Transcultural Diabetes Nutrition Therapy Algorithm: The Asian Indian Application

India and other countries in Asia are experiencing rapidly escalating epidemics of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. The dramatic rise in the prevalence of these illnesses has been attributed to rapid changes in demographic, socioeconomic, and nutritional factors. The rapid transition in dietary patterns in India—coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and specific socioeconomic pressures—has led to an increase in obesity and other diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Studies have shown that nutritional interventions significantly enhance metabolic control and weight loss. Current clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are not portable to diverse cultures, constraining the applicability of this type of practical educational instrument. Therefore, a transcultural Diabetes Nutrition Algorithm (tDNA) was developed and then customized per regional variations in India. The resultant India-specific tDNA reflects differences in epidemiologic, physiologic, and nutritional aspects of disease, anthropometric cutoff points, and lifestyle interventions unique to this region of the world. Specific features of this transculturalization process for India include characteristics of a transitional economy with a persistently high poverty rate in a majority of people; higher percentage of body fat and lower muscle mass for a given body mass index; higher rate of sedentary lifestyle; elements of the thrifty phenotype; impact of festivals and holidays on adherence with clinic appointments; and the role of a systems or holistic approach to the problem that must involve politics, policy, and government. This Asian Indian tDNA promises to help guide physicians in the management of prediabetes and T2D in India in a more structured, systematic, and effective way compared with previous methods and currently available CPGs

Co-delivery of nitric oxide and antibiotic using polymeric nanoparticles

The rise of hospital-acquired infections, also known as nosocomial infections, is a growing concern in intensive healthcare, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of patients and costing billions of dollars worldwide every year. In addition, a decrease in the effectiveness of antibiotics caused by the emergence of drug resistance in pathogens living in biofilm communities poses a significant threat to our health system. The development of new therapeutic agents is urgently needed to overcome this challenge. We have developed new dual action polymeric nanoparticles capable of storing nitric oxide, which can provoke dispersal of biofilms into an antibiotic susceptible planktonic form, together with the aminoglycoside gentamicin, capable of killing the bacteria. The novelty of this work lies in the attachment of NO-releasing moiety to an existing clinically used drug, gentamicin. The nanoparticles were found to release both agents simultaneously and demonstrated synergistic effects, reducing the viability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm and planktonic cultures by more than 90% and 95%, respectively, while treatments with antibiotic or nitric oxide alone resulted in less than 20% decrease in biofilm viability

Co-delivery of nitric oxide and antibiotic using polymeric nanoparticles.

The rise of hospital-acquired infections, also known as nosocomial infections, is a growing concern in intensive healthcare, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of patients and costing billions of dollars worldwide every year. In addition, a decrease in the effectiveness of antibiotics caused by the emergence of drug resistance in pathogens living in biofilm communities poses a significant threat to our health system. The development of new therapeutic agents is urgently needed to overcome this challenge. We have developed new dual action polymeric nanoparticles capable of storing nitric oxide, which can provoke dispersal of biofilms into an antibiotic susceptible planktonic form, together with the aminoglycoside gentamicin, capable of killing the bacteria. The novelty of this work lies in the attachment of NO-releasing moiety to an existing clinically used drug, gentamicin. The nanoparticles were found to release both agents simultaneously and demonstrated synergistic effects, reducing the viability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm and planktonic cultures by more than 90% and 95%, respectively, while treatments with antibiotic or nitric oxide alone resulted in less than 20% decrease in biofilm viability

Phenazine virulence factor binding to extracellular DNA is important for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation

Bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics necessitates the identification of novel leads for infection control. Interference with extracellular phenomena, such as quorum sensing, extracellular DNA integrity and redox active metabolite release, represents a new frontier to control human pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosaand hence reduce mortality. Here we reveal that the extracellular redox active virulence factor pyocyanin produced by P. aeruginosabinds directly to the deoxyribose-phosphate backbone of DNA and intercalates with DNA nitrogenous base pair regions. Binding results in local perturbations of the DNA double helix structure and enhanced electron transfer along the nucleic acid polymer. Pyocyanin binding to DNA also increases DNA solution viscosity. In contrast, antioxidants interacting with DNA and pyocyanin decrease DNA solution viscosity. Biofilms deficient in pyocyanin production and biofilms lacking extracellular DNA show similar architecture indicating the interaction is important in P. aeruginosabiofilm formation

The Potential of mmWaves in Smart Industry: Manufacturing at 60\ua0GHz

Industry is experiencing a new evolution phase where manufacturing is going through a process of digitalization, with every step of the production chain becoming smart. The emergence of IoT technologies and the fasted-paced evolution in advanced computing capabilities enable a pervasive monitoring and rapid data processing, unleashing new applications, e.g., real-time error-correction and fault-detection, remote robot control, intelligent logistics. The flexibility and low cost of wireless solutions makes them appealing with respect to wired connections, but current wireless technologies operate at sub-6-GHz bands and are not able to meet the reliability, latency, and data rate demands of novel applications. In this paper, we give an overview of the main limits of current technologies and discuss the role that mmWaves may play in guaranteeing ultra reliable and low latency wireless communication in smart industry. We especially focus on the IEEE 802.11ad and 802.11ay standards for communication at 60 GHz. A factory work-cell is used as an illustrative example to explore the potential of mmWaves and how they could contribute to the realization of a resilient smart factory