Polyethylene Glycol Camouflaged Earthworm Hemoglobin.

Nearly 21 million components of blood and whole blood and transfused annually in the United States, while on average only 13.6 million units of blood are donated. As the demand for Red Blood Cells (RBCs) continues to increase due to the aging population, this deficit will be more significant. Despite decades of research to develop hemoglobin (Hb) based oxygen (O2) carriers (HBOCs) as RBC substitutes, there are no products approved for clinical use. Lumbricus terrestris erythrocruorin (LtEc) is the large acellular O2 carrying protein complex found in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. LtEc is an extremely stable protein complex, resistant to autoxidation, and capable of transporting O2 to tissue when transfused into mammals. These characteristics render LtEc a promising candidate for the development of the next generation HBOCs. LtEc has a short half-life in circulation, limiting its application as a bridge over days, until blood became available. Conjugation with polyethylene glycol (PEG-LtEc) can extend LtEc circulation time. This study explores PEG-LtEc pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. To study PEG-LtEc pharmacokinetics, hamsters instrumented with the dorsal window chamber were subjected to a 40% exchange transfusion with 10 g/dL PEG-LtEc or LtEc and followed for 48 hours. To study the vascular response of PEG-LtEc, hamsters instrumented with the dorsal window chamber received multiple infusions of 10 g/dL PEG-LtEc or LtEc solution to increase plasma LtEc concentration to 0.5, then 1.0, and 1.5 g/dL, while monitoring the animals' systemic and microcirculatory parameters. Results confirm that PEGylation of LtEc increases its circulation time, extending the half-life to 70 hours, 4 times longer than that of unPEGylated LtEc. However, PEGylation increased the rate of LtEc oxidation in vivo. Vascular analysis verified that PEG-LtEc showed the absence of microvascular vasoconstriction or systemic hypertension. The molecular size of PEG-LtEc did not change the colloid osmotic pressure or blood volume expansion capacity compared to LtEc, due to LtEc's already large molecular size. Taken together, these results further encourage the development of PEG-LtEc as an O2 carrying therapeutic

Intraoperative Blood Loss During Induced Abortion: A Comparison of Anesthetics

Objective: To determine whether there is a difference in intraoperative bleeding with inhalational versus noninhalational anesthetic agents for patients undergoing suction dilatation and curettage for first-trimester induced abortion. Methods: This is an IRB-approved retrospective chart review of the electronic medical records of patients undergoing induced abortion at gestational ages between 5 0/7 and 14 0/7 weeks of pregnancy at the New York City Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. The records of 138 patients who underwent suction dilatation and curettage for induced abortion between June 2012 and June 2014 were reviewed for an association between anesthetic technique and intraoperative hemorrhage. Twenty patients received inhalational anesthetic agents, while 118 received intravenous anesthetics. Blood loss was estimated by the operating gynecologists. Results: The mean intraoperative blood loss for inhalational anesthetics (113.6 ml) was significantly higher than with noninhalational agents (40.2 ml) (p=0.007). Age, body mass index, and gestational age were not statistically different between the groups; the number of methylergonovine doses at induced abortion trended higher with inhalation anesthetics. Conclusions: The difference in blood loss between the two types of anesthetic techniques was statistically significant. These findings may be important for patients with significant anemia or at an increased risk of bleeding, such as those with unrecognized coagulopathies

Assessing risk of HIV and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in East Africa: findings from a rapid assessment

Rapid assessment cross-sectional surveys and qualitative interviews were conducted among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Burundi and Uganda, as well as key informants working with drug users, to assess risk associated with HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). A total of 127 PWID were recruited in Burundi and 125 in Uganda of which the majority were male and aged between 24 and 26 years. Blood samples were collected in Burundi to test for antibodies to HIV, HCV and B Surface Antigen (HBsAg). Heroin was mainly injected in Uganda and Burundi with a small minority injecting crack/cocaine. Half of participants in Burundi, and 86% in Uganda had been HIV tested. The minority had been tested for HCV in any site (5-7%). HIV prevalence from the serological testing in Burundi indicated that 10% tested positive for antibodies to HIV, 6% to HCV and 9% to HBsAg. Qualitative data suggested that structural factors including costs of needle/syringes as well policies prohibiting pharmacies selling injecting equipment to PWID were related to reuse and sharing of needles/syringes among PWID, despite awareness HIV transmission risk. Police arrest was common in Burundi and Uganda and the use of bribes by police compounded existing high levels of poverty. Findings accentuate the need for policy shifts to enable easier access to clean injecting equipment, increased availability of HIV and HCV testing and increased access to affordable drug treatment and introduction of opioid substitution therapy. Specific attention is needed to the potential for sexual transmission of HIV among this population

Mídia digital na educação em saúde: Uma forma de enfrentamento da pandemia da COVID-19

A pandemia de Covid-19 veio associada à disseminação de grande volume de informações, verdadeiras e falsas, sobre a doença, com potencial impacto no seu controle, por interferir em comportamentos e condutas preventivas e terapêuticas. Motivados pela necessidade de produzir informações confiáveis e combater ‘fakenews’, professores e alunos da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais desenvolveram projeto de extensão abordando a Covid-19, com o propósito de divulgar materiais educativos para a população em geral, por meio de postagens científicas e realização de webconferências. As plataformas digitais utilizadas foram Instagram e YouTube. O objetivo deste estudo é descrever a ação extensionista e discutir as mídias sociais como estratégia de educação em saúde. As métricas do Instagram foram analisadas de maio a fevereiro de 2022, com média mensal de alcance de 1.928 e engajamento de 552 pessoas. Tivemos um total de 649 seguidores, sendo a maioria mulheres (80,8%) e adultos jovens até 34 anos (38,4%), provenientes da cidade de Belo Horizonte (57,4%). As webconferências abordaram os temas: retorno às atividades escolares presenciais, saúde mental infantil, aspectos bioéticos e direito à vacinação, testagem e atualização sobre vacinas contra Covid-19 para crianças. Em conjunto, houve mais de 6.000 visualizações. A estratégia de educação em saúde por meio de mídias digitais e transmissões on-line constitui importante ferramenta no cenário de distanciamento e do isolamento social imposto pela pandemia, contribuindo para a disseminação do conhecimento científico de qualidade. Palavras-chave: Educação em saúde, Coronavírus, Redes Sociais, Extensão Universitária Digital media in health education: A means to face the COVID-19 pandemic Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic was associated with disseminating a large volume of true and false information, potentially impacting disease control by interfering with preventive and therapeutic behaviors and conduct. Motivated by the need to produce reliable information and mitigate "fake news," professors and students of the Federal University of Minas Gerais developed an extension project on Covid-19 to disseminate educational materials to the general population through scientific posts and web conferencing. The digital platforms used for this purpose were Instagram and YouTube. This study aimed to describe the extensionist action and discuss social media as a health education strategy. Instagram metrics were analyzed from May to February 2022, with a monthly average reach of 1,928 and an engagement of 552 people. We had a total of 649 followers, most of them women (80.8%) and young adults up to 34 years old (38.4%) from the city of Belo Horizonte (57.4%). The web conferences addressed the topics: of return to face-to-face school activities, child mental health, bioethical aspects, and the right to vaccination, testing, and updating on vaccines against Covid-19 for children. Altogether, there were over 6,000 views. The health education strategy through digital media and online broadcasts is a crucial tool in the scenario of distancing and social isolation imposed by the pandemic, contributing to disseminating reliable scientific knowledge. Keywords: Health education, Coronavirus, Social Networks, University Extensio

TBVAC2020: Advancing tuberculosis vaccines from discovery to clinical development

TBVAC2020 is a research project supported by the Horizon 2020 program of the European Commission (EC). It aims at the discovery and development of novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccines from preclinical research projects to early clinical assessment. The project builds on previous collaborations from 1998 onwards funded through the EC framework programs FP5, FP6, and FP7. It has succeeded in attracting new partners from outstanding laboratories from all over the world, now totaling 40 institutions. Next to the development of novel vaccines, TB biomarker development is also considered an important asset to facilitate rational vaccine selection and development. In addition, TBVAC2020 offers portfolio management that provides selection criteria for entry, gating, and priority settings of novel vaccines at an early developmental stage. The TBVAC2020 consortium coordinated by TBVI facilitates collaboration and early data sharing between partners with the common aim of working toward the development of an effective TB vaccine. Close links with funders and other consortia with shared interests further contribute to this goal

Measurement of differential cross sections for top quark pair production using the lepton plus jets final state in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

National Science Foundation (U.S.

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good