Search

Abstract It has been found that the thermoresponsive behavior of emulsions stabilized by block copolymer surfactants (BCSs) can induce either gelation or emulsion break‐up with mild temperature changes. A hydrophilic, steric‐stabilizing component of the BCS, polyethylene glycol methacrylate (PEGMA), is crucial to control the thermoresponsive behavior of the emulsions: longer PEG chains (950 g mol−1) lead to thermoregulation, whereas shorter PEGM chains (500 or 300 g mol−1) lead to emulsion break‐up upon mild heating. Additionally, the relative abundance of PEGMA to the thermoresponsive component in the BCS controls the gelation temperature of BCS‐stabilized emulsions. Small‐angle neutron scattering and transmission electron microscopy reveal that the BCS forms oblate ellipsoids which grow anisotropically with temperature. In samples that form a gel, there is evidence that these nano‐objects form supra‐colloidal structures, which are responsible for the gel mesophase formation. An optimal BCS can form emulsions that transition from a liquid to gel state when warmed above 32 °C. This makes the system ideal for in situ gelation upon contact with the body. Overall, this study highlights the great potential of BCSs in generating thermoresponsive emulsions for drug delivery and other healthcare applications.

Introduction The androgen receptor (AR) mediates peripheral effects of testosterone. Evidence suggests that the number of CAG repeats in exon-1 of the AR gene negatively correlates with AR transcriptional activity. The aim of this analysis was to determine the association between CAG repeat number and mortality in men. Methods Men aged 40–79 years were recruited from primary care for participation in the UK arm of the European Male Aging Study between 2003 and 2005. Cox proportional hazards modelling was used to determine the association between CAG repeat number/mortality. Results were expressed as hazard ratios(HR)/95% confidence intervals (CI). Results 312 men were followed up. The mean baseline age was 59.5 years. At follow up, 85/312(27%) men had died. CAG repeat length ranged from 14 to 39, with the highest proportion of CAG repeat number at 21 repeats(16.4%). In a multivariable model, using men with CAG repeat numbers of 22-23 as the reference, men with a lower number of CAG repeats(23) (1.37 (0.65, 2.91)). Conclusion Our data suggest that CAG repeat number may partially influence the risk of mortality in men. Further larger studies are required to quantify the effect.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Adoption of the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) common data model promises to transform large-scale observational health research. However, there are diverse challenges for operationalizing OMOP in terms of interoperability and technical skills among coordinating centers throughout the US. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: A team from the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) collaborated with the informatics team members at Johns Hopkins to provide technical support to participating sites as part of the Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) process linking existing concepts to OMOP concepts. Health systems met regularly via teleconference to review challenges and progress in ETL process. Sites were responsible for performing the local ETL process with assistance and securely provisioning de-identified data as part of the CURE ID program. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: More than twenty health systems participated in the CURE ID effort.Laboratory measures, basic demographics, disease diagnoses and problem list were more easily mapped to OMOP concepts by CURE ID partner institutions. Outcomes, social determinants of health, medical devices, and specific treatments were less easily characterized as part of the project. Concepts within the medical record presented very different technical challenges in terms of representation. There is a lack of standardization in OMOP implementation even among centers using the same electronic medical health record. Readiness to adopt OMOP varied across the institutions who participated. Health systems achieved variable level of coverage using OMOP medical concepts as part of the initiative. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Adoption of OMOP involves local stakeholder knowledge and implementation. Variable complexity of health concepts contributed to variable coverage. Documentation and support require extensive time and effort. Open-source software can be technically challenging. Interoperability of secure data systems presents unique problems.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: High serum copper (Cu) levels have previously been described in bariatric patients. The kidneys are a target organ for Cu toxic insult but the role of Cu on kidney function (eGFR) is uncertain. This study examines the association between Cu and eGFR in a bariatric population in Southeast Louisiana. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Seven hundred fifty patients will be recruited from the Bariatric Center of the University Medical Center in New Orleans. Inclusion criteria include: age ≥ 18 years, clinic visit between June 1, 2018 – May 31st 2024, and having a serum Cu test result. Covariables such as inflammatory markers and hormonal contraception use will be assessed as potential confounders. Blood pressure will be assessed as a potential effect modifier. Data will be obtained from electronic medical records. Two cohorts will be assembled, a pre-surgery cross-sectional cohort and another followed post-surgery. Separate models will be developed stratified by race-ethnicity. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: In a pilot study of bariatric patients 26% had elevated (>155 mcg/dl) serum Cu and pronounced racial differences were noted. Characteristics consisted of a mean BMI of approximately 50 kg/m2; 91% were female and 69% were Black. Black patients had approximately double the prevalence (OR 1.98; 95% CI: 1.15, 3.4) compared to white patients. Due to the dual nature of the kidneys’ involvement in metabolism via excretion and being the target organ for toxic insult, racial differences in exposure, coupled with the disproportionate rates of chronic kidney disease in Black adults, may be an explanation for the association between elevated Cu levels and eGFR in Black adults in this study. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Results from this study will provide insight into the prevalence of Cu and its association with kidney function in a bariatric population. Chronic kidney disease or other forms of renal impairment may result in the need for more conservative guidelines for dietary copper in bariatric medicine.

Objective To assess the uptake of second line antihyperglycaemic drugs among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who are receiving metformin.Design Federated pharmacoepidemiological evaluation in LEGEND-T2DM.Setting 10 US and seven non-US electronic health record and administrative claims databases in the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics network in eight countries from 2011 to the end of 2021.Participants 4.8 million patients (≥18 years) across US and non-US based databases with type 2 diabetes mellitus who had received metformin monotherapy and had initiated second line treatments.Exposure The exposure used to evaluate each database was calendar year trends, with the years in the study that were specific to each cohort.Main outcomes measures The outcome was the incidence of second line antihyperglycaemic drug use (ie, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, and sulfonylureas) among individuals who were already receiving treatment with metformin. The relative drug class level uptake across cardiovascular risk groups was also evaluated.Results 4.6 million patients were identified in US databases, 61 382 from Spain, 32 442 from Germany, 25 173 from the UK, 13 270 from France, 5580 from Scotland, 4614 from Hong Kong, and 2322 from Australia. During 2011-21, the combined proportional initiation of the cardioprotective antihyperglycaemic drugs (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors) increased across all data sources, with the combined initiation of these drugs as second line drugs in 2021 ranging from 35.2% to 68.2% in the US databases, 15.4% in France, 34.7% in Spain, 50.1% in Germany, and 54.8% in Scotland. From 2016 to 2021, in some US and non-US databases, uptake of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors increased more significantly among populations with no cardiovascular disease compared with patients with established cardiovascular disease. No data source provided evidence of a greater increase in the uptake of these two drug classes in populations with cardiovascular disease compared with no cardiovascular disease.Conclusions Despite the increase in overall uptake of cardioprotective antihyperglycaemic drugs as second line treatments for type 2 diabetes mellitus, their uptake was lower in patients with cardiovascular disease than in people with no cardiovascular disease over the past decade. A strategy is needed to ensure that medication use is concordant with guideline recommendations to improve outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

يقدم هذا المقال ترجمة لمقال: أصول علم الكلام لما يكل كوك، وقد ناقش فيه مجموعة من المسائل.

In 2019 Cardinal George Pell, an important Vatican official and Australia’s most prominent Catholic cleric, was convicted of sexually abusing two choirboys in the sacristy of the Melbourne cathedral in the late 1990s. There was only one witness, the complainant. Pell spent more than 400 days in jail before he was exonerated in April 2020 after appealing to the High Court. Before, during and after the legal process most of the print and broadcast media were fiercely hostile to the Cardinal. This was due in part to Pell’s forthright personality and to his conservatism on moral issues. But he also represented the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the midst of its crisis over sexual abuse. His public defenders were few. The clergy, by and large, refrained from commenting on the issue.

Abstracts Background Patients with chronic viral infections including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) are at increased risk of developing malignancies. The safety and efficacy of ICI therapy in patients with both cancer and chronic viral infections is not well established as most clinical trials of ICIs excluded these patient populations. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with advanced-stage cancers and HIV, HBV, or HCV infection treated with ICI therapy at 5 MedStar Health hospitals from January 2011 to April 2018. Results We identified 50 patients including 16 HIV, 29 HBV/HCV, and 5 with concurrent HIV and either HBV or HCV. In the HIV cohort (n = 21), any grade immune-related adverse events (irAEs) were 24% with grade ≥ 3 irAEs 14%. Among 5 patients with matched pre/post-treatment results, no significant changes in HIV viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts were observed. RECIST confirmed (n = 18) overall response rate (ORR) was 28% with 2 complete responses (CR) and 3 partial responses (PR). Responders included 2 patients with low baseline CD4+ T-cell counts (40 and 77 cells/ul, respectively). In the HBV/HCV cohort (n = 34), any grade irAEs were 44% with grade ≥ 3 irAEs 29%. RECIST confirmed ORR was 21% (6 PR). Among the 6 patients with known pre/post-treatment viral titers (2 HCV and 4 HBV), there was no evidence of viral reactivation. Conclusions Our retrospective series is one of the largest case series to report clinical outcomes among HIV, HBV and HCV patients treated with ICI therapy. Toxicity and efficacy rates were similar to those observed in patients without chronic viral infections. Viral reactivation was not observed. Tumor responses occurred in HIV patients with low CD4 T-cell counts. While prospective studies are needed to validate above findings, these data support not excluding such patients from ICI–based clinical trials or treatment.

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly’s brain.

It would be a reasonable inference from our sources that each time Muḥammad was away from Medina he left behind a deputy. The object of this paper is to collect and interpret the information our sources provide about these deputies. After a brief introduction, the second and third sections assemble and contextualize the data. The fourth section then discusses questions of interpretation: how far we can rely on the information in our sources, what this information can tell us about the kind of people Muḥammad would appoint as deputies, and how the emerging pattern might be explained historically. The main finding is that the data, if at all reliable, indicate that deputies were frequently people with little ability to cope with emergencies, and that Muḥammad must have been giving priority to political considerations in choosing them. Readers interested only in the interpretative questions could skip the second and third sections.

A legislação referente à liberdade de informação existe atualmente em muitos países, seguindo precedentes e diretrizes de organismos internacionais. É provável que leis similares continuem a ser adotadas em mais países e organizações. Este artigo analisa os seus efeitos reais e potenciais sobre a prática de profissionais de arquivo no Reino Unido e faz observações sobre o significado internacional disso. A referida legislação inclui a Lei de Liberdade de Informação (Freedom of Information) (FoI Act ) do Reino Unido, de 2000, as leis de proteção de dados (Data Protection Acts) de 1984 e 1998, e o Regulamento de Informação Ambiental (Enviromental Information Regulation) de 2004, assim como outros procedimentos legais. Palavras-chave: liberdade de informação (FoI); Reino Unido; proteção de dados.

A legislação referente à liberdade de informação existe atualmente em muitos países, seguindo precedentes e diretrizes de organismos internacionais. É provável que leis similares continuem a ser adotadas em mais países e organizações. Este artigo analisa os seus efeitos reais e potenciais sobre a prática de profissionais de arquivo no Reino Unido e faz observações sobre o significado internacional disso. A referida legislação inclui a Lei de Liberdade de Informação ( Freedom of Information) (FoI Act ) do Reino Unido, de 2000, as leis de proteção de dados ( Data Protection Acts ) de 1984 e 1998, e o Regulamento de Informação Ambiental ( Enviromental Information Regulation ) de 2004, assim como outros procedimentos legais. Palavras-chave: liberdade de informação (FoI); Reino Unido; proteção de dados.

A oficina ARMReN ocorrida na University College London sobre pesquisas em descrição arquivística. Comunicações de Heather MacNeil; Leonard Reilly e Jon Newman; Victoria Peters e Lesley Richmond; e Geoffrey Yeo. Críticas a normas correntes, pesquisas sobre contexto e interpretação de arquivos, contribuições de usuários para descrições arquivísticas, desenvolvimento de sistemas de descrição flexíveis pela Glasgow University, conexão entre gestão de documentos e arquivos no trabalho descritivo e a influência do acesso remoto e da Internet.

Managing Machine-Readable Archives: Progress with Description and Exchange Standards