Sweet Solution Analgesia

Mammals’ first tasting experience is usually sweet solution. Whether it is milk (breast or formula), sugar water as in some cultures or even dates as advocated by Prophet Mohammed to his followers. Thus, it is no wonder the soothing, calming and even pain relieving effects of oral sweet solutions. Nevertheless, using sweet solution purposely for its pain-relieving effects for infants in the clinical setting is relatively recent; however, the discussion concerning sweet solution effectiveness, mechanism of actions and adverse long-term effects are still ongoing. In this chapter, we present an account of studies on both humans and animals that explored and examined the use of several sweet solutions for analgesia

Architecture-centric testing for security

This thesis presents a novel architecture-centric approach, which uses Implied Scenarios (IS) to detect design-vulnerabilities in the software architecture. It reviews security testing approaches, and draws on their limitations in addressing unpredictable behaviour in the face of evolution. The thesis introduces the concept of Security ISs as unanticipated (possibly malicious) behaviours that indicate potential insecurities in the architecture. The IS approach uses the architecture as the appropriate level of abstraction to tackle the complexity of testing. It provides potential for scalability to test large scale complex applications. It proposes a three-phased method for security testing: (1) Detecting design-level vulnerabilities in the architecture in an incremental manner by composing functionalities as they evolve. (2) Classifying the impact of detected ISs on the security of the architecture. (3) Using the detected ISs and their impact to guide the refinement of the architecture. The refinement is test-driven and incremental, where refinements are tested before they are committed. The thesis also presents SecArch, an extension to the IS approach to enhance its search-space to detect hidden race conditions. The thesis reports on the applications of the proposed approach and its extension to three case studies for testing the security of distributed and cloud architectures in the presence of uncertainty in the operating environment, unpredictability of interaction and possible security IS

Epidemic of fractures during a period of snow and ice: has anything changed 33 years on?

Objectives We reproduced a frequently cited study that was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 1981 assessing the extent of ‘snow-and-ice’ fractures during the winter period. Setting This study aims to provide an insight into how things have changed within the same emergency department (ED) by comparing the findings of the BMJ paper published 33 years ago with the present date. Participants As per the original study, all patients presenting to the ED with a radiological evidence of fracture during three different 4-day periods were included. The three 4-day periods included 4 days of snow-and-ice conditions and two control 4-day periods when snow and ice was not present; the first was 4 days within the same year, with a similar amount of sunshine hours, and the second was 4 days 1 calendar year later. Primary and secondary outcome measures To identify the frequency, distribution and pattern of fractures sustained in snow-and-ice conditions compared to control conditions as well as comparisons with the index study 33 years ago. Results A total of 293 patients with fractures were identified. Overall, there was a 2.20 (CI 1.7 to 3.0, p <0.01) increase in risk of fracture during snow-and-ice periods compared to control conditions. There was an increase (p <0.01) of fractures of the arm, forearm and wrist (RR 3.2 (CI 1.4 to 7.6) and 2.9 (CI 1.5 to 5.4) respectively). Conclusions While the relative risk was not of the magnitude 33 years ago, the overall number of patients presenting with a fracture during snow-and-ice conditions remains more than double compared to control conditions. This highlights the need for improved understanding of the impact of increased fracture burden on hospitals and more effective preventative measures

PSO tuning pi controller for multilevel inverter output voltage regulation

In recent decades, renewable energy production has been an underlying trend in the energy sector. Multilevel inverter has been used especially in renewable energy aspects in order to assess Total Harmonics Distortion (THD). Multilevel inverters have shown superior performance in terms of reducing harmonic disturbances, torque pulsations, and voltage stress through switching devices. Conventionally, PI controller are preferable to be applied in multilevel inverter due to its simplicity. However, it has a limitation of optimization when it comes to increase of loads under working condition. This paper focuses on developing a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm for optimal tuning of PI controller for Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter (CHMI) in order to regulate a smooth output voltage of the system. PSO controller is implemented to produce an optimum regulated output voltage using MATLAB/Simulink. The system will go under three load variation conditions. The PSO-PI controller have been applied to a 7-level CHMI that uses 12 IGBTs with 20kHz switching frequency and 0.9 modulation index with 0.4 μs of sample time. As compared PSO-PI to conventional PI controller during nominal load, 20 % reduction in THD is observed. In addition, voltage drop and transient time during no load to full load shows an improvement after applying PSO-PI. During load variation was halved and varied at certain point, PSO-PI also exhibit improvement in transient time and reduction in THD is observed compared to conventional PI controller

Rhus coriaria induces autophagic and apoptotic cell death in pancreatic cancer cells

Background:Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide with increasing global incidence. We previously reported the anticancer effect of Rhus coriaria ethanolic extract (RCE) in triple negative breast and colon cancer cells. Herein, we investigated the anticancer effect of RCE on human pancreatic cancer cells.Methods: Cell viability was measured using Cell Titer-Glo and staining of viable and dead cells based on differential permeability to two DNA binding dyes. Cell cycle distribution and annexin V staining was carried out in Muse cell analyzer. Protein level was determined by Western blot. Tumor growth was assessed by in ovo chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay.Results: We found that RCE significantly inhibited the viability and colony growth of pancreatic cancer cells (Panc-1, Mia-PaCa-2, S2-013, AsPC-1). The antiproliferative effects of RCE in pancreatic cancer cells (Panc-1 and Mia-PaCa-2) were mediated through induction of G1 cell cycle arrest, Beclin-1-independent autophagy, and apoptosis. RCE activated both the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of apoptosis and regulated the Bax/Bcl-2 apoptotic switch. Mechanistically, we found that RCE inhibited the AKT/mTOR pathway, downstream of which, inactivation of the cell cycle regulator p70S6K and downregulation of the antiapoptotic protein survivin was observed. Additionally, we found that RCE-induced autophagy preceded apoptosis. Further, we confirmed the anticancer effect of RCE in a chick embryo xenograft model and found that RCE inhibited the growth of pancreatic cancer xenografts without affecting embryo survival.Conclusion: Collectively, our findings demonstrate that Rhus coriaria exerts potent anti-pancreatic cancer activity though cell cycle impairment, autophagy, and apoptosis, and is hence a promising source of anticancer phytochemicals

Synthesis of New Chromene Derivatives Targeting Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Breast cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. The most aggressive type of breast cancer is triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Indeed, not only does TNBC not respond well to several chemotherapeutic agents, but it also frequently develops resistance to various anti-cancer drugs, including taxane mitotic inhibitors. This necessitates the search for newer, more efficacious drugs. In this study, we synthesized two novel chromene derivatives (C1 and C2) and tested their efficacy against a battery of luminal type A and TNBC cell lines. Our results show that C1 and C2 significantly and specifically inhibited TNBC cell viability but had no effect on the luminal A cell type. In addition, these novel compounds induced mitotic arrest, cell multinucleation leading to senescence, and apoptotic cell death through the activation of the extrinsic pathway. We also showed that the underlying mechanisms for these actions of C1 and C2 involved inhibition of microtubule polymerization and disruption of the F-actin cytoskeleton. Furthermore, both compounds significantly attenuated migration of TNBC cells and inhibited angiogenesis in vitro. Finally, we performed an in silico analysis, which revealed that these novel variants bind to the colchicine binding site in β-tubulin. Taken together, our data highlight the potential chemotherapeutic properties of two novel chromene compounds against TNBC.Scopu

Ankle syndesmosis repair and rehabilitation in professional rugby league players: a case series report.

The distal tibiofibular joint is described as a syndesmosis. Traditionally, severe syndesmotic injuries with diastasis have been treated surgically with screw fixation. This case series details an ankle syndesmosis tightrope repair and an accelerated rehabilitation protocol that reduces the amount of time to return to professional rugby league in the UK. The aim of this study was to describe players' journey from injury, through diagnosis to surgery, rehabilitation and return to participation, detailing time scales and methods used at each stage to highlight the change in current practice.Players were identified via a single orthopaedic surgeon in the UK who specialises in ankle syndesmosis repair. Between January 2010 and September 2015, adult men playing full-time professional rugby league in the UK Super League with ankle syndesmosis injuries were identified.Eighteen players from six different clubs were included. The most common mechanism of injury was forced dorsiflexion/eversion. The average return to participation was 64 days (SD 17.2, range 38-108). This compares favourably to reports of between 120 and 180 days following screw fixation.Ankle syndesmosis tightrope repair and an accelerated rehabilitation protocol is as safe as traditional methods. The accelerated rehabilitation protocol promotes early weight-bearing and has shown to expedite the return to sport for professional Rugby League players. It is possible to return to sport 2 months after a tightrope repair and accelerated rehabilitation, compared with 3-6 months post screw fixation. This is extremely encouraging for the professional sporting population