Android based text messaging for opportunistic network

Android operating system is dominating the mobile device operating system. There are many text messaging applications are available to download from Google Play Store, and install on the device. The existence of text messaging applications is slowly replacing the usage of Short Message Service (SMS) as the applications can send and receive text messages without any charges. However, these text messaging applications are needed to connect to Internet in order to send and receive messages. As today's smartphones are able to create and join any wireless network, opportunistic network that involve a great mobility nodes will be able to reduce its difficulty to implement. Opportunistic network doesn't have a persistent end-to-end path between the source and destination. The data will be exchanged and transmitted by the opportunistic contact between intermediate nodes. In this project, an Android-based text messaging application is designed and developed, and expected to work in opportunistic network

Effectiveness of a technology-based injury prevention program for enhancing mothers’ knowledge of child safety: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Provision of anticipatory guidance for parents is recommended as an effective strategy to prevent injuries among young children. Technology-based anticipatory guidance has been suggested to reinforce the effectiveness of injury prevention and improve parents’ knowledge of child safety. Objective: This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a technology-based injury prevention program with parental anticipatory guidance for enhancing mothers’ knowledge of child safety. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 308 mothers will be recruited from the antenatal clinics and postnatal wards of two major public hospitals in Hong Kong. Participating mothers will be randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. Mothers in the intervention group will be given free access to a technology-based injury prevention program with anticipatory guidance, whereas mothers in the control group will be given a relevant booklet on parenting. The injury prevention program, available as a website or on a mobile app, includes behavioral components based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The primary outcome measure will be the change in the mother’s knowledge of child safety. The secondary outcome measures will be age-appropriate domestic safety knowledge, attitudes, intentions, perceived behavioral control, and self-reported behavior related to home safety practice. We will also determine dose-response relationships between the outcome measures and the website and mobile app usage. Results: Enrolment of participants will begin in October 2016. Results are expected by June 2018. Conclusions: Parents will be able to easily access the domestic injury prevention website to find information regarding child injury prevention. It is anticipated that the technology-based intervention will help parents improve their knowledge of child safety and raise their awareness about the consequences of domestic injuries and the importance of prevention. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02835768; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02835768 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation/6lbXYM6b9)

Use of Internet Viral Marketing to Promote Smoke-Free Lifestyles among Chinese Adolescents

<div><p>Purpose</p><p>Youth smoking is a global public health concern. Health educators are increasingly using Internet-based technologies, but the effectiveness of Internet viral marketing in promoting health remains uncertain. This prospective pilot study assessed the efficacy of an online game-based viral marketing campaign in promoting a smoke-free attitude among Chinese adolescents.</p><p>Methods</p><p>One hundred and twenty-one Hong Kong Chinese adolescents aged 10 to 24 were invited to participate in an online multiple-choice quiz game competition designed to deliver tobacco-related health information. Participants were encouraged to refer others to join. A zero-inflated negative binomial model was used to explore the factors contributing to the referral process. Latent transition analysis utilising a pre- and post-game survey was used to detect attitudinal changes toward smoking.</p><p>Results</p><p>The number of participants increased almost eightfold from 121 to 928 (34.6% current or ex-smokers) during the 22-day campaign. Participants exhibited significant attitudinal change, with 73% holding negative attitudes toward smoking after the campaign compared to 57% before it. The transition probabilities from positive to negative and neutral to negative attitudes were 0.52 and 0.48, respectively. It was also found that attempting every 20 quiz questions was associated with lower perceived smoking decision in future (OR  = 0.95, p-value <0.01).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Our online game-based viral marketing programme was effective in reaching a large number of smoking and non-smoking participants and changing their attitudes toward smoking. It constitutes a promising practical and cost-effective model for engaging young smokers and promulgating smoking-related health information among Chinese adolescents.</p></div

Epstein-Barr Virus Infection Alters Cellular Signal Cascades in Human Nasopharyngeal Epithelial Cells

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent infection is a critical event in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tumorigenesis. EBV-encoded genes have been shown to be involved in immune evasion and in the regulation of various cellular signaling cascades. To elucidate the roles of EBV in NPC development, stable infection of EBV in nasopharyngeal epithelial cell lines was established. Similar to primary tumors of NPC, these infected cells exhibited a type II EBV latency expression pattern. In this study, multiple cellular signaling pathways in EBV-infected cells were investigated. We first demonstrated that in vitro EBV infection resulted in the activation of STAT3 and NFκB signal cascades in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. Increased expression of their downstream targets (c-Myc, Bcl-xL, IL-6, LIF, SOCS-1, SOCS-3, VEGF, and COX-2) was also observed. Moreover, EBV latent infection induced the suppression of p38-MAPK activities, but did not activate PKR cascade. Our findings suggest that EBV latent infection is able to manipulate multiple cellular signal cascades to protect infected cells from immunologic attack and to facilitate cancer development

Summary of LTA.

#<p>Item response probability is the probability to choose an item conditional on the persons' latent class membership. For example, in the question ‘number of friends of boys as affected by smoking’, a participant in Class 1 would have a 0.98 probability to select ‘Less’, 0.02 to select ‘Indifferent’ and 0.01 to select ‘More’. These probabilities help interpreting the latent classes and are conceptually similar to factor loadings in factor analysis. For detailed technical specifications, please refer to Lanza <i>et al</i> and Rindskopf <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0099082#pone.0099082-Lanza1" target="_blank">[41]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0099082#pone.0099082-Rindskopf1" target="_blank">[42]</a>.</p

Factors associated with the number of referrals.

<p>*p-value <0.05; **p-value <0.01. Results estimated by zero-inflated negative binomial model using all 928 users who completed the registration process.</p

Referral process of the campaign.

<p>Left panel: number of non-smokers versus current or ex-smokers at each referral level. Right panel: Age distribution of all users in referral pathways originating from level-1 users in 10 to 14, 15 to 19, 20 to 24 age groups.</p