THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF NURTURING NATURE TO RESOLVE OVEREMPHASIZED STEM EDUCATION IN THE INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

This study investigates STEM education in India in context of the nature-nurture debate. Discussed are the benefits of nurturing unique talents, rather than forcing subject choices and how the Indian education system has produced engineers who, due to societal biases, have been unable to acquire jobs. In an effort to validate the advantage of nurturing unique talents, a survey was conducted and the driving factors for specific professions identified. Three groups were included: high school students, professionals in non-engineering fields, professional engineers or engineering students. Each group was asked questions on their job/major and the role their family played in influencing choices. Results revealed that 90.6% of students had parents who wanted them to pursue STEM subjects for job security and due to societal pressure. Less than 10.7% confirmed that their parents urged them to pursue the Humanities. Of the professional engineers, 73.5% stated their calling didn’t lie in engineering and therefore planned on switching fields. Further case studies support that there exists a bias towards STEM education in India and that allowing students to nurture their unique nature might have benefits to both individuals and society

A Fully Integrated Lab-on-a-Disc for Multiplex Immunoassay from Whole Saliva

BioengineeringThis research presents a cost-effective, rapid, and fully automated lab-on-a-disc for simultaneous detection of multiple protein biomarkers in raw samples such as whole blood or whole saliva. For the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, here a novel centrifugal microfluidic layout was designed to conduct the simultaneous detection of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) based on a bead-based sandwich type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Three reaction chambers are initially interconnected for the common processes such as sample injection, incubation, and washing and isolated on-demand for the independent processes such as substrate incubation and final detection. The assay performances such as the limit of detection and the dynamic range were comparable with those of the conventional ELISA despite the significant reduction of the minimum sample volume (200 ??L), the amount of washing buffer (700 ??L), and the total process time (20 min). In addition, two multiplex assays of three cardiovascular disease markers could be simultaneously conducted on a simple disc-shaped device in a fully automated manner.ope

Increased fucosyl glycoconjugate by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae enhances adherences of Pasteurella multocida type A in the ciliated epithelial cells of the respiratory tract

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms of how Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae enhances secondary Pasteurella multocida type A infection which leads to porcine enzootic pneumonia in infected pigs. Sixteen pigs were experimentally infected with M. hyopneumoniae and then euthanized at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post inoculation. In situ hybridization for M. hyopneumoniae DNA and Ulex europaeus agglutinin-I (UEA-I) lectin histochemistry for fucosyl glycoconjugate, was performed in serial lung sections to determine alteration of fucosyl glycoconjugate in M. hyopneumoniae-infected bronchial and bronchiolar epithelium. Bacterial overlay assay was performed to determine the affinity of P. multocida type A with L-fucose. RESULTS: The luminal surface of bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells that were stained with UEA-I always showed hybridization signals for M. hyopneumoniae but it was negative in the unaffected parts of the lung from M. hyopneumoniae-infected pigs and in lung from negative control pigs. Colocalization of M. hyopneumoniae and UEA-I was especially prominent in the luminal surface of bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells in serial section of lung. The mean number of M. hyopneumoniae-positive cells correlated with the mean number of UEA-I-positive cells in lungs from infected pigs throughout the experiment. All eight P. multocida type A isolates from naturally occurring enzootic pneumonia, bound strongly at levels of 2 μg and 5 μg of L-fucose. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study demonstrate that M. hyopneumoniae increases the L-fucose composition to enhance adherence of P. multocida type A to the bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells

The Impact of Job Retention on Continuous Growth of Engineering and Informational Technology SMEs in South Korea

This study aims to explore what factors are critically associated with job retention in Engineering and Information Technology small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea, and how employers think about sta retention policy in relation to business growth. This contrasts with previous studies that mainly focus on employee motivation, job retention, and turnover. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with founder Chief Executive O cers (CEOs). The results suggest that an important factor influencing job retention policies of these SMEs was to motivate employees to make greater voluntary e ort, including through developing a collaborative organizational culture, rather than solely o ering them additional financial rewards or using other Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to improve individual performances. Interviewees believed that job retention and business growth were closely related, and they discussed various ways of eliciting emotional commitment from employees. Unlike research on larger firms, these suggestions did not involve immediate financial rewards. How employers thought that the roles played by employees strongly influenced their firm’s productivity and competitiveness. This study suggests SME employers adjust their retention policy specifically to improve their firm’s survival and long-term growth

Tgif1 Counterbalances The Activity Of Core Pluripotency Factors In Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Core pluripotency factors, such as Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog, play important roles in maintaining embryonic stem cell (ESC) identity by autoregulatory feedforward loops. Nevertheless, the mechanism that provides precise control of the levels of the ESC core factors without indefinite amplification has remained elusive. Here, we report the direct repression of core pluripotency factors by Tgif1, a previously known terminal repressor of TGF beta/activin/nodal signaling. Overexpression of Tgif1 reduces the levels of ESC core factors, whereas its depletion leads to the induction of the pluripotency factors. We confirm the existence of physical associations between Tgif1 and Oct4, Nanog, and HDAC1/2 and further show the level of Tgif1 is not significantly altered by treatment with an activator/inhibitor of the TGF beta/activin/nodal signaling. Collectively, our findings establish Tgif1 as an integral member of the core regulatory circuitry of mouse ESCs that counterbalances the levels of the core pluripotency factors in a TGF beta/activin/nodal-independent manner.Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) R1106Molecular Bioscience

Developing parametric design fashion products using 3D printing technology

This study created wearable fashion products with parametric design characteristics, using 3D printing technology. The goal of the study was to understand what parametric design features can be simulated with 3D modeling and printing technology, as well as to demonstrate what techniques can be used to produce fashion products using 3D printing technology. This study created two different parametric motifs using an FDM-type 3D printer with TPU and ABS as the printing materials. With those motifs, we produced three garments and two accessories. The limitations found during the process were modeling the exact measurement of the motifs that will merge with the apparel design seamlessly while maintaining the parametric features, as well as attaching the printed motifs to fabric without ruining the integrity of the textile. A significant implication of this study is that it recreates parametric designs on the human body and utilizes 3D printing technology for fashion products. This paper cast a light on a discussion about the technique can be applied on fashion design with full-sized body and encouraged designers to explore further with technological advancements in the future

Fully integrated lab-on-a-disc for simultaneous analysis of biochemistry and immunoassay from whole blood

We report a fully integrated device that can perform both multiple biochemical analysis and sandwich type immunoassay simultaneously on a disc. The whole blood is applied directly to the disposable "lab-on-a-disc" containing different kinds of freeze-dried reagents for the blood chemistry analysis as well as reagents required for the immunoassay. The concentrations of different kinds of analytes are reported within 22 min by simply inserting a disc to a portable device. Using the innovative laser irradiated ferrowax microvalves together with the centrifugal microfluidics, the total process of plasma separation, metering, mixing, incubation, washing, and detection is fully automated. The analyzer is equipped with an optical detection module to measure absorbances at 10 different wavelengths to accommodate the various kinds of reaction protocols. Compared to the conventional blood analysis done in clinical laboratories, it is advantageous for point-of-care applications because it requires a smaller amount of blood (350 mu L vs. 3 mL), takes less time (22 min vs. several days), does not require specially trained operators or expensive instruments to run biochemical analysis and immunoassay separately.close554

Systemic Tissue and Cellular Disruption from SARS-CoV-2 Infection revealed in COVID- 19 Autopsies and Spatial Omics Tissue Maps

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus has infected over 115 million people and caused over 2.5 million deaths worldwide. Yet, the molecular mechanisms underlying the clinical manifestations of COVID-19, as well as what distinguishes them from common seasonal influenza virus and other lung injury states such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), remains poorly understood. To address these challenges, we combined transcriptional profiling of 646 clinical nasopharyngeal swabs and 39 patient autopsy tissues, matched with spatial protein and expression profiling (GeoMx) across 357 tissue sections. These results define both body-wide and tissue-specific (heart, liver, lung, kidney, and lymph nodes) damage wrought by the SARS-CoV-2 infection, evident as a function of varying viral load (high vs. low) during the course of infection and specific, transcriptional dysregulation in splicing isoforms, T cell receptor expression, and cellular expression states. In particular, cardiac and lung tissues revealed the largest degree of splicing isoform switching and cell expression state loss. Overall, these findings reveal a systemic disruption of cellular and transcriptional pathways from COVID-19 across all tissues, which can inform subsequent studies to combat the mortality of COVID-19, as well to better understand the molecular dynamics of lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection and other viruses

Resolution comparison between integral-imaging-based hologram synthesis methods using rectangular and hexagonal lens arrays

Abstract: We compare the resolution of the hologram reconstruction synthesis methods based on integral imaging using rectangular and hexagonal lens arrays. By using a hexagonal lens array instead of conventional rectangular lens array, the three-dimensional objects are sampled with hexagonal grids. Due to more efficient sampling of the hexagonal grid, the resolution of the reconstructed object is higher compared with the case of using rectangular lens array. We analyze the resolution enhancement of the hologram reconstruction quantitatively and verify it experimentally. ©2011 Optical Society of Americ

Challenges and considerations for single-cell and spatially resolved transcriptomics sample collection during spaceflight

15 p.-2 fig.-3 tab.Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatially resolved transcriptomics (SRT) have experienced rapid development in recent years. The findings of spaceflight-based scRNA-seq and SRT investigations are likely to improve our understanding of life in space and our comprehension of gene expression in various cell systems and tissue dynamics. However, compared to their Earth-based counterparts, gene expression experiments conducted in spaceflight have not experienced the same pace of development. Out of the hundreds of spaceflight gene expression datasets available, only a few used scRNA-seq and SRT. In this perspective piece, we explore the growing importance of scRNA-seq and SRT in space biology and discuss the challenges and considerations relevant to robust experimental design to enable growth of these methods in the field.H.C., P.M., D.B., R.H., N.J.S., J.B., and S.G. are members of the ESA Space Omics Topical Team, funded by the ESA grant/contract 4000131202/20/NL/PG/pt “Space Omics: Towards an integrated ESA/NASA – omics database for spaceflight and ground facilities experiments” awarded to R.H., which was the main funding source for this work. H.C. is also supported by the Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Nottingham (UKRI grant no. EP/S023305/1). S.G. is supported by the Swedish Research Council VR grant 2020-04864. E.G.O. is supported through NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship 80NSSC21K0316.Peer reviewe