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A time−temperature indicator (TTI) based on acid−base reaction was developed by applying a new pH dye composed of cysteine-loaded chitosan (Cys-CS) microspheres and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). It was hypothesized that cysteine released by the disintegration of Cys-CS microspheres at a critical pH would cause AgNPs to aggregate, leading to color change. Cys-CS microspheres were produced as water-in-oil (paraffin oil, MCT oil, soybean oil) emulsions according to the KOH addition method. An enzymatic TTI was made using glucose oxidase, glucose, and catalase. Only paraffin oil produced Cys-CS microspheres (average diameter, 335 ± 100 µm), whereas the others did not, probably due to saponification with KOH. FTIR analysis confirmed that cysteine was encapsulated in the microspheres. The microspheres disintegrated at pH 6.18 in a titration test. The TTI pH gradually decreased and showed a sudden color change at pH 6.10, which was similar to the critical pH of microsphere disintegration.

Replacing the petroleum-based materials in the food industry is one of the main objectives of the scientists and decision makers worldwide. Biodegradable packaging will help diminish the environmental impact of human activity. Improving such biodegradable packaging materials by adding antimicrobial activity will not only extend the shelf life of foodstuff, but will also eliminate some health hazards associated with food borne diseases, and by diminishing the food spoilage will decrease the food waste. The objective of this research was to obtain innovative antibacterial films based on a biodegradable polymer, namely alginate. Films were characterized by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and microscopy, complex thermal analysis (TG-DSC-FTIR), UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Water vapor permeability and swelling behavior were also determined. As antimicrobial agents, we used silver spherical nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and lemongrass essential oil (LGO), which were found to act in a synergic way. The obtained films exhibited strong antibacterial activity against tested strains, two Gram-positive (Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) and two Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhi). Best results were obtained against Bacillus cereus. The tests indicate that the antimicrobial films can be used as packaging, preserving the color, surface texture, and softness of cheese for 14 days. At the same time, the color of the films changed (darkened) as a function of temperature and light presence, a feature that can be used to monitor the storage conditions for sensitive food.

Medicinal waste due to improper handling of unwanted medicines creates health and environmental risks. However, the re-dispensing of unused prescribed medicines from patients seems to be accepted by stakeholders when quality and safety requirements are met. Reusing dispensed medicines may help reduce waste, but a comprehensive validation method is not generally available. The design of a novel digital time temperature and humidity indicator based on an Internet of Pharmaceutical Things concept is proposed to facilitate the validation, and a prototype is presented using smart sensors with cloud connectivity acting as the key technology for verifying and enabling the reuse of returned medicines. Deficiency of existing technologies is evaluated based on the results of this development, and recommendations for future research are suggested.

Although research has demonstrated that introducing computational thinking (CT) benefits young children, there has been a lack of systematic professional development (PD) opportunities for preschool teachers. The current study investigated the impact of Teaching through Interaction-Plus (TTI-P) on preschool teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching CT to preschool children, which focuses on high-quality teacher-child interaction. A quasi-experimental design was used to train 23 in-service preschool teachers and 111 children in the TTI-P program for 15 weeks. A control group consisting of six teachers and 75 children was also included. The results showed that the TTI-P training effectively increased preschool teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching CT. Additionally, children in the experimental group showed better CT skills than those in the control group. Based on findings from the current study, we offer implications for supporting preschool teachers with high-quality interaction that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills during CT activities.

Background Provision of constant and safe blood has been a public health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa with high prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs). This study was aimed at determining the trend and seroprevalence of HBV, HCV, syphilis and HIV across the years within study among prospective blood donors at blood bank in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar, Nigeria. Methods A retrospective analysis of blood donor data from January 2005 to December 2016 was conducted in Blood Bank/Donor Clinic of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria. Sera samples were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1 and 2 and Treponema pallidum using commercially available immunochromatic based kits. Results Out of the 24,979 screened prospective donors in the 2005–2016 study period, 3739 (14.96%) were infected with at least one infective agent. The overall prevalence of HBV, HCV, syphilis and HIV were 4.1, 3.6, 3.1 and 4.2%, respectively. During the period of study, the percentage of all transfusion-transmissible infections declined significantly with remarkable decline in HIV. The study showed male dominated donor pool (98.7%) with higher prevalence (4.2%) of transfusion-transmissible infections than in female donors (0.0%). Commercial donors constituted majority (62.0%) of the donors and as well had the highest prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections. Majority (62.9%) of the donors were repeat donors. Conclusion HBV, HCV, syphilis and HIV have remained a big threat to safe blood transfusion in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa at large. Strict adherence to selection criteria and algorithm of donor screening are recommended.

The overall prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) in India is 1.58%, while in Assam, it stands at 1.2%. The relatively higher prevalence of TTIs in certain geographical regions can be attributed to illiteracy, lack of awareness, inadequate diagnosis due to poor infrastructure, and insufficient research efforts. Additionally, ABO antigens are also considered to be associated with the risk of developing TTIs. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the trend and sero-prevalence of TTIs among blood donors and to evaluate the possible association between TTIs and ABO blood groups. This retrospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Assam over a span of eight and a half years, from June 2015 to December 2023. The medical records of blood donors were reviewed without consideration of age, ethnicity, or gender. Data on demographic details, blood group, and TTI screening test results were collected and analyzed for the study. The overall prevalence of TTIs in our study was found to be 3.1%, with HCV having the highest prevalence (1.14%), followed by syphilis (1.0%), HBV (0.54%), HIV (0.41%), and malaria (0.01%). An overall upward trend in TTI prevalence was observed, with HCV showing a particularly notable increase. A significant positive association ( p  < 0.05) was identified between donors lacking ABO antigens and TTI positivity, while a negative association was observed in those expressing both A and B antigens. Additionally, the present study found that donors with Rh-negative blood groups had a lower likelihood of TTIs compared to Rh-positive donors. The relatively higher prevalence of TTIs highlights a lack of public awareness, insufficient knowledge, and inadequate counselling within the studied population.

A glucose biosensor was utilized as a platform for the time-temperature integrator (TTI), a device for intelligent food packaging. The TTI system is composed of glucose oxidase, glucose, a pH indicator, and a three-electrode potentiostat, which produces an electrical signal as well as color development. The reaction kinetics of these response variables were analyzed under isothermal conditions. The reaction rates of the electrical current and color changes were 0.0360 ± 0.0020 (95% confidence limit), 0.0566 ± 0.0026, 0.0716 ± 0.0024, 0.1073 ± 0.0028 µA/min, and 0.0187 ± 0.0005, 0.0293 ± 0.0018, 0.0363 ± 0.0012, 0.0540 ± 0.0019 1/min, at 5, 15, 25, and 35 °C, respectively. The Arrhenius activation energy of the current reaction (Eacurrent) was 25.0 ± 1.6 kJ/mol and the Eacolor of the color reactions was 24.2 ± 0.6 kJ/mol. The similarity of these Ea shows agreement in the prediction of food qualities between the electrical signal and color development. Consequently, the function of the new time-temperature integrator system could be extended to that of a biosensor compatible with any electrical utilization equipment.

Forward modeling of seismic wave propagation is crucial for the realization of reverse time migration (RTM) and full waveform inversion (FWI) in attenuating transversely isotropic media. To describe the attenuation and anisotropy properties of subsurface media, the pure-viscoacoustic anisotropic wave equations are established for wavefield simulations, because they can provide clear and stable wavefields. However, due to the use of several approximations in deriving the wave equation and the introduction of a fractional Laplacian approximation in solving the derived equation, the wavefields simulated by the previous pure-viscoacoustic tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) wave equations has low accuracy. To accurately simulate wavefields in media with velocity anisotropy and attenuation anisotropy, we first derive a new pure-viscoacoustic TTI wave equation from the exact complex-valued dispersion formula in viscoelastic vertical transversely isotropic (VTI) media. Then, we present the hybrid finite-difference and low-rank decomposition (HFDLRD) method to accurately solve our proposed pure-viscoacoustic TTI wave equation. Theoretical analysis and numerical examples suggest that our pure-viscoacoustic TTI wave equation has higher accuracy than previous pure-viscoacoustic TTI wave equations in describing qP-wave kinematic and attenuation characteristics. Additionally, the numerical experiment in a simple two-layer model shows that the HFDLRD technique outperforms the hybrid finite-difference and pseudo-spectral (HFDPS) method in terms of accuracy of wavefield modeling.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the fifth leading cause of cancer‐related death. The lack of data linking genomic alterations to targeted treatment strategies has hindered progress in disease management. Genomic rearrangements involving the ETS transcription factors ERG or ETV1 are among the most frequent genetic alterations in PCa; however, their clinical utility remains elusive. Using PCa cells overexpressing ETV1 or ERG, representing early and advanced disease stages, we unveiled a positive feedback loop between ETV1 and EGFR, with STAT3 acting as a downstream effector of ETV1–EGFR signaling. Analysis of external datasets revealed that both EGFR and STAT3 are significantly upregulated in ETV1‐positive PCa, consistent with ChIP‐seq data identifying them as direct ETV1 targets. Accordingly, combined inhibition of EGFR and STAT3 using Erlotinib and TTI‐101, respectively, led to a significant reduction in 2D and 3D cell growth of early and advanced PCa cells overexpressing ETV1. Collectively, our findings highlight EGFR–STAT3 activation as a novel ETV1‐regulated oncogenic pathway, providing a rationale for repurposing EGFR inhibitors in combination with STAT3 inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy for the 8–10% of prostate carcinomas characterized by ETV1 rearrangements/overexpression. Cotargeting EGFR and STAT3 with Erlotinib and TTI‐101 impairs both 2D and 3D growth of ETV1‐overexpressing prostate cancer cells by disrupting a self‐sustaining ETV1–EGFR positive feedback loop that promotes EGFR and STAT3 expression and phosphorylation (activation). In contrast, ERG‐overexpressing cells show reduced EGFR–STAT3 activation and consequently a lower therapeutic response to Erlotinib and TTI‐101.

Benchmarking is a fundamental tool for enhancing quality within a patient-centered healthcare framework. This study presents an analysis of time-to-treatment initiation (TTI) for sarcoma patients, utilizing a database encompassing 266 cases from the Swiss Sarcoma Network. Our findings indicate a median TTI of 30 days across the cohort, with bone sarcomas and deep soft tissue sarcomas demonstrating a shorter median TTI of 28 days, followed by superficial soft tissue sarcomas at 42 days. The data reveal that the use of real-world-time data (RWTD) may account for a longer TTI observed, as it offers more comprehensive capture of patient journeys, unlike conventional datasets. Notably, variability in TTI was observed between different treatment institutions, which underscores the need for standardized processes across centers. We advocate for a selective referral system to specialized centers to prevent capacity overload and ensure timely treatment initiation. Our analysis also identified significant delays in TTI for unplanned ‘whoops’-resections, highlighting the importance of early specialist referral in optimizing treatment timelines. This study emphasizes the potential benefits of a streamlined, data-informed approach to sarcoma care. However, further research is required to establish the direct impact of integrated care models on TTI and patient outcomes in the context of sarcoma treatment.