The recognition of carbohydrate moieties by cells of the innate immune system is emerging as an essential element in antifungal immunity, but despite the number and diversity of lectins expressed by innate immune cells, few carbohydrate receptors have been characterized. Mincle, a C-type lectin, is expressed predominantly on macrophages, and is here shown to play a role in macrophage responses to the yeast Candida albicans. After exposure to the yeast in vitro, Mincle localized to the phagocytic cup, but it was not essential for phagocytosis. In the absence of Mincle, production of TNF-α by macrophages was reduced, both in vivo and in vitro. In addition, mice lacking Mincle showed a significantly increased susceptibility to systemic candidiasis. Thus, Mincle plays a novel and nonredundant role in the induction of inflammatory signaling in response to C. albicans infection.

Anatomy and Physiology is a core course in pre-registration nursing programs, yet many students have difficulty successfully negotiating the large volume of content and the complex concepts in these bioscience courses. Typically students perform poorly in these 'threshold' courses', despite multiple interventions to support student engagement. Investigation of the shortcomings in these courses, based on feedback from students indicated several key areas of difficulty in the course, especially focused around a relative lack of hands-on 'concrete' activities in laboratories and tutorials. To attempt to address this, academic and technical staff developed activities for students that promoted discussion and allowed students to interact easily and repetitively with content. Interactive tables and posters that needed to be labelled or 'filled-in' using pre-prepared Velcro dots, as well as pre-prepared flash cards to promote group work, were some examples of the activities used to enhance student experiences and promote hands-on learning. Over the academic year of 2013 these activities were introduced into the laboratory and tutorial classes for first year Bachelor of Nursing anatomy and physiology students. Staff and student participants positively rated implementation of these new activities on surveys, as they allowed them to explore the difficult aspects of anatomy and physiology, utilising various learning styles that may have been neglected in the past.

No abstract