Effect of Cell Phone Usage on Semen Analysis in Men Attending Infertility Clinics: An Observational Study

Compares the sperm parameters -- such as mean sperm count, motility, viability, and normal morphology -- of men divided into four groups according to the amount of time they spend on cell phones on a daily basis

Effects of dietary fat saturation on lipoprotein metabolism in rodents and humans

Consumption of trans-fatty acids (tFA) and saturated fatty acids (SFA) have been associated with higher incidence of coronary heart disease. Experimental and observational data suggests that consumption of PHVO containing tFA, like SFA leads to increased total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) but compared to tFA, SFA raises HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C). An attempt to eliminate PHVO from the food supply has resulted in the need to find alternatives which despite their higher dietary fat saturation as compared to naturally occurring vegetable oils, may be preferable to PHVO. However, amongst SFA, the effects on plasma lipoproteins are variable. Thus, we hypothesized that specific combinations of dietary SFA will not contribute to an adverse lipid profile. We used gerbils and hamsters as our study models to determine the effects of Lauric and Myristic Acid (Hi-LM), Oleic Acid (Hi-OL), Palmitic Acid (Hi-PO), Linoleic Acid (Hi-LO Low-LN), Stearic acid and Linoleic Acid (Hi-SLO) supplemented diets on plasma and liver lipids and lipoproteins. The results revealed that compared to the Hi-LM diet, all diets had lower TC, LDL-C and HDL-C. Liver lipids were similar for all the diet groups. Also, we analyzed the gene expression for the reverse Cholesterol transport genes. No significant differences in ABCA1, ApoA1, CETP or SR-B1 were observed between the diet groups compared with Hi-LM diet. The data suggested no additional adverse effects on CHD risk factors compared with Hi-LM diet. Carbohydrates are generally considered a safe replacement for SFA. We used a hamster model to evaluate the extent to which the amount and type of SFA affect lipoproteins. Diets were formulated such that percentage of calories from protein, MUFA and PUFA were kept constant while calories from Lauric and Myristic (60%LM, 45%LM, 30% LM) or Palmitic Acid (45%PA, 30% PA) were replaced with calories from carbohydrate and compared to 21% CON diet. Plasma TC and n-HDL-C was lower in all diet groups compared with 60%LM and 45% LM supplemented groups. Liver lipids were similar in all diet groups. Analysis of Reverse Cholesterol Transport genes revealed no significant differences in expression between the diet groups compared with 21% CON. Data suggests no adverse effect of PA at any level of consumption and no net effect of replacing CHO for at any level of SFA. The postprandial state is a reflection of the metabolic state in humans due to regular diet intake. We used an oral challenge to test oils with various fatty acid compositions (Hi-PO, Hi-LO and Hi-OL) to evaluate postprandial changes in lipids at 0, 2, 4 and 8 hours. No significant differences were seen in TC, HDL-C, TC:HDL-C and TG between the test oils. We analyzed the chylomicron fractions following the oral fat challenge and data revealed no significant differences in the chylomicron fractions between the test oils. Additionally, we measured CETP activity in plasma following the challenge and no significant differences were observed. The data suggests in agreement with the hypothesis, oil formulations with specific SFA will not cause any adverse effects in lipids and lipoproteins

Mental Health Resources for Pediatric Patients

Mental health concerns in pediatrics patients have been rising since before the pandemic. There are a number of barriers to pediatric patients getting the mental healthcare they need. One of these relates to help-seeking behaviors, where children and families who don\u27t have the right awareness of resources available to them may not be able to seek the care required. This project aimed to create a smartphrase that provides pediatric patients and families with a list of resources for finding a counselor/therapist, mental health crisis resources and other community resources both within Chittenden County and other VT counties, and links to resources about how parents can support their children\u27s brain health at home.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/2151/thumbnail.jp

Antipsychotics - a key line treatment for various psychotic symptoms

‘Psychosis’ is the state of mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality followed by delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thoughts etc. which mainly occurs because of the imbalance of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin or glutamate. About 5-8% of people suffer from mental disorders in the whole world. In the earlier time it was difficult to treat such psychotic patients. So, when antipsychotics came in the market the treatment of such serious mental conditions became possible. Mainly two categories of antipsychotics are prescribed, out of which second generation are commonly prescribed because of their less adverse effects

Virtual learning environment for watershed science education

Environmental education has been evolving for many years. Today it has become imperative that the colleges and universities modify their curricula to impart the students with adequate knowledge of earth and environmental sciences. The revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs) has shaken the foundations of higher education and life-long learning in general. Undergraduate education, utilizing these new technologies, which involves active student participation and inquiry based pedagogy, will be the key to developing a workforce and environmentally literate citizenry who can critically evaluate issues related to environment and natural resources. This research is focused towards the creation and development of a set of interactive, student centered, inquiry-based online learning modules, including simulation and visualization tools that enhance watershed ecosystem science education. The basic aim of this research was to create learning materials that lead students through problem-solving exercises involving real-world watershed management problems and integrates modern technologies to provide a richer vision of complex environmental processes and concepts

Feasibility of a Carbon Consumption Tax for sustainable development – A case study of India

Global climate change is a major issue confronting policymakers worldwide, and there is widespread scientific acceptance of the reality of climate change and its adverse consequences In terms of economic analysis, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), which cause planetary climate changes, represent both an environmental externality and the overuse of a common property resource. The paper is premised around the hypothesis that tax policy can be used to address climate concerns by making less Green House Gas intensive purchases and investments more financially attractive. However, in the absence of an international framework capping GHG emissions, countries adopting mitigation policies incur costs that would not exist under global cooperation such as the loss of competitiveness and emissions leakage. A consumption tax based on the carbon footprint of a product levied on all products at the point of purchase by the final end-user, regardless of where the goods are produced using a Credit-method would be capable of addressing these concerns of emissions leakage and loss of competitiveness, while being WTO compliant. The author intends to test the feasibility and effectiveness of such a carbon consumption tax in the Indian Context. The author shall test the feasibility of levy of such a consumption tax in the context of India and evaluate the effectiveness in mitigating climate change and catering to the goal of sustainable development

Does Size Matter? An Investigation of Collaborative Information Technology Adoption by US Firms

We explore the adoption pattern of seven IT innovations to support taskoriented collaboration between group members working asynchronously or synchronously and the impact of two size-related variables, organization size and the size of the internal IT function, on the adoption of these seven IT innovations. IT adoption is viewed as a transition from the state of non-adoption to adoption (adoption status) and then to the extent of accessibility of the IT to organizational end-users (adoption level). Analysis of data collected from one hundred and eighteen U.S. organizations suggests that adoption patterns of the seven IT clusters vary considerably and that size (organization and IT function) is associated with the aggregate adoption status of the ITs investigated. Larger organizations with larger IT functions had adopted more of the ITs than their smaller counterparts. However, when exploring effects of size-related variables on adoption status of individual IT clusters, our findings suggest that size is associated with adoption of only those IT clusters that may require large resource infusions for acquisition, are fairly complex to use, and require substantial technical support. Size was not found to be associated with the adoption level of the majority of individual IT clusters. However, interestingly, at the aggregate level, our results suggest that once adopted, the IT clusters had higher adoption level in smaller organizations than their larger counterparts. Implications of these findings are discussed along with some directions for practice and research

Organizational Readiness for Business Intelligence and Analytics Systems Success

BI&A systems have the potential to improve business performance by facilitating innovations, creating new products and service, and enhancing decision making effectiveness. However, it requires certain technological and organizational capabilities to fully realize the values of BI&A systems. This study investigates how an organization needs to prepare itself to harvest from its investments in BI&A systems. We build a model using the contingency approach to test factors that affect the success of BI&A systems. The insights from this study can inform managers of business organizations about their organizational readiness for the success of their BI&A systems and identify best practices to implement BI&A systems in business organizations. It will also help advance our knowledge in how to accurately assess the success of BI&A systems