SCHOOL RACIAL CLIMATE AND THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT

This investigation utilized an integrative model of development for ethnic minority children and a process model of engagement to explore whether three dimensions of school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive) mediated relationships between school racial climate, academic performance, and educational aspirations. A total of 139 African American students were recruited from a high school in the southeastern United States. Findings revealed an indirect association between perceptions of racial fairness and academic achievement indicators through behavioral and cognitive engagement. Behavioral and cognitive engagement also mediated relationships between youths’ perceived peer discrimination and academic achievement indicators. No significant indirect associations between teacher discrimination and academic achievement through school engagement dimensions were found. Study limitations, future directions, and implications are discussed.     

Risk factors for coronary heart disease in type II diabetes mellitus

Cardiovascular complications are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. An attempt has been made to evaluate the risk factors for coronary heart disease in type II diabetics. In the present study the levels of fasting and postprandial plasma glucose, total cholesterol, low density lipoproteins, triglycerides were high and the levels of high density lipoproteins were low in the type II diabetics compared to controls. The markers of free radical induced injury i.e. malondialdehyde and nitrite/nitrate were high while total antioxidant status a marker for antioxidant protection against reactive oxygen species was low in diabetics compared to controls. The study therefore suggests the importance of assessing these markers of oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity along with the other routine investigations in diabetic patients for initiating antioxidant therapy in addition to primary and secondary preventive measures to mitigate the devastating consequences of diabetes leading to coronary heart disease.     

Evaluation of antioxidant properties of berries

The present paper focuses on assessing the levels of various enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in selected berries of Indian sub-continent viz., gooseberry, grapes, orange and tomato. This study has revealed that orange, tomato and grapes possess predominant quantities of enzymatic antioxidants namely SOD, catalase and glutathione peroxidase respectively. The levels of antioxidants analyzed namely reduced glutathione, vitamin C and vitamin A were maximal in grapes, orange and tomato respectively. All the extracts of berries included in the present study inhibited iron inducedin vitro lipid peroxidation in erythrocytes, the extend of inhibition being highest for gooseberry and orange compared to tomato and grapes which could be attributed to their in-built antioxidant system.     

Detection of L1 CAM mutation in a male child with mental retardation

Recent studies have presented evidence for the involvement of L1CAM gene mutations in various X-linked mental retardation syndromes. The neural cell adhesion molecule, L1CAM is a transmembrane protein belonging to the super family of the immunoglobulins that play a key role in embryonic development of the nervous system and is involved in memory and learning. No studies were carried out from India on L1 CAM gene in X-linked mental retardation syndromes. Hence, an investigation was taken up to delineate the role of L1CAM gene in mental retardation. Two families (Family I and Family II) having only two members affected with mental retardation in each family were studied for mutations in L1CAM gene. In family II, the younger sibling showed deletion involving region between the nucleotide 13,773 (intron 25) and 14,158 (intron 27) region. The mutation what we observed in younger sibling of the family II is a novel mutation which was not hitherto reported in the world literature.     

Growth in Students' Attitudes About the Utility of Science Over the Middle and High School Years: Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth

The purpose of this paper is to track changes in students' attitudes about the utility of science over the middle and high school years using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (Miller, J. D., Hoffer, T., Suchner, R. W., Brown, K. G., and Nelson, C. (1992). LSAY code book: student, parent, and teacher data for 1992 cohort two for longitudinal years one through four (1987–1991). Northern Illinois University, Illinois. Latent variable growth modeling is the technique that was used to examine the growth in students' attitudes about the utility of science. The results of the present study show that the overall trend for students' attitudes about the utility of science is positive. This means that middle and high school students have fairly positive attitudes about the usefulness of science. It is clear from the present analysis that some of the important predictors of attitudes about the utility of science include science self-concept, teacher encouragement of science, and to a lesser extent achievement motivation and science activities. The effects of the peer and parent variables were found to be quite small and statistically nonsignificant. Also it was found that the time-invariant predictors were not statistically significant. Latent variable growth modeling allows one to examine change in attitudes and also examine the effects of time-varying and time-invariant predictors. Substantive and methodological implications of this technique are also discussed.     

Evaluation of immunohistochemistry and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for HER-2/neu expression in breast carcinoma

HER-2 is overexpressed in approximately 20–30% of invasive Breast Cancer. ECD of the HER-2 protein is frequently cleaved and released into the circulation, where it can be detected by ELISA in up to 45% of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The objective of our study was to compare the current methods for the detection of HER-2 protein. Tissue HER-2 levels were studied in 100 breast cancer patients by IHC and compared with serum HER-2 levels by ELISA. IHC frequency was 29%. Serum HER-2 ECD was positive in 42% of patients. A statistically significant correlation was observed. HER-2 detected by IHC correlates significantly with serum HER-2 levels detected by ELISA. Thus, ELISA is a reliable and economical tool to assess the HER-2 status in tumors, when breast tissue sample is not available.     

Association of hyperhomocysteinemia to alcohol withdrawal in chronic alcoholics

This study is conducted in chronic alcoholics to assess the association of an Individual’s level of serum homocysteine with the success of achieving alcohol deaddiction in the patient. The patients’ nutrition status is also assessed. 50 chronic alcoholics admitted to a deaddiction center were inducted into the study. Patients underwent an 8 weeks holistic program to promote rehabilitation from alcoholism. All the patients were addicted to alcohol for 8 – 10 years. Of the 50 patients enrolled, 39 of them completed the 8 weeks program including complete abstinence from alcohol during this period. Fasting blood samples were collected on admission and again after 8 weeks of alcohol abstinence for analyses of serum homocysteine and serum prealbumin, transferrin, total proteins and albumin, gammaglutamyl transferase (GGT) and alanine transaminase (ALT). Of the 50 patients enrolled in the study, 39 completed the 8 weeks rehabilitation program. 11 patients discontinued within 2 weeks of admission. During the 8 weeks of complete alcohol abstinence, patients were given a balanced diet and multivitamin supplements. A significant improvement in their nutritional status was noted by the elevation of serum levels of prealbumin, transferrin, total proteins and albumin. Serum homocysteine levels decreased significantly (p<0.002) to normal levels from previous hyperhomocytenemia. This was accompanied by decrease in serum GGT and ALT levels indicating improved liver functions. Serum estimation of homocysteine in chronic alcoholics is important to assess whether the patient will have a successful rehabilitation. Normal homocysteine levels are achieved after dietary changes and abstinence from alcohol. Timely correction of hyperhomocysteinemia also provides successful rehabilitation.     

Measuring Change in Students' Attitudes Toward Science Over Time: An Application of Latent Variable Growth Modeling

The purpose of this paper is to show how latent variable growth modeling can be utilized to examine change in students' attitudes toward science over the middle and high school years using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (Miller, Hoffer, Suchner, Brown, & Nelson, 1992).The results of the present study show that students' attitudes toward science generally decline over the middle and high school years. Science self-concept was found to be the strongest predictor of attitudes toward science. Teacher encouragement of science and peer attitudes are also significant predictors of students' attitudes. The effect of the parent variable was found to be quite small and statistically nonsignificant, with the exception of the seventh grade. Boys were found to have higher initial status on attitudes toward science and their attitudes dropped faster than girls. Also it was found that students in metropolitan and rural schools have less positive attitudes toward science in the seventh grade compared to students in suburban schools. Latent variable growth modeling allows one to examine change in attitudes and also examine the effects of time-varying and time-invariant predictors. Substantive and methodological implications of this technique are also discussed.     

C-Reactive Protein and Uric Acid Levels in Patients with Psoriasis

Serum CRP and uric acid levels were estimated in twenty-five patients with psoriasis (group III) before and after 12 weeks of treatment. Results were compared with a group of 25 normal subjects (group I) and a group of 25 patients of various skin diseases other than psoriatic lesion (group II). Mean value for CRP was found to be increased by more than 20 folds in patients with psoriasis, which was subsequently reduced to nearly 50% of the initial value after 12 weeks of treatment. These patients also showed hyperuricemia. Nearly 25% of these patients also exhibited arthritis. It is thus suggested that both CRP and uric acid levels should be monitored in patients with psoriasis.     

Hyper prolinuria and hyper-hydroxy prolinuria in children with mental retardation

Three thousand cases with mental retardation referred from different hospitals were screened for aminoacid disorders. Among them one case of hyperprolinuria and another case of hyperprolinuria with hyper hydroxyprolinuria were detected. These are the first cases to be reported from the state of Andhra Pradesh.