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In today's knowledge-based and rapidly changing society, developing students' critical thinking skills in instruction is a vital concern in almost all science curricula. To acquire meaningful learning, learners need to develop skills in choosing suitable information, gauging the integrity of information, and crafting sound decisions. With this, creating learning spaces that stimulate critical thinking has become a challenge among educators. This study aims to explore the critical thinking profile of Filipino students in science laboratory classes as a means of generating insight for possible curricular enhancement. Utilizing a quantitative descriptive research design, a survey was administered to 300 junior high school students under K to 12 curricula. Results revealed that openness to different ideas is the most practiced aspect of critical thinking among Filipino students, while the planning and organization of information disclosed as the least. Furthermore, the importance of gathering information to support position is the most agreed factor, while the strategies in thinking of a problem in an experiment are the least. Hence, findings suggest that the necessary facets of critical thinking strategies should be explicitly articulated in the science curriculum framework, especially encapsulating it in the content and performance standards.

Introduction: Emergency medicine (EM) is one of few specialties with variable training lengths. Hiring a three-year graduate to continue fellowship training in a department that supports a four-year residency program can lead to conflicts around resident supervision. We sought to understand hiring and clinical supervision, or staffing, patterns of non-Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fellowships hosted at institutions supporting four-year residency programs.Methods: We performed a web-based, cross-sectional survey of non-ACGME fellowship directors (FD) hosted at institutions supporting four-year EM residency programs. We calculated descriptive statistics. Our primary outcome was the proportion of programs with four-year EM residencies that hire non-ACGME fellows graduating from three-year EM residencies.Results: Of 119 eligible FDs, 88 (74%) completed the survey. Seventy FDs (80%) indicated that they hire graduates of three-year residencies. Fifty-six (80%) indicated that three-year graduates supervise residents. Most FDs (74%) indicated no additional requirements exist to supervise residents outside of being hired as faculty. The FDs cited department policy, concerns about quality and length of training, and resident complaints as reasons for not hiring three-year graduates. A majority (10/18, 56%) noted that not hiring fellows from three-year programs negatively impacts recruitment and gives them access to a smaller applicant pool.Conclusion: Most non-ACGME fellowships at institutions with four-year EM programs recruit three-year graduates and allow them to supervise residents. This survey provides programs information on how comparable fellowships recruit and staff their departments, which may inform policies that fit the needs of their learners, the fellowship, and the department.

CRISPR-Cas enzymes enable RNA-guided bacterial immunity and are widely used for biotechnological applications including genome editing. In particular, the Class 2 CRISPR-associated enzymes (Cas9, Cas12 and Cas13 families), have been deployed for numerous research, clinical and agricultural applications. However, the immense genetic and biochemical diversity of these proteins in the public domain poses a barrier for researchers seeking to leverage their activities. We present CasPEDIA (http://caspedia.org), the Cas Protein Effector Database of Information and Assessment, a curated encyclopedia that integrates enzymatic classification for hundreds of different Cas enzymes across 27 phylogenetic groups spanning the Cas9, Cas12 and Cas13 families, as well as evolutionarily related IscB and TnpB proteins. All enzymes in CasPEDIA were annotated with a standard workflow based on their primary nuclease activity, target requirements and guide-RNA design constraints. Our functional classification scheme, CasID, is described alongside current phylogenetic classification, allowing users to search related orthologs by enzymatic function and sequence similarity. CasPEDIA is a comprehensive data portal that summarizes and contextualizes enzymatic properties of widely used Cas enzymes, equipping users with valuable resources to foster biotechnological development. CasPEDIA complements phylogenetic Cas nomenclature and enables researchers to leverage the multi-faceted nucleic-acid targeting rules of diverse Class 2 Cas enzymes.

The exponential increase in the number of cases and number of affected countries of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought significant change in the mode of instruction from face-to-face to distance learning among the different levels of education around the world. This descriptive-developmental method of study adopted the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) model of instructional system design (ISD) framework in the development and evaluation of digital learning module intended for asynchronous online independent learning among students at the advanced mathematics education level. The adopted instructional materials evaluation instrument and the 10 items open-ended teacher-made test were used to describe the learning outcomes of the 13 enrolled graduate mathematics education students (4Male, 9Female) during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Sorsogon, Philippines. Findings of the study revealed that the designed digital learning modules covering the required content topics of modern algebra arranged in increasing complexity and ensuring the presence of the basic elements of discussions, definition, examples, and practice drills (worksheets) provide a significant learning experience among the students in times of pandemic as exhibited by their very satisfactory level of evaluation (Mean=4.42±2.58) on its characteristics. The utilization of the digital module available for asynchronous online independent learning maximizes learning outcomes which showed an increase in the mean score of 8.10 equivalent to 53.97 percentage score indicating a highly significant improvement (t=5.034, p<0.05) in the level of students' understanding of the content topics. Investment in strong internet connectivity is necessary to strengthen the asynchronous learning experiences of the students with the use of digital modules through the regular conduct of virtual conferences for monitoring and immediate feedbacking.

This study explored the online teaching experiences of the Junior High School teachers through the lens of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework by investigating their perceived level of confidence, pedagogical practices and encountered challenges. Employing concurrent-convergent mixed method design, the study included 66 Junior High School teachers who perceived themselves most confident in the aspect of teaching presence, followed by cognitive presence, then social presence. Having CoI as the school's adapted framework in facilitating online instruction, teachers identified CoI teaching strategies that address the challenges and hindrances in the execution of online instruction underscoring the different presences (teaching, social, and cognitive) and raised instructional dilemmas and challenges that hinder its optimum execution. Recommendations were also offered as inputs in the improvement of the existing school policies and practices in the conduct of online teaching and learning.

ABSTRACTGestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a metabolic complication that manifests as hyperglycemia during the later stages of pregnancy. In high resource settings, careful management of GDM limits risk to the pregnancy, and hyperglycemia typically resolves after birth. At the same time, previous studies have revealed that the gut microbiome of infants born to mothers who experienced GDM exhibit reduced diversity and reduction in the abundance of several key taxa, including Lactobacillus. What is not known is what the functional consequences of these changes might be. In this case control study, we applied 16S rRNA sequence surveys and metatranscriptomics to profile the gut microbiome of 30 twelve-month-old infants − 16 from mothers with GDM, 14 from mothers without – to examine the impact of GDM during pregnancy. Relative to the mode of delivery and sex of the infant, maternal GDM status had a limited impact on the structure and function of the developing microbiome. While GDM samples were associated with a decrease in alpha diversity, we observed no effect on beta diversity and no differentially abundant taxa. Further, while the mode of delivery and sex of infant affected the expression of multiple bacterial pathways, much of the impact of GDM status on the function of the infant microbiome appears to be lost by twelve months of age. These data may indicate that, while mode of delivery appears to impact function and diversity for longer than anticipated, GDM may not have persistent effects on the function nor composition of the infant gut microbiome.

Determining which microorganisms are active within soil communities remains a major technical endeavor in microbial ecology research. One promising method to accomplish this is coupling bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) with fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) which sorts cells based on whether or not they are producing new proteins. Combined with shotgun metagenomic sequencing (Seq), we apply this method to profile the diversity and potential functional capabilities of both active and inactive microorganisms in a biocrust community after being resuscitated by a simulated rain event. We find that BONCAT-FACS-Seq is capable of discerning the pools of active and inactive microorganisms, especially within hours of applying the BONCAT probe. The active and inactive components of the biocrust community differed in species richness and composition at both 4 and 21 h after the wetting event. The active fraction of the biocrust community is marked by taxa commonly observed in other biocrust communities, many of which play important roles in species interactions and nutrient transformations. Among these, 11 families within the Firmicutes are enriched in the active fraction, supporting previous reports indicating that the Firmicutes are key early responders to biocrust wetting. We highlight the apparent inactivity of many Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria through 21 h after wetting, and note that members of the Chitinophagaceae, enriched in the active fraction, may play important ecological roles following wetting. Based on the enrichment of COGs in the active fraction, predation by phage and other bacterial members, as well as scavenging and recycling of labile nutrients, appear to be important ecological processes soon after wetting. To our knowledge, this is the first time BONCAT-FACS-Seq has been applied to biocrust samples, and therefore we discuss the potential advantages and shortcomings of coupling metagenomics to BONCAT to intact soil communities such as biocrust. In all, by pairing BONCAT-FACS and metagenomics, we are capable of highlighting the taxa and potential functions that typifies the microbes actively responding to a rain event.

Introduction: Emergency medicine (EM) is one of few specialties with variable training lengths. Hiring a three-year graduate to continue fellowship training in a department that supports a four-year residency program can lead to conflicts around resident supervision. We sought to understand hiring and clinical supervision, or staffing, patterns of non-Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fellowships hosted at institutions supporting four-year residency programs. Methods: We performed a web-based, cross-sectional survey of non-ACGME fellowship directors (FD) hosted at institutions supporting four-year EM residency programs. We calculated descriptive statistics. Our primary outcome was the proportion of programs with four-year EM residencies that hire non-ACGME fellows graduating from three-year EM residencies. Results: Of 119 eligible FDs, 88 (74%) completed the survey. Seventy FDs (80%) indicated that they hire graduates of three-year residencies. Fifty-six (80%) indicated that three-year graduates supervise residents. Most FDs (74%) indicated no additional requirements exist to supervise residents outside of being hired as faculty. The FDs cited department policy, concerns about quality and length of training, and resident complaints as reasons for not hiring three-year graduates. A majority (10/18, 56%) noted that not hiring fellows from three-year programs negatively impacts recruitment and gives them access to a smaller applicant pool. Conclusion: Most non-ACGME fellowships at institutions with four-year EM programs recruit three-year graduates and allow them to supervise residents. This survey provides programs information on how comparable fellowships recruit and staff their departments, which may inform policies that fit the needs of their learners, the fellowship, and the department.

Filipino youths are considered the most valuable resource of the country comprising more than 40 percent of the total Philippine population. This descriptive-correlational study determined the satisfaction level of the 141 samples of young Bicolanos (81 were males and 60 were females) with the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s programs and activities. The multi-stage sampling designs were used to ensure representative samples from each of the six provinces in the Bicol region, Philippines. The gathered quantitative and qualitative data from a validated questionnaire revealed that Bicol youth respondents are generally satisfied with the PNP’s programs and activities in the campaign against criminality, the campaign against illegal drugs, public safety, and public security. The youth respondents in the region felt that they were publicly safe and secure when they observed the PNP’s visible campaigns against criminality and illegal drugs. The paper recommends promoting and enhancing programs and partnerships with the community involving the youth sector such as the out-of-school youth, students, and young professionals.

We devise a new realization of the surface code on a rectangular lattice of qubits utilizing single-qubit and nearest-neighbor two-qubit Pauli measurements and three auxiliary qubits per plaquette. This realization gains substantial advantages over prior pairwise measurement-based realizations of the surface code. It has a short operation period of 4 steps and our performance analysis for a standard circuit noise model yields a high fault-tolerance threshold of approximately $0.66\% $. The syndrome extraction circuits avoid bidirectional hook errors, so we can achieve full code distance by choosing appropriate boundary conditions. We also construct variants of the syndrome extraction circuits that entirely prevent hook errors, at the cost of larger circuit depth. This achieves full distance regardless of boundary conditions, with only a modest decrease in the threshold. Furthermore, we propose an efficient strategy for dealing with dead components (qubits and measurements) in our surface code realization, which can be adopted more generally for other surface code realizations. This new surface code realization is highly optimized for Majorana-based hardware, accounting for constraints imposed by layouts and the implementation of measurements, making it competitive with the recently proposed Floquet codes.

Fc-mediated antibody effector functions, such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), can contribute to the containment HIV-1 replication but whether such activities are sufficient for protection is unclear. We previously identified an antibody to the variable 2 (V2) apex of the HIV-1 Env trimer (PGT145) that potently directs the lysis of SIV-infected cells by NK cells but poorly neutralizes SIV infectivity. To determine if ADCC is sufficient for protection, separate groups of six rhesus macaques were treated with PGT145 or a control antibody (DEN3) by intravenous infusion followed five days later by intrarectal challenge with SIVmac239. Despite high concentrations of PGT145 and potent ADCC activity in plasma on the day of challenge, all animals became infected and viral loads did not differ between the PGT145- and DEN3-treated animals. To determine if PGT145 can protect against a neutralization-sensitive virus, two additional groups of six macaques were treated with PGT145 and DEN3 and challenged with an SIVmac239 variant with a single amino acid change in Env (K180S) that increases PGT145 binding and renders the virus susceptible to neutralization by this antibody. Although there was no difference in virus acquisition, peak and chronic phase viral loads were significantly lower and time to peak viremia was significantly delayed in the PGT145-treated animals compared to the DEN3-treated control animals. Env changes were also selected in the PGT145-treated animals that confer resistance to both neutralization and ADCC. These results show that ADCC is not sufficient for protection by this V2-specific antibody. However, protection may be achieved by increasing the affinity of antibody binding to Env above the threshold required for neutralization.

OBJECTIVES:. Compliance with the fluid bonus component of the SEP-1 (severe sepsis and septic shock management) bundle remains poor due to concerns for iatrogenic harm from fluid overload. We sought to assess whether patients who received focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) and were found to be fluid tolerant (FT) were more likely to receive the recommended 30 mL/kg fluid bolus within 3 hours of sepsis identification. DESIGN:. Retrospective, observational cohort study. SETTING:. University-affiliated, tertiary-care hospital in the United States. PATIENTS:. Emergency department patients presenting with septic shock from 2018 to 2021. The primary exposure was receipt of FCU with identification of fluid tolerance 3 hours from onset of septic shock. INTERVENTIONS:. None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:. Two hundred ninety-two of 1,024 patients with septic shock received FCU within 3 hours of sepsis onset. One hundred seventy-seven were determined to be FT. One hundred fifteen patients were determined to have poor fluid tolerance (pFT). FT patients were more likely to reach the recommended 30 mL/kg fluid bolus amount compared with pFT (FT 52.0% vs. pFT 31.3%, risk difference: 20.7%, [95% CI, 9.4–31.9]). Patients who did not receive FCU met the bolus requirement 34.3% of the time. FT patients received more fluid within 3 hours (FT 2,271 mL vs. pFT 1,646 mL, mean difference 625 mL [95% CI, 330–919]). Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between fluid tolerance FCU findings and compliance with 30 mL/kg bolus after adjustment for patient characteristics and markers of hemodynamic instability. FT with associated with a higher likelihood of meeting bolus requirement (odds ratio 2.17 [1.52–3.12]). CONCLUSIONS:. Patients found to be FT by FCU were more likely to receive the recommended 30 mL/kg bolus in the SEP-1 bundle when compared with patients found with pFT or those that did not receive FCU. There was no difference between groups in 28-day mortality, vasopressor requirement, or need for mechanical ventilation.

BackgroundThis first mixed-methods UK trial examined the feasibility and acceptability of a future definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate whether Family Focussed Treatment for Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder (FFT-A) UK version can improve family functioning and well-being as part of the management of Paediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD).MethodThe trial used a randomised, parallel group, non-blinded design where participants received FFT-A UK (16 sessions over 6 months) immediately or after 12 months (delayed arm). Measures of family functioning, well-being and quality of life of the young person and the main carer (most commonly a parent) were completed at baseline, 6 and 12-months in both arms. Primary outcome measures included rates of eligibility, consent and retention along with estimates of variability in the measures and assessment of the intervention delivery. Qualitative interviews allowed assessment of participants' views about FFT-A and the trial processes.ResultsTwenty-seven of 36 young persons with PBD and their families consented; of these, 14 families were randomised to the immediate and 13 to the delayed arm. Two families from the immediate arm withdrew consent and discontinued participation. Quantitative measures were completed by 22 families (88%) at 6-months and 21 families (84%) at 12-months. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 participants (9 young people, 15 parents and 6 other family members). Nine families attended 3 post-trial focus groups.ConclusionIt was feasible to recruit and retain to this trial. The results highlighted that trial design and measures were acceptable to participants. A benefit in family relationships was reported by participants which they attributed to the intervention in qualitative interviews. Families recommended that future modifications include definitive trial(s) recruiting participants in the age range 15-25 years as it felt this was the age range with maximum need. Trial registration ISRCTN, ISRCTN59769322. Registered 20 January 2014, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN59769322.

Soil surface consortia are easily observed and sampled, allowing examination of their interactions with soil microbiomes. Here, we present metatranscriptomic sequences from Dark Green 1 (DG1), a cyanobacterium-based soil surface consortium, in the presence and absence of an underlying soil microbiome and/or urea.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents unique challenges to frontline healthcare workers. In order to safely care for patients new processes, such as a plan for the airway management of a patient with COVID-19, must be implemented and disseminated in a rapid fashion. The use of in-situ simulation has been used to assist in latent problem identification as part of a Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. Additionally, simulation is an effective means for training teams to perform high-risk procedures before engaging in the actual procedure. This educational advance seeks to use and study in-situ simulation as a means to rapidly implement a process for airway management in patients with COVID-19.Methods: Using an airway algorithm developed by the authors, we designed an in-situ simulation scenario to train physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists in best practices for airway management of patients with COVID-19. Physician participants were surveyed using a five-point Likert scale with regard to their comfort level with various aspects of the airway algorithm both before and after the simulation in a retrospective fashion. Additionally, we obtained feedback from all participants and used it to refine the airway algorithm.Results: Over a two-week period, 93 physicians participated in the simulation. We received 81 responses to the survey (87%), which showed that the average level of comfort with personal protective equipment procedures increased significantly from 2.94 (95% confidence interval, 2.71-3.17) to 4.36 (4.24-4.48), a difference of 1.42 (1.20-1.63, p < 0.001). There was a significant increase in average comfort level in understanding the physician role with scores increasing from 3.51 (3.26-3.77) to 4.55 (2.71-3.17), a difference of 1.04 (0.82-1.25, p < 0.001). There was also increased comfort in performing procedural tasks such as intubation, from 3.08 (2.80-3.35) to 4.38 (4.23-4.52) after the simulation, a difference of 1.30 points (1.06-1.54, p < 0.001). Feedback from the participants also led to refinement of the airway algorithm.Conclusion: We successfully implemented a new airway management guideline for patients with suspected COVID-19. In-situ simulation is an essential tool for both dissemination and onboarding, as well as process improvement, in the context of an epidemic or pandemic.

Sustainable HIV remission after antiretroviral therapy (ART) withdrawal, or post-treatment control (PTC), remains a top priority for HIV treatment. We observed surprising PTC in an MHC-haplomatched cohort of MHC-M3+ SIVmac239+ Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (MCMs) initiated on ART at two weeks post-infection (wpi). None of the MCMs possessed MHC haplotypes previously associated with SIV control. For six months after ART withdrawal, we observed undetectable or transient viremia in seven of the eight MCMs, despite detecting replication competent SIV using quantitative viral outgrowth assays. In vivo depletion of CD8α+ cells induced rebound in all animals, indicating the observed PTC was mediated, at least in part, by CD8α+ cells. With intact proviral DNA assays, we found that MCMs had significantly smaller viral reservoirs two wpi than a cohort of identically infected rhesus macaques, a population that rarely develops PTC. We found a similarly small viral reservoir among six additional SIV+ MCMs in which ART was initiated at eight wpi, some of whom exhibited viral rebound. These results suggest that an unusually small viral reservoir is a hallmark among SIV+ MCMs. By evaluating immunological differences between MCMs that did and did not rebound, we identified that PTC was associated with a reduced frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte subsets expressing exhaustion markers. Together, these results suggest a combination of small reservoirs and immune-mediated virus suppression contribute to PTC in MCMs. Further, defining the immunologic mechanisms that engender PTC in this model may identify therapeutic targets for inducing durable HIV remission in humans.

ABSTRACT: Adolescence is a stage of development characterized by neurodevelopmental specialization of cognitive processes. In particular, working memory continues to improve through adolescence, with increases in response accuracy and decreases in response latency continuing well into the twenties. Human electroencephalogram (EEG) studies indicate that gamma oscillations (35–65 Hz) during the working memory delay period support the maintenance of mnemonic information guiding subsequent goal-driven behavior, which decrease in power with development. Importantly, recent electrophysiological studies have shown that gamma events, more so than sustained activity, may underlie working memory maintenance during the delay period. However, developmental differences in gamma events during working memory have not been studied. Here, we used EEG in conjunction with a novel spectral event processing approach to investigate age-related differences in transient gamma band activity during a memory guided saccade (MGS) task in 164 10- to 30-year-olds. Total gamma power was found to significantly decrease through adolescence, replicating prior findings. Results from the spectral event pipeline showed age-related decreases in the mean power of gamma events and trial-by-trial power variability across both the delay period and fixation epochs of the MGS task. In addition, we found that while event number decreased with age during the fixation period, the developmental decrease during the delay period was more dramatic, resulting in an increase in event spiking from fixation to delay in adolescence but not adulthood. While average power of the transient gamma events was found to mediate age-related differences in total gamma power in the fixation and delay periods, the number of gamma events was related to total power in only the delay period, suggesting that the power of gamma events may underlie the sustained gamma activity seen in EEG literature while the number of events may directly support age-related improvements in working memory maintenance. Our findings provide compelling new evidence for mechanistic changes in neural processing characterized by refinements in neural function as behavior becomes optimized in adulthood.

Motivated by recent experiments demonstrating intricate quantum Hall physics on the surface of elemental bismuth, we consider proximity coupling an s-wave superconductor to a two-dimensional electron gas with strong Rashba spin-orbit interactions in the presence of a strong perpendicular magnetic field. We focus on the high-field limit so that the superconductivity can be treated as a perturbation to the low-lying Landau levels. In the clean case, wherein the superconducting order parameter takes the form of an Abrikosov vortex lattice, we show that a lattice of hybridized Majorana modes emerges near the plateau transition of the lowest Landau level. However, unless magnetic-symmetry-violating perturbations are present, the system always has an even number of chiral Majorana edge modes and thus is strictly speaking Abelian in nature, in agreement with previous work on related setups. Interestingly, however, a weak topological superconducting phase can very naturally be stabilized near the plateau transition for the square vortex lattice. The relevance of our findings to potential near-term experiments on proximitized materials such as bismuth will be discussed.

Determining which microorganisms are active within soil communities remains a major technical endeavor in microbial ecology research. One promising method to accomplish this is coupling bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) with fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) which sorts cells based on whether or not they are producing new proteins. Combined with shotgun metagenomic sequencing (Seq), we apply this method to profile the diversity and potential functional capabilities of both active and inactive microorganisms in a biocrust community after being resuscitated by a simulated rain event. We find that BONCAT-FACS-Seq is capable of discerning the pools of active and inactive microorganisms, especially within hours of applying the BONCAT probe. The active and inactive components of the biocrust community differed in species richness and composition at both 4 and 21 h after the wetting event. The active fraction of the biocrust community is marked by taxa commonly observed in other biocrust communities, many of which play important roles in species interactions and nutrient transformations. Among these, 11 families within the Firmicutes are enriched in the active fraction, supporting previous reports indicating that the Firmicutes are key early responders to biocrust wetting. We highlight the apparent inactivity of many Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria through 21 h after wetting, and note that members of the Chitinophagaceae, enriched in the active fraction, may play important ecological roles following wetting. Based on the enrichment of COGs in the active fraction, predation by phage and other bacterial members, as well as scavenging and recycling of labile nutrients, appear to be important ecological processes soon after wetting. To our knowledge, this is the first time BONCAT-FACS-Seq has been applied to biocrust samples, and therefore we discuss the potential advantages and shortcomings of coupling metagenomics to BONCAT to intact soil communities such as biocrust. In all, by pairing BONCAT-FACS and metagenomics, we are capable of highlighting the taxa and potential functions that typifies the microbes actively responding to a rain event.