Probability of Cavitation in a Custom Iron-Based Coupling Medium for Transcranial Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Procedures.

Objective: A coupling bath of circulating, chilled, degassed water is essential to safe and precise acoustic transmittance during transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (tMRgFUS) procedures, but the circulating water impairs the critical real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An iron-based coupling medium (IBCM) using iron oxide nanoparticles previously developed by our group increased the relaxivity of the coupling bath such that it appears to be invisible on MRI compared with degassed water. However, the nanoparticles also reduced the pressure threshold for cavitation.

Encapsulation of PI3K Inhibitor LY294002 within Polymer Nanoparticles Using Ion Pairing Flash Nanoprecipitation.

Flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) is a turbulent mixing process capable of reproducibly producing polymer nanoparticles loaded with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The nanoparticles produced with this method consist of a hydrophobic core surrounded by a hydrophilic corona. FNP produces nanoparticles with very high loading levels of nonionic hydrophobic APIs.

Iron-based coupling media for MRI-guided ultrasound surgery.

Purpose: In this study, we examine the effects of a recently developed, iron-based coupling medium (IBCM) on guidance magnetic resonance (MR) scans during transcranial, magnetic-resonance-guided, focused ultrasound surgery (tMRgFUS) procedures. More specifically, this study tests the hypotheses that the use of the IBCM will (a) not adversely affect image quality, (b) remove aliasing from small field-of-view scans, and (c) decouple image quality from the motion state of the coupling fluid.

Methods: An IBCM, whose chemical synthesis and characterization are reported elsewhere, was used as a coupling medium during tMRgFUS procedures on gel phantoms.

Using routine healthcare data to evaluate the impact of the Medicines at Transitions Intervention (MaTI) on clinical outcomes of patients hospitalised with heart failure: protocol for the Improving the Safety and Continuity Of Medicines management at Transitions of care (ISCOMAT) cluster randomised controlled trial with embedded process evaluation, health economics evaluation and internal pilot.

Introduction: Heart failure affects 26 million people globally, approximately 900 thousand people in the UK, and is increasing in incidence. Appropriate management of medicines for heart failure at the time of hospital discharge reduces readmissions, improves quality of life and increases survival. The Improving the Safety and Continuity Of Medicines management at Transitions (ISCOMAT) trial tests the effectiveness of the Medicines at Transition Intervention (MaTI), which aims to enhance self-care and increase community pharmacy involvement in the medicines management of heart failure patients.

PaísDI: Feasibility and effectiveness of an advocacy program for adults with intellectual disability and their stakeholders' groups in Chile.

Background: People with intellectual disability in Chile face individual and collective barriers to social participation. Lack of knowledge about their rights and tools for effective self-advocacy seem to be key elements that need to be improved to facilitate participation.

Method: We present PaísDI, a 16 h long manualised program created by self-advocates in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team, with four modules: rights and intellectual disability, leadership in intellectual disability, effective communication and financial considerations of social projects.