129 research outputs found
Indistinct boundaries and intersections: The role of threshold concepts and disposition in students with early college credit
This qualitative study investigates knowledge transfer in college students
whose high school Advanced Placement (AP) or dual credit (DC) English courses
enabled them to opt out of the first level of composition at Iowa State University
(ISU). Although early college credit (ECC) studentsâ university writing
performances have been studied, writing transfer has not been adequately
studied in this population before. The influence of these studentsâ lived
experiences require more consideration from scholars because of the growing
number of students who enter advanced university classes by virtue of credits
earned in high school.
Thirteen students from a variety of backgrounds, majors, and years at ISU
participated in this study. Discourse-based interviews encouraged participants to
reflect upon high school writing experiences, university writing experiences, and
moments of crisis and confidence they encountered in writing âfor the
universityâ (Bartholomae). Data were analyzed inductively with a constant
comparative method using disposition and threshold concept lenses since, as
scholars assert, transfer is heavily influenced by attitudinal and environmental
influences, especially those encouraged by educational practices. The
combination of disposition and threshold concept codes has not been used as a
method in writing studies before, but answers the call of writing studies scholars
to more thoroughly examine all influences on studentsâ abilities to transfer.
Participant perceptions revealed evidence of positive transfer closely
connected with generative dispositions. Instances of negative transfer revealed
inability to access prior knowledge and paralytically anxious attitudes about
needing to know the ârightâ way to proceed with assignments, revealing the
tendency of some threshold concepts to work in concert with disruptive
dispositions and create barriers to transfer. Studentsâ writing practices and
products indicated that they need not first level composition but more advanced
writing guidance.
This project illuminates the need for teachers and administrators in both
secondary and post-secondary settings to better understand transfer and support
all students to become more successful in their college writing experiences.
Ultimately it suggests that the field of writing studies is at a point where some
redefining of roles and methods needs to happen, and where conversations need
to occur across institutional divides
Who Are You Going to Call? Primary Care Patientsâ Disclosure Decisions Regarding DirectâtoâConsumer Genetic Testing
Background: Directâtoâconsumer genetic testing (DTCGT) offers risk estimates for a variety of complex diseases and conditions, yet little is known about its impact on actual users, including their decisions about sharing the information gleaned from testing. Ethical considerations include the impact of unsolicited genetic information with variable validity and clinical utility on relatives, and the possible burden to the health care system if revealed to physicians. Aims: The qualitative study explored primary care patientsâ views, attitudes, and decision making considerations regarding DTCGT. This article focuses on the disclosure decisions participants made regarding participation, testing, and results of DTCGT, a topic which arose as a secondary aim of the study. Methods: Through four longitudinal interviews (preâtest, results, 3 and 12 months postâtest) we examined twenty primary care patientsâ decisions, expressed intentions, and actions regarding disclosure to immediate and extended family, friends and coworkers, and physicians about participation in and results of DTCGT. Individual interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and a summative approach to describe the global themes. Results: Most participants disclosed to some immediate family; less than half disclosed to extended family; approximately half talked to friends. Most participants stated they would or might disclose to physicians about DTCGT and a few did. Conceptual themes that emerged from the data analysis include ambivalence about disclosure, consistency between intention and actual disclosure behavior and decisions, and conditional information sharing. Conclusions: Participantsâ intentional and actual disclosure patterns offer insight into how they view DTCGT, weigh results, and the potential impact of DTCGT
Individual pulmonary vein size and survival in infants with totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection
AbstractObjectives. We investigated whether mortality in totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection could be predicted from preoperative individual pulmonary vein size.Background. Some infants with this anomaly die with or without surgical repair because of stenosis of individual pulmonary veins.Methods. Individual pulmonary vein, vertical vein and pulmonary venous confluence diameters were retrospectively measured from preoperative echocardiograms in 32 infants with totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection presenting to Children's Hospital, Boston over a 1/2-year period. Data on body surface area, other cardiac anomalies, presence of initial pulmonary venous obstruction and early surgery and outcome were also recorded.Results. Of 32 patients, 6 (18.8%) died before hospital discharge, and 8 (25.0%) died subsequently. Six (75.0%) of the eight patients who died late had individual pulmonary vein stenosis at sites remote from the surgical anastomosis to the left atrium. The remaining 18 patients (56.3%) are alive at a mean follow-up period of 9.7 months. A Cox proportional hazard model revealed that small sum of individual pulmonary vein diameters (p = 0.0004), small confluence size (p = 0.02) and presence of heterotaxy syndrome (p = 0.008) were each significant univariate predictors of survival. Multivariate analysis showed that small pulmonary vein sum was a strong predictor of survival (p = 0.008), independent of the presence of heterotaxy syndrome. An analysis stratified by the presence of heterotaxy syndrome showed that the predictive effect of small pulmonary vein sum on survival was strongest in patients without heterotaxy syndrome.Conclusions. These data show that individual pulmonary vein size at diagnosis is a strong, independent predictor of survival in patients with totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection. In patients with this anomaly and small individual pulmonary veins, the anomaly may not be correctable by surgical creation of an anastomosis between the pulmonary venous confluence and the left atrium
Implications of patterns of use of freely-available online formative tests for online summative tasks
The use of online assessment tasks in a summative context can create tensions between the institutionâs need for security to ensure the validity of individual evaluations and the studentâs need for flexibility of access. This is especially the case in recent years, with the upsurge of students engaged in paid employment while enrolled in full-time study. The lowest rate of engagement of students in paid employment at the three institutions in which our study was based was 65%, the highest 75%. One quarter of all students at this institution spent more than 20 hours a week in paid employment. Ninety seven percent of students in paid work were enrolled on a full-time basis.
This study determined from automatically recorded times of logon, individual question submission and whole test submission the patterns of use of online feedback-enriched MCQ tests by 656 students across the three institutions in Perth, Western Australia. The conditions under which the tests were available to students varied from a strictly secured, summative task available for a limited time on campus within hours governed by the accessibility of automatically locked-down computer rooms and the availability of staff for live or video invigilation to a freely accessible formative learning exercise.
Mismatches between preferred and available times severe enough to exclude some external students from assessment were identified. Evidence was found that for younger (16-18 year old) students especially, meaningful engagement with test-structured tasks lasts no more than 10 minutes, one third of the designed time of our current summative online tests. The one third, approximately, of enrolled students who did not use the online test facility had significantly poorer academic outcomes. The advantage granted by test use increased substantially with repetition.
The question of how to ensure the security and validity of online testing while increasing real flexibility of access remains unresolved for us. We accept the social responsibility of finding a solution
An articulated approach to the development and evaluation of automated feedback for online MCQ quizzes in Human Biology
This paper describes an articulated programme of development and evaluation of automatically-presented explanatory feedback comments for online, enriched-multiple choice style quizzes in Human Biology for first year university courses. The degree of articulation of the separate components of the programme arose almost unintentionally from the inclusion of common sets of demographic questions in several of the components of the work, and from continuity of logon identities, but proved to be a powerful means of reaching an understanding of the dynamics of student engagement with the online learning process and of the effectiveness of the product we were testing. In particular, links were established between expectations of academic performance and the amount of paid employment in which students were engaged, and between expected and achieved levels of performance. Students who expected lower levels of performance at the outset were also less convinced of the potential of feedback to help them with their studies. Analysis of the patterns of use of the online test revealed a serious disadvantage to working students of current accessibility to online summative assessments, and that the standard duration of the summative tests was approximately three times the preferred online work span of the younger students. âDoseâ and âdecayâ-graded selective improvements in end of semester assessments in the topics covered by the feedback comments could be demonstrated
Efficacy and safety of oral methazolamide in patients with type 2 diabetes: A 24-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind study
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety and efficacy of methazolamide as a potential therapy for type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This double-blind, placebo-controlled study randomized 76 patients to oral methazolamide (40 mg b.i.d.) or placebo for 24 weeks. The primary efficacy end point for methazolamide treatment was a placebo-corrected reduction in HbA1c from baseline after 24 weeks (ÎHbA1c). RESULTS Mean ± SD baseline HbA1c was 7.1 ± 0.7% (54 ± 5 mmol/mol; n = 37) and 7.4 ± 0.6% (57 ± 5 mmol/mol; n = 39) in the methazolamide and placebo groups, respectively. Methazolamide treatment was associated with a ÎHbA1c of â0.39% (95% CI â0.82, 0.04; P < 0.05) (â4.3 mmol/mol [â9.0, 0.4]), an increase in the proportion of patients achieving HbA1c â€6.5% (48 mmol/mol) from 8 to 33%, a rapid reduction in alanine aminotransferase (âŒ10 units/L), and weight loss (2%) in metformin-cotreated patients. CONCLUSIONS Methazolamide is the archetype for a new intervention in type 2 diabetes with clinical benefits beyond glucose control
The genome sequence of the fish pathogen Aliivibrio salmonicida strain LFI1238 shows extensive evidence of gene decay.
BACKGROUND: The fish pathogen Aliivibrio salmonicida is the causative agent of cold-water vibriosis in marine aquaculture. The Gram-negative bacterium causes tissue degradation, hemolysis and sepsis in vivo. RESULTS: In total, 4 286 protein coding sequences were identified, and the 4.6 Mb genome of A. salmonicida has a six partite architecture with two chromosomes and four plasmids. Sequence analysis revealed a highly fragmented genome structure caused by the insertion of an extensive number of insertion sequence (IS) elements. The IS elements can be related to important evolutionary events such as gene acquisition, gene loss and chromosomal rearrangements. New A. salmonicida functional capabilities that may have been aquired through horizontal DNA transfer include genes involved in iron-acquisition, and protein secretion and play potential roles in pathogenicity. On the other hand, the degeneration of 370 genes and consequent loss of specific functions suggest that A. salmonicida has a reduced metabolic and physiological capacity in comparison to related Vibrionaceae species. CONCLUSION: Most prominent is the loss of several genes involved in the utilisation of the polysaccharide chitin. In particular, the disruption of three extracellular chitinases responsible for enzymatic breakdown of chitin makes A. salmonicida unable to grow on the polymer form of chitin. These, and other losses could restrict the variety of carrier organisms A. salmonicida can attach to, and associate with. Gene acquisition and gene loss may be related to the emergence of A. salmonicida as a fish pathogen
3,4-Diaminopyridine Base Effectively Treats the Weakness of Lambert-Eaton Myasthenia
Introduction: 3,4-diaminopyridine has been used to treat Lambert Eaton myasthenia (LEM) for thirty years despite the lack of conclusive evidence of efficacy.
Methods: We conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled withdrawal study in LEM patients who had been on stable regimens of 3,4-diaminopyridine base (3,4-DAP) forââ„â3 months. The primary efficacy endpoint was >30% deterioration in Triple Timed Up-and-Go (3TUG) times during tapered drug withdrawal. The secondary endpoint was self-assessment of LEMârelated weakness (W-SAS).
Results: 32 participants were randomized to continuous 3,4-DAP or placebo. None of the 14 receiving continuous 3,4-DAP had >30% deterioration in 3TUG time vs 72% of the 18 who tapered to placebo (p<0.0001). W-SAS similarly demonstrated an advantage for continuous treatment over placebo (p<0.0001). Need for rescue and adverse events were more common in the placebo group.
Discussion: This trial provides significant evidence of efficacy of 3,4-DAP in the maintenance of strength in LEM
Validation of the triple timed upâandâgo test in LambertâEaton myasthenia
Introduction
There are no validated, practical, and quantitative measures of disease severity in LambertâEaton myasthenia (LEM).
Methods
Data from the Effectiveness of 3,4âDiaminopyridine in LambertâEaton Myasthenic Syndrome (DAPPER) trial were analyzed to assess triple timed upâandâgo (3TUG) reproducibility and relationships between 3TUG times and other measures of LEM severity.
Results
The coverage probability technique showed â„0.90 probability for an acceptable 3TUG difference of â€0.2, indicating that it is reproducible in LEM patients. The correlation between 3TUG times and lower extremity function scores was significant in subjects who continued and in those who were withdrawn from 3,4âdiaminopyridine free base. Worsening patientâreported Weakness SelfâAssessment Scale and Investigator Assessment of Treatment Effect scores corresponded with prolongation of 3TUG times.
Discussion
The 3TUG is reproducible, demonstrates construct validity for assessment of lower extremity function in LEM patients, and correlates with changes in patient and physician assessments. These findings, along with prior reliability studies, indicate 3TUG is a valid measure of disease severity in LEM
The Vehicle, Fall 1978
Vol. 2, No. 1
Table of Contents
FarewellGregory Manifoldpage 4
Visiting HoursCindy Grocepage 5
The Deer KillerG.L. Bullardpage 6
Identity CrisisCindy Grocepage 9
I ScreamDale Stroheckerpage 11
John RobertLee Martinpage 12
Smiling in WinterNancy Cunninghampage 20
Walt Disney Told Us LiesThomas C. Howellpage 20
LakesideMary McDanielpage 21
Heavy LiteratureTerry Kroenungpage 22
Old FriendsMary McDanielpage 27
A Sunny AfternoonJoan O\u27Connorpage 28
Always TomorrowMary McDanielpage 29
Four SunsetsGregory Manifoldpage 30
Come FreeBob Welshpage 32
Faded PinstripesLee Martinpage 33
WindsongCarolyn Perrypage 38
SilenceSylvia Aldertonpage 39
One More TimeCheri Clousepage 40
Grandfather Was IlliterateCindy Grocepage 41
StonehengeGregory Manifoldpage 43
GabsCheri Clousepage 44
Spindley Bare BranchesJeanne Hansenpage 48
Art
CoverLafayette Wilson
PhotographBill Cochranpage 3
DrawingLafayette Wilsonpage 10
DrawingLafayette Wilsonpage 19
PhotographBill Cochranpage 21
PhotographBarbara Colemanpage 28
DrawingJoyce Bonwellpage 31
PhotographKathy Sanderspage 39
DrawingKathy Sanderspage 42https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1035/thumbnail.jp
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