Investigation of a Switchable Textile Communication System on the Human Body

In this paper, a switchable textile communication system working at 2.45 GHz ISM band is presented and studied for different locations within a realistic on-body environment. A 3D laser scanner is used to generate a numerical phantom of the measured subject to improve the accuracy of the simulations which are carried out for different body postures. For the off-body communications, the system is acting as an aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna with a boresight gain of 1.48 dBi. On-body communication is achieved by using a textile stripline, which gives approximately 5 dB transmission loss over 600 mm distance. The system is switched between on and off-body modes by PIN diodes. Common issues, such as shape distortion and body detuning effects which the textile antenna may experience in realistic use are fully discussed. Robust antenna performance is noted in the on-body tests, and an additional 3 dB transmission coefficient deduction was noticed in the most severe shape distortion case

Pushmepullyou: An efficient micro-swimmer

The swimming of a pair of spherical bladders that change their volumes and mutual distance is efficient at low Reynolds numbers and is superior to other models of artificial swimmers. The change of shape resembles the wriggling motion known as {\it metaboly} of certain protozoa.Comment: Minor rephrasing and changes in style; short explanations adde

Drugs for neglected tropical diseases : availability of age-appropriate oral formulations for young children

It is recognised that paediatric indications and age-appropriate formulations are required to ensure that paediatric populations receive appropriate pharmacotherapeutic treatment. The lack of information on dosing, efficacy and safety data (labelling) is a well-recognised problem for all diseases affecting children. For neglected tropical diseases, the fact that they affect to a large extent poor and marginalised populations in low- and middle-income countries means that there is a low economic return on investment into paediatric development activities compared to other diseases [e.g. human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)]. This review provides an introduction to issues affecting the availability and development of paediatric population-relevant data and appropriate formulations of drugs for NTDs. We are summarising why age-appropriate formulations are important to ensure treatment efficacy, safety and effectiveness, outline initiatives to increase the number of paediatric indications/labelling and age-appropriate formulations, provide an overview of publicly available information on the formulations of oral drugs for NTDs relative to age appropriateness and give an introduction to options for age-appropriate formulations. The review completes with ‘case studies’ of recently developed paediatric formulations for NTDs, complemented by case studies for fixed-dose combinations for HIV infection in children since such formulations have not been developed for NTDs. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

The pipeline for drugs for control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases : 2. Oral anti-infective drugs and drug combinations for off-label use

In its ‘Road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030’, the World Health Organization outlined its targets for control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and research needed to achieve them. For many NTDs, this includes research for new treatment options for case management and/or preventive chemotherapy. Our review of small-molecule anti-infective drugs recently approved by a stringent regulatory authority (SRA) or in at least Phase 2 clinical development for regulatory approval showed that this pipeline cannot deliver all new treatments needed. WHO guidelines and country policies show that drugs may be recommended for control and elimination for NTDs for which they are not SRA approved (i.e. for ‘off-label’ use) if efficacy and safety data for the relevant NTD are considered sufficient by WHO and country authorities. Here, we are providing an overview of clinical research in the past 10 years evaluating the anti-infective efficacy of oral small-molecule drugs for NTD(s) for which they are neither SRA approved, nor included in current WHO strategies nor, considering the research sponsors, likely to be registered with a SRA for that NTD, if found to be effective and safe. No such research has been done for yaws, guinea worm, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), rabies, trachoma, visceral leishmaniasis, mycetoma, T. b. rhodesiense HAT, echinococcosis, taeniasis/cysticercosis or scabies. Oral drugs evaluated include sparfloxacin and acedapsone for leprosy; rifampicin, rifapentin and moxifloxacin for onchocerciasis; imatinib and levamisole for loiasis; itraconazole, fluconazole, ketoconazole, posaconazole, ravuconazole and disulfiram for Chagas disease, doxycycline and rifampicin for lymphatic filariasis; arterolane, piperaquine, artesunate, artemether, lumefantrine and mefloquine for schistosomiasis; ivermectin, tribendimidine, pyrantel, oxantel and nitazoxanide for soil-transmitted helminths including strongyloidiasis; chloroquine, ivermectin, balapiravir, ribavirin, celgosivir, UV-4B, ivermectin and doxycycline for dengue; streptomycin, amoxicillin, clavulanate for Buruli ulcer; fluconazole and isavuconazonium for mycoses; clarithromycin and dapsone for cutaneous leishmaniasis; and tribendimidine, albendazole, mebendazole and nitazoxanide for foodborne trematodiasis. Additional paths to identification of new treatment options are needed. One promising path is exploitation of the worldwide experience with ‘off-label’ treatment of diseases with insufficient treatment options as pursued by the ‘CURE ID’ initiative. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Chemical Entities of Biological Interest: an update

Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) is a freely available dictionary of molecular entities focused on ‘small’ chemical compounds. The molecular entities in question are either natural products or synthetic products used to intervene in the processes of living organisms. Genome-encoded macromolecules (nucleic acids, proteins and peptides derived from proteins by cleavage) are not as a rule included in ChEBI. In addition to molecular entities, ChEBI contains groups (parts of molecular entities) and classes of entities. ChEBI includes an ontological classification, whereby the relationships between molecular entities or classes of entities and their parents and/or children are specified. ChEBI is available online at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/. This article reports on new features in ChEBI since the last NAR report in 2007, including substructure and similarity searching, a submission tool for authoring of ChEBI datasets by the community and a 30-fold increase in the number of chemical structures stored in ChEBI

The Security imaginary: Explaining military isomorphism

This article proposes the notion of a security imaginary as a heuristic tool for exploring military isomorphism (the phenomenon that weapons and military strategies begin to look the same across the world) at a time when the US model of defence transformation is being adopted by an increasing number of countries. Built on a critical constructivist foundation, the security-imaginary approach is contrasted with rationalist and neo-institutionalist ways of explaining military diffusion and emulation. Merging cultural and constructivist themes, the article offers a ‘strong cultural’ argument to explain why a country would emulate a foreign military model and how this model is constituted in and comes to constitute a society’s security imaginary.Web of Scienc

NT1014, a novel biguanide, inhibits ovarian cancer growth in vitro and in vivo

Abstract Background NT1014 is a novel biguanide and AMPK activator with a high affinity for the organic cation-specific transporters, OCT1 and OCT3. We sought to determine the anti-tumorigenic effects of NT1014 in human ovarian cancer cell lines as well as in a genetically engineered mouse model of high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Methods The effects of NT1014 and metformin on cell proliferation were assessed by MTT assay using the human ovarian cancer cell lines, SKOV3 and IGROV1, as well as in primary cultures. In addition, the impact of NT1014 on cell cycle progression, apoptosis, cellular stress, adhesion, invasion, glycolysis, and AMPK activation/mTOR pathway inhibition was also explored. The effects of NT1014 treatment in vivo was evaluated using the K18 − gT121+/−; p53fl/fl; Brca1fl/fl (KpB) mouse model of high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Results NT1014 significantly inhibited cell proliferation in both ovarian cancer cell lines as well as in primary cultures. In addition, NT1014 activated AMPK, inhibited downstream targets of the mTOR pathway, induced G1 cell cycle arrest/apoptosis/cellular stress, altered glycolysis, and reduced invasion/adhesion. Similar to its anti-tumorigenic effects in vitro, NT1014 decreased ovarian cancer growth in the KpB mouse model of ovarian cancer. NT1014 appeared to be more potent than metformin in both our in vitro and in vivo studies. Conclusions NT1014 inhibited ovarian cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo, with greater efficacy than the traditional biguanide, metformin. These results support further development of NT1014 as a useful therapeutic approach for the treatment of ovarian cancer

Single-Layer Bandpass Active Frequency Selective Surface

A single-layer, bandpass, active FSS is presented. It shows good angle of incidence stability for TE incidence, at the operating frequency of 2.45 GHz. It is based on circular loop aperture with each unit cell having four PIN diodes. A novel method for dc biasing is used. About 12 dB average variation in transmission loss, between ON and OFF states, has been experimentally achieved at 2.45 GHz