The History Classroom as Site for Imagining the Nation: An Investigation of U.S. and Canadian Teachers\u27 Pedagogical Practices

This multiple case study compares the enacted history curricula in one U.S. and one Canadian school district in order to understand how high school teachers engage in the construction of national identities and the conceptualization of the “good” citizen. Following Anderson’s (1991) concept of nations as “imagined communities,” compulsory history classes are key sites for imagining the nation. Within the context of contemporary processes of globalization, the study explores the process of imagining the nation within a global “social imaginary” (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). Data sources include interviews with seven teachers in the U.S. state of Maryland and six teachers in the Canadian province of Ontario; classroom observations of five of those teachers; classroom artefacts; and local, state, and provincial curriculum documents. Existing empirical research has devoted little attention to the specific historical narratives that are used to tell the nation’s story. Wertsch’s (2002) concept of narrative dialogicality provides a useful framework for understanding how narratives act as cognitive tools to distribute collective memory throughout a social group. Classroom observations focused on the study of World War II in required high school history courses. In telling the story of the nation, teachers used historical narratives that ran counter to popular images of their respective nations. Despite Canada’s image as a “peacekeeping” nation, triumphal military narratives dominated the Canadian classes. Conversely, in the United States, the world’s dominant military power, political narratives dominated, with military narratives playing a supporting role. In enacting the curriculum, teachers negotiated neoliberal policies of accountability in various ways. For the Maryland teachers, the level of surveillance was more intense due to locally developed standardized course examinations, resulting in very limited autonomy for curriculum development. The Ontario teachers also reported increased surveillance of their work, but they retained a high degree of professional autonomy. In keeping with previous research, there were notable differences between the curriculum experienced by students from high and low socioeconomic status communities

APOBEC Mutagenesis Is Concordant between Tumor and Viral Genomes in HPV-Positive Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

APOBEC is a mutagenic source in human papillomavirus (HPV)-mediated malignancies, including HPV+ oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV + OPSCC), and in HPV genomes. It is unknown why APOBEC mutations predominate in HPV + OPSCC, or if the APOBEC-induced mutations observed in both human cancers and HPV genomes are directly linked. We performed sequencing of host somatic exomes, transcriptomes, and HPV16 genomes from 79 HPV + OPSCC samples, quantifying APOBEC mutational burden and activity in both host and virus. APOBEC was the dominant mutational signature in somatic exomes. In viral genomes, there was a mean of five (range 0–29) mutations per genome. The mean of APOBEC mutations in viral genomes was one (range 0–5). Viral APOBEC mutations, compared to non-APOBEC mutations, were more likely to be low-variant allele fraction mutations, suggesting that APOBEC mutagenesis actively occurrs in viral genomes during infection. HPV16 APOBEC-induced mutation patterns in OPSCC were similar to those previously observed in cervical samples. Paired host and viral analyses revealed that APOBEC-enriched tumor samples had higher viral APOBEC mutation rates (p = 0.028), and APOBEC-associated RNA editing (p = 0.008), supporting the concept that APOBEC mutagenesis in host and viral genomes is directly linked and occurrs during infection. Using paired sequencing of host somatic exomes, transcriptomes, and viral genomes, we demonstrated for the first-time definitive evidence of concordance between tumor and viral APOBEC mutagenesis. This finding provides a missing link connecting APOBEC mutagenesis in host and virus and supports a common mechanism driving APOBEC dysregulation

The Story of the Nation in Wartime: U.S. and Canadian History Teachers Teach World War II

This poster is about a book chapter that examines the enacted curriculum of World War II history in required Canadian and U.S. high school history classes

Supporting the Growth of Global Citizenship Educators

<div>This paper presents the results of a study, which was a part of a broader project to develop and pilot test a global citizenship education (GCE) teaching kit. This study involved examining a group of typical teachers&rsquo; perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about becoming global citizen educators. The study posed the question, &ldquo;Can providing teachers with global citizenship education resources and supporting them in the implementation of these resources improve their capacity to be effective global educators?&rdquo; We can infer from our study that there is mainstream appeal amongst social studies teachers for GCE. However, there are a number of limitations and barriers that prevent even those committed to global citizenship education from implementing GCE in their classrooms. Therefore, we argue that it is critically important to provide teachers with sustainable supports such as curriculum aligned teaching materials and professional development opportunities to become global citizenship educators.</div

Entrustment of the on-call senior medical resident role: implications for patient safety and collective care

Abstract Background The on-call responsibilities of a senior medicine resident (SMR) may include the admission transition of patient care on medical teaching teams (MTT), supervision of junior trainees, and ensuring patient safety. In many institutions, there is no standardised assessment of SMR competency prior to granting these on-call responsibilities in internal medicine. In order to fulfill competency based medical education requirements, training programs need to develop assessment approaches to make and defend such entrustment decisions. The purpose of this study is to understand the clinical activities and outcomes of the on-call SMR role and provide training programs with a rigorous model for entrustment decisions for this role. Methods This four phase study utilizes a constructivist grounded theory approach to collect and analyse the following data sets: case study, focus groups, literature synthesis of supervisory practices and return-of-findings focus groups. The study was conducted in two Academic Health Sciences Centres in Ontario, Canada. The case study included ten attending physicians, 13 SMRs, 19 first year residents and 14 medical students. The focus groups included 19 SMRs. The later, return-of-findings focus groups included ten SMRs. Results Five core on-call supervisory tasks (overseeing ongoing patient care, briefing, case review, documentation and preparing for handover) were identified, as well as a range of practices associated with these tasks. We also identified challenges that influenced the extent to which SMRs were able to effectively perform the core tasks. At times, these challenges led to omissions of the core tasks and potentially compromised patient safety and the admission transition of care. Conclusion By identifying the core supervisory tasks and associated practices, we were able to identify the competencies for the on-call SMR role. Our findings can further be used by training programs for assessment and for making entrustment decisions

Cardiac calcium score on 2D echo: Correlations with cardiac and coronary calcium at multi-detector computed tomography

Background: To test the hypothesis that a semi-quantitative echocardiographic calcium score (eCS) significantly correlates with cardiac calcium measured by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and, secondarily, severe coronary artery calcifications and stenosis. Methods: This is a retrospective, observational study, conducted in a tertiary centre. eCS was compared with CCTA scores of non-coronary cardiac calcium (nCACS), coronary cardiac calcium (CACS) and number of diseased coronary vessels, in 141 subjects without known coronary artery disease (CAD), who underwent both echocardiography and CCTA for clinical reasons. Results: Age, prevalence of hypertension and all measures of calcium (eCS, nCACS and CACS) differed significantly between the no-CAD and CAD subgroups. eCS was positively correlated with nCACS (Spearman rho = 0.64, p 400), a known predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The eCS also predicts obstructive CAD, incrementally to age and clinical variables, although for this purpose CACS remains the most accurate score