Phytate： impact on environment and human nutrition. A challenge for molecular breeding

Phytic acid (PA) is the primary storage compound of phosphorus in seeds accounting for up to 80% of the total seed phosphorus and contributing as much as 1.5% to the seed dry weight. The negatively charged phosphate in PA strongly binds to metallic cations of Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn and Zn making them insoluble and thus unavailable as nutritional factors. Phytate mainly accumulates in protein storage vacuoles as globoids, predominantly located in the aleurone layer (wheat, barley and rice) or in the embryo (maize). During germination, phytate is hydrolysed by endogenous phytase(s) and other phosphatases to release phosphate, inositol and micronutrients to support the emerging seedling. PA and its derivatives are also implicated in RNA export, DNA repair, signalling, endocytosis and cell vesicular trafficking. Our recent studies on purification of phytate globoids, their mineral composition and dephytinization by wheat phytase will be discussed. Biochemical data for purified and characterized phytases isolated from more than 23 plant species are presented, the dephosphorylation pathways of phytic acid by different classes of phytases are compared, and the application of phytase in food and feed is discussed. Project supported by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, Copenhagen, Denmark and HarvestPlus     

Conceptions of student talent in the context of talent development

This paper reports from a case study of a ‘talent class’, a special development programme for talented pupils, established in a Danish municipality. It analyses student backgrounds and motives for joining this talent class programme, which is seen in relation to ordinary schooling in Denmark. Drawing on Bourdieu, the paper links social background resources and success in school via the concepts of habitus and capital; it views talent as the product of an investment of time and cultural capital, which is easily accumulated by children of resourceful families. Based on the analysis and its discussion of school talent, the paper proposes a typology of talented students, encompassing the distinguished, the quiet, the versatile and the industrious students. For each type of talent, a student narrative illustrates the link between social backgrounds and student approaches and understandings of their own talents.     

Changes in Organising and Managing Research in Universities: Reconstruction or Rediscovery

The ways in which research production is organised incontemporary universities are different both from the oftencommonly expressed view of the individual researcher discoveringnew knowledge working alone, and from the traditionalprofessor-assistants organisation as the basic researchproduction unit. This article presents – on the basis of anempirical study of social science research organising in fourdifferent universities – a number of characteristics of how basicresearch organisation takes place. The most are described commonfeatures of such organisation models described. The factorsconstructing new more dynamic and integrated models in practiceare analysed. And the demands for efficient university governancestructures, to ensure the development of basic organisationswhich can produce short- and long-term high quality andsuccessful research, are discussed.     

The moral economy of the drug company-medical scientist collaboration in interwar America

This paper explores the exchange relationships underlying collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and preclinical (laboratory-based) researchers, in universities and similar contexts, during the interwar period. It also examines the arguments advanced to justify such collaborations in particular contexts as a way of investigating the perceived costs and benefits, especially among the academic parties in these collaborations, and the way these collaborations were regarded in the US biomedical research community.     

The process of understanding the task: how is agency distributed between students, teachers and representations in technology-rich learning environments?

In this article, we explore how students’ agency relates to both highly structured and open-ended learning environments. This is done by analysing how students’ understanding of tasks evolves through their activities in relation to the representations inscribed in two technology-rich learning environments. Based on the sociocultural approach to thinking, reasoning and learning we argue that it is necessary to include activities, artefacts and aspects of the knowledge domain in order to understand how and what the students’ learn. We conclude by arguing that the process of understanding a task is often complex and ongoing through the activity.