Building an interdisciplinary workforce for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases: the role of e-learning.

argue that interdisciplinary education for health workers, including through e-learning programmes, can help improve the quality of integrated care for non-communicable diseases

Assessment of crystallinity in processed sucrose by near-infrared spectroscopy and application to lyophiles.

The objective of this study was to investigate the capability of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to determine crystallinity in processed sucrose using a common set of calibration standards derived from binary physical mixtures. NIRS was applied as a primary method using binary mixtures of amorphous and crystalline standards to predict crystallinity in sucrose that was either rendered partially amorphous by milling, partially recrystallized from the amorphous phase, or amorphous lyophiles annealed to induce recrystallization. Crystallinity prediction in the case of milled crystalline and recrystallized amorphous sucrose was feasible using the two-state binary calibration mixtures applying a univariate model.

Care protocol for persistent vegetative states (PVS) and minimally conscious state (MSC) in Lorraine: retrospective study over an 18-year period.

Objectives: Retrospective analysis of the efficiency of a protocol for care of chronic vegetative states (CVS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) in Lorraine.

Material And Method: Two indicators are used: protocol activity (number of patients hospitalized between 1988 and 2006, number of admissions per year, of requests per year, origin of requests, waiting time) and the epidemiological data (age, sex ratio, etiology, length of stay, geographic origin, number of deaths, number of hospital discharges). The number of CVS and MCS and patients having progressed towards arousal is specified as well as the technical procedures (orthopedic surgery, number of tracheotomies).

Determination of indomethacin crystallinity in the presence of excipients using diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy.

Studies were conducted to investigate the use of near-infrared spectroscopy for determining the crystallinity of indomethacin in multi-component physical mixtures. Three calibration sets of amorphous/crystalline indomethacin physical mixtures were prepared over the composition range of 0-100% crystallinity. Each of the three calibration sets was diluted step-wise with increasing amounts of a single excipient (Avicel, alpha-lactose monohydrate, or sodium chloride).

Application of diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy for determination of crystallinity.

Studies were conducted to investigate the use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for determining degree of crystallinity. Physical mixtures of amorphous/crystalline indomethacin and amorphous/crystalline sucrose were prepared over several composition ranges. Spectra were obtained on powder samples contained in glass vials using diffuse reflectance sampling.

Induction of immune tolerance to human type I collagen in patients with systemic sclerosis by oral administration of bovine type I collagen.

Objective: To determine whether oral tolerance to type I collagen (CI) could be induced in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods: Twenty adult patients with limited or diffuse SSc were enrolled in a study to receive 0.1 mg of solubilized native bovine CI daily for 1 month, followed by 0.

Quantifying crystalline form composition in binary powder mixtures using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy.

The objectives of this study were to assess the utility of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) in differentiating crystalline forms of pharmaceutical materials and determine the accuracy of this technique in quantifying crystalline forms of solids in binary mixtures. Various crystalline forms of sulfamethoxazole, sulfathiazole, lactose, and ampicillin, independently characterized with other methods, were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The observed differences in near-infrared (NIR) spectra of crystalline form pairs were interpretable on the basis of the features of their crystalline and molecular structures and mid-infrared spectra.

Diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy as a nondestructive analytical technique for polymer implants.

A near-infrared spectroscopic method to quantify drugs or excipients within polymeric matrixes is proposed. Cylindrical implants were fabricated by a melt-mold technique containing various ratios of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and various loadings of lomefloxacin HCl with a constant ratio (70:30 w/w) of PCL/PEG. Near-infrared (NIR) spectra were obtained on intact sections of larger implants using a Foss NIRSystems Model 5000 monochrometer equipped with a Rapid Content Analyzer.

Lack of efficacy of oral bovine type II collagen added to existing therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of oral type II collagen (CII) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), when added to existing therapy.

Methods: Patients with active RA (n = 190) were randomized into a 6-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients continued to take their current arthritis medications.

Spatial vision in the prosobranch gastropod ampularia sp.

The eyes of gastropods of the genus Ampularia superficially resemble the well-developed camera-type eyes of Littorina littorea and Strombus raninus. The eyes are of the closed-vesicle type, having a cornea and a lens that is separated from the retina by a narrow vitreous body. Light and electron microscopy were used to generate an accurate geometrical model of the Ampularia sp.

Identification of specific sites in the TNF-alpha molecule promoting insulin resistance in H-411E cells.

Data from a number of laboratories support a potential role for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in the loss of insulin sensitivity and the pathogenesis of insulin resistance (IR) in diabetic animal models and human patients. We designed experiments to establish a dose-response relationship for TNF-alpha and IR in H-411E cells in culture. IR was measured by inhibition of the ability of graded amounts of insulin to stimulate expression of calmodulin (CaM) mRNA in these cells.

Suppression of murine collagen-induced arthritis by nasal administration of collagen.

DBA/1 mice were administered type II collagen (CII) or collagen peptides intranasally before systemic immunization to determine whether tolerance could be induced and autoimmune arthritis suppressed. Although prior experiments have demonstrated that collagen given intravenously or orally is effective, the respiratory mucosal route offers several theoretical advantages for dosing peptides, in addition to ease of use. Intact CII, CB11 and a synthetic peptide containing the immunodominant T-cell epitope recognized by H-2q mice were all effective in reducing the incidence and severity of arthritis and the immune response to CII.

An interleukin-1 receptor fragment inhibits spontaneous sleep and muramyl dipeptide-induced sleep in rabbits.

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is hypothesized to be involved in physiological sleep regulation and in sleep responses occurring during infectious disease. If this hypothesis is correct, then inhibition of endogenous IL-1 should reduce both normal sleep and N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (MDP)-induced sleep. MDP is a somnogenic substance derived from bacterial cell walls.

Interleukin-1 beta peptides induce cerebral pial arteriolar dilation in anesthetized newborn pigs.

Inflammatory cytokines may affect cerebral circulation under pathological conditions. Responses of cerebral pial arterioles to one such cytokine, interleukin (IL)-1 beta and its inhibitor [soluble IL-1 receptor (sIL-1R)] were examined in anesthetized newborn pigs using closed cranial windows. Levels of prostanoids and cyclic nucleotides in periarachnoid cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) were measured.

Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor attenuates physiological sleep in rabbits.

The involvement of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in sleep regulation was investigated by blocking TNF using a synthetic TNF receptor fragment (TNFRF) in rabbits. Intracerebroventricular injection of 50 micrograms TNFRF decreased spontaneous non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep across the 21 h recording period. After 6 h of sleep deprivation (SD), both duration of NREM sleep and electroencephalographic (EEG) slow wave activity during NREM sleep were enhanced.

Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor in the brain suppresses rabbit sleep.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a cytokine that possesses many biological activities, including enhancement of non-rapid-eye-movement sleep (NREMS). The role of endogenous TNF in the regulation of spontaneous sleep is unknown. If TNF is involved in sleep regulation, then reduction of endogenous TNF should suppress spontaneous sleep.

Establishment by the rat lymph node method of epitope-defined monoclonal antibodies recognizing the six different alpha chains of human type IV collagen.

A group of rat monoclonal antibodies recognizing the six different alpha chains of human type IV collagen have been established by our novel method. The method is designated the rat lymph node method in which enlarged medial iliac lymph nodes of a rat injected with an antigen emulsion via hind footpads are used as a source of B cells for cell fusion to produce hybridomas. The immunogens used were synthetic peptides having non-consensus amino acid sequences near the carboxyl termini of type IV collagen alpha chains.

Differential expression of two basement membrane collagen genes, COL4A6 and COL4A5, demonstrated by immunofluorescence staining using peptide-specific monoclonal antibodies.

Genes for the human alpha 5(IV) and alpha 6(IV) collagen chains have a unique arrangement in that they are colocalized on chromosome Xq22 in a head-to-head fashion and appear to share a common bidirectional promoter. In addition we reported a novel observation that the COL4A6 gene is transcribed from two alternative promoters in a tissue-specific manner (Sugimoto, M., T.

Identification of a chemotactic epitope in human transforming growth factor-beta 1 spanning amino acid residues 368-374.

TGF-beta 1 plays a critical role in inflammatory and repair processes due in part to its ability to provide a potent chemotactic stimulus for inflammatory cells such as neutrophils and monocytes and for fibroblasts which initiate the fibrogenic response. In the present study, we have used synthetic oligopeptides representing the amino acid sequence of the 12.1 kDa monomer of human TGF-beta 1 in an effort to identify a chemotactic epitope on the molecule.

Identification and characterization of a major tolerogenic T-cell epitope of type II collagen that suppresses arthritis in B10.RIII mice.

Tolerization of B10.RIII mice (H-2r) with intravenously injected type II collagen (CII) renders the animals resistant to induction of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). In order to clarify H-2r-restricted T-cell responses that modulate CIA, we have analysed the T-cell proliferative response of B10.

Intracellular phosphorylation of the Sendai virus P protein.

Phosphorylation status of the Sendai virus P protein was examined during virus infection and compared with cell-free phosphorylation. P protein from Sendai virus-infected (VI) and P/C gene-transfected (PT) mammalian cells and from purified virions (PV) was phosphorylated at only serine residues. In contrast, cell-free phosphorylation of the P protein with virion-associated protein kinase (VAPK) occurred at both threonine and serine.

Collagen-induced arthritis in B10.RIII mice (H-2r): identification of an arthritogenic T-cell determinant.

Susceptibility to collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a murine model of autoimmune arthritis, is strongly linked to only two major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotypes, H-2q and H-2r. In order to identify the determinants of type II collagen (CII) required to induce arthritis in H-2r-bearing mice, B10.RIII mice were immunized with bovine, chick or human CII.

Identification and characterization of a tolerogenic T cell determinant within residues 181-209 of chick type II collagen.

The murine model of collagen-induced arthritis is characterized by the development of an immune response against joint cartilage. Arthritis can be significantly suppressed by the administration of type II collagen (CII) or one of the CNBr peptides, CB11 (CII 124-402) as a tolerogen prior to immunization. We have previously shown that two synthetic peptides, representing sequences CII 260-270 and CII 181-209, are effective tolerogens.

A region in the cytosolic domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor antithetically regulates the stimulatory and inhibitory guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory proteins of adenylyl cyclase.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulates adenylyl cyclase in the heart via activation of the stimulatory GTP-binding protein Gs. Therefore, employing peptides corresponding to regions in the cytosolic domain of the EGF receptor, we have investigated the ability of sequences within the EGF receptor to activate Gs. A 13-aa peptide (EGFR-13) corresponding to the juxtamembrane region in the cytosolic domain of the EGF receptor stimulated GTP binding and GTPase activity of Gs.