128 research outputs found
Study on biobased lignin nanostructures and lignocellulose nanofibers for tissue regeneration （組織再生のためのバイオベースリグニンナノ構造とリグノセルロースナノファイバーに関する研究）
No full text信州大学Shinshu University博士（工学）この博士論文は、次の学術雑誌論文を一部に使用しています。 || Biomaterials Advances 144 :213203(2023); doi:10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213203 © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.|| International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 242 :124945(2023); doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124945 © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.|| International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 261 :129872(2024); doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.129872 © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.doctoral thesi
Nursing home residents make a difference – The overestimation of saving rates at older ages
No full textWhile life-cycle theory makes the clear prediction that people dissave at old-age, this prediction is not at all borne out by the data from many countries. Various suggestions have been made to explain this discrepancy. This paper sheds more light on the effect of the exclusion of institutionalized individuals in estimating saving rates over old-age, a conceptual aspect often mentioned but never investigated. Particularly this group is expected to decumulate wealth since nursing home expenses net of private (and public) insurance exceed disposable income on average. This paper uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for the USA and the Income and Expenditure Survey (EVS) for Germany to show that there is an increasing overestimation of saving rates from age 75 on if institutionalized households are not included. In the USA, the overestimation of the mean (median) saving rates is 3.3 percentage points (4.3pp) at age 80, 5.4pp (9.4pp) at age 90 and even more for age 90+. The overestimation of the German mean saving rate increases to almost 6pp at age 90. This strong overestimation is based on the fact that nursing home residents strongly reduce their wealth holdings. Referring to the USA, the representative median single nursing home resident reduces wealth holdings by 90% over a two-year period; the representative mean single nursing home resident diminishes total net wealth by 19%. The dissaving is less strong for couples. The ongoing aging of industrialized populations and the connected increase in the fraction of the nursing home population will strengthen the importance of including the nursing home population to estimate aggregate saving rates in micro empirical studies.
The Effect of Polymeric Nanofibers Used for 3D-Printed Scaffolds on Cellular Activity in Tissue Engineering: A Review
No full textPromising scaffolds for developing advanced tissue engineering architectures have emerged in recent years through the use of nanofibers and 3D printing technologies. Despite this, structural integrity and cell proliferation are highlighted as fundamental challenges for design scaffolds and future prospects. As a biomimetic scaffold, the nanofiber-reinforced hydrogels demonstrated a better compressive modulus and cell growth. Our review focuses on recent promising advances in the development of 3D-printed hydrogels containing polymeric nanofibers that can improve cell-material interaction in biomedical applications. Moreover, an effort has been made to induce studies with diverse types of scaffolds for various cells. Additionally, we discuss the challenges and future prospects of 3D-bioprinted reinforced hydrogels with nanofibers in the medical field, as well as high-performance bioinks
Robust Blind Beam Formers for Smart Antenna System Using Window Techniques
No full textAbstractIn this paper, we devised three efficient adaptive blind beamformers for smart antenna system based on popular constant modulus algorithm (CMA). Slow convergence rate of classical CMA limits its utilization in wireless communication applications where the channel conditions are rapidly changing. To overcome this problem, we firstly improved the convergence rate of CMA by making a step size adaptive. This makes CMA to converge within 10 iterations. Furthermore, to reduce the side lobe level (SLL), we applied three different windows namely; hanning, hamming and kaiser to the improved CMA and these algorithms are called as H-CMA, HW-CMA and KW-CMA respectively. Simulated results show that, KW-CMA has highest reduction in SLL as compared to H-CMA and HW-CMA. It has -80dB peak SLL with an improvement of 70.89dB for ten antenna elements than the conventional CMA for the same conditions. Hence the proposed algorithms exhibit fast convergence rate and reduced SLL. These key features make the smart antenna system robust and efficient and can be used in advanced wireless communication applications like radar, sonar and mobile communications
Defective interaction between Pol2p and Dpb2p, subunits of DNA polymerase epsilon, contributes to a mutator phenotype in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
No full textMost of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic replicative polymerases are multi-subunit complexes. There are several examples indicating that noncatalytic subunits of DNA polymerases may function as fidelity factors during replication process. In this work, we have further investigated the role of Dpb2p, a noncatalytic subunit of DNA polymerase epsilon holoenzyme from Saccharomyces cerevisiae in controlling the level of spontaneous mutagenesis. The data presented indicate that impaired interaction between catalytic Pol2p subunit and Dpb2p is responsible for the observed mutator phenotype in S. cerevisiae strains carrying different mutated alleles of the DPB2 gene. We observed a significant correlation between the decreased level of interaction between different mutated forms of Dpb2p towards a wild-type form of Pol2p and the strength of mutator phenotype that they confer. We propose that structural integrity of the Pol epsilon holoenzyme is essential for genetic stability in S. cerevisiae cells
‘I feel like a salesperson’: the effect of multiple-source care funding on the experiences and views of nursing home nurses in England
No full textThe difficulties faced in the recruitment and retention of nursing staff in nursing homes for older people are an international challenge. It is therefore essential that the causes of nurses' reluctance to work in these settings are determined. This paper considers the influence that multiple-source care funding issues have on nursing home nurses' experiences and views regarding the practice and appeal of the role. The methodology for this study was hermeneutic phenomenology. Thirteen nurses from seven nursing homes in the North East of England were interviewed in a sequence of up to five interviews and data were analysed using a literary analysis method. Findings indicate that participants are uncomfortable with the business aspects that funding issues bring to their role. The primary difficulties faced are: tensions between care issues and funding issues; challenges associated with 'selling beds'; and coping with self-funding residents' changing expectations of care. The findings of the study suggest that multiple-source care funding systems that operate in nursing homes for older people pose challenges to nursing home nurses. Some of these challenges may impact on their recruitment and retention
The Morningside Initiative: Collaborative Development of a Knowledge Repository to Accelerate Adoption of Clinical Decision Support
No full textabstract: The Morningside Initiative is a public-private activity that has evolved from an August, 2007, meeting at the Morningside Inn, in Frederick, MD, sponsored by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) of the US Army Medical Research Materiel Command. Participants were subject matter experts in clinical decision support (CDS) and included representatives from the Department of Defense, Veterans Health Administration, Kaiser Permanente, Partners Healthcare System, Henry Ford Health System, Arizona State University, and the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). The Morningside Initiative was convened in response to the AMIA Roadmap for National Action on Clinical Decision Support and on the basis of other considerations and experiences of the participants. Its formation was the unanimous recommendation of participants at the 2007 meeting which called for creating a shared repository of executable knowledge for diverse health care organizations and practices, as well as health care system vendors. The rationale is based on the recognition that sharing of clinical knowledge needed for CDS across organizations is currently virtually non-existent, and that, given the considerable investment needed for creating, maintaining and updating authoritative knowledge, which only larger organizations have been able to undertake, this is an impediment to widespread adoption and use of CDS. The Morningside Initiative intends to develop and refine (1) an organizational framework, (2) a technical approach, and (3) CDS content acquisition and management processes for sharing CDS knowledge content, tools, and experience that will scale with growing numbers of participants and can be expanded in scope of content and capabilities. Intermountain Healthcare joined the initial set of participants shortly after its formation. The efforts of the Morningside Initiative are intended to serve as the basis for a series of next steps in a national agenda for CDS. It is based on the belief that sharing of knowledge can be highly effective as is the case in other competitive domains such as genomics. Participants in the Morningside Initiative believe that a coordinated effort between the private and public sectors is needed to accomplish this goal and that a small number of highly visible and respected health care organizations in the public and private sector can lead by example. Ultimately, a future collaborative knowledge sharing organization must have a sustainable long-term business model for financial support.The final version of this article, as published in The Open Medical Informatics Journal, can be viewed online at: https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOMINFOJ-4-27
Characterization of antioxidant Houttuynia cordata extracts loaded polyurethane nanofibers
No full textAbstract Herein, we analyzed total polyphenol content, total flavonoid content, and the antioxidant activity of the ethanol and distilled water extracted Houttuynia cordata perennial herb. Later, we investigated the possibility of producing Houttuynia cordata extract (HCE) loaded Polyurethane (PU) nanofibers via the electrospinning technique. The analysis confirmed that the total polyphenol, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of the ethanol extracted HCE were higher than the distilled water extracted HCE. Therefore, the ethanol extracted HCE was used to prepare HCE/PU nanofibers by varying concentrations of HCE and PU. The HCE/PU nanofibers showed a mixed pattern of beads and fibers at a PU concentration of 10 wt%. However, at 12 wt% PU concentration, relatively uniform nanofibers with an average diameter of about 200 nm were formed at 1.0% and 1.5 wt% of HCE. The successful incorporation of HCE in PU nanofibrous matrix was confirmed by the presence of its characteristic bands in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra. The addition of HCE increased the crystallinity, the amount of heat required for pyrolysis, and the thermal stability of HCE/PU nanofibers, which must be credited to the HCE-derived quercitrin and quercetin crystallite solids
Antibacterial Activity of Molybdenum Oxide–Polyacrylonitrile Composite Membrane with Fast Silver Ion Reduction
No full textDevelopment of PVA–Psyllium Husk Meshes via Emulsion Electrospinning: Preparation, Characterization, and Antibacterial Activity
No full textIn this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and psyllium husk (PSH)/D-limonene electrospun meshes were produced by emulsion electrospinning for use as substrates to prevent the growth of bacteria. D-limonene and modified microcrystalline cellulose (mMCC) were preferred as antibacterial agents. SEM micrographs showed that PVA–PSH electrospun mesh with a 4% amount of D-limonene has the best average fiber distribution with 298.38 ± 62.8 nm. Moreover, the fiber morphology disrupts with the addition of 6% D-limonene. FT-IR spectroscopy was used to analyze the chemical structure between matrix–antibacterial agents (mMCC and D-limonene). Although there were some partial physical interactions in the FT-IR spectrum, no chemical reactions were seen between the matrixes and the antibacterial agents. The thermal properties of the meshes were determined using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The thermal stability of the samples increased with the addition of mMCC. Further, the PVA–PSH–mMCC mesh had the highest value of contact angle (81° ± 4.05). The antibacterial activity of functional meshes against Gram (−) (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and Gram (+) bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) was specified based on a zone inhibition test. PPMD6 meshes had the highest antibacterial results with 21 mm, 16 mm, and 15 mm against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. While increasing the amount of D-limonene enhanced the antibacterial activity, it significantly decreased the amount of release in cases of excess D-limonene amount. Due to good fiber morphology, the highest D-limonene release value (83.1%) was observed in PPMD4 functional meshes. The developed functional meshes can be utilized as wound dressing material based on our data
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