Relational approach to infant–teacher lap interactions during the transition from home to early childhood education and care

The transition from home care to early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a period of intense change and development in young children's socio-spatial worlds. This article focuses on infant–teacher lap interactions during this transition period. This investigation applies a relational approach to the study of infant–teacher lap interactions. In doing so, it highlights the inherently social and contextual nature of interaction. From a relational perspective, actors, context, and situation are seen as constitutive of each other, and their interrelationality is considered central to the emergence of interactions. The data, regarding infants' first months attending ECEC in Finland, is composed of teachers’ interviews and participant observations in the form of videos and field notes. The results illustrate infant–teacher lap interactions as constructed in the interplay among actors, context, and situation. This research advances an understanding of transitions as relational processes that develop through time and are constructed within a network of temporal, agentic, contextual, and situational aspects.The transition from home care to early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a period of intense change and development in young children's socio-spatial worlds. This article focuses on infant–teacher lap interactions during this transition period. This investigation applies a relational approach to the study of infant–teacher lap interactions. In doing so, it highlights the inherently social and contextual nature of interaction. From a relational perspective, actors, context, and situation are seen as constitutive of each other, and their interrelationality is considered central to the emergence of interactions. The data, regarding infants' first months attending ECEC in Finland, is composed of teachers’ interviews and participant observations in the form of videos and field notes. The results illustrate infant–teacher lap interactions as constructed in the interplay among actors, context, and situation. This research advances an understanding of transitions as relational processes that develop through time and are constructed within a network of temporal, agentic, contextual, and situational aspects

Influence of organic matter, nutrients, and cyclodextrin on microbial and chemical herbicide and degradate dissipation in subsurface sediment slurries

Pesticides leaching from soil to surface and groundwater are a global threat for drinking water safety, as no cleaning methods occur for groundwater environment. We examined whether peat, compost-peat-sand (CPS) mixture, NH4NO3, NH4NO3 with sodium citrate (Na-citrate), and the surfactant methyl-beta-cyclodextrin additions enhance atrazine, simazine, hexazinone, dichlobenil, and the degradate 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) dissipations in sediment slurries under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, with sterilized controls. The vadose zone sediment cores were drilled from a depth of 11.3-14.6m in an herbicide-contaminated groundwater area. The peat and CPS enhanced chemical atrazine and simazine dissipation, and the peat enhanced chemical hexazinone dissipation, all oxygen-independently. Dichlobenil dissipated under all conditions, while BAM dissipation was fairly slow and half-lives could not be calculated. The chemical dissipation rates could be associated with the chemical structures and properties of the herbicides, and additive compositions, not with pH. Microbial atrazine degradation was only observed in the Pseudomonas sp. ADP amended slurries, although the sediment slurries were known to contain atrazine-degrading microorganisms. The bioavailability of atrazine in the water phase seemed to be limited, which could be due to complex formation with organic and inorganic colloids. Atrazine degradation by indigenous microbes could not be stimulated by the surfactant methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, or by the additives NH4NO3 and NH4NO3 with Na-citrate, although the nitrogen additives increased microbial growth. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Glutathione s-transferase omega in the lung and sputum supernatants of COPD patients

BACKGROUND: The major contribution to oxidant related lung damage in COPD is from the oxidant/antioxidant imbalance and possibly impaired antioxidant defence. Glutathione (GSH) is one of the most important antioxidants in human lung and lung secretions, but the mechanisms participating in its homeostasis are partly unclear. Glutathione-S-transferase omega (GSTO) is a recently characterized cysteine containing enzyme with the capability to bind and release GSH in vitro. GSTO has not been investigated in human lung or lung diseases. METHODS: GSTO1-1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis in 72 lung tissue specimens and 40 sputum specimens from non-smokers, smokers and COPD, in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and in plasma from healthy non-smokers and smokers. It was also examined in human monocytes and bronchial epithelial cells and their culture mediums in vitro. RESULTS: GSTO1-1 was mainly expressed in alveolar macrophages, but it was also found in airway and alveolar epithelium and in extracellular fluids including sputum supernatants, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, plasma and cell culture mediums. The levels of GSTO1-1 were significantly lower in the sputum supernatants (p = 0.023) and lung homogenates (p = 0.003) of COPD patients than in nonsmokers. CONCLUSION: GSTO1-1 is abundant in the alveolar macrophages, but it is also present in extracellular fluids and in airway secretions, the levels being decreased in COPD. The clinical significance of GSTO1-1 and its role in regulating GSH homeostasis in airway secretions, however, needs further investigations

Expanding access to administrative data: the case of tax authorities in Finland and the UK

We discuss typical issues in getting access to and using high‐quality administrative tax data for research purposes. We discuss research involving both quasi‐ and field experiments implemented together with the tax authority. We reflect on practical solutions that promote co‐creation of knowledge and reduce information asymmetries between researchers and practitioners, based on our experiences of working with the tax authorities in Finland and the UK. We provide examples of how to improve the overall research environment focusing on two successful case studies: the HMRC Datalab in the UK and the remote access to data from Statistics Finland. We propose two key arguments to persuade policymakers elsewhere to follow similar practices: improved data security and equality of access across researchers

Lasten hyvinvoinnin tila kansallisten indikaattoreiden kuvaamana

Lasten hyvinvoinnin seuranta on yksi lapsiasiavaltuutetun keskeisimmistä tehtävistä. Tämä raportti tarkastelee lasten hyvinvointia YK:n lapsen oikeuksien yleissopimuksen mukaisesti jaotellun kuuden ulottuvuuden valossa. Nämä kuusi ulottuvuutta ovat materiaalinen elintaso, terveys, koulu ja oppiminen, perhe, vapaa-aika ja osallisuus sekä valtion ja kuntien tarjoama tuki ja suojelu. Tässä raportissa lasten hyvinvoinnin ulottuvuuksia on tarkasteltu 58 indikaattorin avulla. Indikaattoreita on arvioitu tiedon saatavuuden, käytettävyyden ja luotettavuuden näkökulmasta. Raportti sisältää myös toimenpidesuosituksia lasten hyvinvointitiedon seurantaan. Katsaus on toteutettu yhteistyössä Jyväskylän yliopiston kanssa. Sen taustalla on vuosia kestänyt yhteistyö opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön kanssa lasten ja nuorten hyvinvoinnin kansallisten indikaattoreiden kehittämiseksi

Maternal socioeconomic status and the risk of asthma among offspring

Peer reviewe

Glutathione S-transferase omega in the lung and sputum supernatants of COPD patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The major contribution to oxidant related lung damage in COPD is from the oxidant/antioxidant imbalance and possibly impaired antioxidant defence. Glutathione (GSH) is one of the most important antioxidants in human lung and lung secretions, but the mechanisms participating in its homeostasis are partly unclear. Glutathione-S-transferase omega (GSTO) is a recently characterized cysteine containing enzyme with the capability to bind and release GSH <it>in vitro</it>. GSTO has not been investigated in human lung or lung diseases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>GSTO1-1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis in 72 lung tissue specimens and 40 sputum specimens from non-smokers, smokers and COPD, in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and in plasma from healthy non-smokers and smokers. It was also examined in human monocytes and bronchial epithelial cells and their culture mediums <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>GSTO1-1 was mainly expressed in alveolar macrophages, but it was also found in airway and alveolar epithelium and in extracellular fluids including sputum supernatants, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, plasma and cell culture mediums. The levels of GSTO1-1 were significantly lower in the sputum supernatants (p = 0.023) and lung homogenates (p = 0.003) of COPD patients than in non-smokers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>GSTO1-1 is abundant in the alveolar macrophages, but it is also present in extracellular fluids and in airway secretions, the levels being decreased in COPD. The clinical significance of GSTO1-1 and its role in regulating GSH homeostasis in airway secretions, however, needs further investigations.</p

Reconstruction and Validation of RefRec: A Global Model for the Yeast Molecular Interaction Network

Molecular interaction networks establish all cell biological processes. The networks are under intensive research that is facilitated by new high-throughput measurement techniques for the detection, quantification, and characterization of molecules and their physical interactions. For the common model organism yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, public databases store a significant part of the accumulated information and, on the way to better understanding of the cellular processes, there is a need to integrate this information into a consistent reconstruction of the molecular interaction network. This work presents and validates RefRec, the most comprehensive molecular interaction network reconstruction currently available for yeast. The reconstruction integrates protein synthesis pathways, a metabolic network, and a protein-protein interaction network from major biological databases. The core of the reconstruction is based on a reference object approach in which genes, transcripts, and proteins are identified using their primary sequences. This enables their unambiguous identification and non-redundant integration. The obtained total number of different molecular species and their connecting interactions is ∼67,000. In order to demonstrate the capacity of RefRec for functional predictions, it was used for simulating the gene knockout damage propagation in the molecular interaction network in ∼590,000 experimentally validated mutant strains. Based on the simulation results, a statistical classifier was subsequently able to correctly predict the viability of most of the strains. The results also showed that the usage of different types of molecular species in the reconstruction is important for accurate phenotype prediction. In general, the findings demonstrate the benefits of global reconstructions of molecular interaction networks. With all the molecular species and their physical interactions explicitly modeled, our reconstruction is able to serve as a valuable resource in additional analyses involving objects from multiple molecular -omes. For that purpose, RefRec is freely available in the Systems Biology Markup Language format

Lapsuudessa koettu eriarvoisuus : rajoitettuja mahdollisuuksia olla ja osallistua

TIIVISTELMÄ Harju, Kaisa. 2016. Lapsuudessa koettu eriarvoisuus: rajoitettuja mahdollisuuksia olla ja osallistua. Varhaiskasvatustieteen pro gradu -tutkielma. Jyväskylän yliopisto. Kasvatustieteiden laitos. 105 sivua. Tutkimuksen aihe oli lapsuudessa koettu eriarvoisuus. Tavoitteena oli selvittää kirjoitelmien kautta, mitä eriarvoisuus lapsuudessa on, mistä oman eriarvoisuuden nähtiin johtuvan ja miten eriarvoisuuden kokemus rakentui aineiston tarinoissa. Eriarvoisuus määrittyi tasa-arvon vastakohdaksi ja sitä lähestyttiin henkilökohtaisena lapsuuden kokemuksena. Lapsuus nähtiin muistoista rakentuvana, aikuisuudessa läsnä olevana. Tutkimuksen aineisto muodostui 13 aikuisen informantin tuottamista kertomuksista. Aineisto kerättiin pääsääntöisesti sähköisesti levitetyllä kirjoitelma-kutsulla. Tutkimuksen narratiivista aineistoa lähestyttiin sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Narratiivisuus liittyi tutkimuksen tiedonkäsitykseen ja aineiston muotoon, mutta analyysin kohteena oli tarinoiden sisältö. Tutkimuksen tarinoissa lapsuudessa koettu eriarvoisuus näyttäytyi rajoitettuna toimijuutena: ulkopuolisen positiona ja osallistumiskynnyksinä. Tarinoissa yksilö oli eriarvoinen henkilönä ja toimijana. Eriarvoisuuden nähtiin johtuvan minuuteen ja resursseihin liittyvistä tekijöistä. Tarinoissa minuus ja resurssit muodostivat lapsen voimavaroja kuvaavan toimintapotentiaalin. Näyttäisi siltä, että yksilön toimintapotentiaali punnitaan kulttuuriin kytkeytyvissä kategorisoinneissa ja eronteoissa. Eriarvoisuuden yhteydessä erot muodostuvat poissulkeviksi. Tarinoissa eriarvoisuutta tuottavista mekanismeista korostuivat ulossulkeminen ja hierarkisointi. Tutkimus lisäsi tietoisuutta erilaisuuksien ja eriarvoisuuksien hienosyisestä rakentumisesta lapsuudessa sekä lasten maailmassa