The effects of Momordica charantia on the liver in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in neonatal rats

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of Momordica charantia (MC) fruit aqueous extract on the liver histopathological changes in neonatal rats streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus type II. Diabetes mellitus was induced in one day old neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats with STZ (85 mg/kg) and monitored for 12 weeks thereafter. The diabetic rats were separated into three groups as follows: the diabetic control group (nSTZ), the MC treated diabetic group (nSTZ/M), and the glibenclamide treated diabetic group (nSTZ/G). At the end of the treatment, blood glucose, serum insulin, alanine amino transferases (ALT) and aspartate amino transferases (AST) level was measured. Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration was measured in the plasma and liver. The liver samples were processed for light microscopy examination. The results showed a reduction of blood glucose, ALT and AST, and increment of insulin level in the nSTZ/M and nSTZ/G rats. Administration of MC reduced the MDA concentration in plasma and liver of the nSTZ/M rats. Glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity was improved in the nSTZ/M and nSTZ/G groups. The degenerative changes in liver were alleviated in the nSTZ/M and nSTZ/G groups. These results suggested that MC fruit aqueous extract may have a significant role in alleviating liver damage in the nSTZ-diabetic rats.Key words: Diabetes, Momordica charantia, liver, neonatal rat

Determination of antioxidant activity in methanolic and chloroformic extracts of Momordica charantia

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the antioxidant activity of methanolic and chloroformic extracts of Momordica charantia (MC) fruit. In this study, the total antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities in methanolic and chloroformic were measured by ferric thiocyanate (FTC), thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) methods. Total phenol and flavonoid contents of the MC extracts were also evaluated. The total antioxidant activity results indicated that, the inhibition percent of methanolic extract was significantly higher than the inhibition percent of chloroformic extract in the FTC and TBA methods. A higher IC50 value for free radical scavenging was found for methanolic extract when compared with chloroformic extract. Methanolic extract contained a significantly higher concentration of total phenols and flavonoids when compared with chloroformic extract. Methanolic extract contained more potent antioxidant and high polyphenol compounds when compared with chloroformic extract. The present study, confirmed that, the type of solvent has an important role in detecting plant compounds. The natural plant antioxidants and phenolics compounds in MC have the capability of being used in food systems to preserve food quality.Key words: Momordica charantia, antioxidant activity, polyphenol compounds, phenolics, flavonoids

Identification of strengths, defects, opportunities and threats in MOOC-based curricula in Iran’s higher education system

Background and Objective:Although the fields of teaching and learning have changed very little compared to other categories more than two thousand years ago, today, with the help of information technology, it has undergone rapid changes. In recent years, virtual education has emerged as one of the most important applications of new information and communication technologies in the world and extensive activities have begun in this direction. Virtual education has created a new paradigm and has enabled learning in any field, for any person, at any time and in any place. Among the various forms of e-learning, there has been a significant expansion of free online courses, MOOCs in recent years. The purpose of this study is to delineate the strengths, defects, opportunities and threats in MOOC-based curricula. This research is applied and used a qualitative method.   Methods: The statistical population of the qualitative section includes experts who have been engaged in the process of providing educational services during MOOC-based educational courses. From among this population, 14 individuals have been chosen as the statistical sample through purposive sampling. The data have been gathered through semi-structured interviews.   Findings: The findings show that the most significant strengths include: promotion of access to curricula, learner-orientation, the possibility of realization in learning society, enjoying high quality teaching and promotion of dynamism. Among the most important defects are the possibility of neglecting real situations in education, the possibility of lack of proper educational organization, the possibility of an increase in the financial burden of the curriculum, the possibility of exclusivity in curriculum development, the possibility of not being able to evaluate high order thinking skills, the possibility of taking teacher freedom away, the possibility of lack of organization in evaluation, the possibility of arising problems in precise verification of the evaluated person. The most significant opportunities are supporting the extension of educational justice, the possibility of investment, supporting up-to-date knowledge, extending international communication in higher education curriculum development, the possibility of revising university curricula, facilitating the promotion of evaluation methods efficiency and making the education more applicatory. The most prominent threats are disruption in university functions, making instructors’ professions questionable, lack of educational purposiveness, incompetency of curriculum objectives, opposition of values and superficiality of curriculum objectives, instrumental exploitation of MOOCs, incompatibility between content and the audience’s needs, evaluations becoming quantitative, disregarding the market requirements in the process of evaluation and doubtfulness and pessimism towards MOOCs. Conclusions: Based on the results of the present study, considering the contextual conditions and planning in the field of strengthening and its optimal preparation, as conditions affecting all the components and factors involved in the design of MOOCs in higher education; universities and higher education institutions should invest in the development of a culture that seeks to discover, invent, innovate, and create curricula based on MOOCs in order to establish a knowledge-based structure; expand the scope of MOOC-based curricula in academic settings through teamwork question and answer sessions between students and faculty, group discussions, and the formation of workshops and seminars in collaboration with other institutions and higher education centers.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

Reviewing and examining the effective factors impacting on the accessibility of Shahid Beheshti university’s courseware

Background and Objectives:Universities play an important role in society. They are centers of innovation, attract and nurture talent, create and share new knowledge, and are of great value in the national and regional economies. Thus, declining government budgets and increasing global competition for qualified staff and students have led universities to provide better conditions for providing education in a variety of ways. On the other hand, communication technologies have paved the way for distance learning by offering new methods of education. Therefore, with the development of the Internet and multimedia technologies and their use in educational programs, a kind of educational model called e-learning has been created. In e-learning, due to the existence of the World Wide Web, all stages of education have benefited from what the Internet has provided. In the web space, a variety of features such as online class notes and lecture materials, dynamic online Q & A systems, classroom preparation for exams, games and real-life simulations for educators and learners are provided. In order to present and manage activities in the e-learning environment, a software program called Learning Management System (LMS) is used, which provides facilities for sharing educational materials, sending notifications related to each lesson, presenting and performing assignments, providing users with online communication with each other, conducting evaluations, and evaluating results. Accessibility is one of the important indicators in obtaining students' and teachers' interest in a courseware. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the effective factors impacting on the accessibility of Shahid Beheshti University’s courseware. Method and Materials: Accordingly, a qualitative phenomenology research has been implemented. The population of this study is undergraduate students of the Faculty of Education and Psychology of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran who had an experience of working with the courseware. 15 Participants were selected using purposeful sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for data gathering until the theoretical saturation was achieved. The findings were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin coding method at two open and axial coding levels. Findings: According to the findings from 15 interviews, six categories including: the weakness of quick access to the content of discussions, the lack of off-line access to the discussions, not suitable access to the content on multiple platforms, lack of ability to display online users, the weakness in access to discussions of the previous groups; and lack of student access to their performance results, were identified. Conclusion: The main result of this research is to highlight the importance of the "availability" indicator for learning management tools and systems and also to determine the factors affecting this important indicator. If the designers and implementers of learning management systems in schools and universities are interested in improving the management function of their curriculum, it is necessary to pay proper attention to these six factors. Processes and components in courseware need to be changed so that they can be "more accessible" to their stakeholders by considering the above six factors. These factors could help e-learning administrators and designers to provide a better and more qualified experience for their students and faculties

Developing a Mooc-based curriculum model for higher education based on grounded theory: Case Study; Iranian Higher Education

Background and Objective: Not only has MOOC been able to reach a valuable place in the world of teaching and learning as an online educational tool, but it has also been recognized as a wave of thought that has attracted the attention of many writers and researchers. However, this issue is questionable in Iran because not only is MOOC not used as a dominant educational tool, but so far no research has been done on this issue. But in order to establish the effectiveness of this system in universities and educational centers, a comprehensive view of its situation in other countries must be obtained. Given the benefits as well as the challenges and threats that MOOCs may have for the country's higher education, foresight and adopting measures and strategies in the field of proper management in the use of MOOCs and their local production is very basic. Also, due to the need for adaptation of universities and educational institutions in Iran to different learning methods and online and new educational plans to ensure quality in providing services to users and adaptation to technological spaces that grow and develop online, conducting academic research on developments Higher education is very vital. The purpose of this study was developing a conceptual model for Mooc-based curriculum in higher education. Methods: This was a qualitative study and conducted based on grounded theory approach. The statistical population includes educational technology and higher education technology experts. Using the purposeful sampling approach and interviewing 14 people, theoretical saturation was achieved in the categories. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The reliability and validity in qualitative part of the research was through reviewing by experts who did not participate in the study. Findings: The important issue of current study is the higher education curriculum which is developed in four aspects of goal, content, teaching-learning methods and evaluation analysis and according to causal conditions, the underlying conditions and mediation terms of terms of developing strategies and based on that the final model is presented. Conclusion: The production of MOOCs in Iran is done by considering the contextual conditions and requirements of the environment, considering the philosophy of this matter, and adopting strategies in order to realize the MOOC-based curriculum model, which, if done correctly its effective consequences can be seen. In the present study, it was revealed that despite the weaknesses and challenges associated with MOOCs, the view of experts is positive about the existence of a MOOC-based curriculum. This means that the MOOC-based curriculum model can be used in higher education. Higher education, by taking appropriate measures in line with these challenges, can provide a suitable platform for this innovation in the field of teaching-learning. Also, due to the multicultural nature of Iranian society and the open space of discourse that exists in the MOOCs, it can be used for communication between cultures and subcultures in Iran considering these subcultures in the field of education.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

Achievement high level goals in E-learning with comprehensive feedback; (Standards and Criteria)

Background and Objective:The separation of learner and teacher from each other in e-learning, has made feedback as the most important challenge in this type of learning. Despite, there is no comprehensive framework based on the science of education, so that how to create educational feedback based on learning objectives. The purpose of this study was to compilation the educational standards and their indicators based on the Bloom- Methods: Anderson’s taxonomy for design effective and on time feedback for any educational goal. Qualitative research approach is used and based this approach, the phenomenological design strategy has been used. The population included 12 persons of subject matter and faculty member in academic e-learning centers which were selected through purposeful sampling. Those individuals included in the sample who had three characteristics: a) academic education in e-learning, b) teaching in higher education in the faculties of educational sciences, and c) working in e-learning centers of universities and educational institutions. To gather data semi-structured interviews were used. Qualitative data generated from interviews were coded and analysis by Corbin and Strauss method and Maxquda software. Findings: The results of the study led to the development of 4 educational standards and 25 indicators based on the Bloom-Anderson’s taxonomy to design a comprehensive feedback in the field of e-learning. According to the results of this study, educational technologists can evaluate or design more effective e-learning environments. Conclusion: Overall, feedback plays a key role in e-learning process that can pave the way for identifying problems in the teaching-learning process and proposing improvements to these challenges. However, timing of the feedback is critical. Lack of time shows that the potential benefits of feedback are often not achieved, and instructors are often unable to provide feedback tailored to educational conditions and goals. The results of this study can provide appropriate design and presenting of the feedback with the aim of learning and effective use of educational technologies at the right time. In this regard it can help designers of e-learning environments in a way that the right time to provide feedback is not wasted and always provide feedback at the right time and in the right way. Based on the results of the research, evaluators and administrators of e-learning environments can use the e-learning evaluation form of the paper prepared based on the standards and criteria in a Likert scale to evaluate the feedback method of e-learning instructors.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2020 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

Measuring the impact of virtual reality on a serious game for improving oral presentation skill

Background and Objectives: Oral presentation is a key competence for success in the diverse work environments that academics need. It is recommended as part of a higher education curriculum. The role of technology in improving oral presentation skills and especially facilitating feedback, is significant. In particular, the combination of serious game and virtual reality is a new area of ​​research that is a modern alternative to traditional skills training. The interactive digital environment, real-time feedback, the realism of the learning scenario, the direct experience, and the persistence of the knowledge gained are some of the virtual reality opportunities for skills training. It should not be overlooked that insufficient budget, negative attitude of users about their physical and psychological condition after experiencing virtual reality, and poor technological design of virtual reality environments are also among the limitations of this technology. However, recent meta-analyzes confirm the influence of virtual reality in learning environments. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to measure the impact of virtual reality on a serious game with the serious purpose of oral presentation training. Methods: We designed and developed an SG and conducted a quasi-experimental study with a post-test on 32 graduate students. The research question we sought to answer was “to what extent can VR impact the effectiveness of SGs in oral presentation training?” The authors also analyzed the cost-effectiveness of incorporating VR elements. The game focused on three key skills, eye contact, walking around while presenting, and time management. The experimental group played the game with the HTC Vive VR system and the control group played the same game with an HD display, a keyboard, and a mouse. In addition to that, we collected in-game data while players were playing the game. Mann-Whitney U test and Student's t-test were used to compare the two groups. Findings: Results revealed that VR elements did not have a significant impact on the demonstration of the players' eye contact skills but they increased players' tendency to walk around the virtual environment. Analysis of players’ performance regarding time management skills showed no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: It is concluded that even though playing the serious game with an HD display, a keyboard, and a mouse can be effective, turning the game into a VR experience would result in further improvement in the demonstration of some of the presentation key skills (walking around while presenting). However, creating a VR experience requires developers to spend more time and resources into developing the game. According to researchers, creating a VR SG for improving oral presentation skills allows for training to be done in the context that it occurs within. Moreover, the VR SG can be effectively used to overcome public presentation nerves. Also, due to the challenging economic situations outside the university and the need to benefit from communication skills and oral presentation, a serious game based on virtual reality can improve the indicators of oral presentation. Achieving this requires higher education attention to interactive technologies such as virtual reality.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2020 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

Effect of Morphine on the Number of Adenohypophysis Acidophil Cells in Male Rat

Abstract: Introduction: The influence of morphine on pituitary secretion through µmu receptors has been nearly known. It is also reported that morphine has an effect on cell proliferation. In the present study we investigated the effect of morphine on the proliferation of acidophil cells of adenohypophysis in male rat. Method: This study has been carried out on 14 adult male Wistar rats divided into two groups of morphine dependent and control. The animals in morphine-dependent group were addicted through consumption of morphine for 21 days. After controlling withdrawal syndrome signs, serum prolactin level was determined by Elisa method. In the next step after anesthetizing animals and performing cardiac perfusion, the hypophysis was removed and fixed at 10% formalin. After processing, staining was done by routine immuno-histochemistry method and the number of mammotropes and somatotropes in morphine-dependent and control groups were compared. Results: Mean prolactin production in dependent group as compared with control group showed significant increase. There was a significant increase in the ratio of mammotropes to acidophil cells and a significant decrease in the ratio of somototrops to acidophil cells in morphine-dependent group compared to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Morphine dependency may lead to increase in the percentage of prolactin secreting cells and serum prolactin level and decrease of growth hormone secreting cells. Keywords: Morphine dependence, Adenohypophysis, Acidophil cells, Ra

Experimental investigation of the effect of energy on the ore breakage

The comminution in Semi-Autogenous (SAG) mills depends on the impact conditions. It will be worthwhile to determine the efficient impact parameters. Drop weight test is employed to simulate the ball-flat impacts and study the effect of collision energy on ore breakage. Specimens are the copper ores of SAG mill feed of Sarcheshmeh copper complex. Minimum energy required for breakage is determined for each size. The size distribution of the broken ore due to the different specific input energies is determined and a relation is presented to predict it. Since the production of fine particles is important in SAG mill process, t10 is measured and discussed. The results of present work can be used to optimize the comminution in SAG mills by controlling the milling parameters such as the mill speed, liner height and profile, feed size and ball size to achieve the efficient mill throughput