Despite the importance of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in practical teaching and the inconsistency of teacher quality in different regions in China, there is little empirical evidence for specific differences in teachers' PCK in different districts in China. This study attempted to address this gap through analysis of practical teaching…

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been capturing the public imagination for decades. VR software applications that allow for interactive immersion are emerging as a renowned medium in many areas, including educating the public in biochemistry-related subjects via public engagement events. This report provides information about an immersive,…

Students often approach biochemistry with a degree of trepidation with many considering it one of the more difficult subjects. This is, in part, due to the necessity of making visual images of submicroscopic concepts. Molecular interactions underpin most biological processes; therefore, mastering these concepts is essential. Understanding the…

Purpose: This study aimed (1) to compare physical activity (PA) indicators, metabolic biomarkers, and comorbidity, (2) to investigate the relationship between PA indicators and metabolic biomarkers, comorbidity and (3) to identify barriers to PA in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) who are using oral hypoglycaemic agent (OHA) or combined OHA…

We evaluated the efficacy of vitamin D (VID), omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 LCPUFA, OM), or both (VIDOM) on core symptoms of ASD. New Zealand children with ASD (n = 73; aged 2.5-8.0 years) received daily 2000 IU vitamin D[subscript 3], 722 mg docosahexaenoic acid, both, or placebo. Outcome measures were Social…

A new laboratory practical system is described which is comprised of a number of laboratory practical modules, each based around a particular technique or set of techniques, related to the theory part of the course but not designed to be dependent on it. Each module comprises an online recorded pre-lab lecture, the laboratory practical itself and…

We examined prenatal screening markers and offspring autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using California statewide data on singleton births in 1996 and 2002. Second trimester levels of unconjugated estriol (uE3), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) were compared between mothers of children with ASD…

"Catalase," an enzyme found in both plant and animal cells, prevents the accumulation of toxic levels of hydrogen peroxide (H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2]) by catalyzing its decomposition to water and oxygen gas. Because this enzyme is ubiquitous, it is frequently used in high school biology laboratories to explore enzyme reactions. This…

The importance of advancing the 'employability skills' of students throughout their undergraduate education has been increasingly recognised by students and university instructors. Development of these essential skills is hindered by the lack of widely available assessment tools and shortage of detailed descriptions of effective instructional…

An inexpensive enzyme kinetics laboratory exercise for undergraduate biochemistry students is described utilizing tyrosinase from white button mushrooms. The exercise can be completed in one or two three-hour lab sessions. The optimal amounts of enzyme, substrate (catechol), and inhibitor (kojic acid) are first determined, and then kinetic data is…

With the internationalization of medical education in China, the importance of international students' education in medical schools is also increasing. Except foreign students majoring in Chinese language, English Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBSS) students are the largest group of international students. Based on problems in the…

Phosphorylation of CaMKII and AMPA receptor GluA1 subunit has been shown to play a major role in hippocampal-dependent long-term/reference memory (RM) and in the expression of long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP). In contrast, it has been proposed that dephosphorylation of these proteins could be involved in the opposite phenomenon of hippocampal…

Recently, it has been shown that the hormone oxytocin can enable creative cognition. The aim of this investigation was to examine the psychological mechanism via which oxytocin influences creativity. Two opposing explanatory approaches suggested by previous research were investigated: It was predicted that the effect of oxytocin on creativity…

Although research and new technologies have introduced different ways of observing microorganisms, including scanning and electron microscopy, these methods are expensive and require equipment that is typically not found in a middle school classroom. The transmission-through-dye technique (TTD; Gregg et al., 2010), a new optical microscopy method…

In this paper we begin to explore how knowledges being generated in bioscience might be brought into productive articulation with the Sociology of Education, considering the potential for emerging transdisciplinary, 'biosocial' approaches to enable new ways of researching and understanding pressing educational issues. In this paper, as in our…