Stryhnboje2061

Disordered optical media are an emerging class of materials that can strongly scatter light. These materials are useful to investigate light transport phenomena and for applications in imaging, sensing and energy storage. While coherent light can be generated using such materials, its directional emission is typically hampered by their strong scattering nature. Here, the authors directly image Rayleigh scattering, photoluminescence and weakly localized Raman light from a random network of silicon nanowires via real-space microscopy and Fourier imaging. Direct imaging enables us to gain insight on the light transport mechanisms in the random material, to visualize its weak localization length and to demonstrate out-of-plane beaming of the scattered coherent Raman light. The direct visualization of coherent light beaming in such random networks of silicon nanowires offers novel opportunities for fundamental studies of light propagation in disordered media. It also opens venues for the development of next generation optical devices based on disordered structures, such as sensors, light sources, and optical switches.Regulatory T cells play a key role in immune tolerance to self-antigens, thereby preventing autoimmune diseases. However, no drugs targeting Treg cells have been approved for clinical trials yet. Here, a chimeric peptide is generated by conjugation of the cytoplasmic domain of CTLA-4 (ctCTLA-4) with dNP2 for intracellular delivery, dNP2-ctCTLA-4, and evaluated Foxp3 expression during Th0, Th1, Treg, and Th17 differentiation dependent on TGF-β. The lysine motif of ctCTLA-4, not tyrosine motif, is required for Foxp3 expression for Treg induction and amelioration of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Transcriptome analysis reveals that dNP2-ctCTLA-4-treated T cells express Treg transcriptomic patterns with properties of suppressive functions. In addition, the molecular interaction between the lysine motif of ctCTLA-4 and PKC-η is critical for Foxp3 expression. Although both CTLA-4-Ig and dNP2-ctCTLA-4 treatment in vivo ameliorated EAE progression, only dNP2-ctCTLA-4 requires Treg cells for inhibition of disease progression and prevention of relapse. Furthermore, the CTLA-4 signaling peptide is able to induce human Tregs in vitro and in vivo as well as from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of multiple sclerosis patients. These results collectively suggest that the chimeric CTLA-4 signaling peptide can be used for successful induction of regulatory T cells in vivo to control autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.Chronic inflammatory skin diseases (CISDs) negatively impact a large number of patients. Injection of triamcinolone acetonide (TA), an anti-inflammatory steroid drug, directly into the dermis of diseased skin using needle-syringe systems is a long-established procedure for treating recalcitrant lichenified lesions of CISDs, referred to as TA intralesional injection (TAILI). However, TAILI causes severe pain, causing patients to be stressed and reluctant to undergo treatment. Furthermore, the practitioner dependency on the amount and depth of the injected TA makes it difficult to predict the prognosis. Here, candle flame ("candlelit")-shaped TA-loaded dissolving microneedles (Candlelit-DMN) are designed and fabricated out of biocompatible and biodegradable molecules. Candlelit-DMN distributes TA evenly across human skin tissue. Conjoined with the applicator, Candlelit-DMN is efficiently inserted into human skin in a standardized manner, enabling TA to be delivered within the target layer. In an in vivo skin inflammation mouse model, Candlelit-DMN inserted with the applicator effectively alleviates inflammation by suppressing inflammatory cell infiltration and cytokine gene expression, to the same extent as TAILI. This Candlelit-DMN with the applicator arouses the interest of dermatologists, who prefer it to the current TAILI procedure.The trimethylation on histone H3 lysine 27 (H3k27me3), a transcriptionally repressive epigenetic mark of permissive chromatin, can be removed by the histone lysine demethylase 6a (Kdm6a). However, the physiological function of H3k27me3 and Kdm6a on circadian genes remains largely elusive. With the ChIP-Seq and mRNA microarray assays, a critical role is identified for Kdm6a in the regulation of H3k27me3 to impact the expression of Crytochrome 1 (Cry1) in the hypothalamus of diet induced obesity mice. selleck More importantly, both conditional knockout and pharmacological inhibition of Kdm6a reduce body weight and stabilize blood glucose homeostasis. Although a Kdm6a inhibitor fails to decrease body weight in leptin receptor-deficient db/db mice, it significantly decreases Cry1 expression, enhances sensitivity to exogenous leptin administration, and blocks body weight increases in endo-leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. Moreover, gene analysis of the human hypothalamus further reveals a positive correlation between Kdm6a and Cry1. The results show that inhibition of Kdm6a reduces the Cry1 expression and sensitizes leptin signaling to combat obesity-related disease. Therefore, it implicates Kdm6a as an attractive drug target for obesity and metabolic disorders.Malaria remains the most important mosquito-borne infectious disease worldwide, with 229 million new cases and 409.000 deaths in 2019. The infection is caused by a protozoan parasite which attacks red blood cells by feeding on hemoglobin and transforming it into hemozoin. Despite the WHO recommendation of prompt malaria diagnosis, the quality of microscopy-based diagnosis is frequently inadequate while rapid diagnostic tests based on antigens are not quantitative and still affected by non-negligible false negative/positive results. PCR-based methods are highly performant but still not widely used in endemic areas. Here, a diagnostic tool (TMek), based on the paramagnetic properties of hemozoin nanocrystals in infected red blood cells (i-RBCs), is reported on. Exploiting the competition between gravity and magnetic forces, i-RBCs in a whole blood specimen are sorted and electrically detected in a microchip. The amplitude and time evolution of the electrical signal allow for the quantification of i-RBCs (in the range 10-105 i-RBC µL-1) and the distinction of the infection stage. A preliminary validation study on 75 patients with clinical suspect of malaria shows on-field operability, without false negative and a few false positive results. These findings indicate the potential of TMek as a quantitative, stage-selective, rapid test for malaria.

The coverage of postpartum care is not ideal, and has not been used very well due to not enough attention being paid to the puerperal women and newborns, especially in developing countries. Practice guidelines on postpartum care provide beneficial practice guidance and help to reduce maternal mortality. However, little is known about the credibility and consistency of those guidelines. This systematic review was conducted to summarize main postpartum care indications and appraise methodological quality of guidelines.

Seven literature databases and guideline development institutions and organizations of obstetrics and maternity care were searched. Two reviewers independently assessed guideline quality using the AGREE II instrument, and synthesized consistent and non-consistent recommendations using the content analysis approach.

Twenty-nine guidelines were included and a total of eight postpartum care indications were identified. Most guidelines focused on care indications and interventions including exclusive breastfeeding, maternal nutrition, home visit, infant or newborn care and sexuality, contraception, and birth spacing. However, indications such as pain or weight management, pelvic floor muscle training, abdominal rehabilitation, and mental health got less attention. Additionally, the overall quality of all involving postpartum care guidelines is relatively good and acceptable.

Guidelines developed by NICE, RANO, and WHO indicated higher methodological quality. For postpartum care indications, most guidelines are incomplete. Variation in practice guidelines for postpartum care recommendations exists. In the future, implementation research into shared decision-making, as well as further high-quality research to broaden the evidence base for postpartum care indications is recommended.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-021-01629-4.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-021-01629-4.

Despite measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the world, it is increasing day by day. Countries that implement good prevention strategies are less likely to be infected with COVID-19 than those that do not. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices toward COVID-19 early in the outbreak among health workers in Northern Ethiopia.

A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among health professionals working in public health centers and hospitals from April to May 2020. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select study respondents. Data were entered in Epi-info 7.1 and exported to SPSS version 20.00 for analysis. Simple descriptive summary statistics were done. Binary logistic regression was used to evaluate the factors of the principal defense practice.

A total of 403 health workers were included in the study making a response rate of 96%. Of these, 79% and 87.9% of health care workers had good knowledge and a good attad poor practices of implementing the public health measures, thus necessitating a call targeted at them to improve the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Most health workers scored good knowledge and attitude; nevertheless, a significant proportion of health workers had poor practice toward the prevention of COVID-19, including the use of PPE. Additionally, some groups of health professional had poor practices of implementing the public health measures, thus necessitating a call targeted at them to improve the prevention and control of COVID-19.

While many research-based instructional strategies in STEM have been developed, faculty need support in implementing and sustaining use of these strategies. A number of STEM faculty professional development programs aim to provide such pedagogical support, and it is necessary to understand the activity and learning process for faculty in these settings. In this paper, a taxonomy for describing the learning opportunities in faculty (online) learning community meetings is presented. Faculty learning communities, meeting either in-person or (increasingly) online, are a common form of professional development. They aim to develop the pedagogical and reflective skills of participants through regular meetings centered on conversations about teaching and learning.

The tool presented in this paper, the Taxonomy of Opportunities to Learn (TxOTL), provides a structured approach to making sense of the dynamic interactions that occur during faculty learning community meetings. The origins and development of the TxOTLgories and communicative approaches. It is useful for researchers as well as facilitators of these STEM faculty professional development groups. The taxonomy is most applicable to faculty (online) learning communities, with limited use for workshops and K-12 professional development contexts.

The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1186/s40594-021-00301-3).

The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1186/s40594-021-00301-3).