How Interprofessional Community Mobile Healthcare and Service-Learning Work Together to Identify and Address Chronic Health Disparities.

Background: Residents of the State of Delaware experience high levels of health inequities. Service-learning programs provided jointly by universities and community partners can address health disparities through documentation of disparities and service provision that sees patients where they are. Benefits accrue for both students and communities experiencing health inequities.

Interventions to improve patient admission and discharge practices in adult intensive care units: A systematic review.

Objectives: To identify and synthesise interventions and implementation strategies to optimise patient flow, addressing admission delays, discharge delays, and after-hours discharges in adult intensive care units.

Methods: This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines. Five electronic databases, including CINAHL, PubMed, Emcare, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library, were searched from 2007 to 2023 to identify articles describing interventions to enhance patient flow practices in adult intensive care units.

Specific Internalisation of Gold Nanoparticles into Engineered Porous Protein Cages via Affinity Binding.

Porous protein cages are supramolecular protein self-assemblies presenting pores that allow the access of surrounding molecules and ions into their core in order to store and transport them in biological environments. Protein cages' pores are attractive channels for the internalisation of inorganic nanoparticles and an alternative for the preparation of hybrid bioinspired nanoparticles. However, strategies based on nanoparticle transport through the pores are largely unexplored, due to the difficulty of tailoring nanoparticles that have diameters commensurate with the pores size and simultaneously displaying specific affinity to the cages' core and low non-specific binding to the cages' outer surface.

High colloidal stability of gold nanorods coated with a peptide-ethylene glycol: Analysis by cyanide-mediated etching and nanoparticle tracking analysis.

The stability of gold nanorods was assessed following coating with various charged or uncharged ligands, mostly peptides. Highly stable monodispersed gold nanorods were obtained by coating CTAB-stabilized gold nanorods with a pentapeptide with C-terminal ethylene glycol units (peptide-EG). UV-vis spectroscopy of these nanorods suspended in saline solutions indicated no signs of aggregation, and they were easily purified using size-exclusion chromatography.

TAT and HA2 facilitate cellular uptake of gold nanoparticles but do not lead to cytosolic localisation.

The methods currently available to deliver functional labels and drugs to the cell cytosol are inefficient and this constitutes a major obstacle to cell biology (delivery of sensors and imaging probes) and therapy (drug access to the cell internal machinery). As cell membranes are impermeable to most molecular cargos, viral peptides have been used to bolster their internalisation through endocytosis and help their release to the cytosol by bursting the endosomal vesicles. However, conflicting results have been reported on the extent of the cytosolic delivery achieved.

A rapid method to estimate the concentration of citrate capped silver nanoparticles from UV-visible light spectra.

We present a generalized table of extinction coefficient data for silver nanoparticles from 8 to 100 nm. This table allows for easy and quick estimation of the concentration and size of modified and mono-dispersed silver nanoparticles from their optical spectra. We obtained data by determining the silver content of citrate-stabilised silver nanoparticles using sodium cyanide to dissolve the nanoparticles, and measuring solution conductivity with a pH meter and a cyanide-ion selective electrode.

Cathepsin L digestion of nanobioconjugates upon endocytosis.

Understanding the dynamic fate and interactions of bioconjugated nanoparticles within living cells and organisms is a prerequisite for their use as in situ sensors or actuators. While recent research has provided indications on the effect of size, shape, and surface properties of nanoparticles on their internalization by living cells, the biochemical fate of the nanoparticles after internalization has been essentially unknown. Here we show that, upon internalization in a wide range of mammalian cells, biological molecules attached to the nanoparticles are degraded within the endosomal compartments through peptide cleavage by the protease cathepsin L.

PEGylation modulates the interfacial kinetics of proteases on peptide-capped gold nanoparticles.

Fluorescence unquenching measurements of protease-dependent release of fluorescent biomolecules from peptide-capped gold nanoparticles reveal the effect of the monolayer composition on enzyme kinetics.

Identification of heparin-binding sites in proteins by selective labeling.

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are key regulators of complex molecular networks due to the interaction of their sugar chains with a large number of partner proteins, which in humans number more than 200 (Ori, A., Wilkinson, M. C.

Protein sulfenation as a redox sensor: proteomics studies using a novel biotinylated dimedone analogue.

Protein sulfenic acids are reactive intermediates in the catalytic cycles of many enzymes as well as the in formation of other redox states. Sulfenic acid formation is a reversible post-translational modification with potential for protein regulation. Dimedone (5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione) is commonly used in vitro to study sulfenation of purified proteins, selectively "tagging" them, allowing monitoring by mass spectrometry.

Mannose-pepstatin conjugates as targeted inhibitors of antigen processing.

The molecular details of antigen processing, including the identity of the enzymes involved, their intracellular location and their substrate specificity, are still incompletely understood. Selective inhibition of proteolytic antigen processing enzymes such as cathepsins D and E, using small molecular inhibitors such as pepstatin, has proven to be a valuable tool in investigating these pathways. However, pepstatin is poorly soluble in water and has limited access to the antigen processing compartment in antigen presenting cells.

The expression and function of cathepsin E in dendritic cells.

Cathepsin E is an aspartic proteinase that has been implicated in Ag processing within the class II MHC pathway. In this study, we document the presence of cathepsin E message and protein in human myeloid dendritic cells, the preeminent APCs of the immune system. Cathepsin E is found in a perinuclear compartment, which is likely to form part of the endoplasmic reticulum, and also a peripheral compartment just beneath the cell membrane, with a similar distribution to that of Texas Red-dextran within 2 min of endocytosis.

Placentally derived prostaglandin E2 acts via the EP4 receptor to inhibit IL-2-dependent proliferation of CTLL-2 T cells.

A number of immunomodulatory molecules are present in the placenta, including cytokines, prostaglandins, progesterone and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase. An undefined factor capable of down-regulating T-cell activity has recently been reported [1] as being produced by short-term cultures of placental fragments. By careful repetition of these studies we have confirmed that chorionic villi isolated from term placenta produce a low molecular weight, heat stable factor capable of inhibiting the IL-2-dependent proliferation of mouse CTLL-2 cells.

Identification of a novel gene, pilZ, essential for type 4 fimbrial biogenesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces type 4 fimbriae which promote adhesion to epithelial cells and are associated with a form of surface translocation called twitching motility. We have used transposon mutagenesis to identify loci required for fimbrial assembly or function by screening for mutants that lack the spreading colony morphology characteristic of twitching motility. A subset of these mutants is resistant to fimbria-specific phage.

Characterization of pilQ, a new gene required for the biogenesis of type 4 fimbriae in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Type 4 fimbriae are produced by a variety of pathogens, in which they appear to function in adhesion to epithelial cells, and in a form of surface translocation called twitching motility. Using transposon mutagenesis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we have identified a new locus required for fimbrial assembly. This locus contains the gene pilQ which encodes a 77 kDa protein with an N-terminal hydrophobic signal sequence characteristic of secretory proteins.

PilS and PilR, a two-component transcriptional regulatory system controlling expression of type 4 fimbriae in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Transposon mutagenesis was used to identify genes necessary for the expression of Pseudomonas aeruginosa type 4 fimbriae. In a library of 12,700 mutants, 147 were observed to have lost the spreading colony morphology associated with the presence of functional fimbriae. Of these, 28 had also acquired resistance to the fimbrial-specific bacteriophage PO4.