A Study on Simulation Methods in Academic Success With Reference To Teaching Biology for Education Students

The main objective of this study is to determine the utility of simulation methods in biology teaching for nursing students and academic success. 100 students (50 control, 50 experimental) who studied at Srinivasa Teacher Training School, Kalikiri,  Recognised by Sri Venkateswara University, Faculty of Education, Tirupati, AP, India, 2014 -215 academic year participated in this research. In the present study mixed methods approaches were used namely qualitative and quantitative methods. Instructional transaction included the subject of “Biology” in the “daily life and importance” unit. Statistical results (p= 0.01, p<0.001, and p<0.001) of the present study data after obtained the application revealed that the experimental students group were more successful who were taught by simulation method than the students of the control group taught by traditional approaches. Once again the results of the present study evidenced that experimental students who taught by using simulation method were satisfied with simulation-based biology education. Keywords: Biology, Education, Students, Simulation, Technology in Biology and Education

Strategies for Diagnosis and Treatment of Suspected Leptospirosis: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Symptoms and signs of leptospirosis are non-specific. A number of diagnostic tests for leptospirosis are available. We compared the cost-benefit of 5 management strategies: 1) no patients tested or given antibiotic treatment; 2) all patients given empirical doxycycline treatment; patients given doxycycline when a patient is tested positive for leptospirosis using: 3) lateral flow; 4) MCAT; 5) latex test. Outcomes were measured in duration of fever which is then converted to productivity losses to capture the full economic costs. Empirical doxycycline treatment was found to be the most efficient strategy, being both the least costly alternative and the one that resulted in the lowest average duration of fever. The significantly higher relative cost of using a diagnostic test as compared with presumptive treatment, and the limited sensitivity of all the diagnostic tests implied that only the latex test could be considered cost-effective when compared with the no-antibiotic-treatment option, and that all three tests were still inferior to empirical treatment

Significant association between IRF6 820G→A and non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate in the Thai population

Background: Previous data have shown an association between DNA sequence variants in the IRF6 gene and an increased risk of non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) in some populations. Objective: To investigate Thai CL/P patients and relative for a 820G→A polymorphism. Subjects: 192 CL/P Thai patients, 177 of their mothers, 73 of their fathers, and 278 controls. Results: There were significant differences in the frequency distributions of both genotypes (p = 0.02) and alleles (p = 0.04) among probands as compared with the control group. The odds ratio calculated for the patients having the GG genotype compared with the other two genotypes (GA and AA) was 1.67 (95% confidence interval, 1.13 to 2.47). This pattern is consistent with a recessive effect of the G allele. No association between any of the parents' genotypes and CL/P was found. The IRF6 820G→A was responsible for 16.7% of the genetic contribution to CL/P. Conclusions: The findings confirm that IRF6 820G→A is associated with CL/P

A mutation of the p63 gene in non‐syndromic cleft lip

Mutations in the p63 gene (TP63) underlie several monogenic malformation syndromes manifesting cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P). We investigated whether p63 mutations also result in non‐syndromic CL/P. Specifically, we performed mutation analysis of the 16 exons of the p63 gene for 100 Thai patients with non‐syndromic CL/P. In total, 21 variant sites were identified. All were single nucleotide changes, with six in coding regions, including three novel non‐synonymous changes: S90L, R313G, and D564H. The R313G was concluded to be pathogenic on the basis of its amino acid change, evolutionary conservation, its occurrence in a functionally important domain, its predicted damaging function, its de novo occurrence, and its absence in 500 control individuals. Our data strongly suggest, for the first time, a causative role of a heterozygous mutation in the p63 gene in non‐syndromic CL/P, highlighting the wide phenotypic spectrum of p63 gene mutations