Student engagement in learning at the middle school level is a key indicator of academic success ... more Student engagement in learning at the middle school level is a key indicator of academic success in high school (Azzam, 2007; Balfanz, Herzog, & Mac Iver, 2007; Orthner, Jones-Sanpei, Akos, & Rose, 2012). Alternatively, disengagement from learning at this level can result in behavioral and academic challenges which can ultimately lead to the decision to drop out from high school (Azzam, 2007; Balfanz et al., 2007; Klem & Connell, 2004). This qualitative study was conducted to explore how highly engaged middle school students understand and experience engagement in learning. The study also sought to understand how school structures and strategies support or hinder engagement in learning. The study considered the experiences of six highly engaged middle school students. Their experiences were considered through the lenses of engagement theory and stage-environment fit theory. This study was conducted as an interpretative phenomenological analysis that focused on the lived experiences of the participants with student engagement in learning at the middle level. Student participants indicated that positive relationships in the learning environment, varied instructional strategies, student-initiated study strategies, perseverance, and academic success support engagement in learning at the middle level.
Background: Suicide rates in the United States have increased by 30% since 1999 and suicide is cu... more Background: Suicide rates in the United States have increased by 30% since 1999 and suicide is currently the 10 th leading cause of death. Suicide has also become one of the leading causes of death in pregnant and postpartum women. The aim of this study is to examine whether rurality affects the risk of suicide in pregnant and postpartum women. Methods: This study used data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, Restricted Access Dataset (2003-2012). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to first describe the pregnant and postpartum population versus non-pregnant females (ages 15-54), who all died by suicide, and then to examine urban-rural differences. Results: Rural suicide decedents were much older, married, less likely to have had a mental health diagnosis, and more likely to use a firearm. Recent intimate partner crisis and intimate partner problems were both associated with increased odds that the suicide decedent was pregnant or postpartum in both urban and rural counties, whereas presence of job problems and report of history of suicide attempt decreased the odds that the suicide decedent was pregnant or postpartum in both urban and rural counties. Multivariable polytomous logistic regression analyses revealed differences in suicide risk factors among pregnant, postpartum and non-pregnant decedents when stratified by rural and urban status. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that pregnant and postpartum women should be screened for risk of suicide, in the clinical setting, especially if there are intimate partner problems or a crisis. With proper identification and response, suicide in pregnant and postpartum women might be decreased.
Island Lake is located in the Shoshone National Forest near Cody, Wyoming, at an elevation of 3,0... more Island Lake is located in the Shoshone National Forest near Cody, Wyoming, at an elevation of 3,048 meters. Positioned centrally in the Beartooth Mountains, Island Lake is an alpine lake of glacial origin. Like many alpine lakes, Island Lake is highly transparent, with a deep chlorophyll maximum, and a maximum water depth of 33 m, and is thus ideally suited to study the relationships between ecological bioindicators and geochemical proxies. Here we explore preliminary paleolimnological data from a sediment core measuring 1.54 meters, which was collected in the summer of 2013. Two planktonic diatom genera, Discostella and Aulacoseira, were abundant throughout the core. Both of these genera have known ecological associations with stratification and destratification, respectively, in low-nutrient lakes from this region. Based on the relative abundances of fossil diatom species in each group, we created a diatominferred stratification index to reconstruct changes in lake stratification ...
Continental hydrothermal systems are a dynamic component of global thermal and geochemical cycles... more Continental hydrothermal systems are a dynamic component of global thermal and geochemical cycles, exerting a pronounced impact on water chemistry and heat storage. As such, these environments are commonly classified by temperature, thermal fluid ionic concentration, and pH. Terrestrial hydrothermal systems are a refuge for extremophilic organisms, as extremes in temperature, metal concentration, and pH profoundly impact microorganism assemblage composition. While numerous studies focus on Bacteria and Archaea in these environments, few focus on Eukarya – likely due to lower temperature tolerances and because they are not model organisms for understanding the evolution of early life. However, where present, eukaryotic organisms are significant members of continental hydrothermal microorganism communities. Thus, this manuscript focuses on the eukaryotic occupants of terrestrial hydrothermal systems and provides a review of the current status of research, including microbe-eukaryote i...
Abstract Paleoclimate records from ice cores generally are considered to be the most direct indic... more Abstract Paleoclimate records from ice cores generally are considered to be the most direct indicators of environmental change, but are rare from mid-latitude, continental regions such as the western United States. High-elevation ice patches are known to be important archaeological archives in alpine regions and potentially could provide records important for Earth System Model evaluation and to understand linkages between climate and early human activities, but this potential largely is unexplored. Here we use a well-dated ice-core record from a shallow ice patch to investigate Rocky Mountain winter-season climate during the Holocene. Our records indicate that this ice patch consistently accumulated ice over the past 10 kyr, preserving a regionally representative climate record of stable water isotopes and ice accretion rates that documented generally cooler and wetter conditions during the early Holocene and 500 years of anomalous winter season warmth centered at 4,100 cal yr BP followed by a rapid cooling and 1,500 years of cooler and wetter winters.
The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging, 2020
(1) describe imaging features of CIA, (2) compare dilation rate and wall thickening of aortic ane... more (1) describe imaging features of CIA, (2) compare dilation rate and wall thickening of aortic aneurysms in patients with CIA versus those with giant cell arteritis/aortitis (GCA), (3) present clinical outcomes of CIA patients. Retrospective search of electronic records from 2004 to 2018 yielded 71 patients, 52 of whom were female, with a mean age of 67.5 ± 9.0 years old, with a new clinical diagnosis of cranial or extracranial GCA (GCA group), and giant cell aortitis revealed by the aortic biopsy (CIA group). Comparisons between groups were conducted using the Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher’s exact tests. Survival from the date of initial diagnosis to the end of data collection was compared between the two groups through a log-rank test. CIA patients (n = 23; 32%) presented with cardiovascular symptoms, and none had systemic inflammatory symptoms. Inflammatory markers were significantly higher among GCA patients than among CIA patients (p < 0.0001). The CIA group demonstrated thoracic aortic aneurysms without wall thickening. None of the GCA patients (n = 48; 68%) had aneurysmal dilation in the aorta at the time of diagnosis. None of the four CIA patients had FDG uptake in the aorta, while nine out of 13 GCA patients had FDG uptake in the vessels. There was no statistically significant difference in the survival between the two groups (p = 0.12). CIA patients presented with cardiovascular symptoms and was characterized by aneurysm of the aorta without the involvement of the infrarenal aortic segment. The role of FDG-PET/CT in CIA is less certain, though none of the patients in this cohort had FDG uptake in the vessels.
April 2020. Included data are preliminary due to incomplete reporting or investigation. Funding: ... more April 2020. Included data are preliminary due to incomplete reporting or investigation. Funding: The Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System is supported by cooperative agreement NU 17CE924933-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.
The study of eukaryotic extremophiles is relatively novel, and, therefore, documentation of the s... more The study of eukaryotic extremophiles is relatively novel, and, therefore, documentation of the structure and function of microorganisms in continental hydrothermal systems globally is limited. In this study, we investigate fossil diatoms in siliceous hydrothermal deposits of the Upper Geyser and Yellowstone Lake hydrothermal basins in Yellowstone National Park, and utilize preserved diatom assemblages to infer local environmental conditions. Siliceous sinter from both the Upper Geyser Basin and Yellowstone Lake contains evidence of in-situ diatom growth within these environments. At Upper Geyser Basin, the assemblage consisted of species that could grow on moist siliceous sinter and was dominated by Rhopalodia gibberula. Diatom valves were found in various preservation states, ranging from nearly pristine to highly diagenetically altered. Diatoms collected from siliceous spires in Yellowstone Lake consisted largely of tychoplanktonic and benthic species that were almost certainly growing on the outside of the structure, with an assemblage indicative of relatively shallow, alkaline waters. What remains unclear without access to material for high-resolution dating is whether diatoms colonized the spires during hydrothermal activity or after activity ceased. Our results indicate that diatom frustules can, to some extent, survive alteration in low-temperature (< 76°C) hydrothermal environments.
This article describes the interplay between the serine/threonine kinase maternal embryonic leuci... more This article describes the interplay between the serine/threonine kinase maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK) and the enhancer of zeste 2 polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit (EZH2) and provides a basis for targeting this enzymatic pathway in mature natural killer/T-cell malignancies.
To date, the association between the alcohol sale status of decedents’ residence and alcohol-rela... more To date, the association between the alcohol sale status of decedents’ residence and alcohol-related homicide victimization have not been studied as far as we know. The current study aims to: i) determine whether homicide victims who were residents of wet counties had higher odds of testing positive for alcohol than their counterparts in moist or dry counties after adjusting for confounders; ii) determine whether homicides and alcohol-related homicides tend to cluster spatially; iii) determine whether the aforementioned associations exist only in highly-populated counties. A multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data on homicide victims in the Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System from 2005 to 2012. Spatial statistics were used to determine the spatial autocorrelation in rates of homicides and alcohol-related homicides. Overall, 944 homicide victims were included. The male to female ratio was 3:1. About 32.8% of homicide victims tested positive for alcoho...
understanding, and the opportunity to further my education under his guidance. Special thanks go ... more understanding, and the opportunity to further my education under his guidance. Special thanks go to Travis Belt and the MU Variety Testing crew for their friendship and technical assistance. I would like to thank my fellow graduate students LeAnn Curtis, April Bailey, Nick Monnig, and many others for their friendship and support. I would like to thank my committee members, Kristin Bilyeu, Kevin Bradley, and Azlin Mustapha, for their assistance and advisement throughout this degree. I would like to thank my husband Aaron for always believing in me, and my boys, Silas and Zachary, for giving me inspiration. I would like to thank my parents, John and Jenny Summers, and the rest of my family for their support and encouragement, for without you, none of this would have been possible.
Parent-child sexual health communication can be beneficial. Many factors affect such communicatio... more Parent-child sexual health communication can be beneficial. Many factors affect such communication in Chinese immigrant families. This qualitative study explored the influences of acculturation, parenting, and parental participation in the Raising Sexually Healthy Children Program (RSHC) on such communication. With a hermeneutic framework, the purpose was to develop understanding based on the topic, context, and researcher interpretations. Twelve interviews elicited data from six parent-child dyads, three from the RSHC. Analysis involved coding processes; data were compared repeatedly and organized into themes. Perceived personality differences between generations were confounded with cultural communicative differences. Parents used implicitness observed in Chinese culture to establish ‗open' communication; children expected explicitness observed in Western culture. Post-RSHC, parents perceived themselves as more open to talking about sex; children did not perceive such parental changes. Future research should include joint interviews and longitudinal program evaluation. Future practice should focus on cross-cultural communication and involving children in RSHC.
Student engagement in learning at the middle school level is a key indicator of academic success ... more Student engagement in learning at the middle school level is a key indicator of academic success in high school (Azzam, 2007; Balfanz, Herzog, & Mac Iver, 2007; Orthner, Jones-Sanpei, Akos, & Rose, 2012). Alternatively, disengagement from learning at this level can result in behavioral and academic challenges which can ultimately lead to the decision to drop out from high school (Azzam, 2007; Balfanz et al., 2007; Klem & Connell, 2004). This qualitative study was conducted to explore how highly engaged middle school students understand and experience engagement in learning. The study also sought to understand how school structures and strategies support or hinder engagement in learning. The study considered the experiences of six highly engaged middle school students. Their experiences were considered through the lenses of engagement theory and stage-environment fit theory. This study was conducted as an interpretative phenomenological analysis that focused on the lived experiences of the participants with student engagement in learning at the middle level. Student participants indicated that positive relationships in the learning environment, varied instructional strategies, student-initiated study strategies, perseverance, and academic success support engagement in learning at the middle level.
Background: Suicide rates in the United States have increased by 30% since 1999 and suicide is cu... more Background: Suicide rates in the United States have increased by 30% since 1999 and suicide is currently the 10 th leading cause of death. Suicide has also become one of the leading causes of death in pregnant and postpartum women. The aim of this study is to examine whether rurality affects the risk of suicide in pregnant and postpartum women. Methods: This study used data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, Restricted Access Dataset (2003-2012). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to first describe the pregnant and postpartum population versus non-pregnant females (ages 15-54), who all died by suicide, and then to examine urban-rural differences. Results: Rural suicide decedents were much older, married, less likely to have had a mental health diagnosis, and more likely to use a firearm. Recent intimate partner crisis and intimate partner problems were both associated with increased odds that the suicide decedent was pregnant or postpartum in both urban and rural counties, whereas presence of job problems and report of history of suicide attempt decreased the odds that the suicide decedent was pregnant or postpartum in both urban and rural counties. Multivariable polytomous logistic regression analyses revealed differences in suicide risk factors among pregnant, postpartum and non-pregnant decedents when stratified by rural and urban status. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that pregnant and postpartum women should be screened for risk of suicide, in the clinical setting, especially if there are intimate partner problems or a crisis. With proper identification and response, suicide in pregnant and postpartum women might be decreased.
Island Lake is located in the Shoshone National Forest near Cody, Wyoming, at an elevation of 3,0... more Island Lake is located in the Shoshone National Forest near Cody, Wyoming, at an elevation of 3,048 meters. Positioned centrally in the Beartooth Mountains, Island Lake is an alpine lake of glacial origin. Like many alpine lakes, Island Lake is highly transparent, with a deep chlorophyll maximum, and a maximum water depth of 33 m, and is thus ideally suited to study the relationships between ecological bioindicators and geochemical proxies. Here we explore preliminary paleolimnological data from a sediment core measuring 1.54 meters, which was collected in the summer of 2013. Two planktonic diatom genera, Discostella and Aulacoseira, were abundant throughout the core. Both of these genera have known ecological associations with stratification and destratification, respectively, in low-nutrient lakes from this region. Based on the relative abundances of fossil diatom species in each group, we created a diatominferred stratification index to reconstruct changes in lake stratification ...
Continental hydrothermal systems are a dynamic component of global thermal and geochemical cycles... more Continental hydrothermal systems are a dynamic component of global thermal and geochemical cycles, exerting a pronounced impact on water chemistry and heat storage. As such, these environments are commonly classified by temperature, thermal fluid ionic concentration, and pH. Terrestrial hydrothermal systems are a refuge for extremophilic organisms, as extremes in temperature, metal concentration, and pH profoundly impact microorganism assemblage composition. While numerous studies focus on Bacteria and Archaea in these environments, few focus on Eukarya – likely due to lower temperature tolerances and because they are not model organisms for understanding the evolution of early life. However, where present, eukaryotic organisms are significant members of continental hydrothermal microorganism communities. Thus, this manuscript focuses on the eukaryotic occupants of terrestrial hydrothermal systems and provides a review of the current status of research, including microbe-eukaryote i...
Abstract Paleoclimate records from ice cores generally are considered to be the most direct indic... more Abstract Paleoclimate records from ice cores generally are considered to be the most direct indicators of environmental change, but are rare from mid-latitude, continental regions such as the western United States. High-elevation ice patches are known to be important archaeological archives in alpine regions and potentially could provide records important for Earth System Model evaluation and to understand linkages between climate and early human activities, but this potential largely is unexplored. Here we use a well-dated ice-core record from a shallow ice patch to investigate Rocky Mountain winter-season climate during the Holocene. Our records indicate that this ice patch consistently accumulated ice over the past 10 kyr, preserving a regionally representative climate record of stable water isotopes and ice accretion rates that documented generally cooler and wetter conditions during the early Holocene and 500 years of anomalous winter season warmth centered at 4,100 cal yr BP followed by a rapid cooling and 1,500 years of cooler and wetter winters.
The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging, 2020
(1) describe imaging features of CIA, (2) compare dilation rate and wall thickening of aortic ane... more (1) describe imaging features of CIA, (2) compare dilation rate and wall thickening of aortic aneurysms in patients with CIA versus those with giant cell arteritis/aortitis (GCA), (3) present clinical outcomes of CIA patients. Retrospective search of electronic records from 2004 to 2018 yielded 71 patients, 52 of whom were female, with a mean age of 67.5 ± 9.0 years old, with a new clinical diagnosis of cranial or extracranial GCA (GCA group), and giant cell aortitis revealed by the aortic biopsy (CIA group). Comparisons between groups were conducted using the Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher’s exact tests. Survival from the date of initial diagnosis to the end of data collection was compared between the two groups through a log-rank test. CIA patients (n = 23; 32%) presented with cardiovascular symptoms, and none had systemic inflammatory symptoms. Inflammatory markers were significantly higher among GCA patients than among CIA patients (p < 0.0001). The CIA group demonstrated thoracic aortic aneurysms without wall thickening. None of the GCA patients (n = 48; 68%) had aneurysmal dilation in the aorta at the time of diagnosis. None of the four CIA patients had FDG uptake in the aorta, while nine out of 13 GCA patients had FDG uptake in the vessels. There was no statistically significant difference in the survival between the two groups (p = 0.12). CIA patients presented with cardiovascular symptoms and was characterized by aneurysm of the aorta without the involvement of the infrarenal aortic segment. The role of FDG-PET/CT in CIA is less certain, though none of the patients in this cohort had FDG uptake in the vessels.
April 2020. Included data are preliminary due to incomplete reporting or investigation. Funding: ... more April 2020. Included data are preliminary due to incomplete reporting or investigation. Funding: The Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System is supported by cooperative agreement NU 17CE924933-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.
The study of eukaryotic extremophiles is relatively novel, and, therefore, documentation of the s... more The study of eukaryotic extremophiles is relatively novel, and, therefore, documentation of the structure and function of microorganisms in continental hydrothermal systems globally is limited. In this study, we investigate fossil diatoms in siliceous hydrothermal deposits of the Upper Geyser and Yellowstone Lake hydrothermal basins in Yellowstone National Park, and utilize preserved diatom assemblages to infer local environmental conditions. Siliceous sinter from both the Upper Geyser Basin and Yellowstone Lake contains evidence of in-situ diatom growth within these environments. At Upper Geyser Basin, the assemblage consisted of species that could grow on moist siliceous sinter and was dominated by Rhopalodia gibberula. Diatom valves were found in various preservation states, ranging from nearly pristine to highly diagenetically altered. Diatoms collected from siliceous spires in Yellowstone Lake consisted largely of tychoplanktonic and benthic species that were almost certainly growing on the outside of the structure, with an assemblage indicative of relatively shallow, alkaline waters. What remains unclear without access to material for high-resolution dating is whether diatoms colonized the spires during hydrothermal activity or after activity ceased. Our results indicate that diatom frustules can, to some extent, survive alteration in low-temperature (< 76°C) hydrothermal environments.
This article describes the interplay between the serine/threonine kinase maternal embryonic leuci... more This article describes the interplay between the serine/threonine kinase maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK) and the enhancer of zeste 2 polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit (EZH2) and provides a basis for targeting this enzymatic pathway in mature natural killer/T-cell malignancies.
To date, the association between the alcohol sale status of decedents’ residence and alcohol-rela... more To date, the association between the alcohol sale status of decedents’ residence and alcohol-related homicide victimization have not been studied as far as we know. The current study aims to: i) determine whether homicide victims who were residents of wet counties had higher odds of testing positive for alcohol than their counterparts in moist or dry counties after adjusting for confounders; ii) determine whether homicides and alcohol-related homicides tend to cluster spatially; iii) determine whether the aforementioned associations exist only in highly-populated counties. A multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data on homicide victims in the Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System from 2005 to 2012. Spatial statistics were used to determine the spatial autocorrelation in rates of homicides and alcohol-related homicides. Overall, 944 homicide victims were included. The male to female ratio was 3:1. About 32.8% of homicide victims tested positive for alcoho...
understanding, and the opportunity to further my education under his guidance. Special thanks go ... more understanding, and the opportunity to further my education under his guidance. Special thanks go to Travis Belt and the MU Variety Testing crew for their friendship and technical assistance. I would like to thank my fellow graduate students LeAnn Curtis, April Bailey, Nick Monnig, and many others for their friendship and support. I would like to thank my committee members, Kristin Bilyeu, Kevin Bradley, and Azlin Mustapha, for their assistance and advisement throughout this degree. I would like to thank my husband Aaron for always believing in me, and my boys, Silas and Zachary, for giving me inspiration. I would like to thank my parents, John and Jenny Summers, and the rest of my family for their support and encouragement, for without you, none of this would have been possible.
Parent-child sexual health communication can be beneficial. Many factors affect such communicatio... more Parent-child sexual health communication can be beneficial. Many factors affect such communication in Chinese immigrant families. This qualitative study explored the influences of acculturation, parenting, and parental participation in the Raising Sexually Healthy Children Program (RSHC) on such communication. With a hermeneutic framework, the purpose was to develop understanding based on the topic, context, and researcher interpretations. Twelve interviews elicited data from six parent-child dyads, three from the RSHC. Analysis involved coding processes; data were compared repeatedly and organized into themes. Perceived personality differences between generations were confounded with cultural communicative differences. Parents used implicitness observed in Chinese culture to establish ‗open' communication; children expected explicitness observed in Western culture. Post-RSHC, parents perceived themselves as more open to talking about sex; children did not perceive such parental changes. Future research should include joint interviews and longitudinal program evaluation. Future practice should focus on cross-cultural communication and involving children in RSHC.
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