Design of Electronic Learning Courses for IT Students Considering the Dominant Learning Style

Methods of using e-learning courses to support learning activities of students at higher educational institutions is the subject of a large number of scientific and educational studies. In particular, much attention is paid to the structure, content and format of educational resources of e-learning courses. However, the problem of dependency of their efficiency on the learning styles of students still needs to be further researched. This paper deals with the learning styles characteristic for IT students on the basis of determining their leading modality; designs the structure of e-learning courses for IT students considering the dominating learning styles and provides the results of pedagogical experiment by measuring the performance and satisfaction in learning activity

Single-cycle viral gene expression, rather than progressive replication and oncolysis, is required for VSV therapy of B16 melanoma

A fully intact immune system would be expected to hinder the efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy by inhibiting viral replication. Simultaneously, however, it may also enhance antitumor therapy through initiation of proinflammatory, antiviral cytokine responses at the tumor site. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of a fully intact immune system on the antitumor efficacy of an oncolytic virus. In this respect, injection of oncolytic vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) into subcutaneous B16ova melanomas in C57Bl/6 mice leads to tumor regression, but it is not associated with viral replicative burst in the tumor. In contrast, intratumoral delivery of VSV induces an acute proinflammatory reaction, which quickly resolves concomitantly with virus clearance. Consistent with the hypothesis that therapy may not be dependent on the ability of VSV to undergo progressive rounds of replication, a single-cycle VSV is equally effective as a fully replication-competent VSV, whereas inactivated viruses do not generate therapy. Even though therapy is dependent on host CD8+ and natural killer cells, these effects are not associated with interferon-γ-dependent responses against either the virus or tumor. There is, however, a strong correlation between viral gene expression, induction of proinflammatory reaction in the tumor and in vivo therapy. Overall, our results suggest that acute innate antiviral immune response, which rapidly clears VSV from B16ova tumors, is associated with the therapy observed in this model. Therefore, the antiviral immune response to an oncolytic virus mediates an intricate balance between safety, restriction of oncolysis and, potentially, significant immune-mediated antitumor therapy

COVID-19 pandemic on coronary artery and cerebrovascular diseases in Southern Spain: interrupted time series analysis

Objective: Healthcare systems have been put under intense pressure by the COVID-19 pandemic, although some studies have shown a decline in hospital admissions for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases during the first and second wave of the pandemic. In addition, studies analyzing gender and procedural differences are scarce. The present study aimed to determine the impact of the pandemic on hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in Andalusia (Spain) and analyzed differences by gender and by percutaneous coronary interventions performed. Patients and methods: An interrupted time series analysis of AMI and CVD hospital admissions in Andalusia (Spain) was carried out to measure the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. AMI and CVD cases admitted daily in public hospitals of Andalusia between January 2018 and December 2020 were included. Results: During the pandemic, significant reductions in AMI [-19%; 95% confidence interval (CI): (-29%, -9%), p<0.001] and CVD [-17%; 95% CI: (-26%, -9%); p<0.01] in daily hospital admissions were observed. Differences were also produced according to the diagnosis (ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction, Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction, other AMI and stroke), with a greater reduction in females for AMI and in males for CVD. Although there were more percutaneous coronary interventions during the pandemic, no significant reductions were observed. Conclusions: A decline in AMI and CVD daily hospital admissions during the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic was noted. Gender differences were observed, but no clear impact was observed in percutaneous interventions

Combination therapy with reovirus and anti-PD-1 blockade controls tumor growth through innate and adaptive immune responses.

Oncolytic reovirus can be delivered both systemically and intratumorally, in both pre-clinical models and in early phase clinical trials. Reovirus has direct oncolytic activity against a variety of tumor types and anti-tumor activity is directly associated with immune activation by virus replication in tumors. Immune mechanisms of therapy include both innate immune activation against virally infected tumor cells, and the generation of adaptive anti-tumor immune responses as a result of in vivo priming against tumor-associated antigens. We tested the combination of local oncolytic reovirus therapy with systemic immune checkpoint inhibition. We show that treatment of subcutaneous B16 melanomas with a combination of intravenous (i.v.) anti-PD-1 antibody and intratumoral (i.t.) reovirus significantly enhanced survival of mice compared to i.t. reovirus (p<0.01) or anti-PD-1 therapy alone. In vitro immune analysis demonstrated that checkpoint inhibition improved the ability of NK cells to kill reovirus-infected tumor cells, reduced Treg activity, and increased the adaptive CD8(+) T cell dependent anti-tumor T cell response. PD-1 blockade also enhanced the anti-viral immune response but through effector mechanisms which overlapped with, but also differed from those affecting the antitumor response. Therefore, combination with checkpoint inhibition represents a readily translatable next step in the clinical development of reovirus

Prediction of the yield of grains through artificial intelligence

Grass turns out to be an appropriate food for cattle, mainly in tropical climate countries such as Latin American countries. This is due to the high number of species that can be used, the possibility of growing them year-round, the ability of the ruminant to use fibrous supplies and be an economic source (Sánchez et al., Data mining and big data. DMBD 2018. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 10943. Springer, Cham, 2018, [1]). In this work, an application of neural networks was carried out in the forecasting of more accurate values of production and quality of grasslands

Serratamolide is a hemolytic factor produced by Serratia marcescens

Serratia marcescens is a common contaminant of contact lens cases and lenses. Hemolytic factors of S. marcescens contribute to the virulence of this opportunistic bacterial pathogen. We took advantage of an observed hyper-hemolytic phenotype of crp mutants to investigate mechanisms of hemolysis. A genetic screen revealed that swrW is necessary for the hyper-hemolysis phenotype of crp mutants. The swrW gene is required for biosynthesis of the biosurfactant serratamolide, previously shown to be a broad-spectrum antibiotic and to contribute to swarming motility. Multicopy expression of swrW or mutation of the hexS transcription factor gene, a known inhibitor of swrW expression, led to an increase in hemolysis. Surfactant zones and expression from an swrW-transcriptional reporter were elevated in a crp mutant compared to the wild type. Purified serratamolide was hemolytic to sheep and murine red blood cells and cytotoxic to human airway and corneal limbal epithelial cells in vitro. The swrW gene was found in the majority of contact lens isolates tested. Genetic and biochemical analysis implicate the biosurfactant serratamolide as a hemolysin. This novel hemolysin may contribute to irritation and infections associated with contact lens use. © 2012 Shanks et al

Hemodynamic latency is associated with reduced intelligence across the lifespan: an fMRI DCM study of aging, cerebrovascular integrity, and cognitive ability

Changes in neurovascular coupling are associated with both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia in later life, but this may be confounded by cerebrovascular risk. We hypothesized that hemodynamic latency would be associated with reduced cognitive functioning across the lifespan, holding constant demographic and cerebrovascular risk. In 387 adults aged 18–85 (mean = 48.82), dynamic causal modeling was used to estimate the hemodynamic response function in the left and right V1 and V3-ventral regions of the visual cortex in response to a simple checkerboard block design stimulus with minimal cognitive demands. The hemodynamic latency (transit time) in the visual cortex was used to predict general cognitive ability (Full-Scale IQ), controlling for demographic variables (age, race, education, socioeconomic status) and cerebrovascular risk factors (hypertension, alcohol use, smoking, high cholesterol, BMI, type 2 diabetes, cardiac disorders). Increased hemodynamic latency in the visual cortex predicted reduced cognitive function (p < 0.05), holding constant demographic and cerebrovascular risk. Increased alcohol use was associated with reduced overall cognitive function (Full Scale IQ 2.8 pts, p < 0.05), while cardiac disorders (Full Scale IQ 3.3 IQ pts; p < 0.05), high cholesterol (Full Scale IQ 3.9 pts; p < 0.05), and years of education (2 IQ pts/year; p < 0.001) were associated with higher general cognitive ability. Increased hemodynamic latency was associated with reduced executive functioning (p < 0.05) as well as reductions in verbal concept formation (p < 0.05) and the ability to synthesize and analyze abstract visual information (p < 0.01). Hemodynamic latency is associated with reduced cognitive ability across the lifespan, independently of other demographic and cerebrovascular risk factors. Vascular health may predict cognitive ability long before the onset of dementias

Functional abilities, respiratory and cardiac function in a large cohort of adults with Duchenne muscular dystrophy treated with glucocorticoids

\ua9 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Neurology published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Neurology.Background and purpose: The transition to adult services, and subsequent glucocorticoid management, is critical in adults with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This study aims (1) to describe treatment, functional abilities, respiratory and cardiac status during transition to adulthood and adult stages; and (2) to explore the association between glucocorticoid treatment after loss of ambulation (LOA) and late-stage clinical outcomes. Methods: This was a retrospective single-centre study on individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (≥16 years old) between 1986 and 2022. Logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards models and survival analyses were conducted utilizing data from clinical records. Results: In all, 112 individuals were included. Mean age was 23.4 \ub1 5.2 years and mean follow-up was 18.5 \ub1 5.5 years. At last assessment, 47.2% were on glucocorticoids; the mean dose of prednisone was 0.38 \ub1 0.13 mg/kg/day and of deflazacort 0.43 \ub1 0.16 mg/kg/day. At age 16 years, motor function limitations included using a manual wheelchair (89.7%), standing (87.9%), transferring from a wheelchair (86.2%) and turning in bed (53.4%); 77.5% had a peak cough flow &lt;270 L/min, 53.3% a forced vital capacity percentage of predicted &lt;50% and 40.3% a left ventricular ejection fraction &lt;50%. Glucocorticoids after LOA reduced the risk and delayed the time to difficulties balancing in the wheelchair, loss of hand to mouth function, forced vital capacity percentage of predicted &lt;30% and forced vital capacity &lt;1 L and were associated with lower frequency of left ventricular ejection fraction &lt;50%, without differences between prednisone and deflazacort. Glucocorticoid dose did not differ by functional, respiratory or cardiac status. Conclusion: Glucocorticoids after LOA preserve late-stage functional abilities, respiratory and cardiac function. It is suggested using functional abilities, respiratory and cardiac status at transition stages for adult services planning