Study: "Paying for Whose Performance? Teacher Incentive Pay and the Black-White Test Score Gap" Authors: Andrew J. Hill (Montana State University), Daniel B. Jones (University of Pittsburgh) This study was published today in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Key Finding: Teacher incentive pay programs that focused on raising student achievement in high-need high schools expanded the test score gap between Black and White students by between 64 percent and 85 percent. Details: The Black-White test score gap has proven to be one of the most persistent phenomena in American education, for reasons that cannot be entirely explained by student characteristics or school and teacher quality. Teacher performance pay is increasingly common in the United States ...

GEOGRAFI A new study by a University of Copenhagen researcher finds that thawing permafrost in Alaska causes colder water in smaller rivers and streams. This surprising consequence of climate change could affect the survival of fish species in the Arctic's offshore waters. Arctic stream The study's researchers discovered that thawing permafrost causes groundwater to run deeper, where it becomes cooler than when it flows near the soil surface. Rising global temperatures are causing frozen Arctic soil - permafrost - to thaw. In a new study, researchers have discovered something surprising: small ...

Tsukuba, Japan - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder worldwide, affecting as much as a quarter of humanity. It is characterized by fat accumulation in liver cells and may progress to inflammation, cirrhosis and liver failure. Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba reveal the positive effects, beyond the expected weight-loss benefit, of exercise on the liver. NAFLD is associated with unhealthy behaviors such as overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. In Japan 41% of middle-aged men have NAFLD and 25% will progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatic dysfunction. Weight reduction is fundamental to NAFLD management. Unfortunately, ...

Tsukuba, Japan--Liver disease, from metabolic and bacterial causes, is a growing concern. What connects these dots? The gut, or more specifically, bacteria in the gut. Bacteria that cause inflammation in the mouth are transported through the digestive tract to the gut and liver, where they can cause liver inflammation. Lipopolysaccharides, important structural molecules in some bacteria, act as endotoxins, producing systemic effects that can manifest as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Now, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Tsukuba show that exercise could be used to improve the oral environment in people with NAFLD, potentially leading to a new treatment for the disease. These ...

Osaka, Japan - Humans are exposed to many types of bacteria daily, the majority of which are harmless. However, some bacteria are pathogenic, which means they can cause disease. An extremely common pathogenic bacterial infection is Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in the stomach, where it can lead to chronic inflammation (gastritis), ulcers, and even cancer. A group of researchers from Osaka University have determined a specific molecular mechanism that H. pylori uses to adapt to growing in the human stomach for long periods of time. In a report published in Nature Communications, this group found that a small RNA molecule called HPnc4160 plays a key role in how H. pylori invades the stomach ...

Researchers at the University of Calgary and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), in Toronto, have discovered genetic risk factors for OCD that could help pave the way for earlier diagnosis and improved treatment for children and youth. "Our group made the first finding of a genome-wide significant risk gene relevant to childhood OCD," says Dr. Paul Arnold, MD, PhD, co-principal investigator, a professor and director of The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education at the Cumming School of Medicine. "We've known that OCD runs in families, but we hadn't identified and validated specific genetic risks of OCD symptoms in children and youth until now." The research drew on ...

Inserting lightweight optimization code in high-speed network devices has enabled a KAUST-led collaboration to increase the speed of machine learning on parallelized computing systems five-fold. This "in-network aggregation" technology, developed with researchers and systems architects at Intel, Microsoft and the University of Washington, can provide dramatic speed improvements using readily available programmable network hardware. The fundamental benefit of artificial intelligence (AI) that gives it so much power to "understand" and interact with the world is the machine-learning step, in which ...

Study: "Which U.S. Elementary Schoolchildren Are More Likely to Be Frequently Bullied?" Authors: Paul Morgan (Pennsylvania State University), Adrienne D. Woods (Pennsylvania State University), Yangyang Wang (Pennsylvania State University), George Farkas (University of California, Irvine), Yoonkyung Oh (University of Texas Health Science Center), Marianne Hillemeier (Pennsylvania State University), Cynthia Mitchell (Pennsylvania State University) This study was presented at the AERA 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting Session: Friends, Enemies, and Bullies: Peer Relationships in Schools Date/Time: Saturday, April 10, 10:40 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. ET Main Findings: Kindergarten children who frequently externalize problem behaviors (i.e., are aggressive or ...

PULLMAN, Wash. - Humans cannot live on protein alone - even for the ancient indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest where salmon was once thought to make up as much as 90% of their diet. In a new paper led by Washington State University anthropologist Shannon Tushingham, researchers document the many dietary solutions ancient Pacific Coast people likely employed to avoid "salmon starvation," a toxic and potentially fatal condition brought on by eating too much lean protein. "Salmon was a critical resource for thousands of years throughout the Pacific Rim, but there were a lot of foods that were important," said Tushingham the lead author of the paper published online on April 8 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. "Native people were ...

Cranfield University research using data from smart meters has found that household water consumption changed significantly after the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, shifting from predominantly higher usage early in the morning to multiple peaks and continued demand throughout the day. The study used machine learning algorithms to analyse and identify patterns in hourly water consumption data from 11,528 households in the East of England from January to May 2020. The research is the first of its kind in the UK to quantify network consumption and segment households ...

The CDC recently declared racism as a threat to public health. But when it comes to dismantling white supremacy in public health, action must be taken beyond issuing statements declaring racism a public health crisis, says Sirry Alang, associate professor of sociology and health, medicine, and society at Lehigh University. A new analysis from Alang and colleagues examines the three core functions of public health -- assessment, policy development and assurance -- and the ten recently revised essential public health services (EPHSs) to offer strategies public health can follow to dismantle white supremacy. The article, "White Supremacy and the Core Functions of Public ...

Older adults with more harmful than healthy bacteria in their gums are more likely to have evidence for amyloid beta--a key biomarker for Alzheimer's disease--in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), according to new research from NYU College of Dentistry and Weill Cornell Medicine. However, this imbalance in oral bacteria was not associated with another Alzheimer's biomarker called tau. The study, published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, adds to the growing evidence of a connection between periodontal disease (gum disease) and Alzheimer's. Periodontal disease--which affects 70 percent of adults 65 and older, ...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2021 -- Spiders are master builders, expertly weaving strands of silk into intricate 3D webs that serve as the spider's home and hunting ground. If humans could enter the spider's world, they could learn about web construction, arachnid behavior and more. Today, scientists report that they have translated the structure of a web into music, which could have applications ranging from better 3D printers to cross-species communication and otherworldly musical compositions. The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2021 is being held online April 5-30. Live sessions will be hosted April 5-16, and on-demand and networking content will continue through April 30. The meeting ...

DALLAS, April 12, 2021 -- Testing how well "good" cholesterol particles reduce inflammation may help predict who is at heightened risk to develop cardiovascular disease caused by narrowed arteries, according to research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation. Assessing levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, known as "good cholesterol," are already a standard part of formulas used to predict cardiovascular risk. A new test of the anti-inflammatory function of HDL seems to provide additional information that ...

Moving endangered species to new locations is often used as part of species conservation strategies, and can help to restore degraded ecosystems. But scientists say there is a high risk that these relocations are accidentally spreading diseases and parasites. The new report published today in the journal Conservation Letters focuses on freshwater mussels, which the researchers have studied extensively, but is applicable to all species moved around for conservation purposes. Mussels play an important role in cleaning the water of many of the world's rivers and lakes, but are one of the most threatened animal groups on Earth. There is growing interest in moving mussels to new locations to boost threatened populations, or so they can be used as 'biological filters' ...

Respiratory disease increased markedly following one of Iceland's largest volcanic eruptions, a new study has found. And the findings could have significant implications for actions taken to protect the health of the 800 million people globally living near active volcanoes. Indeed, only last month (March), lava burst through a crack in Iceland's Mount Fagradalsfjall in the first eruption of its type in more than 800 years. The new research, led by the University of Leeds and the University of Iceland, examined the health impacts of pollution caused by the Holuhraun lava eruption in 2014-2015. It shows that following exposure to emissions that changed chemically from gas to fine particles, incidents of respiratory disease in ...

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London, funded by the charity Brain Tumour Research, have found a new way to starve cancerous brain tumour cells of energy in order to prevent further growth. The pre-clinical research in human tissue samples, human cell lines and mice could lead to changes in the way that some children with medulloblastoma are treated in the future, if the findings are confirmed in human clinical trials. Medulloblastoma is the most common high-grade brain tumour in children. Some 70 are diagnosed in the UK each year. Survival rate is 70 per cent for those whose tumour has not spread but it is almost always fatal in cases of recurrent ...

Good cholesterol, which is transported in HDLs (high-density lipoproteins), plays a key part in the prevention of atherosclerosis and thus the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, according to a new paper co-authored by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and published in the journal Circulation, the anti-inflammatory properties of HDLs could be an even better biomarker for future cardiovascular events. Atherosclerosis is considered a chronic local inflammation that leads to plaques in the blood vessels and that, if left untreated, can cause cardiovascular ...

A new study shows that thick sea-ice can increase the sensitivity of Greenlandic fjords to climate warming. Understanding the factors that control how fast glaciers move, break up and deposit chunks of ice (icebergs) into the fjords - and eventually the sea - is vital for predicting how the Greenland ice sheet will change under a warming climate and for predicting global rates of sea-level rise. A new study led by Stockholm University Assistant Professor Christian Stranne, shows that thick sea-ice outside the fjords can actually increase the sensitivity of Greenlandic fjords to warming. Stranne and a team of researchers from Sweden, Greenland, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada report on expeditions to two distinct fjords in ...

Just over half of surveyed Ontario high schools reported providing CPR and AED training to students despite being mandated by the province to provide training for the lifesaving technique, according to a new study by Unity Health Toronto researchers. The study, published Monday April 12, in CJC Open, surveyed elementary and high schools from 15 different school boards across Ontario to understand the scope of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training, which are mandated in the Ontario Grade 9 Health and Physical Education Curriculum. Researchers from St. Michael's Hospital of ...

Glioblastomas are the most common and most aggressive brain tumours. Their survival rate has barely increased over the last 50 years, indicating an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies. In a paper published this week in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the team led by Massimo Squatrito, Head of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation Brain Tumour Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), proposes a novel therapeutic strategy based on the combination of temozolomide, the first-line treatment for these patients, and dianhydrogalactitol, a drug that is being tested in clinical trials and is already approved for the treatment of other ...

People who trust television and Facebook to provide them with accurate news about the coronavirus pandemic are less knowledgeable about COVID-19, according to a new study, which assessed people's knowledge of the virus in the earliest stages of the pandemic. The study, published today in the peer-reviewed journal END ...

Researchers have found common foxgloves brought to the Americas have rapidly evolved to change flower length in the presence of a new pollinator group, hummingbirds. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Ecology. Researchers from the University of Sussex, Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia) and Universidad de Costa Rica, studying the common foxglove Digitalis purpurea, a bumblebee pollinated species native to Europe, have shown for the first time how rapid physical changes can occur in flowers following a change in environment and the presence of a new pollinator. The researchers compared foxgloves in the UK, which ...

A recent study indicates that a U.S. ban on the use of tanning beds among minors would prevent thousands of cases of melanoma in adolescents and would save millions of dollars in healthcare costs. The findings are published early online in END ...

Workplace communication often took a back seat this past year, as employees and employers rushed to work remotely, struggled with technology barriers and adjusted to physical distancing. But the pandemic has resulted in valuable lessons for communicating on the job, according to a Baylor University study. During the onset of COVID-19 -- along with accompanying layoffs and a recession -- "there likely has never been a moment with such demand for ethical listening to employees," said lead author Marlene S. Neill, Ph.D., associate professor of journalism, public relations and new media at Baylor. "Ethical listening" was defined by one communication ...