Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine Launches iPad®-enabled Learning Program.

Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM) today announced the launch of a new program that provides all new students with an iPad® custom-designed to offer a digitally advanced multimedia learning experience. Nicknamed the “PawPad,” the iPads® feature leading-edge learning apps designed by RUSVM to enhance the student experience in the classroom and laboratory. “This is an important advancement in the way we serve our students as digitally native learners,” said Guy St. Jean, DVM, interim dean of RUSVM. “We expect the iPad® program to enhance our students’ learning experience and support mastery of the curriculum, and we are proud to be an early adopter of this in veterinary education.” Each iPad® includes customized learning apps that deliver gaming and multimedia presentations of material contained in the RUSVM curriculum. The PawPad also offers apps that have direct access to tools used by students such as the online student portal, library reference material, e-books and outside learning apps that help reinforce learning material. RUSVM faculty members helped design the apps and participated, with students, in a pilot program in fall 2015. The PawPads are being distributed to every student in the September 2016 incoming class. A group of expert users will help students and faculty optimize their use of the device and help direct the development of future apps. The iPad®’s portability, ease of use, and ability to provide anytime/anywhere access to curricular material have been cited as benefits to students. contributed by yahoo finance.

Addressing Poverty in Africa by Promoting Growth of “Miracle Rice”.

New Rice for Africa (Nerica), also called “miracle rice,” is helping to address the issue of poverty in Africa. Rice is a luxury food that people can eat only on special occasions in many African countries. It has high nutritional value, and it serves as a valuable source of income for farmers. Japanese agronomist Tatsushi Tsuboi has been working for more than 20 years to promote the spread of rice cultivation. Known as “Mr. Nerica,” he rigorously follows an approach based on going out into the field to provide guidance; so far he has trained about 50,000 local farmers. It is a cross between pest- and drought-resistant African rice and high-yield Asian rice, combining the strengths of both. It can be harvested twice a year under local climate conditions. Tsuboi explains, “Nerica grows even in moist lowland locations unsuited to use as fields for other crops, and it can be planted in the gaps between crops like coffee and bananas. After growing it experimentally in various locations, I became confident that this strain of rice could help resolve Africa’s poverty issues, and I decided to work at spreading the cultivation technology.” 　 In 2004 the Japanese government decided to dispatch an expert to Uganda to support the spread of Nerica, and Tsuboi was selected for this role, serving as a JICA expert on Nerica adaptation. Study results had indicated that among the countries of Africa, Uganda is best suited to Nerica cultivation in terms of the climate and environment of its relatively dry upland area. So the idea was to start with an initiative aimed at producing a success story there. 　 Tsuboi set up a rice cultivation research section to study Nerica at Uganda’s National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), and this served as the base for guidance activities covering everything from the sowing of seeds and the care of the rice plants through the harvesting of the rice. Tsuboi developed a distinctive program to promote the spread of Nerica. He gives each farmer who participates in his training sessions 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of seed rice, enough to produce a harvest of 50 kg (110 lbs.) or more of unhulled rice. And each farmer is asked to give 2 kg (4.4 lbs.) of seed rice from what he harvests to neighboring farmers. The experience of growing rice on their own enhances farmers’ technical capabilities, thereby leading to an increase in the rice cultivation area. 　 The circle of Nerica-growing farmers is continuing to extend steadily, and over the 10 years after Tsuboi took his post in Uganda, the upland rice cultivation area grew from 5,500 to 65,000 hectares (13,600 to 160,000 acres). Farmers tell Tsuboi that the income from their rice sales has helped them, for example, by letting them send their children to high school or by making it possible for them to have mobile phones. 　Tsuboi is optimistic that Nerica will bring a brighter future to Africa. “Over the past thirteen years I’ve trained more than 2,000 African researchers and extension workers. I want to keep up my activities until the day comes when Nerica will have spread throughout Africa and the issue of poverty is resolved.” Today he continues to work under the African sun, spreading rice cultivation technology. Tsuboi provides guidance in Uganda. In addition to guidance for farmers, Tsuboi, operating from a Nerica rice-growing test station in Uganda as his base, trains extension workers and researchers. He has trained over 2,000 such professionals in countries around Africa. In his training for farmers, Tsuboi provides detailed instructions, such as the best depth for planting the seeds and the best amount of space between the rice plants. Proper growing techniques can increase harvests by a significant multiple. contributed by japan.go.jp

Edible food packaging made from milk proteins.

Foods at the grocery store come wrapped in plastic packaging. Not only does this create a lot of non-recyclable, non-biodegradable waste, but thin plastic films are not great at preventing spoilage. Scientists are now developing a packaging film made of milk proteins that addresses these issues -- and it is even edible. Current food packaging is mainly petroleum-based, which is not sustainable. It also does not degrade, creating tons of plastic waste that sits in landfills for years. Research leader Peggy Tomasula, D.Sc. says the protein-based films are powerful oxygen blockers that help prevent food spoilage and when used in packaging, they could prevent food waste during distribution along the food chain. To create an all-around better packaging solution, Tomasula and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are developing an environmentally friendly film made of the milk protein casein. These casein-based films are up to 500 times better than plastics at keeping oxygen away from food and, because they are derived from milk, are biodegradable, sustainable and edible. Some commercially available edible packaging varieties are already on the market, but these are made of starch, which is more porous and allows oxygen to seep through its microholes. The milk-based packaging, however, has smaller pores and can thus create a tighter network that keeps oxygen out. In addition to being used as plastic pouches and wraps, this casein coating could be sprayed onto food, such as cereal flakes or bars. Right now, cereals keep their crunch in milk due to a sugar coating. Instead of all that sugar, manufacturers could spray on casein-protein coatings to prevent soggy cereal. The spray also could line pizza or other food boxes to keep the grease from staining the packaging, or to serve as a lamination step for paper or cardboard food boxes or plastic pouches. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration recently banned the perfluorinated substances that used to coat these containers, so casein coatings could be a safe, biodegradable alternative. culled from science daily.

Virtual reality and cancer cure.

Virtual technology could also be used to find new treatments for cancer. A team at the University of New South Wales has used high-resolution electron microscope data to reconstruct a human breast cancer cell in 3D CGI. It’s the first time a cancer cell has been reconstructed for virtual reality. This means scientists can don VR headsets to walk through the “landscape” of the cell, including its nucleus, mitochondria and endosomes to see how nanoparticle drugs are absorbed. This will look as if you have shrunk down to nano size, to the height of 40 one-billionths of a metre and you are navigating the surface of the cell. This will provide amble information as you are literally walking within the cell and gather data required. The aim of the project is to accelerate discoveries by giving researchers a new perspective on cancerous cells. Drug delivery requires successful penetration of the cell membrane ,this visualization will give insight into the level of penetration; if the drug gets past the tough cell surface, or whether the body automatically stops it. 3D has enabled better visualization and thus expanding the treatment strategies and health interventions. Many more surgeries are now possible because of of innovations stemming from 3D printing and 3D technology. excerpts from wired.co.uk.

Edible robots and cancer cure.

Researchers from the Polytechnique Montréal, The University of Montreal and McGill University, have made a breakthrough in cancer research, by developing tiny 'robots' that can travel through the bloodstream to administer a drug with precision by targeting the active cancerous cells of tumors. This method blasts a tumor with medication while avoiding jeopardising the integrity of organs and surrounding healthy tissue, meaning a lower dosage of toxic drugs is suitable for treatment.At present, it has only been tested in mice but the nanobots successfully targeted colorectal tumours. The nanorobotic agents are actually composed of more than 100 million flagellated bacteria - and therefore self-propelled - and loaded with drugs that moved by taking the most direct path between the drug's injection point and the area of the body to cure. The drug's propelling force was enough to travel efficiently and enter deep inside the tumors. When in contact with a tumor, the nanorobot-like bacteria can detect oxygen-depleted tumor areas, known as hypoxic zones and deliver a drug to them, without human intervention. The hypoxic zone is created by the substantial consumption of oxygen by tumor cells and are known to be resistant to most therapies, including radiotherapy, meaning the futuristic treatment could save more lives. The bacteria used in the experiment move in the direction of a magnetic field, while a sensor measuring oxygen concentration enables them to reach and remain in the tumor's active regions. By exposing them to a computer-controlled magnetic field, the researchers showed the bacteria could perfectly replicate artificial nanorobots of the future designed for this kind of task. The innovative use of nanotransporters will have an impact not only on creating more advanced engineering concepts and original intervention methods, but it also throws the door wide open to the synthesis of new vehicles for therapeutic, imaging and diagnostic agents. culled from wired.co.uk.

Edible' robots and batteries could help cure cancer.

A depressing statistics, but figures suggest that as many as half of the population will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in our lifetime. Doctors and roboticists are looking at ways to significantly reduce this number and the answer may lie in batteries and bots you can swallow, according to new research from Carnegie Mellon University. Researchers from the university have created non-toxic 'edible' batteries with melanin pigments naturally found in the skin, hair and eyes. These ingestible batteries could be used to power devices that can be swallowed, while tiny robots could travel through the bloodstream to accurately target cancerous tumors. This ingestible and degradable non-toxic battery could make drug delivery devices in the form of pills possible, with minimal risk and discomfort for patients. The researchers were inspired to make the battery after examining the role of melanins, which absorb ultraviolet light to quench free radicals and protect us from damage, as well as binding and unbinding metallic ions. The team experimented with battery designs that use melanin pigments at either the positive or negative terminals; various electrode materials such as manganese oxide and sodium titanium phosphate; and cations such as copper and iron that the body uses for normal functioning.Although the capacity of a melanin battery is low relative to lithium-ion, it would be high enough to power an ingestible drug-delivery or sensing device, used to diagnose disease.courtesy wired.co.uk

Lagos and entrepreneurship.

The Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has approved N15.5million as seed funding and grants for final year students enrolled in the state’s graduate employment and entrepreneurs scheme. Gov. Ambode had in May established the graduate employment and entrepreneurs scheme tagged “Ready.Set.Work”, which would enable successful students get internship placements in high ranking corporate organisations. The students in the entrepreneurship track can also benefit from experience in a structured, supervised work setting, where they can learn the rudiments of running a business effectively. Ambode’s Special Adviser on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said in a statement that the initiative is aimed at providing final year students of the state’s tertiary institutions with the tools and knowledge to become effective employees or job creators. Bank-Olemoh said that 500 final year students from the state’s tertiary institutions had been enrolled in a curriculum, either in the employability track or the entrepreneurship track, since its commencement in June. He said that at the end of the programme, over 90 top performing students in the employability track would be placed on six-month internship training with high ranking organisations. The special adviser said that 80 students in the entrepreneurship track would also take part in three to six months entrepreneur apprenticeships. Bank-Olemoh said that with this, they could learn the tricks of the trade, understand and develop processes for various businesses and build a network of vendors, industry peers, and mentors. “We already secured 90 internship slots for students in the employability track of the program. more