A study conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on the academic performance of teenagers from 81 countries, found a significant decline in their performance in reading and mathematics.
It also shows that students from European countries had the lowest scores in mathematics, while Asian participants had the highest scores.
Nearly 700,000 15-year-old students were tested in mathematics, reading and science, as part of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, to assess learning before and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the OECD, the results of the study, which focused on mathematics, show an “unprecedented decline” in academic performance, with average scores falling by 10 points in reading and about 15 points in mathematics compared to 2018. The document said that science results “did not change significantly.” .
The study found that the sharp decline in mathematics achievement was “three times greater” than any previous change, and was most significant in Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland. Participants from Singapore, China, Japan and South Korea outperformed the others.
In reading, students from Ireland, Estonia, Japan and South Korea performed strongly.
The study also shows the impact of digital devices on students' academic performance, as moderate use of devices in school is associated with better grades. However, this depends on whether technology is used to support learning rather than distract from it.
The OECD said that the downward trend in reading, mathematics and science scores was evident before 2018, indicating that only part of the decline in achievement can be attributed to the “Covid-19” pandemic.
The international PISA survey in these three disciplines is conducted every three years among 15-year-old students. The study was originally scheduled to be conducted in 2021, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
Parasites causing 'scary' skin lesions may hold the secret to how to prevent pain
Although cutaneous leishmaniasis causes disfiguring skin lesions and skin ulcers, these skin lesions do not cause any pain.
This skin disease is caused by a parasite called Leishmania, and the lack of pain when infected with these lesions has puzzled scientists for years, especially since similar blisters caused by other skin diseases cause itching, bleeding, and pain.
Now, for the first time, scientists have looked at lesions on the skin of a mouse to assess whether there are any metabolic signaling pathways responsible for pain suppression.
The goal is to use this mechanism to help people with debilitating pain by developing non-narcotic pain medications.
“No one knows why these lesions are painless, but it is thought that the parasite somehow manipulates the host's physiological system,” said Abhay Satoskar, senior author of the study and a professor of pathology at Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Based on our data, something the parasites do leads to "Stimulating pathways that suppress pain. How they do that, we are still investigating. We hypothesize that any molecules produced by the presence of the parasite could be potential painkillers for other health problems."
Through their work, the team was able to identify chemicals associated with pain suppression using unbiased mass spectrometry screening of lesions in mice. "This led to the discovery of multiple metabolites, which are molecules that are intermediates or end-products of a range of chemical reactions that occur within organisms to sustain life, and which have previously been associated with blocked pain perception."
Pain-relieving pathways linked to the brain's endocannabinoid system, a complex cellular signaling system that plays a crucial role in regulating various physiological processes and maintaining homeostasis, have also been discovered.
Scientists are now working to understand how infection affects cells and whether this relationship is direct or indirect. Although they know that parasites feed on these observed metabolites in order to reproduce, the discovery that key pain suppression pathways are not activated in infected macrophages raises some questions about how these mechanisms are stimulated and how they can be recreated.
The research to date has led to many new questions and answers. However, scientists say it is an important step forward in understanding the mechanism of pain suppression.
“The exciting thing is that this is the first time we have begun to understand the cellular basis for the lack of pain in these lesions,” Satoskar said.
The study was published in the journal iScience.
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