Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Therapy upon attention Span and Concentration among Secondary School Students

INTRODUCTION : Virtual reality is a technique that allows a person to participate actively in a sense of being present in the virtual environment. Virtual reality has been proposed as a new way of conducting exposure therapy because it can provide a sense of being present in a stressed situation. This method appears to have several advantages over standard exposure therapy Virtual is artificial and reality is what we experience. The field of Virtual reality is growing rapidly due to recent advances in artificial intelligence and computer graphics. It has been believed that artificial intelligence can help to improve human health and longevity. Virtual reality was invented by Morton H. Eiligin in 1956. Virtual reality was introduced in medicine by Dr. Ralph Larson in the year 1990. He introduced virtual reality in medicine to treat his own fear of height (Acrophobia). At present virtual reality is being used as part of treatment. Prof. V.S.Ramachandran from the university of California is noted for his use of virtual reality and the neuro imaging – mirror neurons. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM : An experimental study to assess the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy upon attention span and concentration among secondary school students at selected school, Chennai. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY : 1. To assess the level of attention span and concentration in experimental and control group of students before and after administration of virtual reality therapy. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy by comparing the levels of attention span and concentration before and after administration of virtual reality therapy. 3. To determine the level of satisfaction among the secondary school students regarding administration of virtual reality therapy. 4. To find out the association between selected demographic variables and the level of attention span in control and experimental group before and after administration of virtual reality therapy. 5. To find out the association between selected demographic variables and the level of concentration in control and experimental group before and after administration of virtual reality therapy. The study was carried out upon 60 Secondary school students, in Chennai. Tools such as student background characteristics proforma, mindfulness scale on level of attention span, concentration questionnarie and Rating scale on level of satisfaction of virtual reality therapy were used by the researcher to collect the data. The content validity was obtained from various experts and reliability of the tool was (cronbach’s alpha) r = 0.70. The main study was conducted after the pilot study. The level of attention span and concentration was assessed before and after virtual reality therapy using mindfulness scale and concentration questionnarie in the group of students. Virtual reality therapy was administered every day morning 5 – 7 minutes for the period of one week for each student. After one week, the level of attention and concentration was assessed by using mindfulness scale and concentration questionnarie among the students. Then the level of satisfaction on virtual reality therapy was also assessed by using satisfactory scale. The data obtained were analysed using appropriate Descriptive and Inferential statistics. MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY : The study findings revealed that, a more than half of students were aged between 12-13 years ( 53.3 %, 50% )with the mean age of 13 years, majority of school students were males (66.7%, 68.3%), studying 8th class (60%, 56.7%), and their academic performance (marks scored in previous academic year)was between 76-90 percentage (50%, 46.7%). Most of the school students’ spending time to study in home after school has ranged between 76-90% (63.3%, 73.3%) in control and experimental group. Attention span without any distraction in majority of school students ranges between 21-30 minutes (60%, 43.3%) in control and experimental group respectively. Findings also reveal that there is no statistically significant difference between control group and experimental group with regard to background characteristics of the students (p>0.05) indicating the homogeneity of the groups. The study findings indicate that 60%, 56.7% of the control group of school students have average level to above average level of attention span before and after virtual reality therapy. Whereas among experimental group of the school students, majority were found to have average level of attention before administration of virtual reality therapy (60%), whereas after virtual reality therapy most of them had above average level attention span (93.3%). The study depicts that in control group majority of the students’ concentration is not good (needs improvement) (83.3%, 70%) before and after virtual reality therapy. Whereas in experimental group of the school students, majority of their (70%) concentration was in need of improvement of concentration before administration of virtual reality therapy whereas after virtual reality therapy more than half of them (60%) had good concentration. The difference in mean and standard deviation of attention span scores of school students in pre test (M= 55.6, 57.1, SD= 7.03, 7.4) between control and experimental group was not statistically significant (p<0.05). Whereas after virtual reality therapy the difference in the mean and standard deviation (M= 56.5, 61.9, SD= 6.9, 5.8) between control and experimental group of school students was statistically significant (P< 0.05). It can be attributed to the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy upon attention span. Hence the null hypothesis Ho1 “There will be no significant difference in the level of attention span in control and experimental group of school students before and after administration of virtual reality therapy” is rejected. The difference in mean and standard deviation of concentration scores of school students in pre test (M= 9.2, 9 & SD= 2.25, 3.04) between control and experimental group was not statistically significant (p<0.05). Whereas after virtual reality therapy the difference in the mean and standard deviation (M= 8.4, 6.7, SD= 2.92, 1.90) between control and experimental group of school students was statistically significant (P< 0.05). It can be attributed to the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy upon concentration. Hence the null hypothesis Ho1 “There will be no significant difference in the level of concentration in control and experimental group of school students before and after administration of virtual reality therapy” is rejected. The researcher found that most of the school students in the experimental group were highly satisfied with all aspects of virtual reality therapy. Study findings also revealed that, there was no significant association between the level of attention span, concentration and the selected variables of the students. Hence the null hypothesis H03 was retained. RECOMMENDATIONS : • The study can be conducted on larger sample to generalize the results. • The study can be conducted among the other group of school students like intellectually disabled children. • The study could be replicated in other settings like the community and colleges etc. • A study can be conducted to assess the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy on quality of life among the alcoholics, wives and children of alcoholics. • A comparative study can be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various other interventions to help the school students in improving their concentration and attention span. • The study can be conducted among the autistic children to improve attention and concentration. CONCLUSION : The findings of the study reveal that attention span and concentration lack, are one of the common problems faced by the school students. It may be due to various factors such as neurotransmitter imbalance, increasing nuclear family system and inadequate time to take care of the children by parents, misuse of technology etc. Virtual reality therapy is a nonpharmacological psychosocial intervention for the improvement of attention span and concentration, which can be practiced by secondary school students to improve level of attention span and concentration

PSEUDO RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION USING EYE BRIGHTNESS RESPONSE

Random numbers play an important and primary role in the use of Cryptography techniques in real time applications. The cryptographic techniques can be easily compromised if the key can be easily guessed. Therefore it is important that the keys are in random and unpredictable in nature. The operating system uses the random numbers to mask passwords and to offer salt and session identifiers. This paper introduces a new software based pseudo random number generation method based on the eye brightness response formula. This function provides a significant change in sensation for minimum required change in signal intensity. The randomness tests are performed to confirm the randomness of the generated random numbers

Effect of production factors on muscle fiber type and dimensions in the m. semimembranosus of crossbred steer carcasses

The muscle fibers that have been examined in the study were affected by three different controlled factors: steroids, ractopamine and residual feed intake (RFI). By examining the effects of the controlled factors on cattle’s muscle fibers, it can be determined if they affect different meat properties, such as meat toughness, collagen solubility and muscle fiber quality. The research had been done specifically with m. semimembranosus (SM) of crossbred steers. Although some may be concerned with the health effects of steroids and other materials, no negative effects to the health of the cattle were observed after the use of steroids. This is because the hormones being introduced into the cattle’s body already exist in the animal. In addition, the same concept applies to humans who consume the meat, preventing harm the people who consume it. For this study, 48 crossbred angus steers were used, 12 for each of the different treatment groups. The control group consisted of no steroids and no ractopamine. The second group was not treated with steroid but with ractopamine. The third group was treated with steroids but no ractopamine. Finally, the fourth group was treated with both, the steroids and the ractopamine. For each SM muscle, 1-inch thick steaks were cut and from those steaks, 1cm3 cubes were cut. These cubes were frozen in dry ice acetone until they are ready to be sectioned. Cubes are placed in the cryostat and sliced into serial sections of 10µm. These serial sections are then mounted onto dry slide glass and stored in a freezer at -80ºC until they are to be stained. The staining process helps to identify the different types of muscle fibers in the samples. From the muscle fiber types, the average sizes of each muscle fiber is calculated to identify inconsistencies among the different treatment groups. Conclusions will be drawn based on the inconsistencies found (if any)

Impact of Phytoconstituents on Oral Health Practices: A Post COVID-19 Observation

Appropriate oral hygiene significantly reduces the possibility of oral infections. However, dental caries and periodontal diseases are major oral health issues causing chronic diseases due to poor oral health. Recently, herbal compounds have gained interest in maintaining oral health. Extracts of burdock root (Arctium), noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia), and neem leaf (Azadirachta indica) are now used as intracanal medicaments in endodontics and periodontics. Plectranthus amboinicus species and other plants produces essential oil like β-caryophyllene, p-cymene, and γ-terpinenecan exhibiting antibacterial activity, highlighting phytoconstituents plays a vital role in oral health. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of hygiene and sanitization, to curb SARS-CoV-2. Oral cavity is among the gateways for virus entry into saliva. Saliva is a potential reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, and there is an increased risk of infection if there is any fissure in the mouth. This enables entry of virus into the vascular system through gingival or periodontal pocket, possibly reaching lung periphery then to lung vessels by interacting with endothelial surface receptors triggering pulmonary vasoconstriction and lung damage due to endothelial dysfunction. This review aims to draw attention to the possible route of SARS-CoV-2 infection via the oral cavity and the importance of oral hygiene against COVID-19

Gene editing improves endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrial contacts and unfolded protein response in Friedreich’s ataxia iPSC-derived neurons

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is a multisystemic, autosomal recessive disorder caused by homozygous GAA expansion mutation in the first intron of frataxin (FXN) gene. FXN is a mitochondrial protein critical for iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis and deficiency impairs mitochondrial electron transport chain functions and iron homeostasis within the organelle. Currently, there is no effective treatment for FRDA. We have previously demonstrated that single infusion of wild-type hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) resulted in prevention of neurologic and cardiac complications of FRDA in YG8R mice, and rescue was mediated by FXN transfer from tissue engrafted, HSPC-derived microglia/macrophages to diseased neurons/myocytes. For a future clinical translation, we developed an autologous stem cell transplantation approach using CRISPR/Cas9 for the excision of the GAA repeats in FRDA patients’ CD34+ HSPCs; this strategy leading to increased FXN expression and improved mitochondrial functions. The aim of the current study is to validate the efficiency and safety of our gene editing approach in a disease-relevant model. We generated a cohort of FRDA patient-derived iPSCs and isogenic lines that were gene edited with our CRISPR/Cas9 approach. iPSC derived FRDA neurons displayed characteristic apoptotic and mitochondrial phenotype of the disease, such as non-homogenous microtubule staining in neurites, increased caspase-3 expression, mitochondrial superoxide levels, mitochondrial fragmentation, and partial degradation of the cristae compared to healthy controls. These defects were fully prevented in the gene edited neurons. RNASeq analysis of FRDA and gene edited neurons demonstrated striking improvement in gene clusters associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the isogenic lines. Gene edited neurons demonstrated improved ER-calcium release, normalization of ER stress response gene, XBP-1, and significantly increased ER-mitochondrial contacts that are critical for functional homeostasis of both organelles, as compared to FRDA neurons. Ultrastructural analysis for these contact sites displayed severe ER structural damage in FRDA neurons, that was undetected in gene edited neurons. Taken together, these results represent a novel finding for disease pathogenesis showing dramatic ER structural damage in FRDA, validate the efficacy profile of our FXN gene editing approach in a disease relevant model, and support our approach as an effective strategy for therapeutic intervention for Friedreich’s ataxia

Enhancing Privacy Of Data Through Anonymization

A steep rise in availability of personal data has resulted in endless opportunities for data scientists who utilize this open data for research. However, such easy availability of complex personal data challenges privacy of individuals represented in the data. To protect privacy, traditional methods such as using pseudonyms or blurring identity of individuals are followed before releasing data. These traditional methods alone are not sufficient to enhance privacy because combining released data with other publicly available data or background knowledge identifies individuals. A potential solution to this privacy loss problem is to anonymize data so that it cannot be linked to individuals represented in the data. In case of researches involving personal data, anonymization becomes more important than ever. If we alter data to preserve privacy of research participants, the resultant data becomes almost useless for many researches. Therefore, preserving privacy of individuals represented in the data and minimizing data loss caused by privacy preservation is very vital. In this project, we first study the different cases in which attacks take place, different forms of attacks and existing solutions to prevent the attacks. After carefully examining the literature and the undertaken problem, we propose a solution to preserve privacy of research participants as much as possible and to make data useful to the researchers. To support our solution, we consider the case of Digital Footprints which collects and publishes Facebook data with the consent of the users.En kraftig ökning av tillgång på personligt relaterat data, har lett till oändliga möjligheter för dataforskare att utnyttja dessa data för forskning. En konsekvens är att det blir svårt att bevara personers integritet på grund av den enorma mängd uppgifter som är tillgängliga. För att skydda den personliga integriteten finns möjligheten att med traditionella metoder använda pseudonymer och alias, innan personen publicerar personligt data. Att enbart använda dessa traditionella metoder är inte tillräckligt för att skydda privatlivet, det finns alltid möjligheter att koppla data till verkliga individer. En potentiell lösning på detta problem är att använda anonymiseringstekniker, för att förändra data om individen på att anpassat sätt och på det viset försvåra att data sammankopplas med en individ. Vid undersökningar som innehåller personuppgifter blir anonymisering allt viktigare. Om vi försöker att ändra uppgifter för att bevara integriteten av forskningsdeltagare innan data publiceras, blir den resulterande uppgifter nästan oanvändbar för många undersökningar. För att bevara integriteten av individer representerade i underlaget och att minimera dataförlust orsakad av privatlivet bevarande är mycket viktigt. I denna avhandling har vi studerat de olika fall där attackerna kan ske, olika former av attacker och befintliga lösningar för att förhindra attackerna. Efter att noggrant granskat litteraturen och problemet, föreslår vi en teoretisk lösning för att bevara integriteten av forskningsdeltagarna så mycket som möjligt och att uppgifterna ska vara till nytta för forskning. Som stöd för vår lösning, gällande digitala fotspår som lagrar Facebook uppgifter med samtycke av användarna och släpper den lagrade informationen via olika användargränssnitt

Advantages and Limitations of Gene Therapy and Gene Editing for Friedreich’s Ataxia

Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an inherited, multisystemic disorder predominantly caused by GAA hyper expansion in intron 1 of frataxin (FXN) gene. This expansion mutation transcriptionally represses FXN, a mitochondrial protein that is required for iron metabolism and mitochondrial homeostasis, leading to neurodegerative and cardiac dysfunction. Current therapeutic options for FRDA are focused on improving mitochondrial function and increasing frataxin expression through pharmacological interventions but are not effective in delaying or preventing the neurodegeneration in clinical trials. Recent research on in vivo and ex vivo gene therapy methods in FRDA animal and cell models showcase its promise as a one-time therapy for FRDA. In this review, we provide an overview on the current and emerging prospects of gene therapy for FRDA, with specific focus on advantages of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing of FXN as a viable option to restore endogenous frataxin expression. We also assess the potential of ex vivo gene editing in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells as a potential autologous transplantation therapeutic option and discuss its advantages in tackling FRDA-specific safety aspects for clinical translation

Inhibition of Drp-1 dependent mitochondrial fission augments alcohol-induced cardiotoxicity via dysregulated Akt signaling

Cardiovascular disorders (CVDs) still claim high mortality in spite of advancements in prognosis and treatment strategies. Alcohol is one of the most commonly consumed drugs globally and chronic/binge consumption (BAC 0.08 g/dL in 2 hours) is a risk factor for CVDs. However, the aetiology and pathophysiological mechanisms of alcohol induced cardiotoxicity are still poorly understood. Mitochondria are the prime site for the ATP demands of the heart and also ethanol metabolism. These subcellular organelles depict dynamic fusion and fission events that are vital for structure and functional integrity. While fused mitochondrial improve ATP production and cell survival, increased fragmentation can be the cause or result of apoptosis. In this study, we proposed to analyze the mechanism of mitochondrial fission protein Drp-1-dependent apoptosis during alcohol toxicity. Male Wistar rats (220-250 kg body weight) were given isocaloric sucrose or ethanol for 45 days, orally, via drinking water and intermittent gavage twice a week. Histopathological examination of the heart displayed hypertrophy with mild inflammation. Drp-1 immunoblotting showed over-expression of the protein during ethanol treatment. We next hypothesized that inhibiting Drp-1 could attenuate alcohol-induced cardiotoxicity. Interestingly, silencing Drp-1 with siRNA in-vitro augmented cytotoxicity. Also, crude mitochondrial fraction showed increased Bak aggregation, reduced cytochrome c release but increased SMAC/DIABLO. We analyzed the Akt cell survival signaling and found that PTEN showed over-expression at both transcriptional and translational level with no significant change in total Akt but down-regulation of p-Akt (Ser473). In conclusion, we have shown that inhibition of Drp-1 dependent mitochondrial fission is not cardioprotective against alcohol-induced apoptotic signaling and augments the cytotoxicity. To our knowledge, this study is the first to interlink cell survival AKT signaling as the cause for cytotoxicity during Bax/Bak dependent apoptosis, where inhibition of Drp-1 dependent fission fails to protect

Perineural vs. intravenous dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to bupivacaine in ultrasound guided fascia iliaca compartment block for femur surgeries: A randomised control trial

Background and Aims: Perineural and intravenous dexmedetomidine as a local anaesthetic adjunct has not been compared previously in fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effect profile of dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to bupivacaine in single dose FICB for femur surgeries in two different routes i.e., perineural and intravenous route. Methods: Eighty American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1, 2 or 3 patients posted for femur surgeries were randomised to receive ultrasound guided FICB. Intravenous group(ID) received 40 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine with 2 mL of 0.9% saline for FICB along with 1 μg/kg dexmedetomidine intravenous infusion over 30 min as loading dose followed by 0.5 μg/kg/h as maintenance dose till the end of surgery. Perineural group (LD) received 40 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine with 2 mL of 1 μg/kg dexmedetomidine for FICB. M ean duration of postoperative analgesia and 24 h postoperative morphine consumption as primary and secondary outcome respectively, has been compared. Results: The duration of postoperative analgesia was 8 h 36 min ± 1 h 36 min and 10 h 42 min ± 1 h 36 min for the ID and LD groups, respectively (P = 0.001). A 24 h postoperative morphine consumption in Group ID was 19.7 ± 1.9 mg compared to 17.5 ± 2.2 mg in LD groups (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Perineural dexmedetomidine effectively prolongs the USG guided FICB analgesic duration and reduces the 24 h postoperative morphine consumption when compared to intravenous dexmedetomidine as a local anaesthetic adjuvant for femur surgeries