Background of Study: Females generally have a 6-8 times higher risk for lower extremity injury compared to male counterparts due to biomechanical differences and/or poor landing strategies. In recent ...years, a great deal of focus has been placed on prevention and reduction of non-contact lower extremity injuries. This has spurred the development of assessment methods to determine how athletes move and tools with which those motions are measured. Efforts have been made to measure and quantify movement strategies, which have given rise to multiple movement tests and measurement devices. One approach is the use of wearable technologies used in conjunction with a movement screening. Objective: Demonstrate a practical approach of using wearable technologies to guide training regimens in a population of female athletes that would be considered at risk for lower extremity injuries. Methods: A cohort of Division I female volleyball athletes were screened using wearable technology then assigned an intervention based on screening results. Comparisons were made between injury rates during the season when the intervention was applied compared to previous seasons. Results: All lower extremity injury rates were reduced after the intervention was applied. Conclusions: The use of wearable technology aids in quantifying movement to then assign a strategic intervention to reduce injuries in an at risk athletic population.
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program offers academic and financial support for students pursuing secondary teaching certificates in STEM fields. In return, students commit to teaching in ...high-need K-12 school districts. The Noyce Program has had uneven results in increasing the number of teachers in high needs schools. Large scale studies of its impact indicate the program is not likely to influence decisions to teach but may persuade participants to initially teach in high needs schools. To better understand the influence of the Noyce Program, we offer case studies of two Noyce scholarship recipients at different stages: (1) a former scholarship recipient who has graduated and is currently teaching, and (2) a second-year recipient who is currently pursuing a teaching certificate. This qualitative analysis provides insights that may have implications for optimizing scholarship programs for recruiting and retaining highly qualified STEM teachers.
Assessing the Impact of Tutorial Services Ticknor, Cindy S.; Shaw, Kimberly A.; Howard, Timothy
Journal of college reading and learning,
20/7/3/, Letnik:
45, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Many institutions struggle to develop a meaningful way to assess the effectiveness of drop-in tutorial services provided to students. This article discusses the development of a data collection ...system based on a visitor sign-in system that proved to be an efficient method of gathering assessment data, including frequency of visits, end-of-course grades, and demographic information on student visitors. The data were used to analyze the impact of tutorial services on student grade rates, with special attention given to the effects of service on populations underrepresented (females and Blacks) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The results showed a significant difference in grade distributions among Black males and provided evidence to support the existence of self-selection biases in the use of tutorial services. The biases may include self-selected use of tutorial services by at-risk students, who are more likely to need support, and by self-motivated students, who are more likely to utilize all available resources to succeed.
We examined and quantified the degree of risk for poor glycemic control and hospitalizations for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) among black, Hispanic, and white children and adolescents with diabetes.
...We examined ethnic differences in metabolic control among 68 black, 145 Hispanic, and 44 white children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (mean age 12.9 range 1-21 years), who were primarily of low socioeconomic status. Clinical and demographic data were obtained by medical chart review. Glycohemoglobins were standardized and compared across ethnic groups. Odds ratios among the ethnic groups for poor glycemic control and hospitalizations for DKA were also calculated.
The ethnic groups were not different with respect to age, BMI, insulin dose, or hospitalizations for DKA, but black children were older at the time of diagnosis than Hispanics (P < 0.05) and were less likely to have private health insurance than white and Hispanic children (P < 0.001). Black youths had higher glycohemoglobin levels than white and Hispanic youths (P < 0.001 after controlling for age at diagnosis). Black youths were also at greatest risk for poor glycemic control (OR = 3.9, relative to whites; OR = 2.5, relative to Hispanics).
These results underscore and quantify the increased risk for glycemic control problems of lower-income, black children with diabetes. In the absence of effective intervention, these youths are likely to be overrepresented in the health care system as a result of increased health complications related to diabetes.
HIV+ adolescents (M CD4=466 mm3) recruited from a large urban university hospital's outpatient clinic were randomly assigned to receive massage therapy (n = 12) or progressive muscle relaxation (n = ...12) two-times per week for 12 weeks. To assess treatment effects, participants were assessed for depression, anxiety and immune changes before and after treatment the 12 weeks treatment period. Adolescents who received massage therapy versus those who experienced relaxation therapy reported feeling less anxious and they were less depressed, and showed enhanced immune function by the end of the 12 week study. Immune changes included increased Natural Killer cell number (CD56) and CD56+CD3-. In addition, the HIV disease progression markers CD4/CD8 ratio and CD4 number showed an increase for the massage therapy group only.
Children are being fitted at younger ages with soft contact lenses for myopia control. This 3-year investigation of adverse events related to contact lens wear in 7- to 11-year-old participants helps ...optometrists understand what to expect when fitting children with soft contact lenses.
The purpose of this article is to report the frequency and type of ocular and nonocular adverse events related to soft contact lens wear in children.
Seven- to 11-year-old children wore soft contact lenses for 3 years. Adverse events were defined by a slit-lamp examination finding of grade 3 or worse; parental report of a clinically meaningful change (determined by the examiner) in eyes, vision, or health; or a clinically meaningful response (determined by examiner) to a symptom checklist. Adverse events were categorized and reported by examiners and finalized by the Executive Committee. The presence or absence of an infiltrate and a list of diagnoses was determined at the conclusion of the study.
The 294 participants wore their contact lenses 73.0 ± 26.5 hours per week, and 220 (74.8%) encountered at least 1 adverse event. Of the 432 adverse events, 75.2% were ocular, and 24.8% were nonocular. Contact lens wear was probably or definitely related to 60.6% of the ocular and 2.8% of the nonocular adverse events. None of the ocular adverse events were serious or severe or caused permanent contact lens discontinuation. The corneal infiltrate incidence was 185 cases per 10,000 patient-years of wear (95% confidence interval, 110 to 294). The incidence of moderate ocular adverse events that were definitely or probably related to contact lens wear was 405 cases per 10,000 patient-years of wear (95% confidence interval, 286 to 557).
The adverse events experienced by 7- to 11-year-old myopic children rarely required meaningful treatment and never led to permanent discontinuation of contact lens wear or loss of best-corrected vision.
Teachers are charged with the task of reaching all students academically in hopes all students will become proficient readers by third grade. Oral reading fluency is a predictor in academic success ...since fluency reflects comprehension. Students often come to school unprepared in their earliest years due to a lack of opportunity and/or early literacy experiences, creating an achievement gap, a disparity in academic performance between groups of students. This study identifies the correlation between socioeconomic status, race, gender, and preschool enrollment and the oral reading fluency of first-grade readers as indicated by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) 8 composite score, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) 8 Oral Reading Fluency words read correctly (ORF-WRC) and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) 8 Oral Reading Fluency accuracy (ORF-ACC) score. Key findings show that socioeconomic status, race, gender, and preschool enrollment are predictors of oral reading fluency.
Researchers have recently used a framework of traumatic stress to describe the psychological functioning of children experiencing a chronic illness and their families; however, few studies are ...available directly comparing symptoms across disease groups. This study compared traumatic stress symptoms of youth being considered for solid organ and bone marrow transplantation, youth diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus, youth diagnosed with sickle cell disease and their parents. Correlates of traumatic stress across these populations were also examined.
Participants included 64 youth and caregiver dyads with previously scheduled appointments at 1 of 3 specialty clinics. Parents completed measures of family demographics, traumatic stress symptoms, and child functional status. Youth (n = 45) and parents each completed self-report and parent-proxy measures of youth traumatic stress symptoms.
Ten percent of youth by self-report, 18% of youth by parent-proxy report, and 13% of caregivers described symptoms suggestive of posttraumatic stress disorder. Parents of pediatric transplant self-reported greater symptoms than caregivers of youth with human immunodeficiency virus and sickle cell disease (p < .05). Although child functional impairment did not predict child symptoms, a trend was found where parents experiencing more traumatic stress symptoms themselves reported their children experienced greater symptoms by parent-proxy report (p =.07).
Findings suggest that although most children and parents across disease groups report subclinical levels of traumatic stress symptoms, traumatic stress symptoms may be especially salient for families of pediatric transplant candidates. Although interventions are currently available to treat posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, they will likely need to be individualized to meet the needs of specific disease groups.
Provide a detailed assessment of peripheral refractive error and peripheral eye length in myopic children.
Subjects were 294 children aged 7 to 11 years with -0.75 to -5.00 diopter (D) of myopia by ...cycloplegic autorefraction. Peripheral refraction and eye length were measured at ±20° and ±30° horizontally and vertically, with peripheral refraction also measured at ±40° horizontally.
Relative peripheral refraction became more hyperopic in the horizontal meridian and more myopic in the vertical meridian with increasing field angle. Peripheral eye length became shorter in both meridians with increasing field angle, more so horizontally than vertically with correlations between refraction and eye length ranging from -0.40 to -0.57 (all
< 0.001). Greater foveal myopia was related to more peripheral hyperopia (or less peripheral myopia), shorter peripheral eye lengths, and a consistent average asymmetry between meridians.
Peripheral refractive errors in children do not appear to exert strong local control of peripheral eye length given that their correlation is consistently negative and the degree of meridional asymmetry is similar across the range of refractive errors. The BLINK study will provide longitudinal data to determine whether peripheral myopia and additional peripheral myopic defocus from multifocal contact lenses affect the progression of myopia in children.
Local retinal control of ocular growth has been demonstrated numerous times in animal experimental myopia models but has not been explored in detail in human myopia development. These BLINK baseline results suggest that children's native peripheral optical signals may not be a strong stimulus for local growth responses.
The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship of the implementation of CHARACTERplus and student discipline in twelve elementary schools of a large Midwestern urban school district. The ...goal of this study was to identify if there was relationship between the implementation of CHARACTERplus and the number of office discipline referrals and the rate of office discipline referrals resulting out-of-school suspension. A second goal was to identify if there was a relationship between teachers' perceptions of the implementation of CHARACTERplus and the number of office discipline referrals and out-of-school suspensions. This descriptive study involved an examination of the discipline data from all twelve schools for the fall semester two years prior to implementation creating a baseline (2012-2013 and 2013-2014) and each fall semester for two consecutive years following implementation of CHARACTERplus. The discipline data was analyzed by the total number of office discipline referrals per 100 students as well as by the type of infractions to include attendance, bullying, drugs/alcohol/tobacco, and a category referred to as the 3Ds inclusive of disrespect, defiance of authority, and disruptive behavior. Additionally, a survey was sent electronically via Survey Monkey to the 350 teachers who worked in the twelve elementary schools at the time of the study with 230 responding. The survey was designed to elicit responses from teachers who had worked in the building for the four years reviewed in this study. Of the 230 teachers who responded, 60% of them had worked in the school prior to implementation of CHARACTERplus. Findings indicated that for the schools combined, the total number of office discipline referrals increased from the baseline to year one and to year two of implementation of CHARACTERplus per 100 students. One could speculate that the rise in office discipline referrals could be a result of a heightened awareness around the character traits being taught that teachers may have developed a zero tolerance level. While some schools individually experienced decreases in specific infraction types, other schools experienced substantial increases that raised the total number. The number of office discipline referrals resulting in out-of-school suspension decreased from the baseline year and each year following implementation of CHARACTERplus. It is possible that the reduction in out-of-school suspensions could be due to administrators applying leniency in consequences or perhaps while the frequency of office discipline referrals increased, the severity of the behaviors was lessened. Lastly, only one school had a majority of teachers that perceived that CHARACTERplus reduced the number of office discipline referrals. These findings are counter to the expectation that the number of discipline office referrals would decrease and this is further supported by the majority of teachers' perceptions are that referrals were not reduced with the implementation of CHARACTERplus. This study concluded with implications for action for the school district and recommendations for further research involving the implementation of character education programs and CHARACTERplus in relation to student behavior and other components of education such as achievement. The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.
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