Life Science For Elementary Teachers

Science is taught at all grade levels, yet there exists a deficiency in the amount of emphasis placed on science training for elementary teachers. As a result, teachers often feel inadequate in their knowledge of scientific areas and in their ability to develop science process skills in their students. As a result in this lack of training, a need exists to provide programs to increase skill and confidence of elementary teachers not only in teaching science concepts but science process skills as well. One means of meeting this need was the development of an activity-based, process-oriented inservice curriculum designed specifically for elementary science. The curriculum was designed as an inservice component of 60 hours that emphasized process skills as well as updating science concepts. The curriculum was designed for use in grades 1-6 and stressed hands-on experiences using readily available materials and a minimum of specialized equipment. The curriculum was field tested as a component of the Clay county, Florida Summer Inservice Institute. Thirty eight teachers, whose teaching assignments ranged from kindergarten to sixth grade, participated in the field test. At the beginning of the Institute, no participant scored 80% or better on a pretest of knowledge of concepts and process skills. Each participant completed each \u27activity in the role of a student, including forming a hypothesis, collecting data, and drawing a conclusion. Activities were then discussed stressing process skills used and an indepth review of concepts involved. On the final day of the Institute, 84% of the participants scored 80% or better on the posttest. Furthermore, evaluations of the component by particiPants indicated a marked improvement in confidence in and enthusiasm for teaching science process skills. Overall the curriculum met the objective of increasing elementary teachers\u27 ability and willingness to teach science process skills as well as science concepts

Exploring the nursing student experience at a remote Australian university campus: a qualitative study

Background: Nurses constitute most of the rural and remote Australian health workforce, however staff shortages in these regions are common. Rural exposure, association, and undertaking rural clinical placements can influence health students’ decision to work rurally after graduation, however attending university in rural and remote regions has been shown to be a great contributor. An improved understanding of these nursing students’ experiences may inform changes to teaching and support strategies for these students, which in turn could improve their retention and completion rates, contributing to a more sustainable rural and remote Australian nursing workforce. This study aimed to explore and describe students’ experiences of studying nursing in the context of a satellite university campus located in a remote town, with a focus on education delivery methods, staff, support, student services, and barriers and enablers to successful study. Methodology: Nine students participated in this qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken, allowing participants to reflect on their experiences as nursing students in the context of a geographically remote satellite university campus. The resulting data were grouped into common themes and summarised. Results: Students were generally positive regarding lectures delivered by videoconference or recorded lectures, as they allowed for greater flexibility which accommodated their busy personal lives. Face-to-face teaching was especially valuable, and students were particularly positive about their small cohort size, which enabled the creation of strong, supportive relationships between students, their cohort, and teaching and support staff. However, barriers related to student demographics and some difficulties with course engagement and campus staffing were experienced. Conclusions: The experiences of nursing students at remote university campuses are different from those experienced by traditional, metropolitan university students. Although these nursing students face additional barriers unique to the remote campus context, they benefit from a range of enabling factors, including their close relationships with other students, staff, family, and their local community

Living with low carbon technologies: an agenda for sharing and comparing qualitative energy research

ArticleCopyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.There is another ORE record for this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/36734Policies to reduce the carbon intensity of domestic living place considerable emphasis on the diffusion of low(er) carbon technologies - from microgeneration to an array of feedback and monitoring devices. These efforts presume that low carbon technologies (LCTs) will be accepted and integrated into domestic routines in the ways intended by their designers. This study contributes to an emerging qualitative energy research (QER) literature by deploying an analytical approach that explores comparison of data from two UK projects ('Carbon, Comfort and Control' and 'Conditioning Demand') concerned, in broad terms, with householder interactions with LCTs - primarily associated with the production and maintenance of thermal comfort. In-depth, and in many cases repeat, interviews were conducted in a total of 18 households where devices such as heat pumps and thermal feedback lamps had recently been installed. We discuss this comparative process and how a reflexive reading of notions of (and strategies associated with) credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmablity enabled new ways of working and thinking with existing data. We conclude by highlighting the contrasts, conflicts, but also creativities raised by drawing these connections, and consider implications for methodologies associated with qualitative energy research.EPSRCE.O

Cruciferous and allium vegetable intakes are inversely associated with 15‐year atherosclerotic vascular disease deaths in older adult women

Background Higher vegetable intake is consistently associated with lower atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD) events. However, the components responsible and mechanisms involved are uncertain. Nonnutritive phytochemicals may be involved. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations of total vegetable intake and types of vegetables grouped according to phytochemical constituents with ASVD mortality. Methods and Results The cohort consisted of 1226 Australian women aged 70 years and older without clinical ASVD or diabetes mellitus at baseline (1998). Vegetable intakes were calculated per serving (75 g/d) and were also classified into prespecified types relating to phytochemical constituents. ASVD‐related deaths were ascertained from linked mortality data. During 15 years (15 947 person‐years) of follow‐up, 238 ASVD‐related deaths occurred. A 1‐serving increment of vegetable intake was associated with a 20% lower hazard of ASVD‐related death (multivariable‐adjusted hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.69–0.94 [P=0.005]). In multivariable‐adjusted models for vegetable types, cruciferous (per 10‐g/d increase: hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.81–0.94 [PP=0.003]) vegetables were inversely associated with ASVD‐related deaths. The inclusion of other vegetable types, as well as lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors, did not alter these associations. Yellow/orange/red (P=0.463), leafy green (P=0.063), and legume (P=0.379) vegetables were not significant. Conclusions Consistent with current evidence, higher cruciferous and allium vegetable intakes were associated with a lower risk of ASVD mortality. In addition, cruciferous and allium vegetables are recognized to be a good source of several nonnutritive phytochemicals such as organosulfur compounds. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.anzctr.org.au. Unique identifier: ACTRN12617000640303

Vegetable diversity, injurious falls, and fracture risk in older women: A prospective cohort study

The importance of vegetable diversity for the risk of falling and fractures is unclear. Our objective was to examine the relationship between vegetable diversity with injurious falling and fractures leading to hospitalization in a prospective cohort of older Australian women (n = 1429, ≥70 years). Vegetable diversity was quantified by assessing the number of different vegetables consumed daily. Vegetable intake (75 g servings/day) was estimated using a validated food frequency questionnaire at baseline (1998). Over 14.5 years, injurious falls (events = 568, 39.7%), and fractures (events = 404, 28.3%) were captured using linked health records. In multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models, women with greater vegetable diversity (per increase in one different vegetable/day) had lower relative hazards for falls (8%; p = 0.02) and fractures (9%; p = 0.03). A significant interaction between daily vegetable diversity (number/day) and total vegetable intake (75 g servings/day) was observed for falls (pinteraction = 0.03) and fractures (pinteraction \u3c 0.001). The largest benefit of higher vegetable diversity were observed in the one third of women with the lowest vegetable intake (\u3c2.2 servings/day; falls HR 0.83 95% CI (0.71–0.98); fractures HR 0.74 95% CI (0.62–0.89)). Increasing vegetable diversity especially in older women with low vegetable intake may be an effective way to reduce injurious fall and fracture risk

Dietary nitrate intake is associated with muscle function in older women

Background In younger individuals, dietary nitrate supplementation has been shown to improve short‐term vascular and muscle function. The role of higher habitual nitrate intake as part of a typical diet on muscle function in ageing has not been investigated. A cross‐sectional study of relationships between dietary nitrate and measures of muscle function in older community‐dwelling Australian women (n = 1420, ≥70 years) was undertaken. Methods Participants completed a semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire assessing dietary intake over the previous year. Total nitrate from vegetables and non‐vegetable sources was calculated from a validated instrument that quantified the nitrate content of food recorded within the food frequency questionnaire. Handgrip strength and timed‐up‐and‐go (TUG) were assessed, representing muscle strength and physical function, respectively. Cut‐points for weak grip strength (kg) and slow TUG (\u3e10.2 s) were selected due to their association with adverse outcomes. Linear and logistic regressions were used to examine the relationship between total nitrate intake and muscle function measures. Results Mean ± standard deviation (SD) total nitrate intake was 79.5 ± 31.2 mg/day, of which 84.5% came from vegetables. Across the unadjusted tertiles of nitrate intake (P= 0.027) and faster TUG (per second, β −0.27, P = 0.001). The proportion of women with weak grip strength (kg) or slow TUG (\u3e10.2 s) was 61.0% and 36.9%, respectively. Each SD higher nitrate intake (31.2 mg/day) was associated with lower odds for weak grip strength (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.74–0.95, P = 0.005) and slow TUG (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.76–0.98, P = 0.021). Compared with women in the lowest tertile of nitrate intake, women in the highest nitrate intake tertile had lower odds for weak grip strength (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.49–0.87, Ptrend=0.004) and slow TUG (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.53–0.97, Ptrend = 0.044). Conclusions This investigation highlights potential benefits of nitrate‐rich diets on muscle strength and physical function in a large cohort of older women. Considering poor muscle strength and physical function is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes such as falling, fractures, cardiovascular disease, and mortality, increasing dietary nitrate, especially though vegetable consumption may be an effective way to limit age‐related declines in muscle function

Inhibiting the oncogenic translation program is an effective therapeutic strategy in multiple myeloma

Published in final edited form as: Sci Transl Med. 2017 May 10; 9(389). https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aal2668.Multiple myeloma (MM) is a frequently incurable hematological cancer in which overactivity of MYC plays a central role, notably through up-regulation of ribosome biogenesis and translation. To better understand the oncogenic program driven by MYC and investigate its potential as a therapeutic target, we screened a chemically diverse small-molecule library for anti-MM activity. The most potent hits identified were rocaglate scaffold inhibitors of translation initiation. Expression profiling of MM cells revealed reversion of the oncogenic MYC-driven transcriptional program by CMLD010509, the most promising rocaglate. Proteome-wide reversion correlated with selective depletion of short-lived proteins that are key to MM growth and survival, most notably MYC, MDM2, CCND1, MAF, and MCL-1. The efficacy of CMLD010509 in mouse models of MM confirmed the therapeutic relevance of these findings in vivo and supports the feasibility of targeting the oncogenic MYC-driven translation program in MM with rocaglates

Three-dimensional food printing: Its readiness for a food and nutrition insecure world

Three-dimensional (3D) food printing is a rapidly emerging technology offering unprecedented potential for customised food design and personalised nutrition. Here, we evaluate the technological advances in extrusion-based 3D food printing and its possibilities to promote healthy and sustainable eating. We consider the challenges in implementing the technology in real-world applications. We propose viable applications for 3D food printing in health care, health promotion and food waste upcycling. Finally, we outline future work on 3D food printing in food safety, acceptability and economics, ethics and regulations. .

Vegetable diversity in relation with subclinical atherosclerosis and 15-year atherosclerotic vascular disease deaths in older adult women

Increasing vegetable intake and diversity are recommended to maintain better health. Evidence for the health benefits of vegetable diversity, separate from total intake, is scarce. We aimed to investigate the associations of vegetable diversity with subclinical measures of atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD) mortality