Braunhoff5611

Overall, this ultrasound-responsive polymersome provides us with a fresh insight into designing next-generation stimuli-responsive drug carriers with better maneuverability and higher chemotherapeutic efficiency. OBJECTIVE Expand an existing validated measure of basic mobility (AM-PAC) for patients at the lowest levels of function. DESIGN Item replenishment for existing item response theory (IRT) derived measure, via 1) idea generation and creation of potential new items, 2) item calibration and field-testing, and 3) longitudinal pilot test. SETTING Two tertiary acute care hospitals PARTICIPANTS Consecutive inpatients (n=502) >18 years old, with AM-PAC Inpatient Mobility Short Form (IMSF) raw score ≤15; for the longitudinal pilot test, eight inpatients were evaluated. RESULTS Fifteen new AM-PAC items were developed, two of which improved mobility measurement at the lower levels of functioning. Specifically, with the 2 new items, the floor effect of the AM-PAC IMSF was reduced by 19%, statistical power and measurement breadth were greater, and in longitudinal pilot testing there was greater measurement sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Adding 2 new items to the AM-PAC IMSF lowered the floor, increased statistical power, measurement breadth, and sensitivity. In this edition of Mythbusters, we evaluate the common claim that topical corticosteroids (TCS) can be used for treatment of postcircumcision penile adhesions (PCPA). Although many textbooks and websites of respected pediatric institutions include topical steroids as one of the options for treatment of PCPA, the scientific basis of this claim is unclear and none of the references we found cited any specific sources. In review of the literature, we could find no peer-reviewed studies that support (or even assess) the utility of TCS for PCPA. It appears that the claims regarding TCS may be extrapolations from the demonstrated effectiveness of TCS for phimosis and related problems, although these are different conditions with different etiologies. We conclude that there is no scientific evidence supporting the use of TCS for PCPA. The verdict for this urolegend 'Debunked.' INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Owing to restrictions in operative experiences, urology residents can no longer solely rely on 'hands-on' operative time to master their surgical skills by the end of residency. Simulation training could help residents master basic surgical skills and steps of a procedure to maximize time in the operative room. However, simulators can be expensive or tedious to set up, limiting the availability to residents and training programs. OBJECTIVE The authors sought to develop and validate an inexpensive, high-fidelity training model for robotic pyeloplasty. STUDY DESIGN Pyeloplasty models were created using Dragon Skin® FX-Pro tissue-mimicking silicone cast over 3-dimensional molds. Urology faculty and trainees completed a demographic questionnaire. The participants viewed a brief instructional video and then independently performed robotic dismembered pyeloplasty on the model. Acceptability and content validity were evaluated via post-task evaluation of the model. Construct validity was eval and the median score among residents was 6 (IQR = 2-6) (P  less then  0.001). The material cost was $1.32/model, and the average production time was 0.12 person-hours/model. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION This low-cost pyeloplasty model exhibits acceptability and content validity. selleck products Construct validity is supported by significant correlation between participant expertise and simulator performance across multiple assessment domains. The model has excellent potential to be used as a training tool in urology and allows for repetitive practice of pyeloplasty skills before live cases. Published by Elsevier Ltd.We present atomic scale models of differently shaped silica surfaces loaded by gemcitabine and ibuprofene molecules, respectively. Despite the dissimilar nature of the drug molecules, their association to silica carriers show quite similar characteristics. We identify a well-defined contact layer that is stabilized by silica-molecule salt-bridges/hydrogen bonding in parallel to interactions among the drug molecules. Additional loading of the carriers leads to rough films with dynamically evolving asperities rather than layer-by-layer ordering. To elucidate the role of differently shaped silica surfaces, we compared planar slab models and spherical nanoparticles as two limiting cases. Despite the strong difference in the curvature of the silica surfaces, our molecular dynamics simulations show only small changes of the unloading characteristics. This suggests that the design of different pore shapes in mesoporous silica based drug carriers mainly affects the migration kinetics rather than the energetics of drug loading and release. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a role in not only cancer metastasis, but also drug resistance, which is associated with increased levels of efflux transporters such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Here, we examined whether P-gp activation during Snail-induced EMT of lung cancer cells is mediated by ezrin, radixin and moesin (ERM), which regulate transporter localization. HCC827 lung cancer cells overexpressing the transcription factor Snail showed increased Rhodamine123 efflux and increased paclitaxel resistance, reflecting increased P-gp activity. Concomitantly, the expression level of moesin, but not ezrin or radixin, was significantly increased. The increase of P-gp activity was suppressed by knockdown of moesin. Thus, the increase of P-gp activity associated with Snail-induced EMT may be mediated mainly by moesin in HCC827 cells. On the other hand, the Snail mRNA expression level was correlated with the expression level of each ERM in four non-small-cell lung cancer cell lines (HCC827, A549, H441, H1975) and in tumor tissues, but not normal tissues, of lung cancer patients. These results suggest that P-gp activation during EMT is at least partially due to increased expression of moesin. Co-administration of moesin inhibitors with anticancer drugs might block P-gp-mediated drug efflux organ-specifically, improving treatment efficacy and minimizing side effects on other organs.