The perception of cons and pros on Open Science within Kuwait University Faculty members in the State of Kuwait.

Open Science (OS) in academic libraries has become essential to enhance academic activity in research. In other words, results should be shared openly to enhance the production of research results and accessed easily. The aim of this research is to identify the awareness of cons and pros on OS within the Kuwait University Faculty Members (KUFM). Factors that affect the awareness of OS in Kuwait University (KU) were also explored. A descriptive analysis was used to identify the awareness of cons and pros on OS within the Kuwait University Faculty Members (KUFM). Furthermore, an online questionnaire was sent to all faculty members in the Kuwait University Collages. The main findings indicated that sciences fields had an idea about OS practices more than social sciences fields, as well as there is a clear shortcoming from decision-makers at KU regarding the role of OS in an academic environment. Moreover, the results confirmed that there are challenges that hinder the use of OS practices at Kuwait University, such as; financial issues, cultural challenges, lack of OS professionals, lack of technological support, and lack of awareness of OS practices. Therefore, recommendations to KU on establishing an effective OS environment within the University were suggested. Keywords: Open Science (OS), Kuwait University (KU), Kuwait University Faculty Members (KUFM), Early Career Researchers (ECRs). DOI: 10.7176/IKM/12-5-04 Publication date:September 30th 202

Specific targeting of PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil®) to tumour cells using a novel TIMP3 peptide

Doxorubicin is a cytotoxic anthracycline derivative that has been used as a chemotherapeutic in many different forms of human cancer with some success. However, doxorubicin treatment has several side-effects, the most serious of which is cardiomyopathy, that can be fatal. Doxorubicin encapsulation in PEGylated liposomes (Doxil®) has been shown to increase tumour localisation and decrease cardiotoxicity. Conversely, the stability of such liposomes also leads to increased circulation times and accumulation in the skin, resulting in palmar planter erythrodysesthesia, while also limiting release of the drug at the tumour site. Specific targeting of such liposomes to tumour cells has been attempted using various receptor-specific peptides and antibodies. However, targeting a single epitope limits the likely number of tumour targets and increases the risk of tumour resistance through mutation. In this report, Doxil® was coupled to peptide sequence p700 derived from tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 3. This Doxil® -P700 complex results in an approximately 100-fold increase in drug uptake, relative to Doxil® alone, by both mouse and human breast cancer cells and immortalised vascular cells resulting in an increase in cytotoxicity. Using p700 to target liposomes in this way may enable specific delivery of doxorubicin or other drugs to a broad range of cancers

The role of seagrass vegetation and local environmental conditions in shaping benthic bacterial and macroinvertebrate communities in a tropical coastal lagoon

We investigated the influence of seagrass canopies on the benthic biodiversity of bacteria and macroinvertebrates in a Red Sea tropical lagoon. Changes in abundance, number of taxa and assemblage structure were analyzed in response to seagrass densities (low, SLD; high, SHD; seagrasses with algae, SA), and compared with unvegetated sediments. Biological and environmental variables were examined in these four habitats (hereafter called treatments), both in the underlaying sediments and overlaying waters, at three randomly picked locations in March 2017. Differences between treatments were more apparent in the benthic habitat than in the overlaying waters. The presence of vegetation (more than its cover) and changes in sedimentary features (grain size and metals) at local scales influenced the observed biological patterns, particularly for macroinvertebrates. Of note, the highest percentage of exclusive macroinvertebrate taxa (18% of the gamma diversity) was observed in the SHD treatment peaking in the SA for bacteria. Benthic macroinvertebrates and bacteria shared a generally low number of taxa across treatments and locations; approximately, 25% of the gamma diversity was shared among all treatments and locations for macrofauna, dropping to 11% for bacteria. Given the low overlap in the species distribution across the lagoon, sustaining the connectivity among heterogeneous soft sediment habitats appears to be essential for maintaining regional biodiversity. This study addresses a current scientific gap related to the relative contributions of vegetated and unvegetated habitats to biodiversity in tropical regions.Peer reviewe

Fusidic acid/tea-tree oil nanoemulsions : a potentially safe and effective anti MRSA/MSSA topical agent for chronic wound healing

Fusidic acid (FA) is clinically used as an antibacterial agent for the treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. It interferes with bacterial protein synthesis, specifically by preventing the translocation of the elongation factor G on the ribosome. In the present work, oil-in-water nanoemulsion (NE) was developed as a carrier for the transdermal delivery of FA. Different oils, surfactants and co-surfactants were screened. The solubility of FA, the emulsifying capacity of the surfactants and phase diagrams for each oil and surfactant mix were constructed. From the analysis, eight stable NE formulations were chosen, and their physicochemical properties were further evaluated. The antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) were also evaluated, and cytotoxicity was conducted on HS-27 cell line to determine the safety of the formula. It was found that the NE produced from tea tree oil has the most optimal stability with promising antibacterial activity against MRSA as compared to a commercially available product. The safety profile of the NE was also comparable to the commercial product; thus, the formulated FA-NE is promising for clinical use

An enhanced krill herd optimization technique used for classification problem

In this paper, this method is intended to improve the optimization of the classification problem in machine learning. The EKH as a global search optimization method, it allocates the best representation of the solution (krill individual) whereas it uses the simulated annealing (SA) to modify the generated krill individuals (each individual represents a set of bits). The test results showed that the KH outperformed other methods using the external and internal evaluation measures

Effectiveness Measurement of Digital Library in Higher Education

The purpose of this research is to fill the gap between the student expectation and service provided by the digital library in terms of the service quality offering in the library. The user satisfaction of digital library was measured quantitatively through online questionnaire and analysed to establish relationship between the user satisfaction and its antecedents in order to identify critical factors so that suggestions could be made for the Chief Information Officers to enhance the user satisfaction. Keywords: Technology acceptance model, Perceived ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Intention to use, User satisfaction, Digital library. DOI: 10.7176/IKM/12-2-03 Publication date: February 28th 202