Understanding vascular calcification through the lens of canonical WNT signaling

Every 37 seconds, someone in the United States dies from cardiovascular disease. Vascular calcification is one of the underlying causes of these fatal events. Medial calcification develops following arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Medial calcification is characterized by the deposition of hydroxyapatite in the medial layer of the arteries after normal vascular smooth muscle cells undergo a phenotypic switch to resemble osteoblast-like cells. It is hypothesized that this switch is caused by the wingless related (WNT)-Signaling pathway. The WNT-Signaling pathway, upon activation, causes the upregulation of osteogenic markers for the development of osteoblast-like cells. Current treatments alleviate consequences of calcification but do not address the disease. Due to a lack of cures for calcification, a novel therapy for this disease is overdue. By studying human aortic smooth muscle cells and confirming the role of WNT-Signaling as it relates to calcification, a possible therapeutic target for calcification can be identified

Social Movement Unionism: Through Teachers Unions\u27 Mobilization in Opposition to Corporate Education Reform

This thesis examines teachers’ unions transformations from a service model to a social movement unionism model in response to corporate education reform and the efficacy of their resulting strategies and campaigns in combating corporate education reform, securing gains for membership, and building a broader class-focused politics. The thesis hopes to answer these questions: How does a reform caucus unseat incumbents, and once in that position of leadership, how does a union effectively rollout a reform project that changes members’ understanding of the union and their relationship within it? How does a teachers’ social movement union build coalitions and gain public support? What strategy does a SMU take to achieve its goals, does it work, and why? Can SMU effectively challenge bipartisan corporate education reform and develop support for a new class-based politics? The paper is divided into four primary chapters based around two case studies on the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) with an introduction and conclusion. These two cases were chosen primarily as two different unions operating under similar circumstances, they are the third and second largest school districts in the continental U.S., they are both located in states considered Democratic, they have similarly underfunded schools and suffer from aggressive corporate education reform coming from the heads of the cities and schools. The unions are also two of the most successful examples of teachers union’s transforming into a SMU and each then using a comparable strategy to achieve their demands. The first chapter provides a theoretical understanding of SMU and corporate education reform to be used to provide context and a framework for analyzing the case studies. The section will first explain the rise of SMU in the U.S and its main features, then explain the ideology behind the corporate education reform agenda and then the policies and impacts of the project. The next two chapters are the two case studies and they follow the same chapter structure divided into three sections. The first section provides the context of the public schools system by examining budget crises and their causes and corporate education reform in the city. The second section tracks the reform caucus’s rise to union leadership and their internal mobilization. The third section explains the unions’ contract campaigns, strategies and actions towards the district under each leadership. The fourth chapter is the analysis of the two case studies. Following a similar structure to the previous chapters, this section analyzes the similarities and differences in first the context of the unions, then the strategy of union reform and coalition building, then each unions’ external contract campaigns. This chapter will then draw out the significant lessons from the analysis of each section and evaluate SMU as a stronger model for teachers unions and as a potential way of bring about political change

A study of the influence of preschool settings on school achievement

The purpose of this study was to examine the preschool settings of the Pearl River community and assess the effectiveness of certain preschool programs regarding the achievement of Native American kindergarten students. The data were examined to compare student achievement of the Pearl River Elementary School kindergarten class of 2006-2007 as measured by the TerraNova subtests in Reading/Language and Mathematics. A sample of n = 74 was obtained for this study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze previous preschool experiences of the participants. Demographic data showed that most students in the Pearl River Elementary School kindergarten class of 2006-2007 had attended some type of preschool. TerraNova scores for the participants were also examined. Descriptive statistics were used to examine how well the kindergarten students at Pearl River Elementary School compared with the national average. The data indicated that the kindergarteners at Pearl River Elementary School did not score as high as the national average on any of the subtests for Reading, Language, and Mathematics. A MANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis that stated that there were no statistically significant differences among the means of the TerraNova scores based upon type of preschool attended. The independent variable for the analysis was type of preschool attended. The dependent variables were the subtest scores on the TerraNova in Reading, Language, and Mathematics. Results indicated that students who had attended the Pearl River pre-kindergarten program outscored the students who had attended the Pearl River Head Start program in both Language and Mathematics subtests. Results did not indicate that there was any statistical difference in the mean of the Reading subtest based upon type of preschool attended. Recommendations for further study include obtaining another sample that would incorporate variables not used in the current study. Research should be done to examine curricular differences among pre-kindergarten, FACE, Head Start, and Day Care programs. Students should also be tracked to measure the long term effects of attending each of these programs. Alternate assessments for student achievement of preschool and kindergarten students should also be considered for further research

Oral History Interview: Florence Price McNeel and Nancy McNeel Currenee

This interview is one of a series conducted concerning rural life in West Virginia. The main focus is education. Mrs. McNeel and Mrs. Currenee, both retired school teachers, talk about the history of Marlinton, West Virginia. They also discuss World War I, the Depression, and their own education. Both were living in Charleston, West Virginia, at the time of the interview.https://mds.marshall.edu/oral_history/1126/thumbnail.jp