Gender Differences in Socio-Emotional and Socio-Cultural Perspectives of Middle School Students in STEM Learning

This study investigated the socio-emotional and socio-cultural perspectives of 137 middle school students toward STEM learning in the U.S. Through a 27-item 5-point Likert scale, students’ responses were gathered to complete factor analysis, compute descriptive analysis, and calculate statistical differences found between genders. In socio-emotional learning, female participants scored higher than male participants in the grit and social-awareness factors, while both genders scored similarly in the self-efficacy factor. In socio-cultural learning, male participants scored higher than female participants in the socio-cultural influences factor while both genders scored similarly in the personal focus in STEM factor. However, a statistically significant difference was only found between male and female participants in the social-awareness factor, and female participants scored significantly higher than male participants in this factor. Both male and female participants expressed that teachers were the most influential regarding their STEM learning

An LC–MS/MS-Based Method for the Quantification of Pyridox(am)ine 5′-Phosphate Oxidase Activity in Dried Blood Spots from Patients with Epilepsy

We report the development of a rapid, simple, and robust LC–MS/MS-based enzyme assay using dried blood spots (DBS) for the diagnosis of pyridox­(am)­ine 5′-phosphate oxidase (PNPO) deficiency (OMIM 610090). PNPO deficiency leads to potentially fatal early infantile epileptic encephalopathy, severe developmental delay, and other features of neurological dysfunction. However, upon prompt treatment with high doses of vitamin B₆, affected patients can have a normal developmental outcome. Prognosis of these patients is therefore reliant upon a rapid diagnosis. PNPO activity was quantified by measuring pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP) concentrations in a DBS before and after a 30 min incubation with pyridoxine 5′-phosphate (PNP). Samples from 18 PNPO deficient patients (1 day–25 years), 13 children with other seizure disorders receiving B₆ supplementation (1 month–16 years), and 37 child hospital controls (5 days–15 years) were analyzed. DBS from the PNPO-deficient samples showed enzyme activity levels lower than all samples from these two other groups as well as seven adult controls; no false positives or negatives were identified. The method was fully validated and is suitable for translation into the clinical diagnostic arena