The Past, Present, and Future of Media Literacy Education

Media literacy education in the United States is actively focused on the instructional methods and pedagogy of media literacy, integrating theoretical and critical frameworks rising from constructivist learning theory, media studies and cultural studies scholarship. This work has arisen from a legacy of media and technology use in education throughout the 20th century and the emergence of cross-disciplinary work at the intersections of scholarly work in media studies and education. Reflecting the emergence of a common ground for the field, the Core Principles of Media Literacy Education in the United States was created by a team of scholars and practitioners in 2007. This work reconciles the “protectionist” and “empowerment” wings of the media literacy education community and attempts to counter various misunderstandings among non-specialists. Two issues are identified for their potential to impact the future of the field: (1) media literacy’s relationship to the integration of educational technology into the K-12 curriculum and (2) the relationship between media literacy education and the humanities, arts, and sciences

Spouse Beliefs about Partner Chronic Pain

While research has shown that patients’ beliefs about their pain are related to pain adjustment and treatment outcomes, little is known about the beliefs of their significant others. The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of pain beliefs in significant others and to examine the correlates of these beliefs. Participants were 104 married couples in which one partner reported chronic pain. Spouses completed an amended version of the Survey of Pain Beliefs (SOPA) [14]. The scale development procedure described in Jensen et al.[12] was used to select appropriate items for the significant other version of the SOPA. This procedure yielded 7 subscales that closely resembled the original SOPA. Spousal pain beliefs about disability, emotion, control, and medication were significantly correlated with partners’ pain severity and other indicators of pain adjustment. Emotion, disability, and other beliefs were related to spouse responses to pain, and spouses’ depressive symptoms and marital dissatisfaction. Spouses’ personal experiences with pain were not related to their beliefs about their partners’ pain. Additional research on the pain-related beliefs of significant others may extend cognitive-behavioral theory concerning the social context of pain and provide an additional avenue through which clinicians can address cognition in patients and families

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescent with post-traumatic stress symptom: A comparison of 16D and condition-specific instruments

The objective of this study was to compare Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) as measured by the 16D instrument with four condition-specific instruments in children and adolescents with significant post-traumatic stress disease (PTSD), to assess the validity of the 16D instrument. In addition, we test for differences in health for the PTSD population compared to a representative sample of Finnish schoolchildren. The study included 156 children and adolescents with trauma-related symptoms in Norway. The condition-specific instruments included were; Child PTDS Symptom Scale (CPSS); Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ); Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We found that the 16D HRQoL score was significantly correlated with all condition-specific instruments (CPSS, SCARED, MFQ, and SDQ), where SCARED had the highest correlation with the 16D (-0.659, p 0.4). Children and adolescents with symptoms of post-traumatic stress experienced a significant health loss of 0.177 compared to a representative sample of Finnish 12 to 15-years-old schoolchildren with a Cohen’s d of 1.07, and the health difference was significant for all 16 dimensions. These findings support the use of the 16D to measure health outcomes in cost-utility analysis. More studies are needed to examine the responsiveness.</p

New Mexico Healthy Masculinities Tool Kit

The New Mexico Healthy Masculinities Toolkit is a collection of readings, workshops, and exercises aimed at helping audiences reimagine masculinities, raise awareness about the concept of healthy masculinities, and provide skills and resources that promote self-awareness, healthy relationships, healthy children and families, and thriving communities. It is designed to act as a guide for facilitators to frame and engage in conversations and activities around healthy masculinities. The toolkit is also available in Spanish

Progression of Lung Disease in Preschool Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

RATIONALE: Implementation of intervention strategies to prevent lung damage in early cystic fibrosis (CF) requires objective outcome measures that capture and track lung disease. OBJECTIVES: To define the utility of the Lung Clearance Index (LCI), measured by multiple breath washout, as a means to track disease progression in preschool children with CF. METHODS: Children with CF between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years with a confirmed diagnosis of CF and age-matched healthy control subjects were enrolled at three North American CF centers. Multiple breath washout tests were performed at baseline, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months to mimic time points chosen in clinical care and interventional trials; spirometry was also conducted. A generalized linear mixed-effects model was used to distinguish LCI changes associated with normal growth and development (i.e., healthy children) from the progression of CF lung disease. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Data were collected on 156 participants with 800 LCI measurements. Although both LCI and spirometry discriminated health from disease, only the LCI identified significant deterioration of lung function in CF over time. The LCI worsened during cough episodes and pulmonary exacerbations, whereas similar symptoms in healthy children were not associated with increased LCI values. CONCLUSIONS: LCI is a useful marker to track early disease progression and may serve as a tool to guide therapies in young patients with CF

A Systematic Approach to Multiple Breath Nitrogen Washout Test Quality

Background: Accurate estimates of multiple breath washout (MBW) outcomes require correct operation of the device, appropriate distraction of the subject to ensure they breathe in a manner representative of their relaxed tidal breathing pattern, and appropriate interpretation of the acquired data. Based on available recommendations for an acceptable MBW test, we aimed to develop a protocol to systematically evaluate MBW measurements based on these criteria. Methods: 50MBWtest occasions were systematically reviewed for technical elements and whether the breathing pattern was representative of relaxed tidal breathing by an experienced MBW operator. The impact of qualitative and quantitative criteria on inter-observer agreement was assessed across eight MBW operators (n = 20 test occasions, compared using a Kappa statistic). Results: Using qualitative criteria, 46/168 trials were rejected: 16.6%were technically unacceptable and 10.7% were excluded due to inappropriate breathing pattern. Reviewer agreement was good using qualitative criteria and further improved with quantitative criteria from (κ = 0.53– 0.83%) to (κ 0.73–0.97%), but at the cost of exclusion of further test occasions in this retrospective data analysis. Conclusions: The application of the systematic review improved inter-observer agreement but did not affect reported MBW outcomes

Inhaled hypertonic saline in infants and toddlers with cystic fibrosis: short-term tolerability, adherence, and safety

Inhaled hypertonic saline (HS) is an attractive agent for chronic maintenance therapy in infants and toddlers with cystic fibrosis (CF) because it improves defective mucociliary clearance. Prior to undertaking a clinical trial of HS efficacy in young children with CF, tolerability, adherence and safety must be established

Multiple breath washout in bronchiectasis clinical trials:is it feasible?

Background: Evaluation of Multiple Breath Washout (MBW) set-up including staff training, certification and central “over-reading” for data quality control is essential to determine the feasibility of MBW in future bronchiectasis studies. Aims: To assess the outcomes of a MBW training, certification and central over-reading programme. Methods: MBW training and certification was conducted in European sites collecting LCI data in the BronchUK clinimetrics and/or i-BEST-1 studies. The blended training programme included the use of an eLearning tool and a 1-day face-to-face session. Sites submitted MBW data to trained central over-readers who determined validity and quality. Results: Thirteen training days were delivered to 56 participants from 22 sites. 18/22 (82%) were MBW naïve. Participant knowledge and confidence increased significantly (p<0.001). By the end of the study recruitment, 15/22 sites (68%) had completed certification with a mean (range) time since training of 6.2 (3-14) months. In the BronchUK clinimetrics study, 468/589 (79%) tests met45 the quality criteria following central over-reading, compared with 137/236 (58%) tests in the i-BEST-1 study. Conclusions: LCI is feasible in a bronchiectasis multicentre clinical trial setting however, consideration of site experience in terms of training as well as assessment of skill drift and the need for re-training may be important to reduce time to certification and optimise data quality. Longer times to certification, a higher percentage of naive sites and patients with worse lung function may have contributed to the lower success rate in the i-BEST-1 study

Smaller classes promote equitable student participation in STEM

Under embargo until: 2020-07-24As science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms in higher education transition from lecturing to active learning, the frequency of student interactions in class increases. Previous research documents a gender bias in participation, with women participating less than would be expected on the basis of their numeric proportions. In the present study, we asked which attributes of the learning environment contribute to decreased female participation: the abundance of in-class interactions, the diversity of interactions, the proportion of women in class, the instructor's gender, the class size, and whether the course targeted lower division (first and second year) or upper division (third or fourth year) students. We calculated likelihood ratios of female participation from over 5300 student–instructor interactions observed across multiple institutions. We falsified several alternative hypotheses and demonstrate that increasing class size has the largest negative effect. We also found that when the instructors used a diverse range of teaching strategies, the women were more likely to participate after small-group discussions.acceptedVersio

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software