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Antibiotic‐resistant bacteria have rapidly emerged in recent years as a result of irrational use of antibiotics. The development of drug carriers that can enhance antibacterial activity of antibiotics can potentially overcome antibiotic resistance and hence has practical significance. This study addresses this need by integrating amine‐functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (AMNPs) into hydrogel microbeads composed of sodium alginate (SA) and xanthan gum (XG) for delivery of levofloxacin (LVX). Characterization of the microbeads confirmed successful AMNP–polymer interactions and demonstrated a porous structure inside the microbeads. The microbeads demonstrated pH‐sensitive drug release behavior, enabling prolonged drug release. The drug encapsulation efficiency in the hydrogel microbeads was higher after AMNP incorporation, indicating the potential roles played by the porous network and by AMNP‐LVX interactions during drug loading. The microbeads adhered to first‐order, Higuchi, and Korsmeyer‐Peppas kinetic models, suggesting that a combination of diffusion and polymer relaxation mechanisms is involved in drug release. Along with the fact that the AMNP‐incorporated microbeads exhibited enhanced antibacterial activity against various bacterial strains, our microbeads warrant further development and optimization as drug carriers for antibacterial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), a spice and food coloring agent in food preparation, contains a carotenoid pigment called curcumin. Curcumin has attracted extensive research interest owing to its health benefits, ranging from neuroprotection to chemoprevention and antioxidation. It also exhibits anti-cancer effects due to its capacity to inhibit cancer cell proliferation and stimulate apoptosis. However, the health-promoting effects of curcumin are limited by its poor aqueous solubility and low oral bioavailability. This article presents an overview of the latest understanding of the biological effects of curcumin and its use as a food additive in the development of functional food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bereavement has been extensively studied over the years, yet scholarly work depicting, with the first-person perspective, the experience of childhood bereavement is severely lacking. The research question I set out to answer here is: What is it like as an Asian child to experience bereavement following grandparental death? As such, self-introspection was exercised, and this, together with the diaries and free writings generated at the time of my grandma's death, was used as the basis for autoethnographic reflections. It is hoped that my story presented here can offer a psychological portrayal of an Asian child enduring grandparental death, and illuminate the grandmother-grandson relationship in a Chinese society. (Contains 3 notes.)

Nutritional awareness is described as having knowledge or understanding of nutrition. It is often related to the ability of an individual to make an accurate estimate of their food intake, which involves comparing their actual nutritional behavior with the recommended food consumption. Nutritional awareness of women during the various phases of pregnancy may vary significantly across countries due to cultural and lifestyle differences. There has been extensive research on nutritional awareness of pregnant women in selected countries or regions; however, relatively few studies have explored it during different stages of pregnancy. To fill this gap, this article reviews the existing literature and draws together insights into the following areas: changes in nutritional awareness during various phases of pregnancy, nutritional awareness of pregnant women and its underlying factors in various nations, and the research methods used to study nutritional awareness of pregnant women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gels with high drug release sustainability and intrinsic antibacterial properties are of high practical potential for cutaneous drug administration, particularly for wound care and skin disease treatment. This study reports the generation and characterization of gels formed by 1,5-pentanedial-mediated crosslinking between chitosan and lysozyme for cutaneous drug delivery. Structures of the gels are characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. An increase in the mass percentage of lysozyme leads to an increase in the swelling ratio and erosion susceptibility of the resulting gels. The drug delivery performance of the gels can be changed simply by manipulating the chitosan/lysozyme mass-to-mass ratio, with an increase in the mass percentage of lysozyme leading to a decline in the encapsulation efficiency and drug release sustainability of the gels. Not only do all gels tested in this study show negligible toxicity in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts, they also demonstrate intrinsic antibacterial effects against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, with the magnitude of the effect being positively related to the mass percentage of lysozyme. All these warrant the gels to be further developed as intrinsically antibacterial carriers for cutaneous drug administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]