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Anterior segment dysgeneses are congenital anomalies that predominantly involve the cornea, iris, anterior chamber, iridocorneal angle structures, and ciliary body, but may also have posterior segment findings. Genetic causes of these diseases have gradually been identified over the last 30 years. The clinical genetics combined with animal studies have given important insight into the pathogenesis of these diseases. An overview of anterior segment development will be followed by a review of the genetics and pathogenesis underlying primary congenital glaucoma, aniridia, Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome, Peters anomaly, sclerocornea, congenital ectropion uvea, and megalocornea/megalophthalmos. Lack of genetic testing is a critical barrier for increasing our understanding of these diseases and ultimately improving outcomes. Genetic testing is important for patients and gives greater insight into genotype–phenotype correlations regarding treatments and prognosis. Nevertheless, there is a significant percentage of patients with no identified genetic cause. This demonstrates the great opportunity for gene discovery, which requires wider access to whole-genome sequencing and increased support for research efforts and funding. The increased knowledge of genetics and basic science will ultimately lead to the development of novel molecularly targeted treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anterior segment dysgeneses are congenital ocular anomalies that involve the cornea, iris, anterior chamber, iridicorneal angle structures, and ciliary body. Management highly varies and often depends on the extent of cornea and lens involvement and glaucoma diagnosis. A coordinated approach between pediatric ophthalmology, cornea, retina, and glaucoma specialists may be required to minimize complications and optimize results. A review of the clinical findings of primary congenital glaucoma, congenital aniridia, Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome, Peters anomaly, sclerocornea, congenital ectropion uvea, and megalocornea/megalophthalmos will be followed by the current management of these diseases. For optimal outcomes, these diseases often require a multi-specialty approach incorporating glaucoma, cornea, and retina specialists with pediatric ophthalmologists. However, there is a critical shortage of pediatric ophthalmologists and few adult sub-specialists have an interest and desire to incorporate children into their practices. A greater emphasis on pediatric eye diseases during training and exposure to anterior segment dysgeneses is needed to provide the optimal care for these rare conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blindness in glaucoma is the result of death of Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) and their axons. RGC death is generally preceded by a stage of reversible dysfunction and structural remodeling. Current treatments aimed at reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) are ineffective or incompletely effective in management of the disease. IOP-independent neuroprotection or neuroprotection as adjuvant to IOP lowering in glaucoma remains a challenge as effective agents without side effects have not been identified yet. We show in DBA/2J mice with spontaneous IOP elevation and glaucoma that the lifespan of functional RGCs can be extended by preconditioning RGCs with retrobulbar lidocaine in one eye at four months of age that temporary blocks RGC axonal transport. The contralateral, PBS-injected eye served as control. Lidocaine-induced impairment of axonal transport to superior colliculi was assessed by intravitreal injection of cholera toxin B. Long-term (nine months) effect of lidocaine were assessed on RGC electrical responsiveness (PERG), IOP, expression of relevant protein (BDNF, TrkB, PSD95, GFAP, Synaptophysin, and GAPDH) and RGC density. While lidocaine treatment did not alter the age-related increase of IOP, TrkB expression was elevated, GFAP expression was decreased, RGC survival was improved by 35%, and PERG function was preserved. Results suggest that the lifespan of functional RGCs in mouse glaucoma can be extended by preconditioning RGCs in early stages of the disease using a minimally invasive treatment with retrobulbar lidocaine, a common ophthalmologic procedure. Lidocaine is inexpensive, safe and is approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be administered intravenously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did women serving in World War I frame their encounters with mortality? While the sacrificial mother and the homefront sweetheart are familiar figures from the Great War, tens of thousands of American women who served overseas are left out of gendered depictions of sacrifice and loss. Although these valiant women willingly faced the dangers war brought, how they understood these experiences after the fact is less clear. An underutilized source, their wartime scrapbooks, provides insight into their responses. This article, the results of an honors undergraduate student project at Rosemont College, focuses on visual narratives of wartime nurses, two with Pennsylvania connections and one from New York, as examples of women's efforts to record histories of a war from which they are too often excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the extant literature on ways readers make meaning from fairy tales, and proposes a new cognitive model for the response to the traditional fairy tale. Much of the available research on literary responses to fairy tales comes from within the boundaries of psychoanalysis (Bettelheim 1975. The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Vintage; Dieckmann 1986. Twice-told tales: The psychological use of fairy tales. Wilmette: Chiron; Miller 1984. Thou shalt not be aware: Society's betrayal of the child. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux), as well as folklore studies and anthropology (Zipes 1983. Fairy tales and the art of subversion: The classical genre for children and the process of civilization. New York: Wildman Press; Zipes 2006. Why fairy tales stick: The evolution and relevance of a genre. New York: Routledge; Zipes 2012. The irresistible fairy tale: The cultural and social history of a genre. Princeton: Princeton University Press.). Although these fields do not often overlap, the therapeutic potential of fairy tales and relatively recent popularization of practices such as bibliotherapy (Jack and Ronan 2008. Bibliotherapy: Practice and research. School Psychology International 29(2). 161-182) have provided a fertile ground for linking the two disciplines. I propose a cognitive model for the emotionally integrating response to the fairy tale by first introducing Rosenblatt's (1978. The reader, the text, the poem. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press) transactional theory of making meaning from literature, and then in light of this theory, reviewing the psychoanalytic and anthropological evidence for fairy tales' unique effect on readers. Previous theories explaining the emotional benefits of reading fairy tales have failed to consider characteristics of the genre which are unique to it, and which give fairy tales a hierarchically higher status than other genres due to the distance between the reality they depict, and the current reality of the reader. Transactional theory indicates that this higher status may play a crucial role in the genre's ability to support healthy emotional development, as readers who establish close personal connections with the hierarchically valorized genre actually become active participants in a reading experience which provides them with comforting, indisputable affirmation of the uprightness of their own moral principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the outcomes of a leadership program designed to develop a cadre of local leaders in voluntary associations to be active in identifying and resolving local and regional issues. The analytical method selected was a preexperiment design using the one-group pretest-posttest procedure. Knowledge gains of participants showed statistically significant differences at the posttest. Gains in the capability to use knowledge and self-confidence as a leader were positive, but only a small number of the measures used were statistically significant. The outcomes show that members of voluntary associations gained in terms of their knowledge of leadership but evidenced limited improvement in their capability and self-confidence to use the skills in contexts within the community. The implications for community development practitioners are: (1) voluntary associations are an important means of recruiting and developing local leaders; and (2) extension home economics programs that focus on broad issues, as opposed to disseminating traditional subject matter, perform a vital community development role. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Questionnaires were sent to 900 secondary school teachers throughout England and Wales; 373 (41%) were returned. Teachers agreed on many issues but opinion was divided on the abolition of the remaining grammar schools and the question of mixed-ability teaching. Underlying dimensions of traditionalism, belief in equality of the sexes and feminism were identified in teachers' attitudes. Older teachers were more traditional than younger ones, and science and craft teachers were more traditional than arts teachers. Women were more emphatic about sex equality than men and London teachers were more feminist than others. Teachers in schools which had been involved in the Girls Into Science and Technology (GIST) project were slightly less traditional and more in favour of equality of the sexes than other teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses cognitive and noncognitive factors affecting learning performance in older adult learners. The first section provides an overview of the research. Cognitive factors affecting learning are discussed in terms of (a) intelligence and aging, and (b) memory and learning processes. Noncognitive processes related to learning and aging are discussed in terms of (a) motivation, (b) loss of speed, (c) health, and (d) education. The second part of the article suggests some strategies for minimizing learning deficits related to age. Minimizing memory deficits involves (a) using cues, (b) establishing learning conditions that reduce interference and result in adequate time to respond, and (c) using advance organizers. Minimizing noncognitive factors affecting learning involves (a) using the discovery method of teaching, (b) reducing anxiety, and (c) limiting the use of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rats have been used as research models in biomedical research for over 150 years. These disease models arise from naturally occurring mutations, selective breeding and, more recently, genome manipulation. Through the innovation of genome-editing technologies, genome-modified rats provide precision models of disease by disrupting or complementing targeted genes. To facilitate the use of these data produced from rat disease models, the Rat Genome Database (RGD) organizes rat strains and annotates these strains with disease and qualitative phenotype terms as well as quantitative phenotype measurements. From the curated quantitative data, the expected phenotype profile ranges were established through a meta-analysis pipeline using inbred rat strains in control conditions. The disease and qualitative phenotype annotations are propagated to their associated genes and alleles if applicable. Currently, RGD has curated nearly 1300 rat strains with disease/phenotype annotations and about 11% of them have known allele associations. All of the annotations (disease and phenotype) are integrated and displayed on the strain, gene and allele report pages. Finding disease and phenotype models at RGD can be done by searching for terms in the ontology browser, browsing the disease or phenotype ontology branches or entering keywords in the general search. Use cases are provided to show different targeted searches of rat strains at RGD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on a model developed by the Florida Crown Workforce Board and the University of Florida's Welfare to Work Project (WtW) to sustain the participation of the WtW clients in the instructional programs offered by the project. Curricula of WtW; Factors that hinder WtW students to maintain employment; Reason for replacing linear instruction with a continuum of learning activities.