New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. These include nine loci newly associated with fasting glucose (in or near ADCY5, MADD, ADRA2A, CRY2, FADS1, GLIS3, SLC2A2, PROX1 and C2CD4B) and one influencing fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (near IGF1). We also demonstrated association of ADCY5, PROX1, GCK, GCKR and DGKB-TMEM195 with type 2 diabetes. Within these loci, likely biological candidate genes influence signal transduction, cell proliferation, development, glucose-sensing and circadian regulation. Our results demonstrate that genetic studies of glycemic traits can identify type 2 diabetes risk loci, as well as loci containing gene variants that are associated with a modest elevation in glucose levels but are not associated with overt diabetes

Vkljucevanje otrok v matematicne aktivnosti, ki vkljucujejo razlicne reprezentacije: trikotniki, vzorci in stetje

This paper synthesises research from three separate studies, analysing how different representations of a mathematical concept may affect young children’s engagement with mathematical activities. Children between five and seven years old engaged in counting objects, identifying triangles and completing repeating patterns. The implementation of three counting principles were investigated: the one-to-one principle, the stable-order principle and the cardinal principal. Children’s reasoning when identifying triangles was analysed in terms of visual, critical and non-critical attribute reasoning. With regard to repeating patterns, we analyse children’s references to the minimal unit of repeat of the pattern. Results are discussed in terms of three functions of multiple external representations: to complement, to constrain and to construct. (DIPF/Orig.

CAN YOU DO IT IN A DIFFERENT WAY?

Let us start with a story about two kindergarten children, Nir and Jonathan, who were engaged in the Create an Equal Number (CEN) task. In this task, a child sat in a quiet corner of the kindergarten with an adult. He was presented with two distinct sets of bottle caps -three bottle caps were placed on one side of the table and five bottle caps were placed on the other (se

The effects of an intervention on adults' beliefs and self-efficacy for implementing numerical tasks with young children

International audienceThis paper describes a course attended by 30 graduate students in mathematics education, nonpreschool teachers, that aimed to promote participants' knowledge of young children's development of numerical competencies. Prior to the course, participants held high positive beliefs towards children's engagement with numerical activities, but their self-efficacy was low. Findings indicated that mastery experience, mostly by repeatedly analyzing videos, and repeatedly designing tasks, afforded participants a chance to see how they were progressing and increased their self-efficacy

Noticing aspects of example use in the classroom: Analysis of a case

International audienceThis paper investigates promoting knowledge of example use in mathematics education by way of analyzing a case using theoretical tools. Participants were both prospective and practicing teachers attending a university course. An event taken from a tenth grade geometry class was analyzed in terms of example use, and then discussed. Participants related to the type of example given, the timing of the example, agency, what the example was an example of, and the aim of giving the example