Bar-Ilan University Research Articles

Safety and Efficacy of a Locally Produced Novel Anti-BCMA Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell (CART) (HBI0101) for the Treatment of Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma

BACKGROUND: Anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CART) therapy shows remarkable efficacy in patients with relapsed and/or refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma (MM), with recent phase 3 studies showing clear advantage of idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel)over standard-of-care. However, access to these commercial CART products is a major barrier, and it is estimated that only around a quarter of eligible R/R MM patients will receive CART nowadays. HBI0101 is a novel second generation optimized anti-BCMA CART with 4-1BB co-stimulatory domain, that was developed in an academic setting, at Hadassah Medical Center and Bar-Ilan University. The phase Ia study evaluating HBI0101 (NCT04720313) demonstrated a manageable safety profile and an initial high efficacy (Asherie, Haematologica 2022). Here, we present the updated results of 50 patients receiving 800x10^6 CART cells in the NCT04720313 phases 1a-b / 2. METHODS: The phase 1a study with HBI0101 which first evaluated 20 R/R MM patients with ≥3 prior lines of therapy, including a PI, IMiD and anti-CD38 antibody, revealed a dose of 800x10^6 CART cells to be safe and effective. The phase Ib and phase 2 of the study evaluated this dose infusion in 43 additional patients. Inclusion criteria were relatively permissive with minimum creatinine clearance of 20ml/min, platelet count of 30x10 9/ml, left ventricular ejection fraction of 40%, and ECOG performance status of ≤2. Lymphodepletion included fludarabine 25mg/m 2 and cyclophosphamide 250mg/m 2 on days -5 to -3 before infusion (bendamustine 90mg/m 2 and on days -4 and -3 for patients with creatinine clearance <30ml/min). Planned manufacturing time was 10 days. RESULTS: Of 51 patients who underwent lymphocyte apheresis, 50 (98%) were treated with 800x10^6 CART cells; 7 patients in the phase Ia cohort and 43 in the phases 1b / 2 cohorts. HBI0101 production success rate was 100%, with manufacturing time of 10 days for all patients. The median age was 65y (range 40-84). The median number of prior lines was 4 (range 3-13) and most patients (47/50, 94%) were triple refractory to PI, IMiD and anti-CD38 antibody. Twenty patients (40%) were penta-refractory and 10 (20%) were refractory to the anti-BCMA antibody drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin. Forty-six patients (92%) were refractory to the last line of therapy. Twelve patients (24%) had high risk cytogenetics (t(4:14), t(14:16) or deletion 17p); 31 (62%) when 1q gain included. Sixteen patients (32%) had extramedullary involvement at study entry. Grade 3-4 hematological toxicities were common (anemia- 62%, thrombocytopenia- 54%, neutropenia- 98%, lymphopenia- 100%). Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) occurred in 48/50 (96%)- grade 1/2- 17 patients (82%); grade 3- 7 patients (14%). Tocilizumab was used in 40/48 patients with CRS (median of 1 dose, range 1-4) and corticosteroids in 8/48. Two cases of immune effector cell associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) were observed (grade 1 and 2). Two patients developed CART-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis syndrome (HLH). No irreversible organ toxicities or treatment related deaths occurred. The overall response rate (ORR) was 45/50 (90%), including 29 patients (58%) with complete response (CR)/stringent CR, 10 (20%) with very good partial response and 6 (12%) with partial response. Thirty-five patients (70%) achieved minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity at day +30. At a median follow-up of 11.9 months (range: 0.6-19), the median progression-free survival was 10.6 months, and the median overall survival was not reached (Figure 1). Although the presence of extra-medullary disease and prior anti-BCMA therapy correlated with worse outcome, high response rates were still observed (ORR of 98%/75% for patients without/with extra-medullary disease, respectively, and 95%/75% for patients without/with prior anti-BCMA therapy, respectively). Updated results will be communicated at the presentation time. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate the manageable safety and high efficacy profiles of HBI0101 also in high-risk patients. Fast production time enabled the timely treatment of 98% of apheresed patients. These favorable data are encouraging and support decentralization of CART production at an academic setting, ensuring a sufficient CART supply in the light of the increasing demand.

Feasibility of a Novel Academic Anti-BCMA Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell (CART) (HBI0101) for the Treatment of Relapsed and Refractory AL Amyloidosis

BACKGROUND: While anti-BCMA chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CART) have proven safe and efficient in multiple myeloma (MM), its application to AL amyloidosis (AL), has been restricted due to the frailty of this population and rarity of disease. HBI0101 therapy is a novel anti-BCMA CART-based therapy developed at Hadassah Medical Center and Bar-Ilan University for MM treatment. In a phase Ia-b/2 study (NCT04720313), HBI0101 has demonstrated manageable safety with therapeutic efficacy in over 70 MM patients. Although BCMA targeting in AL has been questioned because of relatively low expression of this antigen on AL plasma cells (PC), we have previously reported that this level of expression is sufficient to enable PC eradication by HBI0101 CART ex vivo. Based on this observation, we have treated 9 AL patients in our study, which represent the largest cohort of AL treated with anti-BCMA CART reported so far. METHODS: The patients were treated within the following cohorts: 1 received 150x10^6 CART cells, 2 received 450x10^6 CART cells and 6 received 800x10^6 CART cells. Two of the patients were treated on a compassionate basis due to concomitant myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) / ECOG 4 performance status. Patients with creatinine clearance ≥30ml/min (n=7) received lymphodepletion with fludarabine 25mg/m 2 and cyclophosphamide 250mg/m 2 on days -5 to -3 before infusion, and patients with creatinine clearance <30ml/min (n=2) received lymphodepletion with bendamustine 90mg/m 2 and on days -4 and -3 before infusion. Two patients with NYHA stage 3 and MAYO stage 3b AL-related heart failure were admitted electively to the intensive care unit before infusion for close monitoring. RESULTS: Nine AL patients with relapsed/refractory disease were included, with a median of 6 prior lines of therapy (range: 3-10), all refractory to their last line of therapy. All patients were triple refractory to PI, IMiD and anti-CD38 antibody, 6 were penta-refractory and 5 were refractory to the anti-BCMA antibody drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin. Seven had cardiac involvement, including 4 with MAYO-stage 3a/3b at study entry. Hematologic adverse events included: grade 3-4 neutropenia in 5 patients, Grade 2-3 anemia in 3 patients, and worsening of pre-existing thrombocytopenia to grade 4 in 1 patient. Three patients developed AL-related organ deterioration (kidney- 2, heart- 1), subsequently resolved to baseline function. Cytokine-released syndrome (CRS) was observed in 7/9 (grade 1-2- 5 patients; grade 3- 2 patients). None of the patients developed immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANs). There were no treatment-related deaths. Eight out of nine patients were evaluable for efficacy (one patient has not yet completed the first post-treatment evaluation). The overall hematological response rate was 100%, including complete responses in 5 patients, very good partial responses in 2, and partial response in 1 patient. Minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity based on flow cytometry 10^-5 was achieved in 5/8. Best hematological response was achieved after 17 to 57 days (median- 28.5 days). The hematologic responses translated into clinical improvement in all patients, whereas 6/8 met the official criteria for organ responses. With a median follow-up of 7.3 months (range: 2.5-16.5), the median duration of response thus far is 5m (range: 2.5-16.5). Updated results will be communicated at the presentation time. CONCLUSION: In the largest cohort of AL patients treated with CART reported to date, we demonstrated acceptable toxicity in this frail population, with a remarkable hematologic efficacy, leading to organ responses in most participants. Our data suggests that anti-BCMA CART modality may become a powerful clinical tool to improve organ function and survival, even in advanced AL patients.

Information Science Students’ Background and Data Science Competencies: An Exploratory Study

Many Library and Information Science (LIS) training programs are gradually expanding their curricula to include computational data science courses such as supervised and unsupervised machine learning. These programs focus on developing both “classic” information science competencies as well as core data science competencies among their students. Since data science competencies are often associated with mathematical and computational thinking, departmental officials and prospective students often raise concerns regarding the appropriate background students should have in order to succeed in this newly introduced computational content of the LIS training programs. In order to address these concerns, we report on an exploratory study through which we examined the 2020 and 2021 student classes of Bar-Ilan University's LIS graduate training, focusing on the computational data science courses (i.e., supervised and unsupervised machine learning). Our study shows that contrary to many of the concerns raised, students from the humanities performed as well (and in some cases significantly better) on data science competencies compared to those from the social sciences and had better success in the training program as a whole. In addition, students’ undergraduate GPA acted as an adequate indicator for both their success in the training program and in the data science part thereof. In addition, we find no evidence to support concerns regarding age or sex. Finally, our study suggests that the computational data science part of students’ training is very much aligned with the rest of their training program.

K. Alex Müller–Memories from a great scientist

This article describes the effect of Alex Muller's discoveries on my own career and memories of him during his visit to Bar-Ilan University where he received an honorary doctorate.

Remembering Dr Mark/Meir Dvorjetski: Physician, Survivor, Teacher, Historian, and Pioneer of Shoah Medicine Research.

Meir Dvorjetski was a Holocaust survivor, teacher, and historian. He is best remembered for his descriptions of the medicine practiced by the Nazis during World War II, as well as the diseases, disorders, syndromes, and deaths resulting from such practice-particularly, though not solely, on the Jewish race. Dvorjetski's contributions to Holocaust research at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, his underground partisan work, his contributions to society, and his testimony at the Eichmann trial have all been well documented. However, his earlier years-including his survival of the Holocaust, and his less-known medical achievements and contributions to historical records regarding the Holocaust-have not been covered as thoroughly. These latter items are the focus of this paper, with a closing commentary on the relevance of his work for the 21st century.

Bibliometric analysis on the international publication of muslim brotherhood

This article analyzes the trend of international publications related to the Muslim Brotherhood using the Scopus database. This study aims to determine the publication trends by region, subject area of publication, type of publication, number of documents for each author, and number of papers for each university. The data collected by the authors were taken from the search results in the Scopus database with a combination of the keywords "Ikhwanul Muslimin or Muslim Brotherhood" with the categories of article titles, article abstracts, and article keywords in the publication period of 1954 - 2023. Based on this search, the authors found 738 scientific publication documents related to the Muslim Brotherhood. The studies conducted in 2023 were 17 publications, and the highest number found by the authors was 69 scientific publications (9.3%) in 2016. The United States became the most productive country or region in scientific publications with 175 papers (23.7%). The most prolific authors are Ardovini and Brooke with eight articles. Bar-Ilan University became the affiliate with the most publications with 15 publications. Based on these results, the study of the Muslim Brotherhood became a contemporary study that has attracted the interest of researchers.

The Motivation Conundrum: What motivates university students in an EAP program?

The purpose of the research project described in this paper is to examine the salient features of motivation driving tertiary level learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in the Israeli student population at Bar Ilan University. The quantitative study included 228 undergraduate university EAP students studying in various disciplines. Dornyei’s L2 Motivational Self-System Questionnaire was translated to Hebrew and modified for cultural appropriateness and language clarity. Exploratory factor analysis of the students' answers revealed seven salient features, ranked from highest to lowest, underlying motivation in second language learning with varying degrees of perceived importance. The results present an Israeli perspective which differs from other studies conducted on English Foreign Language (EFL) populations. This leads to the conclusion that a broad perspective toward motivation in the language classroom is important in order to understand motivation among EAP students. Implications for pedagogy and suggestions for future research are explored and discussed.

New Skin for an Old Ceremony

This article employs heteroactivism as a frame of analysis to examine recent shifts in resistances to gender and sexual equalities in Israel. Using ethnographic, visual, and textual methods, I examine as case studies the oppositions to two academic conferences, Issues in Therapy with Polyamory and Queer Utopias, that were both held at Bar Ilan University in 2019. The oppositions, which were led by three organisations affiliated with the Religious Zionist public (Leeba; Shovrot Shivion; Boharim Bamishpacha) reveal how Israeli heteroactivist discourses invoke familism, pro-natalism, religious sentiments, Zionist narratives, and collective trauma, in their attempts to recentralise the heteronormative Jewish family. LGBT equality in Israel has been achieved through legislative court-rulings, instead of being legally secured by the parliament, as it was in other countries previously explored by research on heteroactivsim. Nevertheless, this article shows, how this quasi-equality, combined with public sentiments of growing acceptance, induced by homonationalist and homonormative trends, sufficed to create a fertile ground for heteroactivist resistances. Through a discussion of the symbolic meaning of Bar Ilan University as an academic institution, affiliated with the Religious Zionist public, this article also illustrates how heteroactivist resistances may be embedded in specific localities and events, and not just on grand national campaigns.

Oil Lamps, Spearheads and Skulls: Possible Evidence of Necromancy during Late Antiquity in the Te’omim Cave, Judean Hills

AbstractThe Te’omim Cave is a large karst cave located in the Jerusalem Hills. Since 2009, the cave has been explored by our team as a joint project of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and the Cave Research Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over 120 intact oil lamps were collected in the 2010–2016 survey seasons from all sections of the cave; most of them were dated to the second to fourth centuries CE. All of these lamps had been deliberately inserted in narrow, deep crevices in the main chamber walls or beneath the rubble. Some crevices contained groups of oil lamps mixed with weapons and pottery vessels from earlier periods or placed with human skulls. This article discusses the possibility that the oil lamps, weapons, human skulls, and other artifacts were used as part of necromancy ceremonies that took place in the cave during the Late Roman period, and that the cave may have served as a local oracle (nekyomanteion).

Response to Eglash re: "The Risk of Breakthrough Bleeding Justifies the Use of Combined Hormonal Contraception Over Progesterone-Only Pills While Breastfeeding": Combined Hormonal Contraception Is Not Without Disadvantages, But Is Acceptable During Lactation.

Breastfeeding MedicineVol. 18, No. 5 CorrespondenceResponse to Eglash re: “The Risk of Breakthrough Bleeding Justifies the Use of Combined Hormonal Contraception Over Progesterone-Only Pills While Breastfeeding”: Combined Hormonal Contraception Is Not Without Disadvantages, But Is Acceptable During LactationLior Segev, Abraham O. Samson, Goldie Katz-Samson, and Naama SrebnikLior SegevAzrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, Safed, Israel.PUAH Institute: Fertility. Medicine. Halacha, Jerusalem, Israel.Search for more papers by this author, Abraham O. SamsonAddress correspondence to: Abraham O. Samson, PhD, Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, Henrietta Szold Street 8, Safed 1311502, Israel E-mail Address: avraham.samson@biu.ac.ilhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7436-3515Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, Safed, Israel.Search for more papers by this author, Goldie Katz-SamsonNishmat: The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women, Jerusalem, Israel.Search for more papers by this author, and Naama SrebnikDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:17 May 2023https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2023.0064AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View article"Response to Eglash re: “The Risk of Breakthrough Bleeding Justifies the Use of Combined Hormonal Contraception Over Progesterone-Only Pills While Breastfeeding”: Combined Hormonal Contraception Is Not Without Disadvantages, But Is Acceptable During Lactation." Breastfeeding Medicine, 18(5), pp. 402–403FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 18Issue 5May 2023 InformationCopyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersTo cite this article:Lior Segev, Abraham O. Samson, Goldie Katz-Samson, and Naama Srebnik.Response to Eglash re: “The Risk of Breakthrough Bleeding Justifies the Use of Combined Hormonal Contraception Over Progesterone-Only Pills While Breastfeeding”: Combined Hormonal Contraception Is Not Without Disadvantages, But Is Acceptable During Lactation.Breastfeeding Medicine.May 2023.402-403.http://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2023.0064Published in Volume: 18 Issue 5: May 17, 2023Online Ahead of Print:May 2, 2023PDF download

IARD 2022 The 13th Biennial Conference on Classical and Quantum Relativistic Dynamics of Particles and Fields

Preface The International Association for Relativistic Dynamics was organized in February 1998 in Houston, Texas, with John R. Fanchi as president. Although the subject of relativistic dynamics has been explored, from both classical and quantum mechanical points of view, since the work of Einstein and Dirac, its most striking development has been in the framework of quantum field theory. The very accurate calculations of spectral and scattering properties, for example, of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and the Lamb shift in quantum electrodynamics, and many qualitative features of the strong and electroweak interactions, demonstrate the very great power of description achieved in this framework. Yet, many fundamental questions remain to be clarified, such as the structure of classical relativistic dynamical theories on the level of Hamilton and Lagrange in Minkowski space as well as on the curved manifolds of general relativity. There, moreover, remain the important questions of the covariant classical description of systems at high energy for which particle production effects are not large, such as discussed in Synge’s book, The Relativistic Gas, and in Balescu’s book on relativistic statistical mechanics, and the development of a consistent single and many body relativistic quantum theory. In recent years, highly accurate telescopes and advanced facilities for computation have brought a high level of interest in cosmological problems, such as the structure of galaxies (dark matter) and the apparently anomalous expansion of the universe (dark energy). Some of the papers reported here deal with these problems, as well as other fundamental related issues.It was for this purpose, to bring together researchers from a wide variety of fields, such as particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology, foundations of relativity theory, and mathematical physics, with a common interest in relativistic dynamics, to investigate fundamental questions of this type, that this Association was founded. The second meeting took place in 2000 at Bar Ilan University in Israel, the third, in 2002, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and the fourth, in 2004, in Saas Fee, Switzerland. Subsequent meeting took place in 2006 at the University of Connecticut Storrs, in 2008 at Aristotle University of Thessalonica, in 2010 at National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, in 2012 at the Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics (GGI) in Florence, in 2014 as the University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut, in 2016 at Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and in 2018 in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, under the sponsorship of the Instituto Politécnic Nacional. The 2020 meeting, planned for Czech Technical University in Prague, was successfully held online at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the physical meeting in Prague was delayed to 2022.The 2022 meeting forms the basis for the Proceedings that are recorded in this issue of the Journal of Physics: Conference Series. Along with the work of some of the founding and newer but already much engaged members of the Association, we were fortunate to have lecturers from application areas that provided strong challenges for further developments in quantum field theory, cosmological problems, and in the dynamics of systems subject to accelerations and the effects of general relativity. Topics treated in this issue include studies in general relativity and astrophysics, relativistic dynamics and electrodynamics, quantum theory and particles, and foundations of relativistic dynamics.This first physical meeting of the Covid-19 era took place 6 - 9 June at Czech Technical University in Prague, as originally planned for 2020. The meeting was divided into seven plenary sessions over four days. As a result of continued travel restrictions in some areas, a small number of talks were delivered by videoconferencing. The papers presented in this volume represent extensions and refinements to the conference talks, building on feedback and discussions associated with the lectures. We once again express our gratitude to Czech Technical University, and especially the local conference chair Petr Jizba, for their generous hospitality.List of Scientific Advisory Committee, International Organizing Committee and Editorial Board of the proceedings, Dedication are available in this Pdf.

Rabbenu Tam. Interpretation, Halakhah, Controversy (in Hebrew)ReinerAvraham (Rami)Rabbenu Tam. Interpretation, Halakhah, Controversy (in Hebrew)Bar-Ilan University PressRamat Gan, 2021, 503, ₪130.00ISBN 978-9-65226-599-9

Rabbenu Tam. Interpretation, Halakhah, Controversy (in Hebrew)ReinerAvraham (Rami)Rabbenu Tam. Interpretation, Halakhah, Controversy (in Hebrew)Bar-Ilan University PressRamat Gan, 2021, 503, ₪130.00ISBN 978-9-65226-599-9

Corrigendum: Annexation in right-wing Israeli discourse—The case of Ribonut

• please read through all the templates before choosing • pick the most relevant text template(s) from the following page and delete all others.• edit the text as necessary, ensuring that the original incorrect text is included for the record, please see the below. • please do not use any extra formatting when editing the templates, and only modify the red text unless absolutely necessary • submit to Frontiers following the instructions on this page.In the published article, "Annexation in right-wing Israeli discourse-The case of Ribonut," The corrected sentence appears below: "[Avi Bell, a Professor of law at Israel's national religious Bar-Ilan University and a senior fellow at the Kohelet think tank, in 2017 advocated incorporating all of Judea and Samaria with the same legal authority and techniques used with respect to East Jerusalem and the Golan heights.]" 9.State the mistake which was made: [p. 10 col. 2 line 4 delete "However," "there are" should be There are"].

Many Faces of Mediation

Many Faces of Mediation

(Digital Presentation) Ternary Nifetiooh Catalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Study of the Effect of the Addition of Ti at Different Loadings

Ternary NiFeTiOOH Catalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Study of the Effect of the Addition of Ti at Different Loadings Wenjamin Moschkowitsch and Lior Elbaz Chemistry Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, IsraelThe demand for energy is expected to grow rapidly in the next decades, but it cannot be solely fulfilled with fossil fuel-based technologies without having a huge impact on the environment. The shift to production of clean energy from alternative sources, such as wind and sun, raise the importance of energy storage technologies. One of the most prominent solutions is storing surplus energy, harvested at peak production times and seasons, in hydrogen. However, the production of hydrogen with methods that require as little energy as possible, as well as being sustainable, environmentally friendly and cheap, are still considered to be a big challenge.Water electrolysis is the simplest industrial process for hydrogen production, and can be linked to fuel cells technology. Among the available electrolyzers, alkaline electrolyzers (ALE) are considered state-of-the-art. Although they can work with platinum-group metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts, unfortunately, this technology still requires the use of PGM catalysts in order to increase the current density, and lower the reaction activation energy.In electrolyzers, water splits into oxygen and hydrogen in two separate reactions, taking place at the anode and cathode. The cathodic reaction is the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER), which is considered to be relatively facile. The anodic, Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER), is considered to be much more difficult, since it is a four-electron process with very sluggish kinetics. The best known catalysts for this reaction in acidic medium are IrO2 and RuO2, oxides of very rare and precious metals (Ir is the scarcest metal on earth’s crust). In addition, in acidic medium, most PGM-free catalysts, based on earth abundant elements, are considered unstable (these conditions have also shown to be detrimental for Ir and Ru-based catalysts). In contrast, in ALEs, PGM-free catalysts have shown to be a good alternative to PGM catalysts. The most common OER PGM-free catalysts are first-row transition metals in their oxide, hydroxide and oxyhydroxide forms.One such catalyst is nickel oxyhydroxide (NiOOH). The structure of this specific catalyst has been studied in great detail by many different research groups, yet there are several open questions regarding the OER mechanism, i.e. the exact catalytic center and active phase.Recent studies suggest that pure NiOOH is not very active at all, and that all of the activity can be attributed to iron impurities.Indeed, NiFeOOH with iron content of 15-25 %at, has a much higher activity and a much lower overpotential compared to other PGM-free catalysts. It can thus be regarded as a benchmark for this class of OER catalysts.It is well accepted by now that the bimetallic catalyst further increases the intrinsic catalytic activity, and that addition of other transition metals,can further increase it.

Students’ Perception and Performance Regarding Structured Query Language Through Online and Face-to-Face Learning

This study explores the Structured Query Language (SQL) learners’ perceptions in online and face-to-face learning regarding the role of the instructor, clarity in lesson delivery and understanding, and concerns about the shift in learning mode. In parallel, we evaluate the performance of online and face-to-face SQL learners in the final examination. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutes to shift their activities online. Thus, online learning has been accepted during the pandemic and gradually evolving. The literature on online and face-to-face learning has evaluated limited variables. Yet, in online and face-to-face learning, critical parameters concerning the SQL learners’ perceptions about the role of instructors have not been explored. The present study surveyed the final-year students learning medium-level SQL courses at Bar-Ilan University Israel and the College of Management Academic Studies Israel. Survey questionnaires included demographic information, online learning experience, online learning sources, and ten questions about the learners’ concerns of shifting, effectiveness, adequate instructions, the lecturer’s clarity during instruction, clear understanding of the lesson, instructor’s tools, instructor’s availability, satisfactory response, learning independence, and spending extra time in online and face-to-face learning, separately. This study included 102 online learners and 95 face-to-face learners. All the online learners used Zoom and WhatsApp, and the face-to-face learners used Gmail and WhatsApp. Both online and face-to-face learners were significantly satisfied with the lecturer’s performance, especially with the clarity in lecture delivery, instructor availability, and satisfactory response from the lecturer. In addition, online learners agreed upon the effective way of learning, clear understanding of the lesson, independence, and spending extra time. In contrast, face-to-face learners were more satisfied with the tools of the lecturer and dissatisfied with the dependence on the lecturer. Female students attending face-to-face learning were more concerned about the shift in the mode of learning. Further, online learners performed better in written examinations and face-to-face learners in oral examinations. Notwithstanding, advancements are still required to redesign the online learning environment for critical thinking in higher education.

Religious Freedom of Indigenous Beliefs in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Following the recent changes in laws regarding national identity card for the adherents of indigenous beliefs in Indonesia, this study tries to examine 21 types of regulations to see how freedom of indigenous beliefs is in Indonesia from their adherents’ perspective. This is done through conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews with three groups of indigenous beliefs in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The types of regulations examined are taken from The Religion and State Project Round 3 by Jonathan Fox of Bar-Ilan University that has been used widely to gather cross-country data on religious freedom. The result of the interviews shows that there are at least four restrictive regulation points, namely on places of worship, surveillance, antireligious campaign and religious education.

Summing up 10 years in a new medical school: Per aspera ad astra

Opening a new medical school and introducing an anatomy course is a rare opportunity for medical anatomy educators. Here we sum our experience in an ongoing 10‐year anatomy program, emphasizing the challenges we endured, the hardships and successes in the hope that others can learn from our experience.In February 2010, Bar Ilan University was chosen by the Israeli Council for Higher Education to open a new, fifth, medical faculty. A mere eight months later, the school opened its gates to a class of 70 students in the northern city of Safed. This new faculty, dedicated to establishing connections to the local community, enabled us to develop and implement a new anatomy curriculum.The basic course incorporated frontal lectures, dissection labs, basic systematic physiology, clinical correlation lectures and imaging labs. The initial curriculum included trunk and Head & neck regions spanning 5 weeks. After the first couple of years, the length and contents of the course started to change and adapt according to the needs of our faculty, and by input from physicians as well as students. Over the years student number rose to 100, and the course expanded to 10 weeks to incorporate the entire body aside from neuroanatomy, which is taught in a separate course. Histology and embryology were included; ultrasound hands‐on labs were added; and virtual anatomy sessions were integrated to the program. Clinical and physiological correlate lectures were cut down, with the understating, backed by students’ evaluations, that this was too early for them, and focus should remain on basic normal anatomy. On the other hand, more time was added to imaging sessions and lectures, as most modern physicians use these techniques in their everyday clinical practice. While originally relaying on retired physicians to serve as dissection instructors, we initialed a near‐peer students dissection instructors’ program that was met with great success.In the last couple of years our program and indeed the entire medical school was heavily impacted by the ongoing Covid‐19 pandemic. While lectures were taken to virtual platform, we decided to continue dissection sessions as normally as possible, with strict mandatory regulations including personal protective gear and keeping students’ number within the lab to a minimum of 15, 7‐8 students per cadaver. Students were highly appreciative of our efforts, and course scoring was exceptionally high.The last 10 years has shown us that anatomy, a basic and important tradition, could be taught in many exceptional ways, and we should always strive to improve. But perhaps even more important is the understating that we are educators to whom our students look up to, and endurance, perseverance, resourcefulness, and professionalism are just as important as scholastic knowledge.

Contributors

Ilana M. Blumberg is professor of English literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel and author, most recently, of the memoir Open Your Hand: Teaching as a Jew, Teaching as an American (2018). She has won teaching awards from University of Pennsylvania and Michigan State University and is currently a recipient of an Israel Science Foundation grant entitled Postsecular George Eliot.Rosalind Buckton-Tucker studied at King's College, London, and the University of Leicester, UK, and holds a PhD in American literature. Her main research interests are twentieth-century British and American literature, travel literature, and the pedagogy of literature and creative writing, and she has published a variety of articles and book chapters in these fields as well as presenting numerous papers at international conferences. She has taught in universities in Kuwait, Oman, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, and has also worked as a freelance journalist and editor in the UAE and Oman. She enjoys writing fiction, memoirs, and travel articles.Elizabeth Effinger is associate professor of English at the University of New Brunswick, where she teaches British Romanticism with special interests in William Blake, the intersections of Romantic science and literature, the Anthropocene, and human-animal studies. She coedited (with Chris Bundock) William Blake's Gothic Imagination: Bodies of Horror (2018). She was principal investigator of Erasing Frankenstein, a SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council)-funded public humanities outreach activity that transformed Shelley's 1818 novel into a book-length erasure poem in collaboration with incarcerated and nonincarcerated citizens. For more on the project, visit erasingfrankenstein.org.Moira Fitzgibbons is professor of English at Marist College. Her most recent work includes an edition of “The Merchant's Tale” in The Medieval Disability Sourcebook (2020).Michael Keenan Gutierrez is teaching associate professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of The Trench Angel (2015) and his work appears in the Guardian, the Delmarva Review, the Collagist, Scarab, the Pisgah Review, Untoward, the Boiler, Crossborder, and Public Books.Angela Laflen teaches digital rhetoric and professional writing at California State University, Sacramento. Her work has appeared in Computers and Composition and Assessing Writing, among other venues.Laci Mattison is assistant professor at Florida Gulf Coast University in the Department of Language and Literature, where she teaches courses on twentieth-century, Victorian, and contemporary literature. She is one of the general editors for Bloomsbury's Understanding Philosophy, Understanding Modernism series. For this series, she has coedited volumes on Henri Bergson and Gilles Deleuze. Alongside Derek Ryan, she has also coedited a special issue of Deleuze Studies titled Deleuze, Virginia Woolf, and Modernism (2013) and has published articles and book chapters on Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, H. D., Mulk Raj Anand, and Vladimir Nabokov.Kelly Neil is professor of English at Spartanburg Methodist College, a small liberal arts institution located in the upstate of South Carolina. She received her PhD in English literature from the University of California, Davis, where she studied early modern literature and gender. She has published in such journals as Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies and This Rough Magic. She is currently coediting a collection of essays on teaching Shakespeare to nonmajors.Sarah Ann Singer is assistant professor in the Department of English at University of Central Florida. Her work appears in College English, Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Medical Humanities, and Peitho.Rachel Tait-Ripperdan is associate librarian at Florida Gulf Coast University. She received her master's degree in library science from Florida State University and her master's degree in history from Florida Gulf Coast University. She serves as library liaison to the Departments of Language and Literature, History, Communication, Philosophy, and Religion. Her research interests include information literacy instruction, collection development, and graphic novels and manga in the academic classroom.Theresa Tinkle (she/her/hers) is a medievalist by training, a teacher committed to supporting students’ development and ambitions, and a disability studies scholar. Her most recent book is Gender and Power in Medieval Exegesis (2010). She has published widely on medieval English and Latin literature, gender, religion, and manuscript culture. She is currently director of the Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is engaged in antiracist work, writing to learn, writing in the disciplines, and writing program assessment.

To debate or not to debate? Examining the contribution of debating when studying medical ethics in small groups

BackgroundMedical ethics is a significant learning topic for medical students, and often studied through small group learning (SGL) to encourage critical thinking (CT) and tolerance for ambiguity, both considered particularly important when coping with medical ethics dilemmas. However, a previous study about CT and tolerance for ambiguity in medical ethics SGL produced mixed results. Debating is a pedagogical tool known to enhance CT but never used before in medical ethics learning. This paper examines whether the use of debate may enhance medical ethics SGL by contributing to the CT of students and their tolerance of ambiguity.MethodsIntervention study using the qualitative microanalysis research method, based on videotaped observations that were analyzed through Kamin’s model of CT and non-CT. The study was conducted at Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Medicine in the years 2017–2019. Forty-four students and 4 facilitators participated, equally split between 4 small groups. Twenty-four medical ethics SGL sessions at the beginning and end of the year were videotaped, 2 groups – with no intervention, 1 group included partial debate intervention and 1 group fully used debates. Results were compared for changes in CT and ambiguity before and during the intervention period.ResultsThe full intervention (debating) group had the highest increase in utterances reflecting CT, thus actually doubling the median number of CT utterances at the end of the year in comparison to the median number at the beginning of the year. In a similar manner, the debate group exhibited the only group in which there was an increase in the median utterances of tolerance to ambiguity. Nevertheless, the debate group also exhibited the largest increase in the median non-CT utterances and the lowest decrease of intolerance to ambiguity, when comparing the end of the year to the beginning of the year sessions.ConclusionsDebating is an important enhancement to SGL in medical ethics; however, it does not guarantee a complete absence of non-CT.