How the vision of a clinician and an educator brought the MA Dental Law and Ethics course to life.

This paper reflects on an educational development that is Dental Law and Ethics course as the course approaches its 5th anniversary. The authors outline their personal journey into developing and delivering this course as well share best practice in relation to teaching and learning dental postgraduate students who may approach the subject in different ways. It also highlights the vision behind this provision and how it is received by dental practitioners. The paper shares the learners’ perception of topics such as ethics in comparison to law, and it highlights the perspective of both authors in teaching and following the students’ journey in this course

Cholesterol Metabolism Is Required for Intracellular Hedgehog Signal Transduction In Vivo

We describe the rudolph mouse, a mutant with striking defects in both central nervous system and skeletal development. Rudolph is an allele of the cholesterol biosynthetic enzyme, hydroxysteroid (17-beta) dehydrogenase 7, which is an intriguing finding given the recent implication of oxysterols in mediating intracellular Hedgehog (Hh) signaling. We see an abnormal sterol profile and decreased Hh target gene induction in the rudolph mutant, both in vivo and in vitro. Reduced Hh signaling has been proposed to contribute to the phenotypes of congenital diseases of cholesterol metabolism. Recent in vitro and pharmacological data also indicate a requirement for intracellular cholesterol synthesis for proper regulation of Hh activity via Smoothened. The data presented here are the first in vivo genetic evidence supporting both of these hypotheses, revealing a role for embryonic cholesterol metabolism in both CNS development and normal Hh signaling