SummaryPlants have been proposed as an attractive alternative for pharmaceutical protein production to current mammalian or microbial cell-based systems. Eukaryotic protein processing coupled with reduced production costs and low risk for mammalian pathogen contamination and other impurities have led many to predict that agricultural systems may offer the next wave for pharmaceutical product production. However, for this to become a reality, the quality of products produced at a relevant scale must equal or exceed the predetermined release criteria of identity, purity, potency and safety as required by pharmaceutical regulatory agencies. In this article, the ability of transient plant virus expression systems to produce a wide range of products at high purity and activity is reviewed. The production of different recombinant proteins is described along with comparisons with established standards, including high purity, specific activity and promising preclinical outcomes. Adaptation of transient plant virus systems to large-scale manufacturing formats required development of virus particle and Agrobacterium inoculation methods. One transient plant system case study illustrates the properties of greenhouse and field-produced recombinant aprotinin compared with an US Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmaceutical product and found them to be highly comparable in all properties evaluated. A second transient plant system case study demonstrates a fully functional monoclonal antibody conforming to release specifications. In conclusion, the production capacity of large quantities of recombinant protein offered by transient plant expression systems, coupled with robust downstream purification approaches, offers a promising solution to recombinant protein production that compares favourably to cell-based systems in scale, cost and quality.

As Response to Intervention (RtI) approaches become more common in educational systems throughout the country, it is increasingly important to identify how practitioners perceive these changes and how they obtain the skills necessary to face emergent roles and responsibilities. In this exploratory study, a national sample of 557 school psychologists were surveyed regarding their training, involvement, and perceptions of RtI. The results indicate that practitioners engage in multiple training experiences via a variety of modalities. Nearly half of respondents reported employment at sites implementing RtI. Practitioners at RtI-implementing sites reported a greater proportion of their time spent in academic intervention and conducted fewer psychoeducational assessments relative to their peers at non-RtI-implementing sites. Although many reported that RtI had positive effects on academic performance, a sizeable proportion of practitioners observed no effect on school culture and climate. Implications for school psychology training and practice are discussed. C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Positive behavior interventions and supports are increasingly utilized in school systems throughout the nation, particularly the school-wide multi-tiered support framework. Given such trends, and the basis of these practices in psychological principles and research, it is important to identify how school psychologists are trained to contribute to such efforts, their involvement in intervention activities, and their perceptions of this approach. We surveyed a national sample of 557 school psychologists regarding their training, involvement, and perceptions of positive behavior supports. The results indicate that although most respondents had a variety of training experiences in multiple behavior-related areas, one quarter did not report receiving any training related to school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS). Although 35% of school psychologists reported employment in schools implementing SWPBIS, these schools varied in the SWPBIS elements in place. Implications for school psychology training and practice are addressed. C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Reducing problem behavior is a key concern for educators across grade levels and settings, with "lack of discipline" consistently identified by professionals and the general public as a considerable school problem (Algozzine & Algozzine, 2010). Although the academic progress of students remains the primary objective of educators, teaching and learning can be hindered substantially by problem behavior, as, for instance, management of inappropriate student behavior has been found to consume as much as 80% of instructional time (Scott, 2001). Unfortunately, traditional methods of school discipline are primarily reactive and punitive, and are regarded ineffective in reducing undesirable student behaviors in schools (Skiba, 2002;Skiba & Peterson, 2000). Researchers suggest that many student behavior problems are the result of unclear expectations, lack of routine, and poor environmental arrangements that can be ameliorated through the application of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS), a preventative, multi-tiered systemic framework for behavior support and school discipline (Scott, 2001) that incorporates behavioral principals and practices shown to improve behavior. It is now considered best practice for school discipline (Algozzine & Algozzine, 2010) and implemented in more than 9,000 school systems nationwide (Horner, 2009). Because SWPBIS provides a general framework for behavioral intervention, implementation varies across sites, with certain defining core features, as will be discussed below.The focus of this article is on understanding school psychologists' preparation for and involvement in positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), with an emphasis on SWPBIS. First, we review the SWPBIS framework, with an emphasis on the psychological foundations and basic elements for supporting students' behavioral and academic competence. Next, we discuss the processes and roles within the framework, particularl...