Effects Of Race, Socioeconomic Factors On Emergency Management Of Threatened And Early Pregnancy Loss

Our study aims to determine the effects of race, insurance, and hospital characteristics on the management of threatened abortion and early pregnancy loss. In this retrospective cohort study using the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, patient record files from 2002-2010 with diagnoses of threatened abortion, hemorrhage in pregnancy, or incomplete, inevitable, or unspecified spontaneous abortion were examined using logistic regression. Primary outcomes were rates of admission and active management, defined as surgical termination or use of abortifacients misoprostol or Cytotec. Covariates included race/ethnicity, age, insurance, and hospital location, ownership, and metropolitan status. Of 5,882,623 ED visits for threatened abortion and early pregnancy loss, 15% were admitted and 1.3% were actively managed. Compared to white women, black women were 0.83 times as likely to be admitted (95% CI 0.83-0.84), but 4.37 times as likely be actively managed (95% CI 4.25-4.50). Admission was more likely for “Other” women (Asian, Native Hawaiian, Native Alaskan, Native American, mixed race; OR 2.14, 95% CI 2.11-2.17), Medicaid/SCHIP (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.22-1.25) and Self-pay (OR 1.04, 95% 1.03-1.05) compared to reference groups of white and privately insured women. Historically-marginalized groups, including uninsured, black, and “Other” women, were more likely to be actively managed. Exceptions were Latina (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.80-0.89) and Medicaid/SCHIP-insured women (OR 0.13, 95% CI 0.12-0.15). Nonwhite women were less likely to be treated for pain, especially Latinas (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.28-0.29). The etiology of these disparities is complex, but providers may seek to better understand their own preconceptions of patient risk, and to strengthen social support, communication, and shared decision-making

A geometric classification of rod complements in the 3-torus

Rod packings are used in crystallography to describe crystal structures with linear or zigzag chains of particles, and each rod packing can be topologically viewed as a collection of disjoint geodesics in the 3-torus. Hui and Purcell developed a method to study the complements of rods in the 3-torus with the use of 3-dimensional geometry and tools from the 3-sphere, and they partially classified the geometry of some families of rod complements in the 3-torus. In this paper, we provide a complete classification of the geometry of all rod complements in the 3-torus using topological arguments.Comment: 15 page

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF PEER AND TEACHER FEEDBACK ON EFL LEARNERS’ ORAL PERFORMANCES AND SPEAKING SELF-EFFICACY LEVELS

This quasi-experimental study aims to determine EFL learners’ speaking self-efficacy levels and to examine the changes in oral performances after receiving feedback in three module courses. The relationship between speaking self-efficacy and oral performances after receiving feedback was also studied. Quantitative method was applied in this study. The study was conducted among thirty-three EFL prep-school participants in a state university in Turkey. The research began with the implementation of a speaking self-efficacy scale (pre-test) and a speaking test. This process was followed by three oral treatments following teacher and peer feedback and the same speaking test. Repeated treatments and the same speaking test were conducted in the other two modules, as well as a final speaking self-efficacy scale (post-test). The results of the speaking self-efficacy scale revealed that students generally possess high speaking self-efficacy level. The findings also showed that students demonstrated significant changes in their oral performances following feedback treatment in both groups. In the final speaking test, participants who received teacher and peer feedback improved by 212.36% and 161.20% respectively compared to the first speaking test. However, no significant correlation between the two variables was observed. This may suggest that the sample size was insufficient to observe such a relationship

Effects of writing portfolio assessment at tertiary level intensive English program: An action research

Evaluation is essential to any learning and teaching process. Writing portfolio assessment has become increasingly used for evaluating learners’ writing processes. Several scholars have proved that portfolio assessments have a positive impact on learners’ learning process, especially on enhancing students’ involvment and providing learners opportunities to learn from their own errors in writing. This study determined students’ attitudes toward the use of writing portfolio assessment and examined the effects of writing portfolio in a module course. Students’ opinions of portfolio assessment in the School of Foreign Languages of a south-easetrn state university were also studied to determine whether the portfolio assessment model was successful in helping learners to improve their writing abilities. The results revealed that most students generally possessed positive attitudes toward the use of portfolio. They claimed that portfolio assessments were very useful in assisting them in developing their writing skills, as well as positively affected their writing performances in quizzes and exams. In addition, a positive correlation was also identified among the scores of the portfolio, quizzes, and exams. This suggested that students with high scores on portfolio tended to achieve higher or similar scores on their writing quizzes and exams, and vice versa. This also indicated that performances on writing portfolio assessments may be predictive of students’ writing performance on writing exams

Membrane-Active Epithelial Keratin 6A Fragments (KAMPs) Are Unique Human Antimicrobial Peptides with a Non-αβ Structure.

Antibiotic resistance is a pressing global health problem that threatens millions of lives each year. Natural antimicrobial peptides and their synthetic derivatives, including peptoids and peptidomimetics, are promising candidates as novel antibiotics. Recently, the C-terminal glycine-rich fragments of human epithelial keratin 6A were found to have bactericidal and cytoprotective activities. Here, we used an improved 2-dimensional NMR method coupled with a new protocol for structural refinement by low temperature simulated annealing to characterize the solution structure of these kerain-derived antimicrobial peptides (KAMPs). Two specific KAMPs in complex with membrane mimicking sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles displayed amphipathic conformations with only local bends and turns, and a central 10-residue glycine-rich hydrophobic strip that is central to bactericidal activity. To our knowledge, this is the first report of non-αβ structure for human antimicrobial peptides. Direct observation of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed that KAMPs deformed bacterial cell envelopes and induced pore formation. Notably, in competitive binding experiments, KAMPs demonstrated binding affinities to LPS and LTA that did not correlate with their bactericidal activities, suggesting peptide-LPS and peptide-LTA interactions are less important in their mechanisms of action. Moreover, immunoprecipitation of KAMPs-bacterial factor complexes indicated that membrane surface lipoprotein SlyB and intracellular machineries NQR sodium pump and ribosomes are potential molecular targets for the peptides. Results of this study improve our understanding of the bactericidal function of epithelial cytokeratin fragments, and highlight an unexplored class of human antimicrobial peptides, which may serve as non-αβ peptide scaffolds for the design of novel peptide-based antibiotics

Non Critical Analysis of EFL Classroom Discourse in a Speaking Course through Bower’s model

This is a descriptive qualitative study of speaking classroom discourse. This study aims to discuss an authentic spoken discourse of an EFL class by employing Bowers’ model (1980) to determine which teaching functions enhance the communication opportunities for students. In this article, the concept of Bower’s model is first discussed and how it is of a vital significance to classroom interaction in an EFL class and the efficiency and effectiveness of the various patterns of discourse. In this article, the distribution of teacher-talk and student-talk is investigated and who has a higher degree of control over the discourse in the class is highlighted. It also examines the structure of interactions and how the teacher manages the conversation and turn-taking. The article includes how teachers understand their language affects the role in the classroom as well as how learners are aware of when and where they have to engage in the speaking process. In addition, the article also investigates the functions in a speaking class and how different teacher acts are used in urging learners to participate in classroom discussion. The last section is a conclusion to summarize the main ideas discussed in the article

On the geometry of rod packings in the 3-torus

Rod packings in the 3-torus encode information of some crystal structures in crystallography. They can be viewed as links in the 3-torus, and tools from 3-manifold geometry and topology can be used to study their complements. In this paper, we initiate the use of geometrisation to study such packings. We analyse the geometric structures of the complements of simple rod packings, and find families that are hyperbolic and Seifert fibred.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure

Modular links: Bunch algorithm and upper volume bounds

In the 1970s, Williams developed an algorithm that has been used to construct modular links. We introduce the notion of bunches to provide a more efficient algorithm for constructing modular links in the Lorenz template. Using the bunch perspective, we construct parent manifolds for modular link complements and provide the first upper volume bound that is independent of word exponents and quadratic in the braid index. We find families of modular knot complements with upper volume bounds that are linear in the braid index. A classification of modular link complements based on the relative magnitudes of word exponents is also presented.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure