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Intracellular delivery of functional biomolecules by using supramolecular polymer nanostructures has gained significant interest. Here, various charged supramolecular ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy)-aggregates were designed and formulated via a simple "mix-and-match" method. The cellular internalization of these UPy-aggregates in the presence or absence of serum proteins by phagocytic and non-phagocytic cells, i.e., THP-1 derived macrophages and immortalized human kidney cells (HK-2 cells), was systematically investigated. In the presence of serum proteins the UPy-aggregates were taken up by both types of cells irrespective of the charge properties of the UPy-aggregates, and the UPy-aggregates co-localized with mitochondria of the cells. In the absence of serum proteins only cationic UPy-aggregates could be effectively internalized by THP-1 derived macrophages, and the internalized UPy-aggregates either co-localized with mitochondria or displayed as vesicular structures. While the cationic UPy-aggregates were hardly internalized by HK-2 cells and could only bind to the membrane of HK-2 cells. With adding and increasing the amount of serum albumin in the cell culture medium, the cationic UPy-aggregates were gradually taken up by HK-2 cells without anchoring on the cell membranes. It is proposed that the serum albumin regulates the cellular internalization of UPy-aggregates. These results provide fundamental insights for the fabrication of supramolecular polymer nanostructures for intracellular delivery of therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliability and robustness are fundamental requisites for the successful integration of deep-learning models into real-world applications. Deployed models must exhibit an awareness of their limitations, necessitating the ability to discern out-of-distribution (OOD) data and prompt human intervention, a critical competency. While several frameworks for OOD detection have been introduced and achieved remarkable results, most state-of-the-art (SOTA) models rely on supervised learning with annotated data for their training. However, acquiring labeled data can be a demanding, time-consuming or, in some cases, an infeasible task. Consequently, unsupervised learning has gained substantial traction and has made noteworthy advancements. It empowers models to undergo training solely on unlabeled data while still achieving comparable or even superior performance compared to supervised alternatives. Among the array of unsupervised methods, contrastive learning has asserted its effectiveness in feature extraction for a variety of downstream tasks. Conversely, auto-encoders are extensively employed to acquire indispensable representations that faithfully reconstruct input data. In this study, we introduce a novel approach that amalgamates contrastive learning with auto-encoders for OOD detection using unlabeled data. Contrastive learning diligently tightens the grouping of in-distribution data while meticulously segregating OOD data, and the auto-encoder augments the feature space with increased refinement. Within this framework, data undergo implicit classification into in-distribution and OOD categories with a notable degree of precision. Our experimental findings manifest that this method surpasses most of the existing detectors reliant on unlabeled data or even labeled data. By incorporating an auto-encoder into an unsupervised learning framework and training it on the CIFAR-100 dataset, our model enhances the detection rate of unsupervised learning methods by an average of 5.8 % . Moreover, it outperforms the supervised-based OOD detector by an average margin of 11 % . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an endogenous, lipophilic quinone compound that functions as an electron carrier in the mitochondrial respiratory chain and plays a pivotal role in cell metabolism. Despite its numerous important physiological functions, the practical application of CoQ10 is limited due to its high molecular weight, poor water solubility, photolability, chemical instability, and low bioavailability. To overcome these challenges, we developed a solid dispersion formulation of protamine loaded CoQ10 (CoQ10/Pr) using an efficient mechanochemical technology without solvents. Protamine was used as a carrier and poloxamer 188 as a solubilizer, while butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and micro powder silica gel were utilized as stabilizers and lubricants. The optimal ball milling condition to prepare CoQ10/Pr was at 100 r/min for four hours. The treated CoQ10/Pr exhibited rapid-release properties with significantly enhanced water solubility by 392,000 times and bioavailability by 0.68 times. Furthermore, the treated CoQ10/Pr became resistant to moisture, high temperature and strong light, which makes it suitable for long-term storage. Molecular docking suggested that the solubilization mechanism of CoQ10 was closely associated with the encapsulation and complexation of protamine, as well as the formation of an intermolecular complex through a hydrogen bond between CoQ10 and arginine residues on protamine. In summary, the CoQ10 solid dispersion formulation has advantages such as excellent water solubility, stability, bioavailability, and low cost. This formulation also meets the stringent quality requirements of products in the food, cosmetic, and health industries. It offers dual benefits in both theoretical research and industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colon cancer is emerging as one of the most common cancers worldwide, ranking in the top three in morbidity and mortality. Oral methotrexate (MTX) has been employed as a first‐line treatment for various cancers, such as colon, breast, and lung cancer. However, the complexity and particularity of the gastrointestinal microenvironment and the limitations of MTX itself, including severe adverse effects and instability, are the main obstacles to the safe delivery of MTX to colon tumor sites. Herein, an innovative oral administrated anticancer therapeutic MTX@Am7CD/SDS NPs equipped with both pH and temperature sensitivity, which could effectively prevent MTX@Am7CD/SDS NPs from being degraded in the acidic environment mimicking the stomach and small intestine, thus harboring the potential to accumulate at the site of colon lesions and further release intestinal drug under mild conditions. In cellular assays, compared with free MTX, MTX@Am7CD/SDS NPs showed a favorable tumor inhibition effect on three tumor cell lines, as well as excellent cell uptake and apoptosis‐inducing effect on SW480 cells. Therefore, this work provides a feasible solution for the safe use of MTX in the treatment of colon cancer and even other intestinal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new efficient methods for combating serious diseases, among which, oncological and infectious diseases hold a special place, remains to be an urgent challenge of biomedicine and biotechnology. Currently, the efforts of scientists are focused on the search for drug systems that provide high efficiency of treatment with minimal impacts on a human body. The development of this field has led to the creation of stimuli-responsive liposomes that can release an encapsulated drug under a specific stimulus, such as temperature, pH, electromagnetic field, light, etc. Being stimulated, lipid bilayer vesicles change their structure, size, surface charge, or phase state, thus leading to a controlled release of the drug in a specific place of the body, thereby resulting in a more accurate and efficient delivery. This review discusses the current trends in the development of liposome-based stimuli-responsive systems for the controlled delivery of biologically active substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review, two interrelated areas are focused on for the development of novel amorphous metallic alloys, namely, materials processing and machine learning techniques for the design of new alloy compositions. Findings, barriers, and opportunities are described, targeting powder production and sintering, additive manufacturing, and postprocessing techniques, followed by the latest developments in artificial intelligence algorithms for both the design of new alloys and for alloy classification tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gümüshane Üniversitesi Saglik Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Gumushane University, Faculty of Health Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aim: The objective of the study was to determine the clinical factors associated with knowledge and self‐care practice among adults living with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Design: Descriptive cross‐sectional design. Methods: A convenience sample of 330 participants was recruited over 3‐months in 2018 and data were collected using a structured instrument. Results: Participants on insulin treatment modality had four times higher odds of knowledge on diabetes (B = 4.17, p = 0.023) while those on combined therapy (both oral hypoglycaemic agent and insulin) had 7.26 times higher odds of knowledge (B = 7.26, p < 0.001). Participants without medically confirmed diabetic complications had 3.66 higher odds of knowledge of diabetes (B = 3.66, p = 0.002). Participants on insulin treatment modality had a 1.4‐fold higher odds of self‐care practice (B = 1.4, p = 0.028). It was revealed that participants with hypertension and diabetic foot had lower odds of self‐care practice (B = −1.13, p = 0.021). Conclusion: In particular, participants who were on insulin and combined therapy (tablet and insulin) had higher knowledge and better self‐care practice. Self‐care was significantly influenced among those with, than those without diabetic foot and hypertension as complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have great therapeutic potential; however, their delivery still faces huge challenges, especially given the short half-life of naked miRNAs due to rapid hydrolysis or inactivation by abundant nucleases in the systemic circulation. Therefore, the search for reliable miRNA delivery systems is crucial. Nanogels are one of the more effective nanocarriers because they are biocompatible and have a high drug-loading capacity. In this study, acrylamide-based nanogels containing cationic groups and redox-sensitive crosslinkers were developed for cellular delivery of anti-miR21 (a-miR21). To achieve this, post-polymerization loading of a-miR21 oligonucleotides into nanogels was performed by utilizing the electrostatic interaction between positively charged nanogels and negatively charged oligonucleotides. Different molar ratios of the amine groups (N) on the cationic nanogel and phosphate groups (P) on the miRNA were investigated. An N/P ratio of 2 allowed high miRNA loading capacity (MLC, 6.7% w/w) and miRNA loading efficiency (MLE, 99.7% w/w). Successful miRNA loading was confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electrophoretic light scattering (ELS) measurements. miRNA-loaded nanogels (NG/miRNA) formed stable dispersions in biological media and showed an enhanced miRNA release profile in the presence of glutathione (GSH). Moreover, the addition of heparin to dissociate the miRNA from the cationic nanogels resulted in the complete release of miRNA. Lastly, a cell uptake study indicated that NG/miRNA could be easily taken up by cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of polypeptoids with dual photo/thermo-responsiveness were prepared by incorporating both azobenzene (Azo) group and oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) segment into the side chains. Firstly, the N-substituted-N-carboxyanhydride (NNCA) monomers with different Azo and OEG groups were synthesized, and then a single NNCA ring-openning polymerization was performed to afford dual-responsive polypeptoids without any post-polymerization modification. The ultra-violet/visible (UV/Vis) photo-responsive behaviors of the polypeptoids were achieved by cis-trans photoisomerization of the Azo group and confirmed by both 1H-NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The thermo-responsive behaviors were realized by both OEG segment and Azo group and confirmed by UV/Vis spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. This work demonstrated the synthetic pathway for dual responsive polypeptoids using NNCA monomers with two responsive groups and revealed the potential of polypeptoids as smart materials that could respond to different environmental stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer poses a serious threat to human health and is the most common cause of human death. Polymer-based nanomedicines are presently used to enhance the treatment effectiveness and decrease the systemic toxicity of chemotherapeutic agents. However, the disadvantage of currently polymeric carriers is without therapy procedure. Herein, for the first time, glutathione (GSH)-responsive polymer (PRES) with anti-cancer effect was synthesized following the condensation-polymerization method using resveratrol (RES) and 3,30-dithiodipropionic acid. PRES can not only suppress the tumor cells growth but can also self-assemble into nanoparticles (~93 nm) for delivering antitumor drugs, such as paclitaxel (PTX@PRES NPs). The system could achieve high drug loading (~7%) and overcome multidrug resistance (MDR). The results from the in vitro studies revealed that the NPs formed of PRES were stable in the systemic circulation, while could be efficiently degraded in tumor cells high GSH environment. Results from cytotoxicity tests confirmed that PTX@PRES NPs could effectively suppress the growth of cancer cells (A549) and drug-resistant cells (A549/PTX). The NPs could also be used to significantly increase the therapeutic efficacy of the drugs in A549/PTX tumor-bearing mice. In vivo investigations also demonstrated that the PRES-based NPs exhibited tumor inhibition effects. In summary, we report that the GSH-responsive polymer synthesized by us exhibited multiple interesting functions and could be used for effective drug delivery. The polymer exhibited good therapeutic effects and could be used to overcome MDR. Thus, the synthesized system can be used to develop a new strategy for treating cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) strategy is considered as an efficient strategy for efficient glycopeptide enrichment. Here, a novel hydrophilic material (denoted as magCDP@Ada-MSA) was constructed through host–guest interaction between crosslinked β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) polymers and mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA) derived adamantane. On the one hand, crosslinked β-CD polymers have great hydrophilicity due to their abundant hydrophilic hydroxyl groups. On the other hand, the hydrophilic functional molecule MSA was introduced into crosslinked β-CD polymers through host–guest interaction for further hydrophilic modification of the material. Hydroxyl groups in crosslinked β-CD polymers and carboxyl groups in MSA together endow the material with excellent hydrophilicity and good affinity toward glycopeptides. The prepared hydrophilic material demonstrated rapid magnetic separation (within 5 s) and reusability (at least 10 cycles). Thanks to the above advantages, magCDP@Ada-MSA showed satisfactory performance for the specific enrichment of glycopeptides (selectivity, 1 : 500 molar ratios of HRP/BSA and sensitivity, 0.1 fmol μL−1). Moreover, magCDP@Ada-MSA was successfully applied for selective glycopeptide enrichment from complex biological samples (human serum and saliva). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alterations in brain cholesterol homeostasis have been broadly implicated in neurological disorders. Notwithstanding the complexity by which cholesterol biology is governed in the mammalian brain, excess neuronal cholesterol is primarily eliminated by metabolic clearance via cytochrome P450 46A1 (CYP46A1). No methods are currently available for visualizing cholesterol metabolism in the living human brain; therefore, a noninvasive technology that quantitatively measures the extent of brain cholesterol metabolism via CYP46A1 could broadly affect disease diagnosis and treatment options using targeted therapies. Here, we describe the development and testing of a CYP46A1-targeted positron emission tomography (PET) tracer, 18F-CHL-2205 (18F-Cholestify). Our data show that PET imaging readouts correlate with CYP46A1 protein expression and with the extent to which cholesterol is metabolized in the brain, as assessed by cross-species postmortem analyses of specimens from rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans. Proof of concept of in vivo efficacy is provided in the well-established 3xTg-AD murine model of Alzheimer's disease (AD), where we show that the probe is sensitive to differences in brain cholesterol metabolism between 3xTg-AD mice and control animals. Furthermore, our clinical observations point toward a considerably higher baseline brain cholesterol clearance via CYP46A1 in women, as compared to age-matched men. These findings illustrate the vast potential of assessing brain cholesterol metabolism using PET and establish PET as a sensitive tool for noninvasive assessment of brain cholesterol homeostasis in the clinic. Seeing cholesterol degradation: Brain cholesterol metabolism is disrupted in several neurological disorders; however, methods for visualizing brain cholesterol metabolism are lacking. Now, Haider et al. developed a PET tracer, named 18F-Cholestify, able to image cytochrome P450 46A1 (CYP46A1), the enzyme responsible for the degradation of cholesterol in the brain. The intensity of the in vivo PET signal in mice, nonhuman primates, and humans correlated with protein expression measured in postmortem brain samples. As an example of potential clinical use, in a model of Alzheimer's disease in mice, PET imaging showed alterations in brain cholesterol homeostasis compared to healthy animals. These preclinical and clinical data suggest that PET imaging using 18F-Cholestify could be soon used in clinical practice for diagnostic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web-based learning technologies of educational institutions store a massive amount of interaction data which can be helpful to predict students' performance through the aid of machine learning algorithms. With this, various researchers focused on studying ensemble learning methods as it is known to improve the predictive accuracy of traditional classification algorithms. This study proposed an approach for enhancing the performance prediction of different single classification algorithms by using them as base classifiers of homogeneous ensembles (bagging and boosting) and heterogeneous ensembles (voting and stacking). The model utilized various single classifiers such as multilayer perceptron or neural networks (NN), random forest (RF), naïve Bayes (NB), J48, JRip, OneR, logistic regression (LR), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and support vector machine (SVM) to determine the base classifiers of the ensembles. In addition, the study made use of the University of California Irvine (UCI) open-access student dataset to predict students' performance. The comparative analysis of the model's accuracy showed that the best-performing single classifier's accuracy increased further from 93.10% to 93.68% when used as a base classifier of a voting ensemble method. Moreover, results in this study showed that voting heterogeneous ensemble performed slightly better than bagging and boosting homogeneous ensemble methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision therapy has developed as an important strategy for cancer treatment. We have developed an external electric field (EF) controlled targeting drug delivery nanosystem (TDDS) for precision cancer therapy. The electric field responsive targeting drug delivery nanosystem (EFTDDS) is synthesized by functionalizing mesoporous silica with polynitrophenyl-methacrylamide-folate (PNMAFA). The functional molecules grafted in the mesopores effectively encapsulate the drugs in the EFTDDS and control the drug release by nitrylphenyl dipolar responding to electric field. The EFTDDS has achieved high electric field control as demonstrated by the promoted EF-responsive release and the low nonspecific leakage of the doxorubicin. Furthermore, when breast cancer xenograft models on nude mice were treated with EF-stimulated nanomedicine, the tumor-inhibition rate increases to 75%, which is 2.7 times as high as that without electric field stimulation. The EFTDDS is demonstrated biodegradable, biocompatible, and EF remotely controllable, represents excellent inhibiting effect on tumor in vivo, and might become a promising nanomedicine platform for electrodynamic therapy (EDT) in the potential clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel dual-targeting Pluronic/poly(lactic acid) polymersome containing transferrin and folic acid ligands (Tf/FA-F127-PLA) has been designed to study its application in the targeted drug delivery system. Both biotin and folic acid conjugated Biotin/FA-F127-PLA polymersomes (Ps) were prepared as the precursor. The dual-targeting behaviors of Tf/FA-F127-PLA over C6 glioma cells were then fulfilled through connecting the precursor with biotinylated transferrin by using a three-step biotin-avidin technique. Paclitaxel (PTX) was loaded successfully into Biotin/FA-F127-PLA and showed a burst release followed by a slow-release process in vitro. It was also obtained that Tf/FA-F127-PLA had higher cytotoxicity and cellular uptake amount than non-targeted and single-targeted Ps did. These results could be because more PTX-loaded Tf/FA-F127-PLA Ps entered C6 cells through both FA-folate receptor (FR) and Tf-transferrin receptor (TfR) specific affinity and thus possessed the better anti-tumor ability. It was further proved that the uptake of Ps by C6 cells was through the endocytosis related to clathrin, caveolae, lysosome, etc. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the uptake of dual-targeting Tf/FA-F127-PLA Ps by C6 cells was related to the endocytosis mediated by both FR and TfR. These findings indicated that dual-targeting Tf/FA-F127-PLA Ps could be a potential carrier in targeted drug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogels have emerged as one of the best studied, widely applied and most versatile classes of soft materials. Hydrogels are important biomimetic nanomaterials comparable to extracellular matrices in terms of water content, porosity, and rigidity. In this regard, self‐assembled hydrogels based on supramolecular host‐guest interactions have enabled unique characteristics like stimuli response, self‐healing, shape memory and self‐regulation. In particular, the use of cyclodextrins and their host‐guest chemistry is a powerful tool for the development of functional hydrogels with unprecedented properties. In this article, recent advances on hydrogels based on supramolecular chemistry of cyclodextrins are reviewed to provide an overview of the manifold design strategies, material properties and areas of application. We contrast the progress on cyclodextrin containing polymer gels to that of their low molecular weight counterparts by highlighting selected publications from each of these subcategories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Faculty of Pharmacy of Ankara University / Ankara Üniversitesi Eczacilik Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Ankara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

QA systems have had various approaches to achieve their goal of solving naturally formed questions, recent works use state of the art techniques such as neural networks, QA systems in different languages are increasing, as evidenced, they are advancing at different rates, despite the fact that there are efforts to increase research in this type of systems. In this research we analyze the main aspects of the contributions to Question Answering and present an architecture that is capable of answering questions in Spanish. The initial question is received by the system, which may or may not have a document corpus from which to extract the answer, if it does not have a specified document corpus, the Answer Generation module returns the answer to the initial question. The purpose of the system is to provide answers to factoid questions posed by users through a web and mobile platform. BI-LSTM was used for document retrieval and BERT was used to generate the answers. We tested the architecture with ten thousand questions reaching an accuracy of 0.7856. The result improved by entering QA to a more specialized BERT model adapted for the Spanish language, the multilingual version of BERT and the Spanish version of BETO were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Diálogos Pedagógicos is the property of Universidad Catolica de Cordoba and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biodegradable supramolecular micelles were prepared exploiting the host–guest interaction of cyclodextrin and adamantane. Cyclodextrin-initiated polypeptides acted as the hydrophilic corona, whereas adamantane-terminated polycaprolactones served as the hydrophobic core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, efficient vectors in parts of Asia and Africa, were found in 75.3% of water sources surveyed and contributed to 80.9% of wild-caught Anopheles mosquitoes in Awash Sebat Kilo, Ethiopia. High susceptibility of these mosquitoes to Plasmodium falciparum and vivax infection presents a challenge for malaria control in the Horn of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A question answering system is a type of information retrieval that takes a question from a user in natural language as the input and returns the best answer to it as the output. In this paper, a medical question answering system in the Persian language is designed and implemented. During this research, a dataset of diseases and drugs is collected and structured. The proposed system includes three main modules: question processing, document retrieval, and answer extraction. For the question processing module, a sequential architecture is designed which retrieves the main concept of a question by using different components. In these components, rule-based methods, natural language processing, and dictionary-based techniques are used. In the document retrieval module, the documents are indexed and searched using the Lucene library. The retrieved documents are ranked using similarity detection algorithms and the highest-ranked document is selected to be used by the answer extraction module. This module is responsible for extracting the most relevant section of the text in the retrieved document. During this research, different customized language processing tools such as part of speech tagger and lemmatizer are also developed for Persian. Evaluation results show that this system performs well for answering different questions about diseases and drugs. The accuracy of the system for 500 sample questions is 83.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Hypoglycemia is an acute medical situation that occurs when blood glucose level falls below 70 mg/dl. Although prevention of hypoglycemia is one cornerstone in the management of diabetes mellitus, its prevention practice among patients with diabetes mellitus is insufficiently studied. Moreover, the existed scarce literature in Ethiopia revealed hypoglycemia prevention practice is inadequate. Thus, this study tried to assess hypoglycemia prevention practices and associated factors among diabetic patients. Methods. Hospital-based cross-sectional study design was employed from March 1 to April 1, 2018, in the central zone of Tigray regional state of Ethiopia. A total of 272 diabetes mellitus patients selected by a systematic random sampling method were included in the study. Data were entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for further analysis. The binary logistic regression model (AOR, 95% CI, and p value < 0.05) was used to determine the predictors of hypoglycemia prevention practice. Results. The mean age of respondents was 43.62 years, and about 100 (63.2%) participants had good hypoglycemia prevention practice. Good knowledge on hypoglycemia (AOR = 10.34; 95% CI [5.41, 19.89]), having a glucometer at home (AOR = 3.02; 95% CI [1.12, 8.12]), favorable attitude towards diabetes mellitus (AOR = 2.36 CI [1.26, 4.39]), and being governmental employee (AOR = 5.19, 95% CI [1.63, 16.58]) were positive predictors of good hypoglycemia prevention practice. However, being divorced (AOR = 0.13, 95% CI [0.32, 0.53]) was found negatively associated with good hypoglycemia prevention practice. Conclusion. Only two-thirds of the study participants were found to have good hypoglycemia prevention practices. Healthcare personnel and Ethiopian diabetic association should promote patients' attitude towards DM and knowledge on hypoglycemia by strengthening information, education, and communication program. Stakeholders should also try to provide glucometers to diabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevations in neuronal cholesterol have been associated with several degenerative diseases. An enhanced excitability and synchronous firing in surviving neurons are among the sequels of neuronal death in these diseases and also in some epileptic syndromes. Here, we attempted to increase neuronal cholesterol levels, using a short hairpin RNA to suppress expression of the enzyme cytochrome P450 family 46, subfamily A, polypeptide 1 gene ( CYP46A1). This protein hydroxylates cholesterol and so facilitates transmembrane extrusion. A short hairpin RNA CYP46A1construction coupled to the adeno-associated virus type 5 was injected focally and unilaterally into mouse hippocampus. It was selectively expressed first in neurons of the cornu ammonis (hippocampus) ( CA)3a region. Cytoplasmic and membrane cholesterol increased, and the neuronal soma volume increased and then decreased before pyramidal cells died. As CA3a pyramidal cells died, interictal electroencephalographic ( EEG) events occurred during exploration and non-rapid eye movement sleep. With time, neuronal death spread to involve pyramidal cells and interneurons of the CA1 region. CA1 neuronal death was correlated with a delayed local expression of phosphorylated tau. Astrocytes were activated throughout the hippocampus and microglial activation was specific to regions of neuronal death. CA1 neuronal death was correlated with distinct aberrant EEG activity. During exploratory behaviour and rapid eye movement sleep, EEG oscillations at 7-10 Hz (theta) could accelerate to 14-21 Hz (beta) waves. They were accompanied by low-amplitude, high-frequency oscillations of peak power at ~300 Hz and a range of 250-350 Hz. Although episodes of EEG acceleration were not correlated with changes in exploratory behaviour, they were followed in some animals by structured seizure-like discharges. These data strengthen links between increased cholesterol, neuronal sclerosis and epileptic behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have presented an approach to automatic document summarization. In the proposed approach, text summarization is modeled as a quadratic integer-programming problem. This model generally attempts to optimize three properties, namely, (1) relevance: summary should contain informative textual units that are relevant to the user; (2) redundancy: summaries should not contain multiple textual units that convey the same information; and (3) length: summary is bounded in length. To solve the optimization problem we have created a novel differential evolution algorithm. Experimental results on DUC2005 and DUC2007 data sets showed that the proposed approach outperforms the other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

References for the articles published in the book "Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval" is presented.

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of McGill Journal of Education is the property of McGill Journal of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores teacher training by the alternation of classroom work and work analysis using an approach based on a social conception of meaning and action. The advantage of this approach is that it allows the development of professional activity in preservice teachers (PTs) to be assessed by tracking how the reflective tools acquired in training evolve in work and/or work analysis situations. The concepts of 'meaning' and 'expectation' are helpful in discussing the empirical data from a research program designed to evaluate the potential for PTs' professional development offered by the alternating work/analysis programs of French University Institutes of Teacher Training. The main conclusions concern the need to organize PTs' professional experiences within a training network so that PTs are not left on their own to face the diverse and complex situations of daily professional exercise. The effective procedures are those that allow PTs to construct concrete and circumstance-based expectations that the professional rules they have learned are still operational. These expectations help PTs to efficiently calibrate and interpret the meaning of their work experience, while also allowing them to prepare to act differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many efforts were made in the past decades to assess the role of gut microbiota in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), leading to the hypothesis that an altered microbial composition, other than the presence of a specific pathogen, could be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. On the other hand, existing differences in gut microbial community between distinct classes of age make sense of an increasing research in microbial shifts in IBD. Methods: Cultural, molecular, metabolomic and metagenomic approaches are trying to define the human gut microbiota in different age groups. Results and Conclusion: An increase in anaerobic bacteria (Bacteroidesvulgatus, Streptococcus faecalis) was observed in adult IBD, whereas an increase in aerobic and facultative-anaerobic (Escherichia coli) was found in pediatric IBD. Overall higher bacterial cell counts were observed in IBD, jointly with a general loss of biodiversity and a preponderance of Bacteroidetes and a parallel decrease of Firmicutes phylum: a predominance of potential harmful members of Proteobacteria (E. coli) and low abundance of beneficial species (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii) was also reported in pediatric and adult age groups, respectively. Microbial community of elderly subjects contains a wider range of different species than those of children and adults, both in healthy and IBD status. Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia is a complex genetic disorder to which genetic variation in the glutamatergic signaling pathways is believed to play a substantial role in the etiology of the disease. Association studies have implicated the N-methyl- d-aspartate receptor subunit gene, GRIN1, as a candidate gene for schizophrenia. In this report, we used a case control study to establish the possible association between the G1001C polymorphism in the GRIN1 gene promoter region and schizophrenia in an Iranian cohort of 200 unrelated patients and 200 controls. The allelic and genotypic frequencies of the polymorphism were determined using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism. Data analysis using logistic regression and the Mantel–Haenszel chi-square test revealed a strong association between the G1001C polymorphism and schizophrenia (CG genotype: odds ratio (OR) = 2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.34–3.48, P = 0.001 and CC genotype: OR = 29.10, 95% CI 3.40–565.78, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the C allele is significantly associated with an increasing risk of schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents and uses the notion of configuration of activity, which extends the Norbert Elias's original concept of social configuration based on the study and analysis of individual and collective activity. Although this concept embraces all types of social activities, in the present study the authors used it to describe and analyse various classroom activities during a primary school mathematics lesson. Individual action is described as being meaningful to the agent, according to semiological theory of course-of-action. The configuration of activity in the classroom is described as a collective activity with a global form embedded in a culture and emerging from the dynamics of points of articulation between individual actions. It presents the main characteristics of autonomous systems: (a) the emergence of an order; (b) the individuation of a form; (c) the existence of a unit with borders specified by the process of self-reproduction; and (d) the system sensibility to perturbation by outside events. Using the concept of the classroom configuration of activity, this study allows for new insights in the emergence of a collaborative activity between teacher and pupils in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent instability of nucleic acids within serum and the tumor microenvironment necessitates a suitable vehicle for non-viral gene delivery to malignant lesions. A specificity-conferring mechanism is also often needed to mitigate off-target toxicity. In the present study, we report a stable and efficient redox-sensitive nanoparticle system with a unique core–shell structure as a DNA carrier for cancer theranostics. Thiolated polyethylenimine (PEI-SH) is complexed with DNA through electrostatic interactions to form the core, and glycol chitosan-modified with succinimidyl 3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate (GCS-PDP) is grafted on the surface through a thiolate-disulfide interchange reaction to form the shell. The resulting nanoparticles, GCS-PDP/PEI-SH/DNA nanoparticles (GNPs), exhibit high colloid stability in a simulated physiological environment and redox-responsive DNA release. GNPs not only show a high and redox-responsive cellular uptake, high transfection efficiency, and low cytotoxicity in vitro, but also exhibit selective tumor targeting, with minimal toxicity, in vivo, upon systemic administration. Such a performance positions GNPs as viable candidates for molecular-genetic imaging and theranostic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) as an effective carrier for 5′-Se-(phenyl)-3-(amino)-thymidine (ACAT-Se), an organoselenium compound, nucleoside analogue that showed promising antitumor activity in vitro. The PLGA NPs were prepared by the nanoprecipitation method and modified with a pH-responsive lysine-based surfactant (77KL). The ACAT-Se-PLGA-77KL-NPs presented nanometric size (around 120 nm), polydispersity index values < 0.20 and negative zeta potential values. The nanoencapsulation of ACAT-Se increased its antioxidant (DPPH and ABTS assays) and antitumor activity in MCF-7 tumor cells. Hemolysis study indicated that ACAT-Se-PLGA-77KL-NPs are hemocompatible and that 77KL provided a pH-sensitive membranolytic behavior to the NPs. The NPs did not induce cytotoxic effects on the nontumor cell line 3T3, suggesting its selectivity for the tumor cells. Moreover, the in vitro antiproliferative activity of NPs was evaluated in association with the antitumor drug doxorubicin. This combination result in synergistic effect in sensitive (MCF-7) and resistant (NCI/ADR-RES) tumor cells, being especially able to successfully sensitize the MDR cells. The obtained results suggested that the proposed ACAT-Se-loaded NPs are a promising delivery system for cancer therapy, especially associated with doxorubicin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A company-wide surveillance program for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) based on the assessment of health and risk factors was implemented between 1996 and 2000 in a large shoe factory. The study aimed to compare the results of the surveillance program in 1996 and 1997 with the occurrence of MSDs in 2000.Methods: A health and ergonomic assessment of workstations was performed for 253 workers in 1996. Of these, 166 were examined again in both 1997 and 2000. A set of criteria was used to predict whether or not a job category could be predicted to have a potentially high risk of MSDs in 1996 and 1997 and the results were compared with the incidence rate of MSDs in the job category in 2000.Results: The criteria based on prevalence data in 1996 were unable to detect the job categories characterized by the occurrence of MSDs in 2000. The criterion based on an incidence rate >1% in 1997 was sensitive and specific. The agreement between the ranking of the job categories according to incidence rate of MSDs in 1997 and 2000 was good (? = 0.57, P = 0.11). Agreement of the prediction based on ergonomic exposure was lower than that based on incidence data.Conclusion: The efficacy of the surveillance program to predict on a collective basis the job categories in which numerous cases of MSDs occurred in 2000 depended on the decision criteria used. The criteria based on the incidence of MSDs were more reliable to predict the risk of MSDs than those based on prevalence data or on exposure assessment. Because exposure assessment plays a greater role in determining the priorities for ergonomic intervention, surveillance of health and exposure must nevertheless be combined to predict the risk of MSDs in the plant in the short and middle terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the active method of monitoring musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in a shoe factory. Work situation with high risk of MSD; Ergonomic risk; Validity of the method.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the incidence, risk factors and cost implications of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) in hospitalized adult patients. Methods: Eighty-seven hospitalized adult patients, positively identified as having CDAD, were reviewed retrospectively to determine the risk factors and cost implications of CDAD. Results: The clinical manifestations, in addition to diarrhoea, included elevated temperature (= 37.8 °C; 42.5%), abdominal pain (63·2%) and leucocytosis (=12 × 109 cells/l; 52·9%). Eight patients underwent endoscopy, and pseudomembranous colitis was confirmed in all of these patients. Nine patients died during their hospital stay. Cefotaxime and cefuroxime were the agents most commonly associated with CDAD. There was a significant difference (P < 0.001) between the sex distribution of CDAD patients and adult hospital patients (69% of CDAD patients were female vs. 52% of general adult hospital population). Significantly (P < 0.001) more patients with CDAD were admitted from the nursing home (NH) setting. The mean age of patients with CDAD admitted from NHs (n = 19) was older than those cases admitted from the community (n = 68) by 14 years (P < 0·001). The length of hospital stay was significantly (P < 0.001) longer for patients with CDAD (16.9 vs. 3.89 days). No differences (P = 0.306) were found in the response times for CDAD patients treated with either oral metronidazole (n = 39) or oral vancomycin (n = 48). The mean response time was, however, significantly longer in the CDAD patients admitted from NHs (4.2 days) compared with those admitted from the community (2.5 days), although the former patients were older and had significantly more comorbidity (P < 0.001). The mean cost per one treated-case of CDAD (bed, laboratory requests and treatment therapy) was calculated as £2860. Conclusions: Patients admitted from NHs are at increased risk of development of CDAD; receiving cefotaxime or cefuroxime axetil (oral form), being elderly and being female are risk factors for the development of CDAD. Treatment of CDAD with oral metronidazole or oral vancomycin gives rise to similar response times and efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic use whether for therapy or prevention of bacterial diseases, or as performance enhancers will result in antibiotic resistant micro-organisms, not only among pathogens but also among bacteria of the endogenous microflora of animals. The extent to which antibiotic use in animals will contribute to the antibiotic resistance in humans is still under much debate. In addition to the veterinary use of antibiotics, the use of these agents as antimicrobial growth promoters (AGP) greatly influences the prevalence of resistance in animal bacteria and a poses risk factor for the emergence of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens. Antibiotic resistant bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and enterococci from animals can colonise or infect the human population via contact (occupational exposure) or via the food chain. Moreover, resistance genes can be transferred from bacteria of animals to human pathogens in the intestinal flora of humans. In humans, the control of resistance is based on hygienic measures: prevention of cross contamination and a decrease in the usage of antibiotics. In food animals housed closely together, hygienic measures, such as prevention of oral-faecal contact, are not feasible. Therefore, diminishing the need for antibiotics is the only possible way of controlling resistance in large groups of animals. This can be achieved by improvement of animal husbandry systems, feed composition and eradication of or vaccination against infectious diseases. Moreover, abolishing the use of antibiotics as feed additives for growth promotion in animals bred as a food source for humans would decrease the use of antibiotics in animals on a worldwide scale by nearly 50%. This would not only diminish the public health risk of dissemination of resistant bacteria or resistant genes from animals to humans, but would also be of major importance in maintaining the efficacy of antibiotics in veterinary medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A 1.5kb cryptic plasmid was isolated from Helicobacter pylori. Low-stringency hybridization analysis using this plasmid as a DNA probe revealed base sequence homology with other plasmids in this species. Nucleotide sequence analysis identified an open reading frame encoding a putative polypeptide of 25 kDa. This protein showed marked amino acid sequence similarity to replication-initiation proteins commonly found in small plasmids endogenous to Gram-positive bacteria which replicate by the 'rolling-circle' mechanism. Sequence motifs corresponding to the origins-of-replication consensus sequences were found on this cryptic plasmid, DNA and oligonucleotide probes to these plasmid replication sequences were used in hybridization analysis to identify similar sequences in other H. Pylori plasmids. We believe this is the first plasmid isolated from a Gram-negative bacterium to show replication determinants characteristic of the 'rolling-circle' group of plasmids from Gram-positive bacteria. The cloned plasmid will be used to develop a shuttle-vector for H. pylori. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]