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The purpose of this research paper is to provide further insight into the social interactions and relationships of gifted students by addressing a gap in the body of knowledge that does not account for differences in student relationships across differing gifted program models. This study aims to narrow this gap by utilizing a quantitative comparative analysis of elementary gifted and general education students’ survey responses from two differing program models: the school-within-a-school model and the pull-out room model. In doing so, this paper discovered that both program models were generally well integrated and had low rates of bullying between gifted and general education students; however, comparatively the pull-out room model had a better integrated group of students, but a higher rate of reported bullying among its students. These findings provide the body of knowledge surrounding gifted education with further insight into the advantages and disadvantages that the use of one program model over the other can have and serves to better the education of both gifted and general education students.

This study aims to explore the effect of learned chromesthesia on one’s musical pitch recognition skills. Participants from a high school music class preformed a simple pitch-recognition task. They were then divided into two groups and received instruction on either learning chromesthesia or relative pitch techniques, depending on which group they were in. After this instruction, they completed the pitch-recognition task again to measure their improvement. A short survey was also administered to provide further insight as to whether the techniques they learned were successful in improving their pitch-recognition skills. Results were mixed. Overall, the group that received relative pitch instruction experienced more improvement than the group that received chromesthesia instruction. However, some students in the chromesthesia group were able to experience significant improvement in their pitch recognition skills, although the level of improvement varied greatly among each individual participant. Additionally, the results were likely influenced by various factors such as the participants’ prior music experience and the amount of time allotted for the experiment to take place. This study provides a valuable starting point for further research on the practice of learning synesthesia and using it in the field of education- a topic that is still left widely unknown.

Background The CTOT-11 (Prevention of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy Using Rituximab Therapy in Cardiac Transplantation [Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation-11]) study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter, double-blinded clinical trial in nonsensitized primary heart transplant (HTX) recipients. Objectives The study sought to determine whether B cell depletion therapy would attenuate the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy. Methods A total of 163 HTX recipients were randomized to rituximab 1,000 mg intravenous or placebo on days 0 and 12 post-transplant. Primary outcome was change in percent atheroma volume (PAV) from baseline to 1 year measured by intravascular ultrasound. Secondary outcomes included treated episodes of acute rejection, de novo anti-HLA antibodies (including donor-specific antibodies), and phenotypic differentiation of B cells. Results There were no significant differences at study entry between the rituximab and placebo groups. Paired intravascular ultrasound measures were available at baseline and 1 year in 86 subjects (49 rituximab, 37 placebo). The mean ± SD change in PAV at 12 months was +6.8 ± 8.2% rituximab versus +1.9 ± 4.4% placebo (p = 0.0019). Mortality at 12 months was 3.4% rituximab versus 6.8% placebo (p = 0.47); there were no retransplants or post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. The rate of treated rejection was 24.7% rituximab versus 32.4% placebo (p = 0.28). Rituximab therapy effectively eliminated CD20+/CD19+ B cells followed by a gradual expansion of a CD19– cell population in the rituximab-treated group. Conclusions A marked, unexpected increase in coronary artery PAV with rituximab was observed during the first year in HTX recipients. One-year mortality was not impacted; however, longer-term follow-up and mechanistic explanations are required. (Prevention of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy Using Rituximab [Rituxan] Therapy in Cardiac Transplantation; NCT01278745)