Near-Infrared Induced miR-34a Delivery from Nanoparticles in Esophageal Cancer Treatment.

Current nucleic acid delivery methods have not achieved efficient, non-toxic delivery of miRNAs with tumor-specific selectivity. In this study, a new delivery system based on light-inducible gold-silver-gold, core-shell-shell (CSS) nanoparticles is presented. This system delivers small nucleic acid therapeutics with precise spatiotemporal control, demonstrating the potential for achieving tumor-specific selectivity and efficient delivery of miRNA mimics.

Controlled Degradation of Polycaprolactone Polymers through Ultrasound Stimulation.

This study describes the development of an ultrasound-responsive polymer system that provides on-demand degradation when exposed to high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Diels-Alder cycloadducts were used to crosslink polycaprolactone (PCL) polymers and underwent a retro Diels-Alder reaction when stimulated with HIFU. Two Diels-Alder polymer compositions were explored to evaluate the link between reverse reaction energy barriers and polymer degradation rates.

Ultrasound-Induced Drug Release from Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels.

Stimuli-responsive hydrogel drug delivery systems are designed to release a payload when prompted by an external stimulus. These platforms have become prominent in the field of drug delivery due to their ability to provide spatial and temporal control for drug release. Among the different external triggers that have been used, ultrasound possesses several advantages: it is non-invasive, has deep tissue penetration, and can safely transmit acoustic energy to a localized area.

Delivery of Therapeutic miR-148b Mimic via Poly(β Amino Ester) Polyplexes for Post-transcriptional Gene Regulation and Apoptosis of A549 Cells.

In this study, we utilized selectively modified, biodegradable polymer-based polyplexes to deliver custom, exogenous miR-148b mimics to induce apoptosis in human lung cancer (A549) cells. The gene regulatory effects of the payload miRNA mimics (miR-148b-3p) were first evaluated through bioinformatic analyses to uncover specific gene targets involved in critical carcinogenic pathways. Hyperbranched poly(β amino ester) polyplexes (hPBAE) loaded with custom miR-148b mimics were then developed for targeted therapy.

Immune response and reactogenicity after immunization with two-doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine (CVnCOV) followed by a third-fourth shot with a standard mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2): RescueVacs multicenter cohort study.

Background: There is no evidence to date on immunogenic response among individuals who participated in clinical trials of COVID-19 experimental vaccines redirected to standard national vaccination regimens.

Methods: This multicentre, prospective controlled cohort study included subjects who received a COVID-19 experimental vaccine (CVnCoV)(test group, TG) - and unvaccinated subjects (control group, CG), selected among individuals to be vaccinated according to the Spanish vaccination program. All study subjects received BNT162b2 as a standard national vaccination schedule, except 8 (from CG) who received mRNA-1273 and were excluded from immunogenicity analyses.

Ultrasound-Responsive Hydrogels for On-Demand Protein Release.

The development of tunable, ultrasound-responsive hydrogels that can deliver protein payload on-demand when exposed to focused ultrasound is described in this study. Reversible Diels-Alder linkers, which undergo a retro reaction when stimulated with ultrasound, were used to cross-link chitosan hydrogels with entrapped FITC-BSA as a model protein therapeutic payload. Two Diels-Alder linkage compositions with large differences in the reverse reaction energy barriers were compared to explore the influence of linker composition on ultrasound response.

Medicine, Religion, and the Humanitarian Ethos: Walter B. Cannon, Unitarianism, and the Care of Spanish Republican Refugees in France.

Biographies of Walter B. Cannon (1871-1945) usually present two sides of his life: one, where he was an outstanding man of science in the United States during the so-called "Golden Age of Medicine," and the other, where he was a leading humanitarian activist engaged in myriad causes, notably in the defense of Spanish democracy during the Civil War (1936-1939). However, these biographies fail to take into account that the apparent link between these two sides of his life was his religious conviction.

[The challenge of (re)emerging diseases, the limits of the biomedical response and the new paradigm of global health].

"Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases" pose a growing threat to the hegemony of biomedicine, raising questions about whether its discourse and practices can handle the global challenge they represent. The construction of this new nosological category is analyzed in this article, which examines some notable examples of the impact of (re)emerging diseases on public health, food security and human development on a global scale. It discusses irresponsible practices by sectors of the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries which led to the emergence and spread of these diseases; and points to some crucial failures of approach and time management in global health policies on HIV/AIDS, with disastrous consequences for sub-Saharan Africa.

Open Access of COVID-19-related publications in the first quarter of 2020: a preliminary study based in PubMed.

The COVID-19 outbreak has made funders, researchers and publishers agree to have research publications, as well as other research outputs, such as data, become openly available. In this extraordinary research context of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, publishers are announcing that their coronavirus-related articles will be made immediately accessible in appropriate open repositories, like PubMed Central (PMC), agreeing upon funders' and researchers' instigation. This work uses Unpaywall, OpenRefine and PubMed to analyse the level of openness of the papers about COVID-19, published during the first quarter of 2020.

Riboflavin-UVA crosslinking of amniotic membranes and its influence on the culture of adipose-derived stem cells.

The human amniotic membrane (hAM) is a collagen-based extracellular matrix whose applications are restricted by its moderate mechanical properties and rapid biodegradation. In this work, we investigate the use of riboflavin, a water-soluble vitamin, to crosslink and strengthen the human amniotic membrane under UVA light. The effect of riboflavin-UVA crosslinking on hAM properties were determined via infrared spectroscopy, uniaxial tensile testing, proteolytic degradation, permeability testing, SEM, and quantification of free (un-crosslinked) amine groups.

Alternating magnetic field mediated release of fluorophores from magnetic nanoparticles by hysteretic heating.

This study explores the use of differential heating of magnetic nanoparticles with different sizes and compositions (MFeO (M = Fe, Co)) for heteroplexed temporal controlled release of conjugated fluorophores from the surface of nanoparticles. By exploiting these differences, we were able to control the amount of hysteretic heating occurring with the distinct sets of magnetic nanoparticles using the same applied alternating magnetic field radio frequency (AMF-RF). Using thermally labile retro-Diels-Alder linkers conjugated to the surface of nanoparticles, the fluorescent payload from the different nanoparticles disengaged when sufficient energy was locally generated during hysteretic heating.

Iodine contents in conventional ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed cow milk: Changes over the year and regional differences. Implications for epidemiological studies on iodine nutritional status.

Background And Objectives: Ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed cow milk is the milk most commonly consumed in Southwest Europe. The study objectives were: 1) to describe the pattern followed by iodine concentration (IC) in conventional UHT milk over the year, and 2) to find out any differences in IC in this type of milk depending on its geographical origin.

Material And Methods: Bricks of conventional UHT cow milk of commercial brands available in food stores in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Araba/Álava), Basque Country (Spain) were bought for 12 consecutive months, and their ICs were measured using high performance liquid chromatography.

Combinatorial Delivery of miRNA-Nanoparticle Conjugates in Human Adipose Stem Cells for Amplified Osteogenesis.

It is becoming more apparent in tissue engineering applications that fine temporal control of multiple therapeutics is desirable to modulate progenitor cell fate and function. Herein, the independent temporal control of the co-delivery of miR-148b and miR-21 mimic plasmonic nanoparticle conjugates to induce osteogenic differentiation of human adipose stem cells (hASCs), in a de novo fashion, is described. By applying a thermally labile retro-Diels-Alder caging and linkage chemistry, these miRNAs can be triggered to de-cage serially with discrete control of activation times.

The 'merciful and loving sex': Concepción Arenal's narratives on Spanish Red Cross women's war relief work in the 1870s.

Spain signed the Geneva Convention in 1864 and the Spanish Red Cross Society (SRC) was established in July of that year. Yet, only after 1870 the SRC revived and quickly expanded, forming local and provincial committees as well as ladies' sections. This revival mostly resulted from, first, the activation of humanitarian sensibilities and networks on the occasion of the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871), and then, the general mobilization of the SRC in reaction to the Carlist war of 1872-1876.

Oscillatory shear potentiates latent TGF-β1 activation more than steady shear as demonstrated by a novel force generator.

Cardiovascular mechanical stresses trigger physiological and pathological cellular reactions including secretion of Transforming Growth Factor β1 ubiquitously in a latent form (LTGF-β1). While complex shear stresses can activate LTGF-β1, the mechanisms underlying LTGF-β1 activation remain unclear. We hypothesized that different types of shear stress differentially activate LTGF-β1.

At the intersection of medical geography and disease ecology: Mirko Grmek, Jacques May and the concept of pathocenosis.

Environmental historians are not sufficiently aware of the extent to which mid twentieth-century thinkers turned to medical geography-originally a nineteenth-century area of study-in order to think through ideas of ecology, environment, and historical reasoning. This article outlines how the French-Croatian Mirko D. Grmek (Krapina, 1924-Paris, 2000), a major thinker of his generation in the history of medicine, used those ideas in his studies of historical epidemiology.

Human Amniotic Membrane: A Versatile Scaffold for Tissue Engineering.

The human amniotic membrane (hAM) is a collagen-based extracellular matrix derived from the human placenta. It is a readily available, inexpensive, and naturally biocompatible material. Over the past decade, the development of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, along with new decellularization protocols, has recast this simple biomaterial as a tunable matrix for cellularized tissue engineered constructs.

Iodine nutrition status and prevalence of abnormal TSH levels in schoolchildren aged 6-7 years in the autonomous community of the Basque Country.

Introduction: An epidemiological study conducted between 1988 and 1992 showed iodine deficiency and endemic goiter in the schoolchildren of the autonomous community of the Basque Country.

Objectives: 1) To ascertain the iodine nutrition status of schoolchildren aged 6-7 years, and 2) to estimate the prevalence of abnormal TSH levels in capillary blood.

Population And Methods: The study was conducted on 497 schoolchildren selected by random sampling.

A case-control study of non-AIDS-defining cancers in a prospective cohort of HIV-infected patients.

Introduction: We present a case-control study of non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADCs) in a cohort of HIV-infected patients where we value the incidence, survival and prognostic factors of mortality.

Methods: All NADCs diagnosis conducted from 2007 to 2011 in 7 hospitals were collected prospectively, with a subsequent follow up until December 2013. A control group of 221 HIV patients without a diagnosis of cancer was randomly selected.

Comparison of urinary iodine levels in women of childbearing age during and after pregnancy.

Purpose: Median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) is used to describe the iodine status of a population. However, the link between UIC and iodine intake may vary during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to compare UIC during and after pregnancy, adjusting for factors that affect iodine intake.

Properties of porcine adipose-derived stem cells and their applications in preclinical models.

Adipose-derived stem cells represent a reliable adult stem cell source thanks to their abundance, straightforward isolation, and broad differentiation abilities. Consequently, human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) have been used in vitro for several innovative cellular therapy and regenerative medicine applications. However, the translation of a novel technology from the laboratory to the clinic requires first to evaluate its safety, feasibility, and potential efficacy through preclinical studies in animals.

[Technological innovation and humanitarianism in the transport of war wounded: Nicasio Landa's report on a new elastic suspension system for stretchers (Pamplona, May 29, 1875)].

In May 1875, in the midst of a bloody civil conflict in Spain known as the Third Carlist War, Nicasio Landa, a medical officer with Military Health, wrote a report requesting authorization for the Spanish Red Cross, of which he was Inspector General, to adopt a new elastic suspension system for stretchers that he had designed, developed and tested. Intended above all for use in farm wagons - still the most widely-used method of transporting the wounded at the time - it was an inexpensive, sturdy mechanism that improved patient comfort and could also be installed in ambulance carriages, railway carriages and hospital ships. An annotated version of the report is included, preceded by a presentation of its contents.

[Scientific communication and technological innovation in the first Red Cross, 1863-1876].

The early years of the international Red Cross movement coincided with great technological changes in war medicine. The organizational peculiarities of the International Association for Relief of Wounded Soldiers in Campaign, set up by the Geneva Committee, and by the Red-Cross' national committees; the convergence in various professional conferences and publications of doctors from different national societies of this association; and the construction of a body of shared practical expertise tested during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) provide keys for understanding the technological innovations introduced by the Spanish Red Cross during the third and last Carlist War (1872-1876).

Executive summary: Prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections and other coinfections in HIV-infected patients: May 2015.

Opportunistic infections continue to be a cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected patients. They often arise because of severe immunosuppression resulting from poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy, failure of antiretroviral therapy, or unawareness of HIV infection by patients whose first clinical manifestation of AIDS is an opportunistic infection. The present article is an executive summary of the document that updates the previous recommendations on the prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections in HIV-infected patients, namely, infections by parasites, fungi, viruses, mycobacteria, and bacteria, as well as imported infections.