The Synthesis and Characterization of Gadolinium Alginate Spheres and Potential Uses as a Contrast-Enhancing Anti-Cancer Material

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp23/1032/thumbnail.jp

Influence of reduced graphene oxide on epoxy/carbon fibre-reinforced hybrid composite: flexural and shear properties under varying temperature conditions.

This study investigated the effectiveness of reduced graphene oxide as nanofiller in enhancing epoxy/carbon fibre-reinforced composite at varying temperature conditions. The graphene oxide was synthesised using modified Hummer’s method and then chemically reduced to yield reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The rGO was dispersed in epoxy matrix system through combination of mechanical and sonication methods. The flexural and shear test samples were manufactured using resin infusion technique. These samples were then tested to determine their shear and flexural properties at varying temperatures (-10°C, 23°C, 40°C) and the results correlated to neat samples. It was found that the composites’ flexural strength and flexural modulus increased with rGO wt.% content up to 62% and 44% respectively. The shear testing results showed improvement on the shear strength and modulus at maximum of 6% and 40% respectively. The rGO improvements advantage was lost for flexural strength, shear strength and modulus at elevated temperatures while flexural modulus withheld at 40% improvements over virgin epoxy/carbon fibre-reinforced composite. An interesting observation is that all samples with rGO exhibite reduced damage characteristics superior to the neat samples under flexural and shear loading conditions. This study indicates that the addition of rGO significantly alter the flexural and shear properties, failure modes, damage characteristics and they are overall sensitive to elevated temperature conditions

Governance challenges in addressing climatic concerns in coastal asia and Africa

Coastal people, especially those living within deltaic areas, encounter major climatic concerns which affect their livelihoods. To cope with this problem, different types of planned adaptation strategies have been implemented guided by laws, policies and programs. However, these guiding documents sometimes fall short of addressing the needs of climate-affected people, especially in natural resource-dependent societies in Asia and Africa. Based on this premise, this paper sought to evaluate the effectiveness of existing policy documents which affect the lives of people living in one large delta (Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna in Bangladesh), two medium-sized deltas (Indian Bengal delta—part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Mahanadi in India), and a small-sized delta (Volta in Ghana). The study followed a mixed methods research design, which included desktop analyses of policies, laws and programs, a questionnaire survey conducted among individuals who played various roles in the policy and legal development processes at national and local levels and focus group discussions at the community level in the three countries. National laws, policies and programs were assessed in the context of climate change adaptation through three lenses: human rights, natural resource management and disaster response. Findings of this paper reveal that the existing documents have some strengths to promote adaptation, although they have some major limitations that cause concerns among the delta communities

Pre-operative portal vein ligation and MSC injection in a rat model

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp23/1047/thumbnail.jp

Antibodies to Enteroviruses in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Acute Flaccid Myelitis.

Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has caused motor paralysis in >560 children in the United States since 2014. The temporal association of enterovirus (EV) outbreaks with increases in AFM cases and reports of fever, respiratory, or gastrointestinal illness prior to AFM in >90% of cases suggest a role for infectious agents. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 14 AFM and 5 non-AFM patients with central nervous system (CNS) diseases in 2018 were investigated by viral-capture high-throughput sequencing (VirCapSeq-VERT system). These CSF and serum samples, as well as multiple controls, were tested for antibodies to human EVs using peptide microarrays. EV RNA was confirmed in CSF from only 1 adult AFM case and 1 non-AFM case. In contrast, antibodies to EV peptides were present in CSF of 11 of 14 AFM patients (79%), significantly higher than controls, including non-AFM patients (1/5 [20%]), children with Kawasaki disease (0/10), and adults with non-AFM CNS diseases (2/11 [18%]) (P = 0.023, 0.0001, and 0.0028, respectively). Six of 14 CSF samples (43%) and 8 of 11 sera (73%) from AFM patients were immunoreactive to an EV-D68-specific peptide, whereas the three control groups were not immunoreactive in either CSF (0/5, 0/10, and 0/11; P = 0.008, 0.0003, and 0.035, respectively) or sera (0/2, 0/8, and 0/5; P = 0.139, 0.002, and 0.009, respectively).IMPORTANCE The presence in cerebrospinal fluid of antibodies to EV peptides at higher levels than non-AFM controls supports the plausibility of a link between EV infection and AFM that warrants further investigation and has the potential to lead to strategies for diagnosis and prevention of disease

Neutron Diffraction Structural Study of Ce₂Fe₁₇₋ₓGaₓ

Six samples of Ce2Fe17-xGax with nominal Ga content x equal to 0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 2.0 have been studied by powder neutron diffraction at room temperature. Both crystalline and magnetic refinements have been carried out. All six samples adopt the Th2Zn17-type rhombohedral structure. The only additional phase found is α-iron. Gallium atoms are found to have high affinity for the iron 18h site, and are absent from the 9d and 18f sites. The Ga substitution for Fe leads to an expansion of both the a and c axes. The Curie temperature increases from 238 K for Ce2Fe17 to 406 K for Ce2Fe15Ga2. Magnetic refinements on the samples with x = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, and 2.0 reveal that the magnetic moments of the four Fe sites are in the basal plane and that their values increase with increasing Ga content

Electrospun Bioresorbable Polymer Blends as Vascular Grafts

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp23/1089/thumbnail.jp

Trial Protocol: Reaccumulation rate of pleural effusions after therapeutic aspiration: An observational cohort study to determine baseline factors associated with rate of pleural fluid reaccumulation following therapeutic aspiration in patients with malignant pleural effusion attending a pleural clinic (REPEAT) [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is the build-up of pleural fluid in the space between the lung and chest wall due to advanced cancer. It is treated initially by large volume drainage (therapeutic aspiration). If the fluid reaccumulates, a definitive procedure is performed. There is wide variation in rate of reaccumulation. Patients with rapid reaccumulation often attend hospital as an emergency. Conversely, patients with slow reaccumulation do not need a definitive procedure and may experience cancelled or unnecessary procedures. This study aims to create and validate a multivariable prediction model to predict how quickly pleural fluid will reaccumulate in patients with MPE following therapeutic aspiration. Research question: Can we predict how quickly pleural fluid will reaccumulate in patients with MPEs? Methods: A total of 200 patients with known or suspected MPE attending for therapeutic aspiration will be recruited from 5-10 UK hospitals over 20 months. Patients will be enrolled prior to undergoing aspiration. Following this, they will undergo chest X-ray, which will be repeated one week later (treatment as usual). Rate of reaccumulation will be calculated based on change of size of the effusion seen on X-ray. Data will be collected on common clinical biomarkers e.g., size of effusion on pre-aspiration chest X-ray, volume of fluid drained. This data will be analysed to create a clinical score. A further validation cohort of 40 patients will be enrolled in parallel with creation of the score. Anticipated impact: The ability to predict rate of reaccumulation of MPE will enable patients and clinicians to make better informed treatment decisions. For patients with predicted rapid reaccumulation, a definitive procedure could be offered as first-line treatment, rather than a therapeutic aspiration. This will prevent emergency hospital admissions and decrease number of procedures. By contrast, patients whose effusions will recur slowly may avoid an unnecessary procedure