Search

Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are increasingly embraced by the global humanitarian sector as a potential strategy for supporting refugee children's psychosocial adaptation and learning. However, little evidence is available on the effectiveness of such SEL programs in humanitarian settings. Even less is known about whether such SEL programs can be equally effective, more beneficial, or even harmful, for children who were exposed to higher levels of conflict, in the context of war and/or postmigration settings. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a universal, multicomponent, skill-targeted SEL curriculum embedded in nonformal remedial education programming, the Five-Component SEL (5CSEL), for improving 20 proximal and distal outcomes. The large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in 57 community sites (170 classrooms) in Lebanon with 4,289 Syrian refugee children (M[subscript age] = 9.16, SD = 2.34; 50% female). It examined both the impact of 5CSEL and the impact variation by children's level of exposure to war violence, family conflict, and school victimization. The findings do not provide conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of 5CSEL. However, we find promising signs of impacts in a number of the outcomes (effect sizes = 0.06-0.18 SD), suggesting the malleability of refugee children's SEL skills across multiple domains when given sufficient, targeted, and comprehensive support. Finally, we find little evidence of variation in impact by the level of exposure to conflict experiences, supporting the arguments for the benefits of universal SEL programming. These results provide promising directions for practitioner communities to invest in further development and revision of the SEL program contents and strategies.

As the CNS-resident macrophages and member of the myeloid lineage, microglia fulfill manifold functions important for brain development and homeostasis. In the context of neurodegenerative diseases, they have been implicated in degenerative and regenerative processes. The discovery of distinct activation patterns, including increased phagocytosis, indicated a damaging role of myeloid cells in multiple system atrophy (MSA), a devastating, rapidly progressing atypical parkinsonian disorder. Here, we analyzed the gene expression profile of microglia in a mouse model of MSA (MBP29-hα-syn) and identified a disease-associated expression profile and upregulation of the colony-stimulating factor 1 (Csf1). Thus, we hypothesized that CSF1 receptor-mediated depletion of myeloid cells using PLX5622 modifies the disease progression and neuropathological phenotype in this mouse model. Intriguingly, sex-balanced analysis of myeloid cell depletion in MBP29-hα-syn mice revealed a two-faced outcome comprising an improved survival rate accompanied by a delayed onset of neurological symptoms in contrast to severely impaired motor functions. Furthermore, PLX5622 reversed gene expression profiles related to myeloid cell activation but reduced gene expression associated with transsynaptic signaling and signal release. While transcriptional changes were accompanied by a reduction of dopaminergic neurons in the SNpc, striatal neuritic density was increased upon myeloid cell depletion in MBP29-hα-syn mice. Together, our findings provide insight into the complex, two-faced role of myeloid cells in the context of MSA emphasizing the importance to carefully balance the beneficial and adverse effects of CSF1R inhibition in different models of neurodegenerative disorders before its clinical translation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Myeloid cells have been implicated as detrimental in the disease pathogenesis of multiple system atrophy. However, long-term CSF1R-dependent depletion of these cells in a mouse model of multiple system atrophy demonstrates a two-faced effect involving an improved survival associated with a delayed onset of disease and reduced inflammation which was contrasted by severely impaired motor functions, synaptic signaling, and neuronal circuitries. Thus, this study unraveled a complex role of myeloid cells in multiple system atrophy, which indicates important functions beyond the previously described disease-associated, destructive phenotype and emphasized the need of further investigation to carefully and individually fine-tune immunologic processes in different neurodegenerative diseases.

Understanding the factors associated with variation in the implementation of educational programs has emerged as a key research focus, in an effort to identify how promising programs can be scaled up across their targeted contexts. The current study explored demographic-related variation in program dosage using a novel source of implementation data from the treatment group in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Word Generation, a curriculum designed to support deep reading comprehension and academic language. Both student- and teacher/classroom-level predictors were associated with variation in the proportion of curricular activities students completed. We also evaluated how variation in treatment-group program dosage distinctively predicted growth on the RCT's key outcome measures of taught vocabulary words, academic language, and deep reading comprehension. We conclude that design and evaluation of future RCTs would benefit from procedures to predict implementation variation and its consequences prior to randomization.

Despite substantial cross-national interest in remedial programming as a way to support low-achieving students, evidence of its effectiveness is rare, particularly in low-income and/or crisis-affected contexts. In this article, we present experimental evidence of the impact of a remedial tutoring program on academic outcomes from a two-level randomized trial of two treatments in Niger: school randomization testing the impact of skill-targeted SEL activities and within-school student-level randomization testing the impact of access to remedial tutoring. We find that tutoring for 4 h per week improves students' literacy and Math outcomes, and the addition of skill-targeted SEL activities positively impacts school grades above and beyond access to tutoring alone. These findings suggest the potential value of remedial tutoring to supplement formal schooling in low-income and/or conflict-affected contexts. They also suggest increased attention to implementation strategies, as access alone was insufficient for students to attain grade-level competencies.

Experimental evidence on strategies to support refugee children's integration into host-country public schools is needed. We employ a three-arm, site-randomized controlled trial to test the impact of short-term access to two versions of nonformal remedial programming infused with social-emotional learning (SEL) among Syrian refugee children in Lebanese public schools. Remedial programming with classroom climate-targeted SEL practices improved children's perceptions of public schools (effect sizes [ES] = 0.48-0.66) only. The remedial program with both classroom climate-targeted SEL and skill-targeted activities had positive impacts on children's perceptions of public schools (ES = 0.43-0.50) and on certain basic academic skills (ES = 0.08-0.14), and marginally significant positive and negative impacts on some SEL outcomes (ES = 0.16-0.31). We found no impacts of either version on children's global literacy or numeracy competence.

This study evaluates the effect of attending a U.S. public middle or junior high school as compared with a K-8 school on eighth graders' academic and psychosocial outcomes. In a national sample, we conducted propensity score weighted regression analysis. Initial findings indicated that for eighth-grade students, attending a middle or junior high school negatively affected teacher- and self-reported reading/writing competence. After applying population weights, only reading self-concept remained negatively affected by middle school enrollment. Exploratory analysis revealed the negative effects of attending a middle grade school may be present only for the students who enter kindergarten not at risk as measured by socioeconomic status (SES) or academic performance. Taken together, results suggest that negative impacts of middle grade schooling may be limited to teacher- and self-reported reading/writing competence, more pronounced in middle versus junior high school, and more salient for less disadvantaged students. Implications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed.

Rigorous evaluation of social and emotional learning programs requires the use of measures that provide reliable and valid information on the meaningful differences in children's social emotional skills across treatment and control groups, as well as changes over time. In contexts affected by conflict and crisis, few measures can provide the evidence required to support their use in program evaluations, which limits stakeholders' ability to determine whether a program is working, how well it is working, and for whom. The Teacher Observation of Learners' Social Emotional Learning, known as TOOLSEL, holds promise for addressing this gap. TOOLSEL is a teacher-report questionnaire about children's behavior as observed in natural classroom settings. It is used to assess a set of social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive competencies among primary school-age children in fragile, conflict-affected settings. In this article, using the data from a sample of 3,661 Syrian refugee children who were enrolled in formal Lebanese public schools and had access to a nonformal remedial support program, we report evidence on the psychometric soundness of the TOOLSEL. We provide empirical evidence of the TOOLSEL's reliability and validity, and that the TOOLSEL captured these Syrian refugee children's social and emotional learning skills in ways that were unbiased and comparable across treatment groups, gender, age, and time. We also provide recommendations for using the TOOLSEL, including ways to improve its feasibility, reliability, and validity.

Most U.S. classrooms serve students with various linguistic and academic needs. Tier-I universal approaches support English language learners (ELLs) without segregating them into a different track and thereby constraining future learning opportunities. The current study examines whether Word Generation (WG), a Tier-I discussion-based program designed to build academic literacy and linguistic practices, provides differential gains for non-ELL and ELL students in vocabulary, social perspective-taking skills, academic language, and reading comprehension. We found that WG had positive impacts for both non-ELL and ELL students on taught academic vocabulary and social perspective positioning skills. Furthermore, WG had additional positive effects for ELLs in social perspective articulation and academic language in the second year of implementation. These results provide evidence that WG supports those linguistic and sociocognitive skills that precede development of deep reading comprehension for ELLs as well as non-ELLs.

To achieve high efficiency and reliability in thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), developing a novel host system has emerged as a critical research theme. In this study, we synthesized CzCzPh-mAd (9-(3-((1s,3s)-adamantan-1-yl)phenyl)-9H-3,9′-bicarbazole) as a p-type host by incorporating a bulky adamantane moiety fused with three cyclohexanes into CzCzPh (9-phenyl-9H-3,9′-bicarbazole). By incorporating a large and rigid adamantane group into the CzCzPh host (CzCzPh-mAd), we aimed to maintain the electrochemical and photophysical properties of CzCzPh while increasing its molecular weight, film-forming characteristics, and thermal stability. Ultimately, the solution-processed narrowband blue TADF-OLED employing the CzCzPh-mAd host exhibited a high external quantum efficiency greater than 13% and demonstrated superior thermal stability and reproducibility in device efficiency compared to devices based on CzCzPh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rapid Assessment of Cognitive and Emotional Regulation (RACER) is a tablet-based assessment tool for children that measures executive function (EF) skills. Instructions that are brief and visually presented; game-like tasks are designed to easily engage children regardless of literacy level and variable test administration settings. RACER measures inhibitory control and working memory. This study presents the theoretical rationale and empirical evidence for tablet-based assessments of EF, the process of administering the RACER assessments. The current sample consists of students in Lebanon (N=1900) and Niger (N=850). The results indicate that individual differences in EF can be assessed by the RACER tablet tasks. Specifically, we demonstrate that EF scores are associated in expected ways with age and that tasks function similarly to what has been observed in high-income countries. The feasibility and utility for researchers, practitioners, and clinicians, of this cognitive assessment tool is discussed.

This paper introduces the LIDO, or the Low-Inference Discourse Observation tool, that captures discourse moves produced by students and teachers in whole-classroom discussions. Coding methods are described, followed by analyses that explore validity of the LIDO through correlations among LIDO-coded discourse moves and between LIDO scores and scores on the Instructional Support domain of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System-Secondary, utilizing 643 audio-recorded classroom lessons. Observations were conducted in fourth through seventh grade urban classrooms, including English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Rates of teacher and student discourse moves correlated with each other and with CLASS scores in expected ways, providing evidence of internal and convergent validity. Implications for use in research are discussed, including specific advantages of this new approach, such as the capacity to tease apart teacher behavior from student behavior in the context of classroom interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose An intermediate cervical plexus block (CPB) targets the posterior cervical space between the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the prevertebral fascia. The phrenic nerve descends obliquely on the surface of the anterior scalene muscle beneath the prevertebral fascia after originating from the C3-C5 ventral rami. Therefore, the phrenic nerve can be affected by a local anesthetic during an intermediate CPB, depending on the permeability characteristics of the prevertebral fascia. This study investigated whether an intermediate CPB affects the phrenic nerve, inducing hemidiaphragmatic paresis. Methods In this prospective observational study, 20 patients undergoing single-incision transaxillary robot-assisted right thyroidectomy were enrolled. The intermediate CPB (0.25% ropivacaine 0.2 ml/kg) was performed at the C4-5 intervertebral level carefully, without penetrating the prevertebral fascia, before the patient emerged from general anesthesia. Diaphragmatic motions of the block side were measured by M-mode ultrasonography at three time points: before anesthesia (baseline) and at 30 and 60 min after the intermediate CPB. Hemidiaphragmatic paresis was divided into three grades, depending on the percentage of diaphragm movement compared to the baseline: none (> 75%), partial paresis (25-75%), and complete paresis (< 25%). Results No patient showed any partial or complete ipsilateral hemidiaphragmatic paresis within 60 min after the intermediate CPB. Conclusion Intermediate CPB using 0.2 ml/kg of 0.25% ropivacaine at the C4-5 intervertebral level did not cause ipsilateral hemidiaphragmatic paresis. This may imply that the effect of the intermediate CPB on the phrenic nerve is not significant., Author(s): Ha Yeon Kim [sup.1], Euy Young Soh [sup.2], Jeonghun Lee [sup.2], Sei Hyuk Kwon [sup.1], Min Hur [sup.1], Sang-Kee Min [sup.1], Jin-Soo Kim [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.251916.8, 0000 [...]

Purpose To evaluate risk factors associated with improper postoperative nasal Ring-Adair-Elwyn (RAE) tube depth. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 133 adult patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with the nasal RAE tube after head and neck surgery. Postoperative chest radiography was performed to confirm nasal RAE tube depth immediately after the patient was admitted to the ICU. Proper tube depth was defined as the tube tip between 2 and 7 cm above the carina. The patients were divided into the proper-depth group (78 patients) and the improper-depth group (55 patients). Patients' characteristics were collected. The risk factors for improper postoperative tube depth were assessed using logistic regression analysis. Main results All patients who showed improper tube depth had a shallow tube depth (the tube tip > 7 cm above the carina). Multivariable analysis revealed that tall stature [odds ratio (OR) 1.16; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08-1.25; P < 0.001], prolonged anesthesia duration (OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.02-1.32; P = 0.026), and right-sided surgical field as compared to the left (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.14-0.93; P = 0.034) or median field (OR 0.25; 95% CI 0.07-0.85; P = 0.027) were risk factors associated with postoperative shallow tube depth. Conclusions Tall stature, prolonged anesthesia duration, and right-sided surgical field were independent risk factors for postoperative shallow nasal RAE tube depth., Author(s): Ha Yeon Kim [sup.1], Eung Jin Kim [sup.2], Cheung Soo Shin [sup.2], Jeongmin Kim [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) 0000 0004 0532 3933, grid.251916.8, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, [...]