Enhancing STEM Learning with ChatGPT and Bing Chat as Objects to Think With: A Case Study

This study investigates the potential of ChatGPT and Bing Chat, advanced conversational AIs, as "objects-to-think-with," resources that foster reflective and critical thinking, and concept comprehension in enhancing STEM education, using a constructionist theoretical framework. A single-case study methodology was used to analyse extensive interaction logs between students and both AI systems in simulated STEM learning experiences. The results highlight the ability of ChatGPT and Bing Chat to help learners develop reflective and critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills, and concept comprehension. However, integrating AIs with collaborative learning and other educational activities is crucial, as is addressing potential limitations like concerns about AI information accuracy and reliability of the AIs' information and diminished human interaction. The study concludes that ChatGPT and Bing Chat as objects-to-think-with offer promising avenues to revolutionise STEM education through a constructionist lens, fostering engagement in inclusive and accessible learning environments

Potential Drug Candidates in Clinical Trials for the Treatment of Covid-19: An Updated Overview

The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and by the end of April 2020, it spread to more than 200 countries worldwide. Particularly the USA, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK, Turkey, Iran, and Russia were the most affected countries till December 2020. Currently, most of the researchers are in a continuous struggle to develop a vaccine or new drugs to combat Covid-19. There are more than 30 drug candidates including Western medicines, natural products, and traditional Chinese medicines, that have shown to exhibit some efficacy against this highly infectious virus. This review encompasses the potential efficacy of some key drugs recently tested against Covid-19.  With the rapid spread of Covid-19 reaching a new level every day, there is an immediate need to find safe and effective measures to diagnose, treat, mitigate, and combat the disease. Looking at the alarming dimensions that the disease is acquiring, treatment strategies among the different drug systems are being investigated. Currently, clinical management includes infection prevention, control measures, and supportive care, including supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilation when indicated.  The pharmaceutical interventions evaluated for the treatment of Covid-19 include human immunoglobulin, interferons, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, arbidol, remdesivir, oseltamivir, favipiravir, carrimycin, methylprednisolone, bevacizumab, thalidomide, vitamin C, pyrodfenidone, darthviravir, bromexistone, ryrexavir, lopinavir, xiyanping, and traditional Chinese medicine. But still, the researchers are struggling to discover the most effective drug for the treatment of the current pandemic of Covid-19. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i4.163

Maternal Moderate Physical Training during Pregnancy Attenuates the Effects of a Low-Protein Diet on the Impaired Secretion of Insulin in Rats: Potential Role for Compensation of Insulin Resistance and Preventing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

The effects of pregestational and gestational low-to-moderate physical training on insulin secretion in undernourished mothers were evaluated. Virgin female Wistar rats were divided into four groups as follows: control (C, n = 5); trained (T, n = 5); low-protein diet (LP, n = 5); trained with a low-protein diet (T + LP, n = 5). Trained rats ran on a treadmill over a period of 4 weeks before mate (5 days week(-1) and 60 min day(-1), at 65% of VO2max). At pregnancy, the intensity and duration of the exercise were reduced. Low-protein groups were provided with an 8% casein diet, and controls were provided with a 17% casein diet. At third day after delivery, mothers and pups were killed and islets were isolated by collagenase digestion of pancreas and incubated for a further 1 h with medium containing 5.6 or 16.7 mM glucose. T mothers showed increased insulin secretion by isolated islets incubated with 16.7 mM glucose, whereas LP group showed reduced secretion of insulin by isolated islets when compared with both C and LP + T groups. Physical training before and during pregnancy attenuated the effects of a low-protein diet on the secretion of insulin, suggesting a potential role for compensation of insulin resistance and preventing gestational diabetes mellitus.National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)Foundation to Support Science and Research from Pernambuco State (FACEPE)Foundation to Support Science and Research from Pernambuco State (FACEPE)Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES)Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES)Deans Office for Research/University of Sao PauloDean's Office for Research/University of Sao Paul

Acinic cell carcinoma of the oral and maxillofacial region: an international multicenter study

Abstract The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence, clinicopathological, and prognostic features of acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) of the oral and maxillofacial region. AciCC cases were retrospectively retrieved from 11 pathology centers of three different countries. Medical records were examined to extract demographic, clinical, pathologic, and follow-up information. A total of 75 cases were included. Females (65.33%) with a mean age of 45.51 years were mostly affected. The lesions usually presented as an asymptomatic (64.28%) nodule (95.66%) in the parotid gland (70.68%). The association of two histopathological patterns was the most common finding (48.93%) and the tumors presented mainly conventional histopathological grades (86.11%). Surgical treatment was performed in the majority of the cases (59.19%). Local recurrence was observed in 20% of the informed cases, regional metastasis in 30.43%, and distant metastasis in 12.50%. The statistical analysis showed that the cases with a solid histopathological pattern (p=0.01), high-grade transformation (p=0.008), recurrence (p=0.007), and regional metastasis (p=0.03) were associated with poor survival. In conclusion, high histopathological transformation, presence of nodal metastasis, and recurrence were prognostic factors for AciCC of the oral and maxillofacial region

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Em torno da mesa do rei: artefatos, convivialidade e celebração no Rio de Janeiro joanino

Este artigo aborda um aspecto relevante do ritual das refeições na corte de D. João VI, no Rio de Janeiro: a prataria de mesa. Isto é, objetos de luxo destinados a servir e a consumir os alimentos. Com base em um inventário de bens de mesa enviados do Rio de Janeiro para Lisboa junto com o monarca em seu retorno a Portugal, em 1821, este artigo procura refletir sobre as funções e possíveis usos desses objetos, assim como sobre a importância desse universo material para o funcionamento, representação e celebração da Casa Real portuguesa na sua nova sede. O artigo argumenta que a presença e o uso de baixelas de prata de serviço, mas também de grande aparato, nas refeições públicas da família real pode contribuir para se repensar a imagem de uma corte pobre e sem brilho recorrentemente reforçada na historiografia do período joanino.This article discusses a specific issue of the royal dinner's rituals at the Court of Rio de Janeiro: the silver service: some luxury artifacts of different forms specially made to serve and consume food. Based on a inventory of these silver objects and also on a stock of table linen which were shipped to Lisbon, along with the royal family in 1821, The article intend to explore the functions and utilities of those objects at the table, as well as, analyze the importance of this material universe for the functioning, representation and celebration of the Portuguese Royal House in its new headquarters.The article argues that the use and even the exhibition of the banquet silver in public ceremonies may contribute to change a rather depreciative image of poverty the royal court in Brazil, which has being explored by the historiography for more than a hundred years

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements