The Historical Representation of Native Americans within Primary- and Intermediate-Level Trade Books

State and national education initiatives require significant changes for public schools beginning at the earliest grade levels and within all content areas. Two relevant changes are the increase of non-fiction in English/language arts and the mandate for diverse texts within history/social studies. History-based trade books are a logical resource for both curricula. Teachers must rely on their discretion when selecting trade books because the initiatives do not provide curricular support. Research indicates trade books’ cultural representation and historical representation are inconsistent, yet there is a need for further research as just over a dozen empirical studies have been completed. This study examines how Native Americans are historically and culturally represented within children’s literature. It juxtaposes findings for trade books intended for primary-level and intermediate-level elementary students. Important findings include the absence of tribal names, omission of historical connections with European colonists and American citizens, an apparent decline recent publications of trade books centered on Native Americans, and a robust representation of distinct cultural traits. Teachers are offered suggestions for instructional procedures and in selection of supplementary primary sources to assist in balancing the misrepresentations

Association between Psychotic Symptoms and Cortical Thickness Reduction across the Schizophrenia Spectrum

The current study provides a complete MRI analysis of thickness throughout the cerebral cortical mantle in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and rigorously screened and matched unaffected relatives and controls and an assessment of its relation to psychopathology and subjective cognitive function. We analyzed 3D-anatomical magnetic resonance imaging data sets, obtained at 3 Tesla, from three different subject groups: 25 SZ patients, 29 first-degree relatives and 37 healthy control subjects. We computed whole-brain cortical thickness using the Freesurfer software and assessed group differences. We also acquired clinical and psychometric data. The results showed markedly reduced cortical thickness in SZ patients compared with controls, most notably in the frontal and temporal lobes, in the superior parietal lobe and several limbic areas, with intermediate levels of cortical thickness in relatives. In both patients and relatives, we found an association between subjective cognitive dysfunction and reduced thickness of frontal cortex, and predisposition towards hallucinations and reduced thickness of the superior temporal gyrus. Our findings suggest that changes in specific cortical areas may predispose to specific symptoms, as exemplified by the association between temporal cortex thinning and hallucinations

Sequential development of interleukin 2–dependent effector and regulatory T cells in response to endogenous systemic antigen

Transfer of naive antigen-specific CD4+ T cells into lymphopenic mice that express an endogenous antigen as a systemic, secreted protein results in severe autoimmunity resembling graft-versus-host disease. T cells that respond to this endogenous antigen develop into effector cells that cause the disease. Recovery from this disease is associated with the subsequent generation of FoxP3+CD25+ regulatory cells in the periphery. Both pathogenic effector cells and protective regulatory cells develop from the same antigen-specific T cell population after activation, and their generation may occur in parallel or sequentially. Interleukin (IL)-2 plays a dual role in this systemic T cell reaction. In the absence of IL-2, the acute disease is mild because of reduced T cell effector function, but a chronic and progressive disease develops late and is associated with a failure to generate FoxP3+ regulatory T (T reg) cells in the periphery. Thus, a peripheral T cell reaction to a systemic antigen goes through a phase of effector cell–mediated pathology followed by T reg cell–mediated recovery, and both require the growth factor IL-2

Aldebaran's angular diameter: how well do we know it?

The bright, well-known K5 giant Aldebaran, alpha Tau, is probably the star with the largest number of direct angular diameter determinations, achieved over a long time by several authors using various techniques. In spite of this wealth of data, or perhaps as a direct result of it, there is not a very good agreement on a single angular diameter value. This is particularly unsettling if one considers that Aldebaran is also used as a primary calibrator for some angular resolution methods, notably for optical and infrared long baseline interferometry. Directly connected to Aldebaran's angular diameter and its uncertainties is its effective temperature, which also has been used for several empirical calibrations. Among the proposed explanations for the elusiveness of an accurate determination of the angular diameter of Aldebaran are the possibility of temporal variations as well as a possible dependence of the angular diameter on the wavelength. We present here a few, very accurate new determinations obtained by means of lunar occultations and long baseline interferometry. We derive an average value of 19.96+-0.03 milliarcseconds for the uniform disk diameter. The corresponding limb-darkened value is 20.58+-0.03 milliarcseconds, or 44.2+-0.9 R(sun). We discuss this result, in connection with previous determinations and with possible problems that may affect such measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&

CCD drift-scan imaging lunar occultations: a feasible approach for sub-meter class telescopes

A CCD drift-scanning technique for lunar occultation (LO) observations is presented. While this approach has been addressed before by Sturmann (1994) for the case of large telescopes, the technical validity has never been discussed for sub-meter class telescopes. In contrast to Sturmann's scheme, the proposed technique places the CCD in the image plane of the telescope. This does not represent a problem in the case of small telescopes, where the practical angular resolution attainable by LO is not limited by aperture smoothing. Photon-generated charge is read out at millisecond rate on a column-per-column basis, as the diffraction pattern of the occulted star is being tracked. Two LO events (SAO 79031 and SAO 77911) were observed to demonstrate the feasibility of the method. Data analysis was carried out and no angular diameter the observed stars were resolved. We show, however, that the technique could be useful for close binary detections with small telescopes. A discussion of the limiting resolution and magnitude imposed by our instrumentation is carried out, showing that drift-scanning technique could be extended to 1-2m telescopes for stellar diameter determination purposes. Finally, we point out that the technical demands required by this technique can be easily met by most small professional observatories and advanced amateurs.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, uses aa.cls. Accepted for publication in A&

Widespread genetic heterogeneity in multiple myeloma: implications for targeted therapy.

We performed massively parallel sequencing of paired tumor/normal samples from 203 multiple myeloma (MM) patients and identified significantly mutated genes and copy number alterations and discovered putative tumor suppressor genes by determining homozygous deletions and loss of heterozygosity. We observed frequent mutations in KRAS (particularly in previously treated patients), NRAS, BRAF, FAM46C, TP53, and DIS3 (particularly in nonhyperdiploid MM). Mutations were often present in subclonal populations, and multiple mutations within the same pathway (e.g., KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF) were observed in the same patient. In vitro modeling predicts only partial treatment efficacy of targeting subclonal mutations, and even growth promotion of nonmutated subclones in some cases. These results emphasize the importance of heterogeneity analysis for treatment decisions

On the nature of the galactic early-B hypergiants

Despite their importance to a number of astrophysical fields, the lifecycles of very massive stars are still poorly defined. In order to address this shortcoming, we present a detailed quantitative study of the physical properties of four early-B hypergiants (BHGs); Cyg OB2 #12, zeta Sco, HD190603 and BP Cru. These are combined with an analysis of their long-term spectroscopic and photometric behaviour in order to determine their evolutionary status. The long-term datasets revealed that they are remarkably stable over long periods (>40yr), with the possible exception of zeta Sco prior to the 20th century, in contrast to the typical excursions that characterise luminous blue variables (LBVs). Zeta Sco, HD190603 and BP Cru possess physical properties intermediate between B supergiants and LBVs; we therefore suggest that BHGs are the immediate descendants and progenitors (respectively) of such stars (for initial masses in the range ~30-60Msun). In contrast, while the wind properties of Cyg OB2 #12 are consistent with this hypothesis, the combination of extreme luminosity and spectroscopic mass (~110Msun) and comparatively low temperature means it cannot be accommodated in such a scheme. Likewise, despite its co-location with several LBVs above the Humphreys-Davidson (HD) limit, the lack of long term variability and its unevolved chemistry apparently excludes such an identification. Since such massive stars are not expected to evolve to such cool temperatures, the properties of Cyg OB2 #12 are difficult to understand under current evolutionary paradigms. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 36 pages, 19 figures (of which 17 pages are online supplemental material). Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

PRC2 loss induces chemoresistance by repressing apoptosis in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The tendency of mitochondria to undergo or resist BCL2-controlled apoptosis (so-called mitochondrial priming) is a powerful predictor of response to cytotoxic chemotherapy. Fully exploiting this finding will require unraveling the molecular genetics underlying phenotypic variability in mitochondrial priming. Here, we report that mitochondria) apoptosis resistance in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is mediated by inactivation of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). In T-ALL clinical specimens, loss-of-function mutations of PRC2 core components (EZH2, FED, or SUZ12) were associated with mitochondrial apoptosis resistance. In T-ALL cells, PRC2 depletion induced resistance to apoptosis induction by multiple chemotherapeutics with distinct mechanisms of action. PRC2 loss induced apoptosis resistance via transcriptional up-regulation of the LIM domain transcription factor CRIP2 and downstream up-regulation of the mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1. These findings demonstrate the importance of mitochondrial apoptotic priming as a prognostic factor in T-ALL and implicate mitochondrial chaperone function as a molecular determinant of chemotherapy response

The Evolutionary Status of Be Stars: Results from a Photometric Study of Southern Open Clusters

Be stars are a class of rapidly rotating B stars with circumstellar disks that cause Balmer and other line emission. There are three possible reasons for the rapid rotation of Be stars: they may have been born as rapid rotators, spun up by binary mass transfer, or spun up during the main-sequence (MS) evolution of B stars. To test the various formation scenarios, we have conducted a photometric survey of 55 open clusters in the southern sky. Of these, five clusters are probably not physically associated groups and our results for two other clusters are not reliable, but we identify 52 definite Be stars and an additional 129 Be candidates in the remaining clusters. We use our results to examine the age and evolutionary dependence of the Be phenomenon. We find an overall increase in the fraction of Be stars with age until 100 Myr, and Be stars are most common among the brightest, most massive B-type stars above the zero-age MS (ZAMS). We show that a spin-up phase at the terminal-age MS (TAMS) cannot produce the observed distribution of Be stars, but up to 73% of the Be stars detected may have been spun-up by binary mass transfer. Most of the remaining Be stars were likely rapid rotators at birth. Previous studies have suggested that low metallicity and high cluster density may also favor Be star formation. Our results indicate a possible increase in the fraction of Be stars with increasing cluster distance from the Galactic center (in environments of decreasing metallicity). However, the trend is not significant and could be ruled out due to the intrinsic scatter in our data. We also find no relationship between the fraction of Be stars and cluster density.Comment: 44 pages, accepted by ApJS (minor changes to introduction, expanded conclusions per referee comments