Community of Ownership of Learning

New model of teaching and learning was introduced in our school to meet the needs of our students who seek greater autonomy connectivity as well as opportunities for socio-experiential learning The Connected Learning Pedagogy CLP was designed to mine the learning potential of the new social and digital media domain to create a community of ownership of learning promoting collaboration and connectedness among students lecturers and parents To support the implementation of CLP laboratories were equipped with computers and tablet PCs Through them students were connected to various social and digital media such as Facebook Moodle YouTube and iDe Lite ITE video portal to conduct their required research and learning The tablet PCs provided lecturers with the added advantage of mobility during lessons allowing them to facilitate the learning process with ease Students were engaged in many exciting ways through Apps in the tablet PCs In addition parents were connected to students learning through PRISM ITE Parents Real-time Information System on Mobile With the mobile apps PRISM parents are connected to realtime data on their child s learnin

Hypoalbuminaemia and its association with disease and clinical outcomes in cats

Objectives: To report the incidence of feline hypoalbuminaemia and characterise the distribution of presenting disease categories and pathoaetiologies of hypoalbuminaemia in cats. The secondary aim was to evaluate the relationship between hypoalbuminaemia and clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods: Medical records of cats with hypoalbuminaemia (&lt;28.0 g/L, reference interval: 28.0 to 39.0 g/L) presenting to a veterinary teaching hospital over 5 years were retrospectively reviewed. The severity of hypoalbuminaemia was further stratified into mild (24.0 to 27.9 g/L), moderate (20.0 to 23.9 g/L) and severe (≤19.9 g/L) groups. The median albumin and severity groups were compared between the determined disease categories, pathoaetiologies and clinical outcomes. Results: The incidence of hypoalbuminaemia was 32.7% (533/1632). Gastrointestinal disease was the most common disease category associated with hypoalbuminaemia [154/533 (28.9%)], of which, 49.4% (76/154) of cats had gastrointestinal neoplasia. Neoplastic [159/533 (29.8%)] and inflammatory conditions [158/533 (29.6%)] were common pathoaetiologies noted. Statistically significant differences in the serum albumin between individual disease and pathoaetiological categories were found. Cats with moderate to severe hypoalbuminaemia had a statistically significantly longer hospitalisation period, cost of treatment and increased odds of death (odds ratio 2.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.3 to 4.6 and odds ratio 3.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.5 to 6.6, respectively). Clinical Significance: The incidence of feline hypoalbuminaemia in our study surpasses previous canine reports. Our findings support albumin as a negative acute phase protein in cats, with hypoalbuminaemia frequently associated with inflammatory disease. Hypoalbuminaemia also features prominently in cats with gastrointestinal neoplasia, indicating careful appraisal of the presence of protein-losing enteropathy is required in these cases. Finally, albumin is found to be a prognostic indicator in this study.</p

Development and feasibility of first- and third-person motor imagery for people with stroke living in the community

Background: Impairment of arm movement occurs in up to 85% of people post-stroke, affecting daily living activities, and quality of life. Mental imagery effectively enhances hand and daily function in people with stroke. Imagery can be performed when people imagine themselves completing the movement or imagine another person doing it. However, there is no report on the specific use of first-person and third-person imagery in stroke rehabilitation. Aims: To develop and assess the feasibility of the First-Person Mental Imagery (FPMI) and the Third-Person Mental Imagery (TPMI) programs to address the hand function of people with stroke living in the community. Methods: This study comprises phase 1—development of the FPMI and TPMI programs, and phase 2—pilot-testing of the intervention programs. The two programs were developed from existing literature and reviewed by an expert panel. Six participants with stroke, living in the community, participated in the pilot-testing of the FPMI and TPMI programs for 2 weeks. Feedback collected included the suitability of the eligibility criteria, therapist’s and participant’s adherence to intervention and instructions, appropriateness of the outcome measures, and completion of the intervention sessions within the specified time. Results: The FPMI and TPMI programs were developed based on previously established programs and included 12 hand tasks. The participants completed four 45-min sessions in 2 weeks. The treating therapist adhered to the program protocol and completed all the steps within the specified time frame. All hand tasks were suitable for adults with stroke. Participants followed the instructions given and engaged in imagery. The outcome measures selected were appropriate for the participants. Both programs showed a positive trend towards improvement in participants’ upper extremity and hand function and self-perceived performance in activities of daily living. Conclusions: The study provides preliminary evidence that these programs and outcome measures are feasible for implementation with adults with stroke living in the community. This study outlines a realistic plan for future trials in relation to participant recruitment, training of therapists on the intervention delivery, and the use of outcome measures

Short GRB 130603B: Discovery of a jet break in the optical and radio afterglows, and a mysterious late-time X-ray excess

We present radio, optical/NIR, and X-ray observations of the afterglow of the short-duration 130603B, and uncover a break in the radio and optical bands at 0.5 d after the burst, best explained as a jet break with an inferred jet opening angle of 4-8 deg. GRB 130603B is only the third short GRB with a radio afterglow detection to date, and the first time that a jet break is evident in the radio band. We model the temporal evolution of the spectral energy distribution to determine the burst explosion properties and find an isotropic-equivalent kinetic energy of (0.6-1.7) x 10^51 erg and a circumburst density of 5 x 10^-3-30 cm^-3. From the inferred opening angle of GRB 130603B, we calculate beaming-corrected energies of Egamma (0.5-2) x 10^49 erg and EK (0.1-1.6) x 10^49 erg. Along with previous measurements and lower limits we find a median short GRB opening angle of 10 deg. Using the all-sky observed rate of 10 Gpc^-3 yr^-1, this implies a true short GRB rate of 20 yr^-1 within 200 Mpc, the Advanced LIGO/VIRGO sensitivity range for neutron star binary mergers. Finally, we uncover evidence for significant excess emission in the X-ray afterglow of GRB 130603B at >1 d and conclude that the additional energy component could be due to fall-back accretion or spin-down energy from a magnetar formed following the merger.Comment: Submitted to ApJ; emulateapj style; 10 pages, 1 table, 3 figure

Effectiveness of action observation and motor imagery on relearning upper extremity function after stroke : a systematic review and meta-analysis

The effectiveness of action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) in high-quality studies with less risk of bias is rarely reported together. This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of AO and MI on improving upper extremity function among people after stroke by combining evidence of studies with high methodological quality. Randomised controlled trials, with a score of 6 or above in the PEDro Scale, that examined the effects of AO or MI for people with stroke were selected. A narrative analysis and meta-analysis were conducted using the PRISMA guidelines. Ten randomised controlled trials from 11 articles met the inclusion criteria. The results of meta-analysis showed that AO had a small to moderate statistically significant effect on improving upper extremity motor function (standardized mean difference, SMD=0.34; confidence interval, CI=0.08, 0.59; P=0.35; I2=0.00%) and no significant effect on MI (SMD=0.08; CI=-0.26, 0.42; P=0.65; I2=0.00%) when compared with the control intervention. Evidence was found in support of AO and it is recommended for people with acute or sub-acute stroke

Modulating Integrin αIIbβ3 Activity through Mutagenesis of Allosterically Regulated Intersubunit Contacts

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Biochemistry, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.9b00430.Integrin αIIbβ3, a transmembrane heterodimer, mediates platelet aggregation when it switches from an inactive to an active ligand-binding conformation following platelet stimulation. Central to regulating αIIbβ3 activity is the interaction between the αIIb and β3 extracellular stalks, which form a tight heterodimer in the inactive state and dissociate in the active state. Here, we demonstrate that alanine replacements of sensitive positions in the heterodimer stalk interface destabilize the inactive conformation sufficiently to cause constitutive αIIbβ3 activation. To determine the structural basis for this effect, we performed a structural bioinformatics analysis and found that perturbing intersubunit contacts with favorable interaction geometry through substitutions to alanine quantitatively accounted for the degree of constitutive αIIbβ3 activation. This mutational study directly assesses the relationship between favorable interaction geometry at mutation-sensitive positions and the functional activity of those mutants, giving rise to a simple model that highlights the importance of interaction geometry in contributing to the stability between protein–protein interactions.NIH P01 HL40387NIH R35 GM122603National Science Foundation 1709506National Science Foundation 165011

Circulating Levels of Adipocyte and Epidermal Fatty Acid–Binding Proteins in Relation to Nephropathy Staging and Macrovascular Complications in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

OBJECTIVE—To investigate the relationships of serum adipocyte fatty acid–binding protein (A-FABP) and epidermal fatty acid–binding protein (E-FABP) with renal dysfunction and macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetic patients

Actinobacillus Actinomycetemcomitans Leukotoxin Requires Lipid Microdomains for Target Cell Cytotoxicity

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans produces a leukotoxin (Ltx) that kills leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1)-bearing cells from man, the Great Apes and Old World monkeys. The unique specificity of Ltx for the β2 integrin, LFA-1, suggests it is capable of providing insight into the pathogenic mechanisms of Ltx and other RTX toxins. Using the Jurkat T cell line and an LFA-1-deficient Jurkat mutant (Jβ2.7) as models, we found the initial effect of Ltx is to elevate cytosolic Ca2+ [Ca2+]c, an event that is independent of the Ltx/LFA-1 interaction. [Ca2+]c increases initiate a series of events that involve the activation of calpain, talin cleavage, mobilization to, and subsequent clustering of, LFA-1 in cholesterol and sphingolipid-rich regions of the plasma membrane known as lipid rafts. The association of Ltx and LFA-1 within lipid rafts is essential for cell lysis. Jβ2.7 cells fail to accumulate Ltx in their raft fractions and are not killed, while cholesterol depletion experiments demonstrate the necessity of raft integrity for Ltx function. We propose that toxin-induced Ca2+ fluxes mobilize LFA-1 to lipid rafts where it associates with Ltx. These findings suggest that Ltx utilizes the raft to stimulate an integrin signalling pathway that leads to apoptosis of target cells

Actinobacillus Actinomycetemcomitans Leukotoxin Requires Lipid Microdomains for Target Cell Cytotoxicity

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans produces a leukotoxin (Ltx) that kills leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1)-bearing cells from man, the Great Apes and Old World monkeys. The unique specificity of Ltx for the β2 integrin, LFA-1, suggests it is capable of providing insight into the pathogenic mechanisms of Ltx and other RTX toxins. Using the Jurkat T cell line and an LFA-1-deficient Jurkat mutant (Jβ2.7) as models, we found the initial effect of Ltx is to elevate cytosolic Ca2+ [Ca2+]c, an event that is independent of the Ltx/LFA-1 interaction. [Ca2+ ]c increases initiate a series of events that involve the activation of calpain, talin cleavage, mobilization to, and subsequent clustering of, LFA-1 in cholesterol and sphingolipid-rich regions of the plasma membrane known as lipid rafts. The association of Ltx and LFA-1 within lipid rafts is essential for cell lysis. Jβ2.7 cells fail to accumulate Ltx in their raft fractions and are not killed, while cholesterol depletion experiments demonstrate the necessity of raft integrity for Ltx function. We propose that toxin-induced Ca2+ fluxes mobilize LFA-1 to lipid rafts where it associates with Ltx. These findings suggest that Ltx utilizes the raft to stimulate an integrin signalling pathway that leads to apoptosis of target cells. © 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd