LIVED ACADEMIC AND SPIRITUAL LIFE EXPERIENCES THROUGH SONGS OF THEOLOGY STUDENTS

Songs are believed to contribute to the success of students not only in their academiclife (Alisaari & Heikkola, 2016; Ashtiani & Zafarghani, 2015; & Rafiee, Kassaian,& Dastjerdi, 2010) but spiritual life (White, 2014) as well. The purpose of this studywas to examine the lived academic and spiritual life experiences through songs oftheology students. This phenomenological study, with 35 theology students from aprivate university in West Indonesia as participants, generated four themes whichinclude God’s presence, God’s love, self-disposition, and positive learning. It istherefore recommended that tertiary teachers employ spiritual-uplifting songs for theenhancement of both academic and spiritual life aspects of the learner

EMBRACING SERVICE-LEARNING: LEARNING BY DOING

Service learning (SL), pendekatan metodologis, telah dipertimbangkan sebagai buktidalam pertumbuhan studi SL. Kontribusi SL dalam banyak aspek telah terbukti layakdipertimbangkan. Dengan demikian, memahami apa itu SL, dampaknya bagi gurudan siswa dalam berbagai aspek kehidupan; hubungannya dengan penjangkauanmasyarakat; perannya dalam pendidikan; bagaimana penilaian dan refleksi dalam SLdilakukan; dan aplikasi SL memberikan pencerahan kepada para praktisi yangberbeda. Makalah ini membahas topik tentang SL

The Laughing Classroom: Humor, Teaching, and Learning

Diverse strategies are employed nowadays to ascertain effective teaching- learning process. Among these methods chosen to achieve desired result is the making use of humor—a teaching approach which has been discerned as an effective way of creating a more productive teaching and learning, may it be language. This paper discusses the place and importance of humor to teachers, learners, and education as a whole. Barriers and guidelines to using humor are also discussed. The Biblical foundation of humor stresses the benefits humor (laughter) gives.Diverse strategies are employed nowadays to ascertain effective teaching- learning process. Among these methods chosen to achieve desired result is the making use of humor—a teaching approach which has been discerned as an effective way of creating a more productive teaching and learning, may it be language. This paper discusses the place and importance of humor to teachers, learners, and education as a whole. Barriers and guidelines to using humor are also discussed. The Biblical foundation of humor stresses the benefits humor (laughter) gives

Instructional Strategies: A Way of Integrating Faith and Learning in Higher Education

Despite the vast research on the integration of faith and learning, little is known onhow instructional strategies can enhance what true education necessitates, i.e. anIFL that prepares learners beyond the present life. This quantitative study exploredthe implementation of such strategies as perceived by students in higher educationin West Indonesia. The findings revealed that to be more effective and powerful inIFL, instructional strategies play an important role—within and without theclassroom setting. Implications of this study include the necessities for teachers’knowledge on the effective application of instructional strategies

Songs and Spiritual Life: A Phenomenological Study

The influence of songs in English language learning is substantiated in many studies. Songs are considered to be influential not only to learners’ language skillsbut also to their character. However, though the aforementioned relationships arewidely studied, little is known about the relationship between song and its role tolearners’ spiritual life. This phenomenological study among 28 participantsrevealed the kind of songs that can contribute to the spiritual life of the learners. Ithighlights pedagogical insights of an instructional strategy for integrating faith intolearning

The DSM-5 with limited prosocial emotions specifier for conduct disorder : a systematic literature review

DSM-5 added a categorically defined specifier ('with Limited Prosocial Emotions'; LPE) for the diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD). This paper systematically reviews the evidence base for this specifier in children and adolescents who are diagnosed with CD. Computer-assisted searches were executed and identified 181 potentially relevant papers. Eventually, nine papers were included in this review, referring to eight unique samples. All studies constructed an LPE measure by pulling the same items from the same rating scales that were used in the development of the DSM-5 LPE specifier. The prevalence of youth with CD who met criteria for this novel LPE specifier (CD + LPE) ranged from 6.1% to 83.7%. The studies greatly varied in the features used to test the viability of the DSM-5 LPE specifier. The most commonly used features relate to severity of antisocial behavior, low neuroticism (or lack of anxiety and depression), and treatment responsiveness. Available work altogether showed that CD + LPE youth displayed higher levels of past antisocial behaviour than CD Only youth, but failed to reveal other group differences that corroborate with expectations. Effect sizes typically were in the small to moderate range, suggesting that the practical usefulness of the group differences is limited. Empirical work shows that this specifier should not be used for clinical decision-making when relying on items from measures that have been used in the development of the LPE specifier. Crucially, limitations that hallmark the few studies on the topic hamper any firm conclusion about the usefulness of the specifier

Cancer cells under immune attack acquire CD47-mediated adaptive immune resistance independent of the myeloid CD47-SIRP alpha axis

Cancer cells exploit CD47 overexpression to inhibit phagocytic elimination and neoantigen processing via the myeloid CD47-SIRPα axis and thereby indirectly evade adaptive T cell immunity. Here, we report on a hitherto unrecognized direct immunoinhibitory feature of cancer cell-expressed CD47. We uncovered that in response to IFNγ released during cognate T cell immune attack, cancer cells dynamically enhance CD47 cell surface expression, which coincides with acquiring adaptive immune resistance toward pro-apoptotic effector T cell mechanisms. Indeed, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated CD47-knockout rendered cancer cells more sensitive to cognate T cell immune attack. Subsequently, we developed a cancer-directed strategy to selectively overcome CD47-mediated adaptive immune resistance using bispecific antibody (bsAb) CD47xEGFR-IgG2s that was engineered to induce rapid and prolonged cancer cell surface displacement of CD47 by internalization. Treatment of CD47(pos) cancer cells with bsAb CD47xEGFR-IgG2s potently enhanced susceptibility to cognate CD8(pos) T cells. Targeting CD47-mediated adaptive immune resistance may open up new avenues in cancer immunotherapy

F-18-FDG PET/CT Scans Can Identify Sub-Groups of NSCLC Patients with High Glucose Uptake in the Majority of Their Tumor Lesions

Background: Reprogrammed glucose metabolism is a hallmark of cancer making it an attractive therapeutic target, especially in cancers with high glucose uptake such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tools to select patients with high glucose uptake in the majority of tumor lesions are essential in the development of anti-cancer drugs targeting glucose metabolism. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients may have tumors highly dependent on glucose uptake. Surprisingly, this has not been systematically studied. Therefore, we aimed to determine which patient and tumor characteristics, including concurrent T2DM, are related to high glucose uptake in the majority of tumor lesions in NSCLC patients as measured by 2-deoxy-2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-D-glucose (F-18-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scans. Methods: Routine primary diagnostic F-18-FDG PET/CT scans of consecutive NSCLC patients were included. Mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) of F-18-FDG was determined for all evaluable tumor lesions and corrected for serum glucose levels according to the European Association of Nuclear Medicine Research Ltd guidelines. Patient characteristics potentially determining degree of tumor lesion glucose uptake in the majority of tumor lesions per patient were investigated. Results: The cohort consisted of 102 patients, 28 with T2DM and 74 without T2DM. The median SUVmean per patient ranged from 0.8 to 35.2 (median 4.2). T2DM patients had higher median glucose uptake in individual tumor lesions and per patient compared to non-diabetic NSCLC patients (SUVmean 4.3 vs 2.8, P = 1 mL per patient (odds ratio 0.8, 95% confidence interval 0.7-0.9). Conclusions: F-18-FDG PET/CT scans can identify sub-groups of NSCLC patients with high glucose uptake in the majority of their tumor lesions. T2DM patients had higher tumor lesion glucose uptake than non-diabetic patients. However, this was not independent of other factors such as the histological subtype and number of tumor lesions per patient

Sulfonylurea derivatives and cancer, friend or foe?

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with a higher risk of cancer and cancer-related mortality. Increased blood glucose and insulin levels in T2DM patients may be, at least in part, responsible for this effect. Indeed, lowering glucose and/or insulin levels pharmacologically appears to reduce cancer risk and progression, as has been demonstrated for the biguanide metformin in observational studies. Studies investigating the influence of sulfonylurea derivatives (SUs) on cancer risk have provided conflicting results, partly due to comparisons with metformin. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to within-class differences in systemic and off-target effects of the SUs. The aim of this systematic review is to discuss the available preclinical and clinical evidence on how the different SUs influence cancer development and risk. Databases including PubMed, Cochrane, Database of Abstracts on Reviews and Effectiveness, and trial registries were systematically searched for available clinical and preclinical evidence on within-class differences of SUs and cancer risk. The overall preclinical and clinical evidence suggest that the influence of SUs on cancer risk in T2DM patients differs between the various SUs. Potential mechanisms include differing affinities for the sulfonylurea receptors and thus differential systemic insulin exposure and off-target anti-cancer effects mediated for example through potassium transporters and drug export pumps. Preclinical evidence supports potential anti-cancer effects of SUs, which are of interest for further studies and potentially repurposing of SUs. At this time, the evidence on differences in cancer risk between SUs is not strong enough to guide clinical decision making