English Only? Enrichment of English Language Learner Education

Due to pressures to acquire the English language, English Language Learners (ELL) have school schedules inundated with English Development and other English acquisition classes. This means most ELL students have few opportunities to take elective courses. Furthermore, ELL students at the basic proficiency level have Science and Social Studies excluded from their schedules. Additional challenges for ELL students include being segregated from their English only (EO) peers and inadequate development and training of teachers serving ELL students. Interviews were conducted with Administration, the English Language (EL) Specialist, and ELL Students at Wakefield Middle School, to better understand ELL students’ educational experiences and how to improve them. Emergent themes indicate the importance of structural changes to the school day and additional teacher professional development. Based on the findings, action was undertaken to enrich the educational opportunities of ELL students

Pathways to Impact: Insights from Research Partnerships in Uganda and India

This article sets out a perspective from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) on the challenges of achieving research uptake. Two country case studies are presented from India and Uganda, which explore research projects under the Economic and Social Research Council ESRC-DFID-funded Raising Learning Outcomes programme. These case studies focus on relationships between the key stakeholders that enable policy debate relevant to the funded research. They are not a direct assessment of the impact that this research has had. Rather, this article explores the messy and iterative processes that DFID advisers are engaged in within the networks that they are embedded (and those that they are not), the way that they use partnerships to access evidence and promote it into policy debate, and the other drivers that matter. This article is important as a contribution to ongoing efforts to improve the quality and usage of education evidence in low-income contexts.Department for International Development (DFID)Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Exploration of Classroom Seating Arrangement and Student Behavior in a Second Grade Classroom

The purpose of this study was to determine if a specific classroom seating arrangement can contribute to students being on or off-task while completing independent work within the general education setting of an inclusive second grade class. In this study, three classroom seating arrangements were compared in a second grade classroom. These seating arrangements were cluster seating, horseshoe seating, and row seating. There were specific targeted off-task behaviors that were to be observed: inappropriate talking, students out of their seats without permission, students not following directions, and students not starting independent work promptly. Data were collected using three methods: observation/ anecdotal record, teacher behavior checklist, and a behavior tally sheet. Data revealed the number of students who displayed off-task behaviors as well as the specific amount of times these behaviors happened during each seating arrangement. It was determined that row seating had the fewest off-task behaviors for this particular second grade class was row seating. It was also determined that inappropriate talking was the most frequent occurring off-task behavior and not following directions was the least off-task behavior observed. For this particular classroom, row seating was the best classroom arrangement. Implications of differing seating arrangements will be discussed

The Peoples and Languages of Roatán

The research for this book was conducted by Laura Hobson Herlihy and the undergraduate and graduate students participating in the University of Kansas Summer 2019 Indigenous Miskitu Language Program in Roatán, Honduras. The KU group lived mainly in Punta Gorda, an Afro-indigenous Garifuna community, who speak their own language.The Peoples and Languages of Roatán is a compilation of writings about the diverse peoples and languages in Roatán, including the Miskitu, Garifuna, Bay Island English-speaking Kriols, and Spanish-speaking Ladinos (mestizos). A special focus is given to the use of language in inter-ethnic relations and pedagogy. The book also includes maps, pictures, and a practical traveler’s guide with common expressions used by the four major linguistic groups of Roatán

A Real-time Impedance-Based Screening Assay for Drug-Induced Vascular Leakage

Vascular leakage is a serious side effect of therapies based on monoclonal antibodies or cytokines which may lead to life-threatening situations. With the steady increase of new drug development programs for large molecules, there is an urgent need for reliable tools to assess this potential liability of new medicines in a rapid and cost-effective manner. Using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) as a model for endothelium, we established an impedance-based assay measuring the integrity of the endothelial cell monolayer in real time. We could demonstrate that the HUVEC monolayer in our system was a relevant model as cells expressed major junctional proteins known to be responsible for maintaining tightness as well as receptors targeted by molecules known to induce vascular leakage in vivo. We assessed the time-dependent loss of barrier function using impedance and confirmed that signals obtained corresponded well to those from standard transwell assays. We assayed a series of reference molecules which led to the expected change of barrier integrity. A nonspecific cytotoxic effect could be excluded by using human fibroblasts as a nonresponder cell line. Finally, we could show reversibility of vascular permeability induced by histamine, IL-1β, or TNF-α by coincubation with established antagonists, further demonstrating relevance of this new model. Taken together, our results suggest that impedance in combination with HUVECs as a specific model can be applied to assess clinically relevant vascular leakage on an in vitro leve

Snacking and anxiety during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic: A prospective cohort study

Anxiety and snacking increased during the initial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns, but it remains unknown whether this change in snacking persisted and if it related to anxiety levels. We used prospective data to examine changes in snacking frequency from t1 (eased restrictions in England in May-June 2020) to t2 (national lockdown in December 2020-March 2021), the association of anxiety (assessed by the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire at t1) with the snacking change, and the mediating and moderating effects of disinhibition and flexible restraint (assessed by the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire in 2016-17). Analyses including 2128 adults (mean age 28.4y) residing in England from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children showed that snacking frequency increased (mean change 1.23 (95% CI 0.81,1.65) snacks/wk). Linear regressions of snacking adjusted for sociodemographic covariates showed that having clinical levels of generalised anxiety at t1, versus not, was associated with 1.22 (95% CI 0.07,2.37) more snacks/wk at t2, disinhibition partially mediated the association between probable Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and snacking (βindirect = 0.15, 95% CI 0.01,0.32), but flexible restraint did not moderate the association (β = 0.05, 95% CI -0.57,0.66). Our longitudinal findings highlight a detrimental anxiety-snacking association partly operating via disinhibition, suggesting future research could target mitigating anxiety and disinhibited eating behaviours to benefit diet-related outcomes following the pandemic

Elevated amygdala responses to emotional faces in youths with chronic irritability or bipolar disorder

AbstractA major controversy in child psychiatry is whether bipolar disorder (BD) presents in children as severe, non-episodic irritability (operationalized here as severe mood dysregulation, SMD), rather than with manic episodes as in adults. Both classic, episodic BD and SMD are severe mood disorders characterized by deficits in processing emotional stimuli. Neuroimaging techniques can be used to test whether the pathophysiology mediating these deficits are similar across the two phenotypes. Amygdala dysfunction during face emotion processing is well-documented in BD, but little is known about amygdala dysfunction in chronically irritable youth. We compared neural activation in SMD (n=19), BD (n=19), and healthy volunteer (HV; n=15) youths during an implicit face-emotion processing task with angry, fearful and neutral expressions. In the right amygdala, both SMD and BD exhibited greater activity across all expressions than HV. However, SMD and BD differed from each other and HV in posterior cingulate cortex, posterior insula, and inferior parietal lobe. In these regions, only SMD showed deactivation in response to fearful expressions, whereas only BD showed deactivation in response to angry expressions. Thus, during implicit face emotion processing, youth with BD and those with SMD exhibit similar amygdala dysfunction but different abnormalities in regions involved in information monitoring and integration

Lower density and shorter duration of nasopharyngeal carriage by pneumococcal serotype 1 (St217) may explain its increased invasiveness over other serotypes

ABSTRACT Streptococcus pneumoniae is a frequent colonizer of the human nasopharynx and a major cause of life-threating invasive infections such as pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. Over 1 million people die every year due to invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), mainly in developing countries. Serotype 1 is a common cause of IPD; however, unlike other serotypes, it is rarely found in the carrier state in the nasopharynx, which is often considered a prerequisite for disease. The aim of this study was to understand this dichotomy. We used murine models of carriage and IPD to characterize the pathogenesis of African serotype 1 (sequence type 217) pneumococcal strains obtained from the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. We found that ST217 pneumococcal strains were highly virulent in a mouse model of invasive pneumonia, but in contrast to the generally accepted assumption, can also successfully establish nasopharyngeal carriage. Interestingly, we found that cocolonizing serotypes may proliferate in the presence of serotype 1, suggesting that acquisition of serotype 1 carriage could increase the risk of developing IPD by other serotypes. RNA sequencing analysis confirmed that key virulence genes associated with inflammation and tissue invasiveness were upregulated in serotype 1. These data reveal important new insights into serotype 1 pathogenesis, with implications for carriage potential and risk of invasive disease through interactions with other cocolonizing serotypes, an often-overlooked factor in transmission and disease progression. IMPORTANCE The pneumococcus causes serious diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Serotype 1 accounts for the majority of invasive pneumococcal disease cases in sub-Saharan Africa but is rarely found during nasopharyngeal carriage. Understanding the mechanisms leading to nasopharyngeal carriage and invasive disease by this serotype can help reduce its burden on health care systems worldwide. In this study, we also uncovered the potential impact of serotype 1 on disease progression of other coinfecting serotypes, which can have important implications for vaccine efficacy. Understanding the interactions between different serotypes during nasopharyngeal carriage may lead to improved intervention methods and therapies to reduce pneumococcal invasive disease levels

The ‘variety effect’ is anticipated in meal planning

The 'variety effect' describes the greater consumption that is observed when multiple foods with different sensory characteristics are presented either simultaneously or sequentially. Variety increases the amount of food consumed in test of ad libitum intake. However, outside the laboratory, meals are often planned in advance and then consumed in their entirety. We sought to explore the extent to which the variety effect is anticipated in this pre-meal planning. Participants were shown two food images, each representing a first or a second course of a hypothetical meal. The two courses were either, \ud \ud i) exactly the same food, \ud ii) different foods from the same sensory category (sweet or savoury) or, \ud iii) different foods from a different sensory category. \ud \ud In Study 1 (N = 30) these courses comprised typical ‘main meal’ foods and in Study 2 (N = 30) they comprised snack foods. For each pair of images, participants rated their expected liking of the second course and selected ideal portion sizes, both for the second course and the first and second course, combined. In both studies, as the difference between the courses (from (i) same to (ii) similar to (iii) different) increased, the second course was selected in a larger portion and it was rated as more pleasant. To our knowledge, these are the first studies to show that the variety effect is evident in the energy content of self-selected meals. This work shows that effects of variety are learned and anticipated. This extends our characterisation beyond a passive process that develops towards the end of a meal

Exploring potential mental health spillover effects among caregivers and partners of youth in Sierra Leone: A qualitative study

Given the large mental health treatment gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in post-conflict settings like Sierra Leone, and the limited healthcare infrastructure, understanding the wider benefits of evidence-based mental health interventions within households is critical. This study explored potential mental health spillover effects – the phenomenon of beneficial effects among nonparticipants – among cohabitating caregivers and partners of youth who participated in an evidence-based mental health intervention in Sierra Leone. We recruited a sub-sample of cohabitating caregivers and partners (N = 20) of youth intervention participants; caregivers had enrolled in a larger study investigating indirect benefits of the evidence-based intervention in Sierra Leone (MH117359). Qualitative interviews were conducted at two time points to explore the following: (a) potential mental health spillover effects and (b) through which mechanisms spillover may have occurred. Two trained coders reviewed transcripts and analyzed qualitative data, assisted by MaxQDA. Qualitative findings suggested that spillover effects likely occurred and supported three potential mechanisms: decreased caregiving burden, behavior changes among Youth Readiness Intervention participants and improved interpersonal relationships. Mental health spillover effects may occur following youth intervention participation in a post-conflict LMIC. Investing in evidence-based services may offer indirect benefits that extend beyond those directly receiving services