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Development of the chick Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) xenograft model to study metastasis in autophagy-deficient osteosarcoma cells
No full textOsteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of bone cancer in children. Despite advances in chemotherapy, the survival rate for metastatic OS is only 20% to 30%. We have previously shown that the activation of autophagy may be linked to metastasis and chemoresistance, leading to an unpredictable prognosis. The Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) assay is an inexpensive and rapid methodology to visualise tumour development, making it a valuable tool in studying cancer metastasis. This study aimed to develop the CAM assay as a physiologically relevant model to better understand OS and how cancer markers may vary in a 3D environment when autophagy is suppressed. In this study, the CAM assay was completed in 13-embryonic development days (EDD). After several optimisation steps for viability and tumour implantation, the experimental survival rate improved significantly to 69% (p<0.01), and successfully formed tumours from metastatic wild type (WT) HOS143B cells (n=10), scrambled control (SC) (n=9), and CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (KO) ATG7 HOS-143B cells (n=9). ATG7 is an essential regulator of the autophagy process.
The role of autophagy in the in ovo and in vitro environment was found to be context-dependent. In the in ovo microenvironment, metastatic gene expression was downregulated in CXCR4 by 5.04-fold (p<0.05), CCL5 by 5.16-fold (p<0.05), and EZRIN by 3.75-fold in ATG7 CRISPR/Cas9 KO HOS-143B tumours compared to WT HOS-143B tumours, and CXCR4 by 1.37-fold, CCL5 by 1.59-fold, and EZRIN by 2.08-fold in ATG7 KO tumours compared to SC HOS-143B tumours. In vitro, ATG7 KO cells exhibited a 94.1-fold (p<0.05) and 2.56-fold (p<0.05) increase in MMP2 and MMP9 genes compared to WT and NC HOS-143B cells, respectively. However, in the in ovo environment, a reduction of 20.17-fold (p<0.001) and 14.31fold (p<0.05) in MMP2 and MMP9 genes was seen compared to WT and NC HOS-143B tumours, suggesting that autophagy may trigger different signalling pathways relevant to the microenvironment. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that WT and SC HOS-143B cells exhibited significantly greater levels of the angiogenesis marker VEGFR2, at 33.93% (p<0.01) and 24.40% (p<0.05), respectively, compared to ATG7 KO HOS-143B cells, which had reduced vascularisation. This study contributes to our understanding of OS metastasis and also identifies autophagy as a therapeutic target to modify metastatic associated genes/proteins. Importantly, in ovo culturing was required to fully reveal these outcomes, thus defining the importance of considering the interaction of the microenvironment and potentially vasculature in understanding OS metastasis
Can students' feedback literacy be improved? A scoping review of interventions
Get PDFStudent feedback literacy has been the subject of much conceptual literature; however, relatively little intervention research has investigated how and if it can be developed. Further, no evaluation of the current empirical literature has been conducted to assess which elements of feedback literacy can be successfully improved in practice, and which elements need further investigation. This paper seeks to explore how different aspects of feedback literacy have been developed in higher education. A scoping review was conducted to address the foci, nature and success of interventions. The review found evidence that educational interventions enhanced feedback literacy in students, such as managing perceptions and attitudes, and having more confidence and agency in the feedback process. While some interventions have an effect on influencing student feedback literacy, both improved study design and intervention design are required to make the most of future feedback literacy interventions
Youths are less susceptible to exercise-induced muscle damage than adults; a systematic review with meta-analysis
Get PDFPurpose; This meta-analysis aimed to 1) provide a comparison of peak changes in indirect markers of EIMD in youths versus adults and 2) determine if the involved limb moderated this effect. Method; Studies were eligible for inclusion if they 1) provided a human youth versus adult comparison, 2) provided data on muscle strength, soreness or creatine kinase (CK) markers beyond ≥ 24 hours, 3) did not provide a recovery treatment. Effect sizes (ES) were presented alongside 95% confidence intervals. Results; EIMD exhibited larger effects on adults than in youths for muscle strength (ES=-2.01; P0.05). As such, the between-group effects for muscle soreness (ES=-2.10 versus -1.03; P<0.05) were greater in the upper- than lower-limb. Conclusion; The magnitude of EIMD in youths is substantially less than their adult counterparts, and this effect is greater in upper- than lower-limbs for muscle soreness. These findings help guide practitioners who may be concerned about the potential impact of EIMD when training youth athletes
The effectiveness of individual and group canine assisted interventions in improving mental health in higher education students
No full textThe main aim of this study was to identify whether the social environment of canine assisted intervention (CAI) influenced the beneficial effects on Higher Education (HE) student mental health. A second aim explored whether attachment style predicted the effect of being part of a CAI group. Sixty seven participants interacted with a canine for two minutes, either individually, as part of a pair, or as a trio. Anxiety, stress, depression, and well-being were measured pre- and post-intervention, alongside attachment style. The results found no difference in the effectiveness of CAI when taking part individually, in pairs, or in a trio, meaning the social environment of CAI had no impact of the beneficial effects of CAI. Additionally, attachment style had no impact on the effectiveness of CAI when taking part in a trio. However, when taking part individually, a proximity seeking style predicted post-depression, and in pairs, an insecure mistrust attachment style predicted post-cheerfulness and feeling loved, and both insecure mistrust, and proximity seeking styles predicted post confidence and relaxation. Overall, this study used a CAI group environment to explore the differences between taking part in CAI individually, in a pair, or as a trio in HE students, and demonstrated the social environment of CAI had no impact on its effectiveness in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression levels, or increasing well-being in the treatment group
Student attitudes and preferences towards communications from their university – a meta-analysis of student communications research within UK higher education institutions
Get PDFWhilst the practitioner field around current student communications has developed in recent years, most published research still focuses either on prospective students, theoretical benefits of student communications or usage of individual channels of communication. This paper contributes to policy and practice by providing the first UK-wide look at current students’ communications preferences and behaviours through a meta-analysis of 17 student communications surveys (total students surveyed 20,134). Results show that students expect their universities to utilise a range of channels (including email, social media and student portals) – i.e. an integrated marketing theory approach. Most students feel that they receive the right level of information; however, overall satisfaction with communications has decreased in recent years. This paper provides recommendations for practice, as well as a template to improve consistency in future institutional student communications evaluations
A proposal for extending the Common Model of Cognition to emotion
No full textCognition and emotion must be partnered in any complete model of a humanlike mind. This article proposes an extension to the Common Model of Cognition – a developing consensus concerning what is required in such a mind – for emotion that includes a linked pair of modules for emotion and metacognitive assessment, plus pervasive connections between these two new modules and the Common Model’s existing modules and links
Institutional distance and location choice: an experimental approach to the perception puzzle
Get PDFIn this research, we designed and implemented a unique vignette experiment to study the effect of managers’ perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice, as well as the moderating effect of managerial international experience and preferred entry mode on this relationship.
We employ an experimental vignette methodology (EVM) approach applied in the context of Chinese managers to test the causal relationships depicted in our hypotheses. In this way, we measure the decision-makers' perceptions ex ante, i.e., in conjunction with and prior to a decision about a foreign location choice.
Our findings show that managers’ ex-ante perceptions of institutional distance negatively affect decisions on foreign location choice. Also, we find that managerial international experience and preference for high commitment entry modes mitigate the negative effect of managers’ perceptions of institutional distance on foreign location choice.
This research study adds to our understanding of the effect of managers’ perceptions of institutional distance and managerial contingencies on foreign location decisions. Further, it advances novel experimental design in international business research in general and on foreign location choice in particular
Barriers to Industry 4.0 technology adoption in agricultural supply chains: a Fuzzy Delphi-ISM approach
Get PDFPurpose
The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the barriers associated with the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in agricultural supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The study initially identified thirteen barriers by conducting a literature review and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Subsequently, these barriers were validated and modeled using an integrated Fuzzy Delphi-ISM approach. Finally, MICMAC analysis was employed to categorize the barriers into distinct clusters.
Findings
The results provide considerable insights into the hierarchical structure and complex interrelationships between the barriers as well the driving and dependence power of barriers. Lack of information about technologies and lack of compatibility with traditional methods emerged as the two main barriers which directly and indirectly influence the other ones.
Research limitations/implications
The robust hybrid Fuzzy Delphi and ISM techniques used in this study can serve as a useful model and benchmark for similar studies probing the barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption. From a theoretical standpoint, this study expands the scope of institutional theory in explaining Industry 4.0 adoption barriers.
Practical implications
The study is timely for the post-COVID-19 recovery and growth of the agricultural sector. The findings are helpful for policymakers and agriculture supply chain stakeholders in devising new strategies and policy interventions to prioritize and address Industry 4.0 adoption barriers.
Originality/value
It is the first comprehensive, multi-country and multi-method empirical study to comprehensively identify and model barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption in agricultural supply chains in emerging economies
Cognitive beamforming design for dual-function radar-communications
Get PDFThis paper introduces a dual-function radar-communication (DFRC) system with cognitive radio capability to tackle the spectral scarcity problem in wireless communications. Particularly, a cognitive DFRC system operates on a spectrum owned by a primary system to simultaneously perform data communication and target tracking while maintaining its interference to the primary users (PUs) below a certain threshold. To achieve this, an optimization problem is formulated to jointly design the beamforming vectors for both the radar and communication functions in minimizing the mean square error (MSE) of the beam patterns between the designed and desired waveforms under three constraints: i) the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at each data communication user; ii) the per-antenna transmit power; and iii) the interference imposed on each PU. The semidefinite relaxation technique is utilized to search for the optimal solution to the optimization problem. The simulation results indicate that our proposed cognitive DFRC approach can effectively protect the PUs while simultaneously perform its communication and radar functions
In/secure childhoods: children and conflict in Kashmir
Get PDFThis paper focuses on art productions by children participating in an art-based wellbeing intervention project in Kashmir. Drawing on feminist security studies, we conducted narrative analysis to explore how children represent in/security. The locations of in/security were the environment, the body, and the socio-political realm. Children articulated nuanced and complex representations of the natural and social world, influenced by local and global forces, and created their own meanings and practices of in/security