This study collected validity evidence on the utility of critical thinking skills and critical thinking disposition in predicting initial clinical performance. The predictive value of critical ...thinking skills scores and disposition scores was examined to determine their unique contribution beyond that provided by traditional predictors: grade point average, age, and number of college hours. The study involved three phases: establishing content validity of three outcome measures; assessing students' baseline critical thinking skills and disposition using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI); and assessing students' initial clinical competence, clinical reasoning, and clinical knowledge. All baccalaureate‐level dental hygiene programs in the United States affiliated with a dental school (N=22) were invited to participate; of those, seven volunteered. A convenience sample of 207 first‐year dental hygiene students was obtained. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that CCTST scores explained a statistically significant (p<.05) proportion of variance in students' initial clinical reasoning scores, acquired knowledge scores, and faculty ratings, above and beyond that explained by other predictor variables. CCTDI scores were not significant predictors of any outcome measure. It was concluded that CCTST is a good predictor of initial student outcomes and may have utility for student selection and retention.
Community-oriented policing in a retail shopping center Jim, Julia; Ngo Mitchell, Fawn; Kent, Douglas R
Policing : an international journal of police strategies & management,
01/2006, Volume:
29, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report findings from the assessment of the Police Business Empowerment Partnership (P BEP), a community-oriented policing program, implemented at a retail ...shopping center in the city of Westminster, California.Design methodology approach - A quasi-experimental design of pre- and post-test was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of P BEP. Participants' perceptions regarding various safety measures were gathered before and after the implementation of the program.Findings - Pre-post comparison revealed significant reduction in perceptions of gang activity, auto theft activity and fear of crime at the shopping center after program implementation. Though non-significant, changes observed in other targeted constructs were also found to be in the desired direction. Overall, analysis indicated that the program helps promote a conducive business environment for the merchants and their customers.Practical implications - Findings from this evaluation provided evidence that collaborative efforts between businesses and the police do have a positive effect in fighting and preventing crime.Originality value - P BEP is one demonstration of a community's effort in utilizing police resources to target specific problems.
Thermally sprayed dicalcium silicate coatings have been developed for increased stability in highly corrosive environments at temperatures up to 900°C. In this study, the performance of dicalcium ...silicate based coatings was compared to yttria partially stabilized zirconia (Y-PSZ) coatings. The coatings were exposed to a V
2O
5-15 wt. % Na
2SO
4 slag at 700 and 900°C. At 700°C, gaseous sulfidation was stimulated by an addition of 0.5 vol.% sulfur dioxide in air. The results demonstrated that dicalcium silicate coatings exhibited superior endurance against hot corrosion induced by the V
2O
5-Na
2SO
4 slag. The mechanism of protection was related to stable calcium vanadate compounds, which formed on the surface and prevented the corrosive species from immediate penetration into the coating microstructure. In the presence of an SO
2/air atmosphere, a CaSO
4 reaction layer formed. Diffusion of SO
2 further facilitated sulfidation within the coatings. However, the dicalcium silicate materials withstood combined attack by gaseous SO
2 and V
2O
5-Na
2SO
4 slag without debonding. In this case, the zirconia coating deteriorated and spalled.
Abstract Background Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome is a dyskeratosis congenita–related telomere biology disorder that presents in infancy with intrauterine growth retardation, immunodeficiency, and ...cerebellar hypoplasia in addition to the triad of nail dysplasia, skin pigmentation, and oral leukoplakia. Individuals with Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome often develop bone marrow failure in early childhood. Germline mutations in DKC1, TERT, TINF2, RTEL1, ACD, or PARN cause about 60% of Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome cases. Patient Description We describe 14 years of follow-up of an individual with Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome who initially presented as an infant with intrauterine growth retardation, microcephaly, and central nervous system calcifications. He was diagnosed with Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome at age 6 years and had a complicated medical history including severe developmental delay, cerebellar hypoplasia, esophageal and urethral stenosis, hip avascular necrosis, immunodeficiency, and bone marrow failure evolving to myelodysplastic syndrome requiring hematopoietic cell transplantation at age 14 years. He had progressive skin pigmentation, oral leukoplakia, and nail dysplasia leading to anonychia. Whole exome sequencing identified novel biallelic variants in PARN. Conclusions This patient illustrates that the constellation of intrauterine growth retardation, central nervous system calcifications, and cerebellar hypoplasia, esophageal or urethral stenosis, and cytopenias, in the absence of congenital infection, may be due to Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome. Early diagnosis of Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome is important to optimize medical management and provide genetic counseling.
Fanconi anemia (FA) is an inherited bone marrow failure syndrome caused by mutations in DNA repair genes; some of these patients may have features of the VACTERL association. Autosomal recessive ...mutations in FANCI are a rare cause of FA. We identified FANCI mutations by next generation sequencing in three patients in our FA cohort among several whose mutated gene was unknown. Four of the six mutations are novel and all mutations are likely deleterious to protein function. There are now 16 reported cases of FA due to FANCI of whom 7 have at least 3 features of the VACTERL association (44%). This suggests that the VACTERL association in patients with FA may be seen in patients with FANCI mutations more often than previously recognized.
Abstract
Purpose/Objective(s): The ATM protein is key to DNA double strand break (DSB) repair and ATM inhibitors are potent radiosensitizers. Clinical translation of these agents in combination with ...radiotherapy (RT) has been limited due to concerns for increased normal tissue toxicity. Pharmacologic Ascorbate (P-AscH-) radiosensitizes cancer cells via generation of a H2O2 flux while acting as a radioprotector in normal tissue via free radicle scavenging. We hypothesized that P-AscH- could open a therapeutic window for the combination of RT and ATM inhibition in colorectal cancer (CRC).
Materials/Methods: Multiple human and murine CRC cell lines were used in vitro. Clonogenic survival was assessed after combinations of RT +/- P-AscH and DNA Repair Inhibitors (DRIs). Catalase expression was induced using HCT116 cells expressing a doxycycline-inducible catalase transgene. DSBs were quantified using neutral comet assays. Cell cycle distribution were assessed using flow cytometry. ATM localization/activation were assessed using IF. Normal tissue toxicity in vivo was assessed using IHC following whole-abdominal RT. Survival and tumor growth delay was assessed following 5Gyx3 +/- drug treatment to unilateral flank tumors in syngeneic/xenograft models.
Results: DRIs were potent radiosensitizers in most CRC cell lines and the addition of P-AscH- further reduced clonogenic survival. In contrast, P-AscH- did not radiosensitize HUVEC or FHs-74int normal cell lines. P-AscH- significantly increased the number of DSBs in tumors after RT in vitro. P-AscH- simultaneously decreased nuclear localization and activation of pATM after RT and perturbed G2+M phase progression. In vivo, the addition of P-AscH- to RT + KU60019 significantly increased survival delayed tumor growth in syngeneic/xenograft models while ameliorating increased normal bowel toxicity as measured by jejunal crypt density, acute weight loss, rectal injury, and markers of oxidative stress following whole-abdominal RT. The effects of P-AscH were reversed by inducing the overexpression of catalase.
Conclusion: P-AscH- improves both aspects of the therapeutic window of RT+ATM inhibition in CRC by simultaneously enhancing tumor efficacy while decreasing RT-mediated bowel toxicity. The effects of P-AscH- on clonogenic survival, initial and persistent DSBs, G2+M phase perturbations, ATM activation/localization, and in vivo survival and tumor growth delay were dependent on H202 flux. Normal tissue protection appears to be related to decreased oxidative stress.
Citation Format: Cameron M. Callaghan, Ibrahim M. Abukhiran, Richard V. Van Rheeden, Amanda L. Kalen, Samuel N. Rodman, Michael S. Petronek, Kranti A. Mapuskar, Sarah L. Mott, Mitchell C. Coleman, Prabhat C. Goswami, John M. Buatti, Bryan G. Allen, Douglas R. Spitz, Joseph M. Caster. Pharmacologic ascorbate opens a therapeutic window for ATM inhibition and radiotherapy in colorectal cancer abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 811.
It is generally assumed that antibiotic residues in soils select for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This assumption was tested by separately adding 10 different antibiotics (≥200 ppm) to three ...soil-water slurries (silt-loam, sand-loam, and sand; 20% soil wt/vol) and incubating mixtures for 24 h at room temperature. The antibiotic activity of the resultant supernatant was assessed by culturing a sensitive Escherichia coli strain in the filter-sterilized supernatant augmented with Luria-Bertani broth. We found striking differences in the abilities of supernatants to suppress growth of the indicator E. coli. Ampicillin, cephalothin, cefoxitin, ceftiofur, and florfenicol supernatants completely inhibited growth while bacterial growth was uninhibited in the presence of neomycin, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin supernatants. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis demonstrated that cefoxitin and florfenicol were almost completely retained in the supernatants, whereas tetracycline and ciprofloxacin were mostly removed. Antibiotic dissipation in soil, presumably dominated by adsorption mechanisms, was sufficient to neutralize 200 ppm of tetracycline; this concentration is considerably higher than reported contamination levels. Soil pellets from the tetracycline slurries were resuspended in a minimal volume of medium to maximize the interaction between bacteria and soil particles, but sensitive bacteria were still unaffected by tetracycline (P = 0.6). Thus, residual antibiotics in soil do not necessarily exert a selective pressure, and the degree to which the pharmaceutical remains bioactive depends on the antibiotic. Efforts to control antibiotic contamination would be better directed toward compounds that retain biological activity in soils (e.g., cephalosporins and florfenicol) because these are the antibiotics that could exert a selective pressure in the environment. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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