Pre- and post-race intestinal microbiota in long-distance sled dogs and associations with performance

Although our understanding of the role of the gut microbiota in different diseases is improving, our knowledge regarding how the gut microbiota affects functioning in healthy individuals is still limited. Here, we hypothesize that the gut microbiota could be associated with sled dog endurance-race performance. We investigated the gut microbiota in 166 fecal samples from 96 Alaskan Huskies, representing 16 teams participating in the 2016 Femund Race (400 km) in Norway, relating the microbiota composition to performance and metadata derived from questionnaires. For 16S rRNA gene sequencing-derived compositional data, we found a strong negative association between Enterobacteriaceae (dysbiosis-associated) and Clostridium hiranonis (normobiosis-associated). The teams with the best performances showed both the lowest levels of dysbiosis-associated bacteria prior to the race and the lowest change (decrease) in these bacteria after the race. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that normobiosis-associated bacteria are involved in resilience mechanisms, potentially preventing growth of Enterobacteriaceae during the race.publishedVersio

In pursuit of quality: early childhood qualifications and training policy

This paper aims to critique policy discourses around the pursuit of quality in early years education. Taking England as a focal point, it problematizes the use of the term ‘quality’ and attempts to standardise its meaning; highlighting the disconnect that exists between policy and practice. The paper combines discourse analysis of a small number of key government documents with a series of interviews with early years stakeholders in order to identify issues that will have resonance and can inform a much needed continuation of debates about what quality might mean. Over the course of the research it became apparent that there was considerable disquiet amongst early years practitioners with regards the current qualifications and training landscape, particularly with regards to what many viewed as ideologically-driven policy-making, not informed by proper dialogue with the sector

Lapsilähtöinen pedagogiikka varhaiskasvattajien kanssa konstruoituna

Tämä artikkeli esittelee lapsilähtöistä pedagogiikkaa yhdessä konstruoituna varhaiskasvatuksen ammattilaisten kanssa. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat lapsilähtöisen pedagogiikan ilmenemismuodot, sekä laadukas lapsilähtöinen pedagogiikka. Osallistujajoukko koostuu lapsilähtöiseen pedagogiikkaan sitoutuneista kasvattajista Virosta, Englannista, Yhdysvalloista ja Suomesta. Teoriaohjaava sisällönanalyysi perustuu viikon ajalta kerätylle 29 pedagogiselle päiväkirjalle joista löysimme 351 lapsilähtöistä episodia. Lapsilähtöisen pedagogiikan teoreettinen kehys perustuu kolme ydinkomponentille: lapsi toiminnan subjektina, edestakainen vuorovaikutus sekä kehkeytyvä opetussuunnitelma. Aineistossa edestakainen vuorovaikutus perustuu aikuisen aktiiviseen rooliin, jossa lasten elämismaailmat sekä intressit kohtaavat. Opettajilla on valmiuksia tarjota sisältöjä, mutta erityisesti joustaa toiminnasta opetussuunnitelman kehkeytymiseksi. Lapsilähtöisyys ei ole sidottu yksinomaan lapsen aloitteisiin, eikä yksittäisiin toimintamuotoihin. Laadukkaassa lapsilähtöisessä pedagogiikassa aikuinen harkitsee rooliaan erityisellä herkkyydellä palvellen teoillaan lapsen tilannekohtaisia intressejä. This paper is a showcase of child-initiated pedagogies as co-constructed with early childhood education practitioners in four countries: Finland, England, Estonia and the USA. The paper also seeks to construe high-quality child-initiated pedagogies. The committed practitioners of child-initiated pedagogies were asked to document a week of their in form of pedagogical diary. The data consists of 29 pedagogical diaries, out of which 351 child-initiated episodes were extracted. An abductive content analysis was performed on the data with the help of child-initiated framework consisting of three core components: child as a subject, reciprocal dialogue and emergent curriculum. The results emphasize the active roles of a practitioner in enabling reciprocal dialogue. Child-initiated pedagogies are not restricted by the type of activity, nor solely by child's initiative. High-quality child-initiated episodes show deep commitment and meaningfulness, attained through careful consideration of adult role and structural flexibility.</p

Lapsilähtöinen pedagogiikka varhaiskasvattajien kanssa konstruoituna

This paper is a showcase of child-initiated pedagogies as co-constructed with early childhood education practitioners in four countries: Finland, England, Estonia and the USA. The paper also seeks to construe high-quality child-initiated pedagogies. The committed practitioners of child-initiated pedagogies were asked to document a week of their in form of pedagogical diary. The data consists of 29 pedagogical diaries, out of which 351 child-initiated episodes were extracted. An abductive content analysis was performed on the data with the help of child-initiated framework consisting of three core components: child as a subject, reciprocal dialogue and emergent curriculum. The results emphasize the active roles of a practitioner in enabling reciprocal dialogue. Child-initiated pedagogies are not restricted by the type of activity, nor solely by child’s initiative. High-quality child-initiated episodes show deep commitment and meaningfulness, attained through careful consideration of adult role and structural flexibility.Tämä artikkeli esittelee lapsilähtöistä pedagogiikkaa yhdessä konstruoituna varhaiskasvatuksen ammattilaisten kanssa. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat lapsilähtöisen pedagogiikan ilmenemismuodot, sekä laadukas lapsilähtöinen pedagogiikka. Osallistujajoukko koostuu lapsilähtöiseen pedagogiikkaan sitoutuneista kasvattajista Virosta, Englannista, Yhdysvalloista ja Suomesta. Teoriaohjaava sisällönanalyysi perustuu viikon ajalta kerätylle 29 pedagogiselle päiväkirjalle joista löysimme 351 lapsilähtöistä episodia. Lapsilähtöisen pedagogiikan teoreettinen kehys perustuu kolme ydinkomponentille: lapsi toiminnan subjektina, edestakainen vuorovaikutus sekä kehkeytyvä opetussuunnitelma. Aineistossa edestakainen vuorovaikutus perustuu aikuisen aktiiviseen rooliin, jossa lasten elämismaailmat sekä intressit kohtaavat. Opettajilla on valmiuksia tarjota sisältöjä, mutta erityisesti joustaa toiminnasta opetussuunnitelman kehkeytymiseksi. Lapsilähtöisyys ei ole sidottu yksinomaan lapsen aloitteisiin, eikä yksittäisiin toimintamuotoihin. Laadukkaassa lapsilähtöisessä pedagogiikassa aikuinen harkitsee rooliaan erityisellä herkkyydellä palvellen teoillaan lapsen tilannekohtaisia intressejä

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis