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p develop better communication aids for people with impaired hearing, and improve software for interpreting sounds with a noisy background. © 2020, Huang and Elhilali.Human speech and bird song are acoustically complex communication signals that are learned by imitation during a sensitive period early in life. Although the brain areas indispensable for speech and song learning are known, the neural circuits important for enhanced or reduced vocal performance remain unclear. By combining in vivo structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging with song analyses in juvenile male zebra finches during song learning and beyond, we reveal that song imitation accuracy correlates with the structural architecture of four distinct brain areas, none of which pertain to the song control system. Furthermore, the structural properties of a secondary auditory area in the left hemisphere, are capable to predict future song copying accuracy, already at the earliest stages of learning, before initiating vocal practicing. These findings appoint novel brain regions important for song learning outcome and inform that ultimate performance in part depends on factors experienced before vocal practicing. © 2020, Hamaide et al.BACKGROUND Arterial atherosclerosis is the main pathological cause of coronary artery disease and peripheral arterial disease. Atherosclerosis is a chronic condition characterized by the presence of cholesterol-rich macrophages in the arterial intima. Accumulation of cholesterol in these macrophages is due to increased oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and its uptake via scavenger receptors on the macrophages. Cholesterol efflux from the cholesterol-laden macrophages into high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is also a key process in maintaining cholesterol homeostasis and prevention of cholesterol accumulation. Four pathways for the efflux of cholesterol to HDL exist in macrophages, including passive and active pathways. Several HDL characteristics determine cholesterol efflux capacity, namely composition, oxidative status, and HDL size. Oxidation of LDL and HDL as well as any imbalance in cholesterol uptake and efflux could lead to accumulation of cholesterol in macrophages and initiation of atherosclerogenesis. CONCLUSION Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that polyphenol-rich foods reduce cardiovascular events in the general population and in patients at risk of cardiovascular diseases. Many studies have reported that polyphenols in polyphenol-rich foods have anti-atherosclerotic properties by preventing cholesterol accumulation in macrophages through the suppression of lipoproteins oxidation and regulation of cholesterol uptake and efflux. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND A better understanding of the biopharmaceutical and physicochemical properties of drugs and the pharmaco-technical factors would be of great help for developing pharmaceutical products. But, it is extremely difficult to study the effect of each variable and interaction among them through the conventional approach Objective To screen the most influential factors affecting the particle size (PS) of lipid nanoparticle (LNPs) (solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) and nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC)) for poorly water-soluble BCS class-II drug like tamoxifen (TMX) to improve its oral bioavailability and to reduce its toxicity to tolerable limits using Taguchi (L12 (2 11)) orthogonal array design by applying computer optimization technique. RESULTS The size of all LNPs formulations prepared as per the experimental design varied between 172 nm and 3880 μm, polydispersity index between 0.033 and 1.00, encapsulation efficiency between 70.8% and 75.7%, and drug loading between 5.84% and 9.68%. The study showed spherical and non-spherical as well as aggregated and non-aggregated LNPs. Besides, it showed no interaction and amorphous form of the drug in LNPs formulation. The Blank NLCs exhibited no cytotoxicity on MCF-7 cells as compared to TMX solution, SLNs (F5) and NLCs (F12) suggests that the cause of cell death is primarily from the effect of TMX present in NLCs. CONCLUSIONS The screening study clearly showed the importance of different individual factors significant effect for the LNPs formulation development and its overall performance in an in-vitro study with minimum experimentation thus saving considerable time, efforts, and resources for further in-depth study. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with the huge burden of diabetic foot amputation is a challenge to the health economy of Pakistan and other countries. Identification of various risk factors for amputation along with its financial burden is needed to address this problem. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine financial burden and risk factors associated with T2DM-related foot amputation. METHODS Retrospective hospital-based study from January 2017 to December 2018. Patients with T2DM with and without amputation were enrolled. The direct medical costs of amputation along with various risk factors were determined. Risk factors were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS A total 1460 patients with T2DMwere included; 484 (33%) patients had an amputation. selleck chemicals Mean total cost of below knee, fingers and toe amputation were 886.63±23.91, 263.35 ±19.58 and 166.68 ± 8.47 US$, respectively. This difference among groups was significant (p less then 0.0001). Male gender (odds ratio, OR 1.29, 1.01-1.63, p=0.037), peripheral artery disease (OR 1.93, 1.52-2.46, p=0.000), peripheral neuropathy (OR 1.31, 1.40-1.63, p=0.000), prior diabetic foot ulcer (OR 2.02, 1.56- 2.56, p=0.000) and raised glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) (OR 3.50, 2.75-4.4, p=0.000) were risk factors for amputation. CONCLUSION The health-related financial impact of amputations is high. Peripheral artery disease, peripheral neuropathy, prior diabetic foot ulcer and raised HbA1c were risk factors for amputation. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.