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Abstract Background The indoor home environment plays a crucial role in determining the outcome of respiratory diseases, including asthma. Researchers, clinicians, and patients would benefit from self-reported questionnaires to assess indoor home environmental exposures that may impact on respiratory health. Objective To review self-reported instruments for assessing indoor home environmental exposures in asthma patients and to characterise their content, development, and psychometric properties. Design A scoping review was conducted with content assessment. Methods A literature search was conducted in Embase and PubMed using the key words housing quality, questionnaire and asthma and their index terms, covering articles published in English between January 2000 to July 2023. Articles in which questionnaires or single item questions were used to assess indoor home environmental exposures in asthma patients in middle- and high-income countries were included. We excluded articles in which the questionnaire required an interviewer or onsite observations and those conducted in low-income countries. Results We screened 1584 articles to identify 44 studies containing self-reported questionnaires measuring indoor home environmental exposures. 36 studies (82%) were cross sectional, 35 (80%) had a sample size of greater than 1000 participants, and 29 (66%) were conducted in children. Most studies (86%, n = 38) had binary (yes/no) or multiple-choice responses. 25 studies (57%) included a recall period of 12 months. 32 studies (73%) had a response rate of greater than 50%. Dampness, biological exposures (e.g. mould), and second-hand tobacco smoke were the most assessed indoor home environmental exposures. Childhood asthma (54%, n = 24) and asthma symptoms (36%, n = 16) were the most examined asthma related outcomes. The exposure most associated with adverse asthma outcomes was exposure to damp (79%, n = 35). 13 studies (29%) had developed a self-reported instrument by adapting questions from previous studies and almost all instruments (n = 42 studies, 95%) had not been validated. Conclusions The scoping review did not identify a comprehensive, validated self-reported questionnaire for assessing indoor home environmental exposures in patients with asthma. There is need to develop and validate a robust but pragmatic self-reported instrument, incorporating the findings from this review.

Abstract Phage predation is generally assumed to reduce microbial proliferation while not contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance. However, this assumption does not consider the effect of phage predation on the spatial organization of different microbial populations. Here, we show that phage predation can increase the spread of plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance during surface-associated microbial growth by reshaping spatial organization. Using two strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli, we demonstrate that phage predation slows the spatial segregation of the strains during growth. This increases the number of cell-cell contacts and the extent of conjugation-mediated plasmid transfer between them. The underlying mechanism is that phage predation shifts the location of fastest growth from the biomass periphery to the interior where cells are densely packed and aligned closer to parallel with each other. This creates straighter interfaces between the strains that are less likely to merge together during growth, consequently slowing the spatial segregation of the strains and enhancing plasmid transfer between them. Our results have implications for the design and application of phage therapy and reveal a mechanism for how microbial functions that are deleterious to human and environmental health can proliferate in the absence of positive selection.

ABSTRACT Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the distribution of placental villous vessels in pregnant women with different degrees of hyperglycemia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using placental samples from 30 pregnant women without diabetes (n=10), with gestational diabetes mellitus (n=10), and with previous diabetes (type 1 and type 2 diabetes; n=10). Maternal glycemic control was evaluated using the glycemic mean and glycated hemoglobin levels. Placental samples were obtained during elective cesarean sections and processed for villous vessel analysis using immunohistochemistry for Von Willebrand factor. Vessels within 10μm of the villus margin were classified as peripheral, and vessels at a distance greater than 10μm were classified as central. The number, area, and perimeter of all vessels were evaluated, and the relationship between vessel area and total area of placental villus was calculated. Results: Pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and those with previous diabetes had higher glycated hemoglobin levels. The number of vessels was reduced in the villi of the previous Diabetes Group owing to peripheral reduction. Additionally, the area, perimeter, and percentage of peripheral blood were lower in the previous Diabetes Group than in the Non-Diabetic Group. Conclusion: Maternal glycemic levels can modify placental capillary distribution.

This study examined United States (U.S.) K-12 science teacher interactions with parents during Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) reform following teachers' professional development (PD) participation, as well as parent accounts of understanding and support for NGSS. Fourteen teachers and 15 parents completed an online surveys and phone interviews. Themes, based on coded data, were constructed to represent relationships between teachers and parents during NGSS classroom implementation post-PD. We found that parents were generally unaware of NGSS and not well-informed about the changes the new standards brought to their child's science classrooms. Despite parents' lack of NGSS understanding, parents generally gave positive feedback about teachers' science instruction. However, parents expressed concern about their child's ability to transition between grade levels and subjects, the lack of an aligned textbook and homework assignments, and confusion with how to help their children at home in preparation for assessments. The results of this study suggest that it is important for school districts to inform parents adequately about the new NGSS curriculum and its implementation. While this study took place in the U.S. and pertains to NGSS, the findings are broadly applicable to teacher development and communications with parents during standards reform, regardless of country.

The discovery of and research into penicillin resistance by Sir Edward Abraham and Sir Ernst Chain can be used to teach the concept of natural selection and also multiple nature of science (NOS) objectives associated with Next Generation Science Standards, such as "scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence" and "science is a human endeavor." After a brief history of Abraham and Chain's work, we share a detailed multiday lesson plan and rationale for use in an eighth-grade in-person life science classroom. The instructional strategies discussed include analysis of excerpts of Abraham and Chain's published work through a case study jigsaw using an explicit and reflective approach to teaching NOS. The explicit approach used here is the direct instruction of NOS concepts, while the reflective approach allows students to think about and reflect on what they are learning. Instruction includes close reading, direct instruction, small and large group discussions, and writing. Students are asked to create a scavenger hunt map at the end of the multiday lesson and are assessed with an online five-question pre- and post-assessment.

The New Zealand schooling system is well-known for its progressive and innovative approach to education (Couch, 2012; Mutch, 2013; Wells, 2016). Their national curriculum is inclusive and flexible, allowing schools and teachers to select the content they deem necessary to meet the competencies in the designated learning areas (Ministry of Education, 2007). Additionally, the NZ education system provides choice to parents by offering a range of alternative approaches to schooling, such as Steiner Schools, Montessori Schools, Catholic Schools, or Kura Kaupapa Mãori (Mãori language immersion schools). Within such progressive public schooling system, one would not expect that there would be interest in alternative private schools. Yet, this study found the opposite. To examine the growing interest in independent alternative programs in New Zealand, this study uses a qualitative multiple-case study design of four independent educational programs in the North Island of New Zealand.

Our aim was to compare the performance of complementary clinical laboratory approaches to monitoring exposure to apixaban and rivaroxaban, the most prescribed direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOAC’s): an automated commercial anti-Xa chromogenic assay suitable for emergency and pre-surgery testing and a laboratory-developed liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method employed for non-emergency analysis in plasma and in dried blood volumetric absorptive microsamples (VAMS) collectible by the patients in their homes. The full validation of the LC-MS/MS method was performed. Cross-validation of the methodologies was accomplished by processing 60 specimens collected for whole blood count and DOAC monitoring in a central clinical laboratory. For VAMS samples, dried plasma and whole blood calibrators were found to be suitable, and a cycle run for seven days could be implemented for rational and economic sample processing. The anti-Xa chromogrenic assay and the LC-MS/MS method delivered discordant plasma analyte concentrations. Moreover, the lack of agreement between plasma and VAMS concentrations was observed. Clinical laboratories must be aware of the differences between the performance of apixaban and rivaroxaban LC-MS/MS and anti-Xa assays. Hematocrit must always be measured along with VAMS samples to obtain accurate results.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to teach in an online environment. This was particularly challenging for those teaching courses that are intended to support bench science research. This practitioner article tells the story of how an instructor transformed their Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) using the Backwards Design Method into a synchronous online course. Research objectives in this transformed course included: conducting a literature review, identifying research questions and hypotheses based on literature, and developing practical and appropriate research methodologies to test these hypotheses. We provide details on how assignments were created to walk students through the process of research study design and conclude with recommendations for the implementation of an online CURE. Recommendations made by the instructor include scaffolding the design, building opportunities for collaboration, and allowing students to fail in order to teach the value of iteration. The Backwards Design framework naturally lends itself to a scaffolded instructional approach. By identifying the learning objectives and final assessment, the learning activities can be designed to help students overcome difficult concepts by filling in the gaps with purposeful instruction and collaborative opportunities. This present course also practiced iteration through the extensive feedback offered by the instructor and opportunities for students to revise their work as their understanding deepened. Anecdotally, based on end of course reviews, students overall had a positive experience with this course. Future work will examine the efficacy of student learning in this online environment and is forthcoming.

Abstract Olivine‐hosted melt inclusions are an important archive of pre‐eruptive processes such as magma storage, mixing and subsequent ascent through the crust. However, this record can be modified by post‐entrapment diffusion of H+ through the olivine lattice. Existing studies often use spherical or 1D models to track melt inclusion dehydration that fail to account for complexities in geometry, diffusive anisotropy and sectioning effects. Here we develop a finite element 3D multiphase diffusion model for the dehydration of olivine‐hosted melt inclusions that includes natural crystal geometries and multiple melt inclusions. We use our 3D model to test the reliability of simplified analytical and numerical models (1D and 2D) using magma ascent conditions from the 1977 eruption of Seguam volcano, Alaska. We find that 1D models underestimate melt inclusion water loss, typically by ∼30%, and thus underestimate magma decompression rates, by up to a factor of 5, when compared to the 3D models. An anisotropic analytical solution that we present performs well and recovers decompression rates within a factor of 2, in the situations in which it is valid. 3D models that include multiple melt inclusions show that inclusions can shield each other and reduce the amount of water loss upon ascent. This shielding effect depends on decompression rate, melt inclusion size, and crystallographic direction. Our modeling approach shows that factors such as 3D crystal geometry and melt inclusion configuration can play an important role in constraining accurate decompression rates and recovering water contents in natural magmatic systems.