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Early adolescence and the transition to middle school bring about many challenges for students and negative outcomes are not uncommon, including academic decline and social maladjustment. This developmental period is also marked by increased risk of mental health-related difficulties. Strengthening students' social and emotional competencies through the delivery of school-based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs has been suggested as one strategy for promoting positive development and preventing negative outcomes. In particular, the delivery of developmentally appropriate and evidence-based SEL programs at the universal level of tiered supports has the potential to benefit many students. The current study presents findings from a randomized controlled trial of the Speaking to the Potential, Ability, and Resilience Inside Every Kid (SPARK) Pre-Teen Mentoring Curriculum for 357 students from two schools. Results revealed that students who received the curriculum showed significant improvements in knowledge of curriculum content and principles; communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills; emotional regulation; and resilience compared to students in the comparison condition. Results provide initial evidence for the efficacy of the SPARK Pre-Teen Mentoring Curriculum for middle school students. Study strengths and limitations as well as directions for future research and program development are discussed.

Ecological drivers of variation in the morphology of the lizard tail are understudied despite its important and varied functions in defence, locomotion, balance, climbing, and resource storage. We quantified variation in original tail shape and surface area-to-volume ratio (SA : V) in an Australian gecko clade (Oedura) and tested whether environmental variables are predictors of this variation. To use museum specimens, we developed an approach to straighten deformed preserved tails for accurate shape analysis. Tail shape varied from a relatively 'typical lizard' tail—long, tapered, and circular in cross-section—to a distinctive expanded, wide, and flat shape. Extreme versions of the latter shape seem to have evolved in parallel in two distantly related lineages. Wide tails and low SA : V ratio values occur in the Australian Monsoonal Tropics, while arid zone species all had a narrow, tapered tail with high SA : V. These data suggest expanded or bulbous tails may be analogous to succulence in plants and an adaptation for resource storage in environments with predictable peaks (wet season) and dearths (dry season) of resource availability. However, limited replicated evolution of bulbous tails precludes statistical significance in this case, and more analyses of tail anatomy in Oedura and other lizard clades are required to test this hypothesis further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zika virus (ZIKV) impacts the developing brain. Here, a technique was applied to define, in 3D, developmental changes in the brains of ZIKV-infected mice. Postnatal day 1 mice were uninfected or ZIKV-infected, then analysed by iodine staining and micro-CT scanning (diffusible iodine contrast-enhanced micro-CT; diceCT) at 3-, 6-, and 10-days post-infection (dpi). Multiple brain regions were visualised using diceCT: the olfactory bulb, cerebrum, hippocampus, midbrain, interbrain, and cerebellum, along with the lens and retina of the eye. Brain regions were computationally segmented and quantitated, with increased brain volumes and developmental time in uninfected mice. Conversely, in ZIKV-infected mice, no quantitative differences were seen at 3 or 6 dpi when there were no clinical signs, but qualitatively, diverse visual defects were identified at 6–10 dpi. By 10 dpi, ZIKV-infected mice had significantly lower body weight and reduced volume of brain regions compared to 10 dpi-uninfected or 6 dpi ZIKV-infected mice. Nissl and immunofluorescent Iba1 staining on post-diceCT tissue were successful, but RNA extraction was not. Thus, diceCT shows utility for detecting both 3D qualitative and quantitative changes in the developing brain of ZIKV-infected mice, with the benefit, post-diceCT, of retaining the ability to apply traditional histology and immunofluorescent analysis to tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-tiered system of supports provides a framework for high-quality implementation of evidence-based mental health practices by educators so that all students have access to a continuum of mental health supports based on need. The purpose of this study was to use survey data to examine 700 educators' perceptions of professional development and preparedness to implement mental health interventions within a multi-tiered system of supports. Descriptive analyses provided information about educator preparedness and access to training, resources, and coaching to support implementation of evidence-based mental health practices across tiers of supports. Further analyses revealed that access to training, resources, and coaching predicted preparedness to provide and assess mental health supports. Educators' perceptions of student access to school and community mental health supports were predicted by access to training, resources, and coaching, and support for evidence-based practices. Perceived preparedness to provide mental health supports predicted whether or not educators reported talking with students about social or emotional concerns. Implications of the findings for professional development practices and policies within multi-tiered system of school-based mental health supports are discussed.

This study provides a description of caregiver strain in a sample of caregivers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders receiving school-based services. Few studies have examined caregiver strain in school-based samples. Given poor outcomes for these youth, as well as the potentially influential role of caregiver strain in service use and engagement, understanding the caregiving experience in this population is important. The current study sought to: (1) examine the levels of the different types of caregiver strain reported by caregivers in the sample; (2) describe the level of the different types of caregiver strain reported by different groups of participants; and (3) examine the relationship between caregiver strain and various student and caregiver characteristics. This study is a secondary analysis of data collected from 243 students and their caregivers enrolled in one of two larger studies examining the effectiveness of a parent support intervention. Overall, results suggest that caregivers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders may experience strain as a result of their child's problems that goes beyond usual daily life stressors. Internalized strain directed inward toward caregivers themselves appears to be of particular importance in this population. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The purpose of the current study is to contribute to the knowledge base on the use of family education and support (FES) services by examining the longitudinal trajectories of FES receipt and multiple domains of child and family functioning. Using an extant data set of more than 9,000 youth and their caregivers, results indicate that families who received FES on entry into services had greater caregiver strain, and their children experienced greater emotional challenges than families who did not receive FES services. Furthermore, for families who received FES, the longitudinal results revealed an immediate effect of seeking additional services, decreasing caregiver strain 6 months after receipt of FES services, and improving child emotional functioning 6 to 18 months after initial receipt of FES services. The complex, lagged effects in the results are discussed in the context of the theorized cyclical course of family stress as exemplified by the Double ABCX model of adjustment and adaptation. Implications for future research of FES services are discussed, especially the need to develop a functional logic model and an operational definition of FES and its components.

Little literature exists about methods for adapting research-based treatments to typical practice settings. This report describes a 2-step process and associated methods used to adapt a school-based treatment program for middle-school youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that operates in a controlled setting to one that can operate in a typical practice setting. Step 1 included a feasibility study that yielded important findings regarding potential obstacles to successful implementation. These data, along with original treatment manuals and literature on treatments for youth with ADHD, were utilized for Step 2--the Community Development Team (CDT) process. Data collected about the CDT process indicate that its strengths outweigh potential limitations. These methods are discussed in the context of successful collaborative procedures for developing and evaluating research-based treatments in practice settings.

Community‐based organizations (CBOs) must have the capacity to adopt, implement, and sustain evidence‐based practices (EBPs). However, limited research exists examining CBOs' ability/capacity to implement EBPs. The purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate how staff of CBOs perceive implementation practice capacity, determine factors needed for adequate capacity for implementing EBPs, and examine which perspectives of capacity are shared across organizational levels. Ninety‐seven administrators and practitioners of CBOs were surveyed using the Implementation Capacity Survey, which examines perceived importance, presence, and organizational capacity of the CBO in nine implementation practice areas (IPAs) (e.g., leadership). Results revealed participants rated IPAs on the importance scale higher than IPAs on the present scale. Presence and organizational capacity scales were strongly correlated, and results showed significant differences between administrators and practitioners on ratings of presence and organizational capacity. Implications for future research aimed at examining/building implementation practice capacity in community settings will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rat is a useful laboratory model for respiratory diseases. SARS-CoV-2 proteins, such as the spike (S) protein, can induce inflammation. This study has investigated the ability of the Q498Y, P499T (QP-YT) amino acid change, described in the S-protein of the mouse-adapted laboratory SARS-CoV-2 MA strain, to interact with rat angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) and stimulate responses in rat lungs. A real-time S-ACE2 quantitative fusion assay shows that ancestral and L452R S-proteins fuse with human but not rat ACE2 expressed on HEK293 (human embryonic kidney-293) cells. The QP-YT S-protein retains the ability to fuse with human ACE2 and increases the binding to rat ACE2. Although lower lung of the rat contains both ACE2 and TMPRSS2 (transmembrane serine protease 2) target cells, intratracheal delivery of ancestral or QP-YT S-protein pseudotyped lentivirus did not induce measurable respiratory changes, inflammatory infiltration or innate mRNA responses. Isolation of primary cells from rat alveoli demonstrated the presence of cells expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Infection of these cells, however, with ancestral or QP-YT S-protein pseudotyped lentivirus was not observed, and the QP-YT S-protein pseudotyped lentivirus poorly infected HEK293 cells expressing rat ACE2. Analysis of the amino acid changes across the S-ACE2 interface highlights not only the Y498 interaction with H353 as a likely facilitator of binding to rat ACE2 but also other amino acids that could improve this interaction. Thus, rat lungs contain cells expressing receptors for SARS-CoV-2, and the QP-YT S-protein variant can bind to rat ACE2, but this does not result in infection or stimulate responses in the lung. Further, amino acid changes in S-protein may enhance this interaction to improve the utility of the rat model for defining the role of the S-protein in driving lung inflammation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors.)