Alternative models of learning disabilities identification: considerations and initial conclusions

The final session of the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD) Responsiveness-to-Intervention (RTI) Symposium, “What are alternative models to LD identification other than RTI?” included four papers that discussed concerns over the exclusive reliance on an RTI approach to learning disability identification, considerations for analyzing proposed LD identification models, and various alternatives to LD identification. The work of the participating panelists is summarized in this discussant paper, and next steps for the NRCLD in light of these presentations are suggested

Online Tea Cafés: Using Caring Science to Transform Digital Learning Spaces and Advance Nursing Leadership

Given the current trend toward online nursing education and the recent changes to teaching and learning modalities as a result of a global pandemic, developing a distance-learning pedagogy for students that seeks to explore the power of compassion in the digital world is both timely and necessary. Drawing on pedagogical strategies used in an online nursing course including asynchronous online discussions called Tea Cafés, the authors showcase how they advanced knowledge and understanding in relation to nursing leadership and professional formation. By underpinning the authors’ distance-learning pedagogy in caring science, students not only thrived, but created a strong sense of community, developed leadership skills, and evolved their understanding of how to leverage nursing knowledge via compassion, reflexivity, and politicization to advocate for historically underrepresented communities. By way of student feedback and performance in relation to course learning outcomes, the authors concluded that a pedagogical strategy grounded in caring science can create a reflexive, compassionate, and politicized digital space for transformative learning for both student and educator alike. Compte tenu du mouvement vers la formation virtuelle en sciences infirmières et des changements récents aux modalités d’enseignement et d’apprentissage en lien avec la pandémie mondiale, il est aussi opportun que nécessaire de créer une pédagogie de formation à distance permettant aux étudiantes d’explorer le pouvoir de la compassion dans le monde numérique. En s’inspirant de stratégies pédagogiques employées dans un cours de sciences infirmières en ligne, dont les discussions asynchrones appelées « Cafés-rencontres (Tea Cafés) », les auteures décrivent comment ils font progresser le savoir et la compréhension en lien avec le leadership et la formation professionnelle en sciences infirmières. En ancrant leur pédagogie de la formation à distance sur la science du caring, les étudiantes ont non seulement réussi, mais elles ont aussi créé un fort esprit de communauté, développé des habiletés de leadership et progressé dans leur compréhension des stratégies permettant de mobiliser leurs connaissances pour défendre les communautés historiquement sous-représentées, soit à force de compassion, de réflexion et de sens politique. Selon la rétroaction et la performance des étudiantes au regard des objectifs du cours, les auteurs ont conclu qu’une stratégie pédagogique fondée sur la science du caring peut engendrer un espace numérique réflexif, compatissant et politisé d’apprentissage transformationnel tant pour les étudiantes que les enseignantes

Common and Distinct Mechanisms of Cognitive Flexibility in Prefrontal Cortex

The human ability to flexibly alternate between tasks represents a central component of cognitive control. Neuroimaging studies have linked task switching with a diverse set of prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions, but the contributions of these regions to various forms of cognitive flexibility remain largely unknown. Here, subjects underwent functional brain imaging while they completed a paradigm that selectively induced stimulus, response, or cognitive set switches in the context of a single task decision performed on a common set of stimuli. Behavioral results indicated comparable reaction time costs associated with each switch type. Domain-general task-switching activation was observed in the inferior frontal junction and posterior parietal cortex, suggesting core roles for these regions in switching such as updating and representing task sets. In contrast, multiple domain-preferential PFC activations were observed across lateral and medial PFC, with progressively more rostral regions recruited as switches became increasingly abstract. Specifically, highly abstract cognitive set switches recruited anterior-PFC regions, moderately abstract response switches recruited mid-PFC regions, and highly constrained stimulus switches recruited posterior-PFC regions. These results demonstrate a functional organization across lateral and medial PFC according to the level of abstraction associated with acts of cognitive flexibility

Shockwaves and turbulence across social media

Online communities featuring 'anti-X' hate and extremism, somehow thrive online despite moderator pressure. We present a first-principles theory of their dynamics, which accounts for the fact that the online population comprises diverse individuals and evolves in time. The resulting equation represents a novel generalization of nonlinear fluid physics and explains the observed behavior across scales. Its shockwave-like solutions explain how, why and when such activity rises from 'out-of-nowhere', and show how it can be delayed, re-shaped and even prevented by adjusting the online collective chemistry. This theory and findings should also be applicable to anti-X activity in next-generation ecosystems featuring blockchain platforms and Metaverses.Comment: Feedback welcome to [email protected]

Measuring nonuse damages using contingent valuation

This second edition of Measuring Nonuse Damages Using Conjoint Valuation is essentially a reprint of a 1992 monograph that has been in steady demand since its original appearance. The RTI Press edition, which is intended to meet continued inquiries and requests for the monograph, contains a Foreword and a Preface to the second edition that put the original work into historical perspective. These studies of ways to value stated preferences, as applied then to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, continue to be a timely and still-rigorous examination of such methods; even with the passage of time and statistical advances from the past two decades, the conclusions and insights as to whether and how these techniques might still be employed in valuing use or nonuse losses from similar events remain valid.Publishe

Research is ‘a step into the unknown’: an exploration of pharmacists’ perceptions of factors impacting on research participation in the NHS

Objective This study explored National Health Service (NHS) pharmacists’ perceptions and experiences of pharmacist-led research in the workplace.  Design Semistructured, face-to-face discussions continued until distinct clusters of opinion characteristics formed. Verbatim transcripts of audio-recordings were subjected to framework analysis.  Setting Interviews were carried out with 54 pharmacists with diverse backgrounds and roles from general practices and secondary care in the UK's largest health authority.  Results The purpose and potential of health services research (HSR) was understood and acknowledged to be worthwhile by participants, but a combination of individual and system-related themes tended to make participation difficult, except when this was part of formal postgraduate education leading to a qualification. Lack of prioritisation was routinely cited as the greatest barrier, with motivation, confidence and competence as additional impediments. System-related themes included lack of practical support and pharmacy professional issues. A minority of highly motivated individuals managed to embed research participation into routine activity.  Conclusions Most pharmacists realised the desirability and necessity of research to underpin pharmacy service expansion, but a combination of individual and professional level changes is needed to increase activity. Our findings provide a starting point for better understanding the mindset of hospital-based and general practice-based pharmacists towards research, as well as their perceived barriers and supports

Induction of \u3cem\u3eIL19\u3c/em\u3e Expression through JNK and cGAS-STING Modulates DNA Damage–Induced Cytokine Production

Cytokine production is a critical component of cell-extrinsic responses to DNA damage and cellular senescence. Here, we demonstrated that expression of the gene encoding interleukin-19 (IL-19) was enhanced by DNA damage through pathways mediated by c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) and cGAS-STING and that IL19 expression was required for the subsequent production of the cytokines IL-1, IL-6, and IL-8. IL19 expression was stimulated by diverse cellular stresses, including inhibition of the DNA replication checkpoint kinase ATR (ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein), oncogene expression, replicative exhaustion, oxidative stress, and DNA double-strand breaks. Unlike the production of IL-6 and IL-8, IL19 expression was not affected by abrogation of signaling by the IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) or the mitogen-activated protein kinase p38. Instead, the DNA damage–induced production of IL-1, IL-6, and IL-8 was substantially reduced by suppression of IL19 expression. The signaling pathways required to stimulate IL19 expression selectively depended on the type of DNA-damaging agent. Reactive oxygen species and the ASK1-JNK pathway were critical for responses to ionizing radiation (IR), whereas the cGAS-STING pathway stimulated IL19 expression in response to either IR or ATR inhibition. Whereas induction of IL1, IL6, and IL8 by IR depended on IL19 expression, the cGAS-STING–dependent induction of the immune checkpoint gene PDL1 after IR and ATR inhibition was independent of IL19. Together, these results suggest that IL-19 production by diverse pathways forms a distinct cytokine regulatory arm of the response to DNA damage

Moving Toward a Strategy for Addressing Climate Displacement of Marine Resources: A Proof-of-Concept

Realistic predictions of climate change effects on natural resources are central to adaptation policies that try to reduce these impacts. However, most current forecasting approaches do not incorporate species-specific, process-based biological information, which limits their ability to inform actionable strategies. Mechanistic approaches, incorporating quantitative information on functional traits, can potentially predict species- and population-specific responses that result from the cumulative impacts of small-scale processes acting at the organismal level, and can be used to infer population-level dynamics and inform natural resources management. Here we present a proof-of-concept study using the European anchovy as a model species that shows how a trait-based, mechanistic species distribution model can be used to explore the vulnerability of marine species to environmental changes, producing quantitative outputs useful for informing fisheries management. We crossed scenarios of temperature and food to generate quantitative maps of selected mechanistic model outcomes (e.g., Maximum Length and Total Reproductive Output). These results highlight changing patterns of source and sink spawning areas as well as the incidence of reproductive failure. This study demonstrates that model predictions based on functional traits can reduce the degree of uncertainty when forecasting future trends of fish stocks. However, to be effective they must be based on high spatial- and temporal resolution environmental data. Such a sensitive and spatially explicit predictive approach may be used to inform more effective adaptive management strategies of resources in novel climatic conditions

Natalizumab affects T-cell phenotype in multiple sclerosis: implications for JCV reactivation

The anti-CD49d monoclonal antibody natalizumab is currently an effective therapy against the relapsing-remitting form of multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Natalizumab therapeutic efficacy is limited by the reactivation of the John Cunningham polyomavirus (JCV) and development of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). To correlate natalizumab-induced phenotypic modifications of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes with JCV reactivation, JCV-specific antibodies (serum), JCV-DNA (blood and urine), CD49d expression and relative abundance of peripheral blood T-lymphocyte subsets were longitudinally assessed in 26 natalizumab-treated RRMS patients. Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism and R. Natalizumab treatment reduced CD49d expression on memory and effector subsets of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes. Moreover, accumulation of peripheral blood CD8+ memory and effector cells was observed after 12 and 24 months of treatment. CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte immune-activation was increased after 24 months of treatment. Higher percentages of CD8+ effectors were observed in subjects with detectable JCV-DNA. Natalizumab reduces CD49d expression on CD8+ T-lymphocyte memory and effector subsets, limiting their migration to the central nervous system and determining their accumulation in peripheral blood. Impairment of central nervous system immune surveillance and reactivation of latent JCV, can explain the increased risk of PML development in natalizumab-treated RRMS subjects