Berberine for prevention of dementia associated with diabetes and its comorbidities: A systematic review

Background A growing number of epidemiological studies indicate that metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its associated features play a key role in the development of certain degenerative brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Produced by several different medicinal plants, berberine is a bioactive alkaloid with a wide range of pharmacological effects, including antidiabetic effects. However, it is not clear whether berberine could prevent the development of dementia in association with diabetes. Objective To give an overview of the therapeutic potential of berberine as a treatment for dementia associated with diabetes. Search strategy Database searches A and B were conducted using PubMed and ScienceDirect. In search A, studies on berberine’s antidementia activities were identified using “berberine” and “dementia” as search terms. In search B, recent studies on berberine’s effects on diabetes were surveyed using “berberine” and “diabetes” as search terms. Inclusion criteria Clinical and preclinical studies that investigated berberine’s effects associated with MetS and cognitive dysfunction were included. Data extraction and analysis Data from studies were extracted by one author, and checked by a second; quality assessments were performed independently by two authors. Results In search A, 61 articles were identified, and 22 original research articles were selected. In search B, 458 articles were identified, of which 101 were deemed relevant and selected. Three duplicates were removed, and a total of 120 articles were reviewed for this study. The results demonstrate that berberine exerts beneficial effects directly in the brain: enhancing cholinergic neurotransmission, improving cerebral blood flow, protecting neurons from inflammation, limiting hyperphosphorylation of tau and facilitating β-amyloid peptide clearance. In addition, evidence is growing that berberine is effective against diabetes and associated disorders, such as atherosclerosis, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, hepatic steatosis, diabetic nephropathy, gut dysbiosis, retinopathy and neuropathy, suggesting indirect benefits for the prevention of dementia. Conclusion Berberine could impede the development of dementia via multiple mechanisms: preventing brain damages and enhancing cognition directly in the brain, and indirectly through alleviating risk factors such as metabolic dysfunction, and cardiovascular, kidney and liver diseases. This study provided evidence to support the value of berberine in the prevention of dementia associated with MetS

Decoding learning: the proof, promise and potential of digital education

With hundreds of millions of pounds spent on digital technology for education every year – from interactive whiteboards to the rise of one–to–one tablet computers – every new technology seems to offer unlimited promise to learning. many sectors have benefitted immensely from harnessing innovative uses of technology. cloud computing, mobile communications and internet applications have changed the way manufacturing, finance, business services, the media and retailers operate. But key questions remain in education: has the range of technologies helped improve learners’ experiences and the standards they achieve? or is this investment just languishing as kit in the cupboard? and what more can decision makers, schools, teachers, parents and the technology industry do to ensure the full potential of innovative technology is exploited? There is no doubt that digital technologies have had a profound impact upon the management of learning. institutions can now recruit, register, monitor, and report on students with a new economy, efficiency, and (sometimes) creativity. yet, evidence of digital technologies producing real transformation in learning and teaching remains elusive. The education sector has invested heavily in digital technology; but this investment has not yet resulted in the radical improvements to learning experiences and educational attainment. in 2011, the Review of Education Capital found that maintained schools spent £487 million on icT equipment and services in 2009-2010. 1 since then, the education system has entered a state of flux with changes to the curriculum, shifts in funding, and increasing school autonomy. While ring-fenced funding for icT equipment and services has since ceased, a survey of 1,317 schools in July 2012 by the british educational suppliers association found they were assigning an increasing amount of their budget to technology. With greater freedom and enthusiasm towards technology in education, schools and teachers have become more discerning and are beginning to demand more evidence to justify their spending and strategies. This is both a challenge and an opportunity as it puts schools in greater charge of their spending and use of technolog

Teaching statistics to medical students using problem-based learning: the Australian experience

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) is gaining popularity as a teaching method in UK medical schools, but statistics and research methods are not being included in this teaching. There are great disadvantages in omitting statistics and research methods from the main teaching. PBL is well established in Australian medical schools. The Australian experience in teaching statistics and research methods in curricula based on problem-based learning may provide guidance for other countries, such as the UK, where this method is being introduced. Methods: All Australian medical schools using PBL were visited, with two exceptions. Teachers of statistics and medical education specialists were interviewed. For schools which were not visited, information was obtained by email. Results: No Australian medical school taught statistics and research methods in a totally integrated way, as part of general PBL teaching. In some schools, statistical material was integrated but taught separately, using different tutors. In one school, PBL was used only for 'public health' related subjects. In some, a parallel course using more traditional techniques was given alongside the PBL teaching of other material. This model was less successful than the others. Conclusions: There are several difficulties in implementing an integrated approach. However, not integrating is detrimental to statistics and research methods teaching, which is of particular concern in the age of evidence-based medicine. Some possible ways forward are suggested

Infomercial: A Marketing Odyssey

Few forms of media are so derided as the infomercial. It seems to ooze tackiness and low production standards, coupled with shameless pandering and questionable selling points. Still, the infomercial, or “direct-response” commercial, can be an astoundingly effective selling tool. In this age of ubiquitous mass media, infomercials for products such as the “Snuggie” and the “Shake Weight” have used their inherent “butt-of-joke” qualities to make millions and to attain cultural icon status. For this project, I researched the infomercial as a genre in an attempt to explain its success and rhetorical appeal. I then applied my analysis to the writing, production, and activity-tracking of my own infomercial. The results may offer insight into the rhetorical strategies of rapidly-evolving new media genres and American pop-culture commerce

Public value summary background paper

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) at UTS has published a background paper about understanding and promoting public value creation within Australian local government. The paper provides a definition of public value and public value creation from key literature, and links this with current practice within the sector. The Public Value project is a partnership between the Local Government Business Excellence Network (LGBEN) and ACELG and explores how councils create public value in a broad sense – or ‘the common good’ – and deliver this value specifically through planning and managing and delivering a wide range of services, programs and projects. A final phase of the project will provide examples of public value so frameworks and tools can be developed for councils looking at undertaking continual improvement initiatives

Defending Democracy: A New Understanding of the Party-Banning Phenomenon

Recent years have witnessed a growing tendency among established democracies to battle political extremism by banning extremist parties. This Article explores this phenomenon in its wide-ranging international manifestations. The Article aims to challenge the prevalent paradigm underlying the discussion of party banning and to introduce a new paradigm for conceptualizing the party-banning phenomenon in its current reincarnation. Traditionally, the discussion concerning party banning has been strongly shaped by the traumatic experience of Hitler\u27s rise to power and the collapse of the Weimar Republic. Hence, it has focused upon parties that are overtly opposed to democracy, like communist or fascist parties. Yet, the threats to democracies have changed considerably in recent years, and it appears that the Weimarscenario is becoming far less relevant. Instead, contemporary party banning mainly involves parties that incite to hate and discrimination, parties that support violence and terrorism, and parties that challenge the identity of the state. These new banning categories are difficult to understand and justify within the traditional paradigm and require an alternative framework. The new paradigm must focus upon the electoral arena as a source of legitimacy and status rather than merely an instrument for coming to power. This Article links this new legitimacy paradigm to the change in the nature of political parties and to their transformation from primarily representative organizations into public utilities, or public service agencies. Once the contours of the legitimacy paradigm are established, this Article proceeds to examine which parties can justifiably be banned within this paradigm and to address its practical implications

No-tillage sowing decreases water erosion on loamy soils and increases earthworm activity

No-tillage sowing places seed and fertiliser in the soil without loosening all of the topsoil. Soil is cultivated only in the sown rows, leaving the inter-row areas largely undisturbed. No-tillage sowing reduces both wind and water erosion. Soil structure is generally improved, and pasture regeneration is increased because seed is not buried too deeply for re-establishment. Two long-term trials were establis_hed on loamy soils to determine effects of tillage and cropping on runoff and soil loss

Theory disputes and the development of the technology enhanced learning research field

This paper contributes to ongoing debates about theory application in technology enhanced learning (TEL) research. Such debates routinely highlight that the use of theory in the TEL field is problematic, and suggest that the issue is of fundamental importance to the development of the field. Yet different accounts within these debates are oriented towards ostensibly disparate issues and often, in themselves, have a somewhat fragmentary nature. This paper, therefore, seeks to synthesise and systematise a wide range of the arguments that are evident in the literature. A preliminary analysis highlights that the debates are occurring against a particular backdrop: a desire to newly re-constitute TEL as a bona fide scholarly discipline. Four key points of dispute are subsequently identified, which, it is argued, should understood against that backdrop. Those key points of dispute, whose analysis constitutes the core of the paper, are concerned, respectively with the continued implications of a theoretical ‘canon’ whose pre-eminence in the field is long-established; the problematic relations between the field’s ‘empirical’ and ‘theoretical’ discourses, which are positioned as often occurring in parallel; a need to better recognise the varied functions that different theories might play, whether in research projects or across larger research agendas; and the extent to which the TEL field should be theoretically aligned with other academic fields of enquiry or seek to position itself as, in some way, ‘exceptional’. Those four points of dispute are each disaggregated, within the analysis, into a range of distinct stances, and the relations between the stances and the points of dispute themselves are discussed. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the analysis, both for those TEL researchers wishing to engage with theory, and those scholars for whom theory application in the field is a distinct research object