Sammen skaber vi fremtidens skole – et projekt om skole-virksomhedssamarbejde

Projekt Sammen skaber vi fremtidens skoles overordnede formål er at åbne skoler og virksom-heder gensidigt for hinanden. Tre kommuner har medvirket i udvikling og afprøvning af et kompeten-ceudviklingsforløb for naturfagslærere i folkeskolens overbygning. Lærere fra 3 kommuner har deltaget i workshops og en virksomhedssafari som grundlag for dialog med virksomheder om samarbejde om planlægning, gennemførelse og evaluering af naturfagsundervisning. Forløbet er evalueret, internt med løbende dialog og et spørgeskema, eksternt af Naturfagenes udviklings- og evalueringscenter vha. en deltagerudviklet rubric. Potentialet i skole-virksomhedssamarbejde er blevet demonstreret i de gennemførte samarbejder; samtidig er udfordringerne også blevet tydeliggjort

Skole-virksomhedssamarbejde og den fællesfaglige undervisning

Naturfagene i grundskolens overbygning har fået et fælles fokus i form af den fællesfaglige prøve med tilhørende fællesfaglige undervisningsforløb og fokusområder. Vi præsenterer her eksempler på samarbejder mellem skoler og virksomheder hvor vi kaster lys over hvordan skole-virksomhedssamarbejde tilføjer autenticitet til fællesfaglighed i naturfagsundervisning, og hvilke muligheder det skaber for læreres udvikling af fællesfaglig naturfagsundervisning. Eksemplerne illustrerer at skole-virksomhedssamarbejde kan udvikle fællesfaglig naturfagsundervisning ved at tilføje autentiske kontekstuelle aspekter, men også skabe autentiske møder med teknisk eller naturfagligt uddannede medarbejdere. &nbsp

Maternal Distress during Pregnancy and Offspring Childhood Overweight

Background. Maternal distress during pregnancy increases the intrauterine level of glucocorticoids, which may have long-term health consequences for the child. Objective. To examine if distress as a combined measure of anxiety, depression, and stress of the mother during pregnancy was associated with offspring childhood overweight at age 7. Methods. We performed a cohort study using prospective data from 37,764 women and child dyads from the Danish National Birth Cohort (1996–2002). At a telephone interview at approximately 30 weeks gestation, the women reported whether they felt anxious, depressed, or stressed. The 95 percentile for body mass index in an international reference defined childhood overweight at any given age. Logistic regression was used for the analyses. Results. The prevalence of overweight children at 7 years of age was 9.9%. Prenatal exposure to maternal distress during pregnancy was not associated with childhood overweight at 7 years of age (adjusted OR 1.06 (95% CI 0.96; 1.18)). In analyses stratified on sex, a small tendency of overweight was seen in boys (OR 1.15 (0.99; 1.33)), but not in girls (OR 0.98 (0.85; 1.13)). Conclusions. Maternal distress during pregnancy appeared to have limited, if any, influence on the risk of overweight in offspring at 7 years of age

Influences of the Common FTO rs9939609 Variant on Inflammatory Markers Throughout a Broad Range of Body Mass Index

A recent study reported that the fatness associated A-allele of FTO rs9939609 increased plasma high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels independent of fatness. We aimed to investigate if this gene variant had fatness-independent effects on plasma hs-CRP and 10 additional circulating obesity-related adipokines throughout a broad range of body mass index (BMI) among Danish men.In a population of 362,200 young men, examined for military service between 1943 and 1977, two groups were identified: 1) a random 1% sample and 2) all obese men (BMI = 31.0 kg/m(2), all of whom were above the 99(th) percentile of this population). At an average age of 49 years (range: 39 through 65 years), 551 men, hereof 231 of the obese, were re-examined, including genotyping and measurement of the fasting circulating inflammatory markers hs-CRP, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-18, mip1α, mip1β, sTNFα-R1, TGF-β, TNF-α and leptin. Men with known disease were excluded from the examination. All the inflammatory markers were log-transformed to approximate a normal distribution. Genotype-phenotype relationships were studied using linear regression analyses with the inflammatory markers as the response variable. Significant positive associations between hs-CRP, leptin and a broad range of BMI were observed, but the associations did not significantly differ across FTO rs9939609 genotype. There were no significant associations between the other inflammatory markers, FTO rs9939609 genotype or BMI, respectively.No fatness-independent effects of the FTO rs9939609 A-allele on a series of inflammatory markers were observed in this cohort of healthy middle-aged men representing a broad range of fatness

ROBUSTFISH: NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR GROWTH AND ROBUSTNESS IN ORGANIC AQUACULTURE

The aim of Robustfish project is to answer the following research questions: (1) Is it possible to select robust rainbow trout fry early in development before they enter the more cost intensive steps in the production cycle? (2) Does sustainable (non-fish based) dietary lipid sources affect stress resilience and immune-competence of the fry? (3) Related to (1) and (2): Is improved resistance to RTFS achieved? (4) How will the market respond to a significant increase in production of organic trout, i.e. consumer preferences and competiveness by companies in the value chain? RobustFish will strengthen the development of Danish organic trout production. In this respect the robustness of the fry to diseases is crucial, i.a. RTFS. The robustness of the fry seems to be related to larval developmental rate and to the dietary content of specific Ω-3 fatty acids (HUFAs). Stress and RTFS challenge tests will be performed to investigate if these two factors can be included in strategies to increase the robustness of the fry. Further, the effect of water treatments on health and welfare using approved agents (Pedersen et al., 2013) is tested. RobustFish will create growth – based on organic principles and in a balance between environment, ethics and economy. The efforts will also aim at improving the productivity of the conventional trout farming by a lower prevalence of RTFS, reduced medication and lower environmental impact. Connected to these efforts RobustFish also will provide needed knowledge about market conditions and consumer attitudes, including the competitive effect of increased production (Nielsen et al., 2007). Mapping the existing types of organic aquaculture products in European markets will pave the way for product development and increased market share

Common variants in LEPR, IL6, AMD1, and NAMPT do not associate with risk of juvenile and childhood obesity in Danes:a case-control study

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is a highly heritable disorder, for which the underlying genetic architecture is largely unknown. Four common variants involved in inflammatory-adipokine triggering (IL6 rs2069845, LEPR rs1137100, NAMPT rs3801266, and AMD1 rs2796749) have recently been associated with obesity and related traits in Indian children. The current study aimed to examine the effect of these variants on risk of childhood/juvenile onset obesity and on obesity-related quantitative traits in two Danish cohorts. METHODS: Genotype information was obtained for 1461 young Caucasian men from the Genetics of Overweight Young Adults (GOYA) study (overweight/obese: 739 and normal weight: 722) and the Danish Childhood Obesity Biobank (TDCOB; overweight/obese: 1022 and normal weight: 650). Overweight/obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m(2); among children and youths, this cut-off was defined using age and sex-specific cut-offs corresponding to an adult body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2). Risk of obesity was assessed using a logistic regression model whereas obesity-related quantitative measures were analyzed using a general linear model (based on z-scores) stratifying on the case status and adjusting for age and gender. Meta-analyses were performed using the fixed effects model. RESULTS: No statistically significant association with childhood/juvenile obesity was found for any of the four gene variants among the individual or combined analyses (rs2069845 OR: 0.94 CI: 0.85–1.04; rs1137100 OR: 1.01 CI: 0.90–1.14; rs3801266: 0.96 CI: 0.84–1.10; rs2796749 OR: 1.02 CI: 0.90–1.15; p > 0.05). However, among normal weight children and juvenile men, the LEPR rs1137100 A-allele significantly associated with lower BMI (β = −0.12, p = 0.0026). CONCLUSIONS: The IL6, LEPR, NAMPT, and AMD1 gene variants previously found to associate among Indian children did not associate with risk of obesity or obesity-related quantitative measures among Caucasian children and juvenile men from Denmark