The Effect of an Augmented Reality App on a Learner’s Desire to Use Electronic Resources During the COVID-19 Epidemic

An innovative tool in the field of e-learning, augmented reality applications help students learn more quickly inside of online classrooms. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, conventional methods of instruction had to be put on hold at the outset of the pandemic. In light of the recent COVID-19 epidemic in Asia, this research explores college students perspective on online education using augmented reality software. Based on the idea of planned behavior, this research developed a conceptual model to investigate the attitudes and intentions of college students about the use of an augmented reality app for course-related e-learning. Information from 135 Asian college students was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Students attitudes and a sense of agency over their own actions had the greatest impact on their propensity to embrace augmented reality applications for e-learning, whereas subjective norms had a very little role, as seen by the studys findings. These findings validate students interest in and acceptance of cutting-edge education methods like augmented reality applications

Characterization of Smoc-1 uncovers two transcript variants showing differential tissue and age specific expression in Bubalus bubalis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Secreted modular calcium binding protein-1 (<it>Smoc</it>-1) belongs to the BM-40 family which has been implicated with tissue remodeling, angiogenesis and bone mineralization. Besides its anticipated role in embryogenesis, <it>Smoc</it>-1 has been characterized only in a few mammalian species. We made use of the consensus sequence (5' CACCTCTCCACCTGCC 3') of 33.15 repeat loci to explore the buffalo transcriptome and uncovered the <it>Smoc</it>-1 transcript tagged with this repeat. The main objective of this study was to gain an insight into its structural and functional organization, and expressional status of <it>Smoc</it>-1 in water buffalo, <it>Bubalus bubalis</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We cloned and characterized the buffalo <it>Smoc</it>-1, including its copy number status, <it>in-vitro </it>protein expression, tissue & age specific transcription/translation, chromosomal mapping and localization to the basement membrane zone. Buffalo <it>Smoc</it>-1 was found to encode a secreted matricellular glycoprotein containing two EF-hand calcium binding motifs homologous to that of BM-40/SPARC family. In buffalo, this single copy gene consisted of 12 exons and was mapped onto the acrocentric chromosome 11. Though this gene was found to be evolutionarily conserved, the buffalo <it>Smoc</it>-1 showed conspicuous nucleotide/amino acid changes altering its secondary structure compared to that in other mammals. <it>In silico </it>analysis of the <it>Smoc</it>-1 proposed its glycoprotein nature with a calcium dependent conformation. Further, we unveiled two transcript variants of this gene, varying in their 3'UTR lengths but both coding for identical protein(s). <it>Smoc</it>-1 evinced highest expression of both the variants in liver and modest to negligible in other tissues. The relative expression of variant-02 was markedly higher compared to that of variant-01 in all the tissues examined. Moreover, expression of <it>Smoc</it>-1, though modest during the early ages, was conspicuously enhanced after 1 year and remained consistently higher during the entire life span of buffalo with gradual increment in expression of variant-02. Immunohistochemically, <it>Smoc</it>-1 was localized in the basement membrane zones and extracellular matrices of various tissues.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data added to our understandings about the tissue, age and species specific functions of the <it>Smoc</it>-1. It also enabled us to demonstrate varying expression of the two transcript variants of <it>Smoc</it>-1 amongst different somatic tissues/gonads and ages, in spite of their identical coding frames. Pursuance of these variants for their roles in various disease phenotypes such as hepatocellular carcinoma and angiogenesis is envisaged to establish broader biological significance of this gene.</p

Papillary carcinoma thyroid with metastasis to ectopic cervical thymus

Papillary carcinoma of thyroid is the most common type of thyroid neoplasm which is usually confined to the thyroid and tends to metastasize to regional lymph nodes. Distant metastasis occur in up to 15% of cases. Thymic metastasis from any malignant carcinoma is extremely rare with only four cases reported in medical literature. We report a case of papillary carcinoma of thyroid metastasizing to ectopic cervical thymus which has not been previously reported

Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of Outpatient Physiotherapy After Knee Replacement for Osteoarthritis: Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial

Background: Primary total knee replacement is a common operation that is performed to provide pain relief and restore functional ability. Inpatient physiotherapy is routinely provided after surgery to enhance recovery prior to hospital discharge. However, international variation exists in the provision of outpatient physiotherapy after hospital discharge. While evidence indicates that outpatient physiotherapy can improve short-term function, the longer term benefits are unknown. The aim of this randomised controlled trial is to evaluate the long-term clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a 6-week group-based outpatient physiotherapy intervention following knee replacement. Methods/design: Two hundred and fifty-six patients waiting for knee replacement because of osteoarthritis will be recruited from two orthopaedic centres. Participants randomised to the usual-care group (n = 128) will be given a booklet about exercise and referred for physiotherapy if deemed appropriate by the clinical care team. The intervention group (n = 128) will receive the same usual care and additionally be invited to attend a group-based outpatient physiotherapy class starting 6 weeks after surgery. The 1-hour class will be run on a weekly basis over 6 weeks and will involve task-orientated and individualised exercises. The primary outcome will be the Lower Extremity Functional Scale at 12 months post-operative. Secondary outcomes include: quality of life, knee pain and function, depression, anxiety and satisfaction. Data collection will be by questionnaire prior to surgery and 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery and will include a resource-use questionnaire to enable a trial-based economic evaluation. Trial participation and satisfaction with the classes will be evaluated through structured telephone interviews. The primary statistical and economic analyses will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis with and without imputation of missing data. The primary economic result will estimate the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained from this intervention from a National Health Services (NHS) and personal social services perspective. Discussion: This research aims to benefit patients and the NHS by providing evidence on the long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of outpatient physiotherapy after knee replacement. If the intervention is found to be effective and cost-effective, implementation into clinical practice could lead to improvement in patients’ outcomes and improved health care resource efficiency

Intrusion Detection in SDN-Based Networks: Deep Recurrent Neural Network Approach

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is emerging as a key technology for future Internet. SDN provides a global network along with the capability to dynamically control network flow. One key advantage of SDN, as compared to the traditional network, is that by virtue of centralized control it allows better provisioning of network security. Nevertheless, the flexibility provided by SDN architecture manifests several new network security issues that must be addressed to strengthen SDN network security. So, in this paper, we propose a Gated Recurrent Unit Recurrent Neural Network (GRU-RNN) enabled intrusion detection system for SDN. The proposed approach was tested using the NSL-KDD and CICIDS2017 dataset, and we achieved an accuracy of 89% and 99% respectively with low dimensional feature sets that can be extracted at the SDN controller. We also evaluated network performance of our proposed approach in terms of throughput and latency. Our test results show that the proposed GRU-RNN model does not deteriorate the network performance. Through extensive experimental evaluation, we conclude that our proposed approach exhibits a strong potential for intrusion detection in the SDN environments

Association of toll-interacting protein gene polymorphisms with atopic dermatitis

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disorder, affecting up to 15% of children in industrialized countries. Toll-interacting protein (TOLLIP) is an inhibitory adaptor protein within the toll-like receptor (TLR) pathway, a part of the innate immune system that recognizes structurally conserved molecular patterns of microbial pathogens, leading to an inflammatory immune response. METHODS: In order to detect a possible role of TOLLIP variation in the pathogenesis of AD, we screened the entire coding sequence of the TOLLIP gene by SSCP in 50 AD patients. We identified an amino acid exchange in exon 6 (Ala222Ser) and a synonymous variation in exon 4 (Pro139Pro). Subsequently, these two variations and four additional non-coding polymorphisms (-526 C/G, two polymorphisms in intron 1 and one in the 3'UTR) were genotyped in 317 AD patients and 224 healthy controls. RESULTS: The -526G allele showed borderline association with AD in our cohort (p = 0.012; significance level after correction for multiple testing 0.0102). Haplotype analysis did not yield additional information. Evaluation of mRNA expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in six probands with the CC and six with the GG genotype at the -526 C/G locus did not reveal significant differences between genotypes. CONCLUSION: Variation in the TOLLIP gene may play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. Yet, replication studies in other cohorts and populations are warranted to confirm these association results

Variation in genes encoding eosinophil granule proteins in atopic dermatitis patients from Germany

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Atopic dermatitis (AD) is believed to result from complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. A main feature of AD as well as other allergic disorders is serum and tissue eosinophilia. Human eosinophils contain high amounts of cationic granule proteins, including eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN), eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) and major basic protein (MBP). Recently, variation in genes encoding eosinophil granule proteins has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of allergic disorders. We therefore genotyped selected single nucleotide polymorphisms within the <it>ECP, EDN, EPO </it>and <it>MBP </it>genes in a cohort of 361 German AD patients and 325 healthy controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Genotype and allele frequencies did not differ between patients and controls for all polymorphisms investigated in this study. Haplotype analysis did not reveal any additional information.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We did not find evidence to support an influence of variation in genes encoding eosinophil granule proteins for AD pathogenesis in this German cohort.</p

Efficacy of Fumaric Acid Esters in the R6/2 and YAC128 Models of Huntington's Disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominantly inherited progressive neurodegenerative disease. The exact sequel of events finally resulting in neurodegeneration is only partially understood and there is no established protective treatment so far. Some lines of evidence speak for the contribution of oxidative stress to neuronal tissue damage. The fumaric acid ester dimethylfumarate (DMF) is a new disease modifying therapy currently in phase III studies for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. DMF potentially exerts neuroprotective effects via induction of the transcription factor “nuclear factor E2-related factor 2” (Nrf2) and detoxification pathways. Thus, we investigated here the therapeutic efficacy of DMF in R6/2 and YAC128 HD transgenic mice which mimic many aspects of HD and are characterized by an enhanced generation of free radicals in neurons. Treatment with DMF significantly prevented weight loss in R6/2 mice between postnatal days 80–90. At the same time, DMF treatment led to an attenuated motor impairment as measured by the clasping score. Average survival in the DMF group was 100.5 days vs. 94.0 days in the placebo group. In the histological analysis on day 80, DMF treatment resulted in a significant preservation of morphologically intact neurons in the striatum as well as in the motor cortex. DMF treatment resulted in an increased Nrf2 immunoreactivity in neuronal subpopulations, but not in astrocytes. These beneficial effects were corroborated in YAC128 mice which, after one year of DMF treatment, also displayed reduced dyskinesia as well as a preservation of neurons. In conclusion, DMF may exert beneficial effects in mouse models of HD. Given its excellent side effect profile, further studies with DMF as new therapeutic approach in HD and other neurodegenerative diseases are warranted

Big Data Analytics for Wireless and Wired Network Design: A Survey

Currently, the world is witnessing a mounting avalanche of data due to the increasing number of mobile network subscribers, Internet websites, and online services. This trend is continuing to develop in a quick and diverse manner in the form of big data. Big data analytics can process large amounts of raw data and extract useful, smaller-sized information, which can be used by different parties to make reliable decisions. In this paper, we conduct a survey on the role that big data analytics can play in the design of data communication networks. Integrating the latest advances that employ big data analytics with the networks’ control/traffic layers might be the best way to build robust data communication networks with refined performance and intelligent features. First, the survey starts with the introduction of the big data basic concepts, framework, and characteristics. Second, we illustrate the main network design cycle employing big data analytics. This cycle represents the umbrella concept that unifies the surveyed topics. Third, there is a detailed review of the current academic and industrial efforts toward network design using big data analytics. Forth, we identify the challenges confronting the utilization of big data analytics in network design. Finally, we highlight several future research directions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first survey that addresses the use of big data analytics techniques for the design of a broad range of networks