Beyond cute: exploring user types and design opportunities of virtual reality pet games

Virtual pet games, such as handheld games like Tamagotchi or video games like Petz, provide players with artificial pet companions or entertaining pet-raising simulations. Prior research has found that virtual pets have the potential to promote learning, collaboration, and empathy among users. While virtual reality (VR) has become an increasingly popular game medium, litle is known about users' expectations regarding game avatars, gameplay, and environments for VR-enabled pet games. We surveyed 780 respondents in an online survey and interviewed 30 participants to understand users' motivation, preferences, and game behavior in pet games played on various medium, and their expectations for VR pet games. Based on our findings, we generated three user types that reflect users' preferences and gameplay styles in VR pet games. We use these types to highlight key design opportunities and recommendations for VR pet games

Parental Acceptance of Children’s Storytelling Robots: A Projection of the Uncanny Valley of AI

Parent–child story time is an important ritual of contemporary parenting. Recently, robots with artificial intelligence (AI) have become common. Parental acceptance of children’s storytelling robots, however, has received scant attention. To address this, we conducted a qualitative study with 18 parents using the research technique design fiction. Overall, parents held mixed, though generally positive, attitudes toward children’s storytelling robots. In their estimation, these robots would outperform screen-based technologies for children’s story time. However, the robots’ potential to adapt and to express emotion caused some parents to feel ambivalent about the robots, which might hinder their adoption. We found three predictors of parental acceptance of these robots: context of use, perceived agency, and perceived intelligence. Parents’ speculation revealed an uncanny valley of AI: a nonlinear relation between the human likeness of the artificial agent’s mind and affinity for the agent. Finally, we consider the implications of children’s storytelling robots, including how they could enhance equity in children’s access to education, and propose directions for research on their design to benefit family well-being

Improved mid-term stability of MR reduction with an increased number of clips after percutaneous mitral valve repair in functional MR

Background: Percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR) has evolved to be a standard procedure in suitable patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) not accessible for open surgery. Here, we analyzed the influence of the number and positioning of the clips implanted during the procedure on MR reduction analyzing also sub-collectives of functional and degenerative MR (DMR). Results: We included 410 patients with severe MR undergoing PMVR using the MitraClip® System. MR and reduction of MR were analyzed by TEE at the beginning and at the end of the PMVR procedure. To specify the clip localization, we sub-divided segment 2 into 3 sub-segments using the segmental classification of the mitral valve. Results: We found an enhanced reduction of MR predominantly in DMR patients who received more than one clip. Implantation of only one clip led to a higher MR reduction in patients with functional MR (FMR) in comparison to patients with DMR. No significant differences concerning pressure gradients could be observed in degenerative MR patients regardless of the number of clips implanted. A deterioration of half a grade of the achieved MR reduction was observed 6 months post-PMVR independent of the number of implanted clips with a better stability in FMR patients, who got 3 clips compared to patients with only one clip. Conclusions: In patients with FMR, after 6 months the reduction of MR was more stable with an increased number of implanted clips, which suggests that this specific patient collective may benefit from a higher number of clips

BMX deletion mitigates neuroinflammation induced by retinal ischemia/reperfusion through modulation of the AKT/ERK/STAT3 signaling cascade

Aims: Retinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is implicated in the etiology of various ocular disorders. Prior research has demonstrated that bone marrow tyrosine kinase on chromosome X (BMX) contributes to the advancement of ischemic disease and inflammatory reactions. Consequently, the current investigation aims to evaluate BMX's impact on retinal I/R injury and clarify its implied mechanism of action. Main methods: This study utilized male and female systemic BMX knockout (BMX−/−) mice to conduct experiments. The utilization of Western blot assay and immunofluorescence labeling techniques was employed to investigate variations in the expression of protein and tissue localization. Histomorphological changes were observed through H&E staining and SD-OCT examination. Visual function changes were assessed through electrophysiological experiments. Furthermore, apoptosis in the retina was identified using the TUNEL assay, as well as the ELISA technique, which has been utilized to determine the inflammatory factors level. Key findings: Our investigation results revealed that the knockdown of BMX did not yield a significant effect on mouse retina. In mice, BMX knockdown mitigated the negative impact of I/R injury on retinal tissue structure and visual function. BMX knockdown effectively reduced apoptosis, suppressed inflammatory responses, and decreased inflammatory factors subsequent to I/R injury. The outcomes of the current investigation revealed that BMX knockdown partially protected the retina through downregulating phosphorylation of AKT/ERK/STAT3 pathway. Significance: Our investigation showed that BMX−/− reduces AKT, ERK, and STAT3 phosphorylation, reducing apoptosis and inflammation. Thus, this strategy protected the retina from structural and functional damage after I/R injury

Inhibition of NOX4 with GLX351322 alleviates acute ocular hypertension-induced retinal inflammation and injury by suppressing ROS mediated redox-sensitive factors activation

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction plays an essential role in the etiology of ischemic/hypoxic retinopathy caused by acute glaucoma. NADPH oxidase (NOX) 4 was discovered as one of the main sources of ROS in glaucoma. However, the role and potential mechanisms of NOX4 in acute glaucoma have not been fully elucidated. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the NOX4 inhibitor GLX351322 that targets NOX4 inhibition in acute ocular hypertension (AOH)-induced retinal ischemia/hypoxia injury in mice. Herein, NOX4 was highly expressed in AOH retinas, particularly the retinal ganglion cell layer (GCL). Importantly, the NOX4 inhibitor GLX351322 reduced ROS overproduction, inhibited inflammatory factor release, suppressed glial cell activation and hyperplasia, inhibited leukocyte infiltration, reduced retinal cell senescence and apoptosis in damaged areas, reduced retinal degeneration and improved retinal function. This neuroprotective effect is at least partially associated with mediated redox-sensitive factor (HIF-1α, NF-κB, and MAPKs) pathways by NOX4-derived ROS overproduction. These results suggest that inhibition of NOX4 with GLX351322 attenuated AOH-induced retinal inflammation, cellular senescence, and apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of the redox-sensitive factor pathway mediated by ROS overproduction, thereby protecting retinal structure and function. Targeted inhibition of NOX4 is expected to be a new idea in the treatment of acute glaucoma