Patterns in Illinois Educational School Data

We examine Illinois educational data from standardized exams and analyze primary factors affecting the achievement of public school students. We focus on the simplest possible models: representation of data through visualizations and regressions on single variables. Exam scores are shown to depend on school type, location, and poverty concentration. For most schools in Illinois, student test scores decline linearly with poverty concentration. However Chicago must be treated separately. Selective schools in Chicago, as well as some traditional and charter schools, deviate from this pattern based on poverty. For any poverty level, Chicago schools perform better than those in the rest of Illinois. Selective programs for gifted students show high performance at each grade level, most notably at the high school level, when compared to other Illinois school types. The case of Chicago charter schools is more complex. In the last six years, their students' scores overtook those of students in traditional Chicago high schools.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Weak localization in mesoscopic hole transport: Berry phases and classical correlations

We consider phase-coherent transport through ballistic and diffusive two-dimensional hole systems based on the Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian. We show that intrinsic heavy-hole light-hole coupling gives rise to clear-cut signatures of an associated Berry phase in the weak localization which renders the magneto-conductance profile distinctly different from electron transport. Non-universal classical correlations determine the strength of these Berry phase effects and the effective symmetry class, leading even to antilocalization-type features for circular quantum dots and Aharonov-Bohm rings in the absence of additional spin-orbit interaction. Our semiclassical predictions are quantitatively confirmed by numerical transport calculations

Different Proctolin Neurons Elicit Distinct Motor Patterns From a Multifunctional Neuronal Network

Distinct motor patterns are selected from a multifunctional neuronal network by activation of different modulatory projection neurons. Subsets of these projection neurons can contain the same neuromodulator(s), yet little is known about the relative influence of such neurons on network activity. We have addressed this issue in the stomatogastric nervous system of the crab Cancer borealis. Within this system, there is a neuronal network in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) that produces many versions of the pyloric and gastric mill rhythms. These different rhythms result from activation of different projection neurons that innervate the STG from neighboring ganglia and modulate STG network activity. Three pairs of these projection neurons contain the neuropeptide proctolin. These include the previously identified modulatory proctolin neuron and modulatory commissural neuron 1 (MCN1) and the newly identified modulatory commissural neuron 7 (MCN7). We document here that each of these neurons contains a unique complement of cotransmitters and that each of these neurons elicits a distinct version of the pyloric motor pattern. Moreover, only one of them (MCN1) also elicits a gastric mill rhythm. The MCN7-elicited pyloric rhythm includes a pivotal switch by one STG network neuron from playing a minor to a major role in motor pattern generation. Therefore, modulatory neurons that share a peptide transmitter can elicit distinct motor patterns from a common target network

A Preliminary Study of Apolipoprotein E Genotype and Psychiatric Manifestations of Alzheimer's Disease

We evaluated the frequency of depression and psychosis in 46 patients with AD and 135 control subjects with the apolipoprotein (APO) E3/3 or E3/4 genotype. Patients with AD and the APOE3/4 genotype had a more than threefold increase in the signs of depression and psychosis when compared with either patients with the APOE3/3 genotype or to control subjects. Our preliminary study suggests that the phenotype of AD associated with the epsilon 4 allele is more likely to include psychiatric manifestations

The characteristics of cognitive neuroscience tests in a schizophrenia cognition clinical trial: Psychometric properties and correlations with standard measures.

In comparison to batteries of standard neuropsychological tests, cognitive neuroscience tests may offer a more specific assessment of discrete neurobiological processes that may be aberrant in schizophrenia. However, more information regarding psychometric properties and correlations with standard neuropsychological tests and functional measures is warranted to establish their validity as treatment outcome measures. The N-back and AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) are two promising cognitive neuroscience tests designed to measure specific components of working memory and contextual processing respectively. In the current study, we report the psychometric properties of multiple outcome measures from these two tests as well as their correlations with standard neuropsychological measures and functional capacity measures. The results suggest that while the AX-CPT and N-back display favorable psychometric properties, they do not exhibit greater sensitivity or specificity with functional measures than standard neurocognitive tests

Understanding the association between negative symptoms and performance on effort-based decision-making tasks: The importance of defeatist performance beliefs

Effort-based decision-making paradigms are increasingly utilized to gain insight into the nature of motivation deficits. Research has shown associations between effort-based decision making and experiential negative symptoms; however, the associations are not consistent. The current study had two primary goals. First, we aimed to replicate previous findings of a deficit in effort-based decision making among individuals with schizophrenia on a test of cognitive effort. Second, in a large sample combined from the current and a previous study, we sought to examine the association between negative symptoms and effort by including the related construct of defeatist beliefs. The results replicated previous findings of impaired cognitive effort-based decision making in schizophrenia. Defeatist beliefs significantly moderated the association between negative symptoms and effort-based decision making such that there was a strong association between high negative symptoms and deficits in effort-based decision making, but only among participants with high levels of defeatist beliefs. Thus, our findings suggest the relationship between negative symptoms and effort performance may be understood by taking into account the role of defeatist beliefs, and finding that might explain discrepancies in previous studies

Inter-Rater Reliability of a Clinical Staging of HIV-Associated Cognitive Impairment

Objective: To determine the inter-rater reliability of a modification of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSK) Staging for HIV-associated cognitive impairment. Methods: Data were abstracted on neurologic, neuropsychological, and functional status on 100 individuals participating at four sites in the Northeast AIDS Dementia (NEAD) Consortium cohort study, a longitudinal study of predictors of cognitive impairment in HIV-infected individuals. Neuropsychological performance was defined 1) based on the neuropsychologist’s global impression and 2) solely based on neuropsychological test scores. Raters at each site used the abstracted data to assign an MSK stage to each subject blind to any identifying information. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using kappa statistics. Agreement between computer-generated ratings and site-generated ratings was also assessed. Results: Kappa statistics for pair-wise agreement among the sites regarding MSK stage ranged from 0.70–0.91, representing good to excellent agreement between sites. Agreement between computer-generated ratings and site-generated ratings was in the good to excellent range (0.62–0.79). Conclusions: The authors have modified the MSK rating scale and developed a reliable instrument that can be used in multicenter studies. This instrument will be useful in staging HIV-dementia in future longitudinal studies and will be valuable in increasing accuracy of clinicopathologic studies

HIV-Associated Cognitive Impairment before and after the Advent of Combination Therapy

The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of HIV dementia and neuropsychological testing abnormalities in a new cohort of HIV-seropositive individuals at high risk for HIV dementia and to compare these results to a cohort before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HAART has been associated with improvements in cognitive performance in some HIV-infected patients. However, it is uncertain whether HAART has changed the frequency of specific neurocognitive abnormalities. Baseline data from 272 HIV-seropositive subjects in the Dana cohort recruited from January, 1994, to December, 1995, and 251 HIV-seropositive subjects in the Northeastern AIDS Dementia Consortium (NEAD) cohort recruited from April, 1998, to August, 1999, were compared. Participants in both cohorts received nearly identical assessments. After adjusting for differences in age, education, gender, race, and CD4 count between the two cohorts, there were no differences in the occurrence of HIV dementia or abnormalities either 1 SD or 2 SDs below established norms for any of the neuropsychological tests. Even though HAART has reduced the incidence of HIV dementia, HIV-associated cognitive impairment continues to be a major clinical problem among individuals with advanced infection

Resorbable screws versus pins for optimal transplant fixation (SPOT) in anterior cruciate ligament replacement with autologous hamstring grafts: rationale and design of a randomized, controlled, patient and investigator blinded trial [ISRCTN17384369]

BACKGROUND: Ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are common injuries to the knee joint. Arthroscopic ACL replacement by autologous tendon grafts has established itself as a standard of care. Data from both experimental and observational studies suggest that surgical reconstruction does not fully restore knee stability. Persisting anterior laxity may lead to recurrent episodes of giving-way and cartilage damage. This might at least in part depend on the method of graft fixation in the bony tunnels. Whereas resorbable screws are easy to handle, pins may better preserve graft tension. The objective of this study is to determine whether pinning of ACL grafts reduces residual anterior laxity six months after surgery as compared to screw fixation. DESIGN/ METHODS: SPOT is a randomised, controlled, patient and investigator blinded trial conducted at a single academic institution. Eligible patients are scheduled to arthroscopic ACL repair with triple-stranded hamstring grafts, conducted by a single, experienced surgeon. Intraoperatively, subjects willing to engage in this study will be randomised to transplant tethering with either resorbable screws or resorbable pins. No other changes apply to locally established treatment protocols. Patients and clinical investigators will remain blinded to the assigned fixation method until the six-month follow-up examination. The primary outcome is the side-to-side (repaired to healthy knee) difference in anterior translation as measured by the KT-1000 arthrometer at a defined load (89 N) six months after surgery. A sample size of 54 patients will yield a power of 80% to detect a difference of 1.0 mm ± standard deviation 1.2 mm at a two-sided alpha of 5% with a t-test for independent samples. Secondary outcomes (generic and disease-specific measures of quality of life, magnetic resonance imaging morphology of transplants and devices) will be handled in an exploratory fashion. CONCLUSION: SPOT aims at showing a reduction in anterior knee laxity after fixing ACL grafts by pins compared to screws

A 10-item smell identification scale related to risk for Alzheimer's disease

University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test data from control subjects (n = 63), patients with mild cognitive impairment (n = 147), and patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 100) were analyzed to derive an optimal subset of items related to risk for Alzheimer's disease (ie, healthy through mild cognitive impairment to early and moderate disease stages). The derived 10-item scale performed comparably with the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test in classifying subjects, and it strongly predicted conversion to Alzheimer's disease on follow-up evaluation in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Independent replication is needed to validate these findings