Pigment diversity and biomass of phytoplankton in lentic water bodies of Bhadravathi taluk, Karnataka-India

The present investigation revealed that biomass of phytoplankton by chlorophyll estimation method shows that Chl.a, Chl.b and Chl.c distributions were unequal. The minimum concentration of Chl.a was 0.112mg/L during November at BVTS3 and maximum .077 mg/L was recorded same station in the month of December. The Chl.b concentration was 0.0023mg/L minimum during October at BVTS1 and maximum 0.6118mg/L during August at BVTS3 and 0.0083 mg/L Chl.c was minimum during October at BVTS3 and maximum 3.894 in October at BVTS4.The correlation coefficient of six physico-chemical parameters show fluctuating the positive and negative correlation with different chlorophyll pigments.  The Chl.c shows positive correlation with magnesium but others not. In BVTS1 of Chl.a, b and c show positive correlation with water temperature, pH bicarbonate and other stations were not showed the positive correlation

Effect of Pranayama on cognition and other higher mental functions

Introduction: Yoga and pranayama are the ancient Indian life style practices which has no limits for age or gender. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of pranayama on cognition. Materials and methods: This is a pre-post study which includes 100 healthy medical students of 18-25 years age group with equal male to female ratio. They practised daily pranayama (anulom vilom) for 10 minutes; two hours post lunch for 12 weeks in clinical laboratory, department of physiology, Prathima institute of medical sciences. Their cognitive function is assessed by trail making test and mini mental state examination at the beginning and at the end of 12 weeks period in which they regularly practised pranayama, and the results were compared. Results: There is no significant gender difference in the results obtained. After 12 weeks regular practise of pranayama, there is a significant reduction in the time taken for trail making test (P<0.001) and also significant improvement in the scores of mini mental state examination (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study shows that, there is a significant improvement of cognition with regular daily practise of pranayama

Opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: analysis by the Pharmachild Safety Adjudication Committee

Background To derive a list of opportunistic infections (OI) through the analysis of the juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients in the Pharmachild registry by an independent Safety Adjudication Committee (SAC). Methods The SAC (3 pediatric rheumatologists and 2 pediatric infectious disease specialists) elaborated and approved by consensus a provisional list of OI for use in JIA. Through a 5 step-procedure, all the severe and serious infections, classified as per MedDRA dictionary and retrieved in the Pharmachild registry, were evaluated by the SAC by answering six questions and adjudicated with the agreement of 3/5 specialists. A final evidence-based list of OI resulted by matching the adjudicated infections with the provisional list of OI. Results A total of 772 infectious events in 572 eligible patients, of which 335 serious/severe/very severe non-OI and 437 OI (any intensity/severity), according to the provisional list, were retrieved. Six hundred eighty-two of 772 (88.3%) were adjudicated as infections, of them 603/682 (88.4%) as common and 119/682 (17.4%) as OI by the SAC. Matching these 119 opportunistic events with the provisional list, 106 were confirmed by the SAC as OI, and among them infections by herpes viruses were the most frequent (68%), followed by tuberculosis (27.4%). The remaining events were divided in the groups of non-OI and possible/patient and/or pathogen-related OI. Conclusions We found a significant number of OI in JIA patients on immunosuppressive therapy. The proposed list of OI, created by consensus and validated in the Pharmachild cohort, could facilitate comparison among future pharmacovigilance studies

STRENGTH STUDIES ON UNCONVENTIONAL CONCRETE WHEN PARTIALLY REPLACED WITH CERAMIC TILE AGGREGATE

This research paper investigates the strength of unconventional concrete (UC) when coarse aggregate is partially replaced with ceramic tile aggregate (CTA). The research was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the strength parameters of unconventional concrete with that of conventional concrete of M30 grade were analyzed. In the second phase, coarse aggregate in the unconventional concrete was partially replaced with ceramic tile aggregate by 10%, 20% and 30%. The results of the experimental study determine the effective use of ceramic tile aggregate as a partial replacement of coarse aggregate in unconventional concrete and also serves in solid waste management

How Metaphor and Political Ideology Shape Lay Theories of Mental Disorders

Introduction: Lay theories of mental disorders impact social attitudes, stigma, and treatment seeking. We investigated whether common metaphors in mental health discourse shape lay beliefs about clinical disorders. Methods: Participants (N = 685) read a paragraph describing drug addiction (Experiment 1) or depression (Experiment 2) as either a demon or brain disease. They then reported their beliefs about and attitudes toward the condition. Results: Participants exposed to the brain disease frame expressed more support for a “medicalized” lay theory associated with a belief in underlying biological causes. We also found that participants with conservative political views held a more “moralized” view of both addiction and depression. This view is associated with a belief in personal causes, support for informal—as opposed to medical or psychological—treatments, and greater attributions of personal responsibility. Discussion: These findings help illuminate the factors that shape lay theories of mental disorders and have important implications for health communications

Program7 “Yuki in London”

平成24-25年度寄

ひきざん

平成23年度寄

Human-centred design methods to empower 'teachers as designers'

The present datasets have been used for the paper entitled "Human-centred design methods to empower ‘teachers as designers’". Abstract Teachers are learning designers, often unwittingly. To facilitate this role of ‘teachers as designers’, educators of all sectors need to adopt a design mindset and acquire the skills needed to address the design challenges they encounter in their everyday practice. Human-centred design (HCD) provides professional designers with the methods needed to address complex problems. It emphasises the human perspective throughout the design lifecycle and provides a practice-oriented, context-aware, empathetic and incremental approach which naturally fits educators realities. This research reports on a MOOC designed to ‘walk’ educators through the design of an ICT-based learning activity following an HCD process and its techniques. A mixed methods approach is used to gauge how participants experienced the MOOC and the various design tasks it comprises. Although the perceived level of difficulty and value on the different methods varied - and, significant differences were seen between the experience of novice and expert educators-, the participants felt the overall approach constituted a powerful means for them to design technology-enhanced learning activities. The results support the idea of HCD as a valuable framework for educators and inform ongoing international efforts to shape a science and practice of learning design for teaching