Ericksonkragh5262

Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and retinal vascular analysis (RVA) may assist in predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) but are poorly characterised in South Africa. We recorded baseline FMD and retinal vascular widths in healthy participants, and investigated associations with cardiovascular risk factors.

Endothelial function (measured with FMD), microvascular structure (evaluated via fundus image analysis) and major CVD risk factors were assessed in 66 participants from Cape Town.

Median FMD% was 9.6%, with higher values in females. Mean retinal arteriolar and venular widths were

156 and

250 µm, respectively. FMD was not associated with CVD risk factors. Hypertension was associated with narrower retinal arterioles and venules.

We report novel baseline FMD data in healthy South African adults from the Western Cape, and show that retinal microvascular calibres are associated with blood pressure. Our baseline FMD and RVA data could serve as a reference for future studies in South Africa.

We report novel baseline FMD data in healthy South African adults from the Western Cape, and show that retinal microvascular calibres are associated with blood pressure. Our baseline FMD and RVA data could serve as a reference for future studies in South Africa.Synergistic biological activities of probiotics and curcumin can be achieved based on the gut-brain axis. However, it is still a challenge for utilizing both of them in actual food products due to their high sensitivity to environmental conditions. In the present study, high-internal-phase emulsions (HIPEs) were fabricated to co-encapsulate the probiotics and curcumin in response to the customer demand for convenience. β-Lactoglobulin-propylene glycol alginate composite hydrogel particles (β-lgPPs) with proper size and intermediate wettability were prepared at β-lg to PGA mass ratio of 2  1 and employed as particulate emulsifiers. Stable HIPEs with a fixed oil fraction (φ = 0.8) could be formed within a wide range of β-lgPPs concentrations, ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 wt%. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images indicated that the interfacial structure of the oil droplets was composed of both β-lg nanoparticles and a PGA network, which jointly contributed to the gel-like structures in HIPEs. An increase in elasticity and gel strength, as well as centrifugal stability, could be achieved by elevating the particle concentration as determined by diffusing wave spectroscopy and Lumisizer analysis. HIPEs with high particle concentrations showed a high resistance against pasteurization since no obvious flocculation or coalescence could be observed in these emulsions. HIPEs also provoked a significant reduction in the death of LGG as well as the chemical degradation of curcumin up to 7.91 log CFU cm-3 of LGG and 93.0% of curcumin were retained after pasteurization treatment. Moreover, the HIPEs could also retard the release of curcumin and protect the LGG in simulated gastrointestinal tract conditions. The results from this work provide useful information for developing a promising delivery system for the co-encapsulation of curcumin and probiotics.The present work reports on a 3D model of the tumor microenvironment that contains hyaluronic acid (HA) and alginate, and demonstrates the utility of this model to study the effect of HA size on the crosstalk between cancer cells and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The system incorporates a core that contains HA of specific size (i.e. 6.4, 741 or 1500 kDa) with encapsulated epithelial MKN45 cancer cells and a shell with MSCs that mimic the presence of stem cells next to the tumor site. It was found that short HA (i.e. 6.4 kDa) promotes the invasion of cancer cells from the core to the shell, whereas longer HA (i.e. 741 and 1500 kDa) recruits the MSCs into the core, i.e. the tumor site, where a reduction of the formation of cancer cell aggregates was observed. In summary, the developed 3D model recapitulates some key tumor features related to the effect of HA size on both cancer cell invasiveness and MSC behavior at the tumor site.Herein, we report the fabrication of remarkably fine nickel-substituted α-Co(OH)2 sheets using an ingenious co-precipitation method at a lower pH value. An α-CoNiOOH sheet retains the parent α-Co(OH)2 structure consisting of both tetrahedral (Td) and octahedral (Oh) sites with the retention of interlayer chloride ions, which is in contrast to the previous reports. The as-synthesized α-CoNiOOH sheet exhibits excellent oxygen evolution reactions (OERs) and produces a current of 10 mA cm-2 at an overpotential of merely 190 mV in an alkaline environment. Moreover, the α-CoNiOOH sheet attains an exceptionally high current density of 100 mA cm-2 at a low overpotential of only 270 mV. Additionally, this electrocatalyst possesses a 33 mV dec-1 Tafel slope with higher values of TOF (11 s-1) and double-layer capacitance (7.76 mF cm-2). This enhancement is attributed partially to the substitution of Ni during the conversion of α-Co(OH)2 to α-CoNiOOH and partially to the exceptionally thin sheets allowing potential octahedral sites for improved oxygen evolution reactions.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic autoimmune disease associated with progressive disability, systemic complications, and poor prognosis. The improved understanding of the roles of immune signaling pathway inhibitors has shed light on designing new and more effective approaches for RA treatment. In this work, an inflammation-responsive and molecularly targeted drug system has been developed for RA therapy. The drug carrier was synthesized by covalently grafting hydrophobic cholesterol (Chol) molecules onto a hydrophilic chondroitin sulfate (CS) chain via the inflammation-responsive diselenide bonds (SeSe). The resultant amphiphilic polymer CSSeSeChol readily forms nanoparticles (NPs) and encapsulates two kinase inhibitors tofacitinib and SP600125 in aqueous media. Upon administration into the RA mouse model, the nanodrug accumulates in RA lesions and releases the inhibitors for regulating the JAK-STAT and JNK pathways. As a result, the nanodrug exhibits satisfactory efficacy in RA treatment by suppressing the expression of relevant pro-inflammatory cytokines, blocking the activation of osteoclasts and providing protection for cartilage and joints.Canted antiferromagnetism (AFM) is considered an effective tool for designing single-chain magnets (SCMs) in homometallic chain systems. The family of manganese(iii) (MnIII) salen-type Schiff-base complexes is an outstanding building-unit candidate for designing SCMs because such complexes possess relatively large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in the out-of-plane direction. However, SCM behaviour in simple alternating chains based on monomeric MnIII salen-type complexes has not been studied extensively. Herein, we report the SCM behaviour of canted AFM in an alternating chain of an acetate-bridged MnIII salen-type complex.The reaction of diazo(aryl)methyl(diaryl)phosphine oxides with aldehydes and ketones generates benzo-δ-phosphinolactones in low to good yields with 1,1-diarylalk-1-enes as byproducts under microwave irradiation. Diazo(aryl)methyl(diaryl)phosphine oxides first undergo a Wolff rearrangement to form diaryl(aryl)phosphenes, which further react with aldehydes and ketones to afford benzo-δ-phosphinolactones and β-phosphinolactones. The latter are unstable under heating and fragment into the corresponding 1,1-diarylalk-1-enes and arylphosphine dioxides under reaction conditions. The arylphosphine dioxides become arylphosphonic acids during workup. The periselectivity in the annulation shows that the reaction of diaryl(aryl)phosphenes with most aldehydes and ketones favors phosphene phenyl participation in (4 + 2) annulation over (2 + 2) annulation.The present work is focused on the synthesis of bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanorod/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites via a one-step hydrothermal method using GO and bismuth nitrate in 5  1, 3  1 and 2  1 weight ratios and their characterization. The morphological studies revealed the formation of homogeneously dispersed Bi2S3 nanorods on RGO sheets along with occasional wrapping in the Bi2S3 nanorod/RGO (3  1) composite. XRD, FTIR, Raman and XPS studies suggested the incorporation of Bi2S3 in RGO sheets. The galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements showed that the Bi2S3 nanorod/RGO (3  1) composite exhibited the highest specific capacitance (1932 F g-1) at 1 A g-1 in the presence of 2 M aqueous KOH in a three-electrode cell. This is ascribed to the enhanced contact area between metal sulfide nanoparticles and RGO, increased conductivity and synergistic effect of Bi2S3 and RGO. The optimized Bi2S3 nanorod/RGO (3  1) composite also maintained an excellent cycling stability with ∼100% capacitance retention after 700 cycles. It is noted that the supercapacitor performance of the Bi2S3 nanorod/RGO (3  1) composite was better than group V and VI metal chalcogenides and their nanocomposites reported in several previous studies.This study has been carried out to understand the mechanism of charge carrier dynamics and the existence of exciton-dopant energy transfer within Mn-doped ZnS nanomaterials. Improvement in the energy transfer efficiency and electroluminescence properties of these nanomaterials has been investigated for using them as an emissive layer of LEDs. A chemical co-precipitation method has been used to synthesize ZnS with varying Mn contents to achieve enhanced luminescence properties demonstrating the effect of Mn doping on excitonic luminescence intensity. X-ray powder diffraction analysis reveals the prepared materials to be cubic crystallites with size varying between 2 nm and 4 nm. Agglomerated clusters and a nanogranular morphology have been observed in SEM analysis. The UV-Vis spectra reveal that the band gaps slightly decrease with an increase in the Mn content in ZnS samples. The photoluminescence spectra show that upon Mn incorporation, the intensity of blue emission at 420 nm increases due to the surface sts of an emissive layer to be used for light-emitting applications.The smooth oxidative radical decarboxylation of carboxylic acids with TEMPO and other derivatives as radical scavengers is reported. The key to success was the use of a two-phase solvent system to avoid otherwise predominant side reactions such as the oxidation of TEMPO by persulfate and enabled the selective formation of synthetically useful alkoxyamines. The method does not require transition metals and was successfully used in a new synthetic approach for the antidepressant indatraline.Engineered models have emerged as relevant in vitro tools to foresee the translational potential of new therapies from the bench to the bedside in a fast and cost-effective fashion. The principles applied to the development of tissue-engineered constructs bring the foundation concepts to engineer relevant in vitro models. Engineered models often face scepticism, because regularly these do not include the extreme complexity of nature, but rather a simplification of a phenomenon. While engineering in vitro models, a hypothesis is imposed towards which defined parameters are included to assess the degree of similarity between the in vitro model and the native phenomenon, keeping in mind their intrinsic limitations. The development of in vitro models has been highly supported and disseminated by different regulatory agencies. This review aims at defining and exploring the multifaceted potential of tangible, not theoretical, models within the biomedical field to represent physiological tissues and organ-related phenomena.