Association between prenatal maternal anxiety and/or stress and offspring's cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis examined the relationship between prenatal maternal stress and/or anxiety and the outcomes of children aged 3 months to 9 years. Of the 8754 studies published before June 2021 that were synthesized, 17 conducted in Western countries were included in the meta-analysis (N_total = 23,307; M_males 54%; M_ethnicity White 77%, Pacific 15%, African American/Black 10%, Middle Eastern 7%, Eastern 8%). Effect sizes ranged from −0.41 to 0.15. A weak negative association was found between prenatal stress and/or anxiety exposure and children's general intellectual development. Associations varied based on the type of exposure. Findings are limited to developed counties and cannot be generalized to low- and middle-income countries. Directions for maternal prenatal intervention and future studies are discussed.     

Concentrated Poverty and Urban School Reform: “The Choice is Yours” in Minneapolis

The subject of urban schools has received extensive scholarly and popular attention in recent years, and a wide variety of policies to address the problem of low educational achievement has been suggested. This article, based on an analysis of documents and reports, in-depth interviews, and a variety of secondary sources, examines the first several years of the implementation of a 2000 legal settlement between the Minneapolis Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the State of Minnesota regarding the Minneapolis schools. Influenced by the Sheff v. O'Neill (1996) case in Hartford, Connecticut, the Minneapolis NAACP's lawsuit challenged the State's oversight of the Minneapolis schools under the Minnesota Constitution. The settlement created two new programs intended to provide low-income Minneapolis students more options in selecting schools. This article focuses on the more wide-ranging of these two programs, which buses up to 2,000 low-income urban students annually to suburban Minneapolis schools at State expense. The creation of the suburban transfer program represents a legal and political victory for the NAACP and its supporters. Yet the transfer program highlights the many obstacles faced by low-income students and reinforces the necessity for a multi-dimensional approach to high-poverty urban schools.     

Books of the Month

Robert Sobel's The Manipulators: America in the Media Age (New York: Doubleday, 1976---$9.95)

Sidney Kraus and Dennis Davis's The Effects of Mass Communication on Political Behavior (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976---$16.50/7.95)     

Treatment fidelity reporting in intervention outcome studies in the school psychology literature from 2009 to 2016

Both student outcomes and treatment fidelity data are necessary to draw valid conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Reviews of the intervention outcome literature in related fields, and prior reviews of the school psychology literature, suggest that many researchers failed to report treatment fidelity data. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous reviews of treatment fidelity in four school psychology journals between 2009 and 2016. Results indicate that a plurality of studies reviewed operationally defined some, but not all intervention(s). Further, the majority of studies (72.8%) include a quantitative treatment fidelity data, a 35% increase from the Sanetti, Gritter and Dobey (2011) review of these same journals. Results also indicate many studies include data on multiple dimensions of fidelity. Of the multiple dimensions, adherence is (a) the most commonly reported dimension, (b) most often reported using a single index, (c) assessed using in vivo observation, and (d) high in a majority of studies. Further, results indicate some study and design characteristics are associated with the presence of operational definitions and treatment fidelity data.     

When Archives Have Artifacts: From Inventory to Cataloging at the Associated Press Corporate Archives

Abstract

The Associated Press Corporate Archives, located at its New York City headquarters, is the repository for the organization’s permanently valuable records, regardless of format. One important component of the holdings is a collection of 275 artifacts, spanning the years 1892 to 2017, which document the history of The Associated Press’s news technology and tell the stories of its staffers. This paper describes the project to catalog, describe and secure the artifact collection and to facilitate discovery for staff and outside researchers. It examines the process from preliminary spreadsheet to a complete cataloging initiative and the creation of digital images of each item.     

Solomon,his Demons and Jongleurs: the Meeting of Islamic,Judaic and Christian Culture

The legend of Solomon's special ability to control demons originated in Jewish-Hellenistic circles and became widespread in later Judaic, Islamic and Christian culture. In the Qur’ān, as well as in the earlier Babylonian Talmud and other rabbinic sources, the legend was adopted with a clear tendency to avoid the pragmatic demonic aspects of the story. In a similar vein, Qur’ānic commentators presented the relations between Solomon and the demons as an expression of the supernatural rule of the king over the cosmos and ignored his shameful end. The inclusion of the legend in the most sacred canonical text of Islam, and its connotation of eternity may explain the frequent representation in Muslim art. On the other hand, the avoidance by the Christian establishment authorities and the relegation to profane literature mocking the king may account for its absence in western official art. A combination between the high and low aspects of Solomon is seen in an illuminated medieval Hebrew Mahzor from South Germany. The divine aspect of Solomon as he appears in the Mahzor is paralleled in the Muslim examples. These similarities are the result of close textual traditions deriving from the same sources. Yet a possible pictorial testimony linking East and West may be discerned in the Ottoman illuminated Book of Suleiman, possibly based on a western tradition.     

A microfluidic platform for studying the effects of small temperature gradients in an incubator environment

Studies on the effects of variations in temperature and mild temperature gradients on cells, gels, and scaffolds are important from the viewpoint of biological function. Small differences in temperature are known to elicit significant variations in cell behavior and individual protein reactivity. For the study of thermal effects and gradients in vitro, it is important to develop microfluidic platforms which are capable of controlling temperature gradients in an environment which mimics the range of physiological conditions. In the present paper, such a microfluidic thermal gradient system (μTGS) system is proposed which can create and maintain a thermal gradient throughout a cell-seeded gel matrix using the hot and cold water supply integrated in the system in the form of a countercurrent heat exchanger. It is found that a uniform temperature gradient can be created and maintained in the device even inside a high temperature and high humidity environment of an incubator. With the help of a hot and cold circuit controlled from outside the incubator the temperature gradient can be regulated. A numerical simulation of the device demonstrates the thermal feature of the chip. Cell viability and activity under a thermal gradient are examined by placing human breast cancer cells in the device.