Good student questions in inquiry learning

Acquisition of scientific reasoning is one of the big challenges in education. A popular educational strategy advocated for acquiring deep knowledge is inquiry-based learning, which is driven by emerging ‘good questions’. This study will address the question: ‘Which design features allow learners to refine questions while preserving student ownership of the inquiry process?’ This design-based research has been conducted over several years with advanced high-school biology classes. The results confirm the central role of question elaboration as an interactive process that leads from vague to complex and adequate. To make this happen, the inquiry process must extend over a long time, learners and teachers should share a knowledge improvement goal, and text produced by students should be structured by question–answer pairs addressing a single concept using authentic resources. Further features are discussion with peers, teacher feedback with respect to answer elaboration and conceptual differentiation, and finally, teacher guidance that should fade out in successive inquiry cycles to ensure student responsibility.     

Research Ethics and Intellectual Disability: Broadening the Debates

This article examines the ethical issues surrounding the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities as research subjects. It explores subject selection, competence, risk and benefits, and authority through three tensions that emerge when considering these concepts in the context of the Disability Rights Movement and critical disability scholarship. These tensions are defined as the double dangers of inclusion and exclusion; the challenges of defining competence and risk in terms of individuals vs. groups; and the conflicts that arise when pursuing the dual goals of amelioration and elimination of disabilities. Though these tensions are not resolved, they underscore the importance of researchers engaging with critical disability perspectives in order to navigate these complex ethical questions.     

Prognostic value of leptin: 6-Month outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage

Leptin has recently been discussed as a novel biomarker for the clinical outcome of critical illness. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of leptin with regard to long-term clinical outcomes in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. In 50 healthy controls and 92 patients with acute spontaneous basal ganglia hemorrhage presenting to the emergency department of a large primary care hospital, we measured plasma leptin levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a blinded fashion. Plasma leptin levels on admission were considerably higher in patients than healthy controls. A significant correlation emerged between plasma leptin level and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score. A multivariate analysis identified plasma leptin level as an independent predictor for 6-month clinical outcomes including 6-month mortality and unfavorable outcome (Modified Rankin Scale score > 2). Using receiver operating characteristic curves, we calculated areas under the curve for 6-month clinical outcomes. The predictive performance of leptin was similar to, but did not obviously improve that of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores. Thus, leptin may help in the prediction of 6-month mortality and unfavorable outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage.     

Alternative development in Polystoma gallieni (Platyhelminthes,Monogenea) and life cycle evolution

Considering the addition of intermediate transmission steps during life cycle evolution, developmental plasticity, canalization forces and inherited parental effect must be invoked to explain new host colonization. Unfortunately, there is a lack of experimental procedures and relevant models to explore the adaptive value of alternative developmental phenotypes during life cycle evolution. However, within the monogeneans that are characterized by a direct life cycle, an extension of the transmission strategy of amphibian parasites has been reported within species of Polystoma and Metapolystoma (Polyopisthocotylea; Polystomatidae). In this study, we tested whether the infection success of Polystoma gallieni within tadpoles of its specific host, the Stripeless Tree Frog Hyla meridionalis, differs depending on the parental origin of the oncomiracidium. An increase in the infection success of the parasitic larvae when exposed to the same experimental conditions as their parents was expected as an adaptive pattern of non-genetic inherited information. Twice as many parasites were actually recorded from tadpoles infected with oncomiracidia hatching from eggs of the bladder parental phenotype (1.63 ± 0.82 parasites per host) than from tadpoles infected with oncomiracidia hatching from eggs of the branchial parental phenotype (0.83 ± 0.64 parasites per host). Because in natural environments the alternation of the two phenotypes is likely to occur due to the ecology of its host, the differential infection success within young tadpoles could have an adaptive value that favors the parasite transmission over time.     

HUMAN COOPERATION BASED ON PUNISHMENT REPUTATION

The threat of punishment usually promotes cooperation. However, punishing itself is costly, rare in nonhuman animals, and humans who punish often finish with low payoffs in economic experiments. The evolution of punishment has therefore been unclear. Recent theoretical developments suggest that punishment has evolved in the context of reputation games. We tested this idea in a simple helping game with observers and with punishment and punishment reputation (experimentally controlling for other possible reputational effects). We show that punishers fully compensate their costs as they receive help more often. The more likely defection is punished within a group, the higher the level of within‐group cooperation. These beneficial effects perish if the punishment reputation is removed. We conclude that reputation is key to the evolution of punishment.     

Divergent and convergent synthesis of polymannosylated dibranched antigenic peptide of the immunodominant epitope MBP(83–99)

Multiple antigenic peptide (MAP) systems are dendrimeric structures bearing multiple copies of identical or different peptide epitopes, and they have been demonstrated to show enhanced immunogenicity. Herein, we report the direct (divergent) and indirect (convergent) synthesis, using contemporary synthetic approaches, of a di-branched antigenic peptide (di-BAP) containing the immunodominant epitope MBP(83–99), which is implicated in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS). The direct synthesis (di-BAP 1) was performed using microwave irradiation. The indirect synthesis (di-BAP 2) was carried out performing an efficient chemoselective coupling reaction through the formation of a thioether bond. Both di-BAPs were conjugated to polysaccharide mannan since mannosylation is a promising technique to achieve modulation in immune response. The conjugation was achieved through free amino groups of both di-BAPs via the formation of Schiff bases. The mannan-conjugated di-BAPs were further evaluated in vivo in a prophylactic vaccination protocol, prior to EAE induction in Lewis rats.     

专项整治对综合医院抗菌药物使用强度的影响

??????? 目的 探讨抗菌药物临床应用专项整治活动对综合医院住院患者抗菌药物使用强度的影响。方法 以限定日剂量（DDD）为单位,对某综合性医院在实施专项整治前、后住院患者抗菌药物使用强度（AUD）进行统计、分析。结果 专项整治活动降低了住院患者累计AUD值,大环内酯类等药物AUD明显下降,第二代、第三代和第四代头孢菌素和不同管理级别抗菌药物AUD均下降。但还存在用药集中、注射用头孢哌酮钠舒巴坦钠AUD下降不明显等问题。结论 专项整治有效降低了综合医院住院患者AUD,但与卫生行政部门标准仍存在差距,应进一步加强管理。     

microRNAs在肝细胞癌中的调控机制及临床应用

microRNA（miRNA）在人类恶性肿瘤的发生发展过程中起着重要作用。近期研究表明,miRNA通过结合特定靶标参与调控肝细胞癌（hepatocellularcarcinoma,HCC）的发生,可作为辅助生物标志物用于指导肝细胞癌的诊断和治疗,并为有效地监控和预防肝病提供了新途径。寻找miRNA靶标,阐明miRNA参与肝癌发生的调控机理,有利于肝癌的临床靶向基因治疗。通过总结miRNA在肝细胞癌中的调控机制及临床应用的研究进展,为寻找肝细胞癌早期诊断的生物标志物及介入治疗的靶点提供了参考。