ACTIVITY-BASED TEACHING IMPROVES GROSS MOTOR SKILLS AND EARLY ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG NORTH CHENNAI NURSERY STUDENTS: A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

Objective: Gross motor skills and cognitive skills are essential prerequisites for the physical development of an early childhood. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed normal age ranges for the achievement of motor milestones by healthy children. The current study aimed to assess the gross motor skills, cognitive skills related to development achievements and its associated factors among North Chennai nursery students. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted among nursery students from B.V. Victory Nursery and Primary School, Thiruvotriyur, North Chennai, India. Gross motor skills and cognitive skills were assessed through 14 and 13 activities, respectively. The assessment and the scores evaluated as per standard methods and it was recorded and analyzed using Microsoft Excel based tools. Results: Overall, 16 children aged 3–4 years old were included in the study. Of the 16 students, 9 boys and 7 girls were assessed for the gross motor skills and cognitive skills using various activities. From this study, girl’s performance was better than the boy’s performance in various activities. Activities performance and their physical and mental growth were significantly associated with the timely achievement of gross motor and cognitive milestones. Conclusion: This study suggests that students’ gross motor skills and cognitive skills may explore during activity-based teaching module compared to blackboard based study. Hence, we conclude, the activity-based teaching methods for nursery and primary students may help in exploring the student’s potential to the maximum extent with the acquisition of various skills

Umesh Chandrasekhar, R.Nandagopal. Mobile Payments At Retail Point Of Sale -An Indian Perspective

Abstract: With over 800 mobile subscribers and nearly 41% of the population having little or no banking access , mobile payments ( M-Payments) have a huge potential in India. Availability of affordable handsets, low mobile tariffs and increasing voice & data network coverage across the country are emerging as key drivers for m-payments Lack of adequate banking infrastructure, low internet and PC penetration are expected to provide further impetus to growth of M-payments market. The market is estimated to grow from US$86 million in 2011 to US$1.15 billion in 2016 at a CAGR of 68%.Will this be a killer application for the industry? A mobile-payment services for online and offline retail and services was launched earlier this year by a leading company in India. The study explores and discusses the pain-points which the retailers perceive in using such a system. Data was collected through interviews and a structured questionnaire and results provide insights to the industry. The current market environment in the city in which the study was undertaken does not seem to be conducive to the success of any mobile wallet programsa major reason being poor merchant involvement and unless larger numbers actively take this up, mobile-payments in this envisaged form will not reach the tipping point and retail mobile payments will fail

Buddy Study: Partners for better health in adolescents with type 2 diabetes

AIM: To investigate whether assigning young, healthy and motivated lay volunteer partners (“buddies”) to adolescents with type 2 diabetes improves hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). METHODS: Adolescents with type 2 diabetes were randomized to partnering with a “buddy” or to conventional treatment. During the initial screening visit, which coincided with a routine outpatient diabetes clinic visit, patients with type 2 diabetes underwent a physical examination, detailed medical history, laboratory measurement of HbA1c, and completed two questionnaires (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and Children’s Depression Inventory) to assess their overall quality of life and the presence of depressive symptoms. Patients were then randomized to the intervention (the buddy system) or conventional treatment (standard care). All patients were scheduled to return for follow-up at 3- and 6-mo after their initial visit. HbA1c was determined at all visits (i.e., at screening and at the 3- and 6-mo follow-up visits) and quality of life and depressive symptoms were evaluated at the screening visit and were reassessed at the 6-mo visit. RESULTS: Ten adolescents, recruited from a pool of approximately 200 adolescents, enrolled over a two-year time period, leading to premature termination of the study. In contrast, we easily recruited motivated lay volunteers. We found no change in HbA1c from the initial to the 6-mo visit in either group, yet our small sample size limited systematic assessment of this outcome. Participants repeatedly missed clinic appointments, failed to conduct self-glucose-monitoring and rarely brought their glucometers to clinic visits. Total quality of life scores (72.6 ± 6.06) at screening were similar to previously reported scores in adolescents with type 2 diabetes (75.7 ± 15.0) and lower than scores reported in normal-weight (81.2 ± 0.9), overweight (83.5 ± 1.8), and obese youths without diabetes (78.5 ± 1.8) or in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (80.5 ± 13.1). Among adolescents who returned for their 6-mo visit, there were no differences in total quality of life scores (70.2 ± 9.18) between screening and follow-up. CONCLUSION: Our approach, effective in adults with type 2 diabetes, was unsuccessful among adolescents and emphasizes the need for innovative strategies for diabetes treatment in adolescent patients

Breaking the Camel's Back: Can Cognitive Overload be Quantified in the Human Brain?

Reductionism lies at the heart of science, yet this pre-occupation with the trees may mean that cognitive science is missing the forest. Based on the assumption that individual cognitive and perceptual processes interact to form bottle-necks of processing, which, in turn, have measurable detrimental effects on human performance, whole-head continuous EEG was recorded as participants undertook baseline, mild cognitive load and heavy cognitive load tasks. Behavioral measures (reaction times and error rates) showed significant performance decrements between the mild and heavy cognitive load conditions. Graph analysis and pattern identification was then used to identify a sub-set of cortical locations reflecting significant, measurable neural differences between the mild and heavy cognitive load states. This thus lays the foundation for future research into suitable metrics for more accurately measuring degree of global cognitive load as well as practical applications such as developing simple devices for measuring cognitive load in real time

Spectrum of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis in Oman

Objectives: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) can have varied and life-threatening manifestations. This study aimed to examine the spectrum of its clinical presentations and outcomes in a tertiary hospital in Oman. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, between January 2009 and December 2017. The medical records of all patients with CVT were reviewed to determine demographic characteristics, clinical features and patient outcomes. Results: A total of 30 patients had CVT. The mean age was 36.8 ± 11 years and the male-to-female ratio was 2:3. Common manifestations included headache (83%), altered sensorium (50%), seizures (43%) and hemiparesis (33%). Underlying risk factors were present in 16 patients (53%). Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was abnormal in all patients, with indications of infarcts (40%) and major sinus thrombosis (100%). There were five cases (20%) of deep CVT. The patients were treated with low-molecular-weight heparin, mannitol and anticonvulsants. The majority (77%) had no residual neurological deficits at follow-up. Conclusion: These findings indicate that CVT is a relatively uncommon yet treatable disorder in Oman. A high index of suspicion, early diagnosis, prompt anticoagulation treatment and critical care may enhance favourable patient outcomes. Keywords: Venous Thrombosis; Cerebral Thrombosis; Cranial Venous Sinuses; Neurological Manifestations; Patient Outcome Assessment; Oman

Combinatorial Guidance by CCR7 Ligands for T Lymphocytes Migration in Co-Existing Chemokine Fields

Chemokines mediate the trafficking and positioning of lymphocytes in lymphoid tissues that is crucial for immune surveillance and immune responses. In particular, a CCR7 ligand, CCL21, plays important roles in recruiting T cells to secondary lymphoid tissues (SLT). Furthermore, CCL21 together with another CCR7 ligand, CCL19, direct the navigation and compartmentation of T cells within SLT. However, the distinct roles of these two chemokines for regulating cell trafficking and positioning are not clear. In this study, we explore the effect of co-existing CCL19 and CCL21 concentration fields on guiding T cell migration. Using microfluidic devices that can configure single and superimposed chemokine fields we show that under physiological gradient conditions, human peripheral blood T cells chemotax to CCL21 but not CCL19. Furthermore, T cells migrate away from the CCL19 gradient in a uniform background of CCL21. This repulsive migratory response is predicted by mathematical modeling based on the competition of CCL19 and CCL21 for CCR7 signaling and the differential ability of the two chemokines for desensitizing CCR7. These results suggest a new combinatorial guiding mechanism by CCL19 and CCL21 for the migration and trafficking of CCR7 expressing leukocytes

Association of Impulsivity and Polymorphic MicroRNA-641 Target Sites in the SNAP-25 Gene.

Impulsivity is a personality trait of high impact and is connected with several types of maladaptive behavior and psychiatric diseases, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as pathological gambling and mood disorders. Polymorphic variants of the SNAP-25 gene emerged as putative genetic components of impulsivity, as SNAP-25 protein plays an important role in the central nervous system, and its SNPs are associated with several psychiatric disorders. In this study we aimed to investigate if polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of the SNAP-25 gene are in association with normal variability of impulsivity. Genotypes and haplotypes of two polymorphisms in the promoter (rs6077690 and rs6039769) and two SNPs in the 3' UTR (rs3746544 and rs1051312) of the SNAP-25 gene were determined in a healthy Hungarian population (N = 901) using PCR-RFLP or real-time PCR in combination with sequence specific probes. Significant association was found between the T-T 3' UTR haplotype and impulsivity, whereas no association could be detected with genotypes or haplotypes of the promoter loci. According to sequence alignment, the polymorphisms in the 3' UTR of the gene alter the binding site of microRNA-641, which was analyzed by luciferase reporter system. It was observed that haplotypes altering one or two nucleotides in the binding site of the seed region of microRNA-641 significantly increased the amount of generated protein in vitro. These findings support the role of polymorphic SNAP-25 variants both at psychogenetic and molecular biological levels

High Confidence Prediction of Essential Genes in Burkholderia Cenocepacia

BACKGROUND: Essential genes are absolutely required for the survival of an organism. The identification of essential genes, besides being one of the most fundamental questions in biology, is also of interest for the emerging science of synthetic biology and for the development of novel antimicrobials. New antimicrobial therapies are desperately needed to treat multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We hypothesize that essential genes may be highly conserved within a group of evolutionary closely related organisms. Using a bioinformatics approach we determined that the core genome of the order Burkholderiales consists of 649 genes. All but two of these identified genes were located on chromosome 1 of Burkholderia cenocepacia. Although many of the 649 core genes of Burkholderiales have been shown to be essential in other bacteria, we were also able to identify a number of novel essential genes present mainly, or exclusively, within this order. The essentiality of some of the core genes, including the known essential genes infB, gyrB, ubiB, and valS, as well as the so far uncharacterized genes BCAL1882, BCAL2769, BCAL3142 and BCAL3369 has been confirmed experimentally in B. cenocepacia. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We report on the identification of essential genes using a novel bioinformatics strategy and provide bioinformatics and experimental evidence that the large majority of the identified genes are indeed essential. The essential genes identified here may represent valuable targets for the development of novel antimicrobials and their detailed study may shed new light on the functions required to support life

Lithium chloride therapy fails to improve motor function in a transgenic mouse model of Machado-Joseph disease

The accumulation of misfolded proteins in neurons, leading to the formation of cytoplasmic and nuclear aggregates, is a common theme in age-related neurodegenerative diseases, possibly due to disturbances of the proteostasis and insufficient activity of cellular protein clearance pathways. Lithium is a well-known autophagy inducer that exerts neuroprotective effects in different conditions and has been proposed as a promising therapeutic agent for several neurodegenerative diseases. We tested the efficacy of chronic lithium 10.4 mg/kg) treatment in a transgenic mouse model of Machado-Joseph disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disease, caused by an expansion of a polyglutamine tract within the protein ataxin-3. A battery of behavioral tests was used to assess disease progression. In spite of activating autophagy, as suggested by the increased levels of Beclin-1, Atg7, and LC3II, and a reduction in the p62 protein levels, lithium administration showed no overall beneficial effects in this model concerning motor performance, showing a positive impact only in the reduction of tremors at 24 weeks of age. Our results do not support lithiumchronic treatment as a promising strategy for the treatment of Machado-Joseph disease (MJD).FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(SFRH/BD/51059/2010