Willardcombs5020

We apply a spatial perspective to measure the extent to which the 2018 U.S. racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition of census tracts were each associated with tobacco retailer density within a tract and in its neighboring tracts (n = 71,409). A 10-percentage point increase in the Black population was associated with 0.07 (p less then 0.05) more retailers per square mile within a focal tract and 0.35 (p less then 0.001) more retailers per square mile in its neighbors on average. A greater percent of Hispanic/Latino residents was associated with more retailers per square mile, both within a focal tract (b = 0.95, p less then 0.001) and in its neighbors 0.39 (p less then 0.001). Inverse associations were observed for percent white. We also observed inequities by socioeconomic status. The overall magnitude of inequities may be underestimated if the spatial dependence between focal tracts and their neighbors are not taken into consideration. Policymakers should prioritize interconnected geographic areas experiencing high racialized and socioeconomic segregation when designing and implementing policies to reduce retail tobacco product availability.

It has been posited that policies to promote child health and prevent obesity should target neighborhood environments but evidence on the impact of neighborhoods on child weight is conflicting and longitudinal studies (which have benefits for causal inference) are scarce.

We used electronic health records (2007-2016) from an urban, pediatric integrated delivery system and linked children (N=51,873, ages 6-19 years, 77% African American) to neighborhood-level data to investigate how changes in neighborhood environments relate to changes in body mass index (BMI). Measures of neighborhood environment were resources for healthy foods and physical activity ('resources'), greenness, violent crime rate, perceived safety and social cohesion. learn more Fixed effects models estimated associations between changes in neighborhood environment exposures and changes in BMI z-score and whether effects differed by sex, baseline age, neighborhood socioeconomic status and population density.

Approximately 22% of the cohort was obese (BMI z-score ≥ 95th percentile). In adjusted models, increases in neighborhood greenness and perceived safety were associated with decreases in BMI z-score (mean change in BMI z-score for 1-SD increase for both -0.012; 95% CI= (-0.018, -0.007)). Increases in neighborhood safety had a stronger effect in children ages 6-10 years than in older children. Increases in social cohesion were associated with increases in BMI z-score (mean change 0.005 95% CI = (0.003, 0.008)) especially in boys. Increases in food and physical activity resources were not associated with changes in BMI.

This study suggests that increasing neighborhood greenness and safety are potential approaches to reduce children's BMI.

This study suggests that increasing neighborhood greenness and safety are potential approaches to reduce children's BMI.Coronary artery disease is the most common type of cardiovascular disease, affecting > 18 million adults, and is responsible for > 365 k deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Wall shear stress (WSS) is an emerging indicator of likelihood of plaque rupture in coronary artery disease, however, non-invasive estimation of 3-D blood flow velocity and WSS is challenging due to the requirement for high spatial resolution at deep penetration depths in the presence of significant cardiac motion. Thus we propose minimally-invasive imaging with a catheter-based, 3-D intravascular forward-viewing ultrasound (FV US) transducer and present experiments to quantify the effect of the catheter on flow disturbance in stenotic vessel phantoms with realistic velocities and luminal diameters for both peripheral (6.33 mm) and coronary (4.74 mm) arteries. An external linear array ultrasound transducer was used to quantify 2-D velocity fields in vessel phantoms under various conditions of catheter geometry, luminal diameter, and positiof blood flow velocity fields in stenotic vessels could be feasible with appropriate catheter design.Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive malignancy with increasing incidence and poor prognosis due to its late diagnosis and intrinsic chemoresistance. link2 Most pancreatic cancer patients present with locally advanced or metastatic disease characterized by inherent resistance to chemotherapy. These features pose a series of therapeutic challenges and new targets are urgently needed. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) is a conserved serine/threonine kinase, which regulates key cellular processes including cell proliferation, DNA repair, cell cycle progression, signaling and metabolic pathways. GSK3β is implicated in non-malignant and malignant diseases including inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and cancer. GSK3β recently emerged among the key factors involved in the onset and progression of pancreatic cancer, as well as in the acquisition of chemoresistance. Intensive research has been conducted on key oncogenic functions of GSK3β and its potential as a druggable target; currently developed GSK3β inhibitors display promising results in preclinical models of distinct tumor types, including pancreatic cancer. Here, we review the latest findings about GSK-3β biology and its role in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer. Moreover, we discuss therapeutic agents targeting GSK3β that could be administered as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs to surmount chemoresistance. Several studies are also defining potential gene signatures to identify patients who might benefit from GSK3β-based therapeutic intervention. This detailed overview emphasizes the urgent need of additional molecular studies on the impact of GSK3β inhibition as well as structural analysis of novel compounds and omics studies of predictive biomarkers.Thiazole based receptor 3, was designed and synthesized by condensation reactionof5-chlorosalicylaldehyde with 4-(4-phenylthiazol-2-yl)semicarbazide for colorimetric and fluorimetric detection of fluoride ion. Receptor 3 was characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS, and shows absorption in 280-400 nm region with emission at 442 nm in tetrahydrofuran (THF). Addition of fluoride ion to the THF solution of receptor 3 results in color change from colorless to yellow with significant change in UV-Visible absorption. The receptor-anion interaction occurs via hydrogen bonding followed by deprotonation which results in large bathochromic shift in absorption spectra and naked-eye color change. The colorimetric changes show selective response for fluoride ions over other anions. Fluorescence studies exhibit remarkable enhancement in emission intensity upon addition of fluoride ion with a limit of detection (LOD) of 8.6 nM. The 1H NMR titration studies exhibit deprotonation of the -OH proton of the salicylaldimine moiety resulting significant colorimetric and fluorimetric changes.Discrimination of human serum albumin (HSA) from bovine serum albumin (BSA) based on the fluorescence probe technique is still challenging due to similar chemical structures. In this work, a novel flavonoid-based fluorescent probe AF is reported for successful discrimination of HSA from BSA. The sensing performances of probe, including sensing dynamic, sensitivity and selectivity, have been carefully studied. Moreover, sensing mechanism was elucidated by Job's plot, displacement experiment, and molecular docking, suggesting that the specific response to HSA originated from the albumin-induced restricted intramolecular rotation (RIR) of probe. This work may provide a simple way for designing of novel probes for HSA with high selectivity.Fibril formation of globular proteins is driven by attaining an appropriate partially-unfolded conformation. Excluded volume effect exerted by the presence of other macromolecules in the solution, as found in the cellular interior, might affect the conformational state of proteins and alter their fibril formation process. The change in structure, stability and rate of fibril formation of aggregation-prone partially-unfolded states of lysozyme (Lyz) and α-lactalbumin (ALA) in the presence of different sizes of polyethylene glycol (PEG) is examined using spectroscopic methods. Thermal denaturation and far-UV CD studies suggest that Lyz is stabilized by PEGs and the stability increases with increasing concentration of PEGs. However, the stability of ALA depends on the size and concentration of PEG. The change in enthalpy of unfolding indicates the existence of soft-interactions between the proteins and PEG along with excluded volume effect. Fibrillation rate of Lyz is not significantly altered in the presence of lower concentrations of PEGs suggesting that the crowding effect dominates the viscosity-induced retardation of protein association whereas at higher concentrations the rates are reduced. In case of ALA, the rate of fibrillation is drastically reduced; however, there is a marginal increase with the increasing concentration of PEG. The results suggest that the fibril formation is influenced by change in initial conformation of the partially-unfolded states of the proteins and their stability in the presence of the crowding agent. Further, the size and concentration of the crowding agent, and the soft-interaction between the proteins and PEG also affects the fibrillation.This paper describes a new method to obtain NIR spectra of liquid and gas samples by diffuse reflectance, which is especially suitable for handheld spectrophotometers, since most of these instruments are designed to acquire spectrum using this geometry. The core of the method is a diffuse reflectance cell, which consists of a vial containing a mixture of the liquid or gas sample (rare medium) and a powder (dense medium). Using this strategy, no adaptation is required to measure spectra with most portable NIR spectrometers. link3 This new method was used to obtain NIR spectra of several liquids and gases, which were compared with traditional transmittance spectra. As a proof of concept, measurements of biodiesel/vegetable oil/diesel blends were used to build multivariate calibrations to predict the contents of biodiesel and vegetable oil in diesel blends using benchtop and handheld FT-NIR spectrophotometers. This low-cost method was demonstrated to be suitable for overcoming problems related to the handling of viscous samples and expand the applications with portable NIR instruments.The l-asparaginase enzyme is used in cancer therapy, mainly acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). Commercial enzymes (EcASNase2) cause adverse reactions during treatment, such as immunogenicity. A human enzyme could be a non-immunogenic substitute. However, no candidate was found showing efficient kinetic properties. HASNase1 is an l-asparaginase that comes from the N-terminal domain of a protein called 60 kDa-lysophospholipase and its 3D structure has not been resolved. HASNase1 is homologous to EcASNase1 and gpASNase1, and this last one has shown efficient kinetic properties. Homology modeling was used to find the 3D structure of hASNase1, so one could submit it to Molecular Dynamics (MD), in order to understand structural differences that lead to different catalytic efficiency compared to EcASNase2 and gpASNase1. The interaction potential between L-Asn and active site residues showed that the substrate can rotate in the site when Region1 is open. Region1 residues sequence favors deformations and movements as shown in MD.