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Supplementary Data from Development of a Multiplex RNA Urine Test for the Detection and Stratification of Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder

Purpose: New markers that enable the percentage of transitional cell carcinomas (TCC) of the bladder that are diagnosed before invasion of the bladder muscle layers to be increased would reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple, accurate urine test based on mRNA markers and simple gene signatures that (a) could detect TCC before muscle invasion while maintaining high specificity in patients with hematuria or urinary tract infections and (b) identify patients most likely to have grade 3 or stage ≥T1 disease.Experimental Design: RNA markers with high overexpression in stage Ta tumors and/or T1 to T4 tumors but low expression in blood or inflammatory cells were characterized by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR using 2 mL of voided urine from 75 TCC patients and 77 control patients with other urological diseases.Results: A combination of the RNAs CDC2, MDK, IGFBP5, and HOXA13 detected 48%, 90%, and 100% of stage Ta, T1, and >T1 TCCs, respectively, at a specificity of 85%. Detection of Ta tumors increased to 60% for primary (non-recurrent) Ta tumors and 76% for Ta tumors ≥1 cm in diameter. Test specificity was 80% for the 20 control patients with urinary tract infections. The combination of CDC2 and HOXA13 distinguished between grade 1 to 2 TCCs and grade 3 or stage ≥T1 TCCs with ∼80% specificity and sensitivity.Conclusions: Simple gene expression signatures can be used as urine markers for the accurate detection and characterization of bladder cancer.

Introduction: Children and adolescents/young adults (AYAs) with cancer are a vulnerable population susceptible to numerous late effects, such as fatigue and depression, which may diminish their long-term psychological, physical, spiritual, and emotional health. A well-rounded understanding of how positive psychological constructs affect the quality of care and treatment outcomes is therefore warranted. Methods: We conducted a scoping review of 15 positive psychological constructs in children and AYAs with cancer. The primary research questions were (1) what is known about positive psychological constructs in children and AYAs with cancer; (2) what value is ascribed to these constructs by patients? Results: Two hundred seventy-six articles were included after database search and screening. These studies were mostly observational or qualitative and conducted in North America. Constructs were often poorly defined, and measurement tools used to gather data were wide ranging. Numerous factors were correlated with increased or decreased expression of certain constructs, but overall themes were difficult to identify. Similarly, patients often spoke of what increased or decreased expression of a construct, with less emphasis on what they implicitly value. Discussion: This scoping review found ample evidence for what increases or decreases expression of positive psychological constructs, but this evidence was observational and often conflicting. In the future, we recommend the development of a core set of psychological outcomes, with definitions and corresponding measurement tools. We further recommend an emphasis on randomized trials to more rigorously study how expression of constructs can be improved and what effect this has on the quality of life.

Introduction. Children and adolescents/young adults (AYAs) with cancer are a vulnerable population susceptible to numerous late effects, such as fatigue and depression, that may diminish their long-term psychosocial, physical, spiritual, and emotional health. A well-rounded understanding of how positive psychosocial constructs affect the quality of care and treatment outcomes is therefore warranted.Methods. We conducted a scoping review of 15 positive psychosocial constructs in children and AYAs with cancer. The primary research questions were 1) what is known about positive psychosocial constructs in children and AYAs with cancer; 2) what value is ascribed to these constructs by patients?. Results. 276 articles were included after database search and screening. These studies were mostly observational or qualitative and conducted in North America. Constructs were often poorly defined, and measurement tools used to gather data were wide-ranging. Numerous factors were correlated with increased or decreased expression of certain constructs, but overall themes were difficult to identify. Similarly, patients often spoke of what increased or decreased expression of a construct, with less emphasis on what they implicitly value.Discussion. This scoping review found ample evidence for what increases or decreases expression of positive psychosocial constructs, but this evidence was observational and often conflicting. In the future, we recommend the development of a core set of psychosocial outcomes, with definitions and corresponding measurement tools. We further recommend an emphasis on randomized trials to more rigorously study how expression of constructs can be improved and what effect this has on quality of life.

The purpose of this research was to measure the effectiveness of a social norm intervention to reduce phone-related distracted driving on a university campus. The intervention involved posting two different signs that highlighted the injunctive norm (people's disapproval of the behavior). One of the signs had a strong focus on the injunctive norm, whereas the second sign merely implied that phone-related distracted driving was disapproved. Research assistants recorded the phone-related distracted driving behaviors of people as they drove away from the signs. The results suggest that injunctive norm messages can be effective in reducing phone-related distracted driving, but only when they focus people's attention on the social disapproval of that behavior.

Many teachers require their students to take cumulative exams, but there are surprisingly few studies that examine the benefits of such exams. The purpose of this study was to determine whether introductory psychology students who take cumulative exams throughout the semester would have better long-term retention than students who take a cumulative final exam after a series of unit (i.e., noncumulative) exams. As expected, the students who took cumulative exams throughout the semester did better on the cumulative portion of the final exam. This main effect evolved into an interaction on a follow-up test administered 2 months after the course ended. The long-term retention of good students was unaffected by the type of exams they took. However, low-scoring students remembered more of the course material when they took cumulative exams throughout the semester.

This chapter describes three approaches to creating classroom-based learning communities: interteaching; team-based learning; and cooperative learning in large, lecture-based courses.

Many members of the academy have tried to broaden the construct of scholarship to include activities that investigate pedagogy and student learning, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Halpern et al. (1998) first established such a definition for the field of psychology. This article reports on a Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA, Division 2) task force national survey assessing the state of SoTL in psychology. Although psychology has not globally embraced SoTL as legitimate scholarship, there are indications that the sentiment to do so is taking root. We conclude with recommendations about how the discipline can enhance its efforts to promote SoTL.

Roy F. Baumeister currently holds the Eppes Eminent Professorship in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. He received his PhD in social psychology from Princeton in 1978 working under Edward E. Jones. After a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology at Berkeley, he spent 23 years on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University, where he held the Elsie Smith Professorship in the Liberal Arts. He also held visiting positions at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, Germany. He has taught social psychology, personality, sexuality, and interdisciplinary psychology. He has over 300 publications including 18 books. His new textbook, Social Psychology and Human Nature, is soon to be published. Natalie Kerr Lawrence is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at James Madison University, where she teaches general psychology, statistics, research methods, and s...

Theory and prior research suggest that (a) a positive sense of self–worth and (b) perceived control over one's outcomes facilitate constructive responses to negative outcomes. We therefore predicted that encouraging students to maintain their sense of self–worth and/or construe their academic outcomes as controllable would promote achievement. In a field experiment, low–performing students in a psychology class were randomly assigned to receive, each week, review questions, review questions plus self–esteem bolstering, or review questions plus exhortations to assume responsibility and control. Contrary to predictions, the D and F students got worse as a result of self–esteem bolstering and students in the other conditions did not change. These findings raise ethical and practical questions about the widespread practice of bolstering self–esteem in the hope of improving academic performance.

Mobile ocular telemedicine is potentially an effective method to provide service in medically underserved areas and to screen large populations for abnormalities. Currently, digital images are acquired, stored, and transferred to readers for evaluation, after which the results are provided to the subjects. The transfer of large image files and the timeliness of the subsequent reading of images are significant factors for practical implementation of effective telemedicine screening. This work examines the feasibility of in situ real-time computer analysis of digital images to determine and classify the image results as normal and abnormal. This retrospective study used a photoscreening database of 360 patients ranging in ages from 6 months to 18 years. Computer analysis automatically classified the binocular photorefraction (PR) images, and these PR results were compared to those of the subjective clinical eye examinations provided. With an average processing time of approximately 15 seconds per examinee, the analysis found that the PR results can be categorized as: a positive group that requires referral (186 cases) with a predictive value of 98.9% (2 false-positives); a negative group (144 cases) with a predictive value of 89.6% (15 false-negatives); and an uncertain group (30 cases or 8.3%) that required resolution by readers. The real-time analysis code reduces by approximately 92% the manpower for image grading and electronic transmission at this stage of ocular evaluation. These results indicate the feasibility of this approach.

We cared for two patients with longstanding vernal keratoconjunctivitis who had bacterial corneal ulcers in each eye. Both patients were young, black, and had histories of atopy. The patients came for treatment with acute symptoms of pain, redness, and reduced vision in the affected eye. On examination in each case we found an epithelial defect associated with dense stromal infiltration, a calcific plaque in the bed of the ulcer, and a severe anterior chamber reaction, including a hypopyon in two cases. Cultures of corneal scrapings from all four eyes were positive for Staphylococcus aureus, and three of the four infections were polymicrobial. All four eyes responded rapidly to intensive topical antibiotic therapy, debridement of the calcific plaque, and subsequent treatment with topical corticosteroids and/or cromolyn sodium. Bacterial keratitis can occur in patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis, especially those with vernal corneal ulcers. The abnormalities of ocular immune mechanisms found in patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis may predispose them to bacterial keratitis.