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Objective: Nutrition interventions delivered through food pantries could reduce health disparities for people experiencing food insecurity. We identified clients' preferences for cuisines, nutrition interventions, and outcomes and whether preferences differ for subpopulations., Methods: Cross-sectional study at a large pantry in Dallas, Texas (N = 200). Survey collected from February-May 2023 on demographics, cuisine preferences, nutrition intervention preferences, and outcomes clients hope to achieve when changing lifestyle (weight loss, feeling comfortable in clothes, feeling good about diet, wellbeing). A subsample (N = 130) had height and weight measured. We tested whether food security and BMI (categorical) were associated with intervention or outcome preferences using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 29) to conduct analysis of variance., Results: Top-rated cuisines were Mexican, Chinese, Italian. Participants reported a desire for interventions implemented through the pantry reflected by high Nutrition Intervention Index scores. The highest rated intervention was bringing more healthy food into the pantry and lowest rated was restricting unhealthy donations.Overall wellbeing was the most important outcome and weight loss the least important.Neither food security nor BMI were associated with desire for interventions. All outcomes were rated in a similar pattern, though people with obesity and overweight rated weight loss as more important than people with normal weight., Conclusions: Most participants demonstrated a strong desire for healthier, ethnically diverse options, and nutrition interventions delivered through the pantry. Our findings explore cuisines and outcomes preferred by people that use food pantries which can guide researchers, clinicians, and non-profit organizations in planning and promotion of nutrition programs for pantry clients., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen reports a relationship with Center for Nutrition and Health Impact that includes: consulting or advisory. Sandi Pruitt reports a relationship with Pfizer Inc that includes: consulting or advisory. Sandi Pruitt reports a relationship with Crossroads Community Services that includes: board membership. Sandi Pruitt reports a relationship with Gilead Sciences Inc that includes: consulting or advisory. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of using platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) as the apical matrix for the placement of MTA in nonsurgical endodontic therapy for teeth with periapical lesions and open apices., Methods: Twelve teeth from eleven patients with periapical periodontitis and open apices were enrolled in the study. Nonsurgical endodontic therapy was performed with the PRF used as an apical barrier and the MTA manipulated as an apical plug for further thermoplasticized gutta percha in the remaining part of the root canal. Clinical signs and periapical digital radiographs were recorded and analyzed to evaluate the curing progress after periodical follow-ups of 1, 3, and 6 months. The horizontal dimension of the periapical lesion was determined, and the changes in the dimensions were recorded each time. The Friedman test was used for statistical analysis, with P < .05 serving as the threshold for determining statistical significance., Results: All patients had no clinical symptoms after the first month of treatment, with a significant reduction in the periapical lesion after periodical appointments., Conclusions: PRF is an effective barrier when combined with MTA for the treatment of teeth with periapical periodontitis and open apices., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) therapeutics have significantly used RNA-based drugs to the prevention and treatment of diseases as effective messenger RNA-based vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The RNA therapeutics with five classes including antisense oligonucleotide, small interfering RNA, microRNA, APTAMER and messenger RNAs are being quickly developed to treat various human diseases as neurological disease, cardiovascular disease, genetic and rare disease, cancer disease, coronavirus disease… which cannot be treated by other conventional drugs as small molecule-based drugs and antibodies. Therefore, the discovery of these RNA therapeutics created a new avenue for treatment of various human diseases. This chapter demonstrates the history of important discoveries in RNA biology and their impact on key developments in RNA therapeutics as well as the advantages of RNA therapeutics; RNA therapeutics describes the action mechanisms and examples of RNA-based drugs approved for treatment of various disease; and RNA therapeutics discusses delivery methods for RNA therapeutics to target organs and cells. In conclusion, this chapter is designed to offer an updated important development and advance of RNA therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of various human diseases., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

β-thalassemia is an autosomal recessive disease, caused by one or more mutations in the β-globin gene that reduces or abolishes β-globin chain synthesis causing an imbalance in the ratio of α- and β-globin chain. Therefore, the ability to target mutations will provide a good result in the treatment of β-thalassemia. RNA therapeutics represents a promising class of drugs inclusive antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), small interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA) and APTAMER have investigated in clinical trials for treatment of human diseases as β-thalassemia; Especially, ASO therapeutics can completely treat β-thalassemia patients by the way of making ASO infiltrating through erythrocyte progenitor cells, migrating to the nucleus and hybridizing with abnormal splicing sites to suppress an abnormal splicing pattern of β-globin pre-mRNA. As a result, the exactly splicing process is restored to increase the expression of β-globin which increases the amount of mature hemoglobin of red blood cells of β-thalassemia patients. Furthermore, current study demonstrates that RNA-based therapeutics get lots of good results for β-thalassemia patients. Then, this chapter focuses on current advances of RNA-based therapeutics and addresses current challenges with their development and application for treatment of β-thalassemia patients., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is an illness that typically develops in people who are significantly ill or have serious injuries. ARDS is characterized by fluid build-up that occurs in the alveoli. T-cells are implicated as playing a role in the modulation of the aberrant response leading to excessive tissue damage and, eventually, ARDS. Complementarity Determining Region 3 (CDR3) sequences derived from T-cells are key players in the adaptive immune response. This response is governed by an elaborate specificity for distinct molecules and the ability to recognize and vigorously respond to repeated exposures to the same molecules. Most of the diversity in T-cell receptors (TCRs) is contained in the CDR3 regions of the heterodimeric cell-surface receptors. For this study, we employed the novel technology of immune sequencing to assess lung edema fluid. Our goal was to explore the landscape of CDR3 clonal sequences found within these samples. We obtained more than 3615 CDR3 sequences across samples in the study. Our data demonstrate that: (1) CDR3 sequences from lung edema fluid exhibit distinct clonal populations, and (2) CDR3 sequences can be further characterized based on biochemical features. Analysis of these CDR3 sequences offers insight into the CDR3-driven T-cell repertoire of ARDS. These findings represent the first step towards applications of this technology with these types of biological samples in the context of ARDS.

This paper presents a novel tattooing capsule endoscope (TCE) for delivering a certain amount of ink to the submucosal layer of digestive tract organs. A dual-function permanent magnet is used for locomotion and injection activation. The developed capsule endoscope can move actively in 5 DOF due to the interaction between the permanent magnet and a controllable external magnetic field produced by an electromagnet actuation system. In addition, the permanent magnet is involved in a specially designed mechanism to activate a process that creates a squeezing motion to eject the liquid from the storage room to the target. The dimension of the prototype is 12.5 mm in diameter and 34.6 mm in length. The proposed TCE is tested ex vivo using a fresh porcine small-intestine segment. We were able to direct the TCE to the target and deliver the tattoo agent into the tissue. The proposed mechanism can be used for drug delivery or lesion tattooing, as well as to accelerate the realization of the functional capsule endoscope in practice.

The use of untethered microrobots for precise synergistic anticancer drug delivery and controlled release has attracted attention over the past decade. A high surface area of the microrobot is desirable to achieve greater therapeutic effect by increasing the drug load. Therefore, various nano- or microporous microrobot structures have been developed to load more drugs. However, as most porous structures are not interconnected deep inside, the drug-loading efficiency may be reduced. Here, we propose a magnetically guided helical microrobot with a Gyroid surface for high drug-loading efficiency and precise drug delivery. All spaces inside the proposed microrobot are interconnected, thereby enabling drug loading deep inside the structure. Moreover, we introduce gold nanostars on the microrobot structure for near-infrared-induced photothermal therapy and triggering drug release. The results of this study encourage further exploration of a high loading efficiency in cell-based therapeutics, such as stem cells or immune cells, for microrobot-based drug-delivery systems.

This paper presents an active locomotion capsule endoscope system with 5D position sensing and real-time automated polyp detection for small-bowel and colon applications. An electromagnetic actuation system (EMA) consisting of stationary electromagnets is utilized to remotely control a magnetic capsule endoscope with multi-degree-of-freedom locomotion. For position sensing, an electronic system using a magnetic sensor array is built to track the position and orientation of the magnetic capsule during movement. The system is integrated with a deep learning model, named YOLOv3, which can automatically identify colorectal polyps in real-time with an average precision of 85%. The feasibility of the proposed method concerning active locomotion and localization is validated and demonstrated through in vitro experiments in a phantom duodenum. This study provides a high-potential solution for automatic diagnostics of the bowel and colon using an active locomotion capsule endoscope, which can be applied for a clinical site in the future.

Objective: For the revascularization in small vessels such as coronary arteries, we present a guide-wired helical microrobot mimicking the corkscrew motion for mechanical atherectomy that enables autonomous therapeutics and minimizing the radiation exposure to clinicians., Methods: The microrobot is fabricated with a spherical joint and a guidewire. A previously developed external electromagnetic manipulation system capable of high power and frequency is incorporated and an autonomous guidance motion control including driving and steering is implemented in the prototype. We tested the validity of our approach in animal experiments under clinical settings. For the in vivo test, artificial thrombus was fabricated and placed in a small vessel and atherectomy procedures were conducted., Results: The devised approach enables us to navigate the helical robot to the target area and successfully unclog the thrombosis in rat models in vivo., Conclusion: This technology overcomes several limitations associated with a small vessel environment and promises to advance medical microrobotics for real clinical applications while achieving intact operation and minimizing radiation exposures to clinicians., Significance: Advanced microrobot based on multi-discipline technology could be validated in vivo for the first time and that may foster the microrobot application at clinical sites.

Magnetic nanorobots (MNRs) based on paramagnetic nanoparticles/nanoclusters for the targeted therapeutics of anticancer drugs have been highlighted for their efficiency potential. Controlling the locomotion of the MNRs is a key challenge for effective delivery to the target legions. Here, we present a method for controlling paramagnetic nanoclusters through enhanced tumbling and disaggregation motions with a combination of rotating field and gradient field generated by external electromagnets. The mechanism is carried out via an electromagnetic actuation system capable of generating MNR motions with five degrees of freedom in a spherical workspace without singularity. The nanocluster swarm structures can successfully pass through channels to the target region where they can disaggregate. The results show significantly faster response and higher targeting rate by using rotating magnetic and gradient fields. The mean velocities of the enhanced tumbling motion are twice those of the conventional tumbling motion and approximately 130% higher than the gradient pulling motion. The effects of each fundamental factor on the locomotion are investigated for further MNR applications. The locomotion speed of the MNR could be predicted by the proposed mathematical model and agrees well with experimental results. The high access rate and disaggregation performance insights the potentials for targeted drug delivery application., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Capsule endoscopes (CEs) have emerged as an advanced diagnostic technology for gastrointestinal diseases in recent decades. However, with regard to robotic motions, they require active movability and multi-functionalities for extensive, untethered, and precise clinical utilization. Herein, we present a novel wireless biopsy CE employing active five degree-of-freedom locomotion and a biopsy needle punching mechanism for the histological analysis of the intestinal tract. A medical biopsy punch is attached to a screw mechanism, which can be magnetically actuated to extrude and retract the biopsy tool, for tissue extraction. The external magnetic field from an electromagnetic actuation (EMA) system is utilized to actuate the screw mechanism and harvest biopsy tissue; therefore, the proposed system consumes no onboard energy of the CE. This design enables observation of the biopsy process through the capsule's camera. A prototype with a diameter of 12 mm and length of 30 mm was fabricated with a medical biopsy punch having a diameter of 1.5 mm. Its performance was verified through numerical analysis, as well as in-vitro and ex-vivo experiments on porcine intestine. The CE could be moved to target lesions and obtain sufficient tissue samples for histological examination. The proposed biopsy CE mechanism utilizing punch biopsy and its wireless extraction-retraction technique can advance untethered intestinal endoscopic capsule technology at clinical sites.

In this paper, we present a tattooing capsule endoscope (TCE) that can localize an intestinal lesion or tumor for a preoperative laparoscopic surgery. The TCE is based on a wireless capsule endoscope (WCE) structure and can be actively controlled by an external electromagnetic actuation system to move, observe, and mark the target lesion in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The TCE is designed to perform capsule locomotion, needle extrusion and intrusion motions, and ink injection. First, the TCE is controlled to move to the target lesion during GI tract diagnosis via a capsule endoscopic camera. Further, a tattooing needle is extruded by an electromagnetically controlled mechanism to puncture the tissue. Finally, the tattooing ink is injected by the chemically reacted carbon dioxide gas pressure that is triggered by a shape memory alloy wire and a reed switch. The reed switch is also activated by the external magnetic field flux density. The suggested methods were verified by the ex-vivo experiments. The TCE prototype was able to move to the target lesion and inject the ink beneath the mucosa layer safely, thereby leaving a visible tattooed mark for surgical lesion identification. The proposed TCE method can accelerate the development of functionalities as well as tattooing procedures of the WCE in the GI tract., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This study introduces a miniaturized capsule endoscope equipped with a marking module for intestinal tumor or lesion localization. The design concept is based on an active wireless capsule endoscope platform that is manipulated by an external electromagnetic actuation (EMA) system. The magnetic response of a permanent magnet inside the capsule is designed to have flexible movement in viscous environment of bowel. This magnet is also utilized to activate tattooing process by triggering a gas-generated chemical reaction. Once approaching to a target region, gradient magnetic field from EMA system is induced to push magnet down, releasing water to dry chemical powder mixture. Then the gas pressure increases and pushes the piston move to inject ink into target point. During traveling in digestive organs, injection needle is stowed inside the capsule to avoid damage to the organs. The whole procedure is manipulated by EMA system, the injection consumes no internal battery and is observable through capsule's camera which provides clinician vision. Basic tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of proposed robotic capsule. The success of creating a black visible bled from serosa of intestine proves the feasibility and potential of the design. This study could be an alternative for traditional tattooing endoscopy and motivate other research groups for further development of functional wireless capsule endoscope.

Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) R.Br. ex Sm. (Asclepiadaceae) is a well-known Ayurvedic anti-sweet plant for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although it was previously proposed that G. sylvestre exhibits chemical variation based on geography, most research on G. sylvestre has used material originating from India. Morphological and anatomical descriptions, ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 DNA sequencing, and acid hydrolysis analyses showed that G. sylvestre samples from Vietnam are distinguishable from those of Indian origin and thus suggest a dissimilarity among G. sylvestre samples with different geographic distributions. An LC-MS-guided strategy targeting 3β-glucuronide oleane-triterpenes in the Vietnamese G. sylvestre variety led to the isolation of four known compounds and nine previously undescribed compounds, named gymnemosides ND1-ND9. None of the isolated compounds were reported in the Indian sample, further supporting the geo-diversity of G. sylvestre. Three compounds, gymnemosides ND7-9, exerted significant stimulatory effects on the uptake of 2-NBDG in 3T3-L1 adipocyte cells and thus have potential as lead molecules for anti-diabetes agents., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

From the leaves and roots of Polyscias fruticosa, eight new oleanolic acid saponins named polysciosides A to H were isolated together with three known saponins. The structures of the saponins were established by means of spectral data, particularly NMR, which included COSY, HSQC, HMBC, HOHAHA and ROESY techniques.

The differential effects of extracted and synthetic atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) on arterial blood pressure, natriuresis, and cyclic GMP excretion were studied in normotensive (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR and SHRSP) rats. Atrial extracts or synthetic (101-126)-ANF decreased arterial blood pressure in all tested animals, but the blood pressure-lowering effect was more pronounced in hypertensive than in normotensive rats. ANF-induced diuresis and natriuresis were two- to three-fold higher in the hypertensive groups. However, a several-fold increase in total urinary cyclic GMP level after the infusion of ANF was essentially equal in the three groups. Our data suggest that acute infusion of ANF reveals a defect of sodium and water handling in SHR. It is possible that this defect is located at the distal nephron, and is made apparent by the action of ANF on glomeruli via a cyclic GMP-induced vascular effect.