The Impact of an Intensive Blended Learning Reading Intervention on Standardized Assessment Scores

The current study documents the effects of the Language! Live intensive, blended learning reading intervention on the Georgia Milestones Assessment Lexile Scores. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of an intensive blended learning reading intervention on the standardized assessment scores of middle school students who were at least two grade levels behind in reading at a Title I school in Georgia and aimed to establish if students who were significantly below grade level could make growth with the assistance of an intensive blended learning reading intervention. The study included the data of 133 students in two groups, the Intensive Group (n=62) and the Strategic Group (n=71) at a Title I middle school in Georgia. The quasi-experimental study used quantitative archival data which were collected electronically at the end of the pre-treatment and posttreatment school years and analyzed using a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA. The results suggested the baseline Lexile scores were significantly lower than the posttest Lexile scores within both groups. The Strategic Group had significantly higher Lexile scores at posttest than the Intensive Group at posttest. However, the Intensive Group showed greater growth from baseline to posttest than the Strategic Group

Real time predictions and pattern discovery in hospital emergency rooms and immigration data

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-166).Data mining is a versatile and expanding field of study. We show the applications and uses of a variety of techniques in two very different realms: Emergency department (ED) length of stay prediction and visual analytics. For the ED, we investigate three data mining techniques to predict a patient's length of stay based solely on the information available at the patient's arrival. We achieve good predictive power using Decision Tree Analysis. Our results show that by using main characteristics about the patient, such as chief complaint, age, time of day of the arrival, and the condition of the ED, we can predict overall patient length of stay to specific hourly ranges with an accuracy of 80%. For visual analytics, we demonstrate how to mathematically determine the optimal number of clusters for a geospatial dataset containing both numeric and categorical data and then how to compare each cluster to the entire dataset as well as consider pairwise differences. We then incorporate our analytical methodology in visual display. Our results show that we can quickly and effectively measure differences between clusters and we can accurately find the optimal number of clusters in non-noisy datasets.by Ashley M. Snyder.S.M

T-cell activation is enhanced by targeting IL-10 cytokine production in toll-like receptor-stimulated macrophages

Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists represent potentially useful cancer vaccine adjuvants in their ability to stimulate antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and subsequently amplify the cytotoxic T-cell response. The purpose of this study was to characterize APC responses to TLR activation and to determine the subsequent effect on lymphocyte activation. We exposed murine primary bone marrow-derived macrophages to increasing concentrations of agonists to TLRs 2, 3, 4, and 9. This resulted in a dose-dependent increase in production of not only tumor necrosis factor–alpha (TNF-α), a surrogate marker of the proinflammatory response, but also interleukin 10 (IL-10), a well-described inhibitory cytokine. Importantly, IL-10 secretion was not induced by low concentrations of TLR agonists that readily produced TNF-α. We subsequently stimulated lymphocytes with anti-CD3 antibody in the presence of media from macrophages activated with higher doses of TLR agonists and observed suppression of interferon gamma release. Use of both IL-10 knockout macrophages and IL-10 small-interfering RNA (siRNA) ablated this suppressive effect. Finally, IL-10 siRNA was successfully used to suppress CpG-induced IL-10 production in vivo. We conclude that TLR-mediated APC stimulation can induce a paradoxical inhibitory effect on T-cell activation mediated by IL-10

Understanding patient preference for physician attire in ambulatory clinics: a cross-sectional observational study

OBJECTIVES We explored patient perceptions regarding physician attire in different clinical contexts and resultant effects on the physician-patient relationship. SETTING The 900-bed University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS A convenience sample of patients receiving care in dermatology, infectious diseases and neurology ambulatory clinics of the University Hospital Zurich participated in a paper-based survey. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES The survey instrument was randomised and showed photographs of male or female physicians wearing various forms of attire. On the basis of the respondents' ratings of how the physician's attire affected perceptions across five domains (knowledgeable, trustworthy, caring, approachable and comfort with the physician), a composite preference score for attire was calculated as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included variation in preferences by respondent characteristics and context in which care was provided. RESULTS Of 834 patient respondents (140 in dermatology, 422 in infectious diseases and 272 in neurology), 298 (36%) agreed that physician attire was important. When compared with all available choices, the combination of white scrubs with white coat was rated highest while a business suit ranked lowest. Variation in preferences and opinions for attire were noted relative to respondent demographics and the clinical setting in which the survey was administered. For example, compared with younger patients, respondents ≥65 years of age more often reported that physician dress was both important to them and influenced how happy they were with their care (p=0.047 and p=0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Outpatients at a large Swiss University hospital prefer their physicians to be dressed in white scrubs with white coat. Substantial variation among respondents based on demographics, type of physician and clinical setting were observed. Healthcare systems should consider context of care when defining policies related to dress code

Achieving high-sensitivity for clinical applications using augmented exome sequencing

daSNVs in ACMG genes where inadequate coverage was observed among at least one platform, using WES/ACE data normalized to both 12 Gb and 100× mean coverage. (XLSX 312 kb

Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the TIR domain from the Brucella melitensis TIR-domain-containing protein TcpB

In mammals, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize conserved microbial molecular signatures and induce an early innate immune response in the host. TLR signalling is mediated by interactions between the cytosolic TIR (Toll/interleukin-1 receptor) domains of the receptor and the adaptor proteins. Increasingly, it is apparent that pathogens target this interaction via pathogen-expressed TIR-domain-containing proteins to modulate immune responses. A TIR-domain-containing protein TcpB has been reported in the pathogenic bacterium Brucella melitensis. Studies have shown that TcpB interferes with the TLR2 and TLR4 signalling pathways to inhibit TLR-mediated inflammatory responses. Such interference may involve TIR-TIR-domain interactions between bacterial and mammalian proteins, but there is a lack of information about these interactions at the molecular level. In this study, the cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the protein construct corresponding to the TIR domain of TcpB (residues 120-250) are reported. The crystals diffracted to 2.6 angstrom resolution, have the symmetry of the monoclinic space group P2(1) and are most likely to contain four molecules in the asymmetric unit. The structure should help in understanding the molecular basis of how TcpB affects the innate immunity of the host

Project Brainstorm: Using Neuroscience to Connect College Students with Local Schools

Neuroscience can be used as a tool to inspire an interest in science in school children as well as to provide teaching experience to college students

α-Synuclein impairs macroautophagy: implications for Parkinson’s disease

α-Synuclein impairs autophagosome formation and mislocalizes Atg9 by inhibiting Rab1a

eRAPID electronic patient self-Reporting of Adverse-events: Patient Information and aDvice: a pilot study protocol in pelvic radiotherapy.

Background: An estimated 17,000 patients are treated annually in the UK with radical radiotherapy (RT) for pelvic cancer. New treatment approaches in RT have increased survivorship and changed the subjective toxicity profile for patients who experience acute and long-term pelvic-related adverse events (AE). Multi-disciplinary follow-up creates difficulty for monitoring and responding to these events during treatment and beyond. Originally developed for use in systemic oncology therapy eRAPID (electronic patient self-Reporting of Adverse-events: Patient Information and aDvice) is an online system for patients to report AEs from home. eRAPID enables patient data to be integrated into the electronic patient records for use in clinical practice, provides patient management advice for mild and moderate AE and advice to contact the hospital for severe AE. The system has now been developed for pelvic RT patients, and we aim to test the intervention in a pilot study with staff and patients to inform a future randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods: Eligible patients are those attending St James's University hospital cancer centre and The Christie Hospital Manchester undergoing pelvic radiotherapy+/-chemotherapy/hormonotherapy for prostate, lower gastrointestinal and gynaecological cancers. A prospective 1:1 randomised (intervention or usual care) parallel group design with repeated measures and mixed methods will be employed. We aim to recruit 168 patients following recommendations for sample size estimates for pilot studies. Participants using eRAPID will report AE (at least weekly) from home weekly for 6 weeks and 6 weeks post-treatment (12-week total) then at 18 and 24 weeks. Hospital staff will review eRAPID reports and use information during consultations. Notifications will be sent to the relevant clinical team when severe symptoms are reported. We will measure patient-reported outcomes using validated questionnaires (Functional Assessment in Cancer Therapy Scale-General (FACT-G), European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30), process of care impact (hospital records of patient contacts and admissions) and economic variables (EQ5D-5L, patient use of resources)). Staff and patient experiences will be explored via semi-structured interviews. Discussion: The objectives are to establish feasibility, recruitment, integrity of the system and attrition rates, determine effect sizes and aid selection of the primary outcome measure for a future RCT. We will also refine the intervention by exploring staff and patient views. The overall goal of this complex intervention is to improve the safe delivery of cancer treatments, enhance patient care and standardise documentation of AE within the clinical datasets. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02747264

Modeling Collective Cell Behavior in Cancer: Perspectives From an Interdisciplinary Conversation

Collective cell behavior contributes to all stages of cancer progression. Understanding how collective behavior emerges through cell-cell interactions and decision-making will advance our understanding of cancer biology and provide new therapeutic approaches. Here, we summarize an interdisciplinary discussion on multicellular behavior in cancer, draw lessons from other scientific disciplines, and identify future directions