Making connections in science: engaging with ICT to enhance curriculum understanding

The “Teaching Teachers for the Future” (TTF) project (DEEWR, 2012) provided the La Trobe University School of Education with the opportunity to rethink the integration of Information and Communication Technology in the science curriculum subjects offered in their teacher education programs. The La Trobe University iteration of the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project focused initially on subject in the second semester, third year of the Bachelor of Education course called the Multi-Disciplinary Science & Technology Integrated Experience (MSTIE). Two pairs of pre-service teachers were placed in the school where the TTF ICT Pedagogy Officer (ICTPO) worked as an ICT specialist. The two teams worked with classroom teachers and the ICTPO to cooperatively plan, teach and evaluate a science curriculum project enhanced by strong ICT integration. The experience was a catalyst for significant educational insight, for the students involved, but also for other pre-service teachers and teachers from the school and university. In the second cycle of the project the ICTPO worked with academics from the university to draw on findings from the first cycle in order to design and implement integrated ICT initiatives in a first semester, second year Science curriculum subject. This structure means that students who will take MSTIE in their third year will have a strong foundation of Science ICT integration on which to base their MSTIE preparation and implementation. &nbsp

Robot-assisted laparoscopic rectovaginopexy for rectal prolapse: a prospective cohort study on feasibility and safety

Robotic systems may be particularly supportive for procedures requiring careful pelvic dissection and suturing in the Douglas pouch, as in surgery for rectal prolapse. Studies reporting robot-assisted laparoscopic rectovaginopexy for rectal prolapse, however, are scarce. This prospective cohort study evaluated the outcome of this technique up to one year after surgery. From January 2005 to June 2006, 15 consecutive patients with a rectal prolapse, either with or without a concomitant rectocele or enterocele, underwent robot-assisted laparoscopic rectovaginopexy with support of the da Vinci robotic system. A prospective cohort study was performed on operating times, blood loss, intra-operative and post-operative complications, and outcome at a minimum of one year after surgery. Median age at time of operation was 62 years (33-72) and median body mass index 24.9 (20.9-33.9). Median robot set-up time was 10 min (3-15) and median skin-to-skin operating time was 160 min (120-180). No conversions to open surgery were necessary. No in-hospital complications occurred and there was no mortality. Median hospital stay was four days (2-9). During one year follow-up, two patients needed surgical reintervention. One patient was operated for recurrent enterocele and rectocele one week after surgery. In another patient an incisional hernia at the camera port occurred three months after surgery. At one year after surgery, 87% of patients claimed to be satisWed with their postoperative result. Robot-assisted laparoscopic rectovaginopexy proved to be an eVective technique with favourable outcomes in most patients in this prospective series. The operating team experienced the support of the robotic system as beneWcial, especially during the dissection of the rectovaginal plane and suturing in the Douglas pouch

Stepwise improvement of cardiopulmonary bypass for neonates and infants

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a technique that makes open heart surgery possible. When CPB is used the heart can be stopped while the blood circulation, oxygen delivery and carbon dioxide removal are guaranteed. In the last decades CPB has become much safer but still causes a systemic inflammation reaction (SIRS). SIRS may cause morbidity and, when severe, even mortality. SIRS reaction is worse in neonates and infants due to the immaturity of organs and the unfavourable ratio of CPB prime volume to patient circulating volume. This thesis focuses on different techniques that have been developed to decrease the deleterious effects of CPB in pediatric cardiac surgery.We compared in a retrospective way 2 groups of 99 patients each, in one group we used MUF and in the other group ultrafiltration was not used. We concluded that modified ultrafiltration decreases blood transfusion requirements and chest drain loss after pediatric cardiac surgery.The ratio between CPB prime solution and circulating blood volume is highest in the neonatal patient. It has been reported that neonates have a poor antioxidative and iron binding capacity. During CPB, prooxidative substances, such as nonprotein-bound iron, are released while the plasma antioxidant capacity decreases, resulting in excess accumulation of Radical Oxygen Species.Contact of blood with the non-biological surfaces of the CPB system has been designated as the main cause of complement activation. Improving the biocompatibility of CPB systems by means of decreasing the contact activation of blood elements and thereby attenuating the inflammatory response is evidently desired, and for this reason several coatings have been developed. Information is lacking about the interaction of medication and the CPB prime or the coating of a CPB system. We did not observe any interaction between dexamethasone and the PHISIO__ coating, b ut have observed that in the group with PHISIO__ coating without dexamethasone the production of IL-8 was significantly increased. In literature many controversies are found on the topic of CPB coatings. It is difficult to compare these studies due to different patient groups, differences in measured parameters and lack of proper control groups.UBL - phd migration 201

Een volmaakte peilstok

Vanuit methodologisch oogpunt – en daar hoort een psycholoog bij een gevalsstudie op te letten – heeft Hagar Peeters onwaarschijnlijk veel geluk gehad met Gerrit de Stotteraar. Tussen zijn elfde, toen hij voor het eerst met justitie in aanraking kwam, en zijn laatste veroordeling in 1986 als zesenzestigjarige is hij telkens zichzelf gelijk gebleven. Ruim een halve eeuw lang maakte hij zich schuldig aan inbraken – voor iets anders is hij nooit veroordeeld. Hij kwam eerst op de fiets, later met de auto; bleef aanvankelijk in de buurt, reisde daarna door het hele land; jatte in het begin simpele spullen, later luxegoederen, maar uiteindelijk was het altijd diefstal. Hij ging niet over op overvallen of heling, niet op afpersing of oplichting. Qua criminele loopbaan zat er geen enkele ontwikkeling in, het was hooguit de schaal van de delicten die veranderde, niet de aard ervan