Targeting HSPA1A in ARID2-deficient lung adenocarcinoma

Somatic mutations of the chromatin remodeling gene ARID2 are observed in ∼7% of human lung adenocarcinomas (LUADs). However, the role of ARID2 in the pathogenesis of LUADs remains largely unknown. Here we find that ARID2 expression is decreased during the malignant progression of both human and mice LUADs. Using two Kras^G12D-based genetically engineered murine models, we demonstrate that ARID2 knockout significantly promotes lung cancer malignant progression and shortens overall survival. Consistently, ARID2 knockdown significantly promotes cell proliferation in human and mice lung cancer cells. Through integrative analyses of ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq data, we find that Hspa1a is up-regulated by Arid2 loss. Knockdown of Hspa1a specifically inhibits malignant progression of Arid2-deficient but not Arid2-wt lung cancers in both cell lines as well as animal models. Treatment with an HSPA1A inhibitor could significantly inhibit the malignant progression of lung cancer with ARID2 deficiency. Together, our findings establish ARID2 as an important tumor suppressor in LUADs with novel mechanistic insights, and further identify HSPA1A as a potential therapeutic target in ARID2-deficient LUADs.     

Effects of learning styles on learners’ collaborative patterns in a mobile-assisted,Chinese character-forming game based on a flexible grouping approach

This paper reports a novel, mobile-assisted, game-based learning design for Chinese character learning. In playing the ‘Chinese-PP’ game in a 1:1 (one-device-per-student) setting, each of the 31 target students in Primary 3 (9 years old) is assigned a Chinese character component. A student may make use of his/her own and peers’ character components to form a legitimate Chinese character, and invite the peers with matching components to join his/her group. The intention is to assist the students in developing general orthographic awareness (understanding the structures of Chinese characters) through social negotiation. In this paper, the students’ collaborative learning processes in three game sessions were analysed. The relationships between students with varied learning styles and their game behaviours and learning gains were unveiled as a result. Through the Chinese-PP learning activities that stimulated active peer coaching and social learning, we found that all the target students became active learning participants and achieved high learning gains in the last game session. Recommendations for the future development of such a novel learning approach will also be given.     

Motivation beliefs of secondary school teachers in Canada and Singapore: A mixed methods study

A mixed methods approach was used to explore secondary teachers’ motivation beliefs in Canada and Singapore. Results from Study 1 revealed that socio-economic status (SES) was the strongest predictor of school climate in Canada, and that collective efficacy mediated the effect of SES on school climate in Singapore, but not in Canada. In Study 2, interviews were conducted with 10 teachers in Canada and 14 teachers in Singapore. Teachers in both settings discussed students’ social and behavior problems, but the range of the social problems was greater in Canada than in Singapore, and had a stronger impact on teachers’ motivation beliefs.     

Career decision-making, career barriers and occupational aspirations in Chinese adolescents

The study tested the relationship between occupational aspirations/expectations (type and status) and decision-making difficulties, efficacy and career barriers in 498 Chinese high school students. Males aspired to investigative and enterprising types, but expected realistic and enterprising ones; females aspired to enterprising and conventional types, but expected conventional and social ones. Students with aspirations/expectations type discrepancies were more likely to be higher achieving females; those with aspirations/expectations status discrepancies had poorer academic achievement, less confidence and perceived more barriers.     

Nationalistic Education in a Post-colonial Age: the Impact of Study Trips to China and the Development of Hong Kong Students' National Identity

With the return of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1 July 1997, Hong Kong attained a new political status as a Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong students, under British rule, had long been receiving de-politicised education, and a sense of belonging to China was limited to the cognitive domain of Chinese history. The ideal of promoting national identity, underpinned in the current civic education curriculum, is proving to be a difficult task. While much literature has documented how curriculumbased educational practices fail to instil students with such an identity, little study has been undertaken to suggest effective alternatives and to examine how they work. This paper reports a study investigating the impact of study trips on developing students' national identity. Through observation and interviews, it takes an in-depth look into students' experience, into how they identify with a Chinese identity. Results indicate that though the study trips help to nurture the cognitive and affective dimensions of national identity, there are limits and possibilities involved. This paper concludes with reminders which teachers should have taken into account when thinking of using co-curricular activities to address the legitimate need of fostering nationalistic education.     

Instructional leadership practices in Singapore

This paper presents a review of the literature on principal instructional leadership in Singapore. The authors investigated the dimensions of instructional leadership in the practices of Singapore principals and highlighted the strategies these leaders adopt to enact their instructional roles. Singapore principals were found to play an active role in defining the school vision and promoting the school climate. However, in the areas of curriculum implementation and classroom instruction, the middle management team in the school played more active roles as compared to principals. Five broad conclusions were discussed to provide perspectives on instructional leadership practices in Singapore. This paper also highlighted limitations on current instructional leadership research in Singapore and pointed to areas of future research.     

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Enhancing student‐teachers’ understanding of nature of science and scientific inquiry through a case study of the scientific research in severe acute respiratory syndrome

Interviews with key scientists involved in research on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), together with analysis of media reports and documentaries produced during and after the SARS epidemic, revealed many interesting aspects of nature of science (NOS) and authentic scientific inquiry. This novel insight into practice in the rapidly growing field of molecular biology was used in the development of instructional materials for use in the pre‐service and in‐service teacher education programme at The University of Hong Kong. The elements of NOS and scientific inquiry identified in the scientific research on SARS were explicitly emphasized in our instructional materials. The contemporary real‐life context of SARS was found to be effective in promoting student‐teachers’ understanding of NOS and scientific inquiry, particularly in terms of: the realization of inseparable links between science and the social, cultural, and political environment; deeper understanding of how science and technology impact on each other; and a richer appreciation of the processes of authentic scientific inquiry and the humanistic character of scientists. The effectiveness is attributed to immediacy, relevance, and familiarity, making the abstract tangible, personal experience of science history, and the powerful affective impact of the interviews with scientists.     

Prioritizing the education of marginalized young people in Brazil: a collaborative approach

This paper explores constructions of the ‘new’ university student in the context of UK government policy to widen participation in higher education. New Labour discourse stresses the benefits of widening participation for both individuals and society, although increasing the levels of participation of students from groups who have not traditionally entered university has been accompanied by a discourse of ‘dumbing down’ and lowering standards. The paper draws on an ongoing longitudinal study of undergraduate students in a post–1992 inner‐city university in the UK to examine students' constructions of their experiences and identities in the context of public discourses of the ‘new’ higher education student. Many of the participants in this study would be regarded as ‘non‐traditional’ students, i.e. those students who are the focus of widening participation policy initiatives. As Reay et al. (2002) discovered, for many ‘non‐traditional’ students studying in higher education is characterized by ‘struggle’, something that also emerged as an important theme in this research. The paper examines the ways in which these new student identities both echo the New Labour dream of widening participation and yet continue to reflect and re‐construct classed and other identities and inequalities.     

佛名与忏仪——以张荣迁碑和陈海龙碑为中心

6世纪中国佛教忏仪流行甚广,以张荣迁碑和陈海龙碑为代表的造像碑就是最好的例证。考察发现,二碑所刻佛名分别来自《金光明经》、《法华经》和《大通方广忏悔灭罪庄严成佛经》。此文在铭文考释的基础上探讨了佛名与忏仪的关系。