Research on Effective Teaching in Elementary School Physical Education

The perspective of this article is that the purpose of the elementary physical education program is the development of a physically active lifestyle. We discuss the relative contribution of the development of motor skills, fitness, content related to encouraging participation, and the affective goals of the program to the development of a physically active lifestyle. Teaching must be effective if children are to acquire the skills to lead a physically active lifestyle. We explore the research base identifying effective teaching in an elementary school physical education setting in terms of academic learning time and management roles and communication and content-development skills of the teacher. Similarities and differences between teaching in a gymnasium and in a classroom are identified

Mild propofol sedation reduces frontal lobe and thalamic cerebral blood flow: An arterial spin labeling study

Mechanisms of anesthetic drug-induced sedation and unconsciousness are still incompletely understood. Functional neuroimaging modalities provide a window to study brain function changes during anesthesia allowing us to explore the sequence of neuro-physiological changes associated with anesthesia. Cerebral perfusion change under an assumption of intact neurovascular coupling is an indicator of change in large-scale neural activity. In this experiment, we have investigated resting state cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes in the human brain during mild sedation, with propofol. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) provides a non-invasive, reliable, and robust means of measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF) and can therefore be used to investigate central drug effects. Mild propofol sedation-related CBF changes were studied at rest (n = 15), in a 3 T MR scanner using a PICORE-QUIPSS II ASL technique. CBF was reduced in bilateral paracingulate cortex, premotor cortex, Broca’s areas, right superior frontal gyrus and also the thalamus. This cerebral perfusion study demonstrates that propofol induces suppression of key cortical (frontal lobe) and subcortical (thalamus) regions during mild sedation

COVID-19 and the view from Africa

In Africa, refusal of COVID-19 and other vaccines is widespread for different reasons, including disbelief in the existence of the virus itself and faith in traditional remedies. In sub-Saharan countries, refusal is often made worse by opposition to vaccines by the religious establishments. This is a pressing problem, as Africa has the highest vaccine-avoidable mortality rate for children under the age of five in the world. Dialogue between those wishing to promote vaccines and those who resist them is essential if the situation is to be improved. This article argues that Western and other aid agencies seeking to promote vaccination programs need to develop a dialogue with resisters, and in this process to embrace and commend the ancient African philosophical tradition of Ubuntu, incorporating it into these programs as a way to overcome such entrenched resistance. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for how to accomplish this goal

Plasma IgM levels differentiate between survivors and non-survivors of culture-positive and culture-negative sepsis and SIRS: a pilot study

Immunoglobulin IgM is important for controlling viral and bacterial infections, and low immunoglobulin levels have been found in sepsis. There is a clear need to stratify sepsis patients according to the presence of an invading organism, compared to no organism identified, and SIRS patients, where organ dysfunction is a result of a non-infective process. The aim of this pilot study in a small cohort of patients with sepsis was to evaluate the association between IgM plasma levels and survival in 47 patients with sepsis and 11 patients diagnosed with organ failure without the identification of a pathogen (SIRS). Patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at The Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, UK between 2010 and 2014. We found that low IgM levels were associated with sepsis, but not SIRS. IgM levels did not differ significantly for culture-positive (CP) compared with culture-negative (CN, no organism found) sepsis samples. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to compare survival curves according to IgM levels, with no significant difference. We observed significantly higher survival in the CP samples when comparing with CN. Cut-off value for IgM (266 μg/mL) for diagnosis of sepsis patients was determined using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves with 70% sensitivity, 69% specificity and 92% negative predictive values (NPV), respectively. The corresponding area under the curve (AUC) for the discrimination of sepsis patients was AUC = 0.73, and in a subgroup analysis of CP was AUC = 0.77 and for CN was AUC = 0.79. We confirm IgM as a good diagnostic marker of sepsis. These findings indicate a difference in the pathology between culture-positive versus negative sepsis, SIRS and survival. This indicates that IgM is likely relevant to pathology, because of its role in the early immune response against pathogens, the potentially protective role of natural IgM antibodies, and supports its application in immunoglobulin therapy

Noninvasive assessment of arterial compliance of human cerebral arteries with short inversion time arterial spin labeling

A noninvasive method of assessing cerebral arterial compliance (AC) is introduced in which arterial spin labeling (ASL) is used to measure changes in arterial blood volume (aBV) occurring within the cardiac cycle. Short inversion time pulsed ASL (PASL) was performed in healthy volunteers with inversion times ranging from 250 to 850 ms. A model of the arterial input function was used to obtain the cerebral aBV. Results indicate that aBV depends on the cardiac phase of the arteries in the imaging volume. Cerebral AC, estimated from aBV and brachial blood pressure measured noninvasively in systole and diastole, was assessed in the flow territories of the basal cerebral arteries originating from the circle of Willis: right and left middle cerebral arteries (RMCA and LMCA), right and left posterior cerebral arteries (RPCA and LPCA), and the anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Group average AC values calculated for the RMCA, LMCA, ACA, RPCA, and LPCA were 0.56%±0.2%, 0.50%±0.3%, 0.4%±0.2%, 1.1%±0.5%, and 1.1%±0.3% per mm Hg, respectively. The current experiment has shown the feasibility of measuring AC of cerebral arteries with short inversion time PASL

‘They’re more like ordinary stroppy British women’: Attitudes and expectations of maternity care professionals to UK-born ethnic minority women

Objective To explore the attitudes and expectations of maternity care professionals to UK-born ethnic minority mothers. Methods Qualitative in-depth interviews with 30 professionals from eight NHS maternity units in England that provide services for large proportions of women of black Caribbean, black African, Indian, Pakistani and Irish descent. Results All the professionals reported providing care to both UK-born and migrant mothers from ethnic minorities. Most of them felt that they could differentiate between UK-born and migrant mothers based mainly on language fluency and accent. ‘Westernized dress’ and ‘freedom’ were also cited as indicators. Overall, professionals found it easier to provide services to UK-born mothers and felt that their needs were more like those of white English mothers than those of migrant mothers. UK-born mothers were generally thought to be assertive and expressive, and in control of care-related decision-making whereas some South Asian Muslim women were thought to be constrained by family influences. Preconceived ideas about ethnic minority mothers' tolerance of pain in labour, use of pharmacological pain relief measures and mode of delivery were recurring themes. Women's education and social class were felt to be major influences on the uptake of maternity care, regardless of ethnicity. Conclusions Professionals appeared to equate the needs of UK-born ethnic minority women with those of white English women. Overall, this has positive implications for care provision. Despite this, specific behavioural expectations and unconscious stereotypical views were evident and have the potential to affect clinical practice

A PDA-based dietary self-monitoring intervention to reduce sodium intake in an in-center hemodialysis patient

Objective: The purpose of the BalanceWise-hemodialysis study is to determine the efficacy of a dietary intervention to reduce dietary sodium intake in patients receiving maintenance, in-center hemodialysis (HD). Personal digital assistant (PDA)-based dietary self-monitoring is paired with behavioral counseling. The purpose of this report is to present a case study of one participant's progression through the intervention. Methods: The PDA was individually programmed with the nutritional requirements of the participant. With 25 minutes of personalized instruction, the participant was able to enter his meals into the PDA using BalanceLog® software. Nutritional counseling was provided based on dietary sodium intake reports generated by BalanceLog®. Results: At initiation of the study the participant required 4 HD treatments per week. The participant entered 342 meals over 16 weeks (≥3 meals per day). BalanceLog® revealed that the participant consumed restaurant/fast food on a regular basis, and consumed significant amounts of corned beef as well as canned foods high in sodium. The study dietitian worked with the participant and his wife to identify food alternatives lower in sodium. Baseline sodium consumption was 4,692 mg, and decreased at a rate of 192 mg/week on average. After 11 weeks of intervention, interdialytic weight gains were reduced sufficiently to permit the participant to reduce HD treatments from 4 to 3 per week. Because of a low serum albumin at baseline (2.9 g/dL) the study dietitian encouraged the participant to increase his intake of high quality protein. Serum albumin level at 16 weeks was unchanged (2.9 g/dL). Because of intense pruritis and a high baseline serum phosphorus (6.5 mg/dL) BalanceLog® electronic logs were reviewed to identify sources of dietary phosphorus and counsel the participant regarding food alternatives. At 16 weeks the participant's serum phosphorus fell to 5.5 mg/dL. Conclusions: Self-monitoring rates were excellent. In a HD patient who was willing to self-monitor his dietary intake, BalanceLog® allowed the dietitian to target problematic foods and provide counseling that appeared to be effective in reducing sodium intake, reducing interdialytic weight gain, and alleviating hyperphosphatemia and hyperkalemia. Additional research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention. © 2008 Sevick et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd

Evidence that Subanesthetic Doses of Ketamine Cause Sustained Disruptions of NMDA and AMPA-Mediated Frontoparietal Connectivity in Humans

Following the discovery of the antidepressant properties of ketamine, there has been a recent resurgence in the interest in this NMDA receptor antagonist. Although detailed animal models of the molecular mechanisms underlying ketamine's effects have emerged, there are few MEG/EEG studies examining the acute subanesthetic effects of ketamine infusion in man. We recorded 275 channel MEG in two experiments (n = 25 human males) examining the effects of subanesthetic ketamine infusion. MEG power spectra revealed a rich set of significant oscillatory changes compared with placebo sessions, including decreases in occipital, parietal, and anterior cingulate alpha power, increases in medial frontal theta power, and increases in parietal and cingulate cortex high gamma power. Each of these spectral effects demonstrated their own set of temporal dynamics. Dynamic causal modeling of frontoparietal connectivity changes with ketamine indicated a decrease in NMDA and AMPA-mediated frontal-to-parietal connectivity. AMPA-mediated connectivity changes were sustained for up to 50 min after ketamine infusion had ceased, by which time perceptual distortions were absent. The results also indicated a decrease in gain of parietal pyramidal cells, which was correlated with participants' self-reports of blissful state. Based on these results, we suggest that the antidepressant effects of ketamine may depend on its ability to change the balance of frontoparietal connectivity patterns. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In this paper, we found that subanesthetic doses of ketamine, similar to those used in antidepressant studies, increase anterior theta and gamma power but decrease posterior theta, delta, and alpha power, as revealed by magnetoencephalographic recordings. Dynamic causal modeling of frontoparietal connectivity changes with ketamine indicated a decrease in NMDA and AMPA-mediated frontal-to-parietal connectivity. AMPA-mediated connectivity changes were sustained for up to 50 min after ketamine infusion had ceased, by which time perceptual distortions were absent. The results also indicated a decrease in gain of parietal pyramidal cells, which was correlated with participants' self-reports of blissful state. The alterations in frontoparietal connectivity patterns we observe here may be important in generating the antidepressant response to ketamin

Transmembrane helix dynamics of bacterial chemoreceptors supports a piston model of signalling.

Transmembrane α-helices play a key role in many receptors, transmitting a signal from one side to the other of the lipid bilayer membrane. Bacterial chemoreceptors are one of the best studied such systems, with a wealth of biophysical and mutational data indicating a key role for the TM2 helix in signalling. In particular, aromatic (Trp and Tyr) and basic (Arg) residues help to lock α-helices into a membrane. Mutants in TM2 of E. coli Tar and related chemoreceptors involving these residues implicate changes in helix location and/or orientation in signalling. We have investigated the detailed structural basis of this via high throughput coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) of Tar TM2 and its mutants in lipid bilayers. We focus on the position (shift) and orientation (tilt, rotation) of TM2 relative to the bilayer and how these are perturbed in mutants relative to the wildtype. The simulations reveal a clear correlation between small (ca. 1.5 Å) shift in position of TM2 along the bilayer normal and downstream changes in signalling activity. Weaker correlations are seen with helix tilt, and little/none between signalling and helix twist. This analysis of relatively subtle changes was only possible because the high throughput simulation method allowed us to run large (n = 100) ensembles for substantial numbers of different helix sequences, amounting to ca. 2000 simulations in total. Overall, this analysis supports a swinging-piston model of transmembrane signalling by Tar and related chemoreceptors