A further observation on sperm structure in a Heterodera sp.

RESP-873

Towards redress: The ‘not-yet’ future between harm and repair in Cape Town

ImaginingOtherwise was a participatory arts education initiative engaging peripheralised young people to explore how ‘race’ and space are reproduced in the specific context of the Cape Flats, Cape Town, which like all apartheid cities, was a result of violent dispossession by forced removals. There is a need to attend to local, specific accounts of young people and their capacity to resist the ravages of disposability. I bring together youth studies, futures studies and some insights from ImaginingOtherwise, considering processes of listening and participating in gathering, stories of ‘race’, space and dispossession and how these may lead towards imagining other outcomes. What does ‘imagining otherwise’ enable in the afterlives of injustice? Witnessing and truth-telling alone do not equate to reconciliation and we need something in between. I thus take up Olùfémi Táíwò’s discussions of reparations (2021), developing a counter-position that attests to Saidiya Hartman’s concept of ‘redress’ (1997). Emphasising the centrality of redress as a worldmaking, future-oriented mode, I argue that in this local and contextually defined project, collective imagining became a ‘doing’ of just futures in the present, and as such, enabled a rehearsal of possible futures between harm and repair. A redressive orientation to futures is not a chronologically linear journey, but one that moves between temporalities. The article proposes that redress is a grounded and collaborative approach that unfolds outside of formal (legalistic, logistical, monetised or material) reparations. Redress is a worldmaking, future-oriented mode and we need creative and collaborative pedagogies to work through the need to break and ‘unmake’ towards a different future

Cocrystal habit engineering to improve drug dissolution and alter derived powder properties

YesObjectives: Cocrystallization of sulfadimidine (SDM) with suitable coformers, such as 4-aminosalicylic acid (4-ASA), combined with changes in the crystal habit can favourably alter its physicochemical properties. The aim of this work was to engineer SDM:4-ASA cocrystals with different habits in order to investigate the effect on dissolution, and the derived powder properties of flow and compaction. Methods: Cocrystals were prepared in a 1:1 molar ratio by solvent evaporation using ethanol (habit I) or acetone (habit II), solvent evaporation followed by grinding (habit III) and spray-drying (habit IV). Key findings: Powder X-ray diffraction showed Bragg peak position was the same in all the solid products. The peak intensity varied, indicating different preferred crystal orientation confirmed by SEM micrographs: large prismatic crystals (habit I), large plate-like crystals (habit II), small cube-like crystals (habit III) and microspheres (habit IV). The habit III exhibited the fasted dissolution rate; however, it underwent a polymorphic transition during dissolution. Habits I and IV exhibited the highest Carr’s compressibility index, indicating poor flowability. However, habits II and III demonstrated improved flow. Spray drying resulted in cocrystals with improved compaction properties. Conclusions: Even for cocrystals with poor pharmaceutical characteristics, a habit can be engineered to alter the dissolution, flowability and compaction behavior.Science Foundation Ireland. Grant Number: SFI/12/RC/227

Synthesis of a protected keto-lysidine analogue via improved preparation of arabino-isocytosine nucleosides

Anhydrouridines react with aliphatic amines to give N-alkyl isocytosines, but reported procedures often demand very long reaction times and can be low yielding, with narrow scope. A modified procedure for such reactions has been developed, using microwave irradiation, significantly reducing reaction time and allowing facile access to a diverse range of novel nucleosides on the gram scale. The method has been used to prepare a precursor to a novel analogue of lysidine, a naturally occurring iminonucleoside found in (t)RNA

Unexpected Sources of Strontium to the Neuse and Cape Fear River Basins, North Carolina: Implications for the Global Strontium Isotope Budget in Seawater

Water, bedrock, and saprolite samples from the Neuse and Cape Fear River basins, North Carolina, were analyzed for 87Sr/86Sr and [Sr] to evaluate the control of exposed bedrock on fluvial Sr isotopic compositions and the influence of geology on Sr delivered to the ocean. The 87Sr/86Sr and [Sr] of the two rivers start low and rise downstream, eventually approximating recent ocean isotopic compositions before entering their estuaries. Groundwater samples from the headwaters have 87Sr/86Sr ratios that are lower than expected from the dominant exposed bedrock. The isotopic compositions of bedrock and saprolite samples vary predictably with rock type and age and show no correlation with degree of weathering. The data indicate that dominant surficial bedrock is not the primary source of Sr to the headwaters of the rivers. Rather, mafic dikes that focus groundwater flow and are more easily weathered than their silicic hosts impact the 87Sr/86Sr of the waters more than their limited exposure might suggest. Furthermore, the Sr isotopic composition of the water delivered to the marine environment is buffered by groundwater from coastal plain sedimentary rocks, leaving no evidence of upstream geology. The data suggest that rock type and structure exert significant control on the Sr isotope geochemistry of groundwater that enters into streams. Considering the global fluvial Sr budget, these results emphasize that, in some settings, (1) rock exposure area can be a poor indication of the geologic influence on Sr isotopic compositions of surface waters, and (2) downstream Sr isotopic compositions may not reflect upstream geology

Perceived benefits of complementary and alternative medicine: A whole systems research perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments from the patients’ perspective using a whole systems research approach as a guiding framework. We conducted five focus groups of six to eight participants each, with users of CAM recruited through experienced CAM providers and clinics. Eligible participants were aged 21 or older, had used CAM in the last 12 months, and believed the treatment to be beneficial. The focus group discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. Responses were inductively coded for common themes, and then placed into broader conceptual categories reflecting the CAM outcome domains suggested by Verhoef and colleagues. Participants described physical health benefits including symptom relief and improved function, and positive psychological benefits such as improved coping and resilience. Social health benefits that arose from the positive aspects of the patient-practitioner relationship were also reported, including support and advocacy. In addition, participants identified empowerment, increased hope and spiritual growth as results of receiving CAM treatments. A new behavioral health outcome domain emerged as participants reported that CAM use had fostered behavioral changes such as increased exercise, smoking cessation and improving their diets. These patient-reported benefits of CAM treatment are consistent with the outcome model proposed by Verhoef and colleagues, and extend this model by identifying a new outcome domain—behavioral health outcome. The findings provide insight and direction for the development of outcome and process measures to evaluate CAM treatment effects

CCL2 and CCR2 regulate pain-related behaviour and early gene expression in post-traumatic murine osteoarthritis but contribute little to chondropathy

SummaryObjectiveThe role of inflammation in structural and symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) remains unclear. One key mediator of inflammation is the chemokine CCL2, primarily responsible for attracting monocytes to sites of injury. We investigated the role of CCL2 and its receptor CCR2 in experimental OA.DesignOA was induced in 10 weeks old male wild type (WT), Ccl2−/− and Ccr2−/− mice, by destabilisation of the medial meniscus (DMM). RNA was extracted from whole joints at 6 h and 7 days post-surgery and examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Gene expression changes between naïve and DMM-operated mice were compared. Chondropathy scores, from mice at 8, 12, 16 and 20 weeks post DMM were calculated using modified Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) grading systems. Changes in hind paw weight distribution, as a measure of pain, were assessed by Linton incapacitance.ResultsAbsence of CCL2 strongly suppressed (>90%) selective inflammatory response genes in the joint 6 h post DMM, including arginase 1, prostaglandin synthase 2, nitric oxide synthase 2 and inhibin A. IL6, MMP3 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 were also significantly suppressed. Similar trends were also observed in the absence of CCR2. A lower average chondropathy score was observed in both Ccl2−/− and Ccr2−/− mice at 12, 16 and 20 weeks post DMM compared with WT mice, but this was only statistically significant at 20 weeks in Ccr2−/− mice. Pain-related behaviour in Ccl2−/− and Ccr2−/− mice post DMM was delayed in onset.ConclusionThe CCL2/CCR2 axis plays an important role in the development of pain in murine OA, but contributes little to cartilage damage

Indirect measurement of anterior-posterior ground reaction forces using a minimal set of wearable inertial sensors: from healthy to hemiparetic walking

BACKGROUND: The anterior-posterior ground reaction force (AP-GRF) and propulsion and braking point metrics derived from the AP-GRF time series are indicators of locomotor function across healthy and neurological diagnostic groups. In this paper, we describe the use of a minimal set of wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) to indirectly measure the AP-GRFs generated during healthy and hemiparetic walking. METHODS: Ten healthy individuals and five individuals with chronic post-stroke hemiparesis completed a 6-minute walk test over a walking track instrumented with six forceplates while wearing three IMUs securely attached to the pelvis, thigh, and shank. Subject-specific models driven by IMU-measured thigh and shank angles and an estimate of body acceleration provided by the pelvis IMU were used to generate indirect estimates of the AP-GRF time series. Propulsion and braking point metrics (i.e., peaks, peak timings, and impulses) were extracted from the IMU-generated time series. Peaks and impulses were expressed as % bodyweight (%bw) and peak timing was expressed as % stance phase (%sp). A 75%-25% split of 6-minute walk test data was used to train and validate the models. Indirect estimates of the AP-GRF time series and point metrics were compared to direct measurements made by the forceplates. RESULTS: Indirect measurements of the AP-GRF time series approximated the direct measurements made by forceplates, with low error and high consistency in both the healthy (RMSE= 4.5%bw; R2= 0.93) and post-stroke (RMSE= 2.64%bw; R2= 0.90) cohorts. In the healthy cohort, the average errors between indirect and direct measurements of the peak propulsion magnitude, peak propulsion timing, and propulsion impulse point estimates were 2.37%bw, 0.67%sp, and 0.43%bw. In the post-stroke cohort, the average errors for these point estimates were 1.07%bw, 1.27%sp, and 0.31%bw. Average errors for the braking estimates were higher, but comparable. CONCLUSIONS: Accurate estimates of AP-GRF metrics can be generated using three strategically mounted IMUs and subject-specific calibrations. This study advances the development of point-of-care diagnostic systems that can catalyze the routine assessment and management of propulsion and braking locomotor deficits during rehabilitation.KL2 TR001411 - NCATS NIH HHSPublished versio