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Copyright © 2015 Cutler et al.Background: The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are common, complex disorders in which genetic and environmental factors are believed to interact leading to chronic inflammatory responses against the gut microbiota. Earlier

Purpose – This paper investigates how power and narratives among actors relate to the process of agenda-setting and deliberation in the context of climate change loss and damage. The focus is to understand how grassroots voices manifest their concerns on intensifying economic and non-economic impacts of climate change loss and damage which affect them. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on the case of the Southeast Asia climate change loss and damage workshop in Bohol, Philippines in August 2022. It utilizes lesson drawing as a critical approach by thematic analysis in making sense of the data gathered from the perspectives of participant observers and facilitators. Findings – There are different levels of power and dominant narratives actors in a deliberative process propel in taking a stance over a particular issue towards agenda-setting and policy framing. The power and narratives help actors to maintain and emphasize their position, exercise authority, and to some point, suppress weak voices. Narratives associated with emotions, sentiments, ideologies, and value systems of the grassroots, community leaders, and climate justice movements tend to be devalued by those in a high level of power and authority. Originality/value – Techno-authoritarian domination explicitly hampers a genuine grassroots involvement in the policy process, especially towards agenda-setting of immediate concerns about climate change loss and damage which affect the public. Critiquing actors’ power and narratives are productive in identifying and propagating the type of deliberative spaces that speak truth to power.

Neoponcirin causes anxiolytic-like effects in mice when administered intraperitoneally but not orally. Neoponcirin is non-water-soluble and insoluble in solvents, and in medium acid, it isomerizes, reducing its bioavailability. To improve the pharmacological properties of neoponcirin, we formed a neoponcirin complex with beta-cyclodextrin (NEO/βCD), which was characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis, and NMR, and their solubility profile. We evaluated the antidepressant-like effects of NEO/βCD acutely administered to mice orally in the behavioral paradigms, the tail suspension (TST) and the forced swimming (FST) tests. We also analyzed the benefits of repeated oral doses of NEO/βCD on depression- and anxiety-like behaviors induced in mice by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), using the FST, hole board, and open field tests. We determined the stressed mice’s expression of stress-related inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα) and corticosterone. Results showed that a single or chronic oral administration of NEO/βCD caused a robust antidepressant-like effect without affecting the ambulatory activity. In mice under CUMS, NEO/βCD also produced anxiolytic-like effects and avoided increased corticosterone and IL-1β levels. The effects of the NEO/βCD complex were robust in both the acute and the stress chronic models, improving brain neurochemistry and recovering immune responses previously affected by prolonged stress.

Vaccination is one of the most effective prophylactic public health interventions for the prevention of infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Considering the ongoing need for new COVID-19 vaccines, it is crucial to modify our approach and incorporate more conserved regions of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to effectively address emerging viral variants. The nucleocapsid protein is a structural protein of SARS-CoV-2 that is involved in replication and immune responses. Furthermore, this protein offers significant advantages owing to the minimal accumulation of mutations over time and the inclusion of key T-cell epitopes critical for SARS-CoV-2 immunity. A novel strategy that may be suitable for the new generation of vaccines against COVID-19 is to use a combination of antigens, including the spike and nucleocapsid proteins, to elicit robust humoral and potent cellular immune responses, along with long-lasting immunity. The strategic use of multiple antigens aims to enhance vaccine efficacy and broaden protection against viruses, including their variants. The immune response against the nucleocapsid protein from other coronavirus is long-lasting, and it can persist up to 11 years post-infection. Thus, the incorporation of nucleocapsids (N) into vaccine design adds an important dimension to vaccination efforts and holds promise for bolstering the ability to combat COVID-19 effectively. In this review, we summarize the preclinical studies that evaluated the use of the nucleocapsid protein as antigen. This study discusses the use of nucleocapsid alone and its combination with spike protein or other proteins of SARS-CoV-2.

Limitations associated with linear-array probes in photoacoustic tomography are partially compensated by using advanced beamformers that exploit the temporal and spatial coherence of the recorded signals, such as Delay Multiply and Sum (DMAS), Minimum Variance (MV) or coherence factor (CF), among others. However, their associated signal processing leads to an overestimation of the spatial resolution, as well as alterations in the reconstructed object size. Numerical and experimental results reported here support this hypothesis. First, we show that the Rayleigh criterion (RC) is the most suitable choice to characterize the spatial resolution instead of the Point Spread Function (PSF) when considering advanced beamformers. Then, we observe that several advanced beamformers fail to properly reconstruct target sizes slightly above the spatial resolution, underestimating their size. This work sheds light on the suitability of this type of beamformers combined with linear probes for determining sizes and morphology in photoacoustic images.

Standarized, multiple-choice tests have become the major criterion for a wide range of school decisions affecting student placement, curriculum format, and teaching style. Improved assessment will not reform education. The more insightful and powerful the assessment tool, the more damage is caused by its misuse. Includes 70 references. (MLH)

Endosymbiotic bacteria are identified in the parasitic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, a common pathogen of freshwater fish. Fluorescence in situ hybridization has shown that bacteria from the Rickettsiales and Sphingobacteriales classes are endosymbionts of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, found in the cytoplasm, but not in the macronucleus or micronucleus.

Cuando una superficie vibra comprimiendo el medio que tiene delante, genera ondas acústicas. Este es el caso de los altavoces, que generan ondas acústicas a frecuencias audibles mediante una superficie móvil. En este trabajo presentamos un tutorial para modelizar la radiación acústica de superficies vibrantes, diferenciando entre geometrías circulares planas y curvadas. En primer lugar, derivaremos los modelos que describen la radiación de superficies móviles, y obtendremos soluciones analíticas para los casos más simples. Para los más complejos, se integrará numéricamente. Ambas soluciones se han incorporado a una interfaz gráfica sencilla, con las que se puede visualizar el campo acústico generado por las distintas superficies al variar sus características de radiación. La metodología propuesta permite profundizar en el análisis de la radiación de ondas acústicas, y presentar un ejemplo de modelización para estudiantes de Acústica, desde la modelización hasta la obtención de soluciones analíticas y numéricas.

IntroductionIn the Philippines, scheduling the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been a challenging task. The local government units (LGUs) have to carefully work with limited resources to avoid underutilizing vaccines while considering prioritization schemes in the rollout. As the country continues to vaccinate its population to manage the spread of COVID-19, planning the prioritization of individuals becomes more apparent in the vaccination rollout with respect to the COVID-19 situation in their respective areas.MethodsOur study develops a location-allocation model that aims to optimally schedule the COVID-19 vaccine rollout of a municipality. Here we applied the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the prioritization of communities (i.e., barangays) in the vaccine rollout based on the number of COVID-19 cases, the population density, and the proximity of the community to the available vaccine sites. Consequently, an integer programming (IP) model was formulated to determine the assignment of individuals to the vaccine stations with respect to the prioritization of their community in the rollout, as well as the minimum number of vaccine stations to open.Results and discussionThe AHP-based IP model proposed in this study not only assigns individuals to vaccination centers, but is also capable of tailoring the vaccine rollout to prioritize individuals depending on the preferences of the LGUs, and the COVID-19 situation in their areas. Furthermore, the vaccine rollout framework in this work is applicable to other vaccine-preventable diseases (e.g., rabies, measles, etc.) should LGUs embark on adapting this approach.

Background Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are important determinants of intratumoral immune evasion, neoangiogenesis, extracellular matrix remodeling and dysregulated tumor cell proliferation. Our prior studies revealed that macrophage-derived, but not tumor cell-derived, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), is an important determinant of TAM alternative activation and M2 polarization. Aim Because MIF is historically thought to initiate signaling via a receptor-dependent, outside-in mode of action, we wished to investigate the specific contributions of tumor-derived vs. macrophage-derived MIF to M2 marker expression during macrophage polarization. Design Murine oral squamous cell-carcinoma cells (SCCVII) were co-cultured with either the RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cell line or mouse primary bone marrow-derived macrophages in the context of MIF genetic loss/inhibition individually or in combination each cell type. Methods Twelve well Transwell plates were used to co-culture SCCVII cells and RAW 264.7, MIF+/+or MIF−/−macrophages treated with/without the small molecule MIF inhibitor, 4-iodo-6-phenylpyrimidine and incubated in the presence or absence of interleukin (IL-4) for 48 h. Macrophages were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and/or immunoblotting for relative macrophage polarization marker expression. Results IL-4 treatment synergizes with SCCVII co-culture in inducing the expression of macrophage M2 markers and loss or inhibition of macrophage-derived MIF significantly reduces both IL-4 alone and IL-4/SCCVII co-culture-induced macrophage M2 marker expression. Conclusion These studies identify an important and dominant requirement for macrophage MIF in maximal Th2-cytokine and oral squamous carcinoma cell-induced macrophage polarization and M2 marker expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]