A low-cost 3D printed microfluidic bioreactor and imaging chamber for live-organoid imaging

Organoids are biological systems grown in vitro and are observed to self-organize into 3D cellular tissues of specific organs. Brain organoids have emerged as valuable models for the study of human brain development in health and disease. Researchers are now in need of improved culturing and imaging tools to capture the in vitro dynamics of development processes in the brain. Here, we describe the design of a microfluidic chip and bioreactor, to enable in situ tracking and imaging of brain organoids on-chip. The low-cost 3D printed microfluidic bioreactor supports organoid growth and provides an optimal imaging chamber for live-organoid imaging, with drug delivery support. This fully isolated design of a live-cell imaging and culturing platform enables long-term live-imaging of the intact live brain organoids as it grows. We can thus analyze their self-organization in a controlled environment with high temporal and spatial resolution.     

Hypoglycemic, lipid lowering and antioxidant activities in root extract of Anthocephalus indicus in alloxan induced diabetic rats

The present study was carried out to evaluate the hypoglycemic, lipid lowering and antioxidant activities in root extract of Anthocephalus indicus (A indicus) in alloxan inducd diabetic rats. Oral administration of ethanol extract of root (500mg/ kg body weight) for 21 days resulted in significant decrease in the levels of blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, phospholipid and free fatty acids. Furthermore, the root extract (100–400μg) inhibited the generation of superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals, in both enzymic and non-enzymic systems, in vitro. The result of the present study demonstrated hypoglycemic, lipid lowering and antioxidant activities in root extract of A indicus, which could help in prevention of diabetic dyslipidemia and related diseases.     

The effects of teacher discourse on students’ discourse,problem-solving and reasoning during cooperative learning

The study sought to determine if teachers who are taught specific communication skills designed to challenge students’ cognitive and metacognitive thinking during cooperative learning use more challenging and scaffolding behaviours to mediate students’ learning than teachers who implement cooperative learning or small-group work who have not been taught these skills. The study involved 51 teachers in three conditions (cooperative + communication conditions; cooperative condition, group-work condition) and two groups of students from each of the above teachers’ classes. The results show that the teachers in the cooperative + communication condition used significantly more challenging and scaffolding behaviours than teachers in the group-work condition but not more than the teachers in the cooperative condition. The study also showed that the children in the cooperative + communication condition provided significantly more elaborative and help-giving behaviours to group members than peers in the other two conditions and they obtained higher scores on the follow-up reasoning and problem-solving activities than their peers in the group-work condition.     

The scope of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse in a Bedouin-Arab community of female adolescents: The interplay of racism, urbanization, polygamy, family honor, and the social marginalization of women

OBJECTIVES: This is an exploratory study of the abuse-especially sexual-of female adolescents in a conservative and traditional Bedouin-Arab community in southern Israel. The objectives were (1) to examine the rate of sexual abuse, (2) to examine the rate of physical and psychological abuse, and (3) to develop regression models to predict these forms of abuse. METHODS: : A self-administered survey that measured demographic characteristics and psychological abuse was distributed to 217 female high-school students (aged 14-18 years). Sexual and physical abuse were measured via the Finkelhor's scale [Finkelhor, D. (1979). Sexually victimized children. New York: Free Press]. RESULTS: Sixty-nine percent of the participants (n=149) reported no sexual abuse experiences, 16% reported one or two experiences, 11% reported three or four, and 4% reported more than four. Most participants indicated that they had been physically abused at least once by their father (37.1%), mother (43.7%), or siblings (44%) during the previous month. More than 50% of the participants reported being psychologically abused by members of their immediate families. Mother's age and closeness to mother significantly predicted physical abuse, and marital satisfaction and mother's age significantly predicted psychological abuse. CONCLUSION: This study addresses a topic that has never before been fully investigated--the maltreatment of females in a conservative, tribal Arab community. Although this was an exploratory study, the results attest that female abuse is a serious social problem in this community, and that the rate of abuse exceeds that of other Palestinian groups. These findings demonstrate an immediate need for professional intervention and prevention to address this problem.     

Successful immunological treatment of gallbladder cancer in India Case report

Gallbladder cancer has a poor outcome because of its anatomy and location. Often, the diagnosis is made very late due to its silent course. Post-operated cases do respond to chemotherapy but the survival is counted in months and the quality of life is further hampered due to toxicity of drugs. Immunotherapy holds good promise in non-responding cancers treated by conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Among various therapies, dendritic cell therapy is growing at rapid pace due to its acceptable rationale. It has been utilized in treating successfully resected stage Ill （T2, N1, M0） gallbladder cancer in one of our patients. A 48 years old lady treated with this therapy is free of metastasis with ten doses of autologous dendritic cell vaccine constructed by utilizing resected tumor lysate antigen. She has received ten doses of therapy in 14 months of her treatment. This therapy has proven to be safe and without apparent side effects. The positive clinical response obtained supports that autologous dendritic cell-based immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic approach for refractory gallbladder cancers.     

Quality of effluents from Hattar Industrial Estate

Of 6634 registered industries in Pakistan, 1228 are considered to be highly polluting. The major industries include textile, pharmaceutical, chemicals （organic and inorganic）, food industries, ceramics, steel, oil mills and leather tanning which spread all over four provinces, with the larger number located in Sindh and Punjab, with smaller number in North Western Frontier Province （NWFP） and Baluchistan. Hattar Industrial Estate extending over 700 acres located in Haripur district of NWFP is a new industrial estate, which has been developed with proper planning for management of industrial effluents. The major industries located in Hattar are ghee industry, chemical （sulfuric acid, synthetic fiber） industry, textile industry and pharmaceuticals industry. These industries, although developed with proper planning are discharging their effluents in the nearby natural drains and ulti- mately collected in a big drain near Wah. The farmers in the vicinity are using these effluents for growing vegetables and cereal crops due to shortage of water. In view of this discussion, there is a dire need to determine if these effluents are hazardous for soil and plant growth. So, effluents from different industries, sewage and normal tap water samples were collected and analysed for pH electrical conductivity （EC）, total soluble salts （TSS）, biological oxygen demand （BOD）, chemical oxygen demand （COD）, total nitrogen, cations and anions and heavy metals. The effluents ofghee and textile industries are highly alkaline. EC and TSS loads of ghee and textile industries are also above the National Environmental Quality Standards （NEQS）, Pakistan. All the effluents had residual sodium carbonates （RSCs）, carbonates and bicarbonates in amounts that cannot be used for irrigation. Total toxic metals load in all the effluents is also above the limit i.e. 2,0 mg/L. Copper in effluents of textile and sewage, manganese in ghee industry effluents and iron contents in all the effluents were higher than NEQS. BOD and COD values of all the industries are also above the NEQS. On the whole, these effluents cannot be used for irrigation without proper treatment otherwise that may cause toxicity to soil, plants and animals as well add to the problems of salinity and sododicity. Similarly, these effluents cannot be used for fish farming.     

Does performance in progressive assessment influence the outcome in final examination? An Australian experience

This paper investigates whether performance in progressive assessment necessarily influences the outcome in the end-of-semester final examination using the experience of an introductory postgraduate statistics course at a large Australian university. The average score on progressive assessments was higher than that of the final examination. Students attaining a higher distinction (HD) at the progressive assessment had a 37% chance of securing the same grade in the final examination, while students securing just a pass grade at the progressive assessment had 54 percent chance of failure in the final examination. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students’ performance in progressive assessments had a significant positive impact on final examination, so has the impact of learning diary. Mid-semester tests based exclusively on multiple choice questions (MCQs), more weights in progressive assessment and class-size appeared to have significant negative impact on the performance in the final examination. Focus group discussions suggest that (a) the final examination under timed conditions; (b) competing demands on time for final examination in other courses due contemporaneously; and (c) weaker motivation to sustain the momentum due to pass or near pass based on progressive assessments were the main hurdles in achieving better performance in the final examination.