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Despite decades of clinical use, mechanisms of glucocorticoid resistance are poorly understood. We treated primary murine T lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs) with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) alone and in combination with the pan-PI3 kinase inhibitor GDC-0941 and observed a robust response to DEX that was modestly enhanced by GDC-0941. Continuous in vivo treatment invariably resulted in outgrowth of drug-resistant clones, ~30% of which showed markedly reduced glucocorticoid receptor (GR) protein expression. A similar proportion of relapsed human T-ALLs also exhibited low GR protein levels. De novo or preexisting mutations in the gene encoding GR (Nr3c1) occurred in relapsed clones derived from multiple independent parental leukemias. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing confirmed that loss of GR expression confers DEX resistance. Exposing drug-sensitive T-ALLs to DEX in vivo altered transcript levels of multiple genes, and this response was attenuated in relapsed T-ALLs. These data implicate reduced GR protein expression as a frequent cause of glucocorticoid resistance in T-ALL.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey of opportunities to participate (OtP) in science that will allow educators and researchers to closely approximate the types of learning opportunities students have in science classrooms. Additionally, we examined whether and how opportunity gaps in science learning may exist across schools with different socioeconomic levels. The OtP in science survey consists of four dimensions that include acquiring foundational knowledge, planning an investigation, conducting an investigation, and using evidence to communicate findings. A total of 1214 middle school students across 8 diverse school districts completed the survey. Tests of reliability, construct validity, measurement invariance, and external validity were conducted using data collected at the beginning and end of the school year. Results showed evidence that the OtP in science survey scores were internally reliable, invariant across school socioeconomic groups across and time points (i.e., lacking systematic biases in responses by group or time point), and externally valid. Given that scores from the survey were reliable and valid indicators of the four dimensions of interest, structural invariance tests were conducted to examine possible differences in OtP in science across schools from high, middle, and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Findings demonstrate specific ways opportunity gaps to learn science manifest in lower income schools. We discuss the implications of these gaps for science instruction, professional development, policy, and diverse students' interest and achievement in science, and propose several lines of future study.

Although the use of active learning pedagogies in college science courses has been demonstrated to improve student learning and engagement, lecture-based methods still feature predominantly across university courses. Often lacking meaningful opportunities to learn about and test out new pedagogies, faculty have been slow to adopt and enact new teaching practices. Partnerships in which faculty facilitate teacher professional development may provide an important space for faculty learning and innovation related to college instruction. There is a large body of research examining the impact of such partnerships on teacher instructional change; however, few studies consider the impact of these programs on the instructional practices of science faculty. Moreover, existing studies lack theoretical frames to elucidate the various processes that shape faculty adoption of new teaching practices. This qualitative study examines the processes by which science faculty reshape their pedagogical practices through facilitating professional development for K-12 teachers, and how individual characteristics, social interactions, and organizational contexts influence their choices. We use a theoretical framework that affords an understanding of the iterative process and multiple factors that influence shifts in instructional practice. Implications of findings for grant-writing and professional development that foster opportunities for relationship building and learning among faculty and teachers are discussed.

Although a growing body of work addresses the current role of neoliberalism in displacing democratic equality as a goal of public education, attempts to parse such impacts rarely draw from historical accounts. At least one tenet of neoliberalism--the application of business models to public institutions--was also pervasive at the turn of the 20th century. A comparison between the two eras sheds needed light on the mechanisms by which business models displace educational goals. Using science education as a context, this paper draws from historical, theoretical and empirical studies to demonstrate how business paradigms disrupt science education goals related to preparation for democratic participation and equity. As evidence, this paper draw upon historical accounts, as well as findings from a mixed-methods study of how accountability and related institutionalization of business models impacts equity in elementary science education. Institutional theory provides a framework for interpreting the mechanisms of disruption in both eras.

Instructional reform in the United States is often accompanied by financial investment. Recent evidence suggests that such funding can improve educational outcomes; however, unexplained heterogeneity in the relationship between resources and outcomes has led to calls for research on the processes by which resources translate into instructional improvement. In responding to this call, this case study unmasks the complex processes by which funding and other resources are translated into opportunities for science-specific professional learning and the intervening resources that mediate that translation. Results reveal that organizational structures and policies, including aligned schedules, cored math and science teachers, substitute teacher availability, and initiative alignment, played a central role in facilitating or impeding professional learning opportunities. However, each of these organizational structures was in turn facilitated by other elements of capacity, including external funding and resources in the cultural (e.g., shared vision) and social (e.g., relationships) dimensions.

Although 20 states have adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), 24 other states have developed their own K-12 science standards based on the same National Research Council (NRC) Framework. Understanding what influences content standards developers, realizing the supports and impediments to implementation they foresee, and knowing their rationales for implementing standards is important because these elements potentially affect their contributions and may have repercussions throughout the educational system. Forty-four developers of one state's NRC Framework-based science standards indicated the degree to which they were affected by educational system influencers (e.g., accountability), by their beliefs, values, and experiences, and by consideration of others (e.g., administrators). Developers described rationales they think others will have for supporting and being concerned about new science standards and their personal rationales for supporting new science standards. Among results, developers were substantially influenced by considerations of educators interpreting new standards and designing curriculum. Developers' experiences with teaching science and implementing standards weighed considerably more on their minds than considerations about administrators or colleagues. Developers believe new science standards possess tremendous intrinsic value but also believe others will primarily leverage rationales that new science standards are connected to state assessments and accountability as means to obtain teacher buy-in.

The environmental education (EE) field has encountered persistent challenges in fostering the integration of EE practices in public schools, a challenge that may be addressed through integration of EE with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in the United States. In addition to the potential for fostering EE, the integration of EE and NGSS may provide a unique set of conditions for understanding how and why teachers shift their practice to incorporate more EE in their classrooms. Using a mixed methodology research design, this study examines the outcomes and processes of a professional development institute that integrated NGSS and student-driven environmental stewardship. This study provides evidence that integrating NGSS Science and Engineering Practices with stewardship may help infuse EE into classrooms. The research also contributes to theoretical understanding of the processes by which professional development shapes teacher change within an organizational context. Specifically, teacher instructional change was predicated on a shift in their beliefs that stewardship was possible in a standards and accountability-based educational context. The requisite shift in beliefs came about through the expectations and supportive resources provided by the professional development, teacher observation of student engagement, and the justification NGSS integration provided for stewardship activities.

In response to the increasing recognition of the need for sustainable food systems, research on students' and educators' knowledge of food systems and sustainability more broadly has grown but has generally focused on what people "fail" to understand. Moving away from this deficit approach, the present study used semi-structured interviews to explore how 12 pre-service teachers (PSTs) in the US consider sustainability in terms of the trade-offs--or concurrent costs and benefits--associated with using different agricultural resources over short, medium, and long terms. Drawing upon the constructs of framing, metacognition, and complex causality, the study found that the majority of PSTs referred to indirect experiences of seeing or hearing about agricultural resources to demonstrate stable knowledge of short-term trade-offs and construct tentative knowledge about medium-term trade-offs. Few described long-term trade-offs. Most participants also acknowledged some gaps in their knowledge in discussing trade-offs across the different time scales. Findings suggest the importance of leveraging and building upon educators' (and ultimately students') prior experiences to build their understanding of complex trade-offs that underlie food systems. The study also illustrates the value of using the concept of trade-offs across time scales to explore people's conceptions and understandings of sustainability.

The potential benefits of teacher leadership are widely acknowledged; however, the conceptualization of this construct is in need of theoretical development and analytic clarification. The purpose of this mixed methodology study was to operationalize distinct types of teacher leadership into an organized typology, based on case studies of teacher leaders in a science education project. In addition, through confirmatory factor analysis, evidence for factors representing the distinct types of teacher leadership identified in the typology was found in a general teacher leadership survey. Implications for teacher leadership research and practice are discussed.

Many resources have been committed to research on science teaching pedagogies, resulting in a robust understanding of best instructional practices. Yet, exposure to excellent science instruction in elementary school is haphazard at best and often inequitable. Although the research community has attended to the role of teacher traits, such as attitude and preparation, very little research examines the role of policy and context in constraining or supporting such best practices at the elementary level. This study attempts to fill this need through a multilevel model of how teacher traits, socioeconomic context (SE context), and accountability pressures predict students' opportunity to engage in hands-on and laboratory science education. Results indicate accountability pressure eclipsed all other predictors, including SE context, in accounting for variance in the model. Final analysis indicates that teachers at high accountability pressure schools spent about 60% less time using hands-on and laboratory teaching methods than teachers at lower accountability pressure schools, an equity issue given the distribution of underrepresented students. Teacher traits including professional development, experience, attitude, and degree were insignificant in the model. This has implications for efforts to improve elementary science education in the United States, as research and national priorities have been focused primarily on teacher development.

Ambitious efforts are taking place to implement a new vision for science education in the United States, in both Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-adopted states and those states creating their own, often related, standards. In-service and pre-service teacher educators are involved in supporting teacher shifts in practice toward the new standards. With these efforts, it will be important to document shifts in science instruction toward the goals of NGSS and broader science education reform. Survey instruments are often used to capture instructional practices; however, existing surveys primarily measure inquiry based on previous definitions and standards and with a few exceptions, disregard key instructional practices considered outside the scope of inquiry. A comprehensive survey and a clearly defined set of items do not exist. Moreover, items specific to the NGSS Science and Engineering practices have not yet been tested. To address this need, we developed and validated a Science Instructional Practices survey instrument that is appropriate for NGSS and other related science standards. Survey construction was based on a literature review establishing key areas of science instruction, followed by a systematic process for identifying and creating items. Instrument validity and reliability were then tested through a procedure that included cognitive interviews, expert review, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (using independent samples), and analysis of criterion validity. Based on these analyses, final subscales include: Instigating an Investigation, Data Collection and Analysis, Critique, Explanation and Argumentation, Modeling, Traditional Instruction, Prior Knowledge, Science Communication, and Discourse.

Middle school has been documented as the period in which a drop in students' science interest and achievement occurs. This trend indicates a lack of motivation for learning science; however, little is known about how different aspects of motivation interact with student engagement and science learning outcomes. This study examines the relationships among motivational factors, engagement, and achievement in middle school science (grades 6-8). Data were obtained from middle school students in the United States (N?=?2,094). The theoretical relationships among motivational constructs, including self-efficacy, and three types of goal orientations (mastery, performance approach, and performance avoid) were tested. The results showed that motivation is best modeled as distinct intrinsic and extrinsic factors; lending evidence that external, performance based goal orientations factor separately from self-efficacy and an internal, mastery based goal orientation. Second, a model was tested to examine how engagement mediated the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors and science achievement. Engagement mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and science achievement, whereas extrinsic motivation had no relationship with engagement and science achievement. Implications for how classroom practice and educational policy emphasize different student motivations, and in turn, can support or hinder students' science learning are discussed.

Nationally, both science and agricultural education professional organizations have identified agriculture as a fundamental technology to be studied by students, with the goal of achieving an understanding of the agri-food system necessary for democratic participation. Benchmarks representing the content that K-12 children need to understand about the scientific and technological underpinnings of the agri-food system have been developed by agricultural and science educators. However, the benchmarks were developed without empirically based evidence on what existing agri-food system knowledge students held. This study examines students' understandings about science and technology concepts underpinning benchmarks for agricultural literacy. Urban upper elementary student concepts of the origins of food, the selection of plants and animals used for production, how people living in harsh environments obtain crops, and the prevention of food spoilage were probed. Using Piaget's theory of schema development, students' understanding of agricultural technology were compared to grade-specific benchmarks for agricultural literacy and examined for relationship to students' backgrounds and experiences. In comparison to the benchmark goals for the age group, informants' schema for the role that science and technology plays in the agri-food industry was nearly nonexistent. This study suggests that existing agricultural literacy benchmarks, as designed, may not be age and/or developmentally appropriate. Additional suggestions indicate that underlying sub-concepts needed for learner understanding may only be loosely connected to any meaningful experience of urban elementary students. (Contains 6 tables.)

There has been substantial academic interest surrounding innovation, change management and the individual attributes that permit and promote learning, organisational change and innovative behaviour. This research uses a psychometric tool known as the Instinctive Drives System[R] to measure preferred working styles in 3943 employees from a range of international companies. These employees were then classified into three groups (engineers, operators and executives) following Schein's classification of occupational subcultures. This study reveals significant differences between the occupational subcultures, suggesting that executives are more inclined towards variety, flexibility and change rather than routine and structure. In contrast, operators and engineers demonstrated preferences for logic and certainty. These results have a range of implications, for researchers and practitioners. Researchers can extend the results of this study, and further explore the differences found between executives and managers from different subcultures. Practitioners may use the results to initiate change to integrate preferred working styles. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

A broad-based survey using the Delphi method was conducted to garner current information from private sector stakeholders and build consensus opinions supporting key ideas for enhancing plant breeder education and training. This study asked respondents to suggest and rate topics and content they deemed most important to plant breeding graduate programs and curricula related to the areas of knowledge, experiences, skills, and specialties. Examination of private stakeholder recommendations for integration into a student's education and preparation for jobs outside academia was then performed. Knowledge of traditional plant breeding, genetics, statistics, and experimental design, along with emerging topics including database management and ethics, were rated very important. Experiences rated as very important included designing an experiment, as well as field and laboratory data analysis. Stakeholders suggested that experiences focusing on communication, teamwork, and management are key aspects of training. Scientific skills suggested by stakeholders aligned quite well with important knowledge and experience categories and also included skills a student can acquire through a variety of experiences focused on judgment and ideas, time and efficiency in completing tasks, and decision making abilities. The information detailed in this study will be useful to all educators seeking content ideas from private sector stakeholders for curriculum programs. It will also be a valuable tool for new graduate students seeking to understand the knowledge and skill sets that are recommended for a plant breeder prior to seeking a job in the private sector. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)

Graduate students rated counseling interviews using the Broverman Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire. Client sex was one factor and counselor sex was the other. Of the 37 items, 16 were significantly different on sex of the client. Counselors rated opposite-sexed clients as more deviant from traditional sex role stereotypes. (Author/BEF)

Pain in people with dementia is a common occurrence. Providing evidence-based pain management for people with dementia in residential aged care services is imperative to providing quality care. However, it remains unclear from current research how various aged care staff (Registered Nurses (RNs), Enrolled Nurses (ENs), Personal Care Assistants (PCAs)) engage at specific points of the pain management pathway. With structural changes to the residential aged care workforce over the past two decades, understanding the relative contributions of these aged care staff to pain management practices is crucial for future practice development. To investigate the quality and completeness of pain documentation for people living with dementia, and assess the extent to aged care staff are engaged in documentation processes. A three-month retrospective documentation audit. The audit was conducted on the files of 114 residents with moderate to very severe dementia, across four Australian residential aged care facilities. Data was collected on each resident's pain profile (n=114). One hundred and sixty-nine (169) pain episodes were audited for quality and completeness of pain documentation and the extent to which aged care staff (RNs/ENs and PCAs) were engaged in the documentation of pain management. Twenty-nine percent of pain episodes had no documentation about how resident pain was identified and only 22% of the episodes contained an evidence-based (E-B) assessment. At least one intervention was documented for 89% of the pain episodes, the majority (68%) being non-pharmacological. Only 8% of pain episodes had an E-B evaluation reported. Thirteen percent (13%) of episodes contained information across all four pain management domains (Identification/ problems, assessment, intervention and evaluation). Documentation by PCAs was evident at all points in the pain management pathway. PCAs were responsible for considerately more episodes of assessment (50% vs 18%) compared to nursing staff. Despite the high prevalence of pain in people with dementia in aged care settings, current pain management documentation does not reflect best practice standards. Future capacity building initiatives must engage PCAs, as key stakeholders in pain management, with support and clinical leadership of nursing staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses updates on issues about value-based agreements in healthcare. Topics covered include the goal of value-based contracts to align drug prices with the way the drug performs outside of clinical trials or in the real-world setting, the definition of a value-based contract according to a 2017 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy survey, and the significance of value-based contracts in the areas of oncology and hematology.

Introduction: In spite of significant investment in quality programs and activities, there is a persistent struggle to achieve quality outcomes and performance improvements within the constraints and support of sociopolitical parsimonies. Equally, such constraints have intensified the need to better understand the best practice methods for achieving quality improvements in health care organizations over time. This study proposes a conceptual framework to assist with strategies for the copying, transferring, and/or translation of best practice between different health care facilities. Purpose: Applying a deductive logic, the conceptual framework was developed by blending selected theoretical lenses drawn from the knowledge management and organizational learning literatures. Findings: The proposed framework highlighted that (a) major constraints need to be addressed to turn best practices into everyday practices and (b) double-loop learning is an adequate learning mode to copy and to transfer best practices and deuteron learning mode is a more suitable learning mode for translating best practice. We also found that, in complex organizations, copying, transferring, and translating new knowledge is more difficult than in smaller, less complex organizations. We also posit that knowledge translation cannot happen without transfer and copy, and transfer cannot happen without copy of best practices. Hence, an integration of all three learning processes is required for knowledge translation (copy best practice-transfer knowledge about best practice-translation of best practice into new context). In addition, the higher the level of complexity of the organization, the more best practice is tacit oriented and, in this case, the higher the level of K&L capabilities are required to successfully copy, transfer, and/or translate best practices between organizations. Practice Implications: The approach provides a framework for assessing organizational context and capabilities to guide copy/transfer/translation of best practices. A roadmap is provided to assist managers and practitioners to select appropriate learning modes for building success and positive systemic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on problems in regulatory system of food labeling and advertising that are marketed towards children in the U.S. It proposes alterations in regulations that lead to more accountability of food product manufacturers in promotion of such products by labeling and advertising and leading to healthy decision making in families.

The article offers several trends in pharmaceutical industry. Topics discussed include favor of lowering drug prices, Republicans opt for boosting competition and increasing price transparency, whereas Democrats will likely begin to introduce bills in the House to advance the fight to bring drug prices down; more transparency in drug price increases as part of new progressive governorships in 7 states; and political influence in healthcare industry.