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What teachers know about their content area plays a role in how they effectively enhance the scientific literacy of their students. This leads to questions about teacher content knowledge as they e...

This study examines the impact of changing the tone of a traditional syllabus to make it more learner-centered. The researchers examined a required wellness course that serves over 8,000 students per year at a large, four-year public university in the southern United States. Concerns about student progression through programs and graduation rates had prompted a number of faculty to look into ways to increase these numbers. The investigators changed the tone of the syllabus to determine if a more learner-centered document would increase the chances of students interacting with the syllabus and, in turn, increase the success rates in the course. The results indicated that few students spent sufficient time reading the syllabus to take in all the information regardless of the tone used within the document, so the tone, by itself, did not impact student success.

Although increasing apolipoprotein A‐I (apoA‐I) might lower the cardiovascular disease risk, knowledge on natural compounds that elevate apoA‐I transcription is limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to discover natural compounds that increase apoA‐I transcription in HepG2 cells. Since BRD4 inhibition is known to elevate apoA‐I transcription, we focused on natural BRD4 inhibitors. For this, the literature was screened for compounds that might increase apoA‐I and or inhibit BRD4. This resulted in list A, (apoA‐I increasers with unknown BRD4 inhibitor capacity), list B (known BRD4 inhibitors that increase apoA‐I), and list C (BRD4 inhibitors with unknown effect on apoA‐I). These compounds were compared with the compounds in two natural compound databases. This resulted in (1) a common substructure (ethyl‐benzene) in 60% of selected BRD4‐inhibitors, and (2) four compounds that increased ApoA‐I: hesperetin, equilenin, 9(S)‐HOTrE, and cymarin. Whether these increases are regulated via BRD4 inhibition and the ethyl‐benzene structure inhibits BRD4 requires further study.

BACKGROUND In Ghana, midwives are the primary maternity care practitioners. Their knowledge of postpartum care is critical for preventing and reducing maternal deaths because it affects the quality of care provided to women. In addition, midwives' knowledge of postbirth warning signs is important for early identification and management of complications. This study assessed midwives' knowledge of postpartum care and postbirth warning signs to develop interventions to improve patient care. METHODS A cross-sectional survey of 246 midwives was conducted in the four main hospitals of Tamale, Ghana. Data were collected using a postpartum care knowledge questionnaire developed by JHPIEGO. Data were analyzed in SAS version 9.4 using descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistics. RESULTS Mean age of midwives was 31.9 years. The percentage of midwives who responded correctly to each postpartum care question ranged from 41.6% to 84.9%. Most midwives were knowledgeable about breastfeeding-however, knowledge about fundus location, postpartum examination, and care during first 2 hours postpartum was low. Hospital was associated with knowledge of postpartum care (P

Background Apolipoprotein-I (ApoA-I), the major component of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles, mediates cholesterol efflux by which it facilitates the removal of excess cholesterol from peripheral tissues. Therefore, elevating ApoA-I production leading to the production of new pre-beta-HDL particles is thought to be beneficial in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Recently, we observed that amoxicillin treatment led to decreased HDL concentrations in healthy human volunteers. We questioned whether this antibiotic effect was directly or indirectly, via changed short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) concentrations through an altered gut microflora. Therefore, we here evaluated the effects of amoxicillin and various SCFA on hepatic ApoA-I expression, secretion, and the putative underlying pathways. Methods and Results Human hepatocytes (HepG2) were exposed to increasing dose of amoxicillin or SCFA for 48 hours. ApoA-I messenger RNA (mRNA) transcription and secreted protein were analyzed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. To study underlying mechanisms, changes in mRNA expression of KEAP1, CPT1, and PPAR alpha, as well as a PPAR alpha transactivation assay, were analyzed. Amoxicillin dose-dependently decreased ApoA-I mRNA transcription as well as ApoA-I protein secretion. SCFA treatment resulted in a dose-dependent stimulation of ApoA-I mRNA transcription, however, the ApoA-I protein secretion was decreased. Furthermore, SCFA treatment increased PPAR alpha transactivation, PPAR alpha and CPT1 mRNA transcription, whereas KEAP1 mRNA transcription was decreased. Conclusion Direct treatment of HepG2 cells with amoxicillin has either direct effects on lowering ApoA-I transcription and secretion or indirect effects via modified SCFA concentrations because SCFA were found to stimulate hepatic ApoA-I expression. Furthermore, BET inhibition and PPAR alpha activation were identified as possible mechanisms behind the observed effects on ApoA-I transcription.

The purpose of the study was to understand the impact of involuntary remote working during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived stress and work-related burnout for workers with and without previous experience of remote work. The authors developed a questionnaire, open from March 23rd to May 19th, 2020, incorporating the Perceived Stress Scale, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, demographic, and work-related questions. This sample consisted of 256 professionals who self-identified as working at home during the pandemic. Pandemic restrictions increased perceived stress for all participants, but age and gender had significant effects on stress and burnout. Burnout was most significant for respondents already working remotely before COVID-19. The most significant challenges reported were—communication, collaboration, and time management with colleagues via technology. Working from home may contribute to higher levels of perceived stress and work-related burnout, which questions moves by some employers to make working from home a permanent arrangement.

Two hypotheses are tested: (1) that attitude similarity between defendant and juror is positively related to decisions favoring the defendant; and (2) that juror authoritarianism is negatively related to decisions favoring the defendant. In a simulated jury situation, 139 subjects who were either high or low in authoritarianism responded to an accused defendant whose attitudes were either similar to or dissimilar from their own on 5 issues irrelevant to the case. The effects of attitude similarity and authoritarianism on judicial decisions were found to be more complex than hypothesized. Generally, and compared to equalitarians, authoritarians are less inclined to judge a similar defendant as guilty and more inclined to punish a dissimilar defendant severely. Discrepancies between these findings and those of other studies are discussed. The authors suggest important implications for the legal system in the fact that some jurors (equalitarians) are more immune to legally irrelevant information than are others (authoritarians). (TL)

This in-depth study of the teacher education center movement in Maryland begins with a discussion of the need for change and the forces and circumstances which contributed to that change. It also describes in considerable detail the program which resulted in the teacher education centers of Maryland, outlines the structure of a typical teacher education center, and identifies some of the major problems encountered with some possible pitfalls which might be avoided. A final section describes the role of the State Department of Education in its leadership function for the improvement of teacher education programs in the state, traces the developments which made such a role possible, and outlines plans for the future. A breakdown of costs for a proposed 5-year state-sponsored student teaching program is included. (RT)