COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION INCREASES SELF-ESTEEM IN FOURTH GRADERS

Accepting heterogeneity as an opportunity for social and knowledge learning and not just perceiving it as a burden is a major task for current school systems and consequently also for teachers. One possibility of successfully dealing with heterogeneity is cooperative learning. Due to its prosocial characteristics, physical education (PE) is particularly suitable for the use of cooperative forms of learning and teaching. Cooperative learning is able to fulfill the double task of PE by promoting the development of personality and enabling the development of current movement and sports culture. However, there are still only a few studies examining the positive effects of cooperative learning in PE classes on personality development and the psychosocial health of school children. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of cooperative learning in PE classes on the self-esteem of fourth-graders in comparison to traditional forms of learning. A total of 127 girls and boys took part in the study (66 intervention group, 61 control group, 60% male). The mean age of the total sample at the beginning of the study was 10.2 ± 1.4 years. The intervention group received PE according to the curriculum, which was carried out through cooperative forms of learning, e.g. cooperative games. The control group received no cooperative learning intervention. There were no group differences with regard to age, sex or number of participants at the beginning of the study. Statistical analysis revealed significant time-by-group differences resulting in self-reported general athleticism (p<.001), attractiveness (p=.015), agility (p=.014), strength (p<.001), coordination (p<.001) and overall self-esteem (p<.001) with a significantly greater improvement within the intervention group. Overall, this research was able to show the positive effects of cooperative learning in PE lessons on the self-esteem of fourth-graders. Cooperative learning in PE requires appropriate qualification offers for future teachers in order to expand their repertoire of methods for this learning structure. The new understanding of teaching aims to help students actively experience their own knowledge and skills during cooperation with classmates.  Article visualizations

Microfluidic platform for bilayer experimatation from a research tooltowards drug screening

The aim of this thesis, which is the development of a microfluidic platform for bilayer experimentation with the potential for drug screening on ion channels, is introduced in this chapter. After a short presentation of the field of drug screening, an outline of this thesis is given, together with a brief summary of the different chapters

Considering sex/gender in interventions to promote children’s and adolescents’ leisure-time physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Aim The main objectives of this systematic review were to evaluate the effects of interventions on leisure-time PA of boys and girls and to appraise the extent to which studies have taken sex/gender into account. Subject and methods PRISMA guidelines were followed. Two researchers independently screened studies for eligibility and assessed the risk of bias. Descriptive analyses were conducted to evaluate intervention effects in relation to the consideration of sex/gender in the studies based on a newly developed checklist. Additionally, meta-analyses were performed to determine the effect of interventions on girls’ and boys’ leisure-time PA. Results Overall 31 unique studies reported 44 outcomes on leisure-time PA and 20,088 participants were included in the current study. Consideration of sex/gender aspects in studies is low. PA outcomes with statistically significant same/similar effects in boys and girls showed higher quality of reporting sex/gender aspects of theoretical and/or conceptual linkages with sex/gender, measurement instruments, intervention delivery, location and interventionists and participant flow than PA outcomes without significant effects in both boys and girls or effects only in boys or girls. Interventions had a small but significant effect on girls (number of included studies (k) = 9, g = 0.220, p = .003) and boys (k = 7, g = 0.193, p = .020) leisure-time PA. Conclusion Higher reporting of sex/gender aspects may improve leisure-time PA of boys and girls. Nevertheless, there remains a need to address sufficient consideration of sex/gender aspects in interventions in the context of PA

Interventions Aiming to Promote Active Commuting in Children and Adolescents: An Evaluation From a Sex/Gender Perspective

Active commuting (AC) provides numerous health benefits and is one way to improve physical activity in children and adolescents. Boys are more likely to use active transport modes than girls. Girls and boys benefit differently from interventions that promote AC. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effects of interventions on girls and boys and to appraise the extent to which previous studies have taken sex/gender into account. Eleven electronic databases were searched to identify all relevant randomized and non-randomized controlled trials based on a priori defined eligibility criteria. Two independent reviewers screened the literature for eligibility and assessed risk of bias. Semiquantitative analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of intervention effects by taking sex/gender aspects into account. To evaluate sex/gender considerations in interventional studies, a recently developed sex/gender checklist was applied. Twelve studies were included that examined intervention effects on AC in girls and boys. Three intervention studies showed significant effects in increasing AC, with one study favoring girls, one favoring boys, and another focusing on a single sex/gender (only girls). According to the checklist, the overall sex/gender rating highlighted a lack of information in sex/gender consideration. Studies with and without significant effects indicated no differences in the sex/gender checklist. The results indicate that sex/gender is not considered adequately in primary interventional research on AC. To evaluate the effectiveness of intervention in boys and girls, detailed analyses of sex/gender are required, and better reporting about sex/gender-specific intervention content is necessary. In future health research to promote AC, sex/gender should be systematically taken into account

Do Intervention Studies to Promote Physical Activity and Reduce Sedentary Behavior in Children and Adolescents Take Sex/Gender Into Account? A Systematic Review

Background: Physical inactivity is often reported in youth and differs among boys and girls. The aim of this study is to assess sex/gender considerations in intervention studies promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior in youth using a sex/gender checklist. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in August 2018 to identify all relevant controlled trials. Studies screened must have reported a quantified measure of physical activity and/or sedentary behavior, and identified participants by sex/gender at baseline. For evaluation of the sex/gender consideration, the authors used a sex/gender checklist developed by expert consensus. Results: The authors reviewed sex/gender considerations in all aspects of intervention development, implementation, and evaluation in 217 studies. Sex/gender aspects were only rudimentarily taken into account, most frequently during statistical analyses, such as stratification or interaction analysis. Conclusions: Sex/gender effects are not sufficiently reported. To develop guidelines that are more inclusive of all girls and boys, future interventions need to document sex/gender differences and similarities, and explore whether sex/gender influences different phases of intervention programs. The newly developed sex/gender checklist can hereby be used as a tool and guidance to adequately consider sex/gender in the several steps of intervention planning, implementation, and evaluation

A Significant Excess in Major Merger Rate for AGNs with the Highest Eddington Ratios at z \u3c 0.2

Observational studies are increasingly finding evidence against major mergers being the dominant mechanism responsible for triggering an active galactic nucleus (AGN). After studying the connection between major mergers and AGNs with the highest Eddington ratios at z = 2, we here expand our analysis to z \u3c 0.2, exploring the same AGN parameter space. Using ESO VLT/FORS2 B-, V-, and color images, we examine the morphologies of 17 galaxies hosting AGNs with Eddington ratios , and 25 mass- and redshift-matched control galaxies. To match the appearance of the two samples, we add synthetic point sources to the inactive comparison galaxies. The combined sample of AGN and inactive galaxies was independently ranked by 19 experts with respect to the degree of morphological distortion. We combine the resulting individual rankings into multiple overall rankings, from which we derive the respective major merger fractions of the two samples. With a best estimate of fm,agn = 0.41 ± 0.12 for the AGN host galaxies and fm,ina = 0.08 ± 0.06 for the inactive galaxies, our results imply that our AGN host galaxies have a significantly higher merger rate, regardless of the observed wavelength or applied methodology. We conclude that although major mergers are an essential mechanism to trigger local high Eddington ratio AGNs at z \u3c 0.2, the origin of of this specific AGN subpopulation still remains unclear

The protective effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors in COVID-19 in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases compared to the general population: a comparison of two German registries

Objectives: To investigate, whether inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) inpatients are at higher risk to develop a severe course of SARS-CoV-2 infections compared to the general population, data from the German COVID-19 registry for IRD patients and data from the Lean European Survey on SARS-CoV-2 (LEOSS) infected patients covering inpatients from the general population with SARS-CoV-2 infections were compared. Methods: 4310 (LEOSS registry) and 1139 cases (IRD registry) were collected in general. Data were matched for age and gender. From both registries, 732 matched inpatients (LEOSS registry: n = 366 and IRD registry: n = 366) were included for analyses in total. Results: Regarding the COVID-19 associated lethality, no significant difference between both registries was observed. Age > 65°years, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and the use of rituximab were associated with more severe courses of COVID-19. Female gender and the use of tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (TNF-I) were associated with a better outcome of COVID-19. Conclusion: Inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) patients have the same risk factors for severe COVID-19 regarding comorbidities compared to the general population without any immune-mediated disease or immunomodulation. The use of rituximab was associated with an increased risk for severe COVID-19. On the other hand, the use of TNF-I was associated with less severe COVID-19 compared to the general population, which might indicate a protective effect of TNF-I against severe COVID-19 disease