Young and misunderstood in the education system: A case study of giftedness and specific learning disabilities

An academically child who is gifted with learning disabilities is not readily recognised within the education system as demonstrating such contradictory traits. While there is a growing body of literature on such twice-exceptional children, effective means of identification and educational interventions still lags behind. To understand how this situation impacts individuals, an intensive case study of a young man, Thomas, with both gifts and learning disabilities was undertaken. Outstanding knowledge but an inability to demonstrate and express that knowledge meant frustration for Thomas. As a consequence, his disability meant that he manifested as a student with behavioural issues in the classroom, including a lack of self-control. At home he expressed his dissatisfaction with his education and specifically with his teachers. He had his own ideas of what his education should look like and how this could be implemented. This case study discusses the challenges his mother experienced with identifying her child\u27s disability and giftedness and ensuring that both exceptionalities were optimally developed. Through this case study, the roles an education system and parents of such a child must assume, if this development is going to occur, are highlighted

Relational response: Preservice teachers providing writing feedback in three middle school partnerships

Providing meaningful feedback to student writers is a nuanced, fully human endeavor. Thus, teaching preservice teachers, in all disciplines, to respond to students’ writing is a complex task, one that requires intentional instruction and practice. In this article, we use practitioner inquiry to analyze our experiences and teaching approaches with preservice teachers who provided feedback to middle school writers through three public school partnerships. The partnerships employed varied modes of communication, including digital platforms, paper notebooks, letter writing, one-to-one tutoring, and face-to-face school visits. Response patterns suggest authentic experiences that explicitly teach and support writing practice spur the ability of preservice teachers in crafting relational, generative feedback to student writers while considering the affective experience

Traumatic brain injury causes selective, CD74-dependent peripheral lymphocyte activation that exacerbates neurodegeneration

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a significant cause of death and disability, causes, as in any injury, an acute, innate immune response. A key component in the transition between innate and adaptive immunity is the processing and presentation of antigen by professional antigen presenting cells (APCs). Whether an adaptive immune response to brain injury is beneficial or detrimental is not known. Current efforts to understand the contribution of the immune system after TBI have focused on neuroinflammation and brain-infiltrating immune cells. Here, we characterize and target TBI-induced expansion of peripheral immune cells that may act as potential APCs. Because MHC Class II-associated invariant peptide (CLIP) is important for antigen processing and presentation, we engineered a competitive antagonist (CAP) for CLIP, and tested the hypothesis that peptide competition could reverse or prevent neurodegeneration after TBI. RESULTS: We show that after fluid percussion injury (FPI), peripheral splenic lymphocytes, including CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs), and γδ T cells, are increased in number within 24 hours after FPI. These increases were reversed by CAP treatment and this antagonism of CLIP also reduced neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration after TBI. Using a mouse deficient for the precursor of CLIP, CD74, we observed decreased peripheral lymphocyte activation, decreased neurodegeneration, and a significantly smaller lesion size following TBI. CONCLUSION: Taken together, the data support the hypothesis that neurodegeneration following TBI is dependent upon antigen processing and presentation that requires CD74. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40478-014-0143-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Finishing the finished human chromosome 22 sequence

A combination of approaches was used to close 8 of the 11 gaps in the original sequence of human chromosome 22, and to generate a total 1.018 Mb of new sequence

Gender Equity in Transplantation: A Report From the Women in Transplantation Workshop of The Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand

The exponential growth of young talented women choosing science and medicine as their professional career over the past decade is substantial. Currently, more than half of the Australian medical doctoral graduates and early career researchers are comprised of women, but less than 20% of all academic professorial staff are women. The loss of female talent in the hierarchical ladder of Australian academia is a considerable waste of government investment, productivity, and scientific innovation. Gender disparity in the professional workforce composition is even more striking within the field of transplantation. Women are grossly underrepresented in leadership roles, with currently no female heads of unit in any of the Australian and New Zealand transplanting centers. At the same time, there is also gender segregation with a greater concentration of women in lower-status academic position compared with their male counterparts. Given the extent and magnitude of the disparity, the Women in Transplantation Committee, a subcommittee of The Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand established a workshop comprising 8 female clinicians/scientists in transplantation. The key objectives were to (i) identify potential gender equity issues within the transplantation workforce; (ii) devise and implement potential strategies and interventions to address some of these challenges at a societal level; (iii) set realistic and achievable goals to enhance and facility gender equality, equity, and diversity in transplantation

Data review for 3LN redfish in preparation for an updated management strategy evaluation

Data review for 3LN redfish in preparation for an updated management strategy evaluationVersión del editor

Interactions between Mediterranean diet supplemented with dairy foods and the gut microbiota influence cardiovascular health in an Australian population

The impact of a Mediterranean diet on the intestinal microbiome has been linked to its health benefits. We aim to evaluate the effects of a Mediterranean diet supplemented with dairy foods on the gut microbiome in Australians at risk of cardiovascular disease. In a randomised controlled cross-over study, 34 adults with a systolic blood pressure ≥120 mmHg and with risk factors for cardiovascular disease were randomly allocated to a Mediterranean diet with 3–4 daily serves of dairy foods (Australian recommended daily intake (RDI) of 1000–1300 mg per day (MedDairy)) or a low-fat (LFD) control diet. Between each 8-week diet, participants underwent an 8-week washout period. Microbiota characteristics of stool samples collected at the start and end of each diet period were determined by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. MedDairy-associated effects on bacterial relative abundance were correlated with clinical, anthropometric, and cognitive outcomes. No change in the overall faecal microbial structure or composition was observed with either diet (p \u3e 0.05). The MedDairy diet was associated with changes in the relative abundance of several bacterial taxa, including an increase in Butyricicoccus and a decrease in Colinsella and Veillonella (p \u3c 0.05). Increases in Butyricicoccus relative abundance over 8 weeks were inversely correlated with lower systolic blood pressure (r = −0.38, p = 0.026) and positively correlated with changes in fasting glucose levels (r = 0.39, p = 0.019), specifically for the MedDairy group. No significant associations were observed between the altered taxa and anthropometric or cognitive measures (p \u3e 0.05). Compared to a low-fat control diet, the MedDairy diet resulted in changes in the abundance of specific gut bacteria, which were associated with clinical outcomes in adults at risk of CVD

Foregut microbiome in development of esophageal adenocarcinoma

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA), the type of cancer linked to heartburn due to gastroesophageal reflux diseases (GERD), has increased six fold in the past 30 years. This cannot currently be explained by the usual environmental or by host genetic factors. EA is the end result of a sequence of GERD-related diseases, preceded by reflux esophagitis (RE) and Barrett’s esophagus (BE). Preliminary studies by Pei and colleagues at NYU on elderly male veterans identified two types of microbiotas in the esophagus. Patients who carry the type II microbiota are >15 fold likely to have esophagitis and BE than those harboring the type I microbiota. In a small scale study, we also found that 3 of 3 cases of EA harbored the type II biota. The findings have opened a new approach to understanding the recent surge in the incidence of EA. 

Our long-term goal is to identify the cause of GERD sequence. The hypothesis to be tested is that changes in the foregut microbiome are associated with EA and its precursors, RE and BE in GERD sequence. We will conduct a case control study to demonstrate the microbiome disease association in every stage of GERD sequence, as well as analyze the trend in changes in the microbiome along disease progression toward EA, by two specific aims. Aim 1 is to conduct a comprehensive population survey of the foregut microbiome and demonstrate its association with GERD sequence. Furthermore, spatial relationship between the esophageal microbiota and upstream (mouth) and downstream (stomach) foregut microbiotas as well as temporal stability of the microbiome-disease association will also be examined. Aim 2 is to define the distal esophageal metagenome and demonstrate its association with GERD sequence. Detailed analyses will include pathway-disease and gene-disease associations. Archaea, fungi and viruses, if identified, also will be correlated with the diseases. A significant association between the foregut microbiome and GERD sequence, if demonstrated, will be the first step for eventually testing whether an abnormal microbiome is required for the development of the sequence of phenotypic changes toward EA. If EA and its precursors represent a microecological disease, treating the cause of GERD might become possible, for example, by normalizing the microbiota through use of antibiotics, probiotics, or prebiotics. Causative therapy of GERD could prevent its progression and reverse the current trend of increasing incidence of EA