From the Arctic to the Tropics: A Thematic Analysis of Teacher Candidates’ Reflections of Two Cross-Cultural Programs

This study describes how one university prepares culturally responsive teacher candidates through Alaska and Thailand cross-cultural summer study trips. The study addressed the impact of the Alaska and Thailand cross-cultural experiences on teacher candidates as described in their reflective writings. The reflections addressed their socialization and depth of understanding and appreciation of children and adults from another culture. The authors looked for parallel themes that emerged as characteristics of both experiences

Faith Narrative and Ethical Practice in the Literacy Field

What is the intersection between being a person of faith and a literacy teacher? How do educators experience literacy instruction when trying to connect their faith and practice? Using the lens of researchers Clandinin and Connelly (2000) these questions were explored from the perspective and experience of one of the co-authors. Three themes of Christian pedagogy emerged from the results of this narrative inquiry: the power of words, the power of forgiveness, and the power of voice

In vitro fibroblast and pre-osteoblastic cellular responses on laser surface modified Ti–6Al–4V

The success of any implant, dental or orthopaedic, is driven by the interaction of implant material with the surrounding tissue. In this context, the nature of the implant surface plays a direct role in determining the long term stability as physico-chemical properties of the surface affect cellular attachment, expression of proteins, and finally osseointegration. Thus to enhance the degree of integration of the implant into the host tissue, various surface modification techniques are employed. In this work, laser surface melting of titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V was carried out using a CO2 laser with an argon gas atmosphere. Investigations were carried out to study the influence of laser surface modification on the biocompatibility of Ti–6Al–4V alloy implant material. Surface roughness, microhardness, and phase development were recorded. Initial knowledge of these effects on biocompatibility was gained from examination of the response of fibroblast cell lines, which was followed by examination of the response of osteoblast cell lines which is relevant to the applications of this material in bone repair. Biocompatibility with these cell lines was analysed via Resazurin cell viability assay, DNA cell attachment assay, and alamarBlue metabolic activity assay. Laser treated surfaces were found to preferentially promote cell attachment, higher levels of proliferation, and enhanced bioactivity when compared to untreated control samples. These results demonstrate the tremendous potential of this laser surface melting treatment to significantly improve the biocompatibility of titanium implants in vivo

Pre-transplant antibody screening and anti-CD154 costimulation blockade promote long-term xenograft survival in a pig-to-primate kidney transplant model

Xenotransplantation has the potential to alleviate the organ shortage that prevents many patients with end-stage renal disease from enjoying the benefits of kidney transplantation. Despite significant advances in other models, pig-to-primate kidney xenotransplantation has met limited success. Preformed anti-pig antibodies are an important component of the xenogeneic immune response. To address this, we screened a cohort of 34 rhesus macaques for anti-pig antibody levels. We then selected animals with both low and high titers of anti-pig antibodies to proceed with kidney transplant from galactose-α1,3-galactose knockout/CD55 transgenic pig donors. All animals received T-cell depletion followed by maintenance therapy with costimulation blockade (either anti-CD154 mAb or belatacept), mycophenolate mofetil, and steroid. The animal with the high titer of anti-pig antibody rejected the kidney xenograft within the first week. Low-titer animals treated with anti-CD154 antibody, but not belatacept exhibited prolonged kidney xenograft survival (>133 and >126 vs. 14 and 21 days, respectively). Long-term surviving animals treated with the anti-CD154-based regimen continue to have normal kidney function and preserved renal architecture without evidence of rejection on biopsies sampled at day 100. This description of the longest reported survival of pig-to-non-human primate kidney xenotransplantation, now >125 days, provides promise for further study and potential clinical translation

Arl13b in Primary Cilia Regulates the Migration and Placement of Interneurons in the Developing Cerebral Cortex

Coordinated migration and placement of interneurons and projection neurons lead to functional connectivity in the cerebral cortex; defective neuronal migration and the resultant connectivity changes underlie the cognitive defects in a spectrum of neurological disorders. Here we show that primary cilia play a guiding role in the migration and placement of postmitotic interneurons in the developing cerebral cortex, and that this process requires the ciliary protein, Arl13b. Through live imaging of interneuronal cilia we show migrating interneurons display highly dynamic primary cilia and we correlate cilia dynamics with the interneuron’s migratory state. We demonstrate that the guidance cue receptors essential for interneuronal migration localize to interneuronal primary cilia, but their concentration and dynamics are altered in the absence of Arl13b. Expression of Arl13b variants known to cause Joubert syndrome induce defective interneuronal migration, suggesting that defects in cilia-dependent interneuron migration may underlie the neurological defects in Joubert syndrome patients

LEARN: A multi-centre, cross-sectional evaluation of Urology teaching in UK medical schools

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the status of UK undergraduate urology teaching against the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) Undergraduate Syllabus for Urology. Secondary objectives included evaluating the type and quantity of teaching provided, the reported performance rate of General Medical Council (GMC)-mandated urological procedures, and the proportion of undergraduates considering urology as a career. MATERIALS AND METHODS: LEARN was a national multicentre cross-sectional study. Year 2 to Year 5 medical students and FY1 doctors were invited to complete a survey between 3rd October and 20th December 2020, retrospectively assessing the urology teaching received to date. Results are reported according to the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). RESULTS: 7,063/8,346 (84.6%) responses from all 39 UK medical schools were included; 1,127/7,063 (16.0%) were from Foundation Year (FY) 1 doctors, who reported that the most frequently taught topics in undergraduate training were on urinary tract infection (96.5%), acute kidney injury (95.9%) and haematuria (94.4%). The most infrequently taught topics were male urinary incontinence (59.4%), male infertility (52.4%) and erectile dysfunction (43.8%). Male and female catheterisation on patients as undergraduates was performed by 92.1% and 73.0% of FY1 doctors respectively, and 16.9% had considered a career in urology. Theory based teaching was mainly prevalent in the early years of medical school, with clinical skills teaching, and clinical placements in the later years of medical school. 20.1% of FY1 doctors reported no undergraduate clinical attachment in urology. CONCLUSION: LEARN is the largest ever evaluation of undergraduate urology teaching. In the UK, teaching seemed satisfactory as evaluated by the BAUS undergraduate syllabus. However, many students report having no clinical attachments in Urology and some newly qualified doctors report never having inserted a catheter, which is a GMC mandated requirement. We recommend a greater emphasis on undergraduate clinical exposure to urology and stricter adherence to GMC mandated procedures

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

Peer reviewe

An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe

Measurement of the Splitting Function in &ITpp &ITand Pb-Pb Collisions at root&ITsNN&IT=5.02 TeV

Data from heavy ion collisions suggest that the evolution of a parton shower is modified by interactions with the color charges in the dense partonic medium created in these collisions, but it is not known where in the shower evolution the modifications occur. The momentum ratio of the two leading partons, resolved as subjets, provides information about the parton shower evolution. This substructure observable, known as the splitting function, reflects the process of a parton splitting into two other partons and has been measured for jets with transverse momentum between 140 and 500 GeV, in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. In central PbPb collisions, the splitting function indicates a more unbalanced momentum ratio, compared to peripheral PbPb and pp collisions.. The measurements are compared to various predictions from event generators and analytical calculations.Peer reviewe

Measurement of nuclear modification factors of gamma(1S)), gamma(2S), and gamma(3S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The cross sections for ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S), and ϒ(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, RAA, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, RAA(ϒ(1S)) > RAA(ϒ(2S)) > RAA(ϒ(3S)). The suppression of ϒ(1S) is larger than that seen at √sNN = 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the RAA of ϒ(3S) integrated over pT, rapidity and centrality is 0.096 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for a quarkonium state in heavy ion collisions to date. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3.Peer reviewe