Search

Carolina Valencia,1 Rogelio A Coronado,2 Corey B Simon,3,4 Thomas W Wright,5 Michael W Moser,5 Kevin W Farmer,5 Steven Z George3,6,7 1Department of Applied Medicine and Rehabilitation, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, 2Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 3Department of Physical Therapy, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 4Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville,FL, 5Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 6Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 7Brooks–PHHP Research Collaboration, Jacksonville, FL, USA Background: There is limited literature investigating preoperative physical therapy (pre-op PT) treatment on pain intensity and disability after musculoskeletal surgery. The purposes of the present cohort study were to describe patient characteristics for those who had and did not have pre-op PT treatment and determine whether pre-op PT influenced the length of postoperative physical therapy (post-op PT) treatment (number of sessions) and 3-month and 6-month postsurgical outcomes, such as pain intensity and disability. Patients and methods: A total of 124 patients (mean age =43 years, 81 males) with shoulder pain were observed before and after shoulder arthroscopic surgery. Demographic data, medical history, and validated self-report questionnaires were collected preoperatively and at 3 months and 6 months after surgery. Analysis of variance models were performed to identify differences across measures for patients who had pre-op PT treatment and those who did not and to examine outcome differences at 3 months and 6 months. Alpha was set at the 0.05 level for statistical significance. Results: Males had less participation in pre-op PT than females (P=0.01). In contrast, age, pain intensity, disability, and pain-associated psychological factors did not differ between pre-op PT treatment groups (P>0.05). Subacromial bursectomies were more commonly performed in patients having pre-op PT treatment (P

Control of food or bolus flow properties is part of several strategies to address aspiration pneumonia in dysphagic patients. An important alternative is the use of prescribed ready-to-use (RTU) oral nutritional supplements (ONS) specially designed for the nutritional support at different stages of dysphagia. However, it is clear that there are significant differences among products designed for the same level or stage of dysphagia. On the other hand, videofluoroscopy has become a key technique for the evaluation of swallowing and, thus, dysphagia. In this study, a new approach for designing RTU ONS products, specifically spoon-thick consistency products, has been carried out. The scientific approach has been based, first, on the characterization of the rheological properties of a standard barium-based commercial product used in videofluoroscopy studies and, then, matching the viscous flow properties of the RTU ONS product accordingly, by taking into consideration both formulation and process conditions. The results obtained clearly suggest that it is possible to obtain an excellent viscous flow behaviour similarity of both swallow barium test feed and RTU ONS produced at industrial scale. In this sense, both linear viscoelasticity properties and non-linear relaxation modulus have to be optimised to obtain the rheological similarity previously mentioned.

Various vaccines have been challenged by SARS‐CoV‐2 variants. Here, we reported a yeast‐derived recombinant bivalent vaccine (Bivalent wild‐type [Wt]+De) based on the wt and Delta receptor‐binding domain (RBD). Yeast derived RBD proteins based on the wt and Delta mutant were used as the prime vaccine. It was found that, in the presence of aluminium hydroxide (Alum) and unmethylated CpG‐oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG) adjuvants, more cross‐protective immunity against SARS‐CoV‐2 prototype and variants were elicited by bivalent vaccine than monovalent wtRBD or Delta RBD. Furthermore, a heterologous boosting strategy consisting of two doses of bivalent vaccines followed by one dose adenovirus vectored vaccine exhibited cross‐neutralization capacity and specific T cell responses against Delta and Omicron (BA.1 and BA.4/5) variants in mice, superior to a homologous vaccination strategy. This study suggested that heterologous prime‐boost vaccination with yeast‐derived bivalent protein vaccine could be a potential approach to address the challenge of emerging variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface tension of monolayers with mixtures of anionic and nonionic surfactant at the liquid/vapour interface is studied. Previous works have observed that calculations of the surface tension of simple fluids show artificialoscillationsforsmallinterfacialareas,indicatingthatthesurfacetensiondatafluctuateduetothefinite size effects and periodic boundary conditions. In the case of simulations of monolayers composed of surfactant mixtures,thesurfacetensionnotonlyoscillatesforsmallareasbutcanalsogivenon-physicaldata,suchasnegativevalues. Analysisofthemonolayerswithdifferentsurfactantmixtures,ionic(DTAB,CTAB,SDS)andnonionic (SB3-12), was done for density profiles, parameters of order and pair correlation functions for small and large box areas and all of them present similar behaviour. The fluctuations and the non-physical values of the surface tension are corrected when boxes with large interfacial areas are considered. The results indicate that in order to obtain reliable values of the surface tension, in computer simulations, it is important to choose not only the correct force field but also the appropriate size of the simulation box. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A free-radical inverse emulsion polymerization formulation has been developed for preparation of acrylamide (AAm)/sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate (AMPSNa)/N-vinylpyrrolidone (VP) terpolymers. An aqueous solution of a blend of monomers is emulsified in ndecane using Tween 85 (Tw85). Ammonium persulfate (APS) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) were used as initiators for water and oil phases, respectively. The reactions were catalyzed by temperature and by a redox pair; the former is achieved at 60[degrees]C and the latter by adding tetramethyle-thylenediamine (TEMED) and sodium bisulphite (BisNa) to activate the initiator in water and oil phase, respectively. The emulsion type, stability, conversion, and rate of polymerization were analyzed. The obtained terpolymer was characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), [sup.13]C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and rheology. Thermal catalyzed emulsion polymerization initiated with DCP showed the best performance as viscosity control agent and as polymeric precursor for in situ gel forming, for water mobility control and flow diversification, respectively. Both application for enhanced oil recovery purposes in harsh oil reservoir conditions are presented., INTRODUCTION Polyacrylamide (PAAm) and their heteropolymers are of great importance, because of their good thickening capability, flocculation, and rheological behavior [1], Polymers based on acrylamide (AAm) and their derivatives are [...]

Severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) is often associated with inherited heterozygous point mutations in ELANE, which encodes neutrophil elastase (NE). However, a lack of appropriate models to recapitulate SCN has substantially hampered the understanding of the genetic etiology and pathobiology of this disease. To this end, we generated both normal and SCN patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and performed genome editing and differentiation protocols that recapitulate the major features of granulopoiesis. Pathogenesis of ELANE point mutations was the result of promyelocyte death and differentiation arrest, and was associated with NE mislocalization and activation of the unfolded protein response/ER stress (UPR/ER stress). Similarly, high-dose G-CSF (or downstream signaling through AKT/BCL2) rescues the dysgranulopoietic defect in SCN patient-derived iPSCs through C/EBPβ-dependent emergency granulopoiesis. In contrast, sivelestat, an NE-specific small-molecule inhibitor, corrected dysgranulopoiesis by restoring normal intracellular NE localization in primary granules; ameliorating UPR/ER stress; increasing expression of CEBPA, but not CEBPB; and promoting promyelocyte survival and differentiation. Together, these data suggest that SCN disease pathogenesis includes NE mislocalization, which in turn triggers dysfunctional survival signaling and UPR/ER stress. This paradigm has the potential to be clinically exploited to achieve therapeutic responses using lower doses of G-CSF combined with targeting to correct NE mislocalization., Introduction Severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) is a rare myelopoietic disorder resulting in recurrent life-threatening infections due to a lack of mature neutrophils (1). Individuals with SCN have myeloid hypoplasia with [...]

A cell-based transduction inhibition assay (TI) is widely used in clinical trials to detect neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers against recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV), one of the most important criteria to exclude patients in gene therapy. Different cell lines are used in cell-based TI because the rAAV transduction efficiencies vary largely among serotypes. A cell line suitable for TI for most serotypes is highly desirable, especially for those with very low transduction efficiencies in vitro such as rAAV8 and rAAV9. Herein, we report an AAVRHeLa, a stable cell line with overexpressed AAVR, a newly identified receptor for rAAVs, was established for cell-based TIs. The AAVR expression level in AAVRHeLa cells was approximately 10-fold higher than in HeLa cells, and was stably transfected after twenty three passages. For all AAV serotypes (AAV1-10), except for AAV4, the transduction efficiencies increased significantly in AAVR-HeLa cells. It was demonstrated that the AAVR enhancement of transduction efficiency was only for rAAV and not for lentiviral and adenoviral vectors. According to the minimal multiplicity of infection (MOIs) for the assay, the NAb detection sensitivity increased at least 10 and 20 fold for AAV8 and AAV9, respectively. The seroprevalence of NAbs were investigated at the 1:30 level as a cutoff value using AAVR-HeLa cells. It was shown that the seropositive rate for AAV2 was 87% in serum samples from 99 adults, followed by lower seropositive rates for AAV5 (7%), AAV8 (7%) and AAV9 (1%). Venn diagram analysis showed the presence of crossreactivity of NAbs to two or three serotypes in 13 samples (13.1%). However, no patient was found to possess NAbs for all the four serotypes. These results demonstrated that the AAVR-HeLa cell line may be utilized to detect the NAbs through cell-based TI assays for most of AAV serotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]