Tick Sweats

Ticks are obligatory ectoparasites of many vertebrate hosts including human. Osmoregulatory functions of ticks are crucial for the survival, especially, in the off-host ticks in arid area. We found that injection of water in the body cavity of tick immediately triggers excretion of solution through the exoskeletal cuticles, like sweating. This response occurred in a bilateral asymmetric manner; the injection on left side of the body induced the sweating on only the left half, while the injection into right side did not induce sweat. The sweating response was reduced in the injections of high osmolar Naci (1 M). This is the first description of sweating physiology in maintenance of water homeostasis in the Lone star tick

Antiviral and Antibacterial Polyurethanes of Various Modalities

We have prepared and characterized a new polyurethane-based antimicrobial material, N,N-dodecyl,methyl-polyurethane (Quat-12-PU). It exhibits strong antiviral and antibacterial activities when coated (as an organic solution or an aqueous nanosuspension) onto surfaces and antibacterial activity when electrospun into nanofibers. Quat-12-PU surfaces are able to kill airborne Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria, as well as inactivate the enveloped influenza virus (but not the non-enveloped poliovirus).United States. Army Research Office. Institute for Soldier NanotechnologiesMartin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainabilit

The Effect of Weak Confinement on the Orientation of Nanorods under Shear Flows

We performed a numerical analysis to study the orientation distribution of a dilute suspension of thin, rigid, rod-like nanoparticles under shearing flow near a solid boundary of weak confinement. Brownian dynamics simulation of a rod was performed under various ratios of shear rate and rod diffusivity (Peclet number), as well as the center-of-mass position (wall confinement). We discuss the effects of Peclet number and wall confinement on the angle distributions, Jeffery orbit distribution and average orientation moments. The average orientation moments, obtained as a function of Peclet number and wall confinement, can be used to improve a previous shear-induced migration model. We demonstrate that the improved model can give excellent prediction of the orientation moment distributions in a microchannel flow

Evaluation of Skeletal and Dental Asymmetries in Patients with Angle Class II Subdivision Malocclusion with 3-Dimensional Analysis of Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

• Dentofacial asymmetries can present substantial challenges to orthodontic treatment.1 They, which can be congenital, developmental, and acquired, are based on discrepancies in the two halves of the face with reference to size, form, and arrangement of facial landmarks. • Class II subdivision malocclusions show more than half-step Class II occlusion on one side of the dental arch and Class I molar occlusion on the other side of the dental arch. They attribute to 50% of all Class II malocclusions and are one of the most frequent dental asymmetries in the orthodontic population.2 • Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) can be used to examine skeletal and dental asymmetries in Class II subdivision malocclusions and other morphological features of the craniofacial structures of facial asymmetry.3 • Mandibular asymmetry (skeletal) was the primary factor that contributed to Angle Class II subdivision malocclusions. Class II side had shorter total mandibular length and ramus height and deviated mandibular dental midline landmarks (pogonion and menton). Mandibular dental landmarks were positioned more latero-posterio-superiorly.

Electronic nutritional intake assessment in patients with urolithiasis: A decision impact analysis

Purpose: To evaluate a physician’s impression of a urinary stone patient’s dietary intake and whether it was dependent on the medium through which the nutritional data were obtained. Furthermore, we sought to determine if using an electronic food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) impacted dietary recommendations for these patients. Materials and Methods: Seventy-six patients attended the Stone Clinic over a period of 6 weeks. Seventy-five gave consent for enrollment in our study. Patients completed an office-based interview with a fellowship-trained endourologist, and a FFQ administered on an iPad. The FFQ assessed intake of various dietary components related to stone development, such as oxalate and calcium. The urologists were blinded to the identity of patients’ FFQ results. Based on the office-based interview and the FFQ results, the urologists provided separate assessments of the impact of nutrition and hydration on the patient’s stone disease (nutrition impact score and hydration impact score, respectively) and treatment recommendations. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to compare pre-FFQ data to post-FFQ data. Results: Higher FFQ scores for sodium (odds ratio [OR], 1.02; p=0.02) and fluids (OR, 1.03, p=0.04) were associated with a higher nutritional impact score. None of the FFQ parameters impacted hydration impact score. A higher FFQ score for oxalate (OR, 1.07; p=0.02) was associated with the addition of at least one treatment recommendation. Conclusions: Information derived from a FFQ can yield a significant impact on a physician’s assessment of stone risks and decision for management of stone disease

Implementation of a web-based tool for patient medication self-management: the Medication Self-titration Evaluation Programme (Med-STEP) for blood pressure control

Background Informatics tools may help support hypertension management.Objective To design, implement and evaluate a web-based system for patient anti-hypertensive medication self-titration.Methods Study stages included: six focus groups (50 patients) to identify barriers/facilitators to patient medication self-titration, software design informed by qualitative analysis of focus group responses and a six-month single-arm pilot study (20 patients) to assess implementation feasibility.Results Focus groups emphasised patient need to feel confident that their own primary care providers were directly involved and approved of the titration protocol. Physicians required 3.3 ± 2.8 minutes/patient to create individualised six-step medication pathways for once-monthly blood pressure evaluations. Pilot participants (mean age of 51.5 ± 11 years, 45% women, mean baseline blood pressure 139/84 ± 12.2/7.5 mmHg) had five medication increases, two non-adherence self-reports, 52months not requiring medication changes, 24 skipped months and 17 months with no evaluations due to technical issues. Four pilot patients dropped out before study completion. From baseline to study completion, blood pressure decreased among the 16 patients remaining in the study (8.0/4.7 mmHg, p = 0.03 for both systolic and diastolic pressures).Conclusions Lessons learned included the benefit of qualitative patient analysis prior to system development and the feasibility of physicians designing individual treatment pathways. Any potential clinical benefits were offset by technical problems, the tendency for patients to skip their monthly self-evaluations and drop outs. To be more widely adopted such systems must effectively generalise to a wider range of patients and be integrated into clinical workflow

Menthol Cigarette Smoking and Obesity in Young Adult Daily Smokers in Hawaii

This study investigates 1) the relationship between menthol cigarette smoking and obesity and 2) the association of body mass index with the nicotine metabolite ratio among menthol and non-menthol daily smokers aged 18–35 (n = 175). A brief survey on smoking and measures of height and weight, carbon monoxide, and saliva samples were collected from participants from May to December 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Multiple regression was used to estimate differences in body mass index among menthol and non-menthol smokers and the association of menthol smoking with obesity. We calculated the log of the nicotine metabolite ratio to examine differences in the nicotine metabolite ratio among normal, overweight, and obese smokers. Sixty-eight percent of smokers used menthol cigarettes. Results showed that 62% of normal, 54% of overweight, and 91% of obese smokers used menthol cigarettes (p = .000). The mean body mass index was significantly higher among menthol compared with non-menthol smokers (29.4 versus 24.5, p = .000). After controlling for gender, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, and race/ethnicity, menthol smokers were more than 3 times as likely as non-menthol smokers to be obese (p = .04). The nicotine metabolite ratio was significantly lower for overweight menthol smokers compared with non-menthol smokers (.16 versus .26, p = .02) in the unadjusted model, but was not significant after adjusting for the covariates. Consistent with prior studies, our data show that menthol smokers are more likely to be obese compared with non-menthol smokers. Future studies are needed to determine how flavored tobacco products influence obesity among smokers