Search

The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is a nonprofit, scientific, standard-setting organization, and world leader in establishing quality, purity, and testing standards for medicines, foods, and dietary supplements. USP quality standards are used in more than 140 countries and are legally recognized by more than 40 countries. Currently, there is renewed interest in herbal medicines globally, and health policies are being implemented worldwide for the use of complementary and traditional medicine. In response, USP has developed a robust body of monographs that can be used to guide industry and regulators in ensuring the quality and safety of botanical ingredients used in dietary supplements and herbal medicines. Throughout the Pan American regions, there is a strong tradition of using botanicals as herbal medicines and, as in other regions, a growing desire for botanical dietary supplements. This underscores the need for public quality standards to ensure quality, reduce the flow of substandard and adulterated products, and ensure public health and safety. In April 2022, USP launched the Pan America Botanical Dietary Supplements and Herbal Medicines Expert Panel, with experts representing 12 different countries. The Expert Panel’s work focuses on developing quality control standards for the most important botanical ingredients used in the respective countries, ingredients that are also of global importance. This article provides an overview of the state of botanical dietary supplements and herbal medicines in different Pan American regions with a focus on the regulatory status of herbal products, the development of national quality and research initiatives, and policies related to agriculture conservation and sustainability, among other topics.

Un learning lab est un espace physique et numérique offrant aux enseignants, étudiants et chercheurs en éducation la possibilité d’observer, d’échanger, d’expérimenter et d’évaluer les méthodes d’apprentissage et d’enseignement à l’université. Depuis février 2019, nous sommes impliqués dans un projet de développement d’un Learning Lab à l’Université de Fribourg (Suisse) qui relève de la recherche orientée par la conception. La question de l’évaluation des actions conduites au sein de learning labs étant consubstantielle à la mise en place du dispositif, nous avons été amenés à élaborer un module permettant d’évaluer l’utilité, l’utilisabilité et l’acceptabilité des activités d’apprentissage conduites au sein de ce dispositif. Dans cet article, nous présentons et discutons les composantes de ce module d’évaluation au regard de la littérature et d’un travail empirique conduit par quatre universités partenaires. Les leçons que nous tirons de notre travail sont la nécessité de développer une méthode d’évaluation discrète (intégrée aux activités et en soutien à l’apprentissage), systématique (permettant un suivi longitudinal des participants) et évolutive (à la fois générique et spécifique en s'adaptant aux activités).A learning lab is a physical and digital space that offers teachers, students and educational researchers the opportunity to observe, exchange, experiment and evaluate learning and teaching methods at university. Since February 2019, we are involved in design-based research to build a Learning Lab at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) including learning activities. We are developing a module to evaluate the usefulness, usability and acceptability of these learning activities. Dans this paper, we present and discuss the components of the evaluation module in relation to scientific models and empirical work carried out by four partner universities. The lessons we draw from our work are the need to develop an evaluation method that is unobtrusive (embedded in activities and supportive of learning), systematic (allowing for longitudinal follow-up of participants) and scalable (both generic and specific by adapting to activities).

This study examines how 12-15-year-old students use information while playing Geome, a mixed reality game intended for museum school visits. Geome presents environmental issues, prompting students and asking them to discern and dismiss misinformation and rumors. The study aims to analyze the students' playful learning experience and their perspective on the game. It focuses on the students' critical thinking, interactions and beliefs about knowledge and knowing, referred to as personal epistemology. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research was conducted across three classes in a museum. A combination of audio, video, and in-game interactions was collected from specific moments during gameplay and analyzed according to epistemological dimensions (Certainty, Simplicity, Source, Justification). Video analysis suggests that when faced with ill-structured problems within a playful scenario, some students are spurred to actively process information and develop critical thinking skills. Meanwhile others remain entrenched in their initial conceptions about the nature of knowledge and the act of knowing. The study discusses how the game's characteristics shape students' personal epistemology. Overall, this research demonstrates that games in museum contexts have the potential to promote active learning and critical thinking in some students, when confronted with complex or ill-structured problems.

This article addresses the issue of collaborative design of learning games based on the analysis of a game jam that led to the design of Mission Télomère, an escape game dedicated to smoking prevention for secondary school students. We examine the question of collaboration based on the analysis of interviews conducted with four of the game jam participants. The results obtained show that the methodological approach we implemented allowed the different designers to evolve and share their praxeologies, i.e. managed to develop common practices and discourse on how to design the game. This article is therefore a contribution to the reflection on what an escape game is and on how to design this type of game as a complex techno-pedagogical device requiring a multi-expertise approach.

BackgroundSerious games are increasingly used at all levels of education. However, research shows that serious games do not always fulfill all the targeted pedagogical objectives. Designing efficient and engaging serious games is a difficult and multidisciplinary process that requires a collaborative approach. Many design frameworks have been described, most of which are dedicated to the development of specific types of serious games and take the collaborative dimension into account only to a limited extent. ObjectiveOur aim was to create a generic serious game design framework that could be adapted to all kinds of serious games and implemented in a collaborative web platform. MethodsWe combined the results of a literature review with our experience in serious game design and development to determine the basic building blocks of a collaborative design framework. We then organized these building blocks into categories and determined the features that a generic design framework should include. Finally, based on the paradigm of complex systems and systemic modelling, we created the co.LAB generic design framework and specifications to allow its implementation in a collaborative web platform. ResultsBased on a total of 10 existing design methodologies or frameworks, 23 building blocks were identified and represent the foundation of the co.LAB framework. These blocks were organized into 5 categories: “context and objectives,” “game design,” “mechanics,” “learning design,” and “assessment.” The arrangement by categories provides a structure that can be visualized in multiple and complementary ways. The classical view links game and learning design while other views offer project, systemic, and process visualizations. For the implementation of the co.LAB framework in a web platform, we propose to convert the building blocks into “cards.” Each card would constitute a collaborative working space for the design of the corresponding block. To make the framework adaptive, cards could be added, adapted, or removed according to the kind of serious game intended. Enhancing the visualization of relationships between cards should support a systemic implementation of the framework. ConclusionsBy offering a structured view of the fundamental design elements required to create serious games, the co.LAB framework can facilitate the design and development of such games by virtue of a collaborative, adaptive, and systemic approach. The different visualizations of the building blocks should allow for a shared understanding and a consistent approach throughout the design and development process. The implementation of the co.LAB framework in a collaborative web platform should now be performed and its actual usability and effectiveness tested.

Sphingobium yanoikuyae S72 was isolated from the rhizosphere of sorghum plant in Mexico and we evaluated its survival and role in the degradation of some selected monoaromatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using minimal medium (Bushnell Hass medium (BH)) in which each of the hydrocarbons (naphthalene, phenanthrene, xylene, toluene, and biphenyl) served as sole carbon source. Gas column chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis was used to evaluate the effect of S72’s growth in the medium with the hydrocarbons. The genome of the S72 was sequenced to determine the genetic basis for the degradation of the selected hydrocarbon in S72. The genome was assembled de novo with Spades assembler and Velvet assembler and the obtained contigs were reduced to 1 manually using Consed software. Genome annotation was carried out Prokka version 1.12, and gene calling and further annotation was carried out with NCBI PGAAP. Pangenome analysis and COG annotation were done with bacteria pangenome analysis tool (BPGA) and with PATRIC online server, respectively. S72 grew effectively in the culture medium with the hydrocarbon with concentration ranging from 20–100 mg/mL for each hydrocarbon tested. S72 degraded biphenyl by 85%, phenanthrene by 93%, naphthalene by 81%, xylene by 19%, and toluene by 30%. The sequenced S72 genome was reduced to 1 contig and genome analysis revealed the presence of genes essential for the degradation of hydrocarbons in S72. A total of 126 unique genes in S72 are associated with the degradation of hydrocarbons and xenobiotics. S72 grew effectively in the tested hydrocarbon and shows good degradation efficiency. S72 will therefore be a good candidate for bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soil.

Soils harbour enormously diverse bacterial communities that interact specifically with plants generating beneficial interactions between them. This study was the first approach to assess bacterial communities before sowing with three cotton genotypes, including both transgenic and conventional ones. The structure of bacterial communities was identified using the next generation sequencing analysis, ion torrent PGM (Personal Genome Machine™) sequencer technology, based on the V2-V3 16S rRNA gene region. Quantitative insights into microbial ecology pipeline were used to identify the structure and diversity of bacterial communities in bulk soil samples collected in the northeast of Mexico. Bulk soil textures and chemical properties, including most nutrients, were homogeneous in these bulk soil samples. Relative abundance analysis showed similar bacterial community structures. Dominant taxonomic phyla were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Bacteroidetes, whereas the main families were Bacillaceae, Chitinophagaceae and Rhodospirillaceae with an abundance average of BS1 (bulk soil sample), BS2 and BS3 (24.85, 19.74 and 19.71%, respectively). Alpha diversity analysis showed a high diversity (Shannon and Simpson index) and a large value of the observed species found in bulk soils samples. These results allowed establishing the previous bacterial structural community in an unused soil before sowing it with a transgenic crop for the first time.

Recension

B-cell maturation antigen is expressed on plasma cells. In this study, we have identified serum B-cell maturation antigen as a novel biomarker that can monitor and predict outcomes for multiple myeloma patients. Compared to healthy donors, patients with multiple myeloma showed elevated serum B-cell maturation antigen levels (P

In this paper we describe a research and development project dedicated to implement a program approach for a new Master degree program at the ENS of Lyon. This work contributes to the DevSup project dedicated to the modelling, design and conception of a techno-pedagogical setting for supporting such a program approach. One result of the DevSup project consists of the development of an online application named ALOES (Online Assistant for the Operationalization of Higher Education). ALOES enables the formalization and the spread of the Master’s curriculum to the members of the educational team and the students. As an online curriculum editing tool, ALOES also enables the sharing of course syllabus, skills compendium, learning situations for the different teaching units. The results presented here have been collected after the project’s first year. We analyze the characteristics of the curriculum designed by the educational team and the discourses of the instructors involved in the teaching unit. Our results demonstrate the efficiency of ALOES for the design of a good quality curriculum and also underline the importance of the support provided by the pedagogical advisor and by the head of the Master degree. We emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of ALOES and what should be revised for the next version. We also point out which elements should be taken into account for the use of the application in different contexts, in particular in regards to the training of the pedagogical advisors as users.