Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND)—Iron Review

This is the fifth in the series of reviews developed as part of the Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND) program. The BOND Iron Expert Panel (I-EP) reviewed the extant knowledge regarding iron biology, public health implications, and the relative usefulness of currently available biomarkers of iron status from deficiency to overload. Approaches to assessing intake, including bioavailability, are also covered. The report also covers technical and laboratory considerations for the use of available biomarkers of iron status, and concludes with a description of research priorities along with a brief discussion of new biomarkers with potential for use across the spectrum of activities related to the study of iron in human health. The I-EP concluded that current iron biomarkers are reliable for accurately assessing many aspects of iron nutrition. However, a clear distinction is made between the relative strengths of biomarkers to assess hematological consequences of iron deficiency versus other putative functional outcomes, particularly the relationship between maternal and fetal iron status during pregnancy, birth outcomes, and infant cognitive, motor and emotional development. The I-EP also highlighted the importance of considering the confounding effects of inflammation and infection on the interpretation of iron biomarker results, as well as the impact of life stage. Finally, alternative approaches to the evaluation of the risk for nutritional iron overload at the population level are presented, because the currently designated upper limits for the biomarker generally employed (serum ferritin) may not differentiate between true iron overload and the effects of subclinical inflammation

The effect of information asymmetry on negotiated budgets: an empirical investigation

This study examines three issues: (1) the effect of information asymmetry on the budget negotiation process, (2) the effect of information asymmetry on budgetary slack when budgets are set through a negotiation process, and (3) whether subordinates consider superiors imposing a budget following a failed negotiation as being low in procedural justice, which in turn causes low subordinate performance. The results suggest that smaller differences in initial negotiation positions do not indicate a higher likelihood of agreement when initial differences are due to differential information symmetry. Further, information asymmetry affects the relationship between negotiation agreement and budgetary slack. Last, inconsistent with a pure economic perspective, having superiors impose a budget after a failed negotiation causes justice or fairness considerations to demotivate subordinates. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Genetics Misconceptions in Elementary Aged Children Clarified Through Collaborative Illustrations

Activities found in early childhood classrooms rarely explore the processes of science inquiry, or are long-term, which aids students in critical thinking (Worth 2010). By teaching the nature of science earlier, teachers allow room for more cognitive growth in their students (Worth 2010), and could help combat the dramatic deficiencies that are found in genetics content knowledge in K-12 students (Shaw et. Al 2008). This study focuses on genetics misconceptions found in elementary aged students, with the purpose that greater understanding of the misconceptions will correlate to students ability to successfully construct evidence-based adaptations in group illustrations, with notecard explanations. When using evidence to properly adapt the illustrations to prompted information such as, your markle lives in the desert, students are learning and participating in various steps of the science process. Expected learning outcomes, and performance for scientific knowledge are compiled by kindergarten- to first grade and third- to fifth grade (NGSS, 2013), but have not necessarily been tested in a collaborative setting. For this study 78 elementary students ranging from first- to fifth-grade at an elementary school located in the suburbs of a large southeastern city were grouped randomly by grade, with each grade present in each group, and given the task to complete a group illustration on evidence-based adaptations called markles. Preceding the grouping, students were given a pre-test to allow researchers to examine the genetics misconceptions the students had prior to a six-week genetics enrichment program. Over the six weeks students participated in PBL (problem-based learning) units within their groups, each group (consented N=13) receiving a fact about genetics after the lesson. At the end of the study, students were then given a post-test on the same open-ended genetics questions as the pre-test assessment, and presented their markles. Scores of the pre- and post-test were scored on a “0 to 4” scale; a “0” meaning no response, illegible, or un-intelligible, or “I don’t know”, and a”4” explicitly mentioning genes, genetics, and inheritance. The illustrations, and notecards that students wrote explanations for adaptations on were collected to grade the markles. For grading purposes Direct Evidence is defined by the information provided on the groups notecards, while Non-Direct Evidence is defined by assumptions made based on the illustration alone. For analysis the variables were the number of direct-evidence used by each group, and its correlation to the gains achieved from the pre- to post-test assessments. A successful group is indicated by whether they had a positive gain over the assessments, and had used a higher amount of direct-evidence (N\u3e2). Qualitative analyses using Pearson correlation reveal that there is a moderate correlation between post-test group averages and number of direct-evidence used per group. While the correlation was moderate, it is significant that there was a positive correlation between all questions, meaning the collaborative setting of mixed age groups was not detrimental to individual student learning and may have aided the younger aged children in earlier introduction to scientific processes