Predicting potential Alzheimer medical condition in elderly using IOT sensors - Case study

National Development and National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2NIC

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effects of sexy voices on radio advertising for gender-natured and neutral products.

This study examines the application of sex appeal, commonly used in print and television advertising, in vocal form in radio advertising as well as the interaction with consumers’ gender, spokesperson's gender and product nature on consumer attitudes towards the ad, speaker and brand, purchase intentions and the perception of the gender image of products. An experiment was performed with 304 participants. Results indicate that spokesperson’s gender does have an effect on respondent’s attitudes and the preference varies across respondents’ gender with regard to different product categories. Results also show that sexiness is not always preferred. In addition, a spokesperson's gender is an effective cue in altering the perceived gender image of a neutral product in radio advertising. This study is counter-intuitive in showing that sex appeal is not slated to succeed across all advertising mediums and all product types. Advertisers have to be aware of product nature and cultural contexts before indiscriminately applying sex appeal.BUSINES

Not as innocent as they seem : a content analysis on gender stereotyping in memes

With internet memes regarded as one of the latest fads in online culture, this exploratory study examines the representation of genders in memes using a content analysis of 638 memes from the Know Your Meme Facebook page. Guided by Erving Goffman’s framework for analysis of gender advertisements, this study finds that gender stereotyping is present in memes, especially when it comes to representations of dominance and interaction. More importantly, males are observed to dominate the memetic landscape, with a severe underrepresentation of females. Although perceived as harmless entertainment by users, memes as a communication channel do propagate gender stereotypes.Bachelor of Communication Studie

Effectiveness of vero cell inactivated vaccine against severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in Sibu, Malaysia: A retrospective test-negative design

The effectiveness of the vero cell inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac®) against severe acute respiratory infection (‎SARI)‎ caused by SARS-CoV-2 in the real world was assessed. A matched test-negative case-control design was employed using the web-based national information system, as well as the hospitalization dataset in Sibu Hospital. Vaccine effectiveness was measured by conditional logistic regression with adjustment for gender, underlying comorbidity, smoking status, and education level. Between 15 March and 30 September 2021, 838 eligible SARI patients were identified from the hospitalization records. Vaccine effectiveness was 42.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: −28.3 to 74.1) for partial vaccination (after receiving the first dose to 14 days after receiving the second dose), and 76.5% (95% CI: 45.6 to 89.8) for complete vaccination (at 15 days or more after receiving the second dose). This analysis indicated that two doses of CoronaVac® vaccine provided efficacious protection against SARI caused by SARS-CoV-2 in the short term. However, the duration of protection, and performance against new variants need to be studied continuously

Analysis of clinically relevant variants from ancestrally diverse Asian genomes

Asian populations are under-represented in human genomics research. Here, we characterize clinically significant genetic variation in 9051 genomes representing East Asian, South Asian, and severely under-represented Austronesian-speaking Southeast Asian ancestries. We observe disparate genetic risk burden attributable to ancestry-specific recurrent variants and identify individuals with variants specific to ancestries discordant to their self-reported ethnicity, mostly due to cryptic admixture. About 27% of severe recessive disorder genes with appreciable carrier frequencies in Asians are missed by carrier screening panels, and we estimate 0.5% Asian couples at-risk of having an affected child. Prevalence of medically-actionable variant carriers is 3.4% and a further 1.6% harbour variants with potential for pathogenic classification upon additional clinical/experimental evidence. We profile 23 pharmacogenes with high-confidence gene-drug associations and find 22.4% of Asians at-risk of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tier 1 genetic conditions concurrently harbour pharmacogenetic variants with actionable phenotypes, highlighting the benefits of pre-emptive pharmacogenomics. Our findings illuminate the diversity in genetic disease epidemiology and opportunities for precision medicine for a large, diverse Asian population.</p