Temperature- and strain-dependent transient microstructure and rheological responses of endblock-associated triblock gels of different block lengths in a midblock selective solvent.

Endblock associative ABA gels in midblock selective solvents are attractive due to their easily tunable mechanical properties. Here, we present the effects of A- and B-block lengths on the rheological properties and microstructure of ABA gels by considering three low and one high polymer concentrations. The triblock polymer considered is poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(-butyl acrylate)-poly(methyl methacrylate) [PMMA-PBA-PMMA] and the midblock solvent is 2-ethyl-1-hexanol.

3D printed antimicrobial PLA constructs functionalised with zinc- coated halloysite nanotubes-Ag-chitosan oligosaccharide lactate.

The control and inhibition of microbial infection are of critical importance for patients undergoing dental or orthopedic surgery. A critical requirement is the prevention of bacterial growth, subsequent bacterial colonization of implant surfaces, and biofilm formation. Among biofilm-forming bacteria, and are the most common bacteria responsible for causing implant-related infections.

Effectiveness and Applications of a Metal-Coated HNT/Polylactic Acid Antimicrobial Filtration System.

A broad-spectrum antimicrobial respiration apparatus designed to fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other biological agents is critical in halting the current pandemic's trajectory and containing future outbreaks. We applied a simple and effective electrodeposition method for metal (copper, silver, and zinc) coating the surface of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs). These nanoparticles are known to possess potent antiviral and antimicrobial properties.

Detection of Junctional Ectopic Tachycardia by Central Venous Pressure.

Central venous pressure (CVP) is the blood pressure in the venae cavae, near the right atrium of the heart. This signal waveform is commonly collected in clinical settings, and yet there has been limited discussion of using this data for detecting arrhythmia and other cardiac events. In this paper, we develop a signal processing and feature engineering pipeline for CVP waveform analysis.

Understanding Early Hemophilic Arthropathy in Children and Adolescents Through MRI T Mapping.

Background: Persons with hemophilia experience hemarthrosis, which can lead to cartilage degeneration, causing physical impairment. MRI T mapping has the potential to be used as a tool to evaluate early arthropathic changes and cartilage degeneration in patients with hemophilia.

Purpose: To assess the value of MRI-T mapping as a tool for investigating the cartilage status of children and adolescents with hemophilic arthropathy.

Cellular Analysis and Chemotherapeutic Potential of a Bi-Functionalized Halloysite Nanotube.

The surface of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) was bifunctionalized with two ligands-folic acid and a fluorochrome. In tandem, this combination should selectively target cancer cells and provide a means for imaging the nanoparticle. Modified bi-functionalized HNTs (bi-HNTs) were then doped with the anti-cancer drug methotrexate.

Differential antimicrobial and cellular response of electrolytically metalized halloysite nanotubes having different amounts of surface metallization.

We demonstrate an electrolytic method to metalize the outer surface of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs). Different metal HNT (mHNT) combinations (copper, silver, zinc) were produced with metal content in the 5-30 wt% range. mHNTs were characterized using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD).

Towards Domain Invariant Heart Sound Abnormality Detection Using Learnable Filterbanks.

Objective: Cardiac auscultation is the most practiced non-invasive and cost-effective procedure for the early diagnosis of heart diseases. While machine learning based systems can aid in automatically screening patients, the robustness of these systems is affected by numerous factors including the stethoscope/sensor, environment, and data collection protocol. This article studies the adverse effect of domain variability on heart sound abnormality detection and develops strategies to address this problem.

Learning Front-end Filter-bank Parameters using Convolutional Neural Networks for Abnormal Heart Sound Detection.

Automatic heart sound abnormality detection can play a vital role in the early diagnosis of heart diseases, particularly in low-resource settings. The state-of-the-art algorithms for this task utilize a set of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) band-pass filters as a front-end followed by a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model. In this work, we propound a novel CNN architecture that integrates the front-end band-pass filters within the network using time-convolution (tConv) layers, which enables the FIR filter-bank parameters to become learnable.

Genetic Overview of Syndactyly and Polydactyly.

Syndactyly and polydactyly-respectively characterized by fused and supernumerary digits-are among the most common congenital limb malformations, with syndactyly presenting at an estimated incidence of 1 in 2,000-3,000 live births and polydactyly at a frequency of 1 in approximately 700-1,000 live births. Despite their relatively regular manifestation in the clinic, the etiologies of syndactyly and polydactyly remain poorly understood because of their phenotypic and genetic diversity. Further, even though concrete knowledge of genotypic links has been established for some variants of syndactyly and polydactyly, there appears to be no single comprehensive published summary of all syndromic and nonsyndromic syndactyly and polydactyly presentations, and there is decidedly no resource that maps all syndromic and nonsyndromic syndactylies and polydactylies to their genetic bases.

Defining Health Profession Regulators' Roles in the Canadian Healthcare System.

Health professions regulation today faces a myriad of challenges, due to both the perceived performance of regulatory colleges, how health systems have evolved, and even larger political and economic shifts such as the renegotiation of NAFTA. In this issue of Healthcare Papers, Wilkie and Tzountzouris (2017) describe the work of the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario (CMLTO) to redefine professionalism in the context of these challenges. Their paper, and the comments of the responding authors in this issue highlight that there, is an overarching perception that health regulatory structures - across a range of professions - are not working as effectively as they should.

A high frequency of PALB2 mutations in Jamaican patients with breast cancer.

Purpose: Jamaica is an island nation with one of the highest breast cancer incidence rates in the Caribbean (40/100,000 per year). The contribution of cancer susceptibility gene mutations to the burden of breast cancer in Jamaica has not yet been explored. We sought to determine the prevalence of germline mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 in 179 unselected Jamaican women with breast cancer.

A Survey of BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 mutations in women with breast cancer in Trinidad and Tobago.

The mortality rate from breast cancer in the nation of Trinidad and Tobago is among the highest of any country in the Caribbean region. The contribution of inherited gene mutations to the burden of breast cancer in Trinidad and Tobago has not been studied. We examined the prevalence of mutations in three susceptibility genes (BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2) in breast cancer patients in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ceriodaphnia dubia as a potential bio-indicator for assessing acute aluminum oxide nanoparticle toxicity in fresh water environment.

Growing nanomaterials based consumer applications have raised concerns about their potential release into the aquatic ecosystems and the consequent toxicological impacts. So environmental monitoring of the nanomaterials in aqueous systems becomes imperative. The current study reveals the potential of Ceriodaphnia dubia (C.