Teacher roles during amusement park visits – insights from observations, interviews and questionnaires

Amusement parks offer rich possibilities for physics learning, through observations and experiments that illustrate important physical principles and often involve the whole body. Amusement parks are also among the most popular school excursions, but very often the learning possibilities are underused. In this work we have studied different teacher roles and discuss how universities, parks or event managers can encourage and support teachers and schools in their efforts to make amusement park visits true learning experiences for their students

Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Hepatocarcinogenesis with Parent-of-Origin Effects in A×B Mice

Insulin resistance is a defining feature of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus but also may occur independently of these conditions. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the hepatic manifestation of these disorders, increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, mechanisms linking hyperinsulinemia to NAFLD and HCC require clarification. We describe a novel model of primary insulin resistance and HCC with strong parent-of-origin effects. Male AB6F1 (A/JCr dam × C57BL/6 sire) but not B6AF1 (B6 dam × A/J sire) mice developed spontaneous insulin resistance, NAFLD, and HCC without obesity or diabetes. A survey of mitochondrial, imprinted, and sex-linked traits revealed modest associations with X-linked genes. However, a diet-induced obesity study, including B6.A chromosome substitution–strain (consomic) mice, showed no segregation by sex chromosome. Thus, parent-of-origin effects were specified within the autosomal genome. Next, we interrogated mechanisms of insulin-associated hepatocarcinogenesis. Steatotic hepatocytes exhibited adipogenic transition characterized by vacuolar metaplasia and up-regulation of vimentin, adipsin, fatty acid translocase (CD36), peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-γ, and related products. This profile was largely recapitulated in insulin-supplemented primary mouse hepatocyte cultures. Importantly, pyruvate kinase M2, a fetal anabolic enzyme implicated in the Warburg effect, was activated by insulin in vivo and in vitro. Thus, our study reveals parent-of-origin effects in heritable insulin resistance, implicating adipogenic transition with acquired anabolic metabolism in the progression from NAFLD to HCC.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant AA016563)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant CA067529)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant P01CA0267)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant P30ES02109)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant RR007036)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant CA158661)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant CA016086

Identity, disability, and marriage for women with vulvodynia: Predicting quality of life from individual and dyadic perceptions

Vulvodynia is a chronic pain disorder, specific to women, that results in chronic vulvar or vaginal discomfort, with symptoms ranging from burning, stinging, irritation, itching, pain, rawness, and dyspareunia. Vulvodynia has the potential to affect women and their lives in many ways, including personal identity, overall quality of life, and relationships with others. This study investigated factors associated with quality of life, quality of marriage, identity, and disability for married women with vulvodynia. Using a symbolic interactionist theoretical model, it explored the ability of individual and dyadic perceptions of disability and identity, marital quality, and marital equity to predict quality of life. It also analyzed the ways in which social support and sexual satisfaction issues related to quality of life and moderated the relationships among identity, perception of disability, marriage, and quality of life. ^ Sixty-three couples participated in this study by completing paper and pencil surveys, including: Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale (PAIRS), Marital Comparison Level Index (MCLI), Walster Global Measures (WGM), Six-item Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ-6), Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS), and a demographic/diagnostic questionnaire. Backward multiple regression analyses revealed that a significant portion of the variation in quality of life scores for the women participants could be predicted by their own perceptions of self as disabled by their pain, their own perception of marital quality, and their marital equity category. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that social support satisfaction for the women, and sexual satisfaction scores for women and their husbands predicted quality of life for the women, and moderated the relationships among perceptions of disability, marital quality, marital equity, and quality of life. The findings of this study suggest that a multi-dimensional, biopsychosocial approach to assessing the impact of vulvodynia on the lives of married women should be used, and should include both individual measures and measures that include dyadic perceptions within the couple.