The importance of constructivism in the teaching social and humanitarian disciplines

The relevance of the topic is dictated by the inconsistency of the contemporary education system. On the one hand, the pedagogical community defends traditional teaching methods. On the other hand, there is a need to implement new methods that meet the current generation’s interests and worldview. The purpose of the present study is to identify the possibility of using constructivist elements in pedagogical activity, which are elements of the subject-to-subject paradigm of education. The need to implement elements of constructivism in educational activities is determined by the peculiarities of contemporary social life, in which the main role in the formation of everyday reality is played by virtual digital reality and information technologies. The conducted analysis was based on the studies directly related to the field of education and pedagogy, as well as works on philosophy, sociology, and psychology that explore the problems of education in present-day developments. The analysis of the contemporary educational system and the concept of constructivism in education are presented based on the conducted work. Study materials can be used to analyze and solve debatable issues of contemporary education and pedagogy

Sociocultural peculiarities of gender aspect in Russian education and science

Urgency of the problem is conditioned by the fact that under the effect of globalization processes, digital revolution, and transformation of values the present-day society is changing its attitude towards gender division of labor. Gender problem in traditional communities where, on the one hand, new views on the roles of men and women are being formed, and, on the other hand, traditional attitude towards those roles, is being preserved, is of special interest. The objective of the research is to analyze present-day society for revealing the gender asymmetry in different spheres of science and education in Russia. The Russian society that tends to traditional attitude but is unavoidably a part of innovation society, becomes an interesting object for studying the gender aspect in different professional spheres of education and science. A sociocultural approach forms the methodological base of the research that allows us to analyze the current stage of development of the educational and scientific spheres taking into account social and cultural peculiarities of the society, as well as its gender perspective. The study is based on the works that reveal gender issues in modern society in the sphere of education and science, psychology, culture and philosophy. It also presents the analysis of present-day scientific and educational spheres and gender asymmetry occurred under the effect of some or other social or cultural peculiarities

Steroids from Helleborus caucasicus reduce cancer cell viability inducing apoptosis and GRP78 down-regulation

Helleborus caucasicus (Ranunculaceae) is an endemic plant of the Caucasian flora, widely distributed in West Georgia. Biological activities for the extracts of some Helleborus species including H. caucasicus have been reported. In this work we found that butanolic extract of the underground parts of H. caucasicus and isolated compounds decreased cell viability in vitro on cancer cell line of lung origin (Calu-1) in a concentration-dependent manner, compared to the normal cell line. In particular, we identified that furostanol derivative (25S)-22α,25-epoxyfurost-5-ene-3β,11β,26-triol 26-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), 20-hydroxyecdysone (6), and 3β,5β,14β-trihydroxy-19-oxo-bufa-20,22-dienolide 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, known as deglucohellebrin (7) exerted a strong cytotoxic effect on the same cells and on other cancer cell lines (HepG2 and Caco-2) reducing the S-phase entry (compound 6) and inducing cell apoptosis associated with activation of caspase-3 (compound 7). Moreover we demonstrated that 6 and 7 significantly decreased protein expression of GRP78, a general ER-stress marker, suggesting pro-apoptotic functions. These findings indicated that selected compounds from H. caucasicus are potential interesting agents in anti-cancer therapy

Steroidal glycosides from the leaves of Ruscus colchicus: Isolation and structural elucidation based on a preliminary liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry profiling

An HPLC-ESIMSn method, based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray positive ionisation multistage ion trap mass spectrometry, has been used as an effective tool to rapidly identify and guide the isolation of target saponins from the ethanol extract of the leaves of Ruscus colchicus Y. Yeo. Twenty-two steroidal glycosides, including seventeen furostanol, four spirostanol and one cholestane glycosides, were online identified. Subsequently, compounds were isolated and their structures were established by the extensive use of 1D- and 2D-NMR experiments. The structures identified by MS were fully consistent with those elucidated by NMR data. Sixteen steroidal glycosides, including thirteen furostanol, two spirostanol and one cholestane glycosides, were identified along with four known furostanol and two spirostanol glycosides. The saponin profile shows that the furostanol glycosides are the main constituents of R. colchicus extract, unlike the other Ruscus species, for which the spirostanol derivatives generally are reported as the major compounds. Moreover, for the first time a cholestane glycoside has been isolated from R. colchicus

Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry Determination of Cyanogenic Glucosides in <i>Trifolium</i> Species

Cyanogenic glucosides were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry in 88 <i>Trifolium</i> species grown at the same site. On the basis of the occurrence of cyanogenic glucosides and the linamarin/lotaustralin ratio species could be grouped into five clusters. Cluster C1 included 37 species, which did not contain cyanogens. Cluster C2 (22 species) included plants containing only lotaustralin. In clusters C3 (14 species), C4 (13 species), and C5 (2 species) both linamarin and lotaustralin were present but at different ratios. In C3 and C4 the linamarin/lotaustralin ratio was below 1, whereas in cluster C5 the ratio was much higher. Generally, the total content of cyanogens was below 500 μg/g dry matter. Only in <i>Trifolium repens</i> var. <i>biasoletti</i> and <i>Trifolium montanum</i> extremely high cyanogen concentrations were observed. There was no general rule of occurrence of cyanogens. Samples of the same species from different countries accumulated cyanogens or could be free of these compounds

Isolation of a new disaccharide nucleoside from Helleborus caucasicus : structure elucidation and total synthesis of hellecaucaside A and its β-anomer

Hellecaucaside A, a new disaccharide nucleoside featuring a 2'-O-alpha-D-ribofuranosyluridine skeleton and a 4-hydroxybenzoyl group at the 50 position, was isolated from the underground part of Helleborus caucasicus. The structure of the compound was elucidated by means of chemical degradation and spectroscopic analyses, such as 1D/2D NMR, chiral-GC, and HRMS. The total synthesis of hellecaucaside A and its beta-anomer was accomplished, unequivocally confirming the structure of the natural product