Synthesis and Characterization of Coated Gold Nanoparticles with Embedded SERS Tags

Gold nanoparticles were prepared with the potential to operate as drug delivery vehicles. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is of particular importance as an optical bioimaging technique due to its ability to allow deep and high-resolution volumetric imaging of biological tissues. Characterization of the gold nanoparticles with para-mercaptobenzoic acid (pMBA), a SERS active molecule, silver, and a phospholipid bilayer was done using Raman and UV-vis spectroscopy and particle size analysis. Our results indicate successful coating of the gold nanoparticles and show consistent pMBA Raman spectroscopy peaks that will allow for the nanoparticle use in-vivo to be monitored

Cost-effectiveness analysis of the first-line therapies for nicotine dependence

Background: Nicotine dependence is the major obstacle for smokers who want to quit. Guidelines have identified five effective first-line therapies, four nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs)—gum, patch, nasal spray and inhaler—and bupropion. Studying the extent to which these various treatments are cost-effective requires additional research. Objectives: To determine cost-effectiveness (CE) ratios of pharmacotherapies for nicotine dependence provided by general practitioners (GPs) during routine visits as an adjunct to cessation counselling. Methods: We used a Markov model to generate two cohorts of one-pack-a-day smokers: (1) the reference cohort received only cessation counselling from a GP during routine office visits; (2) the second cohort received the same counselling plus an offer to use a pharmacological treatment to help them quit smoking. The effectiveness of adjunctive therapy was expressed in terms of the resultant differential in mortality rate between the two cohorts. Data on the effectiveness of therapies came from meta-analyses, and we used odds ratio for quitting as the measure of effectiveness. The costs of pharmacotherapies were based on the cost of the additional time spent by GPs offering, prescribing and following-up treatment, and on the retail prices of the therapies. We used the third-party-payer perspective. Results are expressed as the incremental cost per life-year saved. Results: The cost per life-year saved for only counselling ranged from €385 to €622 for men and from €468 to €796 for women. The CE ratios for the five pharmacological treatments varied from €1768 to €6879 for men, and from €2146 to €8799 for women. Significant variations in CE ratios among the five treatments were primarily due to differences in retail prices. The most cost-effective treatments were bupropion and the patch, and, then, in descending order, the spray, the inhaler and, lastly, gum. Differences in CE between men and women across treatments were due to the shape of their respective mortality curve. The lowest CE ratio in men was for the 45- to 49-year-old group and for women in the 50- to 54-year-old group. Sensitivity analysis showed that changes in treatment efficacy produced effects only for less-well proven treatments (spray, inhaler, and bupropion) and revealed a strong influence of the discount rate and natural quit rate on the CE of pharmacological treatments. Conclusion: The CE of first-line treatments for nicotine dependence varied widely with age and sex and was sensitive to the assumption for the natural quit rate. Bupropion and the nicotine patch were the two most cost-effective treatment

Women with co-occurring disorders and histories of abuse: moderators of treatment effect on services use and costs

Objective: Women with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders and histories of abuse are heterogeneous in symptom severity and use of support services, which may affect their treatment response. This dissertation estimated differential effects of an integrated counseling intervention (IC) across sub-groups of women in this population on their outcome services use and costs. Data Sources/Study Setting: Data from a national study conducted from 1998-2003. 2,729 eligible women were recruited into IC or usual care study groups at nine study sites. Study Design: Interviews were conducted with participants at baseline, three, six, nine and 12 months regarding their service use. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Cluster analyses identified sub-groups of participants according to symptom profiles at baseline and separately according to service use profiles at baseline. Regression analyses estimated the effect of IC, by sub-group, on participants' outcome use of outpatient counseling, residential substance abuse treatment, medical and overall costs. Latent class analyses were also conducted as a comparative approach to modeling sub-group effects of IC. Principal Findings: Among women with moderate-to-severe PTSD at baseline, the IC group had fewer counseling visits and a lower probability of having any medical costs at follow-up than the usual care group. Among women who used counseling intensively at baseline, the IC group had fewer days of residential treatment at 12 months than the usual care group. Among women with high drug addiction and PTSD at baseline and women with high alcohol severity, those in IC had lower medical costs than women in usual care. Latent class models produced generally consistent effects for residential treatment and medical costs. Conclusions: IC was relatively inefficient for women whose predominant symptom at baseline was moderate-to-severe PTSD. Efforts should be made to improve treatment and outcomes for these women. IC worked well for women who at baseline used counseling intensively, had high drug addiction and PTSD, or had high alcohol severity. Practitioners can identify these women among their patients and direct them toward IC if they are not already engaged. Optimizing the effect of IC for women in this population can improve patient outcomes and conserve public resources

Forensic entomology on the Gauteng Highveld

Forensic Entomology utilises arthropods in legal investigations that involve death, neglect and abuse of humans and animals and even civil cases like insurance claims. This study aimed to make general observations on the decomposition of a pig carcass (Sus scofa Linneaus) in relation to recorded temperatures of the carcass and the surrounding site during both summer and winter on the Gauteng Highveld. The study also aimed to identify the dominant blowfly species occurring in the region. Six species were identified: Calliphora vicina, Chrysomya marginalis, Ch. albiceps, Ch. chloropyga, Lucilia sericata and L. cuprina. The cephaloskeleton, anal spiracles and anterior spiracles were dissected from the first, second and third larval instars of the flies to isolate the key features currently used in morphological identifications. The ITS2 region was investigated for the development of a multiplex PCR method to identify these species. The multiplex PCR method did not include Chrysomya albiceps but does successfully differentiate between the other five commonly occurring blowflies

Suicide Screening in Primary Care: Use of an Electronic Screener to Assess Suicidality and Improve Provider Follow-Up for Adolescents

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of using an existing computer decision support system to screen adolescent patients for suicidality and provide follow-up guidance to clinicians in a primary care setting. Predictors of patient endorsement of suicidality and provider documentation of follow-up were examined. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted to examine the implementation of a CDSS that screened adolescent patients for suicidality and provided follow-up recommendations to providers. The intervention was implemented for patients aged 12–20 years in two primary care clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana. Results The sample included 2,134 adolescent patients (51% female; 60% black; mean age = 14.6 years [standard deviation = 2.1]). Just over 6% of patients screened positive for suicidality. A positive endorsement of suicidality was more common among patients who were female, depressed, and seen by an adolescent−medicine board-certified provider as opposed to general pediatric provider. Providers documented follow-up action for 83% of patients who screened positive for suicidality. Documentation of follow-up action was correlated with clinic site and Hispanic race. The majority of patients who endorsed suicidality (71%) were deemed not actively suicidal after assessment by their provider. Conclusions Incorporating adolescent suicide screening and provider follow-up guidance into an existing computer decision support system in primary care is feasible and well utilized by providers. Female gender and depressive symptoms are consistently associated with suicidality among adolescents, although not all suicidal adolescents are depressed. Universal use of a multi-item suicide screener that assesses recency might more effectively identify suicidal adolescents

Pott’s puffy tumour: a rare complication of sinusitis

Introduction: Pott’s puffy tumour is a rare entity defined by the presence of a subperiosteal abscess of the frontal bone associated with frontal osteomyelitis. Several predisposing conditions can lead to this entity, such as frontal sinusitis. Case description: We report the case of a 15-year-old patient who presented to the emergency department for headache, fever and forehead swelling. Computed tomography revealed severe pansinusitis complicated by a subperiosteal abscess associated with frontal osteomyelitis, leading to the diagnosis of Pott’s puffy tumour. The management combined intravenous antibiotics and surgical drainage of both the sinusitis and subperiosteal abscess. Discussion: Pott’s puffy tumour represents a rare but serious complication of frontal sinusitis. Clinicians should be aware of this potential complication as the diagnosis can be challenging at an early stage but may influence the subsequent prognosis

Non-obviousness and Screening

The paper offers a novel justification for the non-obviousness patentability requirement. An innovation involves two stages: research results in a technology blueprint, which development transforms into a profitable activity. An innovator, who is either efficient or inefficient, must rely on outside finance for the development. Only patented technologies are developed. Strengthening the non-obviousness requirement alleviates adverse selection by discouraging inefficient innovators from doing research, but creates inefficiencies by excluding marginal innovations. We show that it is socially optimal to raise the non-obviousness requirement so as to exclude bad innovators; we also provide several robustness checks and discuss the policy implications

Multi-scale assembly of hydrogels formed by highly branched arabinoxylans from Plantago ovata seed mucilage studied by USANS/SANS and rheology

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The structures of two hydrogels formed by purified brush-like polysaccharides from Plantago ovata seed mucilage have been characterised from the nanometre to micrometre scale by using a combination of SANS and USANS techniques. These two hydrogels have distinctly different melting and rheological properties, but the structure of their gel networks bears striking similarity as revealed by USANS/SANS experiments. Surprisingly, we find that the dramatic changes in the rheological properties induced by temperature or change in the solvent quality are accompanied by a small alteration of the network structure as inferred from scattering curves recorded above melting or in a chaotropic solvent (0.7 M KOD). These results suggest that, in contrast to most gel-forming polysaccharides for which gelation depends on a structural transition, the rheological properties of Plantago ovata mucilage gels are dependent on variations in intermolecular hydrogen bonding. By enzymatically cleaving off terminal arabinose residues from the side chains, we have demonstrated that composition of side-chains has a strong effect on intermolecular interactions, which, in turn, has a profound effect on rheological and structural properties of these unique polysaccharides