Integrating new assessment strategies into mathematics classrooms: an exploratory study in Singapore primary and secondary schools

Educational researchers and practitioners have in recent years paid mounting attention to the importance of new assessment (or the so-called alternative assessment) strategies in Mathematics instruction to better reflect the new desired educational goals and shifted values in education. However, research is wanting in this area, particularly in Singapore's educational setting. This project seeks to investigate the influence of using new assessment strategies in Mathematics teaching and learning on students' achievements, in both the cognitive and affective domains, in our local school settings. A quasi-experimental study with about 15-20 teachers at primary and lower secondary levels will be carried out to assess the impact of using a variety of strategies (e.g., projects, journal writing, oral presentation, performance tasks, student self-assessment, classroom observation and interview, etc.) for three school semesters on students' learning. The project will also look into issues concerning how to use new assessment strategies effectively in classrooms in local schools. For this purpose, data will be collected from classroom observation, interviews with teachers and students, and questionnaire surveys. It is hoped that the project will provide research-based evidence and practical suggestions for promoting the effective use of alternative assessment in Singapore Mathematics classrooms. <br/

Fall prevention education to reduce fall risk among community-dwelling older persons: a systematic review

Objectives: This review aims to identify types of the existing fall prevention education (FPE) and their effectiveness in promoting fall risk awareness, knowledge and preventive fall behaviour change among community-dwelling older people. Background: FPE is a cost-effective and helpful tool for reducing fall occurrences. Evaluation: This is a systematic review study using electronic searches via EBSCOHost® platform, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar in March 2021. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021232102). The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement flow chart guided the search strategy. Articles published from January 2010 to March 2021 were included for quality appraisal using the 'Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomised Designs' (TREND) and the 'Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials' (CONSORT) statement for randomised controlled trial studies. Key issues: Six FPE studies selected emphasised on personal health status, exercise and environmental risk factors. These studies reported an increase in fall risk awareness or knowledge and a positive change in fall preventive behaviours. Two studies included nurses as educators in FPE. Conclusion: FPE evidently improved awareness or knowledge and preventive fall behaviour change among older adults. Nurses are in great potential in planning and providing FPE for older adults in community settings. Implications for nursing management: Expand nurses' roles in fall prevention programmes in community settings by using high-quality and evidence-based educational tools. Highlight the nurse's role and collaborative management in FPE

Zebrafish phenotypic screen identifies novel Notch antagonists

Zebrafish represents a powerful in vivo model for phenotype-based drug discovery to identify clinically relevant small molecules. By utilizing this model, we evaluated natural product derived compounds that could potentially modulate Notch signaling that is important in both zebrafish embryogenesis and pathogenic in human cancers. A total of 234 compounds were screened using zebrafish embryos and 3 were identified to be conferring phenotypic alterations similar to embryos treated with known Notch inhibitors. Subsequent secondary screens using HEK293T cells overexpressing truncated Notch1 (HEK293TΔE) identified 2 compounds, EDD3 and 3H4MB, to be potential Notch antagonists. Both compounds reduced protein expression of NOTCH1, Notch intracellular domain (NICD) and hairy and enhancer of split-1 (HES1) in HEK293TΔE and downregulated Notch target genes. Importantly, EDD3 treatment of human oral cancer cell lines demonstrated reduction of Notch target proteins and genes. EDD3 also inhibited proliferation and induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest of ORL-150 cells through inducing p27KIP1. Our data demonstrates the utility of the zebrafish phenotypic screen and identifying EDD3 as a promising Notch antagonist for further development as a novel therapeutic agent

Effects of Parental Involvement in a Preschool-Based Eye Health Intervention Regarding Children’s Screen Use in China

In this digital era, young children spend a considerable amount of time looking at telephone, tablet, computer and television screens. However, preventative eye health behavior education could help avoid and relieve asthenopia. The effects of parental influence on their children’s eye health behavior through the preschool eye health education intervention program were examined. The Health Belief Model was used to develop parental involvement strategy and eye health curriculum. The study was conducted in a large public preschool with five branches in Beijing, China. A total of 248 parent–child pairs participated in the baseline and follow-up surveys, of which 129 were in the intervention group and 119 were in the comparison group. The generalized estimating equation analysis results indicated that parental involvement in preschool-based eye health intervention on screen uses had positive influence on parents’ eye health knowledge, cues to action, and parenting efficacy. The intervention program also had positive effects on the increasing level of children’s eye health knowledge, beliefs, cues to action, self-efficacy, and behaviors. The results supported the implementation of a preschool-based eye health intervention program with parental involvement, which could potentially enhance children’s and parents’ eye health beliefs and practices

Modifiable Risk Factor Score and Fecundability in a Preconception Cohort in Singapore

Importance: Although multiple modifiable risk factors have been identified for reduced fecundability (defined as lower probability of conception within a menstrual cycle), no scoring system has been established to systematically evaluate fecundability among females who are attempting to conceive. Objective: To examine the association of a risk score based on 6 modifiable factors with fecundability, and to estimate the percentage reduction in incidence of nonconception if all study participants achieved a minimal risk score level. Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based cohort study obtained data from the S-PRESTO (Singapore Preconception Study of Long-Term Maternal and Child Outcomes) prospective cohort study. Females of reproductive age who were trying to conceive were enrolled from February 2015 to October 2017 and followed for 1 year, ending in November 2018. Data were analyzed from March to May 2022. Exposures: A reduced fecundability risk score was derived by giving participants 1 point for each of the following factors: unhealthy body mass index, unhealthy diet, smoking, alcohol intake, folic acid supplement nonuser, and older maternal age. Total scores ranged from 0 to 6 and were classified into 5 levels: level 1 (score of 0 or 1), level 2 (score of 2), level 3 (score of 3), level 4 (score of 4), and level 5 (score of 5 or 6). Main Outcomes and Measures: Fecundability, measured by time to conception in cycles, was analyzed using discrete-time proportional hazards models with confounder adjustment. Results: A total of 937 females (mean [SD] age, 30.8 [3.8] years) were included, among whom 401 (42.8%) spontaneously conceived within 1 year of attempting conception; the median (IQR) number of cycles before conception was 4 (2-7). Compared with participants with a level 1 risk score, those with level 2, 3, 4, and 5 risk scores had reductions in fecundability of 31% (adjusted fecundability ratio [FR], 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54-0.88), 41% (FR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.45-0.78), 54% (FR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.31-0.69) and 77% (FR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.07-0.73), respectively. Assessment of the population attributable fraction showed that all participants achieving a minimal (level 1) risk level would be associated with a reduction of 34% (95% CI, 30%-39%) in nonconception within a year. Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this study revealed the co-occurrence of multiple modifiable risk factors for lowered fecundability and a substantially higher conception rate among participants with no or minimal risk factors. The risk assessment scoring system proposed is a simple and potentially useful public health tool for mitigating risks and guiding those who are trying to conceive.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Effect of Green Tea and its bioactive compound, (-)- Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate, on Weight Reduction and on Cytochrome P450 / Ng Mei Fong

Obesity is presently considered to be an epidemic, affecting more than 10% of adult population worldwide since the 19th century. However, gene regulations that are involved in obesity are not clearly understood. Green tea (Camelia sinensis) and its main component, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) have been claimed to have anti-obese property. In order to understand the genes that are involved in obesity, changes in gene expression during obesity development in a mouse model was examined. We aimed to understand how green tea extract and EGCG affect gene regulation during obesity development and since they have been claimed to possess anti-obese property, we also aimed to examine gene expression in the mouse during development of obesity. Since green tea is widely consumed, the question arises as to whether it can interact with cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes to cause herb-drug interactions. To examine this, the interaction of green tea extracts (methanol extractGTME, water extract-GTWE and hexane extract-GTHE) and of EGCG with human recombinant CYP enzymes CYP3A4, CYP2D6, CYP1A2, CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 were investigated. Results of the animal study showed that high fat diet (HFD) induced weight gain (29.85 ± 2.34%) by 10% higher than the normal group (19.18 ± 1.95%) in 4 weeks. However, in the groups that were treated with green tea extract and EGCG, no obvious increase in weight were observed (5.74 ± 1.69% and 3.34 ± 2.27% respectively). For the study on gene expression, we found that genes that were upregulated or downregulated were related to metabolic syndrome directly or indirectly. A total of 1024 genes were irregulated in HFD suggested that these genes were involved in obesity development. A total of 1892 genes in HFD + GTE and 1817 genes in HFD + EGCG were irregulated in these samples, suggesting that the genes were involved in prevention of obesity. The overall results showed that green tea extract and EGCG are able to prevent obesity in mouse model. In the study on effects of green tea and EGCG iv on CYP enzymes, the order of potency of the green tea extracts and EGCG on CYPs is: EGCG > GTME > GTWE > GTHE. EGCG showed the strongest inhibitory effect on CYP1A2 (Ki: 0.94 μg/mL), CYP2C19 (Ki: 1.26 μg/mL), CYP3A4 (Ki: 3.28 μg/mL) and CYP2C9 (Ki: 6.79 μg/mL). GTME had strongest inhibitory effects on CYP2C19 (Ki: 2.08 μg/mL), CYP3A4 (Ki: 4.94 μg/mL) and CYP1A2 (Ki: 5.00 μg/mL) while GTWE had strongest inhibitory effects on CYP1A2 (Ki: 7.95 μg/mL) and CYP2C19 (Ki: 8.73 μg/mL). The CYP inhibition activities of the GTME and GTWE were suggested to be related to their EGCG content. Extracts with higher content of EGCG appeared to be more potent. Further investigation revealed that EGCG, GTME, GTHE and GTWE inhibited CYP1A2 and CYP2C19 non-competitively, and caused mixed competitive inhibition against CYP3A4. Specifically for CYP2D6, GTME and EGCG exhibited mixed competitive inhibition, while GTWE showed un-competitive inhibition. As for CYP2C9, GTME, GTWE and EGCG showed mixed competitive inhibition while GTHE showed un-competitive inhibition. These findings suggest that green tea extracts and EGCG are likely to contribute to herb-drug interactions when orally coadministered with drugs metabolized by CYP3A4, CYP2D6, CYP1A2, CYP2C9 and CYP2C19