Search Results (10)

Numerous studies support that the development of digital teaching competence is essential in 21st century schools. This paper examines Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to gain a deeper understanding of ICT integration in teaching. By assessing TPACK, we uncover opportunities to enhance teacher competencies and, consequently, improve student learning. This research evaluated the initial TPACK of primary school teachers from a public school in the Colombian Caribbean. Eight teachers participated in a professional development program based on the Lesson Study (LS) methodology. Adopting an interpretive qualitative approach and a case study for the operational analysis of LS, the findings indicate that teachers, in self-reports and performance-based assessments, highlight high competence in the PK, CK, and PCK domains. This demonstrates their ability to select and adapt effective teaching strategies. They excel in guiding learning and understanding academic content, showcasing a remarkable capacity to adapt to the diverse socioeconomic realities of their students. However, these findings also highlight areas for improvement in developing the technological components of TPACK, specifically TK, TPK, TCK, TPCK, and XK. Full article

Driven by the wave of artificial intelligence, the educational practice and application of robots have become increasingly common. Despite extensive coverage in the literature on various aspects of educational robots, there are still unexplored avenues, particularly regarding robotic support, robotic personality, and challenges in their applications. This study presented a systematic review of high-quality empirical research on the use of physical robots in educational settings. A total of 92 relevant papers from the Web of Science database were analyzed. Employing the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) framework, we investigated research questions across seven components, including the learning domain, teaching strategy, robot types, learning results, problems with using robots, robotic support, and robotic personality. The findings revealed that robots are most prevalently employed in language learning applications. When opting for teaching strategies, educators tend to favor those that incorporate physical interaction. Concurrently, humanoid robots emerge as the preferred choice among many. These robots, in human–robot interaction scenarios, often exhibit an agreeable personality. In terms of evaluating learning results, cognitive aspects like thinking, creativity, self-regulation, and inquiry ability are especially emphasized. Such results are frequently influenced by the informational and emotional support provided by robots. Nonetheless, challenges encountered by teachers, learners, and robots in this process are not to be overlooked. The findings of this study contributed to future applications of robotics in education. Full article

Chymotrypsin from the digestive organs of bigfin reef squid, a major commercial squid species in Thailand, was purified to 41-fold with 5.7% yield by a sequential purification process including ammonium sulfate precipitation, size exclusion, and ion exchange chromatography. According to SDS-PAGE, the molecular weight of purified chymotrypsin was 43 kDa. Native-PAGE analysis revealed a single band for this purified enzyme. The optimum pH and temperature for chymotrypsin activity of the purified enzyme were a pH of 7.0 with a temperature of 55 °C. The purified chymotrypsin remained stable throughout a wide range of pH levels (6–11) and at relatively high temperature (55 °C). It was significantly inhibited by PMSF and TPCK. The values of the kinetic constants K_m and K_cat were found to be 1.33 mM and 31.46 s⁻¹, respectively. The purified chymotrypsin has the N-terminal amino acid IVGGQEATPGEWPWQAALQV. This study provided new information about the biochemical properties of pure chymotrypsin from bigfin reef squid, which will be useful in the future investigation, aquaculture, and application of bigfin reef squid. Full article

A novel fibrinolytic enzyme was produced by the liquid fermentation of Coprinus comatus. The enzyme was purified from the culture supernatant by hydrophobic interactions, gel filtration, and ion exchange chromatographies. It was purified by 241.02-fold, with a specific activity of 3619 U/mg and a final yield of 10.02%. SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the purity of the enzyme, showing a single band with a molecular weight of 19.5 kDa. The first nine amino acids of the N-terminal of the purified enzyme were A-T-Y-T-G-G-S-Q-T. The enzyme exhibited optimal activity at a temperature of 42 °C and pH 7.6. Its activity was significantly improved by Zn²⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Mg²⁺ while being inhibited by Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, Al²⁺, and Ba²⁺. The activity of the enzyme was completely inhibited by ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), and it was also dose-dependently inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and soy trypsin inhibitor (SBTI). However, inhibitors such as N-α-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (TPCK), aprotinin, and pepstatin did not significantly affect its activity, suggesting that the enzyme was a serine-like metalloproteinase. The enzyme acted as both a plasmin-like fibrinolytic enzyme and a plasminogen activator, and it also exhibited the capability to hydrolyze fibrinogen and fibrin. In vitro, it demonstrated the ability to dissolve blood clots and exhibit anticoagulant properties. Furthermore, it was found that the enzyme prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), and thrombin time (TT), and reduced the levels of fibrinogen (FIB) and prothrombin activity (PA). Based on these studies, the enzyme has great potential to be developed as a natural agent for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic diseases. Full article

Studies have previously demonstrated the importance of serine proteases in Leishmania. A well-known serine protease inhibitor, TPCK, was used in the present study to evaluate its in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial effects and determine its mechanism of action. Despite slight toxicity against mammalian cells (CC₅₀ = 138.8 µM), TPCK was selective for the parasite due to significant activity against L. amazonensis and L. infantum promastigote forms (IC₅₀ = 14.6 and 31.7 µM for L. amazonensis PH8 and Josefa strains, respectively, and 11.3 µM for L. infantum) and intracellular amastigotes (IC₅₀ values = 14.2 and 16.6 µM for PH8 and Josefa strains, respectively, and 21.7 µM for L. infantum). Leishmania parasites treated with TPCK presented mitochondrial alterations, oxidative stress, modifications in lipid content, flagellar alterations, and cytoplasmic vacuoles, all of which are factors that could be considered as contributing to the death of the parasites. Furthermore, BALB/c mice infected with L. amazonensis and treated with TPCK had a reduction in lesion size and parasite loads in the footpad and spleen. In BALB/c mice infected with L. infantum, TPCK also caused a reduction in the parasite loads in the liver and spleen. Therefore, we highlight the antileishmanial effect of the assessed serine protease inhibitor, proposing a potential therapeutic target in Leishmania as well as a possible new alternative treatment for leishmaniasis. Full article

The sterol biosynthesis pathway of Leishmania spp. is used as a pharmacological target; however, available information about the mechanisms of the regulation and remodeling of sterol-related genes is scarce. The present study investigated compensatory mechanisms of the sterol biosynthesis pathway using an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase (simvastatin) and by developing drug-resistant parasites to evaluate the impact on sterol remodeling, cross-resistance, and gene expression. Simvastatin-resistant L. amazonensis parasites (LaSimR) underwent reprogramming of sterol metabolism manifested as an increase in cholestane- and stigmastane-based sterols and a decrease in ergostane-based sterols. The levels of the transcripts of sterol 24-C-methyltransferase (SMT), sterol C14-α-demethylase (C14DM), and protease subtilisin (SUB) were increased in LaSimR. LaSimR was cross-resistance to ketoconazole (a C14DM inhibitor) and remained sensitive to terbinafine (an inhibitor of squalene monooxygenase). Sensitivity of the LaSimR mutant to other antileishmanial drugs unrelated to the sterol biosynthesis pathway, such as trivalent antimony and pentamidine, was similar to that of the wild-type strain; however, LaSimR was cross-resistant to miltefosine, general serine protease inhibitor N-p-tosyl-l-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (TPCK), subtilisin-specific inhibitor 4-[(diethylamino)methyl]-N-[2-(2-methoxyphenyl)ethyl]-N-(3R)-3-pyrrolidinyl-benzamide dihydrochloride (PF-429242), and tunicamycin. The findings on the regulation of the sterol pathway can support the development of drugs and protease inhibitors targeting this route in parasites. Full article

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused a worldwide unexpected interruption of face-to-face teaching and a sudden conversion to emergency remote teaching (ERT). In this exploratory study, a sample of 244 secondary mathematics teachers was considered to analyze their perception of their readiness to ERT during the COVID-19 pandemic based on their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK), their previous training in digital teaching tools, their level of digital competence for teaching mathematics, and their adaptation to ERT. An online questionnaire was applied, and the answers were quantitatively analyzed. Given the use of a large number of digital resources and the high percentage of self-developed materials using educational software, secondary mathematics teachers reflected adequate digital competence and TPCK for teaching mathematics. The sudden transition to ERT forced teachers to slow down the pace of teaching and to reduce the content taught. Significant differences were observed based on gender and age with respect to teachers’ perception of their adaptation to ERT. Despite the positive influence of previous training on their perception of readiness for ERT, in general, teachers recognized that they need more training. The demand for preparation for video editing and online quiz composition can be considered for the design of future training programs. Full article

In this study, we explored the considerations and the influencing factors for the technological integration of educational curricula based on the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) framework for health profession educators (HPEs). A mixed methodology was used that included semi-structured interviews with 15 HPEs and an online TPCK survey with a randomly selected sample of 319 HPEs from 217 Taiwanese universities. Five themes emerged, namely, supplementing traditional teaching methods, improving immediate educator–student interactions, tracking the learning process and improving the record-keeping, keeping up with technological trends, and advancing professional learning objectives for different student needs. The presence of pre-existing platforms and inspiration from colleagues and students were facilitators, whereas the risk of technological problems and the need to invest extra time into the preparation process were impediments to technology integration in the curriculum. Of the online respondents (n = 210), 64.2% have integrated at least one technological method into their curriculum. The logistic regression model revealed that gender, prior knowledge regarding how to incorporate technology with teaching, high mean TPCK scores, and relevant school policies were significant predictors of technology integration in the curriculum. Based on these results, recommendations for development in the health profession included efforts to equip HPEs with TPCK, in order to integrate technology into the curriculum effectively. Full article

The TPACK model represents a high-impact advance in teacher training regarding their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. This research presents an analysis of several publications in international databases that address the matter of the TPACK model. Accordingly, a review of the scientific literature applying the documentation as a systematization method was performed. The present study analyses 37 contributions, published between 2014 and 2017, indexed in the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases, with TPACK and TPCK as the applied descriptors. Thus, the documentary analysis was based on four different criteria: public, topic, main results, and methodological design. Results show that all the reviewed publications are mainly focused on studies of basic and higher education where case studies, quantitative empirical studies, and mixed studies are predominant. Consequently, regarding the studies analyzed, there is a lack of longitudinal studies showing the teachers’ actions when applying TPACK in their daily practice. Full article

Diphlorethohydroxycarmalol (DPHC) is a phlorotannin compound isolated from Ishige okamuarae, a brown alga. This study was conducted to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect and action mechanism of DPHC in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. We found that DPHC strongly reduces the production of interleukin 6 (IL-6), but not that of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) induced by LPS. DPHC (12.5 and 100 μM) suppressed the phosphorylation and the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB (NF-κB), a central signaling molecule in the inflammation process induced by LPS. The suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) is a negative feedback regulator of Janus kinase (Jak)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling. In this study, DPHC inhibited STAT5 expression and upregulated that of SOCS1 at a concentration of 100 μM. Furthermore, N-tosyl-l-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (TPCK) (a specific NF-κB inhibitor) and JI (a specific Jak2 inhibitor) reduced the production of IL-6, but not that of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings demonstrate that DPHC inhibits IL-6 production via the downregulation of NF-κB and Jak2-STAT5 pathway and upregulation of SOCS1. Full article