Navigating the Gap Between the Ideal and the Real: A Heuristic Inquiry with Teacher Educators Influenced by the Work of Parker Palmer

New teacher attrition shows no signs of abating as about half of new teachers in urban high-poverty schools quit in their first three years of the work. Some of the push factors that contribute to attrition in these settings are the increasing pressure of standards and accountability measures. Some research has turned to teacher education programs to look at the preparation of pre-service teachers. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the beliefs and intentions of four teacher educators who are also facilitators of Parker Palmer\u27s Courage to Teach workshops and retreats, and the ways in which their beliefs influence their teaching practice. The conceptual framework is based on Parker Palmer\u27s concepts of the real--what is, and the ideal--what we know could be, and the gap between them. The literature review provides concepts of the ideal and the real in preservice teachers, the function of teacher education as the bridge between the ideal and the real in preparing teachers for their careers, a review of identity development, and a description of the Courage to Teach program. A transformative framework drives this study. The importance of self-knowledge and the development of the self who teaches as companion knowledge to the development of teaching skills and competencies will be discussed. A holistic versus one-dimensional approach to teacher preparation is explored. The findings from this heuristic study are represented by the following five themes: (1) Multifaceted Definitions of Ideal and Real (2) Teacher Education: The Ideal as a Diverse Network (3) The Gap as Tragic and Permanent (4) Courage Work Changes Your Way of Being in the World (5) Identity as a Factor in Receptivity to Spiritual Work. These findings, the interviews from which they arose, and the phases of this heuristic study led to a creative synthesis represented by a Symbolic Growth Experience. The study concludes with the implications of this experience for the education community

The relation of prosocial behavior to the development of aggression and psychopathology.

The development of prosocial behavior is traced from middle childhood to adulthood in a 22-year longitudinal study of 800 children first seen at age 8 and is compared to the development of aggression over the same period. Prosocial behavior and aggression seem to represent opposite ends of a single dimension of behavior since they are consistently negatively related to each other and relate in opposite ways to correlated variables both synchronously and over time. Both are stable forms of behavior with good predictability over the time span studied and both are related to the quality of the parent-child relationship. The most important deterrent to the development of antisocial behavior and the encouragement of prosocial behavior is probably a close identification between the child and hidher parents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83382/1/1984.Eron&Huesmann.RelatofProsocBehavtotheDevelofAggn&Psychopath.AggBehav.pd

Recent cancer incidence trends in an observational clinical cohort of HIV-infected patients in the US, 2000 to 2011

Abstract Background In HIV-infected populations in developed countries, the most recent published cancer incidence trend analyses are only updated through 2008. We assessed changes in the distribution of cancer types and incidence trends among HIV-infected patients in North Carolina up until 2011. Methods We linked the University of North Carolina Center for AIDS Research HIV Clinical Cohort, an observational clinical cohort of 3141 HIV-infected patients, with the North Carolina Cancer registry. Cancer incidence rates were estimated across calendar years from 2000 to 2011. The distribution of cancer types was described. Incidence trends were assessed with linear regression. Results Across 15,022 person-years of follow-up, 202 cancers were identified (incidence rate per 100,000 person-years [IR]: 1345; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1166, 1544). The majority of cancers were virus-related (61%), including Kaposi sarcoma (N = 32) (IR: 213; 95%CI: 146, 301), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (N = 34) (IR: 226; 95%CI: 157, 316), and anal cancer (N = 16) (IR: 107; 95%CI: 61, 173). Non-Hodgkin lymphoma was observed to decrease from 2000 to 2011 (decline of 15 cases per 100,000 person-years per calendar year, 95%CI: -27, -3). No other changes in incidence or changes in incidence trends were observed for other cancers (all P > 0.20). Conclusions We observed a substantial burden of a variety of cancers in this population in the last decade. Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were consistently two of the greatest contributors to cancer burden across calendar time. Cancer rates appeared stable across calendar years, except for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which appeared to decrease throughout the study period

Gene by Environment interaction and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease in Mexican American patients with depression

Knowledge of genetic and environmental (G x E) interaction effects on metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of G x E interaction effects on MAFLD in Mexican Americans in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). The environment examined was depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). We examined potential G x E interaction in the phenotypic expression of MAFLD, including hepatic steatosis and hepatic fibrosis, using variance component models and likelihood-based statistical inference. Significant G x E interactions were identified for hepatic fibrosis x BDI-II. These findings provide evidence that genetic factors interact with depression to influence expression of hepatic fibrosis. A better understanding of these genetic interactions are necessary to develop strategies and interventions to reduce the bi-directional relationship of hepatic fibrosis and depression

Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Chronic Pain and Prescription Opioid Misuse: Results from an Early Stage Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Opioid pharmacotherapy is now the leading treatment for chronic pain, a problem that affects nearly one third of the U.S. population. Given the dramatic rise in prescription opioid misuse and opioid-related mortality, novel behavioral interventions are needed. The purpose of this study was to conduct an early-stage randomized controlled trial of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), a multimodal intervention designed to simultaneously target mechanisms underpinning chronic pain and opioid misuse. Method: Chronic pain patients (N = 115; mean age = 48 ± 14 years; 68% female) were randomized to 8 weeks of MORE or a support group (SG). Outcomes were measured at pre- and posttreatment, and at 3-month follow-up. The Brief Pain Inventory was used to assess changes in pain severity and interference. Changes in opioid use disorder status were measured by the Current Opioid Misuse Measure. Desire for opioids, stress, nonreactivity, reinterpretation of pain sensations, and reappraisal were also evaluated. Results: MORE participants reported significantly greater reductions in pain severity (p = .038) and interference (p = .003) than SG participants, which were maintained by 3-month follow-up and mediated by increased nonreactivity and reinterpretation of pain sensations. Compared with SG participants, participants in MORE evidenced significantly less stress arousal (p = .034) and desire for opioids (p = .027), and were significantly more likely to no longer meet criteria for opioid use disorder immediately following treatment (p = .05); however, these effects were not sustained at follow-up. Conclusions: Findings demonstrate preliminary feasibility and efficacy of MORE as a treatment for co-occurring prescription opioid misuse and chronic pain

Outcomes of Childhood Aggression in Women

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75752/1/j.1749-6632.1996.tb32553.x.pd

Intellectual functioning and aggression

In a 22-year study, data were collected on aggressiveness and intellectual functioning in more than 600 subjects, their parents, and their children. Both aggression and intellectual functioning are reasonably stable in a subject's lifetime and perpetuate themselves across generations and within marriage pairs. Aggression in childhood was shown to interfere with the development of intellectual functioning and to be predictive of poorer intellectual achievement as an adult. Early 1Q was related to early subject aggression but did not predict changes in aggression after age 8. On the other hand, differences between early IQ and intellectual achievement in middle adulthood were predictable from early aggressive behavior. A dual-process model was offered to explain the relation between intellectual functioning and aggressive behavior. We hypothesized that low intelligence makes the learning of aggressive responses more likely at an early age, and this aggressive behavior makes continued intellectual development more difficult.The research described here was supported by Grant MH-34410 to Leonard D. Eron and MH-38683 to L. Rowell Huesmann from the National Institute of Mental Health.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83384/1/1987.Huesmann_etal.IntellectualFuncning&Aggr.JourofPersonality&SociPsych.pd

Longitudinal opioid use among HIV-infected patients, 2000 to 2014

Longitudinal opioid prescription use is unknown among HIV-infected patients. Group-based trajectory modeling followed by multinomial logistic regression was used to identify distinct trajectories and their association with baseline characteristics among 1239 HIV-infected UNC CFAR HIV Clinical Cohort participants, 2000-2014. Three trajectories were identified: (1) 72% never/sporadic opioid use (referent group), (2) 11% episodic use (associated with female sex, depression, drug-related diagnoses, antiretroviral therapy use, and undetectable HIV RNA), and (3) 16% chronic use (associated with older age, female sex, and mental health diagnoses). Overall, opioid prescription decreased substantially with longer time in HIV care among both episodic and chronic users

Epidermal Langerhans Cells-A Target for HTLV-III/LAV Infection

Langerhans cells (LC) are bone marrow-derived, la+, CD1+, CD4+, ATPase+ dendritic antigen-presenting cells within the human epidermis. Since the CD4 molecule has been implicated as a receptor structure for HTLV-III/LAV (human T-cell leukemia virus/lymphadenopathy-associated virus), we asked whether LC from HTLV-III/LAV-seropositive individuals display signs of HTLV-III/LAV infection. In skin biopsies from 7/40 HTLV-III/LAV-infected persons (1 asymptomatic carrier, 2 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related complex and 4 patients with AIDS), LC were the only epidermal cells to react with a monoclonal antibody specific for the HTLV-III core protein p17. A varying percentage of p17+ LC were morphologically altered with blunt dendrites and poorly demarcated cellular contours. In one of these biopsies, the presence of LC-associated viral particles characteristic of HTLV-III/LAV as well as cytopathic changes in approximately one-third of the LC population were demonstrated by electron microscopy. These results strongly suggest that LC may harbor HTLV-III/LAV. The infection of LC with this retrovirus may have deleterious consequences for the immunologic functions of this cell system and may thus contribute to both the acquisition of immunodeficiency and the infectious and neoplastic complications of AIDS

Brief but Efficient: Acute HIV Infection and the Sexual Transmission of HIV

Background. We examined whether viral dynamics in the genital tract during the natural history of acute human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection could explain efficient heterosexual transmission of HIV. Methods. We measured HIV-1 concentration in blood and semen samples from patients with acute and long-term HIV-1 infection. We explored the effect of changes in viral dynamics in semen on the probability of transmission per coital act, using a probabilistic model published elsewhere. Results. Considered over time from infection, semen HIV-1 concentrations, in men with acute infection, increase and decrease in approximate parallel with changes occurring in blood. Modeling suggests that these acute dynamics alone are sufficient to increase probability of heterosexual transmission by 8-10-fold between peak (day 20 after infection, based on the model) and virologic set points (day 54 and later after infection). Depending on the frequency of coitus, men with average semen HIV-1 loads and without sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) would be expected to infect 7%-24% of susceptible female sex partners during the first 2 months of infection. The predicted infection rate would be much higher when either partner has an STD. Conclusions. Empirical biological data strongly support the hypothesis that sexual transmission by acutely infected individuals has a disproportionate effect on the spread of HIV-1 infection. Acute hyperinfectiousness may, in part, explain the current pandemic in heterosexual individual