Glucose Biosensors: An Overview of Use in Clinical Practice

Blood glucose monitoring has been established as a valuable tool in the management of diabetes. Since maintaining normal blood glucose levels is recommended, a series of suitable glucose biosensors have been developed. During the last 50 years, glucose biosensor technology including point-of-care devices, continuous glucose monitoring systems and noninvasive glucose monitoring systems has been significantly improved. However, there continues to be several challenges related to the achievement of accurate and reliable glucose monitoring. Further technical improvements in glucose biosensors, standardization of the analytical goals for their performance, and continuously assessing and training lay users are required. This article reviews the brief history, basic principles, analytical performance, and the present status of glucose biosensors in the clinical practice

Antibodies Against Conserved Antigens Provide Opportunities for Reform in Influenza Vaccine Design

High-performance neutralizing antibody against influenza virus typically recognizes the globular head region of its hemagglutinin (HA) envelope glycoprotein. To-date, approved human vaccination strategies have been designed to induce such antibodies as a sole means of preventing the consequences of this infection. However, frequent amino-acid changes in the HA globular head allow for efficient immune evasion. Consequently, vaccines inducing such neutralizing antibodies need to be annually re-designed and re-administered at a great expense. These vaccines furthermore provide little-to-no immunity against antigenic-shift strains, which arise from complete replacement of HA or of neuraminidase genes, and pose pandemic risks. To address these issues, laboratory research has focused on inducing immunity effective against all strains, regardless of changes in the HA globular head. Despite prior dogma that such cross-protection needs to be induced by cellular immunity alone, several advances in recent years demonstrate that antibodies of other specificities are capable of cross-strain protection in mice. This review discusses the reactivity, induction, efficacy, and mechanisms of antibodies that react with poorly accessible epitopes in the HA stalk, with the matrix 2 membrane ion channel, and even with the internal nucleoprotein. These advances warrant further investigation of the inducibility and efficacy of such revolutionary antibody strategies in humans

Highly Active Ni–Fe Based Oxide Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts for Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyser

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts are pivotal for sustainable hydrogen production through anion exchange membrane electrolysis. Cost-effective transition metals such as nickel and iron-based oxides (Ni–Fe–Ox) have been recognized as viable catalysts for the oxygen evolution process in alkaline media. In this work, we study the electrochemical characterization and stability of the Ni–Fe–Ox to find the suitability for AEM electrolysis. The results indicate that Ni–Fe–Ox has 5 times higher activity than pure Ni. The Ni–Fe–Ox electrodes exhibit an exceptionally high catalytic activity of 22 mA cm−2 at 1.55 V vs. RHE, and a Tafel value as low as 97 dec−1, for OER to occur. These findings imply that OER occurs at similar places along the Ni–Fe–Ox interface and that the Ni—Fe2O3 contact plays a significant role as the OER active site. Furthermore, it is also worth noting that the presence of metallic Ni allows for fast electron transit within the interface, which is necessary for successful electrocatalysis. Aside from the excellent OER performance, the exfoliated Ni–Fe–Ox demonstrated great stability with almost constant potential after 10 h of electrolysis at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. This work confirms Ni–Fe–Ox is a promising, highly efficient and cost-effective OER catalyst for AEM electrolysis.This research was funded by Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant number 2019H1D3A2A02102994. And the APC was funded by 2019R1I1A3A030504411

Simultaneous Aortic and Tricuspid Valve Endocarditis due to Complication of Sinus of Valsalva Rupture

We experienced a case of ruptured aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva, and this resulted in simultaneous aortic and tricuspid valve endocarditis through a shunt. The echocardiography showed a ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm to the right atrium with a shunt. The aortic non-coronary cusp was fibro-thickened with vegetation. Vegetations of the septal leaflet and the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve were also found. The blood culture grew Enterococcus garllinarum. We replaced both tricuspid and aortic valve with successful surgical result

The limited immunomodulatory effects of escharectomy on the kinetics of endotoxin, cytokines, and adhesion molecules in major burns.

Escharectomy has been shown to improve the survival rates and the outcomes in burns. This observational study was conducted to assess the role of escharectomy on the inflammatory mediators in major burns. Seventeen ASA physical status II or status III adult surviving major burn patients were recruited. When the escharectomy was scheduled, a series of blood samples was obtained at -3 and -1 days preoperation, and +1 and +3 postoperation. The changing levels of endotoxin, cytokines, and adhesion molecules were measured with a quantitative sandwich immunoassay. Extensive escharectomy did not appear to have any significant impact on the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-10, soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1 and soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1. Meanwhile, endotoxin and E-selectin were significantly decreased after escharectomy. Escharectomy appeared to have a limited immunomodulatory effect on the inflammatory mediators in systemic inflammatory responses induced by major burns. This is probably related to the timing and extent of surgery, and the complex nature of burn-related inflammation