Assessing the efficacy of active learning to support student performance across undergraduate programmes in Biomedical Science

Introduction: Active learning is a useful tool to enhance student engagement and support learning in diverse educational situations. We aimed to assess the efficacy of an active learning approach within a large interprofessional first year Medical Cell Biology module taken by six healthcare programmes across the School of Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University, United Kingdom. Materials and methods: An active learning approach was developed for weekly formative assessment using Smartwork to design a weekly interactive multiple-choice quiz to reinforce key concepts specifically for each lecture. We tracked and assessed student performance in the module overall and in each element of course work and exam for 2 years prior to and following the introduction of an active learning strategy to engage and support learning for students from all academic backgrounds and abilities. Results: Full engagement with active learning was significantly associated with an increased overall module performance as well as a significantly increased performance in each element of class test (No engagement vs. Full engagement, p &lt; 0.001), exam (No Engagement vs. Full engagement, p &lt; 0.05) and coursework (No engagement vs. Full engagement, p &lt; 0.001) within this overall total (No Engagement vs. Full engagement, p &lt; 0.01). Partial engagement with active learning was associated significantly improved class test (No engagement vs. partially engaged, p &lt; 0.001) and coursework (No engagement vs. partially engaged, p &lt; 0.05) performance. While a trend toward increased performance in exam and overall module mark was observed, these were not significant. Discussion: Active learning is a useful tool to support student learning across a range of healthcare programmes taken by students with differing backgrounds and academic abilities in an interprofessional and widening participation setting. Student engagement in active learning was highlighted as a key contributory factor to enhanced student performance in all aspects of assessment.</p

Self-Assembly Properties of Amphiphilic Iron(III) Spin Crossover Complexes in Water and at the Air–Water Interface

The assembly properties of three known spin crossover iron(III) complexes 1&#8315;3, at the air&#8315;water interface, are reported. All three complexes are amphiphiles, each bearing a pair of Cn alkyl chains on the polyamino Schiff base sal2trien ligand (n = 6, 12, or 18). Complex 1 is water-soluble but complexes 2 and 3 form Langmuir films, and attempts were made to transfer the film of the C18 complex 3 to a glass surface. The nature of the assembly of more concentrated solutions of 3 in water was investigated by light scattering, cryo-SEM (scanning electron microscopy), and TEM (transmission electron microscopy), all of which indicated nanoparticle formation. Lyophilization of the assembly of complex 3 in water yielded a powder with a markedly different magnetic profile from the powder recovered from the initial synthesis, notably, the spin crossover was almost completely quenched, and the thermal behavior was predominantly low spin, suggesting that nanoparticle formation traps the system in one spin state

TRASH TO TREASURE: HARNESSING THE POWER OF AGRICULTURAL WASTES FOR GENERATING CLEANER WATER

The increase in global population has resulted in the escalating demand in food production, contributing to vast amounts of different agricultural waste. Their accumulation and unsustainable disposal practices can lead to serious environmental challenges. Agricultural run-offs contribute greatly to surface water pollution, therefore, meeting global food demand while protecting water quality and the environment are the key global challenges. One of the groups of pollutants of concern in the run-offs are the residual antibiotics and their presence or persistence in the environment is posing significant threats to human life. The available efforts have not achieved significant removal of residual antibiotics in wastewater, especially when ligno-cellulosic agricultural wastes have been deployed as alternative low-cost material. Therefore, the study herein focuses on the use of mahogany, an agricultural waste, for the removal of antibiotics (e.g., rifampicin) from water. The release of rifampicin to aqueous media urgently requires an effective alternative water treatment process, as the priority pathogens such as mycobacterium tuberculosis are becoming resistant to this class of antibiotic. The sawdust was dried and ground to produce particles with sizes ranging from 38 to 850 before undergoing a treatment with 2 M sulphuric acid. The concentration of rifampicin in aqueous solutions was measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer operating at wavelength of 333 nm. The adsorption experiments were conducted using a solution of rifampicin with 20 µg/mL concentration. The adsorption of antibiotic on untreated and treated mahogany sawdust had lowered the concentration of rifampicin in water by 16% and 39%, respectively, within 20 minutes of its contact with the particles the adsorbent. The removal rate of rifampicin by treated sawdust was doubled, which can be attributed to impact of sulphuric acid during the treatment process. This recent study demonstrated that the waste material was effective for the adsorption of rifampicin from water

Rehydration Properties of Whey Protein Isolate Powders Containing Nanoparticulated Proteins

peer-reviewedThe rehydration properties of original whey protein isolate (WPIC) powder and spray-dried WPI prepared from either unheated (WPIUH) or nanoparticulated WPI solutions were investigated. Nanoparticulation of whey proteins was achieved by subjecting reconstituted WPIC solutions (10% protein, w/w, pH 7.0) to heat treatment at 90 °C for 30 s with no added calcium (WPIH) or with 2.5 mM added calcium (WPIHCa). Powder surface nanostructure and elemental composition were investigated using atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, followed by dynamic visualisation of wetting and dissolution characteristics using environmental scanning electron microscopy. The surface of powder particles for both WPIUH and WPIC samples generally appeared smooth, while WPIH and WPIHCa displayed micro-wrinkles with more significant deposition of nitrogen and calcium elements. WPIH and WPIHCa exhibited lower wettability and solubility performance than WPIUH and WPIC during microscopic observation. This study demonstrated that heat-induced aggregation of whey proteins, in the presence or absence of added calcium, before drying increases aggregate size, alters the powder surface properties, consequently impairing their wetting characteristics. This study also developed a fundamental understanding of WPI powder obtained from nanoparticulated whey proteins, which could be applied for the development of functional whey-based ingredients in food formulations, such as nanospacers to modulate protein–protein interactions in dairy concentrates.Food Institutional Research Measur

Exploiting a Rose Bengal-bearing, oxygen-producing nanoparticle for SDT and associated immune-mediated therapeutic effects in the treatment of pancreatic cancer

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is an emerging stimulus-responsive approach for the targeted treatment of solid tumours. However, its ability to generate stimulus-responsive cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS), is compromised by tumour hypoxia. Here we describe a robust means of preparing a pH-sensitive polymethacrylate-coated CaO2 nanoparticle that is capable of transiently alleviating tumour hypoxia. Systemic administration of particles to animals bearing human xenograft BxPC3 pancreatic tumours increases oxygen partial pressures (PO2) to 20 - 50 mmHg for over 40 min. RT-qPCR analysis of expression of selected tumour marker genes in treated animals suggests that the transient production of oxygen is sufficient to elicit effects at a molecular genetic level. Using particles labelled with the near infra-red (nIR) fluorescent dye, indocyanine green, selective uptake of particles by tumours was observed. Systemic administration of particles containing Rose Bengal (RB) at concentrations of 0.1 mg/mg of particles are capable of eliciting nanoparticle-induced, SDT-mediated antitumour effects using the BxPC3 human pancreatic tumour model in immuno-compromised mice. Additionally, a potent abscopal effect was observed in off-target tumours in a syngeneic murine bilateral tumour model for pancreatic cancer and an increase in tumour cytotoxic T cells (CD8+) and a decrease in immunosuppressive tumour regulatory T cells [Treg (CD4+, FoxP3+)] was observed in both target and off-target tumours in SDT treated animals. We suggest that this approach offers significant potential in the treatment of both focal and disseminated (metastatic) pancreatic cancer