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Objective: To assess the relationship of moderate and late preterm birth (32[superscript 0/7]-36 [superscript 6/7] weeks) to long-term educational outcomes. Study Design: We hypothesized that moderate and late preterm birth would be associated with adverse out- comes in elementary school. To test this, we linked vital statistics patient discharge data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development including birth outcomes, to the 2015-2016 school year administrative data of a large, urban school district (n = 72,316). We compared the relative risk of moderate and late preterm and term infants for later adverse neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten through the 12th grade. Results: After adjusting for socioeconomic status, compared with term birth, moderate and late preterm birth was associated with an increased risk of low performance in mathematics and English language arts, chronic absenteeism, and suspension. These risks emerged in kindergarten through grade 2 and remained in grades 3-5, but seemed to wash out in later grades, with the exception of suspension, which remained through grades 9-12. Conclusions: Confirming our hypothesis, moderate and late preterm birth was associated with adverse educational outcomes in late elementary school, indicating that it is a significant risk factor that school districts could leverage when targeting early intervention. Future studies will need to test these relations in geographically and socioeconomically diverse school districts, include a wider variety of outcomes, and consider how early interventions moderate associations between birth outcomes and educational outcomes.

Air pollution is among the world's greatest environmental health threats. Still, little strategic communication research has addressed it. We report two pre-registered experiments examining narrative and statistical message effects. Study 1 (N = 1,282, U.S.) showed little effect for either. Study 2 (N = 754, California), which accounted for potentially problematic design features of Study 1, found effects for both types across a range of attitudinal outcomes (emotional response, efficacy, risk). Narrative messaging also had a small effect on mitigation intention. Carefully designed messages may produce positive changes on this issue, but success depends on alignment between message construction, recommended behaviors, and audience relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines how Stanford University, secular in its origins, yet with a church at its center, addresses the religious and spiritual concerns of current students, whether from traditional or innovative religious backgrounds. Identified religious and spiritual needs prompt questions about the balance between the spiritual health and well-being of the individual and the expectations and responsibilities of the university. How willing are universities to encourage and respect the faith and religious traditions of individuals and communities in their midst? How can campuses honor time, space, and personal and communal sacred practice? Two of Stanford University's deans for religious life describe the challenges and changes in the past two decades in attending to the concerns and convictions of students and in educating and encouraging the university to create a vital and rich religious and spiritual campus life. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This study used a mixed methods approach to evaluate hybrid peer-assisted learning approaches incorporated into a bioinformatics tutorial for a genome annotation research project. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from undergraduates who enrolled in a research-based laboratory course during two different academic terms at UCLA. Findings indicate that a critical feature of the peer-assisted learning approach is to have near-peer leaders with genome annotation experience, allowing them to communicate technical and conceptual aspects of the process in the context of a research project (a.k.a., the "big picture"). These characteristics are important for creating connections between the wet lab experiments and the computer lab activities, engendering excitement about the research project and fostering engagement in bioinformatics as a discipline. Likewise, it is essential to couple tutorial training in genome annotation with appropriate instructional materials, providing detailed, step-by-step instructions for database navigation. Finally, the assessment results support this hybrid peer-assisted learning approach as a model for undergraduates to successfully learn bioinformatics in a course setting. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Gang membership is an indicator of chronic illicit substance use and such patterns of use may have a normalized character. Using epidemiological and qualitative data collected between 2006 and 2007, this manuscript examines the drug normalization thesis among a small sample (n=60) of gang youth aged 16-25 years from Los Angeles. Overall, while evidence does suggest that illicit drug use was pervasive among the sample, data do not support the idea that all drugs were normalized. However, findings do indicate that marijuana use was normalized. This was due to the sample's high frequency of marijuana use, wide access to marijuana, intent to use marijuana, positive attitudes about marijuana use, critical attitudes of the use of certain "hard" illicit drugs, and cultural references supportive of marijuana use. Illicit substance use among gang youth could seemingly be divided into two categories: marijuana and everything else. In this respect, the values of gang members in relation to illicit substance use appear very similar to those of youth from the general population who also use illicit substances. This questions the applicability of theories couched in pathology to understand the differential patterns of substance use among serious young offenders. (Contains 3 tables and 3 notes.)

This paper presents a qualitative analysis concerning child care practices by six African American directors of subsidized child care centers located in a low-income, racial ethnic minority area of Los Angeles, California. These programs are traditionally African American programs that experienced an influx of Latino immigrant enrollment. Using the integrative framework for children of color proposed by Garcia Coll et al. [Garcia Coll, C., Crinic, K., Lamberty, G., Wasik, B., Jenkins, R., Garcia Vazquez, H., et al. (1996). An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children. "Child Development, 67", 1891-1914], which places racial ethnicity in the center, we examined how these directors integrated professional standards of practice (developmentally appropriate practice) with community understandings of the role of preschool/child care in this community; the function of social stratification on their articulated practices; and their understanding as to how they include the Latino immigrant families. We discovered patterns that reflect a community-interpreted understanding of developmentally appropriate practice.

OBJECTIVES: 1) To assess continuity of care (CoC) within primary- care practices for children with asthma and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to children without chronic conditions, and 2) to determine patient and clinical-care factors associated with CoC. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of electronic health records from office visits of children <9 years, seen ≥4 times between 2015 and 2019 in 10 practices of a community-based primary health care network in California. Three cohorts were constructed: 1) Asthma: ≥2 visits with asthma visit diagnoses; 2) ASD: same method; 3) Controls: no chronic conditions. CoC, using Usual Provider of Care measure (range > 0-1), was calculated for 1) all visits (overall) and 2) well-care visits. Fractional regression models examined CoC adjusting for patient age, medical insurance, practice affiliation, and number of visits. RESULTS: Of 30,678 children, 1875 (6.1%) were classified with Asthma, 294 (1.0%) with ASD, and 15,465 (50.4%) as Controls. Overall CoC was lower for Asthma (Mean = 0.58, SD 0.21) and ASD (M = 0.57, SD = 0.20) than Controls (M = 0.66, SD = 0.21); differences in well-care CoC were minimal. In regression models, lower overall CoC was found for Asthma (aOR = 0.90, 95% CI, 0.85-0.94). Lower overall and well-care CoC were associated with public insurance (aOR = 0.77, CI, 0.74-0.81; aOR = 0.64, CI, 0.59-0.69). CONCLUSION: After accounting for patient and clinical-care factors, children with asthma, but not with ASD, in this primary- care network had significantly lower CoC compared to children without chronic conditions. Public insurance was the most prominent patient factor associated with low CoC, emphasizing the need to address disparities in CoC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys for the tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), a California-listed threatened species, are needed to provide essential information about its status and distribution to support conservation efforts. Surveying for the species, however, poses challenges because of its colonial nesting habits, large flock sizes, and frequent interannual movements among colony sites. We present standardized approaches for tricolored blackbird surveys to accommodate a variety of goals, including determining potential for occurrence, detecting colonies, estimating population numbers, and assessing nesting success. Pre-survey research should assess overlap with the species' geographic range and include database searches for recent and historical occurrences. Site surveys should assess availability of sufficient suitable foraging habitat (grasslands, irrigated pasture, shallow wetlands, agricultural fields) within 5 km of potential nesting habitat and nearby drinking water. Confirming presence or absence of nesting at a historical colony site, or at an area within the range of the tricolored blackbird that provides suitable nesting and foraging habitat, requires at least three surveys conducted about three weeks apart during the breeding season, generally April, May, and June in most of the species' range. Colonies can be located by searching for foraging flocks and following them to colonies and by checking for nesting activity at suitable nesting substrates, especially those used in the past. Surveyors can estimate numbers from counts of foraging flocks departing and arriving at colonies, average density and area occupied by the nesting colony, and post-nesting density transects. Colony nesting success (i.e., whether a colony successfully fledged some young), is easily determined and is often the only feasible metric to attain on reproduction. Determining reproductive success (the average number of young fledged per occupied nest) may be feasible under ideal and intensive surveys but is impractical at many colonies due to accessibility limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case pending in a federal court of appeals in California may clarify a surprisingly murky question: Do faculty members at public universities enjoy a special privilege to speak freely about institutional matters, or, as far as the First Amendment is concerned, are they just another category of government hirelings? Juan Hong, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of California at Irvine, sued the university after he was denied a merit salary increase in 2005. The denial was in retaliation, Hong alleges, for his history as a self-described "outspoken critic of university administrators on their mismanagement of their administrative responsibility." In one incident, Hong complained that too much teaching in his department was being done by lecturers rather than tenured professors. In another, he criticized his chair and dean for extending an informal employment offer to an assistant professor before a faculty vote. Hong also mounted campaigns accusing one colleague of a grant-related conflict of interest and another of misrepresenting his academic credentials. Hong claims that by denying him a raise, the university retaliated against him for exercising his free-speech rights. (The university says the decision was based on his research record.) In this article, the author discusses the implications for higher education of Hong's case.

Dead wood plays important structural and biogeochemical roles in forest ecosystem processes. Some aspects of woody debris dynamics have been carefully studied, but the decay patterns and carbon density of standing dead (SD) trees are only weakly characterized. Climbing forest mortality rates are also driving increases in the creation and abundance of SD trees. All forms of forest carbon accounting, from stand-level biomass calculations to dynamic earth systems models, are improved by a better understanding of SD tree physical and chemical traits. Using dimensional analysis, we described the patterns of density, carbon concentration, and net carbon density in decaying SD trees of six California mixed conifer species. As decay class advanced, trees showed a progressively lower density and a small increase in carbon concentration. Net carbon density of the most decayed SD trees was only 60% that of live trees. The key characteristics of SD trees that determine these patterns are species, surface to volume ratio, and relative position within the tree. The decay of SD trees and how deadwood biomass is estimated in large scale inventories also have repercussions in greenhouse gas accounting. When the measured changes in carbon density are applied to SD carbon stock estimates for California mixed conifer forests, the decay-adjusted estimates are 3.66–3.74 Tg (18%) lower than estimates that do not incorporate change due to decay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an ever-expanding number of analytics with the potential to impact clinical care, the field currently lacks point-of-care technological tools that allow clinicians to efficiently select disease-relevant data about their patients, algorithmically derive clinical indices (eg, risk scores), and view these data in straightforward graphical formats to inform real-time clinical decisions. Thus far, solutions to this problem have relied on either bottom-up approaches that are limited to a single clinic or generic top-down approaches that do not address clinical users' specific setting-relevant or disease-relevant needs. As a road map for developing similar platforms, we describe our experience with building a custom but institution-wide platform that enables economies of time, cost, and expertise. The BRIDGE platform was designed to be modular and scalable and was customized to data types relevant to given clinical contexts within a major university medical center. The development process occurred by using a series of human-centered design phases with extensive, consistent stakeholder input. This institution-wide approach yielded a unified, carefully regulated, cross-specialty clinical research platform that can be launched during a patient's electronic health record encounter. The platform pulls clinical data from the electronic health record (Epic; Epic Systems) as well as other clinical and research sources in real time; analyzes the combined data to derive clinical indices; and displays them in simple, clinician-designed visual formats specific to each disorder and clinic. By integrating an application into the clinical workflow and allowing clinicians to access data sources that would otherwise be cumbersome to assemble, view, and manipulate, institution-wide platforms represent an alternative approach to achieving the vision of true personalized medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health information is increasingly being disseminated online, but there is a knowledge gap between Latinos and non-Hispanic whites, particularly those whose English language proficiency is poor, in terms both of online health information-seeking behavior and computer literacy skills. This knowledge gap may also exist between US- and foreign-born Latinos.Objective: The specific aim of this study was to examine Internet use, online health information-seeking behavior, and confidence in filling out online forms among Latinos, particularly as it relates to health-risk behaviors. We then stratified our sample by nativity.Methods: We used the adult population file of the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey, analyzing Internet use, online health information-seeking behavior, and confidence in filling out online forms using binary logistic regression among Latinos and whites (N=27,289), Latinos (n=9506), and Latinos who use the Internet (n=6037).Results: Foreign-born Latinos (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.58-0.88, P=.002) have lower odds of engaging in online health information-seeking behavior, and higher odds (OR 2.90, 95% CI 2.07-4.06, P<.001) of reporting a lack of confidence in filling out online forms compared to US-born Latinos. Correlates of online health information-seeking behavior and form confidence varied by nativity.Conclusions: Latinos, particularly foreign-born individuals, are at an increased risk of being left behind as the move to increase online content delivery and care expands. As online health information dissemination and online health portals become more popular, the impact of these sites on Latino gaps in coverage and care should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]