Body Weight Changes During Childhood and Predictors of Excessive Body Weight in Adolescence-A Longitudinal Analysis.

Abnormal body weight, including overweight and obesity, is a common health problem affecting children and adolescents. The present study aimed to analyse weight changes in children from preschool age to adolescence and to identify early predictors of excessive weight in adolescence, such as blood pressure and physical fitness observed in preschool children. Data from 3075 children (1524 girls and 1594 boys), collected as part of the Gdańsk Centre for Health Promotion's "Your Child's Healthy Life" programme, were analysed, with each child assessed at ages 6, 10, and 14.

Investigation of Spent Moulding Sand Using Thermal Treatment with Regard to the Possibility of Recovering Quartz Matrix.

The ongoing sustainable reduction in natural resources is prompting companies to look for materials to reuse that were previously classified as waste. Uses are sought for them either in their existing area of use or in other areas of the economy. In many cases, this is difficult.

Prediction of the Stability of the Casting Process by the HPDC Method on the Basis of Knowledge Obtained by Data Mining Techniques.

High-pressure die casting (HPDC) of aluminum alloys is one of the most efficient manufacturing methods, offering high repeatability and the ability to produce highly complex castings. The cast parts are characterized by good surface quality, high dimensional accuracy, and high tensile strength. Continuous technological advancements are driving the increase in part complexity and quality requirements.

Protein-Specific Crowding Accelerates Aging in Protein Condensates.

Macromolecular crowding agents, such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), are often used to mimic cellular cytoplasm in protein assembly studies. Despite the perception that crowding agents have an inert nature, we demonstrate and quantitatively explore the diverse effects of PEG on the phase separation and maturation of protein condensates. We use two model proteins, the FG domain of Nup98 and bovine serum albumin (BSA), which represent an intrinsically disordered protein and a protein with a well-established secondary structure, respectively.

Dysphagia and Body Composition in Cornelia de Lange Syndrome.

Limited research had investigated nutritional status in patients with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) (OMIM 122470, 300590, 300882, 610759, 620568 and 614701). Body composition assessed via bioelectric impedance (BIA) is a particularly under-explored issue. In this cross-sectional study, we hypothesize that body composition imbalance is frequent in CdLS and may be associated with dysphagia.

Health effects of introducing an unconditional child benefit in Poland: Evidence from a difference in differences analysis.

The association between income and health is well-documented, yet the impact of unconditional child benefits on health in high-income countries remains unclear. This study evaluates the health effects of a generous unconditional child transfer introduced in Poland in 2016. We employed a difference-in-differences methodology using 2010-2019 data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

Contract award criteria in public procurement procedures - The possibility of improving the situation of society from the perspective of the European Union and Poland.

Background: Public tenders are vital for a country's GDP and citizens' quality of life, enabling public administration to achieve various goals. Developing and developed countries allocate over 10% of their GDP to public procurement. This highlights the significant societal support public tenders can provide, making it important to consider how they can further benefit society.

Biocompatible, porous hydrogels composed of aliphatic polyesters and poly(2-isopropenyl-2-oxazoline). Their application as scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration.

In this study, porous networks were efficiently prepared by crosslinking hydrophilic poly(2-isopropenyl-2-oxazoline) (PiPOx) with dicarboxylic polyesters (HOOC-PLA-COOH or HOOC-PCL-COOH) in the presence of sodium chloride as a water-soluble porogen. Importantly, by using a relatively simple synthetic protocol, the resulting spongy materials were freely formed to the desired size and shape while maintaining stable dimensions. According to the SEM data, the porous 3D structure can be altered by the pore dimensions, which are dependent on the porogen crystal size.

Effect of aluminium oxide nanoparticles on long-acting oleogels laden with Sc-PLA-chitosan nanoparticles for anti-HIV therapy.

The development of a long-acting injectable drug delivery systems (DDS) of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) holds great promise in addressing the challenges of treatment adherence, predominantly in HIV/AIDS. Polymers are inevitable carriers for the preparation of DDS, which are typically composed of polylactide (PLA), carbohydrates such as chitosan or cellulose derivatives. In this study, the tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) laden PLA-stereocomplex-chitosan nanoparticles (Sc-PLA-chitosan NPs) were developed through the spray-dried technique.

Multimodal, PSMA-Targeted, PAMAM Dendrimer-Drug Conjugates for Treatment of Prostate Cancer: Preclinical Evaluation.

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PC) is the second most common cancer and the fifth most frequent cause of cancer death among men. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) expression is associated with aggressive PC, with expression in over 90% of patients with metastatic disease. Those characteristics have led to its use for PC diagnosis and therapies with radiopharmaceuticals, antibody-drug conjugates, and nanoparticles.

Investigation of Levan-Derived Nanoparticles of Dolutegravir: A Promising Approach for the Delivery of Anti-HIV Drug as Milk Admixture.

Nanoparticles composed of Levan and Dolutegravir (DTG) have been successfully synthesized using a spray drying procedure specifically designed for milk/food admixture applications. Levan, obtained from the microorganism Bacillus subtilis, was thoroughly characterized using MALDI-TOF and solid-state NMR technique to confirm its properties. In the present study, this isolated Levan was utilized as a carrier for drug delivery applications.

Photodegradation enhances the toxic effect of anthracene on skin.

Anthracene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), is a widespread environmental pollutant that poses potential risks to human health. Exposure to anthracene can result in various adverse health effects, including skin-related disorders. Photo exposure sufficiently removes the anthracene from the environment but also generates more degradation products which can be more toxic.

Compatibilizing of cotton fabric with hydrophobic drug cover layer for anti-inflammatory performance with the implementation of ibuprofen.

This paper presents active analgesic and anti-inflammatory dressings based on cotton woven material with surface functionalization enabling drug implementation. For this purpose, lactide was polymerized on the surface of cotton textiles to achieve better compatibility with hydrophobic drug and polylactide (PLA)-based macromolecules. Subsequently, ibuprofen-loaded PLA and PLA-PEG were implemented through the exhausting method.

Spray-dried pH-sensitive chitosan microparticles loaded with Mycobacterium bovis BCG intended for supporting treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Gram-negative spiral-shaped Helicobacter pylori (Hp) bacteria induce the development of different gastric disorders. The growing resistance of Hp to antibiotics prompts to search for new therapeutic formulations. A promising candidate is Mycobacterium bovis BCG (BCG) with immunomodulatory properties.

Badgers remain fearless in the face of simulated wolf presence near their setts.

Many mesocarnivores are fossorial and use burrow systems to avoid predators. But fossorial animals cannot stay safely underground forever; they must also risk emerging overground to forage and find mates. To make this trade-off effectively and maximise their own fitness, it is imperative they assess how risk varies in space and time and adapt their denning behaviour accordingly.

Discovery of Tumor-Targeted 6-Methyl Substituted Pemetrexed and Related Antifolates with Selective Loss of RFC Transport.

Pemetrexed and related 5-substituted pyrrolo[2,3-]pyrimidine antifolates are substrates for the ubiquitously expressed reduced folate carrier (RFC), and the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT) and folate receptors (FRs) which are more tumor-selective. A long-standing goal has been to discover tumor-targeted therapeutics that draw from one-carbon metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer cells and are selective for transport by FRs and PCFT over RFC. We discovered that a methyl group at the 6-position of the pyrrole ring in the bicyclic scaffold of 5-substituted 2-amino-4-oxo-pyrrolo[2,3-]pyrimidine antifolates - (including pemetrexed) abolished transport by RFC with modest impacts on FRs or PCFT.

3D printing of dolutegravir-loaded polylactide filaments as a long-acting implantable system for HIV treatment.

3D printing was used to prepare implantable systems or tablets loaded with dolutegravir to explore their potential as long-acting implantables (LAIs). Our strategy relies on preparing a polylactide (PLA) filament loaded with the anti-HIV drug. Subsequently, 3D printing was performed under conditions that allowed the PLA to be simultaneously melted and the drug encapsulated within the printed strand.