National History and Identity in Saskatchewan Social Studies Curriculum 1970-2008: Narratives of Diversity, Tolerance, Accommodation, and Negotiation

Social studies, with its focus on history, politics, and identity, provides an interesting site of analysis through which to examine the historical development of master or comprehensive narratives of the nation in Canadian curriculum documents. This research is focused on providing a historical critical discourse analysis of the development of the myths and meta-narratives of the nation as they appear within social studies and history curriculum documents in the province of Saskatchewan from the 1970s to 2008. As a historical critical discourse analysis, the research sought not only to provide explanation concerning the function of those discourses, but also draw connections between and provide explanation concerning the historical climate that gave rise to these particular discourses. The research provides useful information for examination of discourses of Canada and Canadian identity and offers critical suggestions for future curricular development. Working from the parameters set out by Tomkins (1986), the formal curriculum is the official state sanctioned program of study. The study is limited to the aims, goals, and learning outcomes as written in the official curriculum documents in the disciplines of social studies and history

Citizenship Education and Social Studies: An Historical Analysis of Citizenship Education in the Social Studies 9 Curriculum

This paper examines the influence that political, societal, and educational trends and characteristics have on citizenship education within official curriculum documents. The Social Studies 9 curricular documents of 1971, 1991, 1999, and 2008 are analyzed in order to determine the type of citizen and citizenship education that was promoted during those years. The analysis considers only the official curriculum documents for the period in question, as opposed to actual classroom practice. The curricular documents are analysed in light of prevailing currents and countercurrents in Canada during the period from 1970 to the present and a typology of citizenship education ranging from traditional to social activist and reconstructionist. The interpretations and conclusions highlight a history of competing and complimentary currents and counter-currents within the documents and a movement in citizenship education from less active roles for students to increasingly socially and globally aware citizens which continually rests on democratic values. The documents also highlight the influence of regional development concerning the role of participation and the natural environment in citizenship education in Saskatchewan

Connecting “The Roots of Society” with Conceptions of Citizenship through Time

This article examines the connections between the development of citizenship education in Saskatchewan and representations of the theme “roots of society” presented in the grade 9 Social Studies curriculum guides used in the province between 1971 and the present. The paper explores this connection by examining the development of the theme “roots of society” and the development of conceptions of citizenship. Conclusions concerning the characterization of citizenship in the curriculum guides were achieved through the implementation of key word frequency analysis. The key word frequency analysis served as the frame to identify and elucidate the representation of citizenship within the 9 Social Studies documents from 1971, 1991, 1999, and 2008. The examination of these curriculum documents revealed that developments in the conception and orientation of the “roots of society” are  reflective of changes and developments concerning notions of citizenship. The development of the “roots of society” and conceptions of citizenship education both follow a path from traditional/essentialist representations to critical social justice oriented models

Phosphorylation of ezrin on Thr567 is required for the synergistic activation of cell spreading by EPAC1 and protein kinase A in HEK293T cells

Recent studies have demonstrated that the actin binding protein, ezrin, and the cAMP-sensor, EPAC1, cooperate to induce cell spreading in response to elevations in intracellular cAMP. To investigate the mechanisms underlying these effects we generated a model of EPAC1-dependent cell spreading based on the stable transfection of EPAC1 into HEK293T (HEK293T–EPAC1) cells. We found that direct activation of EPAC1 with the EPAC-selective analogue, 8-pCPT-2′-O-Me-cAMP (007), promoted cell spreading in these cells. In addition, co-activation of EPAC1 and PKA, with a combination of the adenylate cyclase activator, forskolin, and the cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor, rolipram, was found to synergistically enhance cell spreading, in association with cortical actin bundling and mobilisation of ezrin to the plasma membrane. PKA activation was also associated with phosphorylation of ezrin on Thr567, as detected by an electrophoretic band mobility shift during SDS-PAGE. Inhibition of PKA activity blocked ezrin phosphorylation and reduced the cell spreading response to cAMP elevation to levels induced by EPAC1-activation alone. Transfection of HEK293T–EPAC1 cells with inhibitory ezrin mutants lacking the key PKA phosphorylation site, ezrin-Thr567Ala, or the ability to associate with actin, ezrin-Arg579Ala, promoted cell arborisation and blocked the ability of EPAC1 and PKA to further promote cell spreading. The PKA phospho-mimetic mutants of ezrin, ezrin-Thr567Asp had no effect on EPAC1-driven cell spreading. Our results indicate that association of ezrin with the actin cytoskeleton and phosphorylation on Thr567 are required, but not sufficient, for PKA and EPAC1 to synergistically promote cell spreading following elevations in intracellular cAMP

The Effect of Low-Processing Temperature on the Physicochemical and Mechanical Properties of Bovine Hydroxyapatite Bone Substitutes

Bovine bone grafts (BBX) require protein removal as part of the manufacturing process to reduce antigenicity and, in consequence, to be safely used in humans. Deproteinisation may have direct effects on the characteristics of the bone material and on in vivo material performance. This research aimed to comprehensively study the physicochemical and mechanical properties of BBX processed at low deproteinisation processing temperatures. Cubes of bovine bone (8 mm3) were treated with temperatures between 100 °C and 220 °C at 30 °C intervals and with pressures ranging from 1.01 to 24.58 Bar. The samples were characterised topographically and mechanically using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and uniaxial bending tests. The organic content and the chemical composition were determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR were also used to quantitatively determine the specimen crystallinity. Increasing temperature/pressure was associated with decreasing protein levels and compressive strength and increasing surface irregularities and crystallinity. The findings suggest that low-temperature processed bone is likely to exhibit a rapid in vivo degradation rate. The deproteinisation temperature can be adjusted to tailor the graft properties for specific applications

Efficacy of interval exercise training to improve vascular health in sedentary postmenopausal females

Background Menopause represents a turning point where vascular damage begins to outweigh reparative processes, leading to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Exercise training reduces CVD risk in postmenopausal females via improvements in traditional risk factors and direct changes to the vasculature. We assessed the effect of moderate (MODERATE-IT) versus heavy (HEAVY-IT) intensity interval exercise training upon markers of cardiovascular health and vascular repair in postmenopausal females. Methods Twenty-seven healthy postmenopausal females (56 ± 4 yr) were assigned to 12 weeks of either MODERATE-IT or HEAVY-IT, twice per week. MODERATE-IT consisted of 10s work, and 10s active recovery repeated for 30 min. HEAVY-IT comprised 30s work, and 30s active recovery repeated for 21 ± 2 min. Endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation), arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity), and V̇O2peak were assessed pre-training and post-training. Blood samples were obtained pre-training and post-training for enumeration of circulating angiogenic cells (CACs), culture of CACs, and lipoprotein profile. Results V̇O2peak increased 2.4 ± 2.8 ml/kg/min following HEAVY-IT only (p p > 0.05). Peripheral pulse wave velocity reduced 8% with exercise training, irrespective of intensity (p p > 0.05). CAC adhesion to vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) increased 30 min post plating following MODERATE-IT only (p < 0.05). Conclusions HEAVY-IT was more effective at increasing V̇O2peak in postmenopausal females. The ability of CACs to adhere to VSMC improved following MODERATE-IT but not HEAVY-IT. Interval training had the same effect on endothelial function (no change) and arterial stiffness (reduced), regardless of exercise intensity

Family cluster of three cases of monkeypox imported from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, May 2021

Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic disease. The causing virus belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus that includes variola virus (the cause of smallpox), vaccinia virus (used in the smallpox vaccine), and cowpox virus. There are two distinct clades of monkeypox virus—Central African and West African. The first human cases were identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970 [1]. Outside of Africa, cases of human monkeypox infections have been documented in four countries: four cases the United Kingdom (UK) in 2018/2019, one case in Israel in 2018 and one case in Singapore in 2019 [2], 47 cases in the United States (US) in 2003 and one in 2021 [3]. We report on a family cluster of three recent cases of monkeypox in the UK associated with travel from Nigeria

MACiE: exploring the diversity of biochemical reactions

MACiE (which stands for Mechanism, Annotation and Classification in Enzymes) is a database of enzyme reaction mechanisms, and can be accessed from http://www.ebi.ac.uk/thornton-srv/databases/MACiE/. This article presents the release of Version 3 of MACiE, which not only extends the dataset to 335 entries, covering 182 of the EC sub-subclasses with a crystal structure available (∼90%), but also incorporates greater chemical and structural detail. This version of MACiE represents a shift in emphasis for new entries, from non-homologous representatives covering EC reaction space to enzymes with mechanisms of interest to our users and collaborators with a view to exploring the chemical diversity of life. We present new tools for exploring the data in MACiE and comparing entries as well as new analyses of the data and new searches, many of which can now be accessed via dedicated Perl scripts

Comprehensive genetic analysis of the human lipidome identifies loci associated with lipid homeostasis with links to coronary artery disease

We integrated lipidomics and genomics to unravel the genetic architecture of lipid metabolism and identify genetic variants associated with lipid species putatively in the mechanistic pathway for coronary artery disease (CAD). We quantified 596 lipid species in serum from 4,492 individuals from the Busselton Health Study. The discovery GWAS identified 3,361 independent lipid-loci associations, involving 667 genomic regions (479 previously unreported), with validation in two independent cohorts. A meta-analysis revealed an additional 70 independent genomic regions associated with lipid species. We identified 134 lipid endophenotypes for CAD associated with 186 genomic loci. Associations between independent lipid-loci with coronary atherosclerosis were assessed in ∼ 456,000 individuals from the UK Biobank. Of the 53 lipid-loci that showed evidence of association (P \u3c 1 × 10−3), 43 loci were associated with at least one lipid endophenotype. These findings illustrate the value of integrative biology to investigate the aetiology of atherosclerosis and CAD, with implications for other complex diseases