63 research outputs found
Impact of NATO Enlargement on Eastern Europe Security: Case Study of Ukraine War
No full textIn a situation where Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, the role and the major dilemma of NATO is rediscovered. The blame is that while NATO had expanded its power towards the East European countries, it had provoked Russia to react to the threat of the NATO enlargement process. Within this background, this research’s objective is to examine the impact of the NATO enlargement in Eastern Europe related to the case of the Ukraine war, within the lens of Eastern European citizens’ perception of their security and NATO. The research aims to answer the role of NATO in securing the preservation of the conflicts and threats in Eastern Europe. To answer the questions, the data was gathered mainly through personal interviews with experts in the area, along with a public survey of European countries which added the perspective of the normal citizens. Through the research, it became clear that the enlargement of NATO had provoked Russia’s security, and the attack on Ukraine was the result of the unstable security of Russia and the hegemonic power dynamics between the West and Russia. Despite the dilemma of NATO to protect Eastern European countries and not provoke Russia at the same time, citizens who are under threat and fear show a strong desire to join NATO. How NATO would proactively solve this security dilemma would be a key for the European security of the next few decades, in light of this Ukraine war and Russia’s reactions
iBooks Author: Potential, Pedagogical Meanings, and Implementation Challenges
No full textThis article discusses Apple’s iBooks Author, an application intended for textbook writers and publishers to create e-textbooks. This article provides insight on why IBA will change how we teach and learn as well as IBA’s potential, controversial issues, pedagogical meanings, and implementation challenges of using it as a classroom textbook. The article includes lessons learned from the leading countries in implementing e-textbooks in the classroom, such as South Korea and Malaysia
Apple’s iBooks Author
No full textThis chapter discusses Apple’s iBooks Author, a brand-new Mac application intended for textbook writers and publishers to create e-textbooks. This chapter provides insight on why IBA holds a prominent place in the field of education and will change our classroom landscape, that is, how we teach and learn. The main purpose of this chapter is to explore IBA’s potential, possible controversial issues, pedagogical meanings, and implementation challenges of using it as a classroom textbook. The chapter includes lessons learned from the leading countries in implementing e-textbooks in the classroom, such as South Korea and Malaysia
KDS2010, a Newly Developed Reversible MAO-B Inhibitor, as an Effective Therapeutic Candidate for Parkinson’s Disease
No full text© 2021, The Author(s).Monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) is a well-established therapeutic target for Parkinson’s disease (PD); however, previous clinical studies on currently available irreversible MAO-B inhibitors have yielded disappointing neuroprotective effects. Here, we tested the therapeutic potential of KDS2010, a recently synthesized potent, selective, and reversible MAO-B inhibitor in multiple animal models of PD. We designed and synthesized a series of α-aminoamide derivatives and found that derivative KDS2010 exhibited the highest potency, specificity, reversibility, and bioavailability (> 100%). In addition, KDS2010 demonstrated significant neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory efficacy against nigrostriatal pathway destruction in the mouse MPTP model of parkinsonism. Treatment with KDS2010 also alleviated parkinsonian motor dysfunction in 6-hydroxydopamine-induced and A53T mutant α-synuclein overexpression rat models of PD. Moreover, KDS2010 showed virtually no toxicity or side effects in non-human primates. KDS2010 could be a next-generation therapeutic candidate for PD.11Nsciescopu
Can Tea Extracts Exert a Protective Effect Against Diabetes by Reducing Oxidative Stress and Decreasing Glucotoxicity in Pancreatic β-Cells?
No full textIn depth functional characterization of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived beta cells in vitro and in vivo
No full textIn vitro differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into beta cells represents an important cell source for diabetes research. Here, we fully characterized iPSC-derived beta cell function in vitro and in vivo in humanized mice. Using a 7-stage protocol, human iPSCs were differentiated into islet-like aggregates with a yield of insulin-positive beta cells comparable to that of human islets. The last three stages of differentiation were conducted with two different 3D culture systems, rotating suspension or static microwells. In the latter, homogeneously small-sized islet-like aggregates were obtained, while in rotating suspension size was heterogeneous and aggregates often clumped. In vitro function was assessed by glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, NAD(P)H and calcium fluctuations. Stage 7 aggregates slightly increased insulin release in response to glucose in vitro .Aggregates were transplanted under the kidney capsule of NOD-SCID mice to allow for further in vivo beta cell maturation. In transplanted mice, grafts showed glucose-responsiveness and maintained normoglycemia after streptozotocin injection. In situ kidney perfusion assays showed modulation of human insulin secretion in response to different secretagogues. In conclusion, iPSCs differentiated with equal efficiency into beta cells in microwells compared to rotating suspension, but the former had a higher experimental success rate. In vitro differentiation generated aggregates lacking fully mature beta cell function. In vivo ,beta cells acquired the functional characteristics typical of human islets. With this technology an unlimited supply of islet-like organoids can be generated from human iPSCs that will be instrumental to study beta cell biology and dysfunction in diabetes.SCOPUS: ar.jType 2 Diabetes Pathogenic Mechanisms and Novel Therapeutic StrategiesT2DEpochMarie Skłodowska-Curie Actions; Individual Fellowship at the Université libre de Bruxelles; IFatULB; Grant Agreement number: 801505info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Coping Together: Collective Self-Regulation in a Web-Based Course
No full textEditors’ Introduction This chapter examines the challenges facing the online learner, particularly the self-directed learner. The author suggests that the most successful online learners adopt the skills of “strategic learning”; this is characterised by having developed high levels of self-regulation and having the ability to consistently deploy these skills. She points to communal factors as being a key determinant in the development of self-regulating strategies through modelling of peers and the instructor and through heightened self-awareness of their own self-regulation. The chapter reports on the findings from a learning design that transformed her online class into a “community of survival”; the detailed findings compare and contrast individual and collective self-regulation strategies, and from this emerges a set of guiding principles that learning designers can use to bring a sharper focus on the promotion of self-regulated learning strategies
Looking into the labyrinth of gender inequality: women physicians in academic medicine
No full textContext Gender inequality remains prevalent worldwide in academic medicine. A closer look into women physicians’ gendered experiences through the lens of culture is necessary to advance understanding of gender inequality in this context. Relatively few studies, however, have investigated how social and cultural practices implicitly yet significantly affect gender inequality throughout women physicians’ careers. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the lived experiences of South Korean women physicians working in academic medicine and to focus on social and cultural influences on the gendered process of their career journeys. The study will extend our understanding of gender inequality in academic medicine through an in‐depth analysis of social and cultural practices that affect the phenomenon. Methods We conducted a qualitative study utilising a grounded theory approach. Twenty‐one women physicians participated in semi‐structured interviews. Data were recorded, transcribed and analysed through a process of constant comparison using grounded theory to extract themes. Results Junior women physicians were more vulnerable to gender discrimination and channelled to ‘ghettos’ through the seniority‐based, patriarchal, collectivist and business hospital culture in South Korea. Under pressure to excel at work, they had no work–family balance and experienced identity crises as competent doctors and mothers. They felt themselves to be ‘othered’ in multiple cultural contexts, including school ties, rankism and a culture of after‐work gatherings. Minimal levels of leadership aspiration created a vicious cycle of a lack of social networking and mentoring. Pursuing individual excellence, they attributed their struggles to personal choices and rarely sought organisational support. Conclusions The dynamics of cultural and social practices constantly and implicitly recreate mechanisms to maintain gender inequality in academic medicine in South Korea. Planned culture changes at individual, organisational and national levels are imperative to discontinue the vicious cycle that exists in the labyrinth of women physicians’ career development in academic medicine
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