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Advances in drug-releasing vaginal rings
No full textIn recent years, there have been significant advances in the development of vaginal rings for administration of drugs aimed at improving women’s sexual and reproductive health, including the approval of two new products (DapiRing® and Annovera®). Much of the progress and innovation has been driven by efforts to develop new ring products for contraception, HIV prevention, and treatment/prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including multipurpose prevention technologies targeting multiple clinical indication. In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of the most recent advances in vaginal ring technology for drug delivery applications, focusing primarily on original research articles published within the past ten years. Initial sections of the review article are structured around the application of ring technologies to specific clinical indications, while later sections address next-generation devices, advances in ring testing methods, key challenges, and future opportunities and perspectives. This article will provide a useful reference source to academic, industrial and clinical researchers working in this field
Dataset for "A red meat value chain analysis: insight for reducing malnutrition in Indonesia"
No full textThis dataset plays a pivotal role in understanding Riau Province, Indonesia's red meat value chain, providing insights into potential strategies for reducing malnutrition. It comprises survey results from 13 expert suppliers or producers of red meat and 344 consumers within the region. The primary aim is to gauge various perspectives and practices surrounding the production and consumption of red meat, thereby identifying key areas for improvement and intervention. In the survey, consumer responses were initially recorded using a multi-level agreement scale, which ranged from "strongly disagree," with a score of 1, to "strongly agree," with a score of 6. Responses were converted into a binary format to streamline data analysis and enhance the quality and consistency of the data. This conversion involved grouping similar responses together or creating new categories for unexpected responses, ensuring the dataset supports robust and valid conclusions
Harmful objects (beloved subjects): colonial family archives
No full textThis is an essay on colonial documents and photos from 1950s and 1960s, that were kept in the attic of my childhood home in Northern Ireland. Most names to which they relate were unrecorded. They were produced by my grandparents, Douglas Crozier (1908-1976) and Ann Hobbs (1907-1981), who migrated to Hong Kong in the 1930s as teachers; and by their son (my father), Julian (1935-2006), who worked (1958-1964) as a district officer in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia), and mother, Maurna Frizzell (1942-2015), who joined him there in 1961. Before Maurna’s rapid decline, I had intended to engage in museological PhD research on colonial material culture in Ireland. However, domestic upheaval following her death led me to reconsider colonial identities in my own family; and also, the political and anthropological implications of inheriting possessions emanating from the colonial past. As a result, the PhD became autoethnographic. This led to my interest and current research in participant autoethnography as a means of collaboratively exploring the social impacts of imperialism. As a means of conversing with others about the uses of the method, I discuss a selection of colonial family documents here
The interactions of home literacy and home numeracy environment in different countries and contexts
No full textIn this chapter, we explore the intersection between home literacy and home numeracy environments across contexts. First, we present empirically-based models of these two environments, exposing the literature imbalance which has focused predominantly on home literacy, and the complexities associated with the operationalization of these environments. Second, we compare findings about the relation between each of these environments and children’s developing literacy and mathematics skills. We highlight the need for more longitudinal studies to provide evidence for the persistent relations between the home learning environment and children’s academic achievement as well as the need for rigorous intervention studies to determine causal effects of these environments. Finally, we discuss the complex role of culture in shaping home literacy and numeracy environments, exploring global patterns of similarity and difference, and detailing the challenges of researching the home environments of diverse groups
Promoting migrant children's rights by developing child-centred information
No full textThis chapter argues that promoting children’s right to information is crucial to enabling them to assert broader rights. This is particularly important in a migration context where children’s rights and interests are routinely ignored or conflated with those of their parents. The analysis draws on a Home Office–funded project carried out in June 2019–June 2021 to develop child-focused information relating to the EU Settlement Scheme, the immigration status established in the aftermath of Brexit. The analysis discusses the process, value, and effects of informing children directly of the implications of and process for registering for this new status. Importantly, it highlights the potential of child-centered information to serve as a tool for deliberative democracy that can stimulate listening and learning by legal experts and policymakers about how those with lived experience access and apply formal measures and ultimately stimulate responsive reform
Dacarbazine-loaded bilayer dissolving microneedle array patch for localized delivery in cutaneous melanoma
No full textMelanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer that accounts for only ~ 1% of all skin cancer cases but is responsible for most skin cancer-related deaths. Despite advances in systemic therapies, localized treatment options remain limited. Dacarbazine (DCB), the only FDA-approved chemotherapeutic agent for melanoma, is administered intravenously and is associated with systemic toxicity, poor patient compliance, and nonspecific drug distribution. This study presents a bilayer dissolving microneedle array patch (dMAP) for localized, minimally invasive delivery of DCB to the skin, offering a potential alternative for treating cutaneous melanoma. The tip-casting gel formulation was optimized to ensure sharp, defect-free MAP tips with uniform drug distribution. The optimized bilayer dMAP exhibited strong mechanical properties (< 10% needle deformation) and effective insertion capability, reaching approximately 390 µm in depth within the Parafilm® M model. Ex vivo evaluations using full-thickness neonatal porcine skin demonstrated the complete dissolution of bilayer dMAP tips within 60 min and effective pore formation, as confirmed by methylene blue staining. In ex vivo setup, the bilayer dMAP formulation demonstrated 3.93-fold increase in permeability and a 3.02-fold increase in DCB deposition compared with those of the suspension. Furthermore, bilayer dMAP maintained complete drug stability over 8 days at room temperature under light-protected conditions, whereas free DCB showed approximately 7.5% degradation in aqueous media over the same duration. Therefore, bilayer dMAP provides a stable, minimally invasive, and efficient platform for localized drug delivery to the skin, highlighting its potential as a promising alternative to conventional topical formulations for the treatment of cutaneous melanoma.</p
Modelling of interfacial morphology formation driven by thermal and hydrodynamic instabilities in injection overmoulding of fibre reinforced polymer composites
No full textComposite injection overmoulding offers a cost-effective and repeatable method for manufacturing complex composite structures. However, accurately predicting the strength of the interface between subcomponents remains a significant challenge, particularly for load-bearing applications. This difficulty mainly arises from the multiscale nature of interface formation. This study presents a combined numerical and experimental investigation into the formation of a complex interface morphology at the microscale. A multiscale CFD framework was developed to simulate transient heat and momentum transfer in a two-component composite system, composed of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) overmoulded onto a carbon fabric reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) laminate. Two interface configurations, differentiated by surface resin depth, are examined. The simulations reproduce key morphological patterns observed at the microscale, which are shown to arise from hydrodynamic instabilities, including Kelvin–Helmholtz and Richtmyer–Meshkov. The numerical results are validated against scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, providing a link between interfacial transport phenomena and the resulting structural morphology. The study demonstrates how local thermal gradients and shear-induced effects contribute to resin penetration and surface patterning at the interface in addition to local temperature. As interface temperature is a critical factor in healing-based models of interface strength, these findings underscore the potential of microscale simulations to predict temperature profiles and explain the formation of weld-line features. These predictions ultimately inform the design of stronger, more reliable overmoulded composites and are also of interest for researchers working on thermal–fluid transport, multiphase polymer flows, and interface dynamics in advanced manufacturing contexts.<br/
