Dangerous dietary supplements: Garcinia cambogia-associated hepatic failure requiring transplantation.

Commercial dietary supplements are marketed as a panacea for the morbidly obese seeking sustainable weight-loss. Unfortunately, many claims cited by supplements are unsupported and inadequately regulated. Most concerning, however, are the associated harmful side effects, often unrecognized by consumers. Garcinia cambogia extract and Garcinia cambogia containing products are some of the most popular dietary supplements currently marketed for weight loss. Here, we report the first known case of fulminant hepatic failure associated with this dietary supplement. One active ingredient in this supplement is hydroxycitric acid, an active ingredient also found in weight-loss supplements banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009 for hepatotoxicity. Heightened awareness of the dangers of dietary supplements such as Garcinia cambogia is imperative to prevent hepatoxicity and potential fulminant hepatic failure in additional patients

NELFE-Dependent MYC Signature Identifies a Unique Cancer Subtype in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The MYC oncogene is dysregulated in approximately 30% of liver cancer. In an effort to exploit MYC as a therapeutic target, including in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), strategies have been developed on the basis of MYC amplification or gene translocation. Due to the failure of these strategies to provide accurate diagnostics and prognostic value, we have developed a Negative Elongation Factor E (NELFE)-Dependent MYC Target (NDMT) gene signature. This signature, which consists of genes regulated by MYC and NELFE, an RNA binding protein that enhances MYC-induced hepatocarcinogenesis, is predictive of NELFE/MYC-driven tumors that would otherwise not be identified by gene amplification or translocation alone. We demonstrate the utility of the NDMT gene signature to predict a unique subtype of HCC, which is associated with a poor prognosis in three independent cohorts encompassing diverse etiologies, demographics, and viral status. The application of gene signatures, such as the NDMT signature, offers patients access to personalized risk assessments, which may be utilized to direct future care

Chemical toxic exposures and chronic ocular pain

Chronic ocular pain is a common, debilitating chronic pain condition with significant morbidity and negative impact in patients’ quality of life. Several, diverse types of insults to the ocular surface can lead to acute, and under certain conditions to chronic ocular pain, and these include toxic irritants. Exposure of ocular surface to toxic irritants, in addition to direct tissue injury, carries the capacity to generated intense immune and neuronal responses with hyper-excitability, sensitization and chronic pain. Because, chronic ocular pain subsequent to toxic exposures is relatively unrecognized clinical entity, this brief review highlights pertinent concepts of its epidemiology, pathogenesis/pathophysiology, clinical progression, with recommendations for its clinical management that clinicians may find helpful. Suppression of pain signaling, generating neuronal sensitization, and prevention of chronicity of neuropathic pain is particularly emphasized in this respect

Unraveling the nature of quasi van der Waals Epitaxy of magnetic topological insulators Cr: (BixSb1-x)2Te3 on a GaAs (111) substrate through coherently strained interface

Quasi van der Waals Epitaxy (qvdWE) has been realized for decades at the interfaces between 3D and 2D materials or van der Waals materials. The growth of magnetic topological insulators (MTI) Cr: (BixSb1-x)2Te3 (CBST) on GaAs (111) substrates for Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect (QAH) is actually one of the examples of qvdWE, which is not well noticed despite the fact that its advantages have been used in growth of various MTI materials. This is distinguished from the growth of MTIs on other substrates. Although the qvdWE mode has been used in many 2D growth on III-V substrates, the specific features and mechanisms are not well demonstrated and summarized yet. Here in this work, we have for the first time shown the features of both coherent interfaces and the existence of strain originating from qvdWE at the same time.Comment: 5 figures, 1 table. Already shown in APS March Meeting 2023 and 202

Web-based Curricular Innovations with Diverse Learners: Stories from a University/School Partnership

As professional educators continue to work to improve student learning, partnerships within the school and the larger community are becoming a means to facilitate reformed-based changes in science education. In this article, we describe a partnership between a local university and a suburban school district that worked to implement technology-integrated classroom practices to promote learning within a diverse student environment. In this collaboration, two university faculty members, a science educator/researcher and a special education educator/researcher, partnered with a classroom biology teacher and a special education teacher who co-instructed in an inclusive ninth grade biology classroom. This collaborative endeavor followed a modified-partnership model presented in the Center for Education of the National Research Council report, Educating Teachers of Science, Mathematics, and Technology (2001). In this partnership model (see Need for the Partnership The classroom instructional partners co-teach a mix of lower-level learners and students identified with learning disabilities in an inclusive biology classroom setting. Prior to the 2 partnership, computer use by the biology teacher was limited and mainly consisted of information-seeking activities on the Internet by students. The special education teacher had used interactive educational software with her students and had prior experiences using Power Point presentations that contained links to available Web resources. Both teachers were aware that the World Wide Web provides various instructional resource types to enhance student science learning. These resources include: scientific visualizations, simulations, animations, video clips, and still images. The teachers believed that incorporating such instructional resources combined with effective instruction would assist student learning. However, the school team was frustrated in their attempts to incorporate technology within their instruction. Locating suitable instructional materials was a time consuming endeavor. In addition, they often experienced technical problems with their computers and network connections in the school computer lab. Despite this frustration, or because of it, the biology teacher accepted an invitation to participate in a National Science Foundation sponsored evaluation workshop of a new Webintegrated biology curriculum at a local university. This new curriculum was designed to promote biology literacy, consistent with the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996), using a learning cycle (engage, explore, explain, evaluate). The curricular materials consisted of a short concepts-oriented textbook, an extensive Website, and inquiry-based laboratory activities and experiments. The classroom teachers were interested in using the curricular materials with a goal to improve the integration of instructional technology within their instruction. The university educators/researchers interests included learning about contextual factors pertaining to the successful implementation of these materials in inclusive classroom settings. In addition, the educators/researchers were updating their knowledge in this area to better prepare the preservice science and special education teachers in their university methods courses. Therefore, a partnership was established to benefit the goals of both groups of educators. 3 Partnership Implementation During a period of six weeks, the university educator/researchers observed two inclusion biology classes as participant observers. During class and lab activities, the educator/researchers would question students individually and in small groups to determine how they were learning with the classroom activities. After class, the educator/researchers would recommend pedagogical changes that could be implemented in future lessons and activities. Many of the conversations among the partners included how to restructure the physical learning environment and how to customize the curricular materials to better accommodate the learning needs of their students. Additional guided prelab questions and activities were developed to provide learners with additional supports to help guide their thinking about the processes that would be occurring in the laboratory. Partnership discussions resulted in new sequencing of instruction and implementing new instructional practices that enhanced existing inclusive science classroom practices. Assessing Inquiry Skills Prior to the partnership, the teachers did not use inquiry-based laboratories with their inclusive classroom students. Often the laboratories that were used with these students were highly structured, material-centered verification type activities. During the partnership, students participated in a guided research laboratory. The inquiry-based activity was a weeklong laboratory, much longer than the usual laboratory implemented for the level of these students. This investigation was a two-part laboratory in which learners are provided with two questions to investigate: How fast does photosynthesis occur? How can an organism's photosynthesis be measured? In the first part of the investigation, students were provided with a detailed laboratory protocol and procedures for data collection and analysis. The "Conclusions" section of the laboratory prompted learners to formulate their own questions to be investigated in the second part of the laboratory. Learners then designed and implemented a new experiment based on the protocol of the initial laboratory. The results were presented in a laboratory report that was assessed through use of a rubric (see 4 Web-based animations in the online prelab materials illustrated how to utilize the tools for the laboratory. The integration of these visualizations in the prelab procedures provided students with additional confidence as they followed the written directions. Through a repetitive process of reviewing an experimental protocol, seeing the use of equipment in a Web-based visualization, and developing experimental protocols for their own investigations, the students became more confident in their use of laboratory equipment and investigative processes. Student assessment of inquiry processes included the use of the laboratory report rubric by the classroom teachers and informal student interviews conducted by the educator/researchers. The analysis of the laboratory report rubrics and interview data indicated that most of the students understood the investigative processes and the fundamentals of the content. In addition, the inclusion students were able to successfully complete an inquiry-based investigation. Technology Implementation The university educator/researchers provided specific technology implementation suggestions to the classroom teachers. They provided the teachers with vocabulary necessary to communicate properly with the school's technology office. One of the most important recommendations was to use an LCD projector in the teachers' classroom instead of having students use computers individually in a computer lab setting. The science teacher, who had limited experience with computers as a tool in the classroom, was encouraged by the educator/researchers to use an LCD projector in a one-computer classroom setting to deliver direct instruction. Upon implementation of this recommendation student attention and participation increased during the class. The educator/researchers noted an increase in the students' time on-task from 42% when working on individual computers in a computer lab to 88% when the teacher used the LCD projector in her own classroom. With the more frequent use of the one-computer setting, the teacher's confidence increased; thus, obtaining one of the goals of the partnership. During the partnership implementation, student content knowledge increased 5 significantly on biology content assessments. This improvement in test scores provided credible evidence for the classroom instructional team to petition their school district administration to purchase an LCD projector and interactive whiteboard for classroom use in the forthcoming school year. This research-supported evidence was a key factor to assist administrators in making technology-purchasing decisions. Inclusive Science Practice The educator/researchers provided validation for many of the techniques the teachers had developed during their careers. They noted the importance of assessing student background knowledge and prerequisite skills. Students in the inclusive biology classroom struggled with content and activities when they did not have sufficient background knowledge to complete a particular task The classroom teachers used explicit instruction to facilitate inquiry learning. Teachers directly modeled and demonstrated how to think about biology content and how to think through steps in laboratory experiments. Students were consistently involved in a variety of academic tasks: students took notes, completed guided-note sheets, engaged in conversations about biology content during small group activities with peers, used Web-based activities, and participated in laboratory experiments. The students demonstrated increased understanding of the content and became progressively more independent with inquiry-based applications as learnin

Curriculum design for inquiry: Preservice elementary teachers' mobilization and adaptation of science curriculum materials

Curriculum materials are crucial tools with which teachers engage students in science as inquiry. In order to use curriculum materials effectively, however, teachers must develop a robust capacity for pedagogical design, or the ability to mobilize a variety of personal and curricular resources to promote student learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the ways in which preservice elementary teachers mobilize and adapt existing science curriculum materials to plan inquiry-oriented science lessons. Using quantitative methods, we investigated preservice teachers' curriculum design decision-making and how their decisions influenced the inquiry orientations of their planned science lessons. Findings indicate that preservice elementary teachers were able to accurately assess how inquiry-based existing curriculum materials are and to adapt them to make them more inquiry-based. However, the inquiry orientations of their planned lessons were in large part determined by how inquiry-oriented curriculum materials they used to plan their lessons were to begin with. These findings have important implications for the design of teacher education experiences that foster preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical design capacities for inquiry, as well as the development of inquiry-based science curriculum materials that support preservice and beginning elementary teachers to engage in effective science teaching practice. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:820–839, 2010Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/84401/1/20379_ftp.pd

Abrupt thermal transition reveals hydrothermal boundary and role of seamounts within the Cocos Plate

New thermal data from 18–24 Ma lithosphere on the Cocos Plate delineate contrasting subsurface thermal conditions in adjacent sections of crust. Heat flow through seafloor created at the East Pacific Rise is generally suppressed by ~70% relative to conductive lithospheric cooling models, whereas heat flow through adjacent, similarly-aged lithosphere generated at the Cocos-Nazca Spreading Center is consistent with these models. The transition between thermal regimes is remarkably abrupt, only 2–5 km wide, indicating a shallow hydrothermal origin. The transition is more closely associated with differences in the distribution of basement outcrops than with tectonic boundaries, demonstrating the importance of the former in extracting heat from the lithosphere on a regional basis

Designing a consequentially based study into the online support of pre-service teachers in the UK

This paper reports on the design of a pilot doctoral study into the online support of pre-service teachers. It highlights the significance of a consequential, rather than deontological, perspective in guiding the development of a study's design. The study initially aimed to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions and use of social media on their school placements by setting up groups on Facebook and Twitter. However, several problems occurred in relation to the recruitment of participants. It became increasingly clear that there was significance in the positionality of the researcher as an “outsider” to the research context and the potential role for gatekeepers in understanding remote research sites. An ethical framework was used to make a more comprehensive analysis of the issues at play, which helped identify ways of proceeding. A redesign of the study followed with a stronger rationale for the way consequential considerations can help address deontological concerns