Towards an Intelligent System to Improve Student Engagement and Retention

The impact of the learning platforms on student performance has always been a popular subject of research on improving student academic performance during the course study. A variety of research and studies have been conducted based on the student opinions to determine the effectiveness of the student engagement in learning platform on student performance. However, these opinions may not be accurately affected. In this paper, we will track the student activities inside the learning platform in real-time during their course study. Only the meaningful activities such as downloading assignments, lectures, viewing notification and visiting the resources will be extracted from the learning platform. An algorithm has been developed for mining and measuring student performance inside the learning platform

Potential key targets and mechanism of the Mizuhopecten yessoensis derived ACE inhibitory peptide Asn-Cys-Trp (NCW) via network pharmacology and molecular docking

Mizuhopecten yessoensis-derived angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide Asn-Cys-Trp (NCW) has been found that had a significantly in vivo antihypertensive effect. However, the special mechanism of peptide NCW for lowing blood pressure has not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to screen the key targets and elucidate the antihypertensive mechanism of based on the network pharmacology and molecular docking. A total of 70 potential antihypertensive targets of peptide NCW were identified, which were mainly enriched in Regulation of blood pressure, Positive regulation of smooth muscle cell proliferation, and other biological processes; Plasma membrane, Extracellular exosome, and other cellular components; Endopeptidase activity, Zinc ion binding, and other molecular functions. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis showed that lipid and atherosclerosis pathway, relaxin signaling pathway, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway were the key pathways for peptide NCW to regulate the potential antihypertensive targets. Eleven potential key antihypertensive targets were screened via topology analysis of protein and protein interaction network, i.e., albumin (ALB), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9), MMP2, insulin like growth factor 1, AKT serine/threonine kinase 1 (IGF1), ACE, nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARG), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), catalase (CAT), and renin (REN). In addition, molecular docking results showed that the peptide NCW had high affinities with these potential key antihypertensive targets, and hydrogen bonds were the key interaction forces between the peptide NCW and targets. This study provided a theoretical basis for the multi-target and multi-pathway prevention and improvement of hypertension with peptide NCW

Dose-dependent inhibition of gastric injury by hydrogen in alkaline electrolyzed drinking water

BACKGROUND: Hydrogen has been reported to relieve damage in many disease models, and is a potential additive in drinking water to provide protective effects for patients as several clinical studies revealed. However, the absence of a dose–response relationship in the application of hydrogen is puzzling. We attempted to identify the dose–response relationship of hydrogen in alkaline electrolyzed drinking water through the aspirin induced gastric injury model. METHODS: In this study, hydrogen-rich alkaline water was obtained by adding H(2) to electrolyzed water at one atmosphere pressure. After 2 weeks of drinking, we detected the gastric mucosal damage together with MPO, MDA and 8-OHdG in rat aspirin induced gastric injury model. RESULTS: Hydrogen-dose dependent inhibition was observed in stomach mucosal. Under pH 8.5, 0.07, 0.22 and 0.84 ppm hydrogen exhibited a high correlation with inhibitory effects showed by erosion area, MPO activity and MDA content in the stomach. Gastric histology also demonstrated the inhibition of damage by hydrogen-rich alkaline water. However, 8-OHdG level in serum did not have significant hydrogen-dose dependent effect. pH 9.5 showed higher but not significant inhibitory response compared with pH 8.5. CONCLUSIONS: Hydrogen is effective in relieving the gastric injury induced by aspirin-HCl, and the inhibitory effect is dose-dependent. The reason behind this may be that hydrogen-rich water directly interacted with the target tissue, while the hydrogen concentration in blood was buffered by liver glycogen, evoking a suppressed dose–response effect. Drinking hydrogen-rich water may protect healthy individuals from gastric damage caused by oxidative stress

Gene regulatory network reconfiguration in direct lineage reprogramming

In direct lineage conversion, transcription factor (TF) overexpression reconfigures gene regulatory networks (GRNs) to reprogram cell identity. We previously developed CellOracle, a computational method to infer GRNs from single-cell transcriptome and epigenome data. Using inferred GRNs, CellOracle simulates gene expression changes in response to TF perturbation, enabling in silico interrogation of network reconfiguration. Here, we combine CellOracle analysis with lineage tracing of fibroblast to induced endoderm progenitor (iEP) conversion, a prototypical direct reprogramming paradigm. By linking early network state to reprogramming outcome, we reveal distinct network configurations underlying successful and failed fate conversion. Via in silico simulation of TF perturbation, we identify new factors to coax cells into successfully converting their identity, uncovering a central role for the AP-1 subunit Fos with the Hippo signaling effector, Yap1. Together, these results demonstrate the efficacy of CellOracle to infer and interpret cell-type-specific GRN configurations, providing new mechanistic insights into lineage reprogramming