and substance addiction should be defined by their similarities not their dissimilarities

Following the recent changes to the diagnostic category for addictive disorders in DSM-5, it is urgent to clarify what constitutes behavioural addiction to have a clear direction for future research and classification. However, in the years following the release of DSM-5, an expanding body of research has increasingly classified engagement in a wide range of common behaviours and leisure activities as possible behavioural addiction. If this expansion does not end, both the relevance and the credibility of the field of addictive disorders might be questioned, which may prompt a dismissive appraisal of the new DSM-5 subcategory for behavioural addiction. We propose an operational definition of behavioural addiction together with a number of exclusion criteria, to avoid pathologizing common behaviours and provide a common ground for further research. The definition and its exclusion criteria are clarified and justified by illustrating how these address a number of theoretical and methodological shortcomings that result from existing conceptualizations. We invite other researchers to extend our definition under an Open Science Foundation framework

Therapeutic Use of Bacteriophage and Antibiotic Formulations for the Treatment of Antibiotic Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii

Gemstone Team LYTICWidespread use of antibiotics has enriched global bacteria populations for strains possessing antibiotic resistance (AR) genes. Proliferation of AR genes and mechanisms have resulted in numerous multidrug resistant (MDR) infections for which there are no effective treatments. Acinetobacter baumannii is a major cause of hospital acquired (nosocomial) infections and is associated with outbreaks of MDR infections. Virulent bacteriophages (phages) present a way to remedy bacterial infections, while also having built-in mechanisms to circumvent resistance. This proposed study aims to develop a phage therapeutic targeting antibiotic resistant A. baumannii. The phages chosen for the final formulation exhibited high bactericidal activity and were able to infect several strains of A. baumannii from a provided library. Additionally, the phage-antibiotic synergy (PAS) effect was investigated in formulations with sub-lethal doses of ampicillin and chloramphenicol. The effectiveness of the phage therapeutic at different multiplicity of infections (MOI) and antibiotic concentrations were assessed relative to standard antibiotic doses. Well-plate studies suggest that higher MOI and antibiotic concentrations resulted in the greatest initial bactericidal effects, longest time to develop resistance, and lowest overall bacteria concentration. In future formulation studies, we would like to expand and optimize the current phage-antibiotic formulation and explore cocktail effects, whereby the formulation consists of a mixture of different phages that increases selective pressure

Comparative analysis of two colorimetric assays in dental pulp cell density

Nedel F, Soki FN, Conde MCM, Zeitlin BD, Tarquinio SBC, Nör JE, Seixas FK, Demarco FF. Comparative analysis of two colorimetric assays in dental pulp cell density. International Endodontic Journal , 44 , 59–64, 2011.To compare and contrast two colorimetric assays used for the measurement of proliferation using two dental pulp cell types: dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) and human dental pulp fibroblasts (HDPF).Dental pulp stem cells or HDPF were seeded at 0.25 × 10 4 cells per well in 96-well plates. Cell proliferation was evaluated after 24–72 h. At the end of the experimental period, the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay or a water-soluble tetrazolium salt (WST-1) assay was performed. Optical densities were determined in a microplate reader (Genius; TECAN). Data were analysed by Student’s t -test (comparison between cell types) and one-way anova followed by Tukey test (time-point intervals). Pearson’ correlation tests were performed to compare the two assays for each cell line.Both assays showed that DPSC had higher proliferation rates than HDPF. A positive significant correlation between the two colorimetric assays tested for both cell types DPSC (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.847; P  < 0.05) and HDPF (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.775; P  < 0.05).Both tests demonstrated similar trends of cell proliferation, and thus are both appropriate for the evaluation of DPSC and HDPF. The choice of assay is therefore one of the practical applications. SRB stained plates can be dried and stored so may have utility in laboratories where data may require review or when access to analytical equipment is limited. WST-1 assays have the benefit of both ease and speed and may have utility in laboratories requiring either high throughput or rapid analyses.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79110/1/j.1365-2591.2010.01796.x.pd

DNA cleavage and antitumour activity of platinum(II) and copper(II) compounds derived from 4-methyl-2-N-(2-pyridylmethyl)aminophenol: spectroscopic, electrochemical and biological investigation

The reaction of the redox-active ligand, Hpyramol (4-methyl-2-N-(2-pyridylmethyl)aminophenol) with K2PtCl4 yields monofunctional square-planar [Pt(pyrimol)Cl], PtL-Cl, which was structurally characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy. This compound unexpectedly cleaves supercoiled double-stranded DNA stoichiometrically and oxidatively, in a non-specific manner without any external reductant added, under physiological conditions. Spectro-electrochemical investigations of PtL-Cl were carried out in comparison with the analogue CuL-Cl as a reference compound. The results support a phenolate oxidation, generating a phenoxyl radical responsible for the ligand-based DNA cleavage property of the title compounds. Time-dependent in vitro cytotoxicity assays were performed with both PtL-Cl and CuL-Cl in various cancer cell lines. The compound CuL-Cl overcomes cisplatin-resistance in ovarian carcinoma and mouse leukaemia cell lines, with additional activity in some other cells. The platinum analogue, PtL-Cl also inhibits cell-proliferation selectively. Additionally, cellular-uptake studies performed for both compounds in ovarian carcinoma cell lines showed that significant amounts of Pt and Cu were accumulated in the A2780 and A2780R cancer cells. The conformational and structural changes induced by PtL-Cl and CuL-Cl on calf thymus DNA and phi X174 supercoiled phage DNA at ambient conditions were followed by electrophoretic mobility assay and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The compounds induce extensive DNA degradation and unwinding, along with formation of a monoadduct at the DNA minor groove. Thus, hybrid effects of metal-centre variation, multiple DNA-binding modes and ligand-based redox activity towards cancer cell-growth inhibition have been demonstrated. Finally, reactions of PtL-Cl with DNA model bases (9-Ethylguanine and 5'-GMP) followed by NMR and MS showed slow binding at Guanine-N7 and for the double stranded self complimentary oligonucleotide d(GTCGAC)(2) in the minor groove

The Psychiatry Milestones 2.0: How Did We Get from 1.0 to 2.0 and What Can Users Expect?

Graduate medical education (GME) in psychiatry, like other medical specialties, has been transitioning to competency-based training and assessment. Competency-based medical education was born from a desire to certify physicians based on training outcomes, rather than training inputs such as the amount of time one spends in training [1]. The transition to a focus on training outcomes has been at least 25 years in the makin

Great War Dundee:featuring Ragtime soldier

This comic is part of the Great War Dundee (GWD) Hidden Histories project, which was made possible thanks to the generous support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It was developed by Professor Christopher Murray and Phillip Vaughan and tells the story of the effect of the Great War on Dundee, and its aftermath, and draws on many of the resources and knowledge that the GWD Partnership has introduced into the public domain over the last few years. The comic contains a story written by legendary comics creator Pat Mills, who worked at DC Thomson before creating the hugely successful British science fiction comic 2000AD (1977-present)

On the nonlinear dynamics of topological solitons in DNA

Dynamics of topological solitons describing open states in the DNA double helix are studied in the frameworks of the model which takes into account asymmetry of the helix. It is shown that three types of topological solitons can occur in the DNA double chain. Interaction between the solitons, their interactions with the chain inhomogeneities and stability of the solitons with respect to thermal oscillations are investigated.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figure