Constructing and reviewing dioramas: Supporting beginning teachers to think about their use to help children understand the work of natural history scientists

This chapter will explore beginning teachers’ views of the use of dioramas to teach young children about scientists who have contributed to our understandings about Natural History. Recent changes to the English National Curriculum have resulted in re-focusing learners to consider not only what do we know about an area of science today, but also, how did we come to know (and whom was responsible) for discovering theories we learn about in school. Hypotheses (and evidence) that enabled scientists to recognise the process of survival of the fittest; the ways that fossils representative of different geological eras have helped us consider (and understand) why the form and function of plants and animals has changed over time and how pollutants, too, have caused changes in survival rates of particular animals are all contributory to appreciating Natural History. The scientific work that people, such as David Attenborough, Charles Darwin, Mary Anning, Rachel Carson and Jane Goodall have carried out will be considered through the ways that learners could use dioramas to convey aspects of their ‘stories’. Constructing dioramas can help beginning teachers appreciate how a more concrete, direct, ‘hands-on’ approach using everyday materials, can offer affordance to make complex ideas easier for younger children to understand. This chapter also describes, what they, as beginning teachers, reflected on through making a series of dioramas to depict the ways that the different scientists have contributed to our understanding of Natural History in some way. They also considered how it was a useful approach for young children, not only to make the dioramas, but also review each others’ and create a class collection of ‘models’ to help understand what we know (and how) about Natural History. This chapter, therefore, is written about a piece of evaluative action research undertaken to explore what beginning teachers learn (and think) about the use of dioramas to help children understand natural history

Derivation of Economic and Social Indicators for a Spatial Decision Support System to Evaluate the Impacts of Urban Development on Water Bodies in New Zealand

There is mounting evidence that urban development in New Zealand has contributed to poor water quality and ecological degradation of coastal and fresh water receiving waters. As a consequence, local governments have identified the need for improved methods to guide decision making to achieve improved outcomes for those receiving waters. This paper reports progress on a research programme to develop a catchmentscale spatial decision-support system (SDSS) that will aid evaluation of the impacts of urban development on attributes such as water and sediment quality; ecosystem health; and economic, social and cultural values. The SDSS aims to express indicators of impacts on these values within a sustainability indexing system in order to allow local governments to consider them holistically over planning timeframes of several decades. The SDSS will use a combination of deterministic and probabilistic methods to, firstly, estimate changes to environmental stressors such as contaminant loads from different land use and stormwater management scenarios and, secondly, use these results and information from a range of other sources to generate indicator values. This paper describes the project’s approach to the derivation of indicators of economic and social well being associated with the effects of urban storm water run-off on freshwater and estuarine receiving waters.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Alternatively activated macrophages promotes necrosis resolution following acute liver injury

Background & Aim Following acetaminophen (APAP) overdose, acute liver injury (ALI) can occur in patients that present too late for N-acetylcysteine treatment, potentially leading to acute liver failure, systemic inflammation, and death. Macrophages influence the progression and resolution of ALI due to their innate immunological function and paracrine activity. Syngeneic primary bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were tested as a cell-based therapy in a mouse model of APAP-induced ALI (APAP-ALI). Methods Several phenotypically distinct BMDM populations were delivered intravenously to APAP-ALI mice when hepatic necrosis was established, and then evaluated based on their effects on injury, inflammation, immunity, and regeneration. In vivo phagocytosis assays were used to interrogate the phenotype and function of alternatively activated BMDMs (AAMs) post-injection. Finally, primary human AAMs sourced from healthy volunteers were evaluated in immunocompetent APAP-ALI mice. Results BMDMs rapidly localised to the liver and spleen within 4 h of administration. Injection of AAMs specifically reduced hepatocellular necrosis, HMGB1 translocation, and infiltrating neutrophils following APAP-ALI. AAM delivery also stimulated proliferation in hepatocytes and endothelium, and reduced levels of several circulating proinflammatory cytokines within 24 h. AAMs displayed a high phagocytic activity both in vitro and in injured liver tissue post-injection. Crosstalk with the host innate immune system was demonstrated by reduced infiltrating host Ly6Chi macrophages in AAM-treated mice. Importantly, therapeutic efficacy was partially recapitulated using clinical-grade primary human AAMs in immunocompetent APAP-ALI mice, underscoring the translational potential of these findings. Conclusion We identify that AAMs have value as a cell-based therapy in an experimental model of APAP-ALI. Human AAMs warrant further evaluation as a potential cell-based therapy for APAP overdose patients with established liver injury. Lay summary After an overdose of acetaminophen (paracetamol), some patients present to hospital too late for the current antidote (N-acetylcysteine) to be effective. We tested whether macrophages, an injury-responsive leukocyte that can scavenge dead/dying cells, could serve as a cell-based therapy in an experimental model of acetaminophen overdose. Injection of alternatively activated macrophages rapidly reduced liver injury and reduced several mediators of inflammation. Macrophages show promise to serve as a potential cell-based therapy for acute liver injury

Towards Sustainable Environmental Quality : Priority Research Questions for the Australasian Region of Oceania

Environmental challenges persist across the world, including the Australasian region of Oceania, where biodiversity hotspots and unique ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef are common. These systems are routinely affected by multiple stressors from anthropogenic activities, and increasingly influenced by global megatrends (e.g., the food-energy-water nexus, demographic transitions to cities) and climate change. Here we report priority research questions from the Global Horizon Scanning Project, which aimed to identify, prioritize, and advance environmental quality research needs from an Australasian perspective, within a global context. We employed a transparent and inclusive process of soliciting key questions from Australasian members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Following submission of 78 questions, 20 priority research questions were identified during an expert workshop in Nelson, New Zealand. These research questions covered a range of issues of global relevance, including research needed to more closely integrate ecotoxicology and ecology for the protection of ecosystems, increase flexibility for prioritizing chemical substances currently in commerce, understand the impacts of complex mixtures and multiple stressors, and define environmental quality and ecosystem integrity of temporary waters. Some questions have specific relevance to Australasia, particularly the uncertainties associated with using toxicity data from exotic species to protect unique indigenous species. Several related priority questions deal with the theme of how widely international ecotoxicological data and databases can be applied to regional ecosystems. Other timely questions, which focus on improving predictive chemistry and toxicology tools and techniques, will be important to answer several of the priority questions identified here. Another important question raised was how to protect local cultural and social values and maintain indigenous engagement during problem formulation and identification of ecosystem protection goals. Addressing these questions will be challenging, but doing so promises to advance environmental sustainability in Oceania and globally

Single-Molecule Studies for the Characterization of Synaptic Vesicles

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2012Synaptic vesicles are subcellular organelles that are found in the synaptic bouton and are responsible for the propagation of signals between neurons. Synaptic vesicles undergo a fast and tightly regulated cycle in which exocytosis to release neurotransmitters and endocytosis to recycle empty vesicles take place for efficient neuronal communication. This dissertation reports the development and application of analytical techniques for the characterization of various physical properties of synaptic vesicles at the single vesicle/molecule level. First, two complementary techniques, single-particle tracking and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), for sizing nanoparticles in free solution by confinement within picoliter volume aqueous droplets will be described. Single-particle tracking works well with bright particles that can be continuously illuminated and imaged and was used to size single fluorescent beads. While FCS detects small intensity bursts from particles or molecules diffusing through the confocal probe volume, which works well with dim and rapidly diffusing particles or molecules, was used to size individual synaptic vesicles. Next, a method to determine both the average number and variance of proteins in the few to tens of copies in isolated synaptic vesicles will be described. Other currently available protein quantification techniques provide an average number but lack information on the intervesicler variability of protein number, and thus on the precision with which proteins are sorted to vesicles. The technique we present entails labeling the synaptic vesicles with fluorescent primary-secondary antibody complexes, TIRF (total internal reflection fluorescence) microscopy imaging of the vesicles, digital image analysis, and deconvolution of the fluorescence intensity data. With this technique, 7 major membrane proteins were quantified and we found that the proteins fell into 2 classes; proteins that were monodispersed and polydispersed number. The use of photobleaching as an alternative to obtaining an accurate calibration intensity distribution from the sample directly will be discussed. Finally, the initial steps towards the utilization of the exo- and endocytosis of synaptic vesicles to load nanoparticles as a means of probing the interior of the vesicles will be reported. We have developed a highly sensitive pH-sensing polymer dot, which we plan to use to probe the intravesicular pH of synaptic vesicles

Steroid Estrogens and Estrogenic Activity in Farm Dairy Shed Effluents

Estrogenic contamination of waterways is of world-wide concern due to the adverse effects observed in aquatic biota. Recently, wastes from agricultural activities have been identified as likely sources of steroid estrogens released into the environment. Wastes from dairying activities are of particular concern in New Zealand. This project included development of analytical methods to measure free and conjugated estrogens, measurement of estrogens from the source to receiving environments and an investigation of effluent treatment technologies. The analytical method developed in this study was based on GC-MS measurement of free estrogens (17α-estradiol (17α-E2), 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) and estrone (E1)) and LC-IT-MS measurement of their sulfate-conjugates (17α-E2-3S, 17β-3S, E1-3S) in raw and treated farm dairy shed effluents (DSE). Effluents from farms in the Canterbury and Waikato Regions, two regions where dairy farming is the dominant land-use, were collected and analysed. All effluents demonstrated high concentrations of steroid estrogens, particularly 17α-E2 (median 760 ng/L). Estrogenic activity was also elevated, at up to 500 ng/L 17β-E2 equivalents using the E-Screen, an in vitro cell proliferation bioassay. Comparison to the chemical data indicated that for most samples, the highest proportion of estrogenic activity was derived from steroid estrogens naturally excreted by dairy cows. Conjugated estrogens were measured in several raw effluent samples, at similar concentrations to those of free estrogens, particularly E1. Dairy effluent treatment systems reduced free estrogen concentrations by 63-99% and reduced estrogenic activity by up to 89%. In spite of high removal efficiencies, estrogens remained elevated in the treated effluents that are discharged into waterways. Steroid estrogens and estrogenic activity were detected in streams and groundwater in areas impacted by dairy farming. Although concentrations were generally low, in two streams the concentrations were above levels regarded as safe for aquatic biota (<1 ng/L). The results demonstrate that dairy effluents are indeed a major source of estrogens to the environment and to waterways