The effects of cross-age tutoring on the achievement levels of thirty second graders and their tutors.

This study examined the effects of cross-age tutoring on the reading achievement of thirty second graders and their tutors\u27 levels of performance. Additionally, the study assessed whether the role of tutors raised the academic performance of those younger students in the tutoring program. Participants in the study were academically, economically, and socially deficient. This study involved African American students from an urban public school in an after school tutoring program for two months. The students were paired during the tutoring sessions. They were administered the Morrison-McCall Diagnostic Spelling Scale pretests and posttests. Analysis of variance was used to compare and assess the levels of performance of the tutored and untutored groups. Overall, participants in the cross-age tutoring study produced remarkable gains of mastery in their reading achievement performances. This achievement was determined through the use of the Morrison-McCall Diagnostic Spelling Scale Test, which was administered to all students prior to the beginning of the program and at the end of the tutoring sessions. The results indicated significant gains made by the tutored group of students. Students in the study improved their reading, spelling, writing and comprehension skills. The effects of cross-age tutoring on the achievement level of the tutored group was successful. The posttest findings regarding level of reading improvement were increased. The results were used to make recommendations relative to the efficacy of cross-age tutoring as an instructional strategy for improving and measuring the achievement levels of underachieving African American students. Previous findings suggested that cross-age tutoring programs have been a positive choice of intervention for underachieving students in some school districts. As a result of cross-age tutoring, students elevated (independent or in a group setting) their level of academic performances. Thus, the study determined that cross-age tutoring has provided students with the academic tools to carry over to the daily mastery of skills at school to enhance accomplishments

Temperature and food effects on larval Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2003The effects of food availability and water temperature on larval Pacific herring growth rates and survival were studied using a coupled biophysical model for 1993 through 1997. The herring growth model included feeding gains, metabolic costs, mortality losses and vertical migration of the herring larvae. In years when springtime oceanographic processes resulted in a high concentration of zooplankton, food availability did not limit larval herring growth rates; water temperature determined survival. However, in other years, food availability did limit survival, either due to insufficient food concentrations or to inaccessibility of the food. Vertical migration occasionally was restricted by strong water column stratification, which prevented the larvae from reaching food concentrations sufficient for growth. Thus the amount of food, the temperature, and the vertical distribution of the food and the larvae were found to affect growth. The study of vertical properties of factors affecting larval fish must be included in larval fish research

Évaluation de l'efficacité d’ateliers de simulation sur cadavre pour renforcer la confiance en soi des médecins résidents pour réaliser des injections articulaires échoguidées

Implication Statement Our study showed that an educational workshop using a cadaveric specimen is effective in improving resident physicians’ confidence in performing ultrasound-guided, as well as landmark-based, joint injections. Participants also reported a strong interest in future cadaveric workshops on ultrasound-guided joint injections and believe such workshops would be a valuable educational resource for other physicians. Implementing cadaver-based ultrasound-guided joint injection workshops similar to the one discussed in this manuscript could be used to supplement training for these procedures in medical education and provide residents with the early experience they need to be able to perform these injections independently in clinic settings.Énoncé des implications de la recherche Notre étude montre que les ateliers de simulation sur cadavre aident les médecins résidents à acquérir de l’assurance pour pratiquer des injections articulaires guidées par échographie et repères anatomiques. Les participants ont également fait part de leur vif intérêt pour refaire des ateliers de simulation sur cadavre portant sur les injections articulaires échoguidées et estiment que de tels ateliers constitueraient une ressource éducative précieuse pour d'autres médecins. De tels ateliers sur les injections articulaires échoguidées sur cadavres peuvent être organisés en complément à la formation sur ces interventions et permettre aux résidents d’acquérir de l’expérience pratique tôt dans leur formation pour être en mesure de réaliser ces injections de manière indépendante en contexte clinique

Are family medicine residents trained to counsel patients on physical activity? The Canadian experience and a call to action.

Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and early mortality. Family physicians have an important role in providing physical activity counselling to patients to help prevent and treat NCDs. Lack of training on physical activity counselling is a barrier in undergraduate medical education, yet little is known regarding physical activity teaching in postgraduate family medicine residency. We assessed the provision, content and future direction of physical activity teaching in Canadian postgraduate family medicine residency programs to address this data gap. Fewer than half of Canadian Family Medicine Residency Programme directors reported providing structured physical activity counselling education to residents. Most directors reported no imminent plans to change the content or amount of teaching. These results reflect significant gaps between the recommendations of WHO, which calls on doctors to prescribe physical activity, and the current curricular content and needs of family medicine residents. Almost all directors agreed that online educational resources developed to assist residents in physical activity prescription would be beneficial. By describing the provision, content and future direction of physical activity training in family medicine, physicians and medical educators can develop competencies and resources to meet this need. When we equip our future physicians with the necessary tools, we can improve patient outcomes and do our part to reduce the global epidemic of physical inactivity and chronic disease

Targeted disruption of melanin biosynthesis genes in the human pathogenic fungus Lomentospora prolificans and its consequences for pathogen survival

PublishedArticleThe dematiaceous (melanised) fungus Lomentospora (Scedosporium) prolificans is a life-threatening opportunistic pathogen of immunocompromised humans, resistant to anti-fungal drugs. Melanin has been shown to protect human pathogenic fungi against antifungal drugs, oxidative killing and environmental stresses. To determine the protective role of melanin in L. prolificans to oxidative killing (H2O2), UV radiation and the polyene anti-fungal drug amphotericin B, targeted gene disruption was used to generate mutants of the pathogen lacking the dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN)-melanin biosynthetic enzymes polyketide synthase (PKS1), tetrahydroxynapthalene reductase (4HNR) and scytalone dehydratase (SCD1). Infectious propagules (spores) of the wild-type strain 3.1 were black/brown, whereas spores of the PKS-deficient mutant ΔLppks1::hph were white. Complementation of the albino mutant ΔLppks1::hph restored the black-brown spore pigmentation, while the 4HNR-deficient mutant ΔLp4hnr::hph and SCD-deficient mutant ΔLpscd1::hph both produced orange-yellow spores. The mutants ΔLppks1::hph and ΔLp4hnr::hph showed significant reductions in spore survival following H2O2 treatment, while spores of ΔLpscd1::hph and the ΔLppks1::hph complemented strain ΔLppks1::hph:PKS showed spore survivals similar to strain 3.1. Spores of the mutants ΔLp4hnr::hph and ΔLpscd1::hph and complemented strain ΔLppks1::hph:PKS showed spore survivals similar to 3.1 following exposure to UV radiation, but survival of ΔLppks1::hph spores was significantly reduced compared to the wild-type strain. Strain 3.1 and mutants ΔLp4hnr::hph and ΔLppks1::hph:PKS were resistant to amphotericin B while, paradoxically, the PKS1- and SCD1-deficient mutants showed significant increases in growth in the presence of the antifungal drug. Taken together, these results show that while melanin plays a protective role in the survival of the pathogen to oxidative killing and UV radiation, melanin does not contribute to its resistance to amphotericin B

The effects of diet on levels of physical activity during winter in forensic inpatients - A randomized controlled trial

Fish consumption has been shown to have beneficial effects on biological and subjective measures of health and well-being. However, little is known about the effects of fish consumption at the behavioral level.publishedVersio