How to Encourage Online Self-regulation of Students

Due to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many lecturers in higher education institutions suddenly had to switch from on campus to online teaching. An online learning environment demands more from students’ self-regulation skills. Self-regulation skills allow students to achieve their goals and continue to develop cognitively and personally. In order to achieve effective learning in an online environment, we argue that increasing students\u27 self-regulatory skills must be a central tenet in designing online education. Based on students’ and lecturers’ experience, we identify three issues regarding self-regulated learning in an online environment: 1) disrupted curriculum structure and study rhythm, 2) less feedback, and 3) fewer opportunities to reflect together. Subsequently, we make recommendations to provide a solid online environment in which self-regulation can occur. Each recommendation empowers students to enhance their self-regulation skills by going through the self-regulated learning cycle. The different recommendations reinforce each other in achieving effective learning in an online environment

MLC1 is associated with the Dystrophin-Glycoprotein Complex at astrocytic endfeet

Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC) is a progressive cerebral white matter disease with onset in childhood, caused by mutations in the MLC1 gene. MLC1 is a protein with unknown function that is mainly expressed in the brain in astrocytic endfeet at the blood–brain and cerebrospinal fluid–brain barriers. It shares its localization at astrocytic endfeet with the dystrophin-associated glycoprotein complex (DGC). The objective of the present study was to investigate the possible association of MLC1 with the DGC. To test this hypothesis, (co)-localization of DGC-proteins and MLC1 was analyzed by immunohistochemical stainings in gliotic brain tissue from a patient with multiple sclerosis, in glioblastoma tissue and in brain tissue from an MLC patient. In control tissue, a direct protein interaction was tested by immunoprecipitation. Results revealed that MLC1 is co-localized with DGC-proteins in gliotic brain tissue. We demonstrated that both MLC1 and aquaporin-4, a member of the DGC, were redistributed in glioblastoma cells. In MLC brain tissue, we showed absence of MLC1 and altered expression of several DGC-proteins. We demonstrated a direct protein interaction between MLC1 and Kir4.1. From these results we conclude that MLC1 is associated with the DGC at astrocytic endfeet

Adult Spinal Cord Radial Glia Display a Unique Progenitor Phenotype

Radial glia (RG) are primarily embryonic neuroglial progenitors that express Brain Lipid Binding Protein (Blbp a.k.a. Fabp7) and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (Gfap). We used these transcripts to demarcate the distribution of spinal cord radial glia (SCRG) and screen for SCRG gene expression in the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas (ASCA). We reveal that neonatal and adult SCRG are anchored in a non-ventricular niche at the spinal cord (SC) pial boundary, and express a “signature” subset of 122 genes, many of which are shared with “classic” neural stem cells (NSCs) of the subventricular zone (SVZ) and SC central canal (CC). A core expressed gene set shared between SCRG and progenitors of the SVZ and CC is particularly enriched in genes associated with human disease. Visualizing SCRG in a Fabp7-EGFP reporter mouse reveals an extensive population of SCRG that extend processes around the SC boundary and inwardly (through) the SC white matter (WM), whose abundance increases in a gradient from cervical to lumbar SC. Confocal analysis of multiple NSC-enriched proteins reveals that postnatal SCRG are a discrete and heterogeneous potential progenitor population that become activated by multiple SC lesions, and that CC progenitors are also more heterogeneous than previously appreciated. Gene ontology analysis highlights potentially unique regulatory pathways that may be further manipulated in SCRG to enhance repair in the context of injury and SC disease

The co-creation of assessment criteria

Self- and peer assessment are important aspects of assessment-for-learning practic

Hyaluronan accumulation and arrested oligodendrocyte progenitor maturation in vanishing white matter disease

Vanishing white matter disease is a genetic leukoencephalopathy caused by mutations in eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2B. Patients experience a slowly progressive neurological deterioration with episodes of rapid clinical worsening triggered by stress. The disease may occur at any age and leads to early death. Characteristic neuropathological findings include cystic degeneration of the white matter with feeble, if any, reactive gliosis, dysmorphic astrocytes and paucity of myelin despite an increase in oligodendrocytic density. These features have been linked to a maturation defect of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. However, the nature of the link between glial immaturity and the observed neuropathological features is unclear. We hypothesized that the defects in maturation and function of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes are related. Brain tissue of seven patients with genetically proven vanishing white matter disease was investigated using immunohistochemistry, western blotting, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and size exclusion chromatography. The results were compared with those obtained from normal brain tissue of age-matched controls, from chronic demyelinated multiple sclerosis lesions and from other genetic and acquired white matter disorders. We found that the white matter of patients with vanishing white matter disease is enriched in CD44-expressing astrocyte precursor cells and accumulates the glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan. Hyaluronan is a major component of the extracellular matrix, and CD44 is a hyaluronan receptor. We found that a high molecular weight form of hyaluronan is overabundant, especially in the most severely affected areas. Comparison between the more severely affected frontal white matter and the relatively spared cerebellum confirms that high molecular weight hyaluronan accumulation is more pronounced in the frontal white matter than in the cerebellum. High molecular weight hyaluronan is known to inhibit astrocyte and oligodendrocyte precursor maturation and can explain the arrested glial progenitor maturation observed in vanishing white matter disease. In conclusion, high molecular weight species of hyaluronan accumulate in the white matter of patients with vanishing white matter disease, and by inhibiting glial maturation and proper function, they may be a major determinant of the white matter pathology and lack of repai

Knockdown of MLC1 in primary astrocytes causes cell vacuolation: A MLC disease cell model

Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC) is a rare type of leukodystrophy, in the majority of cases caused by mutations in the MLC1 gene. MRI from MLC patients shows diffuse cerebral white matter signal abnormality and swelling, with evidence of increased water content. Histopathology in a MLC patient shows vacuolation of myelin, which causes the cerebral white matter swelling. MLC1 protein is expressed in astrocytic processes that are part of blood- and cerebrospinal fluid-brain barriers. We aimed to create an astrocyte cell model of MLC disease. The characterization of rat astrocyte cultures revealed MLC1 localization in cell-cell contacts, which contains other proteins described typically in tight and adherent junctions. MLC1 localization in these contacts was demonstrated to depend on the actin cytoskeleton; it was not altered when disrupting the microtubule or the GFAP networks. In human tissues, MLC1 and the protein Zonula Occludens 1 (ZO-1), which is linked to the actin cytoskeleton, co-localized by EM immunostaining and were specifically co-immunoprecipitated. To create an MLC cell model, knockdown of MLC1 in primary astrocytes was performed. Reduction of MLC1 expression resulted in the appearance of intracellular vacuoles. This vacuolation was reversed by the co-expression of human MLC1. Re-examination of a human brain biopsy from an MLC patient revealed that vacuoles were also consistently present in astrocytic processes. Thus, vacuolation of astrocytes is also a hallmark of MLC disease. © 2011 Elsevier Inc