Development and evaluation of an evidence based smoking cessation app for the Malaysian population: the self-determination theory approach / Budi Aslinie Md. Sabri

Tobacco use in Malaysia accounts for 35% of in-hospital deaths, principally from cancer, heart disease and stroke. Thus, effective interventions to support smoking cessation are urgently needed. Smartphones are increasingly receiving attention as a means to assist individuals’ health management through the usage of apps such as smoking cessation apps. However, recent content analysis found that they do not typically adhere to evidence-based principles for smoking cessation and may not sufficiently stimulate autonomous-motivation. This research aims to develop and evaluate a bilingual (Malay/English) evidence-based smoking-cessation app which incorporates self-determination theory features for the Malaysian population. This project was conducted in threephases. Content development phase involved identifying ideal features of an app for behaviour modification in smoking cessation. The technical development phase focused on the technical development of the app which involved creating a programming- language framework. The final phase involved testing and evaluation using the 23-item MARS rating scale which is a validated measure of rating mobile health apps. Preliminary evaluation showed that the MARS total mean score which correspond to a star rating scale was (M=3.35 S.D ±0.50), while the mean score for each domain are as follows; engagement (M=3.30 SD±0.54), functionality (M=3.46 SD±0.64), aesthetics (M=3.46 SD±0.62), information (M=3.39 SD±0.63), subjective quality (M2.91 SD±0.65). More than 90% of the sample felt that this app is likely to increase awareness, knowledge, and motivation, influence change the attitude to smoking cessation in terms of help seeking and behaviour. Thus, the smoking cessation app developed incorporated the three parameters in SDT and fulfils the basic criteria of a health management app as measured by the MARS scale and can potentially aid in smoking cessation activities

Synthesis of Tapioca Cellulose-based Poly(amidoxime) Ligand for Removal of Heavy Metal Ions

Poly(acrylonitrile)/cellulose block copolymer (PAN-b-cell) was prepared by using a free radical initiating process and then the nitrile functional groups of the PAN blocks of the copolymers were transformed into amidoxime ligands. The resulting poly(amidoxime) ligands could complex with heavy metal ions; for example, the reflectance spectra of the [Cu -ligand]n+ was found to be at the highest absorbance, about 94%, at pH 6. The pH was the key parameter for metal ions sensing by the ligand. The adsorption capacity for copper was very good, 272 mg g−1, with a fast adsorption rate (t1/2 = 10 min). The adsorption capacities for other heavy metal ions such as Fe3+, Cr3+, Co3+ and Ni2+ were also good, being 242, 219, 201 and 195 mg g−1, respectively, at pH 6. The heavy metal ions removal efficiency from water was 98% at low concentration. The data proved that the heavy metal ions adsorption onto the polymer ligands were well fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model (R2>0.99), which suggests that the cellulose-based adsorbent surface namely the poly(amidoxime) ligand, was homogenous and a monolayer. The reusability was examined by a sorption/desorption process for six cycles and the extraction efficiency was determined. This new adsorbent could be reused for 6 cycles without any significant loss in its original removal function

An inside view on Blended Learning: The relationship between blended learning and service quality / Norida Abu Bakar...[et al.]

The purpose of this paper is to review the application and the development of blended learning from the student perspective. Blended learning combines both the classroom and technology to engage learners in meaningful learning experiences, has led to new teaching models and learning styles that embraces the latest technology.As the number of the student intake are growing, it is important to the university to identify the level of saticfaction on Blended learning. The paper use quantitative research methodology to answer the three research questions of this study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Data collected was sorted, classified, coded and tabulated for an ease of analysis by using student statistical package SPSS 20.The result shows only two variable are significant to the blended learning. The conclusion shows the topic on blended learning was good because in the developmental stage and it needs effective improvement from the organization in terms of infrastructure and training of instructors and learners with efficient skills in teaching and learning online

EST-PAC a web package for EST annotation and protein sequence prediction

With the decreasing cost of DNA sequencing technology and the vast diversity of biological resources, researchers increasingly face the basic challenge of annotating a larger number of expressed sequences tags (EST) from a variety of species. This typically consists of a series of repetitive tasks, which should be automated and easy to use. The results of these annotation tasks need to be stored and organized in a consistent way. All these operations should be self-installing, platform independent, easy to customize and amenable to using distributed bioinformatics resources available on the Internet. In order to address these issues, we present EST-PAC a web oriented multi-platform software package for expressed sequences tag (EST) annotation. EST-PAC provides a solution for the administration of EST and protein sequence annotations accessible through a web interface. Three aspects of EST annotation are automated: 1) searching local or remote biological databases for sequence similarities using Blast services, 2) predicting protein coding sequence from EST data and, 3) annotating predicted protein sequences with functional domain predictions. In practice, EST-PAC integrates the BLASTALL suite, EST-Scan2 and HMMER in a relational database system accessible through a simple web interface. EST-PAC also takes advantage of the relational database to allow consistent storage, powerful queries of results and, management of the annotation process. The system allows users to customize annotation strategies and provides an open-source data-management environment for research and education in bioinformatics

Synthesis of tapioca cellulose-based poly (hydroxamic acid) ligand for heavy metals removal from water

A graft copolymerization was performed using free radical initiating process to prepare the poly(methyl acrylate) grafted copolymer from the tapioca cellulose. The desired material is poly(hydroxamic acid) ligand, which is synthesized from poly(methyl acrylate) grafted cellulose using hydroximation reaction. The tapioca cellulose, grafted cellulose and poly(hydroxamic acid) ligand were characterized by Infrared Spectroscopy and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope. The adsorption capacity with copper was found to be good, 210 mg g¡1 with a faster adsorption rate (t1/2 D 10.5 min). The adsorption capacities for other heavy metal ions were also found to be strong such as Fe3C, Cr3C, Co3C and Ni2C were 191, 182, 202 and 173 mg g¡1, respectively at pH 6. To predict the adsorption behavior, the heavy metal ions sorption onto ligand were well-fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model (R2 > 0.99), which suggest that the cellulose-based adsorbent i.e., poly(hydroxamic acid) ligand surface is homogenous and monolayer. The reusability was checked by the sorption/desorption process for six cycles and the sorption and extraction efficiency in each cycle was determined. This new adsorbent can be reused in many cycles without any significant loss in its original removal performances

Social cognition and idiopathic isolated cervical dystonia

For a long time, cervical dystonia (CD) has been characterised only by disturbances in motor functioning. Despite accumulating evidence for symptomatology in various non-motor domains, to date no study has investigated social cognition in CD. The aim of this study was to compare performance of CD patients and healthy controls in neurocognitive and socio-cognitive domain. Twenty-five non-depressed patients with CD and 26 healthy controls underwent neuropsychological testing. This involved assessment of cognitive status (general intellect, verbal memory, and executive function), and socio-cognitive functions using a Theory of mind task and self-report on empathy and emotion regulation. In comparison to controls, CD patients displayed significantly decreased cognitive abilities, particularly in executive function and verbal memory tasks. Difficulties in inferring mental states on both cognitive and affective levels were also observed. The largest discrepancies were detected in understanding intentionality in others. Poorer performance in cognitive and socio-cognitive tasks was unrelated to severity of the disease. This is the first evidence of compromised socio-cognitive functions in CD patients, highlighting this domain as another facet of non-motor symptoms of this disease. Future studies should advance our understanding of the extent, nature, and time course of these deficits in other aspects of social cognition in this patient population

An RxLR effector from phytophthora infestans prevents re-localisation of two plant NAC transcription factors from the endoplasmic reticulum to the nucleus

The plant immune system is activated following the perception of exposed, essential and invariant microbial molecules that are recognised as non-self. A major component of plant immunity is the transcriptional induction of genes involved in a wide array of defence responses. In turn, adapted pathogens deliver effector proteins that act either inside or outside plant cells to manipulate host processes, often through their direct action on plant protein targets. To date, few effectors have been shown to directly manipulate transcriptional regulators of plant defence. Moreover, little is known generally about the modes of action of effectors from filamentous (fungal and oomycete) plant pathogens. We describe an effector, called Pi03192, from the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans, which interacts with a pair of host transcription factors at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) inside plant cells. We show that these transcription factors are released from the ER to enter the nucleus, following pathogen perception, and are important in restricting disease. Pi03192 prevents the plant transcription factors from accumulating in the host nucleus, revealing a novel means of enhancing host susceptibility

Animal Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channels appear to be homologous to and derived from the ubiquitous cation diffusion facilitators

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antigen stimulation of immune cells triggers Ca²⁺entry through Ca²⁺release-activated Ca²⁺(CRAC) channels, promoting an immune response to pathogens. Defects in a CRAC (Orai) channel in humans gives rise to the hereditary Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) syndrome. We here report results that define the evolutionary relationship of the CRAC channel proteins of animals, and the ubiquitous Cation Diffusion Facilitator (CDF) carrier proteins.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>CDF antiporters derived from a primordial 2 transmembrane spanner (TMS) hairpin structure by intragenic triplication to yield 6 TMS proteins. Four programs (IC/GAP, GGSEARCH, HMMER and SAM) were evaluated for identifying sequence similarity and establishing homology using statistical means. Overall, the order of sensitivity (similarity detection) was IC/GAP = GGSEARCH > HMMER > SAM, but the use of all four programs was superior to the use of any two or three of them. Members of the CDF family appeared to be homologous to members of the 4 TMS Orai channel proteins.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CRAC channels derived from CDF carriers by loss of the first two TMSs of the latter. Based on statistical analyses with multiple programs, TMSs 3-6 in CDF carriers are homologous to TMSs 1-4 in CRAC channels, and the former was the precursor of the latter. This is an unusual example of how a functionally and structurally more complex protein may have predated a simpler one.</p

Hidden Markov Model Analysis of Maternal Behavior Patterns in Inbred and Reciprocal Hybrid Mice

Individual variation in maternal care in mammals shows a significant heritable component, with the maternal behavior of daughters resembling that of their mothers. In laboratory mice, genetically distinct inbred strains show stable differences in maternal care during the first postnatal week. Moreover, cross fostering and reciprocal breeding studies demonstrate that differences in maternal care between inbred strains persist in the absence of genetic differences, demonstrating a non-genetic or epigenetic contribution to maternal behavior. In this study we applied a mathematical tool, called hidden Markov model (HMM), to analyze the behavior of female mice in the presence of their young. The frequency of several maternal behaviors in mice has been previously described, including nursing/grooming pups and tending to the nest. However, the ordering, clustering, and transitions between these behaviors have not been systematically described and thus a global description of maternal behavior is lacking. Here we used HMM to describe maternal behavior patterns in two genetically distinct mouse strains, C57BL/6 and BALB/c, and their genetically identical reciprocal hybrid female offspring. HMM analysis is a powerful tool to identify patterns of events that cluster in time and to determine transitions between these clusters, or hidden states. For the HMM analysis we defined seven states: arched-backed nursing, blanket nursing, licking/grooming pups, grooming, activity, eating, and sleeping. By quantifying the frequency, duration, composition, and transition probabilities of these states we were able to describe the pattern of maternal behavior in mouse and identify aspects of these patterns that are under genetic and nongenetic inheritance. Differences in these patterns observed in the experimental groups (inbred and hybrid females) were detected only after the application of HMM analysis whereas classical statistical methods and analyses were not able to highlight them