Creative people tend to tell lies, especially in enriched environment

Is dishonesty affected by one’s creativity and environment? Recent studies have documented the effects of creativity and environment on dishonesty respectively. However, little attention has been given to the interaction effect of creativity and environment. Based on past findings, we hypothesized that creative people, compared to their non-creative counterparts, may tell more lies in an enriched (vs. scarce) environment. An experiment was conducted on a sample of 97 undergraduate students to examine the moderation effect of environment on the linkage of creativity and cheating. Participants completed a creativity task and a questionnaire on general knowledge about Malaysia. Two-way ANOVA analysis showed that creative participants, as well as those in the enriched environment, were more likely to tell lies than their counterparts. More importantly, the interaction effect of creativity and environment was statistically significant. Specifically, the creative people were more likely to cheat in the enriched envi-ronment than in the scarce environment. The results not only shed light on the link between creativity and dishonesty but also suggest a new direction for minimizing dishonesty behaviours

Computational Study of Hydrogel Ring Device for Ocular Drug Delivery

Researchers have developed many different kinds of ocular drug delivery devices. However, most address anterior eye disorders—very few are designed specifically for the treatment of posterior eye diseases. A recently-developed hydrogel ring device is capable of delivering therapeutic quantities of the drug Ofloxacin to treat ocular infections at the back of the eye—a region typically difficult to access via systemic (e.g. ingestion of pills) and topical (e.g. eye drops) methods. Despite promising preliminary in vivo test results, much remains unknown about the precise drug transport pathway from the hydrogel ring to the posterior segment of the eye, as well as how design parameters may be altered to increase drug delivery efficiency. The aim of this work is to fully characterize the drug release and transport characteristics from the hydrogel, to ocular tissues (anterior and posterior), as well as provide a quantitative method for the optimization of various hydrogel ring design parameters. To achieve the abovementioned goals, we built a computational model using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the release of Ofloxacin from the hydrogel ring and to obtain the resulting drug distribution in ocular tissues at various time points. Using the model, we monitored the transient Ofloxacin concentration profile over the entire eye, for a treatment period of ten hours. Our results showed that while Ofloxacin diffuses to the anterior region much more quickly than to posterior tissues, Ofloxacin concentrations do successfully accumulate to therapeutic levels in the posterior tissues during the simulated ten-hour treatment period. This finding supports the therapeutic potential of the hydrogel ring for the treatment of posterior eye diseases. We also performed optimization analyses to determine the ideal set of hydrogel ring design parameters for the treatment of infections caused by three bacterial species commonly associated with ocular disorders: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Preliminary findings suggest that the combination of an initial mass of 3 mg/m3 of Ofloxacin in the hydrogel and an Ofloxacin diffusivity of 3.11X10−9 m2/s in the hydrogel provide the best possible therapeutic outcome (from the range of values tested) for the treatment of E. coli and S. aureus infections. To our best knowledge, there is no existing computational model that simulates drug transport through the entire human eye from an ocular drug delivery device. We believe that our computational model will be highly useful for quantitative device characterization of the hydrogel ring, as well as in the optimization of the hydrogel ring design for the treatment of posterior eye disorders. This work may also serve as a model and reference for future computational work on ocular pharmacokinetics and/or ocular drug delivery devices

Simultaneous compression of the passively mode-locked pulsewidth and pulse train

Simultaneous compression of the passively mode-locked pulse width and pulse train have been achieved by using a plano-convex unstable resonator hybrided by a nonlinear Sagnac ring interferometer. The greater than 30 mJ single pulse energy of a lone oscillator and less than or equal to 10 ps pulsewidth have been obtained. Using this system, the LAGEOS and ETALON satellites' laser ranging have been performed successfully

A web-based appointment system to reduce waiting for outpatients: A retrospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Long waiting times for registration to see a doctor is problematic in China, especially in tertiary hospitals. To address this issue, a web-based appointment system was developed for the Xijing hospital. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the web-based appointment system in the registration service for outpatients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from the web-based appointment system in Xijing hospital from January to December 2010 were collected using a stratified random sampling method, from which participants were randomly selected for a telephone interview asking for detailed information on using the system. Patients who registered through registration windows were randomly selected as a comparison group, and completed a questionnaire on-site.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 5641 patients using the online booking service were available for data analysis. Of them, 500 were randomly selected, and 369 (73.8%) completed a telephone interview. Of the 500 patients using the usual queuing method who were randomly selected for inclusion in the study, responses were obtained from 463, a response rate of 92.6%. Between the two registration methods, there were significant differences in age, degree of satisfaction, and total waiting time (<it>P </it>< 0.001). However, gender, urban residence, and valid waiting time showed no significant differences (<it>P </it>> 0.05). Being ignorant of online registration, not trusting the internet, and a lack of ability to use a computer were three main reasons given for not using the web-based appointment system. The overall proportion of non-attendance was 14.4% for those using the web-based appointment system, and the non-attendance rate was significantly different among different hospital departments, day of the week, and time of the day (<it>P </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Compared to the usual queuing method, the web-based appointment system could significantly increase patient's satisfaction with registration and reduce total waiting time effectively. However, further improvements are needed for broad use of the system.</p

DDX3X loss is an adverse prognostic marker in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and is associated with chemoresistance in aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes.

Funder: addenbrooke's charitable trust, cambridge university hospital

Potential applications of wastes from energy generation particularly biochar in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, abundant agricultural wastes are generated yearly. Therefore it is beneficial to discover new ways to utilize the wastes and employ the carbon source in different industries. Biochar are produced through many heat treatments such as combustion, gasification and pyrolysis for energy generation. The characteristics of these stable carbons such as the physical properties, chemical composition, surface area and surface chemistry determine the effectiveness of the cabon in different applications. Biochar has the ability to retain carbon and this condition is advantageous to prevent the release of carbon back to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Application of biochar to soil helps to improve soil fertility and raise agricultural productivity. Biochar also has the ability to reduce carbon dioxide in the flue gas system. There have only been a few studies that discuss on the potential applications of this agriculture waste. The biochar's potential application as carbon sequester for soil application, energy production and dye sorption is being explored in this paper

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Both Overlapping and Independent Genetic Loci to Control Seed Weight and Silique Length in Brassica napus

Seed weight (SW) is one of three determinants of seed yield, which positively correlates with silique length (SL) in Brassica napus (rapeseed). However, the genetic mechanism underlying the relationship between seed weight (SW) and silique length (SL) is largely unknown at present. A natural population comprising 157 inbred lines in rapeseed was genotyped by whole-genome re-sequencing and investigated for SW and SL over four years. The genome-wide association study identified 20 SNPs in significant association with SW on A01, A04, A09, C02, and C06 chromosomes and the phenotypic variation explained by a single locus ranged from 11.85% to 34.58% with an average of 25.43%. Meanwhile, 742 SNPs significantly associated with SL on A02, A03, A04, A07, A08, A09, C01, C03, C04, C06, C07, and C08 chromosomes were also detected and the phenotypic variation explained by a single locus ranged from 4.01 to 48.02% with an average of 33.33%, out of which, more than half of the loci had not been reported in the previous studies. There were 320 overlapping or linked SNPs for both SW and SL on A04, A09, and C06 chromosomes. It indicated that both overlapping and independent genetic loci controlled both SW and SL in B. napus. On the haplotype block on A09 chromosome, the allele variants of a known gene BnaA.ARF18.a controlling both SW and SL were identified in the natural population by developing derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (dCAPS) markers. These findings are valuable for understanding the genetic mechanism of SW and SL and also for rapeseed molecular breeding programs

KIFC1-Like Motor Protein Associates with the Cephalopod Manchette and Participates in Sperm Nuclear Morphogenesis in Octopus tankahkeei

Nuclear morphogenesis is one of the most fundamental cellular transformations taking place during spermatogenesis. In rodents, a microtubule-based perinuclear structure, the manchette, and a C-terminal kinesin motor KIFC1 are believed to play crucial roles in this process. Spermatogenesis in Octopus tankahkeei is a good model system to explore whether evolution has created a cephalopod prototype of mammalian manchette-based and KIFC1-dependent sperm nuclear shaping machinery.We detected the presence of a KIFC1-like protein in the testis, muscle, and liver of O. tankahkeei by Western Blot. Then we tracked its dynamic localization in spermatic cells at various stages using Immunofluorescence and Immunogold Electron Microscopy. The KIFC1-like protein was not expressed at early stages of spermatogenesis when no significant morphological changes occur, began to be present in early spermatid, localized around and in the nucleus of intermediate and late spermatids where the nucleus was dramatically elongated and compressed, and concentrated at one end of final spermatid. Furthermore, distribution of the motor protein during nuclear elongation and condensation overlapped with that of the cephalopod counterpart of manchette at a significant level.The results support the assumption that the protein is actively involved in sperm nuclear morphogenesis in O. tankahkeei possibly through bridging the manchette-like perinuclear microtubules to the nucleus and assisting in the nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of specific cargoes. This study represents the first description of the role of a motor protein in sperm nuclear shaping in cephalopod