365 research outputs found
Digital Fabrication : From Micro to Macro
No full textDigital Fabrication deals with objects at different scales, ranging from jewelry to pavilions. In each of the scales the path of translation from design to the finished product by using computer skills as well as various fabrication methods is explored
Correction to: Real-World Treatment Patterns in Patients with Vitiligo in the United States
No full textCorrection to: Dermatol Ther (Heidelb) (2023) 13:2079–2091 10.1007/s13555-023-00983-3
Authors would like to update the middle name of co-author as Ahmed M. Soliman.
The original article has been corrected
Apterogyna oshaibahi Soliman & Gadallah, sp. nov.
No full text<i>Apterogyna oshaibahi</i> Soliman & Gadallah, sp. nov. <p>(Figs 23−27)</p> <p> <b>Material examined.</b> Holotype ♀: Egypt, Wadi Digla, Cairo [29°57'30''N, 31°20'06''E], 20.xi.2014 (leg. Ahmed M. Soliman) [CUE]. Paratype 1 ♀: Egypt, Wadi Digla, Cairo [29°57'30''N, 31°20'06''E], 5.xi.2010 (leg. Ahmed M. Soliman) [CUE].</p> <p> <b>Description</b>. FEMALE (holotype). Body length 7 mm. <i>Colour</i>. Red, except flagellum of antenna light brown; coxae and T6 reddish brown, the latter with darker longitudinal ridges; prosternum, mesepisternum, T1 laterally, T2−T5 and metasomal sterna black; mid and hind tibial spurs waxy white; eye black. <i>Pubescence.</i> Face, vertex and scape of antenna clothed with recumbent white setae (Fig. 24); clypeus, occiput and basal third of mandible with erect white setae; mesosoma, legs and metasoma clothed with long erect and fine whitish setae, denser on metasomal terga than elsewhere. T1, T2 with moderately-developed tuft of white setae apicomesally (Fig. 26); metasomal segments 3−5 with apical fringe of such setae, well-developed on T3.</p> <p> <i>Head</i>. In dorsal view 1.2 × as broad as pronotum, abruptly convergent behind eyes; in frontal view distinctly transverse, its width 1.6 × head height; vertex flattened when seen from frontal view, impunctate, strongly sloping posteriorly; face superficially sparsely and finely punctate (nearly smooth and polished); eye small, subspherical, distinctly prominent, with middle-transversal axis located above midline between free margin of clypeus and vertex; malar space as long as LED; distance between antennal tubercles as long as tubercle length; clypeus gently convex; gena with weakly developed tubercle at the level of lower ocular margin; mandible slender, edentate (Fig. 24). Scape of antenna gently convex; F1 scarcely longer than F2; F2 as long as F3. Palpal segments slender.</p> <p> <i>Mesosoma</i>. Dorsally foveate-reticulate (foveae larger on dorsal face of propodeum than elsewhere) (Fig. 25); pronotum with anterior face gently declivous and posterior margin feebly concave, longitudinally ridged laterally; propodeal posterior face gently declivous, smooth and shiny. Mesopleuron smooth anteriorly and coarsely punctate posteriorly; metapleuron longitudinally coarsely ridged. Mesosternum polished and impunctate.</p> <p> <i>Metasoma</i>. T1 widened posteriorly (pear-shaped), slightly longer than its maximal width, superficially foveate, with apicomesal setal tuft 0.7 × as wide as that on T2 (Fig. 26); T2 bell-shaped, 0.7 × as long as broad, coarsely reticulate-foveate (Fig. 26); T3 with superficial sparse punctures progressively vanishing towards posterior margin; T4, T5 narrow and puncticulate; T6 subtriangular, with longitudinal interrupted ridges, bordered laterally with sharp evenly spaced teeth progressively reduced in size distally (Fig. 27). S1 smooth posteriorly, with superficial sparse punctures anteriorly; S2 and S3 sparsely punctate, punctures contiguous laterally; S4, S5 smooth; S1−S5 with a row of sparse punctures along their apical margin; S6 smooth except for few punctures apicolaterally.</p> <p>MALE unknown.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> Egypt: Wadi Digla.</p> <p> <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Apterogyna oshaibahi</i> is nearest to <i>A. olivieri</i> except for the following: body with scattered setae (while dense in <i>A. olivieri</i> especially on head); mesosomal dorsum with scattered erect setae (with dense recumbent setae intermixed with erect ones in <i>A. olivieri</i>); setal tufts on T1 and T2 moderately-developed (well-developed in <i>A. olivieri</i>). A new species also resembles <i>A. mateui</i> but differ in the following: metasomal T2 coarsely reticulatefoveate, T3 with scattered superficial punctures (Fig. 26) (T2–T3 with oblong punctures and few ridges in between in <i>A. mateui</i>).</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> This species is named in honour of the late Prof. Alaa Din A. Oshaibah professor of the first author).</p>Published as part of <i>Soliman, Ahmed M., Gadallah, Neveen S., Al-Shahat, Ahmed M. & Pagliano, G., 2015, The genus Apterogyna Latreille, 1809 in Egypt, with three new species (Hymenoptera: Bradynobaenidae: Apterogyninae), pp. 209-220 in Zootaxa 3905 (2)</i> on pages 215-218, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3905.2.3, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/241302">http://zenodo.org/record/241302</a>
How intent to interact can affect action scaling of distance: reply to Wilson
No full textabstract: Soliman et al. (2013) set out to demonstrate how the bodily level of analysis can unify explanations in psychology. Our argument was that common sensorimotor mechanisms underlie many of the behavioral phenomena that are currently segregated as cognitive, social, or cultural. Toward that end, we re-characterized a cultural construct—self-construal along the dimension of independence and interdependence (Markus and Kitayama, 1991)—as reflecting degree of interaction with ethnically diverse others.View the article as published at http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00513/ful
Noscapine loaded biodegradable nanoparticles to treat breast cancer
No full textBreast cancer is the most common malignancy in women
worldwide. Therapeutic strategies currently involve a
combination of surgery, radiotherapy, immunotherapy,
hormone therapy and/or chemotherapy. The efficacy of a
chemotherapeutic formulation depends on its ability to
selectively target diseased tissue, overcome biological
barriers, and intelligently respond to the disease
environment to release cytotoxic agents. The development
of a controlled and targeted drug delivery system may result
in a more efficient and less harmful solution to overcome
the limitations associated with conventional chemotherapy
(Cho et al.). Recent studies have been focused on
developing nanoscale delivery vehicles capable of
controlling the release of chemotherapeutics directly inside
cancer cells. Micellar like nanoparticles (NPs) are produced
by the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules into a
structure with a hydrophobic core and an hydrophilic outer
layer, with diameters generally less than 100 nm, allowing
them to extravasate through the tumor vessels fenestrations.
Moreover, their hydrophilic surfaces may shield them from
immediate recognition by reticuloendothelial system (RES)
leading to an increase in their circulation time. Many
micellar formulations are currently under clinical evaluation
for the treatment of cancer (e.g. doxorubicin, paclitaxel and
epirubicin). Therefore, the aim of this study was to
synthesize a series of linear-block and star-shaped
copolymers based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) and
poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and to formulate noscapine
(NOS) loaded biodegradable NPs by the nanoprecipitation
technique. After characterization of these NPs, the best
formulae were tested for in-vitro release and cytotoxicity
using MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Pharmacokinetic
parameters and NPs in-vivo toxicity were also tested to
assess whether these NPs, would have high half-life in
addition to their low cytotoxicity, enhancing NOS passive
targeting to cancer cells. In addition, the selective release of
NOS as an alkaloid in the acidic medium was tested to
mimic what would happen in the vicinity of cancer tissues
and this would increase NOS safety and efficacy during its
use as anti-cancer agent
Artificial neural networks applied to biodegradable nanoparticles for Noscapine delivery
No full textBiopolymer based nanocarriers have been extensively studied as delivery systems for different therapeutics, due to their multiple favorable properties - e.g. small size, long circulation time, reduced opsonization, drug stability and controlled release [1-2].
In this study a series of biodegradable block copolymers based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) and poly lactide (PLA) were synthesized by ring opening polymerization (ROP).
Successively, biocompatible PLA nanoparticles loading Noscapine were prepared using the nanoprecipitation method and characterized for their size, drug entrapment efficiency and morphology.
Noscapine, an alkaloid derived from opium, has been widely used as antitussive agent for many years. However, more recently, it was discovered that it owns a tubulin binding activity. It affects the dynamics of microtubules resulting in arresting the metaphase of cell cycle which eventually leads to apoptosis of dividing cancer cells [3].
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) [4] were applied to predict particle size and Noscapine entrapment efficiency within the formed nanoparticles using different factors - i.e. copolymer molecular weight, ratio of polymer to drug and the number of blocks present in the copolymer backbone.
Using these networks it was found that the copolymer molecular weight has the greatest effect on the nanoparticle size distribution. On the other hand, polymer to drug ratio was found to be the most influential factor on drug entrapment efficiency.
ANNs may have a great impact on the design of PEG/PLA based copolymers, and they can be used to customize the formulations of nanoparticles that can fit required targets
Determination of factors controlling the particle size and entrapment efficiency of noscapine in PEG/PLA nanoparticles using artificial neural networks
No full textIn this study, di- and triblock copolymers based on polyethylene glycol and polylactide were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization and characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance and gel permeation chromatography. Nanoparticles containing noscapine were prepared from these biodegradable and biocompatible copolymers using the nanoprecipitation method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized for size and drug entrapment efficiency, and their morphology and size were checked by transmission electron microscopy imaging. Artificial neural networks were constructed and tested for their ability to predict particle size and entrapment efficiency of noscapine within the formed nanoparticles using different factors utilized in the preparation step, namely polymer molecular weight, ratio of polymer to drug, and number of blocks that make up the polymer. Using these networks, it was found that the polymer molecular weight has the greatest effect on particle size. On the other hand, polymer to drug ratio was found to be the most influential factor on drug entrapment efficiency. This study demonstrated the ability of artificial neural networks to predict not only the particle size of the formed nanoparticles but also the drug entrapment efficiency. This may have a great impact on the design of polyethylene glycol and polylactide-based copolymers, and can be used to customize the required target formulations
Traduire l'astrophysique: la métaphore terminologique. L'exemple du Destin de l'univers de Jean-Pierre Luminet.
No full textThis article is the result of a didactic project which involved the translation into Italian of the French astrophysics vulgarisation text Le Destin de l'Univers by J.-P. Luminet. After a short presentation of the author and of the text characteristics, the article deals with the question of metaphor in scientific texts and proceeds to present a typology of possible translation strategies of scientific metaphors, based on the example of the translated text
What drives some American Muslims to support Republicans?
No full textWhat drives some American Muslims to support the Republican Party? Recent research and polling information suggests that a significant portion of this religious community supports a political faction that is often perceived to be anti-Muslim; this may be impacted by factors such as income and race. The author hypothesized that identity with racial groups that are often considered "white" would most impact Muslim support for the GOP. Using polling data from a nationally-representative sample of Muslim Americans, the researcher studied Muslims who supported Republicans. He operationalized the dependent variable using logit models to measure affiliation with the GOP and support for Donald Trump in 2016. The independent variables tested were: White identity, Arab identity, mosque attendance, religious identity, income, education, and gender (female). There were positive correlations between White and Arab identity and backing the GOP, and negative associations among females and support for the Republicans. Implications of these findings are discussed.Winner: First Place, 2022 Paul Robeson Library Undergraduate Research Award
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