The Perceptions of Student Teachers of Online Pedagogical Courses and Assessment Practices in Finnish Subject Teacher Education

The purpose of this case study was to explore how student teachers at the University of Helsinki perceived pedagogical courses in emergency remote teaching. The dataset consists of the responses of 79 students to an online questionnaire and interviews with five students. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression analysis, and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The students pointed out that, on average, teachers have mastered the pedagogy of remote teaching well, although older teachers had more challenges than younger teachers. The quality of teaching was reported as being high. Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge was the strongest predictor of successful remote teaching. In terms of assessment, teachers mostly used essays and other written assignments to assess students’ achievement. According to most students, the assessment practices were implemented successfully. The results provide insights for developing remote teaching in teacher education

The Perceptions of Student Teachers of Online Pedagogical Courses and Assessment Practices in Finnish Subject Teacher Education

The purpose of this case study was to explore how student teachers at the University of Helsinki perceived pedagogical courses in emergency remote teaching. The dataset consists of the responses of 79 students to an online questionnaire and interviews with five students. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression analysis, and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The students pointed out that, on average, teachers have mastered the pedagogy of remote teaching well, although older teachers had more challenges than younger teachers. The quality of teaching was reported as being high. Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge was the strongest predictor of successful remote teaching. In terms of assessment, teachers mostly used essays and other written assignments to assess students’ achievement. According to most students, the assessment practices were implemented successfully. The results provide insights for developing remote teaching in teacher education

Mängu- ja õpperada Vanemuise pargis 2,5-3,5 aastastele lastele

http://www.ester.ee/record=b4497508*es

Yhdessä löytyy toivo : Itsemurhien ehkäisyn näkökulma Palvelevan puhelimen työssä vuosina 1965-1995

The telephone counselling service Palveleva puhelin was founded to help people at risk for suicide. The purpose of this study is to find whether suicide prevention remained the main purpose of Palveleva puhelin or if changes took place during the years 1969-1995. The study is based on the assumption that if suicide prevention was a central part of Palveleva puhelin's service, this would have been reflected in the practical arrangements of the service, the distribution of information about the service, the training of the listeners and in the help provided. This study adopts historical and qualitative perspectives. I used Palveleva puhelin's documentation to identify who used the service and how the service and practices were developed. I used communication materials to find the nature of the help offered and the recipients of the service. The content of the training provided to the listeners was used to discover what sort of topics were expected to arise in the phone calls and how the listeners were trained. The norms of Palveleva puhelin and the training programmes and materials provided us with information on the nature of the help that was provided. The study shows that Palveleva puhelin s customer base changed over the years. During the first years, marriage and alcohol problems were prevalent topics in the conversations. However, in subsequent years, the most central topics included loneliness, religious questions, mental health issues and depression. Suicide came up as a topic in approximately five per cent of the telephone conversations during the period studied. The aim was to organise the practices of Palveleva puhelin in a manner that would make it easy for people to phone in and that enabled help to be available throughout the country to a similar extent. Suicide as a topic was permanently present on every level of listener training. However, in the communication and advertisements, the topic was not particularly prevalent. Advertisements were directed mainly to people experiencing loneliness, and the opportunity to talk to someone was emphasised. An interesting question is whether people who would have wanted to discuss suicide were able to find the Palveleva puhelin service. Palveleva puhelin was the first organised form of suicide prevention in Finland. Even though the topic did not arise in the phone calls very often, it is possible that the people who phoned Palveleva puhelin for help may later have found themselves at risk for suicide if they had continued to experience the issues they did for a longer period of time and had not sought help. During the period studied, Palveleva puhelin also received a number of calls from people in need of urgent care. In these cases, immediate help was sent to the callers.Kirkon Palveleva puhelin perustettiin vuonna 1964 auttamaan itsemurhavaarassa olevia. Se oli ensimmäinen organisoitu itsemurhien ehkäisymuoto Suomessa. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkin, millä tavalla tämä tavoite toteutui Palvelevan puhelimen työssä vuosien 1965-1995 aikana ja mitä mahdollisia muutoksia vuosien varrella tapahtui. Oletuksenani oli, että itsemurhien ehkäisyn tavoitteen tulisi näkyä eri tavoin palvelun käytännön järjestelyissä, tiedottamisessa ja mainonnassa, työntekijöiden koulutuksessa sekä annettavan avun sisällössä. Tutkimus toteutettiin pääosin historiallisella menetelmällä. Palvelevan puhelimen toiminnasta syntyneiden dokumenttien avulla selvitin, ketkä palvelua käyttivät ja miten palvelua ohjattiin ja kehitettiin. Tiedotusmateriaalista tutkin, minkälaista apua tarjottiin ja kenelle palvelu suunnattiin. Koulutuksen sisällöstä selvitin, minkälaisiin keskusteluihin palvelussa varauduttiin ja miten työntekijöitä ohjattiin. Periaate- ja koulutusohjelmista analysoin Palvelevan puhelimen antaman avun sisältöä. Tutkimus osoitti, että Palvelevan puhelimen asiakaskunta muuttui tutkimuskauden aikana. Kun alkuvuosina keskusteluissa olivat useimmin esillä avioliitto- ja alkoholiongelmat, alkoi näiden osuus vähentyä, ja keskeisimmiksi aiheiksi nousivat yksinäisyys, uskonnolliset kysymykset, psyykkiset vaikeudet ja masentuneisuus. Itsemurha-aihetta käsiteltiin tutkimuskauden aikana noin viidessä prosentissa puhelinkeskusteluja. Palvelevan puhelimen toimintakäytännöt pyrittiin järjestämään niin, että yhteydenotto olisi helppoa ja apua olisi tarjolla samassa laajuudessa koko maassa. Koulutuksessa itsemurhateema oli pysyvästi mukana niin perus- kuin jatkokoulutusvaiheessakin. Sen sijaan Palvelevan puhelimen tiedotuksessa aihe ei ollut kovin selvästi esillä. Mainontaa kohdistettiin enemmän yksinäisille, ja esillä pidettiin Palvelevan puhelimen tarjoamaa yhteyttä toiseen ihmiseen. Voikin kysyä, eivätkö sellaiset ihmiset löytäneet Palvelevaa puhelinta, jotka olisivat halunneet keskustella itsemurhakysymyksestä. Silloin tällöin Palvelevaan puhelimeen soitti akuutissa itsemurhavaarassa olevia ihmisiä, joita Palveleva puhelin pystyi auttamaan hälyttämällä välitöntä apua. Vaikka aiheesta ei keskusteltu puhelimessa kovin usein, sieltä etsivät apua monet sellaiset ihmiset, joiden vaikea elämäntilanne olisi pitkään jatkuessaan saattanut johtaa itsemurhavaaraan

Expression of DLK1 and MEG3 genes in porcine tissues during postnatal development

The Drosophila-like homolog 1 (DLK1), a transmembrane signal protein similar to other members of the Notch/Delta/Serrate family, regulates the differentiation process in many types of mammalian cells. Callipyge sheep and DLK1 knockout mice are excellent examples of a fundamental role of the gene encoding DLK1 in muscle growth and fat deposition. DLK1 is located within co-regulated imprinted clusters (the DLK1/DIO3 domain), along with other imprinted genes. Some of these, e.g. the RNA coding MEG3 gene, presumedly interfere with DLK1 transcription. The aim of our study was to analyze DLK1 and MEG3 gene expression in porcine tissues (muscle, liver, kidney, heart, brain stem) during postnatal development. The highest expression of both DLK1 and MEG3 variant 1 (MEG3 var.1) was observed in the brain-stem and muscles, whereas that of MEG3 variant 2 (MEG3var.2) was the most abundant in muscles and the heart. During development (between 60 and 210 days of age) expression of analyzed genes was down-regulated in all the tissues. An exception was the brain- stem, where there was no significant change in MEG3 (both variants) mRNA level, and relatively little decline (2-fold) in that of DLK1 transcription. This may indicate a distinct function of the DLK1 gene in the brain-stem, when compared with other tissues

High aspect ratio nanomaterial-induced macrophage polarization is mediated by changes in miRNA levels

IntroductionInhalation of nanomaterials may induce inflammation in the lung which if left unresolved can manifest in pulmonary fibrosis. In these processes, alveolar macrophages have an essential role and timely modulation of the macrophage phenotype is imperative in the onset and resolution of inflammatory responses. This study aimed to investigate, the immunomodulating properties of two industrially relevant high aspect ratio nanomaterials, namely nanocellulose and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), in an alveolar macrophage model. MethodsMH-S alveolar macrophages were exposed at air-liquid interface to cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and two MWCNT (NM-400 and NM-401). Following exposure, changes in macrophage polarization markers and secretion of inflammatory cytokines were analyzed. Furthermore, the potential contribution of epigenetic regulation in nanomaterial-induced macrophage polarization was investigated by assessing changes in epigenetic regulatory enzymes, miRNAs, and rRNA modifications.ResultsOur data illustrate that the investigated nanomaterials trigger phenotypic changes in alveolar macrophages, where CNF exposure leads to enhanced M1 phenotype and MWCNT promotes M2 phenotype. Furthermore, MWCNT exposure induced more prominent epigenetic regulatory events with changes in the expression of histone modification and DNA methylation enzymes as well as in miRNA transcript levels. MWCNT-enhanced changes in the macrophage phenotype were correlated with prominent downregulation of the histone methyltransferases Kmt2a and Smyd5 and histone deacetylases Hdac4, Hdac9 and Sirt1 indicating that both histone methylation and acetylation events may be critical in the Th2 responses to MWCNT. Furthermore, MWCNT as well as CNF exposure led to altered miRNA levels, where miR-155-5p, miR-16-1-3p, miR-25-3p, and miR-27a-5p were significantly regulated by both materials. PANTHER pathway analysis of the identified miRNA targets showed that both materials affected growth factor (PDGF, EGF and FGF), Ras/MAPKs, CCKR, GnRH-R, integrin, and endothelin signaling pathways. These pathways are important in inflammation or in the activation, polarization, migration, and regulation of phagocytic capacity of macrophages. In addition, pathways involved in interleukin, WNT and TGFB signaling were highly enriched following MWCNT exposure.ConclusionTogether, these data support the importance of macrophage phenotypic changes in the onset and resolution of inflammation and identify epigenetic patterns in macrophages which may be critical in nanomaterial-induced inflammation and fibrosis

Association of PPARγ2 polymorphisms with carcass and meat quality traits in a Pietrain x Jinhua F2 population

The PPARγ2 gene is a key regulator of both proliferation and preadipocyte differentiation in mammals. Herein its genotype and allele frequencies were analyzed using PCR-SSCP in eight pig breeds (N = 416). Two kinds of polymorphisms of the PPARγ2 gene were detected, including a previously reported shift SNP A177G (Met59Val) in exon 1 and a novel silent mutation G876A in exon 5. The results revealed that European pig breeds carry a higher allele A frequency at the A177G locus and a fixed GG genotype at the G876A locus. Allele A at the G876A locus was only found in Jinhua pigs. The association between haplotype (A177G/G876A) and carcass and meat quality traits was analyzed in a Pietrain x Jinhua F2 population (N = 248). The PPARγ2 gene was found to be significantly associated with backfat thickness at the shoulder (p < 0.05), 6–7th ribs (p < 0.01), last rib (p < 0.01), gluteus medius (p <0.05) and ham weight (p < 0.01). Significant effects of different haplotypes on ham weight and backfat thickness at the 6–7th ribs, last rib, and gluteus medius were also observed