Making it personal: Understanding the online learning experience to enable design of an inclusive, integrated e-learning solution for students

Despite the availability of online learning applications and management systems used to deliver, house and organize e-learning content, students learning online continue to struggle with barriers that create an unnecessary disconnect between themselves and their peers, professors, the learning material and their parents (where applicable). Barriers personally experienced through participation in a synchronous online university-level graduate class, and documented barriers experienced by other students in similar distance learning environments, served as the primary narrative and driving incentive for this study. In addition to an extensive literature review, an in-depth study of a distance learning environment was conducted using an adaptation of Smart Design�s 6 Real People approach which included 5 persona�s, based on 5 real participants; a high school special needs class, a Masters of Inclusive Design Class, the Director of Education for Special Needs, A University Professor of Distance Learning, and a Visually Impaired User (Blind Participant). The users� experiences were documented through means of ethnographic observations, direct observations, and detailed interviews. Findings from these revealed many barriers and disruptions, including psychological, emotional, social, gender-related, environmental and cultural issues that were detrimental to class involvement and student success. These findings were then synthesized and applied to create a prototype, called inClass, developed to address these barriers and provide a model for a more cohesive, unified and accessible e-learning solution. Although this paper does not refer directly to design patterns, and does not claim to follow a pattern-based methodology it demonstrates some effective user-centred design techniques which pattern scouts and authors should consider as powerful tools for mining, elaborating and validating patterns

An Exploration of the Effects of Creative Office Design Within Workplaces

This study examines the latest phenomena of creative office design; a new concept of open-planning that focuses on boosting creative culture through the designed work environment. The effects of creative workplaces on the users within is explored, with attention to employee creativity, engagement, and levels of distraction. Does a workplace that has embraced creative office design, increase creativity resulting in a greater and more innovative system? A framework is designed to gain insights and understandings about the factors that affect creative output. This framework suggests that a creative workplace ecosystem is fabricated through three facets; social culture, tools and materials, and cognitive experiences. Four case studies are examined and discussed according to the framework, including two corporate offices, a public collaborative workspace, and the learning spaces of a University program. Findings show that the optimal workplace for fostering creativity is an environment where differing core values can be explored, without interference from each other. Values explored in this study include collaboration, chance encounters, curiosity, available tools, creative outlets, employee involvement, encouraged failure, a focus on well being, a sense of community and attainable opportunities

Distal Versus Conventional Radial Access for Coronary Angiography and Intervention The DISCO RADIAL Trial

BACKGROUND Currently, transradial access (TRA) is the recommended access for coronary procedures because of increased safety, with radial artery occlusion (RAO) being its most frequent complication, which will increasingly affect patients undergoing multiple procedures during their lifetimes. Recently, distal radial access (DRA) has emerged as a promising alternative access to minimize RAO risk. A large-scale, international, randomized trial comparing RAO with TRA and DRA is lacking. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the superiority of DRA compared with conventional TRA with respect to forearm RAO. METHODS DISCO RADIAL (Distal vs Conventional Radial Access) was an international, multicenter, randomized controlled trial in which patients with indications for percutaneous coronary procedure using a 6-F Slender sheath were randomized to DRA or TRA with systematic implementation of best practices to reduce RAO. The primary endpoint was the incidence of forearm RAO assessed by vascular ultrasound at discharge. Secondary endpoints include crossover, hemostasis time, and access site-related complications. RESULTS Overall, 657 patients underwent TRA, and 650 patients underwent DRA. Forearm RAO did not differ between groups (0.91% vs 0.31%; P = 0.29). Patent hemostasis was achieved in 94.4% of TRA patients. Crossover rates were higher with DRA (3.5% vs 7.4%; P = 0.002), and median hemostasis time was shorter (180 vs 153 minutes; P < 0.001). Radial artery spasm occurred more with DRA (2.7% vs 5.4%; P = 0.015). Overall bleeding events and vascular complications did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS With the implementation of a rigorous hemostasis protocol, DRA and TRA have equally low RAO rates. DRA is associated with a higher crossover rate but a shorter hemostasis time. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation

Distal Versus Conventional Radial Access for Coronary Angiography and Intervention: The DISCO RADIAL Trial.

BACKGROUND: Currently, transradial access (TRA) is the recommended access for coronary procedures because of increased safety, with radial artery occlusion (RAO) being its most frequent complication, which will increasingly affect patients undergoing multiple procedures during their lifetimes. Recently, distal radial access (DRA) has emerged as a promising alternative access to minimize RAO risk. A large-scale, international, randomized trial comparing RAO with TRA and DRA is lacking. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the superiority of DRA compared with conventional TRA with respect to forearm RAO. METHODS: DISCO RADIAL (Distal vs Conventional Radial Access) was an international, multicenter, randomized controlled trial in which patients with indications for percutaneous coronary procedure using a 6-F Slender sheath were randomized to DRA or TRA with systematic implementation of best practices to reduce RAO. The primary endpoint was the incidence of forearm RAO assessed by vascular ultrasound at discharge. Secondary endpoints include crossover, hemostasis time, and access site-related complications. RESULTS: Overall, 657 patients underwent TRA, and 650 patients underwent DRA. Forearm RAO did not differ between groups (0.91% vs 0.31%; P = 0.29). Patent hemostasis was achieved in 94.4% of TRA patients. Crossover rates were higher with DRA (3.5% vs 7.4%; P = 0.002), and median hemostasis time was shorter (180 vs 153 minutes; P < 0.001). Radial artery spasm occurred more with DRA (2.7% vs 5.4%; P = 0.015). Overall bleeding events and vascular complications did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: With the implementation of a rigorous hemostasis protocol, DRA and TRA have equally low RAO rates. DRA is associated with a higher crossover rate but a shorter hemostasis time

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on TAVR Activity: A Worldwide Registry

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a considerable impact on the provision of structural heart intervention worldwide. Our objectives were: 1) to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) activity globally; and 2) to determine the differences in the impact according to geographic region and the demographic, development, and economic status of diverse international health care systems. Methods: We developed a multinational registry of global TAVR activity and invited individual TAVR sites to submit TAVR implant data before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the number of TAVR procedures performed monthly from January 2019 to December 2021 was collected. The adaptive measures to maintain TAVR activity by each site were recorded, as was a variety of indices relating to type of health care system and national economic indices. The primary subject of interest was the impact on TAVR activity during each of the pandemic waves (2020 and 2021) compared with the same period pre–COVID-19 (2019). Results: Data were received from 130 centers from 61 countries, with 14 subcontinents and 5 continents participating in the study. Overall, TAVR activity increased by 16.7% (2,337 procedures) between 2018 and 2019 (ie, before the pandemic), but between 2019 and 2020 (ie, first year of the pandemic), there was no significant growth (–0.1%; –10 procedures). In contrast, activity again increased by 18.9% (3,085 procedures) between 2020 and 2021 (ie, second year of the pandemic). During the first pandemic wave, there was a reduction of 18.9% (945 procedures) in TAVR activity among participating sites, while during the second and third waves, there was an increase of 6.7% (489 procedures) and 15.9% (1,042 procedures), respectively. Further analysis and results of this study are ongoing and will be available at the time of the congress. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic initially led to a reduction in the number of patients undergoing TAVR worldwide, although health care systems subsequently adapted, and the number of TAVR recipients continued to grow in subsequent COVID-19 pandemic waves. Categories: STRUCTURAL: Valvular Disease: Aorti

Humanization of the sterol biosynthesis pathway in yeast

Baker's yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, shares thousands of genes with humans, making it invaluable for studying human gene function, genetic interactions, and evolution of critical cellular processes. Humanized yeast, i.e., yeast with human genes functionally replacing their yeast orthologs, enables the direct study of human gene function and their disease-causing variants in a simplified model. Recent systematic functional complementation assays performed one gene at a time revealed that genes belonging to pathways or complexes are either entirely replaceable or are not. In the case of genes that are not easily replaceable, we hypothesize that some essential interactions have evolved in a species-specific manner, resulting in incompatibility. Therefore, humanizing whole processes may reveal incompatibilities towards humanization, by restoring local genetic or physical interactions, allowing replaceability of those genes. We tested this approach to humanizing the sterol biosynthesis pathway in its entirety in yeast. Using marker-less CRISPR-Cas9 selection and Homology Directed Repair, we show that several human genes can replace their yeast equivalents at their native loci generating single-gene humanized strains. Next, we demonstrate that multiple yeast genes belonging to the sterol biosynthesis pathway are replaceable in a single strain using a sequential approach (10 of 16 genes). Characterization of the humanized sterol strains reveals the impact of humanization on the fitness of yeast such as altered growth rates and temperature sensitivity, and proteome-scale changes affecting other biosynthesis pathways. Finally, we design a novel strategy to increase the efficiency of functional replaceability to provide a clear readout of replaceability. In future, these strategies will enable building an entirely human sterol biosynthesis pathway in yeast

College students' attitudes towards eating disorders in males

Eating disorders are a prevalent and serious health problem in the United States. Eating disorders are generally associated with young women. However, people are less aware of eating disorders among male; thus, there are fewer studies done on this issue and fewer eating disorder prevention programs for males. This study investigates men's attitudes regarding awareness and knowledge of eating disorders in males by surveying a sample of 28 male students on campus. It was hypothesized that college males would have little knowledge about male eating disorders and less awareness of it being a problem among males. The findings support the hypothesis that college males do not have a clear understanding of male eating disorders