Intended and Unintended Targeting of Polymeric Nanocarriers: The Case of Modified Poly(glycerol adipate) Nanoparticles.

Biodegradable nanoparticles based on stearic acid-modified poly(glycerol adipate) (PGAS) are promising carriers for drug delivery. In order to investigate the impact of the particle interface characteristics on the biological fate, PGAS nanoparticles are covalently and noncovalently coated with N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymers. HPMA copolymer-modified PGAS nanoparticles have similar particle sizes, but less negative zeta-potentials.

Sociocultural Influence on Obesity and Lifestyle in Children: A Study of Daily Activities, Leisure Time Behavior, Motor Skills, and Weight Status.

Background: Juvenile overweight is increasing, and effective preventive measures are needed. After years of arbitrarily assigning these measures disregarding socioeconomic and/or cultural differences, it has become necessary to tailor interventions more specific to these target groups. Providing data for such an intervention is the objective of this study.

Quality of Basic Life Support - A Comparison between Medical Students and Paramedics.

Introduction: Poor survival rates after cardiac arrest can partly be explained by poor basic life support skills in medical professionals.

Aim: This study aimed to assess quality of basic life support in medical students and paramedics.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study with 100 early medical students (group A), 100 late medical students (group B) and 100 paramedics (group C), performing a 20-minute basic life support simulation in teams of two.

Investigating Respondents and Nonrespondents of a Postal Breast Cancer Questionnaire Survey Regarding Differences in Age, Medical Conditions, and Therapy.

Background: Collecting patient-reported data via postal questionnaires is a common and frequently used technique. Selection bias may occur through lost data from nonrespondents. This study investigated differences in characteristics between respondents and nonrespondents of a postal breast cancer survey.

Frey's syndrome after superficial parotidectomy: role of the sternocleidomastoid muscle flap: a prospective nonrandomized controlled trial.

Background: The prevalence of Frey's syndrome (FS) after superficial parotidectomy in correlation to the sternocleidomastoid muscle flap (SCMMF) interposition is analyzed.

Methods: A prospective nonrandomized controlled multicenter trial included 130 patients. During superficial parotidectomy, SCMMF was dissected, if excised specimens' volume exceeded 25 mL (SCMMF group).

Severe Cerebral Venous and Sinus Thrombosis: Clinical Course, Imaging Correlates, and Prognosis.

Background: Severe cerebral venous-sinus thrombosis (CVT) is a rare disease, and its clinical course, imaging correlates, as well as long-term prognosis have not yet been investigated systematically.

Methods: Multicenter retrospective study. Inclusion criteria were CVT, Glasgow coma scale ≤9, and treatment in the intensive care unit.

Cytokine and Chemokine Signature in Elite Versus Viremic Controllers Infected with HIV.

HIV long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs) maintaining high CD4(+) T-cell counts without antiretroviral therapy (ART) are divided into elite controllers (ECs) with undetectable and viremic controllers (VCs) with low viral loads. Little is known about the long-term changes of T-cell subsets and inflammation patterns in ECs versus VCs. The aim of the study was to explore the long-term evolution of CD4(+) T-cell levels in LTNPs and to analyze cytokine profiles in ECs versus VCs.

A novel nonparametric measure of explained variation for survival data with an easy graphical interpretation.

Introduction: For survival data the coefficient of determination cannot be used to describe how good a model fits to the data. Therefore, several measures of explained variation for survival data have been proposed in recent years.

Methods: We analyse an existing measure of explained variation with regard to minimisation aspects and demonstrate that these are not fulfilled for the measure.

Early oral switch therapy in low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SABATO): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Current guidelines recommend that patients with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SAB) are treated with long courses of intravenous antimicrobial therapy. This serves to avoid SAB-related complications such as relapses, local extension and distant metastatic foci. However, in certain clinical scenarios, the incidence of SAB-related complications is low.

Inhomogeneous Longitudinal Cardiac Rotation and Impaired Left Ventricular Longitudinal Strain in Children and Young Adults with End-Stage Renal Failure Undergoing Hemodialysis.

Background: Cardiac dysfunction frequently complicates the clinical course of patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF). Recently, we observed abnormal longitudinal cardiac rotation (LR) among patients with ESRF. In this study, we sought to quantify LR mechanics in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD).

Quality-of-life in patients with post-traumatic hypopituitarism.

Primary Objective: Hypopituitarism is a frequent complication in patients after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Both TBI and hypopituitarism can lead to complex cognitive and affective deficits. This study was intended to examine the quality-of-life in patients with post-traumatic hypopituitarism (PTH) and to discern the effect of this endocrinological disorder on general outcome of patients after TBI including earning capacity.

Low-grade proteinuria is highly prevalent in HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral treatment.

Objectives: HIV-positive patients are at an increased risk for chronic kidney disease. However, these data mainly derive from cohorts with a high percentage of African-American patients, representing a specific ethnical risk group for chronic kidney disease. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and risk factors specifically for early signs of kidney dysfunction in a large, predominantly white cohort of HIV patients.

The EcoCyc Database.

EcoCyc is a bioinformatics database available at EcoCyc.org that describes the genome and the biochemical machinery of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655. The long-term goal of the project is to describe the complete molecular catalog of the E.

Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection: a pooled analysis of five prospective, observational studies.

Objectives: Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia is a common, often fatal infection. Our aim was to describe how its clinical presentation varies between populations and to identify common determinants of outcome.

Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis on 3395 consecutive adult patients with S.

Evidence classification of high-throughput protocols and confidence integration in RegulonDB.

RegulonDB provides curated information on the transcriptional regulatory network of Escherichia coli and contains both experimental data and computationally predicted objects. To account for the heterogeneity of these data, we introduced in version 6.0, a two-tier rating system for the strength of evidence, classifying evidence as either 'weak' or 'strong' (Gama-Castro,S.

In vitro toxicity of Stearoyl-poly(glycerol adipate) nanoparticles.

Purpose: Poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA)-based nanoparticles are promising carriers for drug delivery with a wide range of available structures. The biodegradable polymer with pendant free hydroxyl groups can be diversely functionalized. In this study, the toxicity of different Stearoyl-PGA nanoparticles with respect to erythrocytes and HepG2 cells was assessed.

RegulonDB v8.0: omics data sets, evolutionary conservation, regulatory phrases, cross-validated gold standards and more.

This article summarizes our progress with RegulonDB (http://regulondb.ccg.unam.

EcoCyc: fusing model organism databases with systems biology.

EcoCyc (http://EcoCyc.org) is a model organism database built on the genome sequence of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655. Expert manual curation of the functions of individual E.

Formation of structured polygonal nanoparticles by phase-separated comb-like polymers.

A simple approach using comb-like polymers that undergo nanophase separation between the polyester backbone and the stearoyl side chains is proposed for the preparation of structured non-spherical nanoparticles from a nanoemulsion. Depending on the degree of esterification of the OH groups of poly(glycerol adipate) differently ordered nanostructures is obtained. A perfect lamellar arrangement is obtained for polymers with a high degree of esterification and leads to spherical nanoparticles with an internal onion-like structure.

Poly(glycerol adipate)-fatty acid esters as versatile nanocarriers: From nanocubes over ellipsoids to nanospheres.

Poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) is a biodegradable polymer with promising features for nanoparticulate drug carrier systems. By acylation of PGA with fatty acids, composite systems with amphiphilic properties can be obtained. Variation of the fatty acid (laurate, stearate and behenate) and their substitution degrees lead to a wide range of different polymer structures.

RegulonDB version 7.0: transcriptional regulation of Escherichia coli K-12 integrated within genetic sensory response units (Gensor Units).

RegulonDB (http://regulondb.ccg.unam.

Mechanism of regulation of the bifunctional histidine kinase NtrB in Escherichia coli.

NtrB is the bifunctional histidine kinase for nitrogen regulation. Dependent on the availability of nitrogen, it either autophosphorylates and serves as the phosphodonor for its cognate response regulator, NtrC, or, it promotes the rapid dephosphorylation of NtrC-P. The activity of NtrB depends on the interaction of two subdomains within its transmitter domain, the H-domain and the kinase domain.