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In recent years, the scientific community has called for improvements in the credibility, robustness, and reproducibility of research, characterized by increased interest and promotion of open and transparent research practices. While progress has been positive, there is a lack of consideration about how this approach can be embedded into undergraduate and postgraduate research training. Specifically, a critical overview of the literature which investigates how integrating open and reproducible science may influence student outcomes is needed. In this paper, we provide the first critical review of literature surrounding the integration of open and reproducible scholarship into teaching and learning and its associated outcomes in students. Our review highlighted how embedding open and reproducible scholarship appears to be associated with (1) students’ scientific literacies (i.e., students’ understanding of open research, consumption of science, and the development of transferable skills); (2) student engagement (i.e., motivation and engagement with learning, collaboration, and engagement in open research), and (3) students’ attitudes towards science (i.e., trust in science and confidence in research findings). However, our review also identified a need for more robust and rigorous methods within pedagogical research, including more interventional and experimental evaluations of teaching practice. We discuss implications for teaching and learning scholarship.

An 11-month-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier was referred with a two-month history of fluctuating unilateral jugular groove swelling, which appeared to enlarge after exercise. There was no history of trauma. Multimodal imaging findings (using transdermal and transesophageal ultrasound and dual phase computed tomography angiography) were consistent with large, saccular, left jugular vein aneurysm, running parallel to the left carotid artery. There did not appear to be any arteriovenous communication present. There were no cardiac abnormalities found on echocardiography. Following surgical excision, histopathological analysis supported the clinical suspicion of a congenital external jugular venous aneurysm.

“Competence Framework for Research Data Management in Norway” was a one-year project (autumn 2021 – autumn 2022) (Bibliotekutvikling, 2021) run by the Norwegian node of the Research Data Alliance (RDA-NO) and financed by the National Library of Norway. The purpose of the project was to obtain a concise overview of the competence needs for research data management in the Norwegian higher education sector. Through a combination of surveys and workshops we have uncovered several needs for competence building in research data management as a discipline. This is the English translation of thereport presentingthe results of the project.

Scientific studies of language span across many disciplines and provide evidence for social, cultural, cognitive, technological, and biomedical studies of human nature and behavior. By becoming increasingly empirical and quantitative, linguistics has been facing challenges and limitations of the scientific practices that pose barriers to reproducibility and replicability. One of the proposed solutions to the widely acknowledged reproducibility and replicability crisis has been the implementation of transparency practices, e.g. open access publishing, preregistrations, sharing study materials, data, and analyses, performing study replications and declaring conflicts of interest. Here, we have assessed the prevalence of these practices in randomly sampled 600 journal articles from linguistics across two time points. In line with similar studies in other disciplines, we found a moderate amount of articles published open access, but overall low rates of sharing materials, data, and protocols, no preregistrations, very few replications and low rates of conflict of interest reports. These low rates have not increased noticeably between 2008/2009 and 2018/2019, pointing to remaining barriers and slow adoption of open and reproducible research practices in linguistics. As linguistics has not yet firmly established transparency and reproducibility as guiding principles in research, we provide recommendations and solutions for facilitating the adoption of these practices.

In recent years, the scientific community has called for improvements in the credibility, robustness and reproducibility of research, characterized by increased interest and promotion of open and transparent research practices. While progress has been positive, there is a lack of consideration about how this approach can be embedded into undergraduate and postgraduate research training. Specifically, a critical overview of the literature which investigates how integrating open and reproducible science may influence student outcomes is needed. In this paper, we provide the first critical review of literature surrounding the integration of open and reproducible scholarship into teaching and learning and its associated outcomes in students. Our review highlighted how embedding open and reproducible scholarship appears to be associated with (i) students' scientific literacies (i.e. students’ understanding of open research, consumption of science and the development of transferable skills); (ii) student engagement (i.e. motivation and engagement with learning, collaboration and engagement in open research) and (iii) students' attitudes towards science (i.e. trust in science and confidence in research findings). However, our review also identified a need for more robust and rigorous methods within pedagogical research, including more interventional and experimental evaluations of teaching practice. We discuss implications for teaching and learning scholarship.

Background Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) is caused by Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) and is considered the most suitable animal model for human lung cancer. The precise mechanisms of OPA oncogenesis are still uncertain. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is activated by interleukin-6 (IL-6) in many cancers, but this aspect is unknown in OPA. We aimed to evaluate the expression of IL-6 and STAT3 in OPA for its potential role in pulmonary carcinogenesis. Results Twenty cases of JSRV-positive OPA and 9 normal lung tissues from sheep were included in the study. Tissue samples were stained with antibodies for IL-6, STAT3, and JSRV-MA. IL-6 and STAT3 were semi-quantified in OPA and control groups using Western Blot (WB). IL‑6 was expressed in stromal, inflammatory, and epithelial cells in all cases of OPA, while STAT3 expression was restricted to epithelial cells. In the OPA group, the percentage of immunolabelled cells for STAT3 accounted for a mean value of 96%. Using the H-SCORE method, 95% of cases were considered positive for STAT3 expression. Control tissuesshowed multifocal andweak immunoexpression for both markers. Using WB analysis, a highly significant amount of both IL-6 (p=0.0078) and STAT3 (pConclusions Our data showed overexpression of IL-6 and STAT3 in OPA in comparison with healthylungs. These results suggest a potential role of IL6-STAT3 in OPA carcinogenesis.

The rates and patterns of somatic mutation in normal tissues are largely unknown outside of humans1–7. Comparative analyses can shed light on the diversity of mutagenesis across species, and on long-standing hypotheses about the evolution of somatic mutation rates and their role in cancer and ageing. Here we performed whole-genome sequencing of 208 intestinal crypts from 56 individuals to study the landscape of somatic mutation across 16 mammalian species. We found that somatic mutagenesis was dominated by seemingly endogenous mutational processes in all species, including 5-methylcytosine deamination and oxidative damage. With some differences, mutational signatures in other species resembled those described in humans8, although the relative contribution of each signature varied across species. Notably, the somatic mutation rate per year varied greatly across species and exhibited a strong inverse relationship with species lifespan, with no other life-history trait studied showing a comparable association. Despite widely different life histories among the species we examined—including variation of around 30-fold in lifespan and around 40,000-fold in body mass—the somatic mutation burden at the end of lifespan varied only by a factor of around 3. These data unveil common mutational processes across mammals, and suggest that somatic mutation rates are evolutionarily constrained and may be a contributing factor in ageing.

“Competency framework for research data services in Norwegian academic libraries” was a one-year project run by the Norwegian Node in the Research Data Alliance with funding from the Norwegian National Library. We present the results from this project. A competency framework defines a set of knowledge and skills needed to develop professionally within a given domain (Rivera-Ibarra et al., 2010). By defining the knowledge needs related to data management in libraries, the project helps to make it easier for institutions to identify the need for skills development. Furthermore, a competence framework can function as a basis for designing educational programmes. Extensive work has been done internationally to define and describe the skills needed to deliver good services in research data management. This competence framework was not intended to duplicate previous work, but rather to describe and refer to good international documents and reports in the field. In addition, we have conducted a full-day workshop with 40 participants from relevant institutions in the sector. Input from the workshop has helped to describe the Norwegian context and factors that apply in this country, which are not highlighted in the international work. We envision the library's role in the work with data management as a hub or filter for the requirements and needs of funders, publishers, and researchers, respectively, which are resolved by further connection to other resources, persons and infrastructure while simultaneously recognizing that the library is a driving force for development work in the field. This approach is deliberately library-centric, in that the library and the coordinating role that the academic libraries usually have is put in the centre. At some institutions, this work may be organized differently, but both in Norway and internationally, the most common model for research data management is for the library to be fully or partially responsible for the field (LIBER, 2020; Swiatek et al., 2020). Some of the key challenges we have identified are that in order to provide support one must have a very wide range of skills while recognizing that it is impossible for one person to know everything. We also see that a majority of those who work with research data management in Norwegian academic libraries have data management as one of several responsibilities. This makes it even more relevant to facilitate collaboration and draw on expertise from others in order to provide good services to the researchers at the institution. When we describe the various types of competence needed to work with data management, it is not with the expectation that a single person will know all this. By making visible the wide range of knowledge needed, we want to make it easier to put into words what competence one has, what competence one wants to acquire in one’s own organization, and what needs to be brought in externally. Here there will be differences in the way in which universities and colleges prioritize.

Proficient use of spatial terms such as under, to the left of or in front of is a central component of daily communication and is important in the development of language and spatial cognition. Here we examine spatial language abilities in intellectually high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder, an area previously overlooked in autism research. Twenty-five high-functioning individuals with ASD and 25 typically developing controls, matched for chronological age and cognitive abilities, completed a novel battery tapping a broad range of spatial language abilities. We report selective difficulties in the production of spatial terms and spatial description recall in high-functioning ASD. Overall verbal abilities did not account for the observed group differences. Crucially, however, the intensity of autism spectrum traits predicted individual performance in both spatial language production and spatial description recall. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings and explore their significance for both clinical practice and intervention. Lay abstract How we think and talk about space is an essential ability, necessary for understanding the world around us. We recruit spatial thinking every day when finding our way or using tools but also in more advanced tasks, such as reading complex graphs or maps. We do so also in daily communication when we use spatial language, terms such as under, over, to the left of or in front of, and when we give instructions. Spatial terms appear in children’s early vocabularies and continue to develop until late childhood or even early adolescence. Because spatial language develops over many years, some spatial terms are mastered very early, whereas others take longer to acquire. In the current set of studies, we tested how intellectually high-functioning children and adults on the autism spectrum use and understand these early- and late-acquired spatial terms in comparison to typically developing age-matched individuals. We found that children and adults on the autism spectrum experience difficulties with the use of some spatial terms (e.g. near and far or out of and down off) but not with others, which are acquired early (e.g. in and on or over and under). We also found that remembering spatial terms from short stories was more difficult for the individuals on the autism spectrum compared with typically developing individuals. These results reveal difficulties that can profoundly affect everyday communication of children and adults on the autism spectrum but also open new directions of research on language development in autism spectrum disorders.

Directing visual attention towards items mentioned in utterances can optimize understanding the unfolding spoken language and preparing to behave appropriately in different world situations. In particular, numeral classifiers not only specify semantic classes of nouns but could function as reference trackers. Whereas all classifier types function to single out objects for reference in the real world and may assist attentional guidance, we propose that only sortal classifiers are inherently attached to the nouns’ semantics; whereas container classifiers are pragmatically attached and the default classifiers index a noun without specifying the semantics. Using eye tracking and the “visual world paradigm”, we found that classifier types affect the rapidity of spontaneously looking at the target objects on a screen. We had Chinese speakers (N=20) listen to sentences and we observed that they looked spontaneously within 150 ms after offset of the Sortal classifier. Shortly after 200 ms the same occurred for the container classifiers, but with the default only after 764 ms. These latencies were significantly different from each other indicating that the stronger the semantic relatedness between a classifier and its noun, the more efficient the deployment of overt attention.

Young children tend to prioritize objects over layouts in their drawings, often juxtaposing “floating” objects in the picture plane instead of grounding those objects in drawn representations of the extended layout. In the present study, we explore whether implicitly directing children’s attention to elements of the extended layout through a drawing’s communicative goal—to indicate the location of a hidden target to someone else—might lead children to draw more layout information. By comparing children’s drawings to a different group of children’s verbal descriptions, moreover, we explore how communicative medium affects children’s inclusion of layout and object information. If attention modulates children’s symbolic communication about layouts and objects, then children should both draw and talk about layouts and objects when they are relevant to the communicative task. If there are challenges or advantages specific to either medium, then children might treat layouts and objects differently when drawing versus describing them. We find evidence for both of these possibilities: Attention affects what children include in symbolic communication, like drawings and language, but children are more concise in their inclusion of relevant layout or object information in language versus drawings.

Background and ObjectivesCOVID-19–related inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and coagulopathy may increase the bleeding risk and lower the efficacy of revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We aimed to evaluate the safety and outcomes of revascularization treatments in patients with AIS and COVID-19.MethodsThis was a retrospective multicenter cohort study of consecutive patients with AIS receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and/or endovascular treatment (EVT) between March 2020 and June 2021 tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. With a doubly robust model combining propensity score weighting and multivariate regression, we studied the association of COVID-19 with intracranial bleeding complications and clinical outcomes. Subgroup analyses were performed according to treatment groups (IVT-only and EVT).ResultsOf a total of 15,128 included patients from 105 centers, 853 (5.6%) were diagnosed with COVID-19; of those, 5,848 (38.7%) patients received IVT-only and 9,280 (61.3%) EVT (with or without IVT). Patients with COVID-19 had a higher rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) (adjusted OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.16–2.01), symptomatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SSAH) (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.20–2.69), SICH and/or SSAH combined (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.23–1.99), 24-hour mortality (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.58–3.86), and 3-month mortality (OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.52–2.33). Patients with COVID-19 also had an unfavorable shift in the distribution of the modified Rankin score at 3 months (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.26–1.60).DiscussionPatients with AIS and COVID-19 showed higher rates of intracranial bleeding complications and worse clinical outcomes after revascularization treatments than contemporaneous non–COVID-19 patients receiving treatment. Current available data do not allow direct conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of revascularization treatments in patients with COVID-19 or to establish different treatment recommendations in this subgroup of patients with ischemic stroke. Our findings can be taken into consideration for treatment decisions, patient monitoring, and establishing prognosis.Trial Registration InformationThe study was registered under ClinicalTrials.gov identifierNCT04895462.

Changes in gene expression programs are intimately linked to cell fate decisions. Post-translational modifications of core histones contribute to control gene expression. Methylation of lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4) correlates with active promoters and gene transcription. This modification is catalyzed by KMT2 methyltransferases, which require interaction with 4 core subunits, WDR5, RBBP5, ASH2L and DPY30, for catalytic activity. Ash2l is necessary for organismal development and for tissue homeostasis. In mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs), Ash2l loss results in gene repression, provoking a senescence phenotype. We now find that upon knockout of Ash2l both H3K4 mono- and tri-methylation (H3K4me1 and me3, respectively) were deregulated. In particular, loss of H3K4me3 at promoters correlated with gene repression, especially at CpG island promoters. Ash2l loss resulted in increased loading of histone H3 and chromatin compaction at promoters, accompanied by an increase of repressing and a decrease of activating histone marks. Moreover, we observed altered binding of CTCF upon Ash2l loss. Lost and gained binding was noticed at promoter-associated and intergenic sites, respectively. Thus, Ash2l loss and reduction of H3K4me3 correlate with chromatin compaction and altered transcription factor binding. These findings contribute to a more detailed understanding of mechanistic consequences of H3K4me3 loss and associated repression of gene repression and thus of the observed cellular consequences.

Slides from 2021-12-06/07 online workshop

2021-06-16 online workshop

Tissue adhesives are attractive materials with potential to replace the use of sutures and staples in the repair of the injured tissues. The research field of tissue adhesives is dynamically growing, and different methods and tissue models are employed to evaluate the adhesive properties of newly developed materials. It is thus difficult to directly compare the properties of materials developed by researchers from different groups. Moreover, the extrapolation of results obtained using different tissue models to the targeted human tissues is often not possible. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate the adhesive properties of the three different tissues adhesives: the clinically used Dermabond® and fibrin glues, and the recently developed isocyanate-terminated three-armed adhesive block copolymers. Different biological substrates were used to assess their adhesion strengths: bovine Achilles tendon, meniscus tissue and skeletal muscle, chamois leather, and collagen films. Comparisons of the adhesive properties of the glues with these substrates were made. The obtained results were analyzed in terms of the chemistry and the adhesion mechanisms of the glues, and the composition and properties of the substrates like their hydrophilicity and surface morphology. We conclude that standardized procedures and models should be developed to allow direct comparison between the different (developed) tissue adhesives and to enable extrapolation of the results towards the targeted human tissues

Post-translational modifications of core histones participate in controlling the expression of genes. Methylation of lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4), together with acetylation of H3K27, is closely associated with open chromatin and gene transcription. H3K4 methylation is catalyzed by KMT2 lysine methyltransferases that include the mixed-lineage leukemia 1–4 (MLL1-4) and SET1A and B enzymes. For efficient catalysis, all six require a core complex of four proteins, WDR5, RBBP5, ASH2L, and DPY30. We report that targeted disruption of Ash2l in the murine hematopoietic system results in the death of the mice due to a rapid loss of mature hematopoietic cells. However, lin−Sca1+Kit+ (LSK) cells, which are highly enriched in hematopoietic stem and multi-potent progenitor cells, accumulated in the bone marrow. The loss of Ash2l resulted in global reduction of H3K4 methylation and deregulated gene expression, including down-regulation of many mitosis-associated genes. As a consequence, LSK cells accumulated in the G2-phase of the cell cycle and were unable to proliferate and differentiate. In conclusion, Ash2l is essential for balanced gene expression and for hematopoietic stem and multi-potent progenitor cell physiology.

Writing sessions with colleagues are a great reminder to PhD students that we’re all in it together. Writing sessions with colleagues are a great reminder to PhD students that we’re all in it together.

9 p., Background: Stroke disproportionately affects people in low-income and middle-income countries. Although improvements in stroke care and outcomes have been reported in high-income countries, little is known about practice and outcomes in low and middle-income countries. We aimed to compare patterns of care available and their association with patient outcomes across countries at different economic levels. Methods: We studied the patterns and effect of practice variations (ie, treatments used and access to services) among participants in the INTERSTROKE study, an international observational study that enrolled 13 447 stroke patients from 142 clinical sites in 32 countries between Jan 11, 2007, and Aug 8, 2015. We supplemented patient data with a questionnaire about health-care and stroke service facilities at all participating hospitals. Using univariate and multivariate regression analyses to account for patient casemix and service clustering, we estimated the association between services available, treatments given, and patient outcomes (death or dependency) at 1 month. Findings: We obtained full information for 12 342 (92%) of 13 447 INTERSTROKE patients, from 108 hospitals in 28 countries; 2576 from 38 hospitals in ten high-income countries and 9766 from 70 hospitals in 18 low and middle-income countries. Patients in low-income and middle-income countries more often had severe strokes, intracerebral haemorrhage, poorer access to services, and used fewer investigations and treatments (p

Regulation of gene expression is achieved by sequence-specific transcriptional regulators, which convey the information that is contained in the sequence of DNA into RNA polymerase activity. This is achieved by the recruitment of transcriptional co-factors. One of the consequences of co-factor recruitment is the control of specific properties of nucleosomes, the basic units of chromatin, and their protein components, the core histones. The main principles are to regulate the position and the characteristics of nucleosomes. The latter includes modulating the composition of core histones and their variants that are integrated into nucleosomes, and the post-translational modification of these histones referred to as histone marks. One of these marks is the methylation of lysine 4 of the core histone H3 (H3K4). While mono-methylation of H3K4 (H3K4me1) is located preferentially at active enhancers, tri-methylation (H3K4me3) is a mark found at open and potentially active promoters. Thus, H3K4 methylation is typically associated with gene transcription. The class 2 lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) are the main enzymes that methylate H3K4. KMT2 enzymes function in complexes that contain a necessary core complex composed of WDR5, RBBP5, ASH2L, and DPY30, the so-called WRAD complex. Here we discuss recent findings that try to elucidate the important question of how KMT2 complexes are recruited to specific sites on chromatin. This is embedded into short overviews of the biological functions of KMT2 complexes and the consequences of H3K4 methylation.