A systematic scoping review of approaches to teaching and assessing empathy in medicine

10.1186/s12909-021-02697-6BMC Medical Education21129

Characterization of host cell factors that determine the susceptibility of human and animal cells to coronavirus infection

Perturbations of host cell cycle regulations have been shown to be a unique feature for many DNA and RNA viral infections. One of the examples would be Coronavirus which is capable of causing acute and chronic respiratory diseases in mammalian cells. Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) is a prototype of Coronavirus. In an event of IBV infection, DNA damage response was induced through the interaction of nsp13 and p125 subunit of host DNA polymerase δ. The interaction of nucleocapsid (N) and nucleolar antigens will also lead to cell cycle arrest. These strategies were exploited by IBV to induce cell cycle arrest which will in turn facilitate viral replication in the cytoplasm of the host. Many efforts were done throughout the years in sought for mammalian host factors which possess a regulatory role in IBV replication. This study identified two mammalian host factors, Cell-division cycle 5-like protein (Cdc5L) and Cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor 3 (CPSF3), as a potential regulator of IBV replication. These findings have demonstrated Cdc5L as an enhancing factor for IBV replication by acting through Ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3- related (ATR) signalling pathway. However, more studies need to be done to conclude the functional role of CPSF3 in IBV replication.Bachelor of Science in Biological Science

The effect of stock market and commodity prices on structural credit risk measures of oil companies

This paper studied the extent the idiosyncrasies of some expected default probability (EDP) measures can be explained by the idiosyncrasies of the returns on market index, industry index and commodity prices. Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)’s OIX index and crude oil prices, OILBRNP, were selected as the market indicators. The Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas Extraction industry of SICCODE 1311 was studied in this paper, totaling to 178 companies. The credit models used were: Merton, Longstaff and Schwartz and Leland and Toft models. We found that, within the idiosyncrasies, the market and industry indices explained the Longstaff and Schwartz EDP measures better than the other measures. Furthermore, the commodity prices explained the Leland and Toft EDP measures better than the other measures. We construed that the EDP measures could be differentiated by the effects of market indices and commodity prices. We further suggested a structural explanation to this result.BUSINES

The future of Singapore as a tourist destination

This project examines the future outlook of the tourist industry in Singapore. During the last two decades, the tourism sector has been expanding continuously. The number of tourists arrivals in 1994 is expected to reach 7 million. Moreover, the preferences and travel behaviour of tourists are changing and new markets are emerging.ACCOUNTANC

Complementary and alternative medicine for long COVID: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions are growing in popularity as possible treatments for long COVID symptoms. However, comprehensive analysis of current evidence in this setting is still lacking. Objective: This study aims to review existing published studies on the use of CAM interventions for patients experiencing long COVID through a systematic review. Design: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: A comprehensive electronic literature search was performed in multiple databases and clinical trial registries from September 2019 to January 2023. RCTs evaluating efficacy and safety of CAM for long COVID were included. Methodological quality of each included trial was appraised with the Cochrane ‘risk of bias’ tool. A qualitative analysis was conducted due to heterogeneity of included studies. Results: A total of 14 RCTs with 1195 participants were included in this review. Study findings demonstrated that CAM interventions could benefit patients with long COVID, especially those suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders, olfactory dysfunction, cognitive impairment, fatigue, breathlessness, and mild-to-moderate lung fibrosis. The main interventions reported were self-administered transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation, neuro-meditation, dietary supplements, olfactory training, aromatherapy, inspiratory muscle training, concurrent training, and an online breathing and well-being program. Conclusion: CAM interventions may be effective, safe, and acceptable to patients with symptoms of long COVID. However, the findings from this systematic review should be interpreted with caution due to various methodological limitations. More rigorous trials focused on CAM for long COVID are warranted in the future

Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games CAN! Create (Arts Phase)

Create Action Now! (CAN!) Arts festival is a youth-for-youth campaign conducted by a team of final year undergraduates, in continuation of the CAN! Festivities adopted by the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) in 2009. The campaign aims to create youth excitement and engagement in the celebrations preceding the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (Singapore 2010), through the local sports and arts arenas. This report discusses the marketing strategies introduced by the authors from Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information (WKW SCI) in collaboration with the SYOGOC for the Singapore 2010 CAN! Arts festival, and summarizes the subsequent action plan for the campaign.Bachelor of Communication Studie

Clinical features and outcomes of neonatal COVID-19: A systematic review

10.1016/j.jcv.2021.104819Journal of Clinical Virology139104819-10481

Bacteria.guru: comparative transcriptomics and co-expression database for bacterial pathogens

While bacteria can be beneficial to our health, their deadly pathogenic potential has been an ever-present concern exacerbated by the emergence of drug-resistant strains. As such, there is a pressing urgency for an enhanced understanding of their gene function and regulation, which could mediate the development of novel antimicrobials. Transcriptomic analyses have been established as insightful and indispensable to the functional characterization of genes and identification of new biological pathways, but in the context of bacterial studies, they remain limited to species-specific datasets. To address this, we integrated the genomic and transcriptomic data of the 17 most notorious and researched bacterial pathogens, creating bacteria.guru, an interactive database that can identify, visualize, and compare gene expression profiles, coexpression networks, functionally enriched clusters, and gene families across species. Through illustrating antibiotic resistance mechanisms in P. aeruginosa, we demonstrate that bacteria.guru could potentially aid in discovering multi-faceted antibiotic targets and, overall, facilitate future bacterial research. AVAILABILITY: The database and coexpression networks are freely available from https://bacteria.guru/. Sample annotations can be found in the supplemental data.Submitted/Accepted versio

A genomic-augmented multivariate prognostic model for the survival of Natural-killer/T-cell lymphoma patients from an international cohort.

10.1002/ajh.26636Am J Hemato