Supporting New School Leaders Through Mentoring

Mentoring may best be defined as “a process where one person provides individual support and challenge to another professional (Bush, 2009, p.379). The importance of mentoring new teachers and administrators has long been recognized. For example, since 2000 more than half of the states have passed laws requiring mentoring of new principals (Daresh, 2004; Spiro, Mattis, & Mitgang 2007). Most of these laws have required mentoring in the first two years of practice. Grissom & Harrington (2010) found under the mentorship model, a more experienced principal mentor provides the support, guidance, advice and sounding board as the new principal becomes acclimated to the position

Interventions for Speech and Language Outcomes for Children with ANSD: A Systematic Review

Purpose or Research Questions: In children with ANSD, how does amplification compared to cochlear implantation affect speech and language outcomes? Background: Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder, or ANSD is a sensorineural hearing loss characterized by an impairment of the auditory nerve. This generally means that while sound is able to travel through the outer, middle, and inner ear, it is unable to successfully reach the brain. Cochlear Implants (CIs) and hearing aids have both become common interventions for children with ANSD. The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate differences in speech and language outcomes between the two interventions. Methods/Proposed Methods: A literature search was conducted using the following search string: (ANSD OR CND OR Auditory Neuropathy OR Cochlear Nerve Deficiency) AND (children OR pediatric OR school) AND (amplification OR Hearing aids OR hearing amplification OR acoustic stimulation) AND (cochlear implant* OR electric stimulation). Three major databases were searched; PubMed, Ovid, and MedlinePlus. Studies including speech and language outcomes of this population of children were included. Exclusion criteria included children with comorbities, non-English speaking populations, and studies that only considered academic achievement outcomes. 12 studies met the inclusion criteria by addressing one or more of the aspects of our research questions. Eleven of the 12 studies addressed the use of cochlear implantation, and 5 addressed the use of hearing aids. Studies were evaluated for quality using the Cincinnati Children’s LEGEND Appraisal Forms. Data regarding participant, intervention, and outcome variables are reported. Results/Anticipated Results: All studies included were observational in design, including cohort studies and comparisons between children with ANSD and SNHL. The literature supports both hearing aids and CIs as acceptable intervention measures for ANSD. Evidence of favorable outcomes were demonstrated for both types of intervention in children with ANSD. Speech and language outcomes for both the hearing aid subjects and cochlear implant subjects were similar. All participants showed an improved auditory performance to some degree, yet all 12 studies were considered exploratory with methodological limitations and confounding issues. Discussion (e.g., interpretation of results; potential contribution of anticipated results) Due to the wide variety of outcomes for children with ANSD, it is important to identify children who will benefit from amplification and those who are appropriate candidates for cochlear implantation. The clinical evidence determining the differences in speech and language outcomes between CI and HA interventions in the ANSD population is limited. Stronger evidence is needed to demonstrate any important differences in cochlear implant benefit compared to hearing aid benefit as it pertains to speech and language outcomes in children with ANSD

Allergic Responses Induced by a Fungal Biopesticide Metarhizium anisopliae and House Dust Mite Are Compared in a Mouse Model

Biopesticides can be effective in controlling their target pest. However, research regarding allergenicity and asthma development is limited. We compared the ability of fungal biopesticide Metarhizium anisopliae (MACA) and house dust mite (HDM) extracts to induce allergic responses in BALB/c mice. The extracts were administered by intratracheal aspiration at doubling doses (2.5–80 μg protein) 4X over a four-week period. Three days after the last exposure, serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were collected. The extracts' relative allergenicity was evaluated based on response robustness (lowest significant dose response compared to control (0 μg)). MACA induced a more robust serum total IgE response than HDM. However, in the antigen-specific IgE assay, a similar dose of both MACA and HDM was required to achieve the same response level. Our data suggest a threshold dose of MACA for allergy induction and that M. anisopliae may be similar to HDM in allergy induction potential

Understanding and improving the care pathway for children with autism

Purpose: To describe current care pathways for children with autism including enablers and barriers, as experienced by health professionals, education professionals, and families in South Wales, UK. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach using focus group discussions, creative writing workshops and visualisation using rich pictures. Findings: The experiences of the care pathways differed significantly across the three groups. Health professionals described the most rigidly-structured pathways, with clear entry points and outcomes. Education professionals and parents described more complex and confusing pathways, with parents assuming the responsibility of coordinating the health and education activity in a bid to link the two independent pathways. All three groups identified enablers, although these differed across the groups. The barriers were more consistent across the groups (e.g. poor communication, missing information, lack of transparency, limited post diagnosis services and access to services based on diagnosis rather than need). Practical implications: This research could inform the design of new services which are premised on multi-agency and multi-disciplinary working to ensure children with ASD receive joined up services and support. Originality/value: Although this study did not represent all professional groups or all experiences of autism, we examined three different perspectives of the ASD pathway. In addition, we triangulated high-level process maps with rich pictures and creative writing exercises, which allowed us to identify specific recommendations to improve integration and reduce duplication and gaps in provision

Metal composition of ambient PM2.5 influences severity of allergic airways disease in mice.

Children living in Hettstedt in eastern Germany have been reported to have a higher prevalence of sensitization to common aeroallergens than another cohort living in the neighboring city of Zerbst; these differences correlated with the presence of industrial air pollution. Samples of fine particulate matter (< 2.5 micro m aerodynamic diameter; PM(2.5)) collected in Hettstedt in 1999 had several-fold higher levels of zinc, magnesium, lead, copper, and cadmium than samples from Zerbst. To determine if the results from epidemiologic studies could be repeated in an animal model, we administered PM(2.5) from Hettstedt and Zerbst to ovalbumin-allergic mice. In Balb/c mice, PM(2.5) from Hettstedt, but not PM(2.5) from Zerbst or control filter extract, caused a significant increase in immediate responses to ovalbumin challenge when aspirated 2 hr before challenge, but not when aspirated immediately before sensitization 2 weeks earlier. Antigen-specific IgE was increased by Hettstedt PM(2.5) whether administered before sensitization or challenge. Airway responsiveness to methacholine aerosol and lung inflammatory cell numbers were significantly increased only in allergic mice exposed to Hettstedt PM(2.5) before challenge. Both Hettstedt and Zerbst PM(2.5) significantly increased lung injury parameters and proinflammatory cytokines. These results are consistent with epidemiologic findings and show that metal composition of ambient PM(2.5) influences the severity of allergic respiratory disease

Police referrals for domestic abuse before and during the first COVID-19 lockdown: An analysis of routine data from one specialist service in South Wales.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 lockdown measures may have led to more, and increasingly severe, domestic abuse. This study examines police referrals to a specialist domestic abuse service in Wales, UK before and during the first lockdown. METHODS: Routine data relating to 2292 police referrals for female adult victim-survivors from December 2019 until July 2020 were analysed and presented in the form of descriptive statistics to monitor changes in referral rates and the profile of those referrals. RESULTS: There was little increase in the overall volume of police referrals during lockdown, but the proportion assessed as high risk increased, and children became the primary source of third-party referrals, with a higher proportion of reports made by other third parties as restrictions eased. Police reports for cases of Child/Adolescent to Parent Violence (C/APV) occurred almost exclusively during lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in risk level despite less clear increase in volume may suggest unmet need, with victims less likely to seek help during lockdown other than for more severe instances. Increased reports by children suggest increased exposure of children to domestic abuse during school closure. Unmet need for women and children may have been made visible to services, and acquaintances, as measures began to ease.National Institute for Health Research via the Public Health Research funding committee (NIHR127793)

Constraining Warm Inflation with the Cosmic Microwave Background

We discuss the spectrum of scalar density perturbations from warm inflation when the friction coefficient $\Gamma$ in the inflaton equation is dependent on the inflaton field. The spectral index of scalar fluctuations depends on a new slow-roll parameter constructed from $\Gamma$. A numerical integration of the perturbation equations is performed for a model of warm inflation and gives a good fit to the WMAP data for reasonable values of the model's parameters.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX

Cohort profile: HealthWise Wales. A research register and population health data platform with linkage to National Health Service data sets in Wales

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Pseudonatural Inflation

We study how to obtain a sufficiently flat inflaton potential that is natural from the particle physics point of view. Supersymmetry, which is broken during inflation, cannot protect the potential against non-renormalizable operators violating slow-roll. We are therefore led to consider models based on non-linearly realized symmetries. The basic scenario with a single four-dimensional pseudo Nambu Goldstone boson requires the spontaneous breaking scale to be above the Planck scale, which is beyond the range of validity of the field theory description, so that quantum gravity corrections are not under control. A nice way to obtain consistent models with large field values is to consider simple extensions in extra-dimensional setups. We also consider the minimal structures necessary to obtain purely four-dimensional models with spontaneous breaking scale below M_P; we show that they require an approximate symmetry that is supplemented by either the little-Higgs mechanism or supersymmetry to give trustworthy scenarios.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. v2: minor changes, ref. added, accepted for JCA