Longitudinal tracking of academic progress during teacher preparation.

BACKGROUND: Given that the ultimate academic goal of many education systems in the developed world is for students to graduate from college, grades have a considerable bearing on how effective colleges are in meeting their primary objective. Prior academic performance informs predominantly the selection and retention of teacher candidates. However, there remains a dearth of evidence linking academic performance with outcomes in teacher preparation or the workplace. AIM: This study examined pre-service teachers' trajectories of academic growth during teacher preparation. SAMPLE: The sample comprised 398 pre-service teachers - 282 (70.8%) males and 116 (29.1%) females. METHOD: Academic growth was measured across eight time points over the course of 4 years. Pre-service teachers' academic growth was analysed using linear and nonlinear latent growth models. RESULTS: Results indicate that academic growth was quadratic and, over time, decelerated, with no evidence of the Matthew effect or the compensatory effect. There was evidence of a connection between prior academic attainment and current grades. CONCLUSION: Greater attention to academic growth during the college years, and particularly among pre-service teachers, may enable greater achievement support for students.

Personality Development during Teacher Preparation.

Objective: The purpose of this 3-year longitudinal study was to examine pre-service teachers' personality trajectories as measured by the IPIP Big-Five factor markers during teacher preparation. The relationship between students' personality traits, social desirability, and prior academic attainment was also examined. Method: This 3-year longitudinal study invited participants from the first year of a 4-year undergraduate (UG) pre-service teacher education program, the class of 2017. The sample consisted of 305 students. Results: The results suggest that extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience were best represented by a non-significant longitudinal change in means. Results also suggest that social desirability predicts agreeableness and emotional stability with small to moderate effect sizes. Conclusion: The study concludes that no value is added to pre-service teachers' personality traits during 3 years of tertiary education. Furthermore, the data presented does not support the view that academic attainment is a good predictor of personality traits. Implications for educational research, theory, and practice are considered.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma with solitary bone location associated to multiple lung and liver lesions. A case report.

Progressive development of a lobulated osteolytic lesion of the left calcaneus was observed in a 28-year-old woman. The bone tumor was associated with multiple lung nodules and later with a few small nodular liver lesions. A histological and immunochemical diagnosis of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma was obtained by bone tumor resection and thoracoscopic lung biopsy. Imaging aspects are reported with emphasis on its multifocality.

Basithoracic pain as first manifestation of pustulotic arthro-osteitis.

We report the case of a woman with atypical anterior basithoracic pain as only initial symptom of pustulotic arthro-osteitis. Early diagnosis was made only after development inferior lumbar pain, some months later. At that time, the radiological investigations revealed the osteoarticular counterpart of pustulotic arthro-osteitis.