High Social Impact Research Articles

Accuracy of Physical Assessment in Nursing for Cervical Spine Joint Pain and Stiffness: Pilot Study Protocol.

BackgroundCervical spine dysfunction is a condition with high personal, social, and economic impact worldwide. Although its etiology is described as multifactorial, there is a need for further clarification. The literature has demonstrated the anatomical, physiological, and pathophysiological relationship among the cervical spine, temporomandibular joint, and visceral system. To guide and contribute to the accuracy of the physical assessment performed by nurses, we will study the influence of the stomatognathic system and viscerosomatic reflexes on pain and joint stiffness of the cervical spine.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to describe a pilot study protocol to investigate the influence of the stomatognathic system and viscerosomatic reflexes on cervical structures.MethodsA pilot study with a quasi-experimental design was conducted with 50 volunteers from the university population of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa-Porto. We studied the influence of changes in the usual intercuspation, the occlusal deprogramming, and the pressure stimulus of the reflex skin region of the ilium/colon in the cervical spine. This study was divided into 2 phases. In the first phase, we performed the kinematic and pain analysis during the passive mobilization of the upper cervical spine using the Motion Capture System at the Motion Capture Laboratory at UCP-Porto and the Visual Analog Scale. In the second phase, we evaluated the pain threshold on palpation of the erector neck muscles and the structures of the stomatognathic system using algometry. The influence of viscerosomatic reflexes on the structures of the stomatognathic system was also analyzed.ResultsSelection and preparation of the data collection site, acquisition of materials, constitution of the sample group and data collection were completed. The analysis of the results is being carried out.ConclusionsThe data from this study will allow for the detection of the possible influence of the stomatognathic system and viscerosomatic reflexes on pain and range of motion of the upper cervical spine, providing data for future randomized studies. We have also identified potential limitations of this study.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR1-10.2196/31878

Beyond “Women's Traits”: Exploring How Gender, Social Difference, and Household Characteristics Influence Trait Preferences

Demand-led breeding strategies are gaining importance in public sector breeding globally. While borrowing approaches from the private sector, public sector programs remain mainly focused on food security and social impact related outcomes. This necessitates information on specific user groups and their preferences to build targeted customer and product profiles for informed breeding decisions. A variety of studies have identified gendered trait preferences, but do not systematically analyze differences related to or interactions of gender with other social dimensions, household characteristics, and geographic factors. This study integrates 1000minds survey trait trade-off analysis with the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey to study cassava trait preferences in Nigeria related to a major food product, gari. Results build on earlier research demonstrating that women prioritize food product quality traits while men prioritize agronomic traits. We show that food product quality traits are more important for members from food insecure households and gender differences between men and women increase among the food insecure. Furthermore, respondents from poorer households prioritize traits similar to respondents in non-poor households but there are notable trait differences between men and women in poor households. Women in female headed household prioritized quality traits more than women living with a spouse. Important regional differences in trait preferences were also observed. In the South East region, where household use of cassava is important, and connection to larger markets is less developed, quality traits and in ground storability were prioritized more than in other states. These results reinforce the importance of recognizing social difference and the heterogeneity among men and women, and how individual and household characteristics interact to reveal trait preference variability. This information can inform trait prioritization and guide development of breeding products that have higher social impact, which may ultimately serve the more vulnerable and align with development goals.

Strengthening of the water resource management seedbed by implementing project-based learning

The continuous growth of the investigation group water resource management is based on research processes by applying the project-based learning model mainly, a methodology that seeks to promote the active participation of students in academic activities such as presentations, undergraduate work and the published articles, this in order to improve soft skills within a framework of qualitative research applied in the field to real cases, looking for solutions for the community with real problems, be seen as opportunities for improvement and thus, from the academy, the students strengthen their knowledge by being taken to a real space and explore their creativity to generate human-centered projects in order to reduce negative impacts on communities and improve living conditions in these spaces and thus contribute to regional growth, the decrease in inequality taking into account normative and national policies and therefore enhance their training, all this seeking to increase the impact of the group in the region, in the department, in the country and in the world, generating higher quality products over time and seeking to make these visible. activities by participating by publishing the results in media with high academic and social impact as well as strengthening the soft, professional and social skills of students by working in spaces that allow interaction with communities, government entities and other elements of the academy.

DAYAK-DAYAK KENDURI TRADITION AT THE DEATH EVENT IN BLANG POROH VILLAGE, LABUHANHAJI BARAT DISTRICT

This study aims to determine the history of the Dayak-dayak feast, the process of the Dayak feast, the meaning contained in the Dayak-dayak feast and the social impact of the Dayak-dayak feast. The research method used is a qualitative method and the research instruments are interviews and documentation. In addition, researchers also collect data from print and electronic media. While the data sources, the researchers took directly from the keuchik, traditional leaders, religious leaders and the community, especially women who were experts or were directly involved in the implementation of the Dayak-Dayak feast tradition. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive methods by reducing the data, displaying the data and drawing conclusions in order to provide answers about the research objectives. Discussing the history of the Dayak-Dayak feast and the beginning of the tradition, the people of Blang Poroh Village do not know for sure about the answer, because this tradition has been passed down from generation to generation. The Dayak feast is held on the second day of the third night of the corpses in the graves, the process of cooking the Dayak begins after the midday prayer at around two o'clock, the people of Blang Poroh Village, especially their neighbors and sisters, come together to the funeral home to help the process of making Dayak cakes. The meaning contained in the Dayak feast is other than family alms intended for the deceased as well as the bed or mattress of the deceased in the grave. With the Dayak feast, they could have a high social impact on the community because they could gather and strengthen friendships.

The Future of Agricultural Jobs in View of Robotization

Robotics and computerization have drastically changed the agricultural production sector and thus moved it into a new automation era. Robots have historically been used for carrying out routine tasks that require physical strength, accuracy, and repeatability, whereas humans are used to engage with more value-added tasks that need reasoning and decision-making skills. On the other hand, robots are also increasingly exploited in several non-routine tasks that require cognitive skills. This technological evolution will create a fundamental and an unavoidable transformation of the agricultural occupations landscape with a high social and economic impact in terms of jobs creation and jobs destruction. To that effect, the aim of the present work is two-fold: (a) to map agricultural occupations in terms of their cognitive/manual and routine/non-routine characteristics and (b) to assess the susceptibility of each agricultural occupation to robotization. Seventeen (17) agricultural occupations were reviewed in relation to the characteristics of each individual task they entail and mapped onto a two-dimensional space representing the manual versus cognitive nature and the routine versus non-routine nature of an occupation. Subsequently, the potential for robotization was investigated, again concerning each task individually, and resulted in a weighted average potential adoption rate for each one of the agricultural occupations. It can be concluded that most of the occupations entail manual tasks that need to be performed in a standardised manner. Considering also that almost 81% of the agricultural work force is involved with these activities, it turns out that there is strong evidence for possible robotization of 70% of the agricultural domain, which, in turn, could affect 56% of the total annual budget dedicated to agricultural occupations. The presented work silhouettes the expected transformation of occupational landscape in agricultural production as an effort for a subsequent identification of social threats in terms of unemployment and job and wages polarization, among others, but also of opportunities in terms of emerged skills and training requirements for a social sustainable development of agricultural domain.

Psoas compartment block efficacy and safety for perioperative analgesia in the elderly with proximal femur fractures: a randomized controlled study

BackgroundProximal femur fractures are most common fractures in the elderly and associated with significant mortality and morbidity, with high economic and social impact. Perioperative pain management influence outcomes and mortality after surgery with early mobilization being possible. The goal of the study was to compare the efficacy and safety of the psoas compartment block (PCB) with spinal and general anesthesia.MethodsWe included 90 patients in this randomized controlled study and divided them into three groups. For patients in group 1 ultrasound-guided PCB with bupivacaine 0.125% 6–8 ml / h was performed. Intraoperative anesthesia was provided with PCB and a sciatic nerve block. Postoperative analgesia include prolonged CPB with bupivacaine 0.125% 6–8 ml / h. In group 2 intraoperative spinal anaesthesia were performed. Group 3 patients underwent general sevoflurane inhalation anaesthesia with fentanyl infusion for analgesia. All patients received paracetamol 3 g/day and dexketoprofen 75 mg/day during hospitalization. On-demand, nalbuphine 5 mg SC was used for analgesia. Efficacy outcomes were the ICU length of stay and the total duration of hospitalization, number of patients who had severe pain after surgery, incidence of on-demand analgesia, sleep quality, postoperative mobilization time. Safety outcomes include complication incidence.ResultsThere were no differences in the duration of ICU stay - gr.1 72 [70–75], gr.2 74 [72–76], gr.3 72 [70–75] hours respectively (p = 0.29), and the total duration of hospitalization - gr.1144 [170–184], gr.2170 [148–188], gr.3178 [144–200] hours respectively. Patients in gr.1 had significantly lower nalbuphine consumption in the first 24 h after surgery and total during hospitalization (0 [0–5] mg versus 15 [10–20] and 20 [15–25] mg in the first 24 h in groups 2 and 3, respectively (p < 0.001). Gr. 1 had lower number of patients with severe pain (10% vs. 47 and 60% in groups 2 and 3, respectively, p < 0.05), lower number of on demand analgesia (0 [0–1] vs. 3 [2–4] and 4 [3, 4] in groups 2 and 3, respectively), better sleep quality (8 [7–9] vs. 6 [5–7] and 4 [3, 4] in groups 2 and 3, respectively, p < 0.001), significantly faster mobilization after surgery – sitting in bed and getting to his feet. MINS was diagnosed significantly more often in gr. 2 and 3 compared with gr. 1 (OR 9 95 CI 1,01–77, p = 0,048 for gr. 2 and OR 11 95 CI 1,2–91, p = 0, 03 for gr. 3). However, none of the patients had symptoms of myocardial ischemia and was not diagnosed with myocardial infarction. There were no difference in the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia and delirium.ConclusionPerioperative PCB in elderly patients with a proximal femur fracture could be an effective analgesia technique, as it decrease the number of patients with severe pain, need for on demand analgesia and opioid consumption. PCB also decrease the incidence of opioid-associated nausea and vomiting, comparing to general anesthesia, and increase the number of patients, who was mobilized in the 1st day (sitting) and 2nd day (getting up) after surgery. PCB may reduce the incidence of MINS, although to assess this outcome more studies are needed.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov: NCT04648332, first registration date 1/12/2020.

Occupational Risk Perception and occupational and work-related diseases prevention

Abstract Background It is estimated 6500 daily deaths by occupational diseases with a high social and economic impact. Several studies show that the perception of occupational risks acts as a precursor to preventive attitudes and behaviors of workers. Nevertheless, attention paid to the perception of occupational risks is scarce and even controversial. This study focuses on a model used by behavioral safety programs associating it with the psychometric paradigm, to understand the worker's risk perception of a Portuguese Health Education and Research Institution (Portugal). Methods This cross-sectional study covered a total of 84 workers. Of these,73% had a very differentiated academic background (doctorate, and post-doctorate degrees). Workers can carry out their activities in more than one work area.60% work in Research, 49% in the Education, 42% in Laboratories and 47,6% in the General and Administrative Services. Risk perception (cognitive and emotional) was assessed using an online questionnaire that also included sociodemographic and occupational information and perception of exposure to occupational hazards. Results 95% of participants reported exposure to at least one occupational risk factor, but only 22% perceived the risk (probability of accidents and illnesses associated with the work performed). There was a positive correlation between the perception of exposure to occupational hazards and risk perception (p &amp;lt; 0,001) and that, the greater the perceived risk, the lower the tolerance to it (p &amp;lt; 0,001).While teaching, research and laboratory work is associated with low perception and high-risk tolerance, individual variables such as gender, age, educational qualifications, and professional category did not influence the perception of risk. Conclusions Understanding how risk is perceived by workers is determinant for the effective occupational risk management. Key messages Occupational risk perception is necessary to prevention of occupational and work-related diseases. Occupational risk perception is determinant for the complementarity of the on-site diagnosis of real work situations and relevant for dynamization of Occupational Health services.

The Photophysics and Photochemistry of Melanin- Like Nanomaterials Depend on Morphology and Structure.

Melanin‐like nanomaterials have found application in a large variety of high economic and social impact fields as medicine, energy conversion and storage, photothermal catalysis and environmental remediation. These materials have been used mostly for their optical and electronic properties, but also for their high biocompatibility and simplicity and versatility of preparation. Beside this, their chemistry is complex and it yields structures with different molecular weight and composition ranging from oligomers, to polymers as well as nanoparticles (NP). The comprehension of the correlation of the different compositions and morphologies to the optical properties of melanin is still incomplete and challenging, even if it is fundamental also from a technological point of view. In this minireview we focus on scientific papers, mostly recent ones, that indeed examine the link between composition and structural feature and photophysical and photochemical properties proposing this approach as a general one for future research.

3D assessment of intervertebral disc degeneration in zebrafish identifies changes in bone density that prime disc disease

Back pain is a common condition with a high social impact and represents a global health burden. Intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) is one of the major causes of back pain; no therapeutics are currently available to reverse this disease. The impact of bone mineral density (BMD) on IVDD has been controversial, with some studies suggesting osteoporosis as causative for IVDD and others suggesting it as protective for IVDD. Functional studies to evaluate the influence of genetic components of BMD in IVDD could highlight opportunities for drug development and repurposing. By taking a holistic 3D approach, we established an aging zebrafish model for spontaneous IVDD. Increased BMD in aging, detected by automated computational analysis, is caused by bone deformities at the endplates. However, aged zebrafish spines showed changes in bone morphology, microstructure, mineral heterogeneity, and increased fragility that resembled osteoporosis. Elements of the discs recapitulated IVDD symptoms found in humans: the intervertebral ligament (equivalent to the annulus fibrosus) showed disorganized collagen fibers and herniation, while the disc center (nucleus pulposus equivalent) showed dehydration and cellular abnormalities. We manipulated BMD in young zebrafish by mutating sp7 and cathepsin K, leading to low and high BMD, respectively. Remarkably, we detected IVDD in both groups, demonstrating that low BMD does not protect against IVDD, and we found a strong correlation between high BMD and IVDD. Deep learning was applied to high-resolution synchrotron µCT image data to analyze osteocyte 3D lacunar distribution and morphology, revealing a role of sp7 in controlling the osteocyte lacunar 3D profile. Our findings suggest potential avenues through which bone quality can be targeted to identify beneficial therapeutics for IVDD.

Dealing with Integrated Marketing Communications’ Paradoxes in Social Ventures

ABSTRACT The article explores the paradoxes that for-profit social ventures face when managing integrated marketing communications (IMC) and how they deal with and overcome the tensions that comprise these paradoxes. To investigate the nature of these paradoxes we integrated two theoretical perspectives: Service-Dominant Logic and Paradox Theory. While the former served as a lens to analyze social marketing phenomena, the latter is applied to comprehend and explore the underlying tensions within these social businesses in the communication setting. Following a multiple-case study based on interviews with founders, owners, and directors of Brazilian for-profit social ventures, we depicted how traditional marketing practices can lead both to problems and solutions manifested in the four IMC pillars (stakeholders, content, channels, and results). We recognize that properly managing stakeholders’ relationships aiming at the cocreation of value may result in valuable insights for dealing with tensions in all the four IMC pillars, and for achieving better marketing performance and higher social impact.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN WASTE MANAGEMENT: A REFERENCE TO ADDRESS A FUTURE CHALLENGE

This article analyzes the set of existing patents in the field of Waste Management. The extraction of the data and its exploitation allow the authors to lay the foundations for the development of a well-founded exploratory analysis of the sector's capacity to address the immediate and future challenges it faces, considering that these challenges are binding on today's society as a whole and committing the societies that will succeed us in the future. Our basic aim is to offer a general view regarding the type of assignees, differences regarding the technological fields across regions of the world, and some quality indicators of patents and its antecedent factors. A sector's capacity for technological innovation and development can be partially measured by considering its muscle and interest in protecting its intellectual property. Since this is a sector with a high social impact and a high degree of regulation imposed by public agents, the innovative work in the field should be aligned with the framework defined by those. In spite of these conditions, our empirical study show the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on the activity of patenting in waste management. Also, we conclude that there are clear differences in patenting which respond to the different needs and circumstances that regions face regarding Waste Management. Keywords: Waste Management, Patents, DOCDB Patent Families, Recycling, Energy from Waste, Composting, Landfilling, Incineration, Europe

From Prebiotic Chemistry to Supramolecular Biomedical Materials: Exploring the Properties of Self-Assembling Nucleobase-Containing Peptides.

Peptides and their synthetic analogs are a class of molecules with enormous relevance as therapeutics for their ability to interact with biomacromolecules like nucleic acids and proteins, potentially interfering with biological pathways often involved in the onset and progression of pathologies of high social impact. Nucleobase-bearing peptides (nucleopeptides) and pseudopeptides (PNAs) offer further interesting possibilities related to their nucleobase-decorated nature for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, thanks to their reported ability to target complementary DNA and RNA strands. In addition, these chimeric compounds are endowed with intriguing self-assembling properties, which are at the heart of their investigation as self-replicating materials in prebiotic chemistry, as well as their application as constituents of innovative drug delivery systems and, more generally, as novel nanomaterials to be employed in biomedicine. Herein we describe the properties of nucleopeptides, PNAs and related supramolecular systems, and summarize some of the most relevant applications of these systems.

Electoral forecasting using a novel temporal attenuation model: Predicting the US presidential elections

Electoral forecasting is an ongoing scientific challenge with high social impact, as current data-driven methods try to efficiently combine statistics with economic indices and machine learning. However, recent studies in network science pinpoint towards the importance of temporal characteristics in the diffusion of opinion. As such, we combine concepts of micro-scale opinion dynamics and temporal epidemics, and develop a novel macro-scale temporal attenuation (TA) model, which uses pre-election poll data to improve forecasting accuracy. Our hypothesis is that the timing of publicizing opinion polls plays a significant role in how opinion oscillates, especially right before elections. Thus, we define the momentum of opinion as a temporal function which bounces up when opinion is injected in a system of voters, and dampens down during states of relaxation. We validate TA on survey data from the US Presidential Elections between 1968 and 2016, and TA outperforms several statistical estimates, ARIMA models, as well as the best pollsters at their time, in 10 out of 13 presidential elections. We present two different implementations of the TA model, which accumulate an average forecasting error of 3.04 points over the 48-year period. Conversely, statistical methods accumulate 7.48 points error, and the best pollsters accumulate 3.64 points. Overall, TA offers increases of 23–37% in forecasting performance compared to the state of the art. We show that the effectiveness of TA does not drop when relatively few polls are available; moreover, with increasing availability of pre-election surveys, we believe that our TA model will become a reference alongside other modern election forecasting techniques.

Towards a workflow for operational mapping of Aedes aegypti at urban scale based on remote sensing

Remote sensing (RS) applications for vector borne diseases are a field of high social impact increasingly relevant in the context of a higher frequency of Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika outbreaks at global scale and especially in Latin America. The operative use of RS technologies is however still rare. Therefore, the objective of this work is to generate and analyze multitemporal Aedes aegypti's suitability maps and to share the open source tools used towards the building of an operative workflow. As a proof of concept, we implemented a process chain to obtain maps for Ae. aegypti activity within the 2017–2018 mosquito breeding season based on ovitraps records and RS data within the framework of ecological niche modeling. The workflow was carefully thought as to consider possible biases in training data, model calibration to attain the best hyper-parameter combination, model selection, variable selection and validation with independent data. The predictive maps showed high suitability for Ae. aegypti within the city, except in large vegetated areas and the commercial downtown consistently with previous studies and our own observations. Relevant variables included distance to built-up surfaces, distance to vegetated areas and correlation, a texture measure reflecting surface heterogeneity. Validation results suggested that the spatial distribution of ovitraps should be re-examined. All the steps in the proposed workflow were implemented using freely available and open source software, which warrants reproducibility and allows for re-use and modifications in terms of methods and RS or mosquito data available.

Cerebral Modifications in Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration: Analysis of Current Evidence in Literature and Their Implications on Therapeutic Perspectives.

Glaucoma and macular degeneration are leading causes of irreversible blindness, significantly compromising the quality of life and having a high economic and social impact. Promising therapeutic approaches aimed at regenerating or bypassing the damaged anatomical-functional components are currently under development: these approaches have generated great expectations, but to be effective require a visual network that, despite the pathology, maintains its integrity up to the higher brain areas. In the light of this, the existing findings concerning how the central nervous system modifies its connections following the pathological damage caused by glaucoma and macular degeneration acquire great interest. This review aims to examine the scientific literature concerning the morphological and functional changes affecting the central nervous system in these pathological conditions, summarizing the evidence in an analytical way, discussing their possible causes and highlighting the potential repercussions on the current therapeutic perspectives.

Pattern-Matching Unit for Medical Applications

We explore the application of concepts developed in High Energy Physics (HEP) for advanced medical data analysis. Our study case is a problem with high social impact: clinically-feasible Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF). MRF is a new, quantitative, imaging technique that replaces multiple qualitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) exams with a single, reproducible measurement for increased sensitivity and efficiency. A fast acquisition is followed by a pattern matching (PM) task, where signal responses are matched to entries from a dictionary of simulated, physically-feasible responses, yielding multiple tissue parameters simultaneously. Each pixel signal response in the volume is compared through scalar products with all dictionary entries to choose the best measurement reproduction. MRF is limited by the PM processing time, which scales exponentially with the dictionary dimensionality, i.e. with the number of tissue parameters to be reconstructed. We developed for HEP a powerful, compact, embedded system, optimized for extremely fast PM. This system executes real-time tracking for online event selection in the HEP experiments, exploiting maximum parallelism and pipelining. Track reconstruction is executed in two steps. The Associative Memory (AM) ASIC first implements a PM algorithm by recognizing track candidates at low resolution. The second step, which is implemented into FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), refines the AM output finding the track parameters at full resolution. We propose to use this system to perform MRF, to achieve clinically reasonable reconstruction time. This paper proposes an adaptation of the HEP system for medical imaging and shows some preliminary results.

Optimization of the drying process of standardized extracts from leaves of Spondias mombin L. using Box–Behnken design and response surface methodology

The extracts of Spondias mombin leaves were obtained to study the influence of drug amount and ethanol proportion on extract performance. The optimized extract was dried by spray drying, and the contributions were studied by Box–Behnken design to evaluate their influence on drying yield and product properties. The factorial data indicated the importance of both factors to the responses and the optimal conditions employing 10 g of herbal drug, and 80% ethanol was possible to recovery high amount of total polyphenols content (20.47 ± 0.08 g%), suitable dry residue (2.56 ± 0.04 g%), and great extraction efficient (8.10 ± 0.16%). Regarding the study of the drying process, the colloidal silicon dioxide provides spherical and larger particles with medium size 3.44 µm and moisture content equal to 4.15 ± 0.08% resulting in an increase in the physical characteristics of the dry products, such as yield (49.57%), CI (29.9%), and HR (1.43). Overall, the drying conditions (inlet temperature: 140°C and feed flow: 0.6 L/hr) provide lower hygroscopic powders, with yield of 44.66 ± 0.32% and moisture content 3.80 ± 0.06%. It was possible with the use of Box–Behnken design followed by response surface methodology that allowed the achievement of the optimum conditions for drying the standardized extract from leaves of S. mombin, to obtain powder beds with good flow and conservation of their phytochemicals. Practical applications Considering the industrial production of vegetable inputs with antioxidant properties as an activity of high economic and social impact and conditioning the growth of this industrial segment to a vision of sustainable local development, it is essential that initiatives that promote the cultivation and processing of active vegetable inputs be encouraged as well as those that support the technological development of products with greater stability and easy handling. Spondias mombin appears as a species with high potential, as the species has a relevant participation in the rural economy through fruit production, the commercialization, and processing of its fruits. However, its leaves have bioactive compounds with important antioxidant activity, constituting a promising source for obtaining the substances involved in this activity, such as polyphenols. Thus, seeking to obtain products concentrated in polyphenols and improving the physical and chemical characteristics of this material is a promising field, employing widespread technologies in the industrial field, together with mathematical approaches that allow to minimize the amount of experiments and achieve more robust results.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on undergraduate nursing and medical students of a medical college in Pokhara, Nepal

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by WHO. As a preventive measure, Nepal was put into lockdown from 24 March to 21 July, 2020 for the first wave of COVID-19 infection. Sudden lockdown prompted the widespread closure of educational institutions. This study aimed to assess the academic and social impact due to COVID-19 lockdown on undergraduate students. Method: A web based cross sectional study was conducted among 403 undergraduate students of Manipal College of Medical Sciences (MCOMS), Pokhara Nepal using the total enumeration method after the ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (IRC), Manipal Teaching Hospital. Data was collected through online self-administered questionnaires by using Microsoft Form. Analysis of the results was done by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: High academic (55.6%) and social (53.8%) impact was seen in the students. Female (OR: 1.76; CI 1.1-2.82), Nepalese students (OR: 2.05; CI 1.19-3.51), data pack users (OR: 2.09; CI 1.16-3.78) were more likely to have a high academic impact. Foreign students (OR: 1.88; CI 1.11-3.11) and students having a daily update of COVID-19 (OR: 2.2; CI 1.03-4.66) were more likely to have a high social impact. Conclusion: Academic impact was seen more in female and Nepalese students while the social impact was high among foreign students. Educational activities need to continue in this critical situation. Concerned authorities need to focus on the improvement of digital infrastructure and technology along with the continuation of clinical learning with safety precautions during this pandemic time for better learning among students.

Mutant PRPF8 Causes Widespread Splicing Changes in Spliceosome Components in Retinitis Pigmentosa Patient iPSC-Derived RPE Cells.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare, progressive disease that affects photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells with blindness as a final outcome. Despite high medical and social impact, there is currently no therapeutic options to slow down the progression of or cure the disease. The development of effective therapies was largely hindered by high genetic heterogeneity, inaccessible disease tissue, and unfaithful model organisms. The fact that components of ubiquitously expressed splicing factors lead to the retina-specific disease is an additional intriguing question. Herein, we sought to correlate the retinal cell-type-specific disease phenotype with the splicing profile shown by a patient with autosomal recessive RP, caused by a mutation in pre-mRNA splicing factor 8 (PRPF8). In order to get insight into the role of PRPF8 in homeostasis and disease, we capitalize on the ability to generate patient-specific RPE cells and reveal differentially expressed genes unique to RPE cells. We found that spliceosomal complex and ribosomal functions are crucial in determining cell-type specificity through differential expression and alternative splicing (AS) and that PRPF8 mutation causes global changes in splice site selection and exon inclusion that particularly affect genes involved in these cellular functions. This finding corroborates the hypothesis that retinal tissue identity is conferred by a specific splicing program and identifies retinal AS events as a framework toward the design of novel therapeutic opportunities.

Design Philosophy Based on the Span’s Internal Forces

Bridges are objects of large dimensions and high social impact that must be designed according to multiple criteria. Numerous authors, such as Marco Lucio Vitruvio, David P. Billington and Dieter Rams, provide keys to achieve efficient, lasting and socially responsible designs. Several of the criteria are not really objective, since concepts such as elegance, timelessness or unobtrusiveness can be used very freely, leading to results that are not socially acceptable. The author expresses his design philosophy based on objective principles: integration into the geometry of the environment, permanent search for simplicity, design based on a geometry that emanates from structural behavior, unitary and absolute shapes, and enduring details that give character to the work. From five built examples, a design methodology based on the boundary conditions is formulated to achieve bridges that are well integrated with their environment.