Integration of Fifth Grade Math and Science Curriculum, Accompanied by Increased Parental Involvement, Produces Higher Virginia Test Scores.

The National Educational Society, through much research and testing, discovered that American students are not performing as well on the academic level as their counterparts. As a nation the math and science scores fell behind other tested disciplines. The Virginia Department of Math and Science Report Card scores confirm that students are struggling in these areas. As a resolution to correct this problem a proposal for the integration of fifth grade math and science curriculum accompanied by increased parental involvement was devised. The program involved thirteen elementary students and their parents. Pretesting, math and science labs, worksheets, posttesting, and a school beautification project were used. The condensed summary of findings proved that the integration of math and science curriculum accompanied with parental involvement produces higher test scores

Master of Science

thesisThe indium-gallium-nitride on gallium-nitride (InGaN/GaN) materials system is a promising candidate for providing a high intensity, high efficiency solution to the yet unsolved problem of solid state lighting in the range of 550 to 590 nm, a.k.a the Green Gap. The bandgap of InGaN/GaN spans the visual spectrum, making it tunable for emission at any wavelength. The lattice constant mismatch and resulting strain at the heterojunction induces a miscibility gap that enables spontaneous self-assembly of indium-rich nm-scale islands during Stranski-Krastanov growth of the InGaN active layer of the Light Emitting Diode (LED). These islands serve as quantum discs, confining excitons, and increasing internal quantum efficiency. InGaN/GaN/Al2O3 samples from Cao Group Inc. were interrupted after the InGaN growth step of the Organometallic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy (OMVPE) process and analyzed using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HRSEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Raman, and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies. Results show inhomogeneities in light emission and structure as well as conductivity.Coherence, strain, and the presence of indium were all confirmed through TEM and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Islands (3-10nm in height) and pits (1-4nm deep) cluster in patches with a marbled pattern. Islands tend to be found most predominantly at the edges or the bottom of pits, suggesting indium-rich island growth is preferred along the edges of structures of high surface area, where strain from lattice mismatch is most compensated by surface area. Despite coherence, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) reciprocal space patterns show lattice spacing and possibly the crystal structure type itself differ between island and subisland areas. The difference between island emission energy and the energy required to excite carriers is greater than expected. PL peak energy and Raman shift frequency test results were used to estimate island indium composition. Polarization of emission was observed, though was unexpected due to the InGaN having been grown on c-plane GaN which should result in isotropic biaxial strain and a valence band configuration that does not lend to bifurcating probabilities of polarization. Near-Field PL testing was performed, also with unexpected results

American Indian Courts and Tribal Self-Government

This article is intended to rebut several of Mr. Brakel\u27s key assertions and to emphasize the wellestablished right of Indians to maintain their own courts. Each of the authors has had extensive contact and experience working with Indian courts. Mr. Collins is associated with the Native American Rights Fund. He formerly had many contacts with Indian courts when he practiced law on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Professor Johnson, who has taught law at the University of Washington School of Law for twenty-one years, has for the past six years been an instructor in the National American Indian Court Judges Association\u27s American Indian court judges training program. Kathy Imig Perkins has been associated with the National American Indian Court Judges Association since 1970, has participated in the growth and development of the training program for Indian court judges, and has witnessed the careful development by these judges of a court system that can form an integral part of the future of the American Indian people

Cervical Pathology in West Virginia Adolescents

Cytologic screening is an important diagnostic tool used to detect precancerous and cancerous lesions of the cervix. We studied the prevalence of cervical abnormalities, based on Pap smear results, in patients at the Outpatient Adolescent Clinic at West Virginia University. We found a high incidence of overall intraepithelial cell pathology (24%) in this group with 2.4% high grade and 9.9% low-grade lesions. These findings show that major cervical pathology is present in this age group. Furthermore, repeat smears at intervals of \u3c one year were performed on 317 patients. Of these repeat smears, 7% changed from normal to abnormal in this period. Sexually active adolescent females should have Pap smears at least annually to detect abnormalities that may otherwise not be detected until they are more advanced and difficult to manage. Higher risk adolescents may need semiannual screening

Cisplatin +/− rucaparib after preoperative chemotherapy in patients with triple-negative or BRCA mutated breast cancer

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) who have residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy have a high risk of recurrence. We tested the impact of DNA-damaging chemotherapy alone or with PARP inhibition in this high-risk population. Patients with TNBC or deleterious BRCA mutation (TNBC/BRCAmut) who had >2 cm of invasive disease in the breast or persistent lymph node (LN) involvement after neoadjuvant therapy were assigned 1:1 to cisplatin alone or with rucaparib. Germline mutations were identified with BROCA analysis. The primary endpoint was 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) with 80% power to detect an HR 0.5. From Feb 2010 to May 2013, 128 patients were enrolled. Median tumor size at surgery was 1.9 cm (0-11.5 cm) with 1 (0-38) involved LN; median Residual Cancer Burden (RCB) score was 2.6. Six patients had known deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations at study entry, but BROCA identified deleterious mutations in 22% of patients with available samples. Toxicity was similar in both arms. Despite frequent dose reductions (21% of patients) and delays (43.8% of patients), 73% of patients completed planned cisplatin. Rucaparib exposure was limited with median concentration 275 (82-4694) ng/mL post-infusion on day 3. The addition of rucaparib to cisplatin did not increase 2-year DFS (54.2% cisplatin vs. 64.1% cisplatin + rucaparib; P = 0.29). In the high-risk post preoperative TNBC/BRCAmut setting, the addition of low-dose rucaparib did not improve 2-year DFS or increase the toxicity of cisplatin. Genetic testing was underutilized in this high-risk population

Chemical dispersants can suppress the activity of natural oil-degrading microorganisms

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112 (2015): 14900-14905, doi:10.1073/pnas.1507380112.During the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the application of 7 million liters of chemical dispersants aimed to stimulate microbial crude oil degradation by increasing the bioavailability of oil compounds. However, the effects of dispersants on oil biodegradation rates are debated. In laboratory experiments, we simulated environmental conditions comparable in the hydrocarbon-rich, 1100m deep, plume that formed during the Deepwater Horizon discharge. The presence of dispersant significantly altered the microbial community composition through selection for potential dispersant-degrading Colwellia, which also bloomed in situ in Gulf deep-waters during the discharge. In contrast, oil addition lacking dispersant stimulated growth of natural hydrocarbon-degrading Marinobacter. Dispersants did not enhance heterotrophic microbial activity or hydrocarbon oxidation rates. Extrapolating this comprehensive data set to real world scenarios questions whether dispersants stimulate microbial oil degradation in deep ocean waters and instead highlights that dispersants can exert a negative effect on microbial hydrocarbon degradation rates.This research was supported by a grant from BP/the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to support the "Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG)” consortium. PMM also acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation (OCE-1057683)

TFAP2C Expression in Breast Cancer - Correlation with Overall Survival Beyond 10 Years of Initial Diagnosis

Recurrence and death in a significant number of patients with ERα-positive breast cancer occurs 10–20 years after diagnosis. Prognostic markers for late events have been more elusive. TFAP2C (AP2γ) regulates the expression of ERα, the ERα pioneer factors FOXA1 and GATA3, and controls ERα-dependent transcription. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the long-term prognostic value of TFAP2C. A tissue microarray (TMA) consisting of breast tumors from 451 patients with median follow-up time of 10.3 years was created and tested for the expression of TFAP2C by immunohistochemistry. Wilcoxon Rank-Sum and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to determine if TFAP2C H-scores correlate with other tumor markers. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to determine whether TFAP2C H-scores and other tumor markers were related to overall and disease-free survival in univariate and multivariable models. TFPAC2 overexpression did not impact overall survival during the first 10 years after diagnosis, but was associated with a shorter survival after 10 years (HR 3.40, 95 % CI 1.58, 7.30; p value = 0.002). This late divergence persisted in ER-positive (HR 2.86, 95 % CI 1.29, 6.36; p value = 0.01) and endocrine therapy-positive subgroups (HR 4.19, 95 % CI 1.72, 10.23; p value = 0.002). For the ER+ and endocrine therapy subgroup, the HR was 3.82 (95 % CI 1.53, 9.50; p value = 0.004). TFAP2C H-scores were not correlated with other tumor markers or related to disease-free survival. In this hypothesis-generating study, we show that higher TFAP2C scores correlate with poor overall survival after 10 years of diagnosis in ERα-positive and endocrine therapy-treated subgroups

Clinical evaluation of a loop-mediated amplification kit for diagnosis of imported malaria.

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of malaria relies on parasite detection by microscopy or antigen detection; both fail to detect low-density infections. New tests providing rapid, sensitive diagnosis with minimal need for training would enhance both malaria diagnosis and malaria control activities. We determined the diagnostic accuracy of a new loop-mediated amplification (LAMP) kit in febrile returned travelers. METHODS: The kit was evaluated in sequential blood samples from returned travelers sent for pathogen testing to a specialist parasitology laboratory. Microscopy was performed, and then malaria LAMP was performed using Plasmodium genus and Plasmodium falciparum-specific tests in parallel. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on all samples as the reference standard. Primary outcome measures for diagnostic accuracy were sensitivity and specificity of LAMP results, compared with those of nested PCR. RESULTS: A total of 705 samples were tested in the primary analysis. Sensitivity and specificity were 98.4% and 98.1%, respectively, for the LAMP P. falciparum primers and 97.0% and 99.2%, respectively, for the Plasmodium genus primers. Post hoc repeat PCR analysis of all 15 tests with discrepant results resolved 4 results in favor of LAMP, suggesting that the primary analysis had underestimated diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Malaria LAMP had a diagnostic accuracy similar to that of nested PCR, with a greatly reduced time to result, and was superior to expert microscopy