Recent advances in nanotechnology for diabetes treatment: Nanotechnology for Diabetes Treatment

Nanotechnology in diabetes research has facilitated the development of novel glucose measurement and insulin delivery modalities which hold the potential to dramatically improve quality of life for diabetics. Recent progress in the field of diabetes research at its interface with nanotechnology is our focus. In particular, we examine glucose sensors with nanoscale components including metal nanoparticles and carbon nanostructures. The addition of nanoscale components commonly increases glucose sensor sensitivity, temporal response, and can lead to sensors which facilitate continuous in vivo glucose monitoring. Additionally, we survey nanoscale approaches to “closed-loop” insulin delivery strategies which automatically release insulin in response to fluctuating blood glucose levels. “Closing the loop” between blood glucose level (BGL) measurements and insulin administration by removing the requirement of patient action holds the potential to dramatically improve the health and quality of life of diabetics. Advantages and limitations of current strategies, as well as future opportunities and challenges are also discussed

Bio-Inspired Synthetic Nanovesicles for Glucose-Responsive Release of Insulin

A new glucose-responsive formulation for self-regulated insulin delivery was constructed by packing insulin, glucose-specific enzymes into pH-sensitive polymersome-based nanovesicles assembled by a diblock copolymer. Glucose can passively transport across the bilayer membrane of the nanovesicle and be oxidized into gluconic acid by glucose oxidase, thereby causing a decrease in local pH. The acidic microenvironment causes the hydrolysis of the pH sensitive nanovesicle that in turn triggers the release of insulin in a glucose responsive fashion. In vitro studies validated that the release of insulin from nanovesicle was effectively correlated with the external glucose concentration. In vivo experiments, in which diabetic mice were subcutaneously administered with the nanovesicles, demonstrate that a single injection of the developed nanovesicle facilitated stabilization of the blood glucose levels in the normoglycemic state (<200 mg/dL) for up to 5 days

Quantification of nanoscale density fluctuations by electron microscopy: probing cellular alterations in early carcinogenesis *

Abstract Most cancers are curable if they are diagnosed and treated at an early stage. Recent studies suggest that nanoarchitectural changes occur within cells during early carcinogenesis and that such changes precede microscopically evident tissue alterations. It follows that the ability to comprehensively interrogate cell nanoarchitecture (e.g., macromolecular complexes, DNA, RNA, proteins and lipid membranes) could be critical to the diagnosis of early carcinogenesis. We present a study of the nanoscale mass-density fluctuations of biological tissues by quantifying their degree of disorder at the nanoscale. Transmission electron microscopy images of human tissues are used to construct corresponding effective disordered optical lattices. The properties of nanoscale disorder are then studied by statistical analysis of the inverse participation ratio (IPR) of the spatially localized eigenfunctions of these optical lattices at the nanoscale. Our results show an increase in the disorder of human colonic epithelial cells in subjects harboring early stages of colon neoplasia. Furthermore, our findings strongly suggest that increased nanoscale disorder correlates with the degree of tumorigenicity. Therefore, the IPR technique provides a practicable tool for the detection of nanoarchitectural alterations in the earliest stages of carcinogenesis. Potential applications of the technique for early cancer screening and detection are also discussed

Altered Patterns of Gene Expression Underlying the Enhanced Immunogenicity of Radiation-Attenuated Schistosomes

Schistosoma mansoni is a blood-dwelling parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis in humans throughout Africa and parts of South America. A vaccine would enhance attempts to control and eradicate the disease that currently relies on treatment with a single drug. Although a manufactured vaccine has yet to generate high levels of protection, this can be achieved with infective parasite larvae that have been disabled by exposure to radiation. How these weakened parasites are able to induce protective immunity when normal parasites do not, is the question addressed by our experiments. We have used a technique of gene expression profiling to compare the patterns in normal and disabled parasites, over the period when they would trigger an immune response in the host. We found that only a handful of genes were differentially expressed, all of them diminished in the disabled parasite. However, a more sensitive technique to examine groups of genes revealed that those involved in nervous system and muscle function were depressed in the disabled parasites. We suggest that reduced mobility of these larvae permits them longer contact with the immune system, thus enabling a strong protective immune response to develop

The effect of periodontal status and occlusal support on masticatory performance: A cross-sectional study

Background: The destruction of periodontal tissue caused by periodontitis affects the sensory function of the periodontal ligament, reduces the mechanical support of teeth, and ultimately results in reduced masticatory performance in natural dentitions. Research on those who have lost a large number of teeth and the effect of periodontal status on masticatory ability remains unknown. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the correlation between the effect of periodontal status and occlusal support on masticatory performance among various age groups. Materials and Methods: A total of 240 patients included in the study were divided into three groups according to the severity of periodontal disease and occlusal support as healthy controls– A1 (Group 1), moderate periodontitis– B1 (Group 2), and severe periodontitis– C1 (Group 3) based on Community Periodontal Index (WHO 1987) and Eichner's Index (Eichner 1990). They were further categorized into age groups of 20–30, 30–40, 40–50, and 50–60 years, and equal male to female ratio was maintained among all groups. The masticatory performance was assessed by making patients chew a test gummy jelly freely 30 times and expectorate it into a clean cup. To eliminate the remaining glucose sticking to the surface, it was subjected to running water for 5 min and spun in a magnetic stirrer (10 min, 400 rpm) till it completely dissolved. A small amount of the supernatant was collected, and glucose estimation was done using a glucometer. The glucometer values were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: There was a statistically significant decrease in the masticatory performance when Group 3 was compared to Group 2 and Group 1. In addition, there was a decrease in the masticatory performance among females compared to males and a progressive decline in the masticatory performance with advancing age. Conclusion: All groups showed a statistically significant decrease in the masticatory performance with increase in the severity of periodontal disease and decrease in occlusal support. In addition, there was a decrease in the masticatory performance with an increase in age and males showed a superior masticatory performance than females

Bio-Inspired Synthetic Nanovesicles for Glucose-Responsive Release of Insulin

A new glucose-responsive formulation for self-regulated insulin delivery was constructed by packing insulin, glucose-specific enzymes into pH-sensitive polymersome-based nanovesicles assembled by a diblock copolymer. Glucose can passively transport across the bilayer membrane of the nanovesicle and be oxidized into gluconic acid by glucose oxidase, thereby causing a decrease in local pH. The acidic microenvironment causes the hydrolysis of the pH sensitive nanovesicle that in turn triggers the release of insulin in a glucose responsive fashion. In vitro studies validated that the release of insulin from nanovesicle was effectively correlated with the external glucose concentration. In vivo experiments, in which diabetic mice were subcutaneously administered with the nanovesicles, demonstrate that a single injection of the developed nanovesicle facilitated stabilization of the blood glucose levels in the normoglycemic state (<200 mg/dL) for up to 5 days

Scuba: Diving into Data at Facebook

Facebook takes performance monitoring seriously. Performance issues can impact over one billion users so we track thousands of servers, hundreds of PB of daily network traffic, hundreds of daily code changes, and many other metrics. We require latencies of under a minute from events occuring (a client request on a phone, a bug report filed, a code change checked in) to graphs showing those events on developers ’ monitors. Scuba is the data management system Facebook uses for most real-time analysis. Scuba is a fast, scalable, distributed, in-memory database built at Facebook. It currently ingests millions of rows (events) per second and expires data at the same rate. Scuba stores data completely in memory on hundreds of servers each with 144 GB RAM. To process each query, Scuba aggregates data from all servers. Scuba processes almost a million queries per day. Scuba is used extensively for interactive, ad hoc, analysis queries that run in under a second over live data. In addition, Scuba is the workhorse behind Facebook’s code regression analysis, bug report monitoring, ads revenue monitoring, and performance debugging. 1