Notes

Bibliometric development evaluation inside a 10 years of Eu Orthopaedic materials.
The microstructure formed in the annealed film was found to contribute much to achieve better surface hydrophobicity. The polyurethane acrylate/fluorinated siloxane resin hybrid film prepared in this study exhibits excellent potential for applications in the low surface energy field.In this study, fortified pasta was prepared by replacing semolina with 0, 5, and 10 g/100 g of grape pomace (GP), a food industry by-product, rich in fiber and phenols. GP inclusion in pasta significantly reduced its optimum cooking time and the swelling index, while also increasing the cooking loss (p less then 0.05). Furthermore, pasta firmness and adhesiveness were enhanced by the GP addition, as well as the total phenol content and the antioxidant activity, evaluated through ABTS and FRAP assays (p less then 0.05). From a nutritional point of view, increasing amounts of GP resulted in a significative decrease in the rapidly digestible starch and an increase in the slowly digestible starch, while the predicted in vitro glycemic index was also reduced (p less then 0.05). Sensory analysis showed that fortified spaghetti had good overall acceptability, and the results suggest that GP-fortified pasta could represent a healthy product with good technological and sensory properties.Being able to precisely characterize the mechanical properties of soft microparticles is essential for numerous situations, from the understanding of the flow of biological fluids to the development of soft micro-robots. Here, we present a simple measurement technique for determining Poisson's ratio of soft micron-sized hydrogels in the presence of a surrounding liquid. This method relies on the measurement of the deformation, in two orthogonal directions, of a rectangular hydrogel slab compressed uni-axially inside a microfluidic channel. Due to the in situ character of the method, the sample does not need to be dried, allowing for the measurement of the mechanical properties of swollen hydrogels. Using this method, we determined Poisson's ratio of hydrogel particles composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and varying solvents fabricated using a lithography technique. The results demonstrate, with high precision, the dependence of the hydrogel compressibility on the solvent fraction and character. The method is easy to implement and can be adapted for the measurement of a variety of soft and biological materials.The research for innovative treatments against colon adenocarcinomas is still a great challenge. Acacia catechu Willd. heartwood extract (AC) has health-promoting qualities, especially at the gastrointestinal level. This study characterized AC for its catechins content and investigated the apoptosis-enhancing effect in human colorectal adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells, along with its ability to spare healthy tissue. MTT assay was used to describe the time course, concentration dependence and reversibility of AC-mediated cytotoxicity. Cell cycle analysis and AV-PI and DAPI-staining were performed to evaluate apoptosis, together with ROS formation, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) changes and caspase activities. Rat ileum and colon rings were tested for their viability and functionality to explore AC effects on healthy tissue. Quantitative analysis highlighted that AC was rich in (±)-catechin (31.5 ± 0.82 mg/g) and (-)-epicatechin (12.5 ± 0.42 mg/g). AC irreversibly decreased cell viability in a concentration-dependent, but not time-dependent fashion. Cytotoxicity was accompanied by increases in apoptotic cells and ROS, a reduction in MMP and increases in caspase-9 and 3 activities. AC did not affect rat ileum and colon rings' viability and functionality, suggesting a safe profile toward healthy tissue. The present findings outline the potential of AC for colon cancer treatment.Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease leading to progressive neurodegeneration. Mutations in the NPC1 gene, which accounts for 95% of the cases, lead to a defect in intra-lysosomal trafficking of cholesterol and an accumulation of storage material including cholesterol and sphingolipids in the endo-lysosomal system. Symptoms are progressive neurological and visceral deterioration, with variable onset and severity of the disease. This study investigates the influence of two different NPC1 mutations on the biochemical phenotype in fibroblasts isolated from NPC patients in comparison to healthy, wild type (WT) cells. Skin derived fibroblasts were cultured from one patient compound-heterozygous for D874V/D948Y mutations, which presented wild-type like intracellular trafficking of NPC1, and a second patient compound- heterozygous for I1061T/P887L mutations, which exhibited a more severe biochemical phenotype as revealed in the delayed trafficking of NPC1. Biochemical analysi the effectiveness of NB-DNJ treatment is patient specific.Pectinases have many applications in the industry of food, paper, and textiles, therefore finding novel polygalacturonases is required. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis of AnEPG (an endo-α-1,4-polygalacturonase from Aspergillus nidulans) and other GH 28 endo-polygalacturonases suggested that AnEPG is different from others. AnEPG overexpressed in Pichia pastoris was characterized. AnEPG showed the highest activity at pH 4.0, and exhibited moderate activity over a narrow pH range (pH 2.0-5.0) and superior stability in a wide pH range (pH 2.0-12.0). It displayed the highest activity at 60 °C, and retained >42.2% of maximum activity between 20 and 80 °C. It was stable below 40 °C and lost activity very quickly above 50 °C. Its apparent kinetic parameters against PGA (polygalacturonic acid) were determined, with the Km and kcat values of 8.3 mg/mL and 5640 μmol/min/mg, respectively. Ba2+ and Ni2+ enhanced activity by 12.2% and 9.4%, respectively, while Ca2+, Cu2+, and Mn2+ inhibited activity by 14.8%, 12.8%, and 10.2% separately. Analysis of hydrolysis products by AnEPG proved that AnEPG belongs to an endo-polygalacturonase. Modelled structure of AnEPG by I-TASSER showed structural characteristics of endo-polygalacturonases. This pectinase has great potential to be used in food industry and as feed additives.In collective sports, reactive agility training methodologies allow to evaluate and improve the player performance, being able to consider a mixture of technical, tactical, physical, and psychological abilities, similarly to real game-play situations. In this article, we present a new methodology for reactive agility training (neural training), the technological setup for the methodology, and a new footstep tracking algorithm, as the key element for automating the speed data gathering process, necessary for obtaining the relevant variables of the neural training approach. This new methodology is oriented to accurately measure two of the most relevant variables for reactive agility training total response time (sprint time) and response correctness, related to a stimuli sequence presented to a player. The stimuli were designed to properly represent realistic competitive conditions for player training, contextualized to soccer. In order to automate the gathering process, a new computer vision based automatic footstep detection algorithm has been integrated to the system. The algorithm combines Kalman Filters, segmentation techniques, and perspective geometry, for obtaining highly precise detections of the moment a relevant footstep occurs in real-time, reaching a precision higher than 97%. Plus, the algorithm does not require any special marker, invasive sensor, or clothing constraint on the player.Contagious agalactia (CA), an infectious disease of small ruminants, caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae, is responsible for severe losses to dairy sheep production with substantial socioeconomic impacts on small-scale farmers. The diagnosis of CA is still problematic, time-consuming and requires well-equipped labs for confirmation of outbreaks. Therefore, rapid, accurate and cost-effective diagnostic tests are urgently needed. This work aims to validate a novel Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) test, based on the p40 target gene, for the detection of M. agalactiae in dairy sheep in order to confirm its potential practical use as a rapid and cheap field test. The LAMP system proposed in this study consists of a portable device composed of real-time fluorometer with the automatic interpretation of results displayed in a tablet. A total of 110 milk samples (90 positives and 20 negatives) were analysed to optimise the analysis procedure and to investigate the efficacy and robustness of the LAMP method. All samples were analysed using LAMP and conventional real-time PCR to compare the diagnostic sensitivity of the methods. The sensitivity of the LAMP was 10-fold higher than that of real-time PCR, with a detection limit up to 103 CFU/ml. The LAMP assay was able to detect M. agalactiae in 81 of 90 (90%, 95%CI 0.84-0.96) positive milk samples compared to 69 (77%, 95%CI 0.59-0.95) positive samples detected by real-time PCR; no positive signal occurred for any of the negative milk samples in either test. Therefore, the LAMP assay was found to be more sensitive than real-time PCR, low-cost, easy to perform, fast and not affected by contamination, indicating its potential as an effective diagnostic tool in the field level for the diagnosis of CA.Periodontal diseases are some of the most widespread oral afflictions, and they are labeled as chronic infections caused by the accumulation of bacteria in dental plaque that produces localized inflammation of the periodontium. The use of local drug delivery systems to treat periodontal diseases has received greater attention, because the active substance is targeted directly to the affected area, which minimizes its systemic side effects. Therefore, the purpose of the investigation was to develop and characterize different types of gel formulations-bigel, hydrogel and oleogel-as local delivery systems containing metronidazole (MET), which can be applied to the oral mucosa. The influence of the formulation type on the mechanical, rheological and mucoadhesive properties were examined. Moreover, in vitro release of metronidazole, its ex vivo permeation through buccal porcine mucosa and antimicrobial activity measured by the plate diffusion method were estimated. It was found that the gel formulations obtained were non-Newtonian systems, showing a shear-thinning behavior and thixotropic properties with good textural features such as firmness, compressibility and adhesiveness. Moreover, the preparations designed possessed beneficial mucoadhesive properties. The formulated hydrogels and bigels containing micronized MET were considered as better formulations in terms of drug release and antimicrobial activity compared to commercially available metronidazole ointment. An ex vivo permeation study with the use of porcine buccal mucosa demonstrated that the bigel formulation was characterized by higher initial permeability rate providing a fast therapeutic effect with simultaneous moderate retention in mucosal tissue to decrease the risk of local cytotoxicity.Despite improvements in the prevalence of dental caries, disparities are still observed globally and in the U.S. This study examined whether community water fluoridation (CWF) reduced dental caries disparities in permanent teeth of 10- to 19-year-old schoolchildren in North Carolina. We used cross-sectional data representing K-12 schoolchildren in North Carolina (NC) public schools. A poisson regression model was used to determine whether the association between children's parental educational attainment and the prevalence of dental caries of children differed by children's lifetime CWF exposure. selleck compound We analyzed data on 2075 students. Among the children without any CWF exposure in their life, statistically significant caries disparities by parental educational attainment were observed. Compared to the children of parents with more than high school education, the relative risk for those with a parent with a high school education was 1.16 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.33) and those with less than a high school education was 1.
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