In real life: a curriculum for developing students' self-efficacy and outcome expectations through purpose-driven career exploration and planning within a core STEM course.

Career planning and exploration are often seen as "out of class" work-important but separate from disciplinary learning. This separation forces students to find time outside their already demanding schedules and to navigate unfamiliar higher education spaces, creating structural barriers and impeding access to these resources. In an effort to create more equitable access to career exploration and education, we developed the "in real life" (IRL) curriculum to provide students with opportunities to reflect on how their academic experiences align with their broader career goals within the context of their introductory biology course.

The Effects of a Relationship-Focused Professional Development Intervention on Infant and Toddler Teachers' Mindfulness-Based Strategies for Coping.

Teaching is a demanding profession with teachers of very young children reporting high rates of stress and exhaustion. We tested the effects of a relationship-focused professional development intervention designed to enhance teachers' use of mindfulness-based strategies to support coping on trajectories of teachers' stress, exhaustion (emotional, physical, and mental), and coping. Infant and toddler teachers ( = 81) from Early Head Start (EHS) or EHS childcare partnerships (CCP) were randomized to the intervention or usual care control condition.

Lower perceived stress among physically active elite private university students with higher levels of gratitude.

Elite private universities have high stress levels, particularly for underrepresented populations. While physical activity and gratitude can both reduce stress, independent effects from gratitude and interaction effects between physical activity and gratitude on stress are insufficiently explored. Our study investigated these effects among undergraduates at elite private universities.

Stress Intensity and Exhaustion Among Infant and Toddler Teachers: Descriptive Analysis and Associations with Sources of Stress and Coping Strategy Use.

Unlabelled: This study described infant/toddler teachers' (N = 106) perceptions of stress intensity and exhaustion (emotional, physical, mental) intensity. We examined the associations between stress and exhaustion and teachers' reports of stress sources and coping strategy use. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), teachers from Early Head Start (EHS), EHS childcare-partnerships, or independent childcare programs (midwestern U.

The impact of COVID-19 prevention measures on surgical wound infection rates post-cardiac surgery.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on medical services. Several measures have been implemented to reduce the risk of viral transmission. In this paper, we assessed the impact of these measures on surgical wound infection rates in post-cardiac surgery patients.

A pair of cadmium-exposed zebrafish affect social behavior of the un-exposed majority.

To account for global contamination events, we must identify direct and indirect pollutant effects. Although pollutants can have direct effects on individuals, it is unknown how a few contaminated individuals affect groups, a widespread social organization. We show environmentally relevant levels of cadmium (Cd) can have indirect social effects revealed in the social context of a larger group.

Dietary behaviors and food insecurity among Houston college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' nutrition, including dietary behaviors and food security status. Participants included 140 students between 18 and 25 years of age, who were enrolled in a college or university in the greater Houston area. Analyses included descriptive statistics, tests, and ANOVAs to analyze differences in dietary behaviors by demographic variables, and chi-square tests to assess characteristics associated with food security status.

Living Situation and Physical Activity in the COVID-19 Pandemic Among American Private University Students.

Many university students experienced changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including potential changes in physical activity (PA) levels and living situation. As PA behaviors in young adulthood help establish life-long habits and future health outcomes, the purpose of this study was to investigate overall change in PA, as well as change in PA due to living situation, among private university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Private university students (n = 109) between 18 and 25 years of age completed an online survey that included the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form.

Intertwined and Finely Balanced: Endoplasmic Reticulum Morphology, Dynamics, Function, and Diseases.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an organelle that is responsible for many essential subcellular processes. Interconnected narrow tubules at the periphery and thicker sheet-like regions in the perinuclear region are linked to the nuclear envelope. It is becoming apparent that the complex morphology and dynamics of the ER are linked to its function.

Immunosensor for Assessing the Welfare of Trainee Guide Dogs.

Cortisol is a well established biomarker hormone that regulates many processes in the body and is widely referred to as the stress hormone. Cortisol can be used as a stress marker to allow for detection of stress levels in dogs during the training process. This test will indicate if they will handle the stress under the training or if they might be more suitable as an assistant or companion dog.

Network organisation and the dynamics of tubules in the endoplasmic reticulum.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a eukaryotic subcellular organelle composed of tubules and sheet-like areas of membrane connected at junctions. The tubule network is highly dynamic and undergoes rapid and continual rearrangement. There are currently few tools to evaluate network organisation and dynamics.

Overestimation of alcohol consumption norms as a driver of alcohol consumption: a whole-population network study of men across eight villages in rural, southwestern Uganda.

Background And Aims: Little is known about how perceived norms about alcohol consumption may influence high alcohol consumption rates in Uganda. This study estimated the accuracy of perceived norms about men's alcohol consumption and estimated the association between perceived norms and personal alcohol consumption.

Design: Cross-sectional, whole-population, sociocentric social network study.

Inpatient Culture and Satisfaction With Care: A Novel Perspective.

Background: Hospital professionals must attend to patients' satisfaction with care. Along with technical quality of care, patients' personal characteristics may affect that satisfaction, but standard demographics research often overlooks cultural links.

Methods: We, therefore, asked 58 San Antonio, Texas, inpatients their satisfaction with care and examined responses for attitudes related to ethnic-Mexican-American (MA), Euro-American (EA), or African-American (AA)-and gender cultures.

Patterns of emergency department utilization between transplant and non-transplant centers and impact on clinical outcomes in kidney recipients.

There is a high rate of Emergency Department (ED) utilization in kidney recipients post-transplant; ED visits are associated with readmission rates and lower survival rates. However, utilization within and outside transplant centers may lead to different outcomes. The objective was to analyze ED utilization patterns at transplant and non-transplant centers as well as common etiologies of ED visits and correlation with hospitalization, graft, and patient outcomes.

Feasibility and efficacy of a weight gain prevention intervention for breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a randomized controlled pilot study.

Purpose: Weight gain is common among breast cancer patients and may contribute to poorer treatment outcomes. Most programs target breast cancer survivors after the completion of therapy and focus on weight reduction. This study examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an intervention designed to prevent primary weight gain among women receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Optimizing TNFR2 antagonism for immunotherapy with tumor microenvironment specificity.

Most approved cancer immunotherapies lack T-regulatory (Treg) or tumor specificity. TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2) antibody antagonism is emerging as an attractive immunotherapy due to its tumor microenvironment (TME) specificity. Here we show that the human TNFR2 receptor is overexpressed on both human tumor cells and on human tumor-residing Tregs, but negligibly expressed on beneficial T effectors (Teffs).

The Nuclear Legacy in Appalachia.

Nestled in the rolling hills of Appalachia Ohio is a reminder of the role that the region played in winning the Cold War. For more than 40 years in rural Pike County, the 3,700-acre Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS), or the "A-Plant" as the locals refer to it, enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons. While the facility produced nuclear fuel for national security, it simultaneously exposed plant workers to chemicals and radiation and discharged pollution into the surrounding community.

Adolescent Tobacco Use and Misperceptions of Social Norms Across Schools in the United States.

Objective: This study assesses tobacco use norm misperceptions by distinguishing between perceived and actual peer norms for both tobacco use attitudes and behavior, and examines the association between perceived norms and personal use among U.S. students in Grades 6-12.

Norms and Attitudes about Being an Active Bystander: Support for Telling Adults about Seeing Knives or Guns at School among Greater London Youth.

A detailed understanding of the factors associated with support among youth for reporting a knife or gun at school to an adult is essential to inform violence prevention initiatives. However, no studies have empirically assessed attitudes about support for reporting among secondary school students in Greater London nor perceived norms about such support among peers. Thus, this study explores whether students misperceive peer norms about support for telling adults about seeing weapons at school.

Validation of water-borne cortisol and corticosterone in tadpoles: Recovery rate from an acute stressor, repeatability, and evaluating rearing methods.

Amphibian populations are declining globally, so understanding how individuals respond to anthropogenic and environmental stressors may aid conservation efforts. Using a non-invasive water-borne hormone assay, we measured the release rates of two glucocorticoid hormones, corticosterone and cortisol, in Rio Grande Leopard frog, Rana berlandieri, tadpoles. We validated this method pharmacologically and biologically using an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) challenge, exposure to exogenous corticosterone, and an agitation test.

Patient-centered Involvement in Decision-Making: Ethnic Group and Sex as Indicators of Patients' Preferences and Perceptions.

Background/objectives: Ideally, doctors ask each patient's current views about involvement in decision-making, but inquiries prove inconclusive with some inpatients. Doctors may then need indirect indicators of those views. We, therefore, explored ethnic group and sex as cultural indicators of patients' current preferences and perceptions about such involvement.