Pengembangan Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (Lks) Kimia Sma/ma Berbasis Learning Cycle 5e Pada Materi Laju Reaksi

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: (1) mengembangkan Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E, (2) mengetahui kualitas Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E, (3) mengetahui efektivitas Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E untuk meningkatkan prestasi belajar siswa. Penelitian dan pengembangan Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E menggunakan prosedur penelitian dan pengembangan dari Borg and Gall yang disederhanakan menjadi 9 tahapan yaitu: (1) penelitian pendahuluan dan pengumpulan data, (2) perencanaan, (3) pengembangan produk, (4) uji coba lapangan awal, (5) revisi produk awal, (6) uji coba pelaksanaan lapangan, (7) penyempurnaan produk hasil uji coba lapangan, (8) uji coba pelaksanaan lapangan, (9) penyempurnaan produk akhir. Analisis Data yang digunakan adalah analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil Penelitian menunjukkan: (1) telah berhasil dikembangkan Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E pada materi Laju Reaksi yang dilakukan berdasarkan tahapan penelitian dan pengembangan R&D yang terdiri dari 9 tahapan, (2) kualitas Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E pada materi Laju Reaksi memiliki kualitas sangat baik pada aspek komponen kelayakan isi, bahasa, penyajian dan kegrafisan dengan persentase sebesar 84,06% berdasarkan penilaian siswa dan 90,88% berdasarkan penilaian guru, (hasil uji efektivitas pada aspek pengetahuan terdapat perbedaan antara kelas eksperimen (pembelajaran dengan menggunakan model Learning Cycle 5E disertai Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E ) dan kelas baseline (pembelajaran dengan menggunakan model pembelajaran Learning Cycle 5E tanpa disertai Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis Learning Cycle 5E ),, sedangkan pada aspek sikap dan keterampilan tidak terdapat perbedaan

Respiratory syncytial virus as a cause of pulmonary hemorrhage in a low birth weight infant - strategies for protection and prevention: a case report

A case study of 39-year old man with persistent wheezing, episodes of haemoptysis and dry cough unsuccessfully treated with inhaled beta2-agonists and steroids for about 10 months. Chest radiograph revealed a disproportion in dimensions between both lungs, with the left one being smaller than the right one. Spirometry demonstrated a restrictive pattern. During bronchoscopy, a polypoid endobronchial tumor, localized in the left main bronchus, completely occluding its lumen, was found. The tumor was diagnosed as carcinoid. In this case, due to the lack of characteristic symptoms, diagnosis of carcinoid was delayed. Patients unsuccessfully treated for bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should undergo bronchoscopic examination

A regional characterization of the GlobCurrent ocean surface current analysis

Observations of extreme conditions, characterized by high heat flux, rapidly changing surface salinity, or strong ocean current, are rare. Although analyses provide estimates of these conditions, because there are few observations to begin with, it is difficult to separately characterize (in terms of calibration and validation) extreme and typical conditions using independent observations. This requirement of independence may not be so dire, however, if we acknowledge that the impact of observations on an analysis is generally local, as is the propagation of errors in space and time. We propose that temporal extrapolation from outside a typical analysis window permits a calibration and validation by triple collocation (e.g., using only an analysis and available in situ observations; cf. Stoffelen 1998). We seek evidence of analysis performance improvement (as expected) using the calibrations that can be derived. We also seek to validate the GlobCurrent ocean current analysis across an entire current speed range, including at both the low (0.1ms-1) and high (1ms-1) ends

Cancer treatment: the combination of vaccination with other therapies

Harnessing of the immune system by the development of ‘therapeutic’ vaccines, for the battle against cancer has been the focus of tremendous research efforts over the past two decades. As an illustration of the impressive amounts of data gathered over the past years, numerous antigens expressed on the surface of cancer cells, have been characterized. To this end, recent years research has focussed on characterization of antigens that play an important role for the growth and survival of cancer cells. Anti-apoptotic molecules like survivin that enhance the survival of cancer cells and facilitate their escape from cytotoxic therapies represent prime vaccination candidates. The characterization of a high number of tumor antigens allow the concurrent or serial immunological targeting of different proteins associated with such cancer traits. Moreover, while vaccination in itself is a promising new approach to fight cancer, the combination with additional therapy could create a number of synergistic effects. Herein we discuss the possibilities and prospects of vaccination when combined with other treatments. In this regard, cell death upon drug exposure may be immunogenic or non-immunogenic depending on the specific chemotherapeutics. Also, chemotherapy represents one of several options available for clearance of CD4+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Moreover, therapies based on monoclonal antibodies may have synergistic potential in combination with vaccination, both when used for targeting of tumor cells and endothelial cells. The efficacy of therapeutic vaccination against cancer will over the next few years be studied in settings taking advantage of strategies in which vaccination is combined with other treatment modalities. These combinations should be based on current knowledge not only regarding the biology of the cancer cell per se, but also considering how treatment may influence the malignant cell population as well as the immune system

Improving sea level simulation in Mediterranean regional climate models

For now, the question about future sea level change in the Mediterranean remains a challenge. Previous climate modelling attempts to estimate future sea level change in the Mediterranean did not meet a consensus. The low resolution of CMIP-type models prevents an accurate representation of important small scales processes acting over the Mediterranean region. For this reason among others, the use of high resolution regional ocean modelling has been recommended in literature to address the question of ongoing and future Mediterranean sea level change in response to climate change or greenhouse gases emissions. Also, it has been shown that east Atlantic sea level variability is the dominant driver of the Mediterranean variability at interannual and interdecadal scales. However, up to now, long-term regional simulations of the Mediterranean Sea do not integrate the full sea level information from the Atlantic, which is a substantial shortcoming when analysing Mediterranean sea level response. In the present study we analyse different approaches followed by state-of-the-art regional climate models to simulate Mediterranean sea level variability. Additionally we present a new simulation which incorporates improved information of Atlantic sea level forcing at the lateral boundary. We evaluate the skills of the different simulations in the frame of long-term hindcast simulations spanning from 1980 to 2012 analysing sea level variability from seasonal to multidecadal scales. Results from the new simulation show a substantial improvement in the modelled Mediterranean sea level signal. This confirms that Mediterranean mean sea level is strongly influenced by the Atlantic conditions, and thus suggests that the quality of the information in the lateral boundary conditions (LBCs) is crucial for the good modelling of Mediterranean sea level. We also found that the regional differences inside the basin, that are induced by circulation changes, are model-dependent and thus not affected by the LBCs. Finally, we argue that a correct configuration of LBCs in the Atlantic should be used for future Mediterranean simulations, which cover hindcast period, but also for scenarios

Projections of global-scale extreme sea levels and resulting episodic coastal flooding over the 21st Century

Global models of tide, storm surge, and wave setup are used to obtain projections of episodic coastal flooding over the coming century. The models are extensively validated against tide gauge data and the impact of uncertainties and assumptions on projections estimated in detail. Global “hotspots” where there is projected to be a significant change in episodic flooding by the end of the century are identified and found to be mostly concentrated in north western Europe and Asia. Results show that for the case of, no coastal protection or adaptation, and a mean RCP8.5 scenario, there will be an increase of 48% of the world’s land area, 52% of the global population and 46% of global assets at risk of flooding by 2100. A total of 68% of the global coastal area flooded will be caused by tide and storm events with 32% due to projected regional sea level rise

Inhibition of NOS- like activity in maize alters the expression of genes involved in H2O2 scavenging and glycine betaine biosynthesis

Nitric oxide synthase-like activity contributes to the production of nitric oxide in plants, which controls plant responses to stress. This study investigates if changes in ascorbate peroxidase enzymatic activity and glycine betaine content in response to inhibition of nitric oxide synthase-like activity are associated with transcriptional regulation by analyzing transcript levels of genes (betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase) involved in glycine betaine biosynthesis and those encoding antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase and catalase) in leaves of maize seedlings treated with an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase-like activity. In seedlings treated with a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, transcript levels of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase were decreased. In plants treated with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, the transcript levels of ascorbate peroxidase-encoding genes were down-regulated. We thus conclude that inhibition of nitric oxide synthase-like activity suppresses the expression of ascorbate peroxidase and betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase genes in maize leaves. Furthermore, catalase activity was suppressed in leaves of plants treated with nitric oxide synthase inhibitor; and this corresponded with the suppression of the expression of catalase genes. We further conclude that inhibition of nitric oxide synthase-like activity, which suppresses ascorbate peroxidase and catalase enzymatic activities, results in increased H2O2 content

An ensemble of eddy-permitting global ocean reanalyses from the MyOcean project

A set of four eddy-permitting global ocean reanalyses produced in the framework of the MyOcean project have been compared over the altimetry period 1993–2011. The main differences among the reanalyses used here come from the data assimilation scheme implemented to control the ocean state by inserting reprocessed observations of sea surface temperature (SST), in situ temperature and salinity profiles, sea level anomaly and sea-ice concentration. A first objective of this work includes assessing the interannual variability and trends for a series of parameters, usually considered in the community as essential ocean variables: SST, sea surface salinity, temperature and salinity averaged over meaningful layers of the water column, sea level, transports across pre-defined sections, and sea ice parameters. The eddy-permitting nature of the global reanalyses allows also to estimate eddy kinetic energy. The results show that in general there is a good consistency between the different reanalyses. An intercomparison against experiments without data assimilation was done during the MyOcean project and we conclude that data assimilation is crucial for correctly simulating some quantities such as regional trends of sea level as well as the eddy kinetic energy. A second objective is to show that the ensemble mean of reanalyses can be evaluated as one single system regarding its reliability in reproducing the climate signals, where both variability and uncertainties are assessed through the ensemble spread and signal-to-noise ratio. The main advantage of having access to several reanalyses differing in the way data assimilation is performed is that it becomes possible to assess part of the total uncertainty. Given the fact that we use very similar ocean models and atmospheric forcing, we can conclude that the spread of the ensemble of reanalyses is mainly representative of our ability to gauge uncertainty in the assimilation methods. This uncertainty changes a lot from one ocean parameter to another, especially in global indices. However, despite several caveats in the design of the multi-system ensemble, the main conclusion from this study is that an eddy-permitting multi-system ensemble approach has become mature and our results provide a first step towards a systematic comparison of eddy-permitting global ocean reanalyses aimed at providing robust conclusions on the recent evolution of the oceanic state

Antioxidant and Antitumor Activity of a Bioactive Polyphenolic Fraction Isolated from the Brewing Process

There is increasing interest in identifying natural bioactive compounds that can improve mitochondrial functionality and regulate apoptosis. The brewery industry generates wastewater that could yield a natural extract containing bioactive phenolic compounds. Polyphenols act as antioxidants and have been documented to protect the human body from degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or cancer. The main aims of our research were to determine the phenolic profile of a crude extract obtained (at pilot scale) from a brewery waste stream and to evaluate the biochemical activity of this extract on the mitochondrial function of a cancer cell line (SH-SY5Y). This work is a basic translational pilot study. The total phenolic content was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu assay, which revealed that 2.30% of the extract consisted of phenolic compounds. The polyphenols, identified and quantified by reverse-phase-high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC/MS), were mainly flavonoids. After cell culture, the tumoral cells treated with the polyphenolic extract showed enhanced mitochondrial oxidative function, which is likely related to a decrease in oxidative stress and an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis. This type of brewery waste stream, properly treated, may be a promising source of natural antioxidants to replace the synthetic antioxidants currently used in the food industry