Keawetan Alami Kayu Meranti Merah (Shorea Leprosula Miq.) Hutan Alam dan Hutan Tanaman dari Serangan Jamur Pelapuk Kayu

This research was carried out by using JIS method to evaluate natural durability of red meranti (Shorea leprosula Miq.) plantations using Silin system. For comparison, the similiar method was done on S. leprosula from natural forests. This study used a factorial CRD (completely randomized design) with treatment of Raw Materials (S. leprosula from Natural Forest and from Plantation Forest) and Stem Position (Bottom, Middle, and Upper). Each treatment were tested against wood rot fungi such as Tyromyces palustris (brown rot) and Pycnoporus sanguineus (white rot) to determine the percentage of weight loss. The results show that T. palustris give significant effect on reducing the weight loss the wood of S. leprosula, while the interaction between the two factors was not significant. Similiar result was note on P. sanguineus that the factors of raw materials and the position of the rod give significant effect on weight loss of S. leprosula. While the interaction of these two factors significantly affect S. leprosula weight loss. The results showed that, S. leprosula timber from natural forests and plantations are tested against both types of wood rot fungi has met the standard of weight loss is required by JIS that is < 30% for brown rot fungi and < 15% for white rot fungi. It is conclude that the S. leprosula wood from plantations forest supply can be used to replace wood from natural forest S. leprosula to fulfill the require of wood. Key word : Shorea leprosula wood, Natural durability, Tyromyces palustris, Pycnoporus sanguineus, weight los

Prospects for the development of probiotics and prebiotics for oral applications

There has been a paradigm shift towards an ecological and microbial community-based approach to understanding oral diseases. This has significant implications for approaches to therapy and has raised the possibility of developing novel strategies through manipulation of the resident oral microbiota and modulation of host immune responses. The increased popularity of using probiotic bacteria and/or prebiotic supplements to improve gastrointestinal health has prompted interest in the utility of this approach for oral applications. Evidence now suggests that probiotics may function not only by direct inhibition of, or enhanced competition with, pathogenic micro-organisms, but also by more subtle mechanisms including modulation of the mucosal immune system. Similarly, prebiotics could promote the growth of beneficial micro-organisms that comprise part of the resident microbiota. The evidence for the use of pro or prebiotics for the prevention of caries or periodontal diseases is reviewed, and issues that could arise from their use, as well as questions that still need to be answered, are raised. A complete understanding of the broad ecological changes induced in the mouth by probiotics or prebiotics will be essential to assess their long-term consequences for oral health and disease

Blockchain Technology as a Media for Sharing Information That Generates User Access Rights and Incentives

We propose another blockchain client displaying stage that can be utilized to share data without letting completely go and possession and apply it to the field of movement booking. Our new stage gives answers for different central points of interest: extraordinary information insurance and client the board, and shared motivating forces. Track the functioning techniques, objects, time, strategies and reasons for UN associations in an unquestionable way. Gather client profile data and empower clients to trade data with elective travel suppliers to get endowments dependent on protection inclinations determined in great agreements. Client information dependent on the storehouse will be changed over into an open information design and communicated by means of blockchain transmission. This permits the information to be effectively handled and utilized by different hubs. The keen agreement confirms and executes the concurred information. Terms of utilization and token exchange become free help to clients. Savvy agreements can give an assortment of stores to guarantee that all members act with honesty. This record additionally assesses the presentation of the new stage dependent on the investigation of holding up time and memory utilization by characterizing three test situations. The outcomes show that the hub can rapidly react to every one of our issues by utilizing the exchange port nonconcurrently

Effects of PEG-Linker Chain Length of Folate-Linked Liposomal Formulations on Targeting Ability and Antitumor Activity of Encapsulated Drug

Chaemin Lim,1,&ast; Yuseon Shin,2,&ast; Kioh Kang,2 Patihul Husni,2 Dayoon Lee,2 Sehwa Lee,2 Han-Gon Choi,3 Eun Seong Lee,4 Yu Seok Youn,5 Kyung Taek Oh1,2 1College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea; 2Department of Global Innovative Drugs, The Graduate School of Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea; 3College of Pharmacy, Hanyang University, Ansan, 15588, South Korea; 4Department of Biotechnology, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, 14662, Republic of Korea; 5School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Republic of Korea&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Kyung Taek Oh, College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 221 Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea, Tel +82-2-824-5617, Email [email protected]: Ligand-conjugated liposomes are promising for the treatment of specific receptor-overexpressing cancers. However, previous studies have shown inconsistent results because of the varying properties of the ligand, presence of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating on the liposome, length of the linker, and density of the ligand.Methods: Here, we prepared PEGylated liposomes using PEG-linkers of various lengths conjugated with folate and evaluated the effect of the PEG-linker length on the nanoparticle distribution and pharmacological efficacy of the encapsulated drug both in vitro and in vivo.Results: When folate was conjugated to the liposome surface, the cellular uptake efficiency in folate receptor overexpressed KB cells dramatically increased compared to that of the normal liposome. However, when comparing the effect of the PEG-linker length in vitro, no significant difference between the formulations was observed. In contrast, the level of tumor accumulation of particles in vivo significantly increased when the length of the PEG-linker was increased. The tumor size was reduced by > 40% in the Dox/FL-10K-treated group compared to that in the Dox/FL-2K- or 5K-treated groups.Discussion: Our study suggests that as the length of PEG-linker increases, the tumor-targeting ability can be enhanced under in vivo conditions, which can lead to an increase in the antitumor activity of the encapsulated drug.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: PEGylated liposome, ligand-conjugated liposome, folate receptor, PEG-linker lengt

The healthcare costs of antimicrobial resistance in Lebanon: a multi-centre prospective cohort study from the payer perspective

International audienceBackground: Our aim was to examine whether the length of stay, hospital charges and in-hospital mortality attributable to healthcare- and community-associated infections due to antimicrobial-resistant bacteria were higher compared with those due to susceptible bacteria in the Lebanese healthcare settings using different methodology of analysis from the payer perspective .Methods: We performed a multi-centre prospective cohort study in ten hospitals across Lebanon. The sample size consisted of 1289 patients with documented healthcare-associated infection (HAI) or community-associated infection (CAI). We conducted three separate analysis to adjust for confounders and time-dependent bias: (1) Post-HAIs in which we included the excess LOS and hospital charges incurred after infection and (2) Matched cohort, in which we matched the patients based on propensity score estimates (3) The conventional method, in which we considered the entire hospital stay and allocated charges attributable to CAI. The linear regression models accounted for multiple confounders.Results: HAIs and CAIs with resistant versus susceptible bacteria were associated with a significant excess length of hospital stay (2.69 days [95% CI,1.5-3.9]; p < 0.001) and (2.2 days [95% CI,1.2-3.3]; p < 0.001) and resulted in additional hospital charges ($1807 [95$889 [95% CI, 378-1400]; p = 0.001) respectively. Compared with the post-HAIs analysis, the matched cohort method showed a reduction by 26 and 13% in hospital charges and LOS estimates respectively. Infections with resistant bacteria did not decrease the time to in-hospital mortality, for both healthcare- or community-associated infections. Resistant cases in the post-HAIs analysis showed a significantly higher risk of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 0.517 [95% CI, 0.327-0.820]; p = 0.05).Conclusion: This is the first nationwide study that quantifies the healthcare costs of antimicrobial resistance in Lebanon. For cases with HAIs, matched cohort analysis showed more conservative estimates compared with post-HAIs method. The differences in estimates highlight the need for a unified methodology to estimate the burden of antimicrobial resistance in order to accurately advise health policy makers and prioritize resources expenditure

The Effect of Maternal Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation on Cognition and Mood during Pregnancy and Postpartum in Indonesia: A Randomized Trial

Maternal caregiving capacity, which is affected in part by cognition and mood, is crucial for the health of mothers and infants. Few interventions aim to improve maternal and infant health through improving such capacity. Multiple micronutrient (MMN) supplementation may improve maternal cognition and mood, since micronutrients are essential for brain function. We assessed mothers who participated in the Supplementation with Multiple Micronutrients Intervention Trial (SUMMIT), a double-blind cluster-randomized trial in Indonesia comparing MMN supplementation to iron and folic acid (IFA) during pregnancy and until three months postpartum. We adapted a set of well-studied tests of cognition, motor dexterity, and mood to the local context and administered them to a random sample of 640 SUMMIT participants after an average of 25 weeks (SD = 9) of supplementation. Analysis was by intention to treat. Controlling for maternal age, education, and socio-economic status, MMN resulted in a benefit of 0.12 SD on overall cognition, compared to IFA (95% CI 0.03-0.22, p = .010), and a benefit of 0.18 SD on reading efficiency (95% CI 0.02-0.35, p = .031). Both effects were found particularly in anemic (hemoglobin <110 g/L; overall cognition: B = 0.20, 0.00-0.41, p = .055; reading: B = 0.40, 0.02-0.77, p = .039) and undernourished (mid-upper arm circumference <23.5 cm; overall cognition: B = 0.33, 0.07-0.59, p = .020; reading: B = 0.65, 0.19-1.12, p = .007) mothers. The benefit of MMN on overall cognition was equivalent to the benefit of one year of education for all mothers, to two years of education for anemic mothers, and to three years of education for undernourished mothers. No effects were found on maternal motor dexterity or mood. This is the first study demonstrating an improvement in maternal cognition with MMN supplementation. This improvement may increase the quality of care mothers provide for their infants, potentially partly mediating effects of maternal MMN supplementation on infant health and survival. The study is registered as an International Standard Randomized Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN34151616. http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN3415161

613 cases of splenic rupture without risk factors or previously diagnosed disease: a systematic review

Background Rupture of the spleen in the absence of trauma or previously diagnosed disease is largely ignored in the emergency literature and is often not documented as such in journals from other fields. We have conducted a systematic review of the literature to highlight the surprisingly frequent occurrence of this phenomenon and to document the diversity of diseases that can present in this fashion. Methods Systematic review of English and French language publications catalogued in Pubmed, Embase and CINAHL between 1950 and 2011. Results We found 613 cases of splenic rupture meeting the criteria above, 327 of which occurred as the presenting complaint of an underlying disease and 112 of which occurred following a medical procedure. Rupture appeared to occur spontaneously in histologically normal (but not necessarily normal size) spleens in 35 cases and after minor trauma in 23 cases. Medications were implicated in 47 cases, a splenic or adjacent anatomical abnormality in 31 cases and pregnancy or its complications in 38 cases. The most common associated diseases were infectious (n = 143), haematologic (n = 84) and non-haematologic neoplasms (n = 48). Amyloidosis (n = 24), internal trauma such as cough or vomiting (n = 17) and rheumatologic diseases (n = 10) are less frequently reported. Colonoscopy (n = 87) was the procedure reported most frequently as a cause of rupture. The anatomic abnormalities associated with rupture include splenic cysts (n = 6), infarction (n = 6) and hamartomata (n = 5). Medications associated with rupture include anticoagulants (n = 21), thrombolytics (n = 13) and recombinant G-CSF (n = 10). Other causes or associations reported very infrequently include other endoscopy, pulmonary, cardiac or abdominal surgery, hysterectomy, peliosis, empyema, remote pancreato-renal transplant, thrombosed splenic vein, hemangiomata, pancreatic pseudocysts, splenic artery aneurysm, cholesterol embolism, splenic granuloma, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, rib exostosis, pancreatitis, Gaucher's disease, Wilson's disease, pheochromocytoma, afibrinogenemia and ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Conclusions Emergency physicians should be attuned to the fact that rupture of the spleen can occur in the absence of major trauma or previously diagnosed splenic disease. The occurrence of such a rupture is likely to be the manifesting complaint of an underlying disease. Furthermore, colonoscopy should be more widely documented as a cause of splenic rupture

Rationale, design, and governance of Prospective Randomized Evaluation of Celecoxib Integrated Safety versus Ibuprofen Or Naproxen (PRECISION), a cardiovascular end point trial of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents in patients with arthritis

BACKGROUND: Pain management in patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis often requires long-term use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, the relative cardiovascular safety of these therapies remains uncertain. METHODS: The Prospective Randomized Evaluation of Celecoxib Integrated Safety versus Ibuprofen Or Naproxen (PRECISION) trial will evaluate the cardiovascular safety of celecoxib, ibuprofen, and naproxen. Approximately 20,000 patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis at high risk for, or with, established cardiovascular disease will be randomized in this double-blind, triple dummy, multinational, multicenter study. The primary end point is the composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The trial will continue until 762 primary events occur with at least 18 months follow-up. Noninferiority of any of the regimens will require a 97.5% upper CI of the hazard ratio (HR) < or =1.33 and point estimate < or =1.12 for both intent-to-treat (ITT) and modified ITT populations. CONCLUSION: PRECISION, the first study of patients with high cardiovascular risk chronically treated with a cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitor or nonselective NSAID, will define the relative cardiovascular safety profile of celecoxib, ibuprofen, and naproxen and provide data to help guide NSAID use for pain management for this population