Lectures and other types of teaching

A questionnaire on lectures was completed by 351 students (84% response) and 35 staff (76% response) from all five years of the veterinary course at the University of Queensland. Staff and students in all five years offered limited support for a reduction in the number of lectures in the course and the majority supported a reduction in the number of lectures in the clinical years. Students in the clinical years only and appropriate staff agreed that the number of lectures in fifth year should be reduced but were divided as to whether lectures in fifth year should be abolished. There was limited support for replacement of some lectures by computer assisted learning (CAL) programs, but strong support for replacement of some lectures by subject-based problem based learning (PBL) and strong support for more self-directed learning by students. Staff and students strongly supported the inclusion of more clinical problem solving in lectures in the clinical years and wanted these lectures to be more interactive. There was little support for lectures in the clinical years to be of the same type as in the preclinical years.

Constructing and reconstructing teaching roles: A focus on generative metaphors and dichotomies

Over the last several decades, a shift in thinking has brought to the fore the power of language as more than simply a method of expression. Indeed, language is a constituent part of social practices and social identity. For teachers, both pre-service and in-service, teaching roles are often represented through surface and generative metaphors, the latter of which are tacit. In order to study the way in which language, and in particular metaphor, influences thinking about teaching roles, the authors of this article combined their data to examine the metaphoric discourse of both pre-service and in-service teachers. Contextualizing two separate studies in their respective teacher education programs, this article highlights the obstacle of unexposed generative metaphors and the value of ongoing professional development. In addition, it emphasizes the importance of deconstructing traditional dichotomies as central to teacher education reform.

Historical and dialectical perspectives on the teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musics in the Australian education system

Indigenous studies (also referred to as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies) has a double identity in the Australian education system, consisting of the education of Indigenous students and education of all students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories. Through explanations of the history of the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musics in Australian music education, this article critiques ways in which these musics have been positioned in relation to a number of agendas. These include definitions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musics as types of Australian music, as ethnomusicological objects, as examples of postcolonial discourse, and as empowerment for Indigenous students. The site of discussion is the work of the Australian Society for Music Education, as representative of trends in Australian school-based music education, and the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music at the University of Adelaide, as an example of a tertiary music program for Indigenous students.

Decreased coumarin 7-hydroxylase activities and CYP2A6 expression levels in humans caused by genetic polymorphism in CYP2A6 promoter region (CYP2A6*9)

One of seven poor metabolizers of coumarin found in Thai subjects was previously genotyped as heterozygote for the CYP2A6*4 (whole deletion) and CYP2A6*9. Thus, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the genetic polymorphism in the TATA box of the CYP2A6 gene (CYP2A6*9), expression levels of CYP2A6 mRNA and coumarin 7-hydroxylase activities in human livers. Levels of CYP2A6 mRNA were quantified by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The mean expression levels of CYP2A6 mRNA in individuals with CYP2A6*1/*4, CYP2A6*1/*9 and CYP2A6*4/*9 were 58%, 71% and 21% of the individuals genotyped as CYP2A6*1/*1, respectively. The mean in-vitro coumarin 7-hydroxylase activities in subjects carrying CYP2A6*1/*4, CYP2A6*1/*9 and CYP2A6*4/*9 were 41%, 71% and 12%, respectively, compared to those of the subjects judged as wild-type. Vmax values for coumarin 7-hydroxylation in the liver microsomes from human subjects with genotypes of CYP2A6*1/*1, CYP2A6*1/*4, CYP2A6*1/*9 and CYP2A6*4/*9 were 0.58, 0.26, 0.44 and 0.13 nmol/min/nmol total P450, respectively. CYP2A6 protein levels in human liver microsomes with the CYP2A6*4 and the CYP2A6*9 alleles were markedly decreased. These results suggest that the genetic polymorphism in the promoter region of the CYP2A6 gene (CYP2A6*9) reduced the expression levels of CYP2A6 mRNA and protein in human livers, resulting in the decrease of coumarin 7-hydroxylase activities. Individuals judged as CYP2A6*4/*9 were expected to be poor metabolizers, having extremely low activity of CYP2A6.