The purpose of this paper was to determine the readiness of kindergarten teachers in Bulgaria in anticipation of impending inclusion-driven reforms in the education system. Data on 922 kindergarten ...teachers' attitudes towards inclusion across three dimensions (cognitive, affective, and behavioural), their concerns, and self-efficacy were analysed. Overall, teachers reported being willing to adapt their behaviour to promote inclusion in their classroom, despite not feeling particularly positively about inclusion. Inclusion-related training, which is critical for teachers to meet the demands of reforms, was a robust, positive predictor of teachers’ attitudes across all three dimensions.
•This paper examined the attitudes towards inclusion of 922 teachers in kindergartens in Bulgaria across three dimensions (cognitive, affective, behavioural), their concerns, and self-efficacy in this regard.•Teachers were most likely to hold negative affective attitudes and positive behavioural attitudes towards inclusion.•Inclusion-related training significantly predicted positive attitudes towards inclusion across cognitive, behavioural, and affective domains.•The findings accentuate the importance of continuous professional development for teachers already teaching in the system in fostering more positive attitudes towards inclusion.
Our mainstream mobility thinking is narrowly framed: it highlights the role of mobility in economic and urban growth, individual speed and system efficiency, but obscures its role in reproducing ...inequalities, and in driving unsustainable developments on a global scale. Critically, however, this narrative obscures our view on the increasingly problematic societal and environmental ‘externalities’ of mobility, such as its significant contribution to climate change, air pollution, social exclusion, deaths and injuries, public health issues and landscape degradation. With such high stakes for our common mobility futures, how can we identify seeds of emerging alternatives, nurture and amplify their potential impact and empower emerging alternative futures?
Acute respiratory infections cause significant morbidity and mortality even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic restrictions decreased circulation of many respiratory viruses but some less ...troubling infections such as common cold are still circulating.
One of the most frequent causative agents of common cold are rhinoviruses. The fact that these pathogens have been able to slip through anti-COVID preventive measures raises the question of whether we really know this group of viruses and whether these viruses cause only common cold. The clinical impact of rhinoviruses seems to be underestimated.
In searching of an answer how rhinoviruses have slipped through the anti-COVID precautions we referred to the work of infectious disease specialists, virologists and epidemiologists -much of it conducted decades before the current pandemic. A non-systematic search of the literature is performed. Some of the latest findings on rhinoviruses along with basic knowledge on their biology and clinical impact are summarized in this review.
Abstract Introduction and Objectives: Gastric and pancreatic cancers lack effective therapies, leading to low survival rates particularly in the metastatic setting. Fibroblast growth factor receptor ...2 (FGFR2) amplification and fusions with TACC2 appear in 5.5% and 2.1% of gastric tumors, respectively. In pancreatic cancers, the KRAS p.G12C mutation is limited to 1-2% of cases. FDA has recently approved drugs targeting both alterations, pemigatinib and infigratinib for cholangiocarcinoma with FGFR2 fusions; sotorasib and adagrasib for KRAS p.G12C mutant lung cancers. Here, we report the initiation of primary cultures that can be used as preclinical models for testing antitumor agents in gastric and pancreatic tumor cells. Materials and Methods: Pleural effusions were collected from a gastric and a pancreatic cancer patient, both metastatic. Cells were isolated by centrifugation, cultured for 2-3 months in complete medium and genotyped using next generation sequencing (NGS) and RNA nCounter hybridization. Primary cultures were treated with specific drugs depending on their molecular alterations and clinical guidelines. Cell viability was determined by MTT. Results: Tumor cells from the pleural effusion of the gastric cancer patient were grown in suspension. NGS and nCounter revealed a FGFR2-TACC2 fusion, a FGFR2 amplification (160 copies) and a TP53 p.G245S mutation (100% variant allele fraction, VAF). The fusion and the amplification were confirmed by FISH. Cells were sensitive to erdafitinib, with IC50=40 nM in MTT assays. Irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin were also tested; IC50 were below the described plasma Cmax in the first two cases. The patient was treated with first-line fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin with partial response and a 5-month progression-free survival. Due to rapid deterioration, 2nd line treatment was not administered. The tumor cells from the pancreatic cancer patient were adherent, NGS revealed a KRAS amplification (9 copies) accompanied by a KRAS p.G12C mutation (81% VAF) and a TP53 p.R175H mutation (99% VAF). MTT assays were performed to determine the cells’ response to oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel, adagrasib and sotorasib. IC50s below plasma Cmax were found in the last three cases. Remarkably, the IC50 for sotorasib was 100 nM and for adagrasib was 300 nM. The patient was treated with first-line gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel with partial response but discontinued after three months due to hematological toxicity. Conclusions: Primary cultures can be initiated from malignant pleural effusions and used for genetic characterization and drug sensitivity profiling. Primaries with specific alterations can be employed as preclinical models to test targeted therapies. Citation Format: Silvia Garcia-Roman, Ekaterina Meshoulam Nikolaeva, Juan José García Mosquera, Mónica Garzón Ibáñez, Ruth Roman, Sonia Rodríguez, Cristina Rodríguez, Clara Mayo de las Casas, Rafael Rosell, Miguel A. Molina-Vila, Cristina Aguado Esteban. Molecular characterization and drug sensitivity of a gastric FGFR2-TACC2 and a pancreatic KRAS p.G12C primary culture abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6497.
This book presents the results from the in-depth scientific research about the effects on the Bulgarian economy and financial system emanating from the Fiscal Compact adopted by the European Union as ...a response to the widespread financial and economic crisis.The main goal of this research is to explore the nature, characteristics, reasons, and effects of the Fiscal Compact on the EU member states and Bulgaria, in particular. The following scientific tasks had been completed to achieve the defined goal: analysis on the essence, specifics and commitments of the Fiscal Compact and the preconditions for its establishment; research on the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in the EU and the Euro area, the development of emerging crisis processes such as the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis and its spread across Euro area; analysis of the structure, parameters and trends in the development of the new framework of economic governance in the EU, as well as the new financial supervision architecture; study of the internal logic of the Fiscal compact and its impact on the member states, Bulgaria in particular. The book is divided into three chapters which reflect the main goals of the study. Authors conclude that the economic and monetary union in the EU is yet vulnerable and susceptible to external shocks. The fiscal measures incorporated under the Fiscal Compact are not a matter of concern for the Bulgarian national authorities initially. The study team notes later an erosion to the fiscal policy of the country - it is being challenged by budget deficits, decreasing fiscal reserves and a trend of growing government debts while the investment by local and foreign entities is declining simultaneously.
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