Unraveling the threat: Microplastics and nano-plastics' impact on reproductive viability across ecosystems.

Plastic pollution pervades both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, fragmenting over time into microplastics (MPs) and nano-plastics (NPs). These particles infiltrate organisms via ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption, predominantly through the trophic interactions. This review elucidated the impacts of MPs/NPs on the reproductive viability of various species.

Nano-plastics and gastric health: Decoding the cytotoxic mechanisms of polystyrene nano-plastics size.

Gastrointestinal diseases exert a profound impact on global health, leading to millions of healthcare interventions and a significant number of fatalities annually. This, coupled with escalating healthcare expenditures, underscores the need for identifying and addressing potential exacerbating factors. One emerging concern is the pervasive presence of microplastics and nano-plastics in the environment, largely attributed to the indiscriminate usage of disposable plastic items.

Breast Cancer: Risk Assessment, Screening, and Primary Prevention.

This review provides an outline of a risk-based approach to breast cancer screening and prevention. All women should be assessed for breast cancer risk starting at age 18 with identification of modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Patients can then be stratified into average, moderate, and high-risk groups with personalized screening and prevention plans.

Antarctic permafrost degassing in Taylor Valley by extensive soil gas investigation.

Ongoing studies conducted in northern polar regions reveal that permafrost stability plays a key role in the modern carbon cycle as it potentially stores considerable quantities of greenhouse gases. Rapid and recent warming of the Arctic permafrost is resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions, both from physical and microbial processes. The potential impact of greenhouse gas release from the Antarctic region has not, to date, been investigated.

Decision-making tips for patients with dementia.

Background: When patients with advanced dementia lose capacity to make medical decisions for themselves, a 'best interests' determination is usually made on their behalf by the responsible clinician. Where possible, this should be made in consultation with members of the multiprofessional team and the family, consistent with ethical and legal norms. This paper is about multidisciplinary approaches to education and practice in dementia care, using a framework.

The toc132toc120 heterozygote mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana accumulates decreased levels of the major chloroplast lipids.

We used ESI-MS/MS to profile glycerolipids in a mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana that is null and heterozygous for the TOC132 and TOC120 genes, and is referred to as the toc132toc120± mutant. The goal was to assess the impact of a defective atToc132/120 receptor on the accumulation of chloroplast lipids. The mutant accumulated decreased amounts of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG).

The TOC159 null mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana is impaired in the accumulation of plastid lipids and phosphatidylcholine.

We used electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry to profile glycerolipids in the TOC159 null mutant of Arabidopsis, which is referred to as plastid protein import 2, or ppi2. The goal was to evaluate the impact of a defective atToc159 receptor in the accumulation of plastid lipids. The ppi2 mutant is severely impaired in the accumulation of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), which are major components of the thylakoid membranes.

A Novel Contraception Counseling and Shared Decision-Making Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents.

Introduction: Many women of reproductive age with complex medical conditions receive primary care through an internal medicine (IM) physician rather than an obstetrician/gynecologist. Long-acting reversible contraception methods are the most effective form of contraception; however, IM residents are not routinely trained in them. Infrequent training in, inadequate knowledge of, and discomfort with contraception counseling limit the counseling performed by IM residents.

Ozone-induced lipid changes in the wildtype and toc132toc120 heterozygote mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana.

We measured the fatty acids and lipid content in the wildtype and toc132toc120 heterozygote mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana that were exposed to elevated levels of ozone. The goal was to assess whether a defective atToc132/120 receptor would alter the mutant's response to ozone-induced stress. Increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured in wildtype plants that were exposed to ozone for 3 h and left in an ozone-free environment for 21 h.

Improving global access to medical ethics education: a free self-paced online course on the Peoples-uni website.

In an attempt to increase global access to education about medical ethics, a free fully online course was developed on the Peoples-uni Open Online Courses site. Students came from 60 countries and were more likely to be medical practitioners, have come from the global North, and to have heard about the course through the web than other students enrolled in the Peoples-uni Open Online Courses site. Students scored high marks on the five quizzes.

Structured medical electives: a concept whose time has come?

Background: Most international electives in which medical students from high-income countries travel abroad are largely unstructured, and can lead to problematic outcomes for students as well as sending and receiving institutions. We analyse the problems of unstructured medical electives and describe the benefits of an elective experience that includes more organisation and oversight from the sending medical school.

Results: A number of structured elective programmes have been developed, including those at the Medical School for International Health, Israel and the University of Dundee, United Kingdom.

Rare mutations in the complement regulatory gene CSMD1 are associated with male and female infertility.

Infertility in men and women is a complex genetic trait with shared biological bases between the sexes. Here, we perform a series of rare variant analyses across 73,185 women and men to identify genes that contribute to primary gonadal dysfunction. We report CSMD1, a complement regulatory protein on chromosome 8p23, as a strong candidate locus in both sexes.

Method to Identify Silent Codon Mutations That May Alter Peptide Elongation Kinetics and Co-translational Protein Folding.

Due to the redundancy of the protein genetic code, mutational changes in the second or third nucleotide of an existing codon may not change the amino acid specification of the resulting modified codon. When peptide primary sequence is unchanged by mutation, that mutation is assumed to have no functional consequences. However, for one key gene involved in drug transport, MDR-1, several silent, synonymous mutations have been shown to alter protein structure and substrate affinity (Kimchi-Sarfaty et al.

Stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of an electronic medication management system to reduce medication errors, adverse drug events and average length of stay at two paediatric hospitals: a study protocol.

Introduction: Medication errors are the most frequent cause of preventable harm in hospitals. Medication management in paediatric patients is particularly complex and consequently potential for harms are greater than in adults. Electronic medication management (eMM) systems are heralded as a highly effective intervention to reduce adverse drug events (ADEs), yet internationally evidence of their effectiveness in paediatric populations is limited.

Safety and feasibility of transcranial direct current stimulation in pediatric hemiparesis: randomized controlled preliminary study.

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of noninvasive brain stimulation that has shown improved adult stroke outcomes. Applying tDCS in children with congenital hemiparesis has not yet been explored.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to explore the safety and feasibility of single-session tDCS through an adverse events profile and symptom assessment within a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled preliminary study in children with congenital hemiparesis.

Endothelial C-type natriuretic peptide maintains vascular homeostasis.

The endothelium plays a fundamental role in maintaining vascular homeostasis by releasing factors that regulate local blood flow, systemic blood pressure, and the reactivity of leukocytes and platelets. Accordingly, endothelial dysfunction underpins many cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Herein, we evaluated mice with endothelial-specific deletion of Nppc, which encodes C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), and determined that this mediator is essential for multiple aspects of vascular regulation.

Nanoscale structure-activity relationships, mode of action, and biocompatibility of gold nanoparticle antibiotics.

The emergence of resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents by pathogenic bacteria has become a significant global public health threat. Multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria have become particularly problematic, as no new classes of small-molecule antibiotics for Gram-negative bacteria have emerged in over two decades. We have developed a combinatorial screening process for identifying mixed ligand monolayer/gold nanoparticle conjugates (2.

Small molecule downregulation of PmrAB reverses lipid A modification and breaks colistin resistance.

Infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, are an ever-increasing problem. While the development of new antibiotics remains one option in the fight against bacteria that have become resistant to currently available antibiotics, an attractive alternative is the development of adjuvant therapeutics that restore the efficacy of existing antibiotics. We report a small molecule adjuvant that suppresses colistin resistance in multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae by interfering with the expression of a two-component system.

Women in the rural medical academic workforce.

Introduction: This study assessed the role of women as fractional full-time equivalent (FTE) rural academics in the context of significant workforce shortage and increasing academic demand.

Methods: The design was a cross-sectional cohort study conducted from June 2002 to June 2012. All Rural Clinical School teaching sites in Western Australia were included, numbering from 3 (at inception in 2002) to 13 in 2012.

Biologically inspired strategies for combating bacterial biofilms.

Infections caused by bacterial biofilms are a significant global health problem, causing considerable patient morbidity and mortality and contributing to the economic burden of infectious disease. This review describes diverse strategies to combat bacterial biofilms, focusing firstly on small molecule interference with bacterial communication and signaling pathways, including quorum sensing and two-component signal transduction systems. Secondly we discuss enzymatic approaches to the degradation of extracellular matrix components to effect biofilm dispersal.

Small-molecule inhibition of bacterial two-component systems to combat antibiotic resistance and virulence.

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria are a considerable and increasing global problem. The development of new antibiotics is not keeping pace with the rapid evolution of resistance to almost all clinically available drugs, and novel strategies are required to fight bacterial infections. One such strategy is the control of pathogenic behaviors, as opposed to simply killing bacteria.

Longitudinal assessment in an undergraduate longitudinal integrated clerkship: the mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mCEX) profile.

Aim: Student and assessor performance were examined over three academic years using the mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mCEX) as a continuous feedback tool across all disciplines, in all learning contexts, for an entire integrated undergraduate year.

Methods: Students could complete any number of mCEX, but had to submit a minimum number per discipline. Students were free to choose assessors.

Overcoming resistance to β-lactam antibiotics.

β-Lactam antibiotics are one of the most important antibiotic classes but are plagued by problems of resistance, and the development of new β-lactam antibiotics through side-chain modification of existing β-lactam classes is not keeping pace with resistance development. In this JOCSynopsis, we summarize small molecule strategies to overcome resistance to β-lactam antibiotics. These approaches include the development of β-lactamase inhibitors and compounds that interfere with the ability of the bacteria to sense an antibiotic threat and activate their resistance mechanisms.

Combination approaches to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria.

The increasing prevalence of infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria is a global health problem that has been exacerbated by the dearth of novel classes of antibiotics entering the clinic over the past 40 years. Herein, we describe recent developments toward combination therapies for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. These efforts include antibiotic-antibiotic combinations, and the development of adjuvants that either directly target resistance mechanisms such as the inhibition of β-lactamase enzymes, or indirectly target resistance by interfering with bacterial signaling pathways such as two-component systems (TCSs).