Microfluidic system for near-patient extraction and detection of miR-122 microRNA biomarker for drug-induced liver injury diagnostics

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) results in over 100 000 hospital attendances per year in the UK alone and is a leading cause for the post-marketing withdrawal of new drugs, leading to significant financial losses. MicroRNA-122 (miR-122) has been proposed as a sensitive DILI marker although no commercial applications are available yet. Extracellular blood microRNAs (miRNAs) are promising clinical biomarkers but their measurement at point of care remains time-consuming, technically challenging, and expensive. For circulating miRNA to have an impact on healthcare, a key challenge to overcome is the development of rapid and reliable low-cost sample preparation. There is an acknowledged issue with miRNA stability in the presence of hemolysis and platelet activation, and no solution has been demonstrated for fast and robust extraction at the site of blood draw. Here, we report a novel microfluidic platform for the extraction of circulating miR-122 from blood enabled by a vertical approach and gravity-based bubble mixing. The performance of this disposable cartridge was verified by standard quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis on extracted miR-122. The cartridge performed equivalently or better than standard bench extraction kits. The extraction cartridge was combined with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to detect miR-122 as an initial proof-of-concept toward an application in point-of-care detection. This platform enables the standardization of sample preparation and the detection of miRNAs at the point of blood draw and in resource limited settings and could aid the introduction of miRNA-based assays into routine clinical practice.     

The Mathematical Behavior of Six Successful Mathematics Graduate Students: Influences Leading to Mathematical Success

This study investigated the mathematical behavior of graduate students and the experiences that contributed to their mathematical development and success. Their problem-solving behavior was observed while completing complex mathematical tasks, and their beliefs were assessed by administering a written survey. These graduate students report that a mentor, most frequently a high school teacher, facilitated the development of their problem solving abilities and continued mathematical study. The mentors were described as individuals who provided challenging problems, encouragement, and assistance in learning how to approach complex problems. When confronted with an unfamiliar task, these graduate students exhibited exceptional persistence and high confidence. Their initial problem solving attempts were frequently to classify the problem as one of a familiar type, and they were not always effective in accessing recently taught information or monitoring their solution attempts, but were careful to offer only solutions that had a logical foundation. These results provide numerous insights into the complexities of using and extending one's mathematical knowledge and suggest that non-cognitive factors play a prominent role in a student's mathematical success.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Raven's test performance of sub-Saharan Africans: Average performance,psychometric properties,and the Flynn Effect

This paper presents a systematic review of published data on the performance of sub-Saharan Africans on Raven's Progressive Matrices. The specific goals were to estimate the average level of performance, to study the Flynn Effect in African samples, and to examine the psychometric meaning of Raven's test scores as measures of general intelligence. Convergent validity of the Raven's tests is found to be relatively poor, although reliability and predictive validity are comparable to western samples. Factor analyses indicate that the Raven's tests are relatively weak indicators of general intelligence among Africans, and often measure additional factors, besides general intelligence. The degree to which Raven's scores of Africans reflect levels of general intelligence is unknown. Average IQ of Africans is approximately 80 when compared to US norms. Raven's scores among African adults have shown secular increases over the years. It is concluded that the Flynn Effect has yet to take hold in sub-Saharan Africa.     

The impact of gross anatomy on the future head and neck surgeon

Gross anatomy is not only a rite of passage for medical students as they enter the world of practicing medicine but may also be an unrecognized fork in the road in their pursuit of choosing a medical specialty. Otolaryngology: head and neck surgery tends to be poorly represented in medical school curriculum, often only offered as an elective rotation. However, head and neck anatomy remains a constant in most medical schools, granting some exposure to otolaryngology whether students realize it or not. A common thread among most head and neck surgeons in their decision to pursue this surgical specialty is a love for head and neck anatomy, spawned in that first year gross anatomy course. This first and potentially only exposure to otolaryngology should be optimized, as it can have a profound effect in the selection of otolaryngology as a specialty. This introduction can be facilitated by (1) inviting otolaryngology residents to assist during the dissection of the head and neck, (2) soliciting otolaryngology attending physicians to provide clinical correlation lectures, and (3) anatomy professors should identify students who excel in the head and neck portion of the curriculum and direct them towards otolaryngology mentors. There may be a great missed opportunity if a career in otolaryngology is not discussed with students during the dissection of the head and neck. Anat Sci Ed 2:89–90, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Gender differences in inference generation by fourth‐grade students

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are gender differences among elementary school‐aged students in regard to the inferences they generate during reading. Fourth‐grade students (130 females; 126 males) completed think‐aloud tasks while reading one practice and one experimental narrative text. Females generated a larger number and a greater proportion of reinstatement inferences than did males (Cohen's d = .34, p = .01; Cohen's d = .26, p = .04, respectively). In contrast, there was no evidence for gender differences in other types of think‐aloud responses. These findings suggest that males and females differ in their use of cognitive processes that underlie reading comprehension, particularly with respect to the likelihood of retrieval of information from episodic memory.     

The importance of school culture in supporting student mental health in secondary schools. Insights from a qualitative study

Schools have the potential to provide a place of education and sanctuary for children and young people of all backgrounds. The rise in mental health problems in children and young people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in relation to growing inequities, means that identifying ways in which schools can help respond to this growing mental health crisis demands urgent attention. This paper reports on case studies carried out in two London comprehensive schools, exploring how aspects of school culture impact (both positively and negatively) on student mental health. Methods comprised in-depth interviews with school staff and parents, focus groups with students and documentary analysis of relevant materials. Fieldwork was conducted during spring 2021 as schools were returning to face-to-face learning following national periods of lockdown. Our study shows how schools might attempt to drive positive mental health outcomes through aspects of school culture and uses a system framework to explore complexities around cause and effect in this area. Key findings include the considerable differences in school mental health provision, challenges in the identification of student mental health needs and the importance of recognising how the mental health of teachers must be considered alongside that of students. Overall, we highlight particular dilemmas of the post-lockdown era that our findings indicate for the education sector, and suggest there may be value in reframing the apparent conflict between ‘attainment gaps’ and personal development, moving towards an educational approach with greater complementarity of these aims.     

Factors influencing the acquisition of tactual random figure discriminations by rhesus monkeys

Rhesus monkeys learned to perform two-object random figure discrimination problems by touch. This performance was compared to the visual acquisition of the same problems (reported earlier). In both modalities, choice latencies were shorter to the correct than to the incorrect figure. As compared to visual, however, tactual learning required significantly more trials to criterion, was independent of stimulus figure complexity, and was characterized by significantly shorter choice latencies. Rotation of the figures 180 deg after criterion performance was achieved, yielded partial recognition of the figures visually, but no recognition tactually. These results are explained by different observational or cue-utilization strategies. The majority of the figure is inspected visually, but only the same small section of the perimeter is used tactually. Thus, restricted use of the available cues characterizes tactual performance and is responsible for generating differences in various measures of learning between vision and touch in the monkey.