Clinical effectiveness of Carbimazole and Propylthiouracil for Hyperthyroidism in Patients of Punjab, Pakistan

Background: The primary objective of any drug for hyperthyroidism is to control clinical manifestations and maintenance of normal levels of hormonal concentrations. It also targets to prevent the recurrence of disease along with minimizing associated risk factors. In this study, effectiveness of oral anti thyroid agents was checked to normalize altered levels of thyroid hormones due to hyperthyroidism.Methods: The study was comprised of 40 subjects of whom 30 were experiencing hyperthyroidism and were administered anti-hyperthyroid drugs. 10 patients of hyperthyroidism were not taking any medication. Standard dose regimens of carbimazole and propylthiouracil were employed for all 30 hyperthyroid patients under closed monitoring. Physical as well as biochemical analyses of all subjects were done and thyroid profiling was performed for measuring levels of free thyroxine (fT4), free triiodothyronine (fT3), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and antibodies against thyroglobulin (Tg).Results: Thyroid profiles of medicated hyperthyroid patients were compared with the profiles of non-medicated group. Statistical analysis appeared with non-significant values for all four parameters.Conclusion: No significant difference was found between medicated and non-medicated groups. We recommend that combinatorial drugs and new derivatives with better efficacy and fewer side effects should be employed to treat hyperthyroidism

A Collaborative Game Based Learning Tool to Enhance 21st Century Skills

Covid-19 became a worldwide health hazard with severe educational ramifications in 2020. Governments worldwide have issued stay-at-home orders, and institutions and colleges encouraged educators to conduct their classes online to maintain educational continuity. Advancements in recent online education and technology have demonstrated that we can no longer rely solely on students to be fully engaged in the curriculum. Instead, we need to provide good learning experiences to the students and make the teaching and learning process more engaging and motivating with exciting problems. Therefore this study proposed a game-based learning environment to foster engagement and motivation to enhance students' 21st-century skills. Previous research shows that games are good tools for enhancing engagement and interactions. However, earlier research only focuses on the effects of the games on children or adults. Therefore, the focus of this study is to go deeper and provide a collaborative, engaging and motivating learning environment to foster problem-solving and critical thinking skills with gamebased learning (GBL). This study provides an educational tool to solve learning gaps like the lack of decision-making and problem-solving skills, a deficit of engagement and motivation, a shortfall of critical thinking and analysing skills in today's learning environment. A game was designed and integrated into the classroom with Gee's 13 game-based learning elements. All the activities were designed and given in the class according to the need of the subject. A mixed-method approach was used to acquire in-depth and reliable findings for data collecting. In order to acquire quantitative data, students were given an online Likert scale survey and a post-test. In addition, interviews were done to gather qualitative data on their perceptions of game-based learning and provide engagement and collaboration in online learning environments to cultivate problem-solving and critical thinking abilities

Game-Based Learning as a Tool for Enhancing Student Engagement and Learning Experiences in Virtual Classes

The Covid-19 crisis has not only affected our daily lives but also our education system, as now, the challenge faced is how to maintain our teaching and learning online. Recent developments in online learning have shown that we can not rely merely on students to engage with the courses. There is a need to provide students with enough opportunities to indulge in the class material. Advancement in education technologies allows educators to design an effective learning environment to improve the learning outcomes. However, it is becoming more challenging for educators to provide an effective learning environment for online learning. Some of the challenges faced in student learning were: 1) students become distracted when an online task is given because it was not instructed properly, and 2) students did not feel connected to the topic taught and as a result, were experiencing low motivation levels

Game-Based Learning as an Effective Instructional Strategy for Improving Students' Critical Thinking and Collaborative Experiences

With the advent of COVID-19, almost all classroom teaching in higher education in Malaysia, were drastically converted to online. To enable more practical online learning to take place, blended learning approaches were adapted to address this necessity. However, over time, it was shown that students, when going online to learn content, experienced less interactions, and felt socially isolated. Literature has also shown that classrooms learning today still lack deep collaboration, and this was more prevalent during the COVID-19 education paradigm shift to the new normal of hybrid learning. Game-based learning has been posited to address this issues by providing more motivation and engagement to students. However, there is still a debate as to how effective is game-based learning in online education, as some studies have shown success, while some have shown little to none. Clearly these disparities poses a challenge to educators using game-based learning, and demands deeper investigation. This research seeks to look into the impact of game based learning, embedded within a socio-constructivist environment, on students’ critical thinking and collaborative learning. Findings from the study show that the game-based learning environment was very positively received by students, and was successful in impacting 3 areas: 1) learner engagement, 2) learner experiences and 3) technology support. Specifically, students reported positive experiences in the enjoyment, understanding, teamwork and real-world relevance constructs. A game-based learning (GBL) framework is proposed as a practical guide for educators seeking to adapt their classes to today’s learner needs and cultivate improved students’ critical thinking and collaboration skills in hybrid learning environments

Improving Students’ Collaborative Learning Experiences within a Game-Based Augmented Reality Learning Environment

In today’s post-COVID 19 world, the need to re-establish and strengthen collaborative activities is crucial in improving their learning experiences, and technology has become more prevalent as an enabler and a necessity to support this. Therefore there is a need for the development of student learning approaches that can capture their learning experiences and bridge the gap between formal learning and a more authentic, collaborative approach towards learning. Research has suggested that the use of emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) have been conducive in promoting better understanding of complex and difficult content in classes and offer learners the rich and engaging learning experience of visualizing course content, but have not yet been fully evaluated for their effectiveness in improving the learning experiences of students. As such, this study sought to design a game-based AR environment that investigated students’ attitudes and perceptions of using game-based AR, within a Team-Based Learning (TBL) class structure in their learning process, and its impact on student learning experiences. 56 Undergraduate level students participated in this mixed method research study and in this game-based AR learning environment. Data was collected on their attitudes and triangulated to obtain the study’s results. Findings showed that students were motivated to learn more, that the learning environment improved their collaboration, and were positive to having such learning experiences in their future courses, and a game-based AR learning framework, GALE, was presented. Such findings have important implications for the use of augmented reality as an instructional tool in 21st century learning environments

Enhancing Students’ Online Learning Experiences with Artificial Intelligence (AI): The MERLIN Project

The COVID-19 pandemic led to all institutions of education having to transition to fully online learning almost immediately. However, research showed that online learning still lacked adequate interactions with students. This is even more problematic when students are online learning on their own, when adequate online scaffolding activities are absent. This study investigated the impact of chatbots as a scaffolding agent to assist student learning during their independent online learning times. A total of 62 Diploma level students participated in this mixed method research study and presented with a multimedia-based AI chatbot named MERLIN. Data was collected on their attitudes towards using it. Results showed that students were motivated to learn more using MERLIN, improved their learning, and wanted more chatbots in their other courses. These findings have important implications for using AI chatbots as a scaffolding and instructional tool in 21st-century learning environments

Corrosion Inhibition Properties of Thiazolidinedione Derivatives for Copper in 3.5 wt.% NaCl Medium

Copper is the third-most-produced metal globally due to its exceptional mechanical and thermal properties, among others. However, it suffers serious dissolution issues when exposed to corrosive mediums. Herein, two thiazolidinedione derivatives, namely, (Z)-5-(4-methylbenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (MTZD) and (Z)-3-allyl-5-(4-methylbenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (ATZD), were synthesized and applied for corrosion protection of copper in 3.5 wt.% NaCl medium. The corrosion inhibition performance of tested compounds was evaluated at different experimental conditions using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization curves (PPC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). EIS results revealed that the addition of studied inhibitors limited the dissolution of copper in NaCl solution, leading to a high polarization resistance compared with the blank solution. In addition, PPC suggested that tested compounds had a mixed-type effect, decreasing anodic and cathodic corrosion reactions. Moreover, surface characterization by AFM indicated a significant decrease in surface roughness of copper after the addition of inhibitors. Outcomes from the present study suggest that ATZD (IE% = 96%) outperforms MTZD (IE% = 90%) slightly, due to the presence of additional –C3H5 unit (–CH2–CH = CH2) in the molecular scaffold of MTZD

Corrosion Inhibition Properties of Thiazolidinedione Derivatives for Copper in 3.5 wt.% NaCl Medium

Copper is the third-most-produced metal globally due to its exceptional mechanical and thermal properties, among others. However, it suffers serious dissolution issues when exposed to corrosive mediums. Herein, two thiazolidinedione derivatives, namely, (Z)-5-(4-methylbenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (MTZD) and (Z)-3-allyl-5-(4-methylbenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (ATZD), were synthesized and applied for corrosion protection of copper in 3.5 wt.% NaCl medium. The corrosion inhibition performance of tested compounds was evaluated at different experimental conditions using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization curves (PPC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). EIS results revealed that the addition of studied inhibitors limited the dissolution of copper in NaCl solution, leading to a high polarization resistance compared with the blank solution. In addition, PPC suggested that tested compounds had a mixed-type effect, decreasing anodic and cathodic corrosion reactions. Moreover, surface characterization by AFM indicated a significant decrease in surface roughness of copper after the addition of inhibitors. Outcomes from the present study suggest that ATZD (IE% = 96%) outperforms MTZD (IE% = 90%) slightly, due to the presence of additional –C3H5 unit (–CH2–CH = CH2) in the molecular scaffold of MTZD

Adsorption Mechanism of Eco-Friendly Corrosion Inhibitors for Exceptional Corrosion Protection of Carbon Steel: Electrochemical and First-Principles DFT Evaluations

In the present work, we represent two thiazolidinediones, namely (Z)-5-(4-methoxybenzylidene) thiazolidine-2,4-dione (MeOTZD) and (Z)-5-(4-methylbenzylidene) thiazolidine-2,4-dione (MeTZD), as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (CS) in 1.0 M HCl solution. Techniques for gravimetric methods, electrochemical measurements, and morphological characterization were used to conduct experimental evaluations. Additionally, calculations based on the fundamental principles of Density Functional Theory (DFT) were employed to simulate inhibitor–iron interactions. Experimental results indicated that investigated inhibitors can significantly enhance the corrosion resistance of CS, reaching a performance of 95% and 87% at 5 × 10−3 mol/L of MeOTZ and MeTZD, respectively. According to gravimetric and electrochemical experiments, inhibitor molecules obstruct corrosion reactions by adhering to the CS surface, which follows the Langmuir isotherm model. On the other hand, the morphological analysis showed a well-distinguished difference between unprotected and protected CS surfaces as a result of the inhibitors’ addition to HCl. Projected density of states and interaction energies obtained from first-principles DFT simulations indicate that the studied molecules form covalent bonds with iron atoms through charge transfer

Adsorption Mechanism of Eco-Friendly Corrosion Inhibitors for Exceptional Corrosion Protection of Carbon Steel: Electrochemical and First-Principles DFT Evaluations

In the present work, we represent two thiazolidinediones, namely (Z)-5-(4-methoxybenzylidene) thiazolidine-2,4-dione (MeOTZD) and (Z)-5-(4-methylbenzylidene) thiazolidine-2,4-dione (MeTZD), as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (CS) in 1.0 M HCl solution. Techniques for gravimetric methods, electrochemical measurements, and morphological characterization were used to conduct experimental evaluations. Additionally, calculations based on the fundamental principles of Density Functional Theory (DFT) were employed to simulate inhibitor–iron interactions. Experimental results indicated that investigated inhibitors can significantly enhance the corrosion resistance of CS, reaching a performance of 95% and 87% at 5 × 10−3 mol/L of MeOTZ and MeTZD, respectively. According to gravimetric and electrochemical experiments, inhibitor molecules obstruct corrosion reactions by adhering to the CS surface, which follows the Langmuir isotherm model. On the other hand, the morphological analysis showed a well-distinguished difference between unprotected and protected CS surfaces as a result of the inhibitors’ addition to HCl. Projected density of states and interaction energies obtained from first-principles DFT simulations indicate that the studied molecules form covalent bonds with iron atoms through charge transfer