A Survey and Analysis of the Implementation of Visual Art Standards in Mississippi Classrooms

The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether art teachers were implementing Mississippi State Frameworks for art. Teachers who opted not to use the frameworks were asked to list teaching methods used in lieu of the state- suggested teaching strategies. This study was conducted through survey, although some information was gathered through informal interviews. Participants included members of the Mississippi Art Education Association and K-12 teachers in Jackson city schools. Of the one hundred and sixteen surveys mailed out to Mississippi art teachers, fifty were returned. Of those who responded, sixty-four percent (N=32) were adherent to the Mississippi State Frameworks. The findings demonstrate that the majority of Mississippi art teachers utilized state standards when planning lessons and curriculum. The remaining thirty-six percent who did not use the standards cited reasons for not doing and provided their alternate teaching methods. Besides asking whether teachers used the frameworks, other questions not directly related to the original purpose of the study were included on the survey. The responses to these additional questions revealed aspects about art curriculum within state classrooms, including teacher education, certification, use of textbooks, art media, and grading systems. This survey provided insight into the content material that was being taught in Mississippi art classrooms and also gathered opinions about the usefulness of the state’s art educational standards when planning visual art lessons

Genome-wide association identifies nine common variants associated with fasting proinsulin levels and provides new insights into the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Proinsulin is a precursor of mature insulin and C-peptide. Higher circulating proinsulin levels are associated with impaired β-cell function, raised glucose levels, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Studies of the insulin processing pathway could provide new insights about T2D pathophysiology. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We have conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association tests of ∼2.5 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and fasting proinsulin levels in 10,701 nondiabetic adults of European ancestry, with follow-up of 23 loci in up to 16,378 individuals, using additive genetic models adjusted for age, sex, fasting insulin, and study-specific covariates. RESULTS: Nine SNPs at eight loci were associated with proinsulin levels (P < 5 × 10(-8)). Two loci (LARP6 and SGSM2) have not been previously related to metabolic traits, one (MADD) has been associated with fasting glucose, one (PCSK1) has been implicated in obesity, and four (TCF7L2, SLC30A8, VPS13C/C2CD4A/B, and ARAP1, formerly CENTD2) increase T2D risk. The proinsulin-raising allele of ARAP1 was associated with a lower fasting glucose (P = 1.7 × 10(-4)), improved β-cell function (P = 1.1 × 10(-5)), and lower risk of T2D (odds ratio 0.88; P = 7.8 × 10(-6)). Notably, PCSK1 encodes the protein prohormone convertase 1/3, the first enzyme in the insulin processing pathway. A genotype score composed of the nine proinsulin-raising alleles was not associated with coronary disease in two large case-control datasets. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified nine genetic variants associated with fasting proinsulin. Our findings illuminate the biology underlying glucose homeostasis and T2D development in humans and argue against a direct role of proinsulin in coronary artery disease pathogenesis