Comparative assessment on learning outcomes achievement among students participating in uniform bodies programs in a Malaysian Public University

Extracurricular activities are extra activities outside the classroom, besides curriculum. It is also known as co-curriculum. University students are encouraged to participate in co-curriculum activities as it can help students improve their soft skills. AIM: A cross sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the achievement of learning outcomes among students who participated in various uniform bodies programs in a Malaysian public university. Furthermore, this research wanted to assess the reasons students participated in the uniform bodies programs and evaluate the effects of such involvement in the extra-curricular in terms of academic performance, time management and social life. The skills that student’s learnt from the extra- curricular were also evaluated. METHOD: A set of validated questionnaire was used as a research tool. The uniform bodies that participated in this survey were ROTU, SUKSIS, BSMM and SISPA. The total number of respondents was 333 students. Statistical Package (SPSS) version 20.0 was used for analysis of data. RESULTS: The study found that majority of students participated in uniform bodies programs because of their own interest the programs (31.5%). There were positive correlations between participation in uniform bodies programs and revision hours (r = 0.256) and also with and social hours (r = 0.147) but there was negative correlation between time spent in uniform body programs and GPA (r=-0.140). There were differences in the soft skills that student’s achieved from different uniform bodies programs. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we found that students learnt and obtained various soft skills when they participated in uniform bodies programs. This will be useful for their later development especially when they are seeking employment upon graduation

The socioeconomic landscape of the exposome during pregnancy

Background: While socioeconomic position (SEP) is consistently related to pregnancy and birth outcome dis-parities, relevant biological mechanisms are manifold, thus necessitating more comprehensive characterization of SEP-exposome associations during pregnancy. Objectives: We implemented an exposomic approach to systematically characterize the socioeconomic landscape of prenatal exposures in a setting where social segregation was less distinct in a hypotheses-generating manner. Methods: We described the correlation structure of 134 prenatal exogenous and endogenous sources (e.g., micronutrients, hormones, immunomodulatory metabolites, environmental pollutants) collected in a diverse, population-representative, urban, high-income longitudinal mother-offspring cohort (N = 1341; 2009-2011). We examined the associations between maternal, paternal, household, and areal level SEP indicators and 134 ex-posures using multiple regressions adjusted for precision variables, as well as potential effect measure modifi-cation by ethnicity and nativity. Finally, we generated summary SEP indices using Multiple Correspondence Analysis to further explore possible curved relationships. Results: Individual and household SEP were associated with anthropometric/adiposity measures, folate, omega-3 fatty acids, insulin-like growth factor-II, fasting glucose, and neopterin, an inflammatory marker. We observed paternal education was more strongly and consistently related to maternal exposures than maternal education. This was most apparent amongst couples discordant on education. Analyses revealed additional non-linear as-sociations between areal composite SEP and particulate matter. Environmental contaminants (e.g., per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and micronutrients (e.g., folate and copper) showed opposing associations by ethnicity and nativity, respectively. Discussion: SEP-exposome relationships are complex, non-linear, and context specific. Our findings reinforce the potential role of paternal contributions and context-specific modifiers of associations, such as between ethnicity and maternal diet-related exposures. Despite weak presumed areal clustering of individual exposures in our context, our approach reinforces subtle non-linearities in areal-level exposures.Peer reviewe

A common variant near TGFBR3 is associated with primary open angle glaucoma

Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array (Illumina) analysis on 3504 POAG cases and 9746 controls with replication of the most significant findings in 9173 POAG cases and 26 780 controls across 18 collections of Asian, African and European descent. Apart from confirming strong evidence of association at CDKN2B-AS1 (rs2157719 [G], odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, P = 2.81 × 10−33), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7–TGFBR3 rs1192415, ORG-allele = 1.13, Pmeta = 1.60 × 10−8). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

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Abstract Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array ), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7-TGFBR3 rs1192415, OR G-allele = 1.13, P meta = 1.60 × 10 −8 ). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis

Nuclear energy and economic development : causality revisited

Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the relationship between nuclear energy consumption and economic growth but such empirical research does not include a complete data set and time frame. In this study, we aim to examine the relationship among 28 countries that utilized nuclear energy within a multivariate panel framework from 1965 to 2012. These countries are divided into three panels: high-income countries, upper-middle-income countries and lower-middle-income countries. Johansen’s Fisher panel cointegration test reveals that there exists one cointegrating equation between real GDP, nuclear energy consumption (NEC), real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) and labor force participation rate (LABOR). The results from Granger causality test shows unidirectional causality from nuclear energy consumption to economic growth in the short-run and long-run for high-income countries. Whereas for the upper-middle-income countries, GDP, GFCF and LABOR have unidirectional causality to NEC in the short-run, but there is no causal effect between the variables in the long-run. For the lower-middle-income countries, NEC has no causation effect to any variables in the short-run and long-run. Thus, the results suggest that for high-income countries, nuclear energy is an important element for economic development.Bachelor of Art

Effects of AlGaN/AlN Stacked Interlayers on GaN Growth on Si (111)

We report the growth of high quality and crack-free GaN film on Si (111) substrate using Al0.2Ga0.8N/AlN stacked interlayers. Compared with the previously used single AlN interlayer, the AlGaN/AlN stacked interlayers can more effectively reduce the tensile stress inside the GaN layer. The cross-sectional TEM image reveals the bending and annihilation of threading dislocations (TDs) in the overgrown GaN film which leads to a decrease of TD density