Mathematische und naturwissenschaftlich-technische Bildung im Kindergarten: Untersuchung der Wirksamkeit einer beruflichen Weiterbildung von Erzieherinnen

'Mathematische und naturwissenschaftlich-technische Themen halten in jüngster Zeit vermehrt Einzug in die Kindergärten. Erzieherinnen aus dem Raum Hohenlohe-Franken haben dazu an einer berufsbegleitenden Weiterbildung teilgenommen. Ziel der hier vorliegenden Untersuchung war es, abzubilden, welche Veränderungen sich im Kindergarten aufgrund dieser Weiterbildung ergeben können. Dazu wurden 35 Erzieherinnen und 217 Eltern befragt. Für 70 Kinder wurden an einem standardisierten Test die mathematischen Vorläuferkompetenzen erfasst. Die Ergebnisse zeigen für die Kinder aus den Modelleinrichtungen einen signifikant stärkeren Zuwachs in ihrer Leistungsentwicklung. Darüber hinaus interessieren sich die Kinder vermehrt für die mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Themen und zeigen ein entsprechendes neugierig-forschendes Verhalten. Dies sind Hinweise darauf, dass die Kinder von einer stärkeren Betonung der mathematischen und naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Themenfelder in Bezug auf ihre Entwicklung profitieren können.' (Autorenreferat)'German kindergartens recently started to introduce mathematics, science and technology into their curricula. The Richard-von-Weizsäcker-Schule-Öhringen has offered an in-service training for kindergarten teachers addressing these topics. This study investigates the impact of the program in reaching the children in kindergarten. 35 teachers in 12 kindergartens and parents of 217 children filled out questionnaires. 70 children were tested regarding the development of their mathematical concepts twice: before and after the kindergarten teachers from the intervention group took part in their in-service training for a year. The children in the eight intervention kindergartens showed faster/ more advanced development of their mathematical concepts than the children of the four control kindergartens. Furthermore, parents and kindergarten teachers report that children in the intervention group show an increased interest in numbers and other mathematical concepts whereas these changes were not found in the control group. The findings suggest that children might benefit from the introduction of concepts of mathematical concepts and technology in their kindergarten.' (author's abstract)

Towards Protein Crystallization as a Process Step in Downstream Processing of Therapeutic Antibodies: Screening and Optimization at Microbatch Scale

Crystallization conditions of an intact monoclonal IgG4 (immunoglobulin G, subclass 4) antibody were established in vapor diffusion mode by sparse matrix screening and subsequent optimization. The procedure was transferred to microbatch conditions and a phase diagram was built showing surprisingly low solubility of the antibody at equilibrium. With up-scaling to process scale in mind, purification efficiency of the crystallization step was investigated. Added model protein contaminants were excluded from the crystals to more than 95%. No measurable loss of Fc-binding activity was observed in the crystallized and redissolved antibody. Conditions could be adapted to crystallize the antibody directly from concentrated and diafiltrated cell culture supernatant, showing purification efficiency similar to that of Protein A chromatography. We conclude that crystallization has the potential to be included in downstream processing as a low-cost purification or formulation step

Single cell dissection of plasma cell heterogeneity in symptomatic and asymptomatic myeloma

Multiple myeloma, a plasma cell malignancy, is the second most common blood cancer. Despite extensive research, disease heterogeneity is poorly characterized, hampering efforts for early diagnosis and improved treatments. Here, we apply single cell RNA sequencing to study the heterogeneity of 40 individuals along the multiple myeloma progression spectrum, including 11 healthy controls, demonstrating high interindividual variability that can be explained by expression of known multiple myeloma drivers and additional putative factors. We identify extensive subclonal structures for 10 of 29 individuals with multiple myeloma. In asymptomatic individuals with early disease and in those with minimal residual disease post-treatment, we detect rare tumor plasma cells with molecular characteristics similar to those of active myeloma, with possible implications for personalized therapies. Single cell analysis of rare circulating tumor cells allows for accurate liquid biopsy and detection of malignant plasma cells, which reflect bone marrow disease. Our work establishes single cell RNA sequencing for dissecting blood malignancies and devising detailed molecular characterization of tumor cells in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients

p21 as a Transcriptional Co-Repressor of S-Phase and Mitotic Control Genes

It has been previously described that p21 functions not only as a CDK inhibitor but also as a transcriptional co-repressor in some systems. To investigate the roles of p21 in transcriptional control, we studied the gene expression changes in two human cell systems. Using a human leukemia cell line (K562) with inducible p21 expression and human primary keratinocytes with adenoviral-mediated p21 expression, we carried out microarray-based gene expression profiling. We found that p21 rapidly and strongly repressed the mRNA levels of a number of genes involved in cell cycle and mitosis. One of the most strongly down-regulated genes was CCNE2 (cyclin E2 gene). Mutational analysis in K562 cells showed that the N-terminal region of p21 is required for repression of gene expression of CCNE2 and other genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicated that p21 was bound to human CCNE2 and other p21-repressed genes gene in the vicinity of the transcription start site. Moreover, p21 repressed human CCNE2 promoter-luciferase constructs in K562 cells. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the CDE motif is present in most of the promoters of the p21-regulated genes. Altogether, the results suggest that p21 exerts a repressive effect on a relevant number of genes controlling S phase and mitosis. Thus, p21 activity as inhibitor of cell cycle progression would be mediated not only by the inhibition of CDKs but also by the transcriptional down-regulation of key genes

Biological Earth observation with animal sensors

Space-based tracking technology using low-cost miniature tags is now delivering data on fine-scale animal movement at near-global scale. Linked with remotely sensed environmental data, this offers a biological lens on habitat integrity and connectivity for conservation and human health; a global network of animal sentinels of environmen-tal change