Publications by authors named "Joy Collins"

Patients undergoing radiation therapy experience debilitating side effects because of toxicity arising from radiation-induced DNA strand breaks in normal peritumoural cells. Here, inspired by the ability of tardigrades to resist extreme radiation through the expression of a damage-suppressor protein that binds to DNA and reduces strand breaks, we show that the local and transient expression of the protein can reduce radiation-induced DNA damage in oral and rectal epithelial tissues (which are commonly affected during radiotherapy for head-and-neck and prostate cancers, respectively). We used ionizable lipid nanoparticles supplemented with biodegradable cationic polymers to enhance the transfection efficiency and delivery of messenger RNA encoding the damage-suppressor protein into buccal and rectal tissues.

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Triggerable coatings, such as pH-responsive polymethacrylate copolymers, can be used to protect the active pharmaceutical ingredients contained within oral solid dosage forms from the acidic gastric environment and to facilitate drug delivery directly to the intestine. However, gastrointestinal pH can be highly variable, which can reduce delivery efficiency when using pH-responsive drug delivery technologies. We hypothesized that biomaterials susceptible to proteolysis could be used in combination with other triggerable polymers to develop novel enteric coatings.

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Article Synopsis
  • Patient adherence to long-term medications is often poor, which can lead to worse health outcomes.
  • A new drug delivery system is designed to improve adherence by extending the time medications stay in the small intestine and releasing them steadily.
  • This system uses an enzyme called catalase to help the drug pills stick to the intestinal lining and has shown promising results with two different medications in a pig model.
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  • Intravesical instillation is a method used to deliver drugs directly into the bladder for treating urological issues, but it has challenges like pain and frequent clinic visits.
  • Researchers have developed a new biodegradable intravesical device made of PCL microcapsules and PDS sutures, which is easy to insert and remains in the bladder for up to four weeks.
  • The device allows for long-term drug release of medications like lidocaine and resiquimod, and a cost-effectiveness analysis shows it's a better option compared to traditional treatment methods.
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Administering medicines to 0- to 5-year-old children in a resource-limited environment requires dosage forms that circumvent swallowing solids, avoid on-field reconstitution, and are thermostable, cheap, versatile, and taste masking. We present a strategy that stands to solve this multifaceted problem. As many drugs lack adequate water solubility, our formulations used oils, whose textures could be modified with gelling agents to form "oleogels.

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Maintaining an ample supply of personal protective equipment continues to be a challenge for the healthcare industry, especially during emergency situations and times of strain on the supply chain. Most critically, healthcare workers exposed to potential airborne hazards require sufficient respiratory protection. Respirators are the only type of personal protective equipment able to provide adequate respiratory protection.

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  • Glycemic control remains crucial for diabetes management, primarily achieved through adjusting insulin doses, using both long-acting for daily needs and short-acting for meal-related spikes.
  • Blood glucose monitoring and carbohydrate counting can be burdensome for users, impacting their adherence to insulin therapy.
  • A new smartphone-based system utilizing computer vision simplifies this process by detecting food carbohydrate loads from images, and combined with blood glucose data, it calculates necessary insulin doses, potentially revolutionizing diabetes care.*
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  • Oral drug administration is still the most favored method for patients and healthcare professionals, but delivering large molecules (macromolecules) orally is tough due to absorption issues and the digestive environment.
  • Researchers have created a unique delivery system combining microneedles and drug absorption enhancers, inspired by a type of worm, which sticks to the stomach lining for better drug delivery in pigs.
  • Additionally, they designed a targeted capsule that can release these microneedles intact, potentially improving how various medications can be delivered in the gastrointestinal tract.
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  • Diurnal fluctuations in biological mediators affect drug effectiveness, leading to advancements in chronotherapy, which focuses on timing drug delivery for optimal results.
  • A new implantable system has been developed that is battery-free, refillable, and can be controlled via a mobile app to administer drugs precisely when needed.
  • Tests show the system delivers bromocriptine effectively for glycemic control in diabetic rats and can also administer antihypertensive medication, potentially improving treatment for various chronic conditions.
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Importance: Adoption of mask wearing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic alters daily communication.

Objective: To assess communication barriers associated with mask wearing in patient-clinician interactions and individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This pilot cross-sectional survey study included the general population, health care workers, and health care workers who are deaf or hard of hearing in the United States.

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Continuous monitoring in the intensive care setting has transformed the capacity to rapidly respond with interventions for patients in extremis. Noninvasive monitoring has generally been limited to transdermal or intravascular systems coupled to transducers including oxygen saturation or pressure. Here it is hypothesized that gastric fluid (GF) and gases, accessible through nasogastric (NG) tubes, commonly found in intensive care settings, can provide continuous access to a broad range of biomarkers.

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  • Oral drug administration is typically limited by poor absorption and quick breakdown in the digestive system, necessitating injections for effective delivery.
  • A new orally dosed liquid auto-injector has been developed, allowing for up to 4 mg doses of a bioavailable drug with injection-like absorption rates and achieving up to 80% bioavailability in just 30 minutes.
  • Tests on swine show this method effectively delivers clinically relevant doses of commonly injected drugs, highlighting its potential for real-world medical applications.
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Objectives: To compare the impact of respirator extended use and reuse strategies with regard to cost and sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Cost analysis.

Setting: USA.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cancer treatments often cause damage to nearby gastrointestinal tract mucosa, leading to complications for patients.
  • Researchers have developed custom 3D-printed radioprotective devices that significantly reduce radiation exposure to critical GI areas, showing effectiveness in animal models and promising results in dosimetric studies involving human patients.
  • These personalized devices not only enhance patient safety but also prove to be more cost-effective compared to traditional solutions like hydrogel spacers.
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Implantable drug depots have the capacity to locally meet therapeutic requirements by maximizing local drug efficacy and minimizing potential systemic side effects. Tubular organs including the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract and vasculature all manifest with endoluminal disease. The anatomic distribution of localized drug delivery for these organs using existing therapeutic modalities is limited.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists are creating tiny drug particles called nanoformulations that can help treat many diseases more effectively.
  • * These tiny particles can be tricky to make and usually don't hold a lot of medicine, but a new method can allow them to carry up to 95% of drugs.
  • * By using machine learning and testing millions of combinations, researchers found new types of these particles and think this will help create safer and better medicines faster.
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Importance: Before the widespread implementation of robotic systems to provide patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic occurs, it is important to understand the acceptability of these systems among patients and the economic consequences associated with the adoption of robotics in health care settings.

Objective: To assess the acceptability and feasibility of using a mobile robotic system to facilitate health care tasks.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study included 2 components: a national survey to examine the acceptability of using robotic systems to perform health care tasks in a hospital setting and a single-site cohort study of patient experiences and satisfaction with the use of a mobile robotic system to facilitate triage and telehealth tasks in the emergency department (ED).

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Alternative means for drug delivery are needed to facilitate drug adherence and administration. Microneedles (MNs) have been previously investigated transdermally for drug delivery. To date, drug loading into MNs has been limited by drug solubility in the polymeric blend.

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Ingestible electronic devices enable noninvasive evaluation and diagnosis of pathologies in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract but generally cannot therapeutically interact with the tissue wall. Here, we report the development of an orally administered electrical stimulation device characterized in ex vivo human tissue and in in vivo swine models, which transiently anchored itself to the stomach by autonomously inserting electrically conductive, hooked probes. The probes provided stimulation to the tissue via timed electrical pulses that could be used as a treatment for gastric motility disorders.

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Epithelial tissues line the organs of the body, providing an initial protective barrier as well as a surface for nutrient and drug absorption. Here, we identified enzymatic components present in the gastrointestinal epithelium that can serve as selective means for tissue-directed polymerization. We focused on the small intestine, given its role in drug and nutrient absorption and identified catalase as an essential enzyme with the potential to catalyze polymerization and growth of synthetic biomaterial layers.

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Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of cirrhosis worldwide and kills more Americans than 59 other infections, including HIV and tuberculosis, combined. While direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatments are effective, limited uptake of therapy, particularly in high-risk groups, remains a substantial barrier to eliminating HCV. We developed a long-acting DAA system (LA-DAAS) capable of prolonged dosing and explored its cost-effectiveness.

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Triggerable materials capable of being degraded by selective stimuli stand to transform our capacity to precisely control biomedical device activity and performance while reducing the need for invasive interventions. Here, we describe the development of a modular and tunable light-triggerable hydrogel system capable of interfacing with implantable devices. We apply these materials to two applications in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract: a bariatric balloon and an esophageal stent.

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Long-term implantation of biomedical electronics into the human body enables advanced diagnostic and therapeutic functionalities. However, most long-term resident electronics devices require invasive procedures for implantation as well as a specialized receiver for communication. Here, a gastric resident electronic (GRE) system that leverages the anatomical space offered by the gastric environment to enable residence of an orally delivered platform of such devices within the human body is presented.

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Poor patient adherence to oral contraceptives is the predominant cause of failure of these therapies, leading to unplanned pregnancies that can negatively affect female health worldwide. To improve patient adherence, we developed an oral contraceptive that is administered once a month. Here, we describe the design and report in vivo characterization of a levonorgestrel-releasing gastric resident dosage form in pigs.

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