Auditory Comprehension and Verbal Expression in Recovering Alcoholics

TB

Ökonomische Analyse des ökologischen Sojaanbaus in Luxemburg, anhand einer standortgerechten Szenarioanalyse

Anhand von Ergebnissen aus der Praxis, wurde eine Kostenanalyse zum Anbau von ökologischen Sojabohnen erstellt, die die lokalen Preise für jeden Schritt des Anbaus berücksichtigt. Die Szenarioanalyse zeigt, dass der ökologische Sojabohnenanbau ab einem Ertrag von 15 dt/ha rentabel sein kann

Cytokine Levels Correlate with Immune Cell Infiltration after Anti-VEGF Therapy in Preclinical Mouse Models of Breast Cancer

The effect of blocking VEGF activity in solid tumors extends beyond inhibition of angiogenesis. However, no studies have compared the effectiveness of mechanistically different anti-VEGF inhibitors with respect to changes in tumor growth and alterations in the tumor microenvironment. In this study we use three distinct breast cancer models, a MDA-MB-231 xenograft model, a 4T1 syngenic model, and a transgenic model using MMTV-PyMT mice, to explore the effects of various anti-VEGF therapies on tumor vasculature, immune cell infiltration, and cytokine levels. Tumor vasculature and immune cell infiltration were evaluated using immunohistochemistry. Cytokine levels were evaluated using ELISA and electrochemiluminescence. We found that blocking the activation of VEGF receptor resulted in changes in intra-tumoral cytokine levels, specifically IL-1β, IL-6 and CXCL1. Modulation of the level these cytokines is important for controlling immune cell infiltration and ultimately tumor growth. Furthermore, we demonstrate that selective inhibition of VEGF binding to VEGFR2 with r84 is more effective at controlling tumor growth and inhibiting the infiltration of suppressive immune cells (MDSC, Treg, macrophages) while increasing the mature dendritic cell fraction than other anti-VEGF strategies. In addition, we found that changes in serum IL-1β and IL-6 levels correlated with response to therapy, identifying two possible biomarkers for assessing the effectiveness of anti-VEGF therapy in breast cancer patients

Chemical vapour deposition synthetic diamond: materials, technology and applications

Substantial developments have been achieved in the synthesis of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond in recent years, providing engineers and designers with access to a large range of new diamond materials. CVD diamond has a number of outstanding material properties that can enable exceptional performance in applications as diverse as medical diagnostics, water treatment, radiation detection, high power electronics, consumer audio, magnetometry and novel lasers. Often the material is synthesized in planar form, however non-planar geometries are also possible and enable a number of key applications. This article reviews the material properties and characteristics of single crystal and polycrystalline CVD diamond, and how these can be utilized, focusing particularly on optics, electronics and electrochemistry. It also summarizes how CVD diamond can be tailored for specific applications, based on the ability to synthesize a consistent and engineered high performance product.Comment: 51 pages, 16 figure

The Economics of International Differences in Educational Achievement

An emerging economic literature over the past decade has made use of international tests of educational achievement to analyze the determinants and impacts of cognitive skills. The cross-country comparative approach provides a number of unique advantages over national studies: It can exploit institutional variation that does not exist within countries; draw on much larger variation than usually available within any country; reveal whether any result is country-specific or more general; test whether effects are systematically heterogeneous in different settings; circumvent selection issues that plague within-country identification by using system-level aggregated measures; and uncover general-equilibrium effects that often elude studies in a single country. The advantages come at the price of concerns about the limited number of country observations, the cross-sectional character of most available achievement data, and possible bias from unobserved country factors like culture. This chapter reviews the economic literature on international differences in educational achievement, restricting itself to comparative analyses that are not possible within single countries and placing particular emphasis on studies trying to address key issues of empirical identification. While quantitative input measures show little impact, several measures of institutional structures and of the quality of the teaching force can account for significant portions of the large international differences in the level and equity of student achievement. Variations in skills measured by the international tests are in turn strongly related to individual labor-market outcomes and, perhaps more importantly, to cross-country variations in economic growth

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Preservice teachers\u27 perceptions of place and curriculum: An essential link to the realization of critical place‐based education

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions that preservice teachers held about place and curriculum and to consider how those perceptions might affect the implementation of critical place-based education. Considering the decline in the health of the environment and the concerns among environmentalists about ecological sustainability, preservice teachers investigated and implemented critical place-based education, an approach that fosters healthier communities through curriculum by exploring the complex and dynamic interactions between nature and culture and how they affect the environment. Research shows that the classroom teacher has a significant impact on what and how curriculum is designed and enacted. Therefore, if critical place-based education is to be realized, understanding how preservice teachers perceive curriculum provides insight for teacher educators who want to promote an educational reform that illuminates the interconnectedness of social and ecological systems through a curriculum that connects schools and communities. Data were analyzed through the lens of phenomenology. Individual and group interviews, reflective journals and essays were used to explore participants\u27 experiences, and to reveal preservice teachers impressions of place, the curriculum and the natural world. Additionally, this study examined whether the participants could imagine the possibility of place as pedagogy after they had designed and implemented a place-based unit at a local elementary school as part of a science methods course. This research study suggested that participants held a traditional and technical view of what constitutes curriculum, and participants indicated that they would not implement critical place-based education because of a number of real or perceived challenges. Participants explained that they felt ill prepared to teach environmental concepts and that they would most likely not be including environmental education in their curriculum. Data suggested that preservice teachers\u27 perceptions have been shaped over many years of enculturation and that a research agenda that explores various types and levels of immersion in authentic place-based experiences in teacher education programs may be a crucial step toward shifting preservice teachers\u27 paradigm toward alternative frameworks for curriculum that foster the growth of healthier natural and social communities

HPA flexibility and FKBP5: promising physiological targets for conservation

Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA) flexibility is an emerging concept recognizing that individuals that will cope best with stressors will probably be those using their hormones in the most adaptive way. The HPA flexibility concept considers glucocorticoids as molecules that convey information about the environment from the brain to the body so that the organismal phenotype comes to complement prevailing conditions. In this context, FKBP5 protein appears to set the extent to which circulating glucocorticoid concentrations can vary within and across stressors. Thus, FKBP5 expression, and the HPA flexibility it causes, seem to represent an individual's ability to regulate its hormones to orchestrate organismal responses to stressors. As FKBP5 expression can also be easily measured in blood, it could be a worthy target of conservation-oriented research attention. We first review the known and likely roles of HPA flexibility and FKBP5 in wildlife. We then describe putative genetic, environmental and epigenetic causes of variation in HPA flexibility and FKBP5 expression among and within individuals. Finally, we hypothesize how HPA flexibility and FKBP5 expression should affect organismal fitness and hence population viability in response to human-induced rapid environmental changes, particularly urbanization.Peer reviewe

CSB Class of 2013 Commencement Celebration

May 11, 2013 The Ninety-Eight Year HCC Fieldhouse College of Saint Benedict Denise DeVaan was the guest speaker and Alivia Tison was the student speaker