Supporting the inclusion and retention of autistic students: Exploring teachers' and paraeducators' use of evidence-based practices in public elementary schools

Introduction: Educators in public schools are required to serve students in their least restrictive environment. While many evidence-based practices (EBPs), defined as practices and strategies shown by research to have meaningful effectson outcomes for autistic students are documented in the literature, less is known about EBP use among educators in public schools. Methods: Eighty-six general and special education teachers and para educators completed a survey about familiarity, training, and EBP use for included autistic children. Results: Across roles, educators reported familiarity (98.8%), use (97.7%), and training (83.7%) in reinforcement. They reported the least familiarity with behavioral momentum (29.1%), training in both video modeling and peer-mediated instruction and intervention (18.6%), and use of video modeling (14.0%). Follow-up interviews (n = 80) highlighted mixed understanding of EBP definitions and use. Discussion: Implications for inclusive education are discussed including autism-specific EBP training within pre-service teacher preparation programs

The malleable brain: plasticity of neural circuits and behavior: A review from students to students

One of the most intriguing features of the brain is its ability to be malleable, allowing it to adapt continually to changes in the environment. Specific neuronal activity patterns drive long-lasting increases or decreases in the strength of synaptic connections, referred to as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) respectively. Such phenomena have been described in a variety of model organisms, which are used to study molecular, structural, and functional aspects of synaptic plasticity. This review originated from the first International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) and Journal of Neurochemistry (JNC) Flagship School held in Alpbach, Austria (Sep 2016), and will use its curriculum and discussions as a framework to review some of the current knowledge in the field of synaptic plasticity. First, we describe the role of plasticity during development and the persistent changes of neural circuitry occurring when sensory input is altered during critical developmental stages. We then outline the signaling cascades resulting in the synthesis of new plasticity-related proteins, which ultimately enable sustained changes in synaptic strength. Going beyond the traditional understanding of synaptic plasticity conceptualized by LTP and LTD, we discuss system-wide modifications and recently unveiled homeostatic mechanisms, such as synaptic scaling. Finally, we describe the neural circuits and synaptic plasticity mechanisms driving associative memory and motor learning. Evidence summarized in this review provides a current view of synaptic plasticity in its various forms, offers new insights into the underlying mechanisms and behavioral relevance, and provides directions for future research in the field of synaptic plasticity.Fil: Schaefer, Natascha. University of Wuerzburg; AlemaniaFil: Rotermund, Carola. University of Tuebingen; AlemaniaFil: Blumrich, Eva Maria. Universitat Bremen; AlemaniaFil: Lourenco, Mychael V.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Joshi, Pooja. Robert Debre Hospital; FranciaFil: Hegemann, Regina U.. University of Otago; Nueva ZelandaFil: Jamwal, Sumit. ISF College of Pharmacy; IndiaFil: Ali, Nilufar. Augusta University; Estados UnidosFil: García Romero, Ezra Michelet. Universidad Veracruzana; MéxicoFil: Sharma, Sorabh. Birla Institute of Technology and Science; IndiaFil: Ghosh, Shampa. Indian Council of Medical Research; IndiaFil: Sinha, Jitendra K.. Indian Council of Medical Research; IndiaFil: Loke, Hannah. Hudson Institute of Medical Research; AustraliaFil: Jain, Vishal. Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences; IndiaFil: Lepeta, Katarzyna. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Salamian, Ahmad. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Sharma, Mahima. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Golpich, Mojtaba. University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre; MalasiaFil: Nawrotek, Katarzyna. University Of Lodz; ArgentinaFil: Paid, Ramesh K.. Indian Institute of Chemical Biology; IndiaFil: Shahidzadeh, Sheila M.. Syracuse University; Estados UnidosFil: Piermartiri, Tetsade. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Amini, Elham. University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre; MalasiaFil: Pastor, Verónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia ; ArgentinaFil: Wilson, Yvette. University of Melbourne; AustraliaFil: Adeniyi, Philip A.. Afe Babalola University; NigeriaFil: Datusalia, Ashok K.. National Brain Research Centre; IndiaFil: Vafadari, Benham. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Saini, Vedangana. University of Nebraska; Estados UnidosFil: Suárez Pozos, Edna. Instituto Politécnico Nacional; MéxicoFil: Kushwah, Neetu. Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences; IndiaFil: Fontanet, Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia ; ArgentinaFil: Turner, Anthony J.. University of Leeds; Reino Unid

Evaluation of Speech And Text-Based Indexing For Classroom Lecture Videos

Lecture videos are useful and great learning resources. At the University of Houston, videos are widely used throughout departments within the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics such as Computer Science, Biology and Biochemistry, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, etc. Since most videos are very long, it is difficult to directly access the required topic within a video. The ICS (indexed, captioned, and searchable) videos project provides students direct access to a topic within video lectures by providing index points representing the topic. These index points are generated using text from the extracted images using OCR (optical character recognition) technology. Index points are assigned with the assistance of an indexing algorithm that determines topic change based on text similarity. We present a topic-based lecture video segmentation using speech text/captions. The purpose of this thesis is to utilize the spoken text of a lecture video to assign index points using an underlying text-based indexing algorithm. To achieve this goal, a set of twenty-five lecture videos was taken from various departments at the University of Houston and Coursera website. The captions were produced with the assistance of the YouTube Speech Recognition System. The performances and limitations of OCR text, uncorrected/original speech text, and corrected speech text-based indexing was analyzed. The results indicate that slide text-based indexing yields 4% better results than spoken text-based indexing. The corrected speech text/caption provides better indexing results (11%) where OCR text fails to perform and the results closely matched the ground truth. The error analysis done on speech texts and slide texts prove that poor OCR text and caption quality are some of the main issues that hamper indexing accuracy.Computer Science, Department o

Analgesia and sedation strategies in neonates undergoing whole-body therapeutic hypothermia: A scoping review.

BackgroundTherapeutic hypothermia (TH) is a widely practiced neuroprotective strategy for neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Induced hypothermia is associated with shivering, cold pain, agitation, and distress.ObjectiveThis scoping review determines the breadth of research undertaken for pain and stress management in neonates undergoing hypothermia therapy, the pharmacokinetics of analgesic and sedative medications during hypothermia and the effect of such medication on short- and long-term neurological outcomes.MethodsWe searched the following online databases namely, (i) MEDLINE, (ii) Web of Science, (iii) Cochrane Library, (iv) Scopus, (v) CINAHL, and (vi) EMBASE to identify published original articles between January 2005 and December 2022. We included only English full-text articles on neonates treated with TH and reported the sedation/analgesia strategy used. We excluded articles that reported TH on transport or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, did not report the intervention strategies for sedation/analgesia, and reported hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in which hypothermia was not applied.ResultsThe eligible publications (n = 97) included cohort studies (n = 72), non-randomized experimental studies (n = 2), pharmacokinetic studies (n = 4), dose escalation feasibility trial (n = 1), cross-sectional surveys (n = 5), and randomized control trials (n = 13). Neonatal Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale (NPASS) is the most frequently used pain assessment tool in this cohort. The most frequently used pharmacological agents are opioids (Morphine, Fentanyl), benzodiazepine (Midazolam) and Alpha2 agonists (Dexmedetomidine). The proportion of neonates receiving routine sedation-analgesia during TH is center-specific and varies from 40-100% worldwide. TH alters most drugs' metabolic rate and clearance, except for Midazolam. Dexmedetomidine has additional benefits of thermal tolerance, neuroprotection, faster recovery, and less likelihood of seizures. There is a wide inter-individual variability in serum drug levels due to the impact of temperature, end-organ dysfunction, postnatal age, and body weight on drug metabolism.ConclusionsNo multidimensional pain scale has been tested for reliability and construct validity in hypothermic encephalopathic neonates. There is an increasing trend towards using routine sedation/analgesia during TH worldwide. Wide variability in the type of medication used, administration (bolus versus infusion), and dose ranges used emphasizes the urgent need for standardized practice recommendations and guidelines. There is insufficient data on the long-term neurological outcomes of exposure to these medications, adjusted for underlying brain injury and severity of encephalopathy. Future studies will need to develop framework tools to enable precise control of sedation/analgesia drug exposure customized to individual patient needs

Landscape Analysis of Public Health Jobs in India to Develop an Evidence-Based Public Health Curriculum

The increase in communicable and non-communicable disease incidence and prevalence, changing population demographics, along with concerns about pandemics, natural disasters, and wars, have highlighted the challenges faced by health systems. The study aims to identify data on publicly posted public health jobs available to applicants eligible to work in India to identify the public health and allied fields workforce needs, skills, and expertise in India. A cross-sectional study was done in June–July 2021. The data was collected from eleven common job portals in India. Descriptive and content analysis was done to identify the most common job titles, educational level preferred/desired, skills, and experience required in the public health jobs in India. In total 382 unique public health and related fields jobs were analyzed. Job postings were most commonly classified as manager (n = 68), officer/lead (n = 61), analyst (n = 49), and consultant (n = 44). Around one-fifth of the jobs were based in Delhi (n = 98, 24%). About a quarter of the job postings required more than 8 years of experience (26%, n = 100). More than half of the job postings mentioned having the knowledge and understanding of data analysis and statistical approaches (n = 116, 64%). Around 15% (n = 193) of the job posting wanted the candidate to have expertise in communication. Skills were classified into various types such as software, technical, and language. Timely assessment of the curriculum should be done to impart skills related to the needs of the employers and prepare a skilled and competent public health workforce to address the 21st century public health challenges

Environmental-friendly algal-mediated magnetic activated carbon for adsorptive removal of contaminants from water

The presence and persistence of hazardous contaminants including heavy metals and pharmaceutical compound in water have become a matter of great concern worldwide due to their negative impacts on the natural ecosystem and human health. Very few studies have been reported to check the efficiency of a nanosorbent for simultaneous removal of both the contaminants i.e., heavy metals and pharmaceutical compounds. Here, we have attempted to achieve removal of Cr(VI) and DFS by developing a suitable adsorbent. In this study, iron oxide/activated carbon (IAC) magnetic nanocomposite was used as a nanosorbent for decontamination of chromium (VI) and diclofenac sodium (DFS) from aqueous solution over a certain range of experimental parameters. Activated carbon was synthesized using green microalgae Chlamydomonas sp., while to make a sustainable novel nanosorbent, iron oxide nanorods were embedded in the matrix of activated carbon. The composition and structure of nanosorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EXD) spectroscopy, Brunner-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The batch adsorption studies were conducted from the removal of Cr(VI) and DFS from water by IAC sorbent. The maximum adsorption efficiency of 95.2 and 82.1% for Cr(VI) and DFS, respectively were achieved in less than 4 h for initial concentrations of 10 mgL−1. The adsorption of Cr(VI) and DFS was much higher at acidic pH than at alkaline range. The equilibrium data for Cr(VI) ions adsorption was fitted well with pseudo-second order kinetics, Langmuir isotherm model, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion model. 5 cycles of regeneration and reuse showed that sorption capacity individually decreased by 6.6 and 8.2% for Cr(VI) and DFS, respectively as compared to the original adsorption. Also, excellent magnetic properties enabled via application of iron oxide nanorods significantly ease the separation and regeneration of spent magnetic adsorbents

Determinants of maize seed income and adoption of foundation seed production: evidence from Palpa District of Nepal

Abstract Background Maize is the second most important staple crop in terms of area and production in Nepal. The production and yield of maize are low in Nepal as compared to other similar agro-climatic regions. Seed is considered as a vital input in production. The yield of maize can be increased by using improved seeds and technologies. Farmers were generating good income being involved in foundation seed production as compared to certified seed. The maize seed sector in Nepal is handicapped by low domestic research and production capacity, which results in the poor supply of breeder and foundation seed for its multiplication. Hence, this study is aimed to investigate determinants of income from maize seed and adoption of foundation seed production in Palpa District of Nepal. Methods Palpa District of Nepal was selected for the study because of its high contribution on maize seed production. The sample size was determined using the software Raosoft. A total of 182 samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, probit model, income regression model and the instrumental variable model were used to analyze data. Results The per hectare income from foundation seed production was higher than that from certified seed by NRs. 51,541. The study revealed that schooling year of household head, family type, active members, farm category, total income from maize seed production and training received had statistically significant effect on the adoption of foundation seed production. It was found that income increased by about 44% for the households producing foundation seed as compared to certified seed. This higher income is mainly driven by the higher yield as well as the higher price of the foundation seed. The study revealed that increase in area under maize seed by one hectare would increase the income by 242%. A result of the instrumental variable model showed that foundation seed production and extension services received do not affect significantly on maize seed income. Conclusion This study identified that foundation seed production was profitable farm business in Palpa District of Nepal. However, very few farmers adopted such technology due to lack of proper training and extension services. Farmers should focus to increase area under foundation seed production to achieve higher returns

The impact of COVID-19 vaccine communication, acceptance, and practices (CO-VIN-CAP) on vaccine hesitancy in an indian setting: Protocol for a cross-sectional study

Background: COVID-19 vaccines are considered to be a key to limiting and eliminating the infectious disease. However, the success of the vaccination program will rely on the rates of vaccine acceptance among the population. Objective: This study aims to examine the factors that influence vaccine hesitancy and vaccine acceptance, and to explore the unintended consequences of COVID-19 infections. The study will further explore the association between sociodemographic characteristics; health status; COVID-19-related knowledge, attitude, and practices; and its influence on vaccine hesitancy and acceptance among individuals living in urban and rural settings of Chennai, Tamil Nadu in the southern state of India. Methods: A cross-sectional study will be conducted between January 2021 and January 2023. A sample of approximately 25,000 individuals will be recruited and enrolled using a nonprobability complete enumeration sampling method from 11 selected urban and rural settings of Chennai. The data will be collected at one time point by administering the questionnaire to the eligible study participants. The collected data will be used to assess the rates of vaccine acceptance; hesitancy; and knowledge, attitudes, practices, and beliefs regarding COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Lastly, the study questionnaire will be used to assess the unintended consequences of COVID-19 infection. Results: A pilot of 2500 individuals has been conducted to pretest the survey questionnaire. The data collection was initiated on March 1, 2021, and the initial results are planned for publication by June 2021. Descriptive analysis of the gathered data will be performed using SAS v9.1, and reporting of the results will be done at 95% CIs and P=.049. The study will help explore the burden of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among individuals living in urban and rural settings of Chennai. Further, it will help to examine the variables that influence vaccine acceptance and hesitancy. Lastly, the findings will help to design and develop a user-centered informatics platform that can deliver multimedia-driven health education modules tailored to facilitate vaccine uptake in varied settings. Conclusions: The proposed study will help in understanding the rate and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among the population of Chennai. The findings of the study would further facilitate the development of a multifaceted intervention to enhance vaccine acceptance among the population

Perceptions regarding child care and perinatal depression during COVID-19 pandemic – A cross-sectional community-based survey from Uttar Pradesh

Background: High levels of stress among pregnant women have been reported during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic because of various infection-related and lockdown measures. Concerns about safe delivery, breastfeeding, and child care may increase the risk of depression in vulnerable women during the perinatal period. Aim: To study the perceptions regarding child care and prevalence of perinatal depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional community-based survey was conducted among 750 lactating mothers post delivery between September 2020 and February 2021 in 51 districts of Uttar Pradesh. A convenient purposive sampling technique was used. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the socio-demographic details and perceptions regarding child care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assessment of depression symptoms was performed with the help of patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). Results: A total of 440 participants were suffering from some form of depression symptoms; the majority had mild depression. Depression was found to be higher among homemakers and young mothers (age <25 years). Depression was found in more than 40% of the respondents who felt fear of COVID infection during breast feeding and hospital stay. Similarly, more than 50% of the respondents who feared unavailability of timely health services and social ignorance had depression. More than 60% of the mothers who did not have any knowledge about safe breast-feeding and child care practices had some form of depression, and the results were statistically significant. Conclusions: Perinatal depression is highly prevalent during the ongoing pandemic. Hence, regular screening, psychoeducation, awareness regarding safe breast feeding, and child care practices are recommended