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A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry study on the spirocyclization of ninhydrin with the aminothiols
Get PDF© 2018 Elsevier BV. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (May 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policy.Ninhydrin reacts with some aminothiols to form spiranes adducts whose optical and
chromatographic properties have proved to be useful for chiral recognition. Liquid
chromatography-mass spectrometry data along with spectroscopic analysis reveal that under certain
conditions, in addition to the known single-spirane configuration, the spirothiazolidinic complexes
can exist also as double- and mixed double-spiranes. The reaction was exploited to check the
enantiomeric purity of two commercially available dosage form of D-penicillamine and to measure
the aminothiol concentration in the urine sample from a subject under treatment with the drug.
Separation of diastereoisomers was achieved on a C18 column in isocratic mode by using a mixture
of an aqueous solution of formic acid (30 mmol/L)/acetonitrile (90:10, v/v) as a mobile phase.
Diastereoisomers were detected by a fluorescence detector and mass spectrometer in short times
and with a good resolution. Intra- and inter-assay reproducibility were under 4% with an average
recovery of 98%. At a LOD of 0.01%, no evidence of the toxic distomer (L-enantiomer) was found
in the biological sample and drugs
Economic evaluation of point-of-care testing in the remote primary health care setting of Australia’s Northern Territory
Get PDFThis work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.
php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work
you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For
permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).Aim: To determine the cost-effectiveness of utilizing point-of-care testing (POCT) on the Abbott
i-STAT device as a support tool to aid decisions regarding the emergency medical retrievals of
patients at remote health centers in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia.
Methods: A decision analytic simulation model–based economic evaluation was conducted
using data from patients presenting with three common acute conditions (chest pain, chronic
renal failure due to missed dialysis session(s), and acute diarrhea) at six remote NT health centers
from July to December 2015. The specific outcomes measured in this study were the number
of unnecessary emergency medical retrieval prevented through POCT. Cost savings through
prevented unnecessary medical retrievals for each presentation type were then determined and
extrapolated to give per annum NT-wide estimates.
Results: POCT prevented 60 unnecessary medical evacuations from a total of 200 patient cases
meeting the selection criteria (48/147 for chest pain, 10/28 for missed dialysis, and 2/25 for
acute diarrhea). The associated cost savings were AUD 8,034, and 13.72 million, 1.57 million per
annum (AUD $21.75 million in total) for chest pain, missed dialysis, and acute diarrhea presentations,
respectively.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that POCT when used to aid decision making for acutely
ill patients delivered significant cost savings for the NT health care system by preventing unnecessary
emergency medical retrievals.This study was funded by a grant awarded
by the Emergency Medicine Foundation Ltd
Predicting which type of push notification content motivates users to engage in a self-monitoring app
Get PDFThis is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Despite the unprecedented access to self-monitoring health apps, lack of optimal user engagement remains a significant challenge. Push notification prompts with contextually tailored messages offers a promising strategy to improve engagement. To increase the efficacy of push-notifications on engaging individuals with health apps, greater attention to the modifiable components of push notifications that influence responsiveness is needed. This study examines the effect of message content and frequency of push notifications, along with past app usage on responding to notifications within 24 h, and engaging with self-monitoring in JOOL Health smartphone app. Mixed models were applied on a de-identified data set of 18,000 contextually tailored push notifications sent by JOOL Health App to 1414 participants. The content in sent messages on behavioural topics were mapped into either tailored suggestions or tailored insights. Our findings suggest that push notifications with tailored suggestions were more effective overall in encouraging self-monitoring, but amongst frequent app users, push-notifications containing insights was associated with greater self-monitoring. People who were not using the app as frequently were less likely to respond to a prompt. This study suggests that push-notification content does have an impact on subsequent use of key app features, and app developers should consider what content is likely to work best for who, and under what circumstances. Secondary data-analysis of commercial apps presents a unique opportunity to elucidate and optimize health behaviors
Information theory and atrial fibrillation (AF): a review
Get PDFNote: This article was submitted to
Computational Physiology and
Medicine,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Physiology.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums
is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited
and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted
academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not
comply with these terms.Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac rhythm disorder seen in hospitals and
in general practice, accounting for up to a third of arrhythmia related hospitalizations.
Unfortunately, AF treatment is in practice complicated by the lack of understanding of the
fundamental mechanisms underlying the arrhythmia, which makes detection of effective
ablation targets particularly difficult. Various approaches to AF mapping have been
explored in the hopes of better pinpointing these effective targets, such as Dominant
Frequency (DF) analysis, complex fractionated electrograms (CFAE) and unipolar
reconstruction (FIRM), but many of these methods have produced conflicting results
or require further investigation. Exploration of AF using information theoretic-based
approaches may have the potential to provide new insights into the complex system
dynamics of AF, whilst also providing the benefit of being less reliant on empirically
derived definitions in comparison to alternate mapping approaches. This work provides
an overview of information theory and reviews its applications in AF analysis, with
particular focus on AF mapping. The works discussed in this review demonstrate how
understanding AF from a signal property perspective can provide new insights into the
arrhythmic phenomena, which may have valuable clinical implications for AF mapping
and ablation in the future
The manipulation of social, cultural and religious values in socially mediated terrorism
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article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).This paper presents an analysis of how the Islamic State/Da’esh and Hizb ut-Tahrir
Indonesia manipulate conflicting social, cultural and religious values as part of their socially mediated
terrorism. It focusses on three case studies: (1) the attacks in Paris, France on 13 November 2015;
(2) the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Syria; and (3) the struggle between nationalist
values and extreme Islamic values in Indonesia. The case studies were chosen as a basis for identifying
global commonalities as well as regional differences in socially mediated terrorism. They are located
in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The integrated analysis of these case studies identifies significant
trends and suggests actions that could lessen the impact of strategies deployed by extremist groups
such as Da’esh, al-Qaeda and Hizb ut-Tahrir. We discuss the broader implications for understanding
various aspects of socially mediated terrorism
Novel Bacterial Cellulose/Gelatin Hydrogels as 3D Scaffolds for Tumor Cell Culture
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article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Three-dimensional (3D) cells in vitro culture are becoming increasingly popular in cancer
research because some important signals are lost when cells are cultured in a two-dimensional (2D)
substrate. In this work, bacterial cellulose (BC)/gelatin hydrogels were successfully synthesized and
were investigated as scaffolds for cancer cells in vitro culture to simulate tumor microenvironment.
Their properties and ability to support normal growth of cancer cells were evaluated. In particular,
the human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MD-231) was seeded into BC/gelatin scaffolds to investigate
their potential in 3D cell in vitro culture. MTT proliferation assay, scanning electron microscopy,
hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunofluorescence were used to determine cell proliferation,
morphology, adhesion, infiltration, and receptor expression. The in vitro MDA-MD-231 cell culture
results demonstrated that cells cultured on the BC/gelatin scaffolds had significant adhesion,
proliferation, ingrowth and differentiation. More importantly, MDA-MD-231 cells cultured in
BC/gelatin scaffolds retained triple-negative receptor expression, demonstrating that BC/gelatin
scaffolds could be used as ideal in vitro culture scaffolds for tumor cells.This research was partially funded by Flinders University College of Science and Engineering
Start-up grant
The contribution of non-essential Schizosaccharomyces pombe genes to fitness in response to altered nutrient supply and target of rapamycin activity
Get PDFPublished by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original
author and source are credited.Nutrient fluctuations in the cellular environment promote changes in cell
metabolism and growth to adapt cell proliferation accordingly. The target of
rapamycin (TOR) signalling network plays a key role in the coordination
of growth and cell proliferation with the nutrient environment and, importantly,
nutrient limitation reduces TOR complex 1 (TORC1) signalling.
We have performed global quantitative fitness profiling of the collection of
Schizosaccharomyces pombe strains from which non-essential genes have been
deleted. We identified genes that regulate fitness when cells are grown in a
nutrient-rich environment compared with minimal environments, with
varying nitrogen sources including ammonium, glutamate and proline. In
addition, we have performed the first global screen for genes that regulate
fitness when both TORC1 and TORC2 signalling is reduced by Torin1. Analysis
of genes whose deletions altered fitness when nutrients were limited, or
when TOR signalling was compromised, identified a large number of genes
that regulate transmembrane transport, transcription and chromatin organization/
regulation and vesicle-mediated transport. The ability to tolerate
reduced TOR signalling placed demands upon a large number of biological
processes including autophagy, mRNA metabolic processing and nucleocytoplasmic
transport. Importantly, novel biological processes and all processes
known to be regulated by TOR were identified in our screens. In addition,
deletion of 62 genes conserved in humans gave rise to strong sensitivity or
resistance to Torin1, and 29 of these 62 genes have novel links to TOR signalling.
The identification of chromatin and transcriptional regulation, nutritional
uptake and transport pathways in this powerful genetic model now paves the
way for a molecular understanding of how cells adapt to the chronic and acute
fluctuations in nutrient supply that all eukaryotes experience at some stage,
and which is a key feature of cancer cells within solid tumours.A Cancer Council SA project grant no. [1125662] to J.P. and
Newcastle and Flinders University supported this work
Evaluating the primary stability of standard vs lateralised cementless femoral stems – A finite element study using a diverse patient cohort
Get PDFThis manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (Sept 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyBackground
Restoring the original femoral offset is desirable for total hip replacements as it preserves the original muscle lever arm and soft tissue tensions. This can be achieved through lateralised stems, however, the effect of variation in the hip centre offset on the primary stability remains unclear.
Methods
Finite element analysis was used to compare the primary stability of lateralised and standard designs for a cementless femoral stem (Corail®) across a representative cohort of male and female femora (N = 31 femora; age from 50 to 80 years old). Each femur model was implanted with three designs of the Corail® stem, each designed to achieve a different degree of lateralisation. An automated algorithm was used to select the size and position that achieve maximum metaphyseal fit for each of the designs. Joint contact and muscle forces simulating the peak forces during level gait and stair climbing were scaled to the body mass of each subject.
Findings
The study found that differences in restoring the native femoral offset introduce marginal differences in micromotion (differences in peak micromotion 3000 με) was achieved for some subjects when lateralized stems were used.
Interpretation
Findings of this study suggest that, with the appropriate size and alignment, the standard offset design is likely to be sufficient for primary stability, in most cases. Nonetheless, appropriate use of lateralised stems has the potential reduce the risk of peri-prosthetic bone damage. This highlights the importance of appropriate implant selection during the surgical planning stage.This study was part of a project funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC 130100122) linkage grant, with partial funding from DePuy Synthes. Prof Taylor, Prof Besier and Prof Clement are chief investigators named on the ARC linkage grant. Dr. Al-Dirini was employed on this project. Dr. Huff is employed by DePuy Synthes
Quality of life and shoulder function after latissimus dorsi breast reconstruction
Get PDFPart of this article has been presented at the following meeting 4th June 2017: The Plastic Surgery Congress of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons in June 2017 in the Gold Coast, Australia.
Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (June 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyBreast reconstruction using a latissimus dorsi flap impacts one of the principal muscles of the shoulder. There is therefore concern that this procedure could impair shoulder function. The primary objective of this study was to study the effect of breast reconstruction using the latissimus dorsi flap on patient reported shoulder function and quality of life, compared to women who underwent total mastectomy without reconstruction.
Methods
A case-controlled cross-sectional study was conducted using the validated Breast-Q questionnaire and a functional back and shoulder questionnaire. Questionnaires were mailed to women who had undergone latissimus dorsi flap breast reconstruction (n = 100) and women who had undergone total mastectomy without reconstruction (n = 121). The responses from the 2 groups were compared, and results were analysed with t-test and Pearson's Correlation.
Results
Responses were received from 119 patients (60 latissimus dorsi patients and 59 mastectomy alone patients). Latissimus dorsi flap patients had significantly higher Breast-Q scores for all quality of life domains when compared to mastectomy alone patients. There was, however, no significant difference in functional back and shoulder scores between the two groups. Latissimus dorsi flap patients also scored highly for satisfaction with outcome and satisfaction for the ‘back’.
Conclusion
Patients report high levels of satisfaction following Latissimus dorsi flap breast reconstruction. This type of reconstruction did not adversely impact back and shoulder function.None
Does kindness lead to happiness? Voluntary activities and subjective well-being
Get PDFThis
manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NCND
4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (September 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyThis paper investigates empirically the effects of voluntary activities on subjective well-being. After controlling for individual fixed effects, we show that volunteering significantly improves people’s subjective well-being. The positive well-being effects of volunteering are highly heterogeneous, with larger impact at the lower end of the distribution of subjective well-being. Our dynamic analysis shows that the beneficial effects of volunteering are transitory. We find evidence of complete subjective well-being adaptation one year after volunteering. We show that more frequent socialisation, increasing satisfaction with feeling part of local community and rising satisfaction with neighbourhood living in are three channels for the contemporaneous positive linkage between volunteering and subjective well-being.Elisabetta Magnani acknowledges financial support from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project (ARC DP160101914). Rong Zhu acknowledges - financial support from the Australian Research Council Linkage Project (ARC LP170100718)