Level models of continuing professional development evaluation: a grounded review and critique

Continuing professional development (CPD) evaluation in education has been heavily influenced by ‘level models’, deriving from the work of Kirkpatrick and Guskey in particular, which attempt to trace the processes through which CPD interventions achieve outcomes. This paper considers the strengths and limitations of such models, and in particular the degree to which they are able to do justice to the complexity of CPD and its effects. After placing level models within the broader context of debates about CPD evaluation, the paper reports our experience of developing such models heuristically for our own evaluation practice. It then draws on positivist, realist and constructivist traditions to consider some more fundamental ontological and epistemological questions to which they give rise. The paper concludes that level models can be used in a number of ways and with differing emphases, and that choices made about their use will need to reflect both theoretical choices and practical considerations

Narrative inquiry into (re)imagining alternative schools: a case study of Kevin Gonzales.

Although there are many alternative schools that strive for the successful education for their students, negative images of alternative schools persist. While some alternative schools are viewed as “idealistic havens,” many are viewed as “dumping grounds,” or “juvenile detention centers.” Employing narrative inquiry, this article interrogates how a student, Kevin Gonzales, experiences his alternative education and raises questions about the role of alternative schools. Kevin Gonzales’s story is presented in a literary form of biographical journal to provide a “metaphoric loft” that helps us imagine other students like Kevin. This, in turn, provokes us to examine our current educational practice, and to (re)imagine ways in which alternative education can provide the best possible educational experiences for disenfranchised students who are increasingly underserved by the public education system

Técnicas radiográficas intra e extrabucal na avaliação dentária de cães com doença periodontal

Foram avaliadas as técnicas radiográficas dentárias intra (TIB) e extrabucal (TEB) em 50 cães com doença periodontal, no intuito de padronizar os procedimentos de diagnóstico dessa síndrome. A TIB revelou que 16 animais não apresentaram lesões ósseas visíveis, enquanto a TEB apontou que 39 pacientes foram negativos para as mesmas lesões. Em resumo, a TIB foi mais eficaz na detecção de sinais radiográficos, especialmente as chamadas lesões finas, que a TEB, sendo a técnica de escolha na síndrome periodontal

Dependence of Cardiac Transverse Tubules on the BAR Domain Protein Amphiphysin II (BIN-1)

RATIONALE: Transverse (t-) tubules regulate cardiac excitation contraction coupling and exhibit inter-chamber and inter-species differences in expression. In cardiac disease t-tubule loss occurs and affects the systolic calcium transient. However, the mechanisms controlling t-tubule maintenance and whether these factors differ between species, cardiac chambers and in a disease setting remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: To determine the role of the BAR domain protein amphiphysin II (AmpII) in regulating t-tubule maintenance and the systolic calcium transient. METHODS AND RESULTS: T-tubule density was assessed by di-4-ANEPPS, FM4-64 or WGA staining using confocal microscopy. In rat, ferret and sheep hearts t-tubule density and AmpII protein levels were lower in the atrium than the ventricle. Heart failure was induced in sheep using right ventricular tachypacing and ferrets by ascending aortic coarctation. In both heart failure models, AmpII protein and t-tubule density were decreased in the ventricles. In the sheep, atrial t-tubules were also lost in heart failure and AmpII levels decreased. Conversely junctophilin 2 levels did not show inter-chamber differences in the rat and ferret nor did they change in heart failure in the sheep or ferret. Additionally, in rat atrial and sheep heart failure atrial cells where t-tubules were absent, junctophilin 2 had sarcomeric intracellular distribution. Small interfering RNA induced knockdown of AmpII protein reduced t-tubule density, calcium transient amplitude and the synchrony of the systolic calcium transient. CONCLUSIONS: AmpII is intricately involved in t-tubule maintenance. Reducing AmpII protein decreases t-tubule density, reduces the amplitude and increases the heterogeneity of the systolic calcium transient

Disordered yet functional atrial t-tubules on recovery from heart failure

AbstractTransverse (t)-tubules drive the rapid and synchronous Ca2+ rise in cardiac myocytes. The virtual complete loss of atrial t-tubules in heart failure (HF) decreases Ca2+ release. It is unknown if or how atrial t-tubules can be restored and if restored t-tubules are functional.Sheep were tachypaced to induce HF and recovered when pacing was stopped. Serial block face Scanning Electron Microscopy and confocal imaging were used to understand t-tubule ultrastructure and function. Candidate proteins involved in atrial t-tubule recovery were identified by western blot and causality determined using expression studies.Sheep atrial t-tubules reappeared following recovery from HF. Despite being disordered (branched, longer and longitudinally arranged) recovered t-tubules triggered Ca2+ release and were associated with restoration of systolic Ca2+. Telethonin and myotubularin abundance correlated with t-tubule density and altered the density and structure of BIN1-driven tubules in neonatal myocytes. Myotubularin had a greater effect, increasing tubule length and branching, replicating that seen in the recovery atria.Recovery from HF restores atrial t-tubules and systolic Ca2+ and myotubularin facilitates this process. Atrial t-tubule restoration could present a new and viable therapeutic strategy.Brief SummaryThe loss of atrial transverse (t)-tubules and the associated dysfunction in heart failure is reversible and the protein myotubularin plays an important role.</jats:sec