Facile Synthesis of Fe3O4−SiO2 Nanocomposites for Wastewater Treatment

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Water constitutes ≈70–90% of the organism's body by mass and is highly important for its survival. Water contains a variety of chemical contaminants introduced by various sectors, resulting in contamination that has a direct impact on the ecosystem. Various approaches are in practice to tackle these issues. Among these, semiconductor photocatalysis appears to be the cutting-edge technology for the degradation of wastewater contaminants. Herein, the fabrication of Fe3O4−SiO2 nanocomposite via facile co-precipitation and Stober methods are reported. Various characterization techniques are employed for the structural elucidation, morphology, crystallinity, and stability of the as-prepared composite. The nanocomposite is employed in catalytic and photocatalytic applications toward the removal of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes from a comparative perspective. It is observed that the composite can remove about 93% of MB and 51% of MO within 7 and 6 h, respectively. These findings indicate that the nanocomposite has a higher MB removal effectiveness than the MO. This trend can be accredited to the difference in the chemical structure of both dyes. The nanocomposite is also evaluated for antioxidant and antileishmanial activity, and it is shown to be quite effective even at very low concentrations.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Experiences, attitudes and barriers towards research amongst junior faculty of Pakistani medical universities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The developing world has had limited quality research and in Pakistan, research is still in its infancy. We conducted a study to assess the proportion of junior faculty involved in research to highlight their attitude towards research, and identify the factors associated with their research involvement.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted in four medical universities/teaching hospitals in Pakistan, representing private and public sectors. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from 176 junior faculty members of studied universities/hospitals. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to attitudes and barriers in research among those currently involved in research with those who were not.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 41.5% of study subjects were currently involved in research. A highly significant factor associated with current research involvement was research training during the post-graduate period (p < 0.001). Other factors associated with current involvement in research were male gender, working in the public sector and previous involvement in research. Overall, a large majority (85.2%) of doctors considered research helpful in their profession and had a positive attitude towards research; nevertheless this positive attitude was more frequently reported by doctors who were currently involved in research compared to those who were not (OR = 4.69; 95% CI = 1.54-14.26). Similarly, a large proportion (83.5%) of doctors considered research difficult to conduct; higher by doctors who were not presently involved in research (OR = 2.74; 95% CI = 1.20-6.22)</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Less than half of the study participants were currently involved in research. Research output may improve if identified barriers are rectified. Further studies are recommended in this area.</p

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

Nanovesicles from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells inhibit T lymphocyte trafficking and ameliorate chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Cell based-therapies represent promising strategies for the treatment of neurological diseases. We have previously shown that adipose stem cells (ASC) ameliorate chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Recent evidence indicates that most ASC paracrine effects are mediated by extracellular vesicles, i.e. micro- and nanovesicles (MVs and NVs). We show that preventive intravenous administration of NVs isolated from ASC (ASC-NVs) before disease onset significantly reduces the severity of EAE and decreases spinal cord inflammation and demyelination, whereas therapeutic treatment with ASC-NVs does not ameliorate established EAE. This treatment marginally inhibits antigen-specific T cell activation, while reducing microglial activation and demyelination in the spinal cord. Importantly, ASC-NVs inhibited integrin-dependent adhesion of encephalitogenic T cells in vitro, with no effect on adhesion molecule expression. In addition, intravital microscopy showed that encephalitogenic T cells treated with ASC NVs display a significantly reduced rolling and firm adhesion in inflamed spinal cord vessels compared to untreated cells. Our results show that ASC-NVs ameliorate EAE pathogenesis mainly by inhibiting T cell extravasation in the inflamed CNS, suggesting that NVs may represent a novel therapeutic approach in neuro-inflammatory diseases, enabling the safe administration of ASC effector factors

Higher ethical objective (Maqasid al-Shari'ah) augmented framework for Islamic banks : assessing the ethical performance and exploring its determinants.

This study utilises higher objectives postulated in Islamic moral economy or the maqasid al-Shari’ah theoretical framework’s novel approach in evaluating the ethical, social, environmental and financial performance of Islamic banks. Maqasid al-Shari’ah is interpreted as achieving social good as a consequence in addition to well-being and, hence, it goes beyond traditional (voluntary) social responsibility. This study also explores the major determinants that affect maqasid performance as expressed through disclosure analysis. By expanding the traditional maqasid al-Shari’ah,, we develop a comprehensive evaluation framework in the form of a maqasid index, which is subjected to a rigorous disclosure analysis. Furthermore, in identifying the main determinants of the maqasid disclosure performance, panel data analysis is used by including several key variables alongside political and socio-economic environment, ownership structures, and corporate and Shari’ah governance-related factors. The sample includes 33 full-fledged Islamic banks from 12 countries for the period of 2008–2016. The findings show that although during the nine-year period the disclosure of maqasid performance of the sampled Islamic banks has improved, this is still short of ‘best practices’. Through panel data analysis, this study finds that the Muslim population indicator, CEO duality, Shari’ah governance, and leverage variables positively impact the disclosure of maqasid performance. However, the effect of GDP, financial development and human development index of the country, its political and civil rights, institutional ownership, and a higher share of independent directors have an overall negative impact on the maqasid performance. The findings reported in this study identify complex and multi-faceted relations between external market realities, corporate and Shari’ah governance mechanisms, and maqasid performance

The epigenetic regulator Histone Deacetylase 1 promotes transcription of a core neurogenic programme in zebrafish embryos

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The epigenetic regulator Histone Deacetylase 1 (Hdac1) is required for specification and patterning of neurones and myelinating glia during development of the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS). This co-ordinating function for Hdac1 is evolutionarily conserved in zebrafish and mouse, but the mechanism of action of Hdac1 in the developing CNS is not well-understood.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A genome-wide comparative analysis of the transcriptomes of Hdac1-deficient and wild-type zebrafish embryos was performed, which identified an extensive programme of gene expression that is regulated by Hdac1 in the developing embryo. Using time-resolved expression profiling of embryos, we then identified a small subset of 54 genes within the Hdac1-regulated transcriptome that specifically exhibit robust and sustained Hdac1-dependent expression from early neurogenesis onwards. 18 of these 54 stringently Hdac1-regulated genes encode DNA-binding transcription factors that are implicated in promoting neuronal specification and CNS patterning, including the proneural bHLH proteins Ascl1a and Ascl1b, as well as Neurod4 and Neurod. Relatively few genes are strongly repressed by Hdac1 but expression of the Notch target gene <it>her6 </it>is attenuated by Hdac1 in specific sub-regions of the developing CNS, from early stages of neurogenesis onwards. Selected members of the stringently Hdac1-regulated group of genes were tested for Hdac1 binding to their promoter-proximal <it>cis</it>-regulatory elements. Surprisingly, we found that Hdac1 is specifically and stably associated with DNA sequences within the promoter region of <it>ascl1b </it>during neurogenesis, and that this Hdac1-<it>ascl1b </it>interaction is abolished in <it>hdac1 </it>mutant embryos.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that Hdac1 regulates histone acetylation and methylation in the developing zebrafish embryo and promotes the sustained, co-ordinate transcription of a small set of transcription factor genes that control expansion and diversification of cell fates within the developing CNS. Our <it>in vivo </it>chromatin immunoprecipitation results also suggest a specific function for Hdac1 in directly regulating transcription of a key member of this group of genes, <it>ascl1b</it>, from the beginning of neurogenesis onwards. Taken together, our observations indicate a novel role for Hdac1 as a positive regulator of gene transcription during development of the vertebrate CNS, in addition to its more well-established function in transcriptional repression.</p

Evidence for Regulated Interleukin-4 Expression in Chondrocyte-Scaffolds under In Vitro Inflammatory Conditions

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the anti-inflammatory and anabolic effects of regulated expression of IL-4 in chondrocyte-scaffolds under in vitro inflammatory conditions. METHODS: Mature articular chondrocytes from dogs (n = 3) were conditioned through transient transfection using pcDNA3.1.cIL-4 (constitutive) or pCOX-2.cIL-4 (cytokine-responsive) plasmids. Conditioned cells were seeded in alginate microspheres and rat-tail collagen type I matrix (CaReS®) to generate two types of tissue-engineered 3-dimensional scaffolds. Inflammatory arthritis was simulated in the packed chondrocytes through exogenous addition of recombinant canine (rc) IL-1β (100 ng/ml) plus rcTNFα (50 ng/ml) in culture media for 96 hours. Harvested cells and culture media were analyzed by various assays to monitor the anti-inflammatory and regenerative (anabolic) properties of cIL-4. RESULTS: cIL-4 was expressed from COX-2 promoter exclusively on the addition of rcIL-1β and rcTNFα while its expression from CMV promoter was constitutive. The expressed cIL-4 downregulated the mRNA expression of IL-1β, TNFα, IL-6, iNOS and COX-2 in the cells and inhibited the production of NO and PGE(2) in culture media. At the same time, it up-regulated the expression of IGF-1, IL-1ra, COL2a1 and aggrecan in conditioned chondrocytes in both scaffolds along with a diminished release of total collagen and sGAG into the culture media. An increased amount of cIL-4 protein was detected both in chondrocyte cell lysate and in concentrated culture media. Neutralizing anti-cIL-4 antibody assay confirmed that the anti-inflammatory and regenerative effects seen are exclusively driven by cIL-4. There was a restricted expression of IL-4 under COX-2 promoter possibly due to negative feedback loop while it was over-expressed under CMV promoter (undesirable). Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory /anabolic outcomes from both scaffolds were reproducible and the therapeutic effects of cIL-4 were both scaffold- and promoter-independent. CONCLUSIONS: Regulated expression of therapeutic candidate gene(s) coupled with suitable scaffold(s) could potentially serve as a useful tissue-engineering tool to devise future treatment strategies for osteoarthritis

Benzodiazepine use among adults residing in the urban settlements of Karachi, Pakistan: A cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are hardly any studies carried out in Pakistan on the usage of benzodiazepines at the level of community. This research was aimed to determine the frequency of benzodiazepine use, along with its associations with socio-demographic and clinical characteristics among community dwelling adults, residing in two urban settlements of Karachi, Pakistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a cross sectional study from August 2008 to December 2009, in 2 areas of Karachi, namely Garden and Sultanabad. We followed the systematic sampling strategy to randomly select the households, with an adult of either sex and of age 18 years or more. Data collection was carried out through interview, using a pre-tested questionnaire, with items on socio-demographic position, medical history and benzodiazepine use. Student's t-test and χ²test was employed to determine the associations between socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, and their relationship with benzodiazepine use was determined using applied logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall percentage of benzodiazepine consumption was estimated to be 14%. There were significantly more benzodiazepine users in the peri-urban Sultanabad community to the urban community of Garden (p-value = 0.001). The mean age (± SD) for users was 51.3 (± 15.6) years compared to 37.1 (± 14.4) years among non-users. Bromazepam was the most widely used benzodiazepine (29%); followed by diazepam, with a median duration on primary use being 144 weeks (IQR = 48-240). The adjusted logistic regression model revealed that increasing age, location, female sex, unemployment and psychiatric consultation were associated with increased likelihood of benzodiazepine use.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We believe the unregulated over-the-counter sales of benzodiazepines and social conditions might be playing a role in this high consumption of benzodiazepines in the community.</p