All – ASSET https://assetonline.org Tue, 20 Dec 2022 16:58:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://assetonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cropped-icon-32x32.png All – ASSET https://assetonline.org 32 32 Association of Pre-natal HIV Exposure with Cord Blood Gene Expression and Lung Function in an African Birth Cohort Study https://assetonline.org/association-of-pre-natal-hiv-exposure-with-cord-blood-gene-expression-and-lung-function-in-an-african-birth-cohort-study/ Sat, 17 Dec 2022 06:30:36 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4361 Background: Early life exposures can have lifelong impacts on health. Children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU) are found to have altered lung function at the age of 6 weeks and 2 years. However, it is unclear how maternal HIV infection affects the lung function of the children at later life at the molecular level.

Methods: Differential Gene Expression (DGE) analysis was performed on the gene expression data of 144 umbilical cord blood samples (26% HEU, 74% unexposed) from the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS). Fast gene set enrichment analysis ( fGSEA) was used to evaluate the enrichment of Gene Ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. Biologically meaningful clusters (modules) of co-expressed HEU associated genes were determined using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The
association of the hub genes from the HEU-associated modules and the lung function (tidal volume) at 6 weeks and 2 years of age of the children was assessed using linear regression.

Results: SRXN1 was significantly differentially expressed between HEU and unexposed infants. fGSEA identified enrichment of 243 GO terms and 24 KEGG pathways in HEU infants, the majority of which were related to immune function or inflammation. WGCNA identified two clusters associated with HEU, with hub genes enriched in immune related pathways. Hub genes were associated with offspring lung function (P <0.05).

Conclusion: HEU offspring exhibited differential gene expression in cord blood, in comparison to unexposed infants, with enrichment in immune response pathways. Expression of HEU enriched genes was associated with lung function, suggesting the association of HIV exposure with offspring lung function is mediated by altered gene expression in-utero.

Authors List :
Md. Zahangir Alam *, Faisal I. Rezwan, Diane M. Gray, Jannatul Ferdous, M. Sohel Rahman, Dan J Stein, Heather J Zar, John W. Holloway
Presenting Author :
Jannatul Ferdous
Affiliations :
* Human Development & Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK, * Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Department of Computer Science, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, UK, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, South Africa, South African Medical Research Council Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, South African Medical Research Council Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Cape Town, South Africa, Lexington High School, Lexington, Massachusetts, USA
Email :
zahangirbd@gmail.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
HIV, Gene, Lung Function, WGCNA, Developmental Programming
]]> Removal and Biodegradation of Cephalexin by a Freshwater Microalga, Chlorella pyrenoidosa https://assetonline.org/removal-and-biodegradation-of-cephalexin-by-a-freshwater-microalga-chlorella-pyrenoidosa/ Thu, 15 Dec 2022 00:17:47 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4353 First-generation Cephalosporin antibiotics like Cephalexin are strong -lactams that are often utilised in veterinary medicine throughout many nations. Cephalexin is relatively resistant to these -lactamases and exhibits good action against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Therefore, Cephalexin is frequently used to treat soft tissue infections caused by Staphylococcus sp., Streptococcus sp., Klebsiella, Escherichia coli, or Proteus mirabilis, as well as upper respiratory infections, uncomplicated pneumonia, and urinary tract infections.
It is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics; and also one of the most widely produced. It is highly water soluble and exhibits a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity. Furthermore, Cephalosporins, which include Cephalexin, are the second most commonly prescribed antibiotic class in Europe. Cephalexin only undergoes 10% biotransformation; hence the other 90% is eliminated unaltered in the urine. As a consequence, The World Health Organization (WHO), published a report exclusively about the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water and the potential risks for human health and the environment. And classified Cephalosporins antibiotics as emergent environment contaminants, and are considered as water pollutants.
Additionally, various advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been investigated to remove Cephalexin from surface water and wastewater, such as Fenton oxidation and UV/H2O2. However, the high operational and maintenance costs of these methods restrict their utilization for long-term applications. Therefore, it is essential to explore new methods to effectively remove antibiotics from polluted water using technolog¬ically available and economic conditions. Moreover, Bioremediation of antibiotics contaminated waters by microalgae is recently attracting research communities. The microalgal bioremedial system is a solar power-driven, ecologically comprehensive and sustainable reclamation strategy. Studies have demonstrated that microalgae are able to bioaccumulate and remove environmental contaminants such as nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous), heavy metals and emerging contaminants (Like Antibiotics) from wastewater. Also, Microalgae-based technology is an environmental-friendly and cost-effective method for antibiotic removal.
In this study, Chlorella pyrenoidosa was cultured with varying concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 mg/L) of Cephalexin in BG11 medium. Along with these varying concentrations of biodegradation assay two control assays also used at same time, for describing role of abiotic factor like light in degradation of Cephalexin. Growth was monitored by the changes in chlorophyll pigments, which include chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids. On the other hand, in the algae-antibiotics culture system, C. pyrenoidosa could effectively remove cephalexin; the experimental set-up was for 11 days, and the sample was taken at 0, 2, 4, 7, and 11 days, respectively. The characterization of microalgae was done by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), and the biodegradation assay was done by using HPLC.

Authors List :
Sachin Kumar, Azhar Khan
Presenting Author :
Sachin Kumar
Affiliations :
Faculty of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Solan, HP, India
Email :
mk.azhar1@gmail.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
Cephalexin, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Biodegradation, Emerging Contaminants, Microlagae
]]> Histories of Microscopes and Research in Skeletal Muscle Diseases https://assetonline.org/histories-of-microscopes-and-research-in-skeletal-muscle-diseases/ Wed, 14 Dec 2022 05:07:23 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4348 “Seeing is believing” is a philosophical quote originating, coincidentally and independently, from both Western and Eastern cultures. No scholars have taken full advantage of this philosophy in their daily scientific endeavors more than microscopists have. Four hundred years ago, people used to believe that the lives of fruit flies derives from the chemical reactions of rotting banana skins. One could have shown, under the ‘microscopes’, the tiny ‘eggs’ laid on the surface of the fruit, hatching and giving life to the larvae, persuading the most stubborn of disbelievers.
The history of microscopes of the modern era is rooted in the 17th century when Robert Hooke and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek contributed, by using their own equipment, to the initial discoveries in cell biology and microbiology, like the episode stated above. The power of ‘seeing’ is so potent that scientists kept pushing the limits of microscopes further and further to achieve new discoveries. In this talk, I will briefly introduce the history of optical microscopes, their advantages, their limits, how our predecessors have overcome each technical difficulty, and what scientific accomplishments they were able to achieve by doing so, etc. In the second half, I will address the research in muscle diseases using microscopes, particularly focusing on the mysterious genetic disease, termed, ‘muscular dystrophy’. Finally, and hopefully, I will address the future of microscopes, and discuss what young scholars-to-be will have to study in the next decades, and are expected to achieve, etc.

Authors List :
Shingo Yasuhara
Presenting Author :
Shingo Yasuhara
Affiliations :
Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School Shriners Hospital for Children Boston, MA, USA
Email :
shingoyasuhara136@gmail.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
History, Microscopy, larvae, muscular dystrophy, genetic diseases
]]> Fusion Artificial Neural Network Models for Air Quality Prediction in Smart Cities Environment https://assetonline.org/fusion-artificial-neural-network-models-for-air-quality-prediction-in-smart-cities-environment/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 19:49:51 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4343 The growing concern for air pollution has been raised by many governments and people worldwide because it affects human health and sustainable development. Particularly, in India, the drastically deteriorating air quality threatens the health of its people. Meanwhile, in smart cities, knowledge of timely and reliable levels of air pollution is essential for the effective set-up of smart pollution systems. The current methods of air quality prediction primarily use shallow models which yield unsatisfactory results. Hence, it has inspired us to research methods of air quality prediction based on models of Neural Network (NN) architecture. In the present study, the NN architecture model was tested on air pollution data to improve the accuracy of prediction models. The two approaches proposed in this work are based on the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The first method uses the Artificial Neural Network-Linear Vector Quantization (ANN-LVQ). It is an integration of the NN with LVQ, a significant Air Prediction Technique. The second method is a fusion of MultiLayer Perceptron Neural Network with Self Organization Map (MLPNN-SOM) technique. The main aims of implementing these methods are to provide early warnings by predicting air quality and estimate the influencing pollutant that contaminates the quality of air which thereby leads to air pollution. Upon analyzing literature review, feature extraction methods such as Feature Importance (FI), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), REFLIF-F and Self Organization Map (SOM) were considered based on the complexity of the problem. Feature selection is a process where the features in data are automatically selected to contribute to the prediction variable. After comparing the above-listed feature selection methods, the SOM method performed well in terms of accuracy and processing time. SOM visualization values were used as a similarity measure between the parameter that is to be forecasted and the parameters for the feature space. This method leads to the smallest set of parameters which surpass a similarity threshold. Next, to obtain the influencing pollutant that increases the AQI value, the second proposed fusion method (MLPNN-SOM) was employed to estimate the influencing pollutant which involves two phases. The first phase deals with the feature extraction technique. During the first phase, SOM was selected after comparing all other feature selection methods due to its accuracy and processing time. Based on the results, the proposed MLPNN-SOM method performed better than the other standard clustering. Network components such as activation function, learning rate, momentum, nodes and network structure strongly influence the classification performance of NN. Having said that, proper selection of weights and biases reduces the classification error. Therefore, in this study, the NN architecture was fine-tuned to enhance the classification performance by optimizing weights and biases deliberately.

Authors List :
Sumaya Sanober
Presenting Author :
Sumaya Sanober
Affiliations :
Department of Computer Science, Prince Sattam Bin Abdul Aziz University, Wadi Ad-Dawasir, KSA
Email :
s.sanober@psau.edu.sa
]]> Patients’ Satisfaction with Nursing Care Quality and Associated Factors in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Section Study https://assetonline.org/patients-satisfaction-with-nursing-care-quality-and-associated-factors-in-saudi-arabia-a-cross-section-study/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 15:18:21 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4339 Aim: This research aimed to evaluate patients’ satisfaction with the nursing care quality during their hospitalization.
Design: Quantitative cross‐sectional descriptive design.
Methods: A convenience sample of 238 patients were recruited from hospitals in two provinces in Saudi Arabia. Patient satisfaction was measured by the Arabic version of the Patients’ Satisfaction with Nursing Care Quality Questionnaire (PSNCQQ-Ar).
Results: Significant differences were found between Saudi provinces regarding the overall quality of nursing care (M = 4.65, p < 0.001). The study revealed mean significant variations between patient satisfaction with nursing care and sociodemographic factors, including age (p = 0.002), education level (p = 0.047), marital status (p = 0.017), employment status (p = 0.038), urban vs. suburban residence (p = 0.006), length of hospitalization (p = 0.001), and accompaniment by a family member (p = 0.014). Improving patients’ experience during their hospitalization requires regular examination of the quality of nursing care services.
Patient Contribution: This research enhances our understanding of patients satisfaction towards the quality of nursing care received during hospitalization.

Presenting Author :
Dr Hanan Alharbi
Affiliations :
Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University
Email :
hanan_11211@yahoo.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
patient satisfaction, quality of care, nursing care, nursing
]]> Artificial Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks https://assetonline.org/artificial-food-dyes-a-rainbow-of-risks/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 04:03:13 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4317 Benefits for Bomb Pops is a business solutions campaign developed by our team, A-Z Solutions, that aims to provide healthy alternatives to commercial food companies. For our 2022 project, we focused on America’s largest family-owned frozen treat manufacturer, Wells Enterprises. Wells is continuously changing and improving their products to match the quality of industrial standards. They currently own four famously known confection brands: Blue Ribbon, Blue Bunny, Halo Top, and Bomb Pop. Their popsicle brand, Bomb Pop–however, currently incorporates the artificial food dyes, Blue 1 and Red 40. These dyes are contaminated with chemical substances labeled carcinogens, which are scientifically proven to assist in the formation of cancer, diseases, behavioral issues, and other severe health risks by reaching the human tissue. As Bomb Pop integrates the Blue 1 and Red 40 color additives, their popsicles carry a high risk of contributing to various health threats such as ADHD, depression, excessive hyperactivity, irritability, and allergies. Bomb Pop’s brand manager, Ryan Roznowski, and health coach, Megan Brown, expressed their concern for these dangers and agreed to assist us on our journey of bettering the safety of Bomb Pop popsicles. A-Z Solutions presented our problem, purpose, and rationale to Ryan Roznowski, who claimed that this manufacturing issue has been addressed as critical within his team. A-Z Solutions enhanced risk reduction efforts by establishing both a consumer and a manufacturing concern for the dangers of artificial dyes. Our presentation will discuss artificial food dyes, including those of Blue 1 and Red 40, to increase concern for the consequences of widely incorporating these additives into consumer products nationwide.

Authors List :
Zunairah Syeda; Ananya Boominathan
Presenting Author :
Zunairah Syeda
Affiliations :
King Philip Regional High School
Email :
zunairah.a.syeda@gmail.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
food industry; healthy alternatives
]]> Mind Wandering: Research & Mitigations Strategies in BCI https://assetonline.org/mind-wandering-research-mitigations-strategies-in-bci/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 04:02:02 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4321 Mind-wandering is characterized by extraneous or task-unrelated thoughts that indicate a shift in attention away from the present. The mind-wandering phenomenon has significant implications within the wider educational community, particularly with areas like learning, productivity, and motivation. As such, researchers have been pursuing various approaches to better understand its underlying function and develop intervention strategies to prevent it altogether. In this proposed study, I explore and compare the relative effectiveness of three different mitigation strategies on mind-wandering during the sustained attention to response task (SART), including: mindfulness training, feedback/goal-setting, and incentives/goal-setting. Mind-wandering levels would be determined by calculating the number of errors made throughout the task, as well as using participants’ fNIRS data to examine activation within the default mode network (DMN). By potentially incorporating these simple but effective strategies, both learning technology developers and classroom educators alike can design a more engaging, individualized experience for their students.

Authors List :
Saniya Syeda
Presenting Author :
Saniya Syeda
Affiliations :
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Email :
saniyazsyeda@gmail.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
Brain-Computer Interaction, HCI, Adaptive Learning, Psychology
]]> Importance of Simulation in Medical Education https://assetonline.org/importance-of-simulation-in-medical-education/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 01:41:22 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4327 Although many associate simulations with innovations of the twenty-first century, simulations have a long-standing history with medicine and continue to develop into tools for improving treatments. Simulations are models designed to operate similarly to existing systems. In medicine, simulations educate others using accurate environments and treatments. Some of the earliest forms of simulation date back to 200 BCE, with ancient clay models of human anatomy found in archaeological sites in the Middle East and Central Asia. The modern simulation took off in the mid-twentieth century with the innovation of the human torso model, used to model CPR methods, and the cardiology patient simulator, used for cardiac disease to teach physical diagnosis in cardiology. As simulators continue to develop in the modern world, medical education will showcase significant advancements, and patient care and safety will improve immensely.

Authors List :
Ramaiza Sohail
Presenting Author :
Ramaiza Sohail
Affiliations :
Lexington High School
Email :
ramaizasohail28@gmail.com
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
Simulation, medical education, high fidelity
]]> Alcohol-Induced Spleen Atrophy https://assetonline.org/alcohol-induced-spleen-atrophy/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:04 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4323 Background: Spleen is the largest immune organ. It battles against any invading germs in the blood and control level of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. Organ weight change is widely accepted as a measure of toxicologic pathology. We have previously shown that binge exposure to ethanol (EtOH) decreases spleen size in adolescent rats. Using meta-analysis, this study is to explore the mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced spleen atrophy. QIAGEN Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) and Mammalian Phenotype (MP) Ontology were used to identify alcohol-related molecules associated with the small spleen phenotype. STRING and IPA bioinformatics tools were then used to analyze the biological processes and enriched signaling pathways engaging these molecules. In addition, “downstream effects analysis” algorithm was used to quantitatively demonstrate how alcohol has caused the small spleen phenotype by modulating the expression of these molecules. IPA “Grow” tool was used to identify 623 molecules associated with EtOH and Venn Diagram tool was used to reveal 26 of these molecules overlapped with those associated with the MP Ontology of small spleen. These 26 molecules include transcription regulators, enzymes, kinases, peptidase, G-protein coupled receptors, ligand dependent nuclear receptors, transmembrane receptors, transporters, ion channel and growth factor. A portion of these 26 molecules were also associated with the MP Ontology of abnormal white pulp and red pulp morphology of the spleen, abnormal splenic cell ratio, decreased splenocyte number, abnormal spleen physiology, increased splenocyte apoptosis, and reduced splenocyte proliferation. STRING and IPA “Core Analysis” showed that these molecules were mainly involved in pathway related with cell apoptosis, proliferation, migration, and immune responses. IPA “Molecular Activity Predictor” (MAP) tool was used to reveal that increased exposure to EtOH elevated expression of Esr1, Rora, Casp8, Pebp1, Atm, Camk4, Mtor, Ednrb, Cxcr4, Fas, Tlr7, Alox5, Nfkbia, and Tgfb1 and inhibited expression of Prf1, Bcl2, Il15, Ifng, Glra1, Drd2 and Ighm. However, concurrent effects of activation and inhibition of these molecules led to decreased spleen size by modulating apoptosis, proliferation and migration of splenocyte. Our network meta-analysis revealed that excessive exposure to alcohol induced spleen atrophy through a variety of molecular mechanisms and pathways.

Authors List :
Sulie L. Chang
Presenting Author :
Sulie L. Chang
Affiliations :
Institute of NeuroImmune Pharmacology, South Orange, NJ 07079, USA, Department of Biological Sciences, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ 07079, USA
Email :
sulie.chang@shu.edu
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, Mammalian Phenotype Ontology, STRING, spleen atrophy, apoptosis, cell migration, cell proliferation
]]> Network Meta-Analysis of Pancreatic-Associated Inflammation and Type 2 Diabetes https://assetonline.org/network-meta-analysis-of-pancreatic-associated-inflammation-and-type-2-diabetes/ Sun, 11 Dec 2022 21:00:46 +0000 https://assetonline.org/?p=4313 Alcohol consumption can trigger inflammation in various organs such as the intestines, liver, lungs, joint, brain and pancreas. The inflammation of pancreas, commonly referred to as pancreatitis, may arise from high or prolonged alcohol consumption, and is a potential risk factor for the development of diabetes, specifically non-insulin dependent diabetes mellites (DM-II). Every year, acute pancreatitis is responsible for 250,000 hospital admissions, which has seen a 20% increase over the last decade. Alcohol consumption may result in the inflammation of pancreas by causing pancreatic secretions to have more viscosity. Aggregation of pancreatic secretions produce protein plugs that result in inflammation, as well as subsequent loss of acinar, islet, and ductal cells. Due to the progressive destruction of pancreatic tissue which may rid the pancreas of insulin-producing beta-islet cells, DM-II may also arise from alcohol-induced inflammation of pancreas. With these premises, it was hypothesized that alcohol consumption enhances the development of pancreatitis and DM-II. QIAGEN Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software and CLC Genomics Workbench 22 (CLC 22) were employed for a network meta-analysis on molecular mechanisms underlying alcohol consumption on the inflammation of pancreas, as well as on the onset of DM-II. CLC 22 was used to analyze genomes from a sample size of 87 patients with acute pancreatitis, as well as genomes of 32 healthy patients. Healthy genomes were compared to those with pancreatitis, which identified 36,693 differentially expressed genes (DEG). These 36,693 DEG’s were then uploaded to IPA and compared to the total number of molecules associated with ethanol (EtOH); out of 786 molecules that were found to be associated with EtOH through IPA’s QIAGEN Knowledge Base (QKB), a total of 441 molecules overlapped with the 36,693 DEG’s. These 441 identified common molecules were analyzed through Core Analysis of IPA, which found top 340 enriched canonical pathways that were most associated with the 441 molecules. Upon mimicking EtOH exposure, 156 pathways were upregulated, 57 pathways were downregulated, and 127 did not show any change following EtOH simulation. Upon observing how EtOH modulates several canonical pathways associated with the DEG’s from pancreatitis samples, this study confirmed EtOH’s close modulation to inflammation of pancreas and DM-II through IPA. In a parallel study, IPA’s “Grow” tool was used to find that a total of 786 molecules were associated with EtOH, 1074 molecules were associated with DM-II, and 316 molecules were associated with the inflammation of pancreas. The “Compare” tool was then used to identify molecules that were shared between EtOH, DM-II, and inflammation of pancreas. First, it was found that 56 molecules overlapped between EtOH and inflammation of pancreas. Simulated exposure to EtOH in this 56-molecule network, using the Molecular Activity Predictor (MAP) tool, resulted in the activation of the inflammation of pancreas, with a p-value of 0.044. Secondly, it was found that 128 molecules overlap between EtOH and DM-II. Simulated exposure to EtOH was found to subsequently augment DM-II, with a p-value of 0.016. Thirdly, it was found that 76 molecules overlapped between DM-II and inflammation of pancreas. Simulated exposure of this network to EtOH resulted in the activation of both inflammation of pancreas and DM-II. Simulated EtOH exposure also downregulated the expression of insulin receptor 1&2, and NR3C1 receptors. This combined effect further led to the downregulation of insulin. In addition, MIF expression was decreased. Downregulated insulin and upregulated MIF jointly promoted DM-II. Taken together, our network meta-analysis studies revealed the molecular mechanisms underlying alcohol augmentation of inflammation of the pancreas, possibly leading to the onset and progression of DM-II.

Authors List :
Ryan Kim
Presenting Author :
Ryan Kim
Affiliations :
Seton Hall University
Email :
kimryan@shu.edu
Key Words (5 Words Maximum) :
Alcohol, diabetes, cytokines, insulin resistance, pancreas
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