5 research outputs found
University teachers’ focus on students: Examining the relationships between visual attention, conceptions of teaching and pedagogical training
Teachers’ focus on their students’ learning is considered central in high-quality university teaching. This frontline research introduces a novel way to study how focusing on students’ learning can be found on the level of teachers’ visual noticing combined with verbal interpretations, i.e. their professional vision, when they observe teaching situations. A central question is also, whether professional vision skills are connected to teachers’ pedagogical education. Two short videos depicting teaching during a lecture, including different types of trigger events, were presented to teachers (N = 49), who were asked to think aloud while watching, and numerically evaluate the success of the teaching, to reveal their interpretation of the teaching situation. The results showed that pedagogically trained teachers paid more visual attention on the students and less on the teacher. Visual noticing of critical incidents preceded the formulation of accurate verbal interpretations. Noticing that the students were not active was connected to learning facilitating conceptions, which were further connected with corresponding numerical evaluation of the successfulness of teaching. Teachers who visually notice the important incidents during teaching can also formulate a more accurate verbal interpretation of the situation. Contrary to studies at lower levels of education, our study did not found evidence on the connection between teaching experience and professional vision. At the university level, pedagogical education seems to be a stronger predictor of professional vision
A Large-Scale, Consortium-Based Genomewide Association Study of Asthma
BACKGROUND
Susceptibility to asthma is influenced by genes and environment;
implicated genes may indicate pathways for therapeutic intervention.
Genetic risk factors may be useful in identifying subtypes of asthma and
determining whether intermediate phenotypes, such as elevation of the
total serum IgE level, are causally linked to disease.
METHODS
We carried out a genomewide association study by genotyping 10,365
persons with physician-diagnosed asthma and 16,110 unaffected persons,
all of whom were matched for ancestry. We used random-effects pooled
analysis to test for association in the overall study population and in
subgroups of subjects with childhood-onset asthma (defined as asthma
developing before 16 years of age), later-onset asthma, severe asthma,
and occupational asthma.
RESULTS
We observed associations of genomewide significance between asthma and
the following single-nucleotide polymorphisms: rs3771166 on chromosome
2, implicating IL1RL1/IL18R1 (P = 3x10(-9)); rs9273349 on chromosome 6,
implicating HLA-DQ (P = 7x10(-14)); rs1342326 on chromosome 9, flanking
IL33 (P = 9x10(-10)); rs744910 on chromosome 15 in SMAD3 (P = 4x10(-9));
and rs2284033 on chromosome 22 in IL2RB (P = 1.1x10(-8)). Association
with the ORMDL3/GSDMB locus on chromosome 17q21 was specific to
childhood-onset disease (rs2305480, P = 6x10(-23)). Only HLA-DR showed a
significant genomewide association with the total serum IgE
concentration, and loci strongly associated with IgE levels were not
associated with asthma.
CONCLUSIONS
Asthma is genetically heterogeneous. A few common alleles are associated
with disease risk at all ages. Implicated genes suggest a role for
communication of epithelial damage to the adaptive immune system and
activation of airway inflammation. Variants at the ORMDL3/GSDMB locus
are associated only with childhood-onset disease. Elevation of total
serum IgE levels has a minor role in the development of asthma