Search

Understanding students' perspectives on inclusive behavior is important for addressing the bullying, victimization, and exclusion that many middle school and high school students, particularly marginalized students, continue to face at school. This study explored how students give meaning to inclusive behavior at school and the conditions that support inclusive behavior. Using data from 30 focus groups conducted with students, the findings expand on three primary themes: students' broad descriptions of inclusive behavior, their understanding of the qualities and characteristics of an inclusive person, and their beliefs about what makes a school inclusive. Findings from this study can inform organizational practices to facilitate inclusive behavior in schools in a manner consistent with how students themselves view inclusivity.

Background: Identity development in individuals with disabilities is often negatively impacted by exclusion, marginalisation, and stigma. However, meaningful opportunities for community engagement can serve as one pathway towards establishing positive identity. This pathway is further examined in the present study. Methods: Researchers used a tiered, multi-method, qualitative methodology consisting of audio diaries, group interviews, and individual interviews with seven youth (ages 16-20) with intellectual and developmental disabilities, recruited through the Special Olympics U.S. Youth Ambassador Program. Results: Participants' identities incorporated disability while simultaneously transcending the social limits of disability. Participants viewed disability as one aspect of their broader identity, shaped by leadership and engagement experiences such as those offered by the Youth Ambassador Program. Conclusions: Findings have implications for understanding identity development in youth with disabilities, the importance of community engagement and structured leadership opportunities, and the value of tailoring qualitative methodologies to the subject of the research.

Background: Atypical primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), which includes normocalcemic and normohormonal variants, can be a diagnostic challenge. We sought to create a machine learning model to predict the probability of a patient having atypical presentations of PHPT. Methods: A model was constructed using logistic regression of PHPT patients and were compared to controls. Variables included sex, body mass index (BMI), calcium, PTH, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, phosphorus, chloride, sodium, alkaline phosphatase, and creatinine. The performance of the model was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). Results: The study included 4987 controls and 433 patients with atypical PHPT. Calcium, PTH, vitamin D, phosphorus, BMI, and sex were found to significantly contribute to the performance of the model, achieving an AUC of 0.999. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 92.9 %, 99.7 %, 96.3 % and 99.4 %, respectively. Conclusion: Machine learning can reliably aid in the recognition of PHPT in patients with atypical variants. Clinical relevance: When evaluating patients with atypical variants of primary hyperparathyroidism, the clinician needs to be able to identify subtle relationships in the patient laboratory test to make the diagnosis. These relationships can be found with machine learning and incorporated to predictive models which can ease and improve the diagnosis.

Abstract Background Culex mosquitoes are the primary vectors of West Nile virus (WNV) across the USA. Understanding when these vectors are active indicates times when WNV transmission can occur. This study determined the proportion of female Culex mosquitoes that were in diapause during the fall and winter and when they terminated diapause and began blood feeding in the spring. Methods Mosquitoes were collected from parks using various traps and/or aspirated from culverts in Franklin County, Ohio, from October to mid-May from 2019 to 2022. Culex mosquitoes were morphologically identified to species, and the ovaries of females were dissected to determine their diapause and parity statuses. Results By early October 2021, roughly 95% of Culex pipiens collected in culverts were in diapause and 98% of Cx. erraticus were in diapause. Furthermore, gravid and blood-fed Culex salinarius, Cx. pipiens, and Cx. restuans were collected in late November in 2019 and 2021 in standard mosquito traps. In the winter of 2021, the proportions of non-diapausing Culex decreased within culverts. The last non-diapausing Cx. erraticus was collected in late December 2021 while the final non-diapausing Cx. pipiens was collected in mid-January 2022, both in culverts. Roughly 50% of Cx. pipiens terminated diapause by mid-March 2022, further supported by our collections of gravid females in late March in all 3 years of mosquito collection. In fact, male mosquitoes of Cx. pipiens, Cx. restuans, and Cx. territans were collected by the 1st week of May in 2022, indicating that multiple species of Culex produced a second generation that reached adulthood by this time. Conclusions We collected blood-fed and gravid Culex females into late November in 2 of the 3 years of our collections, indicating that it might be possible for WNV transmission to occur in late fall in temperate climates like Ohio. The persistence of non-diapausing Cx. pipiens and Cx. erraticus throughout December has important implications for the winter survival of WNV vectors and our overall understanding of diapause. Finally, determining when Culex terminate diapause in the spring may allow us to optimize mosquito management programs and reduce the spread of WNV before it is transmitted to humans. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Mosquitoes transmit a wide variety of devastating pathogens when they bite vertebrate hosts and feed on their blood. However, three entire mosquito genera and many individual species in other genera have evolved a nonbiting life history in which blood is not required to produce eggs. Our long‐term goal is to develop novel interventions that reduce or eliminate the biting behavior in vector mosquitoes. A previous study used biting and nonbiting populations of a nonvector mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii, as a model to uncover the transcriptional basis of the evolutionary transition from a biting to a nonbiting life history. Herein, we ask whether the molecular pathways that were differentially expressed due to differences in biting behavior in W. smithii are also differentially expressed between subspecies of Culex pipiens that are obligate biting (Culex pipiens pipiens) and facultatively nonbiting (Culex pipiens molestus). Results from RNAseq of adult heads show dramatic upregulation of transcripts in the ribosomal protein pathway in biting C. pipiens, recapitulating the results in W. smithii, and implicating the ancient and highly conserved ribosome as the intersection to understanding the evolutionary and physiological basis of blood feeding in mosquitoes. Biting Culex also strongly upregulate energy production pathways, including oxidative phosphorylation and the citric acid (TCA) cycle relative to nonbiters, a distinction that was not observed in W. smithii. Amino acid metabolism pathways were enriched for differentially expressed genes in biting versus nonbiting Culex. Relative to biters, nonbiting Culex upregulated sugar metabolism and transcripts contributing to reproductive allocation (vitellogenin and cathepsins). These results provide a foundation for developing strategies to determine the natural evolutionary transition between a biting and nonbiting life history in vector mosquitoes.

Understanding the molecular and physiological processes underlying biting behavior in vector mosquitoes has important implications for developing novel strategies to suppress disease transmission. Here, we conduct small-RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR to identify differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in the head tissues of two subspecies of Culex pipiens that differ in biting behavior and the ability to produce eggs without blood feeding. We identified eight differentially expressed miRNAs between biting C. pipiens pipiens (Pipiens) and non-biting C. pipiens molestus (Molestus); six of these miRNAs have validated functions or predicted targets related to energy utilization (miR8-5-p, miR-283, miR-2952-3p, miR-1891), reproduction (miR-1891), and immunity (miR-2934-3p, miR-92a, miR8-5-p). Although miRNAs regulating physiological processes associated with blood feeding have previously been shown to be differentially expressed in response to a blood meal, our results are the first to demonstrate differential miRNA expression in anticipation of a blood meal before blood is actually imbibed. We compare our current miRNA results to three previous studies of differential messenger RNA expression in the head tissues of mosquitoes. Taken together, the combined results consistently show that biting mosquitoes commit to specific physiological processes in anticipation of a blood meal, while non-biting mosquitoes mitigate these anticipatory costs.

The present study examined how a multicomponent intervention embedded in a high school's extracurricular framework impacts students' acceptance of peers with intellectual disability (ID). Data were collected from eight high schools, three of which implemented the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools (UCS) program involving inclusive sports, clubs, and schoolwide events, and five of which did not. A pretest-posttest survey design was used to measure students' attitudes, perceptions, and interactions (n = 1,230). Lagged dependent variable modeling revealed that UCS participation significantly predicted improved attitudes toward peers with ID and perceptions of school social inclusion, as well as increased social interactions with peers with ID. Unified extracurricular activities may be the next step forward in promoting an inclusive school culture.

Abstract BackgroundInfraorbital hollows can give a fatigued or aged appearance, which can be treated by volumizing the segmented transition from the tear trough to the cheek with hyaluronic acid filler. Due to thin skin and the complex anatomy of the infraorbital area, both short- and long-term side effects (SEs) from this treatment are very common. While some patients are clear surgical candidates vs filler candidates, in real-world practice, many, if not most, patients are on a continuum where either procedure is appropriate, and the treatment decision is individualized based on each person’s risk vs benefit profile. ObjectivesCommon aesthetic SEs from hyaluronic acid filler treatment in the infraorbital area will be reviewed, including their etiology, prevention, detection, and treatment. MethodsThe author’s experience from injecting the infraorbital areas of more than 800 patients in private clinical practice and observations from both short- and long-term follow-ups over 8 years is leveraged to provide detailed guidance. ResultsRecommendations on injection techniques, patient selection, and patient education are presented along with algorithms for the prevention and management of bruising, short- and long-term swelling, bumps, and blue discoloration (which is usually secondary to swelling from the filler rather than just the filler alone placed or migrating too superficially). ConclusionsFor nearly all patients, complete dissolution of filler with hyaluronidase is not required to address the issue, and the guidelines provided here will assist clinicians in the management of SEs to increase patient satisfaction with their treatment and aesthetic outcome. Level of Evidence: 5