Investigating the Parent Functions: African-American Families and Schools Collaborating to Improve Secondary Mathematics Achievement

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate specific strategies that encouraged school personnel and African-American family members to collaborate in a spirit of mutual respect to promote and support student learning and development in high school mathematics. Three research questions were used to (a) determine if strategies identified by the participants were effective or non-effective, (b) determine if there were any similarities or differences with respect to how family members and school personnel think about or assess specific strategies, and (c) assess the results of implemented strategies. This goal was accomplished by (1) convening a group of parents and attempting to mobilize them, and (2) encouraging teachers, administrators, or counselors to (a) rethink their assumption that African American families contribute little to their children’s education and value education only if they participate in school-based involvement activities; and (b) adapt and engage in particular kinds of outreach and collaboration suggested by Abdul-Adil & Farmer, Reglin, Schurr, and Trotman. One study goal is to determine which strategies are identified by the participants as being effective or non-effective, and if there are any similarities or differences with respect to how family members and school personnel think about or assess specific strategies. Another is to promote the implementation of selected strategies and mathematics intervention, document the process, and assess the results

Growth stocks-fact or fancy

Often in business articles the following remark may be seen: If a company is to growing, it is retrogressing; for no business may stand still! The sagacity of this observation with regard to individual enterprises cannot be stressed too frequently nor too strongly. Yet this truism becomes even more appropriate and apparent when applied to a nation\u27s economy. Although this paper deals primarily with common stocks, seldom can any part of a nation;s economy move independently of the total trend. Therefore, a few explanatory remarks regarding the United States economy are in order

Self Assembly of Copper(I) and Silver(I) Butterfly Clusters with 2-Mercaptothiazoline

X-ray data obtained from poor crystals which formed from the reaction of copper(II) acetate with 2-mercaptothiazoline reveal the formation of a product that is a polymer formed of tetranuclear, butterfly shaped Cu4(MT)4, 1, clusters. Preparation, isolation and structural characterization of a series of isostructural butterfly complexes was accomplished by addition of a Lewis base (pyridine, PPh3, or ASPI13) to the precipitate obtained from the reaction of copper(II) and/or silver(I) acetate with the appropriate stoichiometric amount of 2-mercaptothiazoline. The general formula of these clusters is L2M4(MT)4; 2, L = PPI13 and M = Cu; 3, L = AsPh3 and M = Cu; 6, L = PPI13 and M = Ag; MT = C3H4NS2_, known as 2-mer- captothiazolinate. The polymer [pyCu4(MT)4]„, 4, formed by the addition of pyridine to 1, was also characterized crystallographically. A mixed metal butterfly complex, (PPh3)2Ag2Cu2(MT)4, 8, is formed by addition of PPI13 to a suspension of the precipitate formed upon reaction of the free HMT ligand with a 1:1 mixture of copper(II) and silver(I) acetates in CH2CI2. FD-MS results of each of the precipitates obtained from the metal acetates and the free ligand indicate that the monomeric unit is M4(MT)4. 1H-NMR and 31P{1H}-NMR, both in solution and in the solid state are presented and interpreted

Coupled Scholte modes supported by soft elastic plates in water

This is the final version. Available from the American Physical Society via the DOI in this recordLocalized acoustic surface waves supported by a “soft” elastic plate in water are explored. Unlike many materials, such as aluminum, for soft interfaces the Scholte wave, a localized interface wave, has a speed well below that of sound in water, and the energy of the Scholte wave is no longer mainly localized to the water. We note that the Scholte velocity is largely independent of Poisson's ratio in the solid, and rather than the bulk speeds of sound, the ratio between the Young's modulus and the density of the solid may better indicate whether an interface is soft. The behavior of the coupled Scholte modes along a thin plate with soft interfaces are investigated. It is demonstrated, and experimentally verified using acrylic plates underwater, that for soft interfaces, the symmetric coupled Scholte mode exhibits dispersive behavior, and deviates from the Scholte and the fluid velocities at low frequencies.Thales UK LtdEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Factor structure and validity of the shoulder pain and disability index in a population-based study of people with shoulder symptoms

Background: The Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) is a self-administered questionnaire that aims to measure pain and disability associated with shoulder disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the construct validity and factor structure of the SPADI in a population-based study of patients with self-reported chronic shoulder symptoms. Methods: The North West Adelaide Health Study is a representative longitudinal cohort study of people aged 18 years and over. The original sample was randomly selected and recruited by telephone interview. Overall, 3 206 participants returned to the clinic during the second stage (2004-2006) and were asked to report whether they had pain, aching or stiffness on most days in either of their shoulders. Data was also collected on body mass index and shoulder range of motion (ROM) and demographic factors. The SPADI (numeric rating scale) was administered to participants with shoulder symptoms. Principal components factor analysis, with varimax rotation of factor loadings, was used to assess subscale structure of SPADI. Correlations between the SPADI, shoulder ROM and SF-36 were performed. Results: Overall, 22.3% of participants indicated that they had pain, aching or stiffness in either of their shoulders. SPADI results were available for 588 of participants with current shoulder symptoms. The internal consistency of the SPADI subscales were high (Cronbach's alpha > 0.92). Two factors, explaining 61.4% of the total variance were extracted by factor analysis. These were interpreted as disability and pain respectively. There was a strong negative correlation between SPADI disability subscale scores and shoulder range of motion. SPADI disability, but not pain, subscale scores were correlated with age. Conclusions: The SPADI is a valid measure to assess pain and disability in people with shoulder pain in a population-based study. In this setting, the SPADI had a bidimensional structure with both pain and disability subscales.Catherine L Hill, Susan Lester, Anne W Taylor, Michael E Shanahan, Tiffany K Gil

Mechanisms of hypoxic up-regulation of versican gene expression in macrophages

Hypoxia is a hallmark of many pathological tissues. Macrophages accumulate in hypoxic sites and up-regulate a range of hypoxia-inducible genes. The matrix proteoglycan versican has been identified as one such gene, but the mechanisms responsible for hypoxic induction are not fully characterised. Here we investigate the up-regulation of versican by hypoxia in primary human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDM), and, intriguingly, show that versican mRNA is up-regulated much more highly (>600 fold) by long term hypoxia (5 days) than by 1 day of hypoxia (48 fold). We report that versican mRNA decay rates are not affected by hypoxia, demonstrating that hypoxic induction of versican mRNA is mediated by increased transcription. Deletion analysis of the promoter identified two regions required for high level promoter activity of luciferase reporter constructs in human macrophages. The hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF-1 has previously been implicated as a key potential regulator of versican expression in hypoxia, however our data suggest that HIF-1 up-regulation is unlikely to be principally responsible for the high levels of induction observed in HMDM. Treatment of HMDM with two distinct specific inhibitors of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), LY290042 and wortmannin, significantly reduced induction of versican mRNA by hypoxia and provides evidence of a role for PI3K in hypoxic up-regulation of versican expression

Glycomics Analysis of Mammalian Heparan Sulfates Modified by the Human Extracellular Sulfatase HSulf2

The Sulfs are a family of endosulfatases that selectively modify the 6O-sulfation state of cell-surface heparan sulfate (HS) molecules. Sulfs serve as modulators of cell-signaling events because the changes they induce alter the cell surface co-receptor functions of HS chains. A variety of studies have been aimed at understanding how Sulfs modify HS structure, and many of these studies utilize Sulf knockout cell lines as the source for the HS used in the experiments. However, genetic manipulation of Sulfs has been shown to alter the expression levels of HS biosynthetic enzymes, and in these cases an assessment of the fine structural changes induced solely by Sulf enzymatic activity is not possible. Therefore, the present work aims to extend the understanding of substrate specificities of HSulf2 using in vitro experiments to compare HSulf2 activities on HS from different organ tissues.To further the understanding of Sulf enzymatic activity, we conducted in vitro experiments where a variety of mammalian HS substrates were modified by recombinant human Sulf2 (HSulf2). Subsequent to treatment with HSulf2, the HS samples were exhaustively depolymerized and analyzed using size-exclusion liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (SEC-LC/MS). We found that HSulf2 activity was highly dependent on the structural features of the HS substrate. Additionally, we characterized, for the first time, the activity of HSulf2 on the non-reducing end (NRE) of HS chains. The results indicate that the action pattern of HSulf2 at the NRE is different compared to internally within the HS chain.The results of the present study indicate that the activity of Sulfs is dependent on the unique structural features of the HS populations that they edit. The activity of HSulf2 at HS NREs implicates the Sulfs as key regulators of this region of the chains, and concomitantly, the protein-binding events that occur there

Vietnam military service history and prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Three decades after US and Australian forces withdrew from Vietnam, there has been much public interest in the health consequences of service in Vietnam. One controversial question is whether the risk of prostate cancer amongst Vietnam veterans is increased. This paper examines relationships between military history, family history and risk of prostate cancer in a population-based case control study. METHODS: Cases were selected from the Cancer Registry of Western Australia as incident cases of histologically-confirmed prostate cancer, and controls were age-matched and selected from the Western Australian electoral roll. Study participants were asked to report any military service history and details about that service. RESULTS: Between January 2001 and September 2002, 606 cases and 471 controls aged between 40–75 years were recruited. An increased prostate cancer risk was observed in men reporting they were deployed in Vietnam although this was not statistically significant (OR = 2.12; 95% CI 0.88–5.06). An increased risk was also observed in men reporting prostate cancer in fathers (OR = 1.90; 95% CI 1.20–3.00) or brothers (OR = 2.05; 95% CI 1.20–3.50) diagnosed with prostate cancer. CONCLUSION: These findings support a positive association between prostate cancer and military service history in the Vietnam war and a first degree relative family history of prostate cancer

Associations between the time of conception and the shape of the lactation curve in early lactation in Norwegian dairy cattle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study was carried out to determine if an association exists between the shape of the lactation curve before it is influenced by the event of conception and the time from calving to conception in Norwegian dairy cattle. Lactation curves of Norwegian Red cows during 5 to 42 days in milk (DIM) were compared between cows conceiving between 43 and 93 DIM and cows conceiving after 93 DIM.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from 23,049 cows, represented by one lactation each, with 219,538 monthly test days were extracted from the Norwegian Dairy Herd Recording System, which represents 97% of all Norwegian dairy cows. Besides veterinary treatments, these records also included information on daily milk yield at monthly test days. The data were stratified by parity groups (1, 2, and 3 and higher) and time to conception periods (43-93 DIM and >93 DIM). The sample was selected using the following selection criteria: conception later than 42 DIM, calving season July to September, no records of veterinary treatment and the level of energy fed as concentrates between 8.69 and 12.83 MJ. The shape of the lactation curves were parameterized using a modified Wilmink-model in a mixed model analysis. Differences in the parameters of the lactation curves with different conception times were evaluated using confidence intervals.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Lactation curves characterized by a low intercept and a steep ascending slope and a steep descending slope were associated with early conception across all parities. The peak milk yield was not associated with time of conception.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A practical application of the study results is the use of the shape of the lactation curve in future herd management. Groups of cows with impaired reproductive performance may be identified due to an unfavorable shape of the lactation curve. Monitoring lactation curves and adjusting the feeding strategy to adjust yield therefore may be useful for the improvement of reproductive performance at herd level.</p