The 1989 JSC bibliography of scientific and technical papers

This document is a compilation of Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center contributions to the scientific and technical literature in aerospace and life sciences made during calendar year 1989. Citations include NASA formal series reports, journal articles, conference and symposium presentations, papers published in proceedings or other collective works, and seminar and workshop results

Social Skills Interventions for Students with Challenging Behavior: Quality of the Evidence Base and a Single-Case Research Meta-Analysis

The purpose of this dissertation was to: (1) conduct a systematic literature review to evaluate the quality of the evidence base on social skills interventions (SSIs) for students with or at-risk of emotional behavioral disorder (EBD) and students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who display challenging behavior and (2) conduct a single-case research (SCR) meta-analysis to determine the overall effect and the effect of potential moderators of SSIs for students with or at-risk of EBD and students with ASD who display challenging behavior. For study one, a rubric based on the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) design standards was developed to assess the overall quality of SCR design methodology employed by each of the 24 included studies. One study met all design standards, 10 studies met one or more design standards with reservations, and 13 studies did not meet one or more of the design standards. For study two, the Tau-U effect size was used to synthesize SCR design data and estimate the overall effect size of SSIs on school-related challenging behavior. A total of 301 phase contrasts were analyzed from the 75 participants. The aggregated Tau-U effect size across the 24 included studies was .67 (SE = .02) with a confidence interval of CI_(95) = .63 to .71. The effect size for SSIs on the maintenance of social skills was .79 (SE = .04, CI_(95) = .71 to .87) and included 77 phase contrasts. The effect size for the generalization of social skills was .56 (SE = .08, CI_(95) = .41 to .71) and included 21 phase contrasts. Four moderator variables were identified: target behavior, intervention implementation, intervention development, and methodological quality. Implications for practice, areas of future research, and limitations were addressed

Assessment of changes in self concept, marital role expectation, and behavioral understanding in high school family life students

The purpose of this study was to assess change in self concept, marital role expectation, and behavioral understanding in high school students enrolled in a family life course. The subjects were two groups of high school students from an only senior high school in a school district. The experimental group was made up of 25 boys and 28 girls enrolled in a one semester family life course, and a control group made up of 25 boys and 28 girls enrolled in a modern problems course. The groups were matched on sex, age, socioeconomic level, and grade point average. Data from the subjects were collected in a one semester pretest and posttest situation using the following instruments: the Interpersonal Check List as a measure of self concept, Dunn Marriage Role Expectation Inventory as a measure of marital role expectancy, and the Film Test for Understanding Behavior as a measure of behavioral understanding. The analysis of covariance was used, with the pretest scores serving as a covariant, to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis I: There are no differences in changes in self concept for family life education students and their controls. Hypothesis II: There are no differences in marital role expectation for family life education students and their controls. Hypothesis III: There are no differences in behavioral understanding for family life education students and their controls. Each hypothesis was considered for an experimental-control comparison, a male experimental-control comparison, and a female experimental-control comparison. The analysis of covariance provided information for testing the null hypotheses as well as establishing whether or not differences in the initial scoring patterns influenced the distribution of difference scores of the experimental and control group. Results of Hypothesis I indicated that the tests of significance of difference for both the Dominance and Love dimensions of self concept were not significant for either the experimental-control comparison or the sex comparisons. The non-significant results indicated the changes in self concept, recorded for any comparison of the experimental and control groups were not significantly different. The null hypothesis was not rejected for any of the comparisons. The test of Hypothesis II yielded significant results in each of the three comparisons: total group, male, and female. One consistant difference throughout these groups was with respect to the subscale Incorrect on the DMREI. In each instance the scores of the experimental subjects reflected a significant decrease on the Incorrect subscale which indicated a decrease in authoritarian views of marital roles after exposure to the family life course. In addition, the females in the experimental group showed a significant difference in change on Correct subscale which indicated an increase in the equalitarian views. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected for the total group compassion and for the male group comparison for the subscale Incorrect. For female group comparison, the null hypothesis was rejected for both the Incorrect and Correct subscales. In testing Hypothesis III, the only significant finding was for the male experimental-control comparigon on the subscale Guidance. The male experimental group recorded a significantly greater increase on the Guidance subscale than did their controls. Possible explanations for observed sex differences were discussed. In particular, the significant findings for males on Guidance subscale, and the trend toward increased equalitarian veiws were noted. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research were provided

Use of continuous positive airway pressure reduces airway reactivity in adults with asthma

Asthma is characterised by airway hyperreactivity, which is primarily treated with β-adrenergic bronchodilators and anti-inflammatory agents. However, mechanical strain during breathing is an important modulator of airway responsiveness and we have previously demonstrated in animal models that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) resulted in lower in vivo airway reactivity. We now evaluated whether using nocturnal CPAP decreased airway reactivity in clinically-stable adults with asthma. Adults with stable asthma and normal spirometry used nocturnal CPAP (8-10 cmH(2)O) or sham treatment (0-2 cmH(2)O) for 7 days. Spirometry and bronchial challenges were obtained before and after treatment. The primary outcome was the provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (PC(20)). The CPAP group (n=16) had a significant decrease in airway reactivity (change in (Δ)logPC(20) 0.406, p<0.0017) while the sham group (n=9) had no significant change in airway reactivity (ΔlogPC(20) 0.003, p=0.9850). There was a significant difference in the change in airway reactivity for the CPAP versus the sham group (ΔlogPC(20) 0.41, p<0.043). Our findings indicate that chronic mechanical strain of the lungs produced using nocturnal CPAP for 7 days reduced airway reactivity in clinically stable asthmatics. Future studies of longer duration are required to determine whether CPAP can also decrease asthma symptoms and/or medication usage

Money Follows the Person: Transitioning Nursing Home Residents into the Community

Introduction. Research has shown that admission to nursing homes (NH) is associated with decline in several measures of well-being; transitioning out of a NH into the community is a positive predictor for quality of life. Currently, the State of Vermont offers several housing options for Medicaid eligible NH residents; however, there are very few opportunities to fully integrate into the communityhttps://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1090/thumbnail.jp

Gynecologic oncology patients' satisfaction and symptom severity during palliative chemotherapy

BACKGROUND: Research on quality and satisfaction with care during palliative chemotherapy in oncology patients has been limited. The objective was to assess the association between patient's satisfaction with care and symptom severity and to evaluate test-retest of a satisfaction survey in this study population. METHODS: A prospective cohort of patients with recurrent gynecologic malignancies receiving chemotherapy were enrolled after a diagnosis of recurrent cancer. Patients completed the Quality of End-of-Life care and satisfaction with treatment scale (QUEST) once upon enrollment in an outpatient setting and again a week later. Patients also completed the Mini-Mental Status Exam, the Hospital Anxiety/Depression Scale, a symptom severity scale and a demographic survey. Student's t-test, correlation statistics and percent agreement were used for analysis. RESULTS: Data from 39 patients were analyzed. Mean (SD) quality of care summary score was 41.95 (2.75) for physicians and 42.23 (5.42) for nurses (maximum score was 45; p = 0.76 for difference in score between providers). Mean (SD) satisfaction of care summary score was 29.03 (1.92) for physicians and 29.28 (1.70) for nurses (maximum score was 30; p = 0.49 for difference between providers). Test-retest for 33 patients who completed both QUEST surveys had high percent agreement (74–100%), with the exception of the question regarding the provider arriving late (45 and 53%). There was no correlation between quality and satisfaction of care and symptom severity. Weakness was the most common symptom reported. Symptom severity correlated with depression (r = 0.577 p < 0.01). There was a trend towards a larger proportion of patients reporting pain who had three or more prior chemotherapy regimens (p = 0.075). Prior number of chemotherapy regimens or time since diagnosis was not correlated with symptom severity score. Anxiety and depression were correlated with each other (r = 0.711, p < 0.01). There was no difference in symptom severity score at enrollment between those patients who have since died (n = 19) versus those who are still alive. CONCLUSION: The QUEST Survey has test-retest reliability when used as a written instrument in an outpatient setting. However, there was no correlation between this measure and symptom severity. Patient evaluation of care may be more closely related to the interpersonal aspects of the health care provider relationship than it is to physical symptoms

An international laboratory comparison of dissolved organic matter composition by high resolution mass spectrometry: Are we getting the same answer?

High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has become a vital tool for dissolved organic matter (DOM) characterization. The upward trend in HRMS analysis of DOM presents challenges in data comparison and interpretation among laboratories operating instruments with differing performance and user operating conditions. It is therefore essential that the community establishes metric ranges and compositional trends for data comparison with reference samples so that data can be robustly compared among research groups. To this end, four identically prepared DOM samples were each measured by 16 laboratories, using 17 commercially purchased instruments, using positive-ion and negative-ion mode electrospray ionization (ESI) HRMS analyses. The instruments identified ~1000 common ions in both negative- and positive-ion modes over a wide range of m/z values and chemical space, as determined by van Krevelen diagrams. Calculated metrics of abundance-weighted average indices (H/C, O/C, aromaticity, and m/z) of the commonly detected ions showed that hydrogen saturation and aromaticity were consistent for each reference sample across the instruments, while average mass and oxygenation were more affected by differences in instrument type and settings. In this paper we present 32 metric values for future benchmarking. The metric values were obtained for the four different parameters from four samples in two ionization modes and can be used in future work to evaluate the performance of HRMS instruments

Importance of a C-Terminal Conserved Region of Chk1 for Checkpoint Function

BACKGROUND: The protein kinase Chk1 is an essential component of the DNA damage checkpoint pathway. Chk1 is phosphorylated and activated in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe when cells are exposed to agents that damage DNA. Phosphorylation, kinase activation, and nuclear accumulation are events critical to the ability of Chk1 to induce a transient delay in cell cycle progression. The catalytic domain of Chk1 is well-conserved amongst all species, while there are only a few regions of homology within the C-terminus. A potential pseudosubstrate domain exists in the C-terminus of S. pombe Chk1, raising the possibility that the C-terminus acts to inhibit the catalytic domain through interaction of this domain with the substrate binding site. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To evaluate this hypothesis, we characterized mutations in the pseudosubstrate region. Mutation of a conserved aspartic acid at position 469 to alanine or glycine compromises Chk1 function when the mutants are integrated as single copies, demonstrating that this domain of Chk1 is critical for function. Our data does not support, however, the hypothesis that the domain acts to inhibit Chk1 function as other mutations in the amino acids predicted to comprise the pseudosubstrate do not result in constitutive activation of the protein. When expressed in multi-copy, Chk1D469A remains non-functional. In contrast, multi-copy Chk1D469G confers cell survival and imposes a checkpoint delay in response to some, though not all forms of DNA damage. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Thus, we conclude that this C-terminal region of Chk1 is important for checkpoint function and predict that a limiting factor capable of associating with Chk1D469G, but not Chk1D469A, interacts with Chk1 to elicit checkpoint activation in response to a subset of DNA lesions