Assessing health science students’ gaming experience: a cross-sectional study

Digital gamification applied to university students enrolled in health-related degrees is considered an innovative and beneficial tool that complements traditional teaching.ObjectivesTo analyze the enjoyment experience obtained by university students in the Faculty of Health Sciences and to know the gender differences after participating in a digital game.DesignCross-sectional descriptive study.ParticipantsA total of 156 university students from the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza.MethodsThe activity of a digital game took place in the academic year 2021–2022 and was carried out as a teaching innovation project with the final approval of the University of Zaragoza. The tools used were the Spanish version of the Gameful Experience Scale and a self-administered questionnaire on satisfaction and suitability reported by the activity.ResultsA total of 156 students participated with an age of 21.2 ± 6.2 years. The highest score is the enjoyment dimension (4 ± 0.7), and the lowest score is the negative affect dimension (1.5 ± 0.9). Cronbach’s alpha for the whole Gameful Experience Scale was 0.95. There were significant differences in three dimensions of the Gameful Experience Scale: male students had more enjoyment than female students (p = 0.05), enjoyed a greater sense of domination (p = 0.01), and had fewer negative effects (p = 0.0). In the highest corresponding positions it was used for other topics such as learning (m 4.4; SD 0.5), motivation to learn (m 4.1; SD 0.8) or helping memorize concepts (m 4.4).4; SD 0.5).ConclusionGender influences student satisfaction after carrying out a gamification activity, especially after a digital game. The dimensions in which gender differences were found were fun, absence of negative effects, and dominance

Mutant PRPF8 Causes Widespread Splicing Changes in Spliceosome Components in Retinitis Pigmentosa Patient iPSC-Derived RPE Cells

Retinitis pigmentosa; Alternative splicing; RNARetinitis pigmentosa; Empalme alternativo; ARNRetinitis pigmentària; Empalmament alternatiu; RNARetinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare, progressive disease that affects photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells with blindness as a final outcome. Despite high medical and social impact, there is currently no therapeutic options to slow down the progression of or cure the disease. The development of effective therapies was largely hindered by high genetic heterogeneity, inaccessible disease tissue, and unfaithful model organisms. The fact that components of ubiquitously expressed splicing factors lead to the retina-specific disease is an additional intriguing question. Herein, we sought to correlate the retinal cell-type-specific disease phenotype with the splicing profile shown by a patient with autosomal recessive RP, caused by a mutation in pre-mRNA splicing factor 8 (PRPF8). In order to get insight into the role of PRPF8 in homeostasis and disease, we capitalize on the ability to generate patient-specific RPE cells and reveal differentially expressed genes unique to RPE cells. We found that spliceosomal complex and ribosomal functions are crucial in determining cell-type specificity through differential expression and alternative splicing (AS) and that PRPF8 mutation causes global changes in splice site selection and exon inclusion that particularly affect genes involved in these cellular functions. This finding corroborates the hypothesis that retinal tissue identity is conferred by a specific splicing program and identifies retinal AS events as a framework toward the design of novel therapeutic opportunities.This work was supported by Institute of Health Carlos III/ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), Spain [PI16/00409 (DL), PI20/01119 (DL), CP18/00033 (DL), PI15/00227 (MC), CPII16/00037 (SE), and PI18-00286 (SE)], Platform for Proteomics, Genotyping and Cell Lines; PRB3 of ISCIII (PT17/0019/0024); National Science Foundation GACR 18-04393S and the project “Centre of Reconstructive Neuroscience”, registration number CZ.02. 1.01/0.0./0.0/15_003/0000419PI15/00227; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness grant BES-2016-076994 (ÁA-L); and Academy of Finland (HS)

M-Mode Ultrasound Behavior of Rectus Femoris and Vastus Intermedius during Contraction with Anthropometric Correlations: Cross-Sectional Study

The quadriceps femoris muscle (QF) is of clinical importance since it has been correlated with pathologies at knee level, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, pain processes and complex clinical conditions. Among the variables that have been related to these clinical conditions are anthropometric measurements, architecture and muscular behavior of the QF. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus intermedius (VIM) muscles' behavior measured by rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) M-mode under maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) and anthropometric measurements. This was a cross-sectional, observational study. Sixty-two asymptomatic volunteers were included (20.42 +/- 4.97 years, most women 59.7%). RUSI measurements were muscle contraction/rest thickness and contraction/relaxation velocity. Anthropometric measurements were, lower limb length, RF length, QF tendon length, distance between spines, proximal, middle and distal thigh perimeter. Statistically significant correlations (p < 0.05) were found between VIM thickness at rest and contraction with thigh perimetry, RF length and dominant lower limb length. For the RF, a correlation was found between the thickness at rest and the length of this muscle (p = 0.003). There is a correlation between anthropometric variables and muscular behavior measured by RUSI M-mode.Fisioterapi

Poly(urea-formaldehyde) microcapsules containing commercial paraffin: in situ polymerization study

Microcapsules containing Rubitherm® RT-42 paraffin wax (core) and a poly(urea-formaldehyde) shell were prepared by an in situ polymerization. The influence of prepolymerization/polymerization time, the reaction temperature, and the monomers/phase change material (PCM) mass ratio on the encapsulation process and the physical properties of the resulting microcapsules was studied. The morphology, chemical composition, and particle size distribution of the microcapsules were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). It was found that the structure of the generated poly(urea-formaldehyde) microcapsules strongly depended on the reaction time. The content of encapsulated Rubitherm® RT-42 increased with increasing reaction temperature until a limit, ranging the optimum reaction temperature from 60 to 70 °C. Finally, it was found that the optimal monomers/PCM mass ratio was 0.8. The poly(urea-formaldehyde) microcapsules obtained containing the RT-42 paraffin can be used as thermal energy storage systems.Se prepararon microcápsulas que contenían cera de parafina Rubitherm® RT-42 (núcleo) y una cubierta de poli(urea-formaldehído) mediante polimerización in situ. Se estudió la influencia del tiempo de prepolimerización/polimerización, la temperatura de reacción y la relación másica monómeros/material de cambio de fase (PCM) en el proceso de encapsulación y las propiedades físicas de las microcápsulas resultantes. La morfología, composición química y distribución del tamaño de partícula de las microcápsulas se caracterizaron mediante calorimetría diferencial de barrido (DSC), microscopía electrónica de barrido (SEM) y espectroscopia infrarroja transformada de Fourier (FT-IR). Se encontró que la estructura de las microcápsulas de poli(urea-formaldehído) generadas dependía en gran medida del tiempo de reacción. El contenido de Rubitherm® RT-42 encapsulado aumentó con el aumento de la temperatura de reacción hasta un límite, variando la temperatura de reacción óptima de 60 a 70 °C. Finalmente, se encontró que la relación de masa monómeros/PCM óptima era 0,8. Las microcápsulas de poli(urea-formaldehído) obtenidas que contienen la parafina RT-42 pueden utilizarse como sistemas de almacenamiento de energía térmica

Assessing health science students’ gaming experience: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundDigital gamification applied to university students enrolled in health-related degrees is considered an innovative and beneficial tool that complements traditional teaching.ObjectivesTo analyze the enjoyment experience obtained by university students in the Faculty of Health Sciences and to know the gender differences after participating in a digital game.DesignCross-sectional descriptive study.ParticipantsA total of 156 university students from the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza.MethodsThe activity of a digital game took place in the academic year 2021–2022 and was carried out as a teaching innovation project with the final approval of the University of Zaragoza. The tools used were the Spanish version of the Gameful Experience Scale and a self-administered questionnaire on satisfaction and suitability reported by the activity.ResultsA total of 156 students participated with an age of 21.2 ± 6.2 years. The highest score is the enjoyment dimension (4 ± 0.7), and the lowest score is the negative affect dimension (1.5 ± 0.9). Cronbach’s alpha for the whole Gameful Experience Scale was 0.95. There were significant differences in three dimensions of the Gameful Experience Scale: male students had more enjoyment than female students (p = 0.05), enjoyed a greater sense of domination (p = 0.01), and had fewer negative effects (p = 0.0). In the highest corresponding positions it was used for other topics such as learning (m 4.4; SD 0.5), motivation to learn (m 4.1; SD 0.8) or helping memorize concepts (m 4.4).4; SD 0.5).ConclusionGender influences student satisfaction after carrying out a gamification activity, especially after a digital game. The dimensions in which gender differences were found were fun, absence of negative effects, and dominance

Propagation of laser-generated shock waves in metals: 3D axisymmetric simulations compared to experiments

This work aims at demonstrating the ability of an acoustic linear code to model the propagation of a shock wave created by a laser impact over a metallic surface. In this process, a high pressure surface level is reached using a ns laser pulse that heats the surface of the material and generates a dense plasma expansion. The pressure reaches few GPa so shock waves are generated and propagate into the bulk of the material. Currently, shock wave propagation is modeled using continuity equations and an ad hoc equation of state for the illuminated mate-rial, very limiting because it is numerically intensive. Here, we propose to model the shock wave bulk propagation using a linear acoustic code. A nonlinear surface pressure term, resulting from the laser–matter interaction, is used as a boundary condition. The applied numerical scheme is based on the Virieux scheme, including a fourth order finite difference discretization of the linearized elastomechanical equations. The role of longitudinal and transverse waves and their origins are highlighted. The importance of considering 3D geometries is pointed out. Simulations are finally confronted with experimental results obtained with the Hephaistos Laserlab facility (energy up to 14 J at 532 nm wavelength laser; pulse duration: 7 ns). Illuminations up to the optical breakdown in water are easily achieved with laser focal spots of 5 mm width. Excellent agreement between experiments and simulations is observed for several sets of experimental parameters for titanium, a material of high elastic limit, while limitations are founded for aluminum. The code is available in the MetaData

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio