We report a case of sudden death in a 28-year-old male diagnosed with neurofibromatosis at the age of 6 years. The patient had multiple café-au-lait spots which, although being benign, were an ominous sign in this context. The immediate cause of death was intrathoracic neurofibroma causing compression that led to fracture of the thoracic vertebrae and laceration of the aorta with massive hemoth...

The massive, early and relatively circumscribed death of the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease has not yet been adequately explained. The characteristic feature of this brain region is the presence of neuromelanin pigment within the vulnerable neurons. We suggest that neuromelanin in the Parkinson's disease brain differs to that in the normal brain. The interac...

IRBIT is a molecule that interacts with the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-binding pocket of the IP3 receptor (IP3R), whereas the antiapoptotic protein, Bcl2l10, binds to another part of the IP3-binding domain. Here we show that Bcl2l10 and IRBIT interact and exert an additive inhibition of IP3R in the physiological state. Moreover, we found that these proteins associate in a complex in mit...

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a clinically critical disease, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of which can lead to increased rate of mortality. For prevention of recurrence of PTE, recognition of its risk factors or underlying diseases is of great importance. PTE is common in patients with cancer and has high morbidity and mortality rates. Although cancer is a lethal condition, PTE accele...

Background: Diagnosis and management of pre-rupture stage of the pregnant horn are difficult and usually missed on a routine ultrasound scan. Furthermore, most cases are detected after rupture of pregnant horn. Case: We presented a 28-year-oldG2 L1 woman with diagnosis of RHP at 14 weeks of gestation. She was initially diagnosed with a normal intrauterine pregnancy, whereas a pregnancy in a rig...

Long-duration (>2 s) γ-ray bursts that are believed to originate from the death of massive stars are expected to be accompanied by supernovae. GRB 060614, that lasted 102 s, lacks a supernova-like emission down to very stringent limits and its physical origin is still debated. Here we report the discovery of near-infrared bump that is significantly above the regular decaying afterglow. This red...

We report about two ongoing studies, which challenge the individualistic model of MOOC based learning. MOOC usage is embedded in the context of collocated study groups. The ability to pause a lecture and discuss its contents with peers creates learning opportunities. Learning by explaining has been proved effective through many empirical studies. We investigate the best way to configure these s...

The four-week Business Start-up Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is the first MOOC designed at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), Calgary, Canada. This work in progress paper discusses the author’s experience designing the course through digital storytelling in partnership with seven successful Canadian entrepreneurs using powerful digital tools, including 2D whiteboard video...

Studies carried out in classroom-based learning context, have consistently shown a positive relation between students’ conscientiousness and their academic success. We hypothesize that time management and regularity are main constructing blocks of students’ conscientiousness in the context of online education. In online education, despite intuitive arguments supporting on-demand courses as more...