Drug delivery during breastfeeding: investigations of formulations and clinical feasibility

Research presented in this thesis was jointly supervised by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (School of Technology) and the Department of Paediatrics (School of Clinical Medicine).At an age when breastfeeding is the optimal nutritional support for infants, oral drug delivery can be challenging. In the past, the concept of drug delivery during breastfeeding was developed as a means to address challenges in low-income countries by facilitating administration using solid dosage forms without the need for clean water. Hereby, a silicone nipple shield, containing a formulation inside its teat, is meant to be worn by a mother during breastfeeding, enabling drug delivery to the sucking infant through the flow of human milk. Furthering past research, this doctoral work aimed to investigate novel dosage forms for this application, including a fibrous matrix and a gel formulation, as well as the clinical potential, feasibility, and acceptability of therapeutic delivery during breastfeeding. In a clinical context, a descriptive qualitative study revealed the need for alternative infant oral drug delivery technologies in high-resource settings, and parents' and nursing staff's positive response to the concept of drug delivery during breastfeeding. Findings were supported by the anecdotal evidence of difficulties in infant compliance and accurate dosing, and indicated high relevance for a use case in neonatal intensive care. Formulation investigations included zinc sulphate loaded non-woven fibre mats, and iron sulphate loaded liquid-core alginate hydrogels, using a modified and a commercially available nipple shield design. While full release during breastfeeding simulation was not achieved, both formulations enabled superior delivery of their loaded therapeutic dose compared to previously studied dosage forms. In addition, a clinical feasibility study involving the delivery of vitamin B12 from a commercially available nipple shield during breastfeeding was conducted, supported by a qualitative mixed methods approach. Results illustrated the successful delivery of vitamin B12 to breastfed infants and unanimous maternal advocacy for the availability of therapeutic delivery during breastfeeding in the future.University of Cambridge's W.D. Armstrong Fund (W.D. Armstrong Studentship for the Application of Engineering in Medicine) University of Cambridge's Kurt Hahn Trust (Kurt Hahn Scholarship) German Academic Scholarship Foundation (PhD Scholarship

New Multidisciplinary Approaches for Reducing Food Waste in Agribusiness Supply Chains

This reprint is a collection of research articles that highlight the achievements of the team of the European project called REAMIT. REAMIT was funded by Interreg North-West Europe and ERDF. The term REAMIT stands for “Improving Resource Efficiency of Agribusiness supply chains by Minimising waste using Big Data and Internet of Things sensors.” The main aim of the REAMIT project was to reduce food waste in agrifood supply chains by using the power of modern, digital technologies (e.g., the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, big data, cloud computing and analytics). The chapters in this reprint provide detailed information of the activities of the project team.The chapters of this reprint were published as articles in the Special Issue titled ”New Multidisciplinary Approaches for Reducing Food Waste in Agribusiness Supply Chains” published in the journal Sustainability. For ease of readability and flow, the book is divided into four distinct parts.In Part 1, the project members provided a comprehensive review of the existing literature. Part 2 is devoted to the in-depth discussions of the development, adaptation, and applications of these technologies for specific food companies. While the project team worked with a number of food companies including human milk, fresh vegetables and fruits, meat production, this part discusses four different applications.Part 3 presents a detailed analysis of our case studies. A general life-cycle analysis tool for implementing technology for reducing food waste (REAMIT-type activities) is presented in Chapter 7. A specific application of this tool for the case study on a human milk bank is presented in Chapter 8. In Chapter 9, we developed a novel mathematical programming model to identify the conditions when food businesses will prefer the use of modern technologies for helping to reduce food waste.The final part, Part 4, is devoted to summarising learnings from the project and developing some policy-oriented guidelines. Chapter 10 reviews the current state of corporate reporting guidelines for reporting on food waste. Chapter 11 presents the important leanings from the REAMIT project on the motivations for food companies in reducing waste and the associated challenges. Business models are discussed, and some policy guidelines were developed.We gratefully acknowledge the generous funding received from the Interreg North-West Europe for carrying out our activities. The content of Chapter 10 was funded additional funding received from the University of Essex. We believe that the reprint and individual chapters will be of interest to a wide and various audience and will kindle interest in food companies, technology companies, business support organisations, policy-makers and members of the academic community in finding ways to reduce food waste with and without the use of technology

Florida Undergraduate Research Conference

FURC serves as a multi-disciplinary conference through which undergraduate students from the state of Florida can present their research. February 16-17, 2024https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/university_events/1006/thumbnail.jp

The effect of green extraction method, subcritical, water extraction, on selected biological activities of Chaga mushroom

Inonotus obliquus, or Chaga, is a medicinal mushroom with a long history of folk medicinal use and growing popularity worldwide. It cannot be cultivated so novel, greener extraction methods are needed to satisfy the market and obtain high-quality supplements. In this study, we evaluated the biological activity (antimicrobial and antioxidant) of Mongolian (IM) and Serbian (IS) Chaga extracts obtained by subcritical water extraction. They were also screened for general chemical composition. Both IM and IS, have high phenolic content. HPLC analysis revealed that extracts are especially rich in chlorogenic acid, followed by catechins, p-coumaric and cinnamic acids. ABTS assay confirmed the remarkable scavenging ability of extracts, reaching 98% when a concentration of 2 mg/mL was tested. The antimicrobial potential was examined by microdilution method using Gram-positive and (Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus), Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Actinetobacteria baumannii). According to the obtained minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) for E. faecalis S. aureus (MIC -1.25 mg / mL), E. coli, and A. baumannii (MIC -2.5 mg / mL) both extracts were shown to have the same effect on the tested bacteria. Hereby, we demonstrated the high biological potential of extracts obtained by subcritical water extraction

Sample Preparation in Metabolomics

Metabolomics is increasingly being used to explore the dynamic responses of living systems in biochemical research. The complexity of the metabolome is outstanding, requiring the use of complementary analytical platforms and methods for its quantitative or qualitative profiling. In alignment with the selected analytical approach and the study aim, sample collection and preparation are critical steps that must be carefully selected and optimized to generate high-quality metabolomic data. This book showcases some of the most recent developments in the field of sample preparation for metabolomics studies. Novel technologies presented include electromembrane extraction of polar metabolites from plasma samples and guidelines for the preparation of biospecimens for the analysis with high-resolution μ magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (HR-μMAS NMR). In the following chapters, the spotlight is on sample preparation approaches that have been optimized for diverse bioanalytical applications, including the analysis of cell lines, bacteria, single spheroids, extracellular vesicles, human milk, plant natural products and forest trees

Public health interventions to promote oral health and well-being in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review

Background and objective: Poor oral health and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are chronic conditions affecting a wide proportion of the population. Both conditions share many risk factors and are linked by a chronic inflammation state. This review aimed at identifying public health interventions that could promote oral health and diabetes control in patients with poor oral health and T2DM. Methods: The systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA Statement and registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO registration: CRD42022310974). Seven electronic databases were searched (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library) from inception to 21 January 2022, and additional hand searching was performed across reviews’ references. A qualitative analysis was conducted, including all primary studies on diabetic patients, about interventions whose effectiveness and/or feasibility was measured for at least one outcome related to oral health or T2DM. Results: Of the 3153 records obtained after deduplication, 89 studies were considered eligible for inclusion. The most frequently evaluated outcomes were HbA1c and fasting glucose for T2DM, and parameters such as probing depth, bleeding on probing and clinical attachment loss for periodontitis. Most studies assessed the use of non-surgical periodontal treatment (especially scaling and root planing, sometimes corroborated by antibiotics): evidence confirmed effectiveness on periodontal parameters, but was more contrasting regarding T2DM outcomes. Three studies evaluated interventions involving group education for lifestyle modification, which showed to be effective on both outcomes. Also, community-based oral hygiene interventions and glycaemic control appeared to improve T2DM and periodontal outcomes. Conclusions: A variety of interventions are described in the literature. Of those included in this review, many indicated that there is a potential opportunity to promote good oral health alongside T2DM. An integrated approach involving health education, oral hygiene and glycaemic control may offer synergic improvement of both conditions