Search

The time students spend actively engaged with instruction is positively correlated with their academic achievement (Dotterer and Lowe in J Youth Adolesc 40:1649-1660, 2011). Conversely, the time spent transitioning between activities is inversely related to the time spent in productive learning activities, thus limiting opportunities for student engagement (Cameron et al. in J Sch Psychol 43:61-85, 2005; Codding and Smyth in J Educ Psychol Consult 18:325-345, 2008). As such, there is a need for behavioral interventions that facilitate effective and efficient transitions. In this applied study, teachers and students implemented an interdependent group contingency to decrease durations of between-class transitions in 4 elementary school classrooms. The treatment package included explicit timing, visual performance feedback, and progressive performance criteria (Brogan et al. in Behav Modif 41:405-421, 2017) in which each class had to outperform its prior shortest transition time to earn rewards. Treatment effects were examined using an ABAB design. Classes demonstrated high implementation fidelity and teachers generally reported high acceptability of the intervention, although correspondence between indirect and direct measures of social validity varied., Author(s): Paige E. McArdle [sup.1], Meara X. H. McMahon [sup.1], Scott P. Ardoin [sup.1], Cary E. Trump [sup.1], Maggie A. Molony [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.264978.6, 0000 0000 9564 9822, [...]

Behavioral Momentum Theory (BMT) is often described as analogous to Newton's (1687) laws of motion. That is to say, similar to an object in motion continuing in motion unless acted upon by a force, responses occurring in a static environment will continue to occur at the same rate, unless presented with a disruptor (Nevin, Tota, Torquato, & Shull, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 53, 359-379, 1990). When evaluating response rates through a behavioral momentum framework, responding continuing after a change in reinforcer conditions is said to persist. Previous research conducted with nonhuman animals indicates greater response persistence following conditions with either higher reinforcer rates or higher reinforcer magnitudes (Nevin, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 21(3), 389-408, 1974; Nevin et al, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 53, 359-379, 1990). Although BMT's implications extend across human and nonhuman species, this literature review attempts to provide practitioners and researchers information regarding response persistence across various conditions with human participants. Keywords Behavioral Momentum Theory * response persistence * response strength * disruptors * behavioral mass, Much of the Behavior Momentum Theory (BMT) literature compares Newton's first and second laws of motion (Newton, 1687) to the behavior of organisms (Nevin et al., 1990). Newton's first law [...]

Recent studies reveal that airway epithelial cells are critical pulmonary circadian pacemaker cells, mediating rhythmic inflammatory responses. Using mouse models, we now identify the rhythmic circadian repressor REV-ERB[alpha] as essential to the mechanism coupling the pulmonary clock to innate immunity, involving both myeloid and bronchial epithelial cells in temporal gating and determining amplitude of response to inhaled endotoxin. Dual mutation of REV- ERB[alpha] and its paralog REV-ERB[beta] in bronchial epithelia further augmented inflammatory responses and chemokine activation, but also initiated a basal inflammatory state, revealing a critical homeostatic role for REV-ERB proteins in the suppression of the endogenous proinflammatory mechanism in unchallenged cells. However, REV-ERB[alpha] plays the dominant role, as deletion of REV-ERB[beta] alone had no impact on inflammatory responses. In turn, inflammatory challenges cause striking changes in stability and degradation of REV-ERB[alpha] protein, driven by SUMOylation and ubiquitination. We developed a novel selective oxazole-based inverse agonist of REV-ERB, which protects REV-ERB[alpha] protein from degradation, and used this to reveal how proinflammatory cytokines trigger rapid degradation of REV- ERB[alpha] in the elaboration of an inflammatory response. Thus, dynamic changes in stability of REV-ERB[alpha] protein couple the core clock to innate immunity., Introduction Protection of pulmonary mucosal surfaces from infection requires complex interplay between the airway epithelial cells and mono-nuclear phagocyte populations both resident within the lung (1). Airway macrophages function as [...]

Introduction: Spousal support is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of Type 2 diabetes treatment adherence. However, the effects of both spouses' evaluations of dyadic coping on emotional distress and patients' physical health remain largely unknown. Method: Dyadic data from 117 married couples in which one member is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes were evaluated in two separate models to explore the associations between (a) patients' and spouses' depression symptoms and patients' adherence to dietary and exercise regimens, and (b) patients' and spouses' acute stress levels and patients' adherence to dietary and exercise regimens. Finally, evaluative dyadic coping was included as a possible moderator between these associations. Results: Results from an actor-partner interdependence model revealed significant actor effects of patients' depression symptoms on patients' adherence to dietary and exercise regimens. Spouses' evaluation of dyadic coping attenuated the direct paths between spouses' depression symptoms and patients' adherence to dietary regimens. No direct pathways were found from patients' or spouses' acute stress to patients' adherence to dietary and exercise regimens. However, spouses' evaluation of dyadic coping attenuated the direct paths between spouses' acute stress and patients' adherence to dietary regimens. Discussion: Tapping into spouses' evaluations of dyadic coping has significant implications for patients' diabetes health outcomes (e.g., adherence to dietary and exercise treatment regimens). Findings from this study highlight the need for systemic interventions targeting both partners. Keywords: couples, diabetes, evaluative coping, emotional distress, spousal support, Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a burgeoning health condition afflicting approximately 387 million people worldwide (International Diabetes Federation, 2015). Effective management includes adherence to strict dietary and exercise guidelines, which [...]

In her 1930 essay 'On Being Ill,' Virginia Woolf laments the absence of a literature of illness. 'Considering how common illness is,' she writes, 'how tremendous the spiritual change that [...]

Introduction: Maintaining optimal self-care in managing Type 2 diabetes is a common struggle for patients due to several barriers, including access to quality services, financial insecurity and/or lack of insurance, [...]

Introduction: Research examining the implementation and effectiveness of integrated behavioral health (BH) care in family medicine/primary care is growing. However, research identifying ways to consistently use integrated BH in busy [...]

We examine the effect of a sudden influx of government spending, the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on support for the president's party. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that stimulus spending had a modest positive effect on Democratic vote share but only in counties that were already Democratic leaning. In Republican counties, by contrast, government spending had a small, but significant negative effect on Democratic vote share. That is to say, ARRA polarized already partisan places. These results have important implications for the study of voter responsiveness to government spending and the measurement of the political effects of policy visibility., Upon signing the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law, President Obama said, 'We expect you, the American people, to hold us accountable for the results' of the [...]

Severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) is often associated with inherited heterozygous point mutations in ELANE, which encodes neutrophil elastase (NE). However, a lack of appropriate models to recapitulate SCN has substantially hampered the understanding of the genetic etiology and pathobiology of this disease. To this end, we generated both normal and SCN patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and performed genome editing and differentiation protocols that recapitulate the major features of granulopoiesis. Pathogenesis of ELANE point mutations was the result of promyelocyte death and differentiation arrest, and was associated with NE mislocalization and activation of the unfolded protein response/ER stress (UPR/ER stress). Similarly, high-dose G-CSF (or downstream signaling through AKT/BCL2) rescues the dysgranulopoietic defect in SCN patient-derived iPSCs through C/EBPβ-dependent emergency granulopoiesis. In contrast, sivelestat, an NE-specific small-molecule inhibitor, corrected dysgranulopoiesis by restoring normal intracellular NE localization in primary granules; ameliorating UPR/ER stress; increasing expression of CEBPA, but not CEBPB; and promoting promyelocyte survival and differentiation. Together, these data suggest that SCN disease pathogenesis includes NE mislocalization, which in turn triggers dysfunctional survival signaling and UPR/ER stress. This paradigm has the potential to be clinically exploited to achieve therapeutic responses using lower doses of G-CSF combined with targeting to correct NE mislocalization., Introduction Severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) is a rare myelopoietic disorder resulting in recurrent life-threatening infections due to a lack of mature neutrophils (1). Individuals with SCN have myeloid hypoplasia with [...]

Author(s): Igor Linkov; Benjamin D. Trump; Jeffrey Keisler 'Risk' and 'resilience' are fundamentally different concepts that are often conflated. Yet maintaining the distinction is a policy necessity. Applying a risk-based [...]

Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) by environmental xenobiotic toxic chemicals, for instance 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin), has been implicated in a variety of cellular processes such as embryogenesis, transformation, tumorigenesis and inflammation. But the identity of an endogenous ligand activating the AHR under physiological conditions in the absence of environmental toxic chemicals is still unknown. Here we identify the tryptophan (Trp) catabolite kynurenine (Kyn) as an endogenous ligand of the human AHR that is constitutively generated by human tumour cells via tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase (TDO), a liver- and neuron-derived Trp-degrading enzyme not yet implicated in cancer biology. TDO-derived Kyn suppresses antitumour immune responses and promotes tumour-cell survival and motility through the AHR in an autocrine/paracrine fashion. The TDO-AHR pathway is active in human brain tumours and is associated with malignant progression and poor survival. Because Kyn is produced during cancer progression and inflammation in the local microenvironment in amounts sufficient for activating the human AHR, these results provide evidence for a previously unidentified pathophysiological function of the AHR with profound implications for cancer and immune biology., Degradation of Trpby indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenases 1 and 2 (IDO1/2) in tumours and tumour-draining lymph nodes inhibits antitumour immune responses (1-5) and is associated with a poor prognosis in various malignancies (6). [...]

HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitors (statins) influence lipid metabolism and have pleiotropic effects. Several statins reduce various forms of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in animal models. The relationship between atorvastatin and expression of serotonin transporter protein (5-HTT) remains unknown. This study focused on the effects of atorvastatin on the course of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PH and its relation to 5-HTT expression. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were challenged with MCT with or without subsequent daily oral treatment with 0.1, 1, and 10 mg/kg of atorvastatin for 28 days. Over the 4-wk course, the progression of PH was followed by transthoracic echocardiography [pulmonary artery pressure was assessed by pulmonary artery flow acceleration time (PAAT), an estimate reciprocal to pulmonary artery pressure], and, at the end of the 4-wk course, invasive right ventricular pressure, right ventricular weight, quantitative morphology, and 5-HTT expression were measured. MCT caused significant PH as early as 7 days after injection. Atorvastatin treatment increased PAAT and reduced right ventricular pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, and vascular remodeling over the 4-wk course. MCT challenge was associated with increased pulmonary vascular 5-HTT expression, and atorvastatin treatment reduced the 5-HTT expression. MCT-induced PH over the course of 4 wk can be easily followed by transthoracic echocardiography, and atorvastatin is effective in reducing the PH. Atorvastatin's effects are associated with a decrease of 5-HTT expression. monocrotaline; HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitor, 5-HTT, 5-HT

Activation of the noncanonical NF-[kappa]B signaling pathway involved in the proteolytic processing of NF-[kappa]B p100 to p52 is tightly regulated, and overproduction of p52 leads to lymphocyte hyperplasia and transformation. We have demonstrated that active but not latent Stat3, expressed in many types of human cancers involved in cell proliferation and survival, induces p100 processing to p52 by activation of IKK[alpha] and subsequent phosphorylation of p100. The Stat3-mediated p100 processing to p52 requires activation of Stat3 by the acetyltransferase activity of cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB)-binding protein (CBP)/p300. A mutant of Stat3 defective in acetylation blocked Stat3-mediated p100 processing to p52 and acted as a dominant negative in blocking the production of p52. Furthermore, overexpression of p52 protected ceils from apoptotic cell death. Thus, activation of the processing of p100 to p52 by Stat3 may represent one of the common pathways used by cancer cells to survive and escape therapy. apoptosis | cancer | cell signal | prostate

Letter to the Editor, Author(s): Benjamin D. Trump, Igor Linkov, William Hynes Author Affiliations: Combine resilience and efficiency in post-COVID societies As countries prepare to remodel themselves after the COVID-19 pandemic, they must tackle [...]

We present results of dual-polarized radar scattering measurements of the Chesapeake Bay outflow plume. Near-unity polarization ratios (ratios of horizontally polarized radar echoes over vertically polarized ones) are observed in large incidence angle (60[degrees] to 80[degrees]) radar echoes from the outflow plume and its frontal boundary (normally referred to as a front) under strong surface current convergence (0.008-0.02 [S.sup.-1]), suggesting the existence of steepened and breaking waves in the regions. Cumulative distribution functions of the horizontally polarized radar returns from the front show approximately 90% of the radar echoes are from steepened and breaking waves. Vertically polarized echoes do not show this effect. These experimental results substantiate early modeling investigators' speculation of featured scattering contributing to horizontally polarized radar signatures of oceanic fronts. Our results also suggest that horizontal radar polarization can be used to remotely sense additional hydrodynamic processes such as wave trapping, blocking, and breaking near oceanic fronts better than what is possible with only vertical polarization. Index Terms--Polarization, radar imaging, sea coast.

Giving patients with bladder cancer chemotherapy followed by surgery may improve their outcome, according to a study of 307 patients. Patients who received this combined treatment survived an average of six years whereas those treated with surgery only survived an average of four years. The chemotherapy included methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin.

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis of the Okazaki fragment containing a single gemcitabine substitution shows alteration in electrostatic properties in terms of the electron density enhancement at the germinal difluoro group. Furthermore, it alters the structural and thermodynamic properties of DNA.

An inversion algorithm for inferring the surface velocity field of buoyant plume frontal features from observed radar imagery has been developed [7]-[9]. The inversion technique is based upon an assumption, suggested by Alpers and Hennings' (AH) relaxation model [1], that near strongly convergent fronts, the radar cross-section (RCS) should be proportional to the component of the local current gradient that is directed along the radar-look direction. However, at X-band, the technique only works when wave-breaking (WB) effects, which are not included in AH model, are incorporated using a recently developed model [2], [3]. This WB model successfully reproduces the magnitude of the signature in images of the plume front at higher frequencies (X-band), where it is known [3]-[5] that the AH model is deficient. WB effects play a dominant role in the backscatter associated with frontal regions with strong surface convergence fields. These results suggest that the enhancements of radar backscatter in the vicinity of strongly-convergent fronts are proportional to the local current-convergence but that the underlying scattering process involves WB in a manner that cannot be understood from the AH model. Results are presented for the estimated velocity field derived from radar imagery of the Chesapeake Bay plume front [6]. Preliminary considerations [7] of the convergence and uniqueness of the inversion technique are extended by means of a controlled numerical experiment involving the inversion of a prescribed input velocity field. Index Terms--Convergence, inversion, ocean fronts, velocity field, wave breaking.

The problem of estimating a linear trend in noise is examined, with noise being considered as an inependent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) random process with exponential distribution.

Byline: Bruce J. Giantonio (1), Howard Hochster (2), Ronald Blum (2), Peter H. Wiernik (3), Gary R. Hudes (4), John Kirkwood (5), Donald Trump (5), Martin M. Oken (6) Keywords: poly I-C; interferon inducers; renal carcinoma; lymphoma Abstract: Purpose: Phase II studies were conducted toevaluate the safety and efficacy of the interferon inducerPoly ICLC at low doses in advanced renal cancer and relapsedor refractory lymphoma. Patients and methods:Twenty-nine patients with advanced renal carcinoma and elevenpatients with lymphoma were treated with poly ICLC. Patientsreceived 0.25 mg/m.sup.2 of poly ICLC intravenouslytwice weekly three days apart until progression orunacceptable toxicity. Results: There were noobjective responses. Six patients with renal carcinoma hadstable disease as best response with one patient receiving 62weeks of therapy. Toxicity included grade 3 anemia in 8patients and grade 4 anemia in one patient. All patients wereanemic prior to entry with a median grade 2 anemia atbaseline. Grade 4 neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and injectionsite pain occurred in one patient each. Grade 3 fever, chillsor fatigue occurred in four, three, and three patientsrespectively. Any grade fever occurred in 10 patients(25.6%) and any grade chills occurred in 9 patients(23.1%). Conclusion: Poly ICLC at this doseand schedule is well tolerated in both patient populations andis inactive in renal carcinoma. Author Affiliation: (1) University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (2) New York University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA (3) Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA (4) Fox Chase Cancer center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (5) University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (6) Virginia Piper Cancer Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Article History: Registration Date: 11/10/2004

Therapy to suppress male sex hormones appears to be beneficial for men with prostate cancer who have had their prostate removed. Sex hormones can often stimulate cancers. Researchers randomly assigned 98 men with prostate cancer who had their prostate removed to have anti-androgen therapy or no further treatment. At the last follow-up, 77% of the men who received anti-androgen therapy were alive and well compared to 18% of the men who did not. Men who received anti-androgen therapy were also less likely to have a relapse.