Digital Commons Network^™

Friend Or Foe? Defining The Role Of Glutamate In Aging And Alzheimer’S Disease, Makayla F. Cox, Erin R. Hascup, Andrzej Bartke, Kevin Hascup

Articles

Aging is a naturally occurring decline of physiological processes and biological pathways that affects both the structural and functional integrity of the body and brain. These physiological changes reduce motor skills, executive function, memory recall, and processing speeds. Aging is also a major risk factor for multiple neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Identifying a biomarker, or biomarkers, that signals the transition from physiological to pathological aging would aid in earlier therapeutic options or interventional strategies. Considering the importance of glutamate signaling in synaptic plasticity, motor movement, and cognition, this neurotransmitter serves as a juncture between cognitive health and disease. …

A Goal-Driven Framework For Individualised Self-Care For Early-Stage Dementia, Jonathan Turner, Ciaran Nugent, Damon Berry, Dympna O'Sullivan, Michael Wilson, Ann Marron, Julie Doyle

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For people with early or moderate dementia, there are benefits to them continuing to live in their own homes for as long as possible, both in improved quality of life and associated measures such as increased social contact, increased physical activity and lower use of medication, and reduced costs and burden of care. Tools to help extend period of independent living, and to maintain quality of life in this period, are lacking. Systems exist to monitor individuals for problems, e.g. falls or wandering from the home, but there is scope for development of computerised support to help maintain activity in …

Fluorescent Calixarene-Schiff As A Nanovehicle With Biomedical Purposes, José Antonio Antonio Lebrón, Manuel López-López, María Luisa Moyá, Mary Deasy, Ana Muñoz-Wic, Clara Beatriz García-Calderón, Iván Valle Rosado, Pilar López Cornejo, Eva Bernal Pérez, Francisco José Ostos Marcos

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Gene therapy is a technique that is currently under expansion and development. Recent advances in genetic medicine have paved the way for a broader range of therapies and laid the groundwork for next-generation technologies. A terminally substituted difluorene-diester Schiff Base calix[4]arene has been studied in this work as possible nanovector to be used in gene therapy. Changes to luminescent behavior of the calixarene macrocycle are reported in the presence of ct-DNA. The calixarene macrocycle interacts with calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA), generating changes in its conformation. Partial double-strand denaturation is induced at low concentrations of the calixarene, resulting in compaction of …

Racial Trauma In Civil Rights Representation, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Anthony V. Alfieri

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Narratives of trauma told by clients and communities of color have inspired an increasing number of civil rights and antiracist lawyers and academics to call for more trauma-informed training for law students and lawyers. These advocates have argued not only for greater trauma-sensitive practices and trauma-centered interventions on behalf of adversely impacted individuals and groups but also for greater awareness of the risks of secondary or vicarious trauma for lawyers who represent traumatized clients and communities. In this Article, we join this chorus of attorneys and academics. Harnessing the recent civil rights case of P.P. v. Compton Unified School District, …

Mapping The Restoration Of Degraded Peatland As A Field Of Research Area: A Scientometric Review, Samuel Obeng Apori, Douglas Mcmillan, Michelle Giltrap, Furong Tian

Articles

Degraded peatland reduced many ecosystem services such as water quality and quantity, biodiversity, carbon storage, climate regulations and other cultural benefits. Therefore, several initiatives for the restoration of degraded peatland (RDP) have been attempted to restore the ecosystem processes, productivity and services of the degraded peatland to its original natural condition. Notwithstanding the popularity of RDP research among researchers and industry practitioners, a quantitative technique to map a comprehensive survey of the intellectual core and the general body landscape of knowledge on RDP research does not exist. In this study, a scientometric analysis was employed to analyze 522 documents using …

Meaningful Activity Replacement Recommendations In Dementia, Jonathan Turner, Michael Wilson, Ciaran Nugent, Damon Berry, Julie Doyle, Dympna O'Sullivan

Articles

Exercise of meaningful activities is important for people living with dementia, both for quality of life and to maintain the necessary basic activities of daily living. A method is proposed for recommendation of replacements for lost meaningful activities that accounts for the need to maintain activities of daily living.

Governing Open Ocean And Fish Carbon: Perspectives And Opportunities, Maartje Oostdijk, Laura G. Elsler, Paulina Ramírez-Monsalve, Kirill Orach, Mary S. Wisz

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Marine life plays a vital role in the ocean’s biological pump by sequestering and mediating fluxes of carbon to the deep sea and sea floor. The roles that fish and other marine vertebrates play in the biological pump are increasingly attracting scientific and policy attention. In this paper, we investigated the interest in and possibilities for the international governance of open ocean and fish carbon ecosystem services. We used semi-structured interviews with representatives from environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs), policy makers, and policy experts, along with an exploratory review of grey and peer-reviewed literature to: 1) trace the pathway of important …

Contributions Of Vibrational Spectroscopy To Virology: A Review, Iqra Chaudhary, Naomi Jackson, Denise Denning, Luke O'Neill, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Vibrational spectroscopic techniques, both infrared absorption and Raman scattering, are high precision, label free analytical techniques which have found applications in fields as diverse as analytical chemistry, pharmacology, forensics and archeometrics and, in recent times, have attracted increasing attention for biomedical applications. As analytical techniques, they have been applied to the characterisation of viruses as early as the 1970s, and, in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, have been explored in response to the World Health Organisation as novel methodologies to aid in the global efforts to implement and improve rapid screening of viral infection. This review …

G Protein–Coupled Receptor 21 In Macrophages: An In Vitro Study, Valentina Bordano, Gemma K. Kinsella, Stefania Cannito, Chiara Dianzani, Casimiro Luca Gigliotti, John C. Stephens, Chiara Monge, Claudia Bocca, Arianna C. Rosa, Gianluca Miglio, Umberto Dianzani, John B.C. Findlay, Elisa Benetti

Articles

GPR21 is an orphan and constitutively active receptor belonging to the superfamily of G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). GPR21 couples to the Gq family of G proteins and is markedly expressed in macrophages. Studies of GPR21 knock-out mice indicated that GPR21 may be involved in promoting macrophage migration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of GPR21 in human macrophages, analyzing (i) its involvement in cell migration and cytokine release and (ii) the consequence of its pharmacological inhibition by using the inverse agonist GRA2. THP-1 cells were activated and differentiated into either M1 or …

Growth Hormone Signaling Shapes The Impact Of Environmental Temperature On Transcriptomic Profile Of Different Adipose Tissue Depots In Male Mice., Augusto Schneider, Berta Victoria, Maria Isabel Schiavon Cousen, Yimin Fang, Samuel Mcfadden, Justin Darcy, Adam Gesing, Erin R Hascup, Kevin N Hascup, Andrzej Bartke, Michal M Masternak

Articles

Growth hormone receptor knockout (GHRKO) mice are smaller, long living, and have an increased metabolic rate compared with normal (N) littermates. However, it is known that thermoneutral conditions (30-32°C) elicit metabolic adaptations in mice, increasing the metabolic rate. Therefore, we hypothesized that environmental temperature would affect the expression profile of different adipose tissue depots in GHRKO mice. For this, N (n = 12) and GHRKO (n = 11) male mice were maintained at 23 or 30°C from weaning until 11 months of age. RNA sequencing from adipose tissue depots (epididymal-eWAT, perirenal-pWAT, subcutaneous-sWAT, and brown fat-BAT) was performed. Thermoneutrality increased body …

Growth Hormone Signaling Shapes The Impact Of Environmental Temperature On Transcriptomic Profile Of Different Adipose Tissue Depots In Male Mice., Augusto Schneider, Berta Victoria, Maria Isabel Schiavon Cousen, Yimin Fang, Samuel Mcfadden, Justin Darcy, Adam Gesing, Erin R Hascup, Kevin N Hascup, Andrzej Bartke, Michal M Masternak

Articles

Growth hormone receptor knockout (GHRKO) mice are smaller, long living, and have an increased metabolic rate compared with normal (N) littermates. However, it is known that thermoneutral conditions (30-32°C) elicit metabolic adaptations in mice, increasing the metabolic rate. Therefore, we hypothesized that environmental temperature would affect the expression profile of different adipose tissue depots in GHRKO mice. For this, N (n = 12) and GHRKO (n = 11) male mice were maintained at 23 or 30°C from weaning until 11 months of age. RNA sequencing from adipose tissue depots (epididymal-eWAT, perirenal-pWAT, subcutaneous-sWAT, and brown fat-BAT) was performed. Thermoneutrality increased body …

Combining Pharmacokinetics And Vibrational Spectroscopy: Mcr-Als Hard-And-Soft Modelling Of Drug Uptake In Vitro Using Tailored Kinetic Constraints, David Perez-Guaita, Guillermo Quintas, Zeineb Farhane, Roma Tauler, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Raman microspectroscopy is a label-free technique which is very suited for the investigation of pharmacokinetics of cellular uptake, mechanisms of interaction, and efficacies of drugs in vitro. However, the complexity of the spectra makes the identification of spectral patterns associated with the drug and subsequent cellular responses difficult. Indeed, multivariate methods that relate spectral features to the inoculation time do not normally take into account the kinetics involved, and important theoretical information which could assist in the elucidation of the relevant spectral signatures is excluded. Here, we propose the integration of kinetic equations in the modelling of drug uptake and …

From Zero To Thrive: A Model Of Cross-System And Cross-Sector Relational Health To Promote Early Childhood Development Across The Child-Serving Ecosystem, Alison L. Miller, Sara F. Stein, Rebeccah Sokol, Rachel Varisco, Phoebe Trout, Megan M. Julian, Julie Ribaudo, Joshua B. Kay, Natasha V. Pilkauskas, Nicole Gardner-Neblett, Todd I. Herrenkohl, Kara Zivin, Maria Muzik, Katherine L. Rosenblum

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Early relational health between caregivers and children is foundational for child health and well-being. Children and caregivers are also embedded within multiple systems and sectors, or a “child-serving ecosystem”, that shapes child development. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has made this embeddedness abundantly clear, systems remain siloed and lack coordination. Fostering relational health amongst layers of this ecosystem may be a way to systematically support young children and families who are facing adversity. We integrate theory, examples, and empirical findings to develop a conceptual model informed by infant mental health and public health frameworks that illustrates how relational health across the …

Estimating The Analytical Performance Of Raman Spectroscopy For Quantification Of Active Ingredients In Human Stratum Corneum, Hichem Kichou, Emilie Munnier, Yuri Dancik, Kamilia Kemel, Hugh Byrne, Ali Tfayli, Dominique Bertrand, Martin Soucé, Igor Chourpa, Franck Bonnier

Articles

Confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) has become a versatile technique that can be applied routinely to monitor skin penetration of active molecules. In the present study, CRM coupled to multivariate analysis (namely PLSR—partial least squares regression) is used for the quantitative measurement of an active ingredient (AI) applied to isolated (ex vivo) human stratum corneum (SC), using systematically varied doses of resorcinol, as model compound, and the performance is quantified according to key figures of merit defined by regulatory bodies (ICH, FDA, and EMA). A methodology is thus demonstrated to establish the limit of detection (LOD), precision, accuracy, sensitivity (SEN), and …

Limits Of Detection Of Mycotoxins By Laminar Flow Strips: A Review, Xinyi Zhao, Hugh Byrne, Christine M. O’Connor, James Curtin, Furong Tian

Articles

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolic products of fungi. They are poisonous, carcinogenic, and mutagenic in nature and pose a serious health threat to both humans and animals, causing severe illnesses and even death. Rapid, simple and low-cost methods of detection of mycotoxins are of immense importance and in great demand in the food and beverage industry, as well as in agriculture and environmental monitoring, and, for this purpose, lateral flow immunochromatographic strips (ICSTs) have been widely used in food safety and environmental monitoring. The literature to date describing the development of ICSTs for the detection of different types of mycotoxins using …

Active Leisure And Ageing In Rural Ireland: Exploring Perceptions And Motivations To Facilitate And Promote Meaningful Physical Activity, Angie Hartnett, Catherine Gorman

Articles

The life expectancy of the world population is increasing and the art of aging well is of global interest (European Commission, n.d.). In Ireland, the number of people over the age of 60 will increase from 1.1 million currently, to 2.44 million by 2041, constituting nearly one third of its total population (Institute of Public Health, 2018). Despite the benefits of regular physical activity (pa), particularly with the frail (≥65 years and requiring a walking aid), rates of participation remain low (Colley et al., 2011). Health concerns raised, such as smoking and weight issues, are more prevalent in this cohort …

Age Specific Models To Capture The Change In Risk Factor Contribution By Age To Short Term Primary Ischemic Stroke Risk, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Age is one of the most important risk factors when it comes to stroke risk prediction. However, including age as a risk factor in a stroke prediction model can give rise to a number of difficulties. Age often dominates the risk score, and also not all risk factors contribute proportionally to stroke risk by age. In this study we investigate a number of common stroke risk factors, using Framingham heart study data from the NHLBI Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center to determine if they appear to contribute proportionally by age to a stroke risk score. As we …

A Microfluidic Approach For Synthesis And Kinetic Profiling Of Branched Gold Nanostructures, Qi Cai, Valentina Castagnola, Luca Boselli, Alirio Moura, Hender Lopez, Wei Zhang, João M. De Araújo, Kenneth A. Dawson

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Automatized approaches for nanoparticle synthesis and characterization represent a great asset to their applicability in the biomedical field by improving reproducibility and standardization, which help to meet the selection criteria of regulatory authorities. The scaled-up production of nanoparticles with carefully defined characteristics, including intrinsic morphological features, and minimal intra-batch, batch-to-batch, and operator variability, is an urgent requirement to elevate nanotechnology towards more trustable biological and technological applications. In this work, microfluidic approaches were employed to achieve fast mixing and good reproducibility in synthesizing a variety of gold nanostructures. The microfluidic setup allowed exploiting spatial resolution to investigate the growth evolution …

Probability Models With Discrete And Continuous Parts, James E. Marengo, David L. Farnsworth

Articles

In mathematical statistics courses, students learn that the quadratic function E ((X – x )-squared) is minimized when x is the mean of the random variable X, and that the graphs of this function for any two distributions of X are simply translates of each other. We focus on the problem of minimizing the function defined by y ( x) = E ( IX – xI-squared ) in the context of mixtures of probability distributions of the discrete, absolutely continuous, and singular continuous types. This problem is important, for example, in Bayesian statistics, when one attempts to compute the decision …

In Vitro Toxicological Evaluation Of Mesoporous Silica Microparticles Functionalised 1 With Carvacrol And Thymol, Cristina Fuentes, Ana Fuentes, Hugh Byrne, José Barat, María José Ruiz

Articles

The cytotoxicity of carvacrol- and thymol- functionalised mesoporous silica microparticles (MCM-41) was assessed in the human hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2). Cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and apoptosis/necrosis analysis were used as endpoints. Results showed that both materials induced cytotoxicity in a time and concentration-dependent manner, being more cytotoxic than free essential oil components and bare MCM-41. This effect was caused by the cell-particle interactions and not from degradation products released to the culture media, as demonstrated in the extract dilution assays. LDH release was seen to be …

Extracellular Secretion Of A Cutinase With Polyester-Degrading Potential By E. Coli Using A Novel Signal Peptide From Amycolatopsis Mediterranei, Yeqi Tan, Gemma K. Kinsella, Gary T. Henehan, Barry J. Ryan

Articles

Recent studies in this laboratory showed that an extracellular cutinase from A. mediterranei (AmCut) was able to degrade the plastics polycaprolactone and polybutylene succinate. Such plastics can be slow to degrade in soils due to a lack of efficient polyester degrading organisms. AmCut also showed potential for the biocatalytic synthesis of esters by reverse hydrolysis.

The gene for AmCut has an upstream leader sequence whose transcript is not present in the purified enzyme. In this study, we show using predictive modelling, that this sequence codes for an N-terminal signal peptide that directs transmembrane expression via the Sec secretion pathway.

E. …

Effects Of Religiosity And Travel Desire On Covid-19 Vaccination Intentions, Muhammet Kesgin, Ali Selcuk Can, Dogan Gursoy, Yuksel Ekinci, Khaled Aldawodi

Articles

Despite the deadly consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitation remains a threat to public health and international travel. This study tests the effect of Muslim religiosity on belief-based attitudes (i.e., subjective norms, perceived behavioural control) and travel desire as a proxy for COVID-19 vaccination intentions. The structural model was tested using PLS-SEM with the data collected via a self-administrated survey between April and June 2021 in Saudi Arabia (N=759). Results reveal that travel desire along with belief-based attitudes influence COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Intrinsic religiosity influences individuals’ subjective norms, directly and perceived behavioural control and COVID-19 vaccination intentions indirectly through …

Ultrasound 96 Probe Device Protocol For Cancer Cell Treatment, Aisling Field, Brijesh K. Tiwari, James F. Curtin, Julie R M Mondala, Janith Wanigasekara

Articles

Ultrasound is a sound wave with frequencies ranging between 20 kHz and 20 MHz. Ultrasound is able to temporarily and repeatedly open the BBB safely and enhance chemotherapeutic delivery without adverse effects. This novel technique in drug delivery benefits from the powerful ability of ultrasound to produce cavitation activity. Cavitation is the generation and activity of gas-filled bubbles in a medium exposed to ultrasound. As the pressure wave passes through the media, gas bubbles expand at low pressure and contract at high pressure. This leads to oscillation which produces a circulating fluid flow known as microstreaming around the bubble with …

Evolutionary Paths To Macrolide Resistance In A Neisseria Commensal Converge On Ribosomal Genes Through Short Sequence Duplications, Jordan C. Raisman, Michael A. Fiore, Lucille Tomin, Joseph K. O. Adjei, Virginia X. Aswad, Jonathan Chu, Christina J. Domondon, Ben A. Donahue, Claudia A. Masciotti, Connor G. Mcgrath, Jo Melita, Paul A. Podbielski, Madelyn R. Schreiner, Lauren J. Trumpore, Peter C. Wengert, Emalee A. Wrightstone, André O. Hudson, Crista B. Wadsworth

Articles

Neisseria commensals are an indisputable source of resistance for their pathogenic relatives. However, the evolutionary paths commensal species take to reduced susceptibility in this genus have been relatively underexplored. Here, we leverage in vitro selection as a powerful screen to identify the genetic adaptations that produce azithromycin resistance (� 2 μg/mL) in the Neisseria commensal, N. elongata. Across multiple lineages (n = 7/16), we find mutations that reduce susceptibility to azithromycin converge on the locus encoding the 50S ribosomal L34 protein (rpmH) and the intergenic region proximal to the 30S ribosomal S3 protein (rpsC) through short tandem duplication events. Interestingly, …

Plasma Induced Reactive Oxygen Species-Dependent Cytotoxicity In Glioblastoma 3d Tumourspheres, Janith Wanigasekara, Carlos Barcia, Patrick J. Cullen, Brijesh Tiwari, James F. Curtin

Articles

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a pin‐to‐plate cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on U‐251 MG three‐dimensional (3D) glioblastoma spheroids under different conditions. 3D tumorspheres showed higher resistance to the CAP treatment compared to 2D monolayer cells. A single CAP treatment was able to induce cytotoxicity, while multiple CAP treatments augmented this effect. CAP was also able to induce cytotoxicity throughout the tumoursphere, and we identified that reactive oxygen species(ROS) plays a major role, while H2O2plays a partial role in CAP‐induced cytotoxicity in tumour-spheres. We conclude that ROS‐dependent cytotoxicity is induced uniformly throughout glioblastoma and epidermoid …

Active Packaging Film Based On Poly Lactide-Poly (Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) Blends Incorporated With Tannic Acid And Gallic Acid For The Prolonged Shelf Life Of Cherry Tomato, Shubham Sharma, Kalpani Perera, Dileswar Pradhan, Brendan Duffy, Amit Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

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The antimicrobial property is the key feature of active packaging. Biological macromolecules such as tannic and gallic acids are naturally found in plants such as tea, fruits, berries, and grapes. The incorporation of tannic acid (TA) and gallic acid (GA) in the biodegradable polymer blend Poly Lactide-Poly (Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) (PLA-PBAT) was used in this study to assess the potential of active packaging. TA and GA (10 wt%) composite films showed a 65%–66% increase in the UV barrier property. The tensile strength value increased after the incorporation of TA and GA (10 wt%), respectively. Overall, 1.67 and 2.2 log reductions in …

Analysis Of Human Gait Cycle With Body Equilibrium Based On Leg Orientation, Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Abdullah Tayyab, Muhammad Hammad Shahid, Usama Arif, Mohsin Islam Tiwana, Umar Shahbaz Khan, Waqar Shahid Qureshi

Articles

Gait analysis identifies the posture during movement in order to provide the correct actions for a normal gait. A person's gait may differ from others and can be recognized by specific patterns. Healthy individuals exhibit normal gait patterns, while lower limb amputees exhibit abnormal gait patterns. To better understand the pitfalls of gait, it is imperative to develop systems capable of capturing the gait patterns of healthy individuals. The main objective of this research was to introduce a new concept in gait analysis by computing the static and dynamic equilibrium in a real-world environment. A relationship was also presented among …

Formulation, Characterisation And Evaluation Of The Antihypertensive Peptides, Isoleucine-Proline-Proline And Leucine-Lysine-Proline In Chitosan Nanoparticles Coated With Zein For Oral Drug Delivery, Minna Khalid Danish, John P. Gleeson, David J. Brayden, Hugh Byrne, Jesus Maria Frias, Sinead Ryan

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Isoleucine-Proline-Proline (IPP) and Leucine-Lysine-Proline (LKP) are food-derived tripeptides whose antihypertensive functions have been demonstrated in hypertensive rat models. However, peptides display low oral bioavailability due to poor intestinal epithelial permeability and instability. IPP and LKP were formulated into nanoparticles (NP) using chitosan (CL113) via ionotropic gelation and then coated with zein. Following addition of zein, a high encapsulation efficiency (EE) (>80%) was obtained for the NP. In simulated gastric fluid (SGF), 20% cumulative release of the peptides was achieved after 2 h, whereas in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF), ~90% cumulative release was observed after 6 h. Higher colloidal stability …

Hydrogel On A Smart Nanomaterial Interface To Carry Therapeutics For Digitalized Glioma Treatment, Xinyi Zhao, Bilal Javed, Furong Tian, Kangze Liu

Articles

Glioma is considered the primary brain tumor to cause brain illnesses, and it is difficult to treat and shows resistance to various routine therapeutics. The most common treatments to cure glioma are the surgical removal of tumors followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The latest biocompatible interfaces have been incorporated into therapeutic modalities such as the targeted delivery of drugs using hydrogels to treat and manage brain glioma. This review illustrates the applications of the multimodal hydrogel as the carrier of therapeutics, gene therapy, therapeutic tactics, and glioma devices. The scientific articles were retrieved from 2019 to 2022 on …

Cold Plasma Technology In Food Packaging, Kalpani Perera, Jack Prendeville, Amit Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

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Cold plasma (CP) is an effective strategy to alter the limitations of biopolymer materials for food packaging applications. Biopolymers such as polysaccharides and proteins are known to be sustainable materials with excellent film-forming properties. Bio-based films can be used as an alternative to traditional plastic packaging. There are limitations to biopolymer packaging materials such as hydrophobicity, poor barrier, and thermos-mechanical properties. For this reason, biopolymers must be modified to create a packaging material with the desired applicability. CP is an effective method to enhance the functionality and interfacial features of biopolymers. It etches the film surface allowing for better adhesion …