Search results for: personalized medicine

Authors: Subramaniam Iyer

Abstract:

The most common disease that is pertaining to all human beings is heart-related. The reasons for coronary artery disease are due to lifestyle and eating habits. Due to this, many people mentally become sick, feeling that soon they will die due to their heart problems. This results in stress and anxiety, which has become common amongst all the Indians. Medicines are the commonest curative remedy in India, but it is proposed through this article some remedies through yoga. This article does not guarantee a 100% result, but it is a preventive remedy for coronary artery disease. Yoga is giving a new lease of life to many, so to tackle chronic diseases, it provides remedies that will be lifelong. It is brought to many people by Patanjali. Yoga will provide support to patients having coronary artery disease through its various relevant postures (asanas), which can be done very easily. Yoga does not send a message that if you do it regularly, you will be relieved from a particular disease. If it is performed every day, it will add vital energy for a smooth life, even if you are suffering from any chronic disease. In this article, we will be providing 6 postures (asanas), which can be performed at any time in the day, but the early morning will always be preferred (empty stomach) to get a good result. Secondly, these postures must be implemented after due consultation with your physician. If your physician disapproves, don’t do these postures as it will be harmful to your body.

Keywords: coronary artery, yoga, disease, remedy, medicine

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Authors: Rashini Maduka, C. R. Wijesinghe, A. R. Weerasinghe

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Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) can happen when two or more drugs are taken together. Today DDIs have become a serious health issue due to adverse drug effects. In vivo and in vitro methods for identifying DDIs are time-consuming and costly. Therefore, in-silico-based approaches are preferred in DDI identification. Most machine learning models for DDI prediction are used chemical and biological drug properties as features. However, some drug features are not available and costly to extract. Therefore, it is better to make automatic feature engineering. Furthermore, people who have diabetes already suffer from other diseases and take more than one medicine together. Then adverse drug effects may happen to diabetic patients and cause unpleasant reactions in the body. In this study, we present a model with a graph convolutional autoencoder and a graph decoder using a dataset from DrugBank version 5.1.3. The main objective of the model is to identify unknown interactions between antidiabetic drugs and the drugs taken by diabetic patients for other diseases. We considered automatic feature engineering and used Known DDIs only as the input for the model. Our model has achieved 0.86 in AUC and 0.86 in AP.

Keywords: drug-drug interaction prediction, graph embedding, graph convolutional networks, adverse drug effects

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Authors: Sonia Mannan, M. Jobair Alam

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The concept of palliative care in Bangladesh largely remained limited to the sympathetic caring of patients with a life-limiting illness. Quality of Life (QoL) issues are rarely practiced in Bangladesh. Furthermore, palliative medicine, in the perspective of holistic palliative care service, does not have its proper recognition in Bangladesh. Apart from those socio-medical aspects, palliative care patients face legal issues that impact their quality of life, including access to health services and social benefits and dealing with other life-transactions of the patients and their families (such as disposing of property; planning for children). This paper is an attempt to articulate these legal dimensions of the right to palliative care in the context of Bangladesh. The major focus of this paper will be founded on the doctrinal analysis of the constitutional provisions and other relevant legislation on the right to health and their judicial interpretation, which is argued to offer a meaningful space for the right to palliative care. This paper will also investigate the gaps in the said legal framework to better secure such care. In conclusion, a few recommendations are made so that the palliative care practices in Bangladesh are better aligned with international standards, and it can respond more humanely to the patients who need palliative care.

Keywords: Bangladesh, constitution, legal regime, palliative care, quality of life

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Authors: Maksim Barsakov

Abstract:

Introduction. In modern plastic surgery, there are a large number of breast lift techniques.Due to the spreading information about the "side effects" of silicone implants, interest in implant-free mastopexy is increasing year after year. However, despite the variety of techniques, patients sometimes do not get full satisfaction from the results of mastopexy because of the unexpressed filling of the upper pole, extended anchoring postoperative scars and sometimes because of obtaining an aesthetically unattractive breast shape. The stability of the result after mastopexy depends on many factors, including postoperative rehabilitation. Stability of weight and hormonal background, stretchability of tissues. The high recurrence rate of ptosis and short-term aesthetic effect of mastopexy indicate the urgency of improving surgical techniques and increasing the stabilization of breast tissue. Purpose of the study. To develop and introduce into practice a technique of mastopexy based on the use of a modified Ribeiro flap, as well as elements of tissue movement and fixation designed to increase the stability of postoperative mastopexy. In addition, to give indications for the application of this surgical technique. Materials and Methods. it operated on 103 patients aged 18 to 53 years from 2019 to 2023 according to the reported method. These were patients with primary mastopexy, secondary mastopexy, and also patient with implant removal and one-stage mastopexy. The patients were followed up for 12 months to assess the stability of the result. Results and their discussion. Observing the patients, we noted greater stability of the breast shape and upper pole filling compared to the conventional classical methods. We did not have to resort to anchoring scars. In 90 percent of cases, a inverted T-shape scar was used. In 10 percent, the J-scar was used. The quantitative distribution of complications identified among the operated patients is as follows: worsened healing of the junction of vertical and horizontal sutures at the period of 1-1.5 months after surgery - 15 patients; at treatment with ointment method healing was observed in 7-30 days; permanent loss of NAC sensitivity - 0 patients; vascular disorders in the area of NAC/areola necrosis - 0 patients; marginal necrosis of the areola-2 patients. independent healing within 3-4 weeks without aesthetic defects. Aesthetically unacceptable mature scars-3 patients; partial liponecrosis of the autoflap unilaterally - 1 patient. recurrence of ptosis - 1 patient (after weight loss of 12 kg). In the late postoperative period, 2 patients became pregnant, gave birth, and no lactation problems were observed. Conclusion. Thus, in the world of plastic surgery methods of breast lift continue to improve, which is especially relevant in modern times, due to the increased attention to this operation. The author's proposed method of mastopexy with glandular autoflap allows obtaining in most cases a stable result, a fuller breast shape, avoiding the presence of extended anchoring scars, and also preserves the possibility of lactation. The author of this article has obtained a patent for invention for this method of mastopexy.

Keywords: mastopexy, mammoplasty, autoflap, personal technique

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Authors: Olawale Johnson

Abstract:

The cry and agitation for the creation of equal opportunities is one of the major reasons behind the social menace countries of the world experience. As the poor, continue to demand for the dividends of economic growth, countries of the world are in a state of dilemma because, despite impressive growth figures, the poor are still far below the empowerment line. However, evidence from the Asian Tigers has proven that with the adoption and efficient utilization of information technology, a growth miracle is not far-fetched. With the mind-boggling pace of technological innovation, the need to ensure that the innovative products are all connected has become vital. Technologies that did not exist a few years ago have become vital equipment used to underlie every aspect of our economy from medicine to banking to sports. The need to connect things sensors, actuators and smart systems with the aim of ensuring person-to-object, object-to-object communications has promoted the need of internet of things. As developing countries struggle with delivering inclusiveness, the Internet of Everything is perceived to be the miracle that will deliver this in no time. This paper examines how the Asian Tigers have been able to promote inclusive growth through the Internet of Everything.

Keywords: inclusive growth, internet of everything, innovation, embedded systems and smart technologies

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Authors: Nouf A. Aldarmahi, Nesrin I. Tarbiah, Nuha A. Alkhattabi, Huda F. Alshaibi

Abstract:

Nigella sativa which is known as dark cumin is a well-known example for a widely applicable herbal medicine. Nigella sativa can be effective in a variety of diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, bronchitis, gastrointestinal upset, and cancer. The anticancer effect of Nigella sativa appeared to be mediated by immune-modulatory effect through stimulating human natural killer (NK) cells. This is a type of lymphocytes which is part of the innate immunity, also known as the first line of defense in the body against pathogens. This study investigated the effect of thymoquinone as a major component of Nigella sativa on the molecular cytotoxic pathway of NK cell and the role of thymoquinone therapeutic effect on NK cells. NK cells were cultured with breast tumor cells in different ways and cultured media was collected and the concentration of perforin, granzyme B and interferon-α were measured by ELISA. The cytotoxic effect of NK cells on breast tumor cells was enhanced in the presence of thymoquinone, with increased activity of perforin in NK cells. This improved anticancer effect of thymoquinone on breast cancer cells.

Keywords: breast cancer, cancer cells, natural killer cells, thymoquinone

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Authors: Alia Ragheb

Abstract:

Philodendron species were reported in traditional medicine for the treatment of several diseases. From the 70% methanol extract of the aerial parts of Philodendron bipinnatifidum Schott ex Endl, nine flavonoid compounds were isolated and identified for the first time; saponarin, genkwanin 8-C-(2′′-O-β-glucopyranosyl)-β-glucopyranoside, apigenin 6-C-(2′′-O-β-glucopyranosyl)-β-glucopyranoside, schaftoside, swertisin, swertiajaponin, isoswertisin, isorhamnetin 3-O-(2′′-acetyl)-β-glucopyranoside and apigenin. Characterization of the plant was achieved using chromatographic, physical, chemical, spectroscopic, and spectrometric techniques. The 70% methanol aerial parts extract and the methanol fraction of the plant were in vivo screened for their acute anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic effects where significant effects were exhibited compared to that of reference drugs. From the reported literature, these biological activities could be attributed to its phenolic constituent. The 70% methanol aerial parts and successive extracts, as well as some pure isolated flavonoid compounds, were in vitro investigated for their antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities.

Keywords: antioxidant, araceae, cytotoxicity, flavonoids

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Authors: Akiko Ohta, Masahiro Minami, Yusra Qadir, Jennifer York

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The Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home instruction program for mothers of children 3 to 5 years old. Using role-play as a method of teaching, the participating mothers work with their home visitors and learn how to deliver the HIPPY curriculum to their children. Applying HIPPY, Reviving Hope and Home for High-risk Refugee Mothers Program (RHH) was created to provide more personalized peer support and to respond to ongoing settlement challenges for isolated and vulnerable Government Assisted Refugee (GAR) mothers. GARs often have greater needs and vulnerabilities than other refugee groups. While the support is available, they often face various challenges and barriers in starting their new lives in Canada, such as inadequate housing, low first-language literacy levels, low competency in English or French, and social isolation. The pilot project was operated by Mothers Matter Centre (MMC) from January 2019 to March 2021 in partnership with the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC). The formative evaluation was conducted by a research team at Simon Fraser University. In order to provide more suitable support for GAR mothers, RHH intended to offer more flexibility in HIPPY delivery, supported by a home visitor, to meet the need of refugee mothers facing various conditions and challenges; to have a pool of financial resources to be used for the RHH families when necessitated during the program period; to have another designated staff member, called a community navigator, assigned to facilitate the support system for the RHH families in their settlement; to have a portable device available for each RHH mother to navigate settlement support resources; and to provide other variations of the HIPPY curriculum as an option for the RHH mothers, including a curriculum targeting pre-HIPPY age children. Reflections on each program component was collected from RHH mothers and staff members of MMC and ISSofBC, including frontline workers and management staff, through individual interviews and focus group discussions. Each of the RHH program components was analyzed and evaluated by applying Moore’s four domains framework to identify key information and generate new knowledge (data). To capture RHH mothers’ program experience more in depth based on their own reflections, the photovoice method was used. Some photos taken by the mothers will be shared to illustrate their RHH experience as part of their life stories. Over the period of the program, this evaluation observed how RHH mothers became more confident in various domains, such as communicating with others, taking public transportations alone, and teaching their own child(ren). One of the major factors behind the success was their home visitors’ flexibility and creativity to create a more meaningful and tailored approach for each mother, depending on her background and personal situation. The role of the community navigator was tested out and improved during the program period. The community navigators took the key role to assess the needs of the RHH families and connect them with community resources. Both the home visitors and community navigators were immigrant mothers themselves and owing to their dedicated care for the RHH mothers; they were able to gain trust and work closely and efficiently with RHH mothers.

Keywords: refugee mothers, settlement support, program evaluation, Canada

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Authors: H. Kadi, A. Moussaoui, A. Medah, N. Benayahia, Nahal Bouderba

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For thousands of years, Punica granatum L. has been used in traditional medicine all over the world and predate the introduction of antibacterial drugs. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Punica granatum L. bark obtained by decoction and maceration. The different extracts of Punica granatum L. (Lythraceae) bark have been tested for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus stearothermophilus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) by disc diffusion method. The ethanolic macerate extract showed the strong in vitro antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa with zone inhibition of 24.4 mm. However, the results tests by disc diffusion method revealed the effectiveness of ethanolic decoctate against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus stearothermophilus) with diameter zone of inhibition varying with 21.1mm and 23.75 mm respectively.

Keywords: Punica granatum L. bark, antibacterial activity, maceration, decoction

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Authors: S. Nurdiana, A. S. Nor Haziqah, M. K. Nur Ezwa Khairunnisa, S. Nurul Izzati, Y. Siti Amna M. J. Norashirene, I. Nur Hilwani

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Azadirachta excelsa or locally known as sentang are frequently used as a traditional medicine by diabetes patients in Malaysia. However, less attention has been given to their toxicity effect. Thus, the study is an attempt to examine the protective effect of A. excelsa on the pancreas and to determine possible toxicity mediated by the extract. Diabetes was induced experimentally in rats by high-fat-diet for 16 weeks followed by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin at dosage of 35 mg/kg of body weight. Declination of the fasting blood glucose level was observed after continuous administration of A. excelsa for 14 days twice daily. This is due to the refining structure of the pancreas. However, surprisingly, the plant extract reduced the leukocytes, erythrocytes, hemoglobin, MCHC and lymphocytes. In addition, the rat treated with the plant extract exhibited increment in AST and eosinocytes level. Overall, the finding shows that A. excelsa possesses antidiabetic activity by improving the structure of pancreatic islet of Langerhans but involved in ameliorating of hematology and biochemical parameters.

Keywords: Azadirachta excelsa, diabetes, pancreas, hemato-biochemical parameters

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Authors: Shankar M. Bakkannavar, Smitha Nayak, Vinod C. Nayak, Ravi Bagali

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Attendance rate for hospital outpatient appointments plays a pivotal role in operational efficiency of a hospital. Strategic interventions like ‘reminder systems’ prior to the scheduled appointment has proved to be an effective strategy for outpatient appointment ‘show-ups’. This study is designed with an objective to assess the effectiveness of SMS reminders as an intervention to enhance the effectiveness of hospital outpatient attendance. Method: The survey was conducted at Columbia Asia Hosiptal, Bangalore. We surveyed 60 patients who had a scheduled outpatient appointment in Department of General Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Orthopedics department, as these departments had a heavy patient flow and had higher contributions to the top line of the hospital. Results: Majority (64%) of the patients preferred to be sent an SMS reminder on the outpatient appointment schedule. 37 (61%) respondents stated that the ideally, reminders could be effective only if they are sent 24-48 hours prior to the appointment schedule. 41(68%) respondents were of the opinion that a minimum of two reminders would be necessary to ensure patients show up for the appointment. 1% level of significance. It also observed that there is strong association between age and preference on mode of reminder (P=0.002).

Keywords: reminder systems, appointment show-ups, SMS reminders, health Information

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Authors: A. Hol

Abstract:

21^st century brought waves of business and industry eTransformations. The impact of change is also being seen in education. To identify the extent of this, scenario analysis methodology was utilised with the aim to assess business transformations across industry sectors ranging from craftsmanship, medicine, finance and manufacture to innovations and adoptions of new technologies and business models. Firstly, scenarios were drafted based on the current eTransformation models and its dimensions. Following this, eTransformation framework was utilised with the aim to derive the key eTransformation parameters, the essential characteristics that have enabled eTransformations across the sectors. Following this, identified key parameters were mapped to the transforming domain-education. The mapping assisted in deriving a cognitive eTransformation framework for education sector. The framework highlights the importance of context and the notion that education today needs not only to deliver content to students but it also needs to be able to meet the dynamically changing demands of specific student and industry groups. Furthermore, it pinpoints that for such processes to be supported, specific technology is required, so that instant, on demand and periodic feedback as well as flexible, dynamically expanding study content can be sought and received via multiple education mediums.

Keywords: education sector, business transformation, eTransformation model, cognitive model, cognitive systems, eTransformation

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Authors: Zahra Khoshnood, Reza Khoshnood

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Pesticides and drugs used in agriculture and veterinary medicine may end up in aquatic environments and bio-accumulate in the food chain, thus causing serious problems for fauna and human health. For determination of the toxic effects of atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum, Rutilus frisii kutum larvae, the 96-h LC50 of atrazine was measured for newly hatched larvae as 18.53 ppm. Toxicity of atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum larvae was investigated using concentrations: 9.25 ppm, 4.62 ppm and 2.31 ppm for 7 days. Comparison of the length, weight and condition factor showed that no significant differences between atrazine exposed and control groups. The concentration of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Cl- in whole body of larvae in control and atrazine exposure groups were measured and the results showed that concentrations of all these ions is higher in atrazine exposure group than control group. It is obvious from this study that atrazine negatively affects osmoregulation process and changes ion compositions of the body even at sub-lethal concentration and acute exposure but have no effects on growth parameters of the body.

Keywords: atrazine, caspian kutum, acute toxicity, body ions, lc50

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Vasudeva Murthy Challakere Ramaswamy

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Background: Conventionally forensic pathology is learnt through autopsy demonstrations which carry various limitations such as unavailability of cases in the mortuary, medico-legal implication and infection. Over the years forensic pathology and science has undergone significant evolution in this digital world. Forensic imaging is a technology which can be effectively utilized for overcoming the current limitations in the undergraduate learning of forensic curriculum. Materials and methods: demonstration of forensic imaging was done using a novel technology of autopsy which has been recently introduced across the globe. Three sessions were conducted in international medical university for a total of 196 medical students. The innovative educational tool was evacuated by using quantitative questionnaire with the scoring scales between 1 to 10. Results: The mean score for acceptance of new tool was 82% and about 74% of the students recommended incorporation of the forensic imaging in the regular curriculum. 82% of students were keen on collaborative research and taking further training courses in forensic imaging. Conclusion: forensic imaging can be an effective tool and also a suitable alternative for teaching undergraduate students. This feedback also supports the fact that students favour the use of contemporary technologies in learning medicine.

Keywords: forensic imaging, forensic pathology, medical students, learning tool

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Authors: Pranporn Kuropakornpong, Srisopa Ruangnoo, Arunporn Itharat

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Liver cancer has the highest prevalence rate in the North and Northeast of Thailand. Four Thai medicinal plants such as resin of Ferula asafoetida Regel, latex of Aloe barbadensis Miller leaves, roots of Baliospermum manotanum, and latex of Garcinia hanburyi Hook are used in Thai traditional medicine as cathartic drug and detoxification in liver cancer patients. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of these plants against hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) and cholangiocarcinoma (KKU-M156) cells by SRB assay. These plants were macerated in 95% ethanol. The results showed that roots of Baliospermum manotanum and latex of Garcinia hanburyi Hook showed the strongest cytotoxicity against HepG2 (IC50 = 3.03+0.91 and 0.62+0.01µg/ml, respectively) and KKU-M156 (IC50 = 0.978+0.663 and 0.006+0.005 µg/ml, respectively). Latex of Garcinia hanburyi Hook also showed high cytotoxicity against normal cell line (IC50=8.86+0.31 µg/ml), and even though its selective values are high, dose of this herb should be limited.

Keywords: cholangiocarcinoma, cytotoxic activity, Garcinia hanburyi Hook, hepatocarcinoma

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Authors: Ila Shrestha

Abstract:

Bridim Village Development Committee (VDC) is one of the medicinal plants hot spots of Nepal. It is located on a ridge above the lower Langtang Khola, steep and narrow spot in between 1944 m to 4833 m altitude. The study area is homogeneously inhabited by Tamang communities. An investigation on folk herbal medicine on the basis of traditional uses of medicinal plants was done in 2014. The local traditional healers, elder men and women, traders and teachers, were consulted as key informants for documentation of indigenous knowledge on the medicinal plants. It was found that altogether seventy-one medicinal plant species belonging to sixty genera and thirty-three families were used by local people for twenty-seven diseases. Roots of thirty-four species were the most frequently used plant parts and bigger numbers of species were found to be used in fever of ten species. Most medicines were prepared in the form of juice of forty species. The attempt of the study was to document ethno medicinal practices to treat different diseases in the study area for conservation of indigenous knowledge.

Keywords: Bridim village, ethnomedicine, national park, plants

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Authors: Mina Jafari, Kobra Hamraee, Saied Hossein Hosseini

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The prediction of breast cancer disease is one of the challenges in medicine. In this paper we collected 528 records of women’s information who live in Kabul including demographic, life style, diet and pregnancy data. There are many classification algorithm in breast cancer prediction and tried to find the best model with most accurate result and lowest error rate. We evaluated some other common supervised algorithms in data mining to find the best model in prediction of breast cancer disease among afghan women living in Kabul regarding to momography result as target variable. For evaluating these algorithms we used Cross Validation which is an assured method for measuring the performance of models. After comparing error rate and accuracy of three models: Decision Tree, Naive Bays and Rule Induction, Decision Tree with accuracy of 94.06% and error rate of %15 is found the best model to predicting breast cancer disease based on the health care records.

Keywords: decision tree, breast cancer, probability, data mining

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Authors: Frederic Jumelle, Kelvin So, Didan Deng

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In this paper, we are introducing a model of artificial general intelligence (AGI), the functional neural network (FNN), for modeling human decision-making processes. The FNN is composed of multiple artificial mirror neurons (AMN) racing in the network. Each AMN has a similar structure programmed independently by the users and composed of an intention wheel, a motor core, and a sensory core racing at a specific velocity. The mathematics of the node’s formulation and the racing mechanism of multiple nodes in the network will be discussed, and the group decision process with fuzzy logic and the transformation of these conceptual methods into practical methods of simulation and in operations will be developed. Eventually, we will describe some possible future research directions in the fields of finance, education, and medicine, including the opportunity to design an intelligent learning agent with application in AGI. We believe that FNN has a promising potential to transform the way we can compute decision-making and lead to a new generation of AI chips for seamless human-machine interactions (HMI).

Keywords: neural computing, human machine interation, artificial general intelligence, decision processing

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Authors: Z. Khoshnood, L. Khoshnood

Abstract:

Pesticides and drugs used in agriculture and veterinary medicine may end up in aquatic environments and bioaccumulate in the food chain, thus causing serious problems for fauna and human health. For determination of the toxic effects of atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum, Rutilus frisii kutum larvae, the 96-h LC50 of atrazine was measured for newly hatched larvae as 18.53 ppm. Toxicity of atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum larvae was investigated using concentrations: 9.25 ppm, 4.62 ppm and 2.31 ppm for 7 days. Comparison of the length, weight, and condition factor showed that no significant differences between atrazine exposed and control groups. The concentration of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl- in whole body of larvae in control and atrazine exposure groups were measured and the results showed that concentrations of all these ions is higher in atrazine exposure group than control group. It is obvious from this study that atrazine negatively affects osmoregulation process and changes ion compositions of the body even at sublethal concentration and acute exposure but have no effects on growth parameters of the body.

Keywords: atrazine, Caspian Kutum, acute toxicity, body ions, LC50

Procedia PDF Downloads 346

Authors: El Amane Salma, Rahou Abdelilah

Abstract:

Viral respiratory infections (common cold, flu, sinusitis, bronchiolitis, etc.) are among the most common infections in the world with severe symptoms. In Morocco, as everywhere in the world, especially in developing countries, the therapeutic indications of medicinal plants are very present to treat several diseases, including the respiratory system. The objective of our study is to identify and document medicinal plants used in traditional medicine to treat viral respiratory infections and alleviate their symptoms in order to generate interest for future studies in verifying the efficacy of these traditional medicines and their conservation. The information acquired from 81 questionnaires and the floristic identification allowed us to identify 19 spontaneous species belonging to 11 families, used as traditional therapies for viral respiratory diseases in the Prerif. The herbs are the most used life form. The results also showed that leaves were the most commonly used plant parts and most of the herbal medicines were prepared in the form of infusions and administered orally. Documented data was evaluated using use value (UV), family importance value (FIV) and relative frequency citation (RCF).

Keywords: medicinal plants, ethnobotanical, ethnopharmacological, viral respiratory diseases, Morocco

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Authors: Stefan Werrlich, Phuc-Anh Nguyen, Kai Nitsche, Gunther Notni

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a strong growing research topic. This innovative technology is interesting for several training domains like education, medicine, military, sports and industrial use cases like assembly and maintenance tasks. AR can help to improve the efficiency, quality and transfer of training tasks. Due to these reasons, AR becomes more interesting for big companies and researchers because the industrial domain is still an unexplored field. This paper presents the research proposal of a PhD thesis which is done in cooperation with the BMW Group, aiming to explore head-mounted display (HMD) based training in industrial environments. We give a short introduction, describing the motivation, the underlying problems as well as the five formulated research questions we want to clarify along this thesis. We give a brief overview of the current assembly training in industrial environments and present some AR-based training approaches, including their research deficits. We use the Design Science Research (DSR) framework for this thesis and describe how we want to realize the seven guidelines, mandatory from the DSR. Furthermore, we describe each methodology which we use within that framework and present our approach in a comprehensive figure, representing the entire thesis.

Keywords: assembly, augmented reality, research proposal, training

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Authors: Daniela Stephanie Kuenstle

Abstract:

Complex industries such as banking or insurance experience slow growth in mobile sales. While today’s mobile applications are sophisticated and enable location based and personalized services, consumers prefer online or even face-to-face services to complete complex transactions. A possible reason for this reluctance is that the provided service within transactional mobile applications (apps) does not adequately correspond to users’ needs. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of the user context on mobile service (m-service) in m-commerce. Motivated by the potential which context-sensitive m-services hold for the future, the impact of temporal variations as a dimension of user context, on m-service design is examined. In particular, the research question asks: Does consumer urgency function as a determinant of m-service composition in transactional apps by moderating the relation between m-service type and m-service success? Thus, the aim is to explore the moderating influence of urgency on m-service types, which includes Technology Mediated Service and Technology Generated Service. While mobile applications generally comprise features of both service types, this thesis discusses whether unexpected urgency changes customer preferences for m-service types and how this consequently impacts the overall m-service success, represented by purchase intention, loyalty intention and service quality. An online experiment with a random sample of N=1311 participants was conducted. Participants were divided into four treatment groups varying in m-service types and urgency level. They were exposed to two different urgency scenarios (high/ low) and two different app versions conveying either technology mediated or technology generated service. Subsequently, participants completed a questionnaire to measure the effectiveness of the manipulation as well as the dependent variables. The research model was tested for direct and moderating effects of m-service type and urgency on m-service success. Three two-way analyses of variance confirmed the significance of main effects, but demonstrated no significant moderation of urgency on m-service types. The analysis of the gathered data did not confirm a moderating effect of urgency between m-service type and service success. Yet, the findings propose an additive effects model with the highest purchase and loyalty intention for Technology Generated Service and high urgency, while Technology Mediated Service and low urgency demonstrate the strongest effect for service quality. The results also indicate an antagonistic relation between service quality and purchase intention depending on the level of urgency. Although a confirmation of the significance of this finding is required, it suggests that only service convenience, as one dimension of mobile service quality, delivers conditional value under high urgency. This suggests a curvilinear pattern of service quality in e-commerce. Overall, the paper illustrates the complex interplay of technology, user variables, and service design. With this, it contributes to a finer-grained understanding of the relation between m-service design and situation dependency. Moreover, the importance of delivering situational value with apps depending on user context is emphasized. Finally, the present study raises the demand to continue researching the impact of situational variables on m-service design in order to develop more sophisticated m-services.

Keywords: mobile consumer behavior, mobile service design, mobile service success, self-service technology, situation dependency, user-context sensitivity

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Authors: Zahia Kabouche, Ouissem Gherboudj, Naima Boutaghane, Ahmed Kabouche, Laurence Voutquenne-Nazabadioko

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Chrysanthemum herbs (Asteraceae) are extensively used as food additives and in folk medicine. Anti-cancer, anti-human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and antiproliferative activities as well as antioxidant effects have been reported for Chrysanthemum species. We report the isolation and identification of flavonoids and new and known terpenoids from the endemic species, C. macrocarpum and C. deserticolum “guertoufa”, used in Algerian Sahara as tea drinks and in “couscous” and soups “Chorba”. Structures of the isolated compounds were established by 1-D and 2-D homo and hetero-nuclear NMR (1H, 13C, COSY, HSQC, HMBC, and NOESY), mass spectrometry, UV and comparison with literature data. C. deserticolum extracts were tested by four methods to identify the antioxidant activity namely, ABTS•+, DPPH• scavenging, CUPRAC and ferrous-ions chelating activity methods. Anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of C. macrocarpum extracts and isolated compounds are also reported here.

Keywords: Chrysanthemum macrocarpum, C. deserticolum, flavonoids, terpenoids, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative

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Authors: Suman Chaudhary, Rupinder K. Kanwar, Jagat R. Kanwar

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Azadirachta indica, also known as Neem belonging to the mahogany family is actively gaining interest in the era of modern day medicine due to its extensive applications in homeopathic medicine such as Ayurveda and Unani. More than 140 phytochemicals have been extracted from neem leaves, seed, bark and flowers for agro-medicinal applications. Among the various components, neem leaf protein (NLP) is currently the most investigated active ingredient, due to its immunomodulatory activities against tumor growth. However, these therapeutic ingredients of neem are susceptible to degradation and cannot withstand the drastic pH changes under physiological environment, and therefore, there is an urgent need of an alternative strategy such as a nano-delivery system to exploit its medicinal benefits. This study hypothesizes that guar gum (GG) derived biodegradable nano-carrier based encapsulation of NLP will improve its stability, specificity and sensitivity, thus facilitating targeted anti-cancer therapeutics. GG is a galactomannan derived from the endosperm of the guar beans seeds. Synthesis of guar nanocapsules (NCs) was performed using nanoprecipitation technique where the GG was encapsulated with NLP. Preliminary experiments conducted to characterize the NCs confirmed spherical morphology with a narrow size distribution of 30-40 nm. Differential scanning colorimetric analysis (DSC) validated the stability of these NCs even at a temperature range of 50-60°C which was well within the physiological and storage conditions. Thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis indicated high decomposition temperature of these NCs ranging upto 350°C. Additionally, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the SDS-PAGE data acquired confirmed the successful encapsulation of NLP in the NCs. The anti-cancerous therapeutic property of this NC was tested on colon cancer cells (caco-2) as they are one of the most prevalent form of cancer. These NCs (both NLP loaded and void) were also tested on human intestinal epithelial cells (FHs 74) cells to evaluate their effect on normal cells. Cytotoxicity evaluation of the NCs in the cell lines confirmed that the IC50 for NLP in FHs 74 cells was ~2 fold higher than in caco-2 cells, indicating that this nanoformulation system possessed biocompatible anti-cancerous properties Immunoconfocal microscopy analysis confirmed the time dependent internalization of the NCs within 6h. Recent findings performed using Annexin V and PI staining indicated a significant increase (p ≤ 0.001) in the early and late apoptotic cell population when treated with the NCs signifying the role of NLP in inducing apoptosis in caco-2 cells. This was further validated using Western blot, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) aided protein expressional analysis which presented a downregulation of survivin, an anti-apoptotic cell marker and upregulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio (pro-apoptotic indicator). Further, both the NLP NC and unencapsulated NLP treatment destabilized the mitochondrial membrane potential subsequently facilitating the release of the pro-apoptotic caspase cascade initiator, cytochrome-c. Future studies will be focused towards granting specificity to these NCs towards cancer cells, along with a comprehensive analysis of the anti-cancer potential of this naturally occurring compound in different cancer and in vivo animal models, will validate the clinical application of this unprecedented protein therapeutic.

Keywords: anti-tumor, guar gum, nanocapsules, neem leaf protein

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Authors: Benet Reid, Nina Laurie, Matt Baillie-Smith

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Trans-national and tropical medicine, historically associated with colonial power and missionary activity, is now central to discourses of global health and development, thrust into mainstream media by events like the 2014 Ebola crisis and enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Research in this area remains primarily the province of health professional disciplines, and tends to be framed within a simple North-to-South model of development. The continued role of voluntary work in this field is bound up with a rhetoric of partnering and partnership. We propose, instead, the idea of International Voluntary Health Networks (IVHNs) as a means to de-centre global-North institutions in these debates. Drawing on our empirical work with IVHNs in countries both North and South, we explore geographical and sociological theories for mapping the multiple spatial and conceptual dynamics of power manifested in these phenomena. We make a radical break from conventional views of health as a de-politicised symptom or corollary of social development. In studying health work as it crosses between cultures and contexts, we demonstrate the inextricably political nature of health and health work everywhere.

Keywords: development, global health, power, volunteering

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Authors: Soon-Mi Park, Ihn Sook Jeong

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This retrospective study was aimed to identify risk factors of intravenous (IV) infiltration for hospitalized children. The participants were 1,174 children for test and 424 children for validation, who admitted to a general hospital, received peripheral intravenous injection therapy at least once and had complete records. Data were analyzed with frequency and percentage or mean and standard deviation were calculated, and decision tree analysis was used to screen for the most important risk factors for IV infiltration for hospitalized children. The decision tree analysis showed that the most important traditional risk factors for IV infiltration were the use of ampicillin/sulbactam, IV insertion site (lower extremities), and medical department (internal medicine) both in the test sample and validation sample. The correct classification was 92.2% in the test sample and 90.1% in the validation sample. More careful attention should be made to patients who are administered ampicillin/sulbactam, have IV site in lower extremities and have internal medical problems to prevent or detect infiltration occurrence.

Keywords: decision tree analysis, intravenous infiltration, child, validation

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Authors: M. Isabel Santos, Ana Breda, Ana Margarida Almeida

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Research on academic abilities of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) underlines the importance of mathematics interventions. Yet the proposal of digital applications for children and youth with ASD continues to attract little attention, namely, regarding the development of mathematical reasoning, being the use of the digital technologies an area of great interest for individuals with this disorder and its use is certainly a facilitative strategy in the development of their mathematical abilities. The use of digital technologies can be an effective way to create innovative learning opportunities to these students and to develop creative, personalized and constructive environments, where they can develop differentiated abilities. The children with ASD often respond well to learning activities involving information presented visually. In this context, we present the digital Learning Environment on Mathematics for Autistic children (LEMA) that was a research project conducive to a PhD in Multimedia in Education and was developed by the Thematic Line Geometrix, located in the Department of Mathematics, in a collaboration effort with DigiMedia Research Center, of the Department of Communication and Art (University of Aveiro, Portugal). LEMA is a digital mathematical learning environment which activities are dynamically adapted to the user’s profile, towards the development of mathematical abilities of children aged 6–12 years diagnosed with ASD. LEMA has already been evaluated with end-users (both students and teacher’s experts) and based on the analysis of the collected data readjustments were made, enabling the continuous improvement of the prototype, namely considering the integration of universal design for learning (UDL) approaches, which are of most importance in ASD, due to its heterogeneity. The learning strategies incorporated in LEMA are: (i) provide options to custom choice of math activities, according to user’s profile; (ii) integrates simple interfaces with few elements, presenting only the features and content needed for the ongoing task; (iii) uses a simple visual and textual language; (iv) uses of different types of feedbacks (auditory, visual, positive/negative reinforcement, hints with helpful instructions including math concept definitions, solved math activities using split and easier tasks and, finally, the use of videos/animations that show a solution to the proposed activity); (v) provides information in multiple representation, such as text, video, audio and image for better content and vocabulary understanding in order to stimulate, motivate and engage users to mathematical learning, also helping users to focus on content; (vi) avoids using elements that distract or interfere with focus and attention; (vii) provides clear instructions and orientation about tasks to ease the user understanding of the content and the content language, in order to stimulate, motivate and engage the user; and (viii) uses buttons, familiarly icons and contrast between font and background. Since these children may experience little sensory tolerance and may have an impaired motor skill, besides the user to have the possibility to interact with LEMA through the mouse (point and click with a single button), the user has the possibility to interact with LEMA through Kinect device (using simple gesture moves).

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, digital technologies, inclusion, mathematical abilities, mathematical learning activities

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Authors: S. A. Nirmal, G. S. Asane, S. C. Pal, S. C. Mandal

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Objective: Ficus religiosa Linn (Moraceae) is being used in traditional medicine to improve immunity hence present work was undertaken to validate this use scientifically. Material and Methods: Dried, powdered bark of F. religiosa was extracted successively using petroleum ether and 70% ethanol in soxhlet extractor. The extracts obtained were screened for immunomodulatory activity by delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), neutrophil adhesion test and cyclophosphamide-induced neutropenia in Swiss albino mice at the dose of 50 and 100 mg/kg, i.p. 70% ethanol extract showed significant immunostimulant activity hence subjected to column chromatography to produce tyrosine rich fraction (TRF). TRF obtained was screened for immunomodulatory activity by above methods at the dose of 10 mg/kg, i.p. Results: TRF showed potentiation of DTH response in terms of significant increase in the mean difference in foot-pad thickness and it significantly increased neutrophil adhesion to nylon fibers by 48.20%. Percentage reduction in total leukocyte count and neutrophil by TRF was found to be 43.85% and 18.72%, respectively. Conclusion: Immunostimulant activity of TRF was more pronounced and thus it has great potential as a source for natural health products.

Keywords: Ficus religiosa, immunomodulatory, cyclophosphamide, neutropenia

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Authors: Z. Karakus, Z. Ozer

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Nurses are responsible for the care and treatment of individuals, as well as health maintenance and education. Medication administration is an important part of health promotion. The administration of a medicine is a common but important clinical procedure for nurses because of its complex structure. Therefore, medication errors are inevitable for nurses or nursing students. Medication errors can cause ineffective treatment, patient’s prolonged hospital stay, disablement, or death. Additionally, medication errors affect the global economy adversely by increasing health costs. Hence, preventing or decreasing of medication errors is a critical and essential issue in nursing. Nurse educators are in pursuit of new teaching methods to teach students significance of medication application. In the light of technological developments of this age, e-learning has started to be accepted as an important teaching method. E-learning is the use of electronic media and information and communication technologies in education. It has advantages such as flexibility of time and place, lower costs, faster delivery, and lower environmental impact. Students can make their own schedule and decide the learning method. This study is conducted to determine the impact of e-learning on medication administration of nursing students.

Keywords: e-learning, medication administration, nursing, nursing students

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Authors: Inna Kornienko, Svetlana Guryeva, Anatoly Shekhter, Elena Petersen

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Transplantation is an effective treatment option for patients suffering from different end-stage diseases. However, it is plagued by a constant shortage of donor organs and the subsequent need of a lifelong immunosuppressive therapy for the patient. Currently some researchers look towards using of pig organs to replace human organs for transplantation since the matrix derived from porcine organs is a convenient substitute for the human matrix. As an initial step to create a new ex vivo tissue engineered model, optimized protocols have been created to obtain organ-specific acellular matrices and evaluated their potential as tissue engineered scaffolds for culture of normal cells and tumor cell lines. These protocols include decellularization by perfusion in a bioreactor system and immersion-agitation on an orbital shaker with use of various detergents (SDS, Triton X-100) and freezing. Complete decellularization – in terms of residual DNA amount – is an important predictor of probability of immune rejection of materials of natural origin. However, the signs of cellular material may still remain within the matrix even after harsh decellularization protocols. In this regard, the matrices obtained from tissues of low-immunogenic pigs with α3Galactosyl-tranferase gene knock out (GalT-KO) may be a promising alternative to native animal sources. The research included a study of induced effect of frozen and fresh fragments of GalT-KO skin on healing of full-thickness plane wounds in 80 rats. Commercially available wound dressings (Ksenoderm, Hyamatrix and Alloderm) as well as allogenic skin were used as a positive control and untreated wounds were analyzed as a negative control. The results were evaluated on the 4th day after grafting, which corresponds to the time of start of normal wound epithelization. It has been shown that a non-specific immune response in models treated with GalT-Ko pig skin was milder than in all the control groups. Research has been performed to measure technical skin characteristics: stiffness and elasticity properties, corneometry, tevametry, and cutometry. These metrics enabled the evaluation of hydratation level, corneous layer husking level, as well as skin elasticity and micro- and macro-landscape. These preliminary data may contribute to development of personalized transplantable organs from GalT-Ko pigs with significantly limited potential of immune rejection. By applying growth factors to a decellularized skin sample it is possible to achieve various regenerative effects based on the particular situation. In this particular research BMP2 and Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor have been used. Ideally, a bioengineered organ must be biocompatible, non-immunogenic and support cell growth. Porcine organs are attractive for xenotransplantation if severe immunologic concerns can be bypassed. The results indicate that genetically modified pig tissues with knock-outed α3Galactosyl-tranferase gene may be used for production of low-immunogenic matrix suitable for transplantation.

Keywords: decellularization, low-immunogenic, matrix, scaffolds, transplants

Procedia PDF Downloads 272