Who Helps Public Schools? Public Education Support Organizations in 2010

There were more than 19,000 nonprofit organizations devoted to supporting public education in the United States in 2007. These organizations include booster clubs, parent-teacher groups, public education funds, scholarship funds, high school alumni associations, and others. While most of these organizations are small, together they spent roughly $4.3 billion in support of public education in 2007.This report assesses the current status of education support organizations in the United States; provides details on the activities, capacities, and resources of public education funds; and compares Public Education Network (PEN) member organizations with other types of education funds. On the basis of a survey of public education funds and an analysis of the latest data available from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, the report identifies key similarities and differences among the groups.Public education funds are dedicated to assisting public schools and school districts by raising money to support programs for teacher training and support, after-school programs, and school supplies and by promoting community support for public schools. The project was commissioned by PEN in Washington, D.C

Understanding Self-Determination and Families of Young Children with Disabilities in Home Environments

This article is about emergent self-determination for young children with disabilities in their home environments. The purpose of this study was to better understand family and home characteristics and how they influence the ways in which families can support the development of self-determination for their children with disabilities. Thirty families of young children with disabilities were interviewed, and their homes were systematically observed. Using a grounded theory design, an emergent model was developed that examined family and home context and the influence of context on the strategies that families used to support self-determination. Future research and practice implications of this research for supporting families are discussed

IgE in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic disease

Traditionally, the concept of allergy implied an abnormal response to an otherwise benign agent (eg, pollen or food), with an easily identifiable relationship between exposure and disease. However, there are syndromes in which the relationship between exposure to the relevant allergen and the “allergic” disease is not clear. In these cases the presence of specific IgE antibodies can play an important role in identifying the relevant allergen and provide a guide to therapy. Good examples include chronic asthma and exposure to perennial indoor allergens and asthma related to fungal infection. Finally, we are increasingly aware of forms of food allergy in which the relationship between exposure and the disease is delayed by 3 to 6 hours or longer. Three forms of food allergy with distinct clinical features are now well recognized. These are (1) anaphylactic sensitivity to peanut, (2) eosinophilic esophagitis related to cow’s milk, and (3) delayed anaphylaxis to red meat. In these syndromes the immunology of the response is dramatically different. Peanut and galactose α-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal) are characterized by high- or very high-titer IgE antibodies for Ara h 2 and alpha-gal, respectively. By contrast, eosinophilic esophagitis is characterized by low levels of IgE specific for milk proteins with high- or very high-titer IgG4 to the same proteins. The recent finding is that patients with alpha-gal syndrome do not have detectable IgG4 to the oligosaccharide. Thus the serum results not only identify relevant antigens but also provide a guide to the nature of the immune response

The History, Development, and Purpose of the Sensory Integration Global Network

The Sensory Integration Global Network (SIGN) is a Web-based resource developed by a loosely structured group of international volunteers dedicated to protecting the integrity and promoting the work of Ayres Sensory Integration® (ASI). SIGN provides an international resource to educate the public and professionals about A. Jean Ayres and sensory integration theory and practice to help them to discriminate between ASI and other interventions, especially those that use similar descriptors of improving sensory integration and sensory processing. This article aims to increase awareness of the existence of SIGN within the readership of the American Occupational Therapy Association\u27s (AOTA\u27 s) Sensory Integration Special Interest Section. The persons working with SIGN hope that by informing the public about the trademark and exposing both the public and professionals to the underlying principles incorporated within the trademarked ASI approach, consumers will be able to make educated choices about the types of interventions they access. Additionally, the network hopes to assist practitioners by clarifying the terminology used when describing sensory integration practice

Polymorphic repeat in AIB1 does not alter breast cancer risk

We assessed the association between a glutamine repeat polymorphism in AIB1 and breast cancer risk in a case-control study (464 cases, 624 controls) nested within the Nurses' Health Study cohort. We observed no association between AIB1 genotype and breast cancer incidence, or specific tumor characteristics. These findings suggest that AIB1 repeat genotype does not influence postmenopausal breast cancer risk among Caucasian women in the general population

Foundations for Self-Determination in Early Childhood: Preliminary Preschool Study

Foundations for self-determination begin in early childhood for children with disabilities with the onset of self-regulation and engagement in activities at home, school, and in the community. This article describes the development and preliminary results of an intervention model that encourages collaborative practices for parents and teachers around short-term goal setting to adjust environments for young children with special needs or at risk for delay. The Foundations Intervention was used with 48 children in authentic early childhood settings and involved parents, teachers, and a facilitator to enhance children’s self-regulation and engagement at home and school. Results showed feasibility of the intervention; positive child outcomes in goal attainment, self-regulation, and engagement measures were also evident. When parents and teachers communicated about a child’s strengths and needs within routines at home and school, this appeared to strengthen parent and teacher connections and helped children become more engaged or regulated in daily activities.U.S. Department of Education Grant R324A09026

Longitudinal assessment of cognitive and psychosocial functioning after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Exploring disaster impact on middle-aged, older, and oldest-old adults

The authors examined the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on cognitive and psychosocial functioning in a lifespan sample of adults 6-14 months after the storms. Participants were recruited from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study. Most were assessed during the immediate impact period and retested for this study. Analyses of pre- and post-disaster cognitive data confirmed that storm-related decrements in working memory for middle-aged and older adults observed in the immediate impact period had returned to pre-hurricane levels in the post-disaster recovery period. Middle-aged adults reported more storm-related stressors and greater levels of stress than the two older groups at both waves of testing. These results are consistent with a burden perspective on post-disaster psychological reactions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin