No art left behind : the state of arts education today and solutions for tomorrow

Due to the lack of funding and the implementation of standardized testing, arts education is diminishing from the curriculum in many elementary schools. Unfortunately, the loss of arts in the classroom negatively impacts children’s development, the use of their creative minds and their academic success. Local art organization and program leaders were interviewed about the state of arts education in our schools, speaking out about how their programs are helping to expose children to art and what needs to be done to integrate art into the classroom. Preliminary data analysis indicates that local art organizations are providing art to children that do not receive arts education in their schools. The local art organization directors also believe that arts education is important to a student’s well-rounded education. As a result of this project, members of the local area were urged to make a change to the current structure of arts education by contacting their local congressmen about the importance of the issue

Prader-Willi Syndrome : Adrnarche, gonadal function, cognition, psychosocial aspects and effects of growth hormone treatment in children

The first patient with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), described in 1887 by Langdon-Down1 (Figure 1), was an adolescent girl with mental impairment, short stature, hypogonadism, and obesity. The first official group of patients with PWS was described by endocrinologists Prader, Labhart, and Willi in 19562. They described an unusual pattern of abnormalities, including neonatal hypotonia resulting in feeding problems in infancy, cryptorchidism, short stature and retarded bone age, small hands and feet, delayed developmental milestones, characteristic faces, cognitive impairment, onset of gross obesity in early childhood due to insatiable hunger, and a tendency to develop diabetes in adolescence and adulthood when weight was not controlled. Behavioral and psychological problems associated with PWS were not described until the 1980s3. Since these first reports, knowledge on different aspects of the syndrome has vastly increased, although a lot of questions still remained and needed to be further investigated. This chapter describes the genetic basis of PWS, clinical manifestations in different stages of life, the hypothalamus and pituitary, and growth hormone (GH) treatment in children with PWS. It further describes a summary of the results from the Dutch national growth hormone trial for children with Prader-Willi syndrome from 2002 to 2009 and characteristics of PWS within the scope of this thesis. Finally, the objectives of the studies described in the various chapters of this thesis will be presented

Protists (Protista) in the Veternica Cave

Protisti (Protista) su raznolika i bogata skupina mikroorganizama koji, uz različita nadzemna staništa, nastanjuju i špilje. Iako se radi o organizmima koji su hranidbena karika između bakterija i životinja u špiljama, vrlo su slabo istraženi. Protisti u Veternici istraživani su tijekom osmogodišnjeg razdoblja, pri čemu su obuhvaćena različita vodena, kopnena i prijelazna staništa. U Veternici dominiraju heterotrofni protisti, među kojima su zabilježeni pripadnici okućenih i golih ameba, trepetljikaša, bičaša, sunašaca i stramenopila. Fototrofni protisti javljaju se u ulaznim dijelovima špilje te na obraštajima lampenflore. Do sada je najveći broj vrsta zabilježen iz skupine okućenih ameba (više od 30 vrsta), među kojima je i novoopisana špiljska vrsta Centropyxis bipilata. Veternica spada u lako dostupne i staništima vrlo bogate objekte te se radi o lokalitetu koji je vrlo pogodan za daljnja istraživanja protista. Dosadašnji rezultati mogu se smatrati tek dobrim putokazom za buduća istraživanja i poslužiti kao poticaj širem spektru istraživača.Protists (Protista) are a diverse and species-rich group of microorganisms that, in addition to many above-ground habitats, also inhabit caves. Although these are organisms that are a trophic link between bacteria and animals in caves, they have been very poorly researched. Protists in Veternica Cave were investigated during an eight-year period, covering various aquatic, terrestrial and transitional habitats. In Veternica Cave, heterotrophic protists are the dominant group, among which members of testate and naked amoebae, ciliates, flagellates, heliozoa and stramenopiles have been recorded. Phototrophic protists are found in the entrance parts of the cave and on lampenflora. Up to now, the largest number of species has been recorded from the group of testate amoebae (over 30 species), among which is the newly described cave species Centropyxis bipilata. Veternica is an easily accessible and habitat-rich cave and it is very suitable for further protist research. The current results could only be considered as a good signpost for future research and serve as an incentive to a broader range of researchers