Factors that Affect Reattempting the Emergency Medical Technician Cognitive Certification Examination

Certification as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) is often the entry point for firefighting careers and is a pre-requisite to enter Advanced EMT or paramedic programs. EMT candidates in most of the United States must pass the National Registry of EMTs cognitive examination (NREMT-C) to be eligible for state licensure. Many candidates who fail their first NREMT-C attempt never take even one of the five additional possible attempts within the specified two-year time frame. Using binary logistic regression with de-identified existing NREMT test data from 2007 though 2012, this research attempted to develop a model to show the relative contribution of previous NREMT-C score, demographic factors, pay status, employment status, and school accreditation to predict candidates’ likelihood of retesting. A literature review suggested that these factors influence candidates’ success on their first exam attempt, however no literature has examined if these factors predict a candidate’s decision to take at least one additional examination attempt. Results showed that the theta score from the prior attempt was a strong predictor of reattempting examinations two through six. Female gender was negatively associated with attempting examinations two through five. Younger candidates were more likely to attempt examinations two through four, whereas at attempt five the odds an older candidate would try again were slightly higher. Military candidates were much more likely to persist through examination attempt three, however this trend reversed at attempts four and five when they were less likely to reattempt. Having someone pay for the prior exam enhanced candidates’ odds of taking the second and third examination. All race and ethnic categories (except Hispanic) were weakly associated with the odds of taking a second examination but not in any subsequent attempts. Students who attended schools associated with accredited paramedic programs were slightly more likely to persist through exams two through four as were individuals having more education. While this analysis identifies some factors related to examination persistence, it produced weak models, suggesting that many more individual variables are associated with the decision to persist after failing the NREMT-C EMT examination than those examined

GWASpro: A High-Performance Genome-Wide Association Analysis Server

We present GWASpro, a high-performance web server for the analyses of large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWASpro was developed to provide data analyses for large-scale molecular genetic data, coupled with complex replicated experimental designs such as found in plant science investigations, and to overcome the steep learning curves of existing GWAS software tools. GWASpro supports building complex design matrices, by which complex experimental designs that may include replications, treatments, locations and times, can be accounted for in the linear mixed model (LMM). GWASpro is optimized to handle GWAS data that may consist of up to 10 million markers and 10,000 samples from replicable lines or hybrids. GWASpro provides an interface that significantly reduces the learning curve for new GWAS investigators

SISTEMAS AGROFLORESTAIS NO BIOMA CAMPOS SULINOS: UMA BREVE REVISÃO DE LITERATURA

Os sistemas agroflorestais podem ser uma alternativa para os problemas relacionados à agricultura e pecuária, aliando benefícios econômicos e sociais em prol da conservação dos biomas brasileiros. O objetivo do presente estudo é explorar as diferentes técnicas agroflorestais realizadas no bioma dos Campos Sulinos (Pampa), por meio de uma revisão bibliográfica, a partir do sítio de pesquisa Google Scholar sem período de publicação pré-definido, delineando as principais metodologias e seus resultados e enfatizando o uso das espécies nativas para a recuperação do bioma. Os estudos apresentados na região sul do Brasil evidenciam uma série de benefícios nas áreas onde houve a implantação de sistemas agroflorestais, como um ganho significante nas propriedades biológicas do solo através do aumento da matéria orgânica, da ciclagem de nutrientes e cobertura do mesmo. Além disso, os sistemas agroflorestais proporcionaram novos meios de subsistência e lucro para os produtores, mostrando que o caminho da produção sustentável utilizando as espécies nativas do bioma é possível

Challenges facing early career academic cardiologists

Early career academic cardiologists currently face unprecedented challenges that threaten a highly valued career path. A team consisting of early career professionals and senior leadership members of American College of Cardiology completed this white paper to inform the cardiovascular medicine profession regarding the plight of early career cardiologists and to suggest possible solutions. This paper includes: 1) definition of categories of early career academic cardiologists; 2) general challenges to all categories and specific challenges to each category; 3) obstacles as identified by a survey of current early career members of the American College of Cardiology; 4) major reasons for the failure of physician-scientists to receive funding from National Institute of Health/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute career development grants; 5) potential solutions; and 6) a call to action with specific recommendations

A Descriptive, Multiyear Examination of Positive Behavior Support

A major goal of positive behavior support (PBS) is to produce broad-based, long-term improvements in adaptive behavior; however, the empirical base, at present, is mainly composed of relatively short-term studies carried out in circumscribed contexts. Therefore, a need exists for reliable data that can inform the field regarding the comprehensive lifestyle effects of PBS implementation in natural community contexts over extended periods of time. The current investigation was conducted to provide a descriptive analysis of PBS with diverse participants and broad measurement strategies over multiple years. Using extensive data portfolios for 21 participants, we employed rating scales to quantify changes in key variables from baseline through 2 years of intervention. The data revealed variable levels of intervention integrity, generalized reductions in problem behavior with occasional relapses, and encouraging enhancements across six domains of quality of life. This study represents an initial attempt to understand the processes and outcomes of behavioral support by documenting behavioral patterns across full days, entire years, and all environments. We discuss the need to consider new conceptual and methodological frameworks for further study of efficacious and sustainable behavior support

A high concentration of genistein down-regulates activin A, Smad3 and other TGF-β pathway genes in human uterine leiomyoma cells

Previously, we found that high doses of genistein show an inhibitory effect on uterine leiomyoma (UtLM) cell proliferation. In this study, using microarray analysis and Ingenuity Pathways Analysis™, we identified genes (up- or down-regulated, ≥ 1.5 fold, P ≤ 0.001), functions and signaling pathways that were altered following treatment with an inhibitory concentration of genistein (50 µg/ml) in UtLM cells. Downregulation of TGF-β signaling pathway genes, activin A, activin B, Smad3, TGF-β2 and genes related to cell cycle regulation, with the exception of the upregulation of the CDK inhibitor P15, were identified and validated by real-time RT-PCR studies. Western blot analysis further demonstrated decreased protein expression of activin A and Smad3 in genistein-treated UtLM cells. Moreover, we found that activin A stimulated the growth of UtLM cells, and the inhibitory effect of genistein was partially abrogated in the presence of activin A. Overexpression of activin A and Smad3 were found in tissue samples of leiomyoma compared to matched myometrium, supporting the contribution of activin A and Smad3 in promoting the growth of UtLM cells. Taken together, these results suggest that down-regulation of activin A and Smad3, both members of the TGF-β pathway, may offer a mechanistic explanation for the inhibitory effect of a high-dose of genistein on UtLM cells, and might be potential therapeutic targets for treatment of clinical cases of uterine leiomyomas

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts