Metalinguistic Language Development and Literacy Success in First Grade Children with Language Impairment

Purpose. This study explores how the development of meaning (morphology), spelling patterns (orthography), and sound patterns (phonology) are related to literacy success in young elementary school children with and without language impairment. Significance. Young school-age children with language impairment (LI) are at risk for experiencing a literacy deficit (Catts, Adlof, Hogan & Weismer, 2005). The basic foundational skills required to read and write language are also those required to understand and produce spoken language. Phonological awareness is one language skill that is highly predictive of literacy success (Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 2001), however, it is not the only skill that affects reading and writing development. Recently, the language abilities of orthographic knowledge and morphological awareness were found related to literacy success in children with and without LI (e.g., Wolter & Apel, 2010; Wolter, Wood, & D’zatko, 2009). Orthographic knowledge refers to the ability to actively, store, and access complete letter patterns/representations of written words in memory. Morphological awareness can be defined as the conscious awareness of the meaningful units of words (e.g., base word / suffix). Thus, this research sought to determine whether these skills uniquely influence reading and spelling abilities in elementary children with and without LI and whether differences exist between these groups of children. Methodology. Children in kindergarten and 1st-grade with and without LI completed measures of phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness as well as a battery of reading and writing tests. Statistical analyses revealed the children with LI performed significantly different than those with typical language on orthographic knowledge or morphological awareness measures. In addition, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and morphological awareness appeared to be related to reading and spelling in both groups of children. Future research and clinical implications will be discussed

Improving the medical school–residency transition

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138225/1/tct12576_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138225/2/tct12576.pd

The flipped classroom for medical students

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111810/1/tct12328.pd

Current communication practices between obstetrics and gynecology residency applicants and program directors

Importance: In order to equitably improve the residency application process, it is essential to understand the problems we need to address. Objective: To determine how obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) applicants and faculty communicate applicants\u27 interest to residency programs, and how program directors report being influenced by these communications. Design, Setting, and Participants: This survey study was conducted with email surveys of OBGYN application stakeholders in 2022. Included participants were OBGYN applicants, clerkship directors, and residency program directors in medical education associations\u27 email listservs. Exposures: Surveys sent by the American Association of Medical Colleges, Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Main Outcomes and Measures: Whether applicants themselves, or faculty on their behalf, communicated to residency programs, and the influence program directors reported placing on these communications for their decision-making. Descriptive statistics and χ2 tests were used to analyze differences. Results: A total 726 of 2781 applicants (26.1%) responded to the survey and were included in analysis (79 of 249 [31.7%] clerkship directors; 200 of 280 [71.4%] program directors). The self-reported racial and ethnic demographics of the 726 applicant respondents were 86 Asian (11.8%), 54 Black (7.4%), 41 Latinx (5.6%), 1 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (0.1%), 369 White (52.2%), 45 with multiple racial identities (6.2%), and 91 (21.5%) preferring not to answer. The majority of applicants (590 [82.9%]) sent communications at some point in the application process. Applicants who identified as White (336 [88.7%]) or Asian (75 [87.2%]) were more likely than those who identified as Black (40 [74.1%]) or Latinx (33 [80.5%]) to reach out to programs (P = .02). There were also differences in type of medical school, with 377 of 427 MD applicants (88.3%), 109 of 125 DO applicants (87.2%), and 67 of 87 International Medical Graduate applicants (77.7%) reporting sending communications (P = .02). Approximately one-third (254 applicants [35.7%]) had faculty reach out to programs on their behalf. White (152 [40.1%]) and Asian (37 [43.0%]) applicants were more likely to have faculty reach out compared with Black (6 [11.1%]) and Latinx (12 [29.3%]) applicants (P = .01). Program directors reported that preinterview communications from faculty they knew (64 [32.2%]) and other program directors (25 [12.6%]) strongly influenced their decisions, and otherwise rarely reported that communications strongly influenced their decisions. Conclusions and Relevance: The current state of communications may increase inequities in residency application processes; differences between faculty communications for applicants from different racial and ethnic backgrounds are particularly concerning given that program directors are more likely to weigh communications from faculty in their decision-making. A centralized, equitable means for applicants to signal their interest to programs is urgently needed

Stretch Activates Human Myometrium via ERK, Caldesmon and Focal Adhesion Signaling

An incomplete understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for myometrial activation from the quiescent pregnant state to the active contractile state during labor has hindered the development of effective therapies for preterm labor. Myometrial stretch has been implicated clinically in the initiation of labor and the etiology of preterm labor, but the molecular mechanisms involved in the human have not been determined. We investigated the mechanisms by which gestation-dependent stretch contributes to myometrial activation, by using human uterine samples from gynecologic hysterectomies and Cesarean sections. Here we demonstrate that the Ca requirement for activation of the contractile filaments in human myometrium increases with caldesmon protein content during gestation and that an increase in caldesmon phosphorylation can reverse this inhibitory effect during labor. By using phosphotyrosine screening and mass spectrometry of stretched human myometrial samples, we identify 3 stretch-activated focal adhesion proteins, FAK, p130Cas, and alpha actinin. FAK-Y397, which signals integrin engagement, is constitutively phosphorylated in term human myometrium whereas FAK-Y925, which signals downstream ERK activation, is phosphorylated during stretch. We have recently identified smooth muscle Archvillin (SmAV) as an ERK regulator. A newly produced SmAV-specific antibody demonstrates gestation-specific increases in SmAV protein levels and stretch-specific increases in SmAV association with focal adhesion proteins. Thus, whereas increases in caldesmon levels suppress human myometrium contractility during pregnancy, stretch-dependent focal adhesion signaling, facilitated by the ERK activator SmAV, can contribute to myometrial activation. These results suggest that focal adhesion proteins may present new targets for drug discovery programs aimed at regulation of uterine contractility

Student Evaluation of Faculty Physicians: Gender Differences in Teaching Evaluations

Purpose: To investigate whether there is a difference in medical student teaching evaluations for male and female clinical physician faculty. Methods: The authors examined all teaching evaluations completed by clinical students at one North American medical school in the surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and internal medicine clinical rotations from 2008 to 2012. The authors focused on how students rated physician faculty on their ?overall quality of teaching? using a 5-point response scale (1?=?Poor to 5?=?Excellent). Linear mixed-effects models provided estimated mean differences in evaluation outcomes by faculty gender. Results: There were 14,107 teaching evaluations of 965 physician faculty. Of these evaluations, 7688 (54%) were for male physician faculty and 6419 (46%) were for female physician faculty. Female physicians received significantly lower mean evaluation scores in all four rotations. The discrepancy was largest in the surgery rotation (males?=?4.23, females?=?4.01, p?=?0.003). Pediatrics showed the next greatest difference (males?=?4.44, females?=?4.29, p?=?0.009), followed by obstetrics and gynecology (males?=?4.38, females?=?4.26, p?=?0.026), and internal medicine (males?=?4.35, females?=?4.27, p?=?0.043). Conclusions: Female physicians received lower teaching evaluations in all four core clinical rotations. This comprehensive examination adds to the medical literature by illuminating subtle differences in evaluations based on physician gender, and provides further evidence of disparities for women in academic medicine.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140140/1/jwh.2015.5475.pd

Interface Engineering of Water-Dispersible Near-Infrared-Emitting CuInZnS/ZnSe/ZnS Quantum Dots

© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We report the synthesis of near-infrared (IR)-emitting core/shell/shell quantum dots of CuInZnS/ZnSe/ZnS and their phase transfer to water. The intermediate ZnSe shell was added to inhibit the migration of ions from the standard ZnS shell into the emitting core, which often leads to a blue shift in the emission profile. By engineering the interface between the core and terminal shell layer, the optical properties can be controlled, and emission was maintained in the near-IR region, making the materials attractive for biological applications. In addition, the hydrodynamic diameter of the particle was controlled using amphiphilic polymers.Peer reviewe

Single-cell transcriptomics identifies CD44 as a marker and regulator of endothelial to haematopoietic transition.

The endothelial to haematopoietic transition (EHT) is the process whereby haemogenic endothelium differentiates into haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). The intermediary steps of this process are unclear, in particular the identity of endothelial cells that give rise to HSPCs is unknown. Using single-cell transcriptome analysis and antibody screening, we identify CD44 as a marker of EHT enabling us to isolate robustly the different stages of EHT in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) region. This allows us to provide a detailed phenotypical and transcriptional profile of CD44-positive arterial endothelial cells from which HSPCs emerge. They are characterized with high expression of genes related to Notch signalling, TGFbeta/BMP antagonists, a downregulation of genes related to glycolysis and the TCA cycle, and a lower rate of cell cycle. Moreover, we demonstrate that by inhibiting the interaction between CD44 and its ligand hyaluronan, we can block EHT, identifying an additional regulator of HSPC development