Longitudinal Examination of Texas Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Academies

The research generated from this dissertation study focuses on the effectiveness of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) schools from different perspectives. The substantial amount of investment given to STEM schools required the investigation of the influence of STEM schools on students’ academic achievement. The research from the first study in this dissertation focuses on the effectiveness of Texas STEM schools (T-STEM academies) from a broader perspective by comparing T-STEM academies in different regions. The second study focuses on the influence of STEM practices on students’ academic achievement by comparing T-STEM academies to traditional high schools longitudinally. The third study focuses on the effectiveness of T-STEM charter schools in comparison to non-T-STEM charter schools. Lastly, the fourth study highlights the importance of the duration of implementation by focusing on the effect of STEM designation in middle school and the years of designation as a T-STEM academy. Results from the first study showed that T-STEM academies located in different regions did not differ in terms of students’ mathematics achievement longitudinally. Schools in regions were supported by Regional Education Service Centers (ESC) in terms of assistance on instruction. According to the findings of the first study, students’ mathematics achievement in T-STEM academies in different ESCs was not statistically significantly different. In the second study, students’ mathematics, reading, and science achievement did not differ longitudinally according to their schools: T-STEM or traditional high schools. However Asian, and at-risk students in T-STEM academies showed better mathematics and reading growth. Students’ mathematics and reading scores, who were in T-STEM charter schools and non-T-STEM charter schools, differed over time. Hispanic students in T-STEM charter schools showed higher positive growth over time than Hispanic students in non-T-STEM charter schools. Lastly, students who attended T-STEM academies in middle school had higher Algebra I and Algebra II scores in high school than their peers, who enrolled in T-STEM academies in ninth grade. In addition, if a T-STEM academy had a designation as an academy for at least four years, students in these academies had higher scores than their counterparts. Overall, results from this dissertation study showed that T-STEM academies partially fulfill their promise. Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students in T-STEM academies showed better growth than their counterparts. The major participants of T-STEM academies were Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students. The results from the four studies showed that instruction in T-STEM academies was beneficial to one group of minority (i.e., Hispanic) students as well as economically disadvantaged students. Moreover, this dissertation study highlights the importance of implementation in schools. Students who are taught using STEM practices in middle grades are highly likely to reach desired results. In addition, the duration of the designation as a STEM school plays an important role on students’ academic achievement

From STEM to STEAM: Students’ Beliefs About the Use of Their Creativity

To be successful in a STEM career, not only STEM knowledge and skills but also creativity is required. Therefore, the arts have been integrated into STEM disciplines and subsequently designated as STEAM education (Sousa & Pilecki, 2013). One example of informal learning environments that STEAM education provided is a summer camp. In this study, middle and highs school students’ use of their creativity in the Project-based Learning (PBL) courses was examined to determine students’ belief about the use of the arts in STEM activities. The results showed that students believed that they used their creativity in eight of the nine classes

Amyloid Goiter Associated with Amyloidosis Secondary to Rheumatoid Arthritis

Amyloidosis refers to a variety of conditions in which amyloid proteins are abnormally deposited in organs and/or tissues. The most common forms of systemic amyloidosis are primary amyloidosis (PA) of light chains and secondary amyloidosis (SA) caused by chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although involvement of the thyroid gland by amyloid is a relatively common phenomenon, clinically significant enlargement of the thyroid owing to amyloid deposition is a rare occurrence. In SA, the deposition of amyloid associated (AA) protein is associated with atrophy of thyroid follicles. The clinical picture of these patients is characterized by rapid, painless thyroid gland enlargement which may be associated with dysphagia, dyspnea, or hoarseness. Thyroid function is not impaired in most cases. Although amyloid goitre secondary to systemic amyloidosis due to chronic inflammatory diseases is relatively common, specifically related to RA is much more uncommon one and it is reported less in the literature. In this report, A 52-old-year female patient with amyloid goiter associated with amyloidosis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis is presented

A critical analysis of COVID-19 research literature: Text mining approach

Objective: Among the stakeholders of COVID-19 research, clinicians particularly experience difficulty keeping up with the deluge of SARS-CoV-2 literature while performing their much needed clinical duties. By revealing major topics, this study proposes a text-mining approach as an alternative to navigating large volumes of COVID-19 literature. Materials and methods: We obtained 85,268 references from the NIH COVID-19 Portfolio as of November 21. After the exclusion based on inadequate abstracts, 65,262 articles remained in the final corpus. We utilized natural language processing to curate and generate the term list. We applied topic modeling analyses and multiple correspondence analyses to reveal the major topics and the associations among topics, journal countries, and publication sources. Results: In our text mining analyses of NIH’s COVID-19 Portfolio, we discovered two sets of eleven major research topics by analyzing abstracts and titles of the articles separately. The eleven major areas of COVID-19 research based on abstracts included the following topics: 1) Public Health, 2) Patient Care & Outcomes, 3) Epidemiologic Modeling, 4) Diagnosis and Complications, 5) Mechanism of Disease, 6) Health System Response, 7) Pandemic Control, 8) Protection/Prevention, 9) Mental/Behavioral Health, 10) Detection/Testing, 11) Treatment Options. Further analyses revealed that five (2,3,4,5, and 9) of the eleven abstract-based topics showed a significant correlation (ranked from moderate to weak) with title-based topics. Conclusion: By offering up the more dynamic, scalable, and responsive categorization of published literature, our study provides valuable insights to the stakeholders of COVID-19 research, particularly clinicians.3417985

Genetic Association of a Gain-of-Function IFNGR1 Polymorphism and the Intergenic Region LNCAROD/DKK1 With Behcet's Disease

Objective. Behçet’s disease is a complex systemic inflammatory vasculitis of incompletely understood etiology. This study was undertaken to investigate genetic associations with Behçet’s disease in a diverse multiethnic population.Methods. A total of 9,444 patients and controls from 7 different populations were included in this study. Genotyping was performed using an Infinium ImmunoArray- 24 v.1.0 or v.2.0 BeadChip. Analysis of expression data from stimulated monocytes, and epigenetic and chromatin interaction analyses were performed.Results. We identified 2 novel genetic susceptibility loci for Behçet’s disease, including a risk locus in IFNGR1(rs4896243) (odds ratio [OR] 1.25; P = 2.42 × 10−9) and within the intergenic region LNCAROD/DKK1 (rs1660760) (OR 0.78; P = 2.75 × 10−8). The risk variants in IFNGR1 significantly increased IFNGR1 messenger RNA expression in lipopolysaccharide- stimulated monocytes. In addition, our results replicated the association (P 30 genetic susceptibility loci with a suggestive level of association (P < 5 × 10−5), which will require replication. Finally, functional annotation of genetic susceptibility loci in Behçet’s disease revealed their possible regulatory roles and suggested potential causal genes and molecular mechanisms that could be further investigated.Conclusion. We performed the largest genetic association study in Behçet’s disease to date. Our findings reveal novel putative functional variants associated with the disease and replicate and extend the genetic associations in other loci across multiple ancestries

Magnetic resonance imaging based kidney volume assessment for risk stratification in pediatric autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

IntroductionIn the pediatric context, most children with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) maintain a normal glomerular filtration rate (GFR) despite underlying structural kidney damage, highlighting the critical need for early intervention and predictive markers. Due to the inverse relationship between kidney volume and kidney function, risk assessments have been presented on the basis of kidney volume. The aim of this study was to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based kidney volume assessment for risk stratification in pediatric ADPKD and to investigate clinical and genetic differences among risk groups.MethodsThis multicenter, cross-sectional, and case-control study included 75 genetically confirmed pediatric ADPKD patients (5–18 years) and 27 controls. Kidney function was assessed by eGFR calculated from serum creatinine and cystatin C using the CKiD-U25 equation. Blood pressure was assessed by both office and 24-hour ambulatory measurements. Kidney volume was calculated from MRI using the stereological method. Total kidney volume was adjusted for the height (htTKV). Patients were stratified from A to E classes according to the Leuven Imaging Classification (LIC) using MRI-derived htTKV.ResultsMedian (Q1-Q3) age of the patients was 6.0 (2.0–10.0) years, 56% were male. There were no differences in sex, age, height-SDS, or GFR between the patient and control groups. Of the patients, 89% had PKD1 and 11% had PKD2 mutations. Non-missense mutations were 73% in PKD1 and 75% in PKD2. Twenty patients (27%) had hypertension based on ABPM. Median htTKV of the patients was significantly higher than controls (141 vs. 117 ml/m, p = 0.0003). LIC stratification revealed Classes A (38.7%), B (28%), C (24%), and D + E (9.3%). All children in class D + E and 94% in class C had PKD1 variants. Class D + E patients had significantly higher blood pressure values and hypertension compared to other classes (p &gt; 0.05 for all).DiscussionThis study distinguishes itself by using MRI-based measurements of kidney volume to stratify pediatric ADPKD patients into specific risk groups. It is important to note that PKD1 mutation and elevated blood pressure were higher in the high-risk groups stratified by age and kidney volume. Our results need to be confirmed in further studies

Analysis of the common genetic component of large-vessel vasculitides through a meta- Immunochip strategy

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu's arteritis (TAK) are major forms of large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) that share clinical features. To evaluate their genetic similarities, we analysed Immunochip genotyping data from 1,434 LVV patients and 3,814 unaffected controls. Genetic pleiotropy was also estimated. The HLA region harboured the main disease-specific associations. GCA was mostly associated with class II genes (HLA-DRB1/HLA-DQA1) whereas TAK was mostly associated with class I genes (HLA-B/MICA). Both the statistical significance and effect size of the HLA signals were considerably reduced in the cross-disease meta-analysis in comparison with the analysis of GCA and TAK separately. Consequently, no significant genetic correlation between these two diseases was observed when HLA variants were tested. Outside the HLA region, only one polymorphism located nearby the IL12B gene surpassed the study-wide significance threshold in the meta-analysis of the discovery datasets (rs755374, P?=?7.54E-07; ORGCA?=?1.19, ORTAK?=?1.50). This marker was confirmed as novel GCA risk factor using four additional cohorts (PGCA?=?5.52E-04, ORGCA?=?1.16). Taken together, our results provide evidence of strong genetic differences between GCA and TAK in the HLA. Outside this region, common susceptibility factors were suggested, especially within the IL12B locus

Proceedings of the 24th Paediatric Rheumatology European Society Congress: Part three

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications Router.Publication status: PublishedHistory: collection 2017-09, epub 2017-09-0

Lawmaking through translation: 'translating' crimes and punishments

WOS: 000379257900009This article examines the role translation played in the encounter between legal systems through the examination of the Ottoman Penal Code (1858), which was drafted using the French Penal Code (1810) as the source. The results obtained through the comparative textual analysis of the codes in Ottoman Turkish and French are discussed with respect to the historical/legal circumstances pertinent to the Ottoman modernization/westernization in the Tanzimat (Reorganization) Period. Adherence to the source text norms observed in the translation of the articles on 'crimes against the state and their punishment' is argued to reflect the role the Ottoman Code was expected to play in the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. Adherence to the target culture/system norms observed in the translation of the articles on 'crimes against individuals and their punishment' is argued to reflect the ongoing power of the then-existing Islamic Ottoman penal law system. It is also claimed that the Ottoman Code belonged to the 'translated law' system in the Ottoman-Turkish 'legal polysystem'. Re-thinking the original-translation binary opposition in the context of the Ottoman Code, it is suggested that the Ottoman Code was a translation which was not produced to be presented/perceived as a translation but so as to entertain the status of an original code in the target system where the translated code was the law itself and had legal binding power. Thus the Ottoman Code functioned both as original and as translation and no power relationship existed between the Ottoman Code and the French Code in terms of their statuses in their respective systems/for their respective audience. Consequent to the observed dynamics of the case in question, in the study lawmaking through translation has been suggested as an alternative term to 'legal translation' to explain the specific relationship between making a law and translation where the latter is used as an instrument for the former