Combined Analysis of Anti SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM Responses in COVID19 Patients in India

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global health problem, India being the second most affected country. The kinetics of antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in Indian population is not studied yet. To understand serological response in relation to age, gender, time period and severity of disease, Roche Elecsys anti-SARS-CoV-2 test was used which analysed both IgM and IgG. One hundred and three COVID-19 patients were enrolled. Seropositivity was seen in 64% of patients, with 33% at ≤ 7 days, 62% between 8 and 15 days and 81% at ≥ 16 days from the time of admission. Men (65%) showed higher antibody response than women (59%), whereas no difference was observed in seropositivity with respect to age of the patients. Dynamics of antibody responses revealed individual variations. Patients in ICU had higher antibody reactivity with 67% positivity as compared to 60% positivity in non-ICU patients. Kinetics of antibody response during COVID-19 disease varied in relation to gender, age, time period and severity and these factors might play an important role in treatment and control of COVID-19.     

Do learning environments differ across subjects and nations: Case studies in Hawaii and Singapore using the WIHIC questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to survey a sample of high school students in Hawaii and Singapore about what they perceive to be helpful aspects of classroom environments in their learning of science and humanities subjects. The What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire was administered in the fall of 2003 to 73 high school students in Hawaii and 70 high school students in Singapore. These students were asked to respond to statements that focused on their actual and preferred environments in science and humanities classes for the three dimensions of learning environments of student cohesiveness, student involvement, and task orientation in the actual and preferred classroom. Principal component analyses were conducted separately for the data collected in the science and the humanities classes to make sure that the questions represented the anticipated factors in each of these two subject areas. A three-way multivariate analysis of variance was also conducted for all three dimensions of learning environments for differences in scores on items in the WIHIC questionnaire for the actual classroom subtracted from scores for the preferred learning environment. Results of this test revealed that the primary difference between students in high schools in Hawaii and Singapore was that students in the high schools in Hawaii wanted more student cohesiveness and involvement than the students in high schools in Singapore regardless of the subject. Another interesting finding was in the dimension of task orientation, for which the interaction between student nationality and subject was statistically significant.     

Policy enactment,context and performativity: ontological politics and researching Australian National Partnership policies

Recently, critical policy scholars have used the concepts of enactment, context and performativity as an analytic toolkit to illuminate the complex processes of the policy cycle, in particular, the ways in which a multitude of official education reform policies are taken up, challenged and/or resisted by actors in local, situation-specific practices. This set of theoretical tools are usually deployed to analyse interview data collected from a single school or cluster of schools to draw findings or conclusions about the complex processes of policy enactment. We aim to build on this critical policy studies work by, firstly, highlighting key aspects of these theoretical/methodological constructs, secondly, exploring the performative role of research in the materiality of specific contexts and, thirdly, theorising education policy research in terms of ontological politics. We ground this work in a recent collaborative enquiry research project undertaken in Queensland, Australia. This research project emerged in the Australian policy context of National Partnership Agreement policies which were designed to reform public or government-funded schools servicing low socio-economic communities, in order to improve student learning outcomes, specifically in literacy and numeracy as measured by high-stakes national testing.     

沉积物-水界面通量测定中热脉冲信号分析(英文)

分析了热脉冲传感器脉冲信号与沉积物-水界面通量之间的传热问题,并通过优化程序,提出了用热脉冲测定计算界面通量J的新方法.此分析方法只需3个实验参数,即x0,λ和(pc)l就可利用热脉冲测定数据计算出沉积物-水界面通量J.数据分析结果表明:热脉冲顶点温度到达时间与水流速度呈曲线关系;沉积物-水界面通量和热源上下游温升比值的自然对数之间存在一种简单的线性关系.这种简单的线性关系,有利于热脉冲型传感器在土壤-水界面通量测定中的广泛应用.     

RFID: A New Technology in Library Management Systems

RFID is an acronym that stands for the radio frequency identification. RFID uses wireless radio communications for unique identification of people or assets. This article explains the technology, how RFID tags work, and, more important, their various uses in libraries.     

In the company of citizens: the rhetorical contours of Singapore's neoliberalism

ABSTRACT

This essay explores how the language and priorities of the corporate world seep into the halls of government, and the ensuing implications of such rhetoric. Situating my analysis in Singapore's National Day Rally addresses from 1960 to 2018, I uncover two rhetorical signatures unique to Singaporean neoliberalism: the location of national character in economic performance, and the act of packaging and selling the nation to its people. I conclude by examining the implications of a corporate constitution of the nation for evoking affective ties to the nation, and by considering the value of Singapore's case to broader critiques of neoliberalism.     

Arsenic-Induced Hepatic Toxicity and Its Attenuation by Fruit Extract of Emblica officinalis (Amla) in Mice

Arsenic a metalloid and environmental contaminated has been found to be associated with public health problems in the affected areas. It is naturally occurred in groundwater and its accumulation in plant and animals leads to toxicity in several tissues most notably hepatic organ. Arsenic exposures (3 mg/kg body weight/day for 30 days) in mice exhibited increased arsenic and Zn levels in hepatocytes associated with enhanced oxidative stress in hepatocytes while there were no significantly changes were observed in Cu level. An increase in the lipid peroxidation and decrease in the levels of reduced glutathione and activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase were observed in arsenic treated mice as compared to controls. Arsenic exposure in mice also caused a significant change in serum biomarkers in the SGOT, SGPT and creatinine as compared to the controls. There were no significant changes in the serum levels of total protein in these mice. Co-administration of arsenic and fruit extract of amla (500 mg/kg body weight/day for 30 days) caused a significant reduction of arsenic transference associated with significantly decreases hepatic arsenic levels and balanced the antioxidant enzyme and levels of serum hepatic enzymes like SGOT and SGPT. The results of the present study clearly demonstrate the antioxidant property of amla that could be responsible for its protective efficacy in arsenic induced hepatic toxicity.