Uncovering the multifaceted roles played by neutrophils in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) is a life-saving procedure used for the treatment of selected hematological malignancies, inborn errors of metabolism, and bone marrow failures. The role of neutrophils in alloHSCT has been traditionally evaluated only in the context of their ability to act as a first line of defense against infection. However, recent evidence has highlighted neutrophils as key effectors of innate and adaptive immune responses through a wide array of newly discovered functions. Accordingly, neutrophils are emerging as highly versatile cells that are able to acquire different, often opposite, functional capacities depending on the microenvironment and their differentiation status. Herein, we review the current knowledge on the multiple functions that neutrophils exhibit through the different stages of alloHSCT, from the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) mobilization in the donor to the immunological reconstitution that occurs in the recipient following HSC infusion. We also discuss the influence exerted on neutrophils by the immunosuppressive drugs delivered in the course of alloHSCT as part of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. Finally, the potential involvement of neutrophils in alloHSCT-related complications, such as transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA), acute and chronic GVHD, and cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation, is also discussed. Based on the data reviewed herein, the role played by neutrophils in alloHSCT is far greater than a simple antimicrobial role. However, much remains to be investigated in terms of the potential functions that neutrophils might exert during a highly complex procedure such as alloHSCT

Drama as a learning medium in science education

To respond to the decline of young people’s interest in the sciences, calls have been made to reorganize the ways in which science is taught, in order to address low student motivation. Drama offers a toolbox of techniques that can be used when teaching science and which can address the issue of low student motivation. This chapter provides science teacher educators with the theoretical and practical knowledge of how drama may serve as an inquiry-based teaching and learning tool in the sciences and how it may increase students’ scientific literacy, engagement and motivation. We discuss aspects of teacher training for the use of drama in the science classroom with two sample workshops aimed at teachers’ professional development. Hereafter we describe some conventions offered by the genre process drama. We discuss the learning achieved through drama. We then show that drama can be an inquiry-based learning form which functions through narrative and is multimodal, multisensory and sociocultural. We address the potential of a budding researcher and give some aspects of a future scenario for inquiry-based learning focusing on depth of learning through embodiment