Escalation: Raising the College Students\u27 Awareness Regarding Early Signs Of Abusive Relationships

Background: Abusive relationships are highly prevalent in our society, but often go unnoticed. Research showed that dating violence continues to escalate in college student populations. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the video as a chosen method of education in raising the college students\u27 awareness regarding warning signs of an abusive relationship. Design: This study used a descriptive qualitative design. Sample/Data Collection: Five focus groups of college students\u27 participants (freshmen to seniors) were recruited to participate in the “Escalation” workshop. To facilitate discussion, each focus group originally had 15 college students for a total of 75 college students\u27 participants. Five participants dropped of the study the last minute due to conflicting schedules and personal situations. Each focus group lasted for 90 min and consisted of watching a 38 min “Escalation” video that depicts scenarios of abusive relationships and a pre- and a post-qualitative discussion. Results: The results of the study and the identified themes illustrate the broadened perspectives participants gained through participating in the workshop. Insights from participants became less focused on physical abuse and began to include more mental and emotional effects of abuse in their responses. This study showed that most participants were not previously aware of the progression and scope of violent relationships. Discussion/Conclusion: By recognizing the early signs of an abusive relationship, it is more likely for victims and/or peers to intervene in a safe manner rather than continuing to allow an abusive relationship to escalate to its full potential of violence and physical harm

Human Body Posture Recognition Approaches: A Review

Human body posture recognition has become the focus of many researchers in recent years. Recognition of body posture is used in various applications, including surveillance, security, and health monitoring. However, these systems that determine the body’s posture through video clips, images, or data from sensors have many challenges when used in the real world. This paper provides an important review of how most essential ‎ hardware technologies are ‎used in posture recognition systems‎. These systems capture and collect datasets through ‎accelerometer sensors or computer vision. In addition, this paper presents a comparison ‎study with state-of-the-art in terms of accuracy. We also present the advantages and ‎limitations of each system and suggest promising future ideas that can increase the ‎efficiency of the existing posture recognition system. Finally, the most common datasets ‎applied in these systems are described in detail. It aims to be a resource to help choose one of the methods in recognizing the posture of the human body and the techniques that suit each method. It analyzes more than 80 papers between 2015 and 202

Quick Handover in 5G for High Speed Railways and Highways Using Forward Handover and PN Sequence Detection

The cellular users, on high speed railways andhighways, travel at a very high speed and follow a nearly straightpath, in general. Thus, they typically undergo a maximumfrequency of handovers in the cellular environment. This requiresa very fast triggering of the handover. In the existing method ofhandover in 5G cellular communication, for high speed users,neither the decision-making of handover nor the triggering ofhandover is sufficiently fast. This can lead to poor signal qualityand packet losses and in the worst case, radio link failure (RLF)during a handover. This paper proposes a forward handover basedmethod, combined with PN sequence detections, to facilitate aquicker handover for high speed users on railways and highways.The proposed method adds some complexity but can offer asignificant improvement in the overall handover delay. A simplisticsimulation is used to demonstrate the improvement of the proposedmethod

Inhibitors of Mammalian Aquaporin Water Channels

Aquaporins (AQPs) are water channel proteins that are essential to life, being expressed in all kingdoms. In humans, there are 13 AQPs, at least one of which is found in every organ system. The structural biology of the AQP family is well-established and many functions for AQPs have been reported in health and disease. AQP expression is linked to numerous pathologies including tumor metastasis, fluid dysregulation, and traumatic injury. The targeted modulation of AQPs therefore presents an opportunity to develop novel treatments for diverse conditions. Various techniques such as video microscopy, light scattering and fluorescence quenching have been used to test putative AQP inhibitors in both AQP-expressing mammalian cells and heterologous expression systems. The inherent variability within these methods has caused discrepancy and many molecules that are inhibitory in one experimental system (such as tetraethylammonium, acetazolamide, and anti-epileptic drugs) have no activity in others. Some heavy metal ions (that would not be suitable for therapeutic use) and the compound, TGN-020, have been shown to inhibit some AQPs. Clinical trials for neuromyelitis optica treatments using anti-AQP4 IgG are in progress. However, these antibodies have no effect on water transport. More research to standardize high-throughput assays is required to identify AQP modulators for which there is an urgent and unmet clinical need

The Consequence of Backward Linkage of RMG Sector in Bangladesh - an Overview

In the context of Bangladesh backward linkages are playing the major role, as in the global apparel market buyers place order with competitive pricing along with the shortest possible lead time. So, to sustain  with the other countries in the open market economy this RMG is facing too many challenges due to lack of industrial exposure in our economy and the sector cannot get adequate support from backward linkage industries. On that note most of the cases we need to depend on the external sources for the raw materials. The purpose of the study is to identify the current status of backward linkages of RMG sector in Bangladesh and also how we can improve the conditions of backward linkages compared to the demand. The research contains the condition of backward linkage industries in Bangladesh, the barriers of RMG sector, the findings and solutions of those barriers and last but not the least the opportunities of this growing industry. The research is focusing on how the backward linkage industries help RMG sector to meet the buyer's lead time and what the initiatives should be taken to set up more backward linkage industries for being more competitive in the open market economy

Modified Chitosan Hydrogels and Nano Hydrogels for Congo Red Removal from Aqueous System

In the present work, sulfonamide chitosan derivatives were prepared via the reaction of chitosan (Cs) with diphenyl ether – 4, 4`- disulfonylchloride (DPE) in absence and/or presence of glutaraldehyde (G) to form the hydrogel (DPE-I) and (DPE-II) respectively. The nanogels (DPE-III) and (DPE-IV) were prepared via ionotropic gelation method in presence of sodium tri polyphosphate (TPP) under the same reaction conditions. The hydrogels (DPE-I, DPE-II, DPE-III, and DPE- IV) were characterized by different tools as: Elemental analysis, Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrometer (FT-IR), Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1HNMR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The adsorption efficiency of the prepared hydrogels for removal of congo red dye (CR) from aqueous solution under different parameters such as (time, pH, and concentration) was evaluated. The adsorption capacity of CR by the prepared hydrogels increased with time, adsorbent dosage and the initial concentration of CR. The optimum adsorption capacity for CR dye by the prepared hydrogels was at pH 7. Hydrogels (DPE-III and DPE-IV) showed the highest efficiency for adsorption of (CR) dye

Homologous and heterologous desensitization of guanylyl cyclase-B signaling in GH3 somatolactotropes

The guanylyl cyclases, GC-A and GC-B, are selective receptors for atrial and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP and CNP, respectively). In the anterior pituitary, CNP and GC-B are major regulators of cGMP production in gonadotropes and yet mouse models of disrupted CNP and GC-B indicate a potential role in growth hormone secretion. In the current study, we investigate the molecular and pharmacological properties of the CNP/GC-B system in somatotrope lineage cells. Primary rat pituitary and GH3 somatolactotropes expressed functional GC-A and GC-B receptors that had similar EC50 properties in terms of cGMP production. Interestingly, GC-B signaling underwent rapid homologous desensitization in a protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)-dependent manner. Chronic exposure to either CNP or ANP caused a significant down-regulation of both GC-A- and GC-B-dependent cGMP accumulation in a ligand-specific manner. However, this down-regulation was not accompanied by alterations in the sub-cellular localization of these receptors. Heterologous desensitization of GC-B signaling occurred in GH3 cells following exposure to either sphingosine-1-phosphate or thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH). This heterologous desensitization was protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent, as pre-treatment with GF109203X prevented the effect of TRH on CNP/GC-B signaling. Collectively, these data indicate common and distinct properties of particulate guanylyl cyclase receptors in somatotropes and reveal that independent mechanisms of homologous and heterologous desensitization occur involving either PP2A or PKC. Guanylyl cyclase receptors thus represent potential novel therapeutic targets for treating growth-hormone-associated disorders

Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) Lockdown on Mental Health and Well-Being in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken unprecedented precautionary measures including complete lockdowns against COVID-19 to control its spread and ensure the well-being of individuals. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 and societal lockdown measures on the mental health of adults in the UAE. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an English and Arabic online questionnaire between May and June 2020. The psychological impact was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the social and family support impact was evaluated using questions from the Perceived Support Scale (PSS). A total of 4,426 participants (3,325 females and 1,101 males) completed the questionnaire. The mean IES-R score was 28.0 ± 14.6, reflecting a mild stressful impact with 27.3% reporting severe psychological impact. Over 36% reported increased stress from work, home and financial matters. Also, 43–63% of the participants felt horrified, apprehensive or helpless due to COVID-19. Females, younger participants, part-timers, and college or University graduates were more likely to have a high IES-R score (p \u3c 0.05). The majority of participants reported receiving increased support from family members, paying more attention to their mental health, and spending more time to rest and relax. The results of this study demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among the UAE residents and highlight the need to adopt culturally appropriate interventions for the general population and vulnerable groups, such as females and younger adults

Presence of vascular endothelial growth factor during the first half of IVM improves the meiotic and developmental competence of porcine oocytes from small follicles

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on the meiotic and developmental competence of porcine oocytes from small follicles (SF; 0.5-3mm diameter). When cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) from medium-sized follicles (MF; 3-6mm diameter) and SF were cultured for IVM, the maturation rates were significantly higher for oocytes from MF than SF. Concentrations of VEGF in the medium were significantly higher for COCs cultured from MF than SF. When COCs from SF were exposed to 200ngmL-1 VEGF during the first 20h of IVM, the maturation rate improved significantly and was similar to that of oocytes derived from MF. The fertilisability of oocytes was also significantly higher than that of VEGF-free SF controls. Following parthenogenetic activation, the blastocyst formation rate improved significantly when SF COC culture was supplemented with 200ngmL-1 VEGF, with the rate similar to that of oocytes from MF. The results of the present study indicate that VEGF markedly improves the meiotic and developmental competence of oocytes derived from SF, especially at a concentration of 200ngmL-1 during the first 20h of IVM

Phenotypes of the ovarian follicular basal lamina predict developmental competence of oocytes

BACKGROUND: The ovarian follicular basal lamina underlies the epithelial membrana granulosa and maintains the avascular intra-follicular compartment. Additional layers of basal lamina occur in a number of pathologies, including pili annulati and diabetes. We previously found additional layers of follicular basal lamina in a significant percentage of healthy bovine follicles. We wished to determine if this phenomenon existed in humans, and if it was related to oocyte function in the bovine. METHODS: AND RESULTS: We examined follicles from human ovaries (n = 18) by electron microscopy and found that many follicles had additional layers of basal lamina. Oocytes (n = 222) from bovine follicles with normal or unusual basal laminas were isolated and their ability to undergo in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture to blastocyst was compared. Healthy bovine follicles with a single layer of basal lamina had oocytes with significantly (P < 0.01) greater developmental competence than healthy follicles with additional layers of follicular basal lamina (65 versus 28). CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide direct evidence that the phenotype of the follicular basal lamina is related to oocyte competence