Therapeutic Potential of BMX-001 for Preventing Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathic Pain.

: Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) represents a critical challenge in oncology, emerging as a common and debilitating side effect of widely used chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel (PTX). Current therapeutic interventions and preventive strategies for CINP are largely insufficient, as they fail to address the underlying peripheral nerve damage, highlighting an urgent need for the development of new drugs. This study aimed to investigate the dual-function effects on normal cell protection and tumor suppression of BMX-001, a redox-active manganese metalloporphyrin that has demonstrated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which offers potential in protecting central nervous system tissues and treating CINP.

Enhancing peripheral nerve regeneration with rehabilitation and biomaterial-driven drug delivery strategies.

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is a common problem worldwide. PNI can lead to loss of sensory and motor functions, chronic neuropathic pain, and mental health issues, significantly impacting the patients' quality of life. Recent studies revealed that, beyond the topical injury site at peripheral nerves, PNIs can also induce dysfunctions in the central nervous system by causing maladaptive plasticity, which will result in exaggeration and exacerbation of the pathological condition caused by the primary injuries.

Porous Decellularized Nerve Grafts Facilitate Recellularization and Nerve Regeneration in a Rat Model of Critical Long-Gap Peripheral Nerve Injury.

Severe peripheral nerve injury (PNI) requiring nerve graft remains a clinical challenge due to limitations associated with currently available grafts. While decellularized nerve grafts (DNGs) are commonly used, their efficacy is largely restricted to short-gap repairs due to their acellular and dense structure, which poses a persistent challenge in the treatment of critical long-gap nerve defects. It is hypothesized that making porous DNGs (PDNGs) can create a suitable microenvironment that would facilitate the cell infiltration, recellularization, and further axonal growth to enhance nerve regeneration.

Double-Layer Microneedle Patch Loaded with HA-PBA-QCT for Management of Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathic Pain.

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) is a common adverse effect of antineoplastic drugs, often leading to dose reduction, treatment delays, or cessation of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy agents, like paclitaxel (PTX), damage the somatosensory nervous system by inducing neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, resulting in the sensitization of sensory neurons. Quercetin (QCT), known for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties, is investigated for various neurological disorders.

Engineering Neurotoxin-Functionalized Exosomes for Targeted Delivery to the Peripheral Nervous System.

The administration of therapeutics to peripheral nerve tissue is challenging due to the complexities of peripheral neuroanatomy and the limitations imposed by the blood-nerve barrier (BNB). Therefore, there is a pressing need to enhance delivery effectiveness and implement targeted delivery methods. Recently, erythrocyte-derived exosomes (Exos) have gained widespread attention as biocompatible vehicles for therapeutics in clinical applications.

Studies on the Digital Inclusion Among Older Adults and the Quality of Life-A Nanjing Example in China.

Digital inclusion can bridge the digital divide and reduce the social exclusion of older adults, yet it is understudied in China. This research examined factors influencing the digital inclusion of older adults in China and the relationship between digital inclusion and quality of life. Data collected from 312 older people ( = 69.

Social Technology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving Care for Older Adults.

Population aging is a defining demographic reality of our era. It is associated with an increase in the societal burden of delivering care to older adults with chronic conditions or frailty. How to integrate global population aging and technology development to help address the growing demands for care facing many aging societies is both a challenge and an opportunity for innovation.

Effects of Discontinue Rules on Psychometric Properties of Test Scores.

This paper provides results on a form of adaptive testing that is used frequently in intelligence testing. In these tests, items are presented in order of increasing difficulty. The presentation of items is adaptive in the sense that a session is discontinued once a test taker produces a certain number of incorrect responses in sequence, with subsequent (not observed) responses commonly scored as wrong.

Interleukin-6 deficiency attenuates angiotensin II-induced cardiac pathogenesis with increased myocyte hypertrophy.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) signaling is critical for cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, while the role of IL-6 in the pathogenesis of myocardium hypertrophy remains controversial. To determine the essential role of IL-6 signaling for the cardiac development during AngII-induced hypertension, and to elucidate the mechanisms, wild-type (WT) and IL-6 knockout (IL-6 KO) mice were infused subcutaneously with either vehicle or AngII (1.5 μg/h/mouse) for 1 week.

AKT2 deficiency induces retardation of myocyte development through EndoG-MEF2A signaling in mouse heart.

Protein kinase B2 (AKT2) is implicated in diverse process of cardiomyocyte signaling including survival and metabolism. However, the role of AKT2 in myocardium development and the signaling pathway is rarely understood. Therefore, we sought to determine the effect of AKT2 deletion on heart development and its downstream targets.

Guan (Care/Control): An Ethnographic Understanding of Care for People with Severe Mental Illness from Shanghai's Urban Communities.

This article investigates how the political culture of Guan (care/control) in China is played out across the platforms of the state, the community and the family through the lens of caring for people with severe mental illness in urban Shanghai. Based on ethnographic data collected from six communities in a district of Shanghai, we provide a nuanced understanding of the roles of family members, street committees and other governmental organizations in their daily practices of caring for people with severe mental illness. We show the complicated and intertwined relationships between local governmental agents and the family.

Calculating theoretical base rates of score differences.

Objective: In this study, we developed new methods to calculate theoretical base rates of score differences when more than two test scores are involved in score comparisons. The study compares the results of theoretical and observed base rates, and then explores whether these methods can be used in practice.

Methods: We proposed the formulas and the Monte Carlo methods calculating theoretical base rates of score differences between a single test score and a mean of several test scores by overall sample and subsamples.

It is the examinee's IQ.

In response to the question "Whose IQ is it?" raised by McDermott, Watkins, and Rhoad (2014), this study examined the same concern about assessor bias by applying hierarchical linear modeling to a large and representative standardization sample of 2,200 child records in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). When differences in child age, gender, ethnicity, parental education level, and some intellectual abilities were cojointly used as covariates to adjust for nonrandom assignment problems, the results revealed that the Level 2 assessor variance was trivial for Full Scale IQ and all WISC-IV scores, ranging from 1%-5%, with the only exception being the Comprehension subtest, which showed a moderate level of between-assessor variance (10%). Evidence shows that WISC-IV scores are valid measures of children's intellectual abilities, with no evidence showing harmful assessor bias.

The relationship between mean square differences and standard error of measurement: comment on Barchard (2012).

In the discussion of mean square difference (MSD) and standard error of measurement (SEM), Barchard (2012) concluded that the MSD between 2 sets of test scores is greater than 2(SEM)² and SEM underestimates the score difference between 2 tests when the 2 tests are not parallel. This conclusion has limitations for 2 reasons. First, strictly speaking, MSD should not be compared to SEM because they measure different things, have different assumptions, and capture different sources of errors.

Predicting performance in the first-year of pharmacy school.

Objectives: To determine the predictive validity of the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) scores and other variables for students' success in the first year of doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs.

Methods: PCAT scores, entering grade-point averages (GPAs), demographic characteristics, and GPAs for the first year of pharmacy curriculum were collected from the Pharmacy College Application Service (PharmCAS) and from 22 pharmacy programs.

Results: PCAT scores and entering GPAs were positively correlated with subsequent GPAs after the first year.

Surviving the crisis: Adaptive wisdom, coping mechanisms and local responses to avian influenza threats in Haining, China.

Based on ethnographic research conducted in the summer of 2006, this paper examines local responses to the imminent threat of avian flu in Haining County of Zhejiang Province. During our field investigation, we conducted interviews with officials from local medical institutions (including the hospitals, the animal husbandry and veterinary station, and health clinics), to bureaus of public health and agro-economy. We also visited chicken farms, restaurants and farming households.

Monte Carlo simulation of time-dependent, transport-limited fluorescent boundary measurements in frequency domain.

Recently, we have presented and experimentally validated a unique numerical solver of the coupled radiative transfer equations (RTEs) for rapidly computing time-dependent excitation and fluorescent light propagation in small animal tomography. Herein, we present a time-dependent Monte Carlo algorithm to validate the forward RTE solver and investigate the impact of physical parameters upon transport-limited measurements in order to best direct the development of the RTE solver for optical tomography. Experimentally, the Monte Carlo simulations for both transport-limited and diffusion-limited propagations are validated using frequency domain photon migration measurements for 1.

Radiative transport in fluorescence-enhanced frequency domain photon migration.

Small animal optical tomography has significant, but potential application for streamlining drug discovery and pre-clinical investigation of drug candidates. However, accurate modeling of photon propagation in small animal volumes is critical to quantitatively obtain accurate tomographic images. Herein we present solutions from a robust fluorescence-enhanced, frequency domain radiative transport equation (RTE) solver with unique attributes that facilitate its deployment within tomographic algorithms.

Evaluation of ingredient concentration in powders using two-speed photon migration theory and measurements.

Two-speed photon migration in densely packed powder blends wherein the particle diameters are much larger than the incident wavelength are simulated with (i) dynamic simulation of particle sedimentation for generating powder structure, (ii) the complete-random-mixture model for predicting the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) distribution within the powder bed, and (iii) Monte Carlo for tracking the photon trajectories. The simulation results reveal that while both absorption and isotropic scattering coefficients increase with solid-volume fraction ranging from 0.12 to 0.

Measurements of FRET in a glucose-sensitive affinity system with frequency-domain lifetime spectroscopy.

We report measurements of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) for glucose sensing in an established concanavalin A-dextran affinity system using frequency-domain lifetime spectroscopy. A dextran (MW 2,000,000) labeled with a small fluorescent donor molecule, Alexa Fluor 568, was used to competitively bind to a sugar-binding protein, concanavalin A, labeled with acceptor molecule, Alexa Fluor 647, in the presence of glucose. The FRET-quenching kinetics of the donor were analyzed from frequency-domain measurements as a function of both glucose and acceptor-protein concentrations using a Förster-type decay kinetics model.

Evaluation of photon migration using a two speed model for characterization of packed powder beds and dense particulate suspensions.

A two-speed photon diffusion equation is developed for light propagation in a powder bed of high volume fraction or dense particulate suspension, whereby the light speed is impacted by the refractive index difference between particles and the suspending medium. The equation is validated using Monte Carlo simulation of light propagation coupled with dynamic simulation of particle sedimentation for the non-uniform arrangement of powder particles. Frequency domain experiments at 650 nm for a 77-microm-diameter resin-powder and 50-microm-diameter lactose-powder beds as well as resin-water and lactose-ethanol suspensions confirm the scattering and absorption coefficients derived from the two-speed diffusion equation.

Determination of optical properties in semi-infinite turbid media using imaging measurements of frequency-domain photon migration obtained with an intensified charge-coupled device.

Frequency-domain photon migration measurements across the surface of a tissue-mimicking, semi-infinite phantom are acquired via an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) detection system and used in conjunction with the diffusion approximation to determine the optical properties. The absorption and reduced scattering coefficients are determined least accurately when relative measurements of average light intensity I(rel)dc are employed either alone or in a combination with relative modulation amplitude data I(rel)ac and/or relative phase shift data theta(rel). The absorption and reduced scattering coefficients are found accurate to within 15 and 11%, respectively, of the values obtained from standard single-pixel measurements when theta(rel) measurements are employed alone or in combination with I(rel)ac data.

Measurement of low-dose active pharmaceutical ingredient in a pharmaceutical blend using frequency-domain photon migration.

Frequency-domain photon migration (FDPM) measurements of time-dependent light propagation are conducted to provide the powder absorbance for quantitative prediction of terazosin as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in a low-dose (0.72 wt %) oral tablet formulation. Calibration of the FDPM-derived powder absorbance at discrete wavelengths of 514, 650, 687, and 785 nm was performed for API contents ranging between 0 and 1.

Volume of pharmaceutical powders probed by frequency-domain photon migration measurements of multiply scattered light.

Using probability distribution analysis to describe the propagation of multiply scattered light between a point source and point detector located a known distance apart, mathematical expressions predicting the volume of sampled powder were determined for infinite and semi-infinite powder beds and then compared to experimental measurements of frequency-domain photon migration (FDPM). Our results show that the volume of powder sampled varies with optical properties and, when using FDPM techniques, with modulation frequency. For a typical measurement in lactose powder, the volume of powder sampled by multiply scattered light propagating between a 1000-microm-diameter point source and point detector pair separated by 8 mm is predicted to be 1.