Macmurray College

This study’s primary purpose was to determine a method of quantitating the impact of physiological responses to stress on testing performance. We developed the stress performance evaluation (SPE) to calculate the overall stress levels that occur during testing by using the correct answers divided by the percent change in heart rate per day. Here, we first measured whether the SPE equation could predict testing environment and parameters in children with a learning disability (LD). The participants were seventh-grade students, with testing consisting of 100 basic math calculation questions in sixty seconds. Quantitative data was also collected through questionnaires, heart rates, and math fluency probes. The test performance was measured in small and large classroom settings and with paper and pencil (P&P) and online computer tests. Based on our SPE measurements, all LD students performed best in small-group computer testing for correctness and percent change in heart rate, which meant better overall performance. The use of SPE has promise for future testing parameters. The SPE evaluation method might be significant for determining the best testing situation for children with a disability and quantitatively measuring stress responses in advanced students, adults, and other testing scenarios.

"A World of Innovation: Cartography in the Time of Gerhard Mercator." Terrae Incognitae, 50(1), pp. 79–80

ABSTRACTWe prove the versions of amplitude inequalities of Iversen, Foxby and Iyengar, and Frankild and Sather-Wagstaff that replace finite generation conditions with adic finiteness conditions. As an application, we prove that a local ring R of prime characteristic is regular if and only if for some proper ideal 𝔟 the derived local cohomology complex RΓ𝔟(R) has finite flat dimension when viewed through some positive power of the Frobenius endomorphism.

Students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) can present intensive needs, requiring the intervention and instruction of well-trained and qualified teachers who work with them in the classroom. However, schools face serious shortages in the field of special education, particularly for staff who work with this population of children (McLeskey, Tyler, & Flippin, 2003; Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education, 2000; Texas Center for Educational Research, 2006). According to the U.S. Department of Education (2012), the current high-need fields in schools that serve low-income students include special education, with many states reporting shortages in the field of teachers working with students with EBD. School personnel not only must focus their efforts on the recruitment of special educators but must work to keep the individuals who are credentialed and performing well in the field.When factors can be identified that are associated with intent to stay in or leave the field, it is important to consider strengthening those positive factors and working to mini-mize or eliminate the negative factors. Support from principals of teachers has been cited as one of the most important factors for both general and special educators’ retention (Correa & Wagner, 2011; Darling-Hammond, 2003). In 2007, the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (CCBD) conducted a survey of school personnel working with students with EBD to determine the key fac-tors that result in their staying or exiting the field. The study revealed significant factors that determine whether teachers were likely to stay, although it should be noted that the sam-ple size was small and reflected only members of CCBD (Albrecht, Johns, Mounsteven, & Olorunda, 2009). Both positive (retention) and negative (resignation) factors Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com

Background: The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an important role in left ventricular remodeling and changes in expression patterns of ECM proteins may contribute to the progression of heart failure (HF). Endostatin, biglycan and mimecan are ECM proteins that are abundantly expressed in cardiac tissue but have not been evaluated as prognostic markers in HF. We investigated if they were increased in chronic HF and if levels were associated with adverse outcome. Materials and methods: Serum endostatin, biglycan and mimecan were measured in 187 HF patients and 57 matched healthy controls. Associations with adverse outcome were assessed in 1428 patients enrolled in the in the Controlled Rosuvastatin Multinational Trial in HF (CORONA) population, randomly assigned to 10 mg rosuvastatin or placebo, which included patients with HF, aged ≥60 years, in New York Heart Association classes II to IV, who had ischemic heart disease and a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. Outcome included the primary endpoint (cardiovascular (CV) death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke; n=408), all-cause mortality (n=422), CV mortality (n=344), coronary endpoint (n=330) and CV mortality/hospitalization for worsening of HF (n=535). Results: Serum levels of endostatin, biglycan and mimecan were all increased (31-62% p<0.001) in HF patients vs. controls. In univariate analyses and multivariable analysis (adjusting for LVEF, NYHA class, age, BMI, diabetes, sex, intermittent claudication, heart rate, serum creatinine and apoA1 but not CRP and NT-proBNP), endostatin (continuous variable) was associated with all outcomes. However, the predictive value was markedly attenuated and not significant for any outcome after the addition of CRP and NT-proBNP. Biglycan was moderately but significantly associated with all outcome measures (except coronary endpoint) in univariate analysis but not after multivariable adjustment while no associations were observed for mimecan. Conclusions: Serum levels of the ECM proteins endostatin, biglycan and mimecan are all elevated in chronic HF, but add no predictive information beyond NT-proBNP for adverse outcome in older patients with advanced chronic systolic HF of ischemic aetiology.

This study aimed at detecting the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant serotypes of Escherichia coli in Cochin estuary, India. E. coli strains were isolated during the period January 2010–December 2011 from five different stations set at Cochin estuary. Water samples from five different stations in Cochin estuary were collected on a monthly basis for a period of two years. Isolates were serotyped, antibiogram-phenotyped for twelve antimicrobial agents, and genotyped by polymerase chain reaction for uid gene that codes for β-D-glucuronidase. These E. coli strains from Cochin estuary were tested against twelve antibiotics to determine the prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistance among them. The results revealed that more than 53.33% of the isolates were multiple antibiotic resistant. Thirteen isolates showed resistance to sulphonamides and two of them contained the sul 1 gene. Class 1 integrons were detected in two E. coli strains which were resistant to more than seven antibiotics. In the present study, O serotyping, antibiotic sensitivity, and polymerase chain reaction were employed with the purpose of establishing the present distribution of multiple antibiotic-resistant serotypes, associated with E. coli isolated from different parts of Cochin estuary.

Objectives Patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF) are at increased risk of stroke, with some studies suggesting an inverse association between ejection fraction (EF) and stroke risk. The rate of stroke in simultaneously enrolled patients with HF-REF and preserved EF (HF-PEF) has not been reported and the predictors of stroke in a contemporary population of patients with HF are unknown. The Candesartan in Heart Failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity (CHARM) program, which included patients with a wide range of EF, provided a unique opportunity to examine these questions about stroke in HF. Methods We evaluated risk factors for stroke with multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis using forward- and backward-stepwise selection of candidate variables, with gender, history of hypertension, EF and randomized treatment (i.e. candesartan) forced into the model. Results Of the 7599 participants in CHARM, 287 (3.8%) experienced a fatal or nonfatal stroke during a median follow-up of 37.7 months. The stroke rate was 1.3 (95% CI=1.1-1.5) and 1.4 (95% CI=1.2-1.7) per 100 pt yrs in subjects with reduced and preserved EF respectively. The 5 strongest predictors of stroke (ranked by chi-square value) were: older age, previous stroke, higher systolic blood pressure, diabetes and atrial fibrillation on baseline ECG; other independent predictors are shown in the figure. Univariate predictors not retained in the multivariable model were: history of hypertension, NYHA class III or IV, baseline oral anticoagulant use, previous coronary bypass surgery, current smoking, signs of HF, diuretic use and female sex; none of the other forced variables were predictive in either the univariate or multivariable models. Conclusions The rate of stroke is similar in patients with HF-REF and HF-PEF. Even in this relatively normotensive population, higher systolic BP was associated with greater stroke risk.