Videogames as a learning environment:English language teaching and intercultural communication

Abstract. The objective of this study is to examine the use of videogames as teaching tools for spoken intercultural communication, and to identify possible obstacles to their use. The materials — the national core curriculum and assorted studies — were examined through close reading. The aim was to identify benefits of using games and possible obstacle-sources. The collected data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis, to sort the findings, and theorize what promotes or obstructs the use of games. Main theoretical framework forms out of the national core curriculum, research on English as lingua franca and research on learning and videogames. The results suggest that videogames are a viable option for learning intercultural communication, but numerous obstacles might inhibit their use. These obstacles include, among others, time constraints, videogame design, and objectives of basic education. In the future, empirical research is required to confirm the viability of using videogames more actively as parts of the Finnish education system.Tiivistelmä. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tarkastella videopelien käyttöä opetusvälineinä puhutun kulttuurienvälisen kommunikaation opetuksessa, sekä tunnistaa mahdollisia esteitä niiden käytölle. Aineistoa — perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteita ja valikoituja tutkielmia — tutkittiin lähiluvun kautta. Näin kerättyjä löydöksiä tarkasteltiin kvalitatiivisen sisältöanalyysin kautta. Tavoitteena oli eritellä löydöksiä ja teoretisoida mikä edistää tai estää videopelien käyttöä. Teoreettinen kehys muodostuu perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelmasta, tutkimuksesta englannin kieleen lingua francana sekä tutkimuksesta oppimiseen ja videopeleihin. Tulosten perusteella vaikuttaa siltä, että pelejä voi käyttää kulttuurienvälisen kommunikaation opetuksessa. On kuitenkin huomattava, että useita esteitä niiden käytölle löytyi. Näihin esteisiin lukeutuu muun muassa ajalliset rajoitteet, videopelien suunnittelu sekä perusopetuksen tavoitteet. Tulevaisuudessa tarvitaan empiiristä tutkimusta varmentamaan, onko videopelejä mahdollista hyödyntää nykyistä aktiivisemminosana suomalaista opetusjärjestelmä

Spared Nerve Injury Causes Sexually Dimorphic Mechanical Allodynia and Differential Gene Expression in Spinal Cords and Dorsal Root Ganglia in Rats

Neuropathic pain is more prevalent in women. However, females are under-represented in animal experiments, and the mechanisms of sex differences remain inadequately understood. We used the spared nerve injury (SNI) model in rats to characterize sex differences in pain behaviour, unbiased RNA-Seq and proteomics to study the mechanisms. Male and female rats were subjected to SNI- and sham-surgery. Mechanical and cold allodynia were assessed. Ipsilateral lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and spinal cord (SC) segments were collected for RNA-seq analysis with DESeq2 on Day 7. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples for proteomic analysis and DRGs and SCs for analysis of IB-4 and CGRP, and IBA1 and GFAP, respectively, were collected on Day 21. Females developed stronger mechanical allodynia. There were no differences between the sexes in CGRP and IB-4 in the DRG or glial cell markers in the SC. No CSF protein showed change following SNI. DRG and SC showed abundant changes in gene expression. Sexually dimorphic responses were found in genes related to T-cells (cd28, ctla4, cd274, cd4, prf1), other immunological responses (dpp4, c5a, cxcr2 and il1b), neuronal transmission (hrh3, thbs4, chrna4 and pdyn), plasticity (atf3, c1qc and reg3b), and others (bhlhe22, mcpt1l, trpv6). We observed significantly stronger mechanical allodynia in females and numerous sexually dimorphic changes in gene expression following SNI in rats. Several genes have previously been linked to NP, while some are novel. Our results suggest gene targets for further studies in the development of new, possibly sex-specific, therapies for NP.Peer reviewe

A digital waveguide-based approach for Clavinet modeling and synthesis

The Clavinet is an electromechanical musical instrument produced in the mid-twentieth century. As is the case for other vintage instruments, it is subject to aging and requires great effort to be maintained or restored. This paper reports analyses conducted on a Hohner Clavinet D6 and proposes a computational model to faithfully reproduce the Clavinet sound in real time, from tone generation to the emulation of the electronic components. The string excitation signal model is physically inspired and represents a cheap solution in terms of both computational resources and especially memory requirements (compared, e.g., to sample playback systems). Pickups and amplifier models have been implemented which enhance the natural character of the sound with respect to previous work. A model has been implemented on a real-time software platform, Pure Data, capable of a 10-voice polyphony with low latency on an embedded device. Finally, subjective listening tests conducted using the current model are compared to previous tests showing slightly improved results

Morphine-3-glucuronide causes antinociceptive cross-tolerance to morphine and increases spinal substance P expression

Morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G), the main metabolite of morphine, has been implicated in the development of tolerance and of opioid-induced hyperalgesia, both limiting the analgesic use of morphine. We evaluated the acute and chronic effects of M3G and morphine as well as development of antinociceptive cross-tolerance between morphine and M3G after intrathecal administration and assessed the expression of pain-associated neurotransmitter substance P in the spinal cord. Sprague-Dawley rats received intrathecal M3G or morphine twice daily for 6 days. Nociception and tactile allodynia were measured with von Frey filaments after acute and chronic treatments. Substance P levels in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord were determined by immunohistochemistry after 4-day treatments. Acute morphine caused antinociception as expected, whereas acute M3G caused tactile allodynia, as did both chronic M3G and morphine. Chronic M3G also induced antinociceptive cross-tolerance to morphine. M3G and morphine increased substance P levels similarly in the nociceptive laminae of the spinal cord. This study shows that chronic intrathecal M3G sensitises animals to mechanical stimulation and elevates substance P levels in the nociceptive laminae of the spinal cord. Chronic M3G also induces antinociceptive cross-tolerance to morphine. Thus, chronic M3G exposure might contribute to morphine-induced tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia.Peer reviewe

Systemic hypertonic saline enhances glymphatic spinal cord delivery of lumbar intrathecal morphine

The blood-brain barrier significantly limits effective drug delivery to central nervous system (CNS) targets. The recently characterized glymphatic system offers a perivascular highway for intrathecally (i.t.) administered drugs to reach deep brain structures. Although periarterial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) influx and concomitant brain drug delivery can be enhanced by pharmacological or hyperosmotic interventions, their effects on drug delivery to the spinal cord, an important target for many drugs, have not been addressed. Hence, we studied in rats whether enhancement of periarterial flow by systemic hypertonic solution might be utilized to enhance spinal delivery and efficacy of i.t. morphine. We also studied whether the hyperosmolar intervention affects brain or cerebrospinal fluid drug concentrations after systemic administration. Periarterial CSF influx was enhanced by intraperitoneal injection of hypertonic saline (HTS, 5.8%, 20 ml/kg, 40 mOsm/kg). The antinociceptive effects of morphine were characterized, using tail flick, hot plate and paw pressure tests. Drug concentrations in serum, tissue and microdialysis samples were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Compared with isotonic solution, HTS increased concentrations of spinal i.t. administered morphine by 240% at the administration level (T13-L1) at 60 min and increased the antinociceptive effect of morphine in tail flick, hot plate, and paw pressure tests. HTS also independently increased hot plate and paw pressure latencies but had no effect in the tail flick test. HTS transiently increased the penetration of intravenous morphine into the lateral ventricle, but not into the hippocampus. In conclusion, acute systemic hyperosmolality is a promising intervention for enhanced spinal delivery of i.t. administered morphine. The relevance of this intervention should be expanded to other i.t. drugs and brought to clinical trials.Peer reviewe

Quality of life and neck pain in nurses

Objectives: To investigate the association between neck pain and psychological stress in nurses. Material and Methods: Nurses from the Avon Orthopaedic Centre completed 2 questionnaires: the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and 1 exploring neck pain and associated psychological stress. Results: Thirty four nurses entered the study (68% response). Twelve (35.3%) had current neck pain, 13 (38.2%) reported neck pain within the past year and 9 (26.5%) had no neck pain. Subjects with current neck pain had significantly lower mental health (47.1 vs. 70.4; p = 0.002), physical health (60.8 vs. 76.8; p = 0.010) and overall SF-36 scores (56.8 vs. 74.9; p = 0.003). Five (41.7%) subjects with current neck pain and 5 (38.5%) subjects with neck pain in the previous year attributed it to psychological stress. Conclusions: Over 1/3 of nurses have symptomatic neck pain and significantly lower mental and physical health scores. Managing psychological stress may reduce neck pain, leading to improved quality of life for nurses, financial benefits for the NHS, and improved patient care

Electric field-navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation for chronic tinnitus: a randomized, placebo-controlled study

Objective: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may alleviate tinnitus. We evaluated effects of electric field (E-field) navigated rTMS targeted according to tinnitus pitch. No controlled studies have investigated anatomically accurate E-field-rTMS for tinnitus. Design: Effects of E-field-rTMS were evaluated in a prospective randomised placebo-controlled 6-month follow-up study on parallel groups. Patients received 10 sessions of 1Hz rTMS or placebo targeted to the left auditory cortex corresponding to tonotopic representation of tinnitus pitch. Effects were evaluated immediately after treatment and at 1, 3 and 6 months. Primary outcome measures were visual analogue scores (VAS 0-100) for tinnitus intensity, annoyance and distress, and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). Study sample: Thirty-nine patients (mean age 50.3 years). Results: The mean tinnitus intensity (F-3=15.7, p<0.0001), annoyance (F-3=8.8, p=0.0002), distress (F-3=9.1, p=0.0002) and THI scores (F-4=13.8, p<0.0001) decreased in both groups over time with non-significant differences between the groups. After active rTMS, 42% and 37% of the patients showed excellent response at 1 and 3 months against 15% and 10% in the placebo group (p=0.082 and p=0.065). Conclusions: Despite the significant effects of rTMS on tinnitus, differences between active and placebo groups remained non-significant, due to large placebo-effect and wide inter-individual variation

Potential Tumor Suppressor NESG1 as an Unfavorable Prognosis Factor in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

BACKGROUND:Recently we identified nasopharyngeal epithelium specific protein 1 (NESG1) as a potential tumor suppressor in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The purpose of this study is to investigate the involvement of NESG1 in tumor progression and prognosis of human NPC. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:NESG1 protein expression in NPC was examined. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier method. The effect of NESG1 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were also investigated. RESULTS:NESG1 expression was downregulated in atypical hyperplasia and NPC samples compared to normal and squamous nasopharynx tissues. Reduced protein expression was negatively associated with the status of NPC progression. Patients with lower NESG1 expression had a shorter overall survival and disease-free time than did patients with higher NESG1 expression. Multivariate analysis suggested NESG1 expression as an independent prognostic indicator for NPC patient survival. Proliferation, migration, and invasion ability were significantly increased in cell lines following lentiviral-mediated shRNA suppression of NESG1 expression. Microarray analysis indicated that NESG1 participated in multiple pathways, including MAPK signaling and cell cycle regulation. Finally, DNA methylation microarray examination revealed a lack of hypermethylation at the NESG1 promoter, suggesting other mechanisms are involved in suppressing NESG1 expression in NPC. CONCLUSION:Our studies are the first to demonstrate that decreased NESG1 expression is an unfavorable prognostic factor for NPC