Search results for: active braided intensity

Authors: Samantha J. Hall, Luke Taylor, Kenneth I. Cumming, Jakki Bardsley, Scott S. P. Wildman

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Medway School of Pharmacy – a joint collaboration between the University of Kent and the University of Greenwich – is a large school of pharmacy in the United Kingdom. The school primarily delivers the accredited Master or Pharmacy (MPharm) degree programme. Reportedly, some students may feel isolated from the larger student body that extends across four separate campuses, where a diverse range of academic subjects is delivered. In addition, student engagement has been noted as being limited in some areas, as evidenced in some cases by poor attendance at some lectures. In January 2015, the University of Kent launched a new initiative dedicated to Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI). As part of this project, Medway School of Pharmacy employed ‘Student Success Project Officers’ in order to analyse past and present school data. As a result, initiatives have been implemented to i) negate disparities in attainment and ii) increase engagement, particularly for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students which make up for more than 80% of the pharmacy student cohort. Social media platforms are prevalent, with global statistics suggesting that they are most commonly used by females between the ages of 16-34. Student focus groups held throughout the academic year brought to light the school’s need to use social media much more actively. Prior to the EDI initiative, social media usage for Medway School of Pharmacy was scarce. Platforms including: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, The Student Room and University Blogs were either introduced or rejuvenated. This action was taken with the primary aim of increasing student engagement. By using a number of varied social media platforms, the university is able to capture a large range of students by appealing to different interests. Social media is being used to disseminate important information, promote equality and diversity, recognise and celebrate student success and also to allow students to explore the student life outside of Medway School of Pharmacy. Early data suggests an increase in lecture attendance, as well as greater evidence of student engagement highlighted by recent focus group discussions. In addition, students have communicated that active social media accounts were imperative when choosing universities for 2015/16. It allows students to understand more about the University and community prior to beginning their studies. By having a lively presence on social media, the university can use a multi-faceted approach to succeed in early engagement, as well as fostering the long term engagement of continuing students.

Keywords: engagement, social media, pharmacy, community

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Authors: Kobauri Sophio, Kantaria Tengiz, Tugushi David, Puiggali Jordi, Katsarava Ramaz

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Biodegradable biomaterials (BB) are of high interest for numerous applications in modern medicine as resorbable surgical materials and drug delivery systems. This kind of materials can be cleared from the body after the fulfillment of their function that excludes a surgical intervention for their removal. One of the most promising BBare amino acids based biodegradable poly(ester amide)s (PEAs) which are composed of naturally occurring (α-amino acids) and non-toxic building blocks such as fatty diols and dicarboxylic acids. Key bis-nucleophilic monomers for synthesizing the PEAs are diamine-diesters-di-p-toluenesulfonic acid salts of bis-(α-amino acid)-alkylenediesters (TAADs) which form the PEAs after step-growth polymerization (polycondensation) with bis-electrophilic counter-partners - activated diesters of dicarboxylic acids. The PEAs combine all advantages of the 'parent polymers' – polyesters (PEs) and polyamides (PAs): Ability of biodegradation (PEs), a high affinity with tissues and a wide range of desired mechanical properties (PAs). The scopes of applications of thePEAs can substantially be expanded by their functionalization, e.g. through the incorporation of hydrophobic fragments into the polymeric backbones. Hydrophobically modified PEAs can form non-covalent adducts with various compounds that make them attractive as drug carriers. For hydrophobic modification of the PEAs, we selected so-called 'Azlactone Method' based on the application of p-phenylene-bis-oxazolinons (bis-azlactones, BALs) as active bis-electrophilic monomers in step-growth polymerization with TAADs. Interaction of BALs with TAADs resulted in the PEAs with low MWs (Mw2,800-19,600 Da) and poor material properties. The high-molecular-weight PEAs (Mw up to 100,000) with desirable material properties were synthesized after replacement of a part of BALs with activated diester - di-p-nitrophenylsebacate, or a part of TAAD with alkylenediamine – 1,6-hexamethylenediamine. The new hydrophobically modified PEAs were characterized by FTIR, NMR, GPC, and DSC. It was shown that after the hydrophobic modification the PEAs retain the biodegradability (in vitro study catalyzed by α-chymptrypsin and lipase), and are of interest for constructing resorbable surgical and pharmaceutical devices including drug delivering containers such as microspheres. The new PEAs are insoluble in hydrophobic organic solvents such as chloroform or dichloromethane (swell only) that allowed elaborating a new technology of fabricating microspheres.

Keywords: amino acids, biodegradable polymers, bis-azlactones, microspheres

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Authors: Minal Jain, Vinayak Malhotra

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Solid Propellant ignition consists of rapid and complex events comprising of heat generation and transfer of heat with spreading of flames over the entire burning surface area. Proper combustion and thus propulsion depends heavily on the modes of heat transfer characteristics and cavity volume. Fire safety is an integral component of a successful rocket flight failing to which may lead to overall failure of the rocket. This leads to enormous forfeiture in resources viz., money, time, and labor involved. When the propellant is ignited, thrust is generated and the casing gets heated up. This heat adds on to the propellant heat and the casing, if not at proper orientation starts burning as well, leading to the whole rocket being completely destroyed. This has necessitated active research efforts emphasizing a comprehensive study on the inter-energy relations involved for effective utilization of the solid rocket motors for better space missions. Present work is focused on one of the major influential aspects of this detrimental burning which is the presence of an external heat source, in addition to a potential heat source which is already ignited. The study is motivated by the need to ensure better combustion and fire safety presented experimentally as a simplified small-scale mode of a rocket carrying a solid propellant inside a cavity. The experimental setup comprises of a paraffin wax candle as the pilot fuel and incense stick as the external heat source. The candle is fixed and the incense stick position and location is varied to investigate the find the influence of the pilot heat source. Different configurations of the external heat source presence with separation distance are tested upon. Regression rates of the pilot thin solid fuel are noted to fundamentally understand the non-linear heat and mass transfer which is the governing phenomenon. An attempt is made to understand the phenomenon fundamentally and the mechanism governing it. Results till now indicate non-linear heat transfer assisted with the occurrence of flaming transition at selected critical distances. With an increase in separation distance, the effect is noted to drop in a non-monotonic trend. The parametric study results are likely to provide useful physical insight about the governing physics and utilization in proper testing, validation, material selection, and designing of solid rocket motors with enhanced safety.

Keywords: combustion, propellant, regression, safety

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Authors: Alan Ruiz-Padilla, Brando Villalobos-Villalobos, Yeniley Ruiz-Noa, Claudia Mendoza-Macías, Claudia Palafox-Sánchez, Miguel Marín-Rosales, Álvaro Cruz, Rubén Rangel-Salazar

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Introduction: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, resistance or poor response to disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) may be a reflection of the increase in g-P. The expression of g-P may be important in mediating the effluence of DMARD from the cell. In addition, P-glycoprotein is involved in the transport of cytokines, IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4, from normal lymphocytes activated to the surrounding extracellular matrix, thus influencing the activity of RA. The involvement of P-glycoprotein in the transmembrane transport of cytokines can serve as a modulator of the efficacy of DMARD. It was shown that a number of lymphocytes with glycoprotein P activity is increased in patients with RA; therefore, P-glycoprotein expression could be related to the activity of RA and could be a predictor of poor response to therapy. Objective: To evaluate in RA patients, if the G2677T/A MDR1 polymorphisms is associated with differences in the rate of therapeutic response to disease-modifying antirheumatic agents in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Material and Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted. Fifty seven patients with RA were included. They had an active disease according to DAS-28 (score >3.2). We excluded patients receiving biological agents. All the patients were followed during 6 months in order to identify the rate of therapeutic response according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. At the baseline peripheral blood samples were taken in order to identify the G2677T/A MDR1 polymorphisms using PCR- Specific allele. The fragment was identified by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels stained with ethidium bromide. For statistical analysis, the genotypic and allelic frequencies of MDR1 gene polymorphism between responders and non-responders were determined. Chi-square tests as well as, relative risks with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were computed to identify differences in the risk for achieving therapeutic response. Results: RA patients had a mean age of 47.33 ± 12.52 years, 87.7% were women with a mean for DAS-28 score of 6.45 ± 1.12. At the 6 months, the rate of therapeutic response was 68.7 %. The observed genotype frequencies were: for G/G 40%, T/T 32%, A/A 19%, G/T 7% and for A/A genotype 2%. Patients with G allele developed at 6 months of treatment, higher rate for therapeutic response assessed by ACR20 compared to patients with others alleles (p=0.039). Conclusions: Patients with G allele of the - G2677T/A MDR1 polymorphisms had a higher rate of therapeutic response at 6 months with DMARD. These preliminary data support the requirement for a deep evaluation of these and other genotypes as factors that may influence the therapeutic response in RA.

Keywords: pharmacogenetics, MDR1, P-glycoprotein, therapeutic response, rheumatoid arthritis

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Authors: G. Melo, J. Felix, S. Maciel, C. Fernandes, W. Rodrigues

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In Brazilian public policy, the Centres of Reference for Social Assistance (CRAS in Portuguese) are part of the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS in Portuguese). SUAS is responsible for addressing spontaneous or currently active cases that are brought forth from other services in the social assistance network. The following case was reviewed by CRAS’s team in Recife, Brazil, after a complaint of child abuse was filed against the mother of a 7-year-old girl by the girl’s aunt. The girl is the daughter of an incestuous relationship between her mother and her older brother. The complaint was registered by service staff and five interventions were subsequently carried out on behalf of the child. These interventions provided a secure place for dialogue with both the child and her family and allowed for an investigation of the abuse to proceed. They took place in the child’s school as well as her aunt’s residence. At school, the child (with her classmates) watched a video and listened to a song about the prevention of child abuse. This was followed up with a second intervention to determine any signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), by having the child play with the mobile app ‘My Angela’. Books on the themes of family and fear were also read to the child on different occasions at her school – after every intervention she was asked to draw something related to fear and her concept of a family. After the interventions and discussing the case as a team, we reached several conclusions: 1) The child did not appear to show any symptoms of PTSD; 2) She normally fantasized about her future and life story; 3) She did not allow herself to be touched by strangers with whom she lacks a close relationship (such as classmates or her teacher); 4) Through her drawings, she reproduced the conversations she had had with the staff; 5) She habitually covered her drawings when asked questions about the abuse. In this particular clinical case, we want to highlight that the role of the Psychologist’s intervention at CRAS is to attempt to resolve the issue promptly (and not to develop a prolonged clinical study based on traditional methods), by making use of the available tools from the social assistance network, and by making referrals to the relevant authorities, such as the Public Ministry, so that final protective actions can be taken and enforced. In this case, the Guardian Council of the Brazilian Public Ministry was asked to transfer the custody of the child to her uncle. The mother of the child was sent to a CAPS (Centre for Psychosocial Care), having been diagnosed with psychopathology. The child would then participate in NGO programs that allow for a gradual reduction of social exposure to her mother before being transferred to her uncle’s custody in Sao Paulo.

Keywords: child abuse, intervention, social psychology, violence

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Authors: Anjali Vanpariya, Priyanka Marathey, Sakshum Khanna, Roma Patel, Indrajit Mukhopadhyay

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Silicon (Si) is a promising negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) due to its low cost, non-toxicity, and a high theoretical capacity of 4200 mAhg⁻¹. The primary challenge of the application of Si-based LiBs is large volume expansion (~ 300%) during the charge-discharge process. Incorporation of graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), morphological control, and nanoparticles was utilized as effective strategies to tackle volume expansion issues. However, molten salt methods can resolve the issue, but high-temperature requirement limits its application. For sustainable and practical approach, room temperature (RT) based methods are essentially required. Use of ionic liquids (ILs) for electrodeposition of Si nanostructures can possibly resolve the issue of temperature as well as greener media. In this work, electrodeposition of Si nanoparticles on gold substrate was successfully carried out in the presence of ILs media, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-bis (trifluoromethyl sulfonyl) imide (BMImTf₂N) at room temperature. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) suggests the sequential reduction of Si⁴⁺ to Si²⁺ and then Si nanoparticles (SiNs). The structure and morphology of the electrodeposited SiNs were investigated by FE-SEM and observed interconnected Si nanoparticles of average particle size ⁓100-200 nm. XRD and XPS data confirm the deposition of Si on Au (111). The first discharge-charge capacity of Si anode material has been found to be 1857 and 422 mAhg⁻¹, respectively, at current density 7.8 Ag⁻¹. The irreversible capacity of the first discharge-charge process can be attributed to the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) formation via electrolyte decomposition, and trapped Li⁺ inserted into the inner pores of Si. Pulverization of SiNs results in the creation of a new active site, which facilitates the formation of new SEI in the subsequent cycles leading to fading in a specific capacity. After 20 cycles, charge-discharge profiles have been stabilized, and a reversible capacity of 150 mAhg⁻¹ is retained. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data shows the decrease in Rct value from 94.7 to 47.6 kΩ after 50 cycles of charge-discharge, which demonstrates the improvements of the interfacial charge transfer kinetics. The decrease in the Warburg impedance after 50 cycles of charge-discharge measurements indicates facile diffusion in fragmented and smaller Si nanoparticles. In summary, Si nanoparticles deposited on gold substrate using ILs as media and characterized well with different analytical techniques. Synthesized material was successfully utilized for LiBs application, which is well supported by CV and EIS data.

Keywords: silicon nanoparticles, ionic liquid, electrodeposition, cyclic voltammetry, Li-ion battery

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Authors: Gurleen Kour, Mowkshi Khullar, B. K. Chandan, Parvinder Pal Singh, Kushalava Reddy Yumpalla, Gurunadham Munagala, Ram A. Vishwakarma, Zabeer Ahmed

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New chemotherapeutic compounds against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are urgently needed to combat drug resistance in tuberculosis (TB). Apart from in-vitro potency against the target, physiochemical properties and pharmacokinetic properties play an imperative role in the process of drug discovery. We have identified novel nitroimidazole derivatives with potential activity against mycobacterium tuberculosis. One lead candidates, MCD-017, which showed potent activity against H37Rv strain (MIC=0.5µg/ml) and was further evaluated in the process of drug development. Methods: Basic physicochemical parameters like solubility and lipophilicity (LogP) were evaluated. Thermodynamic solubility was determined in PBS buffer (pH 7.4) using LC/MS-MS. The partition coefficient (Log P) of the compound was determined between octanol and phosphate buffered saline (PBS at pH 7.4) at 25°C by the microscale shake flask method. The compound followed Lipinski’s rule of five, which is predictive of good oral bioavailability and was further evaluated for metabolic stability. In-vitro metabolic stability was determined in rat liver microsomes. The hepatotoxicity of the compound was also determined in HepG2 cell line. In vivo pharmacokinetic profile of the compound after oral dosing was also obtained using balb/c mice. Results: The compound exhibited favorable solubility and lipophilicity. The physical and chemical properties of the compound were made use of as the first determination of drug-like properties. The compound obeyed Lipinski’s rule of five, with molecular weight < 500, number of hydrogen bond donors (HBD) < 5 and number of hydrogen bond acceptors(HBA) not more then 10. The log P of the compound was less than 5 and therefore the compound is predictive of exhibiting good absorption and permeation. Pooled rat liver microsomes were prepared from rat liver homogenate for measuring the metabolic stability. 99% of the compound was not metabolized and remained intact. The compound did not exhibit cytoxicity in hepG2 cells upto 40 µg/ml. The compound revealed good pharmacokinetic profile at a dose of 5mg/kg administered orally with a half life (t1/2) of 1.15 hours, Cmax of 642ng/ml, clearance of 4.84 ml/min/kg and a volume of distribution of 8.05 l/kg. Conclusion : The emergence of multi drug resistance (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) Tuberculosis emphasize the requirement of novel drugs active against tuberculosis. Thus, the need to evaluate physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties in the early stages of drug discovery is required to reduce the attrition associated with poor drug exposure. In summary, it can be concluded that MCD-017 may be considered a good candidate for further preclinical and clinical evaluations.

Keywords: mycobacterium tuberculosis, pharmacokinetics, physicochemical properties, hepatotoxicity

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Authors: Aloke Bapli, Debabrata Seth

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Graphene oxide (GO) is the two-dimensional (2D) nanoscale allotrope of carbon having several physiochemical properties such as high mechanical strength, high surface area, strong thermal and electrical conductivity makes it an important candidate in various modern applications such as drug delivery, supercapacitors, sensors etc. GO has been used in the photothermal treatment of cancers and Alzheimer’s disease etc. The main idea to choose GO in our work is that it is a surface active molecule, it has a large number of hydrophilic functional groups such as carboxylic acid, hydroxyl, epoxide on its surface and in basal plane. So it can easily interact with organic fluorophores through hydrogen bonding or any other kind of interaction and easily modulate the photophysics of the probe molecules. We have used different spectroscopic techniques for our work. The Ground-state absorption spectra and steady-state fluorescence emission spectra were measured by using UV-Vis spectrophotometer from Shimadzu (model-UV-2550) and spectrofluorometer from Horiba Jobin Yvon (model-Fluoromax 4P) respectively. All the fluorescence lifetime and anisotropy decays were collected by using time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) setup from Edinburgh instrument (model: LifeSpec-II, U.K.). Herein, we described the photophysics of a hydrophilic molecule 7-(n,n׀-diethylamino) coumarin-3-carboxylic acid (7-DCCA) in the reverse micelles containing GO. It was observed that photophysics of dye is modulated in the presence of GO compared to photophysics of dye in the absence of GO inside the reverse micelles. Here we have reported the solvent relaxation and rotational relaxation time in GO containing reverse micelle and compare our work with normal reverse micelle system by using 7-DCCA molecule. Normal reverse micelle means reverse micelle in the absence of GO. The absorption maxima of 7-DCCA were blue shifted and emission maxima were red shifted in GO containing reverse micelle compared to normal reverse micelle. The rotational relaxation time in GO containing reverse micelle is always faster compare to normal reverse micelle. Solvent relaxation time, at lower w₀ values, is always slower in GO containing reverse micelle compare to normal reverse micelle and at higher w₀ solvent relaxation time of GO containing reverse micelle becomes almost equal to normal reverse micelle. Here emission maximum of 7-DCCA exhibit bathochromic shift in GO containing reverse micelles compared to that in normal reverse micelles because in presence of GO the polarity of the system increases, as polarity increases the emission maxima was red shifted an average decay time of GO containing reverse micelle is less than that of the normal reverse micelle. In GO containing reverse micelle quantum yield, decay time, rotational relaxation time, solvent relaxation time at λₑₓ=375 nm is always higher than λₑₓ=405 nm, shows the excitation wavelength dependent photophysics of 7-DCCA in GO containing reverse micelles.

Keywords: photophysics, reverse micelle, rotational relaxation, solvent relaxation

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Authors: Turin Datta, Kisor K. Sahu

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Structural materials used in today’s oil and gas exploration and drilling of both onshore and offshore oil and gas wells must possess superior tensile properties, excellent resistance to corrosive degradation that includes general, localized (pitting and crevice) and environment assisted cracking such as stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement. The High Pressure and High Temperature (HPHT) wells are typically operated at temperature and pressure that can exceed 300-3500F and 10,000psi (69MPa) respectively which necessitates the use of exotic materials in these exotic sources of natural resources. This research investigation is focussed on the evaluation of tensile properties and corrosion behavior of AISI 4140 High-Strength Low Alloy Steel (HSLA) possessing tempered martensitic microstructure and Duplex 2205 Stainless Steel (DSS) having austenitic and ferritic phase. The selection of this two alloys are primarily based on economic considerations as 4140 HSLA is cheaper when compared to DSS 2205. Due to the harsh aggressive chemical species encountered in deep oil and gas wells like chloride ions (Cl-), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S) along with other mineral organic acids, DSS 2205, having a dual-phase microstructure can mitigate the degradation resulting from the presence of both chloride ions (Cl-) and hydrogen simultaneously. Tensile properties evaluation indicates a ductile failure of DSS 2205 whereas 4140 HSLA exhibit quasi-cleavage fracture due to the phenomenon of ‘tempered martensitic embrittlement’. From the potentiodynamic polarization testing, it is observed that DSS 2205 has higher corrosion resistance than 4140 HSLA; the former exhibits passivity signifying resistance to localized corrosion while the latter exhibits active dissolution in all the environmental parameters space that was tested. From the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) evaluation, it is understood that stable pits appear in DSS 2205 only when the temperature exceeds the critical pitting temperature (CPT). SEM observation of the corroded 4140 HSLA specimen tested in aqueous 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution reveals intergranular cracking which appears due to the adsorption and diffusion of hydrogen during polarization, thus, causing hydrogen-induced cracking/hydrogen embrittlement. General corrosion testing of DSS 2205 in acidic brine (pH~3.0) solution at ambient temperature using coupons indicate no weight loss even after three months whereas the corrosion rate of AISI 4140 HSLA is significantly higher after one month of testing.

Keywords: DSS 2205, polarization, pitting, SEM

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Authors: Carlos A. Martins de Jesus

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The Greek anthology, first put together in the tenth century AD, gathers in two separate books a large number of epigrams devoted to love and its consequences, both of hetero (book V) and homosexual (book XII) nature. While some poets wrote epigrams of only one genre –that is the case of Strato (II cent. BC), the organizer of a wide-spread garland of homosexual epigrams –, several others composed within both categories, often using the same topics of love and suffering. Using Plato’s theorization of two different kinds of Eros (Symp. 180d-182a), the popular (pandemos) and the celestial (ouranios), homoerotic epigrammatic love is more often associated with the first one, while heterosexual poetry tends to be connected to a higher form of love. This paper focuses on the epigrammatic production of a single first-century BC poet, Meleager, aiming to look for the similarities and differences on singing both kinds of love. From Meleager, the Greek Anthology –a garland whose origins have been traced back to the poet’s garland itself– preserves more than sixty heterosexual and 48 homosexual epigrams, an important and unprecedented amount of poems that are able to trace a complete profile of his way of singing love. Meleager’s poetry deals with personal experience and emotions, frequently with love and the unhappiness that usually comes from it. Most times he describes himself not as an active and engaged lover, but as one struck by the beauty of a woman or boy, i.e., in a stage prior to erotic consummation. His epigrams represent the unreal and fantastic (literally speaking) world of the lover, in which the imagery and wordplays are used to convey emotion in the epigrams of both genres. Elsewhere Meleager surprises the reader by offering a surrealist or dreamlike landscape where everyday adventures are transcribed into elaborate metaphors for erotic feeling. For instance, in 12.81, the lovers are shipwrecked, and as soon as they have disembarked, they are promptly kidnapped by a figure who is both Eros and a beautiful boy. Particularly –and worth-to-know why significant – in the homosexual poems collected in Book XII, mythology also plays an important role, namely in the figure and the scene of Ganimedes’ kidnap by Zeus for his royal court (12. 70, 94). While mostly refusing the Hellenistic model of dramatic love epigram, in which a small everyday scene is portrayed –and 5. 182 is a clear exception to this almost rule –, Meleager actually focuses on the tumultuous inside of his (poetic) lovers, in the realm of a subject that feels love and pain far beyond his/her erotic preferences. In relation to loving and suffering –mostly suffering, it has to be said –, Meleager’s love is therefore completely democratic. There is no real place in his epigrams for the traditional association mentioned before between homoeroticism and a carnal-erotic-pornographic love, while the heterosexual one being more evenly and pure, so to speak.

Keywords: epigram, erotic epigram, Greek Anthology, Meleager

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Authors: Bao-Fang Wen, Meng-Na Dai, Gao-Pei Zhu, Chen-Xi Zhang, Jing Sun, Xun-Bao Yin, Yu-Han Zhao, Hong-Wei Sun, Wei-Fen Zhang

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A drug-loaded nanoparticles containing berberine hydrochloride (BH/FA-CTS-NPs) was prepared. The physicochemical characterizations of BH/FA-CTS-NPs and the inhibitory effect on the HeLa cells were investigated. Folic acid-conjugated chitosan (FA-CTS) was prepared by amino reaction of folic acid active ester and chitosan molecules; BH/FA-CTS-NPs were prepared using ionic cross-linking technique with BH as a model drug. The morphology and particle size were determined by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The average diameters and polydispersity index (PDI) were evaluated by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The interaction between various components and the nanocomplex were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The entrapment efficiency (EE), drug-loading (DL) and in vitro release were studied by UV spectrophotometer. The effect of cell anti-migratory and anti-invasive actions of BH/FA-CTS-NPs were investigated using MTT assays, wound healing assays, Annexin-V-FITC single staining assays, and flow cytometry, respectively. HeLa nude mice subcutaneously transplanted tumor model was established and treated with different drugs to observe the effect of BH/FA-CTS-NPs in vivo on HeLa bearing tumor. The BH/FA-CTS-NPs prepared in this experiment have a regular shape, uniform particle size, and no aggregation phenomenon. The results of DLS showed that mean particle size, PDI and Zeta potential of BH/FA-CTS NPs were (249.2 ± 3.6) nm, 0.129 ± 0.09, 33.6 ± 2.09, respectively, and the average diameter and PDI were stable in 90 days. The results of FT-IR demonstrated that the characteristic peaks of FA-CTS and BH/FA-CTS-NPs confirmed that FA-CTS cross-linked successfully and BH was encapsulated in NPs. The EE and DL amount were (79.3 ± 3.12) % and (7.24 ± 1.41) %, respectively. The results of in vitro release study indicated that the cumulative release of BH/FA-CTS NPs was (89.48±2.81) % in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) within 48h; these results by MTT assays and wund healing assays indicated that BH/FA-CTS NPs not only inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells in a concentration and time-dependent manner but can induce apoptosis as well. The subcutaneous xenograft tumor formation rate of human cervical cancer cell line HeLa in nude mice was 98% after inoculation for 2 weeks. Compared with BH group and BH/CTS-NPs group, the xenograft tumor growth of BH/FA-CTS-NPs group was obviously slower; the result indicated that BH/FA-CTS-NPs could significantly inhibit the growth of HeLa xenograft tumor. BH/FA-CTS NPs with the sustained release effect could be prepared successfully by the ionic crosslinking method. Considering these properties, block proliferation and impairing the migration of the HeLa cell line, BH/FA-CTS NPs could be an important compound for consideration in the treatment of cervical cancer.

Keywords: folic-acid, chitosan, berberine hydrochloride, nanoparticles, cervical cancer

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Authors: Camilla Marini, Deborah Agostino

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Cultural institutions provide more than service-based offers; indeed, they are experience-based contexts. A cultural experience is a special event that encompasses a wide range of values which, for visitors, are primarily cultural rather than economic and financial. Cultural institutions have always been characterized by inclusivity and participatory practices, but the upcoming of digital technologies has put forward their interest in collaborative practices and the relationship with their audience. Indeed, digital technologies highly affected the cultural experience as it was conceived. Especially, museums, as traditional and authoritative cultural institutions, have been highly challenged by digital technologies. They shifted by a collection-oriented toward a visitor-centered approach, and digital technologies generated a highly interactive ecosystem in which visitors have an active role, shaping their own cultural experience. Most of the studies that investigate value co-creation in museums adopt a single perspective which is separately one of the museums or one of the users, but the analysis of the convergence/divergence of these perspectives is still emphasized. Additionally, many contributions focus on digital value co-creation as an outcome rather than as a process. The study aims to provide a joint perspective on digital value co-creation which include both museum and visitors. Also, it deepens the contribution of digital technologies in the value co-creation process, addressing the following research questions: (i) what are the convergence/divergence drivers on digital value co-creation and (ii) how digital technologies can be means of value co-creation? The study adopts an action research methodology that is based on the case of WORTHY, an educational project which involves cultural institutions and schools all around Europe, creating a virtual collaborative museum. It represents a valuable case for the aim of the study since it has digital technologies at its core, and the interaction through digital technologies is fundamental, all along with the experience. Action research has been identified as the most appropriate methodology for researchers to have direct contact with the field. Data have been collected through primary and secondary sources. Cultural mediators such as museums, teachers and students’ families have been interviewed, while a focus group has been designed to interact with students, investigating all the aspects of the cultural experience. Secondary sources encompassed project reports and website contents in order to deepen the perspective of cultural institutions. Preliminary findings highlight the dimensions of digital value co-creation in cultural institutions from a museum-visitor integrated perspective and the contribution of digital technologies in the value co-creation process. The study outlines a two-folded contribution that encompasses both an academic and a practitioner level. Indeed, it contributes to fulfilling the gap in cultural management literature about the convergence/divergence of service provider-user perspectives but it also provides cultural professionals with guidelines on how to evaluate the digital value co-creation process.

Keywords: co-creation, digital technologies, museum, value

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Authors: Dosun Shin, Assegid Kidane, Pavan Turaga

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According to the National Institute of Health, living a sedentary lifestyle leads to a number of health issues, including increased risk of cardiovascular dis-ease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain types of cancers. This project brings together experts in multiple disciplines to bring product design, sensor design, algorithms, and health intervention studies to develop a product and system that helps reduce the amount of time sitting at the workplace. This paper illustrates ongoing improvements to prototypes the research team developed in initial research; including working prototypes with a software application, which were developed and demonstrated for users. Additional modifications were made to improve functionality, aesthetics, and ease of use, which will be discussed in this paper. Extending on the foundations created in the initial phase, our approach sought to further improve the product by conducting additional human factor research, studying deficiencies in competitive products, testing various materials/forms, developing working prototypes, and obtaining feedback from additional potential users. The solution consisted of an aesthetically pleasing seat cover cushion that easily attaches to common office chairs found in most workplaces, ensuring a wide variety of people can use the product. The product discreetly contains sensors that track when the user sits on their chair, sending information to a phone app that triggers reminders for users to stand up and move around after sitting for a set amount of time. This paper also presents the analyzed typical office aesthetics and selected materials, colors, and forms that complimented the working environment. Comfort and ease of use remained a high priority as the design team sought to provide a product and system that integrated into the workplace. As the research team continues to test, improve, and implement this solution for the sedentary workplace, the team seeks to create a viable product that acts as an impetus for a more active workday and lifestyle, further decreasing the proliferation of chronic disease and health issues for sedentary working people. This paper illustrates in detail the processes of engineering, product design, methodology, and testing results.

Keywords: anti-sedentary work behavior, new product development, sensor design, health intervention studies

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Authors: Johannes Van Der Sandt

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This quantitative study investigates different approaches of community singing, in building social capital in South Tyrol, Italy, and South Africa. The impact of the various approaches of community singing is examined by investigating the main components of social capital, namely, social norms and obligations, social networks and associations and trust, and how these components are manifested in two different societies. The research is based on the premise that community singing is an important agent for the development of social capital. It seeks to establish in what form community singing can best enhance the social capital of communities in South Tyrol that are undergoing significant changes in the ways in which social capital is generally being generated on account of demographic, economic, technological and cultural changes. South Tyrol and South Africa share some similarities in the management of their multi-cultural composition. By comparing the different approaches to community singing in two multi-cultural societies, it is hoped to gain insight, and an understanding of the connections between culture, social cohesion, identity and therefore to be able to add to the understanding of the building of social capital through community singing. Participation in music contributes to the growth of social capital in communities, this is amongst others the finding of an ever increasing amount of research. In sociological discourses on social capital generation, the dimension of community music making is recognized as an important factor. Trust and mutual cooperation are products when people listen to each other, when they work or play together, and when they care about each other. This is how social capital develops as an important shared resource. Scholars of Community Music still do not agree on a short and concise definition for Community Music. For the purpose of this research, the author concurs with the definition of Community Music of the Community Music Activity commission of the International Society of Music Education as having the following characteristics: decentralization, accessibility, equal opportunity, and active participation in music-making. These principles are social and political ones, and there can be no doubt that community music activity is more than a purely musical one. Trust, shared norms and values civic and community involvement, networks, knowledge resources, contact with families and friends, and fellowship are key components in fostering group cohesion and social capital development in a community. The research will show that there is no better place for these factors to flourish than in a community singing group. Through this comparative study, it is the aim to identify, analyze and explain similarities and differences in approaches to community across societies that find themselves in a rapid transition from traditional cultural to global cultural habits characterized by a plurality of orientation points, with the aim to gain a better understanding of the various directions South Tyrolean singing culture can take.

Keywords: community music, multicultural, singing, social capital

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Authors: Nidhi Sharotri, Dhiraj Sud

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Water pollution by pesticides constitutes a serious ecological problem due to their potential toxicity and bioaccumulation. The widespread use of pesticides in industry and agriculture along with their resistance to natural decomposition, biodegradation, chemical and photochemical degradation under typical environmental conditions has resulted in the emergence of these chemicals and their transformed products in natural water. Among AOP’s, heterogeneous photocatalysis using TiO2 as photocatalyst appears as the most emerging destructive technology for mineralization of the pollutant in aquatic streams. Among the various semiconductors (TiO2, ZnO, CdS, FeTiO3, MnTiO3, SrTiO2 and SnO2), TiO2 has proven to be the most efficient photocatalyst for environmental applications due to its biological and chemical inertness, high photo reactivity, non-toxicity, and photo stability. Semiconductor photocatalysts are characterized by an electronic band structure in which valence band and conduction band are separated by a band gap, i.e. a region of forbidden energy. Semiconductor based photocatalysts produces e-/h+ pairs which have been employed for degradation of organic pollutants. The present paper focuses on modification of TiO2 photocatalyst in order to shift its absorption edge towards longer wavelength to make it active under natural light. Semiconductor TiO2 photocatalysts was prepared by doping with anion (N), cation (Mn) and double doped (Mn, N) using greener approach. Titanium isopropoxide is used as titania precursor and ethanedithiol, hydroxyl amine hydrochloride, manganous chloride as sulphur, nitrogen and manganese precursors respectively. Synthesized doped TiO2 nanomaterials are characterized for surface morphology (SEM, TEM), crystallinity (XRD) and optical properties (absorption spectra and band gap). EPR data confirms the substitutional incorporation of Mn2+ in TiO2 lattice. The doping influences the phase transformation of rutile and anatase phase crystal and thereby the absorption spectrum changes were observed. The effect of variation of reaction parameters such as solvent, reaction time and calcination temperature on the yield, surface morphology and optical properties was also investigated. The TEM studies show the particle size of nanomaterials varies from 10-50 nm. The calculated band gap of nanomaterials varies from 2.30-2.60 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant organophosphate pesticide (Quinalphos) has been investigated by studying the changes in UV absorption spectrum and the promising results were obtained under visible light. The complete mineralization of quinalphos has occurred as no intermediates were recorded after 8 hrs of degradation confirmed from the HPLC studies.

Keywords: quinalphos, doped-TiO2, mineralization, EPR

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Authors: Samson Obiene, Khamati Shilabukha, Geoffrey Muga, James Kairo

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Mangroves play a vital role in the achievement of multiple goals of global sustainable development (SDG’s), particularly SDG SDG 14 (life under water). Their management, however, is faced with several shortcomings arising from inadequate knowledge on the perceptions of their ecosystem services, hence a need to map mangrove goods and services within SDGs while interrogating the disaggregated perceptions. This study therefore aimed at exploring the parities and disparities in attitudes and perceptions of mangrove ecosystem services among community members of Vanga and the link of the ecosystem services (ESs) to specific SDG targets. The study was based at the Kenya-Tanzania transboundary area in Vanga; where a carbon-offset project on mangroves is being up scaled. Mixed methods approach employing surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs) and reviews of secondary data were used in the study. A two stage cluster samplings was used to select the study population and the sample size. FGDs were conducted purposively selecting active participants in mangrove related activities with distinct socio-demographic characteristics. Sampled respondents comprised of males and females of different occupations and age groups. Secondary data review was used to select specific SDG targets against which mangrove ecosystem services identified through a value chain analysis were mapped. In Vanga, 20 ecosystem services were identified and categorized under supporting, cultural and aesthetic, provisioning and regulating services. According to the findings of this study, 63.9% (95% ci 56.6-69.3) perceived of the ESs as very important for economic development, 10.3% (95% ci 0-21.3) viewed them as important for environmental and ecological development while 25.8% (95% ci 2.2-32.8) were not sure of any role they play in development. In the social-economic disaggregation, ecosystem service values were found to vary with the level of interaction with the ecosystem which depended on gender and other social-economic classes within the study area. The youths, low income earners, women and those with low education levels were also identified as the primary beneficiaries of mangrove ecosystem services. The study also found that of the 17 SDGs, mangroves have a potential of influencing the achievement 12, including, SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 either directly or indirectly. Generally therefore, the local community is aware of the critical importance mangroves for enhanced livelihood and ecological services but challenges in sustainability still occur as a result the diverse values and of the services and the contradicting interests of the different actors around the ecosystem. It is therefore important to consider parities in values and perception to avoid a ‘tragedy of the commons’ while striving to enhance sustainability of the Mangrove ecosystem.

Keywords: sustainable development, community values, socio-demographics, Vanga, mangrove ecosystem services

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Authors: Haile Nega Mulata, Seifu Daniel, Umeta Melaku, Wendwesson Ergete, Natesan Gnanasekaran

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Background: In Ethiopia, medicinal plants have been used for various human and animal diseases. In this study, we have examined the potential effect of hydroethanolic extract of Calpurnia aurea seed against hepatotoxicity and haematotoxicity induced by Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) drugs in Albino Wistar rats. Methods: We collected Matured dried seeds of Calpurnia aurea from northern Ethiopia (south Tigray and south Gondar) in June 2013. The powder of the dried seed sample was macerated with 70% ethanol and dried using rotavapor. We have investigated the Preliminary phytochemical tests and in-vitro antioxidant properties. Then, we induced toxicity with HAART drugs and gave the experimental animals different doses of the crude extract orally for thirty-five days. On the 35th day, the animals were fasted overnight and sacrificed by cervical dislocation. We collected the blood samples by cardiac puncture. We excised the liver and brain tissues for further histopathological studies. Subsequently, we analysed serum levels of the liver enzymes- Alanine Aminotransferase, Aspartate Aminotransferase, Alkaline Phosphatase, Total Bilirubin, and Serum Albumin, using commercial kits in Cobas Integra 400 Plus Roche Analyzer Germany. We have also assessed the haematological profile using an automated haematology Analyser (Sysmex KX-2IN). Results: A significant (P<0.05) decrease in serum enzymes (ALT and AST) and total bilirubin were observed in groups that received the highest dose (300mg/kg) of the seed extract. And significant (P<0.05) elevation of total red blood cell count, haemoglobin, and hematocrit percentage was observed in the groups that received the seed extract compared to the HAART-treated groups. The WBC count mean values showed a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in groups that received HAART and 200 and 300mg/kg extract, respectively. The histopathological observations also showed that the oral administration of varying doses of the crude extract of the seed reversed to a normal state. Conclusion: The hydroethanolic extract of the Calpurnia aurea seed lowered the hepatotoxicity and haematotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner. The antioxidant properties of the Calpurnia aurea seed extract may have possible protective effects against the drug's toxicity.

Keywords: calpurnia aurea, hepatotoxicity, haematotoxicity, antioxidant, histopathology, HAART

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Authors: Wonil Nam, Xiang Ren, Inyoung Kim, Masoud Agah, Wei Zhou

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Despite its ultrasensitive detection capability, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) faces challenges as a quantitative biochemical analysis tool due to the significant dependence of local field intensity in hotspots on nanoscale geometric variations of plasmonic nanostructures. Therefore, despite enormous progress in plasmonic nanoengineering of high-performance SERS devices, it is still challenging to quantitatively correlate the measured SERS signals with the actual molecule concentrations at hotspots. A significant effort has been devoted to developing SERS calibration methods by introducing internal standards. It has been achieved by placing Raman tags at plasmonic hotspots. Raman tags undergo similar SERS enhancement at the same hotspots, and ratiometric SERS signals for analytes of interest can be generated with reduced dependence on geometrical variations. However, using Raman tags still faces challenges for real-world applications, including spatial competition between the analyte and tags in hotspots, spectral interference, laser-induced degradation/desorption due to plasmon-enhanced photochemical/photothermal effects. We show that electronic Raman scattering (ERS) signals from metallic nanostructures at hotspots can serve as the internal calibration standard to enable quantitative SERS analysis and improve biostatistical analysis. We perform SERS with Au-SiO₂ multilayered metal-insulator-metal nano laminated plasmonic nanostructures. Since the ERS signal is proportional to the volume density of electron-hole occupation in hotspots, the ERS signals exponentially increase when the wavenumber is approaching the zero value. By a long-pass filter, generally used in backscattered SERS configurations, to chop the ERS background continuum, we can observe an ERS pseudo-peak, IERS. Both ERS and SERS processes experience the |E|⁴ local enhancements during the excitation and inelastic scattering transitions. We calibrated IMRS of 10 μM Rhodamine 6G in solution by IERS. The results show that ERS calibration generates a new analytical value, ISERS/IERS, insensitive to variations from different hotspots and thus can quantitatively reflect the molecular concentration information. Given the calibration capability of ERS signals, we performed label-free SERS analysis of living biological systems using four different breast normal and cancer cell lines cultured on nano-laminated SERS devices. 2D Raman mapping over 100 μm × 100 μm, containing several cells, was conducted. The SERS spectra were subsequently analyzed by multivariate analysis using partial least square discriminant analysis. Remarkably, after ERS calibration, MCF-10A and MCF-7 cells are further separated while the two triple-negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 and HCC-1806) are more overlapped, in good agreement with the well-known cancer categorization regarding the degree of malignancy. To assess the strength of ERS calibration, we further carried out a drug efficacy study using MDA-MB-231 and different concentrations of anti-cancer drug paclitaxel (PTX). After ERS calibration, we can more clearly segregate the control/low-dosage groups (0 and 1.5 nM), the middle-dosage group (5 nM), and the group treated with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50, 15 nM). Therefore, we envision that ERS calibrated SERS can find crucial opportunities in label-free molecular profiling of complicated biological systems.

Keywords: cancer cell drug efficacy, plasmonics, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), SERS calibration

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Authors: Jami Wang, Brian Kao, Davin Agustines

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COVID-19 highlighted the active discrimination against the Asian American population easily seen through media, social tension, and increased crimes against the specific population. It is well known that long-term racism can also have a large impact on both emotional and psychological well-being. However, the healthcare disparity during this time also revealed how the Asian American community lacked the research data, political support, and medical infrastructure for this particular population. During a time when Asian American fear for safety with decreasing mental health, telepsychiatry is particularly promising. COVID-19 demonstrated how well psychiatry could integrate with telemedicine, with psychiatry being the second most utilized telemedicine visits. However, the Asian American community did not utilize the telepsychiatry resources as much as other groups. Because of this, we wanted to understand why the patient population who was affected the most by COVID-19 mentally did not seek out care. To do this, we decided to study the top top telepsychiatry platforms. The current top telepsychiatry companies in the United States include Teladoc and BetterHelp. In the Teladoc mental health sector, they only had 4 available languages (English, Spanish, French, and Danis,) with none of them being an Asian language. In a similar manner, Teladoc’s top competitor in the telepsychiatry space, BetterHelp, only listed a total of 3 Asian languages, including Mandarin, Japanese, and Malaysian. However, this is still a short list considering they have over 20 languages available. The shortage of available physicians that speak multiple languages is concerning, as it could be difficult for the Asian American community to relate with. There are limited mental health resources that cater to their likely cultural needs, further exacerbating the structural racism and institutional barriers to appropriate care. It is important to note that these companies do provide interpreters to comply with the nondiscrimination and language assistance federal law. However, interactions with an interpreter are not only more time-consuming but also less personal than talking directly with a physician. Psychiatry is the field that emphasizes interpersonal relationships. The trust between a physician and the patient is critical in developing patient rapport to guide in better understanding the clinical picture and treating the patient appropriately. The language barrier creates an additional barrier between the physician and patient. Because Asian Americans are one of the largest growing patient population bases, these telehealth companies have much to gain by catering to the Asian American market. Without providing adequate access to bilingual and bicultural physicians, the current system will only further exacerbate the growing disparity. The healthcare community and telehealth companies need to recognize that the Asian American population is a severely underserved population in mental health and has much to gain from telepsychiatry. The lack of language is one of many reasons why there is a disparity for Asian Americans in the mental health space.

Keywords: telemedicine, psychiatry, Asian American, disparity

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Pierre-Andre Mudry, Jean Decaix, Jeremy Schmid, Cesar Papilloud, Cecile Munch-Alligne

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In most of the Swiss Alpine regions, the availability of water resources is usually adequate even in times of drought, as evidenced by the 2003 and 2018 summers. Indeed, important natural stocks are for the moment available in the form of snow and ice, but the situation is likely to change in the future due to global and regional climate change. In addition, alpine mountain regions are areas where climate change will be felt very rapidly and with high intensity. For instance, the ice regime of these regions has already been affected in recent years with a modification of the monthly availability and extreme events of precipitations. The current research, focusing on the municipality of Val de Bagnes, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, is part of a project led by the Altis company and achieved in collaboration with WSL, BlueArk Entremont, and HES-SO Valais-Wallis. In this region, water occupies a key position notably for winter and summer tourism. Thus, multiple actors want to apprehend the future needs and availabilities of water, on both the 2050 and 2100 horizons, in order to plan the modifications to the water supply and distribution networks. For those changes to be salient and efficient, a good knowledge of the current water distribution networks is of most importance. In the current case, the water drinking network is well documented, but this is not the case for the irrigation one. Since the water consumption for irrigation is ten times higher than for drinking water, data acquisition on the irrigation network is a major point to determine future scenarios. This paper first presents the instrumentation and simulation of the irrigation network using custom-designed IoT devices, which are coupled with a digital clone simulated to reduce the number of measuring locations. The developed IoT ad-hoc devices are energy-autonomous and can measure flows and pressures using industrial sensors such as calorimetric water flow meters. Measurements are periodically transmitted using the LoRaWAN protocol over a dedicated infrastructure deployed in the municipality. The gathered values can then be visualized in real-time on a dashboard, which also provides historical data for analysis. In a second phase, a digital clone of the irrigation network was modeled using EPANET, a software for water distribution systems that performs extended-period simulations of flows and pressures in pressurized networks composed of reservoirs, pipes, junctions, and sinks. As a preliminary work, only a part of the irrigation network was modelled and validated by comparisons with the measurements. The simulations are carried out by imposing the consumption of water at several locations. The validation is performed by comparing the simulated pressures are different nodes with the measured ones. An accuracy of +/- 15% is observed on most of the nodes, which is acceptable for the operator of the network and demonstrates the validity of the approach. Future steps will focus on the deployment of the measurement devices on the whole network and the complete modelling of the network. Then, scenarios of future consumption will be investigated. Acknowledgment— The authors would like to thank the Swiss Federal Office for Environment (FOEN), the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (OFAG) for their financial supports, and ALTIS for the technical support, this project being part of the Swiss Pilot program 'Adaptation aux changements climatiques'.

Keywords: hydraulic digital clone, IoT water monitoring, LoRaWAN water measurements, EPANET, irrigation network

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Yik Sin Chan, Bee Ling Chuah, Wei Quan Chan, Ri Jin Cheng, Yan Hang Oon, Kong Soo Khoo, Nam Weng Sit

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Traditionally, medicinal plants have been used to treat different kinds of ailments including infectious diseases. They serve as a good source of lead compounds for the development of new and safer anti-infective agents. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial potential of the leaves of three medicinal plants, namely Catunaregam spinosa (Rubiaceae; Mountain pomegranate), Houttuynia cordata (Saururaceae; "fishy-smell herb") and Rhapis excelsa (Arecaceae; “broadleaf lady palm”). The leaves extracts were obtained by sequential extraction using hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and water. The antibacterial and antifungal activities were assessed using a colorimetric broth microdilution method against a panel of human pathogenic bacteria (Gram-positive: Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus; Gram-negative: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and fungi (yeasts: Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Cryptococcus neoformans; Moulds: Aspergillus fumigatus and Trichophyton mentagrophytes) respectively; while antiviral activity was evaluated against the Chikungunya virus on monkey kidney epithelial (Vero) cells by neutral red uptake assay. All the plant extracts showed bacteriostatic activity, however, only 72% of the extracts (13/18) were found to have bactericidal activity. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were given by the hexane extract of C. spinosa against S. aureus with the values of 0.16 and 0.31 mg/mL respectively. All the extracts also possessed fungistatic activity. Only the hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of H. cordata exerted inhibitory activity against A. fumigatus, giving the lowest fungal susceptibility index of 16.7%. In contrast, only 61% of the extracts (11/18) showed fungicidal activity. The ethanol extract of R. excelsa exhibited the strongest fungicidal activity against C. albicans, C. parapsilosis and T. mentagrophytes with minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) values of 0.04–0.08 mg/mL, in addition to its methanol extract against T. mentagrophytes (MFC=0.02 mg/mL). For anti-Chikungunya virus activity, only chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of R. excelsa showed significant antiviral activity with 50% effective concentrations (EC50) of 29.9 and 78.1 g/mL respectively. Extracts of R. excelsa warrant further investigations into their active principles responsible for antifungal and antiviral properties.

Keywords: bactericidal, Chikungunya virus, extraction, fungicidal

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Authors: Mohsen Rabbani, Trista McLaughlin, Ehsan Vahidi

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the remediation of polluted sites with heavy metals, such as rare earth elements (REEs), has been a primary concern of researchers to decontaminate the soil. Among all developed methods to address this concern, phytoremediation has been established as efficient, cost-effective, easy-to-use, and environmentally friendly way, providing a long-term solution for addressing this global concern. Furthermore, this technology has another great potential application in the metals production sector through returning metals buried in soil via metals cropping. Considering the significant metal concentration in hyper-accumulators, the utilization of bioaccumulated metals to extract metals from plant matter has been proposed as a sub-economic area called phytomining. As a recent, more advanced technology to eliminate such pollutants from the soil and produce critical metals, bioharvesting (phytomining/agromining) has been considered another compromising way to produce metals and meet the global demand for critical/target metals. The bio-ore obtained from phytomining can be safely disposed of or introduced to metal production pathways to obtain the most demanded metals, such as REEs. It is well-known that some hyperaccumulators, e.g., fern Dicranopteris linearis, can be used to absorb REE metals from the polluted soils and accumulate them in plant organs, such as leaves and stems. After soil remediation, the plant species can be harvested and introduced to the downstream steps, namely crushing/grinding, leaching, and purification processes, to extract REEs from plant matter. This novel interdisciplinary field can fill the gap between agriculture, mining, metallurgy, and the environment. Despite the advantages of agromining for the REEs production industry, key issues related to the environmental sustainability of the entire life cycle of this new concept have not been assessed yet. Hence, a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted to quantify the environmental footprints of REEs phytomining. The current LCA study aims to estimate and calculate environmental effects associated with phytomining by considering critical factors, such as climate change, land use, and ozone depletion. The results revealed that phytomining is an easy-to-use and environmentally sustainable approach to either eliminate REEs from polluted sites or produce REEs, offering a new source of such metals production. This LCA research provides guidelines for researchers active in developing a reliable relationship between agriculture, mining, metallurgy, and the environment to encounter soil pollution and keep the earth green and clean.

Keywords: phytoremediation, phytomining, life cycle assessment, environmental impacts, rare earth elements, hyperaccumulator

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Authors: Minna Pikkarainen, Yueqiang Xu

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The integration of digital technology with existing healthcare processes has been painfully slow, a huge gap exists between the fields of strictly regulated official medical care and the quickly moving field of health and wellness technology. We claim that the promises of preventive healthcare can only be fulfilled when this gap is closed – health care and self-care becomes seamless continuum “correct information, in the correct hands, at the correct time allowing individuals and professionals to make better decisions” what we call connected health approach. Currently, the issues related to security, privacy, consumer consent and data sharing are hindering the implementation of this new paradigm of healthcare. This could be solved by following MyData principles stating that: Individuals should have the right and practical means to manage their data and privacy. MyData infrastructure enables decentralized management of personal data, improves interoperability, makes it easier for companies to comply with tightening data protection regulations, and allows individuals to change service providers without proprietary data lock-ins. This paper tackles today’s unprecedented challenges of enabling and stimulating multiple healthcare data providers and stakeholders to have more active participation in the digital health ecosystem. First, the paper systematically proposes the MyData approach for healthcare and preventive health data ecosystem. In this research, the work is targeted for health and wellness ecosystems. Each ecosystem consists of key actors, such as 1) individual (citizen or professional controlling/using the services) i.e. data subject, 2) services providing personal data (e.g. startups providing data collection apps or data collection devices), 3) health and wellness services utilizing aforementioned data and 4) services authorizing the access to this data under individual’s provided explicit consent. Second, the research extends the existing four archetypes of orchestrator-driven healthcare data business models for the healthcare industry and proposes the fifth type of healthcare data model, the MyData Blockchain Platform. This new architecture is developed by the Action Design Research approach, which is a prominent research methodology in the information system domain. The key novelty of the paper is to expand the health data value chain architecture and design from centralization and pseudo-decentralization to full decentralization, enabled by blockchain, thus the MyData blockchain platform. The study not only broadens the healthcare informatics literature but also contributes to the theoretical development of digital healthcare and blockchain research domains with a systemic approach.

Keywords: blockchain, health data, platform, action design

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Authors: Zeynep Guler

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Argumentation and the production of scientific arguments are essential components that are necessary for helping students become scientifically literate through engaging them in constructing and critiquing ideas. Incorporating argumentation into science classrooms is challenging and can be a long-term process for both students and teachers. Students have difficulty in engaging tasks that require them to craft arguments, evaluate them to seek weaknesses, and revise them. Teachers also struggle with facilitating argumentation when they have underdeveloped science practices, underdeveloped pedagogical knowledge for argumentation science teaching, or underdeveloped teaching practice with argumentation (or a combination of all three). Thus, there is a need to support teachers in developing pedagogy for science teaching as argumentation, planning and implementing teaching practice for facilitating argumentation and also in becoming more agentic in this regards. Looking specifically at the experience of agency within education, it is arguable that agency is necessary for teachers’ renegotiation of professional purposes and practices in the light of changing educational practices. This study investigated how science teachers develop pedagogy for argumentation both individually and with their colleagues and also how teachers become more agentic (or not) through the active engagement of their contexts-for-action that refer to this as an ecological understanding of agency in order to positively influence or change their practice and their students' engagement with argumentation over two academic years. Through educational design study, this study conducted with three secondary science teachers (key stage 3-year 7 students aged 11-12) in the UK to find out if similar or different patterns of developing pedagogy for argumentation and of becoming more agentic emerge as they engage in planning and implementing a cycle of activities during the practice of teaching science with argumentation. Data from video and audio-recording of classroom practice and open-ended interviews with the science teachers were analysed using content analysis. The findings indicated that all the science teachers perceived strong agency in their opportunities to develop and apply pedagogical practices within the classroom. The teachers were pro-actively shaping their practices and classroom contexts in ways that were over and above the amendments to their pedagogy. They demonstrated some outcomes in developing pedagogy for argumentation and becoming more agentic in their teaching in this regards as a result of the collaboration with their colleagues and researcher; some appeared more agentic than others. The role of the collaboration between their colleagues was seen crucial for the teachers’ practice in the schools: close collaboration and support from other teachers in planning and implementing new educational innovations were seen as crucial for the development of pedagogy and becoming more agentic in practice. They needed to understand the importance of scientific argumentation but also understand how it can be planned and integrated into classroom practice. They also perceived constraint emerged from their lack of competence and knowledge in posing appropriate questions to help the students engage in argumentation, providing support for the students' construction of oral and written arguments.

Keywords: argumentation, teacher professional development, teacher agency, students' construction of argument

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Authors: Evanka Madan, Madhu Puri, Dan Zilberstein, Rohini Muthuswami, Rentala Madhubala

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The extensive interaction between the host and pathogen metabolic networks decidedly shapes the outcome of infection. Utilization of arginine by the host and pathogen is critical for determining the outcome of pathogenic infection. Infections with L. donovani, an intracellular parasite, will lead to an extensive competition of arginine between the host and the parasite donovani infection. One of the major amino acid (AA) sensing signaling pathways in mammalian cells are the mammalian target of rapamycin complex I (mTORC1) pathway. mTORC1, as a sensor of nutrient, controls numerous metabolic pathways. Arginine is critical for mTORC1 activation. SLC38A9 is the arginine sensor for the mTORC1, being activated during arginine sufficiency. L. donovani transport arginine via a high-affinity transporter (LdAAP3) that is rapidly up-regulated by arginine deficiency response (ADR) in intracellular amastigotes. This study, to author’s best knowledge, investigates the interaction between two arginine sensing systems that act in the same compartment, the lysosome. One is important for macrophage defense, and the other is essential for pathogen virulence. We hypothesize that the latter modulates lysosome arginine to prevent host defense response. The work presented here identifies an upstream regulatory role of LdAAP3 in regulating the expression of SLC38A9-mTORC1 pathway, and consequently, their function in L. donovani infected THP-1 cells cultured in 0.1 mM and 1.5 mM arginine. It was found that in physiological levels of arginine (0.1 mM), infecting THP-1 with Leishmania leads to increased levels of SLC38A9 and mTORC1 via an increase in the expression of RagA. However, the reversal was observed with LdAAP3 mutants, reflecting the positive regulatory role of LdAAP3 on the host SLC38A9. At the molecular level, upon infection, mTORC1 and RagA were found to be activated at the surface of phagolysosomes which was found to form a complex with phagolysosomal localized SLC38A9. To reveal the relevance of SLC38A9 under physiological levels of arginine, endogenous SLC38A9 was depleted and a substantial reduction in the expression of host mTORC1, its downstream active substrate, p-P70S6K1 and parasite LdAAP3, was observed, thereby showing that silencing SLC38A9 suppresses ADR. In brief, to author’s best knowledge, these results reveal an upstream regulatory role of LdAAP3 in manipulating SLC38A9 arginine sensing in host macrophages. Our study indicates that intra-macrophage survival of L. donovani depends on the availability and transport of extracellular arginine. An understanding of the sensing pathway of both parasite and host will open a new perspective on the molecular mechanism of host-parasite interaction and consequently, as a treatment for Leishmaniasis.

Keywords: arginine sensing, LdAAP3, L. donovani, mTORC1, SLC38A9, THP-1

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Authors: Zoi Konsoula

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The increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) constitutes them major global health problems. Recently, the inhibition of key enzyme activity is considered a potential treatment of both diseases. Specifically, inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the key enzyme involved in the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, is a promising approach for the treatment of AD, while inhibition of α-amylase retards the hydrolysis of carbohydrates and, thus, reduces hyperglycemia. Unfortunately, commercially available AChE and α-amylase inhibitors are reported to possess side effects. Consequently, there is a need to develop safe and effective treatments for both diseases. In the present study, pomegranate peel (PP) was extracted using various solvents of increasing polarity, while two extraction methods were employed, the conventional maceration and the ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE). The concentration of bioactive phytoconstituents, such as total phenolics (TPC) and total flavonoids (TFC) in the prepared extracts was evaluated by the Folin-Ciocalteu and the aluminum-flavonoid complex method, respectively. Furthermore, the anti-neurodegenerative and anti-hyperglycemic activity of all extracts was determined using AChE and α-amylase inhibitory activity assays, respectively. The inhibitory activity of the extracts against AChE and α-amylase was characterized by estimating their IC₅₀ value using a dose-response curve, while galanthamine and acarbose were used as positive controls, respectively. Finally, the kinetics of AChE and α-amylase in the presence of the most inhibitory potent extracts was determined by the Lineweaver-Burk plot. The methanolic extract prepared using the UAE contained the highest amount of phytoconstituents, followed by the respective ethanolic extract. All extracts inhibited acetylcholinesterase in a dose-dependent manner, while the increased anticholinesterase activity of the methanolic (IC₅₀ = 32 μg/mL) and ethanolic (IC₅₀ = 42 μg/mL) extract was positively correlated with their TPC content. Furthermore, the activity of the aforementioned extracts was comparable to galanthamine. Similar results were obtained in the case of α-amylase, however, all extracts showed lower inhibitory effect on the carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzyme than on AChE, since the IC₅₀ value ranged from 84 to 100 μg/mL. Also, the α-amylase inhibitory effect of the extracts was lower than acarbose. Finally, the methanolic and ethanolic extracts prepared by UAE inhibited both enzymes in a mixed (competitive/noncompetitive) manner since the Kₘ value of both enzymes increased in the presence of extracts, while the Vmax value decreased. The results of the present study indicate that PP may be a useful source of active compounds for the management of AD and DM. Moreover, taking into consideration that PP is an agro-industrial waste product, its valorization could not only result in economic efficiency but also reduce the environmental pollution.

Keywords: acetylcholinesterase, Alzheimer’s disease, α-amylase, diabetes mellitus, pomegranate

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Authors: Peter. M. Kusen, Georg Wandrey, Christopher Probst, Dietrich Kohlheyer, Jochen Buchs, Jorg Pietruszkau

Abstract:

Light as a stimulus provides the capability to develop regulation techniques for customizable gene expression. A great advantage is the extremely flexible and accurate dosing that can be performed in a non invasive and sterile manner even for high throughput technologies. Therefore, light regulation in a multiwell microbioreactor system was realized providing the opportunity to control gene expression with outstanding complexity. A light-regulated gene expression system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was designed applying the strategy of caged compounds. These compounds are photo-labile protected and therefore biologically inactive regulator molecules which can be reactivated by irradiation with certain light conditions. The “caging” of a repressor molecule which is consumed after deprotection was essential to create a flexible expression system. Thereby, gene expression could be temporally repressed by irradiation and subsequent release of the active repressor molecule. Afterwards, the repressor molecule is consumed by the yeast cells leading to reactivation of gene expression. A yeast strain harboring a construct with the corresponding repressible promoter in combination with a fluorescent marker protein was applied in a Photo-BioLector platform which allows individual irradiation as well as online fluorescence and growth detection. This device was used to precisely control the repression duration by adjusting the amount of released repressor via different irradiation times. With the presented screening platform the regulation of complex expression procedures was achieved by combination of several repression/derepression intervals. In particular, a stepwise increase of temporally-constant expression levels was demonstrated which could be used to study concentration dependent effects on cell functions. Also linear expression rates with variable slopes could be shown representing a possible solution for challenging protein productions, whereby excessive production rates lead to misfolding or intoxication. Finally, the very flexible regulation enabled accurate control over the expression induction, although we used a repressible promoter. Summing up, the continuous online regulation of gene expression has the potential to synchronize gene expression levels to optimize metabolic flux, artificial enzyme cascades, growth rates for co cultivations and many other applications addicted to complex expression regulation. The developed light-regulated expression platform represents an innovative screening approach to find optimization potential for production processes.

Keywords: caged-compounds, gene expression regulation, optogenetics, photo-labile protecting group

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Authors: R. Pussinen, V. Jankovic, U. Herzberg, M. Cerrada-Gimenez, T. Huhtala, A. Nurmi, T. Ahtoniemi

Abstract:

Targeted over-expression of human α-synuclein using viral-vector mediated gene delivery into the substantia nigra of rats and non-human primates has been reported to lead to dopaminergic cell loss and the formation of α-synuclein aggregates reminiscent of Lewy bodies. We have previously shown how AAV-mediated expression of α-synuclein is seen in the chronic phenotype of the rats over 16 week follow-up period. In the context of these findings, we attempted to further characterize this long term PD related functional and motor deficits as well as neurochemical and neuropathological changes in AAV-mediated α-synuclein transfection model in rats during chronic follow-up period. Different titers of recombinant AAV expressing human α-synuclein (A53T) were stereotaxically injected unilaterally into substantia nigra of Wistar rats. Rats were allowed to recover for 3 weeks prior to initial baseline behavioral testing with rotational asymmetry test, stepping test and cylinder test. A similar behavioral test battery was applied again at weeks 5, 9,12 and 15. In addition to traditionally used rat PD model tests, MotoRater test system, a high speed kinematic gait performance monitoring was applied during the follow-up period. Evaluation focused on animal gait between groups. Tremor analysis was performed on weeks 9, 12 and 15. In addition to behavioral end-points, neurochemical evaluation of dopamine and its metabolites were evaluated in striatum. Furthermore, integrity of the dopamine active transport (DAT) system was evaluated by using 123I- β-CIT and SPECT/CT imaging on weeks 3, 8 and 12 after AAV- α-synuclein transfection. Histopathology was examined from end-point samples at 3 or 12 weeks after AAV- α-synuclein transfection to evaluate dopaminergic cell viability and microglial (Iba-1) activation status in substantia nigra by using stereological analysis techniques. This study focused on the characterization and validation of previously published AAV- α-synuclein transfection model in rats but with the addition of novel end-points. We present the long term phenotype of AAV- α-synuclein transfected rats with traditionally used behavioral tests but also by using novel fine motor analysis techniques and tremor analysis which provide new insight to unilateral effects of AAV α-synuclein transfection. We also present data about neurochemical and neuropathological end-points for the dopaminergic system in the model and how well they correlate with behavioral phenotype.

Keywords: adeno-associated virus, alphasynuclein, animal model, Parkinson’s disease

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Authors: M. Naimi, M. B. Khaled

Abstract:

The aim of the present work was to test in vitro inhibition of food pathogens and spoilage bacteria by crude bacteriocins from autochthonous lactic acid bacteria. Thirty autochthonous lactic acid bacteria isolated previously, belonging to the genera: Lactobacillus, Carnobacterium, Lactococcus, Vagococcus, Streptococcus, and Pediococcus, have been screened by an agar spot test and a well diffusion assay against Gram-positive and Gram-negative harmful bacteria: Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa under conditions means to reduce lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide effect to select bacteria with high bacteriocinogenic potential. Furthermore, crude bacteriocins semiquantification and heat sensitivity to different temperatures (80, 95, 110°C, and 121°C) were performed. Another exploratory test concerning the response of St. aureus ATCC 6538 to the presence of crude bacteriocins was realized. It has been observed by the agar spot test that fifteen candidates were active toward Gram-positive targets strains. The secondary screening demonstrated an antagonistic activity oriented only against St. aureus ATCC 6538, leading to the selection of five isolates: Lm14, Lm21, Lm23, Lm24, and Lm25 with a larger inhibition zone compared to the others. The ANOVA statistical analysis reveals a small variation of repeatability: Lm21: 0.56%, Lm23: 0%, Lm25: 1.67%, Lm14: 1.88%, Lm24: 2.14%. Conversely, slight variation was reported in terms of inhibition diameters: 9.58± 0.40, 9.83± 0.46, and 10.16± 0.24 8.5 ± 0.40 10 mm for, Lm21, Lm23, Lm25, Lm14and Lm24, indicating that the observed potential showed a heterogeneous distribution (BMS = 0.383, WMS = 0.117). The repeatability coefficient calculated displayed 7.35%. As for the bacteriocins semiquantification, the five samples exhibited production amounts about 4.16 for Lm21, Lm23, Lm25 and 2.08 AU/ml for Lm14, Lm24. Concerning the sensitivity the crude bacteriocins were fully insensitive to heat inactivation, until 121°C, they preserved the same inhibition diameter. As to, kinetic of growth , the µmax showed reductions in pathogens load for Lm21, Lm23, Lm25, Lm14, Lm24 of about 42.92%, 84.12%, 88.55%, 54.95%, 29.97% in the second trails. Inversely, this pathogen growth after five hours displayed differences of 79.45%, 12.64%, 11.82%, 87.88%, 85.66% in the second trails, compared to the control. This study showed potential inhibition to the growth of this food pathogen, suggesting the possibility to improve the hygienic food quality.

Keywords: exploratory test, lactic acid bacteria, crude bacteriocins, spoilage, pathogens

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Authors: Mitakshara Sharma, S. K. Nema, Sanjeev Narang

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by metabolic abnormalities, chronic hyperglycaemia and long term macrovascular & microvascular complications. Vascular complications are due to platelet hyperactivity and dysfunction, increased inflammation, altered coagulation and endothelial dysfunction. Large proportion of patients with Type II DM suffers from preventable vascular angiopathies, and there is need to develop risk factor modifications and interventions to reduce impact of complications. These complications are attributed to platelet activation, recognised by increase in Platelet Volume Indices (PVI) including Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) and Platelet Distribution Width (PDW). The current study is prospective analytical study conducted over 2 years. Out of 1100 individuals, 930 individuals fulfilled inclusion criteria and were segregated into three groups on basis of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C): - (a) Diabetic, (b) Non-Diabetic and (c) Subjects with Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) with 300 individuals in IFG and non-diabetic groups & 330 individuals in diabetic group. Further, diabetic group was divided into two groups on the basis of presence or absence of known diabetes related vascular complications. Samples for HbA1c and PVI were collected using Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) as anticoagulant and processed on SYSMEX-X-800i autoanalyser. The study revealed gradual increase in PVI from non-diabetics to IFG to diabetics. PVI were markedly increased in diabetic patients. MPV and PDW of diabetics, IFG and non diabetics were (17.60 ± 2.04)fl, (11.76 ± 0.73)fl, (9.93 ± 0.64)fl and (19.17 ± 1.48)fl, (15.49 ± 0.67)fl, (10.59 ± 0.67)fl respectively with a significant p value 0.00 and a significant positive correlation (MPV-HbA1c r = 0.951; PDW-HbA1c r = 0.875). MPV & PDW of subjects with diabetes related complications were higher as compared to those without them and were (17.51±0.39)fl & (15.14 ± 1.04)fl and (20.09 ± 0.98) fl & (18.96 ± 0.83)fl respectively with a significant p value 0.00. There was a significant positive correlation between PVI and duration of diabetes across the groups (MPV-HbA1c r = 0.951; PDW-HbA1c r = 0.875). However, a significant negative correlation was found between glycaemic levels and total platelet count (PC- HbA1c r =-0.164). This is multi-parameter and comprehensive study with an adequately powered study design. It can be concluded from our study that PVI are extremely useful and important indicators of impending vascular complications in all patients with deranged glycaemic control. Introduction of automated cell counters has facilitated the availability of PVI as routine parameters. PVI is a useful means for identifying larger & active platelets which play important role in development of micro and macro angiopathic complications of diabetes leading to mortality and morbidity. PVI can be used as cost effective markers to predict and prevent impending vascular events in patients with Diabetes mellitus especially in developing countries like India. PVI, if incorporated into protocols for management of diabetes, could revolutionize care and curtail the ever increasing cost of patient management.

Keywords: diabetes, IFG, HbA1C, MPV, PDW, PVI

Procedia PDF Downloads 257