Vanessa Yeh

In the field of adult education, the context of immigration as it influences the learning experiences of foreign-born learners has received scant attention. This chapter examines the influence of early formal and informal socialization on the learning behavior of immigrants and second language learners in U.S. adult education.

In 3 patients with unilateral pulvinar lesions, we tested the pulvinar’s role in selective attention processing. Each patient completed four variants of a flanker interference task in which they reported the color of a square of a specified size while ignoring an irrelevant flanker that appeared either contralesionally or ipsilesionally to the target. The main finding was that when target location was not known and target and flanker were associated with competing responses, reaction times to contralesional targets were longer than those to ipsilesional targets. Our findings suggest that pulvinar damage produces a contralesional deficit in response competition.

The Ladybird-like homeobox gene 2 (Lbx2) belongs to the homeodomain-containing family of transcription factor that are known to play crucial role in various developmental processes. During early mouse embryogenesis, Lbx2 was shown to be expressed in the developing eye, brain and urogenital system. Although Lbx2 was detected in the testis and epididymis throughout development, no data was available regarding its expression in the female gonad. Here we have determined Lbx2 expression throughout mouse ovarian development by in situ hybridization. In contrast to the strong expression in the male fetal gonad, no Lbx2 signal could be detected in the fetal ovary. Soon after birth, however, Lbx2 expression was detected at different levels in various ovarian compartments (oocyte, granulosa cells, theca cells) where its expression was highly dynamic depending on the stage of follicular maturation. Our data would be consistent with a role for LBX2 in ovarian maturation and folliculogenesis.

Dissociating a primary psychotic disorder (PPD) with concurrent substance use from substance-induced psychosis (SID) can be a difficult task. This study explored the possibility of distinguishing subgroups using cognitive functioning in order to potentially help diagnose individuals with a PPD co-occurring with substance-use and a methamphetamine (MA) induced psychosis. The hypothesis stipulates that individuals with a PPD should present with different cognitive deficits compared to individuals with SID. The study used the data collected as part of a longitudinal study (the MAPS project) that took place in Vancouver BC, Canada. One hundred and seventy-two individuals presenting with psychosis and MA abuse were recruited. Substance use, symptoms severity and cognitive deficits were assessed. A cluster analyses revealed two profiles: individuals in Cluster 1 had a poorer performance on the Gambling task net score (M = −28.1) and on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT-R; M = 63) % of retention score compared to those in Cluster 2. Individuals in Cluster 1 also had more negative symptoms, t = 2.29, p < 0.05 and were more likely to have had a psychiatric diagnosis, X 2(3) = 16.26, p < 0.001. Results suggest that cognitive predictors might help identify PPD that co-occur with MA abuse.

The incidence of and risk factors for renal failure were determined in 912 Oklahoma Indians with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in a follow-up study conducted between 1987 and 1990. The incidence rate was 15.7/1,000 person-years after an average follow-up time of 10.2 years. Among those who had no qualitatively positive proteinuria at baseline, the incidence of renal failure was 10.3/1,000 person-years compared with 19.3- and 56.2/1,000 person-years, respectively, in those with slight and heavy proteinuria at baseline. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) &amp;amp;amp;gt; or = 11.1 mM (200 mg/dl) increased the risk of renal failure to 2.9-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.9-4.6) higher than a level &amp;amp;amp;lt; 7.8 mM (140 mg/dl), and twofold (95% CI = 1.4-3.1) higher than a level between 7.8 (140 mg/dl) and 11.1 mM (200 mg/dl). The hypertensive patient had twice the incidence of renal failure than the normotensive subject (rate ratio = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.4-3.0). Patients with a lower blood pressure under antihypertensive medication had a lower incidence of renal failure than those whose hypertension remained uncontrolled with or without use of medication. Significant independent risk factors for renal failure, identified from Cox&amp;amp;amp;#39;s proportional hazards model, were duration of diabetes, FPG, age, hypertension, and insulin use (P &amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.05). In patients without proteinuria at baseline, FPG and hypertension were significant predictors of renal failure as identified by multivariate analyses, whereas in patients who had proteinuria at baseline, insulin use was significant. Thus, hyperglycemic and hypertension control are suggested strongly for diabetic Oklahoma Indians as potential strategies to prevent the development of renal failure.