Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Finnish pupils and students have major shortcomings in their plant species recognition skills, but teachers' skills have not been studied. This research project seeks to answer the question of whether the inadequacy of plant species identification skills is due to the weakness of plant recognition skills of teachers or the lack of motivation to teach the subject. The aim of this study was to find out the skills and motivation of primary school teachers and biology teachers in the elementary and high school in the teaching of plant recognition skills. In addition to these, the target of the project was to examine what kind of material they use when teaching these skills, and what kind of material, support, and further training they think they need. The study includes two sub-studies: a plant recognition test and a questionnaire survey. The plant recognition skills of the teachers were studied using a plant recognition test. The test included 30 commonly occurring plants in Finland. The study involved 58 teachers. Research questions: 1. To what extent are the primary school and high school teachers familiar with general commonly occUITing natural plant species in Finland? 2. Do the following aspects of the studied persons: (a) sex, (b) age, c) education, (d) working years, (e) work place have a statistically significant link to the recognition of plant species? The results show that the recognition skills were statistically significant in terms of education, working years, work place and age. There was a variation in teachers' plant recognition skills, especially among primary school teachers. Is this because primary school teacher education includes very little or none of plant recognition? The minimal time spent on plant species recognition should probably be directed to plant recognition in the field and the use of different materials in teaching. This would presumably bring more certainty to instruct field work and herbariums. Afterwards it would be easier to self-guide to the subject. The biology teachers had mainly good skills. The topic raises the need for further research: Why do not the teachers' knowledge pass on to students? The questionnaire survey evaluated teachers' views and experiences on their own skills and the teaching of plant species recognition. 53 teachers participated in the survey. Research questions: 1. How motivated teachers are to teach plant recognition skills in their work? 2. How teachers evaluate their own plant recognition skills? 3. ls the teachers own evaluation of their competence corresponding to their results in the species recognition test? 4. Do teachers appreciate plant species recognition skills? 5. Why do teachers think that plant species recognition skills are important? 6. What kind of teaching methods and materials do teachers use when teaching plant species recognition skills? 7. What kind of material and support do teachers need to teach plant species recognition skills? According to the results of this study the teachers clearly appreciate plant species recognition skills in all the educational levels studied. They feel that the skills are part of the general education and that the skills are in direct connection with pupil's and student's relationship with nature, understanding ecological knowledge, and adopting a sustainable lifestyle. Teachers thought that working in the field and the collection of plants were the best methods for studying plants. They need teaching material, especially for functional working methods, as well as for electronic materials. Primary school teachers also felt that they need ideas of how to integrate plant species knowledge into different school subjects. The results highlight the need for developing teachers' education and additional training. In addition, these results can be utilized in the development of teaching skills in plant species recognition and in the production of suitable teaching materials.

Aging is characterized by a gradual decline in cellular functions and the emergence of various cellular phenotypes that negatively affect lifespan. However, the molecular mechanisms behind these aging phenotypes remain unclear. One potential factor is the decline in proteostasis, characterized by increased protein misfolding and reduced efficiency of the proteostasis network. A key regulator of this network is Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), a molecular chaperone that ensures the proper folding and stability of hundreds of client proteins. Many of these clients are metastable signal transduction and gene expression regulators, such as kinases and transcription factors. By controlling the functional conformation of its clients, Hsp90 plays a central role in modulating the activities of many cellular processes. During environmental stress conditions, when Hsp90's folding capacity is exceeded, new phenotypes arise due to the altered folding of Hsp90 clients. I hypothesize that the age-related rise in protein misfolding similarly limits Hsp90’s availability to assist in the folding of client proteins, resulting in the emergence of aging phenotypes. To address this, I investigated whether Hsp90's functional capacity declines with age and how this decline is linked to proteome alterations and consequent phenotypic changes. To assess how Hsp90 function changes with age I utilized a β-galactosidase-based Hsp90 availability reporter. Measurements in young and aged cells demonstrate that Hsp90 activity declines with age. To assess the consequences of Hsp90's functional decline on the proteome of aged cells I employed quantitative proteomics. Results identified Hsp90-sensitive targets associated with cell cycle regulation, supporting previous findings linking Hsp90 inhibition with cell cycle defects and cellular elongation. Indeed, the progeny of aged mother cells exhibited elongated phenotypes compared to the progeny of young cells, but this trait was restored by Hsp90 overexpression. Furthermore, high-level expression of an exogenous Hsp90 client, a glucocorticoid receptor, which competes for Hsp90 availability, exacerbated elongation effects even in young cells. Altogether, these findings suggest that the availability of Hsp90 declines with age, correlating with the onset of aging phenotypes due to changes in the client proteome. Given Hsp90's role in suppressing cellular senescence in myoblasts and its association with brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases, these insights may have broader implications for understanding the emergence of aging phenotypes at a molecular level.

Anxiety disorder is the most common mental health disorder and often comorbid with sleep disturbances. However, anxiety disorder and its link to sleep features is not well-studied. In this study, we hypothesized that anxiety and depression can affect sleep architecture in different ways. Polysomnographic (PSG) recordings of 203 subjects from two different studies were analysed to characterize changes of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity between patient groups and healthy controls during sleep. Results show that sleep patterns and EEG spectral power densities in patients with anxiety and depression follow similar patterns when compared to healthy controls. Stage N1 sleep increased in all patient groups, while REM sleep decreased compared to healthy control group. Moreover, REM sleep duration increased, and REM latency decreased in all patient groups following the exclusion of individuals under antidepressant medication. In addition, decreased EEG delta (0.4-4 Hz) and increased EEG beta (15-32 Hz) power were seen in all patient groups. These results demonstrate that sleep quality (quantified as increased N1 sleep) in patients with anxiety and depression decreases and that both disorders affect sleep in a similar way. Observing specific sleep alterations as a whole could prove more efficient than solely analysing individual sleep parameters. The use of diagnostic EEG data provides new opportunities for sleep research with relatively large sample size while also taking into account age, antidepressant use, and comorbidity with depression.