Efektivitas Pelaksanaan Supervisi Kepala Sekolah terhadap Standar Proses Pembelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam di Smk Negeri 1 Kaidipang Kabupaten Bolaang Mongondow Utara

Kajian ini menganalisis efektivitas pelaksanaan supervisi kepala sekolah terhadap standar proses pembelajaran PAI, dan faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhinya. Hasil penelitian bahwa supervisi terhadap standar proses pembelajaran PAI belum efektif karena keterbatasan waktu kepala sekolah sehingga menunjuk guru senior untuk membantunya. Selain itu kinerja kepala sekolah lebih menitikberatkan pada pemenuhan aspek teknis administratif daripada aspek akademis dan pembelajaran; pengawasan lebih ke segi fisik pendukung pembelajaran. Faktor penunjang efektivitas supervisi terhadap standar proses pembelajaran PAI yakni kompetensi kepala sekolah dan kemampuan guru dalam pembelajaran. Faktor penghambat terdiri atas keterbatasan waktu kepala sekolah dan faktor keterbatasan sumber daya pendidikan

Enhancement of the immunoregulatory potency of mesenchymal stromal cells by treatment with immunosuppressive drugs

Background aims Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are distinguished by their ability to differentiate into a number of stromal derivatives of interest for regenerative medicine, but they also have immunoregulatory properties that are being tested in a number of clinical settings. Methods We show that brief incubations with rapamycin, everolimus, FK506 or cyclosporine A increase the immunosuppressive potency of MSCs and other cell types. Results The treated MSCs are up to 5-fold more potent at inhibiting the induced proliferation of T lymphocytes in vitro. We show that this effect probably is due to adsorption of the drug by the MSCs during pre-treatment, with subsequent diffusion into co-cultures at concentrations sufficient to inhibit T-cell proliferation. MSCs contain measurable amounts of rapamycin after a 15-min exposure, and the potentiating effect is blocked by a neutralizing antibody to the drug. With the use of a pre-clinical model of acute graft-versus-host disease, we demonstrate that a low dose of rapamycin-treated but not untreated umbilical cord–derived MSCs significantly inhibit the onset of disease. Conclusions The use of treated MSCs may achieve clinical end points not reached with untreated MSCs and allow for infusion of fewer cells to reduce costs and minimize potential side effects

MCTK: a Multi-modal Conversational Troubleshooting Kit for supporting users in web applications

Conversational Interfaces for user assistance are becoming persuasive. Today, though, most chatbots are not integrated into the application in which they are placed, but only superimposed, with no communication between the conversational and the graphical interface. We propose Multi-modal Conversational Troubleshooting Kit (MCTK), a Python package to easily integrate a conversational agent for troubleshooting in web applications. MCTK is multi-modal: once the system recognizes the problem the user is encountering, the textual solution in the chat is coupled with visual hints in the GUI. On top of that, MCTK is easy to configure and offers separation of concerns: dialogue designers can work on the conversation without the necessity of modifying the code, and vice versa

Evaluasi Sistem Pendidikan Multikultural dalam Pengembangan Diri Peserta Didik di SMP Negeri 1 Kota Gorontalo

Multicultural education offers alternatives through strategic applications and educational concepts based on the use of diversity in people's lives, especially students, such as ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, and racial diversity. This study aims to describe the evaluation steps of the multicultural education system in the self-development of students in junior high schools Negeri 1 Gorontalo City. The method used is a qualitative approach, with observation and interview techniques. The results showed that the steps in evaluating the multicultural education system in student self development used the Countenance Stake evaluation model approach: 1) The initial steps focus on the symptoms or phenomena that were evaluated according to the K'13 Revised 2017; 2) Collect information based on the characteristics of basic competencies in KI-1 and KI-2; 3) Entering the description data in the matrix framework in this case using the assessment format; 4) Process data analysis on a matrix framework using assessment standards; and 5) Make a report about the results of the analysisPendidikan multikultural menawarkan satu alternatif melalui penerapan strategis dan konsep pendidikan yang berbasis pada pemanfaatan keragaman dalam kehidupan masyarakat, khususnya yang ada pada peserta didik, seperti keragaman etnis, budaya, bahasa, agama dan ras. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan langkah-langkah evaluasi sistem  Pendidikan Multikultural dalam pengembangan diri peserta didik di SMP Negeri 1 Kota Gorontalo. Metode yang digunakan adalah pendekatan kualitatif, dengan teknik observasi dan wawancara. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa langkah-langkah evaluasi sistem pendidikan multikultural dalam pengembangan diri peserta didik dengan menggunakan pendekatan model evaluasi Countenance Stake : 1) Langkah awal memusatkan pada gejala atau fenomena yang dievaluasi sesuai K’13 Revisi 2017; 2) Mengumpulkan informasi yang didasarkan pada karakterisitik kompetensi dasar pada KI-1 dan KI-2; 3)  Memasukkan data deskripsi pada framework matrik dalam hal ini menggunakan format penilaian; 4) Processing analisis data pada framework matrik menggunakan standar penilaian; dan 5) Membuat laporan hasil analisis

Inhibition of tumour necrosis factor alpha in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington’s disease by etanercept treatment

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of the CAG repeat in exon 1 of the huntingtin (HTT) gene, which results in a mutant protein with an extended polyglutamine tract. Inflammation occurs in both the brain and the periphery of HD patients and mouse models, with increases in brain and/or plasma levels of neurotoxic TNFα and several other proinflammatory cytokines. TNFα promotes the generation of many of these cytokines, such as IL6, which raises the possibility that TNFα is central to the inflammatory milieu associated with HD. A number of mouse studies have reported that the suppression of chronic immune activation during HD has beneficial consequences. Here, we investigated whether TNFα contributes to the peripheral inflammation that occurs in the R6/2 mouse model, and whether the in vivo blockade of TNFα, via etanercept treatment, can modify disease progression. We found that etanercept treatment normalised the elevated plasma levels of some cytokines. This did not modify the progression of certain behavioural measures, but slightly ameliorated brain weight loss, possibly related to a reduction in the elevated striatal level of soluble TNFα

In vivo neutralization of the protagonist role of macrophages during the chronic inflammatory stage of Huntington's disease

Neurodegenerative diseases, characterised by the progressive and selective neuronal death in the central nervous system, are frequently accompanied by an activated immune system. In Huntington's disease (HD), clinical and animal studies show evidence of immune activity, along with hyper-reactive monocyte/macrophage responses, while application of immunosuppressive regimens have imparted beneficial effects to HD mice. These findings suggest a contributory role of the immune system in HD pathology, with immune-based interventions offering a potential therapeutic strategy. Herein, we show that peripheral and CNS immune system activity increased with disease progression in HD mouse models and defined the phenotype of the immune response. Additionally, the depletion of monocytes and macrophages in vivo, via clodronate liposome treatment, revealed a major contributory role of these innate immune cells to the chronic inflammatory milieu observed during the course of the disease. This suggests that peripheral immunomodulatory strategies targeting monocytes and macrophages could be relevant for HD

Inhibition of tumour necrosis factor alpha in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington’s disease by etanercept treatment

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of the CAG repeat in exon 1 of the huntingtin (HTT) gene, which results in a mutant protein with an extended polyglutamine tract. Inflammation occurs in both the brain and the periphery of HD patients and mouse models, with increases in brain and/or plasma levels of neurotoxic TNFα and several other proinflammatory cytokines. TNFα promotes the generation of many of these cytokines, such as IL6, which raises the possibility that TNFα is central to the inflammatory milieu associated with HD. A number of mouse studies have reported that the suppression of chronic immune activation during HD has beneficial consequences. Here, we investigated whether TNFα contributes to the peripheral inflammation that occurs in the R6/2 mouse model, and whether the in vivo blockade of TNFα, via etanercept treatment, can modify disease progression. We found that etanercept treatment normalised the elevated plasma levels of some cytokines. This did not modify the progression of certain behavioural measures, but slightly ameliorated brain weight loss, possibly related to a reduction in the elevated striatal level of soluble TNFα

The Role of Innate APOBEC3G and Adaptive AID Immune Responses in HLA-HIV/SIV Immunized SHIV Infected Macaques

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Acquisition of pneumococci specific effector and regulatory Cd4+ T cells localising within human upper respiratory-tract mucosal lymphoid tissue

The upper respiratory tract mucosa is the location for commensal Streptococcus (S.) pneumoniae colonization and therefore represents a major site of contact between host and bacteria. The CD4(+) T cell response to pneumococcus is increasingly recognised as an important mediator of immunity that protects against invasive disease, with data suggesting a critical role for Th17 cells in mucosal clearance. By assessing CD4 T cell proliferative responses we demonstrate age-related sequestration of Th1 and Th17 CD4(+) T cells reactive to pneumococcal protein antigens within mucosal lymphoid tissue. CD25(hi) T cell depletion and utilisation of pneumococcal specific MHCII tetramers revealed the presence of antigen specific Tregs that utilised CTLA-4 and PDL-1 surface molecules to suppress these responses. The balance between mucosal effector and regulatory CD4(+) T cell immunity is likely to be critical to pneumococcal commensalism and the prevention of unwanted pathology associated with carriage. However, if dysregulated, such responses may render the host more susceptible to invasive pneumococcal infection and adversely affect the successful implementation of both polysaccharide-conjugate and novel protein-based pneumococcal vaccines

Transient Nature of Long-Term Nonprogression and Broad Virus-Specific Proliferative T-Cell Responses with Sustained Thymic Output in HIV-1 Controllers

HIV-1(+) individuals who, without therapy, conserve cellular anti-HIV-1 responses, present with high, stable CD4(+) T-cell numbers, and control viral replication, facilitate analysis of atypical viro-immunopathology. In the absence of universal definition, immune function in such HIV controllers remains an indication of non-progression.CD4 T-cell responses to a number of HIV-1 proteins and peptide pools were assessed by IFN-gamma ELISpot and lymphoproliferative assays in HIV controllers and chronic progressors. Thymic output was assessed by sjTRECs levels. Follow-up of 41 HIV-1(+) individuals originally identified as "Long-term non-progressors" in 1996 according to clinical criteria, and longitudinal analysis of two HIV controllers over 22 years, was also performed. HIV controllers exhibited substantial IFN-gamma producing and proliferative HIV-1-specific CD4 T-cell responses to both recombinant proteins and peptide pools of Tat, Rev, Nef, Gag and Env, demonstrating functional processing and presentation. Conversely, HIV-specific T-cell responses were limited to IFN-gamma production in chronic progressors. Additionally, thymic output was approximately 19 fold higher in HIV controllers than in age-matched chronic progressors. Follow-up of 41 HIV-1(+) patients identified as LTNP in 1996 revealed the transitory characteristics of this status. IFN-gamma production and proliferative T-cell function also declines in 2 HIV controllers over 22 years.Although increased thymic output and anti-HIV-1 T-cell responses are observed in HIV controllers compared to chronic progressors, the nature of nonprogressor/controller status appears to be transitory