Team entitativity and teacher teams in schools: Towards a typology

In this article we summarise research that discusses ‘teacher teams’. The central question guiding this study is ‘What types of teacher teams are there in schools and can they rightfully be called ‘teams’ or are they merely groups?’. We attempted to answer this question by searching literature on teacher teams and comparing what these articles present as being teacher teams. We attempt to further grasp the concept of teacher teams by creating a typology for defining different types of teacher teams. Overall, the literature pertaining to teacher teams appeared to be characterised by a considerable amount of haziness and teacher ‘teams’ mostly do not seem to be proper ‘teams’ when bearing the criteria of a team as defined by Cohen and Bailey (1997) in mind. The proposed typology, characterising the groups of teachers by their task, whether they are disciplinary or interdisciplinary, whether they are situated within or cross grades en by their temporal duration, seems to be a useful framework to further clarify different sorts of teacher ‘teams’.

Fluorescence-based quantification of messenger RNA and plasmid DNA decay kinetics in extracellular biological fluids and cell extracts

Extracellular and intracellular degradation of nucleic acids remains an issue in non-viral gene therapy. Understanding biodegradation is critical for the rational design of gene therapeutics in order to maintain stability and functionality at the target site. However, there are only limited methods available that allow determining the stability of genetic materials in biological environments. In this context, the decay kinetics of fluorescently labeled plasmid DNA (pDNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) in undiluted biological samples (i.e., human serum, human ascites, bovine vitreous) and cell extracts is studied using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and single particle tracking (SPT). It is demonstrated that FCS is suitable to follow mRNA degradation, while SPT is better suited to investigate pDNA integrity. The half-life of mRNA and pDNA is approximate to 1-2 min and 1-4 h in biological samples, respectively. The resistance against biodegradation drastically improves by complexation with lipid-based carriers. Taken together, FCS and SPT are able to quantify the integrity of mRNA and pDNA, respectively, as a function of time, both in the extracellular biological fluids and cell extracts. This in turn allows to focus on the important but less understood issue of nucleic acids degradation in more detail and to rationally optimize gene delivery system as therapeutics

Multifocal osteomyelitis and abdominal abscessation in a warmblood foal

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report, in which a simultaneous occurrence of Salmonella-associated multifocal osteomyelitis and intra-abdominal abscessation in a foal presenting with weight loss, diarrhea and fever is described. No evidence of failure of passive immune transfer had been present at birth. Radiographic examination revealed multifocal type P osteomyelitis. Bacterial culture of synovial fluid revealed a Salmonella spp. Antibiotic treatment was adjusted based on the sensitivity results; however without clinical improvement. The foal developed abscess formations within the left femoral region, and finally a Salter Harris type I fracture of the left femur. Euthanasia was elected based on this finding. Post-mortem computed tomography revealed a large mass within the caudal abdomen that extended into the left pelvic and hind limb region, as well as multifocal osteomyelitis. Pathological examination identified the mass as a large abscess with multiple fistula tracts. Salmonella spp. was additionally cultured postmortem

Successful surgical repair of a temporal and parietal bone fracture with associated traumatic brain injury in a fourteen-day-old foal = Succesvolle chirurgische behandeling van een os temporale en parietale fractuur met bijhorende hersenschade bij een twee weken oud veulen

A fourteen-day-old warmblood colt presented with severe neurological signs of unknown origin. The foal was recumbent and comatose, and showed spastic motion of the head. Computed tomography (CT) examination revealed multiple impression fractures to the left parietal and temporal bones, as well as traumatic brain injury. Three fragments of the temporal bone were dislocated into the cranial vault. The foal was surgically treated within 24 hours of presentation: the fragments were elevated and the largest fragment was fixated with an L-shaped titanium Matrix Midface 0.8 mm reconstruction plate. The brain injury resolved with medical treatment and supportive care. Apart from a localized wound abscess that was drained, postoperative healing was uneventful and the foal regained the ability to ambulate 18 days after surgery. Follow-up CT imaging documented good fracture healing and a favorable development of the soft tissue injuries. Seven months after surgery, the foal was fully recovered and showed no neurological signs

Photothermally triggered endosomal escape and its influence on transfection efficiency of gold-functionalized JetPEI/pDNA nanoparticles

Plasmonic nanoparticles for drug delivery have attracted increasing interest over the last few years. Their localized surface plasmon resonance causes photothermal effects on laser irradiation, which allows for delivering drugs in a spatio-temporally controlled manner. Here, we explore the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) as carriers for pDNA in combination with pulsed laser irradiation to induce endosomal escape, which is currently considered to be one of the major bottlenecks in macromolecular drug delivery on the intracellular level. In particular, we evaluate nanocomplexes composed of JetPEI (polyethylenimine)pDNA and 10 nm AuNP, which do not exhibit endosomal escape by themselves. After incubating HeLa cells with these complexes, we evaluated endosomal escape and transfection efficiency using low- and high-energy laser pulses. At low laser energy heat is produced by the nanocomplexes, while, at higher laser energy, explosive vapour nanobubbles (VNB) are formed. We investigated the ability of heat transfer and VNB formation to induce endosomal escape and we examine the integrity of pDNA cargo after inducing both photothermal effects. We conclude that JetPEI/pDNA/AuNP complexes are unable to induce meaningful transfection efficiencies because laser treatment causes either dysfunctionality of the cargo when VNB are formed or forms too small pores in the endosomal membrane to allow pDNA to escape in case of heating. We conclude that laser-induced VNB is the most suitable to induce effective pDNA endosomal escape, but a different nanocomplex structure will be required to keep the pDNA intact