Petersensuarez8418

Almost spherical benznidazole microparticles with a smooth surface and size around 10-30 μm were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction studies suggested a partial reduction of drug crystallinity. Moreover, the relative oral bioavailability of the novel benznidazole microparticles showed that the area under the curve for the microencapsulated drug was 10.3 times higher than the raw drug. Thus, these findings indicate that the designed glass prototype device is a useful alternative to formulate benznidazole polymeric microparticles with improved biopharmaceutical properties and could be useful for other therapeutic microparticulate systems.INTRODUCTION The evidence on efficacy of intravitreously administered Conbercept (IVC) monotherapy for diabetic macular degeneration was still limited. METHODS A systematic review was conducted in November 2019 to summarize the current evidence on visual acuity (VA) changes with IVC monotherapy in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) from Pubmed, ClinicalTrials.gov, EMbase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, Chin VIP Information (VIP), and Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM). Retrospective or prospective clinical studies which used IVC injection for the treatment of DME were included. Outcomes included in the analysis were change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT). A meta-regression was conducted to assess 1-year BCVA and CMT changes against numbers of injections. RESULTS A total of 20 studies were included in current study. At 12-month follow-up, an overall increase of 0.67 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) BCVA score [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24-1.11; P = 0.003] and 1.03 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters (95% CI 0.69-1.38; P  less then  0.001) was shown with IVC injection compared to baseline. Decrease in CMT was 142.79 μm (95% CI 112.71-172.87; P  less then  0.001) compared to baseline. The meta-regression showed a significant increase in effect size between number of injections and 12-month logMAR BCVA scale change as well as CMT. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest improved VA and CMT outcomes during 1-year follow-up in patients with DME who underwent IVC monotherapy. Increased injection frequency demonstrates a significant trend with improved outcomes at 12 months.PURPOSE This paper aims to illustrate an example of how to set up a work injury database the Smart Work Injury Management (SWIM) system. It is a secure and centralized cloud platform containing a set of management tools for data storage, data analytics, and machine learning. see more It employs artificial intelligence to perform in-depth analysis via text-mining techniques in order to extract both dynamic and static data from work injury case files. When it is fully developed, this system can provide a more accurate prediction model for cost of work injuries. It can also predict return-to-work (RTW) trajectory and provide advice on medical care and RTW interventions to all RTW stakeholders. The project will comprise three stages. Stage one to identify human factors in terms of both facilitators and barriers RTW through face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with different RTW stakeholders in order to collect opinions related to facilitators, barriers, and essential interventions for RTW of injured workersvide a more accurate prediction model for the cost of work injuries and advice on medical care and RTW interventions to all RTW stakeholders. ETHICS The project has been approved by the Ethics Committee for Human Subjects at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and is funded by the Innovation and Technology Commission (Grant # ITS/249/18FX).Since the discovery of leptin in 1994, the adipose tissue (AT) is not just considered a passive fat storage organ but also an extremely active secretory and endocrine organ that secretes a large variety of hormones, called adipokines, involved in energy metabolism. Adipokines may not only contribute to AT dysfunction and obesity, but also in fat browning, a process that induces a phenotypic switch from energy-storing white adipocytes to thermogenic brown fat-like cells. The fat browning process and, consequently, thermogenesis can also be stimulated by physical exercise. Contracting skeletal muscle is a metabolically active tissue that participates in several endocrine functions through the production of bioactive factors, collectively termed myokines, proposed as the mediators of physical activity-induced health benefits. Myokines affect muscle mass, have profound effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, and promote browning and thermogenesis of white AT in an endocrine and/or paracrine manner. The present review focuses on the role of different myokines and adipokines in the regulation of fat browning, as well as in the potential cross-talk between AT and skeletal muscle, in order to control body weight, energy expenditure and thermogenesis.The utilization of natural zeolite (NZ) as an adsorbent for NH4+ removal was investigated. Three types of NZ (i.e., NZ01, NZ02, and NZ03) were characterized, and their NH4+ adsorption process in aqueous solution was evaluated. The effect of pH towards NH4+ adsorption showed that the NZ01 has the highest NH4+ adsorption capacity compared with other natural zeolites used. The application of NZ01 for a simultaneous removal of NH4+ and turbidity in synthetic NH4+-kaolin suspension by adsorptive coagulation process for treating drinking water was studied. The addition of NZ01 into the system increased the NH4+ removal efficiency (ηNH4+) from 11.64% without NZ01 to 41.86% with the addition of 0.2 g L-1 of NZ01. The turbidity removal (ηT), however, was insignificantly affected since the ηT was already higher than 98.0% over all studied parameter's ranges. The thermodynamic and kinetic data analyses suggested that the removal of NH4+ obeyed the Temkin isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, respectively. Generally, the turbidity removal was due to the flocculation of destabilized solid particles by alum in the suspension system. The ηNH4+ in surface water was 29.31%, which is lower compared with the removal in the synthetic NH4+-kaolin suspension, but a high ηT (98.65%) was observed. It was found that the addition of the NZ01 could enhance the removal of NH4+ as well as other pollutants in the surface water.