Oxidation of Ethidium using TAML Activators: A Model for High School Research Performed in Partnership with University Scientists.

A chemical research program at a public high school has been developed. The full-year Advanced Chemical Research class (ACR) in the high school enrolls 20 to 30 seniors each year, engaging them in long-term experimental projects. Through partnerships involving university scientists, ACR high school students have had the opportunity to explore a number of highly sophisticated original research projects. As an example of the quality of experimental work made possible through these high school-university partnerships, this article describes the development of a novel method for the oxidation of ethidium bromide, a mutagen commonly used in molecular biology. Data collected from ACR alumni show that the ACR program is instrumental in encouraging students to pursue careers in scientific fields and in creating life-long problem-solvers.

Assessing the use of multiple sources in student essays.

The present study explored different approaches for automatically scoring student essays that were written on the basis of multiple texts. Specifically, these approaches were developed to classify whether or not important elements of the texts were present in the essays. The first was a simple pattern-matching approach called "multi-word" that allowed for flexible matching of words and phrases in the sentences. The second technique was latent semantic analysis (LSA), which was used to compare student sentences to original source sentences using its high-dimensional vector-based representation. Finally, the third was a machine-learning technique, support vector machines, which learned a classification scheme from the corpus. The results of the study suggested that the LSA-based system was superior for detecting the presence of explicit content from the texts, but the multi-word pattern-matching approach was better for detecting inferences outside or across texts. These results suggest that the best approach for analyzing essays of this nature should draw upon multiple natural language processing approaches.

Adaptive servo-ventilation in heart failure patients with sleep apnea: a real world study.

BACKGROUND: Congestive heart failure (CHF) patients often present with obstructive and central sleep apnea occurring concurrently within the same night. This study assessed the efficacy of, and improvements associated with, the use of adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) in CHF patients with all types of sleep apnea. We hypothesized that ASV would be effective at reducing sleep apnea and improving both cardiac status and quality of life. METHODS: Eleven male patients with stable CHF and sleep apnea (apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) >15 events/h) were treated with 6 months optimized ASV and compared to 8 patients not receiving ASV. At baseline, both groups were comparable for New York Heart Association class, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), plasma Brain Natriuretric Peptide (BNP) concentrations and AHI. All patients were receiving optimal medical therapy. RESULTS: At 6 months ASV significantly reduced AHI (mean (SD), baseline 49.0 (35.1) v ASV 7.6 (14.6); p=0.001) and LVEF was increased (median (inter-quartile range), treatment group: +5.7 (1.6-9.5) v comparison group: -4.0 (-8.9-+4.6)% respectively; p=0.04) but not BNP (p=0.59). The energy/vitality score of the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire was also improved at 6 months (treatment group: +10 (5-35) v comparison group: -12 (-18-+10); p=0.005). CONCLUSION: ASV effectively reduces all types of sleep apnea. Six months of use is associated with improvement in LVEF and aspects of quality of life.

Research Methods Tutor: evaluation of a dialogue-based tutoring system in the classroom.

Research Methods Tutor (RMT) is a dialogue-based intelligent tutoring system for use in conjunction with undergraduate psychology research methods courses. RMT includes five topics that correspond to the curriculum of introductory research methods courses: ethics, variables, reliability, validity, and experimental design. We evaluated the effectiveness of the RMT system in the classroom using a nonequivalent control group design. Students in three classes (n = 83) used RMT, and students in two classes (n = 53) did not use RMT. Results indicated that the use of RMT yieldedstrong learning gains of 0.75 standard deviations above classroom instruction alone. Further, the dialogue-based tutoring condition of the system resulted in higher gains than did the textbook-style condition (CAI version) of the system. Future directions for RMT include the addition of new topics and tutoring elements.

Variation in severity and type of sleep-disordered breathing throughout 4 nights in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Over 50% of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) have sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Any variation in the type of SDB in CHF will have implications for patient management. Currently there is good evidence for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in CHF with continuous positive airway pressure; however, for central sleep apnea (CSA) the treatment is less clear. AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the variation in the severity and type of SDB (OSA vs. CSA) throughout 4 consecutive nights in CHF patients with SDB. METHODS: Nineteen male CHF patients (mean+/-sd: age 61+/-9 years; left ventricular ejection fraction: 34+/-10% and percent predicted peak VO2: 67+/-19%) underwent cardiorespiratory monitoring in their own home throughout 4 consecutive nights. RESULTS: There was minimal variation in apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) throughout 4 nights in CHF patients with SDB [intraclass correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval (CI)): 0.97 (95% CI 0.76 and 0.97)]. Eight patients [42% (95% CI 20% and 64%)] demonstrated a shift in the type of their SDB, from CSA to OSA or vice versa; these patients had significantly smaller neck circumference (group mean+/-sd) 42+/-2 vs. 44+/-2 cm; p=0.04), and had significant variation in the central AHI [intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.51 (95% CI 0.16 and 0.85)]. CONCLUSIONS: A single night of cardiorespiratory monitoring is representative of moderate-to-severe SDB in patients with CHF. However, a high proportion of patients shift their type of SDB over 4 nights. These findings may have implications for the management of SDB in CHF.

The effects of adaptive servo ventilation on cerebral vascular reactivity in patients with congestive heart failure and sleep-disordered breathing.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Hypercapnic cerebral vascular reactivity (HCVR) is reduced in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB); this may be associated with an increased risk of stroke. We tested the hypothesis that reversal of SDB in CHF patients using adaptive servo ventilation (ASV) would increase morning HCVR. DESIGN: Interventional, cross-over clinical study. SETTING: Research sleep laboratory. PATIENTS: Ten CHF patients with SDB, predominantly obstructive sleep apnea. INTERVENTIONS: The HCVR was measured from the change in middle cerebral artery velocity, using pulsed Doppler ultrasound. HCVR was determined during the evening (before) and morning (after) 1 night of sleep on ASV and 1 night of spontaneous sleep (control). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Compared with the control situation, ASV decreased the apnea-hypopnea index (group mean +/- SEM, control: 48 +/- 12, ASV: 4 +/- 1 events per hour). HCVR was 23% lower in the morning, compared with the evening, on the control night (evening: 1.3 +/- 0.2, morning: 1.0 +/- 0.2 cm/sec per mm Hg, P < 0.05) and 27% lower following the ASV night (evening: 1.5 +/- 0.2, morning: 1.1 +/- 0.2 cm/sec per mm Hg, P < 0.05). The effect of ASV on the evening-to-morning reduction in HCVR was not significant, compared with the control night (0.02 cm/sec per mm Hg, 95% confidence interval: -0.28, 0.32 P = 0.89). CONCLUSIONS: In CHF patients with SDB, HCVR was reduced in the morning compared with the evening. However, removal of SDB for 1 night did not reverse the reduced HCVR. The relatively low morning HCVR could be linked with an increased risk of stroke.

Addiction to the internet and online gaming.

As computer and Internet use become a staple of everyday life, the potential for overuse is introduced, which may lead to addiction. Research on Internet addiction has shown that users can become addicted to it. Addiction to the Internet shares some of the negative aspects of substance addiction and has been shown to lead to consequences such as failing school, family, and relationship problems.

Automatic classification of dysfunctional thoughts: a feasibility test.

The identification of dysfunctional thoughts is a central effort in cognitive therapy. This paper describes the first version of a computer module that classifies dysfunctional thoughts automatically. It is part of COGNO, a system we are developing to give automatic feedback on dysfunctional thoughts. The system uses rules that were developed from language markers identified in a sample of 149 dysfunctional thoughts. The system was tested with an independent set of 112 example thoughts. The system detects the majority of dysfunctional thoughts, but works reliably only for some thought categories. Automatic thought classification may be a first step toward developing natural dialogue systems in cognitive therapy.