A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Educators Who Seek to Recognize and Address Academic Stress in Secondary Students

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of educators who sought to recognize and address academic stress in secondary students. The theory guiding this study was Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress as it relates to the ways educators experience the appraisal, stress, and coping of students facing academic stress. Dweck’s growth mindset theory was applied to frame educators’ perspectives of student growth potential. The study participants consisted of 10 middle and high school educators from a suburban school district in Massachusetts. Participants were selected based on their years of experience in education and ability to provide meaningful data. Data collection consisted of interviews, a focus group, and participant letters. Moustakas’s approach to phenomenological data analysis was applied. The educator participants in this study recognized academic stress through students’ presentation and intervened with mindset strategies, coping strategies, and strategies they had developed over their careers

Determining protein similarity by comparing hydrophobic core structure

Formal assessment of structural similarity is − next to protein structure prediction − arguably the most important unsolved problem in proteomics. In this paper we propose a similarity criterion based on commonalities between the proteins’ hydrophobic cores. The hydrophobic core emerges as a result of conformational changes through which each residue reaches its intended position in the protein body. A quantitative criterion based on this phenomenon has been proposed in the framework of the CASP challenge. The structure of the hydrophobic core − including the placement and scope of any deviations from the idealized model − may indirectly point to areas of importance from the point of view of the protein’s biological function. Our analysis focuses on an arbitrarily selected target from the CASP11 challenge. The proposed measure, while compliant with CASP criteria (70–80% correlation), involves certain adjustments which acknowledge the presence of factors other than simple spatial arrangement of solids

Morpho-anatomical characterization of mature embryo-derived callus of rice (Oryza sativa L.) suitable for transformation.

The objective of this study was to morphoanatomically characterize embryogenic rice calli during early induction of somatic embryogenesis of three Brazilian rice cultivars. Herein, we explored embryogenic units (EUs) from 2-week-old cut proliferated calli to verify whether they were suitable for Agrobacterium tumefasciens-mediated transformation. Histological analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze these types of calli during early rice callogenesis in the cultivars BRS Primavera, BRS Bonança, and BRS Caiapó. The characteristics of the embryogenic cells were preserved in the EUs, which showed a globular, compact structure that contained tightly packed cells and thus rendered the cells suitable for transformation. The EUs of BRS Caiapó also maintained the characteristics of the nonembryogenic callus, such as an elongated morphology and a lack of cellular organization. In general, the observations of the histological sections corresponded with those of the SEM images. The histological analysis suggested that all cultivars used in these experiments have morphogenic potential. The EUs from proliferated 2-week-old cut calli maintained their embryogenic features. The EUs were subjected to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, which exhibited a regeneration frequency of 58 % for transformed hygromycin-resistant cell lines. These results show that EUs from proliferated 2-week-old cut calli are suitable for plant transformation

Philanthropy-Supported Journalism

There is a widespread perception that the market is failing to ensure the provision of high quality, impactful journalism, especially investigative work and in‐depth coverage of governmental and international affairs. One answer to that market failing has been the development of philanthropy‐supported journalism. Some writers see this as a potentially important, if partial, solution to journalism\u27s problems, strengthening the editorial focus on creating social and policy impacts. Others have expressed concern that philanthropic support draws journalists toward elite orientations, with both funders themselves and their desired audiences representing the socioeconomic upper tiers

Improving diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopically equivocal pink cutaneous lesions with reflectance confocal microscopy in telemedicine settings : double reader concordance evaluation of 316 cases

Solitary pink lesions in differential diagnosis with hypopigmented/amelanotic melanoma present a diagnostic challenge in daily practice and are regularly referred for second expert opinion. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopically equivocal pink lesions. No studies have been performed to evaluate the effect of adding a second expert reader and automatic removal of lesions with discordant management recommendations and its potential effect on diagnostic sensitivity and final management of these lesions in retrospective or telemedicine settings.To improve diagnostic accuracy and reduce potential mismanagement of dermoscopically equivocal pink cutaneous lesions by implementing double reader concordance evaluation of RCM images.316 dermoscopically equivocal pink lesions with dermoscopy-RCM image sets were evaluated retrospectively. Accuracy of three readers was evaluated by single reader evaluation of dermoscopy only and dermoscopy-RCM image sets and finally by double reader evaluation of dermoscopy-RCM image sets. Lesions with discordant diagnosis between two readers were automatically recommended for excision.Dermoscopy only evaluation resulted in an overall sensitivity of 95.9% and specificity of 33.6%, with 1 of 12 amelanotic melanomas mismanaged. Dermoscopy-RCM image set single reader evaluation resulted in an overall sensitivity of 93.9% and overall specificity of 54.2%, with 1 of 12 melanomas mismanaged. Dermoscopy-RCM image set double reader concordance evaluation resulted in an overall sensitivity of 98.3% and specificity of 42.7%, with no amelanotic melanoma mismanagement.Evaluation of dermoscopy-RCM image sets of equivocal pink lesions by a single reader in telemedicine settings is limited by the potential for misdiagnosis of dangerous malignant lesions. Double reader concordance evaluation with automatic referral of lesions for removal in the case of discordant diagnosis improves the diagnostic sensitivity in this subset of lesions and reduce potential misdiagnosis in settings where a second expert opinion may be employed

Linear and multiplicative 2-forms

We study the relationship between multiplicative 2-forms on Lie groupoids and linear 2-forms on Lie algebroids, which leads to a new approach to the infinitesimal description of multiplicative 2-forms and to the integration of twisted Dirac manifolds.Comment: to appear in Letters in Mathematical Physic

Plausible role of estrogens in pathogenesis, progression and therapy of lung cancer

Malignant neoplasms are among the most common diseases and are responsible for the majority of deaths in the developed world. In contrast to men, available data show a clear upward trend in the incidence of lung cancer in women, making it almost as prevalent as breast cancer. Women might be more susceptible to the carcinogenic effect of tobacco smoke than men. Furthermore, available data indicate a much more frequent mutation of the tumor suppressor genep53 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) female patients compared to males. Another important factor, however, might lie in the female sex hormones, whose mitogenic or carcinogenic effect is well known. Epidemiologic data show a correlation between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or oral contraceptives (OCs), and increased mortality rates due to the increased incidence of malignant tumors, including lung cancer. Interestingly, two types of estrogen receptors have been detected in lung cancer cells: ERα and ERβ. The presence of ERα has been detected in tissues and non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cell lines. In contrast, overexpression of ERβ is a prognostic marker in NSCLC. Herein, we summarize the current knowledge on the role of estrogens in the etiopathogenesis of lung cancer, as well as biological, hormonal and genetic sex-related differences in this neoplasm

The Tulczyjew triple for classical fields

The geometrical structure known as the Tulczyjew triple has proved to be very useful in describing mechanical systems, even those with singular Lagrangians or subject to constraints. Starting from basic concepts of variational calculus, we construct the Tulczyjew triple for first-order Field Theory. The important feature of our approach is that we do not postulate {\it ad hoc} the ingredients of the theory, but obtain them as unavoidable consequences of the variational calculus. This picture of Field Theory is covariant and complete, containing not only the Lagrangian formalism and Euler-Lagrange equations but also the phase space, the phase dynamics and the Hamiltonian formalism. Since the configuration space turns out to be an affine bundle, we have to use affine geometry, in particular the notion of the affine duality. In our formulation, the two maps $\alpha$ and $\beta$ which constitute the Tulczyjew triple are morphisms of double structures of affine-vector bundles. We discuss also the Legendre transformation, i.e. the transition between the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian formulation of the first-order field theor

Obesidad sarcopénica y disfuncionalidad en población con síndrome metabólico

The sarcopenic obesity (SO) is a new category of obesity, specially related with the elderly population, characterized by high fat mass and low muscle mass. It is intended to analyze the relation between SO and disability, in a population older than 55 years with overweight or obesity and metabolic syndrome.  For the body composition analyzes we used DXA in 303 patients, and for the assessment of disability we used 5 physical validated test in a subsample of 53 patients. We constructed a global physical capacity score and we studied the association with SO phenotypes, defined using the skeletal muscle mass and the total body fat.  It has not been found significant associations between SO and disability in our sample. Studies with a large sample are needed. La obesidad sarcopénica (OS) es una nueva categoría de obesidad, especialmente asociada a población envejecida, caracterizada por una elevada masa grasa y baja masa muscular. Se pretende analizar la relación entre la OS y la disfuncionalidad en una población mayor de 55 años con sobrepeso u obesidad y síndrome metabólico.Para el análisis de la composición corporal se ha utilizado la absorciometria dual de rayos X (DXA) en un total de 303 participantes, y para la valoración de la disfuncionalidad se han realizado 5 test físicos validados en una submuestra de 53 participantes. Se ha realizado una puntuación global de capacidad física y se ha mirado su asociación con los fenotipos de OS, definidos en función de la masa muscular esquelética y la grasa corporal total. No se observó una asociación significativa entre la OS y la disfuncionalidad en esta muestra. Son necesarios estudios con mayor tamaño muestral

A complete lift for semisprays

In this paper, we define a complete lift for semisprays. If $S$ is a semispray on a manifold $M$, its complete lift is a new semispray $S^c$ on $TM$. The motivation for this lift is two-fold: First, geodesics for $S^c$ correspond to the Jacobi fields for $S$, and second, this complete lift generalizes and unifies previously known complete lifts for Riemannian metrics, affine connections, and regular Lagrangians. When $S$ is a spray, we prove that the projective geometry of $S^c$ uniquely determines $S$. We also study how symmetries and constants of motions for $S$ lift into symmetries and constants of motions for $S^c$