Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

J Org Chem 2020 Jun 3. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Highly arylated α-alkenyl-β-diketones are synthesized via a two-step sequence consisting of (i) potassium tert-butoxide/DMSO-catalyzed (E)-stereoselective C-H functionalization of ketones with acetylenes followed by (ii) magnesium bromide etherate/DIPEA-soft enolization of the formed β,γ-unsaturated ketones and regioselective acylation with acyl chlorides. The method is compatible with a broad range of substrates and shown to be applicable as an intermediate stage in the construction of arylated heterocycles. Read More

Anal Chem 2020 Jun 3. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Many research institutions, clinical diagnostic laboratories, and blood banks are desperately searching for a possibility to identify and quantify heme in different physiological and pathological settings as well as various research applications. The reasons for this are the toxicity of heme and the fact that it acts as hemolytic and pro-inflammatory molecule. Heme only exerts these severe and undesired effects, when it is not incorporated in hemoproteins. Read More

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020 Jun 3. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Existing clinical cell therapies, which rely on the use of biological functionalities of living cells, can be further enhanced by conjugating functional particles to the cells to form cell-particle complexes. Disk-shaped microparticles produced by the top-down microfabrication approach possess unique advantages for this application. However, none of current mechanisms for conjugating the microfabricated microparticles to the cells is principally applicable to all types of cells with therapeutic potentials. Read More

Mol Syst Biol 2020 Jun;16(6):e9514

Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany.

While classical breeding traits have focussed on above-ground tissues, it is becoming clear that underground aspects of plant life are a hidden treasure of tools applicable for resilient crop production. Plants of the legume family develop specialized organs, called nodules, which serve as hosts for Rhizobium bacteroids. A highly specialized symbiotic relationship exists deep inside the nodules. Read More

Heliyon 2020 May 27;6(5):e04075. Epub 2020 May 27.

Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids MI, USA.

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the U.S. with metastatic disease remaining the major cause of patient death. Read More

Anim Cells Syst (Seoul) 2020 16;24(2):91-98. Epub 2020 Apr 16.

Department of Animal Life Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from outbred mice which share several genetic characteristics similar to humans have been requested for developing stem cell-based bioengineering techniques directly applicable to humans. Here, we report the generation of ESCs derived from the inner cell mass of blastocysts retrieved from 9-week-old female outbred ICR mice mated with 9-week-old male outbred ICR mice (ESCs). Similar to those from 129/Ola mouse blastocysts (ESCs), the established ESCs showed inherent characteristics of ESCs except for partial and weak protein expression and activity of alkaline phosphatase. Read More

Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2020 18;18:1103-1120. Epub 2020 May 18.

Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is the only first-line antitubercular drug active against latent (). It is activated to pyrazinoic acid by the -encoded pyrazinamidase enzyme (PZase). Despite the emergence of PZA drug resistance, the underlying mechanisms of resistance remain unclear. Read More

Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2020 15;18:1093-1102. Epub 2020 May 15.

Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.

Defining genes that are essential for life has major implications for understanding critical biological processes and mechanisms. Although essential genes have been identified and characterised experimentally using functional genomic tools, it is challenging to predict with confidence such genes from molecular and phenomic data sets using computational methods. Using extensive data sets available for the model organism , we constructed here a machine-learning (ML)-based workflow for the prediction of essential genes on a genome-wide scale. Read More

Cancer Cell Int 2020 24;20:181. Epub 2020 May 24.

Key Laboratory of Birth Defect Prevention of National Health Commission, Zhengzhou, 450002 Henan China.

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is a common female reproductive malignancy with a high mortality rate. Although LAMA4 was observed to be downregulated in OC cells, its mechanism in regulating OC metastasis is still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of LAMA4 and its mechanism on OC. Read More

Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 2020 Apr;45(7):1606-1610

Centre for Evidence-based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029, China.

The development of the guidelines should not only meet the rigorous methodological requirements, but also ensure the credibility or enforceability of the guideline recommendations when they are applied in clinical practice. Based on the idea of establi-shing a perfect guideline evaluation system applicable to the field of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), the author believed that a complete evaluation system of clinical practice guidelines in the field of TCM shall be divided into three parts: quality evaluation, applicability evaluation and clinical application investigation. Among them, applicability evaluation refers to the evaluation of the degree of fit between the guideline and clinical practice, that is, whether the guidelines have good readability and clinical applicability to promote clinical application. Read More

Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 2020 Apr;45(7):1600-1605

Centre for Evidence-based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Beijing 100029, China.

Based on the idea of establishing a complete guideline evaluation system applicable to the field of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), the author believes that a complete guideline evaluation system of traditional Chinese medicine clinical practice should be divided into three parts: quality evaluation, clinical applicability evaluation and clinical application investigation. According to the different purposes, different evaluators, different evaluation methods and different evaluation time points in the guideline evaluation, the quality evaluation recommendation list, the clinical applicability evaluation recommendation list and the clinical application questionnaire were formed. Among them, the purpose of quality evaluation is to evaluate the methodological quality in the guideline development process, in order to measure whether the entire guideline development process is scientifically rigorous. Read More

Environ Geochem Health 2020 Jun 1. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

University of Exeter, Devon, UK.

While fundamental research into key mechanisms and interactions is important, the practical investigations that scientists also undertake have additional considerations, since the results are applicable in the real world but need disseminating in a way that reaches the intended audience. Worldwide, rapid population growth produces multiple pressures on land, meaning agriculture must become more efficient and productive. Other pressures on farmers are also increasing: to meet environmental quality standards, to follow legislation about application of chemical products, to remain financially viable against uncertain markets, and more. Read More

ALTEX 2020 May 26. Epub 2020 May 26.

Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.

Pyrogen content is a key quality feature that must be checked in all injectable products, including vaccines. Four tests are currently available in the European Pharmacopoeia to monitor pyrogen/endotoxin presence: 1) the Rabbit Pyrogen Test (RPT), 2) the Bacterial Endotoxin Test, 3) the Recombinant Factor C test and the Monocyte Activation Test (MAT). Here, we explored the possibility to replace RPT with the MAT in the quality control of a vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Read More

Sci Rep 2020 Jun 2;10(1):9017. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.

Here we report on the effects of material strength factors on the generation of surface structure due to nonuniform laser irradiation. The influence of material strength on the generation of perturbation on a diamond surface subjected to nonuniform laser irradiation was experimentally investigated. Our previous investigations suggested that stiffer and denser materials reduce surface perturbation due to spatially nonuniform laser irradiation, which was reproduced well by calculations with multi-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation code. Read More

Sci Rep 2020 Jun 2;10(1):8947. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

School of Physics, AMBER and CRANN Institute, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.

We introduce neutral excitation density-functional theory (XDFT), a computationally light, generally applicable, first-principles technique for calculating neutral electronic excitations. The concept is to generalise constrained density functional theory to free it from any assumptions about the spatial confinement of electrons and holes, but to maintain all the advantages of a variational method. The task of calculating the lowest excited state of a given symmetry is thereby simplified to one of performing a simple, low-cost sequence of coupled DFT calculations. Read More

Nat Commun 2020 Jun 2;11(1):2743. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow Road, Madison, WI, 53711, USA.

Concerted multidisciplinary efforts have led to the development of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase inhibitors (CDKi's) as small molecule drugs and chemical probes of intracellular CDK function. However, conflicting data has been reported on the inhibitory potency of CDKi's and a systematic characterization of affinity and selectivity against intracellular CDKs is lacking. We have developed a panel of cell-permeable energy transfer probes to quantify target occupancy for all 21 human CDKs in live cells, and present a comprehensive evaluation of intracellular isozyme potency and selectivity for a collection of 46 clinically-advanced CDKi's and tool molecules. Read More

Eur J Endocrinol 2020 Jul;183(1):83-93

Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.

Objective: The characteristics of metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs) have been investigated as important predictors of recurrence and progression in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). However, clinically applicable risk stratification systems are limited to the assessment of size and number of MLNs. This study investigated the predictive value of detailed characteristics of MLNs in combination with currently used risk stratification systems. Read More

Respir Res 2020 Jun 2;21(1):134. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Given the heterogeneity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), personalized clinical management is key to optimizing patient outcomes. Important treatment goals include minimizing disease activity and preventing disease progression; however, quantification of these components remains a challenge. Growing evidence suggests that decline over time in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV), traditionally the key marker of disease progression, may not be sufficient to fully determine deterioration across COPD populations. Read More

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 2020 Jun 1;20(1):99. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Department of Emergency Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, 06351, Republic of Korea.

Background: The Elliot wave principle commonly characterizes the impulsive and corrective wave trends for both financial market trends and electrocardiograms. The impulsive wave trends of electrocardiograms can annotate several wave components of heart-beats including pathological heartbeat waveforms. The stopping time inquires which ordinal element satisfies the assumed mathematical condition within a numerical set. Read More

BMC Psychiatry 2020 Jun 1;20(1):271. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Department of Research and Quality of Care, ARKIN Mental Health Institute, Klaprozenweg 111, 1033, NN, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Background: This naturalistic study examined the outcomes of Short-Term Schema Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in groups with personality disorders, and with high and low severity of depressive symptoms.

Methods: Assessments were made at baseline, at mid-treatment (week 10), at treatment termination (week 20) and at three-month follow-up (week 32) of 225 patients with personality disorders and high severity of depressive symptoms (PD-Hi) and patients with low severity of depressive symptoms (PD-Lo). The assessments focused on symptom (Symptom Checklist-90) and schema severity (Young Schema Questionnaire) and coping styles (Utrecht Coping List). Read More

Materials (Basel) 2020 May 31;13(11). Epub 2020 May 31.

Department of Biomaterials, School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.

Composite dust generation is most likely a continuous and daily procedure in dental practice settings. The aim of this systematic review was to identify, compile and evaluate existing evidence on interventions and composite material properties related to the production of aerosolized dust during routine dental procedures. Seven electronic databases were searched, with no limits, supplemented by a manual search, on 27 April 2020 for published and unpublished research. Read More

Micromachines (Basel) 2020 May 30;11(6). Epub 2020 May 30.

Department of Signal Theory and Communications, and Telematics Engineering University of Valladolid, Paseo de Belén 15, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.

A compact textile ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna with an electrical dimension of 0.24λ × 0.24λ × 0. Read More

Nutrients 2020 May 30;12(6). Epub 2020 May 30.

Nephrology and Dialysis, Centre Hospitalier Le Mans, Avenue Roubillard 194, 72000 Le Mans, France.

In the almost 30 years that have passed since the postulation of the "Developmental Origins of Health and Disease" theory, it has been clearly demonstrated that a mother's dietary habits during pregnancy have potential consequences for her offspring that go far beyond in utero development. Protein malnutrition during pregnancy, for instance, can cause severe alterations ranging from intrauterine growth retardation to organ damage and increased susceptibility to hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease (CKD) later in life both in experimental animals and humans. Conversely, a balanced mild protein restriction in patients affected by CKD has been shown to mitigate the biochemical derangements associated with kidney disease and even slow its progression. Read More

Micromachines (Basel) 2020 May 30;11(6). Epub 2020 May 30.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan.

We demonstrate capture of event-related potentials (ERPs) using candle-like dry microneedle electrodes (CMEs). CMEs can record an electroencephalogram (EEG) even from hairy areas without any skin preparation, unlike conventional wet electrodes. In our previous research, we experimentally verified that CMEs can measure the spontaneous potential of EEG from the hairy occipital region without preparation with a signal-to-noise ratio as good as that of the conventional wet electrodes which require skin preparation. Read More

Found Mol Model Simul (2015) 2016 2;2016:37-52. Epub 2016 Jun 2.

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235.

A coarse-grained water model is developed using multistate iterative Boltzmann inversion. Following previous work, the -means algorithm is used to dynamically map multiple water molecules to a single coarse-grained bead, allowing the use of structure-based coarse-graining methods. The model is derived to match the bulk and interfacial properties of liquid water and improves upon previous work that used single state iterative Boltzmann inversion. Read More

Biomater Sci 2013 Apr 10;1(4):421-433. Epub 2013 Jan 10.

State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.

The development of embeddable and remotely interrogatable nanomaterials that allow dynamic quantification of intracellular glucose levels can contribute to a better understanding of physiology. We develop a fluorescent hybrid nanogel glucometer (FNG) that is applicable for intracellular glucometry. Such a FNG (<200 nm) is comprised of ZnO quantum dots covalently bonded onto a loosely-crosslinked gel network of poly(acrylamide), which is interpenetrated in another relatively highly-crosslinked gel network of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-2-acrylamidomethyl-5-fluorophenylboronic acid). Read More

Biomater Sci 2014 Sep 30;2(9):1186-1194. Epub 2014 Apr 30.

Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China.

Platelets have exhibited capabilities beyond clotting in recent years. Most of their functions are related to the nature of platelet adhesion. Establishing a facile method to understand the platelet adhesion and assess the platelet function through the mechanism and mechanics of adhesion is highly desired. Read More

Funct Plant Biol 2016 May;43(5):438-447

Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University, 836 Ohya, Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan.

The xanthophyll cycle is critical for protecting the photosynthetic apparatus from light-induced oxidative stress. A clear view of the xanthophyll cycle is thus important for understanding abiotic stresses that are closely related to plant growth and reproduction. The epoxidation state (EPS) is well correlated with the photosynthetic radiation use efficiency, and is widely used for assessing the xanthophyll cycle. Read More

Biofabrication 2020 Jun 2. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Institute of Biomaterials, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Department Werkstoffwissenschaften, Erlangen, Bayern, GERMANY.

Many different biofabrication approaches as well as a variety of bioinks have been developed by researchers working in the field of tissue engineering. A main challenge for bioinks often remains the difficulty to achieve shape fidelity after printing. In order to overcome this issue, a homogeneous pre-crosslinking technique, which is generally applicable to all alginate-based materials, was developed in this study. Read More

Biomed Pharmacother 2020 May 30;128:110280. Epub 2020 May 30.

Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address:

Background: Guanxin V (GXV), a traditional herbal mixture, has been widely used in clinical practice for the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). This retrospective study was designed to assess the safety and effectiveness of GXV for CAD.

Methods: In our study, December 2006 to January 2009, 101 patients with CAD from Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine were enrolled, of whom 52 patients received GXV plus guideline-recommended medical therapy (GMT) (GXV group), 49 patients received GMT alone (GMT group). Read More

Sci Total Environ 2020 May 21;736:139570. Epub 2020 May 21.

Environment and Biotechnology Research Division, RIPI, Tehran, P.O. Box 14857-33111, Tehran, Iran.

The main challenge in utilizing permeable reactive barriers (PRB) for remediation of metals-contaminated groundwater is determination of a proper low-cost reactive medium that can remove the desired contaminants simultaneously. In this study, the performance of different zeolite materials and nZVI-based adsorbents for cadmium (Cd) removal was compared. Further, a composite of the best nZVI and zeolite samples was synthesized with the removal efficiency of 20. Read More

Curr Med Chem 2020 Jun 2. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Hunan Key Laboratory for Super Microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics Central South University, Changsha 410083. China.

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the slow progress in searching for new antimicrobial agents make it hard to treat bacterial infections and cause problems for the healthcare system worldwide, including high costs, prolonged hospitalizations, and increased mortality. Therefore, the discovery of effective antibacterial agents is of great importance. One attractive alternative is antisense peptide nucleic acid (PNA), which inhibits or eliminates gene expression by binding to the complementary messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence of essential genes or the accessible and functionally important regions of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Read More

Chemistry 2020 Jun 2. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Tohoku University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 6-3 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, 980-8578, Sendai, JAPAN.

An aerobic dehydrogenation of N -containing heterocycles catalyzed by Grubbs catalyst is developed. The reaction is applicable to various N -containing heterocycles. The exceptionally high functional group compatibility of this method was confirmed by the oxidation of an unprotected dihydroindolactam V to indolactam V. Read More

Brief Bioinform 2020 Jun 2. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Central South University, China.

Machine learning-based scoring functions (MLSFs) have attracted extensive attention recently and are expected to be potential rescoring tools for structure-based virtual screening (SBVS). However, a major concern nowadays is whether MLSFs trained for generic uses rather than a given target can consistently be applicable for VS. In this study, a systematic assessment was carried out to re-evaluate the effectiveness of 14 reported MLSFs in VS. Read More

Camb Q Healthc Ethics 2020 Jul;29(3):426-428

In "Medical Ethics: Common or Uncommon Morality,"1 Rosamond Rhodes defends a specialist view of medical ethics, specifically the ethics of physicians. Rhodes's account is specifically about the ethics of medical professionals, rooted in what these professionals do. It would seem to follow that other healthcare professions might be subject to ethical standards that differ from those applicable to physicians, rooted in what these other professions do, but I leave this point aside for purposes of this commentary. Read More

J Clin Immunol 2020 Jun 1. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Immunity and Inflammation Theme, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria St, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, 2010, Australia.

The Clinical Immunogenomics Research Consortium Australasia (CIRCA) crowdsources expertise in medicine, genomics, data science, and fundamental biology to diagnose and treat patients with rare inborn errors of immunity. This distributed network model operates free of geographic borders and allows rapid progression through the full research/translation/clinical management pipeline, from initial gene variant discovery, through functional validation, and on to precision mechanism-based treatment of patients throughout Australia and New Zealand. The model is scalable and applicable to other rare diseases where clinical experience and scientific know-how are limited, and enables efficient delivery of genomics for all. Read More

Nanotheranostics 2020 22;4(3):142-155. Epub 2020 Apr 22.

Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet Building 423, DK 2800 Lyngby, Denmark.

Liquid brachytherapy is an emerging technology for internal radiation therapy where liquids containing radionuclides are administered directly into solid tumors. These technologies are less invasive than conventional brachytherapy, and can potentially improve the dose coverage and homogeneity of the radioactivity distribution within the tumor. For this purpose, we have developed a novel cationic micelle system for delivery of a range of radionuclides. Read More

Theranostics 2020 15;10(13):6024-6034. Epub 2020 May 15.

Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Stanford University, CA, 94305, USA.

Autologous therapeutic cells are typically harvested and transplanted in one single surgery. This makes it impossible to label them with imaging biomarkers through classical transfection techniques in a laboratory. To solve this problem, we developed a novel microfluidic device, which provides highly efficient labeling of therapeutic cells with imaging biomarkers through mechanoporation. Read More

Nat Commun 2020 Jun 1;11(1):2702. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, 100101, Beijing, China.

WIPI proteins (WIPI1-4) are mammalian PROPPIN family phosphoinositide effectors essential for autophagosome biogenesis. In addition to phosphoinositides, WIPI proteins can recognize a linear WIPI-interacting-region (WIR)-motif, but the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we determine the structure of WIPI3 in complex with the WIR-peptide from ATG2A. Read More

J Microbiol Biotechnol 2020 May;30(5):662-667

Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are not only genetic markers for diagnosis but also biomarkers of clinical-response against tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Among the EGFR mutations, the in-frame deletion mutation in EGFR exon 19 kinase domain (EGFR exon 19-del) is the most frequent mutation, accounting for about 45% of EGFR mutations in NSCLCs. Development of sensitive method for detecting the EGFR mutation is highly required to make a better screening for drug-response in the treatment of NSCLC patients. Read More

Eur J Intern Med 2020 May 29. Epub 2020 May 29.

CIBERESP-IBIS-ROCIO-University Hospital; Fundación Enebro, Seville, Spain. Electronic address:

The rising number of clinical guidelines poses a new challenge to the internists. The main problems are: 1) available documents suffer from heterogeneous methodological quality, and 2) most of clinical guidelines target an 'ideal' patient affected by a single condition, while in real practice internists must face with comorbid patients typically undergoing a polypharmacy. To help address this challenge, EFIM Clinical Practice Working Group started a project aimed to answer a series of relevant clinical questions, by selecting the best available guidance containing recommendations applicable to complex patients under polypharmacy. Read More

Fertil Steril 2020 Jun;113(6):1275-1285.e2

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, People's Republic of China. Electronic address:

Objective: To investigate the placental morphology alterations and identify the clinical characteristics of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and their newborns. Pregnant women with PCOS (n = 12) and pregnant women without PCOS (n = 11) were recruited. Then, the placenta, maternal blood and cord blood were collected after delivery. Read More

Syst Rev 2020 Jun 1;9(1):124. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, 160-500 University Ave, Toronto, ON, M5G 1V7, Canada.

Background: Current understandings of the etiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the trajectory of care significantly lack consideration for the inclusion of Black populations. The global prevalence of TBI is increasing, particularly in North America and Europe where approximately 65 million people are affected every year. Although community integration is an ultimate goal of rehabilitation post injury, persons with TBI, particularly Black populations continually face challenges with regards to unmet needs along the continuum of care including meaningful participation and vocation, resulting in occupational deprivation. Read More

Microbiome 2020 Jun 1;8(1):76. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Department of Microbial Ecology, Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Background: Cultivation-independent methods, including metagenomics, are tools for the exploration and discovery of biotechnological compounds produced by microbes in natural environments. Glycoside hydrolases (GHs) enzymes are extremely desired and important in the industry of production for goods and biofuel and removal of problematic biofilms and exopolysaccharide (EPS). Biofilms and EPS are complex, requiring a wide range of enzymes for a complete degradation. Read More

Mar Drugs 2020 May 28;18(6). Epub 2020 May 28.

Pharmazeutische Biotechnologie, Universität des Saarlandes, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.

Streptomycetes are an important source of natural products potentially applicable in the pharmaceutical industry. Many of these drugs are secondary metabolites whose biosynthetic genes are very often poorly expressed under laboratory cultivation conditions. In many cases, antibiotic-resistant mutants exhibit increased production of natural drugs, which facilitates the identification and isolation of new substances. Read More

Sports (Basel) 2020 May 28;8(6). Epub 2020 May 28.

Exercise Physiology, Training & Training Therapy Research Group, Institute of Sports Science, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.

The aim of our study is to determine the first (LTP) and the second (LTP) lactate turn points during an incremental bicep curl test and to verify these turn points by ventilatory turn points (VT and VT) and constant-load exercise tests. Twelve subjects performed a one-arm incremental bicep curl exercise (IET) after a one repetition maximum (1RM) test to calculate the step rate for the incremental exercise (1RM/45). Workload was increased every min at a rate of 30 reps/min until maximum. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020 May 28;17(11). Epub 2020 May 28.

PharmacoEpidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, & PharmaTox Strategic Research Initiative, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway.

Nation-wide information about medication use in pregnancy is lacking for Italy, and no study has so far investigated the prescribed medications which pregnant women deliberately avoid. In this study, we map medication use patterns in pregnancy, as well as the extent and type of prescribed medications which are purposely avoided by pregnant women in Italy. This is a sub-study within the "Multinational Medication Use in Pregnancy Study"-a cross-sectional, web-based study conducted in Italy from 7 November 2011 to 7 January 2012. Read More

J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 2020 Jun;20(2):176-184

Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.

Objective: Forward falls are among the most frequent causes of upper extremity fractures. This study investigated the safety considerations to prevent wrist injuries during bimanual forward falls.

Methods: A biomechanical model was developed with two separated arms to facilitate investigation of asymmetrical contact and predict the impact force applied to each hand separately. Read More

Addict Behav 2020 May 8;108:106465. Epub 2020 May 8.

South Bank University, London, England.

Third wave cognitive and behavioral therapies have garnered significant attention in the study and treatment of addiction. Such treatments employ a process-oriented, transdiagnostic approach to mitigate problematic thought and behavioral patterns and consequences associated with substance use. Although initial evidence is promising, much remains unknown regarding the impact of third wave processes on substance use behavior and treatment outcomes. Read More