Special Education Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of Cooperating Teachers’ Co-Teaching Relationships: A Qualitative Study

During clinical experiences, in-service teachers provide models of instruction for pre-service teachers to learn. With the inclusion of students with special needs in general education settings, these models of instruction often include co-teaching. It is vital for pre-service teachers to see productive co-teaching models since co-teaching is a complex form of instruction differing greatly from traditional solo instruction. Currently there is a dearth of research in the fields of co-teaching and special education regarding the influence of perceived quality of co-teaching modeled in clinical experiences and the development of pre-service teacher attitudes and confidence toward co-teaching. This study sought to describe the co-teaching experiences special education pre-service teachers perceived as significant in developing their own co-teaching confidence and perceptions based on the perceived quality of co-teaching modeled by their cooperating teacher. In this multiple case study, I collected data from special education pre-service teachers regarding their experiences observing co-teaching in clinical placements using virtual interviews and online journals. I performed a thematic analysis of the data using deductive coding. I found participants’ perceptions of quality co-teaching were similar to those in the literature, indicating the pre-service teachers in this study adequately evaluated the co-teaching relationships they observed. Furthermore, participant responses indicated that their perception of co-teaching relationship quality appeared to influence their interest and confidence in future co-teaching as in-service teachers. These findings should be considered in the creation of systematic co-teaching preparation in teacher education programs, specifically in the placement and support of pre-service teachers in co-taught classrooms during clinical experiences

A Comparison of Learning by Trial and Error with Learning by Observation and Insight and Its Bearing upon the Gestalt Theory

Some students of science are drawn to psychology because it offers an almost unlimited field for investigation and research. It has been said that psychology is individualistic and no two systems are alike. This is true only in part as there are certain principles agreed upon by the majority of psychologists, but there are also many on which leaders in this science have different opinions. As early as 1876 Alexander Bain advanced theories regarding the method by which learning takes place. He asserted that man, in the beginning, has a proneness to make voluntary movements which are originated by stimuli, but whose course is at first the result of chance. From these spontaneous movements those are chosen which manifest adaptiveness of the organism

Signalling mechanisms contributing to integrin activation and immunological synapse formation in B cells

When a B cell encounters specific membrane-bound antigen, a series of signalling events trigger cytoskeletal rearrangements, integrin activation and cell polarisation. This, in turn, allows for B cell spreading and the formation of the immunological synapse (IS) by segregation of the B cell receptor (BCR) and integrins into domains known as central and peripheral supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC and pSMAC, respectively). While much is known about the signalling pathways triggered by antigen recognition, evidence linking these pathways to integrin activation and IS formation is lacking. Here, confocal microscopy and biochemical approaches were used to dissect the signalling pathways regulating integrin activation and formation of the B cell IS. The obtained data reveals that membrane-bound antigen recognition by the BCR triggers activation of the integrin leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) by a signalling mechanism involving tyrosine kinases, the GTP/GDP exchange factors Vavl and Vav2, the small GTPase Rac2 and phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K). By supporting LFA-1 activation, this pathway regulates B cell adhesion and formation of the pSMAC at the IS. Furthermore, Vav1 is revealed as the master regulator of B cell spreading. B cell adhesion mediated by the integrin very late antigen 4 (VLA-4) and its recruitment to the IS also rely on tyrosine kinase and PI3K activity. However, in contrast to LFA-1, Vav and Rac proteins seem to have redundant functions. Finally, engagement of LFA-1 and VLA-4 during the initial stage of membrane- antigen recognition leads to tight B cell adhesion and therefore supports B cell spreading when the amount of antigen is low. This may represent a critical mechanism supporting efficient B cell activation in situations of limited antigen availability

iHAT: interactive Hierarchical Aggregation Table for Genetic Association Data

In the search for single-nucleotide polymorphisms which influence the observable phenotype, genome wide association studies have become an important technique for the identification of associations between genotype and phenotype of a diverse set of sequence-based data. We present a methodology for the visual assessment of single-nucleotide polymorphisms using interactive hierarchical aggregation techniques combined with methods known from traditional sequence browsers and cluster heatmaps. Our tool, the interactive Hierarchical Aggregation Table (iHAT), facilitates the visualization of multiple sequence alignments, associated metadata, and hierarchical clusterings. Different color maps and aggregation strategies as well as filtering options support the user in finding correlations between sequences and metadata. Similar to other visualizations such as parallel coordinates or heatmaps, iHAT relies on the human pattern-recognition ability for spotting patterns that might indicate correlation or anticorrelation. We demonstrate iHAT using artificial and real-world datasets for DNA and protein association studies as well as expression Quantitative Trait Locus data

Polyelectrolyte complex based interfacial drug delivery system with controlled loading and improved release performance for bone therapeutics

An improved interfacial drug delivery system (DDS) based on polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) coatings with controlled drug loading and improved release performance was elaborated. The cationic homopolypeptide poly(l-lysine) (PLL) was complexed with a mixture of two cellulose sulfates (CS) of low and high degree of substitution, so that the CS and PLL solution have around equal molar charged units. As drugs the antibiotic rifampicin (RIF) and the bisphosphonate risedronate (RIS) were integrated. As an important advantage over previous PEC systems this one can be centrifuged, the supernatant discarded, the dense pellet phase (coacervate) separated, and again redispersed in fresh water phase. This behavior has three benefits: (i) Access to the loading capacity of the drug, since the concentration of the free drug can be measured by spectroscopy; (ii) lower initial burst and higher residual amount of drug due to removal of unbound drug and (iii) complete adhesive stability due to the removal of polyelectrolytes (PEL) excess component. It was found that the pH value and ionic strength strongly affected drug content and release of RIS and RIF. At the clinically relevant implant material (Ti40Nb) similar PEC adhesive and drug release properties compared to the model substrate were found. Unloaded PEC coatings at Ti40Nb showed a similar number and morphology of above cultivated human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) compared to uncoated Ti40Nb and resulted in considerable production of bone mineral. RIS loaded PEC coatings showed similar effects after 24 h but resulted in reduced number and unhealthy appearance of hMSC after 48 h due to cell toxicity of RIS

CMView: Interactive contact map visualization and analysis

Summary: Contact maps are a valuable visualization tool in structural biology. They are a convenient way to display proteins in two dimensions and to quickly identify structural features such as domain architecture, secondary structure and contact clusters. We developed a tool called CMView which integrates rich contact map analysis with 3D visualization using PyMol. Our tool provides functions for contact map calculation from structure, basic editing, visualization in contact map and 3D space and structural comparison with different built-in alignment methods. A unique feature is the interactive refinement of structural alignments based on user selected substructures. Availability: CMView is freely available for Linux, Windows and MacOS. The software and a comprehensive manual can be downloaded from http://www.bioinformatics.org/cmview/. The source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License. Contact: [email protected], [email protected]

High concentrations of polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles decrease activity of osteoclasts

Fracture treatment in osteoporotic patients is still challenging. Osteoporosis emerges when there is an imbalance between bone formation and resorption in favor of resorption by osteoclasts. Thus, new implantmaterials for osteoporotic fracture treatment should promote bone formation and reduce bone resorption. Nanoparticles can serve as drug delivery systems for growth factors like Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which stimulated osteoblast differentiation. Therefore, polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles (PEC-NPs) consisting of poly(l-lysine) (PLL) and cellulose sulfate (CS), with or without addition of BDNF, were used to analyze their effect on osteoclasts in vitro. Live cell images showed that osteoclast numbers decreased after application of high PLL/CS PEC-NPs concentrations independent of whether BDNF was added or not. Real-time RT-PCR revealed that relative mRNA expression of cathepsin K and calcitonin receptor significantly declined after incubation of osteoclasts with high concentrations of PLL/CS PEC-NPs. Furthermore, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay indicated that tartrate-resistant acidic phosphatase 5b activity was significantly reduced in the presence of high PLL/CS PEC-NPs concentrations. Consistent with these results, the pit formation analysis showed that less hydroxyapatite was resorbed by osteoclasts after incubation with high concentrations of PLL/CS PEC-NPs. BDNF had no influence on osteoclasts. We conclude that highly concentrated PLL/CS PEC-NPs dosages decreased osteoclastogenesis and osteoclasts activity. Moreover, BDNF might be a promising growth factor for osteoporotic fracture treatment since it did not increase osteoclast activity. © 2019 by the authors