¿Podem as estruturas escolares melhorar as relações entre alunos e professores? A relação entre os períodos de orientação, atenção individualizada e o desempenho acadêmico dos estudantes

In this paper, we present findings from a three-year study of students' perceptions of personalization and, specifically, advisory as a reform strategy and its relationship to students' academic progress at 14 recently converted small high schools in a large, urban school district in California. This study examined the degree to which students' sense of personalization (connections to the school and to adults at the school) interacted with students' academic achievement, as measured by standardized test scores and weighted grade-point averages. In particular, we examined the relationship between students' perceptions of formal structures to enhance personalization -- such as advisory periods -- and students' academic achievement.Este estudio se centr en las relaciones entre las percepciones de estudiantes sobre niveles de personalizacin, sus opiniones sobre los periodos de asesoramiento, y los resultados acadmicos. Durante tres aos consecutivos se administraron 10.044 encuestas a estudiantes en 14 escuelas pequeas y re-estructuradas. Las respuestas fueron vinculadas a los promedios generales de las notas de los estudiantes ponderadas durante un solo ao y a los resultados de las pruebas normalizadas en Artes del Lenguaje Ingls. Los resultados de una serie de modelos de niveles mltiples indicaron que las percepciones ms positivas sobre la personalizacin pronosticaron mejores resultados acadmicos. Las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre el perodo de asesoramiento tambin fueron relacionados con el logro acadmico, pero en direccin opuesta: sentimientos positivos acerca de los perodos de asesoramiento se asociaron con peores resultados acadmicos. Estos resultados son consistentes con un trabajo cualitativo que sugiere que niveles ms altos de personalizacin son asociados con niveles ms altos de logros acadmicos, mejoras en la cultura escolar y ms compromiso de los estudiantes. Sin embargo, estos resultados tambin sugieren que las relaciones entre perodos de asesoramiento, personalizacin y resultados acadmicos no son tan sencillas como se haba pensado anteriormente.Este estudo focalizou as relaes entre as percepes dos alunos sobre os nveis de ateno individualizada e suas opinies sobre os perodos de orientao, com resultados acadmicos. Por trs anos consecutivos foram administrados 10.044 questionrios a alunos em 14 pequenas escolas que passaram for reformas. As respostas foram relacionadas com as mdias globais das notas dos alunos durante um nico ano ponderado e os resultados de testes padronizados na disciplina Lngua Inglesa. Os resultados de uma srie de modelos multi-nvel indicaram que as percepes mais positivas sobre a ateno individualizada prognosticaram melhores resultados acadmicos. As percepes dos alunos sobre o perodo de orientao tambm foram relacionadas com os resultados acadmicos, mas na direo oposta: sentimentos positivos sobre os perodos de orientao foram associados com piores resultados acadmicos. Estes resultados coincidem com um trabalho qualitativo que sugere que nveis mais elevados de ateno individualizada esto associados com nveis mais elevados de rendimento acadmico, melhorias na cultura escolar e mais engajamento dos alunos. No entanto, esses resultados tambm sugerem que as relaes entre perodos de orientao, ateno individualizada e os resultados acadmicos no so to simples quanto se pensava anteriormente

Real-Time Ventilation Measurements from Mechanically Ventilated Livestock Buildings for Emission Rate Estimations

A six-state USDA-IFAFS funded research project (Aerial Pollutant Emissions from Confined Animal Buildings, APECAB) was conducted with the purpose of determining hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, PM10, and odor emission rates from selected swine and poultry housing systems. An important aspect of emission studies is to be able to measure the mass flow rate of air through the housing system. For this research project, the decision was made to study only fan ventilated buildings due to the difficulty in estimating mass flow rates through naturally ventilated buildings. This paper highlights the various techniques used throughout the study to determine mass flow rate through fan ventilated swine and poultry housing systems

Effects of alirocumab on types of myocardial infarction: insights from the ODYSSEY OUTCOMES trial

Aims  The third Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (MI) Task Force classified MIs into five types: Type 1, spontaneous; Type 2, related to oxygen supply/demand imbalance; Type 3, fatal without ascertainment of cardiac biomarkers; Type 4, related to percutaneous coronary intervention; and Type 5, related to coronary artery bypass surgery. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction with statins and proprotein convertase subtilisin–kexin Type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors reduces risk of MI, but less is known about effects on types of MI. ODYSSEY OUTCOMES compared the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab with placebo in 18 924 patients with recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and elevated LDL-C (≥1.8 mmol/L) despite intensive statin therapy. In a pre-specified analysis, we assessed the effects of alirocumab on types of MI. Methods and results  Median follow-up was 2.8 years. Myocardial infarction types were prospectively adjudicated and classified. Of 1860 total MIs, 1223 (65.8%) were adjudicated as Type 1, 386 (20.8%) as Type 2, and 244 (13.1%) as Type 4. Few events were Type 3 (n = 2) or Type 5 (n = 5). Alirocumab reduced first MIs [hazard ratio (HR) 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77–0.95; P = 0.003], with reductions in both Type 1 (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.77–0.99; P = 0.032) and Type 2 (0.77, 0.61–0.97; P = 0.025), but not Type 4 MI. Conclusion  After ACS, alirocumab added to intensive statin therapy favourably impacted on Type 1 and 2 MIs. The data indicate for the first time that a lipid-lowering therapy can attenuate the risk of Type 2 MI. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction below levels achievable with statins is an effective preventive strategy for both MI types.For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz299</p

Effect of alirocumab on mortality after acute coronary syndromes. An analysis of the ODYSSEY OUTCOMES randomized clinical trial

Background: Previous trials of PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9) inhibitors demonstrated reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events, but not death. We assessed the effects of alirocumab on death after index acute coronary syndrome. Methods: ODYSSEY OUTCOMES (Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcomes After an Acute Coronary Syndrome During Treatment With Alirocumab) was a double-blind, randomized comparison of alirocumab or placebo in 18 924 patients who had an ACS 1 to 12 months previously and elevated atherogenic lipoproteins despite intensive statin therapy. Alirocumab dose was blindly titrated to target achieved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) between 25 and 50 mg/dL. We examined the effects of treatment on all-cause death and its components, cardiovascular and noncardiovascular death, with log-rank testing. Joint semiparametric models tested associations between nonfatal cardiovascular events and cardiovascular or noncardiovascular death. Results: Median follow-up was 2.8 years. Death occurred in 334 (3.5%) and 392 (4.1%) patients, respectively, in the alirocumab and placebo groups (hazard ratio [HR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.98; P=0.03, nominal P value). This resulted from nonsignificantly fewer cardiovascular (240 [2.5%] vs 271 [2.9%]; HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.74 to 1.05; P=0.15) and noncardiovascular (94 [1.0%] vs 121 [1.3%]; HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.59 to 1.01; P=0.06) deaths with alirocumab. In a prespecified analysis of 8242 patients eligible for ≥3 years follow-up, alirocumab reduced death (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.94; P=0.01). Patients with nonfatal cardiovascular events were at increased risk for cardiovascular and noncardiovascular deaths (P<0.0001 for the associations). Alirocumab reduced total nonfatal cardiovascular events (P<0.001) and thereby may have attenuated the number of cardiovascular and noncardiovascular deaths. A post hoc analysis found that, compared to patients with lower LDL-C, patients with baseline LDL-C ≥100 mg/dL (2.59 mmol/L) had a greater absolute risk of death and a larger mortality benefit from alirocumab (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.90; Pinteraction=0.007). In the alirocumab group, all-cause death declined wit h achieved LDL-C at 4 months of treatment, to a level of approximately 30 mg/dL (adjusted P=0.017 for linear trend). Conclusions: Alirocumab added to intensive statin therapy has the potential to reduce death after acute coronary syndrome, particularly if treatment is maintained for ≥3 years, if baseline LDL-C is ≥100 mg/dL, or if achieved LDL-C is low. Clinical Trial Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01663402

Can school structures improve teacher-student relationships? The relationship between advisory programs, personalization and students’ academic achievement ¿Pueden las estructuras escolares mejorar las relaciones entre estudiantes y docentes? La relación entre los programas de asesoramiento, personalización y el logro académico de los estudiantes ¿Podem as estruturas escolares melhorar as relações entre alunos e professores? A relação entre os períodos de orientação, atenção individualizada e o desempenho acadêmico dos estudantes

&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt; &lt;o:OfficeDocumentSettings&gt; &lt;o:AllowPNG /&gt; &lt;/o:OfficeDocumentSettings&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt; &lt;w:WordDocument&gt; &lt;w:Zoom&gt;0&lt;/w:Zoom&gt; &lt;w:TrackMoves&gt;false&lt;/w:TrackMoves&gt; &lt;w:TrackFormatting /&gt; &lt;w:PunctuationKerning /&gt; &lt;w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing&gt;18 pt&lt;/w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing&gt; &lt;w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing&gt;18 pt&lt;/w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing&gt; &lt;w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery&gt;0&lt;/w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery&gt; &lt;w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery&gt;0&lt;/w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery&gt; &lt;w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /&gt; &lt;w:SaveIfXMLInvalid&gt;false&lt;/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid&gt; &lt;w:IgnoreMixedContent&gt;false&lt;/w:IgnoreMixedContent&gt; &lt;w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText&gt;false&lt;/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText&gt; &lt;w:Compatibility&gt; &lt;w:BreakWrappedTables /&gt; &lt;w:DontGrowAutofit /&gt; &lt;w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables /&gt; &lt;w:DontVertAlignInTxbx /&gt; &lt;/w:Compatibility&gt; &lt;/w:WordDocument&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt; &lt;w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"&gt; &lt;/w:LatentStyles&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt; &lt;p&gt;In this paper, we present findings from a three-year study of students' perceptions of personalization and, specifically, advisory as a reform strategy and its relationship to students' academic progress at 14 recently converted small high schools in a large, urban school district in California. &amp;nbsp;This study examined the degree to which students' sense of personalization (connections to the school and to adults at the school) interacted with students' academic achievement, as measured by standardized test scores and weighted grade-point averages. In particular, we examined the relationship between students' perceptions of formal structures to enhance personalization -- such as advisory periods -- and students' academic achievement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;!--EndFragment--&gt; Este estudio se centr&amp;oacute; en las relaciones entre las percepciones de estudiantes sobre niveles de personalizaci&amp;oacute;n, sus opiniones sobre los periodos de asesoramiento, y los resultados acad&amp;eacute;micos.&amp;nbsp; Durante tres a&amp;ntilde;os consecutivos se administraron 10.044&amp;nbsp; encuestas a estudiantes en 14 escuelas peque&amp;ntilde;as y&amp;nbsp; re-estructuradas.&amp;nbsp; Las respuestas fueron vinculadas a los promedios generales de las notas de los estudiantes ponderadas durante un solo a&amp;ntilde;o y a los resultados de las pruebas normalizadas en Artes del Lenguaje Ingl&amp;eacute;s. Los resultados de una serie de modelos de niveles m&amp;uacute;ltiples indicaron que las percepciones m&amp;aacute;s positivas sobre la personalizaci&amp;oacute;n pronosticaron mejores resultados acad&amp;eacute;micos. Las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre el per&amp;iacute;odo de asesoramiento tambi&amp;eacute;n fueron relacionados con el logro acad&amp;eacute;mico, pero en direcci&amp;oacute;n opuesta: sentimientos positivos acerca de los per&amp;iacute;odos de asesoramiento se asociaron&amp;nbsp; con peores resultados acad&amp;eacute;micos. Estos resultados son consistentes&amp;nbsp; con un trabajo cualitativo que sugiere que niveles m&amp;aacute;s altos de&amp;nbsp; personalizaci&amp;oacute;n son asociados con niveles m&amp;aacute;s altos de&amp;nbsp; logros acad&amp;eacute;micos, mejor&amp;iacute;as en la cultura escolar y m&amp;aacute;s compromiso de los estudiantes. Sin embargo, estos resultados tambi&amp;eacute;n sugieren&amp;nbsp; que las relaciones entre per&amp;iacute;odos de asesoramiento, personalizaci&amp;oacute;n y resultados acad&amp;eacute;micos no son tan&amp;nbsp; sencillas como se hab&amp;iacute;a pensado anteriormente.&amp;nbsp; &lt;p&gt;Este estudo focalizou as&amp;nbsp; rela&amp;ccedil;&amp;otilde;es entre as percep&amp;ccedil;&amp;otilde;es dos alunos sobre os n&amp;iacute;veis de aten&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o individualizada e suas opini&amp;otilde;es sobre os per&amp;iacute;odos de orienta&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o, com resultados acad&amp;ecirc;micos. Por tr&amp;ecirc;s anos consecutivos foram administrados 10.044 question&amp;aacute;rios a alunos em 14 pequenas escolas que passaram for reformas. As respostas foram relacionadas com as m&amp;eacute;dias globais das notas dos alunos durante um &amp;uacute;nico ano ponderado e os resultados de testes padronizados na disciplina L&amp;iacute;ngua Inglesa. Os resultados de uma s&amp;eacute;rie de modelos multi-n&amp;iacute;vel indicaram que as percep&amp;ccedil;&amp;otilde;es mais&amp;nbsp; positivas sobre a aten&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o individualizada prognosticaram melhores resultados acad&amp;ecirc;micos. As percep&amp;ccedil;&amp;otilde;es dos alunos sobre o per&amp;iacute;odo de orienta&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o tamb&amp;eacute;m foram relacionadas com os resultados acad&amp;ecirc;micos, mas na dire&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o oposta: sentimentos positivos sobre os per&amp;iacute;odos de orienta&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o foram associados com piores resultados acad&amp;ecirc;micos. Estes resultados coincidem com um trabalho qualitativo que sugere que n&amp;iacute;veis mais elevados de aten&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o individualizada est&amp;atilde;o associados com n&amp;iacute;veis mais elevados de rendimento acad&amp;ecirc;mico, melhorias na cultura escolar e mais engajamento dos alunos. No entanto, esses resultados tamb&amp;eacute;m sugerem que as rela&amp;ccedil;&amp;otilde;es entre per&amp;iacute;odos de orienta&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o, aten&amp;ccedil;&amp;atilde;o individualizada e os&amp;nbsp; resultados acad&amp;ecirc;micos n&amp;atilde;o s&amp;atilde;o t&amp;atilde;o simples quanto se pensava anteriormente.&lt;/p&gt

Real-Time Ventilation Measurements from Mechanically Ventilated Livestock Buildings for Emission Rate Estimations

A six-state USDA-IFAFS funded research project (Aerial Pollutant Emissions from Confined Animal Buildings, APECAB) was conducted with the purpose of determining hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, PM10, and odor emission rates from selected swine and poultry housing systems. An important aspect of emission studies is to be able to measure the mass flow rate of air through the housing system. For this research project, the decision was made to study only fan ventilated buildings due to the difficulty in estimating mass flow rates through naturally ventilated buildings. This paper highlights the various techniques used throughout the study to determine mass flow rate through fan ventilated swine and poultry housing systems.This is an ASABE Meeting Presentation, Paper No. 044178.</p

Pergolide Treatment of Cognitive Deficits Associated with Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Continued Evidence of the Importance of the Dopamine System in the Schizophrenia Spectrum

Cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia are also frequently found in individuals with other schizophrenia spectrum disorders, such as schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). Dopamine appears to be a particularly important modulator of cognitive processes such as those impaired in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, we administered pergolide, a dopamine agonist targeting D1 and D2 receptors, to 25 participants with SPD and assessed the effect of pergolide treatment, as compared with placebo, on neuropsychological performance. We found that the pergolide group showed improvements in visual-spatial working memory, executive functioning, and verbal learning and memory. These results suggest that dopamine agonists may provide benefit for the cognitive abnormalities of schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Effects of the D1 Dopamine Receptor Agonist Dihydrexidine (DAR-0100A) on Working Memory in Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Pharmacological enhancement of prefrontal D(1) dopamine receptor function remains a promising therapeutic approach to ameliorate schizophrenia-spectrum working memory deficits, but has yet to be rigorously evaluated clinically. This proof-of-principle study sought to determine whether the active enantiomer of the selective and full D(1) receptor agonist dihydrexidine (DAR-0100A) could attenuate working memory impairments in unmedicated patients with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of DAR-0100A (15 mg/150 ml of normal saline administered intravenously over 30 min) in medication-free patients with SPD (n=16) who met the criteria for cognitive impairment (ie, scoring below the 25th percentile on tests of working memory). We employed two measures of verbal working memory that are salient to schizophrenia-spectrum cognitive deficits, and that clinical data implicate as being associated with prefrontal D(1) availability: (1) the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT); and (2) the N-back test (ratio of 2-back:0-back scores). Study procedures occurred over four consecutive days, with working memory testing on Days 1 and 4, and DAR-0100A/placebo administration on Days 2–4. Treatment with DAR-0100A was associated with significantly improved PASAT performance relative to placebo, with a very large effect size (Cohen's d=1.14). Performance on the N-back ratio was also significantly improved; however, this effect rested on both a non-significant enhancement and diminution of 2-back and 0-back performance, respectively; therefore interpretation of this finding is more complicated. DAR-0100A was generally well tolerated, with no serious medical or psychiatric adverse events; common side effects were mild to moderate and transient, consisting mainly of sedation, lightheadedness, tachycardia, and hypotension; however, we were able to minimize these effects, without altering the dose, with supportive measures, eg, co-administered normal saline. Although preliminary, these findings lend further clinical support to the potential of D(1) receptor agonists to treat schizophrenia-spectrum working memory impairments. These data suggest a need for further studies with larger group sizes, serum DAR-0100A levels, and a more comprehensive neuropsychological battery