196 research outputs found
Pharmacokinetic and behavioral characterization of a longterm antipsychotic delivery system in rodents and rabbits
Rationale: Non-adherence with medication remains the major correctable cause of poor outcome in schizophrenia. However, few treatments have addressed this major determinant of outcome with novel long-term delivery systems.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide biological proof of concept for a long-term implantable antipsychotic delivery system in rodents and rabbits.
Materials and methods: Implantable formulations of haloperidol were created using biodegradable polymers. Implants were characterized for in vitro release and in vivo behavior using prepulse inhibition of startle in rats and mice, as well as pharmacokinetics in rabbits.
Results: Behavioral measures demonstrate the effectiveness of haloperidol implants delivering 1 mg/kg in mice and 0.6 mg/kg in rats to block amphetamine (10 mg/kg) in mice or apomorphine (0.5 mg/kg) in rats. Additionally, we demonstrate the pattern of release from single polymer implants for 1 year in rabbits.
Conclusions: The current study suggests that implantable formulations are a viable approach to providing long-term delivery of antipsychotic medications in vivo using animal models of behavior and pharmacokinetics. In contrast to depot formulations, implantable formulations could last 6 months or longer. Additionally, implants can be removed throughout the delivery interval, offering a degree of reversibility not available with depot formulations
Negotiating queer and religious identities in higher education: queering âprogressionâ in the âuniversity experienceâ
This article addresses the negotiation of âqueer religiousâ student identities in UK higher education. The âuniversity experienceâ has generally been characterised as a period of intense transformation and self-exploration, with complex and overlapping personal and social influences significantly shaping educational spaces, subjects and subjectivities. Engaging with ideas about progressive tolerance and becoming, often contrasted against âbackwardsâ religious homophobia as a sentiment/space/subject âoutsideâ education, this article follows the experiences and expectations of queer Christian students. In asking whether notions of âqueering higher educationâ (Rumens 2014 Rumens, N. 2014. âQueer Business: Towards Queering the Purpose of the Business School.â In The Entrepreneurial University: Public Engagements, Intersecting Impacts, edited by Y. Taylor, 82â104. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.) âfitâ with queer-identifying religious youth, the article explores how educational experiences are narrated and made sense of as âprogressiveâ. Educational transitions allow (some) sexual-religious subjects to negotiate identities more freely, albeit with ongoing constraints. Yet perceptions of what, where and who is deemed âprogressiveâ and âbackwardsâ with regard to sexuality and religion need to be met with caution, where the âuniversity experienceâ can shape and shake sexual-religious identity
1-Methylnicotinamide and nicotinamide: two related anti-inflammatory agents that differentially affect the functions of activated macrophages
Application of new methods of environment analysis and assessment in landscape audits : case studies of urban areas like Czestochowa, Poland
Following the 2000 European Landscape Convention, a new act strengthening landscape protection
instruments has been in force since 2015. It sets forth legal aspects of landscape shaping (Dziennik Ustaw 2015, poz.
774) and introduces landscape audits at the province level. A landscape audit consists in identification and
characterization of selected landscapes, assessment of their value, selection of so-called priority landscapes and
identification of threats for preservation of their value. An audit complies with GIS standards. Analyses use source
materials, i.e. digital maps of physical-geographical mesoregions, current topographic maps of digital resources of
cartographic databases, latest orthophotomaps and DTMs, maps of potential vegetation, geobotanic regionalization,
historic-cultural regionalization and natural landscape types, documentation of historical and cultural values and
related complementary resources. A special new methodology (Solon et al. 2014), developed for auditing, was tested
in 2015 in an urban area (Myga-Piatek et al. 2015). Landscapes are characterized by determining their analytic
(natural and cultural) and synthetic features, with particular focus on the stage of delimitation and identification of
landscape units in urban areas. Czestochowa was selected as a case study due to its large natural (karst landscapes of
the Czestochowa Upland, numerous forests, nature reserves) and cultural (Saint Maryâs Sanctuary, unique urban
architecture) potential. Czestochowa is also a city of former iron ore and mineral resources exploitation, still active
industry, dynamic urban sprawl within former farming areas, and dynamically growing tourism. Landscape
delimitation and identification distinguished 75 landscape units basing on uniform landscape background (uniform
cover and use of the land). Landscape assessment used a new assessment method for anthropogenic transformation of
landscape â the indicator describing the correlation between the mean shape index (MSI) and the Shannon diversity
index (SHDI) (Pukowiec-Kurda, Sobala 2016). Particular threats and planning suggestions, useful in development of
urban areas, were presented for selected priority landscapes
Panta Rhei benchmark dataset: socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts
As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better
understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk
management and climate adaptation. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive, empirical data about
the processes, interactions, and feedbacks in complex humanâwater systems leading to flood and drought impacts. Here we present a benchmark dataset containing socio-hydrological data of paired events, i.e. two floods
or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The 45 paired events occurred in 42 different study areas and
cover a wide range of socio-economic and hydro-climatic conditions. The dataset is unique in covering both
floods and droughts, in the number of cases assessed and in the quantity of socio-hydrological data. The benchmark dataset comprises (1) detailed review-style reports about the events and key processes between the two
events of a pair; (2) the key data table containing variables that assess the indicators which characterize management shortcomings, hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and impacts of all events; and (3) a table of the indicators
of change that indicate the differences between the first and second event of a pair. The advantages of the
dataset are that it enables comparative analyses across all the paired events based on the indicators of change
and allows for detailed context- and location-specific assessments based on the extensive data and reports of
the individual study areas. The dataset can be used by the scientific community for exploratory data analyses, e.g. focused on causal links between risk management; changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability; and
flood or drought impacts. The data can also be used for the development, calibration, and validation of sociohydrological models. The dataset is available to the public through the GFZ Data Services (Kreibich et al., 2023,
https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.4.4.2023.001)
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