Dissertation Completion Experience in Online CACREP-Accredited Counselor Education Programs: A Phenomenological Inquiry

In this qualitative phenomenological study, the purpose was to explore the experiences of recent online Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)-accredited counselor education and supervision (CES) graduates concerning their dissertation completion process. Past research had shown a dissertation noncompletion rate 10%–20% higher in distance education programs compared to traditional institutions. Participant recruitment was facilitated by criterion sampling and snowball sampling and included seven recent graduates of online CACREP-accredited CES programs. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Data analysis conducted using Smith et al.’s six-step data analysis process yielded three significant themes: dissertation task engagement, stakeholder interaction, and impact of the environment. Implications of the findings extend to improvements in dissertation readiness and socialization, meaningful experiences, and dissertation completion rates

Understanding the Accuracy of Parental Perceptions of Child Physical Activity:A Mixed Methods Analysis

BACKGROUND: Interventions to increase children’s physical activity (PA) have achieved limited success. This may be attributed to inaccurate parental perceptions of their children’s PA and a lack of recognition of a need to change activity levels. METHODS: Fifty-three parents participated in semi-structured interviews to determine perceptions of child PA. Perceptions were compared to children’s measured MVPA (classified as meeting or not meeting UK guidelines) to produce three categories: “accurate”, “over-estimate”, “under-estimate”. Deductive content analysis was performed to understand the accuracy of parental perceptions. RESULTS: All parents of children meeting the PA guidelines accurately perceived their child’s PA; whilst the majority of parents whose child did not meet the guidelines overestimated their PA. Most parents were unconcerned about their child’s PA level, viewing them as naturally active and willing to be active. Qualitative explanations for perceptions of insufficient activity included children having health problems and preferences for inactive pursuits, and parents having difficulty facilitating PA in poor weather and not always observing their child’s PA level. Social comparisons also influenced parental perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Strategies to improve parental awareness of child PA are needed. Perceptions of child PA may be informed by child “busyness”, being unaware of activity levels, and social comparisons

Esquemas desadaptativos tempranos y autoconcepto en estudiantes del nivel secundario de Instituciones Educativas públicas del distrito de San Sebastián, Cusco - 2023

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo principal determinar si existe relación significativa entre los esquemas desadaptativos y el autoconcepto en estudiantes del nivel secundario de Instituciones Educativas públicas del distrito de San Sebastián, Cusco – 2023. El estudio contó con una muestra no probabilística intencional de 322 adolescentes de ambos sexos, con edades entre los 14 a 18 años, pertenecientes al nivel secundario; el trabajo se desarrolló bajo el enfoque cuantitativo con un alcance descriptivo-correlacional y diseño no experimental con corte transversal. Para la recolección de datos se utilizó el Cuestionario de Esquemas de Young (YSQL2) y el Cuestionario de Autoconcepto Garley (CAG). Los resultados evidencian que, por medio de la correlación de Pearson, se encontró un coeficiente de -0.385 y un nivel de significancia menor a 0.05; concluyendo que existe una correlación significativa inversa entre las variables de estudio.The main objective of this research was to determine if there is a significant relationship between maladaptive schemas and self-concept in high school students of public educational institutions in the district of San Sebastian, Cusco - 2023. The study had an intentional non-probabilistic sample of 322 adolescents of both sexes, aged between 14 and 18 years and belonging to secondary school; this research has a quantitative approach with a descriptive correlational scope and a non-experimental design with a cross sectional cut. The Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-L2) and the Garley Self-Concept Questionnaire were used for data collection. The results show that, by means of Pearson's correlation, a coefficient of -0.385 and a significance level less than 0.05 were found; concluding that there is a significant inverse correlation between the study variables.Salud menta

Treatment with embryonic stem-like cells into osteochondral defects in sheep femoral condyles

Background Articular cartilage has poor intrinsic capacity for regeneration because of its avascularity and very slow cellular turnover. Defects deriving from trauma or joint disease tend to be repaired with fibrocartilage rather than hyaline cartilage. Consequent degenerative processes are related to the width and depth of the defect. Since mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) deriving from patients affected by osteoarthritis have a lower proliferative and chondrogenic activity, the systemic or local delivery of heterologous cells may enhance regeneration or inhibit the progressive loss of joint tissue. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are very promising, since they can self-renew for prolonged periods without differentiation and can differentiate into tissues from all the 3 germ layers. To date only a few experiments have used ESCs for the study of the cartilage regeneration in animal models and most of them used laboratory animals. Sheep, due to their anatomical, physiological and immunological similarity to humans, represent a valid model for translational studies. This experiment aimed to evaluate if the local delivery of male sheep embryonic stem-like (ES-like) cells into osteochondral defects in the femoral condyles of adult sheep can enhance the regeneration of articular cartilage. Twenty-two ewes were divided into 5 groups (1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 months after surgery). Newly formed tissue was evaluated by macroscopic, histological, immunohistochemical (collagen type II) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assays. Results Regenerated tissue was ultimately evaluated on 17 sheep. Samples engrafted with ES-like cells had significantly better histologic evidence of regeneration with respect to empty defects, used as controls, at all time periods. Conclusions Histological assessments demonstrated that the local delivery of ES-like cells into osteochondral defects in sheep femoral condyles enhances the regeneration of the articular hyaline cartilage, without signs of immune rejection or teratoma for 24 months after engraftment.</br

Estimación de la probabilidad de incumplimiento y tasa de recuperación de la cartera de crédito de los bancos estatales y privados mediante el método de matrices de transición, durante el período 2010 - 2019

El riesgo de crédito es uno de los principales riesgos a los que están expuestos las entidades bancarias, lo cual respalda la importancia de su adecuada y oportuna gestión. Según el Banco Central de Costa Rica, en el año 2019 aumentó la exposición de los bancos a este riesgo, siendo la cartera de crédito su principal activo, al representar un 64,9% del activo total a diciembre 2019. Dado lo anterior, el presente trabajo final de graduación pretende desarrollar una metodología que utilice el método de matrices de transición para estimar la probabilidad de incumplimiento y la tasa de recuperación por tipo de cartera crediticia de los bancos estatales y privados, durante el periodo 2010 - 2019. A través de las matrices de transición se estima la probabilidad de que un préstamo en categoría de riesgo i en el momento T pase a una categoría de riesgo j en el momento T+12 meses. Para esto, se hizo uso de la clasificación de deudores del acuerdo SUGEF 1-05 y se construyeron para 5 subcarteras, a saber: consumo, vivienda, vehículos, tarjetas de crédito y empresarial. A partir de las matrices de transición, se calculó la probabilidad de incumplimiento con base en la probabilidad de deterioro y la tasa de recuperación a partir de la probabilidad de mejoramiento. La descripción de la cartera crediticia dentro del periodo en estudio mostró que el saldo de crédito total creció a una tasa promedio anual de 9,6%; sin embargo, se destaca que registró una variación negativa del 4% al 2018 debido a la coyuntura económica y al deterioro de la confianza de los agentes económicos. Además, al analizar por moneda, se constató una reducción en la dolarización de la cartera hasta ubicarse en 49,9% en moneda nacional y 50,1% en moneda extranjera al 2019 (45,4% y 54,6%, respectivamente, en el 2015). En relación con lo anterior, sobresale la reducción del saldo en moneda extranjera a deudores no generadores de divisas de alto riesgo. Por último, se destaca que del saldo de la cartera de crédito total al 2019, un 72% se formalizó a una tasa de interés variable; un 51% corresponden a créditos empresariales, un 29% vivienda, un 8% tarjetas y un 6% consumo. Los resultados obtenidos de las matrices de transición fueron acordes con la coyuntura económica del periodo evaluado. De esta forma, la estabilidad macroeconómica reportada en el 2015 se tradujo en menores probabilidades de deterioro; entretanto, las presiones sobre el tipo de cambio y las tasas de interés producto del desequilibrio fiscal en el 2018 llevaron a que las probabilidades deterioro se incrementaran. Por último, la medida tomada en 2019 por la autoridad regulatoria de limpiar el expediente crediticio implicó una importante mejora en las probabilidades de transición de todas las categorías de riesgo, principalmente en la categoría E. En línea con lo anterior, la probabilidad de incumplimiento y recuperación total ponderada presentaron una mejora durante el 2015. No obstante, la situación macroeconómica que enfrentó el país durante el 2019 condujo a un detrimento de la probabilidad de incumplimiento, especialmente en los préstamos empresariales y de vehículos; y de la tasa de recuperación. Adicionalmente, se logró determinar que las categorías de tarjetas de crédito, vivienda y vehículos son los segmentos que presentan mayores tasas de recuperación, explicado por el seguimiento y colateralización de los mismos.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado::Salud::Maestría Profesional en Finanzas y Riesg

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment