The man behind the woman: a qualitative study of the spousal support received and valued by executive women

Little is known about the spousal support received by married executive women and the support behaviors that they value. This article details the results of a qualitative study of 20 senior and executive-level women, with the aim of understanding their received and valued spousal support. An inductive typology was developed through semistructured interviews of the supportive behaviors deemed general, most valued, and least valued, as well as those behaviors perceived as being unsupportive, across six categories: emotional support, help with household, help with family members, career support, esteem support, and husbands' career and lifestyle choices. This article concludes by contextualizing the results relative to existing research, discussing study implications and limitations, and presenting recommendations

Orton-Gillingham and Orton-Gillingham-Based Reading Instruction: A Review of the Literature

Orton-Gillingham (OG) and Orton-Gillingham-based reading instructional programs are commonly implemented reading programs in the United States. Twelve studies that employed quasi-experimental or experimental designs are reviewed. These studies included elementary students, adolescents, and college students. Of the 12 studies, 5 reported that the OG instruction was more effective than were comparison or control interventions for all measured outcomes, 4 reported that the OG instruction was more effective for at least 1 (but not all) outcomes in comparison to other intervention(s), 2 reported that the alternate instruction was more effective than the OG instruction, and 1 reported no significant differences once covariates were included. The largest effects were reported for word attack and non-word reading outcomes, with mean effect size of .82, and comprehension outcomes, with a mean effect size of .76. Following a summary of each study, limitations of the current review and implications for future research and practice are described. Given the small number of studies, the lack of methodological rigor of the existing studies, and the inconclusive findings of the effectiveness of OG programs, additional research is needed before the scientific basis can be established

Career advancement and family balance strategies of executive women

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore coping strategies devised by executive women in family relationships to advance their career and to maintain career/family balance. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative methodology using a sample of 25 executive women explores career advancement and career/family balance strategies within work and family contexts. Findings - Analysis produces multiple career advancement and career/family balance strategies, including professional support, personal support, value system, and life course strategies such as the "ordering" of career and family, negotiating spousal support, and whether to have children. Research limitations/implications - Adaptive strategies facilitate engagement in career and family, even in challenging gender environments, encouraging continued research on executive women's advancement and career/family balance. The idiosyncratic nature of career/family balance calls for greater emphasis on the context and timing of career and family experiences. Practical implications - The paper offers guidance to women seeking to combine executive career and family and to organizations committed to the advancement and retention of women. Originality/value - The paper jointly explores career advancement and career/family balance strategies pursued by executive women in family relationships. It contributes to a growing body of research on the coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies underlying balance between career and family

An Analysis of First-Grade Writing Profiles and Their Relationship to Compositional Quality

To help all students meet the writing expectations of the Common Core State Standards, researchers need a deeper understanding of the characteristics of struggling writers. The purpose of this study was to explore the writing profiles of students including those who have or are at risk for writing disabilities. First-grade students (N = 391) were assessed at the end of the school year using three writing assessments (spelling, sentence writing fluency, writing achievement). The researchers used latent profile analysis to identify students as fitting into one of five profiles (At Risk, Low Fluency, Low Writing, Average, and Above Average). Students also wrote narrative and descriptive texts that were scored multiple ways. The researchers used confirmatory factor analysis to identify four common factors: quality/length, spelling, mechanics, and syntax. Students in the At Risk profile wrote narratives and descriptions that scored lower on all aspects of writing when compared to students in the Average and Above Average profiles. These findings provide further evidence of the distinct difference among writers as early as first grade, and they offer insight into the characteristics of at-risk writers. The implications of these findings for instruction and assessment and directions for future research are described

SARS CoV-2 (Delta Variant) Infection Kinetics and Immunopathogenesis in Domestic Cats

Continued emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants highlights the critical need for adaptable and translational animal models for acute COVID-19. Limitations to current animal models for SARS CoV-2 (e.g., transgenic mice, non-human primates, ferrets) include subclinical to mild lower respiratory disease, divergence from clinical COVID-19 disease course, and/or the need for host genetic modifications to permit infection. We therefore established a feline model to study COVID-19 disease progression and utilized this model to evaluate infection kinetics and immunopathology of the rapidly circulating Delta variant (B.1.617.2) of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, specific-pathogen-free domestic cats (n = 24) were inoculated intranasally and/or intratracheally with SARS CoV-2 (B.1.617.2). Infected cats developed severe clinical respiratory disease and pulmonary lesions at 4- and 12-days post-infection (dpi), even at 1/10 the dose of previously studied wild-type SARS-CoV-2. Infectious virus was isolated from nasal secretions of delta-variant infected cats in high amounts at multiple timepoints, and viral antigen was co-localized in ACE2-expressing cells of the lungs (pneumocytes, vascular endothelium, peribronchial glandular epithelium) and strongly associated with severe pulmonary inflammation and vasculitis that were more pronounced than in wild-type SARS-CoV-2 infection. RNA sequencing of infected feline lung tissues identified upregulation of multiple gene pathways associated with cytokine receptor interactions, chemokine signaling, and viral protein–cytokine interactions during acute infection with SARS-CoV-2. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) of differentially expressed genes identified several distinct clusters of dysregulated hub genes that are significantly correlated with both clinical signs and lesions during acute infection. Collectively, the results of these studies help to delineate the role of domestic cats in disease transmission and response to variant emergence, establish a flexible translational model to develop strategies to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and identify potential targets for downstream therapeutic development

Chronotype and cellular circadian rhythms predict the clinical response to lithium maintenance treatment in patients with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a serious mood disorder associated with circadian rhythm abnormalities. Risk for BD is genetically encoded and overlaps with systems that maintain circadian rhythms. Lithium is an effective mood stabilizer treatment for BD, but only a minority of patients fully respond to monotherapy. Presently, we hypothesized that lithium-responsive BD patients (Li-R) would show characteristic differences in chronotype and cellular circadian rhythms compared to lithium non-responders (Li-NR). Selecting patients from a prospective, multi-center, clinical trial of lithium monotherapy, we examined morning vs. evening preference (chronotype) as a dimension of circadian rhythm function in 193 Li-R and Li-NR BD patients. From a subset of 59 patient donors, we measured circadian rhythms in skin fibroblasts longitudinally over 5 days using a bioluminescent reporter (Per2-luc). We then estimated circadian rhythm parameters (amplitude, period, phase) and the pharmacological effects of lithium on rhythms in cells from Li-R and Li-NR donors. Compared to Li-NRs, Li-Rs showed a difference in chronotype, with higher levels of morningness. Evening chronotype was associated with increased mood symptoms at baseline, including depression, mania, and insomnia. Cells from Li-Rs were more likely to exhibit a short circadian period, a linear relationship between period and phase, and period shortening effects of lithium. Common genetic variation in the IP3 signaling pathway may account for some of the individual differences in the effects of lithium on cellular rhythms. We conclude that circadian rhythms may influence response to lithium in maintenance treatment of BD

Chronotype and cellular circadian rhythms predict the clinical response to lithium maintenance treatment in patients with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a serious mood disorder associated with circadian rhythm abnormalities. Risk for BD is genetically encoded and overlaps with systems that maintain circadian rhythms. Lithium is an effective mood stabilizer treatment for BD, but only a minority of patients fully respond to monotherapy. Presently, we hypothesized that lithium-responsive BD patients (Li-R) would show characteristic differences in chronotype and cellular circadian rhythms compared to lithium non-responders (Li-NR). Selecting patients from a prospective, multi-center, clinical trial of lithium monotherapy, we examined morning vs. evening preference (chronotype) as a dimension of circadian rhythm function in 193 Li-R and Li-NR BD patients. From a subset of 59 patient donors, we measured circadian rhythms in skin fibroblasts longitudinally over 5 days using a bioluminescent reporter (Per2-luc). We then estimated circadian rhythm parameters (amplitude, period, phase) and the pharmacological effects of lithium on rhythms in cells from Li-R and Li-NR donors. Compared to Li-NRs, Li-Rs showed a difference in chronotype, with higher levels of morningness. Evening chronotype was associated with increased mood symptoms at baseline, including depression, mania, and insomnia. Cells from Li-Rs were more likely to exhibit a short circadian period, a linear relationship between period and phase, and period shortening effects of lithium. Common genetic variation in the IP3 signaling pathway may account for some of the individual differences in the effects of lithium on cellular rhythms. We conclude that circadian rhythms may influence response to lithium in maintenance treatment of BD