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Nanotechnology is the exploitation of the unique properties of materials at the nanoscale. Nanotechnology has gained popularity in several industries, as it offers better built and smarter products. The application of nanotechnology in medicine and healthcare is referred to as nanomedicine, and it has been used to combat some of the most common diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The present review provides an overview of the recent advances of nanotechnology in the aspects of imaging and drug delivery.Recent studies have shown the role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants in the pathogenesis of both psoriasis (Ps) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) amongst different ethnicities. However, no studies have investigated the mtDNA variants present in patients with Ps, T2D, and both Ps and T2D (Ps-T2D) in the Arab population. The entire mitochondrial genomes of Kuwaiti subjects with Ps, T2D, Ps-T2D and healthy controls were sequenced using Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing. A total of 36 novel mutations and 51 previously reported mutations were identified in the patient groups that were absent in the controls. Amongst the novel mutations, eight were non-synonymous and exhibited amino acid changes. Of these, two missense mutations (G5262A and A12397G) in the ND genes were detected in the Ps group and a C15735T missense mutation in the CYB gene was detected in Ps-T2D. Other known sequence variations were seen more frequently in all or certain patient groups compared with the controls (P less then 0.05). Additionally, the A8701G missense mutation in the ATPase 6 gene missense mutation was also observed in a higher frequency in the Ps group compared with the control. The present study is the first to perform a complete mitochondrial genome sequence analysis of Kuwaiti subjects with Ps, T2D and Ps-T2D, and both novel and known mtDNA variants were discovered. The patient-specific novel non-synonymous mutations may be co-responsible in the determination of these diseases. The higher frequency of certain mtDNA variants in the patients compared with the controls may suggest a role in predisposing patients to these diseases. Further functional analyses are required to reveal the role of the identified mutations in these disease conditions.Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a small DNA virus that infects the basal keratinocytes of squamous epithelium in the skin, and in the oral and genital mucosa. Smoking and sexual behavior have been recognized as significant risk factors for oral HPV infection. In the present review, the findings of recent studies of oral HPV infection in relation to periodontitis are discussed, as well as periodontopathic bacteria and periodontal herpes virus. Previous research suggests that HPV localizes to the inflammatory periodontal tissue. Inflammatory periodontal pockets may thus act as a reservoir for HPV. The interactions between HPV and periodontopathic bacteria remain unclear, but it is hypothesized that oral HPV infection may be related to a characteristic oral microbiome. Smoking is associated with HPV and periodontitis, as smoking induces destruction of periodontal tissue and suppresses the host defense, allowing HPV to infect periodontal tissue. Carcinogenic HPV and periodontitis may lead to the development of oral cavity cancer. However, oral HPV E6/E7 expression (transcriptionally active HPV) has not yet been fully investigated in patients with periodontitis. Collectively, the evidence suggests that oral HPV prevalence may be associated with periodontitis. The effect of clinical factors (age, sex, smoking, immunosuppressive condition and vaccination) on oral HPV DNA prevalence should be considered when clarifying the relationship between oral HPV and periodontitis. Additionally, the sampling method should be carefully chosen to directly detect HPV DNA in periodontal tissues.Measuring the effect of herbicides on the natural environment is essential to secure sustainable agriculture practices. Amount of carbon dioxide released by soil microorganisms (soil respiration) is one of the most important soil health indicators, known so far. In this paper we present a comprehensive quantifying study, in which we measured the effect of 14 herbicides on soil respiration over 16 years, from 1991 to 2017, at Debrecen-Látókép Plant Cultivation Experimental Station. Investigated herbicides contained different active ingredients and were applied in various doses. It was found that 11 out of the examined 14 herbicides had a detrimental effect on soil respiration.Background Poor response to questionnaires collecting outcome data in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) can affect the validity of trial results. The aim of this study within a trial (SWAT) was to evaluate the effectiveness of including a pen with a follow-up postal questionnaire on response rate. Methods A two-armed RCT was embedded within SSHeW (Stopping Slips among Healthcare Workers), a trial of slip-resistant footwear to reduce slips in NHS staff. Participants were randomised 11 to receive a pen or no pen with their follow-up questionnaire. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants who returned the questionnaire. Secondary outcomes were time to response, completeness of response, and whether a postal reminder notice was required. Data were analysed using logistic regression, linear regression and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results Overall, 1466 SSHEW trial participants were randomised into the SWAT. In total, 13 withdrew from the host trial before they were due to be sent their follow-up questionnaire, 728 participants received a pen with their questionnaire, and 725 did not receive a pen. A questionnaire was returned from 67.7% of the pen group and 64.7% of the group who did not receive a pen. There was no significant difference in return rates between the two groups (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.43, p=0.22), nor level of completeness of the questionnaires (AMD -0.01, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.05, p=0.77). There was weak evidence of a reduction in the proportion of participants requiring a reminder and in time to response in the pen group. Conclusion Inclusion of a pen with the follow-up postal questionnaire sent to participants in the SSHeW trial did not statistically significantly increase the response rate. These results add to the body of evidence around improving response rates in trials. Trial registration ISRCTN 33051393 (for SSHEW). Registered on 14/03/2017.Experimental data is only useful to other researchers if it is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). The ISA-Tab framework enables scientists to publish metadata about their experiments in a plain text, machine-readable format that aims to confer that interoperability and reusability. A Python software package (isatools) is currently being developed to programmatically produce these metadata files. learn more For Java-based environments, there is no equivalent solution yet. While the isatools package provides a lot of flexibility and a wealth of different features for the Python ecosystem, a package for JVM-based applications might offer the speed and scalability needed for writing very large ISA-Tab files, making the ISA framework available in an even wider range of situations and environments. Here we present a light-weight and scalable Java library (isa4j) for generating metadata files in the ISA-Tab format, which elegantly integrates into existing JVM applications and especially shines at generating very large files. It is modeled after the ISA core specifications and designed in keeping with isatools conventions, making it consistent and intuitive to use for the community. isa4j is implemented in Java (JDK11+) and freely available under the terms of the MIT license from the Central Maven Repository ( https//mvnrepository.com/artifact/de.ipk-gatersleben/isa4j). The source code, detailed documentation, usage examples and performance evaluations can be found at https//github.com/IPK-BIT/isa4j.

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate the effects of nonelastic taping and dual task on ankle kinematics and kinetics in gait analysis of healthy adults.

A total of 21 healthy adults completed trials of gait analysis using a Vicon system combining ground walking with different cognitive task conditions (none, modified Stroop color/character naming, and serial-7 subtraction), with or without nonelastic taping. Ankle kinematics and kinetics including speed, ankle plantarflexion and inversion angle, ground reaction force (GRF), and stride time variability (STV) under all conditions of taping (YES or NO) and cognitive task (none, naming, and subtraction) were characterized and analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA.

As regards cognitive performance, the serial-7 subtraction performance under walking conditions with and without taping was significantly poorer than simple sitting condition (

< 0.001). For kinematics and kinetics, STV showed statistically significant decrease (

=0.02) when subjects underwent taping application. Vertical GRF was significantly greater under taping than barefoot (

=0.001). Ankle plantarflexion at initial contact (IC) under the dual-task walking was significantly more than under simple walking (

=0.008).

Applications of nonelastic taping and dual task may lead to the STV, vertical GRF, ankle plantarflexion, and speed alterations because of restricted joint range of motion and changed sensorimotor neural circuit. When healthy adults performed dual-task walking, central neural resources allocation was disturbed, leading to weakened performance in both motor and cognitive tasks.

Applications of nonelastic taping and dual task may lead to the STV, vertical GRF, ankle plantarflexion, and speed alterations because of restricted joint range of motion and changed sensorimotor neural circuit. When healthy adults performed dual-task walking, central neural resources allocation was disturbed, leading to weakened performance in both motor and cognitive tasks.Pneumonia is a fatal disease responsible for almost one in five child deaths worldwide. Many developing countries have high mortality rates due to pneumonia because of the unavailability of proper and timely diagnostic measures. Using machine learning-based diagnosis methods can help to detect the disease early and in less time and cost. In this study, we proposed a novel method to determine the presence of pneumonia and identify its type (bacterial or viral) through analyzing chest radiographs. We performed a three-class classification based on features containing diverse information of the samples. After using an augmentation technique to balance the dataset's sample sizes, we extracted the chest X-ray images' statistical features, as well as global features by employing a deep learning architecture. We then combined both sets of features and performed the final classification using the RandomForest classifier. A feature selection method was also incorporated to identify the features with the highest relevance. We tested the proposed method on a widely used (but relabeled) chest radiograph dataset to evaluate its performance. The proposed model can classify the dataset's samples with an 86.30% classification accuracy and 86.03% F-score, which assert the model's efficacy and reliability. However, results show that the classifier struggles while distinguishing between viral and bacterial pneumonia samples. Implementing this method will provide a fast and automatic way to detect pneumonia in a patient and identify its type.