Protein Polymer-Based Nanoparticles: Fabrication and Medical Applications

Nanoparticles are particles that range in size from about 1–1000 nanometers in diameter, about one thousand times smaller than the average cell in a human body. Their small size, flexible fabrication, and high surface-area-to-volume ratio make them ideal systems for drug delivery. Nanoparticles can be made from a variety of materials including metals, polysaccharides, and proteins. Biological protein-based nanoparticles such as silk, keratin, collagen, elastin, corn zein, and soy protein-based nanoparticles are advantageous in having biodegradability, bioavailability, and relatively low cost. Many protein nanoparticles are easy to process and can be modified to achieve desired specifications such as size, morphology, and weight. Protein nanoparticles are used in a variety of settings and are replacing many materials that are not biocompatible and have a negative impact on the environment. Here we attempt to review the literature pertaining to protein-based nanoparticles with a focus on their application in drug delivery and biomedical fields. Additional detail on governing nanoparticle parameters, specific protein nanoparticle applications, and fabrication methods are also provided

The Bermuda Triangle of d- and f-MRI sailors - software for susceptibility distortions (SDCFlows)

Echo-Planar Imaging (EPI) allows very fast acquisition of whole-brain data, which enables standard functional & diffusion MRI (f/dMRI). However, EPI is notably sensitive to variations in the base B0 field. Small deviations in parts-per-million from the nominal B0 caused by steps in magnetic susceptibility (tissue interfaces) introduce misplacements in the registered location of voxels of up to some cm in standard settings along the phase-encoding direction (PE), apparent as local geometrical distortions of the imaged specimen. In humans, the susceptibility distortion (SD) is prominent starting at the petrous bone and extending towards the ear canals, defining a sort of triangle where signal vanishes (Fig. 1). SD is well-known, but existing solutions require mapping B0 deviations and are sensitive to several imaging parameters. In practice, addressing SDs is error-prone and often overlooked. Here, we introduce SDCFlows (SD Correction Flows), an open-source utility that leverages BIDS1 and several existing software tools to provide standardized, best-effort SD correction

The Bermuda Triangle of d- and f-MRI sailors - software for susceptibility distortions (SDCFlows)

Echo-Planar Imaging (EPI) allows very fast acquisition of whole-brain data, which enables standard functional & diffusion MRI (f/dMRI). However, EPI is notably sensitive to variations in the base B0 field. Small deviations in parts-per-million from the nominal B0 caused by steps in magnetic susceptibility (tissue interfaces) introduce misplacements in the registered location of voxels of up to some cm in standard settings along the phase-encoding direction (PE), apparent as local geometrical distortions of the imaged specimen. In humans, the susceptibility distortion (SD) is prominent starting at the petrous bone and extending towards the ear canals, defining a sort of triangle where signal vanishes (Fig. 1). SD is well-known, but existing solutions require mapping B0 deviations and are sensitive to several imaging parameters. In practice, addressing SDs is error-prone and often overlooked. Here, we introduce SDCFlows (SD Correction Flows), an open-source utility that leverages BIDS1 and several existing software tools to provide standardized, best-effort SD correction

FCP-INDI/C-PAC: C-PAC Version 1.8.6 Beta

<p><strong>New Features</strong></p> <ul> <li>C-PAC can now ingress<a href="https://www2.childmind.org/e/908232/en-stable-/3mvpmy/2326103788/h/_5fpbWs4zmSoHM8JlOMzlLaQ62nt_LTCkOtj1s5TL_E"> fMRIPrep</a> output data.<ul> <li>Users can now perform further processing on fMRIPrep-processed data through C-PAC, using any template-space processing they wish to employ. This includes using the nuisance confounds generated by fMRIPrep to perform nuisance denoising on the preprocessed BOLD data.</li> <li>A fMRIPrep-ingress pre-configured pipeline configuration (pre-config) has been created to make it easy to get started. This pre-config can be modified to suit a user's specific processing needs.</li> <li>This is part of a wider project leading to the ability to easily ingress any BIDS-format output directory.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><strong>Improvements</strong></p> <p>-The motion parameter and motion derivative outputs have been converted to BIDS-compliant formats.</p> <ul> <li>A tip box has been added to appear when C-PAC returns with a "missing outputs" error.</li> <li>The data configuration builder tool can now easily add<a href="https://www2.childmind.org/e/908232/2023-12-21/3mvpn2/2326103788/h/_5fpbWs4zmSoHM8JlOMzlLaQ62nt_LTCkOtj1s5TL_E"> FreeSurfer</a> output directories for the purpose of ingressing FreeSurfer data into your C-PAC pipeline.</li> <li>A large number of C-PAC's dependencies has been upgraded to more recent versions, including<ul> <li>Ubuntu (18.04 'Bionic Beaver' → 22.04 'Jammy Jellyfish')</li> <li>Python (3.7.13 → 3.10.6)</li> <li>AFNI (21.1.00 'Domitian' → 23.3.09 'Septimius Severus')</li> <li>ANTs (2.3.3 'Leptomyrmex' → 2.4.3 'Emplastus')</li> <li>FSL (5.0.9 → 6.0.6.5)</li> <li>Nipype (1.5.1 → 1.8.6)</li> </ul> </li> <li>Please refer to <a href="https://github.com/FCP-INDI/C-PAC/blob/v1.8.6/CHANGELOG.md#upgraded-dependencies">the "Upgraded dependencies" section of the changelog for 1.8.6</a> or <a href="https://fcp-indi.github.io/docs/latest/user/release_notes/v1.8.6">the release notes in the user guide</a> for a full list of these upgrades.</li> <li>torch, a large dependency that is used by U-Net and nothing else in C-PAC, has been removed from the pre-installed dependencies in the C-PAC image and is now installed in the container at runtime if U-Net is selected in the configuration being run.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Bug Fixes</strong></p> <ul> <li>When motion parameters are filtered, C-PAC now uses the filtered version of the motion parameters downstream - for example, in nuisance regression/denoising.</li> <li>Fixed a bug where some connectivity matrices wouldn't generate if anatomical and functional outputs were in different resolutions.</li> <li>Repaired the handling of <code>3dECM</code> (network centrality) outputs for AFNI ≥ 21.1.1.</li> <li>Fixed a bug (introduced in v1.8.0) where sparsity thresholds were not being scaled for network centrality.</li> <li>Fixed a bug where <code>calculate_motion_first</code> would not calculate motion at all.</li> <li>Fixed an error message that was reporting missing resources in pipeline nodeblocks, but was referring to the incorrect nodeblock in question.</li> </ul&gt

The Soy Isoflavones for Reducing Bone Loss (SIRBL) Study: a 3-y randomized controlled trial in postmenopausal women1234

Background: Our previous study indicated that soy protein with isoflavones lessened lumbar spine bone loss in midlife women

Physics and technology of the Next Linear Collider: a report submitted to Snowmass '96

We present the current expectations for the design and physics program of an e+e- linear collider of center of mass energy 500 GeV -- 1 TeV. We review the experiments that would be carried out at this facility and demonstrate its key role in exploring physics beyond the Standard Model over the full range of theoretical possibilities. We then show the feasibility of constructing this machine, by reviewing the current status of linear collider technology and by presenting a precis of our `zeroth-order' design

Association of mechanical bowel preparation with oral antibiotics and anastomotic leak following left sided colorectal resection: an international, multi-centre, prospective audit.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: , (2018), Association of mechanical bowel preparation with oral antibiotics and anastomotic leak following left sided colorectal resection: an international, multi‐centre, prospective audit. Colorectal Dis, 20: 15-32. doi:10.1111/codi.14362, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/codi.14362. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsINTRODUCTION: The optimal bowel preparation strategy to minimise the risk of anastomotic leak is yet to be determined. This study aimed to determine whether oral antibiotics combined with mechanical bowel preparation (MBP+Abx) was associated with a reduced risk of anastomotic leak when compared to mechanical bowel preparation alone (MBP) or no bowel preparation (NBP). METHODS: A pre-planned analysis of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP) 2017 Left Sided Colorectal Resection audit was performed. Patients undergoing elective left sided colonic or rectal resection with primary anastomosis between 1 January 2017 and 15 March 2017 by any operative approach were included. The primary outcome measure was anastomotic leak. RESULTS: Of 3676 patients across 343 centres in 47 countries, 618 (16.8%) received MBP+ABx, 1945 MBP (52.9%) and 1099 patients NBP (29.9%). Patients undergoing MBP+ABx had the lowest overall rate of anastomotic leak (6.1%, 9.2%, 8.7% respectively) in unadjusted analysis. After case-mix adjustment using a mixed-effects multivariable regression model, MBP+Abx was associated with a lower risk of anastomotic leak (OR 0.52, 0.30-0.92, P = 0.02) but MBP was not (OR 0.92, 0.63-1.36, P = 0.69) compared to NBP. CONCLUSION: This non-randomised study adds 'real-world', contemporaneous, and prospective evidence of the beneficial effects of combined mechanical bowel preparation and oral antibiotics in the prevention of anastomotic leak following left sided colorectal resection across diverse settings. We have also demonstrated limited uptake of this strategy in current international colorectal practice

Safety of primary anastomosis following emergency left sided colorectal resection: an international, multi-centre prospective audit.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: group, T. E. S. o. C. c. (2018). "Safety of primary anastomosis following emergency left sided colorectal resection: an international, multi-centre prospective audit." Colorectal Disease 20(S6): 47-57., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/codi.1437. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsINTRODUCTION: Some evidence suggests that primary anastomosis following left sided colorectal resection in the emergency setting may be safe in selected patients, and confer favourable outcomes to permanent enterostomy. The aim of this study was to compare the major postoperative complication rate in patients undergoing end stoma vs primary anastomosis following emergency left sided colorectal resection. METHODS: A pre-planned analysis of the European Society of Coloproctology 2017 audit. Adult patients (> 16 years) who underwent emergency (unplanned, within 24 h of hospital admission) left sided colonic or rectal resection were included. The primary endpoint was the 30-day major complication rate (Clavien-Dindo grade 3 to 5). RESULTS: From 591 patients, 455 (77%) received an end stoma, 103 a primary anastomosis (17%) and 33 primary anastomosis with defunctioning stoma (6%). In multivariable models, anastomosis was associated with a similar major complication rate to end stoma (adjusted odds ratio for end stoma 1.52, 95%CI 0.83-2.79, P = 0.173). Although a defunctioning stoma was not associated with reduced anastomotic leak (12% defunctioned [4/33] vs 13% not defunctioned [13/97], adjusted odds ratio 2.19, 95%CI 0.43-11.02, P = 0.343), it was associated with less severe complications (75% [3/4] with defunctioning stoma, 86.7% anastomosis only [13/15]), a lower mortality rate (0% [0/4] vs 20% [3/15]), and fewer reoperations (50% [2/4] vs 73% [11/15]) when a leak did occur. CONCLUSIONS: Primary anastomosis in selected patients appears safe after left sided emergency colorectal resection. A defunctioning stoma might mitigate against risk of subsequent complications