The simulated purification of an enzyme as a 'dry' practical within an introductory course of biochemistry

This article describes a 'dry-laboratory' practical in which the multi-step purification of an enzyme is simulated. It has been devised to be implemented with beginner undergraduates taking an introductory course in biochemistry, with the aim of giving them a glimpse of the intensity of effort involved in complex, research-oriented experiments. The purification steps simulated are: preparation of a liver soluble extract, ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration, ion-exchange and dye-ligand affinity chromatography. Before the simulation, our students are familiar with the preparative and analytical techniques involved, through short 'cookbook' laboratory experiments and, in some cases, ad hoc demonstrations. For the simulation, the students are given detailed protocols of the preparative and analytical experiments, and the raw numeric or graphical data obtained. They have to perform the calculations and graphing necessary to produce a purification table. The 27-page Student Booklet needed to implement the practical is offered by the authors to interested teachers, as a printable electronic file.     

Bioinformatics Goes to School—New Avenues for Teaching Contemporary Biology

Since 2010, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory''s (EMBL) Heidelberg laboratory and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have jointly run bioinformatics training courses developed specifically for secondary school science teachers within Europe and EMBL member states. These courses focus on introducing bioinformatics, databases, and data-intensive biology, allowing participants to explore resources and providing classroom-ready materials to support them in sharing this new knowledge with their students.In this article, we chart our progress made in creating and running three bioinformatics training courses, including how the course resources are received by participants and how these, and bioinformatics in general, are subsequently used in the classroom. We assess the strengths and challenges of our approach, and share what we have learned through our interactions with European science teachers.     

Increase of in vitro factor VIII activity by polyaminopolycarboxylic acid

Polyamino-polycarboxyl acids (ampholines) used for electrofocusing have the effect of shortening the coagulation time during the one stage test, which is in direct proportion to the activity of factor VIII already present. Compared with factor VIII, ampholine 5-7 and 7-10 have a different range of effect as far as their stimulating activity is concerned. For increasing their activity a minimum PPCS concentration of 0.1 m Mol/l is required in the test run. There is no own effect of these substances similar to factor VIII. The activity of factor IX and X is not influenced. Ampholines gained from acrylic acid and ethylenediamine will not enhance the activity of factor VIII in the course of the one stage test.     

Application of Microencapsulated Synbiotics in Fruit-Based Beverages

In the last years, demand for functional products containing both prebiotics and probiotics (known as synbiotic) has increased, which stimulated their incorporation into other food matrices than milk-based ones. Synbiotics improve gut functionality as well as respond to the increasing demand of consumers who have become aware of the health benefits of a proper diet. The most important criterion for preserving consumer acceptance in such products is maintaining the minimum viability and activity of probiotics from the beginning of production to the end of shelf-life. For their viability, fixation and multiplying within the host, several solutions have been proposed including the fortification with prebiotics and microencapsulation of prebiotics along with probiotics. The challenge of microencapsulation is to protect the probiotic cells in foods that are not usually considered their vehicle, such as fruit matrices. It is generally known that different prebiotics may exert different degrees of protection on the entrapped bacteria cells. For food products, such as fruit beverages, few works exist that investigate the functionality of synbiotic microcapsules in protecting the survivability of probiotic cells during processing and storage. This article provides an overview of this novel trend based on a review of relevant literature. The article summarizes the synbiotic concept, challenges for synbiotic formulation in fruit beverages, and future perspectives.

     

Scuola ed educazione naturalistica

Abstract

School and naturalistic education. In order that mankind may correctly fit in the balance of nature young people must be given the right scientific preparation during school years. This is why a better training of science teachers would be so important especially in Italy, where they come straight from University having followed various types of scientific degree courses, mainly theoretical, and with no special preparation for teaching.

The main basic requirement for a science teacher is that he has a solid preparation for laboratory but especially for field work. All other kinds of scientific and pedagogic knowledge is of course important but not as indispensable. It is therefore necessary to give science teachers the naturalistic training that University syllabuses do not provide for. At the same time work done inside the school should be supported from the outside by other organizations such as the Field Studies Council in England, or the « keeper-guides » of Israeli natural parks. In the present Italian school system one immediate step could be taken: teachers of « scientific observations » should not confine themselves to lecturing in classrooms but should spend most of their allotted time with their classes in the field or in the laboratory, in the same way as for instance teachers of « technical applications » do their teaching only in the workshop.     

青年教师对医学临床课程教学能力现状调查及应对策略研究

如何提高我国临床课程青年教师团队的素质与教学能力,是近年来伴随国内医学教育发展扩大而日益突出的问题。作为当前医学临床课程的教学主力,青年教师的教学能力会对医学临床课程教学效果产生重大影响。但绝大部分临床课程青年教师都毕业于医学院校,未曾接受专业的师范类培训,导致尽管自身临床知识丰富,但教学水平明显受限的情况发生。本研究采取对我院各科室青年临床教师进行问卷调查的方法,深入分析青年教师的临床教学能力现状与问题,并提出改进方案,以使他们能够更快完成青年临床医师与青年临床教师之间的角色变换,提升自身教学能力,进而提高我院临床课程的教学质量。     

课程思政在生物化学课程“蛋白质”教学中的探讨与实践

教师需要充分意识到思政教育融入专业课程的必要性与意义。本文根据生物化学课程实施课程思政的教学实践,将爱国主义、民族自豪感、法律意识、职业道德和科学素养等五方面思政教育融入教学内容。在此基础上,通过分析课程思政提高教学方法改革的效果,从而阐明课程思政的必要性与可行性,为探索专业课课程思政提供了教学实践参考。     

Reduction through education: the insight of a trainer

One of the articles contained within European Council Directive 86/609/EEC states that "Persons who carry out experiments or take part in them, and persons who take care of animals used for experiments, including duties of a supervisory nature, shall have appropriate training". In effect, this article stipulates that only competent individuals are allowed to work with laboratory animals. At least three groups of individuals can be identified with different responsibilities toward experimental animals: animal technicians, scientists, and veterinarians/animal welfare officers. The responsibilities and duties of the individuals within each of these categories differ. This paper focuses on the training of scientists. The scientist designs, and often also performs, animal experiments. Therefore, scientists must be educated to develop an attitude of respect toward laboratory animals, and must be trained so that, if an experiment must be performed with animals, it is designed according to the highest possible scientific and ethical standards. In The Netherlands, the law stipulates that scientists intending to work with animals must have completed a course in laboratory animal science. This compulsory course started in 1986. The Department of Laboratory Animal Science at Utrecht University is responsible for the national coordination of this course. Participants must have an academic degree (at the level of MSc) in one of the biomedical sciences, such as biology, medicine or veterinary medicine. Although the course is an intensive 3-week, 120-hour long course, which covers both technical and ethical aspects of laboratory animal experimentation, it cannot provide full competence. It is designed to provide sufficient basic training and knowledge to enable students to design animal experiments, and to develop an attitude that will be conducive to the implementation of the Three Rs. However, full competence will always require further training that can only be acquired as a result of practical experience gained while working in the field of laboratory animal research. Evaluations subsequent to the course have revealed that more than 98% of the students regard the course as indispensable for all scientists working in a research area where animal experiments are performed. They agree that the course not only contributes to the quality of experiments and to the welfare of animals, but also to a decrease in the number of animals used in experiments.     

A new survey of Brazilian marine algae for agglutinins

Aqueous protein extracts from 30 Brazilian marine algae were examined for haemagglutinating activity using native and enzyme-treated rabbit, chicken, sheep and human erythrocytes. Most extracts agglutinated at least one of the blood cells used. Sheep and rabbit erythrocytes were more suitable for detection of the agglutinating activity. The minimum protein concentration necessary to produce positive agglutination was usually lower with enzyme-treated erythrocytes than native ones. The five algal protein extracts showing the greatest haemagglutination titre were tested for sugar-binding specificity. Only the activity present in the green alga Cauler pacupressoides was inhibited by simple sugars and not by the glycoproteins tested. The activity of the other four extracts was inhibited by at least one of the glycoproteins utilised. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Some ethical issues raised by studies of predation and aggression

This paper discusses some of the ethical issues raised by studies of predator-prey and aggressive interactions when these involve artificially-staged encounters. Such experiments call for special care in ensuring that a maximum of information is gained and a minimum of suffering caused. On the one hand, we should consider critically the theoretical importance of the question at issue, make sure that the behaviour is recorded accurately and explore the possibility of collaborative experiments. On the other hand, field studies of natural encounters should be used wherever possible. Where staged encounters are necessary, the use of model predators should be considered, the number of subjects kept to a minimum and the experiments made as short as possible.     

基于虚拟仿真技术的生物工程类综合实验教学改革与实践

生物工程类专业要求学生有较强的抽象问题思考分析能力,对学生的综合实践能力也有着更高要求,由于其专业特点,需要通过开展一系列实验培养解决复杂问题的能力.因此,开展针对生物工程类专业综合性实验的改革与实践以改善传统综合性实验的教学现状就显得尤为重要,对于综合性人才的培养具有十分积极的意义.本文阐述了滨州学院"生物工程综合实...     

Quantitative analysis of the time courses of enzyme-catalyzed reactions

The catalytic properties of enzymes are usually evaluated by measuring and analyzing reaction rates. However, analyzing the complete time course can be advantageous because it contains additional information about the properties of the enzyme. Moreover, for systems that are not at steady state, the analysis of time courses is the preferred method. One of the major barriers to the wide application of time courses is that it may be computationally more difficult to extract information from these experiments. Here the basic approach to analyzing time courses is described, together with some examples of the essential computer code to implement these analyses. A general method that can be applied to both steady state and non-steady-state systems is recommended.     

留学生组织学与胚胎学教学特点与经验

我室已承担留学生组织学与胚胎学教学7届,在课程内容设置和时间安排、教材选用、任课教师遴选、教学方法和教学手段以及考试与成绩评定方面积累了一些经验,了解了留学生教学的特点,同时在教学中仍然存在一些不足。需要在实践中不断找出存在的问题并及时解决,使留学生教学质量稳步上升。     

Student‐led field studies of herbivory: Hands‐on experiences for remote (or in‐person) learning

Challenging students to independently design and implement experiments is a powerful way to teach the scientific method while engaging with STEM‐related course material. For ecology and organismal biology, such experiences often take the form of field work. The COVID‐19 pandemic presented formidable challenges for instructors of such courses: How can students conduct any experiments, much less ones of their own design, when they might not even have access to campus? Here we describe a student‐led field project exploring invertebrate herbivory in terrestrial plant systems. Designed to flexibly accommodate student groups working either in‐person, remotely, or both, the project would be suitable for invertebrate biology, plant biology, or general ecology courses at the college or high school level. We describe our implementation in two sections of a sophomore‐level course, provide specific advice based on our experiences, make suggestions for future improvements or adaptations, and provide all the written materials that instructors would need to implement this in their own teaching.     

全英文“环境工程微生物学”的国家线下一流本科课程成长之路

国家一流本科课程的评审认定是教育部全面深化教育教学改革的重要举措,也是提升本科教学质量的重要一环,极大地促进了任课教师对标评价量规进行教研教改。为促进环境工程专业核心基础课的教改,“环境工程微生物学”全英课程组在先进的教育思想、方法和教育心理学的指导下,对教学理念、课程内容、教学组织和实施等多方面进行了大胆的改革和创新,注重课程思政和因材施教,增加课堂教学的师生互动和生生互动;针对工科类学生的培养目标,引入实际工程的应用案例,在课内外补充环境微生物工程领域研究的最新进展和教师的科研成果,注重提升课程的高阶性、创新性和挑战度,从多方面强化知识、能力、素质的有机融合,学生学习效果明显提高。申报并获认定为首批国家线下一流本科课程和广东省一流本科课程。     

Exploring continuity equation via a modeling activity: in the context of crowd science

Abstract

Using problems from real life contexts which is related to learners’ environment or their culture plays an important role in their learning that concept. In this regard, science educators especially physics educators search for real-life domain of theoretical concepts for effective science teaching and they consider analogical and physical models as an opportunity in their instruction. In the presented activity, we worked with 66 senior pre-service science teachers from our science teaching methods course. We used crowd movements as a real-life domain of our analogical models to scientifically explain a stampede case, then utilized physical model to explore continuity equation. Real life problem based scenarios could be used while taking advantage of the 3?D modeling in teaching of scientific principle. As a result, we found that pre-service teachers were able to make scientific explanation for causes of stampedes by using modeling activity. High school teachers and upper-level instructors could benefit from including the modeling activity introduced in this study to help their students understand the concepts related to continuity equation by designing a physical model based on an analogical model. Via the physical model, students are able to make predictions, observations, interpretations and explanations of a complex and abstract scientific phenomenon.     

A comparative study between outcomes of an in‐person versus online introductory field course

The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted many standard approaches to STEM education. Particularly impacted were field courses, which rely on specific natural spaces often accessed through shared vehicles. As in‐person field courses have been found to be particularly impactful for undergraduate student success in the sciences, we aimed to compare and understand what factors may have been lost or gained during the conversion of an introductory field course to an online format. Using a mixed methods approach comparing data from online and in‐person field‐course offerings, we found that while community building was lost in the online format, online participants reported increased self‐efficacy in research and observation skills and connection to their local space. The online field course additionally provided positive mental health breaks for students who described the time outside as a much‐needed respite. We maintain that through intentional design, online field courses can provide participants with similar outcomes to in‐person field courses.     

The bioclimate of Scotland in relation to a world system of classification and to land use capability

Summary

The bioclimate of Scotland has been characterised by oceanicity, moisture balance and thermal zonation. These form six regions which are placed within the framework of a possible world system. For land use capability a finer division is necessary and the addition of corrections for latitude and oceanicity to the scheme now in use is proposed.     

Pedagogy in Paleopathology

Abstract

The study of diseases, anomalies and abnormalities in skeletal or mummified bodies representing peoples of the past, has been the stepchild of Archaeology and medical pathology for many years. In the past the emphasis has been on documentation of unusual findings. Little effort has been made to educate researchers and teachers in this field. A course of instruction in Paleopathology was held for 4 years at the U.S. National Museum. In an assessment of the teaching of Paleopathology in North America Kerley found that 68 of 340 anthropology departments and museums with physical anthropology sections offered such courses. There was considerable variation in the organization of the courses, material covered, teaching aids available, instruction methods, and the general orientation of the instruction. In 1972 a course in Paleopathology was first offered at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and has continued since. The problem of communicating concepts of pathology, epidemiology, and demography to inexperienced university students has necessitated continuing modification of the course. Education in Paleopathology has received little emphasis in the past. Our teaching methods may be of value to others. We are documenting our experiences with the hope that they are helpful and that in the future there may be increased interest in and some standardization of teaching methods.     

The analysis of a blood pressure diary for a patient report

In order to make a more valid assessment of blood pressure (BP), self-monitoring of BP by the patient is generally advised. Self-monitoring usually results in a lower BP level. We are currently investigating whether the BP lowering effect of self-monitoring may be enhanced by not only monitoring BP but also monitoring physical and emotional status at the moment of and activity prior to the BP measurement in a diary. In this article we focus on the individual feedback that the participating patients received. Various methods that can be used for this purpose are described. For our individual reports we first assessed linear trends in the variables. When a trend was present, residuals were calculated. Then a principal-components analysis on BP measurements, BP estimates, symptoms, moods, and activities was performed. Results are presented for two hypertensive patients.