Appropriateness of medication used among the elderly in the community setting to improve medication safety

Objective: To assess the appropriateness of medication used among the elderly in a community setting and to identify issues related to medication safety in a community setting.Methods: The study was conducted in a selected Grama Niladhari division in Colombo district. Cluster sampling was used to select households. All aged ≥ 60 years living in each of these household were interviewed by two pharmacists and regular medicines used by them were recorded from health records. Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) were detected using the ‘Screening tool of older people's prescriptions (STOPP) and Screening tool to alert to right treatment (START)’ criteria.Results: Among the 246 households, data were collected only from 68 patients. The rest were excluded as some residents (N=144) were uncooperative (did not open gate or not at home), and some (N=34) did not have their health records. The most common non-communicable diseases among the interviewed patients were hypertension (61.8%), and diabetes (52.9%). There were 42 patients with at least one PIM. Of the 79 PIMs detected among the interviewed patients, 36.7% were related to STOPP, and 63.3% to START criteria. The highest number of PIMs were associated with statins (N=15) and antiplatelet drugs (N=15). Of the health records assessed, there was at least one inadequate information in 24 health records.Conclusions: PIMs were identified in the prescriptions of elderly. Although it is important to frequently assess their medications, it is a challenging task in the community due to incomplete and unavailability of health records.

The formin FHOD1 and the small GTPase Rac1 promote vaccinia virus actin-based motility

Vaccinia virus dissemination relies on the N-WASP– ARP2/3 pathway, which mediates actin tail formation underneath cell-associated extracellular viruses (CEVs). Here, we uncover a previously unappreciated role for the formin FHOD1 and the small GTPase Rac1 in vaccinia actin tail formation. FHOD1 depletion decreased the number of CEVs forming actin tails and impaired the elongation rate of the formed actin tails. Recruitment of FHOD1 to actin tails relied on its GTPase binding domain in addition to its FH2 domain. In agreement with previous studies showing that FHOD1 is activated by the small GTPase Rac1, Rac1 was enriched and activated at the membrane surrounding actin tails. Rac1 depletion or expression of dominant-negative Rac1 phenocopied the effects of FHOD1 depletion and impaired the recruitment of FHOD1 to actin tails. FHOD1 overexpression rescued the actin tail formation defects observed in cells overexpressing dominant-negative Rac1. Altogether, our results indicate that, to display robust actin-based motility, vaccinia virus integrates the activity of the N-WASP– ARP2/3 and Rac1–FHOD1 pathways.Fil: Alvarez, Diego Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. University of Yale. School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Agaisse, Herve. University of Yale. School of Medicine; Estados Unido

Cuprous oxide/Titanium dioxide nanotube-array with coaxial heterogeneous structure synthesized by multiple-cycle chemical adsorption plus reduction method

We report the formation and characterization of Cuprous oxide/Titanium dioxide (Cu2O/TiO2) nanotube-array coaxial heterogeneous structure, which is supposed to have potential applications in photo-induced water decomposition and organic pollutant degradation. Such structure is formed by coating nano-particles of Cu2O onto titanium dioxide nanotube-array walls via multiple-cycle chemical adsorption plus reduction method (MC-CAR). The practical deposition technique employs a soaking step to separate the adsorption and reduction processes, thus enhancing the controllability of deposition rate and preventing the clogging of nanotube pores. The size of Cu2O nano-particles is adjusted by changing the glucose concentration in the reaction solutions. As a result, compact nano-particle film with sufficiently small crystal sizes is uniformly covered on the tube walls, resulting in the formation of coaxial heterogeneous structure. The detailed synthesis process and the surface morphology, structure, photoelectric properties, and hydrogen evolution ability of the Cu2O/TiO2 nanotube-array with coaxial heterogeneous structure are systematically investigated. The resulting film shows a stable hydrogen production rate of 3.1 mLcm-2h-1, which can be targeted for energy application in relation with solar energy driven production of hydrogen from water

Repetitive N-WASP–Binding Elements of the Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Effector EspFU Synergistically Activate Actin Assembly

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) generate F-actin–rich adhesion pedestals by delivering effector proteins into mammalian cells. These effectors include the translocated receptor Tir, along with EspFU, a protein that associates indirectly with Tir and contains multiple peptide repeats that stimulate actin polymerization. In vitro, the EspFU repeat region is capable of binding and activating recombinant derivatives of N-WASP, a host actin nucleation-promoting factor. In spite of the identification of these important bacterial and host factors, the underlying mechanisms of how EHEC so potently exploits the native actin assembly machinery have not been clearly defined. Here we show that Tir and EspFU are sufficient for actin pedestal formation in cultured cells. Experimental clustering of Tir-EspFU fusion proteins indicates that the central role of the cytoplasmic portion of Tir is to promote clustering of the repeat region of EspFU. Whereas clustering of a single EspFU repeat is sufficient to bind N-WASP and generate pedestals on cultured cells, multi-repeat EspFU derivatives promote actin assembly more efficiently. Moreover, the EspFU repeats activate a protein complex containing N-WASP and the actin-binding protein WIP in a synergistic fashion in vitro, further suggesting that the repeats cooperate to stimulate actin polymerization in vivo. One explanation for repeat synergy is that simultaneous engagement of multiple N-WASP molecules can enhance its ability to interact with the actin nucleating Arp2/3 complex. These findings define the minimal set of bacterial effectors required for pedestal formation and the elements within those effectors that contribute to actin assembly via N-WASP-Arp2/3–mediated signaling pathways

An open-source and Java-technologies approach to Web applications

Web applications have become a critical component of the global information infrastructure. In government organizations, proprietary software is currently being replaced by open-source. This thesis explores using open-source and Java technologies to implement Web applications. A prototype of the framework was implemented for a military information site. Implementation was straightforward and performance of the prototype was excellent, demonstrating advantages in terms of reliability, portability, maintainability, and economy.http://archive.org/details/anopensourcendja109456267Captain, Royal Thai ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited