The Age-Sensitive Efficacy of Calorie Restriction on Mitochondrial Biogenesis and mtDNA Damage in Rat Liver

Calorie restriction (CR) is the most efficacious treatment to delay the onset of age-related changes such as mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the sensitivity of mitochondrial markers to CR and the age-related boundaries of CR efficacy are not fully elucidated. We used liver samples from ad libitum-fed (AL) rats divided in: 18-month-old (AL-18), 28-month-old (AL-28), and 32-month-old (AL-32) groups, and from CR-treated (CR) 28-month-old (CR-28) and 32-month-old (CR-32) counterparts to assay the effect of CR on several mitochondrial markers. The age-related decreases in citrate synthase activity, in TFAM, MFN2, and DRP1 protein amounts and in the mtDNA content in the AL-28 group were prevented in CR-28 counterparts. Accordingly, CR reduced oxidative mtDNA damage assessed through the incidence of oxidized purines at specific mtDNA regions in CR-28 animals. These findings support the anti-aging effect of CR up to 28 months. Conversely, the protein amounts of LonP1, Cyt c, OGG1, and APE1 and the 4.8 Kb mtDNA deletion content were not affected in CR-28 rats. The absence of significant differences between the AL-32 values and the CR-32 counterparts suggests an age-related boundary of CR efficacy at this age. However, this only partially curtails the CR benefits in counteracting the generalized aging decline and the related mitochondrial involvement.     

How Far Are We from Prescribing Fasting as Anticancer Medicine?

(1) Background: the present review provides a comprehensive and up-to date overview of the potential exploitation of fasting as an anticancer strategy. The rationale for this concept is that fasting elicits a differential stress response in the setting of unfavorable conditions, empowering the survival of normal cells, while killing cancer cells. (2) Methods: the present narrative review presents the basic aspects of the hormonal, molecular, and cellular response to fasting, focusing on the interrelationship of fasting with oxidative stress. It also presents nonclinical and clinical evidence concerning the implementation of fasting as adjuvant to chemotherapy, highlighting current challenges and future perspectives. (3) Results: there is ample nonclinical evidence indicating that fasting can mitigate the toxicity of chemotherapy and/or increase the efficacy of chemotherapy. The relevant clinical research is encouraging, albeit still in its infancy. The path forward for implementing fasting in oncology is a personalized approach, entailing counteraction of current challenges, including: (i) patient selection; (ii) fasting patterns; (iii) timeline of fasting and refeeding; (iv) validation of biomarkers for assessment of fasting; and (v) establishment of protocols for patients’ monitoring. (4) Conclusion: prescribing fasting as anticancer medicine may not be far away if large randomized clinical trials consolidate its safety and efficacy.     

Development and validation of a crisis self‐efficacy index

This study develops a crisis self‐efficacy index to provide a tool for crisis communication researchers and practitioners to understand behavioural aspects of crisis response better. Evaluations of public's crisis self‐efficacy using this index inform strategic message development to protect the public and minimize crisis damages by identifying the public/s most in need of self‐efficacy enhancing interventions. The index also provides practitioners a useful longitudinal index to evaluate progress in crisis preparedness programs and track changes in efficacy. A four‐stage survey index development process using structural equation modelling identifies four underlying constructs of crisis self‐efficacy: action, preventive, achievement and uncertainty management.     

Inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated water: influence of plasma treatment time,exposure time and bacterial species

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of plasma treatment time, bacterial exposure time to PAW and bacterial species on the inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated water (PAW), with additional investigation of the inactivation mechanisms of PAW. Six bacterial species, including Listeria innocua, Staphyloccus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Shewanella putrefaciens and Aeromonas hydrophila were selected as the representative bacteria. The initial bacterial concentration was around 7 log CFU ml⁻¹ after mixing with PAW, and the inactivation efficacy was measured after different exposure times during the 4 °C storage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the bacteria after PAW treatment were carried out to inspect the cell structure damage, and physicochemical properties of PAW, including pH, conductivity and long-living reactive species of H₂O₂, , and , were examined. The results showed that the inactivation efficacy of PAW was positively correlated with plasma treatment time and bacterial exposure time, and for the species examined in this study, the Gram-negative species were more sensitive to PAW than the Gram-positive species. Cell structure damage, including shrinkage, distortion, or holes, was observed after PAW treatment. The pH of PAW was acidified to 2.5–2.9, and conductivity was significantly increased to 518.0 μs cm⁻¹. and H₂O₂ were reduced during the 48 h storage, while an increased concentration was observed for . This study demonstrated that the processing parameters of plasma treatment time, exposure time and characteristics of bacteria can significantly affect the inactivation efficacy of PAW.     

Effect of practice on similar and dissimilar skills in patient transfer through training with a robot patient

With the number of hospital stays increasing, nurses require more training to handle a variety of patients. However, time for training in nursing schools is limited, and students lack the opportunity to practice on a diverse variety of patients. Using a robot to simulate actual patients, this study observes the learning transfer effect of practice on practice-similar and practice-dissimilar skills from one patient to another, and investigates which types of practice suit which kinds of training. An experiment was conducted by administering a pre-test, practice, a post-test, and a transfer test to two groups (N?=?8), each with different practice-related skills. The evaluation used a checklist covering required skills that were either similar or dissimilar across groups, depending on their practice. The effect of practice can be observed through a comparison of skills similar to one group but dissimilar to the other. The results show that practice facilitates learning transfer on similar skills but not, or to a lesser degree, on dissimilar skills. Furthermore, if skills needed to handle given symptoms are unfamiliar or inaccessible to students, practice related to those symptoms should be emphasized through simulated training with robots.     

人纤维蛋白原对急诊外伤致创伤性凝血病疗效及相关因素分析

目的:探讨人纤维蛋白原(fibrinogen，FIB)对急诊创伤性凝血病患者的临床疗效及相关因素。方法:将2015年6月至2018年6月本院收治的100例严重创伤患者纳入本研究，根据是否创伤性凝血病分为凝血病组(80例)和非凝血病组(20例)。比较凝血病组和非凝血病组患者收住后第1个24 h的急性生理和慢性健康评分(acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II，APACHE II)、创伤严重程度评分(injury severity score，ISS)、低体温及低灌注发生率等指标。采用Logistic多因素回归方法分析严重创伤患者发生创伤性凝血病的相关因素。将80例创伤性凝血病患者随机分为观察组(40例)和对照组(40例)。对照组按照常规诊疗措施治疗，观察组在对照组处理基础上给予人FIB，比较治疗前后观察组和对照组的凝血功能指标，及治疗后的临床用血量、住院时间及病死率。结果:与治疗前相比，治疗后观察组和对照组的凝血酶原时间(prothrombin time，PT)、活化部分凝血活酶时间(activated partial thromboplastin time，APTT)及D-二聚体水平降低(P<0.05)，FIB水平明显升高(P<0.05)。观察组的红细胞(red blood cell，RBC) 输注量、新鲜冰冻血浆(fresh frozen plasma，FFP)输注量、重症加强护理病房(intensive care unit，ICU)时间及病死率均明显低于对照组，差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。创伤性凝血病患者PT>18 s(r=0.623，P=0.024)、APTT>60 s(r=0.722，P=0.018)、凝血酶时间(thrombin time，TT)>15 s(r=0.719，P=0.033)与ISS评分呈正相关。碱缺失(base deficit，BD)≥6(OR=3.678，95%CI=1.065～9.417)、格拉斯哥评分(Glasgow coma scale，GCS)≤8(OR=5.299，95%CI=1.122～8.711)和血小板(platelet，PLT)计数(OR=0.982，95%CI=0.971～0.996)是严重创伤患者发生创伤性凝血病的独立预测因素。结论:人FIB可有效改善创伤性凝血病患者的凝血功能，降低病死率、缩短ICU时间，创伤性凝血病与创伤严重程度、合并休克、低体温和重型颅脑损伤存在一定的相关性。     

A systematic literature review on Internet of things in education: Benefits and challenges

With close to 20.4 billion devices connected to the Internet to be deployed by 2020, Internet of things (IoT) is already being leveraged in diverse sectors. Now, because of the ubiquitous nature of IoT devices, schools and academic institutions are looking to incorporate IoT in educational activities. With the increased use of IoT in the education domain, it is of utmost importance to study how this technology with its distinguished system functions such as sensing and decision making can support and challenge the pedagogical processes for all interrelated actors (faculty, students, and staff) as well as all involved assets (e.g., libraries, classrooms, and labs). Although there have been several contributions on the inclusion of IoT into the education domain, there is still a lack of consolidated and coherent views on this subject. Hence, we are motivated to close the gap of knowledge and embarked on mapping out the published studies available. This study presents the results of a systematic literature review focusing on the benefits and the challenges faced in education in integrating IoT into the curriculum and educational environments. Different mapping views of the extracted studies are provided as long as a summary of the already implemented tools and a list of gap research questions yet to be investigated.     

A toy or a friend? Children's anthropomorphic beliefs about robots and how these relate to second-language word learning

This study investigates the degree to which children anthropomorphize a robot tutor and whether this anthropomorphism relates to their vocabulary learning in a second-language (L2) tutoring intervention. With this aim, an anthropomorphism questionnaire was administered to 5-year-old children (N = 104) twice: prior to and following a seven-session L2 vocabulary training with a humanoid robot. On average, children tended to anthropomorphize the robot prior to and after the lessons to a similar degree, but many children changed their attributed anthropomorphic features. Boys anthropomorphized the robot less after the lessons than girls. Moreover, there was a weak but significant positive correlation between anthropomorphism as measured before the lessons and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered the day after the last lesson. There was also a weak but significant positive correlation between the change in anthropomorphism over time and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered approximately 2 weeks after the last lesson. Our results underscore the need to manage children's expectations in robot-assisted education. Also, future research could explore adaptations to individual children's expectations in child-robot interactions.     

Negotiation based adaptive learning sequences: Combining adaptivity and adaptability

This study proposes a negotiation-based approach to combine the notion of adaptivity (system-controlled adaptation) and adaptability (user-controlled adaptation) for an adaptive learning system. The system suggests adaptations and the student also submits his/her adaptation preference. When the student preference opposes the system suggestion, the student then negotiates with the system to reach an agreement of adaptation. A negotiation-based adaptive learning system (NALS) is implemented to support the generation of personalized adaptive learning sequences by system negotiations with students regarding assessments of learning performance (i.e. negotiated open student model) of the current content and choices of the next learning content (i.e. negotiation of adaptation). Students require two metacognitions in deciding adaptive learning sequences: self-assessment for evaluating their understanding of the current content and regulation for choosing appropriate learning content. Negotiated open student model are used for assist student self-assessment and negotiation of adaptation are used for assist student regulation of content choices. An experiment was conducted to compare a system-controlled adaptive learning system (SALS, adaptivity), a user-controlled adaptive learning system (UALS, adaptability), and a NALS. The results revealed that NALS promoted better metacognitions in student calibration (i.e. self-assessment) accuracy and learning content choices (i.e. regulation). Preliminary evidences also showed that NALS promoted better student performance in a delay test. The results further suggested that students with poor calibration accuracy and inappropriate content choices were not suitable to use UALS and were suitable to use SALS. The NALS can also be used for training students to make appropriate adaptation for learning.