Explorations, Vol. 3, No. 2

Cover: Edmund G. Schildknecht, Seated Figure, 1929, oil on canvas, 30” x 25”, acc. no. 85.6.31, bequest of Edmund G. Schildknecht Articles include: Reyes Syndrome Under Attack at UMaine, by MaryAnn Jerkofsky Maine Service Abroad: Using Labor Market Results for Planning Education and Training in Developing Countries, by David H. Clark Feeling and Form: Four American Paintings in the University of Maine Art Collection, by David Ebitz We Stand Corrected, Volume 3, Number 1, of EXPLORATIONS Confessions of a Comet Huckster, by Alan Davenport H.G. Wells: Socialist, Feminist, Polymath, Educator and Hero, by David C. Smith Supercritical Fluids and Their Interaction with Lignocellulosic Materials and Polymers, by Erdogan Kira

EFFECT OF LIBRARY RESOURCES ON SECONDARY STUDENTS\u27 ACADEMIC ABILITY LEVELS IN CHEMISTRY IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract The study explored the effect of library resources on secondary school students’ academic ability levels as determined by their academic achievement in Chemistry. The study employed a quasi-experimental design. Precisely, the pre-test, post-test, and non-equivalent control group design. Two research questions with corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was all the senior secondary school class two (SS2) chemistry students of the 295 public secondary schools in Enugu State in the 2019/2020 academic session. A sample of 166 chemistry students (Male 89, and Female 77) was drawn through the purposive sampling technique from two secondary schools. Four intact classes were used. Two were assigned to experimental and the other two to control groups. The regular chemistry teachers of the sampled schools were trained and used as research assistants for the study. The instruments for the study were a 30-item multiple-choice chemistry achievement test (CAT) and the library resource teaching manual (LRTM). The instrument was face and content validated by three experts. The CAT was pilot-tested on 30 students and a reliability coefficient of 0.70 was obtained using Kuder-Richardson’s formula 20 (KR-20). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistics at a 0.05 level of significance. The study found that the chemistry students exposed to lessons with the use of library resources improved their academic ability levels more than their counterparts taught with the conventional method. It was recommended among others that chemistry classroom teachers should keep up pace with the developmental trends in teaching and learning by using library resources and new technologies for effective instructional delivery. The implication of the study is the overall improvement of students’ academic performance in chemistry and science subjects in general for the economic, scientific and technological development of the nation

Serum potassium, calcium and magnesium after resuscitation from ventricular fibrillation: A canine study

Serum electrolytes were measured before and sequentially for 3 hours after resuscitation from ventricular fibrillation in a canine model that was designed to approximate the human cardiac arrest and resuscitation process. Twenty anesthetized dogs were resuscitated from ventricular fibrillation; 7 required epinephrine during resuscitation and 13 did not. To control for the effects of anesthesia, 10 dogs were anesthetized and instrumented, but ventricular fibrillation was not induced.Serum potassium decreased from 3.7 ± 0.3 mmol/liter at baseline to 3.2 ± 0.4 mmol/liter 45 minutes after resuscitation in the experimental dogs resuscitated without epinephrine, as compared with 3.6 ± 0.3 to 3.4 ± 0.2 mmol/liter in control dogs (p = 0.07 versus control dogs by two-way analysis of variance) and returned toward baseline at the end of 3 hours. Serum calcium decreased from 9.6 ± 0.6 mg/dl at baseline to 8.9 ± 0.9 mg/dl at 5 minutes after resuscitation as compared with 9.4 ± 0.7 to 9.5 ± 0.7 mg/dl in control dogs (p < 0.05 versus control dogs) and returned to baseline by 3 hours. Serum magnesium decreased from 1.5 ± 0.1 to 1.3 ± 0.2 mEq/dl by 3 hours in resuscitated dogs as compared with 1.6 ± 0.2 to 1.5 ± 0.2 mEq/dl in control dogs (p = 0.06 versus control dogs). These changes in serum potassium, calcium and magnesium were independent of the administration of epinephrine during the resuscitation process. Changes in potassium were independent of arterial pH or bicarbonate therapy. Serum glucose increased after ventricular fibrillation but not in control dogs (p < 0.0005 versus control). No changes in other electrolytes were observed.Thus, serum potassium, calcium and magnesium decreased after resuscitation from ventricular fibrillation in this canine model. These data suggest that, although the hypokalemia seen after ventricular fibrillation in humans may in some cases precede the event, a decrease in potassium may develop after resuscitation

Magnesium Depletion in Patients Treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest

Magnesium (Mg2+) depletion can have detrimental effects in postcardiac arrest patients through multiple potential mechanisms. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) produces a Mg2+ diuresis, but the effects of postcardiac arrest TH on serum Mg2+ levels in patients with postcardiac arrest syndrome (PCAS) are yet to be systematically quantified. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 119 consecutive comatose PCAS patients treated with TH between 2005 and 2010 and compared them to 33 matched historic controls (HCs) seen at the same institution between 2002 and 2005 who were not treated with TH. We abstracted data from the first 96 hours postarrest, including date, time, and value of serum Mg2+ levels and date, time, and amount of Mg2+ repletion, along with outcomes at discharge. The median Mg2+ level of TH patients was 2.0?mg/dL [interquartile range (IQR), 1.9?2.2?mg/dL] (0.82 mmol/L [IQR, 0.78?0.90 mmol/L]) versus 2.2?mg/dL [IQR, 1.9?2.4?mg/dL] (0.90 mmol/L [IQR, 0.82?0.99 mmol/L]) (p=0.2) in HCs. In addition, 42.9% (520/1214) of Mg2+ levels in TH patients versus 31.9% (43/135) (p=0.014) in HC patients were below 2.0?mg/dL [0.82 mmol/L]. The average number of times the Mg2+ level was checked in TH patients was 10.2 (range 1?18) versus 4.1 (range 1?10) in HCs. The TH patients were more likely to receive supplemental Mg2+ than HCs (81.5% [97/119] vs. 27.3% [9/33] [p<0.01]). The mean supplemental Mg2+ dose was 1.9?g for TH patients versus 0.5?g for HC patients. Mortality in patients treated with TH was 53.1% (60/113) versus 78.6% (22/28) (p=0.014) in HCs. Low serum Mg2+ levels with subsequent Mg2+ supplementation were more common in comatose patients with PCAS treated with TH compared to normothermic HC patients. The effect of untreated hypomagnesemia on postcardiac arrest outcomes remains to be determined.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140255/1/ther.2014.0012.pd

The Neuroscience Information Framework: A Data and Knowledge Environment for Neuroscience

With support from the Institutes and Centers forming the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, we have designed and implemented a new initiative for integrating access to and use of Web-based neuroscience resources: the Neuroscience Information Framework. The Framework arises from the expressed need of the neuroscience community for neuroinformatic tools and resources to aid scientific inquiry, builds upon prior development of neuroinformatics by the Human Brain Project and others, and directly derives from the Society for Neuroscience’s Neuroscience Database Gateway. Partnered with the Society, its Neuroinformatics Committee, and volunteer consultant-collaborators, our multi-site consortium has developed: (1) a comprehensive, dynamic, inventory of Web-accessible neuroscience resources, (2) an extended and integrated terminology describing resources and contents, and (3) a framework accepting and aiding concept-based queries. Evolving instantiations of the Framework may be viewed at http://nif.nih.gov, http://neurogateway.org, and other sites as they come on line

A Data Citation Roadmap for Scholarly Data Repositories [preprint]

This article presents a practical roadmap for scholarly data repositories to implement data citation in accordance with the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles, a synopsis and harmonization of the recommendations of major science policy bodies. The roadmap was developed by the Repositories Expert Group, as part of the Data Citation Implementation Pilot (DCIP) project, an initiative of FORCE11.org and the NIH BioCADDIE (https://biocaddie.org) program. The roadmap makes 11 specific recommendations, grouped into three phases of implementation: a) required steps needed to support the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles, b) recommended steps that facilitate article/data publication workflows, and c) optional steps that further improve data citation support provided by data repositories