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Genetics is a subject that is quite difficult according to students. Various strategies and methods are used to understand genetics in learning to have genetic literacy. One way of increasing genetic literacy in students is to apply genetic problems based on an online discussion in genetics lectures. The research was conducted to determine the effect of genetic problem-based online discussion on increasing students' genetic literacy. The research design used a pre-posttest control group design. It was carried out experimentally on three treatment groups: the genetic problem base of students, the genetic problem base of educators--students, and the genetic problem base of educators. According to the genetic literacy domain, genetic literacy is measured through multiple-choice tests, including genetic models, meiotic models, and molecular models. Manova analyzed the value of gene literacy, and a post-doc further test was performed to differentiate genetic literacy in the three treatment groups. The results showed that genetic literacy increased in all treatment groups, with the highest increase in the group that applied a genetic problem base focused on student problems.

Studies have documented that men's voices are generally heard more than women's voices in face-to-face undergraduate biology classes, and some performance gaps have also been documented. Some of the few studies on gender equity in traditional online biology education suggest that women participate more and perform better in asynchronous online courses compared to men. While much is known about emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating existing inequities generally, studies are needed about the impact of specific emergency remote teaching practices on specific groups such as women. In this study, we performed an in-depth investigation of three life sciences classrooms that utilized synchronous online lectures during the pandemic. We observed each class throughout the semester, quantified participation behaviors, and investigated the role of student gender. We also compared final course grades by gender. On average, we found that men participated more than women both verbally and by chat. These differences were not significant for each class individually, but the differences align with the face-to-face patterns seen in this population previously. Our results also hint that men's chat comments may be more likely to be acknowledged than women's chats by peers. We found evidence of greater performance disparities favoring men than seen previously before the pandemic, but not in all classes. We discuss implications for instructors conducting emergency remote teaching as well as the need for larger studies to test the replicability of our results.

This study aims to investigate the effect of Resource Based Learning Design Thinking (RBLDT) model to improve student's creative thinking skills, concept gaining, and digital literacy. It is a quasi-experimental study using pre-test and post-test nonequivalent control group design. Furthermore, it was conducted at several senior high schools in Ambon, such as Senior High School 1, 2, 12, and Senior High School Siwalima Ambon in the odd semester of the 2019/2020 academic year. From each school, three classes were selected, and 36 students were used as the study samples to obtain a total of 432 students. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA, and post hoc LSD test was performed for every significant result obtained. The results showed that the RBLDT learning model has an effect on creative thinking skills, concept gaining, and digital literacy of students in the class XI senior high school on the subject matter of animal tissue (p<0.05). The combination of the RBLDT learning model syntax can improve students' creative thinking skills, concept gaining, and digital literacy better than RBL or DT when implemented separately.

The critical thinking skills are needed by biology teacher candidates to deal with the nowadays ethical issues arisen among society. The aim of this research was to observe the critical thinking skills of biology teacher candidates toward the ethical issues especially in genetic field through online discussion. The subjects of this experimental research were 104 biology teacher candidates who took the Genetics Course in an institution in West Java. The subjects were divided into three groups consisted of two experimental groups and one control group which conducted online discussion by using Gen-21cs application. The experimental groups discussed the topics given by the both instructor and students, while the control group only discussed the topics given by the instructor. The topics discussed were cell cloning, Genetically Engineered Products, stemcell and inbreeding. The online discussions have been done for four weeks. The biology teacher candidate responses were measured using the critical thinking measurement developed by Facione. The critical thinking scores gained were analyzed using descriptive statistic in term of mean. The results showed that the critical thinking skills of the biology teacher candidates tended to increase in each discussion sessions. Online discussion can be used to ensure the other thinking skills.

In conditions of the current development of society which is characterized by mounting social, economic and political crises, the problem of destructive behavior of an individual acquires special significance and topicality. The paper presents the results of a theoretical and methodological analysis of this problem in foreign and domestic literature in several areas: analysis of the attitude of society towards destructive behavior in its historical aspect; philosophical and theological approach; sociological and demographic areas in the study of destructive behavior, biological and biochemical; genetic approaches; psychological and sociopsychological aspects in the study of destructive behavior of a person. In view of the analysis of various approaches and areas in the study of destructive behavior, the conclusions have been drawn that destructive behavior is represented as a complex phenomenon, caused by biological factors (genetic predisposition, constitutional features of the body structure, the use of psychoactive substances, etc.), social (economic and social crises ), psychopathological (connection with mental disorders), psychological (especially the system of needs and motives of activity), socio-psychological (the impact of socio-psychological maladaptation and characteristics of the values and meaning sphere of an individual) plans. These factors are interconnected and each of them has its own specific role in the complex of destructive behavior, and therefore it is impossible to obtain a holistic view of the phenomenon under consideration taken separately from the entire system of interconnected components.

Interest in biology education research (BER) has been growing over the last two decades, yet few BER publications focus on community colleges, which serve a large percentage of the undergraduate student population and a majority of those students who identify with historically underserved groups. In this paper, we define community college biology education research (CC BER) as publications with a community college faculty member as an author, publications with a community college study context or a focus on community college biology teaching and learning, and publications that use community college students as a source of data. We conducted a literature review to quantify how CC BER has progressed since initial calls for broadening participation by recording the number of CC BER publications in seven prominent journals between 2016 and 2020. Our formal analysis of peer-reviewed BER literature indicates that there has been a statistically significant increase in CC BER publications from 3.2% to 5.9% of total BER publications since the last analysis in 2017. We conclude with a discussion of strategies for further broadening of participation in CC BER.

The term "achievement gap" has a negative and racialized history, and using the term reinforces a deficit mindset that is ingrained in U.S. educational systems. In this essay, we review the literature that demonstrates why "achievement gap" reflects deficit thinking. We explain why biology education researchers should avoid using the phrase and also caution that changing vocabulary alone will not suffice. Instead, we suggest that researchers explicitly apply frameworks that are supportive, name racially systemic inequities and embrace student identity. We review four such frameworks--opportunity gaps, educational debt, community cultural wealth, and ethics of care--and reinterpret salient examples from biology education research as an example of each framework. Although not exhaustive, these descriptions form a starting place for biology education researchers to explicitly name systems-level and asset-based frameworks as they work to end educational inequities.

Having in mind that student achievement and interest in subject are some of the most important educational goals, and that quality of teaching is the crucial schooling factor influencing them, we examined the contribution of teacher-level variables from the dynamic model of educational effectiveness to student achievement and interest in mathematics and biology. The representative sample included 5,476 students from 125 elementary schools in Serbia and 5,021 parents. Data on student and teacher variables were collected through student and parent questionnaires, while data on prior and current achievement were comprised from students' Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 scores and national examination results, respectively. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. The results indicate that teacher factors from the dynamic model did not impact student achievement in mathematics and biology but influenced student interest in both subjects. We offer recommendations for educational policy and directions for further research.

Although the creation in 2018 of a pair of genome-edited HIV-resistant twins in China caused widespread condemnation, we question whether the law and ethics relevant to such cases are dealt with adequately in university programmes. Biology educators are entrusted with upholding the discipline's standards, but are they doing enough to guide students towards ethical and law-abiding practices? As it seems likely that events such as the recent COVID-19 outbreak will increasingly focus public attention on issues of research integrity and biosecurity, we assessed the world's top 20 undergraduate programmes in biology published by Quacquarelli Symonds. Most of these appear to lack any interaction between biology and law/ethics and the factual training for the next generation. Suggestions are made to improve teaching and learning processes in biological education.

CLIL focuses on the integration of content learning and additional language learning. However, it is increasingly recognized that the re/presentation and communication of discipline-specific content involve not only language, but also other semiotic modes (such as visuals and gestures). This is accelerated by the advancement of digital technologies and multiplicity of communication channels in recent years. This article points out the urgent need to revisit and reconceptualize the roles of "language" in CLIL. It argues that, to prepare students for the multimodal communication landscape in today's societies and to truly value their linguistic and semiotic diversity in learning, the "language" dimension in CLIL needs to be reconceptualized as a multimodal dimension, and CLIL classroom practices need to adopt an updated pedagogy of multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996) rather than focusing on "mere language" practice. The article reviews the recent development of theories and studies of multimodality and trans-semiotics and discusses their implications for what to teach and how to teach in today's CLIL classrooms. It proposes the notions of translanguaging and transsemiotizing to emphasize a dynamic and dialogic process of meaning (co)making process drawing on multiple linguistic and semiotic resources to enable students to both gain access to and critically engage in meaning/ knowledge co-making/co-design. Ultimately, it aims at reconceiving CLIL to contribute to a more equitable school and classroom culture.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on learning, attitudes, and costs in a redesigned general education undergraduate biology course that implemented web-based virtual labs (VLs) to replace traditional physical labs (PLs). Over an academic year, two new modes of VL instruction were compared to the traditional PL offering: (1) all VL with an in-person help center (VL-A) and (2) a hybrid flipped VL model where online labs alternated with in-person labs every week (VL-H). All three lab types included a face-to-face lecture with the same materials. Engaging inquiry-based exercises were developed for each VL activity in which students were provided background information, guided through a series of basic experiments, encouraged to design their own experiments, and required to produce a simple scientific report that was delivered for evaluation electronically. The VL-A group had the highest proportion of repeatable grades (below a C, 2.0 grade points). Students in the VL-H group achieved significantly better grades compared to the other lab instruction groups. The VL-H group also experienced statistically significant favorable shifts in their self-reported attitudes towards biology. The personnel costs for the VL-A and VL-H models were 29% and 63% of the PL model, respectively, allowing more sections to be offered. These results suggest that carefully designed online lab opportunities can result in higher student grades and more favorable attitudes towards science while reducing costs compared to traditional labs.

Drug Outreach, Promoting Awareness (DOPA) is an undergraduate outreach program for local high school students designed to convey the neurobiological basis, risks, and addictive potential of commonly abused drugs. Here we describe DOPA and evaluate the program, including its impact on high school student attitudes about drug harm risk and addiction. Undergraduate neuroscience students versed in the neurobiology, physiology, and policy of drugs are trained in active learning methods, enabling them to create engaging and interactive classroom-based educational materials. Survey results showed that participation in DOPA increased high school student perceptions of the addictive potential and harm risk of drugs, which studies have shown to be inversely correlated with drug-taking. High school students also responded positively to the interactive nature of the program. These findings demonstrate how extensively trained undergraduates who are close peers to high school students can effectively lead science outreach initiatives and shift adolescent attitudes about drugs.

This study reported the results of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analyses on 13 competing structural models on the inter-relationships among academic achievement and student- and course-related attributes. The samples were Malaysian pre-university students enrolled in two STEM courses (biology, n = 326; mathematics, n = 339; biology only, n = 92; mathematics only, n = 105; biology and mathematics, n = 234). For both courses, interdisciplinary cross-validation was observed for four models which hypothesized that current academic achievement could be predicted (1) directly by prior academic achievement (high school grades) and student approaches to learning (SAL), and (2) directly and/or indirectly by personality, intrinsic motivation and course experience (CE). For at least one course, all constructs (except intrinsic motivation, clear goals and standards, openness and conscientiousness) significantly and directly predicted current academic achievement. The strongest predictor of current academic achievement was prior (high school) academic achievement, with the largest effect sizes, followed by SAL. Current academic achievement was significantly and positively predicted by all CE constructs (except clear goals and standards) for only mathematics, with moderate and large effect sizes. Only one personality construct (neuroticism) significantly and moderately predicted current academic achievement (biology). SAL partially mediated relationships between current academic achievement with workload appropriateness, assessment for understanding and neuroticism for at least one course. Generally, the strongest predictors of SAL were assessment for understanding, workload appropriateness and intrinsic motivation. Multigroup invariance analysis revealed differences in five hypothesized paths, attributable almost entirely to significant paths found in mathematics but not biology (prior [high school] to current academic achievement, conscientiousness to surface approach to learning, intrinsic motivation to deep and surface approaches to learning). Therefore, this study is the first to report course-nuanced differences in the presence of reduced interpersonal differences. The implications of this study is that, besides the importance of prior high academic achievement which might not be within educators' control, factors in the teaching--learning ecosystem within educators' control which influence current academic achievement are strongly mediated by SAL, which is itself influenced most by assessment, workload and intrinsic motivation.

While translanguaging research has been gaining currency worldwide, calls have been made for deepening its theorisation and providing more systematic pedagogical guidance. To contribute to this discussion, this study is informed by a fluid, distributed, dynamic process view of human meaning-making. Through a fine-grained multimodal analysis of classroom activities and interactions, it elucidates the translanguaging/trans-semiotising practices of an experienced science teacher trying out a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach inspired by the Multimodalities-Entextualisation Cycle (MEC) in a Grade 10 biology class in Hong Kong. Post-lesson interviews and survey indicated that such practices generated a positive impact on the students in the continuous flow of knowledge co-making. Implications of the study for furthering the theorisation and practices of translanguaging/trans-semiotising will be discussed.

Forensic entomologists utilize insects (particularly flies) to establish the time interval between death and body discovery. This important piece of information may answer questions as to the circumstances of the individual's death and insects are now routinely utilized and recognized as being important forensic indicators. Of extreme importance is the correct identification of the fly species associated with the body, as misidentifications will cause inaccurate time of death estimates. Traditional fly identification methods rely on recognizing distinct physical traits each fly species may possess; however, this has given way to molecular techniques (i.e. DNA sequences) that are quicker and more reliable. Unfortunately no DNA sequence information exists on the forensically important fly species in the western U.S. although a molecular database has been advocated by a number of forensic entomologists. This laboratory experience allows students to develop general molecular based skills they will need later in their careers while simultaneously contributing data that will be used to create a molecular database containing DNA sequences for forensically important California flies. (Contains 2 figures.)

This study assessed the (i) ways in which, and extent to which, several aspects of nature of science (NOS) are represented in high school biology and physics textbooks in the United States (U.S.); (ii) extent to which these representations have changed over the course of several decades; and (iii) relative impact of discipline, and textbook publishers versus authors on the observed patterns. NOS aspects included the empirical, tentative, inferential, creative, theory-laden, and social NOS; myth of "The Scientific Method"; nature of theories and laws; and social and cultural embeddedness of science. The sample included 34 (16 biology and 18 physics) textbooks, which commanded significant shares of the U.S. science textbook market. Textbooks were selected from seven "connected series" (three in biology and four in physics), which spanned 1-5 decades, with five series spanning, at least, 3 decades. Textbooks were scored for the accuracy and manner in which, as well as the extent (in textbook pages) to which, the target NOS aspects were represented. Analyses indicated that, on average, only less than 2.5% of the analyzed textbook pages were dedicated to addressing NOS constructs. Overall, representations of NOS in the textbooks did not differ by content area, were discernibly less than favorable, and did not improve substantially over the past several decades. These trends are incommensurate with the emphasis placed in U.S. reform efforts on helping precollege students develop informed NOS conceptions. Finally, the data strongly suggested that textbook authors have a relatively greater impact on the observed patterns when compared to textbook publishers.

The concepts of protein purification are often taught in undergraduate biology and biochemistry lectures and reinforced during laboratory exercises; however, very few reported activities allow students to directly gain experience using modern protein purification instruments, such as Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC). This laboratory exercise uses size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and ion exchange (IEX) chromatography to separate a mixture of four different proteins. Students use an SEC chromatogram and corresponding SDS-PAGE gel to understand how protein conformations change under different conditions (i.e. native and non-native). Students explore strategies to separate co-eluting proteins by IEX chromatography. Using either cation or anion exchange, one protein is bound to the column while the other is collected in the flow-through. In this exercise, undergraduate students gain hands-on experience with experimental design, buffer and sample preparation, and implementation of instrumentation that is commonly used by experienced researchers while learning and applying the fundamental concepts of protein structure, protein purification, and SDS-PAGE.

The compound microscope is an important tool in biology, and mastering it requires repetition. Unfortunately, introductory activities for students can be formulaic, and consequently, students are often unengaged and fail to develop the required experience to become proficient in microscopy. To engage students, increase repetition, and develop identification skills, we have them use the microscope as a problem-solving tool to examine prepared slides of microfossils and microartifacts from a simulated archeology site to determine its paleobiogeographic history.

Traditional lecturing has been shown again and again to be a less effective teaching method regarding student engagement and promotion in the sciences. Studies that compare different teaching methods often face limitations because, over time, courses are either substantially changed and/or are taught by different instructors. This article presents a comparison of the success rates of students (percentage of students earning a grade of C or higher) enrolled in a general biology course with laboratory for majors in a community college. The data spans a 6-year period and includes a total of 670 students. The same professor taught all students and used a common final examination. The only difference among the sections taught was the teaching method: lecture, blended, and hybrid. The lecture method involved lecturing with the use of clicker-style questions and laboratory. The blended method was a fusion of the lecture and laboratory. The hybrid method consisted of online lectures with in-class weekly laboratory sessions. On average, the highest success rates for students were observed for those students taught with the blended method, followed next by the hybrid method, and then by the lecture method.

We report on the development of a life sciences curriculum, targeted to undergraduate students, which was modeled after a commercially available physics curriculum and based on aspects of how people learn. Our paper describes the collaborative development process and necessary modifications required to apply a physics pedagogical model in a life sciences context. While some approaches were easily adapted, others provided significant challenges. Among these challenges were: representations of energy, introducing definitions, the placement of Scientists' Ideas, and the replicability of data. In modifying the curriculum to address these challenges, we have come to see them as speaking to deeper differences between the disciplines, namely that introductory physics--for example, Newton's laws, magnetism, light--is a science of pairwise interaction, while introductory biology--for example, photosynthesis, evolution, cycling of matter in ecosystems--is a science of linked processes, and we suggest that this is how the two disciplines are presented in introductory classes. We illustrate this tension through an analysis of our adaptations of the physics curriculum for instruction on the cycling of matter and energy; we show that modifications of the physics curriculum to address the biological framework promotes strong gains in student understanding of these topics, as evidenced by analysis of student work. (Contains 3 tables and 7 figures.)

Advancements in technology have brought about new forms of learning and online instruction that allow communication through virtual representations without physically meeting in person. This study builds on previous work involving recursive feedback that tests the hypothesis that an important facet of learning-by-teaching is the opportunity to watch one's pupil perform. Sixty graduate students examined the value of "recursive feedback" that occurred when tutors observed their pupil subsequently apply what they had been taught. The study took place in the virtual environment Second Life where adults tutored another adult about human biology through their virtual representations. The tutors who observed their pupil avatar interact with an examiner exhibited superior learning relative to several control conditions that included learning-by-teaching elements but not recursive feedback. The second study examined the effect of popular design choices on recursive feedback during learning-by-teaching (e.g., customization, look-alike features). The customization condition involved tutoring a pupil avatar that the participant customized prior to the study and observing the pupil avatar answer questions. The doppelganger look-alike condition involved tutoring a pupil avatar that looked like the participant and observing the pupil avatar answer questions. Results showed that conscious awareness of look-alike features and the extent to which one customizes the pupil avatar influences learning. (Contains 13 figures and 3 tables.)

It has become clear in current scientific pedagogy that the emersion of students in the scientific process in terms of designing, implementing, and analyzing experiments is imperative for their education; as such, it has been our goal to model this active learning process in the classroom and laboratory in the context of a genuine scientific question. Toward this objective, the National Science Foundation funded a collaborative research grant between a primarily undergraduate institution and a research-intensive institution to study the chemotactic responses of the bacterium "Pseudomonas putida" F1. As part of the project, a new Bioinformatics course was developed in which undergraduates annotate relevant regions of the "P. putida" F1 genome using Integrated Microbial Genomes Annotation Collaboration Toolkit, a bioinformatics interface specifically developed for undergraduate programs by the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. Based on annotations of putative chemotaxis genes in "P. putida" F1 and comparative genomics studies, undergraduate students from both institutions developed functional genomics research projects that evolved from the annotations. The purpose of this study is to describe the nature of the NSF grant, the development of the Bioinformatics lecture and wet laboratory course, and how undergraduate student involvement in the project that was initiated in the classroom has served as a springboard for independent undergraduate research projects. (Contains 3 figures, 1 table, and 1 footnote.)

In this article we portray our personal journeys in a cross-cultural context resulting in professional growth. Data are presented in the form of constructed dialogues, and are reflected upon using the theories of transformative learning and intercultural competency. The role of lesson study as a vehicle for our journeys is examined. Reflection on our journeys culminates in a discussion on individuation, risk-taking, professional dialogue and the value of learning companions. We conclude by speculating on factors that may contribute to whether individuals might accept or decline engaging in similar journeys. (Contains 2 tables and 2 notes.)

This study investigated the comparative efficiency of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and conventional teaching method in biology on senior high school students. A science class was selected in each of two randomly selected schools. The pretest-posttest non equivalent quasi experimental design was used. The students in the experimental group learned science concepts (cell cycle) through the CAI, whereas the students in the control group were taught the same concepts by the conventional approach. The conventional approach consisted of lecture, discussions and question and answer teaching methods. Mann-Whitney "U" tests were used to analyze students' pretest and posttests scores. The results indicated that students that were instructed by the conventional approach performed better on the posttest than those instructed by the CAI. However, the performance of low achievers within the experimental group improved after they were instructed by the CAI. Even though the CAI group did not perform better than the conventional approach group, the students in the CAI group perceived CAI to be interesting when they were interviewed. (Contains 3 tables.)

We propose an experimental model suitable for demonstrating allele frequency change in Drosophila melanogaster populations caused by selection against an easily scorable conditional lethal, namely recessive flightless alleles such as apterous and vestigial. Homozygotes for these alleles are excluded from reproduction because the food source used to establish each generation is accessible only by flight. The observed dynamics of flightless-allele frequencies generally follows the theoretically predicted pattern, with slight deviation toward less intense selection. We also suggest observing selection against flight-independent visible marker alleles in the same population as a meaningful comparison. The proposed experiments can easily be scheduled within one semester, and the expected data provide ample opportunities for discussion of quantitative evolutionary patterns.

In adulthood, twice as many women as men are depressed, a pattern that holds in most nations. In childhood, girls are no more depressed than boys, but more girls than boys are depressed by ages 13 to 15. Although many influences on this emergent gender difference in depression have been proposed, a truly integrated, developmental model is lacking. The authors propose a model that integrates affective (emotional reactivity), biological (genetic vulnerability, pubertal hormones, pubertal timing and development) and cognitive (cognitive style, objectified body consciousness, rumination) factors as vulnerabilities to depression that, in interaction with negative life events, heighten girls' rates of depression beginning in adolescence and account for the gender difference in depression. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table and 2 footnotes.)

Early morning school schedules are in the opposite direction to the sleep-wake cycle in adolescence and early adulthood. This conflict leads to sleep deprivation and irregular patterns whose consequences are scarcely explored. This article discusses the effects of three educational experiences with high school students, parents, teachers, and medical students. The first experience was developed with high school students in Natal, Brazil, to determine whether sleep habits would improve with increased awareness. Positive effects were observed in some aspects of sleep knowledge and practices. In the second experience in Atlanta, GA, sleep education activities were presented to middle and high school teachers, parents, and students to emphasize the importance of sleep. In the third program in Murcia, Spain, undergraduate medical students were introduced to chronobiology of sleep by a practical exercise that pointed out to what extent they shared most of adolescent sleep characteristics. Educational chronobiological experiences about sleep are essential to develop healthy sleep habits in the general population, particularly in students.

This article attempts to demonstrate the intelligibility of Bergson's philosophy by analyzing his philosophical method and then applying it to the notions of biological time and of temporal hierarchy in biology. Bergson's philosophical method contains three parts: the first is factual and scientific, the second intuitional and reflective, and the third consists in the formalization and application of intuitive insights. Intuition is not a single act, he insists, but a number of acts, each focussed on a particular level (breadth) of duration. Such acts, focussed on the rhythms of living organisms, can lead to researches in chronobiology like Lecomte du Nouy. Bergson's philosophy, with its diversity of real organisms and levels of process, is more live Whitehead's than has been believed.

Yan He,1,&ast; Ying Tang,2,&ast; Caiyun Wang,3 Zilie Zhou,3 Wei Li,4 Man Tian3 1Department of Infection Management, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Ultrasound Diagnostic, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Respiratory, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Research, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Wei Li; Man Tian, Email weili126@126.com; tmsweet@163.comAbstract: Monkeypox virus (MPXV), a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus, shares its genus with Variola virus (VARV), the causative agent of smallpox, and Vaccinia virus (VACV), used for smallpox vaccination. While smallpox has been eradicated, MPXV and related poxviruses continue to pose a global health threat. Monkeypox (Mpox), similar in clinical presentation to smallpox but milder, is endemic in Central and West Africa. Sporadic outbreaks emphasize the potential for wider dissemination. Understanding their biology, transmission, immune evasion, and clinical features informs disease control strategies. The intersection of medical innovation and biotechnology with poxviruses underscores their importance in both disease and scientific advancement. Further research is essential to enhance prevention, management, and therapeutic interventions for these viruses.Keywords: monkeypox, poxviruses, biology, epidemiology, vaccines and antivirals, biotechnology

A computer-based concept mapping system was developed that provides two learning environments: "construct-by-self," where the system provides students with evaluation results and hints for feedback, and "construct-on-scaffold," where students also receive an incomplete concept map. The "construct-on-scaffold" had better effect for learning biology. Both are helpful for students completing their concept maps. (Author/AEF)

Summarizes the results of an International Bioethics Education Survey conducted in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Compares knowledge and teaching of 15 selected topics with particular emphasis on the teaching of social, ethical, and environmental issues of in vitro fertilization, prenatal diagnosis, biotechnology, nuclear power, pesticides, and genetic engineering. (MJP)

According to various researchers, the prevalence of unruptured cerebral aneurysms (CAs) in the general population varies from 2 to 5 %. In the vast majority of cases, CAs do not have clinical and neurological manifestations and are discovered incidentally during routine neuroimaging studies. CAs can cause intracranial hemorrhage. As a rule, hemorrhages of this type occur in patients aged 40–60 years. It has been established that about 10–15 % of patients die from an aneurysmal hemorrhage before they receive specialized medical care. Recurrent aneurysmal intracranial hemorrhage is the main cause of high mortality and disability in this group of patients. The search for literature sources in the scientific databases PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and eLibrary demonstrated the existence of numerous studies devoted to the study of molecular biology and biophysical mechanisms of formation, growth and rupture of CAs. Combining the results of these studies was the motivation for writing this literature review. The paper reflects in detail the role of inflammation and molecular genetic factors in the growth and rupture of the CAs, and presents the biophysical factors of the rupture of the CAs. The authors pay special attention to the shape, size and coefficient of the CAs as the most important geometric risk factors for the formation and rupture of the CAs. This review presents current data on mathematical modeling of various types of CAs with an assessment of the risk of rupture of the latter, which has found its application in wide clinical practice. The authors also attempted to describe the hemodynamic features in various types of CAs. In turn, the type of blood flow in the CAs cavity largely depends on the size and shape of the latter and the geometry of the carrier artery, which is the basis for preoperative planning and the choice of tactics for surgical treatment of patients with unruptured CAs.

Describes how to organize a student-directed laboratory investigation which is based on amphibian metamorphosis, lasts for nearly a term, and involves extensive group effort. Explains the assignment, student response and opinion, formal paper, and instructor responsibilities. (RT)

The U.S. Department of Energy's Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA), centered in the East River, Colorado, generates diverse datasets including hydrological, geological, geochemical, geophysical, ecological, microbiological and remote sensing data. The project has deployed extensive field infrastructure involving hundreds of sensors that measure highly diverse phenomena (e.g. stream and groundwater hydrology, water quality, soil moisture, weather) across the watershed. Data from the sensor network are telemetered and automatically ingested into a queryable database. The data are subsequently quality checked, integrated with the United States Geological Survey's stream monitoring network using a custom data integration broker, and published to a portal with interactive visualizations. The resulting data products are used in a variety of scientific modeling and analytical efforts. This paper describes the SFA's end-to-end infrastructure and services that support the generation of integrated datasets from a watershed sensor network. The development and maintenance of this infrastructure, presents a suite of challenges from practical field logistics to complex data processing, which are addressed through various solutions. In particular, the SFA adopts a holistic view for data collection, assessment and integration, which dramatically improves the products generated, and enables a co-design approach wherein data collection is informed by model results and vice-versa.

Novelty and similarity are complex concepts that have numerous applications in various fields, including biology and medicine. Novelty detection is a technique used to determine whether a dataset is different from another dataset considered as a standard. Similarity detection is a technique used to determine whether two datasets belong to the same population. Novelty and similarity are closely related concepts; however, they are not complementary. Novelty is a much more popular one, and there are many publications about it. Similarity is, in fact, a new concept that has not yet been explored in depth. Classical statistics offers a large number of tools suitable for detection of similarity, mostly in the univariate case. At the same time, this topic has been insufficiently studied in the field of machine learning. This paper suggests several principles which are important for this research and also present a method for the detection of both novelty and similarity. The method uses a one‐class classifier, known as Data‐Driven Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (DD‐SIMCA). Three examples illustrate our approach. The first one uses simulated data and demonstrates the performance of DD‐SIMCA for the detection of novelty. The second example uses a real‐world data and studies similarity of two groups of patients who participate in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment of primary angle‐closure glaucoma. The third example comes from medical diagnostics. This is a real‐world publicly available data used for comparison of various classification algorithms. Novelty and similarity are closely related concepts, however they are not complementary. Novelty is a popular concept, and similarity is, in fact, a new concept that has not yet been explored in depth. The paper suggests several principles which are important for this research; they are model complexity and interpretability. The method for detection of both novelty and similarity is one‐class classifier, known as Data‐Driven Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (DD‐SIMCA). Results are illustrated using real‐world examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative reasoning and techniques are increasingly ubiquitous across the life sciences. However, new graduate researchers with a biology background are often not equipped with the skills that are required to utilize such techniques correctly and efficiently. In parallel, there are increasing numbers of engineers, mathematicians, and physical scientists interested in studying problems in biology with only basic knowledge of this field. Students from such varied backgrounds can struggle to engage proactively together to tackle problems in biology. There is therefore a need to establish bridges between those disciplines. It is our proposal that the beginning of graduate school is the appropriate time to initiate those bridges through an interdisciplinary short course. We have instigated an intensive 10-day course that brought together new graduate students in the life sciences from across departments within the National University of Singapore. The course aimed at introducing biological problems as well as some of the quantitative approaches commonly used when tackling those problems. We have run the course for three years with over 100 students attending. Building on this experience, we share 11 quick tips on how to run such an effective, interdisciplinary short course for new graduate students in the biosciences.

We asked researchers from a range of disciplines across biology, engineering, and medicine to describe a current technological need. The goal is to provide a sample of the various technological gaps that exist and inspire future research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]