Munazza’s story: Shedding light on a science teacher’s conceptions of the nature of science through a life history study

Life history research creates a broader understanding of teaching by providing illustration of the relationships among various aspects of teachers’ lives and their teaching practice, both inside and beyond the classroom. This article focuses on the life history of Munazza, a young science teacher at the Karachi Model Secondary School (KMSS), a private, co‐educational, English‐medium school for children from middle‐income families. Its purpose is to gain insight into a female science teacher\u27s understanding of teaching science in a school in Pakistan, ascertain what aspects of this science teacher\u27s conceptions of the nature of science are explicit in her practice, and determine how the teacher\u27s life history has affected those views

Et kritisk blik på praktisk arbejde i naturfagene

Denne artikel kaster et kritisk blik på det praktiske arbejde i skolens naturfag og på de ofte ekstraordinært store forventninger vi stiller til det. Idet forfatteren hævder at meget af det vi gør, er dårligt forstået, rodet og af ringe uddannelsesmæssig værdi, argumenteres der for en mere præcis, teoridrevet tilgang

Investigating the effects of 5.5 mmoL vs 25 mmoL glucose concentration in culture media on LHCN-M2 cell viability, proliferation, metabolism and differentiation

Introduction: In vitro skeletal muscle cell models are vitally important for investigating the molecular mechanisms of skeletal muscle in metabolic and endocrine diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Culture media for skeletal muscle cells can often contain glucose concentrations (GC) five times higher than what’s considered normal in fasting human plasma, thus is not representative of the in vivo environment. Hyperglycaemia in culture media may negatively impact metabolic function, by creating a model of cell toxicity that’s representative of diseases such as diabetes mellitus. The aim of these experiments was to determine the impact of media containing GC of 5.5 mmol (physiological) vs 25 mmol (supraphysiological) on cell viability, proliferation, ATP production and differentiation in human LHCN-m2 myoblasts.Methods: LHCN-m2 myoblasts were cultured in 5.5 mmol or 25 mmol glucose growth media and cell viability, ATP production, and proliferation were determined. Differentiation of LHCN-m2 myoblasts into multinucleated myotubes was induced by reducing levels of human serum within the culture media and analysed by immunofluorescence following 10 days of differentiation.Results: We observed no differences in the viability, proliferation or basal ATP production rates of LHCN-m2 cells grown in 5.5 mmol compared to 25 mmol glucose (P> 0.05 for all). However cells had a trend of higher ATP production rates and faster proliferation in 5.5 mmol compared to 25 mmol. Fluorescence microscopy revealed the formation of multinucleated myotubes differentiated in 5.5 mmol glucose media containing various concentrations of human serum (0.5%, 1% and 2%).Conclusions: Our data demonstrates the ability to differentiate LHCN-m2 cells in 5.5 mmol GC, which allows our in vitro model to be more physiologically-relevant and more comparable to what is observed in vivo in humans. Further work is required to determine the implications of GC on the wider metabolic function in LHCN-m2 myoblasts

Antibiotics for acute respiratory tract infections: a mixed methods study of patient experiences of non-medical prescriber management

ABSTRACT Objective: To 1) explore patients’ expectations and experiences of nurse and pharmacist non- medical prescriber led management of respiratory tract infections, 2) to examine whether patient expectations for antibiotics affect the likelihood of receiving them, and 3) to understand factors influencing patient satisfaction with respiratory tract infection consultations. Design: Mixed methods Setting: Primary care Participants: Questionnaires from 120 patients and follow-up interviews with 22 patients and 16 nurse and pharmacist non-medical prescribers. Results: Patients had multiple expectations of their consultation with 43% expecting to be prescribed an antibiotic. There was alignment between self-reported patient expectations and those perceived by non-medical prescribers. Patient expectations for non-antibiotic strategies, such as education to promote self-management, were associated with receipt of those strategies, whereas patient expectations for an antibiotic were not associated with receipt of these medications. ‘Patient-centred’ management strategies (including reassurance and providing information) were received by 86.7% of patients. Regardless of patients’ expectation or the management strategy employed, high levels of satisfaction were reported for all aspects of the consultation. Taking concerns seriously, conducting a physical examination, communicating the treatment plan, explaining treatment decisions, and lack of time restrictions, were each reported to contribute to patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Non-medical prescribers demonstrate an understanding of patient expectations of respiratory tract infection consultations and use a range of non-antibiotic management strategies, particularly those resembling a patient-centred approach. Overall, patients’ expectations were met and prescribers were not unduly influenced by patient expectations for an antibiotic. Patients were satisfied with the consultation, indicating that strategies used by non-medical prescribers were acceptable. However, the lower levels of satisfaction among patients who expected but did not receive an antibiotic, indicates that although NMPs appear to have strategies for managing RTI consultations, there is still scope for improvement and these prescribers are therefore an important group to involve in antimicrobial stewardship

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Science Education as a Call to Action

Este artículo considera que tanto la educación en Ciencia, Tecnología, Sociedad y Ambiente (CTSA) como las formas convencionales de la enseñanza de problemas socio-científicos (PSC) son inadecuadas para satisfacer las necesidades e intereses de los y las estudiantes que se enfrentan con demandas, problemas y asuntos de la vida contemporánea. Se defiende un acercamiento educativo mucho más politizado, con un mayor énfasis en la crítica social, la clarificación de valores y la acción socio-política, a través de un enfoque basado en problemas que puede convivir con el currículo convencional basado en disciplinas. Para ello, es necesario que la confrontación de cuestiones, la consideración de los valores subyacentes y la acción sean totalmente integrados al currículumThis article takes the view that both science, technology, society, environment (STSE) education and conventional forms of socio-scientific issues (SSI)-oriented science education are inadequate to meet the needs and interests of students faced with the demands, issues, and problems of contemporary life. A much more politicized approach is advocated, with major emphasis on social critique, values clarification, and sociopolitical actio

HACIA UNA ALFABETIZACIÓN CIENTÍFICA: GUÍA DOCENTE PARA LA HISTORIA, FILOSOFÍA Y SOCIOLOGÍA DE LA CIENCIA

HACIA UNA ALFABETIZACIÓN CIENTÍFICA: GUÍA DOCENTE PARA LAHISTORIA, FILOSOFÍA Y SOCIOLOGÍA DE LA CIENCI

La Educación en Ciencias como un llamado a la acción

Este artículo considera que tanto la educación en Ciencia, Tecnología, Sociedad y Ambiente (CTSA) como las formas convencionales de la enseñanza de problemas socio-científicos (PSC) son inadecuadas para satisfacer las necesidades e intereses de los y las estudiantes que se enfrentan con demandas, problemas y asuntos de la vida contemporánea. Se defiende un acercamiento educativo mucho más politizado, con un mayor énfasis en la crítica social, la clarificación de valores y la acción socio-política, a través de un enfoque basado en problemas que puede convivir con el currículo convencional basado en disciplinas. Para ello, es necesario que la confrontación de cuestiones, la consideración de los valores subyacentes y la acción sean totalmente integrados al currículu