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Extended Reality (XR) vs. Virtual Reality (VR) for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Driven Balance Improvement in Older Adults
No full textBalance impairments in older adults increase the risk of falls, leading to reduced mobility, higher healthcare costs, and diminished quality of life. This rapid review protocol outlines a systematic approach to assessing the integration of AI with Virtual Reality (VR) and Extended Reality (XR) in balance rehabilitation. The review will evaluate these technologies’ effectiveness, feasibility, and clinical applications. VR provides an immersive and controlled environment for structured rehabilitation, while XR integrates real-world elements to enhance functional mobility in home and community settings. The methodology includes structured database searches, predefined inclusion criteria, and systematic synthesis of findings. Expected outcomes will identify VR and XR’s comparative benefits and limitations, highlight best practices for AI-driven interventions, and provide recommendations for future clinical applications and technology developments. Findings will contribute to developing evidence based rehabilitation strategies and technology development
Bacteria-activated macrophage membrane coated ROS-responsive nanoparticle for targeted delivery of antibiotics to infected wounds
No full textAbstract Bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance represent significant global public health challenges, necessitating the development of innovative antibacterial agents with targeted delivery capabilities. Our study utilized macrophages’ natural ability to recognize bacteria and the increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) at infection sites to develop a novel nanoparticle for targeted delivery and controlled release. We prepared bacteria-activated macrophage membranes triggered by Staphylococcus aureus (Sa-MMs), which showed significantly higher expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), compared to normal macrophage membranes (MMs). These Sa-MMs were then used to coat vancomycin-loaded amphiphilic nanoparticles with ROS responsiveness (Van-NPs), resulting in the novel targeted delivery system Sa-MM@Van-NPs. Studies both In vitro and in vivo demonstrated that biocompatible Sa-MM@Van-NPs efficiently targeted infected sites and released vancomycin to eliminate bacteria, facilitating faster wound healing. By combining targeted delivery to infected sites and ROS-responsive antibiotic release, this approach might represent a robust strategy for precise infection eradication and enhanced wound healing
The Hybridization of an Indigenous peacebuilding practices: An exploratory study of the Borana traditional peace method in the intergroup conflict in Marsabit County, Kenya
No full textThis study explores the Gada model, which has been used by the Borana people in Kenya for many years for resolving intra and inter-ethnic conflicts, but which was over time compromised by colonial and post-colonial regimes. Nevertheless, the Gada model has historically played a significant role in East African peacebuilding. It embraces peaceful peacebuilding values and approaches useful to maintaining durable, lasting, and sustainable peace in society. Africans in general are suffering from multiple conflicts and lack of peace. Modern peacebuilding has not been able to bring lasting solutions to these challenges. As a result, much more weight has been given to modern peace-building apparatuses over indigenous peace-building approaches. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the Gada model in African peace building, to evaluate its application to current and future regional conflicts. In other words, using semi-structured interviews and historical analysis methods, the study investigates the dynamics and resilience of the Gada model and its implications for conflict transformation in modern times. Guided by the goals of Indigenous and emancipatory peacebuilding theories, the study examines how the Borana people advance their own peacebuilding approaches and practices.
The research studies the restorative functions and values of the Gada peacebuilding model from the perspective of the Borana people and raises questions about how these values can be incorporated into contemporary peacebuilding models in Kenya. The overarching goal of the study is to produce a hybrid model of traditional and modern approaches for transforming conflict into peace.February 202
Natural-derived hydrogels for tissue engineering applications
No full textBiomaterials have been popularly developed and applied in tissue engineering and biomedical science for human treatments due to their great interfacial compatibility with the biological environment. Simultaneously, profits from hydrogels’ 3D porous morphology, unique physical and mechanical properties, and remarkable biocompatibility and biodegradability, hydrogels have been widely researched in tissue engineering. Especially, the category of natural-derived hydrogels can offer higher biocompatibility, less toxicity and cytotoxicity, and lower immunogenicity due to their safe natural sources’ derivation. To better illustrate these points of view, this thesis reports four research on natural-derived hydrogels for tissue engineering applications. Four natural-derived hydrogels have been successfully developed: a poly(ethylene glycol) and α-cyclodextrin-based host-guest hydrogel, a gelatin and alginate-based Schiff’s base hydrogel, a lyophilized gelatin and polystyrene hydrogel-based hemostatic sealant, and a chitosan hydrogel-modified mussel-derived artificial tendon.
All of these hydrogels have demonstrated significant effectiveness in biological assessments, addressing current challenges in tissue engineering. The host-guest hydrogel-based nanovaccine delivers therapeutic peptides in vivo and maintains sustained immunostimulations in malignant melanoma-bearing mice. The Schiff’s base hydrogel demonstrates significant potential in enhancing esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection for early cancer adjuvant therapy. The lyophilized hemostatic hydrogel sealant exhibits promising hemostatic ability in traumatic brain injury mice models. Additionally, the chitosan-modified mussel-derived artificial tendon accelerates the tendon functional reconstruction at post-implantation in vivo assessment.February 202
Examining trauma, PTSD, other mental disorders and healthcare patterns during early parenthood: the role of immigrant status, identity, and social support
Get PDFThe transition to early parenthood is a period of heightened psychological risk, yet immigrant generational differences remain underexamined. Using the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions–III (NESARC-III), this study analyzed new parents with a child <5 years (n= 4,129) to test associations between immigrant generational status (IGS; first-, second-, third+/U.S.-born) with (a) trauma exposure, (b) PTSD and any other lifetime mental/substance use disorder (MD/SUD), and (c) mental healthcare utilization among those with a lifetime MD/SUD. Survey-weighted logistic regressions adjusted for sociodemographic correlates. Interactions with racial discrimination, ethnic identity, social support, and sex were probed. First-generation parents had lower odds than third+ of trauma (AOR= 0.50, p < .001), PTSD (AOR= 0.35, p < .001), and any MD/SUD (AOR= 0.29, p < .001); second-generation estimates were generally comparable to third+. Sexual assault odds were lower for first- and second-generation than third+. Racial discrimination was positively associated with PTSD in all IGS groups (AOR range 2.10-4.94; all p’s < .001). Social support was protective for any trauma and any MD/SUD among third+ only; ethnic identity did not significantly moderate trauma or any MD/SUD by IGS. Across service types, first-generation parents showed lower utilization than third+ (AOR range 0.21-0.34, all p’s <.001). Findings support a “healthy immigrant” pattern for disorder prevalence, but reveal pronounced under-utilization of mental healthcare services among first-generation parents. Results highlight the need to identify and address concrete access barriers to improve engagement with mental-health services during early parenthood.February 202
The professional development of English language teachers in Bangladeshi universities under neoliberal reform: perspectives of teachers and students
Get PDFThis research examined the professional development (PD) needs of university English teachers in Bangladesh and explored teachers’ perspectives on how the context in which they work might inform the professional development approaches provided for them. Additionally, the research examined students’ perspectives on English language teaching in Bangladesh. Given the significance of the English language, professional development for teachers is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of English language teaching (ELT) in Bangladesh (Cross et al., 2022; Rahman et al., 2018b). Therefore, this research primarily investigated the importance and effectiveness of English language teaching, the concept of PD in relation to the Bangladeshi context, public and private university training and PD opportunities, and the PD approaches that can contribute to Bangladeshi ELT. Theoretically, this research adopted a neoliberal teacher-education perspective (Levinsson et al., 2020) and is also informed by academic capitalism (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2010).
This qualitative research study employed semi-structured one-on-one interviews with 19 English language teachers and five focus-group interviews (groups of three) with 15 students from five universities in Bangladesh. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to reveal findings from the data sets collected (Creswell & Guetterman, 2019; Saldaña, 2011). The study concluded that ESL teachers are highly committed to professional growth but lack access to structured, context-specific PD. Viewing current PD offerings as sporadic, generic, and misaligned with practical classroom challenges, these teachers advocated for practice-based, peer-supported, and sustained approaches, including reflective teaching journals, mentoring, and communities of practice. Findings also indicate that teachers actively engage in informal learning through self-study, peer collaboration, and digital platforms amid the absence of formal programs.
Students expressed concern over outdated, lecture-centric instruction, emphasizing the need for more communicative, student-centered approaches. Additionally, disparities between public and private universities shaped unequal access to quality instruction and PD. Participants highlighted that effective PD must be responsive to the socio-cultural and pedagogical realities of Bangladeshi higher education, underscoring the need for inclusive, locally grounded PD frameworks that amplify teacher voice and bridge institutional gaps, offering a critical lens on how PD can be reimagined in low-resource, postcolonial settings.February 202
Investigating novel mechanisms to treat cardiac fibrosis
No full textCardiac fibrosis occurs during remodeling of the heart, resulting in impaired systolic and diastolic function and leading to cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure. Its complex nature makes it difficult to target therapeutically, and there are no treatment options for cardiac fibrosis currently. We targeted cardiac fibrosis using multiple approaches. The first approach involved finding how the metabolic requirements are met for the energy-intensive cardiac fibrosis mechanism. We found that glutaminolysis plays a major role in the activation and conversion of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. Our results showed that scleraxis, a transcription factor which regulates various pro-fibrotic genes, played a major role in regulating the entire glutaminolysis flux pathway, particularly the expression of the rate-limiting enzyme GLS1 by direct binding to the GLS1 promoter. Repurposing medicines has a high success rate and provides faster and more economical treatment options than developing a new medicine. GLS1 inhibitor CB-839, an anti-cancer drug, showed promising results in inhibiting fibroblast activation. AngII inhibitors have been commonly prescribed blood pressure medicines for decades. For our second strategy, we examined AngII inhibition to target fibrosis since AngII induces cardiac fibrosis, although the pathway it follows remains under-studied. We treated mice with AngII to induce cardiac fibrosis, and treated them with one of two inhibitors, losartan or enalapril, to assess their effect on fibrosis. Losartan treatment significantly alleviated AngII-induced cardiac hypertrophy, structural and functional remodeling, and fibrosis. Losartan treatment interestingly reduced scleraxis expression levels in addition to that of pro-fibrotic genes. In the last section, we used in vitro approaches to validate the role of scleraxis in AngII-induced cardiac fibrosis. We found a novel transcription regulation involving downstream signal effectors of AngII, MRTF-A (Myocardin-Related Transcription Factor-A) and SRF (Serum Response Factor) regulating scleraxis expression by binding to and transactivating the scleraxis promoter. The interlink between losartan and scleraxis was established through losartan inhibiting AngII-induced scleraxis expression via blockade of the AngII-induced nuclear translocation of MRTF-A. This work provides novel insight into the cardiac fibrosis pathway, the role of scleraxis in it, and tackling cardiac fibrosis using multiple approaches, including targeting scleraxis and repurposing existing medicines, CB-839 and losartan.February 202
Neoliberalism and social housing: comparing approaches to social housing in Manitoba and British Columbia from 1993 to 2019
Get PDFWith the rise of neoliberalism in Canada and globally, social housing systems have eroded in recent decades, significantly impacting the ability of low-income Canadians to access housing. The neoliberalization process can vary across jurisdictions, however, and this variability can be observed in the different approaches to social housing adopted by Canadian provinces since responsibility was devolved from the federal government beginning in 1993. Drawing on sociological and political economic theories and using contextualized comparative, historical, and qualitative case study methods, this study examines how neoliberalism is reflected in the approaches to social housing that evolved in Manitoba and British Columbia between 1993 and 2019. Findings demonstrate that both provinces show extensive and increasing characteristics of neoliberalization in their approaches to social housing over the time period. Devolution, reduced fiscal responsibility, changes to nonprofit housing provider operations and relations with the state, marketization, privatization, increased provision of demand-side supports over unit supply, increased prioritization of groups with special needs, a shift from social to affordable housing, and increasingly non-democratic approaches to social housing all contribute to the erosion of social housing, not only by reducing the provincial role in its provision, but also by reducing state and nonprofit sector capacities to provide it.1. University of Manitoba Faculty of Graduate Studies - Tri-Agency Top-Up Award, Tri-Agency Master’s Supplemental Award, Research Completion Scholarship
2. Manitoba Research Alliance under the SSHRC-funded grant entitled Community-Driven Solutions to Poverty: Challenges and Possibilities - Student StipendFebruary 202
Finding maximum common contractions between phylogenetic networks
Get PDFIn this paper, we lay the groundwork on the comparison of phylogenetic networks based on edge contractions and expansions as edit operations, as originally proposed by Robinson and Foulds to compare trees. We prove that these operations connect the space of all phylogenetic networks on the same set of leaves, even if we forbid contractions that create cycles. This allows to define an operational distance on this space, as the minimum number of contractions and expansions required to transform one network into another. We highlight the difference between this distance and the computation of the maximum common contraction between two networks. Given its ability to outline a common structure between them, which can provide valuable biological insights, we study the algorithmic aspects of the latter. We first prove that computing a maximum common contraction between two networks is NP-hard, even when the maximum degree, the size of the common contraction, or the number of leaves is bounded. We also provide lower bounds to the problem based on the Exponential-Time Hypothesis. Nonetheless, we do provide a polynomial-time algorithm for weakly galled trees, a generalization of galled trees
Shaping written corrective feedback perspectives and practices: comparing novice and experienced instructors of English for academic purposes in Bangladesh
Get PDFThis qualitative study examined the key influences on the beliefs and approaches concerning written corrective feedback (WCF) of teachers of English for academic purposes (EAP) in Bangladesh. It fills a significant research gap concerning how Bangladeshi EAP teachers—particularly across experience levels—perceive and practice WCF, especially in relation to their understanding of writing instruction within a diverse and resource-limited higher education context. Through six interviews with experienced and novice teachers, the study explored how teacher experience affects perspectives and practices related to WCF. The findings suggest that teaching experience significantly affects beliefs about WCF because experienced teachers benefit from professional development and extensive professional networks. Furthermore, teacher education programmes and professional development opportunities do not benefit all teachers equally; novices have fewer chances, which affects their development differently from their more experienced peers. Experienced teachers—initially exposed to direct grammar-focused WCF as students—have evolved to prefer providing indirect feedback that targets broader aspects, such as content and organisation. Instead, novice teachers focus on providing direct feedback on sentence-level issues, such as grammar and spelling. Finally, it emphasises that context-aware training, institutional support, and resources are key to improving WCF and academic writing in Bangladeshi EAP programmes, with broader relevance for equitable language teaching in similar low-resource settings