Are you in or not? A study into student intention to use immersive metaverse for learning

Learning and teaching have been transformed by technologies in the last few decades. The rise of immersive technologies, such as the metaverse, has started gaining educators’. This phenomenon brings the need for a thorough understanding of how the metaverse could be adopted effectively for learning purposes. This study applied the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) to investigate the variables affecting student intention of using immersive metaverse for learning purposes. An online survey was conducted to collect student responses from a US university. A sample of 81 responses was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results indicate that compatibility and perceived risk influence perceived ease of use and usefulness. Perceived usefulness influences attitudes which consequently influence the intention to use. However, personal innovativeness was not found to influence perceived ease of use and usefulness. The perceived ease of use was not found to impact attitudes

Attention bias modification training as a potential preventative tool

We will use eye-tracking techniques to understand more about attentional bias and how it changes through ABM training. Through neuroimaging, we will look at \u27resting state functional connectivity\u27, which is the activity and communication in the brain when a person is not engaging in any activity themselves. There are resting-state patterns of brain activity that have been identified in the brains of youth with depression, anxiety and related disorders, but we do not know if these brain patterns can be used to identify those at risk for these disorders. We also don\u27t know if preventative approaches to depression and anxiety, such as ABM, can change these patterns in the brain.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanprojectsummaries/1034/thumbnail.jp

Are you in or not? A study into student intention to use immersive metaverse for learning

Learning and teaching have been transformed by technologies in the last few decades. The rise of immersive technologies, such as the metaverse, has started gaining educators’. This phenomenon brings the need for a thorough understanding of how the metaverse could be adopted effectively for learning purposes. This study applied the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) to investigate the variables affecting student intention of using immersive metaverse for learning purposes. An online survey was conducted to collect student responses from a US university. A sample of 81 responses was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results indicate that compatibility and perceived risk influence perceived ease of use and usefulness. Perceived usefulness influences attitudes which consequently influence the intention to use. However, personal innovativeness was not found to influence perceived ease of use and usefulness. The perceived ease of use was not found to impact attitudes

MRI study of the cuprizone-induced mouse model of multiple sclerosis: demyelination is not found after co-treatment with polyprenols (long-chain isoprenoid alcohols)

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder with poorly understood pathogenic mechanisms and a lack of effective therapies. Therefore, the search for new MS treatments remains very important. This study was performed on a commonly used cuprizone animal model of multiple sclerosis. It evaluated the effect of a plant-derived substance called Ropren® (containing approximately 95% polyprenols or long-chain isoprenoid alcohols) on cuprizone- induced demyelination. The study was performed on 27 eight-week old male CD-1 mice. To induce demyelination mice were fed 0.5% cuprizone in the standard diet for 10 weeks. Ropren® was administered in one daily intraperitoneal injection (12mg/kg), beginning on the 6th week of the experiment. On the 11th week, the corpus callosum in the brain was evaluated in all animals using magnetic resonance imaging with an 11.7 T animal scanner using T2- weighted sequence. Cuprizone treatment successfully induced the model of demyelination with a significant decrease in the size of the corpus callosum compared with the control group (p<0.01). Mice treated with both cuprizone and Ropren® did not exhibit demyelination in the corpus callosum (p<0.01). This shows the positive effect of polyprenols on cuprizone-induced demyelination in mice

Plant polyprenols reduce demyelination and recover impaired oligodendrogenesis and neurogenesis in the cuprizone murine model of multiple sclerosis

Recent studies showed hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, and immunomodulatory properties of polyprenols isolated from the green verdure of Picea abies (L.) Karst. This study aimed to investigate effects of polyprenols on oligodendrogenesis, neurogenesis, and myelin content in the cuprizone demyelination model. Demyelination was induced by 0.5% cuprizone in CD-1 mice during 10 weeks. Nine cuprizone-treated animals received daily injections of polyprenols intraperitoneally at a dose of 12-mg/kg body weight during Weeks 6-10. Nine control animals and other nine cuprizone-treated received sham oil injections. At Week 10, brain sections were stained for myelin basic protein, neuro-glial antigen-2, and doublecortin to evaluate demyelination, oligodendrogenesis, and neurogenesis. Cuprizone administration caused a decrease in myelin basic protein in the corpus callosum, cortex, hippocampus, and the caudate putamen compared with the controls. Oligodendrogenesis was increased, and neurogenesis in the subventricular zone and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus was decreased in the cuprizone-treated group compared with the controls. Mice treated with cuprizone and polyprenols did not show significant demyelination and differences in oligodendrogenesis and neurogenesis as compared with the controls. Our results suggest that polyprenols can halt demyelination, restore impaired neurogenesis, and mitigate reactive overproduction of oligodendrocytes caused by cuprizone neurotoxicity

The Molecular Mechanism of \u3cem\u3eN\u3c/em\u3e-Acetylglucosamine Side-Chain Attachment to the Lancefield Group A Carbohydrate in \u3cem\u3eStreptococcus pyogenes\u3c/em\u3e

In many Lactobacillales species (i.e. lactic acid bacteria), peptidoglycan is decorated by polyrhamnose polysaccharides that are critical for cell envelope integrity and cell shape and also represent key antigenic determinants. Despite the biological importance of these polysaccharides, their biosynthetic pathways have received limited attention. The important human pathogen, Streptococcus pyogenes, synthesizes a key antigenic surface polymer, the Lancefield group A carbohydrate (GAC). GAC is covalently attached to peptidoglycan and consists of a polyrhamnose polymer, with N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) side chains, which is an essential virulence determinant. The molecular details of the mechanism of polyrhamnose modification with GlcNAc are currently unknown. In this report, using molecular genetics, analytical chemistry, and mass spectrometry analysis, we demonstrated that GAC biosynthesis requires two distinct undecaprenol-linked GlcNAc-lipid intermediates: GlcNAc-pyrophosphoryl-undecaprenol (GlcNAc-P-P-Und) produced by the GlcNAc-phosphate transferase GacO and GlcNAc-phosphate-undecaprenol (GlcNAc-P-Und) produced by the glycosyltransferase GacI. Further investigations revealed that the GAC polyrhamnose backbone is assembled on GlcNAc-P-P-Und. Our results also suggested that a GT-C glycosyltransferase, GacL, transfers GlcNAc from GlcNAc-P-Und to polyrhamnose. Moreover, GacJ, a small membrane-associated protein, formed a complex with GacI and significantly stimulated its catalytic activity. Of note, we observed that GacI homologs perform a similar function in Streptococcus agalactiae and Enterococcus faecalis. In conclusion, the elucidation of GAC biosynthesis in S. pyogenes reported here enhances our understanding of how other Gram-positive bacteria produce essential components of their cell wall

Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European long‐term field experiments

Soil nematode communities and food web indices can inform about the complexity, nutrient flows and decomposition pathways of soil food webs, reflecting soil quality. Relative abundance of nematode feeding and life‐history groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e., maturity index (MI), enrichment index (EI), structure index (SI) and channel index (CI). Molecular methods to study nematode communities potentially offer advantages compared to traditional methods in terms of resolution, throughput, cost and time. In spite of such advantages, molecular data have not often been adopted so far to assess the effects of soil management on nematode communities and to calculate these food web indices. Here, we used high‐throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the effects of tillage (conventional vs. reduced) and organic matter addition (low vs. high) on nematode communities and food web indices in 10 European long‐term field experiments and we assessed the relationship between nematode communities and soil parameters. We found that nematode communities were more strongly affected by tillage than by organic matter addition. Compared to conventional tillage, reduced tillage increased nematode diversity (23% higher Shannon diversity index), nematode community stability (12% higher MI), structure (24% higher SI), and the fungal decomposition channel (59% higher CI), and also the number of herbivorous nematodes (70% higher). Total and labile organic carbon, available K and microbial parameters explained nematode community structure. Our findings show that nematode communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and that molecular profiling of nematode communities has the potential to reveal the effects of soil management on soil quality

Quantitative imaging of white and gray matter remyelination in the cuprizone demyelination model using the macromolecular proton fraction

Macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) has been established as a quantitative clinically-targeted MRI myelin biomarker based on recent demyelination studies. This study aimed to assess the capability of MPF to quantify remyelination using the murine cuprizone-induced reversible demyelination model. MPF was measured in vivo using the fast single-point method in three animal groups (control, cuprizone-induced demyelination, and remyelination after cuprizone withdrawal) and compared to quantitative immunohistochemistry for myelin basic protein (MBP), myelinating oligodendrocytes (CNP-positive cells), and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC, NG2-positive cells) in the corpus callosum, caudate putamen, hippocampus, and cortex. In the demyelination group, MPF, MBP-stained area, and oligodendrocyte count were significantly reduced, while OPC count was significantly increased as compared to both control and remyelination groups in all anatomic structures (p < 0.05). All variables were similar in the control and remyelination groups. MPF and MBP-stained area strongly correlated in each anatomic structure (Pearson's correlation coefficients, r = 0.80-0.90, p < 0.001). MPF and MBP correlated positively with oligodendrocyte count (r = 0.70-0.84, p < 0.01 for MPF; r = 0.81-0.92, p < 0.001 for MBP) and negatively with OPC count (r = -0.69--0.77, p < 0.01 for MPF; r = -0.72--0.89, p < 0.01 for MBP). This study provides immunohistological validation of fast MPF mapping as a non-invasive tool for quantitative assessment of de- and remyelination in white and gray matter and indicates the feasibility of using MPF as a surrogate marker of reparative processes in demyelinating diseases

The prediction of radiationâ induced liver dysfunction using a local dose and regional venous perfusion model

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134805/1/mp1081.pd

Potential for doseâ escalation and reduction of risk in pancreatic cancer using IMRT optimization with lexicographic ordering and gEUDâ based cost functions

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135067/1/mp6403.pd