What inspires young people to study physics? Results from the WG1 interviews survey

The talk will focus on the main results of an Interview based Survey of 1st Year University Physics Students, carried out within Working Group 1 (WG1) of the HOPE project. Among the HOPE activities, 112 interviews have been conducted in 16 universities, in order to investigate in some depth the factors that inspire young people to study physics and to identify possible critical factors which can produce the dropping out.The individual interviews have been carried out on a selection of students who had previously answered the WG1 Questionnaire on the inspirational factors, led by Gareth Jones from the Imperial College, London. In the talk, we will show how the interviews helped us to unpack the main results achieved with the questionnaire survey. In particular, we will present a comprehensive picture of \u201ccuriosity\u201d which turned out to be the predominant motivating factor and we will show how the interviews can throw extra light on reasons for comparatively low scores for factors like (i) enhancing employment prospects, (ii) effect of physics teacher, (iii) scientists in the family

A perturbed MicroRNA expression pattern characterizes embryonic neural stem cells derived from a severe mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an inherited neuromuscular disorder and the leading genetic cause of death in infants. Despite the disease-causing gene, survival motor neuron (SMN1), encodes a ubiquitous protein, SMN1 deficiency preferentially affects spinal motor neurons (MNs), leaving the basis of this selective cell damage still unexplained. As neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent self-renewing cells that can differentiate into neurons, they represent an in vitro model for elucidating the pathogenetic mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases such as SMA. Here we characterize for the first time neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from embryonic spinal cords of a severe SMNΔ7 SMA mouse model. SMNΔ7 NSCs behave as their wild type (WT) counterparts, when we consider neurosphere formation ability and the expression levels of specific regional and self-renewal markers. However, they show a perturbed cell cycle phase distribution and an increased proliferation rate compared to wild type cells. Moreover, SMNΔ7 NSCs are characterized by the differential expression of a limited number of miRNAs, among which miR-335-5p and miR-100-5p, reduced in SMNΔ7 NSCs compared to WT cells. We suggest that such miRNAs may be related to the proliferation differences characterizing SMNΔ7 NSCs, and may be potentially involved in the molecular mechanisms of SMA

Calibrating Water Depths of Ordovician Communities: Lithological and Ecological Controls on Depositional Gradients in Upper Ordovician Strata of Southern Ohio and North-Central Kentucky, USA

Limestone and shale facies of the Upper Ordovician Grant Lake Formation (Katian: Cincinnatian, Maysvillian) are well exposed in the Cincinnati Arch region of southern Ohio and north-central Kentucky, USA. These rocks record a gradual change in lithofacies and biofacies along a gently northward-sloping ramp. This gradient spans very shallow, olive-gray, platy, laminated dolostones with sparse ostracodes in the south to offshore, nodular, phosphatic, brachiopod-rich limestones and marls in the north. This study uses facies analysis in outcrop to determine paleoenvironmental parameters, particularly those related to water depth (e.g., position of the photic zone and shoreline, relative degree of environmental energy). Within a tightly correlated stratigraphic interval (the Mount Auburn and Straight Creek members of the Grant Lake Formation and the Terrill Member of the Ashlock Formation), we document the occurrence of paleoenvironmental indicators, including desiccation cracks and light-depth indicators, such as red and green algal fossils and oncolites. This permitted recognition of a ramp with an average gradient of 10.20 cm water depth per horizontal kilometer. Thus, shallow subtidal (.lagoonal.) deposits in the upramp portion fall within the 1.5.6 m depth range, cross-bedded grainstones representing shoal-type environments fall within the 6.18 m depth range and subtidal, shell-rich deposits in the downramp portion fall within the 20.30 m depth range. These estimates match interpretations of depth independently derived from faunal and sedimentologic evidence that previously suggested a gentle ramp gradient and contribute to ongoing and future high-resolution paleontologic and stratigraphic studies of the Cincinnati Arch region

Probing the Residual Structure in Avian Prion Hexarepeats by CD, NMR and MD Techniques

Many proteins perform essential biological functions by means of regions that lacking specific organized structure exist as an ensemble of interconverting transient conformers. The characterization of such regions, including the description of their structural propensities, number of conformations and relative populations can provide useful insights. Prion diseases result from the conversion of a normal glycoprotein into a misfolded pathogenic isoform. The structures of mammal and chicken prion proteins show a similar fold with a globular domain and a flexible N-terminal portion that contains different repeated regions: octarepeats (PHGGGWGQ) in mammals and hexarepeats (PHNPGY) in chickens. The higher number of prolines in the hexarepeat region suggests that this region may retain a significant amount of residual secondary structure. Here, we report the CD, NMR and MD characterization of a peptide (2-HexaPY) composed of two hexarepeats. We combine experimental NMR data and MD to investigate at atomic level its ensemble-averaged structural properties, demonstrating how each residue of both repeats has a different quantified PPII propensity that shows a periodicity along the sequence. This feature explains the absence of cooperativity to stabilize a PPII conformation. Nonetheless, such residual structure can play a role in nucleating local structural transitions as well as modulating intra-molecular or inter-molecular interactions

Folding mechanisms steer the amyloid fibril formation propensity of highly homologous proteins

Significant advances in the understanding of the molecular determinants of fibrillogenesis can be expected from comparative studies of the aggregation propensities of proteins with highly homologous structures but different folding pathways. Here, we fully characterize, by means of stopped-flow, T-jump, CD and DSC experiments, the unfolding mechanisms of three highly homologous proteins, zinc binding Ros87 and Ml153-149 and zinc-lacking Ml452-151. The results indicate that the three proteins significantly differ in terms of stability and (un)folding mechanisms. Particularly, Ros87 and Ml153-149 appear to be much more stable to guanidine denaturation and are characterized by folding mechanisms including the presence of an intermediate. On the other hand, metal lacking Ml452-151 folds according to a classic two-state model. Successively, we have monitored the capabilities of Ros87, Ml452-151 and Ml153-149 to form amyloid fibrils under native conditions. Particularly, we show, by CD, fluorescence, DLS, TEM and SEM experiments, that after 168 hours, amyloid formation of Ros87 has started, while Ml153-149 has formed only amorphous aggregates and Ml452-151 is still monomeric in solution. This study shows how metal binding can influence protein folding pathways and thereby control conformational accessibility to aggregation-prone states, which in turn changes aggregation kinetics, shedding light on the role of metal ions in the development of protein deposition diseases

Studying colours with a smartphone

We show how a low-cost spectrometer, based on the use of inexpensive diffraction transmission gratings coupled with a smartphone photo camera, can be assembled and employed to obtain quantitative measurements of spectra from different sources. The analysis of spectra emitted by different light sources (incandescent bulb, fluorescent lamp, gas lamps, LEDs) helps students understand the different physical mechanisms which govern the production of light. Measurements of emission and transmission spectra allow students to focus on the differences between additive and subtractive models of colour formation. For this purpose the spectra of RGB colours emitted from an LCD screen and the transmission spectra of CMY pigments of a laser printer have been studied, using our low-cost spectroscope. A sequence of experimental activities was designed, and proposed to undergraduate students and secondary school teachers in order to study the feasibility and educational potential

Introducing Quantum Technologies at Secondary School Level: Challenges and Potential Impact of an Online Extracurricular Course

Stimulated by the European project “QTEdu CSA”, within the flagship “Quantum Technologies”, a community of researchers active in the fields of quantum technologies and physics education has designed and implemented an extracurricular course on quantum physics concepts and quantum technologies applications for high school. The course, which featured eight interactive lectures, was organized online between March and May 2021 and attended by about 250 students from all over Italy. In this paper, we describe the main tenets and activities of the course. Moreover, we report on the effectiveness of the course on students’ knowledge of the basic concepts of quantum physics and students’ views about epistemic aspects and applications of quantum technologies. Results show that the designed activities were effective in improving students’ knowledge about fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics and familiarizing them with quantum technology applications

Ml proteins from Mesorhizobium loti and MucR from Brucella abortus: an AT-rich core DNA-target site and oligomerization ability

Mesorhizobium loti contains ten genes coding for proteins sharing high amino acid sequence identity with members of the Ros/MucR transcription factor family. Five of these Ros/MucR family members from Mesorhizobium loti (Ml proteins) have been recently structurally and functionally characterized demonstrating that Ml proteins are DNA-binding proteins. However, the DNA-binding studies were performed using the Ros DNA-binding site with the Ml proteins. Currently, there is no evidence as to when the Ml proteins are expressed during the Mesorhizobium loti life cycle as well as no information concerning their natural DNA-binding site. In this study, we examine the ml genes expression profile in Mesorhizobium loti and show that ml1, ml2, ml3 and ml5 are expressed during planktonic growth and in biofilms. DNA-binding experiments show that the Ml proteins studied bind a conserved AT-rich site in the promoter region of the exoY gene from Mesorhizobium loti and that the proteins make important contacts with the minor groove of DNA. Moreover, we demonstrate that the Ml proteins studied form higher-order oligomers through their N-terminal region and that the same AT-rich site is recognized by MucR from Brucella abortus using a similar mechanism involving contacts with the minor groove of DNA and oligomerization

Headcount and FTE data in the European health workforce monitoring and planning process

Background: Health workforce (HWF) planning and monitoring processes face challenges regarding data and appropriate indicators. One such area fraught with difficulties is labour activity and, more specifically, defining headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE). This study aims to review national practices in FTE calculation formulas for selected EU Member States (MS). Methods: The research was conducted as a part of the Joint Action on European Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting. Definitions, categories and terms concerning the five sectoral professions were examined in 14 MS by conducting a survey. To gain a deeper understanding of the international data-reporting processes (Joint Questionnaire on Non-Monetary Health Care Statistics-JQ), six international expert interviews were conducted by using a semi-structured interview guide. Results: Of the 14 investigated countries, four MS indicated that they report FTE to the JQ and that they also calculate FTE data for national planning purposes. The other countries do not use FTE data for national purposes, but most of them do use special calculations and/or estimation methods for converting headcount to FTE. The findings revealed significant differences between national calculation methods when reporting FTE data to the JQ. This diversity in terms of calculations and estimations can lead to biases with respect to international comparisons. This finding was reinforced by the expert interviews, since the experts agreed that the activities of healthcare professionals are a fundamental factor in HWF monitoring and planning. Experts underscored that activity should also be measured by FTE, and not only by headcount. Conclusions: FTE and headcount are significant factors in HWF planning and monitoring therefore, national data collections should place emphasis on collecting data and calculating the appropriate indicators. National FTE could serve as a call to action for HWF planners due to the lack of matching international FTE data. At the international level, it is beneficial to monitor the trends and numbers regarding human resources and working time. For the moment, the exchange of information and mutual assistance for developing the capacity to apply common methodology could be a first step towards the standardisation of data collections. © 2016 The Author(s)