218 research outputs found
Livelihood of the Folk People in the novel Sool
Culture is a kind of practice and social behaviour of a particular group of people in the society meant for organizing their lives. It can be attained through the four virtues that are moral, material, pleasure and austerity which is connected to the integral and external part of human life. Tamil people have strongly rooted in its classical language, culture and tradition for more than two thousand years and it has been successfully reflected in its literature which is renowned worldwide for having a great impact on other countries (foreigners). This code of culture and tradition is based on the integral and intellectual insight of Tamil people, not depend on their economic values, this kind of values are found in the novel ‘Sool’ written by the Sakhithya Akademi Award (2019) winning writer So.Dharman who has traced out from the life of Urulaikkudi people depicting their agricultural practices and water resource management especially on various forms of their worship, festival, medicine, rituals and conventional beliefs. These are closely connected to their daily routine life and this research paper is briefly focused on the rustic lives, practices of Tamil people described by the writer So. Dharman. Thus, culture is so called identity and inheritance of Tamil people in and around the world
Virtuous women in the Bible
Women are the eyes of the country, we know many sayings like Honour women and live with pride. That is why Bharathiyar sings that he should have done great penance to be born as women. Who are the wise women in the biblical as well? Their activities are special for women, such as wisdom, knowledge, wisdom, and what gives beauty to women?
MicroRNA and messengerRNA expression changes during interferon-beta and glatiramer acetate treatment in peripheral blood cells of multiple sclerosis patients
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. There are many types of disease-modifying drugs available but none of them can cure MS. The studies reported in this thesis analyzed the changes which happen at the transcriptome level during the course of treatment with glatiramer acetate (GA) and interferon-beta-1b. The studies reported revealed several differentially expressed transcripts which included both mRNAs and microRNAs. These can be considered as biomarkers for therapy monitoring and help to better understand the mechanisms of action of the drugs
Mymuet: A Design Of A Mobile Based Crowdsourced Assessment For Malaysia University English Test With Non-Synchronous Participant Interaction
Malaysian University English Test is a compulsory exam for local Malaysian students and a prerequisite for graduation. In 2017, more than five hundred thousand local students were enrolled in Malaysian public universities and therefore will need to sit for this examination. This enrolment number is increasing every year. However, there number of competent TESL graduates or English teachers available to cater this volume of students yearly is unknown. Many of these students are not from English speaking background and there are limited resources and assistant available for tutors who need to cater the demand of these students. Even though there are many resources online, the resources for speaking module mainly consists of tips to score and question examples. Students are unable to get feedback of their speaking module even if they practiced the mock exam questions. Moreover, the MUET speaking exam consists of group speaking tasks which the student or user may not be able to fulfil the quorum for practice. This paper shall propose MyMUET, a design of a one stop mobile based crowdsourcing tutor service for MUET to enable students to be able to obtain real time feedback of their speaking exam with interaction with non-real time participants with recommended tutors. Other MUET modules such as writing, reading and listening is also available to be used. MyMUET is developed based on Android studio and enables tutors to list their services and students to select the respective tutors. This method saves time for tutors to develop their own exam questions, enable them to focus on evaluation. This shall also be able to standardize the MUET examination to students receive high quality mock exam questions. MyMUET is then evaluated to ensure its relevance based on subject matter expert feedback. The evaluated system shows that students and academic expert find the application helpful to improve students learning experience
Exercise Echocardiography in Asymptomatic HCM Exercise Capacity, and Not LV Outflow Tract Gradient Predicts Long-Term Outcomes
ObjectivesThis study sought to assess long-term outcomes in asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who underwent exercise echocardiography, without invasive therapies for relief of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction.BackgroundMany HCM patients present with LVOT obstruction, mitral regurgitation (MR), and diastolic dysfunction, often requiring invasive therapies for symptomatic relief. However, a significant proportion of truly asymptomatic patients can be closely monitored. In HCM patients, exercise echocardiography has been shown to be a useful assessment of functional capacity and risk stratification.MethodsWe included 426 HCM patients (44 ± 14 years; 78% men) undergoing exercise echocardiography, excluding hypertensive heart disease of elderly, ejection fraction <50% and invasive therapy (myectomy or alcohol ablation) during follow-up. Clinical, echocardiographic (LV thickness, LVOT gradient, and MR) and exercise variables (percent of age-sex predicted metabolic equivalents [METs] and heart rate recovery [HRR] at 1 min post-exercise) were recorded. A composite endpoint of death, appropriate internal defibrillator discharge, and admission for congestive heart failure was recorded.ResultsPatients were asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic on history, but 82% of patients achieved <100% of age-sex predicted METs, and 43% had ≥II+ post-stress MR. The mean LV septal thickness, post-exercise LVOT gradient, and HRR were 2.0 ± 0.5 cm, 62 ± 47 mm Hg, and 31 ± 14 beats/min, respectively. During a mean follow-up of 8.7 ± 3 years, there were 52 events (12%). Patients achieving >100% of age-sex predicted METs had 1% event rate versus 12% in those achieving <85%. On stepwise multivariate survival analysis, percent of age-sex predicted METs (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64 to 0.90), abnormal HRR (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.82 to 0.97), and atrial fibrillation (HR: 2.73; 95% CI: 1.30 to 5.74) (overall, p < 0.001) independently predicted outcomes.ConclusionsIn asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic HCM patients, exercise stress testing provides excellent risk stratification, with a low event rate in patients achieving >100% of predicted METs
A Student Learning Style Auto-Detection Model in a Learning Management System
Learning style plays an important role in enabling students to have an efficient learning process. This paper proposes an auto-detection model of student learning styles in learning management systems based on student learning activities. A literature review was conducted to investigate the components of online learning activities. The search terms used were "online learning activities", "learning management systems", and "Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM)." A combination of the search terms above was also executed to enhance the search process. Based on the results of the review, eleven classes of online learning activities were identified, namely forum, chat, mail, reading materials, exam delivery time, exercises, access to examples, answer changes, learning materials, exam results, and information access. The online learning activities identified were then mapped to the Felder-Silverman model based on four model dimensions: processing, perception, input, and understanding. The proposed model shows the attributes of the online learning activities based on the dimensions in the FSLSM. The proposed model can assist educators to improve learning content according to the suitability of students and recommend appropriate learning materials to students based on their characteristics and preferences. Future studies include the use of machine learning algorithms such as decision trees to auto-detect student learning styles in learning management systems
Cilia Proteins are Biomarkers of Altered Flow in the Vasculature
Cilia, microtubule-based organelles that project from the apical luminal surface of endothelial cells (ECs), are widely regarded as low-flow sensors. Previous reports suggest that upon high shear stress, cilia on the EC surface are lost, and more recent evidence suggests that deciliation—the physical removal of cilia from the cell surface—is a predominant mechanism for cilia loss in mammalian cells. Thus, we hypothesized that EC deciliation facilitated by changes in shear stress would manifest in increased abundance of cilia-related proteins in circulation. To test this hypothesis, we performed shear stress experiments that mimicked flow conditions from low to high shear stress in human primary cells and a zebrafish model system. In the primary cells, we showed that upon shear stress induction, indeed, ciliary fragments were observed in the effluent in vitro, and effluents contained ciliary proteins normally expressed in both endothelial and epithelial cells. In zebrafish, upon shear stress induction, fewer cilia-expressing ECs were observed. To test the translational relevance of these findings, we investigated our hypothesis using patient blood samples from sickle cell disease and found that plasma levels of ciliary proteins were elevated compared with healthy controls. Further, sickled red blood cells demonstrated high levels of ciliary protein (ARL13b) on their surface after adhesion to brain ECs. Brain ECs postinteraction with sickle RBCs showed high reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Attenuating ROS levels in brain ECs decreased cilia protein levels on RBCs and rescued ciliary protein levels in brain ECs. Collectively, these data suggest that cilia and ciliary proteins in circulation are detectable under various altered-flow conditions, which could serve as a surrogate biomarker of the damaged endothelium
Tissue Doppler echocardiography – A case of right tool, wrong use
BACKGROUND: The developments in echocardiography or ultrasound cardiography (UCG) have improved our clinical capabilities. However, advanced hardware and software capabilities have resulted in UCG facilities of dubious clinical benefits. Is tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE) is one such example? PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: TDE has been touted as advancement in the field of echocardiography. The striking play of colors, impressive waveforms and the seemingly accurate velocity values could be deceptive. TDE is a clear case of inappropriate use of technology. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: To understand this, a comparison between flow Doppler and tissue Doppler is made. To make clinically meaningful velocity measurements with Doppler, we need prior knowledge of the line of motion. This is possible in blood flow but impossible in the complex myocardial motion. The qualitative comparison makes it evident that Doppler is best suited for flow studies. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: As of now TDE is going backwards using an indirect method when direct methods are better. The work on TDE at present is only debatable 'research and publication' material and do not translate into tangible clinical benefits. There are several advances like curved M-mode, strain rate imaging and tissue tracking in TDE. However these have been disappointing. This is due to the basic flaw in the application of the principles of Doppler. Doppler is best suited for flow studies and applying it to tissue motion is illogical. All data obtained by TDE is scientifically incorrect. This makes all the published papers on the subject flawed. Making diagnostic decisions based on this faulty application of technology would be unacceptable to the scientific cardiologist
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