Biodegradable 3D-Printed Conjunctival Inserts for the Treatment of Dry Eyes.

Purpose: To fabricate 3D-printed, biodegradable conjunctival gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) inserts that can release polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) when exposed to an ocular surface enzyme.

Method: In this work, biodegradable conjunctival inserts were 3D-printed using a stereolithography-based technique. The release of PVA from these insert formulations (containing 10% GelMA and 5% PVA (P-Gel-5%)) was assessed along with different mathematical models of drug release.

Efficient In-Training Adaptive Compound Loss Function Contribution Control for Medical Image Segmentation.

Image segmentation plays a crucial role in many clinical applications, including disease diagnosis and monitoring. Current state-of-the-art segmentation approaches use deep neural networks that are trained on their target tasks by minimizing a loss function. Class imbalance is one of the major challenges that these networks face, where the target object is significantly underrepresented.

3D-Printed Contact Lenses to Release Polyvinyl Alcohol as a Therapeutic Agent for the Treatment of Dry Eyes.

Dry eye disease is highly prevalent, and the most common treatment, lubricating eye drops, only remains effective for a very short period of time. This project aims to 3D print a proof-of-concept, custom-fit, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-eluting contact lens (CL) for the treatment of dry eye disease. PVA is a commonly used viscosity enhancer in eye drops, with the capability of reducing symptoms of dry eye by stabilizing the tear film and reducing tear evaporation.

Design and Development of Natural-Product-Derived Nanoassemblies and Their Interactions with Alpha Synuclein.

Biomimetic nanoassemblies derived from natural products are considered promising nanomaterials due to their self-assembling ability and their favorable interactions with biological molecules leading to their numerous applications as therapeutic agents or as molecular probes. In this work, we have created peptide nanoconjugates of two natural products, β-Boswellic acid (BA) and β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GH). Both BA and GH are known for their medicinal value, including their role as strong antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and as anti-tumor agents.

Carbapenem-Resistant Isolated From a Patient in a Midwestern U.S. Hospital With a History of Indian Travel: Therapeutic Strategies and Clinical Outcomes.

Carbapenemases have had increasing prevalence within the United States and worldwide. Here, we present a case of carbapenem-resistant (CRKP) which is unique due to the rarity of multiple mechanisms of resistance within the harboring New Delhi metallo--lactamases (NDM), oxacillinase-48 (OXA-48)-like, and cefotaximase (CTX-M) resistance genes, detected in a patient following an international travel. This case demonstrates the need for a multidisciplinary approach to optimize the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative organisms.

Prospective validation study: a non-invasive circulating tumor DNA-based assay for simultaneous early detection of multiple cancers in asymptomatic adults.

Background: Non-invasive multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests have shown promise in enhancing early cancer detection. However, their clinical utility across diverse populations remains underexplored, limiting their routine implementation. This study aims to validate the clinical utility of a multimodal non-invasive circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)-based MCED test, SPOT-MAS (Screening for the Presence Of Tumor by DNA Methylation And Size).

Radical SAM Enzyme WprB Catalyzes Uniform Cross-Link Topology between Trp-C5 and Arg-Cγ on the Precursor Peptide.

Cross-link containing products from ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are generated by radical SAM enzymes (rSAM). Here, we bioinformatically expanded rSAM enzymes based on the known families StrB, NxxcB, WgkB, RrrB, TqqB and GggB. Through functional studies in , the newly identified enzyme WprB from sp.

Child diarrhea in Cambodia: A descriptive analysis of temporal and geospatial trends and logistic regression-based examination of factors associated with diarrhea in children under five years.

Diarrhea is a global public health problem that is the third leading cause of death in under five years, with an estimated 1.7 billion cases in 2023 and 1.8 million deaths from diarrhea diseases every year.

Controlled PVA Release from Chemical-Physical Interpenetrating Networks to Treat Dry Eyes.

Dry eye disease is becoming increasingly prevalent, and lubricating eye drops, a mainstay of its treatment, have a short duration of time on the ocular surface. Although there are various drug delivery methods to increase the ocular surface residence time of a topical lubricant, the main problem is the burst release from these delivery systems. To overcome this limitation, herein, a chemical-physical interpenetrating network (IPN) was fabricated to take control over the release of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a well-known therapeutic agent used to stabilize tear film, from gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels.

Neuromuscular Ultrasound Training in Neuromuscular Fellowship Programs in Canada: Minding the Gap.

Introduction/aims: Neuromuscular ultrasound (NMUS) is gaining prominence as a valuable tool for diagnosing neuromuscular disorders at the point of care. Neuromuscular disorder diagnostic criteria guidelines have begun incorporating NMUS findings. As interest grows, fellowship programs must consider incorporating training into their curricula.

Enhancing lesion detection in liver and kidney CT scans via lesion mask selection from two models: A main model and a model focused on small lesions.

Automated segmentation and detection of tumors in CT scans of the liver and kidney have a significant potential in assisting clinicians with cancer diagnosis and treatment planning. However, current approaches, including state-of-the-art deep learning ones, still face many challenges. Many tumors are not detected by these approaches when tested on public datasets for tumor detection and segmentation such as the Kidney Tumor Segmentation Challenge (KiTS) and the Liver tumor segmentation challenge (LiTS).

The Advancement of Peptides Derived From Kitasatospora.

Kitasatospora continue to be a rich source of chemically diverse and bioactive peptide natural products. This review highlights two strategies in peptide natural products research of Kitasatospora: (1) a natural products-first approach guided by a major compound, biological activity, or genomic analysis, and (2) an enzyme-first approach guided by bioinformatic tools to construct a sequence similarity network for the discovery of biosynthetic enzymes. The structures of peptides, biosynthetic origins of unique building blocks, recent reports of post-translational modifying enzymes for constructing these peptides, and knowledge gaps in biosynthesis will also be presented.

MIBiG 4.0: advancing biosynthetic gene cluster curation through global collaboration.

Specialized or secondary metabolites are small molecules of biological origin, often showing potent biological activities with applications in agriculture, engineering and medicine. Usually, the biosynthesis of these natural products is governed by sets of co-regulated and physically clustered genes known as biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). To share information about BGCs in a standardized and machine-readable way, the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG) data standard and repository was initiated in 2015.

Ergothioneine-rich Lentinula edodes mushroom extract restores mitochondrial functions in senescent HT22 cells.

A decline in mitochondrial functions associated with ageing is the key factor of free radical generation which contributes to age-related pathologies. Protecting healthy functional mitochondrial networks with antioxidants is critical in promoting healthy ageing. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of ergothioneine (EGT)-rich Lentinula edodes extract (LE-ETH) against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) assaulted senescent HT22 cells.

Injectable gelatin-pectin hydrogel for dental tissue engineering: Enhanced angiogenesis and antibacterial efficacy for pulpitis therapy.

Pulpitis is inflammation of the dental pulp, often caused by bacterial infection from untreated cavities, leading to pain. The main challenge in treatment is eliminating infection while preserving tooth vitality. This study aims to address this challenge by developing a hydrogel for convenient insertion into the root canal system, securely attaching to dentin walls.

Vat photopolymerization 3D printing optimization: Analysis of print conditions and print quality for complex geometries and ocular applications.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, continues to reshape manufacturing paradigms in healthcare by providing customized on-demand object fabrication. However, stereolithography-based 3D printers encounter a conflict between optimizing printing parameters, requiring more time, and print efficiency, requiring less time. Moreover, commonly used metrics to assess shape fidelity of 3D printed hydrogel materials like 'circularity' and 'printability' are limited by the soft nature of hydrogels, that can cause irregularities in their boundary.

Extended release of ciprofloxacin from commercial silicone-hydrogel and conventional hydrogel contact lenses containing vitamin E diffusion barriers.

Significance: Vitamin E could be used as a coating with commercial silicone hydrogel lenses to extend the release of various ophthalmic drugs. This concept could provide a promising approach to improve overall ocular therapeutic outcomes for topical ocular drugs.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a contact lens-based ocular drug delivery system using vitamin E as a diffusion barrier to extend the release duration of ciprofloxacin.

The effect of health insurance coverage on antenatal care utilization in Cambodia: A secondary analysis of Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2021-2022.

Health insurance is essential in reducing or eliminating the financial constraint to accessing maternal health services caused by out-of-pocket payments. Also, it has a beneficial effect in minimizing maternal and child mortality. However, limited studies in Cambodia examined the association between health insurance coverage on antenatal care (ANC) utilization.

Doubly Homologated Tyrosine-Containing Peptides from the Cyanobacterium NIES-4285 and Their Biosynthesis.

Chemical investigation of the cyanobacterium NIES-4285 led to the isolation of six new natural products, microginins 705 (), 719 (), 733A (), 733B (), and 733C (), and anabaenopeptin 885 (), and three known compounds, anabaenopeptins 871 (), B (), and F (). Planar structures and absolute configurations for - were determined by 2D NMR, HRMS, and Marfey's analyses. Microginin 733C (), and anabaenopeptins 871 () and 885 () contained a unique residue of 2-amino-5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)pentanoic acid (Ahppa): doubly homologated tyrosine (di-hTyr).

Sequence-function space of radical SAM cyclophane synthases reveal conserved active site residues that influence substrate specificity.

Radical SAM cyclophane synthases catalyze C-C, C-N, and C-O crosslinking reactions in the biosynthesis of bioactive peptide natural products. Here, we studied an uncharacterized rSAM enzyme, HtkB from sp., and found this enzyme to catalyze the formation of a HisC2-to-LysCβ crosslink.

RBC subpopulations in RCCs affected by donor factors.

Understanding red blood cell (RBC) subpopulations is crucial for comprehending donor variability and enhancing transfusion outcomes. This review highlights the significance of RBC subpopulations, focusing on the properties of biologically young and old RBCs and underscores how donor variability impacts transfusion outcomes. The role of senescent RBCs in adverse transfusion reactions and the emerging significance of circulating erythroid cells (CECs) is discussed.

Design and investigation of novel iridoid-based peptide conjugates for targeting EGFR and its mutants L858R and T790M/L858R/C797S: an in silico study.

In this work, we designed novel peptide conjugates with plant-based iridoid and lichen-derived depside derivatives to target the wild-type EGFR (WT) and its mutants, L858R and T790M/L858R/C797S triple mutant. These mutations are often expressed in multiple cancers, particularly lung cancer. Specifically, the iridoids included 7-deoxyloganetic acid (7-DGA) and loganic acid (LG), while the depside derivative was sekikaic acid (SK).