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Objectives: To identify instruments for assessing family functioning in adults patients with cancer and summarize their psychometric properties., Methods: Psychometric systematic literature review was conducted to June 2023 using four databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Psych INFO, and Web of Science. The psychometric properties of the instruments and the methodological quality of the studies were evaluated using the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) checklist. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to rate the best available evidence., Results: Forty-four studies reporting 13 instruments were included. The instruments measured varied attributes of family functioning and the dimensions were heterogeneous. The Cancer Communication Assessment Tool for Patients and Families (CCAT-PF) was rated the highest in terms of both methodological rigor and instrument quality. However, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES) and the Ice-Expressive Family Functioning Questionnaire (ICE-EFFQ) offer a more comprehensive measure of family functioning, since they assess multiple dimensions of family functioning and demonstrate high-quality measurement properties., Conclusions: Instruments to assess family functioning were heterogeneous and exhibited limited reliability and validity. The FACES and the ICE-EFFQ seem to be the most suitable measures for adult cancer patients and their families. Future research should aim to refine the content of existing instruments and rigorously assess their psychometric properties., Implications for Nursing Practice: Given the profound impact of cancer on family functioning, the initial step in crafting effective interventions is providing valid and reliable instruments to measure the impact of these interventions. This paper could assist nursing professionals in making informed decisions regarding the most suitable instrument for assessing family functioning in adults patients living with life-threatening illness as is the case with cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this study was to explore how nurses can alleviate protective buffering between adult patients with cancer and their adult family caregivers (PROSPERO No. CRD42020207072). An integrative review was conducted. PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for primary research articles published between January 2010 and April 2022. Only research conducted in oncology, hematology, or multiple settings and investigating communication between adult patients with cancer and their adult family caregivers and/or the communication between patients, family caregivers, and nurses was included. The constant comparison method outlined the approach to the analysis and synthesis of the included studies. Titles and abstracts of 7,073 references were screened; 22 articles (19 qualitative and three quantitative studies) were included in the review. Three themes emerged during data analysis: (a) family coping, (b) an isolating journey, and (c) the nurse's role. A study limitation was that "protective buffering" is not a common term in the nursing literature. There is a need for further research on protective buffering in families with cancer, particularly on psychosocial interventions that focus on the whole family across various cancer types., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The ketone intermediate LSN647712 is a key synthetic intermediate for the drug substance lasmiditan manufacturing process. A three-step connected continuous flow process utilizing a Turbo Grignard reagent, N -methylpiperidin-4-ylmagnesium chloride, and lithiated 2,6-dibromopyridine sequentially added to double electrophile (O═C(++) synthon dimethylcarbamyl chloride (DMCC) was developed to deliver the ketone intermediate in a high chemical yield (>85%). This highly productive (>100 g/h lab system) and intensified process (τ ∼ 3 min) yields the product in high purity upon batch reactive crystallization to form a corresponding hydrobromide salt. In addition to the connected plug flow reactor system, the Grignard reagent, N -methylpiperidin-4-ylmagnesium chloride, was also prepared continuously in CSTR as a more soluble LiCl adduct in THF (Turbo Grignard).

Aims and Objectives: To investigate attitudes towards family involvement in care among a broad sample of Danish nurses from all sectors and healthcare settings., Background: Evidence suggests that nurses hold both supportive and less supportive attitudes about involvement of family members in the care of patients, and the existing findings are limited to specific healthcare contexts., Design: A cross-sectional study adhering to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology for reporting observational studies., Methods: Using snowball sampling, the Families' Importance in Nursing Care-Nurses' Attitudes questionnaire was initially administered to a broad, convenience sample of Danish registered nurses through social media: Facebook interest groups and the homepage of the Danish Family Nursing Association. These nurses were encouraged to send the invitation to participate in their network of nursing colleagues. Complete data sets from 1,720 nurses were available for analysis., Results: In general, the nurses considered the family as important in patient care. Nurses who held master's and doctorate degrees scored significantly higher than nurses with a basic nursing education. Nurses who had had experience with illness within their own families tended to score higher on the family as a conversational partner subscale than those without this experience. Nurses with the longest engagement within hospital settings scored significantly lower than those with the longest engagement within primary health care and/or psychiatry., Conclusions: Families are considered important in nursing care. Younger nurses with a basic education, short-term engagement at a hospital and no experiences with illness within their own families were predictors of less supportive attitudes towards including the family in nursing care., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Clinical leaders and managers should promote education on the importance of active family involvement in patient care in clinical practice and undergraduate education. More focus on collaboration with families in the hospital setting is needed., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The development of a flow chemistry process for asymmetric propargylation using allene gas as a reagent is reported. The connected continuous process of allene dissolution, lithiation, Li-Zn transmetallation, and asymmetric propargylation provides homopropargyl β-amino alcohol 1 with high regio- and diastereoselectivity in high yield. This flow process enables practical use of an unstable allenyllithium intermediate. The process uses the commercially available and recyclable (1S,2R)-N-pyrrolidinyl norephedrine as a ligand to promote the highly diastereoselective (32:1) propargylation. Judicious selection of mixers based on the chemistry requirement and real-time monitoring of the process using process analytical technology (PAT) enabled stable and scalable flow chemistry runs., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) of amorphous and crystalline ortho-terphenyl (OTP) in the absence of glass forming agents is presented in order to gauge the feasibility of applying DNP to pharmaceutical solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments and to study the effect of intermolecular structure, or lack thereof, on the DNP enhancement. By way of (1)H-(13)C cross-polarization, we obtained a DNP enhancement (ε) of 58 for 95% deuterated OTP in the amorphous state using the biradical bis-TEMPO terephthalate (bTtereph) and ε of 36 in the crystalline state. Measurements of the (1)H T1 and electron paramagnetic resonance experiments showed the crystallization process led to phase separation of the polarization agent, creating an inhomogeneous distribution of radicals within the sample. Consequently, the effective radical concentration was decreased in the bulk OTP phase, and long-range (1)H-(1)H spin diffusion was the main polarization propagation mechanism. Preliminary DNP experiments with the glass-forming anti-inflammation drug, indomethacin, showed promising results, and further studies are underway to prepare DNP samples using pharmaceutical techniques.

The release profile of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from its solid dosage form is an important aspect of drug development as it is often used to predict potential drug release characteristics of a product in vivo. In recent years, magnetic resonance imaging has emerged as a nondestructive technique that captures the physical changes of solid dosage forms during dissolution. An example that highlights this application is in the dissolution of modified-release tablet studies. As the tablet dissolves, API disperses in a hydrogel matrix within the tablet, and swelling of the hydrogel layer eventually leads to release of API over time. To achieve optimum signal-to-noise ratios, the tablet should be placed in the most homogeneous region of the magnet and remain there throughout the dissolution experiment. Moreover, the tablet holder must maintain the tablet position without interfering with the natural dissolution process, such as by crushing the softened tablet. This can be difficult because the size, shape, and rigidity of the tablet change during dissolution. This article describes the process, material, and manufacture of a novel device that meets these challenges, with emphasis on how additive manufacturing on a 3D printer enabled an efficient and inexpensive process of design improvements.

An approach has been developed to produce silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) rapidly on semiconductor wafers using electrochemical deposition. The closely packed AgNPs have a density of up to 1.4 × 1011 cm-2 with good size uniformity. AgNPs retain their shape and position on the substrate when used as nanomasks for producing ultrahigh-density vertical nanowire arrays with controllable size, making it a one-step nanolithography technique. We demonstrate this method on Si/SiGe multilayer superlattices using electrochemical nanopatterning and plasma etching to obtain high-density Si/SiGe multilayer superlattice nanowires.

We demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating heterojunctions of semiconductors with high mismatches in lattice constant and coefficient of thermal expansion by employing nanomembrane bonding. We investigate the structure of and electrical transport across the interface of a Si/Ge bilayer formed by direct, low-temperature hydrophobic bonding of a 200 nm thick monocrystalline Si(001) membrane to a bulk Ge(001) wafer. The membrane bond has an extremely high quality, with an interfacial region of ∼1 nm. No fracture or delamination is observed for temperature changes greater than 350 °C, despite the approximately 2:1 ratio of thermal-expansion coefficients. Both the Si and the Ge maintain a high degree of crystallinity. The junction is highly conductive. The nonlinear transport behavior is fit with a tunneling model, and the bonding behavior is explained with nanomembrane mechanics.

Solanum section Petota is taxonomically difficult, partly because of interspecific hybridization at both the diploid and polyploid levels. The taxonomy of cultivated potatoes is particularly controversial. Using DNA sequence data of the waxy gene, we here infer relationships among the four species of cultivated potatoes accepted in the latest taxonomic treatment (S. ajanhuiri, S. curtilobum, S. juzepczukii and S. tuberosum, the latter divided into the Andigenum and Chilotanum Cultivar Groups). The data support prior ideas of hybrid origins of S. ajanhuiri from the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group (2x = S. stenotomum) × S. megistacrolobum; S. juzepczukii from the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group (2x = S. stenotomum) × S. acaule; and S. curtilobum from the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group (4x = S. tuberosum subsp. andigenum) × S. juzepczukii. For the tetraploid cultivar-groups of S. tuberosum, hybrid origins are suggested entirely within much more closely related species, except for two of three examined accessions of the S. tuberosum Chilotanum Group that appear to have hybridized with the wild species S. maglia. Hybrid origins of the crop/weed species S. sucrense are more difficult to support and S. vernei is not supported as a wild species progenitor of the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group.

Naccobus aberrans is a major pest of the potato crop in the Andean regions of Argentina, Bolivia, and Perú. It is endemic in northwest Argentina and is also found in lowlands. The resistance of eleven Andean potato landraces and three accessions of the wild tuber-bearing species Solanum acaule, S. infundibuliforme, and S. megistacrolobum were evaluated against a population of N. aberrans from Coctaca, Jujuy province, while Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum 'Spunta', 'Kennebec', and 'Frital INTA' were evaluated against a population from the southeast of Buenos Aires province. The presence, the number of galls, and the number of individuals were recorded. In addition, a reproduction factor was calculated and races were determined. Results showed that the N. aberrans population from Coctaca corresponded to race 2 and the population from the lowlands belonged to the sugar beet group. Landrace Azul, one genotype of S. megistacrolobum, and two genotypes of S. acaule showed resistance towards the race from Coctaca while no infection was recorded in potato cultivars with the Naccobus race from the lowland area.

The ongoing development of HPLC has been focused on increasing the speed and efficiency of separations over the past decade. The advances in separation speed have been primarily related to the development of column technology and instrumentation. Relatively short columns packed with sub-2 microm particles provide high-speed separations while maintaining or increasing resolution. Ultrahigh pressure pump systems have been developed to overcome the high-pressure drop generated by such sub-2 microm packings. In this review, fundamental and practical aspects of ultrahigh pressure or ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography (U-HPLC) are discussed. Applications of fast U-HPLC separations are also presented.

Background: Tnt1 was the first active plant retrotransposon identified in tobacco after nitrate reductase gene disruption. The Tnt1 superfamily comprises elements from Nicotiana (Tnt1 and Tto1) and Lycopersicon (Retrolyc1 and Tlc1) species. The study presented here was conducted to characterise Tnt1-related sequences in 20 wild species of Solanum and five cultivars of Solanum tuberosum., Results: Tnt1-related sequences were amplified from total genomic DNA using a PCR-based approach. Purified fragments were cloned and sequenced, and clustering analysis revealed three groups that differ in their U3 region. Using a network approach with a total of 453 non-redundant sequences isolated from Solanum (197), Nicotiana (140) and Lycopersicon (116) species, it is demonstrated that the Tnt1 superfamily can be treated as a population to resolve previous phylogenetic multifurcations. The resulting RNAseH network revealed that sequences group according to the Solanaceae genus, supporting a strong association with the host genome, whereas tracing the U3 region sequence association characterises the modular evolutionary pattern within the Tnt1 superfamily. Within each genus, and irrespective of species, nearly 20% of Tnt1 sequences analysed are identical, indicative of being part of an active copy. The network approach enabled the identification of putative "master" sequences and provided evidence that within a genus these master sequences are associated with distinct U3 regions., Conclusion: The results presented here support the hypothesis that the Tnt1 superfamily was present early in the evolution of Solanaceae. The evidence also suggests that the RNAseH region of Tnt1 became fixed at the host genus level whereas, within each genus, propagation was ensured by the diversification of the U3 region. Different selection pressures seemed to have acted on the U3 and RNAseH modules of ancestral Tnt1 elements, probably due to the distinct functions of these regions in the retrotransposon life cycle, resulting in both co evolution and adaptation of the element population with its host.

A method suitable for the isolation of monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) is described. The protocol utilizes a zirconia based column modified with ethylenediamine-N,N'-tetra(methylenephosphonic) acid to create a novel cation-exchange chromatographic support. Initial experiments using a linear salt gradient demonstrate the ability of this support to efficiently separate Mab from transferrin and bovine serum albumin in a model matrix. Results of the purification of Mab from an actual cell culture supernatant over a range in protein concentrations are also shown. Analyses by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and gel electrophoresis demonstrate that Mabs can be recovered from a cell culture supernatant at high yield (92-98%) and high purity (> 95%) in a single chromatographic step.

Zirconium dioxide (zirconia) has a great affinity for inorganic and organic phosphate. Previous work from this laboratory demonstrated the utility of phosphate-modified microparticulate zirconia as a support for protein separations. We have extended this investigation to include the study of ethylenediamine-N,N'-tetramethylphosphonic acid (EDTPA), a phosphonate analog of EDTA, as a surface modifier for zirconia. Our work explores the use of EDTPA-modified zirconia (PEZ) for its potential use as a high-performance inorganic cation-exchange support for the separation of proteins. The phosphate groups in EDTPA very effectively block the sites responsible for strong interactions of hard Lewis bases with zirconia's surface. Modification of zirconia with EDTPA provides a "biocompatible" stationary phase, resulting in high mass recoveries of proteins. We compare PEZ with inorganic phosphate-modified zirconia to show increased efficiency, as well as unique selectivities for chromatography of proteins on the chelator-modified surface. Finally, the selectivity, efficiency, and separation mechanism are reported. The studies show that PEZ is a useful high-performance ion-exchange support for the separation of cationic proteins and for modulating the sites responsible for the high affinity of zirconia toward certain classes of anions.

Presented here is a simple, inexpensive approach to aggregating colloids into hierarchically structured spherical particles. Successive aggregation steps are used to assemble a particle that is self-similar on two size scales and is permeated by an ordered pore network with a bidisperse size distribution. The structure of the micro- and macropore networks as well as the mechanical integrity of the structure can be controlled by varying sintering conditions.