Development of Eighth Grade Students’ Epistemological Beliefs through Writing-to-Learn Activities

The aim of the present study was to develop the epistemological beliefs of eighth grade students through writing-to-learn (WTL) activities. A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was utilized in the study. The sample group consisted of a total of 18 eighth grade students, attending a secondary school in the rural part of Trabzon in Turkey. To improve the epistemological beliefs of students, WTL activities were developed and utilized in the "Matter and its Structure" unit of the science subject. Each WTL activity focused on one dimension of epistemology, such as source of knowledge, organization of knowledge, certainty of knowledge, speed of learning, and learning control. The WTL activities in the study were conducted throughout a total of 24 lessons. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data. Beliefs regarding each dimension of epistemology were identified to be at the level of absolutist, multiplist or evaluatist by means of the "Epistemological Belief Levels Rubric". The findings of the study revealed that the WTL activities increased students’ levels of the epistemological beliefs. Hence, students’ epistemological beliefs can be developed further by dwelling more on the history of science unit within the subject of science by raising students’ awareness

Recent Advances in Health Biotechnology During Pandemic

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in 2019, cut the epoch that will make profound fluctuates in the history of the world in social, economic, and scientific fields. Urgent needs in public health have brought with them innovative approaches, including diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. To exceed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, various scientific authorities in the world have procreated advances in real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based diagnostic tests, rapid diagnostic kits, the development of vaccines for immunization, and the purposing pharmaceuticals for treatment. Diagnosis, treatment, and immunization approaches put for- ward by scientific communities are cross-fed from the accrued knowledge of multidisciplinary sciences in health biotechnology. So much so that the pandemic, urgently prioritized in the world, is not only viral infections but also has been the pulsion in the development of novel approaches in many fields such as diagnosis, treatment, translational medicine, virology, mi- crobiology, immunology, functional nano- and bio-materials, bioinformatics, molecular biol- ogy, genetics, tissue engineering, biomedical devices, and artificial intelligence technologies. In this review, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of various scientific areas of health biotechnology are discussed

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Fiber digestion with fat feeding through the rumen microbial ecosystem

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