Approaches to study and conceptions of biology: Differential outcomes for generalist and vocational degree students

KEYWORDS: learning in biology, vocational learning, generalist science degree, Learner Profiling BACKGROUND: Students have diverse learning styles and a raft of instruments have been created and validated to examine learner characteristics such as approaches to study (Biggs, 1987; Biggs, Kember & Leung, 2001) and conception of discipline in various science-based courses, including maths (Crawford, Gordon, Nicholas & Prosser, 1998), physics (Prosser, Trigwell, Hazel & Waterhouse, 2000) and biology (Quinnell, May, Peat & Taylor, 2005). Student survey response data can be analysed statistically in a number of ways: for example, students returning similar responses (i.e. students who adopt similar orchestrations) can be characterised using hierarchical cluster analysis (see Trigwell, Hazel & Prosser, 1996; Trigwell Prosser & Waterhouse, 1999; Prosser et al., 2000). Such analysis has allowed us to monitor changes in these learning orchestrations over the course of a semester by extending the work of Prosser et al. (2000) and employing sequential hierarchical cluster analyses in a process we refer to as ‘Learner Profiling’ (Quinnell, May & Peat, 2012). We have demonstrated that 48% of students in an introductory university biology course changed their learning orchestrations from the start to the end of their first semester at university, with some orchestrations being more persistent than others (Quinnell et al., 2012). Biology, like other enabling science courses at first year level, involves service teaching to some extent, and we were interested to see whether students enrolled in vocational or professional degrees engaged with our curriculum differently from students enrolled in generalist degrees. With this in mind we are beginning to explore the notion of differences in learning agendas of our students and if this has an impact on how students engage with our biology curriculum. AIM: Our aim was to evaluate our learner profiling method as a means to inform curriculum design which must, by necessity, be suitable for students across a broad range of degree programs, i.e. generalist and vocational degrees. DESIGN AND METHODS: We profiled biology students as described previously (Quinnell et al., 2012) and employed post-hoc analyses to see how elements of the curriculum (good teaching, clear goals, independence, assessment, workload; as defined by Ramsden, 1991) correlate with the changes in Learner Profile. We also identified students are ‘generalist’ or ‘vocational’ based on their degree program. RESULTS: Interestingly, although perhaps not surprisingly, students enrolled in generalist degrees demonstrated greater engagement with our biology curriculum than those enrolled in vocational degrees. Our data provide some evidence that our curriculum: 1. supports generalist degree students whose conception of biology is sound and whose study approach is intrinsic, 2. is less than ideal for meeting the needs of students in vocational degrees, and 3. has failed to engage students who demonstrated dissonance at the start of semester. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that a course in biology literacy would be more suitable to students in vocational degrees and a course that is biology content-rich would suit our generalist-degree students. REFERENCES: Biggs, J. (1987). Student approaches to learning and studying. Melbourne, Australian Council for Educational Research. Biggs, J., Kember D., & Leung D. Y. P. (2001). The revised two-factor Study Process Questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F. British Journal of Educational Psychology 71: 133-149. Crawford, K., Gordon, S., Nicholas, J., & Prosser, M. (1988). Qualitatively different experiences of learning mathematics at university. Learning and Instruction, 8, 455–468. Prosser, M., Trigwell, K., Hazel, E., & Waterhouse, F. (2000). Students’ experiences of studying physics concepts: the effects of disintegrated perceptions and approaches, European Journal of Psychology of Education, 15, 61-74. Quinnell, R., May, E., & Peat, M. (2012). Conceptions of Biology and Approaches to Learning of First Year Biology Students: Introducing a technique for tracking changes in learner profiles over time. International Journal of Science Education, 34(7), 1053-1074. Quinnell, R., May, E., Peat, M., & Taylor, C. (2005). Creating a reliable instrument to assess students’ conceptions of studying biology at tertiary level. Proceedings of the Uniserve Science Conference: Blended Learning in Science Teaching and Learning, 30 September 2005 (pp. 87-92) Sydney: Uniserve Science, The University of Sydney. http://science.uniserve.edu.au/pubs/procs/wshop10/2005Quinnell.pdf Ramsden, P. (1991). A performance indicator of teaching quality in Higher Education: The Course Experience Questionnaire. Studies in Higher Education, 16(2), 129-150. Trigwell, K., Hazel, E., & Prosser, M. (1996). Perceptions of the learning environment and approaches to learning university science at the topic level. Different Approaches: Theory and Practice in Higher Education. Proceedings HERDSA Conference 1996. Perth, Western Australia, 8-12 July. (Retrieved 24 March 2011 from http://www.herdsa.org.au/confs/1996/trigwell2.html) Trigwell, K., Prosser, M., & Waterhouse F. (1999). Relations between teachers' approaches to teaching and students' approaches to learning. Higher Education, 37(1), 57-70

Cow’s milk protein elimination in autistic children: language, cognitive and behavioral outcome

Background: Behavioral modification and structured education are necessary in autism but rather insufficient. Various dietary restrictions have been suggested as important prerequisites to benefit from other interventions in this disorder. Objective: This study was designed to highlight the degree of benefit in various aspects of development of autistic children upon elimination of cow's milk protein (CMP) from their diet and assess the level of specific IgE for CMP in their sera. Methods: The current study was conducted on 22 autistic children who were compared to 30 age and sex matched healthy children. Enrolled autistic children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The parents of first group were instructed to eliminate cow milk (CM) from the diet of their children throughout the study period while patients of the second group were allowed to eat without restrictions. Each enrolled child was subjected to complete dietetic history taking, clinical examination and measurement of IgE for CM antigen in their sera by enzyme immunoassay. Autistic patients underwent a Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) test. The patients were also subjected to language and intelligent quotient (IQ) testing, social and mental age assessment and child psychiatric evaluation. The autistic children received an interventional program for six months and were then re-evaluated using the previous clinical parameters. Results: The first group achieved significantly lower CARS test results (p < 0.01), significantly higher language age (p < 0.05) and significantly higher rate of change of CARS, language, social age, mental age and IQ (p < 0.001, <0.05, <0.05, <0.01 and <0.05 respectively) compared to the second group after 6 months of follow up. There was also a significantly higher mean specific IgE level to CMP in the autistic patients as compared to the controls. Additionally, 45.5% of patients who were on CM elimination diet went one CARS category down compared to only 36.4% of the second group. Conclusion: We report improvement in language, cognition and behavioral capabilities upon CM elimination in a group of autistic children. The higher CM specific IgE in these children may suggest that such adverse reaction to CM may have an allergic basis. Wider scale studies are needed to justify this adjuvant therapeutic option in autistic children hoping for better achievement from the current interventional programs. Keywords: Allergy – Autism – CARS – Cow milk – IgE – IQEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2006; 4(1): 15-2

REDUCTION OF ACRYLAMIDE FORMATION IN POTATO CHIPS BY AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF ROSELLE

Acrylamide (AA) is an industrial chemical formed in some foods; particularly starchy foods, during heating process such as frying, baking and roasting. AA is proven to be carcinogenic in animals and a probable human carcinogen formed in foods by the reaction of free amino acid with reducing sugars as part of the Maillard reaction during heating under high temperature and low moisture conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use aqueous extract of roselle as a natural source of antioxidants to reduce AA formed in potato chips. The results showed that the percentages of reduction of AA were 10.1% and 12.92% in samples that were treated with 1% of aqueous extract of roselle and soaked at 10 and 20 mins respectively. There was observed increase in AA reduction by it was 75.41% and 82.46% after soaking  at 10 and 20 mins respectively with 5% extract. Conclusively, the aqueous extract of roselle is effective in reducing the AA formed in potato chips due as it contains of antioxidant compounds. Keywords: acrylamide (AA), potato, roselle, soaking and reduction Â

Rumex dentatus L. phenolics ameliorate hyperglycemia by modulating hepatic key enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism, oxidative stress and PPARγ in diabetic rats

Rumex dentatus L. is a flowering plant with promising therapeutic effects. This study investigated the antioxidant efficacy of phenolic compounds isolated from R. dentatus L. in vitro and by conducting density function theory (DFT) studies to explore the mechanisms of action. The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects of polyphenols-rich R. dentatus extract (RDE) were investigated in type 2 diabetic rats. Phytochemical investigation of the aerial parts of R. dentatus resulted in the isolation of one new and seven known compounds isolated for the first time from this species. All isolated phenolics showed in vitro radical scavenging activity. The antioxidant activity of the compounds could be oriented by the hydrogen atom transfer and sequential proton loss electron transfer mechanisms in gas and water phases, respectively. In diabetic rats, RDE attenuated hyperglycemia, insulin resistance and liver injury and improved carbohydrate metabolism. RDE suppressed oxidative stress and inflammation and upregulated PPARγ. In silico molecular docking analysis revealed the binding affinity of the isolated compounds toward PPARγ. In conclusion, the computational calculations were correlated with the in vitro antioxidant activity of R. dentatus derived phenolics. R. dentatus attenuated hyperglycemia, liver injury, inflammation and oxidative stress, improved carbohydrate metabolism and upregulated PPARγ in diabetic ratsThis work has DGI Project no. CTQ2015-63997-C2, a generous allocation of computing time at the Centro de Computación Científica of the UAM is also acknowledge

New insights into the potential cardioprotective effects of telmisartan and nanoformulated extract of Spirulina platensis via regulation of oxidative stress, apoptosis, and autophagy in an experimental model

BackgroundCardiotoxicity is one of the limiting side effects of the commonly used anticancer agent cyclophosphamide (Cyclo).Materials and methodsThe possible protective effects of telmisartan and nanoformulated Spirulina platensis (Sp) methanolic extract against Cyclo-induced cardiotoxicity were examined in this study. Experimental groups of rats were randomly divided into nine groups as control vehicle, control polymer, telmisartan (TEL, 10 mg/kg), free Sp extract (300 mg/kg), nano Sp extract (100 mg/kg), Cyclo (200 mg/kg), TEL + Cyclo, free Sp + Cyclo, and nano Sp + Cyclo. The groups with Cyclo combinations were treated in the same manner as their corresponding ones without Cyclo, with a single dose of Cyclo on day 18.ResultsThe results indicate that Cyclo causes significant cardiotoxicity, manifesting in the form of notable increases of 155.49%, 105.74%, 451.76%, and 826.07% in the serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase MB (CK-MB), and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) enzyme activities, respectively, as compared to the control. In addition, the cardiac glutathione (GSH) content and activity of glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPX-1) enzyme decreased by 65.94% and 73.85%, respectively. Treatment with nano Sp extract showed the most prominent restorations of the altered biochemical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features as compared with those by TEL and free Sp; moreover, reductions of 30.64% and 43.02% in the p-AKT content as well as 60.43% and 75.30% of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) immunoreactivity were detected in the TEL and free Sp treatment groups, respectively. Interestingly, nano Sp boosted the autophagy signal via activation of beclin-1 (36.42% and 153.4%), activation of LC3II (69.13% and 195%), downregulation of p62 expressions (39.68% and 62.45%), and increased gene expressions of paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) (90.3% and 225.9%) compared to the TEL and free Sp treatment groups, respectively.ConclusionThe findings suggest the protective efficiency of telmisartan and nano Sp extract against cardiotoxicity via activations of the antioxidant, antiapoptotic, and autophagy signaling pathways

Knowledge and attitude of Saudi health professions’ students regarding patient’s bill of rights

Background: Patient’s rights are worldwide considerations. Saudi Patient’s Bill of Rights (PBR) which was established in 2006 contained 12 items. Lack of knowledge regarding the Saudi PBR limits its implementation in health facilities. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of health professions’ students at College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS) Riyadh Saudi Arabia regarding the existence and content of Saudi PBR as well as their attitude toward its ineffectiveness. Methods: A 3-parts survey was used to collect data from 239 volunteer students participated in the study. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS. Results: Results showed that although the majority of students (96.7%) believe in the ineffectiveness of patient’s rights, half (52.3%) of them had perceptual knowledge regarding the existence of Saudi PBR and only 7.9% of them were knowledgeable about some items (1–4 items) of the bill. Privacy and confidentiality of patient was the most common known patient’s rights. Students’ academic level was not correlated to neither their knowledge regarding the bill existence or its content nor to their attitude toward the bill. The majority of the students (93%) reported that only one course within their curriculum was patient’s rights-course related. About one quarter (23.4%) of the students reported that teaching staff used to mention patient’s rights in their teaching sessions. Conclusion: The Saudi health professions students at CAMS have positive attitude toward the ineffectiveness of patient’s rights nevertheless they showed limited knowledge regarding the existence of Saudi PBR and its contents. CAMS curriculums do not support the subject of patient’s rights

Health-related quality of life in patients with sickle cell disease in Saudi Arabia

Background There is a lack of research concerning health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Saudi patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), particularly among adult populations. The aim of the current study was to describe the characteristics of SCD patients and their impact on their quality of life (QoL). Methods Six hundred twenty-nine adult SCD patients who attended King Fahad Hospital in Hofuf and King Fahad Central Hospital in Jazan were included in the analysis. Demographic/clinical data were collected and an Arabic version of the Medical Outcomes 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire was used to assess QoL. Results SCD patients who hold a university degree reported positive impacts on the following domains of SF-36: physical role function, vitality, emotional well being, social function, pain reduction, and general health (P = .002, P = .001, P = .001, P = .003, P = .004, and P = .001, respectively). In general, patients with fever, skin redness, swelling, or history of blood transfusion tended to impair the health status of the SF-36. A multivariate analysis revealed that patients with a university degree tended to report high scores of physical role functions, emotional role function, and vitality. Patients with regular exercise tend to increase vitality, social function, general health, and reduce pain. Unemployment tends to lessen vitality and worsen pain. On average, pain, social function, and physical function scores tended to worsen in patients with swelling or history of blood transfusion. Conclusions This study highlighted that poor education, fever, skin redness, and swelling were negatively associated with specific components of SF-36. SCD patients with a history of blood transfusion found their QoL poorer, whereas regular exercise tended to improve QoL