Turbidometric evaluation of polyene-azole antagonism in C. albicans

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SkyApp: a tablet-based e-learning design tool for mathematics teachers to cater for learning diversity

Session: Effect of gamesTheme: Engaging Learners: Games and Flipped LearningLearning diversity is one of the most challenging difficulties encountered by teachers in primary and secondary schools. This project aims at building a design tool for teachers of Mathematics to develop tablet-based e-learning activities and apply different pedagogical actions based on the results of learning analytics. With the analysis of fine grained learners’ behaviors in previous activities, such as the handwriting of calculation in solving multi-step questions, number of attempts in answering each question, answering sequence and thinking time, the design tool will ...postprin

Human Serum Promotes Candida albicans Biofilm growth and Virulence Gene Expression on Silicone Biomaterial

Objectives Systemic candidal infections are a common problem in hospitalized patients due to central venous catheters fabricated using silicone biomaterial (SB). We therefore evaluated the effect of human serum on C. albicans biofilm morphology, growth, and the expression of virulence-related genes on SB in vitro. Methods We cultivated C. albicans SC5314 (wild-type strain, WT) and its derivative HLC54 (hyphal mutant, HM) for 48 h in various conditions, including the presence or absence of SB discs, and human serum. The growth of planktonic and biofilm cells of both strains was monitored at three time points by a tetrazolium salt reduction assay and by scanning electron microscopy. We also analyzed by RT-PCR its expression of the virulence-related genes ALS3, HWP1, EAP1, ECE1, SAP1 - SAP10, PLB1, PLB2, PLC and PLD. Results At each time point, planktonic cells of WT strain cultured in yeast nitrogen base displayed a much higher expression of EAP1 and HWP1, and a moderately higher ALS3 expression, than HM cells. In planktonic cells, expression of the ten SAP genes was higher in the WT strain initially, but were highly expressed in the HM strain by 48 h. Biofilm growth of both strains on SB was promoted in the presence of human serum than in its absence. Significant upregulation of ALS3, HWP1, EAP1, ECE1, SAP1, SAP4, SAP6 - SAP10, PLB1, PLB2 and PLC was observed for WT biofilms grown on serum-treated SB discs for at least one time point, compared with biofilms on serum-free SB discs. Conclusions Human serum stimulates C. albicans biofilm growth on SB discs and upregulates the expression of virulence genes, particularly adhesion genes ALS3 and HWP1, and hydrolase-encoding genes SAP, PLB1 and PLB2. This response is likely to promote the colonization of this versatile pathogen within the human host.published_or_final_versio

Exploring Libraries’ Efforts in Inclusion and Outreach Activities Using Social Media

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Exploring Characteristics of Fine-Grained Behaviors of Learning Mathematics in Tablet-Based E-Learning Activities

Attributes of teaching and learning contexts provide rich information about how students participate in learning activities. By tracking and analyzing snapshots of these attributes captured continuously throughout the duration of the learning activities, teachers can identify individual students who need special attention and apply different pedagogical actions to them. This paper describes the results of the work-in-progress study in exploring characteristics of fine-grained behaviors of learning mathematics in tablet-based e-learning activities. An experimental platform called SkyApp is built. Through SkyApp, teachers can create e-learning activities and track learning records of students after the delivery of the activities. SkyApp supports capturing, storing and analyzing of fine-grained behaviors of students. Pilot tests have been done in two primary schools for eight months. The review of the tests demonstrates the potential in performing learning analytics. By applying clustering algorithms on multiple learning metrics of marks, time and number of attempts for students in solving mathematics questions, classification of students by learning characteristics of performance and engagement can be formulated. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579335.]published_or_final_versio

A Mobile App Platform for Discovering Learning Profiles and Analytics

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Inhibitory effect of lysozyme and antifungals against Candida albicans biofilms

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Fluconazole exposure induces genotypic and phenotypic changes in Candida glabrata

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A Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Kidney Disease in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

dentification of sequence variants robustly associated with predisposition to diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has the potential to provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of DKD in type 2 diabetes (T2D) using eight complementary dichotomous and quantitative DKD phenotypes: the principal dichotomous analysis involved 5,717 T2D subjects, 3,345 with DKD. Promising association signals were evaluated in up to 26,827 subjects with T2D (12,710 with DKD). A combined T1D+T2D GWAS was performed using complementary data available for subjects with T1D, which, with replication samples, involved up to 40,340 subjects with diabetes (18,582 with DKD). Analysis of specific DKD phenotypes identified a novel signal near GABRR1 (rs9942471, P = 4.5 x 10(-8)) associated with microalbuminuria in European T2D case subjects. However, no replication of this signal was observed in Asian subjects with T2D or in the equivalent T1D analysis. There was only limited support, in this substantially enlarged analysis, for association at previously reported DKD signals, except for those at UMOD and PRKAG2, both associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate. We conclude that, despite challenges in addressing phenotypic heterogeneity, access to increased sample sizes will continue to provide more robust inference regarding risk variant discovery for DKD.Peer reviewe

Erratum to Using auriculotherapy for osteoarthritic knee among elders : a double-blinded randomised feasibility study [BMC Complement AlternMed., 16 (2016), (257)]

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