Student-Athletes in my Classroom: Australian Teachers’ Perspectives of the Problems Faced by Student-Athletes Balancing School and Sport

This paper emerged from a larger project about Australian high performance school age athletes self-identified problems in balancing their academic and sporting lives. Teachers of student-athletes are ideally placed to observe stresses faced by these students, but little is published about teacher perspectives on this topic. A qualitative analysis of interview data from 10 teachers, across 10 Australian secondary schools, revealed critical information about the similarities and differences in their perspectives compared to those of student-athletes and parents. Teachers identified five main areas where student-athletes required dedicated support, and provided examples of solutions to address these. Their practical strategies complement the characteristics of the ‘athlete-friendly’ school and serve as examples of best practice support that other schools could adopt. On analysis, these strategies align with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Consequently, the focus of this paper relates to the teacher perspectives and how this impacts teacher practice

The Characteristics of Catholic Schools: Comparative Perspectives from the USA and Queensland, Australia

The faith-based identity of Catholic schools is increasingly problematic in a secularised society where the numbers of teachers belonging to religious orders are diminishing rapidly. Teachers’ views regarding the characteristics of Catholic schools are an important aspect of the identity of such schools. The authors locate Catholic schools in the USA and Queensland, Australia, in their respective contexts and compare teachers’ ratings of the importance of eleven given characteristics of Catholic schools as seen by 3,389 teachers in USA Catholic schools and 2,287 teachers in Queensland Catholic schools. When the mean ratings for each jurisdiction were statistically correlated, USA teachers were much more likely to rate these given characteristics as essential and the resulting χ² and associated Odds Ratio values indicated very statistically significant jurisdictional differences. Some tentative explanations are suggested including the differing political contexts, the conditions of teachers’ employment and the support structures for the spiritual and faith formation of teachers in the respective jurisdictions

Using NVivo™ for Literature Reviews: The Eight Step Pedagogy (N7+1)

While a literature review is a necessary milestone to be completed by all researchers in a timely and efficient manner, it is often one of the most difficult aspects of the research journey. Moreover, traditional approaches often leave novice researchers, to struggle with the conceptualisation of their literature review, now complicated by the overwhelming quantity of research available online. This paper presents a rationale the use of Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) programs for literature reviews. QDAS tools allow the researcher to explore large amounts of textual documents to see patterns. These programs are often overlooked by novice researchers due to their complexity and the lack of expertise provided to assist them. To combat this dilemma our paper outlines the N7+1 approach to using Nvivo11™ for literature reviews. Through this approach researchers can develop an “auditable footprint,” keep everything in one place, and go paperless

Mitochondrial redox environments predict sensorimotor brain-behavior dynamics in adults with HIV.

Despite virologic suppression, people living with HIV (PLWH) remain at risk for developing cognitive impairment, with aberrations in motor control being a predominant symptom leading to functional dependencies in later life. While the neuroanatomical bases of motor dysfunction have recently been illuminated, the underlying molecular processes remain poorly understood. Herein, we evaluate the predictive capacity of the mitochondrial redox environment on sensorimotor brain-behavior dynamics in 40 virally-suppressed PLWH and 40 demographically-matched controls using structural equation modeling. We used state-of-the-art approaches, including Seahorse Analyzer of mitochondrial function, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure superoxide levels, antioxidant activity assays and dynamic magnetoencephalographic imaging to quantify sensorimotor oscillatory dynamics. We observed differential modulation of sensorimotor brain-behavior relationships by superoxide and hydrogen peroxide-sensitive features of the redox environment in PLWH, while only superoxide-sensitive features were related to optimal oscillatory response profiles and better motor performance in controls. Moreover, these divergent pathways may be attributable to immediate, separable mechanisms of action within the redox environment seen in PLWH, as evidenced by mediation analyses. These findings suggest that mitochondrial redox parameters are important modulators of healthy and pathological oscillations in motor systems and behavior, serving as potential targets for remedying HIV-related cognitive-motor dysfunction in the future

Isolation of microsatellite loci from the coqui frog, \u3ci\u3eEleutherodactylus coqui\u3c/i\u3e

Thirteen microsatellite loci were isolated from the coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) and optimized for future research. The loci were screened across 37 individuals from two Puerto Rican populations. Loci were variable with the number of alleles per locus ranging from three to 38. Polymorphic information content ranged from 0.453 to 0.963 and observed heterozygosity for each population ranged from 0.320 to 0.920

Isolation of Microsatellite Loci from the Coqui Frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui

Thirteen microsatellite loci were isolated from the coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) and optimized for future research. The loci were screened across 37 individuals from two Puerto Rican populations. Loci were variable with the number of alleles per locus ranging from three to 38. Polymorphic information content ranged from 0.453 to 0.963 and observed heterozygosity for each population ranged from 0.320 to 0.920