Interactive activities and routines promote early childhood language skills and subsequent educational achievement. Population studies describing parent-child participation in interactive activities and their associations with early child development among vulnerable populations are needed.

Significant disparities exist in parenting practices that promote child development between economically advantaged and disadvantaged parents. Participating in less interactive activities was associated with increased risk of developmental delay among low-income families, suggesting a need to enrich parenting practices. (Read the full article)

Late preterm infants, compared with full-term infants, have less proficiency in reading and math at school age, with increased need for individualized educational plans and special education services. They also have lower cognitive performance on standardized IQ exams.

Late preterm infants have worse outcomes at school entry, and development is variable during the preschool years, so socioeconomic status, language spoken in the home, maternal education, maternal race, and being a late preterm infant have a large impact. (Read the full article)

Subjective social status (SSS), a person’s sense of their or their family’s position in the socioeconomic hierarchy, is strongly related to adult health but is not a robust predictor of adolescent health. Developmental trajectories of SSS underlying this discrepancy are unknown.

Five SSS trajectories are present in adolescence/emerging adulthood. Four stably reflect objective socioeconomic status. The fifth represents a subset of socially disadvantaged youth with "rose-colored glasses" early on. Lower SSS and membership in the fifth trajectory increase health risk. (Read the full article)

There are no validated claims-based algorithms for identifying children with disabilities (CWD) to facilitate larger-scale studies of care quality for CWD.

This study develops the CWD algorithm, a claims-based algorithm for identifying diagnostic codes with a ≥75% chance of indicating CWD, and triangulates the algorithm against parent report and physician chart abstraction. (Read the full article)

A number of studies have reported an association between birth by cesarean delivery and adverse childhood health outcomes such as obesity, asthma, atopy, and a number of neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, these studies have had limited capacity to control for confounders.

Using a prospective cohort while controlling for birth factors, social vulnerability, maternal BMI, and breastfeeding, we found few differences between children delivered by cesarean delivery and those born vaginally. Higher child BMI was explained by maternal BMI. (Read the full article)

Interactive mobile media devices have revolutionized children’s access to and experience of media, but research is lagging behind its adoption. A critical first step is to understand when and how young children adopt mobile media devices.

Our study found almost universal exposure, early adoption, and use of mobile media devices among young children in an urban, low-income, minority community. Studies are needed to update guidelines on the use of mobile media by young children. (Read the full article)

As we continue to build the leaders of the future, we must ensure their own belief in their abilities. This is the only way we can ensure their successful futures and ours.

Several of the already existing restrictions on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' authority to waive federal education law deal with school funding.

Amid coronavirus-related school closures, advocates worry Education Secretary Betsy DeVos may waive requirements of special education law if Congress signs off. Schools say it's difficult to meet some requirements during the pandemic.

Congress should not grant flexibility from the federal special education law's key components due to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has told federal lawmakers.

Professor of Chemistry Paul Cremer is developing a biosensor platform that could be used to perform real-time, continuous detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Countries that score highest on an international measure of student achievement tend to have these three things in common when it comes to professional development for teachers.

Many outside PD opportunities still separate the "haves" from the "have-nots" and uphold systemic oppression.

A recent study found that one organization's instructional-leadership professional development had no impact. Could it be because the topic of instructional leadership needs to be expanded?

Teachers are the experts of the classroom, so they should be empowered to lead professional development, educators said at a forum that included the two national teachers' union presidents.

Renewed oil interest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could nurture communal resentments, exacerbate deep-rooted conflict dynamics and weaken national cohesion.

Probiotics might provide an alternative approach for the control of oral candidiasis. However, studies on the antifungal activity of probiotics in the oral cavity are based on the consumption of yogurt or other dietary products, and there is a necessary to use appropriate biomaterials and specific strains to obtain probiotic formulations targeting local oral administration. In this study, we impregnated gellan gum, a natural biopolymer used as a food-additive, with a probiotic and investigated its antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Lactobacillus paracasei 28.4, a strain recently isolated from the oral cavity of a caries-free individual, was incorporated in several concentrations of gellan gum (0.6% to 1%). All tested concentrations could incorporate L. paracasei cells while maintaining bacterial viability. Probiotic/gellan formulations were stable for 7 days when stored at room temperature or 4°C. Long-term storage of bacteria-impregnated gellan gum was achieved when L. paracasei 28.4 was lyophilized. The probiotic/gellan formulations provided a release of L. paracasei cells over 24 hours that was sufficient to inhibit the growth of C. albicans with effects dependent on the cell concentrations incorporated into gellan gum. The probiotic/gellan formulations also had inhibitory activity against Candida spp. biofilms by reducing the number of Candida spp. cells (p < 0.0001), decreasing the total biomass (p = 0.0003), and impairing hyphae formation (p = 0.0002), compared to the control group which received no treatment. Interestingly, probiotic formulation of 1% w/v gellan gum provided an oral colonization of L. paracasei in mice with approximately 6 log of CFU/mL after 10 days. This formulation inhibited the C. albicans growth (p < 0.0001), prevented the development of candidiasis lesions (p = 0.0013), and suppressed inflammation (p = 0.0006) when compared to the mice not treated in the microscopic analysis of the tongue dorsum. These results indicate that gellan gum is a promising biomaterial and can be used as a carrier system to promote oral colonization for probiotics that prevent oral candidiasis.

Seasonal and pandemic influenza causes 650,000 deaths annually in the world. The emergence of drug-resistance to specific anti-influenza drugs such as oseltamivir and baloxavir marboxil highlights the urgency of novel anti-influenza chemical entity discovery. In this study, we report a series of novel thiazolides derived from an FDA-approved drug nitazoxanide with antiviral activity against influenza and a broad range of viruses. The preferred candidates 4a and 4d showed significantly enhanced anti-influenza potentials with 10-fold improvement, compared with nitazoxanide, and were effective against a variety of influenza subtypes including oseltamivir-resistant strains. Notably, the combination using of compounds 4a/4d and oseltamivir carboxylate or zanamivir displayed synergistic antiviral effect against oseltamivir-resistant strain. Mode of action analysis demonstrated that compounds 4a/4d acted at the late phase of viral infection cycle through inhibiting viral RNA transcription and replication. Further experiments showed that treatment with compounds 4a/4d significantly inhibited influenza virus infection in human lung organoids, suggesting the druggability of the novel thiazolides. In-depth transcriptome analysis revealed a series of up-regulated cellular genes that may contribute to the antiviral activities of 4a/4d. Together, our study pointed the optimization direction of nitazoxanide as anti-influenza drug, and discovered two novel-structured candidates 4a/4d with relatively broad-spectrum antiviral potential.

Stock markets plunged on Thursday after economic growth data confirmed fears of Covid-19's bruising impact on the world economy.

BACKGROUND:

Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screening children for developmental problems by using a standardized screening tool and referring at-risk patients to early intervention (EI) or subspecialists. Adoption of guidelines has been gradual, with research showing many children still not being screened and referred.

Rural families are less likely to use special education or early intervention services than children living in urban areas, a new Centers for Disease Control survey reveals.

Amid coronavirus-related school closures, advocates worry Education Secretary Betsy DeVos may waive requirements of special education law if Congress signs off. Schools say it's difficult to meet some requirements during the pandemic.

The proposed priority for special education grants is the latest push by the U.S. Secretary of Education to embed more choice for students and educators in federal K-12 funding.

Congress should not grant flexibility from the federal special education law's key components due to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has told federal lawmakers.

Despite being rebuked by Congress in its bid to do so last year, the U.S. Department of Education says it will use Education Innovation and Research funds for teacher professional development vouchers.

Maureen Hack
Aug 1, 2005; 116:333-341
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Coleen A. Boyle
Jun 1, 2011; 127:1034-1042
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Richard A. Ehrenkranz
Apr 1, 2006; 117:1253-1261
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Betty R. Vohr
Jun 1, 2000; 105:1216-1226
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Thaddeus Lorenz, senior in information science and technology, wasn’t always sure what his academic path would be. After starting at Penn State in the Division of Undergraduate Studies, he took some classes centered on one of his passions: coding. Then, he decided to make it more than just a passion.

Faculty from six campuses were awarded a grant from Penn State’s Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence to seek a multi-campus approval as a Certified Family Life Educator program.

The Association for Clinical and Translational Science recently recognized Steven Hicks for his achievements. Hicks received the Early (Faculty) Career Development Award.

Don't expect Amazon to use this Print-Color display in a new Kindle any time soon, but we could see Print-Color eReaders in some form by mid-2020.

Satellites could transfer data directly to Apple's devices and reduce dependency on wireless carriers, Bloomberg reports. It's another sign Apple wishes to replace most outside partners with in-house technologies in the next decade.

Combining a transparent LCD panel, driver-facing camera, and AI facial detection system, the Virtual Visor blocks the sun's glare, not your view of the road.

Connected storage is more versatile storage, but that's just one of the many benefits of buying a NAS device. We've tested the top models to tell you which one will work best for your home or small business.

Students report that schools' filters, firewalls, and blockage of social media sites are obstacles to their use of educational technology.

Some of the most important pre-literacy skills begin in infancy. This timeline shows examples of the milestones children meet on their path to fluent reading.

More people are buying smart speakers—and one of the reasons the numbers have risen so high recently is that many owners have purchased more than one device.

Right now, several Echo devices are marked down, and we've rounded up the sales below.

By Bishop Arthur Serratelli

On January 18, 2019, a video of Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann went viral. He was at the Lincoln Memorial standing face to face with a Native American man during the March to Life in Washington, D.C. On the basis of that picture, a frenzy of condemnations from reporters, commentators and politicians were heaped upon this student, accusing him of prejudice and hatred. Misinformation and lies spread like wild fire. Finally, when the facts were uncovered, the high school student was exonerated of any wrong-doing, even though much wrong had been done to him and his family. It was a rush to judgment. 

On January 29, 2019, American actor and singer Jussie Smollett reported that two masked men attacked him at 2 AM near his apartment in Chicago. He claimed that the attack was racist and homophobic. After Smollett’s initial report, friends and fans, celebrities and politicians expressed outrage at this hate crime. Twitter and Instagram fueled the frenzy of self-righteous indignation. However, in just three weeks, it was discovered that the whole event had been orchestrated by Smollett. Yet, before the facts were fully known, there was the rush to judgment and much chatter.

Gifted with reason, we are wired to make judgments. Discerning the good from the bad, the beautiful from the ugly, the right from the wrong, and virtue from vice: this is an essential part of our being human. However, every judgment must be founded on truth, not rumor; on fact, not fiction; on substance, not appearance. And every judgment must always be tempered with compassion. Albeit from opposite directions, the Sandmann and Smollett incidents show how quick we are to believe or disbelieve, to accuse or defend and how easily we pick a side and draw a line in the sand. And, all the while, truth grows ever more fragile.

Today’s rush to judgment gathers speed along the newly constructed digital highway. We get information instantaneously and, because we want solutions just as fast, we are quick to judge. As a result of this incessant communication about other people’s lives, we live on the edge between truth and falsehood. What years ago was whispered between a few people now goes viral and can never be retrieved. As a result, in this environment, deliberately passing on stories that destroy other people’s good names is nothing less than cyber bullying.

There is no area of modern society that is exempt from someone passing on false information, half-truths or blatant, deliberate lies. In a society of fast-paced information sharing, gossip has become so commonplace that people justify it as a way to right wrongs, correct others and unseat those whom they deem unfit for their chosen work. However, unlike the surgeon’s scalpel that removes the cancer, gossip is the arrow that destroys the other. 

As a statement sometimes attributed to Mark Twain says, “a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots.” In a similar vein, Jonathan Swift once wrote, “if a lie be believ’d only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it; so that, when men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late…the tale has had its effect” (Jonathan Swift, The Examiner, Number 15, November, 1710).  For this reason, people of good faith should be slow to judge others. And never should they gossip. People who constantly judge or criticize others truly lack compassion.

Sadly, making negative judgments on others on the basis of appearances and then spreading those judgments to others is found among those who consider themselves Church-going people. It is especially found among those who set themselves as crusaders for a just cause and, then by their lack of charity, become unjust themselves. The fondness to judge and criticize others may well be a way of not facing one’s own sins. "It is often easier or more convenient to see and condemn the faults and sins of others than it is to see our own” (Pope Francis, Angelus, March 3, 2019).

In speech after speech, Pope Francis has been courageously warning us of the evil of gossip. “Gossip is a weapon and it threatens the human community every day; it sows envy, jealousy and power struggles… We might welcome someone and speak well of him the first day but little by little that worm eats away at our minds until our gossip banishes him from good opinion. That person in a community who gossips against his or her neighbor is, in a sense, killing him.” (Pope Francis, Homily, Domus Sanctae Marthae, September 2, 2013).  

Few things can match the harmful effects of gossip, whether it be slander or detraction. Defamation inflicts grave harm on the individual and destroys the community. It is against charity and, since God is love, it is against God himself. Charles Spurgeon, one of the most popular Baptist preachers of the 19th century, summed up the evil of talking about other people by saying, “the tale-bearer carries the devil in his tongue, and the tale-hearer carries the devil in his ear.” Gossip makes the devil laugh!

The team in Bangladesh comprises mainly national believers in Jesus, one of whom brings vocational training and God’s light into a refugee camp.

Cape Town's East City Precinct - between the CBD and District Six - are undergoing a revival and the new The Harri residential development is an example of this trend.

Construction work on FWJK's R800 million residential development known as 16 on Bree has topped out with the 36th floor having been cast.

Downtown revitalization efforts in Wilmington, Dover and Seaford continue to gain momentum, with new projects in all three counties slated to receive funding from Delaware’s Downtown Development Districts program.

Wilmington, DE – Highlighting ongoing efforts to revitalize Delaware’s downtowns, Governor Jack Markell and Delaware State Housing Authority Director Anas Ben Addi presented a grant check on Monday to the owners of Tonic Bar and Grille, money that helped Tonic fund extensive renovations throughout the restaurant. Tonic’s grant rebate was funded by Delaware’s Downtown Development […]

$4.5 million in grant funding for 11 projects will leverage $130 million in private investment DOVER, DE — Building on progress in Delaware’s downtowns, Governor Jack Markell and the Delaware State Housing Authority announced on Monday that 11 new downtown revitalization projects in Wilmington, Dover and Seaford will receive $4.5 million in grant funding through […]

Governor Jack Markell on Wednesday announced a statewide expansion of Delaware's Downtown Development Districts program, significantly building on the state's efforts to redevelop Delaware’s commercial business districts and drive private investment in towns and cities. Five new Downtown Development Districts were officially designated in Smyrna, Harrington, Milford, Georgetown and Laurel. Investors who make qualified improvements to residential, commercial, or industrial properties in those districts now may qualify for state and local development incentives, including 20 percent state grant rebates.