Associations between different types of physical activity and teachers' perceived mental, physical, and work-related health

Background: The teaching profession is characterized by high levels of stress and physical complaints, which might be improved through regular participation in physical activity (PA). However, the effect of PA on mental and physical health is not always consistent and depends on the type of PA performed. The aim of this study was to examine the mental, physical, and work-related health of Flemish secondary school teachers and identify the impact on those health variables by demographic and teaching-related factors and various types of PA. Methods: This study included an online survey conducted across a representative sample of secondary school teachers (n = 1066, average age 40 years; 68 percent female). Level of PA and sitting time were estimated using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and perceived mental health and physical health were estimated using the Short Form 36. Work-related factors such as job satisfaction, occupational stress, and absenteeism were also collected. T-tests, ANOVAs, and linear regression analyses were performed. Results: Flemish secondary school teachers have poorer perceived mental and physical health than a general healthy population. This difference is particularly evident among female teachers, who reported lower perceived health, more occupational stress, and more absent days compared to their male colleagues. Higher participation in leisure-time PA was associated with a more positive perceived health. In contrast, higher levels of occupational PA and sitting time had a negative impact on perceived health. Total amount of PA, total amount of moderate-to-vigorous PA, transportation-related PA, and PA at home were not associated to teachers' perceived health. Conclusion: Because secondary school teachers' levels of perceived health are low, they are an important target group for interventions aiming to improve health. Only leisure-time PA was associated with more positive perceived health. This finding may indicate that teachers performing more exercise during leisure time, or in a more autonomous way, may be more resistant to physical and mental health problems. Future research should verify whether promoting leisure-time PA among teachers has the potential to improve their mental and physical health, and counteract the negative associations between teachers' health and their occupational PA

The Use of Self-Study in Health Professional Higher Education and Medical Education - A Mixed-Method Systematic Review

Purpose: Health profession education and medical education should implement primarily active learning units in the curriculum. Self-study/guided self-study is such a tool that promotes active learning, a method that involves students in their learning process. The implementation of active learning is intended to develop or consolidate practical skills (hands-on). This mixed-method systematic review evaluated the of self-study/guided self-study in the university landscape for health professions education and medical education. Another goal was to foster awareness of the method self-study/guided self-study. Method: A systematic literature search in CINAHL, Embase, ERIC, PubMed and Web of Science was performed. Additionally, a manual search was conducted. This article included qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method study designs. Included articles were appraised using the JBI Critical Appraisal Tool for qualitative and quantitative research. Abductive thematic analysis was used to synthesize evidence. Random-effects meta-analysis was performed to determine the effects of self-study that develop or consolidate practical skills (hands-on) in health professional or medical students compared to traditional teaching. Results: Fifteen articles were included totaling 3949 students volunteering in the studies. Critical appraisal of the studies ranged from average to good. Seven studies reported the use of individual self-study. The overall weighted effect favored self-study compared to traditional teaching (SDM 0.30, 95%CI: 0.13-0.48, p = 0.003). Discussion: The synthesized findings suggested that self-study/guided self-study was used as individual self-study. Self-study/guided self-study could develop or consolidate practical skill (hands-on) in health professional and medical students. The self-study/guided self-study should be structured in such a way that individual learning, dyad and group learning are possible

Putting chromatin in its place: the pioneer factor NeuroD1 modulates chromatin state to drive cell fate decisions

Cell fate decisions require the deployment of distinct transcriptional programmes—how this is controlled and orchestrated is a key question from basic developmental biology to regenerative medicine. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Pataskar and Jung et al (Pataskar et al, 2015) demonstrate how the transcription factor NeuroD1 acts genome‐wide to elicit a specific neurogenic programme, including differentiation and migration. Much of that activity is due to NeuroD1 acting as a pioneer factor. NeuroD1 is able to bind its targets within repressive chromatin and can induce a more open chromatin state amenable to cell type‐specific regulation

A regulatory code for neurogenic gene expression in the Drosophila embryo

Bioinformatics methods have identified enhancers that mediate restricted expression in the Drosophila embryo. However, only a small fraction of the predicted enhancers actually work when tested in vivo. In the present study, co-regulated neurogenic enhancers that are activated by intermediate levels of the Dorsal regulatory gradient are shown to contain several shared sequence motifs. These motifs permitted the identification of new neurogenic enhancers with high precision: five out of seven predicted enhancers direct restricted expression within ventral regions of the neurogenic ectoderm. Mutations in some of the shared motifs disrupt enhancer function, and evidence is presented that the Twist and Su(H) regulatory proteins are essential for the specification of the ventral neurogenic ectoderm prior to gastrulation. The regulatory model of neurogenic gene expression defined in this study permitted the identification of a neurogenic enhancer in the distant Anopheles genome. We discuss the prospects for deciphering regulatory codes that link primary DNA sequence information with predicted patterns of gene expression

Enhancer Responses to Similarly Distributed Antagonistic Gradients in Development

Formation of spatial gene expression patterns in development depends on transcriptional responses mediated by gene control regions, enhancers. Here, we explore possible responses of enhancers to overlapping gradients of antagonistic transcriptional regulators in the Drosophila embryo. Using quantitative models based on enhancer structure, we demonstrate how a pair of antagonistic transcription factor gradients with similar or even identical spatial distributions can lead to the formation of distinct gene expression domains along the embryo axes. The described mechanisms are sufficient to explain the formation of the anterior and the posterior knirps expression, the posterior hunchback expression domain, and the lateral stripes of rhomboid expression and of other ventral neurogenic ectodermal genes. The considered principles of interaction between antagonistic gradients at the enhancer level can also be applied to diverse developmental processes, such as domain specification in imaginal discs, or even eyespot pattern formation in the butterfly wing

Divergence in cis-regulatory networks: taking the 'species' out of cross-species analysis

Significant differences between species in genomic occupancy of conserved transcription factors are mostly due to species-specificity of cis-regulatory sequences

Planning and Implementation of Guided Self-study in an Undergraduate Physiotherapy Curriculum in Switzerland: A Feasibility Study

Background: Self-directed learning (andragogy) or self-determined learning (heutagogy) can be implemented in guided self-study (GSS) with the aim to foster changes in the knowledge and skills of physiotherapy students in a higher education setting. To date, there is a lack of evidence for the use of GSS in higher education for physiotherapy. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of developing and implementing GSS in an undergraduate physiotherapy educational program in Switzerland. In addition, the effectiveness of GSS in bringing changes in knowledge and skills was assessed. Method: Full-time undergraduate physiotherapy students (n = 49) from the third semester volunteered in this feasibility study. Students were randomly allocated into a GSS group or a control group (CG) in the period from October to November 2019. The GSS group prepared a total of 3 clinical cases. Each case was processed in an 8-day cycle. On day 1, the clinical case (ie, description of a patient and symptoms) and learning goals were provided to the students electronically. The students prepared the cases in groups from days 2 to 7. They were guided 2 times by the tutor (physical meeting and via Skype) during this preparation phase. The results of group work were presented and reflected on during a moderated plenum session (90 minutes) on day 8. The feasibility of this higher education study was operationalized as follows: exposure (“dose,” ie, the number of GSS sessions performed over 90 minutes, as well as the content of the cases and the learning objectives); students’ responsiveness, with an a priori set 100% willingness to participate on day 8; program differentiation, to illustrate differences between the content of GSS cases and the curriculum; and degree of acceptability. In addition, an assessment was made of the total scores in the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and written examinations, as well as the amount of GSS. Statistical analyses were conducted using an intention-to-treat approach. Results: All 3 GSS sessions on day 8 lasted the scheduled 90 minutes. The content of the presented cases was aligned with the learning objectives. The responsiveness of students willing to participate on day 8 was 42%. In program differentiation, no differences in content were found between the GSS presentation content and the usual curriculum content when compared with the learning aims. Objective structured clinical examination grades and written examination grades were similar for the GSS and CG. The analysis of the focus group interview showed a low degree of acceptability indicating that the students’ workload was high during the GSS period. Conclusions: This study showed that this GSS program for undergraduate physiotherapy students in its current form is “feasible with modification.” Modification of the study protocol (eg, better time planning in the academic calendar) is needed to improve the students’ responsiveness. Alternatively, classroom hours may be reduced to favor self-study time. Such adjustments to the timetable should allow the physiotherapy students to better prepare the clinical cases. The effectiveness of the GSS and normal curriculum on OSCE and written examination scores was similar, probably due to the observed low students’ acceptability Keywords education graduate, learning curve, physical therapist

Impact of guided self-study on learning success in undergraduate physiotherapy students in Switzerland – a feasibility study of a higher education intervention

Background Guided self-study (G-SS) can be used as a self-directed learning method or self-determined learning that fosters changes in knowledge and skills in a higher physiotherapy education setting. Until now, there has been no empirical evidence for the use of G-SS in higher physiotherapy education. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility to establish a G-SS program in a fulltime undergraduate physiotherapy degree course. In addition, the effectiveness of the G-SS was assessed on changes in knowledge and skills. Method Fifty-one first-semester physiotherapy students were randomly divided into a G-SS group or control group (CG). The G-SS group received six clinical cases. Each case was processed in an eight-day cycle. One week in advance, the clinical case were provided to the students electronically (day 1). The students prepared the cases in groups and were guided by the tutor during this preparation time (day 2 to 7). Group work results were presented and reflected on during a moderated plenum session at day 8. A priori criteria of success were defined based on empirical experience for the primary outcome parameters i) exposure, ii) responsiveness of students and iii) program differentiation. The secondary outcome was the total score in the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and written exams. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS. Results The responsiveness of students as willing to participate in the G-SS program was 23%, clearly below the a priori set 83%. No differences in program differentiation were found. G-SS as compared to the CG scored significantly better on OSCE (p = 0.003) and on the written exam (p = 0.004). Conclusion The results showed that this higher education G-SS program in its current form was not feasible. Slight modification of the study protocol (e.g. better time planning in the academic calendar) is needed to improve the student’s responsiveness. The adjustments to the timetable must allow the physiotherapy students to prepare the clinical cases under conditions of lower workload. G-SS has the potential to promote change in knowledge and skills in undergraduate physiotherapy students when students prepare and present the clinical case solutions and reflect upon their actions

Transcriptional dynamics of microRNAs and their targets during Drosophila neurogenesis

During Drosophila melanogaster embryogenesis, tight regulation of gene expression in time and space is required for the orderly emergence of specific cell types. While the general importance of microRNAs in regulating eukaryotic gene expression has been well-established, their role in early neurogenesis remains to be addressed. In this survey, we investigate the transcriptional dynamics of microRNAs and their target transcripts during neurogenesis of Drosophila melanogaster . To this end, we use the recently developed DIV-MARIS protocol, a method for enriching specific cell types from the Drosophila embryo in vivo, to sequence cell-type-specific transcriptomes. We generate dedicated small and total RNA-seq libraries for neuroblasts, neurons and glia cells at early (6-8 h after egg laying (AEL)) and late (18-22 h AEL) stage. This allows us to directly compare these transcriptomes and investigate the potential functional roles of individual microRNAs with spatio-temporal resolution genome-wide, which is beyond the capabilities of existing in-situ hybridization studies. Overall, we identify 74 microRNAs that are significantly differentially expressed between the three cell types and the two developmental stages. In all cell types, predicted target genes of down-regulated microRNAs show a significant enrichment of their target genes related to neurogenesis. We also investigate how microRNAs regulate the transcriptome by targeting transcription factors and find many candidate microRNAs with putative roles in neurogenesis. Our survey highlights the roles of miRNAs as regulators of differentiation and glioneurognesis in the fruit fly and provides distinct starting points for dedicated functional follow-up studies

STREAM: Static Thermodynamic REgulAtory Model of transcription

Motivation: Understanding the transcriptional regulation of a gene in detail is a crucial step towards uncovering and ultimately utilizing the regulatory grammar of the genome. Modeling transcriptional regulation using thermodynamic equations has become an increasingly important approach towards this goal