Effects of In-Situ Cadmium Exposure on Morphometric Indices of Anabas testudineus

Anthropogenic activities have greatly affected water resources on a global scale where the world is experiencing water quality and resources issues. Heavy metal is a crucial group of pollutants that is toxic to the environment even at low concentrations due to its bioaccumulation and biomagnification capabilities in living organisms. The detrimental effects of heavy metals on living organisms are due to their bioaccumulation in the aquatic ecosystem. Cadmium may result in adverse health effects due to its high toxicity. The study is conducted to determine the cadmium exposure effects on the morphometric indices of Anabas testudineus which are the Scaling Coefficient (SC) and Condition Factor (K) of such species. Anabas testudineus is exposed to four different cadmium treatment groups namely the control group, cadmium treatment group of 0.005 mg/L, 0.010 mg/L, and 0.015 mg/L for 16 weeks. The findings of the study have reported inconsistent trends in the values of SC and a decrease in the value of K with increasing cadmium concentration. The trend for the average SC has shown an overall decrease in value while the pattern of the K value is inconsistent in each treatment group with exposure time. Collectively, no significant differences for SC and K of A. testudineus in different treatment groups as well as comparison between treatment groups with time exposure.

组织文化对促进护士专业认证的作用

目的 护理专业认证验证了护士在疾病管理、教育或领导能力方面掌握的专业知识高于入门级教育和许可.护理专业认证与患者护理质量直接相关.然而,护士的专业认证率仍然较低.本研究旨在了解护士对能够促进或阻碍专业认证的看法,以促进护士获得专业认证的愿望和能力.方法 2022年5-9月,基于1项在美国进行的大型调查研究的嵌套样本进行质性研究.在同意接受访谈的护士中,使用目的抽样方法来实现样本的多样性,例如护士的工作年限、种族和认证状态.信息达到饱和用于确定样本量.通过虚拟面对面深入访谈收集资料.编码过程基于Colaizzi的资料分析方法进行.结果 20名护士参与了此项研究.共呈现5个主题,与促进护士专业认证的组织文化和策略相关,包括:共享资源,培养主人翁文化和归属感,指导和榜样,认可护士的努力和成就,以及培养意义感和追求目标及提供支持.结论 组织文化和领导力在促进持续学习环境方面发挥着重要作用.发展促进护士专业认证的组织文化非常必要.这项研究明确了组织文化是支持护士获取认证的重要领域.需要进行更多研究来评估可能影响护理专业初始和持续认证水平的干预措施,尤其是在新型冠状病毒疫情之后.

Anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer potential of pterostilbene:A review

Pterostilbene is a natural compound that can be found in various food plants such as blueberries,grapes,and peanuts.It has also been reported to be extracted from Pterocarpus indicus,a tree species native to India and Southeast Asia.Pterostilbene exhibits various pharmacological activities such as antioxidants,anti-proliferation,anti-microbial,and anti-inflammatory activities with favorable pharmacokinetic properties,such as high oral bioavailability and longer half-life.The anti-inflammatory effect of pterostilbene has been reported to contribute to its therapeutic effects in many chronic inflammatory diseases.Besides,pterostilbene has anti-cancer activity on various types of cancers due to its ability to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.Hence,in this review,we discuss the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities of pterostilbene in preclinical studies.

Effect of Cadmium on the Developmental Instability of Anabas testudineus through Evaluation of Fluctuating Asymmetry of Eye Diameter

Biomonitoring using fish has been a popular method of assessing the toxic effects of cadmium concentrations of cadmium in water bodies and has led to bioaccumulation in fish contributing to various morphological alterations. Among the known effects of these alterations is developmental instability via fluctuating asymmetry (FA). The utilization of FA data is a simple yet effective method to evaluate the toxic effects of cadmium on the stability of development. This study used climbing perch (Anabas testudieneus) to assess the FA in the diameter of the eye because of low-level cadmium exposure. The left and right sides of the traits were measured once every four weeks for 16 weeks. The average measurements from both sides of the traits were used to calculate the FA value. Results found that the highest mean FA for the diameter of the eye was obtained in the highest treatment group, 0.015 mg/L. The results also indicate that increasing concentrations of cadmium exposure had a statistically significant effect on the FA of eye diameter. There was also a statistically significant interaction between the duration of exposure and treatment groups in FA of the diameter of the eye. The results from the study indicate that prolonged exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of cadmium can cause significant effects on the normal development of eyes in Anabas testudineus. This study can add to the body of research regarding fluctuating asymmetry as a tool to study developmental toxicants and assess other bilateral organs.

Prescription for Obesity: Eat Less and Move More. Is It Really That Simple?

“Obesity is a disease.” This is the declaration by the American Medical Association in June, 2013. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of options for patients who meet the criteria of obesity. Primary care nurse practitioners are urged to confront obesity head on, with early, individualized intervention to reduce associated morbidity and mortality. Options for weight loss and maintenance are abundant and often confusing or unattractive to the patient. Working with patients to achieve realistic, reasonable, and patient-tailored goals for weight loss and exercise programs are paramount to achieving a healthy weight and lifestyle.

Hepatosomatic and Renosomatic Indices of <i>Anabas testudineus</i>Exposed to Various Levels of Cadmium

Cadmium has a high level of toxicity and can have adverse health effects on living organisms including fish. This study is conducted to identify the effects of cadmium exposure on the Hepatosomatic Index (HSI) and Renosomatic Index (RSI) of Anabas testudineus. Anabas testudineus is exposed to four different cadmium treatment groups. The fishes were exposed to four treatment groups of different cadmium concentrations (0.000 mg/L, 0.005 mg/L, 0.010 mg/L and 0.015 mg/L) for 16 weeks. The results showed a decreasing trend of HSI value increasing cadmium concentration and exposure time. However, the opposite trend was observed with RSI where the higher the cadmium concentration over an increased exposure time, the higher the RSI. In conclusion, the study outcome shows significant changes in the value of HSI and RSI between different treatment groups with exposure time.

The effect of lithium on resting-state brain networks in patients with bipolar depression

Objective： Although lithium has been a commonly prescribed neurotrophic/neuroprotective mood-stabilizing agents, its effect on spontaneous brain activity in patients with bipolar depression remains unclear. The aim of this study is to reveal the basic mechanism underlying the pathological influences of lithium on resting-state brain function of bipolar depression patients. Methods：97 subjects including 9 bipolar depression patients with lithium treatment, 19 bipolar depression patients without lithium treatment and 69 healthy controls, were recruited to participate in this study. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation （ ALFF ） and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation （ fALFF） were used to capture the changes of spontane-ous brain activity among different groups. In addition, further analysis in terms of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the number of depressive episodes, and illness duration in pooled bipolar depression patients were conducted, which combined FLEF and fALEF to identify the basic neural features of bipolar depression patients. Results： It was observed from the imaging results that both the bipolar depression patients receiving lithium treatment and healthy control subjects showed signifi-cantly decreased ALFF/fALFF values in the right anterior cingulate cortex and right middle frontal gyrus compared to that from the bipolar depression patients without lithium treatmetn. The ALFF values of the right＆amp;nbsp;middle temporal gyrus was also found to be negative related to the number of depressive episode and the total episodes. Conclusions：Our findings suggested that the bipolar depression subjects were identified to have ab-normal ALFF/ fALFF in the corticolimbic systems, in-cluding regions like right anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right orbital frontal gyrus, and right middle temporal gyrus. In addition, it was also revealed that the decreased ALFF/fALFF in the right anterior cingulate cortex and right middle frontal gyrus might be a biomarker that is related to the lithium effects.

Implementation of FLIM and SIFT for improved intraoperative delineation of glioblastoma margin

The aim of this study is to develop a novel technique for improving the intraoperative margin assessment of glioblastoma by examining the total extrinsic extracellular matrix（ECM） with eosin staining using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy（FLIM） and scale-invariant feature transform（SIFT） descriptor analysis. Pseudocolor FLIM images obviously exhibit ECM distributions, changes in sequential sections, and different regions of interest. Meanwhile, SIFT descriptors are first utilized for the discrimination of glioblastoma margins by matching similar ECM regions and extracting keypoint orientations from FLIM images obtained from a series of continuous slices. The findings indicate that FLIM imaging with SIFT analysis of the total ECM is a promising method for improving intraoperative diagnosis of frozen and surgically excised brain specimen sections.

Novel chimeric antigen receptor T cells based on T-cell receptor-like antibodies

The need for novel therapeutics against human cancers such as leukemias and solid tumors is well recognized.Human T cells are poised to make a fundamental change in the therapeutic approach.T-cell interaction with a tumor cell is a critical event and primarily driven by T-cell receptor(TCR)recognition of peptide in the pocket HLA.However,among TCR-based T-cell therapies,either TCR mismatching or the low density of major histocompatibility complex causes tumor cells to escape from the immune response.TCR molecules have low binding affinities,preventing their recognitions.Undoubtedly,antibody therapeutics is an effective treatment for cancer.As the new generation of monoclonal antibodies,TCR-like antibodies can mimic TCR recognition but are not susceptible for mechanisms of tumor evasion from the immune response.As chimeric antigen receptor(CAR)structure expressed on the surface of T cells,TCR-like antibodies can confer antigen specificity to T cells.The new TCR-like CAR may be important to drive new technologies of adoptive cell therapy,in particular,T-cell therapy,and open possibilities to target endogenous tumor-specific antigens.

A PIID-DTBT based semi-conducting polymer dots with broad and strong optical absorption in the visible-light region： Highly effective contrast agents for multiscale and multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging

As a hybrid imaging technique, photoacoustic imaging （PAI） can provide multiscale morphological information of tissues, and the use of multi-spectral PAI （MSPAI） can recover the spatial distribution of chromophores of interest, such as hemoglobin within tissues. Herein, we developed a contrast agent that can very effectively combine multiscale PAI with MSPAI for a more comprehensive characterization of complex biological tissues. Specifically, we developed novel PIID-DTBT based semi-conducting polymer dots （Pdots） that show broad and strong optical absorption in the visible-light region （500-700 nm）. The performances of gold nanoparticles （GNPs） and gold nanorods （GNRs）, which have been verified as excellent photoacoustic contrast agents, were compared with that of the Pdots based on the multiscale PAI system. Both ex vivo and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the Pdots have better photoacoustic conversion efficiency at 532 nm than GNPs and showed similar photoacoustic performance with GNRs at 700 nm at the same mass concentration. Photostability and toxicity tests demonstrated that the Pdots are photostable and biocompatible. More importantly, an in vivo MSPAI experiment indicated that the Pdots have better photoacoustic performance than the blood and therefore the signals can be accurately extracted from the background of vascular-rich tissues. Our work demonstrates the great potential of Pdots as highly effective contrast agents for the precise localization of lesions relative to the blood vessels based on multiscale PAI and MSPAI.