The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2009: Positioning Boston in a Post-Crisis World

Presents an annual survey of Greater Boston's market conditions, including economic and demographic trends; housing production; rents; home prices; housing affordability; foreclosures; and public spending in support of housing. Analyzes implications

Transforming Writing Teachers: Two Professional Development Possibilities

This article focuses on two professional development opportunities, The National Writing Project and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, that provide transformative experiences for teachers. These two programs offer opportunities for meaningful, situated, and complex professional development that focus on the person and the professional

Being Kind to Ourselves and Our Students in Times of Crisis

The authors share pieces of their conversations about teaching in a time of COVID-19 and suggest that we are all just doing the best we can

Facilitating Discussion of Theory and Practice in Education Seminars

Field experience seminars, discussion-based courses paired with school-based practicum experiences, provide a space for teacher candidates to discuss the theories they study in their university classes and the practices they observe and implement in their school placements. This article describes an action research study that examines teaching techniques that promote discussion in English education seminar courses. The purpose of this research was to collaboratively develop teaching approaches that would help teacher candidates bridge ideas about theory and practice in their development as aspiring teachers. The conversations that challenged the teacher candidates to think critically and theoretically about their classrooms were transformative moments in our seminar classes

Episode 6 - Honest Repentance and the Law

In this week’s episode we talk with Dr. David Maxwell, professor of systematic theology at Concordia Seminary, St Louis. Maxwell recently wrote a series of sermons exploring the ways in which our understanding of the law, faith, and salvation influence our ability to repent. This episode explores the first concept in the series, titled LAW. “The image is that the Bible’s like an anvil on your chest that crushes the life out of you…this is the kind of thing that I think makes people want to hide.” Dr. Maxwel

Senior Teacher Induction: an Alternative Apprenticeship Model for Pre Service Teacher

This paper reports on a case study on the role of Senior Teacher Induction (STI) in promoting pre service teachers\u27 pedagogical competence at STKIP Al Hikmah Surabaya. This study is an attempt to promote an alternative apprenticeship model for pre service teachers. Students in STKIP Al Hikmah have been permitted to enter host schools since the first semester. STKIP Al Hikmah incorporated blended learning approach within the curriculum. Activities in campus and at host schools were fully integrated. Students spent half of their time at host schools. They sat in classes taught by senior teachers. They had to observe activities done by the senior teacher such as how the teacher opened the class, how the teacher explained the materials, how the teacher interacted with his students, how the teacher managed the class, how the teacher assessed the students\u27 performance and so on. The students had to discuss with senior teachers after class for further information dealing with the class observation. Then, the students were asked to search any relevant references to support their findings. They had to note the result of the observation. Then, consult it to his supervising lecturer for comments and feedbacks. In addition, the students were challenged to design and modify their own teaching version. Eventually, they had to present their report in general stadium. The result of the research showed that 1) Senior Teacher Induction (STI) enabled to raise students\u27 pedagogical interest and involved them in class interaction in advance; 2) STI enabled the students to observe teaching skills they have to achieve as being future teacher

Influence of PEG Chain Length of Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles on the Cytocompatibility and Immune Competence of Primary Murine Macrophages and Dendritic Cells

A major drawback of nanoparticles (NPs) for biomedical applications is their preferential phagocytosis in immune cells, which can be avoided by surface modifications like PEGylation. Nevertheless, examinations of different polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain lengths on the competence of immune cells as well as possible immunotoxic effects are still sparse. Therefore, primary murine macrophages and dendritic cells were generated and incubated with magnetic nanoporous silica nanoparticles (MNPSNPs) modified with different mPEG chains (2 kDa, 5 kDa, and 10 kDa). Cytotoxicity, cytokine release, and the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were determined. Immune competence of both cell types was examined and uptake of MNPSNPs into macrophages was visualized. Concentrations up to 150 µg/mL MNPSNPs showed no effects on the metabolic activity or immune competence of both cell types. However, ROS significantly increased in macrophages incubated with larger PEG chains, while the concentration of cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6) did not indicate a proinflammatory process. Investigations on the uptake of MNPSNPs revealed no differences in the onset of internalization and the intensity of intracellular fluorescence. The study gives no indication for an immunotoxic effect of PEGylated MNPSNPs. Nevertheless, there is still a need for optimization regarding their internalization to ensure an efficient drug delivery

Preparation and PET/CT imaging of implant directed 68Ga-labeled magnetic nanoporous silica nanoparticles

Background: Implant infections caused by biofilm forming bacteria are a major threat in orthopedic surgery. Delivering antibiotics directly to an implant affected by a bacterial biofilm via superparamagnetic nanoporous silica nanoparticles could present a promising approach. Nevertheless, short blood circulation half-life because of rapid interactions of nanoparticles with the host’s immune system hinder them from being clinically used. The aim of this study was to determine the temporal in vivo resolution of magnetic nanoporous silica nanoparticle (MNPSNP) distribution and the effect of PEGylation and clodronate application using PET/CT imaging and gamma counting in an implant mouse model. Methods: PEGylated and non-PEGylated MNPSNPs were radiolabeled with gallium-68 (68Ga), implementing the chelator tris(hydroxypyridinone). 36 mice were included in the study, 24 mice received a magnetic implant subcutaneously on the left and a titanium implant on the right hind leg. MNPSNP pharmacokinetics and implant accumulation was analyzed in dependence on PEGylation and additional clodronate application. Subsequently gamma counting was performed for further final analysis. Results: The pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of all radiolabeled nanoparticles could clearly be visualized and followed by dynamic PET/CT imaging. Both variants of 68Ga-labeled MNPSNP accumulated mainly in liver and spleen. PEGylation of the nanoparticles already resulted in lower liver uptakes. Combination with macrophage depletion led to a highly significant effect whereas macrophage depletion alone could not reveal significant differences. Although MNPSNP accumulation around implants was low in comparison to the inner organs in PET/CT imaging, gamma counting displayed a significantly higher %I.D./g for the tissue surrounding the magnetic implants compared to the titanium control. Additional PEGylation and/or macrophage depletion revealed no significant differences regarding nanoparticle accumulation at the implantation site. Conclusion: Tracking of 68Ga-labeled nanoparticles in a mouse model in the first critical hours post-injection by PET/CT imaging provided a better understanding of MNPSNP distribution, elimination and accumulation. Although PEGylation increases circulation time, nanoparticle accumulation at the implantation site was still insufficient for infection treatment and additional efforts are needed to increase local accumulation

Immunohistochemical characterization of bipolar cells in four distantly related avian species

Visual (and probably also magnetic) signal processing starts at the first synapse, at which photoreceptors contact different types of bipolar cells, thereby feeding information into different processing channels. In the chicken retina, 15 and 22 different bipolar cell types have been identified based on serial electron microscopy and single‐cell transcriptomics, respectively. However, immunohistochemical markers for avian bipolar cells were only anecdotally described so far. Here, we systematically tested 12 antibodies for their ability to label individual bipolar cells in the bird retina and compared the eight most suitable antibodies across distantly related species, namely domestic chicken, domestic pigeon, common buzzard, and European robin, and across retinal regions. While two markers (GNB3 and EGFR) labeled specifically ON bipolar cells, most markers labeled in addition to bipolar cells also other cell types in the avian retina. Staining pattern of four markers (CD15, PKCα, PKCβ, secretagogin) was species‐specific. Two markers (calbindin and secretagogin) showed a different expression pattern in central and peripheral retina. For the chicken and European robin, we found slightly more ON bipolar cell somata in the inner nuclear layer than OFF bipolar cell somata. In contrast, OFF bipolar cells made more ribbon synapses than ON bipolar cells in the inner plexiform layer of these species. Finally, we also analyzed the photoreceptor connectivity of selected bipolar cell types in the European robin retina. In summary, we provide a catalog of bipolar cell markers for different bird species, which will greatly facilitate analyzing the retinal circuitry of birds on a larger scale