Preliminary analysis of an instructional alternative to exclusionary discipline

37 pagesDecades of research have shown that exclusionary discipline practices are not only ineffective for changing student behavior, they lead to worse social, behavioral, and academic outcomes for students. This article explores the findings from a pilot study of the Inclusive Skill-Building Learning Approach (ISLA), an instructional alternative to exclusionary discipline practices. The purposes of ISLA are to improve student social and behavioral problem-solving, teacher and administrator practices, and student-teacher relationships while also reducing lost instructional time for student excluded from their learning environment. Results from the pilot indicated that implementation of ISLA was associated with reductions in exclusionary discipline practices (Cohen’s h effect sizes ranged from .06 to .18 across schools and outcomes), and a substantial decrease in instructional minutes lost (~ 92%). Educational staff also reported favorable impressions of the intervention. Practical and conceptual implications, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are further discussed.The research reported here was supported by the Fairway Fund, a College of Education Faculty Research Award at the University of Oregon and by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A180006 to the University of Oregon

The Role of HE4 in Ovarian Cancer Follow-up: A Review.

Objective: The aim of this review was to analyze the state of the art about HE4 and follow-up in patients treated for ovarian cancer. Methods: A literature search was conducted in the MEDLINE database using the key words "HE4" and "ovarian cancer" and "recurrence" or "relapse" or "follow up." Results: Seven of 28 clinical studies were selected. Four studies were prospective, and all of them were based on a small number of patients (8Y73 women). A failure of HE4 levels to normalize at completion of standard therapy may indicate a poor prognosis, thus suggesting the need of a closer follow-up. Moreover, HE4 showed better sensibility and specificity in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer recurrence with respect to CA-125, being also an earlier indicator of the relapse with a lead time of 5 to 8 months. HE4 showed a better performance in this setting if performed in association with other markers (CA-125, CA-72.4). HE4 seems to be an independent predictive factor for the surgical outcome at secondary cytoreductive surgery and to maintain its prognostic role even after the recurrence. Conclusions: These preliminary data start to suggest a superiority of HE4 over CA-125 in the detection of ovarian cancer recurrence. Moreover, the prognostic role of HE4 could help clinicians to personalize the follow-up program, whereas its predictive role could be useful to plan the treatment of the relapse. The role of HE4 in ovarian cancer follow-up deserves to be further investigated in prospective randomized multicentric studies

Enabling large-scale hydrogen storage in porous media – the scientific challenges

Expectations for energy storage are high but large-scale underground hydrogen storage in porous media (UHSP) remains largely untested. This article identifies and discusses the scientific challenges of hydrogen storage in porous media for safe and efficient large-scale energy storage to enable a global hydrogen economy. To facilitate hydrogen supply on the scales required for a zero-carbon future, it must be stored in porous geological formations, such as saline aquifers and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. Large-scale UHSP offers the much-needed capacity to balance inter-seasonal discrepancies between demand and supply, decouple energy generation from demand and decarbonise heating and transport, supporting decarbonisation of the entire energy system. Despite the vast opportunity provided by UHSP, the maturity is considered low and as such UHSP is associated with several uncertainties and challenges. Here, the safety and economic impacts triggered by poorly understood key processes are identified, such as the formation of corrosive hydrogen sulfide gas, hydrogen loss due to the activity of microbes or permeability changes due to geochemical interactions impacting on the predictability of hydrogen flow through porous media. The wide range of scientific challenges facing UHSP are outlined to improve procedures and workflows for the hydrogen storage cycle, from site selection to storage site operation. Multidisciplinary research, including reservoir engineering, chemistry, geology and microbiology, more complex than required for CH4 or CO2 storage is required in order to implement the safe, efficient and much needed large-scale commercial deployment of UHSP.This work was stimulated by the GEO*8 Workshop on “Hydrogen Storage in Porous Media”, November 2019 at the GFZ in Potsdam (Germany). NH, AH, ET, KE, MW and SH are funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded research project “HyStorPor” (grant number EP/S027815/1). JA is funded by the Spanish MICINN (Juan de la Cierva fellowship-IJC2018-036074-I). JM is co-funded by EU INTERREG V project RES-TMO (Ref: 4726 / 6.3). COH acknowledges funding by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, Germany) in the context of project H2_ReacT (03G0870C).Peer reviewe

Making 'chemical cocktails' - evolution of urban geochemical processes across the periodic table of elements.

Urbanization contributes to the formation of novel elemental combinations and signatures in terrestrial and aquatic watersheds, also known as 'chemical cocktails.' The composition of chemical cocktails evolves across space and time due to: (1) elevated concentrations from anthropogenic sources, (2) accelerated weathering and corrosion of the built environment, (3) increased drainage density and intensification of urban water conveyance systems, and (4) enhanced rates of geochemical transformations due to changes in temperature, ionic strength, pH, and redox potentials. Characterizing chemical cocktails and underlying geochemical processes is necessary for: (1) tracking pollution sources using complex chemical mixtures instead of individual elements or compounds; (2) developing new strategies for co-managing groups of contaminants; (3) identifying proxies for predicting transport of chemical mixtures using continuous sensor data; and (4) determining whether interactive effects of chemical cocktails produce ecosystem-scale impacts greater than the sum of individual chemical stressors. First, we discuss some unique urban geochemical processes which form chemical cocktails, such as urban soil formation, human-accelerated weathering, urban acidification-alkalinization, and freshwater salinization syndrome. Second, we review and synthesize global patterns in concentrations of major ions, carbon and nutrients, and trace elements in urban streams across different world regions and make comparisons with reference conditions. In addition to our global analysis, we highlight examples from some watersheds in the Baltimore-Washington DC region, which show increased transport of major ions, trace metals, and nutrients across streams draining a well-defined land-use gradient. Urbanization increased the concentrations of multiple major and trace elements in streams draining human-dominated watersheds compared to reference conditions. Chemical cocktails of major and trace elements were formed over diurnal cycles coinciding with changes in streamflow, dissolved oxygen, pH, and other variables measured by high-frequency sensors. Some chemical cocktails of major and trace elements were also significantly related to specific conductance (p<0.05), which can be measured by sensors. Concentrations of major and trace elements increased, peaked, or decreased longitudinally along streams as watershed urbanization increased, which is consistent with distinct shifts in chemical mixtures upstream and downstream of other major cities in the world. Our global analysis of urban streams shows that concentrations of multiple elements along the Periodic Table significantly increase when compared with reference conditions. Furthermore, similar biogeochemical patterns and processes can be grouped among distinct mixtures of elements of major ions, dissolved organic matter, nutrients, and trace elements as chemical cocktails. Chemical cocktails form in urban waters over diurnal cycles, decades, and throughout drainage basins. We conclude our global review and synthesis by proposing strategies for monitoring and managing chemical cocktails using source control, ecosystem restoration, and green infrastructure. We discuss future research directions applying the watershed chemical cocktail approach to diagnose and manage environmental problems. Ultimately, a chemical cocktail approach targeting sources, transport, and transformations of different and distinct elemental combinations is necessary to more holistically monitor and manage the emerging impacts of chemical mixtures in the world's fresh waters

Low levels of cathepsin D are associated with a poor prognosis in endometrial cancer

Total cytosolic cathepsin D (Cat D) levels were estimated by an immunoradiometric assay in a series of 156 consecutive patients with surgical stages I–III primary endometrial adenocarcinoma. Simultaneously, the tissue content of both oestrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors, and p185HER-2/neu, DNA content (ploidy), and the fraction of S-phase cells (S-phase) were also estimated. Tumoral Cat D content ranged from 0 to 243 pmol mg−1 protein (median 44 pmol mg−1 protein) and was not associated with any of the established clinicopathological and biological prognostic variables, with the exception of a weak positive correlation with the tumoral p185HER-2/neu levels. Univariable analysis performed on a subset of 97 patients, followed for a minimum of 2 years or until death, showed that patient age at diagnosis, high histological grade, advanced surgical stage, vascular invasion, positive peritoneal cytology, low levels of Cat D, negative ER and PR status, aneuploidy, and high S-phase were predictive of the presence of persistent or recurrent disease. However, multivariable analysis revealed that only histological grade, surgical stage, Cat D and PR were significantly associated with the patient's outcome. From these findings, we conclude that Cat D is an independent prognostic factor in endometrial adenocarcinoma, its low levels being associated with a worse clinical outcome. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Evidence of intense chromosomal shuffling during conifer evolution

Although recent advances have been gained on genome evolution in angiosperm lineages, virtually nothing is known about karyotype evolution in the other group of seed plants, the gymnosperms. Here, we used high-density gene-based linkagemapping to compare the karyotype structure of two families of conifers (the most abundant group of gymnosperms) separated around 290 Ma Pinaceae and Cupressaceae.We propose for the first time amodel based on the fusion of 20 ancestral chromosomal blocks that may have shaped the modern karyotpes of Pinaceae (with n=12) and Cupressaceae (with n=11). The considerable difference in modern genome organization between these two lineages contrasts strongly with the remarkable level of synteny already reported within the Pinaceae. It also suggests a convergent evolutionary mechanism of chromosomal block shuffling that has shaped the genomes of the spermatophytes. ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

Time at surgery during menstrual cycle and menopause affects pS2 but not cathepsin D levels in breast cancer

Many studies have addressed the clinical value of pS2 as a marker of hormone responsiveness and of cathepsin D (Cath D) as a prognostic factor in breast cancer. Because pS2 and Cath D are both oestrogen induced in human breast cancer cell lines, we studied the influence of the menstrual cycle phase and menopausal status at the time of surgery on the levels of these proteins in breast cancer. A population of 1750 patients with breast cancer, including 339 women in menstrual cycle, was analysed. Tumoral Cath D and pS2 were measured by radioimmunoassay. Serum oestradiol (E2), progesterone (Pg), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels at the day of surgery were used to define the hormonal phase in premenopausal women. There was a trend towards a higher mean pS2 level in the follicular phase compared with the luteal phase (17 ng mg−1and 11 ng mg−1respectively, P= 0.09). Mean pS2 was lower in menopausal patients than in women with cycle (8 ng mg−1and 14 ng mg−1respectively, P= 0.0001). No differences in mean Cath D level were observed between the different phases of the menstrual cycle, or between pre- and post-menopausal women. In the overall population, pS2 was slightly positively associated with E2 and Pg levels and negatively associated with FSH and LH, probably reflecting the link between pS2 and menopausal status. In premenopausal women, no association was found between pS2 and E2, Pg, FSH or LH levels. There were no correlations between Cath D level and circulating hormone levels in the overall population. However, in the subgroup of premenopausal women with ER-positive (ER+) tumours, E2 was slightly associated with both pS2 and Cath D, consistent with oestrogen induction of these proteins in ER+ breast cancer cell lines. There are changes in pS2 level in breast cancer throughout the menstrual cycle and menopause. This suggests that the choice of the pS2 cut-off level should take the hormonal status at the time of surgery into account. In contrast, the level of Cath D is unrelated to the menstrual cycle and menopausal status. 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Comprehensive genetic dissection of wood properties in a widely-grown tropical tree: Eucalyptus

Background: Eucalyptus is an important genus in industrial plantations throughout the world and is grown for use as timber, pulp, paper and charcoal. Several breeding programmes have been launched worldwide to concomitantly improve growth performance and wood properties (WPs). In this study, an interspecific cross between Eucalyptus urophylla and E. grandis was used to identify major genomic regions (Quantitative Trait Loci, QTL) controlling the variability of WPs. Results: Linkage maps were generated for both parent species. A total of 117 QTLs were detected for a series of wood and end-use related traits, including chemical, technological, physical, mechanical and anatomical properties. The QTLs were mainly clustered into five linkage groups. In terms of distribution of QTL effects, our result agrees with the typical L-shape reported in most QTL studies, i.e. most WP QTLs had limited effects and only a few (13) had major effects (phenotypic variance explained &gt; 15%). The co-locations of QTLs for different WPs as well as QTLs and candidate genes are discussed in terms of phenotypic correlations between traits, and of the function of the candidate genes. The major wood property QTL harbours a gene encoding a Cinnamoyl CoA reductase (CCR), a structural enzyme of the monolignol-specific biosynthesis pathway. Conclusions: Given the number of traits analysed, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the genetic architecture of wood properties in this Eucalyptus full-sib pedigree. At the dawn of Eucalyptus genome sequence, it will provide a framework to identify the nature of genes underlying these important quantitative traits. (Résumé d'auteur

Advancing Eucalyptus genomics: identification and sequencing of lignin biosynthesis genes from deep-coverage BAC libraries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Eucalyptus </it>species are among the most planted hardwoods in the world because of their rapid growth, adaptability and valuable wood properties. The development and integration of genomic resources into breeding practice will be increasingly important in the decades to come. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries are key genomic tools that enable positional cloning of important traits, synteny evaluation, and the development of genome framework physical maps for genetic linkage and genome sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe the construction and characterization of two deep-coverage BAC libraries EG_Ba and EG_Bb obtained from nuclear DNA fragments of <it>E. grandis </it>(clone BRASUZ1) digested with <it>Hind</it>III and <it>BstY</it>I, respectively. Genome coverages of 17 and 15 haploid genome equivalents were estimated for EG_Ba and EG_Bb, respectively. Both libraries contained large inserts, with average sizes ranging from 135 Kb (Eg_Bb) to 157 Kb (Eg_Ba), very low extra-nuclear genome contamination providing a probability of finding a single copy gene ≥ 99.99%. Libraries were screened for the presence of several genes of interest <it>via </it>hybridizations to high-density BAC filters followed by PCR validation. Five selected BAC clones were sequenced and assembled using the Roche GS FLX technology providing the whole sequence of the <it>E. grandis </it>chloroplast genome, and complete genomic sequences of important lignin biosynthesis genes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The two <it>E. grandis </it>BAC libraries described in this study represent an important milestone for the advancement of <it>Eucalyptus </it>genomics and forest tree research. These BAC resources have a highly redundant genome coverage (> 15×), contain large average inserts and have a very low percentage of clones with organellar DNA or empty vectors. These publicly available BAC libraries are thus suitable for a broad range of applications in genetic and genomic research in <it>Eucalyptus </it>and possibly in related species of <it>Myrtaceae</it>, including genome sequencing, gene isolation, functional and comparative genomics. Because they have been constructed using the same tree (<it>E. grandis </it>BRASUZ1) whose full genome is being sequenced, they should prove instrumental for assembly and gap filling of the upcoming <it>Eucalyptus </it>reference genome sequence.</p