Predicting College Completion Among Students with Learning Disabilities

The authors analyzed National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) data to examine the role of high school academic preparation and receipt of postsecondary academic support services (PASS) in predicting college completion among students with learning disabilities. Logistic regression analyses revealed that students who earned a 3.0 GPA in a college prep curriculum were more than twice as likely to complete college than those with a similar GPA who did not complete a college prep curriculum. Furthermore, among students who completed a college prep curriculum, earning a higher GPA and accessing PASS both dramatically increased the likelihood that they would complete college. Results underscore the importance of incorporating a college prep curriculum into transition planning for college-bound students with learning disabilities

Evaluation of Performance of Background Traffic-based CMT-SCTP with Active Queue Management Algorithms

Abstract Existing researches on performance analysis of SCTP's Concurrent Multipath Transfer (CMT-SCTP) usually use DropTail algorithm as queue management algorithm without considering the impact of the background traffic. However, the background traffic of realistic network environments has an important impact on the QoS of SCTP. Besides, more and more Active Queue Management (AQM) algorithms have been proposed as a router-based mechanism for early congestion detection to keep the stability of the whole network. This paper investigates the effect of background traffic on the performance of CMT-SCTP, and evaluates the performance of CMT-SCTP under two realistic simulation topologies with reasonable background traffic and different AQM algorithms in NS-2. The simulation results show that: 1) the performance of CMT-SCTP depends on characteristic of background traffic; and 2) the different AQM algorithms used as queue management algorithm under same background traffic have the different effects. Finally, this paper summarizes the proposals to satisfy the QoS requirements in terms of throughput, end-to-end packet delay and loss rate. Since CMT-PF2 is recommended by RFC4960 but without taking impact of cross traffic into account. In the second part, we use the most promising topology which meets the developing network and base on result of analysis mentioned in the first part to analyze the performance CMT-PF1/2/3/4 played respectively, in this part, the most common scenario, symmetric CMT-SCTP, is adopted and CMT-PF algorithm is turned on. A conclusion had been nailed down that, CMT-PF3 can get more advantage in terms of average throughput than CMT-PF2 which is recommended by RFC4960. Per reasonable analyzing, we lastly recommend a more reasonable resolution for realistic network in order to reaching more satisfied QoS

Rapid diagnosis of duck Tembusu virus and goose astrovirus with TaqMan-based duplex real-time PCR

The mixed infection of duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) and goose astrovirus (GoAstV) is an important problem that endangers the goose industry. Although quantitative PCR has been widely used in monitoring these two viruses, there is no reliable method to detect them at the same time. In this study, by analyzing the published genomes of DTMUV and goose astrovirus genotype 2 (GoAstV-2) isolated in China, we found that both viruses have high conservation, showing 96.5 to 99.5% identities within different strains of DTMUV and GoAstV, respectively. Subsequently, PCR primers and TaqMan probes were designed to identify DTMUV and GoAstV-2, and different fluorescent reporters were given to two probes for differential diagnosis. Through the optimization and verification, this study finally developed a duplex TaqMan qPCR method that can simultaneously detect the above two viruses. The lower limits of detection were 100 copies/μL and 10 copies/μL for DTMUV and GoAstV-2 under optimal condition. The assay was also highly specific in detecting one or two viruses in various combinations in specimens, and provide tool for clinical diagnosis of mixed infections of viruses in goose

Elevated Serum IL-21 Levels Are Associated With Stable Immune Status in Kidney Transplant Recipients and a Mouse Model of Kidney Transplantation

Allograft rejection after renal transplantation remains a challenge to overcome. Interleukin (IL)-21, a cytokine with pleiotropic effects, maintains immune homeostasis post-transplantation. Here, we report higher levels of IL-21 in kidney transplant recipients with non-rejection (NR) than in recipients with T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR, P \u3c 0.001) and antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR, P = 0.005). We observed a negative correlation between IL-21 and creatinine (Cr) levels (P = 0.016). The receiving operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed a promising diagnostic value of IL-21 to identify acute rejection with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.822 (P \u3c 0.001). In contrast, exogenous administration of IL-21 accelerated acute rejection in a comparative translational kidney transplant (KT) mouse model. Reduced IL-21 levels in the peripheral blood were observed in KT mice after IL-21 injection. Further analysis revealed that increased IL-21 levels in the spleen induced proliferation of CD4+ T cells and CD19+ B cells after IL-21 treatment. Our findings suggest a critical function of IL-21 in kidney transplantation and the potential involvement of the IL-21/IL-21R pathway in acute rejection management

Limb development genes underlie variation in human fingerprint patterns

Fingerprints are of long-standing practical and cultural interest, but little is known about the mechanisms that underlie their variation. Using genome-wide scans in Han Chinese cohorts, we identified 18 loci associated with fingerprint type across the digits, including a genetic basis for the long-recognized “pattern-block” correlations among the middle three digits. In particular, we identified a variant near EVI1 that alters regulatory activity and established a role for EVI1 in dermatoglyph patterning in mice. Dynamic EVI1 expression during human development supports its role in shaping the limbs and digits, rather than influencing skin patterning directly. Trans-ethnic meta-analysis identified 43 fingerprint-associated loci, with nearby genes being strongly enriched for general limb development pathways. We also found that fingerprint patterns were genetically correlated with hand proportions. Taken together, these findings support the key role of limb development genes in influencing the outcome of fingerprint patterning

Integrated spatial regulation strategy of blue-green body space for urban ecological restoration

With the acceleration of urbanisation, urban ecological environment problems are becoming more and more prominent. To address this problem, the study proposes a spatial integration and regulation strategy for the blue-green main body, including the quality improvement of the ecological environment in the blue-green space and the construction of ecological barriers in the blue-green space. The hierarchical analysis method is also used to assess its effectiveness. The results show that among the spatial integration and control strategies of blue-green space proposed by the study, the scores of the technical indicators of the quality improvement strategy of blue-green space ecological environment are all higher than 70, the scores of the economic indicators are all higher than 85, and the scores of the environmental indicators are all higher than 75. At the same time, the scores of the technical indicators of the strategy of constructing ecological barriers in blue-green space are all higher than 75, the economic indicators are all higher than 70, and the environmental indicators are all higher than 70. This indicates that the proposed regulation strategies of the study show high scores and advantages in technology, economy and environment. These strategies provide strong support and guarantee for the improvement of ecological environment quality in blue-green space and the construction of ecological barriers