Preparing Incoming Kindergarteners and Parents for the Transition into Kindergarten

The move into kindergarten is a critical transition for kindergarten students and their parents as the transition can impact the child’s academics journey through school. It is essential that preschool and elementary schools prepare families for the transition. This action research project studies the question: how can schools make the transition into kindergarten smoother for both incoming kindergarteners and their parents? The researcher reviewed data from the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment of 26 kindergarten students and also conducted a parent survey to determine how schools can better prepare students and parents during the move into kindergarten. The study found the transition practices that focus on building positive relationships between families and schools and increasing communication between preschool and kindergarten educators can lead to successful transitions for kindergarten students and parents

Synthesis of polyphenols and azafluorenones

The synthesis of 1,3,4,5-tetragalloylapiitol was accomplished in 7 steps. A direct synthesis of natural and unnatural ellagitannins were made using an intramolecular oxidative coupling. Different flavonols were synthesized via a novel base-mediated cyclization step, which was strategically different than previous ways to make flavonols. A three step synthesis of azaflureones was developed

A Convenient Synthesis of Type A Procyanidins

Type A procyanidins can be synthesized in good yields from the condensation of benzopyrilium salts 8 and either catechin or phloroglucinol

Social Determinants and Sexual Health in Adolescents

After discovering a noticeable need for sexual health education and disease prevention for adolescents in the Promise Community Health Center community, we as a group set to work on researching how to address and combat this need. Ten articles pertaining to this issue highlighted four main factors in adolescent sexual health: practices and barriers to adolescents seeking information about sexual health, how they can most effectively learn about sexual health, parental influence on adolescent sexuality, and the healthcare provider’s effect on an adolescent’s sexual health visit. With these findings the project was able to identify interventions that Promise Community Health may be able to utilize, which include involvement of Promise healthcare workers in the school setting, modification of Promise’s website, and adapting the way that well-child visits are carried out. Since these interventions revolve heavily around prevention, Jean Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Caring was utilized to guide these prevention efforts and to care holistically for the adolescents around Promise

Efficient synthesis of fluorescent rosamines: multifunctional platforms for cellular imaging

Substituted rosamines are efficiently prepared through a new organometallic addition to an imine-substituted xanthone as a novel primary amine equivalent. The synthesis reduces the number of synthetic steps to the targeted rosamines, for convenient and facile access to potential libraries of rosamine dyes. The prepared rosamine derivatives represent unique multifunctional platforms that possess radiolabeling capability and fluorescence. Rosamines have (i) useful non-specific binding properties in mammalian cells and plant root hair, and (ii) positive uptake or binding properties in microbial systems

Specificity and ligand affinities of the cocaine aptamer: impact of structural features and physiological NaCl

The cocaine aptamer has been seen as a good candidate for development as a probe for cocaine in many contexts. Here, we demonstrate that the aptamer binds cocaine, norcocaine, and cocaethylene with similar affinities and aminoglycosides with similar or higher affinities in a mutually exclusive manner with cocaine. Analysis of its affinities for a series of cocaine derivatives shows that the aptamer specificity is the consequence of its interaction with all faces of the cocaine molecule. Circular dichroism spectroscopy and 2-aminopurine (2AP) fluorescence studies show no evidence of large structural rearrangement of the cocaine aptamer upon ligand binding, which is contrary to the general view of this aptamer. The aptamer’s affinity for cocaine and neomycin-B decreases with the inclusion of physiological NaCl. The substitution of 2AP for A in position 6 (2AP6) of the aptamer sequence eliminated the effect of NaCl on its affinities for cocaine and analogues, but not for neomycin-B, showing a selective effect of 2AP substitution on cocaine binding. The affinity for cocaine also decreased with increasing concentrations of serum or urine, with the 2AP6 substitution blunting the effect of urine. Its low affinities for cocaine and metabolites and its ability to bind irrelevant compounds limit the opportunities for application of this aptamer in its current form as a selective and reliable sensor for cocaine. However, these studies also show that a small structural adjustment to the aptamer (2AP exchanged for adenine) can increase its specificity for cocaine in physiological NaCl relative to an off-target ligand

The origin of green icebergs in Antarctica

A comparison of samples from a translucent green iceberg with a core from the Ronne Ice Shelf revealed an excellent agreement in isotopic composition, crystal structure, and incorporated sediment particles. Marine shelf ice which constitutes the basal portion of some ice shelves is considered to be the source of green icebergs. It most likely results from "ice pump" processes which produce large amounts of ice platelets in the water column beneath ice shelves. These subsequently accumulate and become compacted into bubble-free, desalinated ice. Iceberg and drift-buoy trajectories indicate that green icebergs observed in the Weddell Sea originate from the Amery Ice Shelf rather than from the Ronne Ice Shelf, although the latter ice shelf is also a potential source