The Relationship Between Classroom Age Composition and Children’s Language and Social School Readiness Outcomes: Examining the Role of Peer Effects

Younger and older preschool-age children are commonly placed together in mixed age classrooms. However, both theory and empirical evidence conflict over whether mixed age classrooms are the best environment for developing children. A factor that may play a role in the is peer skill as children may benefit from being around more skilled peers. The present study uses a large sample of preschoolers from low income families to examine the influence of classroom age composition and peer skill on children’s social and language outcomes. Using hierarchical linear analyses, results suggested that being in a mixed age classroom did not relate to the outcomes of children categorized into younger and older age groups. However, being around peers with higher language skills and fewer behavior problems tended to relate to more positive child outcomes. These findings suggest a need to support peer-to-peer contact in preschool between more and less skilled children.Master of Art

Peer Effects in the Preschool Classroom: Examining the Role of Child and Peer Characteristics

Having highly skilled classmates appears to positively influence preschool children’s academic and social development. Despite relatively consistent evidence to indicate that peers can promote positive child development, there are many issues regarding the role of peers in preschool that need to be understood in order to provide guidance to teachers and administrators who wish to capitalize on peer influence in the classroom. The goal of the present dissertation was to conduct three studies to expand current research on peer influence by reaching a more in-depth understanding of the child- and peer-level factors that contribute to the strength of peer influence in preschool. In Study One, I examined the role of child skill at entry to pre-kindergarten, in Study Two I considered child dual language learner status, and in Study Three I explored whether the relation between peer skill and child development depends on peer gender and age cohort. Study One and Two drew from a sample of 455 children who attended a state-funded prekindergarten program in rural areas of North Carolina. Study Three used data from 4,005 children attending a high-quality preschool program at 16 sites across the United States. Hierarchical linear models were used for all analyses to account for the nesting of children in classrooms. Overall, results indicated that child and peer characteristics can moderate the relation between peer skill and child development. However, the pattern of results was found to differ across the examined outcomes. Implications of these findings for the preschool classroom context are discussed.Doctor of Philosoph

Response to comment on 'Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity'

Lambert et al. question our retrospective and holistic epidemiological assessment of the role of chytridiomycosis in amphibian declines. Their alternative assessment is narrow and provides an incomplete evaluation of evidence. Adopting this approach limits understanding of infectious disease impacts and hampers conservation efforts. We reaffirm that our study provides unambiguous evidence that chytridiomycosis has affected at least 501 amphibian species

The Positive Impact of Conservation Action

Governments recently adopted new global targets to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity. It is therefore crucial to understand the outcomes of conservation actions. We conducted a global meta-analysis of 186 studies (including 665 trials) that measured biodiversity over time and compared outcomes under conservation action with a suitable counterfactual of no action. We find that in two-thirds of cases, conservation either improved the state of biodiversity or at least slowed declines. Specifically, we find that interventions targeted at species and ecosystems, such as invasive species control, habitat loss reduction and restoration, protected areas, and sustainable management, are highly effective and have large effect sizes. This provides the strongest evidence to date that conservation actions are successful but require transformational scaling up to meet global targets

Use of micro CHP plants to support the local operation of electric heat pumps

Fig. 1. Global distribution of chytridiomycosis-associated amphibian species declines. Bar plots indicate the number (N) of declined species, grouped by continental area and classified by decline severity. Brazilian species are plotted separately from all other South American species (South America W); Mesoamerica includes Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands; and Oceania includes Australia and New Zealand. No declines have been reported in Asia. n, total number of declines by region. [Photo credits (clockwise from top left): Anaxyrus boreas, C. Brown, U.S. Geological Survey; Atelopus varius, B.G.; Salamandra salamandra, D. Descouens, Wikimedia Commons; Telmatobius sanborni, I.D.l.R; Cycloramphus boraceiensis, L.F.T.; Cardioglossa melanogaster, M.H.; and Pseudophryne corroboree, C. Doughty

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing provides prognostic information in advanced cystic fibrosis lung disease

Rationale: cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides prognostic information in cystic fibrosis (CF); however, its prognostic value for patients with advanced CF lung disease (ACFLD) is unknown. Objectives: to determine the prognostic value of CPET on the risk of death or lung transplant (LTX) within 2-years. Methods: we retrospectively collected data from 20 CF centers in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America on patients with a forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1) ≤40% predicted who performed a cycle ergometer CPET between January 2008 and December 2017. Time to death/LTX was analyzed using mixed Cox proportional hazards regression. Conditional inference trees were modelled to identify subgroups with increased risk of death/LTX. Results: In total, 174 patients (FEV1, 30.9% ± 5.8% predicted) were included. Forty-four patients (25.5%) died or underwent LTX. Cox regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, and FEV1 revealed percentage predicted peak oxygen uptake (Vo2peak) and peak work rate (Wpeak) as significant predictors of death/LTX: adjusted hazard ratios per each additional 10% predicted were 0.60 (95% confidence interval, 0.43–0.90; P = 0.008) and 0.60 (0.48–0.82; P &lt; 0.001). Tree-structured regression models, including a set of 11 prognostic factors for survival, identified Wpeak to be most strongly associated with 2-year risk of death/LTX. Probability of death/LTX was 45.2% for those with a Wpeak ⩽ 49.2% predicted versus 10.9% for those with a Wpeak &gt; 49.2% predicted (P &lt; 0.001).Conclusions: CPET provides prognostic information in advanced CF lung disease, and Wpeak appears to be a promising marker for LTX referral and candidate selection

Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity

Anthropogenic trade and development have broken down dispersal barriers, facilitating the spread of diseases that threaten Earth's biodiversity. We present a global, quantitative assessment of the amphibian chytridiomycosis panzootic, one of the most impactful examples of disease spread, and demonstrate its role in the decline of at least 501 amphibian species over the past half-century, including 90 presumed extinctions. The effects of chytridiomycosis have been greatest in large-bodied, range-restricted anurans in wet climates in the Americas and Australia. Declines peaked in the 1980s, and only 12% of declined species show signs of recovery, whereas 39% are experiencing ongoing decline. There is risk of further chytridiomycosis outbreaks in new areas. The chytridiomycosis panzootic represents the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease.B.C.S. and D.B.L. were supported by the Australian National Environmental Science Program. L.B., L.F.S., T.A.K., and B.C.S. were supported by the Australian Research Council (grants FT100100375, LP110200240, and DP120100811), the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and the Taronga Conservation Science Initiative. S.C., W.B., A.M., and F.P. were supported by Research Foundation Flanders grants FWO3E001916 and FWO11ZK916N‐11ZK918N and Ghent University grant BOF16/GOA/024. S.C. was supported by Research Foundation Flanders grant FWO16/PDO/019. A.A.A. was supported by the Conservation Leadership Program (0621310), Vicerrectoría de Investigaciones, Universidad de Pamplona-Colombia, and Colciencias (1121-659-44242). T.C. was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. A.C. was supported by the Amazon Conservation Association, the Amphibian Specialist Group, the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, the Eppley Foundation, the Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the NSF, the Rufford Small Grants Foundation, and the Swiss National Foundation. I.D.l.R. was supported by the Spanish Government (CGL2014-56160-P). M.C.F. was supported by the NERC (NE/K014455/1), the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2014-273), and the Morris Animal Foundation (D16ZO-022). S.V.F. was supported by the USFWS Wildlife without Borders (96200-0-G228), the AZA–Conservation Endowment Fund (08-836), and the Conservation International Critically Endangered Species Fund. P.F.Á. was supported by a Postdoctoral Research fellowship from the Mexican Research Council (CONACYT, 171465). T.W.J.G. was supported by the NERC (NE/N009967/1 and NE/K012509/1). J.M.G. was supported by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (collaboration grants 11164 and 5447). M.H. was supported by scholarships from the Elsa-NeumannFoundation and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). C.A.M. was supported by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics. G.P.-O. was supported by DGAPA-UNAM and CONACYT while on sabbatical at the University of Otago, New Zealand. C.L.R.-Z. was supported by the NSF (1660311). S.M.R. was supported by a CONACYT Problemas Nacionales grant (PDCPN 2015-721) and a UC Mexus-Conacy cooperative grant. C.S.-A. was supported by the Chilean National Science and Technology Fund (Fondecyt no. 1181758). L.F.T. was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP 2016/25358-3) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq 300896/2016-6). J.V. was supported by the NSF (DEB1551488 and IOS-1603808). C.W. was supported by the South African National Research Foundatio

Fig. 2 in Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity

Fig. 2. Taxonomic distribution of chytridiomycosis-associated amphibian declines. Each bar represents one species, and color denotes the severity of its decline. Concentric circles indicate, from inner to outer, order (Caudata or Anura), family, and genus. Full names are given only for families and genera that include>5 and>2 species, respectively; details for all taxa are in table S4. Within each taxonomic level, sublevels are ordered alphabetically. Protruding bars indicate species for which there is evidence of recovery. [Photo credits (left to right): Telmatobius bolivianus, I.D.l.R.; Atelopus zeteki, B.G.; and Craugastor crassidigitus, B.G.