Writing for an Authentic Audience – One Teacher-Writer’s Narrative Journey

The research literature shows many universities do not require elementary pre-service and in-service teachers to take a writing methodology course, yet elementary teachers must be prepared to teach K-8 writing. This qualitative case study highlights a beginning elementary in-service teacher’s experiences enrolled in a K-8 writing methodology course designed to strengthen her teacher-writer voice for authentic purposes using the writing workshop framework. Using narrative inquiry’s critical event approach to analyze and compare the teacher’s and her peers’ data (writer’s notebook, reflections, surveys, interviews, written selections, field note journal), this research article details her case study as a critical incident to gain an in-depth understanding of her course experiences. Choosing a personal audience (her father), she crafted a narrative the editor of her father’s favorite magazine accepted for publication. Achieving publication, she experienced the entire writing process and strengthened her teacher-writer voice. Writing for authentic audiences and purposes is critical for teacher-writers to strengthen their teacher-writer identities, beliefs, attitudes, and pedagogy. Such writing experiences transfer to teacher-writers’ pedagogical practice with elementary students

Differences in glucose control, insulin sensitivity, and body composition between metabolically healthy and unhealthy people with obesity

Poster presented at the 2017 Health Sciences Research Day which was organized and sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Medicine Research Council and held on November 9, 2017.Obesity is a significant risk factor for cardiometabolic complications, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, approximately 25% of individuals with obesity are seemingly protected from these complications (Wildman et al. Arch Intern Med, 168, 1617-24, 2008). The purpose of this study was to provide a careful characterization of body composition and metabolic function in people who are: (i) lean and metabolically normal (MNL); (ii) obese and metabolically-normal (MN)); and (iii) obese and metabolically-abnormal (MAO). (Introduction & study aims) Although the glycemic responses of MNL individuals demonstrate a "metabolically healthy" state, more rigorous measures of insulin sensitivity show insulin resistance in this population, demonstrating people with MNO are insulin-resistant with respect to glucose metabolism but are able to maintain normal glycemic control by increased insulin secretion. Adipose tissue distribution is a marker of metabolic health in people with obesity, as greater intra-abdominal adipose tissue volume and intrahepatic triglyceride content are associated with metabolic dysfunction

Evolving a more Active Telomerase Enzyme in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1259/thumbnail.jp

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Predictors of Episodic Memory Decline in Healthy Elders at Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

Objectives: White matter (WM) integrity within the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) is important for episodic memory (EM) functioning. The current study investigated the ability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in MTL WM tracts to predict 3-year changes in EM performance in healthy elders at disproportionately higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: Fifty-one cognitively intact elders (52% with family history (FH) of dementia and 33% possessing an Apolipoprotein E ε4 allelle) were administered the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) at study entry and at 3-year follow-up. DTI scanning, conducted at study entry, examined fractional anisotropy and mean, radial and axial diffusion within three MTL WM tracts: uncinate fasciculus (UNC), cingulate-hippocampal (CHG), and fornix-stria terminalis (FxS). Correlations were performed between residualized change scores computed from RAVLT trials 1–5, immediate recall, and delayed recall scores and baseline DTI measures; MTL gray matter (GM) and WM volumes; demographics; and AD genetic and metabolic risk factors. Results: Higher MTL mean and axial diffusivity at baseline significantly predicted 3-year changes in EM, whereas baseline MTL GM and WM volumes, FH, and metabolic risk factors did not. Both ε4 status and DTI correlated with change in immediate recall. Conclusions: Longitudinal EM changes in cognitively intact, healthy elders can be predicted by disruption of the MTL WM microstructure. These results are derived from a sample with a disproportionately higher genetic risk for AD, suggesting that the observed WM disruption in MTL pathways may be related to early neuropathological changes associated with the preclinical stage of AD. (JINS, 2016, 22, 1005–1015

Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation: Photo Section II

Adult wolves are very attentive to the pups. Both parents feed and care for them. Any older siblings similarly participate in pup care and feeding. Kin selection is probably the best explanation for the latter behavior. Top: Photograph by Isaac Babcock. Bottom: Photograph by L. David Mech

Interactive Effects of Physical Activity and APOE-ε4 On White Matter Tract Diffusivity in Healthy Elders

Older adult apolipoprotein-E epsilon 4 (APOE-ε4) allele carriers vary considerably in the expression of clinical symptoms of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD), suggesting that lifestyle or other factors may offer protection from AD-related neurodegeneration. We recently reported that physically active APOE-ε4 allele carriers exhibit a stable cognitive trajectory and protection from hippocampal atrophy over 18 months compared to sedentary ε4 allele carriers. The aim of this study was to examine the interactions between genetic risk for AD and physical activity (PA) on white matter (WM) tract integrity, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) MRI, in this cohort of healthy older adults (ages of 65 to 89). Four groups were compared based on the presence or absence of an APOE-ε4 allele (High Risk; Low Risk) and self-reported frequency and intensity of leisure time physical activity (PA) (High PA; Low PA). As predicted, greater levels of PA were associated with greater fractional anisotropy (FA) and lower radial diffusivity in healthy older adults who did not possess the APOE-ε4 allele. However, the effects of PA were reversed in older adults who were at increased genetic risk for AD, resulting in significant interactions between PA and genetic risk in several WM tracts. In the High Risk-Low PA participants, who had exhibited episodic memory decline over the previous 18-months, radial diffusivity was lower and fractional anisotropy was higher, compared to the High Risk-High PA participants. In WM tracts that subserve learning and memory processes, radial diffusivity (DR) was negatively correlated with episodic memory performance in physically inactive APOE-ε4 carriers, whereas DR was positively correlated with episodic memory performance in physically active APOE-ε4 carriers and the two Low Risk groups. The common model of demyelination-induced increase in radial diffusivity cannot directly explain these results. Rather, we hypothesize that PA may protect APOE-ε4 allele carriers from selective neurodegeneration of individual fiber populations at locations of crossing fibers within projection and association WM fiber tracts

GLobal Integrated Design Environment (GLIDE): A Concurrent Engineering Application

The GLobal Integrated Design Environment (GLIDE) is a client-server software application purpose-built to mitigate issues associated with real time data sharing in concurrent engineering environments and to facilitate discipline-to-discipline interaction between multiple engineers and researchers. GLIDE is implemented in multiple programming languages utilizing standardized web protocols to enable secure parameter data sharing between engineers and researchers across the Internet in closed and/or widely distributed working environments. A well defined, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based Application Programming Interface (API) to the GLIDE client/server environment enables users to interact with GLIDE, and each other, within common and familiar tools. One such common tool, Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation), paired with its add-in API for GLIDE, is discussed in this paper. The top-level examples given demonstrate how this interface improves the efficiency of the design process of a concurrent engineering study while reducing potential errors associated with manually sharing information between study participants

Integrating Function‐Directed Treatments into Palliative Care

The growing acceptance of palliative care has created opportunities to increase the use of rehabilitation services among populations with advanced disease, particularly those with cancer. Broader delivery has been impeded by the lack of a shared definition for palliative rehabilitation and a mismatch between patient needs and established rehabilitation service delivery models. We propose the definition that, in the advanced cancer population, palliative rehabilitation is function‐directed care delivered in partnership with other clinical disciplines and aligned with the values of patients who have serious and often incurable illnesses in contexts marked by intense and dynamic symptoms, psychological stress, and medical morbidity to realize potentially time‐limited goals. Although palliative rehabilitation is most often delivered by inpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation consultation/liaison services and by physical therapists in skilled nursing facilities, outcomes in these settings have received little scrutiny. In contrast, outpatient cancer rehabilitation programs have gained robust evidentiary support attesting to their benefits across diverse settings. Advancing palliative rehabilitation will require attention to historical barriers to the uptake of cancer rehabilitation services, which include the following: patient and referring physicians’ expectation that effective cancer treatment will reverse disablement; breakdown of linear models of disablement due to presence of concurrent symptoms and psychological distress; tension between reflexive palliation and impairment‐directed treatment; palliative clinicians’ limited familiarity with manual interventions and rehabilitation services; and challenges in identifying receptive patients with the capacity to benefit from rehabilitation services. The effort to address these admittedly complex issues is warranted, as consideration of function in efforts to control symptoms and mood is vital to optimize patients’ autonomy and quality of life. In addition, manual rehabilitation modalities are effective and drug sparing in the alleviation of adverse symptoms but are markedly underused. Realizing the potential synergism of integrating rehabilitation services in palliative care will require intensification of interdisciplinary dialogue.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146938/1/pmr2s335.pd

Problematic alcohol use and sexting as risk factors for sexual assault among college women

Sexual assault is a major public health concern and college women are four times more likely to experience sexual assault than any other group. We investigated whether sexting is a mechanism by which alcohol use increases risk for college women to be targeted for sexual assault. We hypothesized that sexting would mediate the relationship between problem drinking and sexual assault, such that drinking (T1 = beginning fall semester) would contribute to increased sexting (T2 = end fall semester), and in turn increase the risk of being targeted for sexual assault (T3 = end spring semester). Results: Among 332 undergraduate women (M(SD)age = 19.15(1.69), 76.9% Caucasian), sexting (T2) predicted sexual assault (T3; b = 3.98, p = .05), controlling for baseline sexual assault (b = 0.82, p < .01). Further, sexting (T2) mediated the relationship between problem drinking (T1) and sexual assault (T3) (b = 0.04, CI[.004,.12]). Conclusion: Findings suggest that sexting is one mechanism through which drinking increases the risk of college women being targeted for sexual assault