Learning Support for Adult Nontraditional Learners on Campus in a Southeastern University

The problem at the southeastern university study site is that adult nontraditional learners taking classes on campus are graduating at a low rate, which may indicate a lack of needed support services. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the learning support needs of adult nontraditional learners and institutional support provided and used as well as to make recommendations to eventually increase the graduation rate of this population at the study site. Tinto’s theory of student retention, specifically the aspects of institutional experiences and integrations, was used as the conceptual framework. The three research questions focused on the learning support needs of adult nontraditional learners, support services provided and used, and recommendations of needed supports provided by the participants. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 12 adult nontraditional learners attending classes at the study site. Data were analyzed using open and axial coding, resulting in five emerging themes. The five themes were: students are unaware of what services are offered by the university, the hours that the student support services are open are not conducive for adult learners, staff and faculty need to understand adult learners, increased mental health support, and additional support and encouragement. Based on these themes, a policy recommendation paper was developed to present to the chancellor and the Board of Directors that may lead to positive social change through the implementation of needed supports that result in increasing the graduation rate of adult nontraditional learners at the study site

Learning Support for Adult Nontraditional Learners on Campus in a Southeastern University

The problem at the southeastern university study site is that adult nontraditional learners taking classes on campus are graduating at a low rate, which may indicate a lack of needed support services. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the learning support needs of adult nontraditional learners and institutional support provided and used as well as to make recommendations to eventually increase the graduation rate of this population at the study site. Tinto’s theory of student retention, specifically the aspects of institutional experiences and integrations, was used as the conceptual framework. The three research questions focused on the learning support needs of adult nontraditional learners, support services provided and used, and recommendations of needed supports provided by the participants. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 12 adult nontraditional learners attending classes at the study site. Data were analyzed using open and axial coding, resulting in five emerging themes. The five themes were: students are unaware of what services are offered by the university, the hours that the student support services are open are not conducive for adult learners, staff and faculty need to understand adult learners, increased mental health support, and additional support and encouragement. Based on these themes, a policy recommendation paper was developed to present to the chancellor and the Board of Directors that may lead to positive social change through the implementation of needed supports that result in increasing the graduation rate of adult nontraditional learners at the study site

Extended analysis of a genome-wide association study in primary sclerosing cholangitis detects multiple novel risk loci.

A limited number of genetic risk factors have been reported in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). To discover further genetic susceptibility factors for PSC, we followed up on a second tier of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a genome-wide association study (GWAS). We analyzed 45 SNPs in 1221 PSC cases and 3508 controls. The association results from the replication analysis and the original GWAS (715 PSC cases and 2962 controls) were combined in a meta-analysis comprising 1936 PSC cases and 6470 controls. We performed an analysis of bile microbial community composition in 39 PSC patients by 16S rRNA sequencing. Seventeen SNPs representing 12 distinct genetic loci achieved nominal significance (p(replication) <0.05) in the replication. The most robust novel association was detected at chromosome 1p36 (rs3748816; p(combined)=2.1 × 10(-8)) where the MMEL1 and TNFRSF14 genes represent potential disease genes. Eight additional novel loci showed suggestive evidence of association (p(repl) <0.05). FUT2 at chromosome 19q13 (rs602662; p(comb)=1.9 × 10(-6), rs281377; p(comb)=2.1 × 10(-6) and rs601338; p(comb)=2.7 × 10(-6)) is notable due to its implication in altered susceptibility to infectious agents. We found that FUT2 secretor status and genotype defined by rs601338 significantly influence biliary microbial community composition in PSC patients. We identify multiple new PSC risk loci by extended analysis of a PSC GWAS. FUT2 genotype needs to be taken into account when assessing the influence of microbiota on biliary pathology in PSC.Norwegian PSC Research Center German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the National Genome Research Network (NGFN) Integrated Research and Treatment Center - Transplantation 01EO0802 PopGen biobank NIH DK 8496

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts