Human morphology is a critical component of dental and medical graduate training. Innovations in basic science teaching methods are needed to keep up with an ever-changing landscape of technology. ...The purpose of this study was to investigate whether students in a medical and dental histology course would have better grades if they used gaming software Kahoot® and whether gamification effects on learning and enjoyment.
In an effort to both evoke students' interest and expand their skill retention, an online competition using Kahoot® was implemented for first-year students in 2018 (n = 215) at the University of Eastern Finland. Additionally, closed (160/215) or open-ended (41/215) feedback questions were collected and analyzed.
The Kahoot® gamification program was successful and resulted in learning gains. The overall participant satisfaction using Kahoot® was high, with students (124/160) indicating that gamification increased their motivation to learn. The gaming approach seemed to enable the students to overcome individual difficulties (139/160) and to set up collaboration (107/160); furthermore, gamification promoted interest (109/160), and the respondents found the immediate feedback from senior professionals to be positive (146/160). In the open-ended survey, the students (23/41) viewed collaborative team- and gamification-based learning positively.
This study lends support to the use of gamification in the teaching of histology and may provide a foundation for designing a gamification-integrated curriculum across healthcare disciplines.
The cell lineages that form the transporting tissues (xylem and phloem) and the intervening pluripotent procambial tissue originate from stem cells near the root tip. We demonstrate that in ...Arabidopsis, cytokinin phytohormones negatively regulate protoxylem specification. AHP6, an inhibitory pseudophosphotransfer protein, counteracts cytokinin signaling, allowing protoxylem formation. Conversely, cytokinin signaling negatively regulates the spatial domain of AHP6 expression. Thus, by controlling the identity of cell lineages, the reciprocal interaction of cytokinin signaling and its spatially specific modulator regulates proliferation and differentiation of cell lineages during vascular development, demonstrating a previously unrecognized regulatory circuit underlying meristem organization.
Wood, or secondary xylem, is a water-conductive and supportive vascular tissue highly characteristic of trees. In addition to parenchymatous cells adapted for storage and transport functions, wood is ...mainly composed of various vertically elongated cell types. These are classified either as tracheary elements or fibers, both of which are characterized with extensive secondary cell wall thickenings. The cell wall characteristics contribute to the properties of wood as a significant raw material for various human applications. Wood formation occurs during the secondary phase of plant development. This results from the activity of the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem that is established and functional during the secondary phase. On the other hand, already the primary phase of vascular development, associated with the procambial development of apical meristems, involves xylem production. The formation of both primary and secondary xylem involves a cascade of interesting processes including specification of primary vascular tissue as bundles, cell proliferation within the primary bundles or in the secondary vascular cambium, initiation of xylem differentiation, regulation of cell expansion, deposition of a secondary cell wall, and programmed cell death. Even as these processes have been extensively documented at the structural level, relatively little is known of the genetic mechanisms behind them. Although wood formation is an evident characteristic of trees, also many herbaceous plants, including Arabidopsis, develop vascular cambium and form secondary xylem. Thus, Arabidopsis can be considered as a model for the developmental processes underlying xylem development during both primary and secondary phases of development. In this Update we will first review the most recent work related to each developmental process resulting in xylem formation and finally focus on the secondary phase of development to compare wood development in Arabidopsis and trees in light of the most recent molecular data.
Programmed cell death or apoptosis occurs in many tissues during
normal development and in the normal homeostasis of adult tissues.
Apoptosis also plays a significant role in abnormal development
and ...disease. Increased interest in apoptosis and cell death
in general has resulted in the development of new techniques
and the revival of old ones. Each assay has its advantages and
disadvantages that can render it appropriate and useful for
one application, but inappropriate or difficult to use in another.
Understanding the strengths and limitations of the assays would
allow investigators to select the best methods for their needs.
Cytochrome c is released from mitochondria into the cytosol in cells undergoing apoptosis. The temporal relationship between cytochrome c release and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential was ...monitored by laser-scanning confocal microscopy in single living pheochromocytoma-6 cells undergoing apoptosis induced by staurosporine. Mitochondrial membrane potential monitored by tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester decreased abruptly in individual cells from 2 to 7 h after treatment with staurosporine. Depolarization was accompanied by cytochrome c release documented by release of transfected green fluorescent protein-tagged cytochrome c in these cells. The results show that mitochondrial depolarization accompanies cytochrome c release in pheochromocytoma-6 cells undergoing apoptosis.
Cytochrome c is released from mitochondria into the cytosol in cells undergoing apoptosis. The temporal relationship between cytochrome
c release and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential was ...monitored by laser-scanning confocal microscopy in single living
pheochromocytoma-6 cells undergoing apoptosis induced by staurosporine. Mitochondrial membrane potential monitored by tetramethylrhodamine
methyl ester decreased abruptly in individual cells from 2 to 7 h after treatment with staurosporine. Depolarization was accompanied
by cytochrome c release documented by release of transfected green fluorescent protein-tagged cytochrome c in these cells. The results show that mitochondrial depolarization accompanies cytochrome c release in pheochromocytoma-6 cells undergoing apoptosis.
Summary Background Comparison of patients with coronary heart disease and controls in genome-wide association studies has revealed several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with ...coronary heart disease. We aimed to establish the external validity of these findings and to obtain more precise risk estimates using a prospective cohort design. Methods We tested 13 recently discovered SNPs for association with coronary heart disease in a case-control design including participants differing from those in the discovery samples (3829 participants with prevalent coronary heart disease and 48 897 controls free of the disease) and a prospective cohort design including 30 725 participants free of cardiovascular disease from Finland and Sweden. We modelled the 13 SNPs as a multilocus genetic risk score and used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the association of genetic risk score with incident coronary heart disease. For case-control analyses we analysed associations between individual SNPs and quintiles of genetic risk score using logistic regression. Findings In prospective cohort analyses, 1264 participants had a first coronary heart disease event during a median 10·7 years' follow-up (IQR 6·7–13·6). Genetic risk score was associated with a first coronary heart disease event. When compared with the bottom quintile of genetic risk score, participants in the top quintile were at 1·66-times increased risk of coronary heart disease in a model adjusting for traditional risk factors (95% CI 1·35–2·04, p value for linear trend=7·3×10−10 ). Adjustment for family history did not change these estimates. Genetic risk score did not improve C index over traditional risk factors and family history (p=0·19), nor did it have a significant effect on net reclassification improvement (2·2%, p=0·18); however, it did have a small effect on integrated discrimination index (0·004, p=0·0006). Results of the case-control analyses were similar to those of the prospective cohort analyses. Interpretation Using a genetic risk score based on 13 SNPs associated with coronary heart disease, we can identify the 20% of individuals of European ancestry who are at roughly 70% increased risk of a first coronary heart disease event. The potential clinical use of this panel of SNPs remains to be defined. Funding The Wellcome Trust; Academy of Finland Center of Excellence for Complex Disease Genetics; US National Institutes of Health; the Donovan Family Foundation.
The function of astrocytes intertwines with the extracellular matrix, whose neuron and glial cell‐derived components shape neuronal plasticity. Astrocyte abnormalities have been reported in the brain ...of the mouse model for fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, and a monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorder. We compared human FXS and control astrocytes generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells and we found increased expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), which modulates degradation of extracellular matrix. Several pathways associated with uPA and its receptor function were activated in FXS astrocytes. Levels of uPA were also increased in conditioned medium collected from FXS hiPSC‐derived astrocyte cultures and correlated inversely with intracellular Ca2+ responses to activation of L‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels in human astrocytes. Increased uPA augmented neuronal phosphorylation of TrkB within the docking site for the phospholipase‐Cγ1 (PLCγ1), indicating effects of uPA on neuronal plasticity. Gene expression changes during neuronal differentiation preceding astrogenesis likely contributed to properties of astrocytes with FXS‐specific alterations that showed specificity by not affecting differentiation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐responsive astrocyte population. To conclude, our studies identified uPA as an important regulator of astrocyte function and demonstrated that increased uPA in human FXS astrocytes modulated astrocytic responses and neuronal plasticity.
Main Points
Expression and secretion of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) is increased in human astrocytes modeling fragile X syndrome (FXS).
Increased uPA signaling correlates with reduced intracellular calcium responses and augment neuronal plasticity.
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