The Relationship Between Parent Education and Their Child’s Academic Readiness

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between parents’ education level and their child’s academic readiness. The following research question was examined: Is there a relationship between the level of parents’ education and their child’s academic readiness? In this study, Marshall University Graduate College (MUGC) and West Virginia University (WVU) graduate students collected data from randomly selected children attending West Virginia Educare (WVE) sites. The results of this study indicated there was no significant correlation between parents’ education level and their child’s academic readiness, generally believed to be highly correlated. Conclusions and recommendations for future research were discussed

Comparison of Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to Methylmercury or Vaccines Containing Thimerosal

Thimerosal is a preservative that has been used in manufacturing vaccines since the 1930s. Reports have indicated that infants can receive ethylmercury (in the form of thimerosal) at or above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for methylmercury exposure, depending on the exact vaccinations, schedule, and size of the infant. In this study we compared the systemic disposition and brain distribution of total and inorganic mercury in infant monkeys after thimerosal exposure with those exposed to MeHg. Monkeys were exposed to MeHg (via oral gavage) or vaccines containing thimerosal (via intramuscular injection) at birth and 1, 2, and 3 weeks of age. Total blood Hg levels were determined 2, 4, and 7 days after each exposure. Total and inorganic brain Hg levels were assessed 2, 4, 7, or 28 days after the last exposure. The initial and terminal half-life of Hg in blood after thimerosal exposure was 2.1 and 8.6 days, respectively, which are significantly shorter than the elimination half-life of Hg after MeHg exposure at 21.5 days. Brain concentrations of total Hg were significantly lower by approximately 3-fold for the thimerosal-exposed monkeys when compared with the MeHg infants, whereas the average brain-to-blood concentration ratio was slightly higher for the thimerosal-exposed monkeys (3.5 ± 0.5 vs. 2.5 ± 0.3). A higher percentage of the total Hg in the brain was in the form of inorganic Hg for the thimerosal-exposed monkeys (34% vs. 7%). The results indicate that MeHg is not a suitable reference for risk assessment from exposure to thimerosal-derived Hg. Knowledge of the toxicokinetics and developmental toxicity of thimerosal is needed to afford a meaningful assessment of the developmental effects of thimerosal-containing vaccines

Expression of PEG11 and PEG11AS transcripts in normal and callipyge sheep

BACKGROUND: The callipyge mutation is located within an imprinted gene cluster on ovine chromosome 18. The callipyge trait exhibits polar overdominant inheritance due to the fact that only heterozygotes inheriting a mutant paternal allele (paternal heterozygotes) have a phenotype of muscle hypertrophy, reduced fat and a more compact skeleton. The mutation is a single A to G transition in an intergenic region that results in the increased expression of several genes within the imprinted cluster without changing their parent-of-origin allele-specific expression. RESULTS: There was a significant effect of genotype (p < 0.0001) on the transcript abundance of DLK1, PEG11, and MEG8 in the muscles of lambs with the callipyge allele. DLK1 and PEG11 transcript levels were elevated in the hypertrophied muscles of paternal heterozygous animals relative to animals of the other three genotypes. The PEG11 locus produces a single 6.5 kb transcript and two smaller antisense strand transcripts, referred to as PEG11AS, in skeletal muscle. PEG11AS transcripts were detectable over a 5.5 kb region beginning 1.2 kb upstream of the PEG11 start codon and spanning the entire open reading frame. Analysis of PEG11 expression by quantitative PCR shows a 200-fold induction in the hypertrophied muscles of paternal heterozygous animals and a 13-fold induction in homozygous callipyge animals. PEG11 transcripts were 14-fold more abundant than PEG11AS transcripts in the gluteus medius of paternal heterozygous animals. PEG11AS transcripts were expressed at higher levels than PEG11 transcripts in the gluteus medius of animals of the other three genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of the callipyge mutation has been to alter the expression of DLK1, GTL2, PEG11 and MEG8 in the hypertrophied skeletal muscles. Transcript abundance of DLK1 and PEG11 was highest in paternal heterozygous animals and exhibited polar overdominant gene expression patterns; therefore, both genes are candidates for causing skeletal muscle hypertrophy. There was unique relationship of PEG11 and PEG11AS transcript abundance in the paternal heterozygous animals that suggests a RNA interference mechanism may have a role in PEG11 gene regulation and polar overdominance in callipyge sheep

Assessing factors associated with social connectedness in adults with mobility disabilities

Background People with mobility disabilities are likely to report limitations in community participation and social connectedness for a variety of reasons, including inaccessible physical environments, health issues, transportation barriers, and limited financial resources. Improving social connectedness is a public health issue and research shows its relation to overall health and life expectancy. Objective The purpose of this study was to (1) assess social activity, isolation, and loneliness among people with mobility disabilities compared to those with non-mobility disabilities and (2) understand factors associated with social connectedness among people with mobility disabilities. Methods An observational, cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from Wave 2 of the National Survey on Health and Disability (NSHD) to test for differences between adults age 18–64 with mobility disabilities (n = 621) and those with other disabilities (n = 1535), in addition to tests within the mobility disability group. Results Adults with mobility disabilities were less likely than respondents from other disability groups to report feeling isolated (30.2% versus 35.2%), but these groups did not differ on measures of social activity or loneliness. Within the mobility disability group, being unemployed and in fair or poor health were predictive of greater loneliness, more isolation, and less satisfaction with social activity. Conclusions Social connectedness is an important public health issue. This research helps to inform service providers and medical professionals about the personal factors affecting social connectedness among people with mobility disabilities

Introduction to the Special Issue: The Role of Seed Dispersal in Plant Populations: Perspectives and Advances in a Changing World

Despite the importance of seed dispersal as a driving process behind plant community assembly, our understanding of the role of seed dispersal in plant population persistence and spread remains incomplete. As a result, our ability to predict the effects of global change on plant populations is hampered. We need to better understand the fundamental link between seed dispersal and population dynamics in order to make predictive generalizations across species and systems, to better understand plant community structure and function, and to make appropriate conservation and management responses related to seed dispersal. To tackle these important knowledge gaps, we established the CoDisperse Network and convened an interdisciplinary, NSF-sponsored Seed Dispersal Workshop in 2016, during which we explored the role of seed dispersal in plant population dynamics (NSF DEB Award # 1548194). In this Special Issue, we consider the current state of seed dispersal ecology and identify the following collaborative research needs: (i) the development of a mechanistic understanding of the movement process influencing dispersal of seeds; (ii) improved quantification of the relative influence of seed dispersal on plant fitness compared to processes occurring at other life history stages; (iii) an ability to scale from individual plants to ecosystems to quantify the influence of dispersal on ecosystem function; and (iv) the incorporation of seed dispersal ecology into conservation and management strategies

WeBWorK Tutorials For Statistics II

The goal of this project was to create enhanced WeBWorK problems for the topics of One-Way and Distribution Free models, which are covered in Applied Statistics II at WPI. Current literature was reviewed and interviews were conducted in order to determine a tutoring method that resembles how professors tutor students. A new Perl package was created to facilitate the creation of these problems. The new problems were tested against existing WeBWorK problems and recommendations were made based on the results

Asthma severity in school-children and the quality of life of their parents

Background . The everyday management of a child with asthma can affect the parent\u27s quality of life. Past studies which examined the effects of asthma characteristics of the child on parental quality of life have not reached a consensus over findings. Few studies examine parent characteristics such as mental health and sociodemographics on the quality of life of parents of asthmatic children. Purpose . To examine the effect of asthma severity of school-children and sociodemographic characteristics onthe caregiver\u27s quality of life. It also investigates whether agreement exists between the caregiver\u27s perception of asthma severity and physician-diagnosed asthma severity. Methodology . Parents of asthmatic children (n=101) were identified in the waiting room at an outpatient pediatric pulmonology clinic in Las Vegas and were given three questionnaires: (1) the Paediatric Caregiver\u27sQuality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ), (2) asthma severity questionnaire, (3) sociodemographics questionnaire. Spearman\u27s correlation (rho), analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear and multivariate regression, Chi-square, independent t-tests, Kendall tau rank correlation coefficient, and descriptive analyses were performed. Results . A significant negative correlation was found between overall asthma severity, based on the 2007 NAEPP guidelines, and mean activity limitation scores (rho= .400, p \u3c .001), mean emotional function scores (rho= -.258, p \u3c .001), and mean total of PACQLQ scores (rho= -.342, p \u3c .001). A significant moderate, negative correlation was found between PACQLQ scores and asthma day symptoms, asthma night symptoms, and asthma exercise symptoms. No significant relationship was found between pulmonary function testing (PFT) scores and PACQLQ scores. Parents of children with mild intermittent asthma had higher mean PACQLQ scores, followed by those with mild persistent asthma, moderate persistent asthma, and lastly, severe persistent asthma who had the lowest PACQLQ scores. Predictors of better quality of life included increased income. Predictors of worse overall quality of life included increased hospitalization days, increased ER visits, increased school days missed, and increased work days missed. Using independent t-tests, better scores were found for those who were not of Black or African ethnicity, were able to pay for health costs, owned a home or a car, and perceived their child\u27s asthma as under control. Implications for nursing . Measuring parental quality of life allows nurse researchers to measure the burdenparents experience in caring for their child in order to develop more effective asthma programs that emphasize adherence to medical treatment. Other factors that can influence caregiver quality of life and other measurement tools for quality of life should be explored

Применение интерферометрического метода исследования в изучении кинетики реакций бромидов бария и рубидия с хлористым водородом

The two-layer shallow water system looses hyperbolicity if the mag- nitude of the shear velocity is above a certain threshold, which is es- sentially determined by the density difference between the two layers. The focus of the paper is to explore a technique to possibly recover hyperbolicity by adapting the model in regions of strong shear. The approach is to introduce an additional, third layer in such regions. We demonstrate that this adaptive two/three-layer approach can cure some of the shortcomings of the two-layer model but needs further improvement with respect to the model