A smart drug-delivery nanosystem based on carboxylated graphene quantum dots for tumor-targeted chemotherapy.

Constructing a new drug-delivery system using carboxylated graphene quantum dots (cGQDs) for tumor chemotherapy . A drug-delivery system was synthesized through a crosslink reaction of cGQDs, NH-poly(ethylene glycol)-NH and folic acid. A drug delivery system of folic acid-poly(ethylene glycol)-cGQDs was successfully constructed with ideal entrapment efficiency (97.

Anticancer properties of novel pyrazole-containing biguanide derivatives with activating the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

Biguanides, including metformin and phenformin, have emerged as promising anticancer agents. However, the high dose needed for their efficient anticancer properties restricts their clinical application. In an attempt to obtain higher active compounds than these parent compounds, pyrazole-containing biguanide derivatives were synthesized and screened for in vitro cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines.

Reduced Health Care Utilization among Elderly Patients with Informal Caregivers.

Context: Prior literature has focused on the impact of informal caregiving (presence of a family member in the home or nearby) on caregiver employment, but little research has analyzed the impact of informal caregiving on health care utilization patterns.

Objective: To study the effect of informal caregivers on postacute care and recovery of Medicare patients.

Design: We used cross-sectional Health Plan administrative data to measure differences in health care utilization for Medicare patients who did and did not have coresident adult caregivers available.

RBC membrane camouflaged prussian blue nanoparticles for gamabutolin loading and combined chemo/photothermal therapy of breast cancer.

Due to the non-targeted release of anti-cancer agent gamabufotalin (CS-6), conventional chemotherapy using this drug can cause serious side effects, which accordingly result in poor therapeutic efficiency. Recently, the development of smart nanodrug systems has attracted more and more attention due to their significant advantages of high loading efficiency, controllable release behavior and targeted accumulation at tumor sites. In this study, a nanodrug system named as HA@RBC@PB@CS-6 NPs (HRPC) was constructed.

New Cadinane Sesquiterpenes from the Stems of .

As part of our continual efforts to exploit 'Tujia Ethnomedicine' for their pharmacophoric functionalities, we herein investigated collected from a deep Wulin mountain area in northern Hunan province. The current study resulted in the isolation of three new sesquiterpenes: 6α,9α,15-trihydroxycadinan-4-en-3-one (), (+)-3,11,12-trihydroxycalamenene (), (-)-3,10,11,12-tetrahydroxy-calamenene (), along with four known sesquiterpenes (-), and a cytochalasin H (). Their chemical structures were elucidated by 1D-, and 2D-NMR spectroscopy, and HRESI-MS, CD spectrometry.

Analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects and molecular mechanisms of Kadsura heteroclita stems, an anti-arthritic Chinese Tujia ethnomedicinal herb.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by failure of spontaneous resolution of inflammation. The stem of Kadsura heteroclite (KHS) is a well-known anti-arthritic Tujia ethnomedicinal plant, which named Xuetong in folk, has long been used for the prevention and treatment of rheumatic and arthritic diseases.

Aim Of The Study: The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects and the potential mechanisms behind such effects of KHS would be investigated by using different animal models.

Antibacterial bibenzyl derivatives from the tubers of Bletilla striata.

Ten previously undescribed bibenzyl derivatives (bletistrins A-J), including 5 that have hydroxyl-substituted chiral centres on the aliphatic bibenzyl bridge, along with twelve known bibenzyl derivatives, were isolated from the rhizomes of Bletilla striata. The structures of bletistrins A-J were primarily elucidated on the basis of their 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of bletistrins A, D, F, H and I were determined by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopic analysis and optical rotation value.

Therapeutic potential of medicinal plants for the management of urinary tract infection: A systematic review.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most severe public health problem affecting both sexes but females are more susceptible due to the differences in urogenital and reproductive anatomy, physiology and lifestyle. As in UTI, different parts of the urinary tract are affected and morbidity due to UTI is more common in women of all ages and older men. Due to multi-drug resistant strains and high recurrence rate, UTI has become a major socioeconomic burden.

Kadsura heteroclita stem suppresses the onset and progression of adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune diseased state, characterized by hyperplasia of the synovial membrane, degradation of cartilage, and bone erosion of diarthrodial joints. Kadsura heteroclita (Roxb) Craib (Schizandraceae), a traditional Tujia ethnomedicine called Xue Tong in China, has been long used for the prevention and treatment of rheumatic and arthritic diseases, especially in the southern China. This study aimed to evaluate anti-arthritic effects of the ethanol extract of Kadsura heteroclita stems (KHS) on complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis (AIA) in rats, as well as to explore the underlying mechanisms of anti-arthritis.

Progress and prospects in the management of psoriasis and developments in phyto-therapeutic modalities.

The aim of this study is to review the efficacy of herbal and allopathic drugs used to manage and treat psoriasis. The review has been compiled using reference materials from major databases, Online Journals, Science Direct, Scopus, Open J Gate, Google Scholar and PubMed. Psoriasis is a common skin disease affecting 2-3% of the world's population.

Prevalence and current therapy in chronic liver disorders.

Background: Herbal medicine plays an important role in health, particularly in remote parts of developing areas with few health facilities. According to WHO estimates, about three-quarters of the world's population currently use herbs or traditional medicines to treat various ailments, including liver diseases. Several studies have found that the use of medicinal plants was effective in the treatment of infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Comprehensive Review on Graphene Oxide for Use in Drug Delivery System.

Motivated by the accomplishment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene and graphene oxide (GO) has been widely investigated in the previous studies as an innovative medication nanocarrier for the loading of a variety of therapeutics as well as anti-cancer medications, poor dissolvable medications, antibiotics, antibodies, peptides, DNA, RNA and genes. Graphene provides the ultra-high drug-loading efficiency due to the wide surface area. Graphene and graphene oxide have been widely investigated for biomedical applications due to their exceptional qualities: twodimensional planar structure, wide surface area, chemical and mechanical constancy, sublime conductivity and excellent biocompatibility.

Simultaneous Determination of 19 Bioactive Constituents in QishenYiqi Dropping Pills by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry.

QishenYiqi dripping pills (QSYQ), consisting of , and , is a widely used to treat ischemic cerebrovascular and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular in China. In this study, a rapid and sensitive ultra-HPLC coupled with a triple quadrupole MS (UHPLC-QQQ-MS) method was established for the simultaneous quantification of 19 bioactive components. Chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 Rapid Resolution High Definition (RRHD) column (2.

Narrow provider networks and willingness to pay for continuity of care and network breadth.

Tiered and narrow provider networks are mechanisms implemented by health plans to reduce health care costs. The benefits of narrow networks for consumers usually come in the form of lower premiums in exchange for access to fewer providers. Narrow networks may disrupt continuity of care and access to usual sources of care.

Multi-Task Learning to Identify Outcome-Specific Risk Factors that Distinguish Individual Micro and Macrovascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes.

Because deterioration in overall metabolic health underlies multiple complications of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, a substantial overlap among risk factors for the complications exists, and this makes the outcomes difficult to distinguish. We hypothesized each risk factor had two roles: describing the extent of deteriorating overall metabolic health and signaling a particular complication the patient is progressing towards. We aimed to examine feasibility of our proposed methodology that separates these two roles, thereby, improving interpretation of predictions and helping prioritize which complication to target first.

Momentary Parental Stress and Food-Related Parenting Practices.

Background: Research suggests that stress and depressed mood are associated with food-related parenting practices (ie, parent feeding practices, types of food served at meals). However, current measures of parental stress, depressed mood, and food-related parenting practices are typically survey-based and assessed as static/unchanging characteristics, failing to account for fluctuations across time and context. Identifying momentary factors that influence parent food-related parenting practices will facilitate the development of effective interventions aimed at promoting healthy food-related parenting practices.

Evidence of Pent-Up Demand for Care After Medicaid Expansion.

We compared new Medicaid enrollees with similar ongoing enrollees for evidence of pent-up demand using claims data following Minnesota's 2014 Medicaid expansion. We hypothesized that if new enrollees had pent-up demand, utilization would decline over time as testing and disease management plans are put in place. Consistent with pent-up demand among new enrollees, the probability of an office visit, a new patient office visit, and an emergency department visit declines over time for new enrollees relative to ongoing Medicaid enrollees.

Mental health and retirement savings: Confounding issues with compounding interest.

The questionable ability of the U.S. pension system to provide for the growing elderly population combined with the rising number of people affected by depression and other mental health issues magnifies the need to understand how these household characteristics affect retirement.

A comparison of retrospective attribution rules.

Objectives: To compare the performance of methods to retrospectively attribute patients to provider systems by comparing the fraction attributed and the stability of assignment over time.

Study Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Methods: Descriptive statistics are used to measure the fraction of patients attributed and stability of attribution from year to year.

Examining unanswered questions about the home environment and childhood obesity disparities using an incremental, mixed-methods, longitudinal study design: The Family Matters study.

There are disparities in the prevalence of childhood obesity for children from low-income and minority households. Mixed-methods studies that examine home environments in an in-depth manner are needed to identify potential mechanisms driving childhood obesity disparities that have not been examined in prior research. The Family Matters study aims to identify risk and protective factors for childhood obesity in low-income and minority households through a two-phased incremental, mixed-methods, and longitudinal approach.

Stress Reactivity as a Pathway from Attentional Control Deficits in Everyday Life to Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls.

The goal of this research was to expand theoretical models of adolescent depression to determine whether individual differences in cognitive processing-specifically attentional control deficits-help to explain increased risk for depression during adolescence. We also examined whether this pathway was stronger in girls than in boys. A longitudinal design was used to examine whether poor attentional control in everyday life (i.

The health and healthcare impact of providing insurance coverage to uninsured children: A prospective observational study.

Background: Of the 4.8 million uninsured children in America, 62-72% are eligible for but not enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. Not enough is known, however, about the impact of health insurance on outcomes and costs for previously uninsured children, which has never been examined prospectively.

Patient-Centered Network of Learning Health Systems: Developing a resource for clinical translational research.

Introduction: The Learning Health System Network clinical data research network includes academic medical centers, health-care systems, public health departments, and health plans, and is designed to facilitate outcomes research, pragmatic trials, comparative effectiveness research, and evaluation of population health interventions.

Methods: The Learning Health System Network is 1 of 13 clinical data research networks assembled to create, in partnership with 20 patient-powered research networks, a National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

Results And Conclusions: Herein, we describe the Learning Health System Network as an emerging resource for translational research, providing details on the governance and organizational structure of the network, the key milestones of the current funding period, and challenges and opportunities for collaborative science leveraging the network.

The impact of provider consolidation on physician prices.

When a clinic system is acquired by an integrated delivery system (IDS), the ownership change includes both vertical integration with the hospital(s), and horizontal integration with the IDS's previously owned or "legacy" clinics, causing increased market concentration in physician services. Although there is a robust literature on the impact of hospital market concentration, the literature on physician market concentration is sparse. The objective of this study is to determine the impact on physician prices when two IDSs acquired three multispecialty clinic systems in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota at the end of 2007, using commercial claims data from a large health plan (2006-2011).