Smoking as an early risk factor for problematic parenting practices

Parenting among those who use non-illicit and more common drugs such as cigarettes remains an understudied area for investigation. Secondary data analyses were performed in 2015 on a prospective study with parent and twin data available on n=3,009 individual members of female twin pairs born between July 1975 and June 1985 identified from Missouri-state birth records. Maternal smoking when the twins were 3+ years of age remained a significant predictor of offspring report of childhood sexual abuse (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.02-1.92) after controlling for key covariates. Given limited public health resources, mothers who smoke during child's preschool years may be targeted for tailored parenting intervention

Rare Tumors Adjacent to the Achilles Tendon: Report of Two Cases

Benign masses are not uncommon near the Achilles tendon of the ankle. However, the occurrence of angiomyomas or glomus tumors in the region has rarely been reported. We describe two patients, a 44-year-old woman and 44-yearold man, who presented with a tender mass posterior to the Achilles tendon. Excision led to successful removal of the lesion in both cases. Results of histological examinations revealed an angiomyoma and glomus tumor in the woman and man, respectively. Although rare, the presence of these tumors should be considered in the differential diagnosis of masses near the Achilles tendon

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #39

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.Constructivist approaches to mathematics instruction based on the standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) have been widely advocated and are expanding in use.Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #17

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.Three evaluations have examined the impact of MathWings. One, involving four rural Maryland schools, found substantially greater gains on the mathematics sections of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program for MathWings students than for the rest of the state. The four pilot schools, which were much more impoverished than the state as a whole, started far below state averages but ended up above the state average. The second study, in San Antonio, Texas, also found substantial gains on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills math scale in grades 3–5 from the year before the program began to the end of the first implementation year. The third study found substantial gains on the CTBS mathematics concepts and applications scale for grades 4–5 (but not 3) in a Palm Beach County, Florida school.Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005