Since concepts may have different meanings in different contexts, students have to learn to recontextualise them, i.e. to adapt their meanings to a new context. It is unclear, however, what characteristics a learning and teaching strategy for recontextualising should have. The study aims to develop such a learning and teaching strategy for cellular respiration. The strategy consists of a storyline, consisting of three contexts, with embedded cognitive elements and some episodes focussed on recontextualising cellular respiration. Testing the strategy in two classes in upper secondary biology education showed that the strategy was largely practicable.
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BACKGROUND:Many patients visiting physiotherapists for musculoskeletal disorders face psychosocial challenges which may form a large barrier to recover. There are only a limited number of evidence based psychosocial therapies, but they are mainly based on breathing exercises. OBJECTIVE: to study which respiration frequency would lead to the highest relaxation, reflected in vagal tone derived from the heart rate variability (HRV) in healthy subjects. METHODS: A randomized controlled cross sectional study was performed. Respiration cycles of four, five, six, seven and eight breaths per minute (BPM) were delivered in randomized order for two minutes each. HRV metrics were measured during the sessions with electrocardiogram (ECG). Repeated Measures ANOVA’s were performed to analyze differences between breathing frequencies. RESULTS: 100 healthy volunteers were included (40 male). Standard Deviation of inter beat intervals (SDNN) values were significantly highest at 5 BPM, whereas the Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD) values appeared highest at 7 breaths per minute (p< 0.01). High Frequency (HF) power was lowest at 4 BPM, whereas Low Frequency (LF) power was not significantly influenced by respiration frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Breathing at a frequency of 5 to 7 breaths per minute leads to highest HRV values, but there is no single respiration ratio that maximizes all metrics. Physiotherapists may use five to seven BPM as guidance to determine ideal breathing frequencies
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AimsGenetic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is caused by mutations in sarcomere protein-encoding genes (i.e. genotype-positive HCM). In an increasing number of patients, HCM occurs in the absence of a mutation (i.e. genotype-negative HCM). Mitochondrial dysfunction is thought to be a key driver of pathological remodelling in HCM. Reports of mitochondrial respiratory function and specific disease-modifying treatment options in patients with HCM are scarce.Methods and resultsRespirometry was performed on septal myectomy tissue from patients with HCM (n = 59) to evaluate oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid oxidation. Mitochondrial dysfunction was most notably reflected by impaired NADH-linked respiration. In genotype-negative patients, but not genotype-positive patients, NADH-linked respiration was markedly depressed in patients with an indexed septal thickness ≥10 compared with <10. Mitochondrial dysfunction was not explained by reduced abundance or fragmentation of mitochondria, as evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. Rather, improper organization of mitochondria relative to myofibrils (expressed as a percentage of disorganized mitochondria) was strongly associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Pre-incubation with the cardiolipin-stabilizing drug elamipretide and raising mitochondrial NAD+ levels both boosted NADH-linked respiration.ConclusionMitochondrial dysfunction is explained by cardiomyocyte architecture disruption and is linked to septal hypertrophy in genotype-negative HCM. Despite severe myocardial remodelling mitochondria were responsive to treatments aimed at restoring respiratory function, eliciting the mitochondria as a drug target to prevent and ameliorate cardiac disease in HCM. Mitochondria-targeting therapy may particularly benefit genotype-negative patients with HCM, given the tight link between mitochondrial impairment and septal thickening in this subpopulation.
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The standardized Mensendieck test (SMT) was developed to quantify posture, movement, gait, and respiration. In the hands of an experienced therapist, the SMT is proven to be a reliable tool. It is unclear whether posture, movement, gait, and respiration are related to the degree of functional disability in patients with chronic pain. The objective of this study was to assess the reliability and convergent validity of the SMT in a heterogeneous sample of 50 patients with chronic pain. Methods: Internal consistency was determined by Cronbach’s α and interrater reliability by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Convergent validity was assessed by determining the Spearman rank correlation coefficient between the movement quality measured in the SMT and functional limitation measured on the disability rating index (DRI). Results: The internal consistency was Cronbach’s α 0.91. Substantial reliability was found for the items: movement (ICC = 0.68), gait (ICC = 0.69), sitting posture (ICC = 0.63), and respiration (ICC = 0.64). Insufficient reliability was found for standing posture (ICC = 0.23). A moderate correlation was found between average test score SMT and the DRI (r = −0.37) and respiration and DRI (r = −0.45). Discussion: The SMT is a reasonably reliable tool to assess movement, gait, sitting posture, and respiration. None of the items in the domain standing posture has sufficient reliability. A thorough study of this domain should be considered. The results show little evidence for convergent validity. Several items of the SMT correlated moderately with functional limitation with the DRI. These items were global movement, hip flexion, pelvis rotation, and all respiration items.
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Eén van de eerste uitdagingen voor een te vroeg geboren baby is het leren drinken uit fles of borst. Voor de meeste op tijd geboren kinderen levert dit geen problemen op, maar te vroeg geboren baby’s hebben meer moeite met het coördineren van het zuigen, slikken en ademen tijdens het drinken. Er zijn aanwijzingen dat deze zuig- en slikproblemen in de weken na geboorte geassocieerd zijn met ontwikkelingsproblemen op kinderleeftijd. Deze resultaten van dit onderzoek lijken te wijzen op een gevoelige periode in de ontwikkeling: als de problemen met het drinken nog aanwezig zijn in de 4 tot 6 weken na de uitgerekende datum betekent dat dat er een verhoogd risico is op ontwikkelingsproblemen op 2-jarige leeftijd.
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The studies reported on in this thesis addressed the development of suckingpatterns in preterm newborns. Preterm infants often have problems learningto suckle at the breast or to drink from a bottle. It is unclear whether this isdue to their preterm birth or whether it is the consequence of neurologicaldamage. From the literature, as well as from daily practice, we know thatthere is much variation in the time and in the way children start suckingnormally. Factors such as birth weight and gestational age may indeed berisk factors but they do not explain the differences in development. A smallspot-check proved that most hospitals in the Netherlands start infants onoral feeding by 34 weeks’ post-menstrual age (pma). By and large the policyis aimed at getting the infant to rely on oral feeding entirely as soon aspossible. The underlying rationale is to reduce the stay in hospital, and theidea that prolonged tube-feeding delays or even hampers the development ofsucking.
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The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate.
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Isolations of 3-chlorobenzoate (3CBA)-degrading aerobic bacteria under reduced O-2, partial pressures yielded organisms which metabolized 3CBA via the gentisate or the protocatechuate pathway rather than via the catechol route. The 3CBA metabolism of one of these isolates, L6, which,vas identified as an Alcaligenes species, was studied in more detail. Resting-cell suspensions of L6 pregrown on 3CBA oxidized all known aromatic intermediates of both the gentisate and the protocatechuate pathways. Neither growth th on nor respiration of catechol could be detected. Chloride production from 3CBA by L6 was strictly oxygen dependent. Cell-free extracts of 3CBA-grown L6 cells exhibited no catechol dioxygenase activity but possessed protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, gentisate dioxygenase, and maleylpyruvate isomerase activities instead. In continuous culture with 3CBA as the sole growth substrate, strain L6 demonstrated an increased oxygen affinity with decreasing steady-state oxygen concentrations.
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