Using technology, bioinformatics and health informatics approaches to improve learning experiences in optometry education, research and practice

Rapid advances in ocular diagnostic approaches and emerging links of pathological changes in the eye with systemic disorders have widened the scope of optometry as the front line of eye health care. Expanding professional requirements stipulate that optometry students get a meticulous training in relevant information and communication technologies (ICT) and various bioinformatics and health informatics software to meet current and future challenges. Greater incorporation of ICT approaches in optometry education can facilitate increased student engagement in shared learning experiences and improve collaborative learning. This, in turn, will enable students to participate in and prepare for the complex real-world situations. A judicious use of ICTs by teachers in learning endeavors can help students develop innovative patterns of thinking to be a successful optometry professional. ICT-facilitated learning enables students and professionals to carry out their own research and take initiatives and thus shifts the equilibrium towards self-education. It is important that optometry and allied vision science schools adapt to the changing professional requirements with pedagogical evolution and react appropriately to provide the best educational experience for the students and teachers. This review aims to highlight the scope of ICT applications in optometry education and professional development drawing from similar experiences in other disciplines. Further, while enhanced use of ICT in optometry has the potential to create opportunities for transformative learning experiences, many schools use it merely to reinforce conventional teaching practices. Tremendous developments in ICT should allow educators to consider using ICT tools to enhance communication as well as providing a novel, richer, and more meaningful medium for the comprehensive knowledge construction in optometry and allied health disciplines

Impaired energy metabolism: Involvement in neurodegenerative processes and CNS ageing

World is experiencing a consistent and steady increase in the ageing population with even higher proportional differences in the developed countries. Increase in ageing populations is directly correlated with the increased prevalence of age-related degenerative diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) such as Alzheimer’s disease and various other forms of dementias, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, retinal degenerative disorders, Huntington’s’ disease, multiple sclerosis, psychiatric and behavioural disorders amongst others

Effects of quarks on the formation and evolution of Z(3) walls and strings in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the effects of explicit breaking of Z(3) symmetry due to the presence of dynamical quarks on the formation and evolution of Z(3) walls and associated QGP strings within Polyakov loop model. We carry out numerical simulations of the first order quark-hadron phase transition via bubble nucleation (which may be appropriate, for example, at finite baryon chemical potential) in the context of relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments. Using appropriate shifting of the order parameter in the Polyakov loop effective potential, we calculate the bubble profiles using bounce technique, for the true vacuum as well as for the metastable Z(3) vacua, and estimate the associated nucleation probabilities. These different bubbles are then nucleated and evolved and resulting formation and dynamics of Z(3) walls and QGP strings is studied. We discuss various implications of the existence of these Z(3) interfaces and the QGP strings, especially in view of the effects of the explicit breaking of the Z(3) symmetry on the formation and dynamical evolution of these objects.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, PDFLate

TrkB Receptor Signalling: Implications in Neurodegenerative, Psychiatric and Proliferative Disorders

The Trk family of receptors play a wide variety of roles in physiological and disease processes in both neuronal and non-neuronal tissues. Amongst these the TrkB receptor in particular has attracted major attention due to its critical role in signalling for brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT3) and neurotrophin-4 (NT4). TrkB signalling is indispensable for the survival, development and synaptic plasticity of several subtypes of neurons in the nervous system. Substantial evidence has emerged over the last decade about the involvement of aberrant TrkB signalling and its compromise in various neuropsychiatric and degenerative conditions. Unusual changes in TrkB signalling pathway have also been observed and implicated in a range of cancers. Variations in TrkB pathway have been observed in obesity and hyperphagia related disorders as well. Both BDNF and TrkB have been shown to play critical roles in the survival of retinal ganglion cells in the retina. The ability to specifically modulate TrkB signalling can be critical in various pathological scenarios associated with this pathway. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms underlying TrkB signalling, disease implications and explore plausible ameliorative or preventive approaches

2-(2-Chloro­phen­yl)acetic acid

In the title compound, C8H7ClO2, the carboxyl group forms a dihedral angle of 74.83 (9)° with the benzene ring plane. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked into inversion dimers by pairs of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The dimers are linked into layers parallel to the bc plane by weak C—H⋯O inter­actions

3-(4-Chloro­anilino)-5,5-dimethyl­cyclo­hex-2-en-1-one

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C14H16ClNO, contains two independent mol­ecules, both with the cyclo­hexene ring in a sofa conformation. In the crystal, N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules related by translation along the a axis into two crystallographically independent chains. Weak C—H⋯π inter­actions are also observed

Cyclic plastic deformation behaviour of PHT piping materials - an experimental investigation

The work presents the cyclic plastic deformation behaviour of two varieties of primary heat transport piping materials to understand the hardening/softening behaviour, load history memory, strain range effect, mean stress effect and ratcheting behaviour. Microstructural changes during cyclic deformation manifest in cyclic expansion of yield that could be used to explain the hardening/softening behaviour. Both the materials memories the prior history, however, the effect disappears after some time. Both the steels exhibit non-Masing behaviour due to inhomogeneous substructural changes. Non-Masing behaviour could be explained through cyclic expansion of yield. Engineering stress controlled ratcheting experiments were noted to be inadequate and under predict the ratcheting fatigue life. Importance of true stress controlled ratcheting experiments were discussed

Bis(μ-N-benzyl-N-furfuryldithio­carbamato)-1:2κ3 S,S′:S′;2:1κ3 S,S′:S′-bis­[(N-benzyl-N-furfuryldithio­carbamato-κ2 S,S′)cadmium]

In the centrosymmetric title compound, [Cd2(C13H12NOS2)4], pairs of dithio­carbamate ligands exhibit different structural functions. Each of the terminal ligands is bidentately coordinated to one CdII atom and forms a planar four-membered CS2Cd chelate ring, whereas pairs of the tridentate bridging ligands link two neighbouring CdII atoms, forming extended eight-membered C2S4Cd2 tricyclic units whose geometry can be approximated by a chair conformation. The coordination polyhedron of the CdII atoms is a distorted square-pyramid. The five-membered furan ring and the benzene ring are disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.62 (8):0.38 (8)