Dance education in Singapore: Policy,discourse, and practice

This article provides an overview of dance education in schools in Singapore with regard to physical education, co-curricular activity, initiatives by the National Arts Council's Arts Education unit, and pre-tertiary and tertiary dance programs. In an effort to gain a better understanding of how well the official discourse and the reality of schooling in dance interconnect, a meta-analysis of published articles, conference papers, committee reports, and curricula was conducted. Situated within the larger sociocultural, political, and historical contexts, Singapore presents a curious case for probing the merits and limitations of research, policy initiatives, and policy implementation. In the conclusion, the author argues that the development of a coherent dance education in Singapore requires “fixing” three dilemmas—meritocratic schooling in dance, the ill-defined and exhaustive use of the term “talent,” and the uneven research that has not kept pace with the policy initiatives.     

Variations in carambola infestation rates byBactrocera carambolae drew and hancock (Diptera: Tephritidae) with fruit availability in a carambola orchard

The relationship between the infestation rate of carambola fruits byBactrocera carambolae Drew and Hancock was investigated in a carambola orchard. Phenology of the fruits was found to influence percentage infestation of fruits byB. carambolae. The proportion of unbagged or susceptible fruits infested varied with time of year and tended to decrease with the increase of unbagged fruits available on the tree. The number of ovipunctures per fruit varied with fruit size and was also found to be indicative of the number of adult insects (B. carambolae and parasitoids) that will emerge from each fruit. Higher number of susceptible fruits available on each tree also decreased both the number of ovipunctures per fruit and the number of eggs laid per fruit, which could possibly be due to the strategy of spreading the risk adopted by the femaleB. carambolae or a result of random selection with more hosts available. The main parasitoids recorded wereBiosteres vandenboschi (Fullaway) andB. arisanus (Sonan). The mean percentage of parasitism was 38.3% and it followed roughly that of infestation of fruits.     

Erratum to: Exogenous Adipokine Peptide Resistin Protects Against Focal Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Mice

Neurochemical Research -     

Linking membrane dynamics and trafficking to autophagy and the unfolded protein response

Cellular stressors typically induce two protective counter‐responses—autophagy and the unfolded protein response (UPR). It is conceivable that these two endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane‐based processes would intersect/interact somehow with the constitutive housekeeping process of exocytic membrane traffic from the ER. How exactly might this occur? Recent evidence indicates that a conserved Rab protein, Rab1/Ypt1p, has functional roles in UPR and autophagy. This molecular switch and its associated effectors may therefore serve to link up a network of cellular responses to stress through changes in membrane dynamics and protein turnover. The notion provides further explanations as to why elevation of Rab1/Ypt1p levels could counter the cytotoxicity of α‐synuclein, and a similar mode of protection may well be at work against other stresses. J. Cell. Physiol. 228: 1638–1640, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Isolation and identification of gastrointestinal microbiota from the short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis brachyotis

Studies on the microbial ecology of gut microbiota in bats are limited and such information is necessary in determining the ecological significance of these hosts. Short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus brachyotis brachyotis) are good candidates for microbiota studies given their close association with humans in urban areas. Thus, this study explores the gut microbiota of this species from Peninsular Malaysia by means of biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis. The estimation of viable bacteria present in the stomach and intestine of C. b. brachyotis ranged from 3.06 × 10¹⁰ to 1.36 × 10¹⁵ CFU/ml for stomach fluid and 1.92 × 10¹⁰ to 6.10 × 10¹⁵ CFU/ml for intestinal fluid. A total of 34 isolates from the stomach and intestine of seven C. b. brachyotis were retrieved. A total of 16 species of bacteria from eight genera (Bacillus, Enterobacter, Enterococcus, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Pantoea, Pseudomonas and Serratia) were identified, Enterobacteriaceae being the most prevalent, contributing 12 out of 16 species isolated. Most isolates from the Family Enterobacteriaceae have been reported as pathogens to humans and wildlife. With the possibility of human wildlife transmission, the findings of this study focus on the importance of bats as reservoirs of potential bacterial pathogens.