BIBFRAME Linked Data: A Conceptual Study on the Prevailing Content Standards and Data Model

The BIBFRAME model is designed with a high degree of flexibility in that it can accommodate any number of existing models as well as models yet to be developed within the Web environment. The model’s flexibility is intended to foster extensibility. This study discusses the relationship of BIBFRAME to the prevailing content standards and models employed by cultural heritage institutions across museums, archives, libraries, historical societies, and community centers or those in the process of being adopted by cultural heritage institutions. This is to determine the degree to which BIBFRAME, as it is currently understood, can be a viable and extensible framework for bibliographic description and exchange in the Web environment. We highlight the areas of compatibility as well as areas of incompatibility. BIBFRAME holds the promise of freeing library data from the silos of online catalogs permitting library data to interact with data both within and outside the library community. We discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed in order to optimize the potential capabilities that the BIBFRAME model holds

Enabling nanomaterial, nanofabrication and cellular technologies for nanoneuromedicines

Nanoparticulate delivery systems represent an area of particular promise for nanoneuromedicines. They possess significant potential for desperately needed therapies designed to combat a range of disorders associated with aging. As such, the field was selected as the focus for the 2014 meeting of the American Society for Nanomedicine. Regenerative, protective, immune modulatory, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory products, or imaging agents are readily encapsulated in or conjugated to nanoparticles and as such facilitate the delivery of drug payloads to specific action sites across the blood-brain barrier. Diagnostic imaging serves to precisely monitor disease onset and progression while neural stem cell replacement can regenerate damaged tissue through control of stem cell fates. These, taken together, can improve disease burden and limit systemic toxicities. Such enabling technologies serve to protect the nervous system against a broad range of degenerative, traumatic, metabolic, infectious and immune disorders

Mito-Apocynin Prevents Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Microglial Activation, Oxidative Damage, and Progressive Neurodegeneration in MitoPark Transgenic Mice

Aims: Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor deficits and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Caused by a number of genetic and environmental factors, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress play a role in neurodegeneration in PD. By selectively knocking out mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) in dopaminergic neurons, the transgenic MitoPark mice recapitulate many signature features of the disease, including progressive motor deficits, neuronal loss, and protein inclusions. In the present study, we evaluated the neuroprotective efficacy of a novel mitochondrially targeted antioxidant, Mito-apocynin, in MitoPark mice and cell culture models of neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction. Results: Oral administration of Mito-apocynin (10 mg/kg, thrice a week) showed excellent central nervous system bioavailability and significantly improved locomotor activity and coordination in MitoPark mice. Importantly, Mito-apocynin also partially attenuated severe nigrostriatal degeneration in MitoPark mice. Mechanistic studies revealed that Mito-apo improves mitochondrial function and inhibits NOX2 activation, oxidative damage, and neuroinflammation. Innovation: The properties of Mito-apocynin identified in the MitoPark transgenic mouse model strongly support potential clinical applications for Mito-apocynin as a viable neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory drug for treating PD when compared to conventional therapeutic approaches. Conclusion: Collectively, our data demonstrate, for the first time, that a novel orally active apocynin derivative improves behavioral, inflammatory, and neurodegenerative processes in a severe progressive dopaminergic neurodegenerative model of PD. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 27, 1048–1066

Mitochondrial abnormalities in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease: can mitochondria be targeted therapeutically?

Mitochondrial abnormalities have been identified as a central mechanism in multiple neurodegenerative diseases and, therefore, the mitochondria have been explored as a therapeutic target. This review will focus on the evidence for mitochondrial abnormalities in the two most common neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, we discuss the main strategies which have been explored in these diseases to target the mitochondria for therapeutic purposes, focusing on mitochondrially targeted antioxidants, peptides, modulators of mitochondrial dynamics and phenotypic screening outcomes

Evaluation of Semi-Automatic Metadata Generation Tools: A Survey of the Current State of the Art

Assessment of the current landscape of semi-automatic metadata generation tools is particularly important considering the rapid development of digital repositories and the recent explosion of big data. Utilization of (semi)automatic metadata generation is critical in addressing these environmental changes and may be unavoidable in the future considering the costly and complex operation of manual metadata creation. To address such needs, this study examines the range of semi-automatic metadata generation tools (n=39) while providing an analysis of their techniques, features, and functions. The study focuses on open-source tools that can be readily utilized in libraries and other memory institutions.  The challenges and current barriers to implementation of these tools were identified. The greatest area of difficulty lies in the fact that  the piecemeal development of most semi-automatic generation tools only addresses part of the issue of semi-automatic metadata generation, providing solutions to one or a few metadata elements but not the full range elements.  This indicates that significant local efforts will be required to integrate the various tools into a coherent set of a working whole.  Suggestions toward such efforts are presented for future developments that may assist information professionals with incorporation of semi-automatic tools within their daily workflows