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In this paper, I share an activity that reinforces students' understanding of translations, reflections, and rotations via body movement. As a result of this activity, students gain a different perspective compared to previous explorations on paper, communicate mathematics, and visualize transformations as rigid motions on the plane. Furthermore, the combination of sensation and perception helped some students assess whether their work was correct.

A rising epistemological paradigm in the cognitive sciences—embodied cognition—has been stimulating innovative approaches, among educational researchers, to the design and analysis of STEM teaching and learning. The paradigm promotes theorizations of cognitive activity as grounded, or even constituted, in goal-oriented multimodal sensorimotor phenomenology. Conceptual learning, per these theories, could emanate from, or be triggered by, experiences of enacting or witnessing particular movement forms, even before these movements are explicitly signified as illustrating target content. Putting these theories to practice, new types of learning environments are being explored that utilize interactive technologies to initially foster student enactment of conceptually oriented movement forms and only then formalize these gestures and actions in disciplinary formats and language. In turn, new research instruments, such as multimodal learning analytics, now enable researchers to aggregate, integrate, model, and represent students’ physical movements, eye-gaze paths, and verbal–gestural utterance so as to track and evaluate emerging conceptual capacity. We—a cohort of cognitive scientists and design-based researchers of embodied mathematics—survey a set of empirically validated frameworks and principles for enhancing mathematics teaching and learning as dialogic multimodal activity, and we synthetize a set of principles for educational practice.

In this expository piece based on my Haimo teaching award presentation, I share three guidelines that drive my teaching: be informed, be courageous, and have compassion. Becoming an informed mathematics educator requires knowledge about evidence-based teaching practices, which can be acquired via mathematics education research and policy documents. Developing courage to teach with evidenced-based teaching practices entails a trial-and-error approach, and the willingness to ask for guidance from experienced faculty. Having compassion in teaching, requires more investigation, but I flesh out some personal practices that are supported by the literature.

BackgroundUsing fungiform (FG) and circumvallate (CV) taste buds isolated by laser capture microdissection and analyzed using gene arrays, we previously constructed a comprehensive database of gene expression in primates, which revealed over 2,300 taste bud-associated genes. Bioinformatics analyses identified hundreds of genes predicted to encode multi-transmembrane domain proteins with no previous association with taste function. A first step in elucidating the roles these gene products play in gustation is to identify the specific taste cell types in which they are expressed.Methodology/principal findingsUsing double label in situ hybridization analyses, we identified seven new genes expressed in specific taste cell types, including sweet, bitter, and umami cells (TRPM5-positive), sour cells (PKD2L1-positive), as well as other taste cell populations. Transmembrane protein 44 (TMEM44), a protein with seven predicted transmembrane domains with no homology to GPCRs, is expressed in a TRPM5-negative and PKD2L1-negative population that is enriched in the bottom portion of taste buds and may represent developmentally immature taste cells. Calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1), a component of a novel calcium channel, along with family members CALHM2 and CALHM3; multiple C2 domains; transmembrane 1 (MCTP1), a calcium-binding transmembrane protein; and anoctamin 7 (ANO7), a member of the recently identified calcium-gated chloride channel family, are all expressed in TRPM5 cells. These proteins may modulate and effect calcium signalling stemming from sweet, bitter, and umami receptor activation. Synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2B (SV2B), a regulator of synaptic vesicle exocytosis, is expressed in PKD2L1 cells, suggesting that this taste cell population transmits tastant information to gustatory afferent nerve fibers via exocytic neurotransmitter release.Conclusions/significanceIdentification of genes encoding multi-transmembrane domain proteins expressed in primate taste buds provides new insights into the processes of taste cell development, signal transduction, and information coding. Discrete taste cell populations exhibit highly specific gene expression patterns, supporting a model whereby each mature taste receptor cell is responsible for sensing, transmitting, and coding a specific taste quality.

Efforts to unravel the mechanisms underlying taste sensation (gustation) have largely focused on rodents. Here we present the first comprehensive characterization of gene expression in primate taste buds. Our findings reveal unique new insights into the biology of taste buds. We generated a taste bud gene expression database using laser capture microdissection (LCM) procured fungiform (FG) and circumvallate (CV) taste buds from primates. We also used LCM to collect the top and bottom portions of CV taste buds. Affymetrix genome wide arrays were used to analyze gene expression in all samples. Known taste receptors are preferentially expressed in the top portion of taste buds. Genes associated with the cell cycle and stem cells are preferentially expressed in the bottom portion of taste buds, suggesting that precursor cells are located there. Several chemokines including CXCL14 and CXCL8 are among the highest expressed genes in taste buds, indicating that immune system related processes are active in taste buds. Several genes expressed specifically in endocrine glands including growth hormone releasing hormone and its receptor are also strongly expressed in taste buds, suggesting a link between metabolism and taste. Cell type-specific expression of transcription factors and signaling molecules involved in cell fate, including KIT, reveals the taste bud as an active site of cell regeneration, differentiation, and development. IKBKAP, a gene mutated in familial dysautonomia, a disease that results in loss of taste buds, is expressed in taste cells that communicate with afferent nerve fibers via synaptic transmission. This database highlights the power of LCM coupled with transcriptional profiling to dissect the molecular composition of normal tissues, represents the most comprehensive molecular analysis of primate taste buds to date, and provides a foundation for further studies in diverse aspects of taste biology.

6Ckine is an unusual chemokine capable of attracting naive T lymphocytes in vitro. It has been recently reported that lack of 6Ckine expression in lymphoid organs is a prominent characteristic of mice homozygous for the paucity of lymph node T cell (plt) mutation. These mice show reduced numbers of T cells in lymph nodes, Peyer's patches, and the white pulp of the spleen. The genetic reason for the lack of 6Ckine expression in the plt mouse, however, has remained unknown. Here we demonstrate that mouse 6Ckine is encoded by two genes, one of which is expressed in lymphoid organs and is deleted in plt mice. A second 6Ckine gene is intact and expressed in the plt mouse.

Author(s): Anja Müller [1, 2, 3]; Bernhard Homey [1, 2, 3]; Hortensia Soto [1]; Nianfeng Ge [1]; Daniel Catron [1]; Matthew E. Buchanan [1]; Terri McClanahan [1]; Erin Murphy [1]; [...]

The skin-associated chemokine CCL27 (also called CTACK, ALP and ESkine) and its receptor CCR10 (GPR-2) mediate chemotactic responses of skin-homing T cells in vitro. Here we report that most skin-infiltrating lymphocytes in patients suffering from psoriasis, atopic or allergic-contact dermatitis express CCR10. Epidermal basal keratinocytes produced CCL27 protein that bound to extracellular matrix, mediated adhesion and was displayed on the surface of dermal endothelial cells. Tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β induced CCL27 production whereas the glucocorticosteroid clobetasol propionate suppressed it. Circulating skin-homing CLA+ T cells, dermal microvascular endothelial cells and fibroblasts expressed CCR10 on their cell surface. In vivo, intracutaneous CCL27 injection attracted lymphocytes and, conversely, neutralization of CCL27?CCR10 interactions impaired lymphocyte recruitment to the skin leading to the suppression of allergen-induced skin inflammation. Together, these findings indicate that CCL27?CCR10 interactions have a pivotal role in T cell?mediated skin inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming growth factor -beta ( TGF -beta) and tumor necrosis factor -alpha( TNF -alpha) are two polypeptide mediators which are believed to play a role in the evolution of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ( IPF ). We have evaluated the effect of these two substances on the expression of receptors for collagen ( cC1q - R ) and globular ( gC1q - R ) domains of C1q and on type I collagen in human lung fibroblasts . Two fibroblast subpopulations differing in C1q receptor expression were obtained by culturing human lung explants in medium containing fresh human serum and heated plasma - derived serum and separating them based on C1q binding [Narayanan , Lurton and Raghu: Am J Resp Cell Mol Biol . 1998;17:84]. The cells , referred to as HH and NL cells , respectively , were exposed to TGF -beta and TNF -alpha in serum - free conditions . The levels of mRNA were assessed by in situ hybridization and Northern analysis , and protein levels compared after SDS - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting . NL cells exposed to TGF -beta and TNF -alpha contained 1 . 4 and 1 . 6 times as much cC1q - R mRNA , respectively , whereas in HH cells cC1q - R mRNA increased 2 . 0 - and 2 . 4 - fold . The gC1q - R mRNA levels increased to a lesser extent in both cells . These increases were not reflected in protein levels of CC1q - R and gC1q - R , which were similar to or less than controls . Both TGF -beta and TNF -alpha also increased procollagen [I] mRNA levels in both cells . Overall , TNF -alpha caused a greater increase and the degree of response by HH fibroblasts to both TGF -beta and TNF -alpha was higher than NL cells . These results indicated that TGF -beta and TNF -alpha upregulate the mRNA levels for cC1q - R and collagen and that they do not affect gC1q - R mRNA levels significantly . They also indicated different subsets of human lung fibroblasts respond differently to inflammatory mediators . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]