University of Pittsburgh

About: University of Pittsburgh is a education organization based out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 87042 authors who have published 201012 publications receiving 9656783 citations. The organization is also known as: Pitt & Western University of Pennsylvania.

Collective Sensemaking about Reading: How Teachers Mediate Reading Policy in Their Professional Communities:

Abstract: Recent research on the relationship between instructional policy and classroom practice suggests that teachers interpret, adapt, and even transform policies as they put them into place. This paper extends this line of research, using an in-depth case study of one California elementary school to examine the processes by which teachers construct and reconstruct multiple policy messages about reading instruction in the context of their professional communities. Drawing primarily on institutional and sensemaking theory, this paper puts forth a model of collective sensemaking that focuses on the ways teachers co-construct understandings of policy messages, make decisions about which messages to pursue in their classrooms, and negotiate the technical and practical details of implementation in conversations with their colleagues. It also argues that the nature and structure of formal networks and informal alliances among teachers shape the process, with implications for ways in which messages from the policy env...

The Simons Observatory : Science goals and forecasts

Abstract: The Simons Observatory (SO) is a new cosmic microwave background experiment being built on Cerro Toco in Chile, due to begin observations in the early 2020s. We describe the scientific goals of the experiment, motivate the design, and forecast its performance. SO will measure the temperature and polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background in six frequency bands centered at: 27, 39, 93, 145, 225 and 280 GHz. The initial configuration of SO will have three small-aperture 0.5-m telescopes and one large-aperture 6-m telescope, with a total of 60,000 cryogenic bolometers. Our key science goals are to characterize the primordial perturbations, measure the number of relativistic species and the mass of neutrinos, test for deviations from a cosmological constant, improve our understanding of galaxy evolution, and constrain the duration of reionization. The small aperture telescopes will target the largest angular scales observable from Chile, mapping ≈ 10% of the sky to a white noise level of 2 μK-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, to measure the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, at a target level of σ(r)=0.003. The large aperture telescope will map ≈ 40% of the sky at arcminute angular resolution to an expected white noise level of 6 μK-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, overlapping with the majority of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope sky region and partially with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. With up to an order of magnitude lower polarization noise than maps from the Planck satellite, the high-resolution sky maps will constrain cosmological parameters derived from the damping tail, gravitational lensing of the microwave background, the primordial bispectrum, and the thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects, and will aid in delensing the large-angle polarization signal to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio. The survey will also provide a legacy catalog of 16,000 galaxy clusters and more than 20,000 extragalactic sources.

Sleep-Disordered Breathing, Glucose Intolerance, and Insulin Resistance The Sleep Heart Health Study

Abstract: Clinic-based studies suggest that sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. However, in the available studies, researchers have not rigorously controlled for confounding variables to assess the independent relation between SDB and impaired glucose metabolism. The objective of this study was to determine whether SDB was associated with glucose intolerance and insulin resistance among community-dwelling subjects (n=2,656) participating in the Sleep Heart Health Study (1994-1999). SDB was characterized with the respiratory disturbance index and measurements of oxygen saturation during sleep. Fasting and 2-hour glucose levels measured during an oral glucose tolerance test were used to assess glycemic status. Relative to subjects with a respiratory disturbance index of less than 5.0 events/hour (the reference category), subjects with mild SDB (5.0-14.9 events/hour) and moderate to severe SDB (> or =15 events/hour) had adjusted odds ratios of 1.27 (95% confidence interval: 0.98, 1.64) and 1.46 (95% confidence interval: 1.09, 1.97), respectively, for fasting glucose intolerance (p for trend < 0.01). Sleep-related hypoxemia was also associated with glucose intolerance independently of age, gender, body mass index, and waist circumference. The results of this study suggest that SDB is independently associated with glucose intolerance and insulin resistance and may lead to type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Prognostic value of usual gait speed in well-functioning older people--results from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To define clinically relevant cutpoints for usual gait speed and to investigate their predictive value for health-related events in older persons. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. PARTICIPANTS: Three thousand forty-seven well-functioning older persons (mean age 74.2). MEASUREMENTS: Usual gait speed on a 6-m course was assessed at baseline. Participants were randomly divided into two groups to identify (Sample A; n = 2,031) and then validate (Sample B; n = 1,016) usual gait-speed cutpoints. Rates of persistent lower extremity limitation events (mean follow-up 4.9 years) were calculated according to gait speed in Sample A. A cutpoint (defining high- (<1 m/s) and low risk (≥1 m/s) groups) was identified based on persistent lower extremity limitation events. The predictive value of the identified cutpoints for major health-related events (persistent severe lower extremity limitation, death, and hospitalization) was evaluated in Sample B using Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: A graded response was seen between risk groups and health-related outcomes. Participants in the high-risk group had a higher risk of persistent lower extremity limitation (rate ratio (RR) = 2.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.76-2.74), persistent severe lower extremity limitation (RR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.63-3.20), death (RR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.14-2.37), and hospitalization (RR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.02-2.13) than those in the low-risk group. CONCLUSION: Usual gait speed of less than 1 m/s identifies persons at high risk of health-related outcomes in well-functioning older people. Provision of a clinically meaningful cutpoint for usual gait speed may facilitate its use in clinical and research settings.