Bendixendudley2743

GeoHealth as a research paradigm offers the opportunity to re-evaluate common research engagement models and science training practices. GeoHealth challenges are often wicked problems that require both transdisciplinary approaches and the establishment of intimate and long-term partnerships with a range of community members. We examine four common modes of community engagement and explore how research projects are launched, who has the power in these relationships, and how projects evolve to become truly transformative for everyone involved.Well-switching programs in Bangladesh have successfully lowered arsenic exposure. In these programs, households switch from wells that are labeled "unsafe" to nearby wells labeled "safe," but these designations are usually based on inherently inaccurate field kit measurements. Here, we (a) compare the efficacy of field-kit measurements to accurate laboratory measurements for well switching, (b) investigate the potential impact on well switching of the chosen "safe" threshold, and (c) consider the possible benefits of providing more detailed concentration information than just "safe" and "unsafe." We explore different hypothetical mitigation scenarios by combining two extensive data sets from Araihazar Bangladesh a blanket survey of 6595 wells over 25 km2 based on laboratory measurements and 943 paired kit and laboratory measurements from the same area. The results indicate that the decline in average arsenic exposure from relying on kit rather than laboratory data is modest in relation to the logistical and financial challenge of delivering exclusively laboratory data. The analysis further indicates that the 50 μg/L threshold used in Bangladesh to distinguish safe and unsafe wells, rather than the WHO guideline of 10 μg/L, is close to optimal in terms of average exposure reduction. ALC-0159 We also show that providing kit data at the maximum possible resolution rather than merely classifying wells as unsafe or safe would be even better. These findings are relevant as the government of Bangladesh is about to launch a new blanket testing campaign of millions of wells using field kits.Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroinflammatory disease that causes severe neurological dysfunction leading to disabilities in patients. The prevalence of the disease has been increasing gradually worldwide, and the specific etiology behind the disease is not yet fully understood. Therapies aimed against treating MS patients have been growing lately, intending to delay the disease progression and increase the patients' quality of life. Various pathways play crucial roles in developing the disease, and several therapeutic approaches have been tackling those pathways. However, these strategies have shown several side effects and inconsistent efficacy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been shown to act as key players in various disease pathogenesis and development. Several proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory miRNAs have been reported to participate in the development of MS. Hence, the review assesses the role of miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs in regulating immune cell functions better to understand their impact on the molecular mechanics of MS.Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) play a vital role in the process of malignant transformation. In breast cancer (BC), lncRNAs field is currently under intensive investigations. Yet, the role of lncRNAs as promising diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers and as therapeutic target/tool among BC patients still needs a special focus from the biomedical scientists. In BC, triple negative breast cancer patients (TNBC) are the unlucky group as they are always represented with the worst prognosis and the highest mortality rates. For that reason, a special focus on TNBC and associated lncRNAs was addressed in this review. Colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (CCAT-1) is a newly discovered oncogenic lncRNA that has been emerged as a vital biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic interventions in multiple malignancies and showed differential expression among TNBC patients. In this review, the authors shed the light onto the general role of lncRNAs in BC and the specific functional activities, molecular mechanisms, competing endogenous ncRNA role of CCAT-1 in TNBC.[This corrects the article DOI 10.1016/j.idm.2019.04.002.][This corrects the article DOI 10.1016/j.idm.2019.04.001.].[This corrects the article DOI 10.1016/j.idm.2019.05.002.][This corrects the article DOI 10.1016/j.idm.2018.12.001.][This corrects the article DOI 10.1016/j.idm.2019.04.004.][This corrects the article DOI 10.1016/j.idm.2019.03.002.].The increasing throughput of experiments in biomaterials research makes automatic techniques more and more necessary. Among all the characterization methods, microscopy makes fundamental contributions to biomaterials science where precisely focused images are the basis of related research. Although automatic focusing has been widely applied in all kinds of microscopes, defocused images can still be acquired now and then due to factors including background noises of materials and mechanical errors. Herein, we present a deep-learning-based method for the automatic sorting and reconstruction of defocused cell images. First, the defocusing problem is illustrated on a high-throughput cell microarray. Then, a comprehensive dataset of phase-contrast images captured from varied conditions containing multiple cell types, magnifications, and substrate materials is prepared to establish and test our method. We obtain high accuracy of over 0.993 on the dataset using a simple network architecture that requires less than half of the training time compared with the classical ResNetV2 architecture. Moreover, the subcellular-level reconstruction of heavily defocused cell images is achieved with another architecture. The applicability of the established workflow in practice is finally demonstrated on the high-throughput cell microarray. The intelligent workflow does not require a priori knowledge of focusing algorithms, possessing widespread application value in cell experiments concerning high-throughput or time-lapse imaging.Topographical properties, such as pattern and diameter, of biomaterials play important roles in influencing cell activities and manipulating the related immune response during wound healing. We prepared aligned electrospinning membranes with different fiber diameters, including 319 ± 100 nm (A300), 588 ± 132 nm (A600), and 1048 ± 130 nm (A1000), by adjusting the distance from the tip to the collector, the injection rate, and the concentration of the solution. The A300 membranes significantly improved cell proliferation and spreading and facilitated wound healing (epithelization and vascularization) with the regeneration of immature hair follicles compared to the other membranes. Transcriptomics revealed the underlying molecular mechanism that A300 could promote immune-related processes towards a pro-healing direction, significantly promoting keratinocyte migration and skin wound healing. All the results indicated that wound healing requires the active participation of the immune process, and that A300 was a potential candidate for guided skin regeneration applications.The pathogenic cascade of Alzheimer's disease (AD) characterized by amyloid-β protein accumulation is still poorly understood, partially owing to the limitations of relevant models without in vivo neural tissue microenvironment to recapitulate cell-cell interactions. To better mimic neural tissue microenvironment, three-dimensional (3D) core-shell AD model constructs containing human neural progenitor cells (NSCs) with 2% matrigel as core bioink and 2% alginate as shell bioink have been bioprinted by a co-axial bioprinter, with a suitable shell thickness for nutrient exchange and barrier-free cell interaction cores. These constructs exhibit cell self-clustering and -assembling properties and engineered reproducibility with long-term cell viability and self-renewal, and a higher differentiation level compared to 2D and 3D MIX models. The different effects of 3D bioprinted, 2D, and MIX microenvironments on the growth of NSCs are mainly related to biosynthesis of amino acids and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism on day 2 and ribosome, biosynthesis of amino acids and proteasome on day 14. Particularly, the model constructs demonstrated Aβ aggregation and higher expression of Aβ and tau isoform genes compared to 2D and MIX controls. AD model constructs will provide a promising strategy to facilitate the development of a 3D in vitro AD model for neurodegeneration research.To endow Ti-based orthopedic implants with strong bactericidal activity, a ZnO nanorods-patterned coating (namely ZNR) was fabricated on Ti utilizing a catalyst- and template-free method of micro-arc oxidation (MAO) and hydrothermal treatment (HT). The coating comprises an outer layer of ZnO nanorods and a partially crystallized inner layer with nanocrystalline TiO2 and Zn2TiO4 embedded amorphous matrix containing Ti, O and Zn. During HT, Zn2+ ions contained in amorphous matrix of the as-MAOed layer migrate to surface and react with OH- in hydrothermal solution to form ZnO nuclei growing in length at expense of the migrated Zn2+. ZNR exhibits intense bactericidal activity against the adhered and planktonic S. aureus in vitro and in vivo. The crucial contributors to kill the adhered bacteria are ZnO nanorods derived mechano-penetration and released reactive oxygen species (ROS). Within 30 min of S. aureus incubation, ROS is the predominant bactericidal contributor with quantitative contribution value of ∼20%, which transforms into mechano-penetration with prolonging time to reach quantitative contribution value of ∼96% at 24 h. In addition, the bactericidal contributor against the planktonic bacteria of ZNR is relied on the released Zn2+. This work discloses an in-depth bactericidal mechanism of ZnO nanorods.The formation of a heterogeneous oxidized layer, also called scale, on metallic surfaces is widely recognized as a rapid manufacturing event for metals and their alloys. Partial or total removal of the scale represents a mandatory integrated step for the industrial fabrication processes of medical devices. For biodegradable metals, acid pickling has already been reported as a preliminary surface preparation given further processes, such as electropolishing. Unfortunately, biodegradable medical prototypes presented discrepancies concerning acid pickling studies based on samples with less complex geometry (e.g., non-uniform scale removal and rougher surface). Indeed, this translational knowledge lacks a detailed investigation on this process, deep characterization of treated surfaces properties, as well as a comprehensive discussion of the involved mechanisms. In this study, the effects of different acidic media (HCl, HNO3, H3PO4, CH3COOH, H2SO4 and HF), maintained at different temperatures (21 and 60 °C) for various exposition time (15-240 s), on the chemical composition and surface properties of a Fe-13Mn-1.2C biodegradable alloy were investigated. Changes in mass loss, morphology and wettability evidenced the combined effect of temperature and time for all conditions. Pickling in HCl and HF solutions favor mass loss (0.03-0.1 g/cm2) and effectively remove the initial scale.