Puppets in Education

Introduction: •Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of related brain-based disorders that affect a child\u27s behavior, social and communication skills. •In 2009, approximately 1,000 Vermont students received special educational services for ASD. •Puppets in Education (PiE) is a non-profit group that teaches kids how to keep themselves safe and healthy and to appreciate each other’s differences. •PiE’sFriend 2 Friend Program (F2F) addresses ASD in fun and interactive puppet and workshop presentations, promoting empathy for individuals on the autism spectrum by modeling, labeling, explaining and normalizing differences, and teaching prosocial communication and friendship skills. •Last year, UVM COM students collaborated with PiE to determine how the use of puppets could best educate the community regarding ASD. •This year our goals were to elicit: --the perceived effectiveness of current ASD education in the classroom --the perceived effectiveness of including children with ASD in the classroom; and --the most important aspects of ASD to address in the Puppets in Education (PiE) curriculumhttps://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1059/thumbnail.jp

Dual Oxidase 2 Mediates Cardiovascular, Autonomic, and Baroreflex Function: An in vivo Study in Conscious Mice

Changes in circadian rhythm profiles including phase changes and classical dipper/non-dipper profiles have recently been shown to be affected by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in several hypertensive models. Dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2), a new member of the ROS-producing NADPH oxidase family of enzymes, is primarily responsible for the production of thyroid hormone through its generation of hydrogen peroxide. In addition to hypothyroidism, here we report that global knockout of the DUOX2 gene in mice causes both hypotension and bradycardia basally, which are independent of locomotor activity and that which cannot be rescued by thyroid hormone supplementation. Furthermore, DUOX2 knockout mice exhibit a classical 'dipper' profile, which is, at least in part, the result of increased sympathetic control of basal heart rate. Moreover, we report that DUOX2 null mice exhibit an increased baroreflex sensitivity, which was tested by both spontaneous baroreflex analysis and classical vasoactive drug administration. Supplemental real-time PCR and in situ hybridization studies confirm the genotype of DUOX2 null mice and demonstrate that DUOX2 is not expressed in the thyroid of null mice, providing rationale for the low plasma T4 levels observed in DUOX2-/- mice at baseline. In conclusion, we have determined that DUOX2-mediated pathways participate in the regulation of both blood pressure and heart rate and that this occurs via mechanisms independent of thyroid hormone synthesis