101,987 research outputs found
Applying the TEM Model (Teaching Evaluation Model) in an academic course in accounting: a comparison across five years
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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN THE UNIVERSITY TEACHING: THE TEM MODEL
No full textThe aim of the work is the constant searching for "quality of education" that is inextricably linked to the careful and responsive listening to the needs "of the customer," according to his satisfaction. In this regard, the Deming Cycle (PDCA), represented one significant methodological choice. In particular, TEM, retraces the cycle Plan, Do, Check, Act of Deming, through a system of schemes of design/ management, didactical evaluation/self-evaluation, aimed at analyzing and improving every single lesson. The teacher after having planned his own educational intervention (Plan) realizes the lesson (Do) and at the end of the same administered to learners an evaluation questionnaire (objective test - Check 1).
The obtained results allow the teacher to identify possible problems, seek the causes which generate them through a teacher self-assessment questionnaire (Check 2) and define the corrective actions to be implemented already in the next lesson (Act). The cycle is repeated in all the lessons of the course offering to the teacher the opportunity to assess the level of learning of each student and the class as a whole (homogeneity - heterogeneity) - acting consequently in order to improve the educational activity. The TEM model, in this sense, allows the teacher to standardize "the good practices" to constantly improve all processes and try the path of innovation, building and maintaining a wealth of formalized experiences which, therefore, can be estimated, compared and improved. The work is divided into multiple phases, the first aspect analyzed concerns the analysis of the international literature, with reference to issues related to the evaluation of the teacher as a function of didactical self-evaluation and in view of the quality of teaching. The following is a presentation of the model and of its peculiarities. An analysis of the TEM model qualifying aspects is also provided, its main strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we propose an application example of the model to a university (undergraduate) course in Accounting.
Teaching Quality, Deming Cycle, Self-evaluation, Continuous Improvement, Accountin
Diabetes-linked zinc transporter ZnT8 is a homodimeric protein expressed by distinct rodent endocrine cell types in the pancreas and other glands
No full textCopyright © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Background and aimsZinc is abundant in pancreas, being required by endocrine islet cells for hormone secretion and by exocrine acinar cells as pancreatic juice component. ZnT8 is a member of the SLC30A family of zinc transporters whose overexpression in cultured pancreatic beta cells leads to increased insulin secretion in response to glucose, suggesting a possible role in regulating glycemia. ZnT8 was therefore proposed as a therapeutic target for diabetes, and recent genome-wide association studies identified polymorphisms in the ZNT8 gene conferring increased type 2 diabetes risk.Methods and resultsAs limited information was available on the biochemical properties of ZnT8 and on its endogenous expression, we have raised a specific polyclonal antibody and immunostained protein extracts, cell lines and tissue sections. We show that ZnT8 forms a very stable dimer that requires biological membranes to properly assemble. We demonstrate localization of murine ZnT8 to the secretory granules in pancreatic beta and alpha islet cells. Moreover, we show that ZnT8 is also expressed in other secretory cell types, namely the cubical epithelium that lines thyroid follicles and the cortex of the adrenal gland, suggesting a more widespread role in endocrine secretion.ConclusionWe provide novel insights into the features of the ZnT8 transporter, of special relevance in light of its proposed role as therapeutical target for diabetes treatment.C. Murgia, C. Devirgiliis, E. Mancini, G. Donadel, P. Zalewski and G. Perozz
Subtractive hybridization cloning of novel genes differentially expressed during intestinal development
No full textIntestinal genes whose expression is regulated during development and differentiation were identified and cloned from a rat villi cDNA library using a subtracted cDNA probe. The isolated clones are transcribed in the fully differentiated intestinal epithelium 21 days after birth and absent or poorly expressed in the fetal gut at 15 days of gestation. Two of the DRI (differentially-expressed in rat intestine) genes are novel, while the others encode the microvillar protein ezrin and intracellular carrier proteins for retinol and fatty acids. Expression of the newly isolated DRI27 and DRI42 clones parallels epithelial differentiation during development and it is more pronounced in the distal portions of the small intestine. In situ hybridization experiments indicate that the DRI mRNAs are expressed in the differentiated cell types of the gut epithelium. Moreover, the expression of DRI27 and DRI42 is strongly related to the stage of epithelial differentiation during gut development. This relationship holds true also for the expression of DRI42 in other tissues. These clones will be a valuable tool to identify regulatory sequences and factors responsible for confining gene expression to the differentiated epithelial cell types in mammalian small intestine
Transcriptional regulation of the ezrin gene during rat intestinal development and epithelial differentiation
No full textPolarized intestinal epithelial cells are characterized by the presence of a brush border at their apical surface. The brush border cytoskeleton is assembled during cell differentiation and is composed of parallel actin bundles, held together by specific actin-binding proteins. Using specific cDNA probes we have studied the expression of the mRNAs encoding ezrin and moesin, two members of a class of proteins that connect the microvillar cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane, during the process of enterocyte maturation that occurs both in the embryonic and in the adult small intestine, along the crypt-villus axis. The steady state levels of ezrin mRNA were found to increase in the fetal gut epithelium between day 15 and day 20 of gestation and during the first week after birth, in parallel with the morphogenetic process that leads to cell polarization and brush border assembly. On the contrary, moesin mRNA is expressed at very low levels in the mature small intestine, with a sudden drop in transcription occurring at birth. In the continuously renewing epithelium of adult animals, ezrin mRNA levels are higher in the differentiated villus cells of the distal portions of the gastrointestinal tract and very low in undifferentiated crypt cells. These data demonstrate that the expression of the ezrin gene is regulated at the level of mRNA abundance during development and differentiation of the intestinal epithelium
Expression of Liver-specific Genes-coding For Plasma-proteins In Protein-deficiency
No full textAbstractProtein deficiency leads to a decreased concentration of plasma proteins, although it is not clear whether this response is caused by alterations in gene transcription or in post-transcriptional events. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of some liver-specific genes coding for plasma proteins in rats kept on a protein-free diet for 30 days. Cloned cDNA probes for the albumin, transthyretin, retinol-binding protein and prothrombin genes were used in Northern hybridizations to total liver RNA to compare their transcript levels in protein-deficient and control animals. Liver polysomes were also isolated and fractionated from the two groups of animals to examine the possible effects of protein deficiency on translation of the mRNAs. The results indicate that the albumin and transthyretin mRNAs are present in lower amounts in protein deficiency. The distribution profile along sucrose gradients shows that all mRNAs are undergoing translation, but in protein-deficient animals a small but consistent fraction of each mRNA is also present in the non-polysomal, low molecular weight fractions
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