Development of a Topical Insulin Polymeric Nanoformulation for Skin Burn Regeneration: An Experimental Approach

Insulin is a peptide hormone with many physiological functions, besides its use in diabetes treatment. An important role of insulin is related to the wound healing process—however, insulin itself is too sensitive to the external environment requiring the protective of a nanocarrier. Polymer-based nanoparticles can protect, deliver, and retain the protein in the target area. This study aims to produce and characterize a topical treatment for wound healing consisting of insulin-loaded poly-DL-lactide/glycolide (PLGA) nanoparticles. Insulin-loaded nanoparticles present a mean size of approximately 500 nm and neutral surface charge. Spherical shaped nanoparticles are observed by scanning electron microscopy and confirmed by atomic force microscopy. SDS-PAGE and circular dichroism analysis demonstrated that insulin preserved its integrity and secondary structure after the encapsulation process. In vitro release studies suggested a controlled release profile. Safety of the formulation was confirmed using cell lines, and cell viability was concentration and time-dependent. Preliminary safety in vivo assays also revealed promising results.     

Magnetically Guidable Proteinaceous Adhesive Microbots for Targeted Locoregional Therapeutics Delivery in the Highly Dynamic Environment of the Esophagus

The esophagus is a tubular-shaped muscular organ where swallowed fluids and muscular contractions constitute a highly dynamic environment. The turbulent, coordinated processes that occur through the oropharyngeal conduit can often compromise targeted administration of therapeutic drugs to a lesion, significantly reducing therapeutic efficacy. Here, magnetically guidable drug vehicles capable of strongly adhering to target sites using a bioengineered mussel adhesive protein (MAP) to achieve localized delivery of therapeutic drugs against the hydrodynamic physiological conditions are proposed. A suite of highly uniform microparticles embedded with iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles (MAP@IO MPs) is microfluidically fabricated using the genipin-mediated covalent cross-linking of bioengineered MAP. The MAP@IO MPs are successfully targeted to a specific region and prolongedly retained in the tubular-structured passageway. In particular, orally administered MAP@IO MPs are effectively captured in the esophagus in vivo in a magnetically guidable manner. Moreover, doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded MAP@IO MPs exhibit a sustainable DOX release profile, effective anticancer therapeutic activity, and excellent biocompatibility. Thus, the magnetically guidable locomotion and robust underwater adhesive properties of the proteinaceous soft microbots can provide an intelligent modular approach for targeted locoregional therapeutics delivery to a specific lesion site in dynamic fluid-associated tubular organs such as the esophagus.     

如何实施社会转型期的民办高校品牌战略

在社会转型期，面对日益激烈的市场竞争环境，如何制定民办高效发战战略，引导民办高效的可持续发展，是关系到民办高校兴衰的关键。本文主要从民办高校品牌战略入手，对社会转型及高等教育转型进行论述，并对如何加强民办高校品牌建设进行探讨。     

汽车产业中的职业技术教育研究

汽车产业是我国的支柱产业,为了落实国家《现代职业教育体系建设规划(2014-2020年)》精神,满足汽车产业经济运行和发展对职业技术人才的需求,通过研究汽车产业经济的职业教育目标指向、如何适应产业经济运行、引领产业经济发展等问题,采用对汽车产业经济结构、产业经济链的结构、科学技术结构、职业教育中学科与专业结构的分析研究,找到了"经济运行维持类"、"科学技术进步类"、"产品创新发展类"职业教育模式,还找到了汽车产业经济链、核心技术、专业课、专业基础课、基础课之间关联结构。对汽车产业高等职业教育具有积极作用。     

Micro- and macroergonomic changes in mental workload and medication safety following the implementation of new health IT

Health information technology (IT) is a promising way to achieve safer medication management in the delivery of healthcare. However, human factors/ergonomics dictates that in order to make the complex, cognitive work of healthcare delivery safer, health IT must properly support human cognition. This means, for example, that new health IT must reduce, not increase, workload during safety-critical tasks. The present study was the first to quantitatively assess the short- and long-term impact of bar coded medication administration (BCMA) IT on nurses' mental workload as well as on perceived medication safety. One-hundred seventy registered nurses across 3 dissimilar clinical units at an academic, freestanding pediatric hospital in the Midwest US participated in surveys administered before, 3 months after, and 12 months after the hospital implemented BCMA. Nurses rated their external mental workload (interruptions, divided attention, being rushed) and internal mental workload (concentration, mental effort) during medication administration tasks as well as the likelihood of each of three medication safety events: medication administration errors, medication errors on the clinical unit, and clinical unit-level adverse drug events. Clinical unit differences were assessed. Findings generally confirmed the hypothesis that external but not internal mental workload was associated with the perceived likelihood of a medication safety event. Comparisons of mental workload from pre- to post-BCMA revealed statistically significant changes in the critical care unit only. Medication safety appeared to improve over the long term in the hematology/oncology unit only. In the critical care and medical/surgical units, medication safety exhibited short-term improvements that were eliminated over time. Changes in mental workload and medication safety, two classically microergonomic constructs, were deeply embedded in macroergonomic phenomena. These included the fit between the BCMA system and the nature of nursing work, the process of BCMA implementation, and BCMA interactions with concurrent changes occurring in the hospital. Findings raise questions about achieving sustainable performance improvement with health IT as well as the balance between micro- and macroergonomic approaches to studying technology change.Relevance to industryDesigners must consider how technology changes cognitive work, including mental workload. Hospitals and other implementers of technology must ensure that new technology fits its users, their tasks, and the context of use, which may entail tailoring implementation, for example, to specific clinical units. Evaluators must look over time to assess both changes in cognitive work and implementation issues. Healthcare practitioners must also recognize that new technology means a complex transformation to an already complex sociotechnical system, which calls for a macroergonomic approach to design and analysis.     

Negotiation based adaptive learning sequences: Combining adaptivity and adaptability

This study proposes a negotiation-based approach to combine the notion of adaptivity (system-controlled adaptation) and adaptability (user-controlled adaptation) for an adaptive learning system. The system suggests adaptations and the student also submits his/her adaptation preference. When the student preference opposes the system suggestion, the student then negotiates with the system to reach an agreement of adaptation. A negotiation-based adaptive learning system (NALS) is implemented to support the generation of personalized adaptive learning sequences by system negotiations with students regarding assessments of learning performance (i.e. negotiated open student model) of the current content and choices of the next learning content (i.e. negotiation of adaptation). Students require two metacognitions in deciding adaptive learning sequences: self-assessment for evaluating their understanding of the current content and regulation for choosing appropriate learning content. Negotiated open student model are used for assist student self-assessment and negotiation of adaptation are used for assist student regulation of content choices. An experiment was conducted to compare a system-controlled adaptive learning system (SALS, adaptivity), a user-controlled adaptive learning system (UALS, adaptability), and a NALS. The results revealed that NALS promoted better metacognitions in student calibration (i.e. self-assessment) accuracy and learning content choices (i.e. regulation). Preliminary evidences also showed that NALS promoted better student performance in a delay test. The results further suggested that students with poor calibration accuracy and inappropriate content choices were not suitable to use UALS and were suitable to use SALS. The NALS can also be used for training students to make appropriate adaptation for learning.     

Pharmacokinetics and efficiency of brain targeting of ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1 given as Nao-Qing microemulsion

Nao-Qing solution has been shown to be clinically effective in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). The purpose of this study was to improve the pharmacokinetics and brain uptake of Nao-Qing, administered as an oil-in-water microemulsion. Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were given Nao-Qing microemulsion by intranasal or intragastric routes. Samples of blood, brain, heart, liver, lung and kidney were collected at pre-determined time intervals, and the contents of ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1 (active ingredients of the Nao-Qing microemulsion) were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that contents of ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1 in Nao-Qing microemulsion was 8475.13?±?54.61?μg/ml and 6633.42?±?527.27?μg/ml, respectively, and that the particle size, pH and viscosity of the microemulsion were 19.9?±?5.07?nm, 6.1 and 3.056?×?10^?3?Pas, respectively. Absorption of ginsenoside Rg1 was higher than that of ginsenoside Rb1, which was barely detectable after intragastric administration; furthermore, the concentration of ginsenoside Rg1 in blood and other tissues at each time point was lower for intragastric than for intranasal administration. Compared with intragastric administration, intranasal administration resulted in a shorter t_max (0.08 versus 1?h), a higher C_max (16.65 versus 11.29?μg/ml), and a higher area under the concentration–time curve (AUC) (592.91 versus 101.70?μg?h/ml) in the brain. The relative rates of uptake (R_e) and the ratio of peak concentration (C_e) in the brain were 126.31% and 147.48% for ginsenoside Rg1, respectively. These data illustrate that intranasal administration can promote the absorption of drugs in Nao-Qing microemulsion and achieve fast effect.     

Governance assessment of UAV implementation in Kenyan land administration system

The ‘fit-for-purpose’ (FFP) approach was developed to respond to the challenges that the creation of a sustainable land administration system (LAS) faces. FFP has proved its value in integrating technological innovations such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in LAS. Technological innovations need to consider the governance context when being implemented. Understanding the relevance of the FFP approach and acknowledging the importance of the governance context, this research applies the ‘Fit-for-purpose governance assessment framework’ (FGAF). FGAF helps to understand the challenges that the implementation of UAVs can face in the LAS in Kenya. This governance assessment is based on 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews, three one-day workshops with local stakeholders and UAVs pilot studies to test the technology. The findings suggest that there are major and minor challenges concerning different attributes of FFP qualities. The governance context across counties is fragmented with a high degree of uncertainty and uneven capacity conditions. There are overlapping responsibilities and trust issues among the different actors. Participation of private and non-governmental actors is limited. Yet, steps have been taken toward the adoption of innovative approaches. Although financial resources are limited, the diversity of local and international stakeholders can work as a leverage point to support the implementation of UAVs in the mid and long-term.     

A toy or a friend? Children's anthropomorphic beliefs about robots and how these relate to second-language word learning

This study investigates the degree to which children anthropomorphize a robot tutor and whether this anthropomorphism relates to their vocabulary learning in a second-language (L2) tutoring intervention. With this aim, an anthropomorphism questionnaire was administered to 5-year-old children (N = 104) twice: prior to and following a seven-session L2 vocabulary training with a humanoid robot. On average, children tended to anthropomorphize the robot prior to and after the lessons to a similar degree, but many children changed their attributed anthropomorphic features. Boys anthropomorphized the robot less after the lessons than girls. Moreover, there was a weak but significant positive correlation between anthropomorphism as measured before the lessons and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered the day after the last lesson. There was also a weak but significant positive correlation between the change in anthropomorphism over time and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered approximately 2 weeks after the last lesson. Our results underscore the need to manage children's expectations in robot-assisted education. Also, future research could explore adaptations to individual children's expectations in child-robot interactions.     

高分子材料学辅助有机化学教学——培养与增进学生学习的浓厚兴趣

摘有机化学是面向工科专业开设的一门基础课程,因授课教师的知识背景不同,所以在教学过程中应因地适宜考虑教学方案,提高教学质量。文章根据作者在有机化学授课上的教学实践与经验,浅议高分子材料学在有机化学教学中提高学生兴趣与课堂效率的作用。