Search results for: upper limb disorder

Authors: Baran Johansson

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This PhD dissertation aimed to explore children’s writing and reading in L1 (Persian) and L2 (Swedish). It adds new perspectives to reading and writing studies of bilingual biscriptal children with and without reading and writing difficulties (RWD). The study used standardised tests to examine linguistic and cognitive skills related to word reading and writing fluency in both languages. Furthermore, all participants produced two texts (one descriptive and one narrative) in each language. The writing processes and the writing product of these children were explored using logging methodologies (Eye and Pen) for both languages. Furthermore, this study investigated how two bilingual children with RWD presented themselves through writing across their languages. To my knowledge, studies utilizing standardised tests and logging tools to investigate bilingual children’s word reading and writing fluency across two different alphabetic scripts are scarce. There have been few studies analysing how bilingual children construct meaning in their writing, and none have focused on children who write in two different alphabetic scripts or those with RWD. Therefore, some aspects of the systemic functional linguistics (SFL) perspective were employed to examine how two participants with RWD created meaning in their written texts in each language. The results revealed that children with and without RWD had higher writing fluency in all measures (e.g. text lengths, writing speed) in their L2 compared to their L1. Word reading abilities in both languages were found to influence their writing fluency. The findings also showed that bilingual children without reading difficulties performed 1 standard deviation below the mean when reading words in Persian. However, their reading performance in Swedish aligned with the expected age norms, suggesting greater efficient in reading Swedish than in Persian. Furthermore, the results showed that the level of orthographic depth, consistency between graphemes and phonemes, and orthographic features can probably explain these differences across languages. The analysis of meaning-making indicated that the participants with RWD exhibited varying levels of difficulty, which influenced their knowledge and usage of writing across languages. For example, the participant with poor word recognition (PWR) presented himself similarly across genres, irrespective of the language in which he wrote. He employed the listing technique similarly across his L1 and L2. However, the participant with mixed reading difficulties (MRD) had difficulties with both transcription and text production. He produced spelling errors and frequently paused in both languages. He also struggled with word retrieval and producing coherent texts, consistent with studies of monolingual children with poor comprehension or with developmental language disorder. The results suggest that the mother tongue instruction provided to the participants has not been sufficient for them to become balanced biscriptal readers and writers in both languages. Therefore, increasing the number of hours dedicated to mother tongue instruction and motivating the children to participate in these classes could be potential strategies to address this issue.

Keywords: reading, writing, reading and writing difficulties, bilingual children, biscriptal

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Authors: Azyz Sharafy

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3D Text Toys is an innovative and creative approach that utilizes 3D text objects to enhance creativity, literacy, and basic learning in an enjoyable and gamified manner. By using 3D Text Toys, children can develop their creativity, visually learn words and texts, and apply their artistic talents within their creative abilities. This process incorporates haptic engagement with 2D and 3D texts, word building, and mechanical construction of everyday objects, thereby facilitating better word and text retention. The concept involves constructing visual objects made entirely out of 3D text/words, where each component of the object represents a word or text element. For instance, a bird can be recreated using words or text shaped like its wings, beak, legs, head, and body, resulting in a 3D representation of the bird purely composed of text. This can serve as an art piece or a learning tool in the form of a 3D text toy. These 3D text objects or toys can be crafted using natural materials such as leaves, twigs, strings, or ropes, or they can be made from various physical materials using traditional crafting tools. Digital versions of these objects can be created using 2D or 3D software on devices like phones, laptops, iPads, or computers. To transform digital designs into physical objects, computerized machines such as CNC routers, laser cutters, and 3D printers can be utilized. Once the parts are printed or cut out, students can assemble the 3D texts by gluing them together, resulting in natural or everyday 3D text objects. These objects can be painted to create artistic pieces or text toys, and the addition of wheels can transform them into moving toys. One of the significant advantages of this visual and creative object-based learning process is that students not only learn words but also derive enjoyment from the process of creating, painting, and playing with these objects. The ownership and creation process further enhances comprehension and word retention. Moreover, for individuals with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), or other learning difficulties, the visual and haptic approach of 3D Text Toys can serve as an additional creative and personalized learning aid. The application of 3D Text Toys extends to both the English language and any other global written language. The adaptation and creative application may vary depending on the country, space, and native written language. Furthermore, the implementation of this visual and haptic learning tool can be tailored to teach foreign languages based on age level and comprehension requirements. In summary, this creative, haptic, and visual approach has the potential to serve as a global literacy tool.

Keywords: 3D text toys, creative, artistic, visual learning for world literacy

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Authors: Ciwang Teyra, A. H. Y. Lai

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Introduction: Indigenous LGBTQ individuals face with significant life stress such as racial and gender discrimination and microaggressions, which may lead to negative impacts of their mental health. Although studies relevant to Taiwanese indigenous LGBTQpeople gradually increase, most of them are primarily conceptual or qualitative in nature. This research aims to fulfill the gap by offering empirical quantitative evidence, especially investigating the impact of racial and gender microaggressions on mental health among Taiwanese indigenous LGBTQindividuals with an intersectional perspective, as well as examine whether social support can help them to cope with microaggressions. Methods: Participants were (n=200; mean age=29.51; Female=31%, Male=61%, Others=8%). A cross-sectional quantitative design was implemented using data collected in the year 2020. Standardised measurements was used, including Racial Microaggression Scale (10 items), Gender Microaggression Scale (9 items), Social Support Questionnaire-SF(6 items); Patient Health Questionnaire(9-item); and Generalised Anxiety Disorder(7-item). Covariates were age, gender, and perceived economic hardships. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed using Mplus 8.0 with the latent variables of depression and anxiety as outcomes. A main effect SEM model was first established (Model1).To test the moderation effects of perceived social support, an interaction effect model (Model 2) was created with interaction terms entered into Model1. Numerical integration was used with maximum likelihood estimation to estimate the interaction model. Results: Model fit statistics of the Model 1:X2(df)=1308.1 (795), p<.05; CFI/TLI=0.92/0.91; RMSEA=0.06; SRMR=0.06. For Model, the AIC and BIC values of Model 2 improved slightly compared to Model 1(AIC =15631 (Model1) vs. 15629 (Model2); BIC=16098 (Model1) vs. 16103 (Model2)). Model 2 was adopted as the final model. In main effect model 1, racialmicroaggressionand perceived social support were associated with depression and anxiety, but not sexual orientation microaggression(Indigenous microaggression: b = 0.27 for depression; b=0.38 for anxiety; Social support: b=-0.37 for depression; b=-0.34 for anxiety). Thus, an interaction term between social support and indigenous microaggression was added in Model 2. In the final Model 2, indigenous microaggression and perceived social support continues to be statistically significant predictors of both depression and anxiety. Social support moderated the effect of indigenous microaggression of depression (b=-0.22), but not anxiety. All covariates were not statistically significant. Implications: Results indicated that racial microaggressions have a significant impact on indigenous LGBTQ people’s mental health. Social support plays as a crucial role to buffer the negative impact of racial microaggression. To promote indigenous LGBTQ people’s wellbeing, it is important to consider how to support them to develop social support network systems.

Keywords: microaggressions, intersectionality, indigenous population, mental health, social support

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Authors: Olga Maksakova

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A work with unconscious patients after acute brain damages besides special knowledge and practical skills of all the participants requires a very specific organization. A lot of said about team approach in neurorehabilitation, usually as for outpatient mode. Rehabilitologists deal with fixed patient problems or deficits (motion, speech, cognitive or emotional disorder). Team-building means superficial paradigm of management psychology. Linear mode of teamwork fits casual relationships there. Cases with deep altered states of consciousness (vegetative states, coma, and confusion) require non-linear mode of teamwork: recovery of consciousness might not be the goal due to phenomenon uncertainty. Rehabilitation team as Semi-open Complex System includes the patient as a part. Patient's response pattern becomes formed not only with brain deficits but questions-stimuli, context, and inquiring person. Teamwork is sourcing of phenomenology knowledge of patient's processes as Third-person approach is replaced with Second- and after First-person approaches. Here is a chance for real-time change. Patient’s contacts with his own body and outward things create a basement for restoration of consciousness. The most important condition is systematic feedbacks to any minimal movement or vegetative signal of the patient. Up to now, recovery work with the most severe contingent is carried out in the mode of passive physical interventions, while an effective rehabilitation team should include specially trained psychologists and psychotherapists. It is they who are able to create a network of feedbacks with the patient and inter-professional ones building up the team. Characteristics of ‘Team-Patient’ system (TPS) are energy, entropy, and complexity. Impairment of consciousness as the absence of linear contact appears together with a loss of essential functions (low energy), vegetative-visceral fits (excessive energy and low order), motor agitation (excessive energy and excessive order), etc. Techniques of teamwork are different in these cases for resulting optimization of the system condition. Directed regulation of the system complexity is one of the recovery tools. Different signs of awareness appear as a result of system self-organization. Joint meetings are an important part of teamwork. Regular or event-related discussions form the language of inter-professional communication, as well as the patient's shared mental model. Analysis of complex communication process in TPS may be useful for creation of the general theory of consciousness.

Keywords: rehabilitation team, urgent rehabilitation, severe brain damage, consciousness disorders, complex system theory

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Authors: Shabnam Najafi, Metin Turkay

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Network design problem (NDP) is used to determine the set of optimal values for certain pre-specified decision variables such as capacity expansion of nodes and links by optimizing various system performance measures including safety, congestion, and accessibility. The designed transportation network should improve objective functions defined for the system by considering the route choice behaviors of network users at the same time. The NDP studies mostly investigated the random demand and route selection constraints separately due to computational challenges. In this work, we consider both random demand and route selection constraints simultaneously. This work presents a nonlinear stochastic model for land use and road network design problem to address the development of different functional zones in urban areas by considering both cost function and air pollution. This model minimizes cost function and air pollution simultaneously with random demand and stochastic route selection constraint that aims to optimize network performance via road capacity expansion. The Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) link impedance function is used to determine the travel time function in each link. We consider a city with origin and destination nodes which can be residential or employment or both. There are set of existing paths between origin-destination (O-D) pairs. Case of increasing employed population is analyzed to determine amount of roads and origin zones simultaneously. Minimizing travel and expansion cost of routes and origin zones in one side and minimizing CO emission in the other side is considered in this analysis at the same time. In this work demand between O-D pairs is random and also the network flow pattern is subject to stochastic user equilibrium, specifically logit route choice model. Considering both demand and route choice, random is more applicable to design urban network programs. Epsilon-constraint is one of the methods to solve both linear and nonlinear multi-objective problems. In this work epsilon-constraint method is used to solve the problem. The problem was solved by keeping first objective (cost function) as the objective function of the problem and second objective as a constraint that should be less than an epsilon, where epsilon is an upper bound of the emission function. The value of epsilon should change from the worst to the best value of the emission function to generate the family of solutions representing Pareto set. A numerical example with 2 origin zones and 2 destination zones and 7 links is solved by GAMS and the set of Pareto points is obtained. There are 15 efficient solutions. According to these solutions as cost function value increases, emission function value decreases and vice versa.

Keywords: epsilon-constraint, multi-objective, network design, stochastic

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Authors: Michela Quadrini

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Chord diagrams occur in mathematics, from the study of RNA to knot theory. They are widely used in theory of knots and links for studying the finite type invariants, whereas in molecular biology one important motivation to study chord diagrams is to deal with the problem of RNA structure prediction. An RNA molecule is a linear polymer, referred to as the backbone, that consists of four types of nucleotides. Each nucleotide is represented by a point, whereas each chord of the diagram stands for one interaction for Watson-Crick base pairs between two nonconsecutive nucleotides. A chord diagram is an oriented circle with a set of n pairs of distinct points, considered up to orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of the circle. A linear chord diagram (LCD) is a special kind of graph obtained cutting the oriented circle of a chord diagram. It consists of a line segment, called its backbone, to which are attached a number of chords with distinct endpoints. There is a natural fattening on any linear chord diagram; the backbone lies on the real axis, while all the chords are in the upper half-plane. Each linear chord diagram has a natural genus of its associated surface. To each chord diagram and linear chord diagram, it is possible to associate the intersection graph. It consists of a graph whose vertices correspond to the chords of the diagram, whereas the chord intersections are represented by a connection between the vertices. Such intersection graph carries a lot of information about the diagram. Our goal is to define an LCD equivalence class in terms of identity of intersection graphs, from which many chord diagram invariants depend. For studying these invariants, we introduce a new representation of Linear Chord Diagrams based on a set of appropriate topological operators that permits to model LCD in terms of the relations among chords. Such set is composed of: crossing, nesting, and concatenations. The crossing operator is able to generate the whole space of linear chord diagrams, and a multiple context free grammar able to uniquely generate each LDC starting from a linear chord diagram adding a chord for each production of the grammar is defined. In other words, it allows to associate a unique algebraic term to each linear chord diagram, while the remaining operators allow to rewrite the term throughout a set of appropriate rewriting rules. Such rules define an LCD equivalence class in terms of the identity of intersection graphs. Starting from a modelled RNA molecule and the linear chord, some authors proposed a topological classification and folding. Our LCD equivalence class could contribute to the RNA folding problem leading to the definition of an algorithm that calculates the free energy of the molecule more accurately respect to the existing ones. Such LCD equivalence class could be useful to obtain a more accurate estimate of link between the crossing number and the topological genus and to study the relation among other invariants.

Keywords: chord diagrams, linear chord diagram, equivalence class, topological language

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Authors: Einat E. Peles, Shaul Schreiber, Miriam Adelson

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Background: Since established more than 50 years ago, methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is the most effective treatment for opioid addiction, a chronic relapsing brain disorder that became an epidemic in western societies. Treatment includes daily individual optimal medication methadone dose (a long acting mu opioid receptor full agonist), accompanied with psychosocial therapy. It is well established that the longer retention in treatment the better outcome and survival occur. It reduces the likelihood to infectious diseases and overdose death that associated with drug injecting, enhanced social rehabilitation and eliminate criminal activity, and lead to healthy productive life. Aim: To evaluate predictors for long term retention in treatment we analyzed our prospective follow up of a major MMT clinic affiliated to a big tertiary medical center. Population Methods: Between June 25, 1993, and June 24, 2016, all 889 patients ( ≥ 18y) who ever admitted to the clinic were prospectively followed-up until May 2017. Duration in treatment from the first admission until the patient quit treatment or until the end of follow-up (24 years) was taken for calculating cumulative retention in treatment using survival analyses (Kaplan Meier) with log-rank and Cox regression for multivariate analyses. Results: Of the 889 patients, 25.2% were females who admitted to treatment at younger age (35.0 ± 7.9 vs. 40.6 ± 9.8, p < .0005), but started opioid usage at same age (22.3 ± 6.9). In addition to opioid use, on admission to MMT 58.5% had positive urine for benzodiazepines, 25% to cocaine, 12.4% to cannabis and 6.9% to amphetamines. Hepatitis C antibody tested positive in 55%, and HIV in 7.8% of the patients and 40%. Of all patients, 75.7% stayed at least one year in treatment, and of them, 67.7% stopped opioid usage (based on urine tests), and a net reduction observed in all other substance abuse (proportion of those who stopped minus proportion of those who have started). Long term retention up to 24 years was 8.0 years (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 7.4-8.6). Predictors for longer retention in treatment (Cox regression) were being older on admission ( ≥ 30y) Odds Ratio (OR) =1.4 (CI 1.1-1.8), not abusing opioids after one year OR=1.8 (CI 1.5-2.1), not abusing benzodiazepine after one year OR=1.7 (CI 1.4-2.1) and treating with methadone dose ≥ 100mg/day OR =1.8 (CI 1.5-2.3). Conclusions: Treating and following patients over 24 years indicate success of two main outcomes, high rate of retention after one year (75.7%) and high proportion of opiate abuse cessation (67.7%). As expected, longer cumulative retention was associated with patients treated with high adequate methadone dose that successfully result in opioid cessation. Based on these findings, in order to reduce morbidity and mortality, we find the establishment of more MMT clinics within a general hospital, a most urgent necessity.

Keywords: methadone maintenance treatment, epidemic, opioids, retention

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Authors: Thor Alexis Sazon, Alexander Guzman-Urbina, Yasuhiro Fukushima

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This study outlines the method of how to develop a surrogate life cycle model based on fuzzy logic using three fuzzy inference methods: (1) the conventional Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), (2) the hybrid system of Data Analytics and Fuzzy Inference (DAFIS), which uses data clustering for defining the membership functions, and (3) the Adaptive-Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), a combination of fuzzy inference and artificial neural network. These methods were demonstrated with a case study where the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of solar photovoltaic (PV) were estimated using Solar Irradiation, Module Efficiency, and Performance Ratio as inputs. The effects of using different fuzzy inference types, either Sugeno- or Mamdani-type, and of changing the number of input membership functions to the error between the calibration data and the model-generated outputs were also illustrated. The solution spaces of the three methods were consequently examined with a sensitivity analysis. ANFIS exhibited the lowest error while DAFIS gave slightly lower errors compared to FIS. Increasing the number of input membership functions helped with error reduction in some cases but, at times, resulted in the opposite. Sugeno-type models gave errors that are slightly lower than those of the Mamdani-type. While ANFIS is superior in terms of error minimization, it could generate solutions that are questionable, i.e. the negative GWP values of the Solar PV system when the inputs were all at the upper end of their range. This shows that the applicability of the ANFIS models highly depends on the range of cases at which it was calibrated. FIS and DAFIS generated more intuitive trends in the sensitivity runs. DAFIS demonstrated an optimal design point wherein increasing the input values does not improve the GWP and LCOE anymore. In the absence of data that could be used for calibration, conventional FIS presents a knowledge-based model that could be used for prediction. In the PV case study, conventional FIS generated errors that are just slightly higher than those of DAFIS. The inherent complexity of a Life Cycle study often hinders its widespread use in the industry and policy-making sectors. While the methodology does not guarantee a more accurate result compared to those generated by the Life Cycle Methodology, it does provide a relatively simpler way of generating knowledge- and data-based estimates that could be used during the initial design of a system.

Keywords: solar photovoltaic, fuzzy logic, inference system, artificial neural networks

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Authors: Sharmistha Chanda, Anindita Chaudhuri

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This exploratory study highlights the psychological aspects of women's empowerment to find the importance of the psychological dimension of empowerment, such as; meaning, competence, self-determination, impact, and assumption, especially in the weaker marginalized section of women. A large proportion of rural, suburban, and urban poor survive by working in unorganized sectors of metropolitan cities. Relative Poverty and lack of employment in rural areas and small towns drive many people to the metropolitan city for work and livelihood. Women working in that field remain unrecognized as people of low socio-economic status. They are usually willing to do domestic work as daily wage workers, single wage earners, street vendors, family businesses like agricultural activities, domestic workers, and self-employed. Usually, these women accept such jobs because they do not have such an opportunity as they lack the basic level of education that is required for better-paid jobs. The unorganized sector, on the other hand, has no such clear-cut employer-employee relationships and lacks most forms of social protection. Having no fixed employer, these workers are casual, contractual, migrant, home-based, own-account workers who attempt to earn a living from whatever meager assets and skills they possess. Women have become more empowered both financially and individually through small-scale business ownership or entrepreneurship development and in household-based work. In-depth interviews have been done with 10 participants in order to understand their living styles, habits, self-identity, and empowerment in their society in order to evaluate the key challenges that they may face following by qualitative research approach. Transcription has been done from the collected data. The three-layer coding technique guides the data analysis process, encompassing – open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Women’s Entrepreneurship is one of the foremost concerns as the Government, and non-government institutions are readily serving this domain with the primary objectives of promoting self-employment opportunities in general and empowering women in specific. Thus, despite hardship and unrecognition unorganized sector provides a huge array of opportunities for rural and sub-urban poor to earn. Also, the upper section of society tends to depend on this working force. This study gave an idea about the well-being, and meaning in life, life satisfaction on the basis of their lived experience.

Keywords: marginalized women, psychological empowerment, relative poverty, and unorganized sector.

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Authors: Amel Fayed, Shaden AlSubaih, Nouf Al-Qahtani, Asmaa Gosty, Asma Aljuhaimi

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Introduction: Sleep difficulties are vastly predominant among adults and affect different aspects of their life. Many literatures found out that females are more liable to suffer from sleeping problems. College students are typical example of people dealing with daily pressure and stress to fulfill the daily tasks and responsibilities. In addition to their ultimate goal of achieving excellent academic records which require their full concentration and effort. Consequently, many of them start complaining of sleep deprivations which can undesirably affect their academic achievements. This study was aiming to investigate how prevalent is sleeping disorders among different colleges in the university and its relation their academic achievements. Methods: A cross-sectional study of female university students at Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University using self-administered questionnaire was conducted. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to assess different grades of insomnia. Students were requested to answer the questions evaluating their sleeping habits over the last two weeks. Participants reported their latest Grade Point Average (GPA). According to ISI, insomnia severity is reported as ‘No clinically significant’, ‘Subthreshold ‘,’ Clinical moderate insomnia’ and ‘Clinical severe’. Results: In the current study, 228 students participated; 172(75.4%) from medical colleges and 56 (24.6%) from non-medical colleges. About 80% of them claimed to have never taken any medications to help them sleep while only three students confirmed their regular use of sleep-inducing medications. About 16% of the students drink milk or other hot drinks to help them fall asleep. None of the students was suspected of having obstructive sleep apnea or apparent psychiatric disorder. According to ISI, 182 (79.8%) students suffered from subthreshold insomnia, 37 (16.2%) had clinical insomnia (moderate severity) and 9 (3.9%) of students had sleeping problems of non-clinically significance level. However, none of students was found to have severe clinical insomnia. Clinical moderate insomnia was reported in 15.1% of medical students and 19.6% of non-medical students. Moreover, about 82% of medical students suffered from subthreshold insomnia compared to 73.2% of non-medical students. This difference was not statistically significant (P=0.24). About 63% of medical students and 48% of non-medical students believed that high percentage of their colleagues are suffering from insomnias (p-value 0.08) The association between GPA and insomnia revealed that; 19.5% of low GPA group compared to 9.3% of high GPA group had clinical moderate insomnia. This association was not statistically significant (p=0.15). The correlation between the GPA and the ISI score was negative but not conclusive (r=-0.08, p-value = 0.29). More than 92% of all students agreed that sleeping problems affect their academic achievement to varying degrees. Conclusion: our results suggest that insomnia is commonly prevalent among female university students and might affect the students’ achievement. This study provides preliminary data about the quality of sleep among medical and non-medical university students which may be used to promote the healthy sleeping habits among female students.

Keywords: academic achievement, females, insomnia, university student

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Authors: Maggie Mosher, Adam Carreon, Sean Smith

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A systematic literature review was conducted to explore the evidence base on the use of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and extended reality (XR) to present social skill instruction to school-age students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, the systematic review focus was on a. the participants and intervention agents using AR, VR, MR, and XR for social skill acquisition b. the social skills taught through these mediums and c. the social validity measures (i.e., goals, procedures, and outcomes) reported in these studies. Forty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. Researchers in six studies taught social skills to students through AR, in 27 studies through non-immersive VR, and in 10 studies through immersive VR. No studies used MR or XR. The primary targeted social skills were relationship skills, emotion recognition, social awareness, cooperation, and executive functioning. An intervention to improve many social skills was implemented by 73% of researchers, 17% taught a single skill, and 10% did not clearly state the targeted skill. The intervention was considered effective in 26 of the 41 studies (63%), not effective in four studies (10%), and 11 studies (27%) reported mixed results. No researchers reported information for all 17 social validity indicators. The social validity indicators reported by researchers ranged from two to 14. Social validity measures on the feelings toward and use of the technology were provided in 22 studies (54%). Findings indicated both AR and VR are promising platforms for providing social skill instruction to students with ASD. Studies utilizing this technology show a number of social validity indicators. However, the limited information provided on the various interventions, participant characteristics, and validity measures, offers insufficient evidence of the impact of these technologies in teaching social skills to students with ASD. Future research should develop a protocol for training treatment agents to assess the role of different variables (i.e., whether agents are customizing content, monitoring student learning, using intervention specific vocabulary in their day to day instruction). Sustainability may be increased by providing training in the technology to both treatment agents and participants. Providing scripts of instruction occurring within the intervention would provide the needed information to determine the primary method of teaching within the intervention. These variables play a role in maintenance and generalization of the social skills. Understanding the type of feedback provided would help researchers determine if students were able to feel rewarded for progressing through the scenarios or if students require rewarding aspects within the intervention (i.e., badges, trophies). AR has the potential to generalize instruction and VR has the potential for providing a practice environment for performance deficits. Combining these two technologies into a mixed reality intervention may provide a more cohesive and effective intervention.

Keywords: autism, augmented reality, social and emotional learning, social skills, virtual reality

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Authors: Norazlan Mohmad Misnan, Maizatul Hasyima Omar, Mohd Isa Wasiman

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Papaya (Carica papaya L., Caricaceae) is a tree which mainly cultivated for its fruits in many tropical regions including Australia, Brazil, China, Hawaii, and Malaysia. Beside of fruits, its leaves, seeds, and latex have also been traditionally used for treating diseases, which also reported to possess anti-cancer and anti- malaria properties. Its leaves have been reported to consist of various chemical compounds such as alkaloids, flavonoids and phenolics. Clitorin and manghaslin are among major flavonoids presence. Thus, the aim of this study is to quantify the purity of these isolated compounds (clitorin and manghsalin) by using quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (qNMR) analysis. Only fresh C. papaya leaves were used for juice extraction procedure and subsequently was freeze-dried to obtain a dark green powdered form of the extract prior to Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) separation. The CPC experiments were performed using a two-phase solvent system comprising ethyl acetate/butanol/water (1:4:5, v/v/v/v) solvent. The upper organic phase was used as the stationary phase, and the lower aqueous phase was employed as the mobile phase. Ten fractions were obtained after an hour runtime analysis. Fraction 6 and fraction 8 has been identified as clitorin (m/z 739.21 [M-H]-) and manghaslin (m/z 755.21 [M-H]-), respectively, based on LCMS data and full analysis of NMR (1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMBC, and HSQC). The 1H-qNMR measurements were carried out using a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer (JEOL ECS 400MHz, Japan) and deuterated methanol was used as a solvent. Quantification was performed using the AQARI method (Accurate Quantitative NMR) with deuterated 1,4-Bis(trimethylsilyl)benzene (BTMSB) as an internal reference substances. This AQARI protocol includes not only NMR measurement but also sample preparation that provide highest precision and accuracy than other qNMR methods. The 90° pulse length and the T1 relaxation times for compounds and BTMSB were determined prior to the quantification to give the best signal-to-noise ratio. Regions containing the two downfield signals from aromatic part (6.00–6.89 ppm), and the singlet signal, (18H) arising from BTMSB (0.63-1.05ppm) were selected for integration. The purity of clitorin and manghaslin were calculated to be 52.22% and 43.36%, respectively. Further purification is needed in order to increase its purity. This finding has demonstrated the use of qNMR for quality control and standardization of various plant extracts and which can be applied for NMR fingerprinting of other plant-based products with good reproducibility and in the case where commercial standards is not readily available.

Keywords: Carica papaya, clitorin, manghaslin, quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Centrifugal Partition Chromatography

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Authors: Hung-Chih Hsu, Pey-Jium Chang, Ching-Hsein Chen, Jer-Liang Andrew Yeh

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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disorder in rehabilitation clinic. The main characteristics include joint pain, localized tenderness and enlargement, joint effusion, cartilage destruction, loss of adhesion of perichondrium, synovium hyperplasia. Synoviocytes inflammation might be a cause of local tenderness and effusion. Inflammation cytokines might also play an important role in joint pain, cartilage destruction, decrease adhesion of perichondrium to the bone. Treatments of osteoarthritis include non-steroid anti-inflammation drugs (NSAID), glucosamine supplementation, hyaluronic acid, arthroscopic debridement, and total joint replacement. Total joint replacement is commonly used in patients with severe OA who failed respond to pharmacological treatment. However, some patients received surgery had serious adverse events, including instability of the implants due to insufficient adhesion to the adjacent bony tissue or synovial inflammation. We tried to develop ideal nano-topographic oxidized silicon nanosponges by using with various chemicals to produce thickness difference in nanometers in order to study more about the cell-environment interactions in vitro like the alterations of cell adhesion, morphology, extracellular matrix secretions in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Cytokines studies like growth factor, reactive oxygen species, reactive inflammatory materials (Like nitrous oxide and prostaglandin E2), extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation enzymes, and synthesis of collagen will also be observed and discussed. Extracellular and intracellular expression transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) will be studied by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The degradation of ECM will be observed by the bioactivity ratio of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase by ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). When rabbit synoviocytes were cultured on these nano-topographic structures, they demonstrate better cell adhesion rate, decreased expression of MMP-2,9 and PGE2, and increased expression of TGF-β when cultured in nano-topographic oxidized silicon nanosponges than in the planar oxidized silicon ones. These results show cell behavior, cytokine production can be influenced by physical characteristics from different nano-topographic structures. Our study demonstrates the possibility of manipulating cell behavior in these nano-topographic biomaterials.

Keywords: osteoarthritis, synoviocyte, oxidized silicon surfaces, reactive oxygen species

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Authors: Eileen Y. Wong, Katherine Jin, Anat Talmon

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Background: Help seeking behaviors are highly contingent on socio-cultural factors such as ethnicity. Both Latino and Asian Americans underutilize mental health services compared to their White American counterparts. This difference may be related to the composite of one’s social support system, which includes family cohesion and social networks. Previous studies have found that Latino families are characterized by higher levels of family cohesion and social support, and Asian American families with greater family cohesion exhibit lower levels of help seeking behaviors. While both are broadly considered collectivist communities, within-culture variability is also significant. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between help seeking behaviors in the two cultures with levels of family cohesion and strength of social network. We also consider such relationships in light of previous traumatic events and diagnoses, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to understand whether clinically diagnosed individuals differ in their strength of network and help seeking behaviors. Method: An adult sample (N = 2,990) from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) provided data on participants’ social network, family cohesion, likelihood of seeking professional help, and DSM-IV diagnoses. T-tests compared Latino American (n = 1,576) and Asian American respondents (n = 1,414) in strength of social network, level of family cohesion, and likelihood of seeking professional help. Linear regression models were used to identify the probability of help-seeking behavior based on ethnicity, PTSD diagnosis, and strength of social network. Results: Help-seeking behavior was significantly associated with family cohesion and strength of social network. It was found that higher frequency of expressing one’s feelings with family significantly predicted lower levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [-.072], p = .017), while higher frequency of spending free time with family significantly predicted higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.129], p = .002) in the Asian American sample. Subjective importance of family relations compared to that of one’s peers also significantly predict higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.095], p = .011) in the Asian American sample. Frequency of sharing one’s problems with relatives significantly predicted higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.113], p < .01) in the Latino American sample. A PTSD diagnosis did not have any significant moderating effect. Conclusion: Considering the underutilization of mental health services in Latino and Asian American minority groups, it is crucial to understand ways in which help seeking behavior can be encouraged. Our findings suggest that different dimensions within family cohesion and social networks have differential impacts on help-seeking behavior. Given the multifaceted nature of family cohesion and cultural relevance, the implications of our findings for theory and practice will be discussed.

Keywords: family cohesion, social networks, Asian American, Latino American, help-seeking behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 62

Authors: Margarita S. Tikhonova, Alireza Baniasad, Anton G. Kalmykov, Georgy A. Kalmykov, Ralf Littke

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There is a high complexity in the pore structure of organic-rich rocks caused by the combination of inter-particle porosity from inorganic mineral matter and ultrafine intra-particle porosity from both organic matter and clay minerals. Fluids are retained in that pore space, but there are major uncertainties in how and where the fluids are stored and to what extent they are accessible or trapped in 'closed' pores. A large degree of tortuosity may lead to fractionation of organic matter so that the lighter and flexible compounds would diffuse to the reservoir whereas more complicated compounds may be locked in place. Additionally, parts of hydrocarbons could be bound to solid organic matter –kerogen– and mineral matrix during expulsion and migration. Larger compounds can occupy thin channels so that clogging or oil and gas entrapment will occur. Sequential extraction of applying different solvents is a powerful tool to provide more information about the characteristics of trapped organic matter distribution. The Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous Bazhenov shale is one of the most petroliferous source rock extended in West Siberia, Russia. Concerning the variable mineral composition, pore space distribution and thermal maturation, there are high uncertainties in distribution and composition of organic matter in this formation. In order to address this issue geological and geochemical properties of 30 samples including mineral composition (XRD and XRF), structure and texture (thin-section microscopy), organic matter contents, type and thermal maturity (Rock-Eval) as well as molecular composition (GC-FID and GC-MS) of different extracted materials during sequential extraction were considered. Sequential extraction was performed by a Soxhlet apparatus using different solvents, i.e., n-hexane, chloroform and ethanol-benzene (1:1 v:v) first on core plugs and later on pulverized materials. The results indicate that the studied samples are mainly composed of type II kerogen with TOC contents varied from 5 to 25%. The thermal maturity ranged from immature to late oil window. Whereas clay contents decreased with increasing maturity, the amount of silica increased in the studied samples. According to molecular geochemistry, stored hydrocarbons in open and closed pore space reveal different geochemical fingerprints. The results improve our understanding of hydrocarbon expulsion and migration in the organic-rich Bazhenov shale and therefore better estimation of hydrocarbon potential for this formation.

Keywords: Bazhenov formation, bitumen, molecular geochemistry, sequential extraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Chamaraja Parulli

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Family is an important social institution devoted to the growth of a child, and parents are the important agents of socialization. Mentally challenged children are those who are affected by intellectual disability, which is manifested by limitation in intellectual functioning and adoptive behavior. Intellectual disability affects about 3-4 percentage of the general population. Intellectual disability is caused by genetic condition, problems during pregnancy, problems during childbirth, or illness. Mental retardation is the world’s most complex and challenging issue. The stigmatization of disability results in social and economic marginalization. Parents of the mentally challenged children will have a very high level of parenting stress, which is significantly more than the stress perceived by the parents of the children without disability. The prevalence of severe mental disorder called Schizophrenia is among 1.1 percent of the total population in India. On the other hand, 11 to 12 percent is the overall lifetime occurrence rate of mental disorders. While the government has a separate program for mental health, the segment is marred by lack of adequate doctors and infrastructure. Mentally retarded children have certain limitations in mental functioning and skills, which makes them slow learners in speaking, walking, and taking care of their personal needs such as dressing and eating. Accepting a child with mental handicap becomes difficult for parents and to the whole family, as they have to face many problems, including those of management, finance, deprivation of rest, and leisure. Also, the problems faced by the parents can be seen in different areas like – educational, psychological, social, emotional, financial and family related issues. The study brought out various difficulties and problems faced by the parents as well as family members. The findings revealed that the mental retardation is not only a medico-psychological problem but also a socio-cultural problem. The study results, however, indicate that the quality of life of the family having children with mental retardation can be improved to a greater extent by building up a child-friendly ambience at home. The main aim of the present study is to assess the problems faced by the parents of mentally challenged children, with the help of personal interview data collected from the parents of mentally challenged children, residing in Shimoga District of Karnataka State, India. These individuals were selected using stratified random sampling method. Organizing effective intervention programs for parents, family, society, and educational institutions towards reduction of family stress, augmenting the family’s strengths, increasing child’s competence and enhancing the positive attitudes and values of the society will go a long way for the peaceful existence of the mentally challenged children.

Keywords: mentally challenged children, intellectual disability, special children, social infrastructure, differently abled, psychological stress, marginalization

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Sina Moradi, Christopher W. K. Chow, John Van Leeuwen, David Cook, Mary Drikas, Patrick Hayde, Rose Amal

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Chloramine is commonly used as a disinfectant in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs), particularly in Australia and the USA. Maintaining a chloramine residual throughout the DWDS is important in ensuring microbiologically safe water is supplied at the customer’s tap. In order to simulate how chloramine behaves when it moves through the distribution system, a water quality network model (WQNM) can be applied. In this work, the WQNM was based on mono-chloramine decomposition reactions, which enabled prediction of mono-chloramine residual at different locations through a DWDS in Australia, using the Bentley commercial hydraulic package (Water GEMS). The accuracy of WQNM predictions is influenced by a number of water quality parameters. Optimization of these parameters in order to obtain the closest results in comparison with actual measured data in a real DWDS would result in both cost reduction as well as reduction in consumption of valuable resources such as energy and materials. In this work, the optimum operating conditions of water quality parameters (i.e. temperature, pH, and initial mono-chloramine concentration) to maximize the accuracy of mono-chloramine residual predictions for two water supply scenarios in an entire network were determined using response surface methodology (RSM). To obtain feasible and economical water quality parameters for highest model predictability, Design Expert 8.0 software (Stat-Ease, Inc.) was applied to conduct the optimization of three independent water quality parameters. High and low levels of the water quality parameters were considered, inevitably, as explicit constraints, in order to avoid extrapolation. The independent variables were pH, temperature and initial mono-chloramine concentration. The lower and upper limits of each variable for two water supply scenarios were defined and the experimental levels for each variable were selected based on the actual conditions in studied DWDS. It was found that at pH of 7.75, temperature of 34.16 ºC, and initial mono-chloramine concentration of 3.89 (mg/L) during peak water supply patterns, root mean square error (RMSE) of WQNM for the whole network would be minimized to 0.189, and the optimum conditions for averaged water supply occurred at pH of 7.71, temperature of 18.12 ºC, and initial mono-chloramine concentration of 4.60 (mg/L). The proposed methodology to predict mono-chloramine residual can have a great potential for water treatment plant operators in accurately estimating the mono-chloramine residual through a water distribution network. Additional studies from other water distribution systems are warranted to confirm the applicability of the proposed methodology for other water samples.

Keywords: chloramine decay, modelling, response surface methodology, water quality parameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Kristina Amaleviciute, Ieva Jokubauskaite, Alvyra Slepetiene, Jonas Volungevicius, Inga Liaudanskiene

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The main task of this research was to investigate the chemical composition of the differently used soil in profiles. To identify the differences in the soil were investigated organic carbon (SOC) and its fractional composition: dissolved organic carbon (DOC), mobile humic acids (MHA) and C to N ratio of natural and anthropogenically affected Luvisols. Research object: natural and anthropogenically affected Luvisol, Akademija, Kedainiai, distr. Lithuania. Chemical analyses were carried out at the Chemical Research Laboratory of Institute of Agriculture, LAMMC. Soil samples for chemical analyses were taken from the genetics soil horizons. SOC was determined by the Tyurin method modified by Nikitin, measuring with spectrometer Cary 50 (VARIAN) in 590 nm wavelength using glucose standards. For mobile humic acids (MHA) determination the extraction procedure was carried out using 0.1 M NaOH solution. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was analyzed using an ion chromatograph SKALAR. pH was measured in 1M H2O. N total was determined by Kjeldahl method. Results: Based on the obtained results, it can be stated that transformation of chemical composition is going through the genetic soil horizons. Morphology of the upper layers of soil profile which is formed under natural conditions was changed by anthropomorphic (agrogenic, urbogenic, technogenic and others) structure. Anthropogenic activities, mechanical and biochemical disturbances destroy the natural characteristics of soil formation and complicates the interpretation of soil development. Due to the intensive cultivation, the pH values of the curve equals (disappears acidification characteristic for E horizon) with natural Luvisol. Luvisols affected by agricultural activities was characterized by a decrease in the absolute amount of humic substances in separate horizons. But there was observed more sustainable, higher carbon sequestration and thicker storage of humic horizon compared with forest Luvisol. However, the average content of humic substances in the soil profile was lower. Soil organic carbon content in anthropogenic Luvisols was lower compared with the natural forest soil, but there was more evenly spread over in the wider thickness of accumulative horizon. These data suggest that the organization of geo-ecological declines and agroecological increases in Luvisols. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the National Science Program ‘The effect of long-term, different-intensity management of resources on the soils of different genesis and on other components of the agro-ecosystems’ [grant number SIT-9/2015] funded by the Research Council of Lithuania.

Keywords: agrogenization, dissolved organic carbon, luvisol, mobile humic acids, soil organic carbon

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Su Yin Chiam, Zhipeng Ding, Guang Yang, Danny Jian Hang Tng, Peiyi Song, Geok Ing Ng, Ken-Tye Yong, Qing Xin Zhang

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Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) is a ground rich of exploration opportunities where manipulation of neural activity are used for interconnect with myriad form of external devices. These research and intensive development were evolved into various areas from medical field, gaming and entertainment industry till safety and security field. The technology were extended for neurological disorders therapy such as obsessive compulsive disorder and Parkinson’s disease by introducing current pulses to specific region of the brain. Nonetheless, the work to develop a real-time observing, recording and altering of neural signal brain-machine interfaces system will require a significant amount of effort to overcome the obstacles in improving this system without delay in response. To date, feature size of interface devices and the density of the electrode population remain as a limitation in achieving seamless performance on BMI. Currently, the size of the BMI devices is ranging from 10 to 100 microns in terms of electrodes’ diameters. Henceforth, to accommodate the single cell level precise monitoring, smaller and denser Nano-scaled nanowire electrode arrays are vital in fabrication. In this paper, we would like to showcase the fabrication of high aspect ratio of vertical silicon nanowire electrodes arrays using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) method. Nanofabrication of the nanowire electrodes involves in deep reactive ion etching, thermal oxide thinning, electron-beam lithography patterning, sputtering of metal targets and bottom anti-reflection coating (BARC) etch. Metallization on the nanowire electrode tip is a prominent process to optimize the nanowire electrical conductivity and this step remains a challenge during fabrication. Metal electrodes were lithographically defined and yet these metal contacts outline a size scale that is larger than nanometer-scale building blocks hence further limiting potential advantages. Therefore, we present an integrated contact solution that overcomes this size constraint through self-aligned Nickel silicidation process on the tip of vertical silicon nanowire electrodes. A 4 x 4 array of vertical silicon nanowires electrodes with the diameter of 290nm and height of 3µm has been successfully fabricated.

Keywords: brain-machine interfaces, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), nanowire, nickel silicide

Procedia PDF Downloads 432

Authors: Pushp Lata Sankhwar

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INTRODUCTION: Maternal Hypothyroidism is the most frequent endocrine disorder in pregnancy and varies from 2.5% in the west to 11.0% in India. Maternal Hypothyroidism can have detrimental maternal effects like increased risk of preterm labor, PPROM leading to increased maternal morbidity and also on the neonate in the form of prematurity and its complications, prolonged hospital stay, neurological developmental problems, delayed milestones and mental retardation etc. Henceforth, the study was planned to evaluate the role of Hypothyroidism in preterm labor and its effect on neonates. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To Correlate Overt Hypothyroidism, Subclinical Hypothyroidism and Isolated Hypothyroxinemia With Preterm Labor and the neonatal outcome. Material and Methods: A case-control study of singleton pregnancy was performed over a year, in which a total of 500 patients presenting in the emergency with preterm labor were enrolled. The thyroid profile of these patients was sent at the time of admission, on the basis of which they were divided into Cases – Hypothyroidic mothers and Controls – Euthyroid mothers. The cases were further divided into subclinical, overt Hypothyroidism and isolated hypothyroxinemia. The neonatal outcome of these groups was also compared on the basis of the incidence and severity of neonatal morbidity, neonatal respiratory distress, the incidence of neonatal Hypothyroidism and early complications. The feto-maternal data was collected and analysed. RESULTS: In the study, a total of 500 antenatal patients with a history of preterm labor were enrolled, out of which 67 (13.8%) patients were found to be hypothyroid. The majority of the mothers had Subclinical Hypothyroidism (12.2%), followed by Overt Hypothyroidism seen in 1% of the mothers and isolated hypothyroxinemia in 0.6% of cases. The neonates of hypothyroid mothers had higher levels of cord blood TSH, and the mean cord blood TSH levels were highest in the case of neonates of mothers with Overt Hypothyroidism. The need for resuscitation of the neonates at the time of birth was higher in the case of neonates of hypothyroid mothers, especially with Subclinical Hypothyroidism. Also, it was found that the requirement of oxygen therapy in the form of oxygen by nasal prongs, oxygen by a hood, CPAP, CPAP along with surfactant therapy and mechanical ventilation along with surfactant therapy was significantly higher in the case of neonates of hypothyroid mothers. CONCLUSION: The results of our study imply that uncontrolled and untreated maternal Hypothyroidism may also lead to preterm delivery. The neonates of mothers with Hypothyroidism have higher cord blood TSH levels. The study also shows that there is an increased incidence and severity of respiratory distress in the neonates of hypothyroid mothers with untreated subclinical Hypothyroidism. Hence, we propose that routine screening for thyroid dysfunction in pregnant women should be done to prevent thyroid-related feto-maternal complications.

Keywords: high-risk pregnancy, thyroid, dysfunction, hypothyroidism, Preterm labor

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Johan Buermans, Kristel Crombé, Niek Desmet, Laura Dittrich, Andrei Goriaev, Yurii Kovtun, Daniel López-Rodriguez, Sören Möller, Per Petersson, Maja Verstraeten

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The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will rely on three sources of external heating to produce and sustain a plasma; Neutral Beam Injection (NBI), Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH), and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH). ECRH is a way to heat the electrons in a plasma by resonant absorption of electromagnetic waves. The energy of the electrons is transferred indirectly to the ions by collisions. The electron cyclotron heating system can be directed to deposit heat in particular regions in the plasma (https://www.iter.org/mach/Heating). Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) at the fundamental resonance in X-mode is limited by a low cut-off density. Electromagnetic waves cannot propagate in the region between this cut-off and the Upper Hybrid Resonance (UHR) and cannot reach the Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) position. Higher harmonic heating is hence preferred in heating scenarios nowadays to overcome this problem. Additional power deposition mechanisms can occur above this threshold to increase the plasma density. This includes collisional losses in the evanescent region, resonant power coupling at the UHR, tunneling of the X-wave with resonant coupling at the ECR, and conversion to the Electron Bernstein Wave (EBW) with resonant coupling at the ECR. A more profound knowledge of these deposition mechanisms can help determine the optimal plasma production scenarios. Several ECRH experiments are performed on the TOroidally MAgnetized System (TOMAS) to identify the conditions for Electron Bernstein Wave (EBW) heating. Density and temperature profiles are measured with movable Triple Langmuir Probes in the horizontal and vertical directions. Measurements of the forwarded and reflected power allow evaluation of the coupling efficiency. Optical emission spectroscopy and camera images also contribute to plasma characterization. The influence of the injected power, magnetic field, gas pressure, and wave polarization on the different deposition mechanisms is studied, and the contribution of the Electron Bernstein Wave is evaluated. The TOMATOR 1D hydrogen-helium plasma simulator numerically describes the evolution of current less magnetized Radio Frequency plasmas in a tokamak based on Braginskii’s legal continuity and heat balance equations. This code was initially benchmarked with experimental data from TCV to determine the transport coefficients. The code is used to model the plasma parameters and the power deposition profiles. The modeling is compared with the data from the experiments.

Keywords: electron Bernstein wave, Langmuir probe, plasma characterization, TOMAS

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Izabela Poprawa, Alina Chachulska-Zymelka, Lukasz Chajec, Grazyna Wilczek, Piotr Wilczek, Sebastian Student, Magdalena Rost-Roszkowska

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Heavy metals polluting the environment, especially soil, have a harmful effect on organisms, because they can damage the organ structure, disturb their function and cause developmental disorders. They can affect not only the somatic tissues but also the germinal tissues. In the natural environment, plants and animals are exposed to short- and long-term exposure to these stressors, which have a major influence on the functioning of these organisms. Numerous animals have been treated as the bioindicators of the environment. Therefore, studies on any alterations caused by, e.g., heavy metals are in the center of interests of not only environmental but also medical and biological science. Myriapods are invertebrates which are bioindicators of the environment. One of the species which lives in the upper layers of soil, particularly under stones and rocks is Lithobius forficatus (Chilopoda), commonly known as the brown centipede or stone centipede. It is a European species of the family Lithobiidae. This centipede living in the soil is exposed to, e.g., heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic. The main goal of our project was to analyze the impact of long-term exposure to cadmium on the structure of ovary with the emphasis on the course of oogenesis. As the material for analysis of cadmium exposure to ovaries, we chose the centipede species, L. forficatus. Animals were divided into two experimental groups: C – the control group, the animals cultured in laboratory conditions in a horticultural soil; Cd2 – the animals cultured in a horticultural soil supplemented with 80 mg/kg (dry weight) of CdCl2 for 45 days – long-term exposure. Animals were fed with Acheta and Chironomus larvae maintained in tap water. The analyzes were carried out using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), flow cytometry and laser scanning (confocal) microscopy. Here we present the results of long-term exposure to cadmium concentration in soil on the organ responsible for female germ cell formation. Analysis with the use of the transmission electron microscope showed changes in the ultrastructure of both somatic and germ cells in the ovary. Moreover, quantitative analysis revealed the decrease in the percentage of cells viability, the increase in the percentage of cells with depolarized mitochondria and increasing the number of early apoptotic cells. All these changes were statistically significant compared to the control. Additionally, an increase in the ADP/ATP index was recorded. However, changes were not statistically significant to the control. Acknowledgment: The study has been financed by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant no 2017/25/B/NZ4/00420.

Keywords: cadmium, centipede, ovary, ultrastructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: E. Nemes-Nagy, E. Fogarasi, M. Croitoru, A. Nyárádi, K. Komlódi, S. Pál, A. Kovács, O. Kopácsy, R. Tripon, Z. Fazakas, C. Uzun, Z. Simon-Szabó, V. Balogh-Sămărghițan, E. Ernő Nagy, M. Szabó, M. Tilinca

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Intense oxidative stress, increased glycated hemoglobin and mineral imbalance represent risk factors for complications in diabetic patients. Cardiovascular complications are most common in these patients, including nephropathy. This study was conducted in 2015 at the Procardia Laboratory in Tîrgu Mureș, Romania on 40 type 2 diabetic adults. Routine biochemical tests were performed on the Konleab 20XTi analyzer (serum glucose, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, urea). We also measured serum uric acid, magnesium and calcium concentration by photometric procedures, potassium, sodium and chloride by ion selective electrode, and chromium by atomic absorption spectrometry in a group of patients. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) dosage was made by reflectometry. Urine analysis was performed using the HandUReader equipment. The level of oxidative stress was measured by serum malondialdehyde dosage using the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances method. MDRD (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease) formula was applied for calculation of creatinine-derived glomerular filtration rate. GraphPad InStat software was used for statistical analysis of the data. The diabetic subject included in the study presented high MDA concentrations, showing intense oxidative stress. Calcium was deficient in 5% of the patients, chromium deficiency was present in 28%. The atherogenic cholesterol fraction was elevated in 13% of the patients. Positive correlation was found between creatinine and MDRD-creatinine values (p<0.0001), 68% of the patients presented increased creatinine values. The majority of the diabetic patients had good control of their diabetes, having optimal HbA1c values, 35% of them presented fasting serum glucose over 120 mg/dl and 18% had glucosuria. Intense oxidative stress and mineral deficiencies can increase the risk of cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients in spite of their good metabolic balance. More than two third of the patients present biochemical signs of nephropathy, cystatin C dosage and microalbuminuria could reveal better the kidney disorder, but glomerular filtration rate calculation formulas are also useful for evaluation of renal function.

Keywords: cardiovascular risk, homocysteine, malondialdehyde, metformin, minerals, type 2 diabetes, vitamin B12

Procedia PDF Downloads 314

Authors: Suman Som, Abhijit Maity, Sunil B. Daschakraborty, Sujit Chaudhuri, Manik Pradhan

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Background: Helicobacter pylori is a common and important human pathogen and the primary cause of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. Currently H. pylori infection is detected by both invasive and non-invasive way but the diagnostic accuracy is not up to the mark. Aim: To set up an optimal diagnostic cut-off value of 13C-Urea Breath Test to detect H. pylori infection and evaluate a novel c-PDR methodology to overcome of inconclusive grey zone. Materials and Methods: All 83 subjects first underwent upper-gastrointestinal endoscopy followed by rapid urease test and histopathology and depending on these results; we classified 49 subjects as H. pylori positive and 34 negative. After an overnight, fast patients are taken 4 gm of citric acid in 200 ml water solution and 10 minute after ingestion of the test meal, a baseline exhaled breath sample was collected. Thereafter an oral dose of 75 mg 13C-Urea dissolved in 50 ml water was given and breath samples were collected upto 90 minute for 15 minute intervals and analysed by laser based high precisional cavity enhanced spectroscopy. Results: We studied the excretion kinetics of 13C isotope enrichment (expressed as δDOB13C ‰) of exhaled breath samples and found maximum enrichment around 30 minute of H. pylori positive patients, it is due to the acid mediated stimulated urease enzyme activity and maximum acidification happened within 30 minute but no such significant isotopic enrichment observed for H. pylori negative individuals. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve an optimal diagnostic cut-off value, δDOB13C ‰ = 3.14 was determined at 30 minute exhibiting 89.16% accuracy. Now to overcome grey zone problem we explore percentage dose of 13C recovered per hour, i.e. 13C-PDR (%/hr) and cumulative percentage dose of 13C recovered, i.e. c-PDR (%) in exhaled breath samples for the present 13C-UBT. We further explored the diagnostic accuracy of 13C-UBT by constructing ROC curve using c-PDR (%) values and an optimal cut-off value was estimated to be c-PDR = 1.47 (%) at 60 minute, exhibiting 100 % diagnostic sensitivity , 100 % specificity and 100 % accuracy of 13C-UBT for detection of H. pylori infection. We also elucidate the gastric emptying process of present 13C-UBT for H. pylori positive patients. The maximal emptying rate found at 36 minute and half empting time of present 13C-UBT was found at 45 minute. Conclusions: The present study exhibiting the importance of c-PDR methodology to overcome of grey zone problem in 13C-UBT for accurate determination of infection without any risk of diagnostic errors and making it sufficiently robust and novel method for an accurate and fast non-invasive diagnosis of H. pylori infection for large scale screening purposes.

Keywords: 13C-Urea breath test, c-PDR methodology, grey zone, Helicobacter pylori

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Visith Siriphuwanun, Yodying Punjasawadwong, Suwinai Saengyo, Kittipan Rerkasem

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Objective: To determine incidences and factors associated with perioperative cardiac arrest in trauma patients who received anesthesia for emergency surgery. Design and setting: Retrospective cohort study in trauma patients during anesthesia for emergency surgery at a university hospital in northern Thailand country. Patients and methods: This study was permitted by the medical ethical committee, Faculty of Medicine at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital, Thailand. We clarified data of 19,683 trauma patients receiving anesthesia within a decade between January 2007 to March 2016. The data analyzed patient characteristics, traumas surgery procedures, anesthesia information such as ASA physical status classification, anesthesia techniques, anesthetic drugs, location of anesthesia performed, and cardiac arrest outcomes. This study excluded the data of trauma patients who had received local anesthesia by surgeons or monitoring anesthesia care (MAC) and the patient which missing more information. The factor associated with perioperative cardiac arrest was identified with univariate analyses. Multiple regressions model for risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to conduct factors correlated with perioperative cardiac arrest. The multicollinearity of all variables was examined by bivariate correlation matrix. A stepwise algorithm was chosen at a p-value less than 0.02 was selected to further multivariate analysis. A P-value of less than 0.05 was concluded as statistically significant. Measurements and results: The occurrence of perioperative cardiac arrest in trauma patients receiving anesthesia for emergency surgery was 170.04 per 10,000 cases. Factors associated with perioperative cardiac arrest in trauma patients were age being more than 65 years (RR=1.41, CI=1.02–1.96, p=0.039), ASA physical status 3 or higher (RR=4.19–21.58, p < 0.001), sites of surgery (intracranial, intrathoracic, upper intra-abdominal, and major vascular, each p < 0.001), cardiopulmonary comorbidities (RR=1.55, CI=1.10–2.17, p < 0.012), hemodynamic instability with shock prior to receiving anesthesia (RR=1.60, CI=1.21–2.11, p < 0.001) , special techniques for surgery such as cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and hypotensive techniques (RR=5.55, CI=2.01–15.36, p=0.001; RR=6.24, CI=2.21–17.58, p=0.001, respectively), and patients who had a history of being alcoholic (RR=5.27, CI=4.09–6.79, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Incidence of perioperative cardiac arrest in trauma patients receiving anesthesia for emergency surgery was very high and correlated with many factors, especially age of patient and cardiopulmonary comorbidities, patient having a history of alcoholic addiction, increasing ASA physical status, preoperative shock, special techniques for surgery, and sites of surgery including brain, thorax, abdomen, and major vascular region. Anesthesiologists and multidisciplinary teams in pre- and perioperative periods should remain alert for warning signs of pre-cardiac arrest and be quick to manage the high-risk group of surgical trauma patients. Furthermore, a healthcare policy should be promoted for protecting against accidents in high-risk groups of the population as well.

Keywords: perioperative cardiac arrest, trauma patients, emergency surgery, anesthesia, factors risk, incidence

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Vivienne Cameron

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Background: Between 2010 and 2017, teachers in a suburban public school district struggled to get students to consistently produce adequate writing samples as measured by the Pennsylvania state writing rubric for measuring focus, content, organization, style, and conventions. A common thread in all of the data was the need to develop stamina in the student writers. Method: All of the teachers used the traditional writing process model (prewrite, draft, revise, edit, final copy) during writing instruction. One teacher taught the writing process using word processing and incentivizing with publication instead of the traditional pencil/paper/grading method. Students did not have instruction in typing/keyboarding. The teacher submitted resulting student work to real-life contests, magazines, and publishers. Results: Students in the test group increased both the quantity and quality of their writing over a seven month period as measured by the Pennsylvania state writing rubric. Reluctant writers, as well as students with autism spectrum disorder, benefited from this approach. This outcome was repeated consistently over a five-year period. Interpretation: Removing the burden of pencil and paper allowed students to participate in the writing process more fully. Writing with pencil and paper is physically tiring. Students are discouraged when they submit a draft and are instructed to use the Add, Remove, Move, Substitute (ARMS) method to revise their papers. Each successive version becomes shorter. Allowing students to type their papers frees them to quickly and easily make changes. The result is longer writing pieces in shorter time frames, allowing the teacher to spend more time working on individual needs. With this additional time, the teacher can concentrate on teaching focus, content, organization, style, conventions, and audience. S/he also has a larger body of works from which to work on whole group instruction such as developing effective leads. The teacher submitted the resulting student work to contests, magazines, and publishers. Although time-consuming, the submission process was an invaluable lesson for teaching about audience and tone. All students in the test sample had work accepted for publication. Students became highly motivated to succeed when their work was accepted for publication. This motivation applied to special needs students, regular education students, and gifted students.

Keywords: elementary-age students, reluctant writers, teaching strategies, writing process

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Marcio Emilio Dos Santos, Kelly C. F. Dos Santos

Abstract:

Caregivers of patients diagnosed with ASD are subjected to high stress situations due to the complexity and multiple levels of daily activities that require the organization of events, behaviors and socioemotional situations, such as immediate decision making and in public spaces. The cognitive and emotional requirement needed to fulfill this caregiving role exceeds the regular cultural process that adults receive in their process of preparation for conjugal and parental life. Therefore, in many cases, caregivers present a high level of overload, poor capacity to organize and mediate the development process of the child or patient about their care. Aims: Improvement in the cognitive and emotional capacities related to the caregiver function, allowing the reduction of the overload, the feeling of incompetence and the characteristic level of stress, developing a more organized conduct and decision making more oriented towards the objectives and procedural gains necessary for the integral development of the patient with diagnosis of ASD. Method: The study was performed with 20 relatives, randomly selected from a total of 140 patients attended. The family members were submitted to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III intelligence test and the Family assessment Management Measure (FaMM) questionnaire as a previous evaluation. Therapeutic activity in a small group of family members or caregivers, with weekly frequency, with a minimum workload of two hours, using the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Cognitive Development Program - Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment for ten months. Reapplication of the previous tests to verify the gains obtained. Results and Discussion: There is a change in the level of caregiver overload, improvement in the results of the Family assessment Management Measure and highlight to the increase of performance in the cognitive aspects related to problem solving, planned behavior and management of behavioral crises. These results lead to the discussion of the need to invest in the integrated care of patients and their caregivers, mainly by enabling cognitively to deal with the complexity of Autism. This goes beyond the simple therapeutic orientation about adjustments in family and school routines. The study showed that when the caregiver improves his/her capacity of management, the results of the treatment are potentiated and there is a reduction of the level of the caregiver's overload. Importantly, the study was performed for only ten months and the number of family members attended in the study (n = 20) needs to be expanded to have statistical strength.

Keywords: caregiver overload, cognitive development program ASD caregivers, feuerstein instrumental enrichment, family assessment management measure

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Authors: Mustapha Rilwan Adewale, Salau Ayobami Muhammed

Abstract:

This study focuses on the heat transfer analysis of magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) squeezing flow between parallel disks, considering a viscous incompressible fluid. The upper disk exhibits both upward and downward motion, while the lower disk remains stationary but permeable. By employing similarity transformations, a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is derived to describe the flow behavior. To solve this system, a numerical approach, namely the Chebyshev collocation method, is utilized. The study investigates the influence of flow parameters and compares the obtained results with existing literature. The significance of this research lies in understanding the heat transfer characteristics of MHD squeezing flow, which has practical implications in various engineering and industrial applications. By employing the similarity transformations, the complex governing equations are simplified into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, facilitating the analysis of the flow behavior. To obtain numerical solutions for the system, the Chebyshev collocation method is implemented. This approach provides accurate approximations for the nonlinear equations, enabling efficient computations of the heat transfer properties. The obtained results are compared with existing literature, establishing the validity and consistency of the numerical approach. The study's major findings shed light on the influence of flow parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of the squeezing flow. The analysis reveals the impact of parameters such as magnetic field strength, disk motion amplitude, fluid viscosity on the heat transfer rate between the disks, the squeeze number(S), suction/injection parameter(A), Hartman number(M), Prandtl number(Pr), modified Eckert number(Ec), and the dimensionless length(δ). These findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the system's behavior and provide insights for optimizing heat transfer processes in similar configurations. In conclusion, this study presents a thorough heat transfer analysis of magneto-hydrodynamics squeezing flow between parallel disks. The numerical solutions obtained through the Chebyshev collocation method demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the approach. The investigation of flow parameters highlights their influence on heat transfer, contributing to the existing knowledge in this field. The agreement of the results with previous literature further strengthens the reliability of the findings. These outcomes have practical implications for engineering applications and pave the way for further research in related areas.

Keywords: squeezing flow, magneto-hydro-dynamics (MHD), chebyshev collocation method(CCA), parallel manifolds, finite difference method (FDM)

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Authors: Hafsa Kamran, Asma Afreen, Zaheer Ahmed

Abstract:

Internet addiction, an emerging mental health disorder from last two decades, is manifested by the inability in the controlled use of internet leading to academics, social, physiological and/or psychological difficulties. The present study aimed to assess the levels of internet addiction among university students in Lahore and to explore the effects of internet addiction on their dietary behavior and lifestyle. It was an analytical cross-sectional study. Data was collected from October to December 2016 from students of four universities selected through two-stage sampling method. The numbers of participants were 500 and 13 questionnaires were rejected due to incomplete information. Levels of Internet Addiction (IA) were calculated using Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT). Data was also collected on students’ demographics, lifestyle factors and dietary behavior using self-reported questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS (version 21). Chi-square test was applied to evaluate the relationship between variables. Results of the study revealed that 10% of the population had severe internet addiction while moderate Internet Addiction was present in 42%. High prevalence was found among males (11% vs. 8%), private sector university students (p = 0.008) and engineering students (p = 0.000). The lifestyle habits of internet addicts were significantly of poorer quality than normal users (p = 0.05). Internet addiction was found associated with lesser physically activity (p = 0.025), had shorter duration of physical activity (p = 0.016), had more disorganized sleep pattern (p = 0.023), had less duration of sleep (p = 0.019), reported being more tired and sleepy in class (p = 0.033) and spending more time on internet as compared to normal users. Severe and moderate internet addicts also found to be more overweight and obese than normal users (p = 0.000). The dietary behavior of internet addicts was significantly poorer than normal users. Internet addicts were found to skip breakfast more than a normal user (p = 0.039). Common reasons for meal skipping were lack of time and snacking between meals (p = 0.000). They also had increased meal size (p = 0.05) and habit of snacking while using the internet (p = 0.027). Fast food (p = 0.016) and fried items (p = 0.05) were most consumed snacks, while carbonated beverages (p = 0.019) were most consumed beverages among internet addicts. Internet Addicts were found to consume less than recommended daily servings of dairy (p = 0.008) and fruits (p = 0.000) and more servings of meat group (p = 0.025) than their no internet addict counterparts. In conclusion, in this study, it was demonstrated that internet addicts have unhealthy dietary behavior and inappropriate lifestyle habits. University students should be educated regarding the importance of balanced diet and healthy lifestyle, which are critical for effectual primary prevention of numerous chronic degenerative diseases. Furthermore, it is necessary to raise awareness concerning adverse effects of internet addiction among youth and their parents.

Keywords: dietary behavior, internet addiction, lifestyle, university students

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Authors: Satria B. Mahathma, Asri Hendrawati

Abstract:

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder syndrome characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. The number of people with diabetes rose from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. In general, almost 90% of the prevalence of DM is type 2 DM which marked by insulin resistance and decreased receptor sensitivity. Aside from conventional antidiabetic therapy, the utilization of medicinal plants as alternative medicine has beneficial effects in diabetic patients. Flavonoid contents in radish leaves such as quercetin, pelargonidin, and kaempferol are thought to have antidiabetic activity on decreasing blood glucose levels by tricyclic nucleotide modulation of pancreatic beta cells and ameliorating insulin resistance. This study aimed to determine the effect of variant concentration of radish leaves ethanol extract on blood glucose levels in diabetic rats. Method: This study used pretest-posttest control group design by using 16 male Wistar rats which were induced type-2 diabetic by streptozotocin 60 mg/kg BW-nicotinamide 120 mg/kg BW intraperitoneally. Rats who had developed type-2 DM later divided randomly into 4 groups; negative control received placebo, positive control received glibenclamide 5 mg/kg BW/day, rats intervention I and intervention II received 100% and 50% of radish leaves ethanol extract, respectively. Treatments were administered orally for four weeks. The blood glucose levels were measured using the Enzymatic Colorimetric Test “GOD-PAP”. Data were analyzed by the dependent t-test for pretest-posttest intervention difference and one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc test to determine the significant difference of each treatment to obtain the significant data. Result: The result revealed that intervention group had lower blood glucose levels mean than control group which the lowest was intervention II group (negative control: 540,9 ± 191,7 mg/dl, positive control: 494, 97 ± 64,91 mg/dl, intervention I: 301,92 ± 165,70 mg/dl, and intervention II group: 276,1 ± 139,02 mg/dl. Intervention II group had the highest antidiabetic activity, followed by the intervention I group with the amount of decrease in blood glucose levels were -151,85 ± 77,43 mg/dl and -11,08 ± 186,62 mg/dl, however negative and positive control group didn’t have antidiabetic activity. The dependent t-test result showed there is a significant difference in decreasing blood glucose levels in the intervention II pretest-posttest intervention (p=0,03) while the other group didn’t. Data analyzed by one-way ANOVA also revealed the intervention II group significantly declined blood glucose levels compared to the negative and positive control group (p = 0,033 and p=0,032, respectively). Conclusion: There is a significant effect of radish leaves ethanol extract on blood glucose levels in streptozotocin-nicotinamide-induced diabetic rats with the optimal therapeutic effect at a concentration of 50%.

Keywords: blood glucose levels, medicinal plant, radish leaves, type-2 diabetes mellitus

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