Knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthy eating among public school teachers in Kuwait

Background: Healthy food is essential for strengthening the body and protecting it from diseases. Conversely, unhealthy food can cause severe diseases in children and adolescents. The present study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice among teachers about healthy food and to examine the associated factors. Design and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire distributed to 300 teachers in the Hawalli and Al-Jahra educational areas in Kuwait over approximately six months in 2019. Results: Those who participated in a course had significantly greater knowledge than those who did not (p=0.005). The respondents in Hawalli had a significantly lower mean attitude than Al-Jahrah teachers (7.9 ± 1.5 vs 8.2±1.5, respectively; p=0.03). Conclusions: Limited knowledge combined with a low level of positive attitude suggests an ongoing educational workshop should be established to promote healthy nutrition

The comparision of glybenclamide and metformin-loaded bacterial cellulose/gelatin nanofibres produced by a portable electrohydrodynamic gun for diabetic wound healing

Wound dressings made from natural polymers are an important aspect of biomaterials. Protein-based materials are less likely to instigate an immunogenic response and have the capacity to degrade in vivo, also without triggering an inflammatory response. Therefore, gelatin (GEL) was chosen and combined with bacterial cellulose (BC) to produce nanofibres and the potential of an all-natural polymer construct was determined. GEL and BC were successfully electrospun with metformin (Met) and glybenclamide (Gb) using a portable, point of need electrospinning set up. The virgin fibre group exhibited a significant effect on the proliferation of L929 (mouse fibroblast) cells but all fibre samples can safely be applied on wound site without risk of cytotoxicity. According to the results obtained by animal tests, the GEL-BC-Gb group showed better recovery than the GEL-BC-Met group. Diabetic wounds treated with GEL-BC-Met were characterized by moderate re-epithelialization and partially organized granulation tissue. Moderate to complete re-epithelialization and well-formed granulation tissue were observed in diabetic wounds treated with GEL-BC-Gb. The histologic scores obtained on day 14 confirmed that the GEL-BC-Gb group played a stronger wound-healing role compared to the GEL-BC-Met group. The highest decrease of TNF-α level was observed in the GEL-BC-Gb group at the end of the experiment but there is no significant difference between drug-loaded fibre groups. Therefore, topical administration of Met and Gb in a sustained release form has a high potential for diabetic wound healing with high bioavailability and fewer systemic side effects but Gb showed better improvement according to the results of the animal tests

Accelerated diabetic wound healing by topical application of combination oral antidiabetic agents-loaded nanofibrous scaffolds: An in vitro and in vivo evaluation study

The combination of oral antidiabetic drugs, pioglitazone, metformin, and glibenclamide, which also exhibit the strongest anti-inflammatory action among oral antidiabetic drugs, were loaded into chitosan/gelatin/polycaprolactone (PCL) by electrospinning and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)/PCL composite nanofibrous scaffolds by pressurized gyration to compare the diabetic wound healing effect. The combination therapies significantly accelerated diabetic wound healing in type-1 diabetic rats and organized densely packed collagen fibers in the dermis, it also showed better regeneration of the dermis and epidermis than single drug-loaded scaffolds with less inflammatory cell infiltration and edema. The formation of the hair follicles started in 14 days only in the combination therapy and lower proinflammatory cytokine levels were observed compared to single drug-loaded treatment groups. The combination therapy increased the wettability and hydrophilicity of scaffolds, demonstrated sustained drug release over 14 days, has high tensile strength and suitable cytocompatibility on L929 (mouse fibroblast) cell and created a suitable area for the proliferation of fibroblast cells. Consequently, the application of metformin and pioglitazone-loaded chitosan/gelatin/PCL nanofibrous scaffolds to a diabetic wound area offer high bioavailability, fewer systemic side effects, and reduced frequency of dosage and amount of drug

Oxygen desorption kinetics of ZnO nanorod–gated AlGaN/GaN HEMT-based UV photodetectors

In this study, we investigated the effect of gate length and surface area of the ZnO ultraviolet (UV) absorbing structure on the transient characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMT based UV photodetectors. The gate-areas (2, 6 and 18 μm lengths with same width of 100 μm) of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs are covered with ZnO thin film and nanorods (NR) separately. The fabricated devices show enhancement in response speed with the reduction of gate length or the increase of ZnO surface area. The best response speed of ∼10 ms response time and ∼190 ms recovery time is measured from the NR-gated device with a gate length of 2 μm. A model for the oxygen desorption kinetics is proposed for the first time which theoretically shows that the response speed is dependent on two key parameters; light absorbing surface area and gate length. From our model analysis, it is shown that predicted response time is a strong function of these two device parameters, and the calculations show a good agreement with the experimental measurements