Preparation and characterization of β-cyclodextrin capped magnetic nanoparticles anchored on cellulosic matrix for removal of cr(VI) from mimicked wastewater: Adsorption and kinetic studies.

Hexavalent Chromium (Cr(VI)) is essential in many industrial processes. However, it finds its way into water bodies, posing health problems, including lung cancer and the inhibition of DNA and RNA in biological systems. Several chemical and traditional water purification methods have been developed in the past, but most are expensive, tedious and ineffective.

Plasmid-Borne Biosynthetic Gene Clusters within a Permanently Stratified Marine Water Column.

Plasmids are mobile genetic elements known to carry secondary metabolic genes that affect the fitness and survival of microbes in the environment. Well-studied cases of plasmid-encoded secondary metabolic genes in marine habitats include toxin/antitoxin and antibiotic biosynthesis/resistance genes. Here, we examine metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the permanently-stratified water column of the Cariaco Basin for integrated plasmids that encode biosynthetic gene clusters of secondary metabolites (smBGCs).

Green isolation of cellulosic materials from recycled pulp and paper sludge: a Box-Behnken design optimization.

Cellulose was isolated from recycled pulp and paper sludge and used to synthesize cellulose nanocrystals. Response surface methodology and Box-Behnken design model were used to predict, improve, and optimize the cellulose isolation process. The optimal conditions were a reaction temperature of 87.

Recycled pulp and paper sludge, potential source of cellulose: feasibility assessment and characterization.

The pulp and paper industry stands out as an example of a technology based on a renewable resource, cellulose. The sludge, however, poses major environmental and public health problems. To effectively manage the sludge wastes, it is critical to fully evaluate its composition, possible environmental impacts, and the total amount of exploitable renewable resources.

In situ capping of silver nanoparticles with cellulosic matrices from wheat straws in enhancing their antimicrobial activity: Synthesis and characterization.

Silver nanoparticles have gained worldwide attention in the scientific community due to their high antimicrobial activity. However, they tend to agglomerate and lose their shape and properties, thus capping agents necessary to protect their shapes, sizes, and properties. To enhance their antimicrobial activity, this research aimed to cap silver nanoparticles with cellulosic matrices from wheat straws.

Diverse secondary metabolites are expressed in particle-associated and free-living microorganisms of the permanently anoxic Cariaco Basin.

Secondary metabolites play essential roles in ecological interactions and nutrient acquisition, and are of interest for their potential uses in medicine and biotechnology. Genome mining for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) can be used for the discovery of new compounds. Here, we use metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to analyze BGCs in free-living and particle-associated microbial communities through the stratified water column of the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela.

Healthcare resource utilization and costs in stable patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Comparing nurse-led and rheumatologist-led models of care delivery.

Objectives: Having previously shown similar clinical outcomes, this study compared the healthcare resource utilization and direct costs in stable patients with RA followed in the nurse-led care (NLC) and rheumatologist-led care (RLC) models.

Methods: Previously collected clinical data were linked to data on practitioner claims, ambulatory care, and hospital discharges. Assessed resources included physician visits; emergency department (ED) visits; hospital admissions, and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

Integrated People-Centred Care in Canada - Policies, Standards, and Implementation Tools to Improve Outcomes.

Introduction: Despite the national and international policy commitment to implement integrated health systems, there is an absence of national standards that support evidence-based design, implementation, and monitoring for improvement. Health Standards Organization (HSO)'s CAN/HSO 76000:2021 - (IPCHS) National Standard of Canada (NSC) has been developed to help close this gap. This manuscript outlines the policy context and the process taken to develop the IPCHS standard.

Eukaryotic Parasites Are Integral to a Productive Microbial Food Web in Oxygen-Depleted Waters.

Oxygen-depleted water columns (ODWCs) host a diverse community of eukaryotic protists that change dramatically in composition over the oxic-anoxic gradient. In the permanently anoxic Cariaco Basin, peaks in eukaryotic diversity occurred in layers where dark microbial activity (chemoautotrophy and heterotrophy) were highest, suggesting a link between prokaryotic activity and trophic associations with protists. Using 18S rRNA gene sequencing, parasites and especially the obligate parasitic clade, Syndiniales, appear to be particularly abundant, suggesting parasitism is an important, but overlooked interaction in ODWC food webs.

Antibody:CD47 ratio regulates macrophage phagocytosis through competitive receptor phosphorylation.

Cancer immunotherapies often modulate macrophage effector function by introducing either targeting antibodies that activate Fcγ receptors (FcγRs) or blocking antibodies that disrupt inhibitory SIRPα-CD47 engagement. However, how these competing signals are integrated is poorly understood, raising questions about how to effectively titrate immune responses. Here, we find that macrophage phagocytic decisions are regulated by the ratio of activating ligand to inhibitory ligand over a broad range of absolute molecular densities.

Nurse-Led Care for Stable Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Quality of Care in Routine Practice Compared to the Traditional Rheumatologist-Led Model.

Introduction: This pragmatic non-inferiority study assessed quality of care within a nurse-led care (NLC) model for stable patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to the traditional rheumatologist-led care (RLC) model.

Methods: Data were collected through a chart review. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were compared using Chi-square test and t test.

Synergistic Action of Diclofenac with Endotoxin-Mediated Inflammation Exacerbates Intestinal Injury .

Intestinal homeostasis is tightly regulated by the orchestrated actions of a multitude of cell types, including enterocytes, goblet cells, and immune cells. Disruption of intestinal barrier function can increase susceptibility to pathogen invasion and destabilize commensal microbial-epithelial-immune interaction, manifesting in various intestinal and systemic pathologies. However, a quantitative understanding of how these cell types communicate and collectively contribute to tissue function in health and disease is lacking.

Viral elements and their potential influence on microbial processes along the permanently stratified Cariaco Basin redoxcline.

Little is known about viruses in oxygen-deficient water columns (ODWCs). In surface ocean waters, viruses are known to act as gene vectors among susceptible hosts. Some of these genes may have metabolic functions and are thus termed auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs).

Diverse nitrogen cycling pathways across a marine oxygen gradient indicate nitrogen loss coupled to chemoautotrophic activity.

Genetic markers and geochemical assays of microbial nitrogen cycling processes, including autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification, anammox, ammonia oxidation, and nitrite oxidation, were examined across the oxycline, suboxic, and anoxic zones of the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela. Ammonia and nitrite oxidation genes were expressed through the entire gradient. Transcripts associated with autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrifiers were mostly confined to the suboxic zone and below but were also present in particles in the oxycline.

Correction to: Family Integrated Care (FICare) in Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Units: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

After publication of our article [1], the authors have reported mathematical errors made in the sample size calculation for this cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) (Benzies et al. 2017).

Differential responsivity of neurons in perirhinal cortex, lateral entorhinal cortex, and dentate gyrus during time-bridging learning.

Many studies have focused on the function of hippocampal region CA1 as a critical site for associative memory, but much less is known about changes in the afferents to CA1. Here we report the activity of multiple single neurons from perirhinal and entorhinal cortex and from dentate gyrus during trace eyeblink conditioning as well as consolidated recall, and in pseudo-conditioned control rabbits. We also report an analysis of theta activity filtered from the local field potential (LFP).

Using integrated technology to create quality care for older adults: a feasibility study.

Purpose: Slow changes in older adults' health status are often not detected until they escalate. Our aim was to understand if e-technology can enhance the safety and quality of older adult care by detecting changes in health status early.

Methods: E-technology was implemented with 30 seniors in an assisted living facility.

Indicators and Measurement Tools for Health Systems Integration: A Knowledge Synthesis.

Background: Despite far reaching support for integrated care, conceptualizing and measuring integrated care remains challenging. This knowledge synthesis aimed to identify indicator domains and tools to measure progress towards integrated care.

Methods: We used an established framework and a Delphi survey with integration experts to identify relevant measurement domains.

Interconnected Microphysiological Systems for Quantitative Biology and Pharmacology Studies.

Microphysiological systems (MPSs) are in vitro models that capture facets of in vivo organ function through use of specialized culture microenvironments, including 3D matrices and microperfusion. Here, we report an approach to co-culture multiple different MPSs linked together physiologically on re-useable, open-system microfluidic platforms that are compatible with the quantitative study of a range of compounds, including lipophilic drugs. We describe three different platform designs - "4-way", "7-way", and "10-way" - each accommodating a mixing chamber and up to 4, 7, or 10 MPSs.

Free-living chemoautotrophic and particle-attached heterotrophic prokaryotes dominate microbial assemblages along a pelagic redox gradient.

Using the anoxic Cariaco Basin as a natural laboratory, particle association of bacterial and archaeal taxa was assessed by iTag sequencing and qPCR gene assays of samples spanning an oxic-anoxic-euxinic gradient. A total of 10%-12% of all bacterial and archaeal cells were found in the particle-associated (PA) fraction, operationally defined as prokaryotes captured on 2.7 µm membranes.

Interprofessional Education for Internationally Educated Health Professionals: Pathways to Licensure.

In response to the shortage of healthcare professionals, the Canadian government has supported two innovative health workforce planning strategies: interprofessional education for interprofessional collaboration and recruiting internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs). Interprofessional collaboration is increasingly expected by Canadian-educated healthcare professionals; IEHPs must also be oriented to this practice model. An environmental scan and iterative assessments and evaluations informed the development of an online interprofessional competency toolkit aimed at training and assessing interprofessional collaboration for IEHPs.

Family Integrated Care (FICare) in Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Units: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Every year, about 15 million of the world's infants are born preterm (before 37 weeks gestation). In Alberta, the preterm birth rate was 8.7% in 2015, the second highest among Canadian provinces.

Exploring Context and the Factors Shaping Team-Based Primary Healthcare Policies in Three Canadian Provinces: A Comparative Analysis.

This paper discusses findings from a high-level scan of the contextual factors and actors that influenced policies on team-based primary healthcare in three Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The team searched diverse sources (e.g.

Single-Cell Growth Rates in Photoautotrophic Populations Measured by Stable Isotope Probing and Resonance Raman Microspectrometry.

A new method to measure growth rates of individual photoautotrophic cells by combining stable isotope probing (SIP) and single-cell resonance Raman microspectrometry is introduced. This report explores optimal experimental design and the theoretical underpinnings for quantitative responses of Raman spectra to cellular isotopic composition. Resonance Raman spectra of isogenic cultures of the cyanobacterium, sp.

Interprofessional Competency Toolkit for Internationally Educated Health Professionals: Evaluation and Pilot Testing.

Introduction: Internationally Educated Health Professionals (IEHPs) constitute a major health care workforce in Canada. Interprofessional education is particularly important for IEHPs to integrate into the Canadian health care system. We designed an online interprofessional education curriculum for IEHPs.