496 research outputs found
Interaktive E-Learning-Module in der Humangenetik : Einsatz und Evaluation im Rahmen der Medizinstudierenden- und Humanbiologen-Ausbildung
No full textEinleitung: Die vorliegende Studie beschreibt unser Online-Lehrmaterial Humangenetik im Zusammenhang mit dem k-MED-Projekt (Knowledge in Medical Education) an der Philipps-Universität Marburg. Es besteht aus fünf E-Learning-Modulen: Zytogenetik, Chromosomenstörungen, Formalgenetik, Grundlagen der molekularen Diagnostik sowie Kongenitale Abnormitäten und Fehlbildungssyndrome. Diese E-Module sollen ein einheitliches Wissensniveau der Studierenden gewährleisten und die Dozenten in der Präsenzlehre entlasten. Methoden: Die fünf E-Learning-Module Humangenetik wurden auf freiwilliger Basis einer großen Personengruppe von ca. 3300 Studierenden am Fachbereich Humanmedizin der Universität Marburg über eine Dauer von vier Jahren angeboten. Die Teilnehmer bestanden aus Naturwissenschaftlern (Humanbiologie) im 5. Fachsemester und Studierenden der Humanmedizin, die sich entweder in der Vorklinik (1. Semester) oder im klinischen Studienabschnitt (7./8. Semester) befanden. Von diesen wurden Daten zur Akzeptanz in Form von Usertrackingdaten und klausur-begleitenden Fragebögen erhoben. Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerung: Die Evaluation zeigte eine breite Akzeptanz unserer Lehrmodule über einen Zeitraum von acht Semestern. Obwohl das Angebot freiwillig ist, werden die Online-Kurse Humangenetik konstant oder sogar in zunehmendem Maße zwischen Wintersemester 2005/06 und Sommersemester 2009 genutzt. Fazit: Unser E-Learning-Modell Humangenetik wird von Studierenden aus unterschiedlichen Semestern und Studiengängen am Fachbereich Humanmedizin gut angenommen und genutzt. Bei sorgfältiger Pflege der Online-Kurse steigern moderate Anpassungen sowohl Akzeptanz als auch Benutzungshäufigkeit in signifikanter Weise. Die Anwendung der E-Learning Module erscheint uns auch in der Ausbildung von MTAs oder Pflegekräften sinnvoll, um ein ausreichendes Grundwissen in Humangenetik zu gewährleisten. Schlüsselwörter: Humangenetik, Evaluation, Multimedia, E-Learnin
Pör að læra saman í leikskóla : reynsla starfsfólks af K-PALS
No full textK-PALS (e. Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies) er kennslunálgun sem felur í sér samvinnunám og aðferðir til að efla hljóðkerfisvitund, hljóðaþekkingu og umskráningarfærni barna. Börnin vinna í pörum eftir kynningu kennara á verkefnum. Markmið með þessari rannsókn var að fá innsýn í reynslu starfsmanna í leikskólum af K-PALS, hvernig þeim hefði gengið að nota aðferðirnar, áhrif þeirra á börnin, helstu kosti og galla að þeirra mati og hvort þeim þætti bein kennsla af þessu tagi eiga heima í íslensku leikskólaumhverfi. Tekin voru hálfstöðluð viðtöl við þrettán starfsmenn fimm leikskóla á höfuðborgarsvæðinu. Allir starfsmenn sem unnu með K-PALS í þessum leikskólum buðu sig fram í viðtal. Tíu þeirra voru leikskólakennarar, tveir grunnskólakennarar og einn hafði aðra menntun. Viðtölin voru hljóðrituð, skrifuð upp og gögnin greind í efnisflokka. Almennt var reynsla viðmælenda af K-PALS jákvæð þótt sumir hefðu verið neikvæðir í byrjun og innleiðing aðferðanna hafi stundum reynt á. Viðmælendum þótti K-PALS hafa jákvæð áhrif á undirstöðu lestrarfærni, samvinnu og samskipti barnanna og lýstu greinilegum framförum hjá börnunum og ánægju þeirra með K-PALS. Fram komu hugmyndir um nýjar útfærslur á innleiddum aðferðum en á heildina litið töldu viðmælendur K-PALS henta vel sem viðbót við læsisumhverfi í íslenskum leikskólum.Reading is a fundamental skill of great importance for success in modern
society. Difficulties in reading tend to become apparent early and more difficult to remediate over time (Juel, 1988; Scarborough, 1998; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Thus, it is essential to start building a strong foundation for reading during the early years of schooling. Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies or K-PALS (Fuchs, Fuchs, Thompson et al, 2001) is a peer tutoring program designed to teach phonological awareness, beginning decoding, and word recognition to students aged 5–6 years. These skills have been demonstrated to be important for effective beginning reading programs (National Reading Panel, 2000). In K-PALS, phonological awareness is taught through teacher-directed activities called Sound Play where the focus is on rhyme, isolating first and ending sounds in words, blending and segmenting. Decoding and word recognition is taught through activities called Sounds and Words, where the focus is on letter sounds, sight words, segmenting and blending. Guided by a detailed K-PALS manual, teachers introduce the activities to the whole class, modeling the tasks of the „coach“ with the students being „readers“. Later, students work together in pairs, guided by K-PALS worksheets, alternating as coach and reader (Fuchs et al., 2013).
Research has shown K-PALS to have beneficial effects on children´s beginning reading skills (e.g. Fuchs, Fuchs, Thompson et al., 2001; Fuchs et al., 2002), but teachers´ perception of the activities remains to be explored. In Icelandic preschools, play is considered the main learning method for children and little emphasis has been on explicit instruction in beginning reading skills. The aim of this study was to research how preschool staff in Iceland perceive the use of KPALS.
Participants were twelve teachers and one paraprofessional at five preschools in the capital region of Iceland. The majority of participants had been teaching in preschool for 12 or more years and had two or more years of experience using K-PALS. The second author conducted semi-standardized interviews separately for each participant in their workplace. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, analyzed and categorized into themes. Interview responses revealed that participants had a generally positive perception of using K-PALS.
A few participants described initial difficulties implementing K-PALS, such as fitting it into the schedule, learning to follow the manual and engaging students in the activities. Two participants reported that their view on K-PALS had been negative in the beginning because the program seemed complicated and too structured for use in preschools where they felt that the main emphasis should be on play. However, these teachers also described how their attitude towards KPALS became gradually more positive upon seeing that the children liked it and
made progress in beginning reading skills.
All participants were unanimous on the positive effects of K-PALS and described significant improvements, not only on the preschoolers´ beginning reading skills, but also their self-esteem, social skills and interactions with others. This was even reported to be the case with children identified at-risk for reading difficulties based on screening, although a few children seemed to need a more individualized teaching approach.
Despite some participants´ predictions to the contrary, nearly all preschool children reportedly enjoyed K-PALS. All participants stated that they conducted K-PALS activities exactly as described in the manual, albeit changing wording slightly to maintain children´s attention. All planned to continue using K-PALS in some way, the majority in its original form. Some wanted to make adjustments to K-PALS, such as using more pictures or games, and a few wanted to use it less often per week. A few mentioned that they would like to use other activities along with K-PALS, seemingly unaware of the fact that K-PALS is not meant to be a stand-alone program but designed as a supplement to conventional teaching methods (McMaster, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 2007). Based on these findings it is concluded that K-PALS can be a beneficial addition to current preschool practices in Iceland and despite initial negative attitudes toward such structured teaching methods, preschool teachers might become more positive upon trying them
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The effects of a 7-month high impact jumping intervention on bone mass in pre-pubescent boys and girls
No full textHigh impact loading activities such as jumping, performed during childhood is advocated as one preventive method for increasing peak bone mass. Thus, we conducted a randomized intervention to examine the effect of high impact loading on bone mass in 34 pre-pubescent boys and girl over a seven month period. Participants meeting all inclusion criteria were randomized into either a jumping (n=18) or stretching group (n=16), both of which exercised three times per week for 15 minutes. The jumping group completed 100 jumps off 24-inch boxes each session, while the stretching group performed low impact flexibility exercises. Attrition was 85% (6 drop outs), with an overall attendance rate of 95%. Bone area and bone mineral content (BMC) was assessed using dual energy x-ray absorptiometery (Ho logic QDR 1000/W) for the left hip (femoral neck, greater trochanter, total hip), and lumbar spine (L[subscript 2-4]). Other measures were body composition (Lang skinfold calipers); physical activity (self-report questionnaire); and calcium intake (food survey). All measurements were assessed at baseline and 7 months. Significance is denoted as p.05); however, gender differences were found for FN BMC at baseline (p.05). No group by gender interactions were found at baseline or at the completion of the seven month intervention. No significant differences between groups were identified for body composition, physical activity, or calcium intake in repeated measures ANOVA analyses (p>.05). In conclusion, 100 jumps performed 3 times per week at approximately 8x body weight were sufficient to stimulate an osteogenic response at the femoral neck in pre-pubescent boys and girls. Implementing jumping exercises into regular physical activity programs during pre-pubescent growing years may increase peak bone mass and potentially reduce the onset of osteoporosis
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The growing skeleton : influence of lifestyle and the development of normative data using DXA
No full textTo examine the potential for exercise to build bone mass during growth, objectives of this dissertation included: 1) determine the effects of 7 months of jumping followed by 7 months of detraining on hip and spine bone mass in the prepubertal children; 2) determine variables that best predict bone mineral content (BMC;g) of the hip and spine in order to develop prediction equations for healthy, Caucasian children, specific to Hologic fan-beam DXA machines; and 3) to examine the potential synergy between calcium intake and the bone response to jump training in prepubertal children. Results/Conclusions Objective 1 (Chapters 2, 3 and 4): children who performed 300 jumps/week at a load magnitude of 8 body weights had significantly greater 7-month changes for BMC at the femoral neck and lumbar spine than controls (4.5% and 3.1%, respectively), and significantly greater 7-month changes for bone area (BA; cm²) at the femoral neck than controls (2.9%). After 7- months of detraining (no box jumping exercises) the jumping group maintained 4% greater BMC and 4% greater BA at the femoral neck than controls. By contrast, at the spine, gains in BMC from the intervention were not retained after an equivalent period of detraining. These data indicate that high-impact jumping enhances growth at the hip. Results/Conclusions Objective 2 (Chapter 5): Age, height, and weight were entered as predictor variables in order to create regression models for healthy, young Caucasian boys and girls. Of these, height and weight independently predicted femoral neck and total hip BMC in both boys (femoral neck: R²=.48, total hip: R²=.63) and girls (femoral neck: R²=.49, total hip R²=.65). Height best predicted spine BMC in boys (R²=.58), but both height and weight independently predicted spine BMC in girls (R²=.54). We report that height and weight not age, best predict bone mineral content at the hip and spine. Results/Conclusions Objective 3 (Chapter 6): Children responded similarly to the jumping program regardless of calcium intake. 73% of our population had dietary intakes of calcium that met the recommended values for their age group
The individual and combined effects of exercise and collagenase on the rodent Achilles tendon
No full textIndiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Tendinopathy is a common degenerative pathology that is characterized by activity related pain, focal tendon tenderness, intratendinous imaging changes, and typically results in changes in the histological, mechanical, and molecular properties of the tendon. Tendinopathy is difficult to study in humans, which has contributed to limited knowledge of the pathology, and thus a lack of appropriate treatment options. However, most believe that the pathology is degenerative as a result of a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic factors.
In order to gain understanding of this pathology, animal models are required. Because each tendon is naturally exposed to different conditions, a universal model is not feasible; therefore, an appropriate animal model must be established for each tendon susceptible to degenerative changes. While acceptable models have been developed for several tendons, a reliable model for the Achilles tendon remains elusive. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop an animal model of Achilles tendinopathy by investigating the individual and combined effects of an intrinsic and extrinsic factor on the rodent Achilles tendon.
Rats selectively bred for high capacity running and Sprague Dawley rats underwent uphill treadmill running (an extrinsic factor) to mechanically overload the Achilles tendon or served as cage controls. Collagenase (intrinsic factor) was injected into one Achilles tendon in each animal to intrinsically break down the tendon. There were no interactions between uphill running and collagenase injection, indicating that the influence of the two factors was independent. Uphill treadmill running alone failed to produce any pathological changes in the histological or mechanical characteristics of the Achilles tendon, but did modify molecular activity. Intratendinous collagenase injection had negative effects on the histological, mechanical, and molecular properties of the tendon.
The results of this dissertation demonstrated that the combined introduction of uphill treadmill running and collagenase injection did not lead to degenerative changes consistent with human Achilles tendinopathy. Intratendiouns collagenase injection negatively influenced the tendon; however, these changes were generally transient and not influenced by mechanical overload. Future studies should consider combinations of other intrinsic and extrinsic factors in an effort to develop an animal model that replicates human Achilles tendinopathy
Optimal Configuration of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Islands' Energy Transition
No full textThe world’s greenhouse gas emissions have steadily increased as a result of the continued use of fossil fuels, causing climate change. Nevertheless, sustainable energy technologies implementation has increased steadily in the last decade as society attempts to transition to a sustainable, zero emission energy system. The consequences of climate change are plentiful and represent a huge challenge for the whole world, but for islands they represent a threat to their existence.Islands rely on expensive imported fossil fuels for their energy supply, which not only contribute to climate change but represent a threat in terms of energy security. Nonetheless, they also have all the possibilities and incentives to become the world's leading example on how to transition to sustainable energy systems. Generally, islands possess abundant renewable resources which can be exploited and have smaller (less complex) systems compared to mainland grids. Moreover, many islands have set targets for renewable energy integration.However, in order for a transition to a sustainable energy system to happen there are multiple challenges that need to be overcome. One of the most important is lack of knowledge on the global potential of various sustainable energy technologies and their potential impact on the energy system. This thesis has investigated the potential effect that different conditions on power supply and electricity demand have on the cost-optimal configurations of hybrid renewable energy systems of islands. This was done by studying the roles of various generating technologies (PV, Wind, OTEC, tidal, WEC and biodiesel) on the supply side and scenarios regarding residential heat electrification and commercial cooling on the demand side. For this purpose, a general model was developed on which the proposed loads and the power system performance was evaluated. The system was optimized using multiobjective optimization with economic (LCOE) and renewable integration (coverage) objective functions by means of a non dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). Eleven islands spread throughout the world were used as case studies. It was found that there is a strong business case for renewable energy on islands as LCOE decreases with their implementation. Mature technologies such as wind and PV often have an important role in the first stages of the transition with wind always being part of the cost-optimal configurations and favoured in the 0%-50% range of renewable integration and PV starting at 30\% and up to 70%. At higher levels their deployment is limited by the cost of storage and required overcapacities. Ocean technologies, particularly OTEC due to its baseload power generation, proved to have a potential role at higher integration shares starting in the range of 60% - 80%, greatly reducing energy curtailment. Finally, biodiesel was found to be important at the last stages limiting the cost and reducing overcapacity of generating and storage technologies.***This thesis was carried out at the Engineering, Systems and Services department of the Technology, Policy and Management Faculty. ***Electrical Engineering | Sustainable Energy Technolog
Start codon disruption with CRISPR/Cas9 prevents murine Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy
No full textFull author list omitted for brevity. For the full list of authors, see article.A missense mutation of collagen type VIII alpha 2 chain (COL8A2) gene leads to early-onset Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), which progressively impairs vision through the loss of corneal endothelial cells. We demonstrate that CRISPR/Cas9-based postnatal gene editing achieves structural and functional rescue in a mouse model of FECD. A single intraocular injection of an adenovirus encoding both the Cas9 gene and guide RNA (Ad-Cas9-Col8a2gRNA) efficiently knocked down mutant COL8A2 expression in corneal endothelial cells, prevented endothelial cell loss, and rescued corneal endothelium pumping function in adult Col8a2 mutant mice. There were no adverse sequelae on histology or electroretinography. Col8a2 start codon disruption represents a non-surgical strategy to prevent vision loss in early-onset FECD. As this demonstrates the ability of Ad-Cas9-gRNA to restore the phenotype in adult post-mitotic cells, this method may be widely applicable to adult-onset diseases, even in tissues affected with disorders of non-reproducing cells
Immunohistochemical Profiling of Corneas With Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy
No full textPurpose: Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) is the leading indication for endothelial keratoplasty. Further insight into its pathophysiology is needed to develop alternative therapies.
Methods: Sixteen genes from a previous microarray expression
experiment (FECD vs. normal) were validated using immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded corneas (n = 6 FECD, n = 6 normal). The results were quantified manually and semiautomatically.
Results: A higher percentage of corneal endothelial cells stained for alpha–smooth muscle actin (aSMA), cytokeratin 7, and superoxide dismutase 3 in FECD versus normal [odds ratios (ORs) of 60.90, 41.70, and 15.16, respectively, P < 0.001]. Dot-like staining for major histocompatibility complex, class II, DR alpha was present in FECD, but not in normal. Higher percentages of stromal cells in FECD versus normal stained for aSMA (OR = 864.26, P < 0.001), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, OR = 6.34, P = 0.005),
fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF-7, OR = 2.76, P = 0.011), FGF-9 (OR = 5.97, P < 0.001), receptor FGFR-3 (OR = 13.90, P = < 0.001), and serum amyloid A1 (OR = 3.45, P = 0.023). Higher percentages of corneal epithelial cells stained for aSMA (OR = 2.20, P = 0.006) and BDNF (OR = 3.94, P < 0.001) in FECD versus normal.
Conclusions: These results support a role for epithelial–mesenchymal transition (aSMA), oxidative stress (superoxide dismutase 3), and major histocompatibility complex, class II, DR alpha + cells with dendritic morphology in the pathophysiology of FECD. Furthermore, corneal stromal cells express trophic molecules (BDNF and FGFs) and markers of chronic inflammation (serum amyloid A1) in FECD.sponsorship: A.-K. De Roo is a PhD fellow for Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO, http://www.fwo.be/en/, 11C7515N). B. Foets and J. J. van den Oord have received a research grant from Perdaens Fund Eye Research (EFW-FOPRD1-O2010). A.-K. De Roo, J. J. van den Oord, and B. Foets have received research and travel grants from Fund for Research in Ophthalmology (FRO, Belgium, http://www.fro-online.org/, EMH-CORNEA-O3200 and EMH-CORNE2-O3200). A.-K. De Roo has received a "Broaden your Horizon" travel grant from the Flemish government. The remaining author has no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose. The funders had no role in the design or conduct of this research. (Perdaens Fund Eye Research|EFW-FOPRD1-O2010, Fund for Research in Ophthalmology (FRO, Belgium)|EMH-CORNEA-O3200, Fund for Research in Ophthalmology (FRO, Belgium)|EMH-CORNE2-O3200, Flemish government)status: Publishe
Modular symbols over number fields
No full textLet K be a number field, R its ring of integers. For some classes of fields, spaces of cusp forms of weight 2 for GL(2;K) have been computed using methods based on modular symbols. J.E. Cremona [9] began the programme of extending the classical methods over Q to the case of imaginary quadratic fields. This work was continued by some of his Ph.D. students [35, 6, 22], and results have been obtained for some imaginary quadratic fields with small class number. More recently, P. Gunnells and D. Yasaki [18] have developed related algorithms for real quadratic fields.
The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the extension of the modular symbols method, when possible developing algorithms and implementations for effective computations. Some parts of the theory are purely algebraic and can be extended to all number fields. We generalise the theory for cusps and Manin symbols; we also describe a generalisation of Atkin-Lehner involutions and study other normaliser elements. On the other hand, all previous explicit computations for the imaginary quadratic field case were done only for specific fields. In the last part of this thesis we begin work towards a general implementation of the techniques used in this case. In particular, we are able to compute a fundamental domain of the hyperbolic 3-space for any imaginary quadratic field.
Implementations of the algorithms described in this thesis have been written by the author in the open-source mathematics software Sage [31]
Waterproef: Vier persoonlijke geschiedenissen van de waterbouw
No full textInterviews met een viertal emiritus hoogleraren in de waterbouwkunde over driekwart eeuw waterbouwkunde. Met een naschrift van Marcel Stive en Han VrijlingHydraulicCivil Engineering and Geoscience
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