Valuing the Student Voice: Understanding and Responding to Student Concerns

Many higher education institutions unintentionally make it challenging for students to raise concerns. Students often feel intimidated by faculty and administrators, yet most grievance processes require students to take the initiative to voice a concern. Adding stress is the lack of clarity of these processes, which can make students feel disconnected and uncertain where to turn. To alleviate the stress of students, alternative perspectives must be considered. This session will provide participants with practical strategies for developing processes that respect the student voice and encourage students to bring forward their concerns. Group discussions and scenario-based breakout sessions will be included

Learning Gain: Can It Be Measured?

As the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (‘QAA’) has noted, ‘With an increasing tendency to see higher education as a product with a price tag, there is understandably growing interest in the extent to which academic programmes of study promote students’ employability and earning power.’ (QAA, 2013, para. 1) In this chapter, we address the ‘basics’ underpinning the notion of learning gain including the best means for its measurement and the motivations behind the need to both quantify and attribute the various changes in our students as brought about by their university learning experiences. A larger question remains: if we wish to measure (some) gains in learning, arguably we firstly need to define what it is that we are actually seeking to measure, rather than starting from a position of what might be measurable in the hope that something can be found. This in turn means that the concept of learning gain may become a very different thing according to the instrument of measurement used. This then leads on to a further issue: if we measure learning gain in one particular way, this clearly says something about the type(s) of learning that we most value, and what gain(s) may exist within them

Regulatory Effect of Connexin 43 on Basal Ca2+ Signaling in Rat Ventricular Myocytes

Background: It has been found that gap junction-associated intracellular Ca 2+ [Ca 2+]i disturbance contributes to the arrhythmogenesis and hyperconstriction in diseased heart. However, whether functional gaps are also involved in the regulation of normal Ca 2+ signaling, in particular the basal [Ca 2+] i activities, is unclear. Methods and Results: Global and local Ca 2+ signaling and gap permeability were monitored in cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) and freshly isolated mouse ventricular myocytes by Fluo4/AM and Lucifer yellow (LY), respectively. The results showed that inhibition of gap communication by heptanol, Gap 27 and flufenamic acid or interference of connexin 43 (Cx43) with siRNA led to a significant suppression of LY uptake and, importantly, attenuations of global Ca 2+ transients and local Ca 2+ sparks in monolayer NRVMs and Ca 2+ sparks in adult ventricular myocytes. In contrast, overexpression of rat-Cx43 in NRVMs induced enhancements in the above measurements, and so did in HEK293 cells expressing rat Cx43. Additionally, membrane-permeable inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3 butyryloxymethyl ester) and phenylephrine, an agonist of adrenergic receptor, could relieve the inhibited Ca 2+ signal and LY uptake by gap uncouplers, whereas blockade of IP 3 receptor with xestospongin C or 2-aminoethoxydiphenylborate mimicked the effects of gap inhibitors. More importantly, all these gap-associated effects on Ca 2+ signaling were also found in single NRVMs that only have hemichannels instead of gap junctions. Further immunostaining/immunoblotting single myocytes with antibod

Understanding renal posttransplantation anemia in the pediatric population

Advances in renal transplantation management have proven to be beneficial in improving graft and patient survival. One of the properties of a well-functioning renal allograft is the secretion of adequate amounts of the hormone erythropoietin to stimulate erythropoiesis. Posttransplantation anemia (PTA) may occur at any point in time following transplantation, and the cause is multifactoral. Much of our understanding of PTA is based on studies of adult transplant recipients. The limited number of studies that have been reported on pediatric renal transplant patients appear to indicate that PTA is prevalent in this patient population. Erythropoietin deficiency or resistance is commonly associated with iron deficiency. An understanding of the risk factors, pathophysiology and management of PTA in the pediatric renal transplant population may provide guidelines for clinicians and researchers in the pursuit of larger prospective randomized control studies aimed at improving our limited knowledge of PTA. Recognition of PTA through regular screening and evaluation of the multiple factors that may contribute to its development are recommended after transplantation

ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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