Digital Badges and Student Motivation in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

Laboratory courses have been the focus of much research and debate in the field of chemistry. One goal for the laboratory that is consistently cited by faculty is student learning of hands-on skills. Despite this, hands-on skills are rarely assessed in practice because to do so is resource intensive. Digital badges allow each individual student to demonstrate their proficiency in a hands-on lab skill while relieving the constraints associated with assessing individual students during a laboratory period. Previously at Purdue, digital badges were developed for the pipet, buret, and volumetric flask. These badges were shown to support student learning of these techniques. This study builds on that work by investigating student perceptions of digital badges in the chemistry laboratory. As the badges are posited to influence student motivation, we aim to look at student motivation in the laboratory and how this interacts with their perception of the badges and what potential impact the badges have on the students’ laboratory experience. To answer these questions, the theoretical framework of expectancy value theory was used. A survey was developed to measure student value beliefs regarding laboratory techniques. The validation and implementation of the survey is discussed as well as its use to identify interview participants for a qualitative study of student motivation. Students with varying levels of motivation who have completed the badges were interviewed to gain an understanding of the relationship between motivation and digital badges in the laboratory. Several themes in student motivation and perception of badges were identified and compared with prior work to make recommendations for the future implementation of badging activities in the curriculum

No evidence of a significant role for CTLA-4 in multiple sclerosis

Variation in the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) gene plays a significant role in determining susceptibility to autoimmune thyroid disease and type 1 diabetes. Its role in multiple sclerosis is more controversial. In order to explore this logical candidate more thoroughly, we genotyped 771 multiple sclerosis trio families from the United Kingdom for the 3? untranslated region variable number tandem repeat, the CT60 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and five haplotype-tagging SNPs. No individual marker or common haplotype showed evidence of association with disease. These data suggest that any effect of CTLA-4 on multiple sclerosis susceptibility is likely to be very small

The Dirichlet Problem for L\'evy-stable operators with L2L^2-data

We prove Sobolev regularity for distributional solutions to the Dirichlet problem for generators of $2s$-stable processes and exterior data, inhomogeneity in weighted $L^2$-spaces. This class of operators includes the fractional Laplacian. For these rough exterior data the theory of weak variational solutions is not applicable. Our regularity estimate is robust in the limit $s\to 1-$ which allows us to recover the local theory.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur

Diagnosis, investigation and management of hereditary spastic paraplegias in the era of next-generation sequencing.

The hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) are a group of genetic conditions in which spastic paralysis of the legs is the principal clinical feature. This is caused by a relatively selective distal axonal degeneration involving the longest axons of the corticospinal tracts. Consequently, these conditions provide an opportunity to identify genes, proteins and cellular pathways that are critical for axonal health. In this review, we will provide a brief overview of the classification, clinical features and genetics of HSP, highlighting selected HSP subtypes (i.e. those associated with thin corpus callosum or cerebellar ataxia) that are of particular clinical interest. We will then discuss appropriate investigation strategies for HSPs, suggesting how these might evolve with the introduction of next-generation sequencing technology. Finally, we will discuss the management of HSP, an area somewhat neglected by HSP research.We thank Rhys Roberts for reviewing the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the UK Medical Research Council [MR/M00046X/1]; the Wellcome Trust [082381]; the Tom Wahlig Stiftung; and the UK HSP Support Group. The Cambridge Institute for Medical Research is supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award [100140].This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00415-014-7598-y

Ophthalmoplegia and Slurred Speech in an Intravenous Drug User

A 35-year-old heroin user presented with acute, progressive diplopia and slurred speech. Krishna and colleagues discuss the diagnosis and management of this patient

Clinician and patient experience of neurology telephone consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Telephone consultations are already employed in specific neurological settings. At Cambridge University Hospitals, the COVID-19 pandemic initially prompted almost all face-to-face appointments to be delivered by telephone, providing a uniquely unselected population to assess. OBJECTIVES: We explored patient and clinician experience of telephone consultations; and whether telephone consultations might be preferable for preidentifiable subgroups of patients after the pandemic. METHODS: Clinicians delivering neurological consultations converted to telephone between April and July 2020 were invited to complete a questionnaire following each consult (430 respondents) and the corresponding patients were subsequently surveyed (290 respondents). The questionnaires assessed clinician and patient goal achievement (and the reasons for any dissatisfaction). Clinicians also described consultation duration (in comparison to face to face) while patients detailed comparative convenience and preference. RESULTS: The majority of clinicians (335/430, 78%) and patients (227/290, 78%) achieved their consultation goals by telephone, particularly during follow-up consultations (clinicians 272/329, 83%, patients 176/216, 81%) and in some disease subgroups (eg, seizures/epilepsy (clinicians 114/122 (93%), patients 71/81 (88%)). 95% of telephone consultations were estimated to take the same or less time than an equivalent face-to-face consultation. Most patients found telephone consultations convenient (69%) with 149/211 (71%) indicating they would like telephone or video consultations to play some role in their future follow-up. CONCLUSION: Telephone consultations appear effective, convenient and popular in prespecified subgroups of neurological outpatients. Further work comparing telephone, video and face-to-face consultations across multiple centres is now needed

Repeat expansions in NOP56 are a cause of spinocerebellar ataxia Type 36 in the British population

Spinocerebellar ataxias form a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by progressive cerebellar ataxia. Their prevalence varies among populations and ethnicities. Spinocerebellar ataxia 36 is caused by a GGCCTG repeat expansion in the first intron of the NOP56 gene and is characterized by late-onset ataxia, sensorineural hearing loss and upper and lower motor neuron signs, including tongue fasciculations. Spinocerebellar ataxia 36 has been described mainly in East Asian and Western European patients and was thought to be absent in the British population. Leveraging novel bioinformatic tools to detect repeat expansions from whole-genome sequencing, we analyse the NOP56 repeat in 1257 British patients with hereditary ataxia and in 7506 unrelated controls. We identify pathogenic repeat expansions in five families (seven patients), representing the first cohort of White British descent patients with spinocerebellar ataxia 36. Employing in silico approaches using whole-genome sequencing data, we found an 87 kb shared haplotype in among the affected individuals from five families around the NOP56 repeat region, although this block was also shared between several controls, suggesting that the repeat arises on a permissive haplotype. Clinically, the patients presented with slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia with a low rate of hearing loss and variable rates of motor neuron impairment. Our findings show that the NOP56 expansion causes ataxia in the British population and that spinocerebellar ataxia 36 can be suspected in patients with a late-onset, slowly progressive ataxia, even without the findings of hearing loss and tongue fasciculation

Differential involvement of forearm muscles in ALS does not relate to sonographic structural nerve alterations

We aimed to assess whether differential peripheral nerve involvement parallels dissociated forearm muscle weakness in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).The analysis comprised 41 ALS patients and 18 age-, sex-, height- and weight-matched healthy controls. Strength of finger-extension and -flexion was measured using the Medical Research Council (MRC) scale. Radial, median and ulnar nerve sonographic cross-sectional area (CSA) and echogenicity, expressed by the hypoechoic fraction (HF), were determined.In ALS, finger extensors were significantly weaker than finger flexors. Sonographic evaluation revealed peripheral nerve atrophy, affecting various nerve segments in ALS. HF was unaltered.This systematic study confirmed a long-observed physical examination finding in ALS - weakness in finger-extension out of proportion to finger-flexion. This phenomenon was not related to any particular sonographic pattern of upper limb peripheral nerve alteration.In ALS, dissociated forearm muscle weakness could aid in the disease's diagnosis. Nerve ultrasound did not provide additional information on the differential involvement of finger-extension and finger-flexion strength

The complex genetics of multiple sclerosis: pitfalls and prospects

The genetics of complex disease is entering a new and exciting era. The exponentially growing knowledge and technological capabilities emerging from the human genome project have finally reached the point where relevant genes can be readily and affordably identified. As a result, the last 12 months has seen a virtual explosion in new knowledge with reports of unequivocal association to relevant genes appearing almost weekly. The impact of these new discoveries in Neuroscience is incalculable at this stage but potentially revolutionary. In this review, an attempt is made to illuminate some of the mysteries surrounding complex genetics. Although focused almost exclusively on multiple sclerosis all the points made are essentially generic and apply equally well, with relatively minor addendums, to any other complex trait, neurological or otherwise