Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Administrative Support in Incentive Grant Schools

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers\u27 perceptions of administrative support in incentive grant schools. The primary objective of this study is to determine the effect of participation in an incentive grant on the perceived level of administrative support. The research questions were as follows: 1. Do teachers who are participating in an incentive grant program perceive they have greater support from their supervising administrator than the teachers who are not participating in the incentive grant program within the same secondary schools? 2. Do teachers who have 10 or more years of experience who are participating in an incentive grant program perceive they have greater support from their supervising administrator than teachers who have less than 10 years of experience who are also participating in the incentive grant program within the same secondary schools? 3. Do teachers who have 10 or more years of experience who are participating in an incentive grant program perceive they have greater support from their supervising administrator than teachers who have less than 10 years of experience who are not participating in the incentive grant program within the same secondary schools? The study employed a causal-comparative design, which was measured by using a survey titled Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Administrative Support, in which 175 teachers were surveyed at secondary schools in a school district in Central Virginia; non-incentive grant teachers being the control group. The study showed that there was not a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of administrative support between incentive and non-incentive grant teachers. Furthermore, there were significant statistical differences in relation to longevity of teachers in the study schools

A study of lined hymnsinging in selected black churches of North and South Carolina

The purpose of this study was to observe, collect, and analyze hymns that are sung by a "lining-out" method in selected black churches of Piedmont North and South Carolina. Seventy-five Baptist and Methodist churches were randomly selected to serve as the primary sample. A letter was mailed to the ministers of each of the churches explaining the purpose of the study and requesting permission to visit worship services for the collection of data. Each minister was requested to complete and return to the investigator a printed information card indicating whether lined hymns were sung and granting permission to visit. From the twenty-eight affirmative cards that were returned, fifteen churches were randomly selected. These churches which included thirteen Baptist and two Methodist, were visited by the investigator. Hymn performances were recorded on cassette tapes and interviews were conducted with song leaders to obtain data relative to performance practices. Melodies for each of twenty-six recorded hymns were transcribed and analyzed showing the following: hymn type, scale and mode, melodic range, meter, structure, description of melodic line and description of performance

Magnetic and Crystallographic Structure of Y₆Mn₂₃D₂₃

The magnetic behavior of Y6Mn23 is dramatically altered upon hydrogenation (or deuteration). In this study it has been found, by means of high-resolution powder diffraction and Rietveld refinement techniques, that the crystallographic structure is distorted from face-centered cubic (Fm3m) at 295 K to a primitive tetragonal structure at 4 K in which deuterium atoms are atomically ordered. Y6Mn23 is a ferromagnetic compound with Tc=486 K, and bulk magnetization of 13.2 Bf.u. (formula unit). After deuteration of Y6Mn23 to the composition Y6Mn23D23, low-temperature scattering data (T\u3c180 K) show that the b and f2 sites in the Fm3m structure are antiferromagnetic and the d and f1 sites have no spontaneous magnetic moment. © 1984 The American Physical Society

A prospective, multi‐center study of the chocolate balloon in femoropopliteal peripheral artery disease: The Chocolate BAR registry

The Chocolate BAR study is a prospective multicenter post‐market registry designed to evaluate the safety and performance of the Chocolate percutaneous transluminal angioplasty balloon catheter in a broad population with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. The primary endpoint is acute procedural success (defined as ≤30% residual stenosis without flow‐limiting dissection); secondary long‐term outcomes include freedom from target lesion revascularization (TLR), major unplanned amputation, survival, and patency. A total of 262 patients (290 femoropopliteal lesions) were enrolled at 30 US centers between 2012 and 2014. The primary endpoint of procedure success was achieved in 85.1% of cases, and freedom from stenting occurred in 93.1%. Bail out stenting by independent adjudication occurred in 1.6% of cases and there were no flow limiting dissections. There was mean improvement of 2.1 Rutherford classes (±1.5) at 12‐months, with 78.5% freedom from TLR, 97.2% freedom from major amputation, and 93.3% freedom from all‐cause mortality. Core Lab adjudicated patency was 64.1% at 12 months. Use of the Chocolate balloon in an “all‐comers” population achieved excellent procedural outcomes with low dissection rates and bailout stent use.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143650/1/ccd27565_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143650/2/ccd27565.pd

Perceive Symptom-Related Barriers to Eating and Associated Quality of Life in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors experience significant symptom burden as a result of tumor location and treatment received. These symptoms may negatively impact quality of life (QOL) and compromise dietary intake into the post-treatment survivorship phase. Few studies have examined how symptoms are associated with quality of life in HNC survivors beyond the acute phase of care. Purpose: The objective of this research was to examine associations between perceived symptom-related barriers to eating and quality of life (QOL) in post-treatment head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors who participated in a dietary intervention trial. Methods: This was an exploratory analysis of 23 post-treatment HNC survivors who had previously participated in a 12-week randomized dietary intervention trial to assess the feasibility of increasing cruciferous (CV) and green leafy vegetable (GLV) intake. For this analysis, both treatment groups were combined into one. Participants completed a pre-intervention survey that assessed HNC-specific QOL (FACT-HN) and ranked self-perceived symptom-related barriers to eating on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = “never” to 5 = “very often”). A summary score for all symptom-related barriers was computed (maximum of 80 points) and Pearson correlations between the summary score and QOL were examined. Pearson correlations were also examined between scores for individual symptom-related barriers and QOL. Results: A lower symptom-related barrier summary score was significantly correlated with improved physical, emotional, and functional QOL (p < 0.01 for all). Lower individual symptom-related barrier scores for dry mouth, food does not taste good, feeling full too quickly, choking, phlegm production in mouth, difficulty swallowing, and lack of appetite were significantly associated with improved physical QOL (p < 0.05 for all). Symptom-related barrier summary score was not correlated with overall QOL. Conclusions: In this analysis of post-treatment HNC survivors, the degree of perceived symptom related barriers was associated with reduced QOL in several domains. Many individual perceived symptom related barriers were positively correlated with the physical domain of QOL. Although this was a small and exploratory secondary data analysis, these results suggest that perceived symptom related barriers and reduced QOL may be unmet needs in this survivor population and a larger study is warranted. Funding for the original study was provided by a NIH/NCI Cancer Prevention and Control Training Grant: R25 CA047888 and a Research Enhancement Project Grant from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Palliative and Supportive Care.NIH/NCI Cancer Prevention and Control Training GrantR25 CA047888Research Enhancement Project Grant from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Palliative and Supportive CareOpe

Endocrine therapy resistant ESR1 variants revealed by genomic characterization of breast cancer derived xenografts

To characterize patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) for functional studies, we made whole-genome comparisons with originating breast cancers representative of the major intrinsic subtypes. Structural and copy number aberrations were found to be retained with high fidelity. However, at the single-nucleotide level, variable numbers of PDX-specific somatic events were documented, although they were only rarely functionally significant. Variant allele frequencies were often preserved in the PDXs, demonstrating that clonal representation can be transplantable. Estrogen-receptor-positive PDXs were associated with ESR1 ligand-binding-domain mutations, gene amplification, or an ESR1/YAP1 translocation. These events produced different endocrine-therapy-response phenotypes in human, cell line, and PDX endocrine-response studies. Hence, deeply sequenced PDX models are an important resource for the search for genome-forward treatment options and capture endocrine-drug-resistance etiologies that are not observed in standard cell lines. The originating tumor genome provides a benchmark for assessing genetic drift and clonal representation after transplantation

A drug targeting only p110α can block phosphoinositide 3-kinase signalling and tumour growth in certain cell types

Genetic alterations in PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) signalling are common in cancer and include deletions in PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10), amplifications of PIK3CA and mutations in two distinct regions of the PIK3CA gene. This suggests drugs targeting PI3K, and p110α in particular, might be useful in treating cancers. Broad-spectrum inhibition of PI3K is effective in preventing growth factor signalling and tumour growth, but suitable inhibitors of p110α have not been available to study the effects of inhibiting this isoform alone. In the present study we characterize a novel small molecule, A66, showing the S-enantiomer to be a highly specific and selective p110α inhibitor. Using molecular modelling and biochemical studies, we explain the basis of this selectivity. Using a panel of isoform-selective inhibitors, we show that insulin signalling to Akt/PKB (protein kinase B) is attenuated by the additive effects of inhibiting p110α/p110β/p110δ in all cell lines tested. However, inhibition of p110α alone was sufficient to block insulin signalling to Akt/PKB in certain cell lines. The responsive cell lines all harboured H1047R mutations in PIK3CA and have high levels of p110α and class-Ia PI3K activity. This may explain the increased sensitivity of these cells to p110α inhibitors. We assessed the activation of Akt/PKB and tumour growth in xenograft models and found that tumours derived from two of the responsive cell lines were also responsive to A66 in vivo. These results show that inhibition of p110α alone has the potential to block growth factor signalling and reduce growth in a subset of tumours