Journal articles on the topic 'Qu (Selection: Extracts, etc.)'

It has been reported that Xenopus egg extracts contain molecules that are capable of reprogramming mammalian somatic cells. The reprogrammed somatic cells, which are called extract treated cells (ETC), possess the potential for clinical therapy as embryonic stem (ES) cells do. Therefore, in addition to establishment of an efficient method to reprogram mouse NIH/3T3 cells by Xenopus egg extracts, the aim of this study was to select the ETC cells by the expression of Oct4. In Experiment 1, two methods, electroporation or permeabilization, were conducted to treat mouse NIH/3T3 cells with Xenopus egg extracts. 2 × 105 cells in 200 μL reprogramming mixture containing Xenopus egg extracts were stimulated by a direct current (DC) pulse (80 V mm–1 for 3 msec) three times followed by a pause of incubation at 37°C for 5 min and a single DC pulse (170 V mm–1, for 0.4 msec) subsequently. The electroporated cells were then incubated at 22°C for 1 h. In the other treatment group, NIH/3T3 cells (5 × 105) were permeabilized by streptolysin O (SLO, 500 ng mL–1 in PBS) for 50 min at 37°C before mixed with Xenopus egg extracts at 22°C for 2 h. Cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS for the first 4 days and then changed to ES medium (DMEM supplemented with 15% FBS, 0.1 mm β-mercaptoethanol, 1000 unit mL–1 mLIF, 0.5% nonessential amino acids, 2 mm L-glutamine) for the last 6 days after Xenopus egg extract treatment. Cell colonies were found in both treatment groups at the end of culture. Examination by immunocytochemical staining, results showed that the extract-treated cell colonies expressed pluripotent marker proteins, such as alkaline phosphatase, Oct4, Nanog and Sox2. In Experiment 2, an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression vector was constructed and EGFP was driven by Oct4 enhancer and promoter (Oct4-EGFP). Mouse NIH/3T3 cells were then transfected with Oct4-EGFP plasmids and selected for stable clone by G418 screening. After 6 passages, the NIH/3T3-Oct4-EGFP cells were treated with egg extracts to induce reprogramming as Experiment 1, and monitored pluripotency based on the expression of EGFP. Results showed that some of the cells or cell colonies expressed green fluorescence driven by Oct4 regulatory element at the 8th day of culture after extract treatment. Our results demonstrated that both methods of electroporation and reversible permeabilization could introduce reprogramming molecules in Xenopus egg extract to the mammalian somatic cells and generate ETCs cells in vitro. Also, with the establishment of NIH/3T3-Oct4-EGFP cell line, the potentially reprogrammed colonies could be easily selected by EGFP expression. The changes of epigenetic modifications in the ETC cells would be investigated in the short future.

The study attempts to investigate the attitude and perception of Saudi undergraduate students towards English literature courses as a part of their BA English Program at a large public university in KSA. A total of 59 students (25 studying a literature course, 25 linguistics course and nine had already passed at least one literature course) participated in the study. Applying mixed method research design, questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data and retrospective essays were used for qualitative data. A modified version of AMTB developed by Gardner and associates was used to measure students' attitude towards literature courses. The results of study show that the participants have positive attitude towards literature courses. The findings also suggest that learners’ social environment (family, friends, classmates, teachers…etc.) significantly contribute in constructing positive attitudes and enhancing their perception towards literature as medium of learning L2. The study has pedagogical implication too. Policy makers (administrator, curriculum developers, and teachers) need to accommodate learners’ voices in the selection of teaching material.

MANET has emerged as an eager field for supporting disaster response and prevention applications like climate and weather observation, tracking, tsunamis, wildfire and emergency rescue operations, underwater level navigation, etc. In this paper, a new ad-hoc routing protocol named SO-AODV (Secured and Optimized Ad-Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector) is proposed for secured and optimized communication in any disaster like situations. For shortest route selection a technique called pigeons swarm optimization (PiSO) is used that also leads to minimize the hop count in selected optimal route. Lightweight digital watermarking (LDW) is used that ensures the authenticity of “hello” packets. For security of event messages, cyphertext stealing technique (CST) is used with encryption qu-Vanstone elliptic curve cryptography (qV-ECC) based public key cryptography. The qV-ECC generates public key. Experiments are conducted using NS2 and performance is evaluated and compared over AODV for several metrics (i.e., packet delivery ration, throughput, end-to-end delay, security, and hop count).

The creation of functional soft drinks enriched with biologically active substances of natural origin necessary for human health is relevant and of great practical importance. The fortification of soft drinks is aimed at creating functional drinks by introducing sources of physiologically functional ingredients during their industrial production. Functional ingredients are classified into several groups: vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fiber, minerals, antioxidants, essential amino acids, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics. The natural sources containing the relevant functional ingredients and the functions performed by these substances in the human body are indicated. The directions of application of physiologically functional ingredients in the technology of soft drinks are considered. To fortify soft drinks with biologically active substances, a number of additives have been proposed: vitamins, vitamin premixes, β-carotene; vitamin and mineral mixtures, compositions, premixes; seaweed additives; vegetable milk; a complex of polyunsaturated fatty acids; modified cellulose, pectin, inulin, gums from tree bark, tree seeds, root tubers, algae and biochemically produced; salts of micro- and macroelements; fruit and vegetable supplements; phytoextracts; plant protein extracts, protein mixtures; probiotic cultures of microorganisms, immunotropic ingredients of bacterial origin; bee products. It has been shown that natural additives have advantages over synthetic ones, since their components – proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc. – are in an easily digestible form, and the complexity of their chemical composition leads to a comprehensive enrichment of beverages with biologically active substances. When developing functional soft drinks, it is necessary to take into account that fortification has a number of limitations due to the technological capabilities of introducing certain functional ingredients into the beverage and ensuring their effective bioavailability.

Emotions are a basic component of human life. It generates different brain waves for emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, calmness, tension, excitement, etc. The brain waves are electric and their electric impulse can be measured and recorded as a continuous stream of data. These emitted brain waves are recorded using an EEG device. Many existing systems are in use that feeds the recorded data into various Machine learning algorithms to classify the emotions. These systems are huge and complex, thus require a great amount of time for initializing and working. While a lot of algorithms are used and new algorithms are discovered to classify Brain EEG data, most of the time results will be improper and will not be reliable. The proposed system extracts only the data which corresponds to Human-emotions from the continuous stream of EEG data. The system makes use of robust preprocessing algorithms like ANOVA and PCA for feature extraction and selection to identify and extract features associated with Human-emotion. Later, these recording signals are modeled and fed into Dynamic Time wrapping Simple vector machine (DT-SVM) classification algorithm to analyze and predict the emotion of the person during the experiment which produces an improved accuracy of 99.2%compared to existing system.

Narrow-leaved lupine (Lupinus аngustifolius L.) is a widely cultivated leguminous forage and green manure crop with a potential for human nutrition. However, the presence of secondary metabolites – alkaloids – in lupine seeds considerably affects the quality of raw produce, reducing its nutritive value; in addition, high concentrations of alkaloids are toxic to humans and animals. Therefore, plant breeders working with lupine need to gain knowledge about the variability of alkaloid content in seeds of different genotypes and search for the sources of their low concentrations in the crop’s gene pool. The collection of narrow-leaved lupine genetic resources held by the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) offers wide opportunities for such search by means of mass screening. For its part, largescale gene pool screening requires the selection of an optimal technique to measure alkaloid content in seeds, so that it would be easily reproducible and as little labor-, time- and fund-consuming as possible. The results of the search for such method are presented. Qualitative and quantitative indices were compared when target compounds had been extracted with multicomponent mixtures and individual reagents (chloroform, methanol, etc.) and the extracts analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. High-performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry was also employed. Five major alkaloids were found to be present in all types of extracts: lupanine, 13-hydroxylupanine (dominant ones), angustifoline, sparteine, and isolupanine. The fullest extraction of alkaloids was observed when the extractant with an added alkaline agent was used (425 mg/100 g). The lowest level of extraction was registered with chloroform (216 mg/100 g). The significance of the differences was confirmed statistically.

The development of the formulation of cosmetic creams with a fat base, as a rule, is based on a rich practical experience, which has found expression in a number of generally accepted strategies. At the same time, the most difficult stage is the creation of a multicomponent mixture of oils with a balanced fatty acid composition, taking into account skin type, age-related changes, etc. An alternative to the empirical approach can be the creation of mathematical models of fat mixtures based on an unambiguous clear choice of criteria and restrictive conditions for the content of individual fatty acids. The relevance of such a task is due to the fact that the proposed models are quite complex and limited to a small set of components in the blend. The purpose of this study was to create a simplified model for calculating the fatty acid composition of multicomponent blends of vegetable oils using oil extracts of berries, fruits, essential oils and medicinal plants of the Crimean region enriched with BAS as a fat base. Oil extracts were obtained on the principle of two-phase extraction, which allows the extraction of biologically active substances of medium polarity. As a result of the research, a simplified strategy for mathematical modeling of the multicomponent composition of the fat base of oil creams is proposed, which allows to obtain the optimal ratio between base and active oils. At the same time, oils are selected both taking into account their physiological activity and fatty acid composition. A significant simplification is achieved through a preliminary analysis of the fatty acid composition of oils and the selection on its basis of such mixtures of oils, which later act as a single component. This allows the formation of multicomponent mixtures. The ratio of oleic and linoleic acids; the ratio of oleic to the sum of polyunsaturated acids (PUFA) were chosen as restrictive criteria. The results of this work can be useful when creating and testing mixtures using new unconventional oils.

Blue honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea L.) bears dietary fruits that are rich in bioactive compounds. However, information on the metabolome profiles of honeysuckle varieties grown in Russia is limited. In this study, we employed tandem mass spectrometry to study the metabolome profiles of four L. caerulea varieties (Volhova, Tomichka, Goluboe vereteno, and Amfora) grown in two geographical locations in Russia, i.e., the Russian Far East and St. Petersburg. We observed that the metabolome profiles of the four varieties grown in two locations differ significantly, particularly in the polyphenol’s other compound classes. We were able to identify 122 bioactive compounds in extracts from honeysuckle berries, 75 compounds from the polyphenol group and 47 compounds from other chemical groups. Thirty chemical constituents from the polyphenol group (flavones jaceosidin, cirsiliol, sophoraisoflavone A, chrysoeriol-O-hexoside, flavonols dimethylquercetin-3-O-dehexoside, rhamnocitrin, rhamnetin II, stilbenes pinosylvin, resveratrol, dihydroresveratrol, etc.) and twenty-seven from other chemical groups were identified. The largest number of unique polyphenols is characteristic of the variety Tomichka, the selection of the regional state unitary enterprise “Bakcharskoye”, from the free pollination of L. caerulea, originating in the Primorsky Territory of Russia (L. caerulea subspecies Turczaninow). This genotype has the highest number of similar unique polyphenols, regardless of where it was grown. Blue honeysuckle genotypes originating from Primorsky Krai in Russia can be used in various breeding programs in order to improve and enrich the biochemical composition of fruits. It should also be noted that, regardless of the place of cultivation, the total amount of unique polyphenols remains quite large. Attention should be paid to the Volhova honeysuckle variety, obtained through gamma irradiation of the Pavlovskaya variety (Kamchatka ecotype). This sample is characterized by a stable composition of biologically active substances, regardless of the growing area. These data could support future research on the production of a variety of pharmaceutical products containing ultrapure extracts of L. caerulea.

Background: Mushrooms produce a large amount of medicinal compounds, and are also an optimal source of fibres, proteins, vitamins (like groups B and D), and other micronutrients including potassium, magnesium, etc. Consequently, mushrooms are commonly considered to be functional foods. Many works report the high biological potentials of medicinal mushrooms involving their antibacterial, hypoglycaemic, anticholesterolemic, radical scavenging, and anti-inflammatory effects.Context and purpose of this study: First off, this work aimed to find strains of Lentinula edodes and Pleurotus ostreatus from a bank of edible mushrooms bought from international strain banks (Table I) that could possess health benefit related properties, such as a radical scavenging activity (antioxidant effect), antibacterial effects against common pathogenic bacteria, and being able to produce interesting nutrients and secondary metabolites. As the fungal bank comprises of 20 strains of L. edodes and 20 strains of P. ostreatus, a first screening was made by the selection of 13 strains for each mushroom able to grow in multiple wood types or that were particularly productive and had proved good growth reproducibility over the last 5 years. This work also studied the correlation between culture conditions and mushroom quality in terms of the previously reported properties. Comparison among the selected strains was operated by the assessment of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities after different sample treatments. Furthermore, an initial optimization of the analytic techniques was produced for the direct estimation of important secondary metabolites and nutrients by means of HPLC-MS/MS technique. Further research will encompass an evaluation of transformation processes (drying, freezing, rehydration, cooking, etc.) impact on radical scavenging, antibacterial activity, and possible degradation/loss of nutraceutically important substances such as vitamin D2, ergothioneine, eritadenine, lovastatin, lentinan, and lenthionine. Results: 13 strains of each mushroom species have been cultivated on different wood logs. Seven strains of shiitake and six strains of oyster mushroom were able to produce sporocarps. Antioxidant levels in water extracts from dried mushrooms produced significatively different results on the basis of strains and of wood. Both mushrooms demonstrated higher radical scavenging activity in log cultivation than substrates cultivation, which was subsequently used as reference. Furthermore, all strains of P. ostreatus demonstrated the lowest level of antioxidant activity at 4°C, a significant increase towards 50°C and a limited decrease towards 80°C. The same trend was observed for shiitake extracts. Concerning the shiitake mushroom only, crude water extracts showed an interesting antibacterial activity against the model microorganisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. A comparison was also performed between the best performing strain extract and the commercial antibiotic Ceftriaxone against P. aeruginosa, assessing that 20 mg of crude extract corresponds to 0.2 mg of the pure antibiotic when studied by means of disk diffusion assay.Conclusions: The results suggested that the cultivation of both shiitake and oyster mushrooms on logs could enhance the content of antioxidant and antibacterial activities, compared to the cultivation of mushrooms on sawdust substrates. Radical scavenging and antibacterial activity depends both on L. edodes strain and the log type. The bacteriostatic/bactericidal activity of the best performer strain may depend on a pH and solvent treatment sensitive substance. Secondary metabolites such as ergothioneine and vitamin D2 from both shiitake and oyster were released just after water extraction: this suggests that the transformation/cooking processes may produce a loss of characteristic mushroom biological properties in water. Further evaluation of biologically relevant compounds content and loss during different food transformation and cooking processes will be assessed.Key words: Shiitake, Oyster, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinula edodes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Log grown mushroom, antioxidant, radical scavenging, total phenolic content, DPPH, ABTS, Folin-Ciocalteu, antibacterial, fruitbodies, sporocarps.

Since its birth, red wine has been loved by people of all walks of life. The taste of red wine has changed and the pursuit of quality has always been the most sought-after goal by sommeliers, winemakers, and the public. However, due to the rich taste of red wine, any link is willing to produce different flavors. At present, there is no quantitative control study on the flavor of red wine. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the flavor of red wine through the chemometric algorithm and establish a reasonable model to predict the flavor of red wine. Aiming at the research of red wine flavor, this paper designs a red wine flavor extraction experiment and extracts the substances that produce an aroma and flavor in red wine to the greatest extent through strict selection of extraction head and reaction time. For the rapid analysis of red wine flavor, this paper quantitatively describes the chemical category, volatilization time, molecular weight, etc., of flavor substances by analyzing the multidimensional spectral data of red wine, so that flavor substances can be quickly located. The experimental results of this paper prove that, for different red wines, the algorithm in this paper can accurately identify the flavor substances in red wine. Also, for red wine multidimensional spectral data, the algorithm in this paper can improve the accuracy by 30% and save the running time by 30%. This shows that the research in this paper can analyze and quickly predict the flavor of red wine.

Constipation develops in up to 30% of the adult population of economically developed countries. The main reason for the occurrence of constipation are lifestyle features: inactivity and unbalanced nutrition. During constipation, motor, absorptive and secretory functions of the large intestine change. Treatment of patients with constipation begins after determining the cause of constipation and excluding lesions of the large intestine that could provoke constipation. Both soluble and insoluble dietary fibers should be increased in the diet. The main approach to treatment is the use of combined therapy, and if the effect is insufficient, laxatives administration is recommended. Objective — to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of using the multicomponent laxative EasyDo in the treatment of patients with functional constipation and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with constipation. Materials and methods. The study involved 28 patients with functional constipation/IBS with constipation, who met the Rome IV criteria (2016). Women prevailed in this group, 19 (68.0%). IBS with constipation was diagnosed in 15 (53.6%) cases, and functional constipation in 13 (46.4%) subjects. Patients were administered EasyDo (Prakruti Products Pvt Ltd, India), which includes a mixture of natural extracts of medicinal plants, namely: Operculina turpethum, Cassia fistula, Terminalia chebula, Glycyrrhiza glabra 2 tablets in the evening. Besides, recommendations were given to change the lifestyle, to add dietary fibers into the diet with individual selection of the dose. The dynamics of the following symptoms were evaluated: lack of regular bowel movement, difficulty in defecation, feeling of incomplete emptying, flatulence, etc. The intensity of each of these symptoms was assessed with the use of a 5‑point Likert scale. Results. The analysis of EasyDo effectiveness was carried out after three weeks of the drug administration. All patients noted positive changes, but the degree of positive dynamics was different. After the treatment, the number of bowel movements per week increased. Three or more stools without unproductive straining were recorded in 21 (75%) patients. The severity of complaints in most patients has significantly decreased. Conclusions. The obtained results demonstrated the following EasyDo effectiveness: considerable in 21 (75%) patients, moderate in 6 (21.4%) patients, no effects in one (3.6%) patient. The combination of plant components in EasyDo has a mild laxative effect, it is well tolerated and can be recommended in the complex treatment of patients with constipation.

Conductive polymers, such as polyaniline (PANI), Polythiophene (PTh), polypyrrole (PPy), etc., are widely used for gas sensors due to their excellent electrical conductivity and low cost to manufacture [1]. In particular, PANI has attracted more attention due to its ease of synthesis, high environmental stability, and high reactivity with ammonia gas. In addition, the selection of acid-base dopant during the preparation process of polyaniline can adjust carrier concentrations for the change in electrical conduction or resistance to improve sensing properties. There have been many reports on the fabrication of flexible gas sensors using PANI [2-4]. Bandgar et al. [5] synthesized a low-temperature flexible polyaniline gas sensor by in-situ chemical oxidation polymerization of aniline on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, showing 99% reproducibility, rapid response and recovery. Still, the response value was only 26% in 100 ppm ammonia atmosphere. Qi et al. [6] prepared a gas sensor by in-situ polymerization of aniline on non-woven fabric. The high air permeability of the fabric effectively improved the performance of the polyaniline-based gas sensor. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of face masks in public has become essential to reduce the spread of the virus. Some reports claim that the increased carbon dioxide in the mask over time may cause medical issues related to the respiratory system. Therefore, monitoring breathing air quality can help detect the wearer's vital conditions. In this study, we used a disposable mask as a flexible substrate to prepare polypropylene/carbon nanotube/polyaniline composite film through a layer-by-layer method. The polypropylene/carbon nanotube composite films were prepared by applying the carbon nanotube aqueous solution with surfactants evenly on the surface of a mask filter layer by a drop-coating method. Then, the in-situ polyaniline polymerization was performed on the surface of the polypropylene/carbon nanotube composite film through ammonium sulfate. The polypropylene/carbon nanotube /polyaniline composite film exhibits high sensitivity, fast sensing response/recovery time, room temperature operation, reliable flexibility, and cycle stability. The synthesized and wearable masks have demonstrated real-time detection respiratory rate and other breathing conditions such as CO2 and humidity. The ammonia gas sensing can also be used as a potential biomarker for health screening. The design and integration of multiple gas sensing materials in masks will help wearers better understand their own body conditions. References [1] Y. Jiang, N. Tang, C. Zhou, Z.Y. Han, H. Qu, X.X. Duan, et al., A chemiresistive sensor array from conductive polymer nanowires fabricated by nanoscale soft lithography, Nanoscale, 10(2018) 20578-86. [2] T.F. Wu, E. Gray, B.Q. Chen, A self-healing, adaptive and conductive polymer composite ink for 3D printing of gas sensors, J Mater Chem C, 6(2018) 6200-7. [3] D.Z. Zhang, Z.L. Wu, X.Q. Zong, et al., Flexible and highly sensitive H2S gas sensor based on in-situ polymerized SnO2/rGO/PANI ternary nanocomposite with application in halitosis diagnosis, Sensor Actuators B: Chem, 289(2019) 32-41. [4] C.H. Liu, H.L. Tai, P. Zhang, Z. Yuan, X.S. Du, G.Z. Xie, et al., A high-performance flexible gas sensor based on self-assembled PANI-CeO2 nanocomposite thin film for trace-level NH3 detection at room temperature, Sensor Actuators B: Chem, 261(2018) 587-97. [5] D.K. Bandgar, S.T. Navale, S.R. Nalage, R.S. Mane, F.J. Stadler, D.K. Aswal, et al., Simple and low-temperature polyaniline-based flexible ammonia sensor: a step towards laboratory synthesis to economical device design, J Mater Chem C, 3(2015) 9461-8. [6] J. Qi, X. Xu, X. Liu, K.T. Lau, Fabrication of textile based conductometric polyaniline gas sensor, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 202(2014) 732-40.

Abstract Background: The spatial intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) is widely acknowledged as driving therapeutic response and providing fuel for drug resistance. Currently, patient selection for immunotherapy is driven mostly by PD-1/PD-L1 based IHC tests and mutational analysis. These oversimplified approaches fail to predict the risk of recurrence, therapeutic response and drug resistance with high accuracy. We hypothesize that functional responses of heterogeneous non-random spatial arrangements of tumor, stromal and immune cells in the tumor microenvironment are determined by distinct combinations of their internal states and spatial interactions within neighborhoods. The interactions generate distinct cell-cell communication networks forming functional spatial configurations of cells, termed microdomains, as organizational units of spatial ITH. Deriving the spatial networks within each microdomain with unbiased spatial analytics and the underlying network biology through explainable AI, is key to understanding tumor initiation, tumor progression, and response to therapy. Problem: There has been an explosion of spatial imaging technologies using immunofluorescence and/or mass spectrometry for intact tissues measuring protein expressions, DNA and RNA probes. To extract high-value knowledge from these multiplexed datasets, a key first step is to segment cells accurately. Despite decades of research, this step remains elusive due to imaging artifacts arising from issues with tile stitching, incorrect registration, signal oversaturation, non-uniform illumination, poor or high-background nuclei signal, defocus, varying cell and nuclear shapes, fluorescence emission efficiency variation, overlapping and/or superimposed nuclei and low resolution (e.g., mass cytometry). Those artifacts may lead to incorrect cell phenotypes, incomplete cell phenotype atlases, and missing rare cell, fusion cell or transition cell types. Solution: We present TumorMapr™, a segmentation-free, unbiased spatial analytics and explainable AI platform that extracts information and creates knowledge from patient disease pathology samples imaged with any technology including fluorescence, mass spectrometry etc. Results: We apply TumorMapr on hyperplexed immunofluorescence dataset of colorectal cancer and hyperplexed imaging mass cytometry dataset of triple negative breast cancer to discover functional cell prototypes involving spatial collections of neighboring pixels highly predictive of disease progression and response to therapy, tumor promoting and tumor restraining microdomains and microdomain-specific network biology predictive of disease outcomes. We further compare these results with segmentation-based approaches to showcase the discovery of novel cell prototypes. Citation Format: Filippo Pullara, Brian Falkenstein, Bruce Campbell, Samantha Panakkal, Akif Burak Tosun, Jeffrey Fine, S. Chakra Chennubhotla. Segmentation-free analysis of multiplexed images with unbiased spatial analytics and explainable AI for predicting disease outcomes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 5445.

With an increase in the world's population, the demand for environmentally friendly food is increasing. In this regard, the main task of animal husbandry is to intensify the reproduction of the herd and the maximum possible increase in animal productivity. In this sector of agriculture, as in any industry, there are also various problems. One of these problems is that sows' productivity still averages around 40–60% of their potential This is due to the fact that modern industrial pig breeding technologies do not always take into account the physiological needs of the pig’s body, which leads to weakened immunity and an increase in the frequency of various pathologies. Therefore, to increase the overall resistance of the animal organism and prevent postpartum pathologies, various means are systematically used. The most commonly used drugs are etiotropic therapy. But almost all of them have certain disadvantages: toxic effects on the body, irritating effects on tissues, long-term effects and various side effects, antibiotic resistance. Therefore, veterinary specialists seek to limit the frequency of use of antibiotics by replacing them with drugs that do not potentiate antibiotic resistance, have immunostimulating properties and contain environmentally friendly and inexpensive components. Such environmentally friendly drugs are effective due to the fact that the micronutrients or extracts of medicinal plants contained in them have good antibacterial and bactericidal, and sometimes fungicidal, immunostimulating and antiviral properties. The use of such drugs, either alone or in combination with certain methods and drugs (synestrol, carbocholine, pituitrin, proserin, vitamins, UHF, EHF, etc.) allows you to get environmentally friendly products from the animal almost immediately after the course of treatment . The aim of our research was to study the effectiveness of new, environmentally friendly and easy-to-use agents used for the treatment of postpartum endometritis in sows and their effect on some parameters of sows productivity. The studies were carried out during 2018 in the conditions of the complex of selection and hybridization of pigs “Moldsudingbrid”, the city of Orhei, Republic of Moldova. From the number of farrowing sows, queens with a diagnosis of postpartum endometritis were selected. The selected uterus was divided into 3 groups: one control and two experimental. In the control group, all sows were treated according to the scheme adopted by the farm: injections of Enrofloxacin 50 were used according to the instructions 1 ml/20 kg body weight, once a day, intramuscularly 3–5 days. The animals of both experimental groups were injected once, in the upper third of the neck (behind the ear), a tissue preparation was injected at the rate of 1 ml/100 kg of body weight. Before use, the drug was diluted with a 0.5% solution of novocaine in a ratio of 1:1. At the same time, 100–150 ml of a preparation made on the basis of an extract from plant D and a chelate compound of iodine were intrauterine administered to sows of the first experimental group. Animals of the second experimental group were intrauterine injected with 100–150 ml of a preparation made on the basis of an extract from plant C and a chelate compound of iodine. The frequency of administration was 1 time per day for 3–5 days. Studies have shown that the duration of therapy in the experimental groups was less than in the control group. In the first experimental group, the duration of therapy was 4.44 ± 0.358 days and in the second experimental group 4.22 ± 0.386 days. This is 1.39 and 1.61 days (23.84% and 27.65%, respectively) less than in the control group. The inter-porous period in the experimental groups after therapy was less than in the control group. In the first experimental group, the period between farrowing was 164.33 ± 6.645 days and in the second experimental group 180.75 ± 9.12 days. This is 12.17 and 5.85 days less than in the control group, where this indicator was 2.57 days. The interval from weaning of piglets to the fruitful insemination of sows (when they first came to the hunt) in the experimental groups decreased by 5.15 and 6.6 days and amounted to 17.25 ± 5.01 and 9 ± 3.36 days. In the control group, the interval between weaning and insemination of sows was 18.8 ± 4.93 days, which is 2 days less than before the studies. It has been established: 1) the new, environmentally friendly products that we offer are effective in the treatment of postpartum endometritis in sows; 2) do not adversely affect sow productivity; 3) contribute to improved reproductive performance and are more effective than antibiotic. The data obtained will improve and specify the appropriate preventive, therapeutic and diagnostic and other measures necessary to increase the reproductive potential of sows

We have detected the changes in the molecular biologic properties of the lascobacilus strain Lactibacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 after its storage in the lyophilized state using some patented lyophilization media. The change noticed was the 3 orders of magnitude decrease of the natural competence for the genetic transformation capability of said lac-tobacillus strain. Using noted difference we have transformed L. buchneri NRRLB1837 with the largest plasmid of Lactobacillus casei MT205, possessing strong antibacterial activity against gram-positive, gram-negative bacteria and Candida albicans. The trans formants became resistant to Erythromycin (30 mcg/ml) and also had strong antibacterial activity, just like L. casei MT205, which was extractable from the concentrated by the evaporation cultural fluid of the respective transformants, The role of the lyophilization medium on the molecular biological properties of the lactobacilli stored lyophilized is dis-cussed. Introduction We have noticed about three orders in magnitude difference in the natural transfroma-tion capability in the strain of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 depending on the par-ticular conditions of its lyophilization. Said difference is esssential, since sometimes the natural capability to uptake the foreign plasmid DNA gets below the threshold of de-tection and may not be noticed. We have detected, that for the strain of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 such activity is the highest, if the lyophilization was performed using standard lyophilization medium comprising only sucrose and gelatin, but not the 0.1 M Trtis (pH8.0) and 10% adonit [1]. Routinely, deep freezers (-80oC) are used for the prolonged storage of the microbial cultures under the normal room temperatures. However, most of the shipments are performed with the microbial cultures, lyophilized for the long-term storage. We have noticed significant difference in the natural transforma-tion capability of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 depending on the composition of the medium for its freeze drying. In particular, we noticed significant decrease of the natural genetic transformation capability in Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 depend-ing on the compositon of the medium for its freeze drying. The decrease of that capabil-ity by three orders of magnitude was observed for the freeze dryed culture of said lacto- bacilli freeze dryed in our patented medium for the freeze drying [1]. The core of our patent was the neutralization of the organic acids produced enormously by the intestinal lactobacilli by the 0.1 M Tris buffer (pH8.0) and the lyophilization viability was substan-tially (by 90%) increased when we added some cryoprotective sugar up to 10 vol % to said 0.1 M Tris buffer (autoclaved at 120oC for 30 min). Today we have faced the fact, that the natural competence of the plasmid DNA uptake reported by us earlier [2] was accompanied with the decreased frequency of the genetic transfer for the plasmid DNA pCB20 [3]. Said natural comptence for the transfer of the foreign plasmid DNA has been decreased by the three orders in its magnitude from about 10-5 to 10-8 per the recipient cell concentrations [2]. Originally we got the Lactobacillus burchneri NRRLB1837 in the lyofilized state from the Russian Collection of the International Microorganisms of the RAS (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, the Former USSR). The standard lyophi-lization procedure there was used: the lyophilization medium composed of 10% sucrose and 1% gelatin only, the sucrose solution was autoclaved separately, then the sterile gelatin was added to 1% aseptically. Said strain of Lactobacillus buichneri NRRLB1837 helped us a lot for the plasmid DNA transfer to investigate the antibiotic resistance Markers and other properties given by plasmids in said various plasmids from the isolate Lactobacillus casei MT205, when we have detected at least 8 plasmid DNA molecules in the human intestinal isolate of Lactobacillus casei isolated from the intestinal content of the individual working under the heavily contaminated by produced antibiotics conditions (said individual did not follow the mandatory safety precautions before he got fired from said antibiotic producing plant) [4]. We have brought hereby the notice of the change in the biological properties of the certain microbial strains due to the fact how such strains have been lyophilized before the investigation [5]. The role of the lyophilization on the physiological properties of certain microbial strains is discussed, since the lyophilization is one of the main methods of the pure culture maintenance for the long-term storage and shipping of the microbial strains. Further we used only the strain of L. buchneri NRRLB1837, stored lyophilized in sucrose/gelatin lyophoilization medium for the genetic transformation with the largest of the plasmids, about 120 kb in size [4]. In respective transformants of L. bucheri NRRLB1837, said plasmid immediately was giving the set f plasmid DNA molecules ranging in size of 4 kb, 8 kb, 12 kb, 24 kb, but not the original size of the used for the transformation plasmid of L. casei MT205 with the size of about 120 kb [4]. The role of the lyophilization medium composition on the molecular biologi-cal properties of the lactobacilli stored lyophilized is discussed. Materials and Methods Growth, media, selective antibiotics Lactobacilli strains were maintained and grew up in the Lactobacillus MRS Medium [4]. For plates the 1.25% agar agar was added to the MRS medium before autoclaving at 120oC for 30 min. For the selection of the transformants with the plasmid DNA pCB20 we added Erythromycin (Em) and Lincomycin (Lm) by 20mcg/ml each to the MRS agar, after that was autoclaved and chilled down to 45 o C before pouring into the100 mm Petri dishes [6]. The antibiotic powders were aseptically added to the sterile Eppendorf tubes [7] by 100 mg each and the sterile ddH2O was added to each sterile Eppendorf tube by 1 ml. Said poured Petri dishes were dried at the laminar flow cabinet [8] and inoculated with the natural transformants, prepared as described [3]. Forspreading of the transformants on the surface of said Petri dishes only sterile plastic loops were used [9]. For the easy the calculations of the transformation efficiencies only seventh, sixth and fifth decimal dilutions of the natural transformation samples were used. To prepared said decimal dilutions of said natural transformants samples we used the DB [10]. The DB composition: 0.1 M Tris, 0.15 M NaCl, 1.0 M urea, 10 mM CaCl2, 0.1 M citric acid monohydrate, 5 g BSA and 1.0 g cysteine-HCL (pH 6.00). The DB was sterilized by autoclaving at 1 atm for 30 min. The DB was distributed into the sterile 1.5 ml Eppendorf tubes by 900 microliters [10]. The 0.1 ml of the resulting the said natural transformants samples were transferred to the second Eppendorf tube with 900 microliters of DB (the 2nd dilution of said samples), and so on, to make the necessary for the plating decimal dilutions of the volunteer's feces. The procedure to dilute feces was, as follows. The 100 microliter aliquiotes of the first dilution of the natural transformation samples were added [11] to the second 1.5ml Eppendorf tube with 900 microliters of DB, etc, to make the second, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, etc. dilutions of said natural transformants sam-ples. The inoculation was performed as described starting from the last dilution of the recipient cells/natural transformants to save the amount of the plastic microbiological loops used. The concentration of the recipient cells was determined in the five repeats of said experiments (for the purposes of the proper experimental statistics). For that purpose the decimal dilutions of the recipient cells were prepared as above, additionally adding the seventh, the eighth and the ninth dilutions of the recipient cells. The inoculation was performed as described starting from the last dilution of the recipient cells to save the amount of the microbiological loops used. Lyophilization was repeated as described [1].We have repeated the lyophilization as the culture of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB 1837 was maintained at the Collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences five times for the proper statistical analysis of our data and then lyophilizaed the same lactobacillus culture as it was written in our patent. The strain was recovered from its lyophilized state and was used for the experiments to reveal the frequency of the natural transformation capability after the lyophilization under the conditions of the Russian Academy of Sciences and according to our Patent # 1652336 [1]. Concentration of the 72h old cultural fluid of the transformant of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 with the largest plasmid DNA (about 120 kb), extracted from the gel before the genetic transformation We grew the transformant in 100 ml of MRS broth for 72 hours at 37oC; the cultural fluid was subjected to the evaporation under vacuum in the Vacuum Evaporator [16]. Results The concentration of the recipient cells was determined in the five independent ex-periments for the proper statistical analysis of data. So, the concentration varied from 9 x 109 cells to 7 x 109 in all our experiments. The evaluation of the natural transformation efficiency using genetic transformation of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 with the standard plasmid DNA pCB20 As we have reported earlier, the recipient cells of L. buchneri NRRLB 1837 with the standard plasmid DNA pCB20 resulted in the revealing of EmLm-resistant transformants of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 with the frequency of 9x10-5 EmLmR-transformants per the num- ber of the recipient cells used for such experiments (data of five independent genetic transformsation experiments for the proper statistical evaluation purposes). Genetic transformation of the cells of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 with the largest plasmid DNA found in L. casei MT205 (size of about 120 kb). It is known [4] that identification of the exact phenotype, which the plasmid DNA offers to the strain is possible, when said plasmid is extracted from the gel and used for the genetic transformation of the sensitive to the specific antibiotics strain of the same genus. So, we used the naturally competent for the genetic transformation strain of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 to study the changes in its phenotype after the genetic transformation with the largest plasmid of L. casei MT205 (about 120 kb), excised from the agarose gel. The excision of the plasmid DNA band from the agarose gel was successfully performed as described [12]. The purified plasmid DNA, excised from the agarose gel, gave us the genetic transformants resistant to 128 mcg/ml of Em and Lm, each added to the selective medium MRC prior to said genetic transformation. In addition to the resistance to the two MLS antibiotics Em and Lm. In addition to said antibiotic resistance, we have noticed, that the transformants of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 started expressing the antimicrobial activity on said transformants again the majority of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and also against the eukaryotes Candida albicans (we used strain C. albicans 537 for said testing [4]). Extraction of the revealed antoginistic activity from the cultural fluid of the transformant L. buchneri NRRLB1837 plasmid DNA of about 120 kb from L. casei MT205. We grew up this transformant in 100 ml of the standard liquid MRS medium for 72 hours and then substantially decreased the volume of said 72hcell-free culture (cells were collected by centrifugation for 15 min at 12,000g). Said cell-free medium was con-centrated using the vacuum evaporator [ ] as described earlier [4]. The final volume was about 2 ml. That amount was exactly transferred to two identical glass tubes [15 ]. Said 1 ml of the concentrated in the vacuum evaporator cultured fluid was extracted with the 2 ml of the chloroform [13 ], and the other 1 ml was extracted with the ether [14]. The extracts were dried from the chloroform and from the ether in the chemical hood to allow the exhaust of the toxic chloroform or ether vapors out of the laboratory, and then the extracts were re-suspended each in 500 mcl of the sterile bi-distilled H2O for the sto-rage at +4 oC. The antimicrobial properties of said water dissolved extracts were tested as before [4], including also the Candida albicans 537 [4]. Said extracted with either chloroform or the diethyl ester fractions of the 72h cultural fluid of the genetic transformant of L. buchneri NRRLB1837 with the plasmid of about 120 kb from the L. casei MT205 . The chloroform extract had no any antibacterial activity when tested as described [4]. The ether extract, in the opposite to that, had strong antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria tested and also against the eu-karyotic organisms Candida albicans 327 when tested as described [4]. Effect of lyophilization in sucrose/gelatin cryoprotective medium. As we have found before, said lyophilization procedure did not change our previous data on the fre-quency of the natural transfromation of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 with the plasmid DNA of pCB20. The EmLm-resistant natural transformants have been revealed with the frequency of about 2-9 x 10-5 transformants per the amount of the recipient cells/mcg of pCB20 DNA [3] We further used the L. buchneri NRRLB1837, lyophilized as above, to genetically transform the largest plasmid DNA molecule (about 120 kb in size) extracted from gel and further purified as described [4,12]. Effect of lyophilization in 0.1 M Tris (pH8.0) and 10% of adonitol added for the cryo-protective properties of the freeze drying medium. We have noticed herein that the nat-ural transformation capability of the freeze dried strain of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 has dropped to 1-3 x 10-8 transformants per the amount of the recipient cells of L. buchneri NRRLB1837/mcg of the plasmid DNA pCB20 just as we have no-ticed before in [3]. Discussion We detected the phenotipical properties the plasmid DNA of the largest size of about 120 kb has encoded in Lactobacillus casei MT205 [4]. The genetic transformants with said plasmid DNA extracted from the agarose gel prior to the genetic transformation experiments carried out with the capable of the spontaneous genetic transformation strain of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 showed, that said plasmid DNA encodes the antibiltic resistance to the bouth MLS group antibiptics Em and Lm, and also encodes the storng antiba cterial activity against a wide lrange of the tested Garm-positive and Gram-negative microorgamiss, and also has the antagonistic activity against Candida albicans 327 as tested according to [4]. This is the first ether phenoltypical characteristic of the largest plasmid DNA originally isolated from the strain of Lac-tobacillus casei MT205 (described in [4]). The changes in the physiological properties of microbial cultures due to the conditions of culture storage have been noticed before (see for instance [5]. Said physiological changes happen due to the changes happening to the cell membranes under said vari-ous conditions of lyophilization. We may conclude, that the noted difference in the fre-quency of the revealed before natural compentence for the foreign plasmid DNA uptake in the strain of Lactobacillus buchneri NRRLB1837 is affected by the compositoon of the medium for the freeze drying of said strain of lactobacilli. References Tyurin, M. V.; Shenderov, B. A. 1989. Authorship Publication of the Russian Patent Agency SU 1652336. Cryoprotective medium for freeze-drying of lactobacilli and strictly anaero- bic gram-positive rods like bifidobacteria. Tyurin, M. V.; Shenderov, A. Natural competence for genetic transformation in lactobacilli // Abstract. National. Conference "Bacterial Plasmids. Plasmid XII". City of Nalchick, October 22-24, 1990. 50–51. Tyurin, M. V.; Livshits, V. A. 1995 Methods for plasmid DNA transfer to Lactobacillus buchneri: natural competence, conjugative mobilization, and electrotransformation // Membrane and Cell Biology. 9: 57 – 68. Tyurin, M. V. 1990 (february) Ph. thesis in Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Mo-lecular Pharmacology (Antibiotics & Chemotherapy: Molecular, Cell Biology, and Molecular Pharmacology), Summa Cum Laude: the USSR Research Institute for Antibiotics, Moscow, USSR / Russian Federation. Ph.D. - Thesis: Antibiotic Resis-tance and Antagonistic Activity of Lactobacilli" 1990. Berzin, V.; Tyurin, M. 2012 Acetogen biocatalyst Clostridium sp. MT871EtOH en-gineneered with our proprietary electrotransformation technology and equipment: con-tinuous synthesis gas fermentation for selective ethanol production. Journal of Biotech Research. 4:54-64. https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/B1690 https://www.thomassci.com/scientific-supplies/Microcentrifuge-Tubes-1.5ml-Sterile https://www.cleatech.com/product-category/laminarflow hoods/. https://www.copanusa.com/lab-supplies/plastic-loops-needles-and-spreaders/. Tyurin, M. V. Successful Treatment of Diabetes II in adult patient and New Prospects of Recombinant Vaccine and Recombinant Proteins Engineering in situ. J Diabetes Metab. 2021, 12, 871-875. https://www.gilson.com/pub/static/frontend/Gilson/customtheme/en_US/images/docs/PIPETMANCLASSIC_UG_LT801120-F.pdf. Tyurin, M. V. Optimization of a small-scale procedure for plasmid DNA isolation from lactobacilli. Mol Gen Mikrobiol Virusol. 1990, 3, 29-31. Ethyl Ether, Lab Grade, 100 mL Glass tubes. Ashland Assorted Glass Test Tube. HNZXIB 5L Rotary Evaporator Lab Rotovap with Manual Lift Digital Controller 0-120rpm 110V.

The unconfined compressive strength (Qu) is one of the most important criteria of stabilized soil to design in order to evaluate the effective of soft soil improvement. The unconfined compressive strength of stabilized soil is strongly affected by numerous factors such as the soil properties, the binder content, etc. Machine Learning (ML) approach can take into account these factors to predict the unconfined compressive strength (Qu) with high performance and reliability. The aim of this paper is to select a single ML model to design Qu of stabilized soil containing some chemical stabilizer agents such as lime, cement and bitumen. In order to build the single ML model, a database is created based on the literature investigation. The database contains 200 data samples, 12 input variables (Liquid limit, Plastic limit, Plasticity index, Linear shrinkage, Clay content, Sand content, Gravel content, Optimum water content, Density of stabilized soil, Lime content, Cement content, Bitumen content) and the output variable Qu. The performance and reliability of ML model are evaluated by the popular validation technique Monte Carlo simulation with aided of three criteria metrics including coefficient of determination R2, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Square Error (MAE). ML model based on Gradient Boosting algorithm is selected as highest performance and highest reliability ML model for designing Qu of stabilized soil. Explanation of feature effects on the unconfined compressive strength Qu of stabilized soil is carried out by Permutation importance, Partial Dependence Plot (PDP 2D) in two dimensions and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) local value. The ML model proposed in this investigation is single and useful for professional engineers with using the mapping Maximal dry density-Linear shrinkage created by PDP 2D.

Abstract Praziquantel (PZQ) remains the only drug of choice for the treatment of schistosomiasis, caused by parasitic flatworms. The widespread use of PZQ in schistosomiasis endemic areas for about four decades raises concerns about the emergence of resistance of Schistosoma spp. to PZQ under drug selection pressure. This reinforces the urgency in finding alternative therapeutic options that could replace or complement PZQ. We explored the potential of medicinal plants commonly used by indigenes in Kenya for the treatment of various ailments including malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea for their antischistosomal properties. Employing the Soxhlet extraction method with different solvents, seven medicinal plants Artemisia annua, Ajuga remota, Bredilia micranta, Cordia africana, Physalis peruviana, Prunus africana and Senna didymobotrya were extracted. Qualitative phytochemical screening was performed to determine the presence of various phytochemicals in the plant extracts. Extracts were tested against Schistosoma mansoni newly transformed schistosomula (NTS) and adult worms and the schistosomicidal activity was determined by using the adenosine triphosphate quantitation assay. Phytochemical analysis of the extracts showed different classes of compounds such as alkaloids, tannins, terpenes, etc., in plant extracts active against S. mansoni worms. Seven extracts out of 22 resulted in <20% viability against NTS in 24 h at 100 μg/ml. Five of the extracts with inhibitory activity against NTS showed >69.7% and ≥72.4% reduction in viability against adult worms after exposure for 24 and 48 h, respectively. This study provides encouraging preliminary evidence that extracts of Kenyan medicinal plants deserve further study as potential alternative therapeutics that may form the basis for the development of the new treatments for schistosomiasis.

This review analyses methane emissions from dairy farms due to enteric fermentations and use of different feed additives as a strategy to control them. CH4 is a product that forms during the fermentation of food in the rumen of ruminants and on average represents a 7% loss of the energy ingested by the animal. CH4 is also a potent greenhouse gas. Various approaches have been studied in many countries with the aim of reducing methane emissions of digestive origin like the use of biotechnologies to modify the microbial ecosystem. This include selection of rumen micro-organisms through the elimination of protozoans or the inoculation of exogenous bacterial strains, vaccination against methanogenic micro-organisms, etc. or use of new food additives like plant extracts, organic acids, etc. and are theoretically promising paths. Their application is however still not known because trials are being performed mainly <em>in vitro</em>. This article focuses on reducing methanogenesis by adjusting the composition of the feed distributed to animals.

The present research aimed to identify the bioactive compounds present in two varieties of Mucuna pruriens var utilis (IIHR Selection 3 and Arka Dhanvantari) and their pharmaceutical importance evaluated through phytochemical and in-silico screening. The phytochemical screening of the leaf and seed extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, phenols, proteins, terpenoids, glycosides, steroids, saponins etc. A total of 43 compounds were identified in the gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, and the identified biological active compounds were used for in-silico analysis. In-silico docking study revealed potent inhibition of the selected compounds: alpha-D-glucopyranoside, ethyl iso-allocholate and sitosterol against uncoupling protein 2 receptor (UCP2) involved in type 2 diabetes, showing that the binding profiles towards key amino acid residues in the active site were similar to that of the commercial alpha-amylase inhibitors: voglibose, acarbose and glibenclamide. Furthermore, the potent inhibition of another selected compound: 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propanoic acid against DJ-1 receptor (PARK7) involved in Parkinson’s disease was determined by docking and it was observed that the binding profile towards key amino acid residues in the active site was similar to that of commercial levodopa. Therefore, M. Pruriens extracts can be explored in managing type-2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease

Efficient delivery of phytoconstituents is almost challenging task for scientific community owing to predominantly imbalanced hydrophilicity and lipophilicity considerations. Phytoconstituents are mainly hydrophilic and reveal large molecular size which exhibit less absorption and poor bioavailability. Vesicular systems for instance phytosomes are recognized as unique and novel approach to enhance solubility and bioavailability of phytoconstituents and herbal extracts. These are complexed form of phytoconstituents and phospholipid molecules which are also called as phytophospholipid complex or herbosomes. Phytophospholipid complex has shown enhanced pharmacokinetic as well as pharmacodynamic properties in comparison to conventional dosage forms. Different methods have been utilized across the globe for phytosomes preparation such as solvent evaporation, anti-solvent precipitation, co-solvent lyophilization etc. The present review focuses on various approaches commonly employed in the preparation of phytosomes. Significant attributes, characterization aspects along with selection of dosage form for phytosomes have also been highlighted.

Background: Dandruff is a scalp malady affecting predominantly the male populace. Topical agents and synthetic drugs used for dandruff treatment have specific side effects including burning at the application site, depression, dizziness, headache, itching or skin rash, nausea, stomach pain, vision change, vomiting, discoloration of hair, dryness or oiliness of the scalp and increased loss of hair. Thus, essential oils and extracts from plants could be valuable in the treatment and prevention of dandruff. Aim & Objective: This review aims to highlight current findings in dandruff occurrence, its etiology, promising plant essential oils/extracts, and novel treatment strategies. The main emphasis has been given on the anti-dandruff effect of essential oils and plant extracts to disrupt microbial growth. The proposed mechanism (s) of action, novel approaches used to perk up its biopharmaceutical properties, and topical application have been discussed. Results: The literature survey was done, bibliographic sources and research papers were retrieved from different search engines and databases, including SciFinder, PubMed, NCBI, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The selection of papers was accomplished based on exclusion and inclusion criteria. The scalp of diverse populations revealed an association of dandruff with microbial symbiosis, including Staphylococcus, Propionibacterium, Malassezia, and Candida as the pathogens responsible for the cause of dandruff. Topical antifungals are considered as the first line of treatment for dandruff including azoles, with clotrimazole (1%), ketoconazole (2%), and miconazole (2%). Other commonly used therapies integrate benzoyl peroxide, coal tar, glycerin, zinc pyrithione, lithium succinate/gluconate, salicylic acid, selenium disulfide/sulfide, sodium sulfacetamide, etc. However, these medicaments and chemicals are known to cause specific side effects. Alternative therapies, including tea tree oil, thyme, Aloe vera, Mentha have been reported to demonstrate anti-dandruff activity by disrupting the microbial growth associated with dandruff formation. Conclusion: Overall, this review explains the occurrence of dandruff, its etiology, and the potential applicability of promising plant essential oils/extracts, and their novel treatment strategies. Further studies based on pre-clinical and clinical research are essential before making any conclusion about its efficacy in humans.

The exponential rise in technologies has revitalized academia-industries to achieve more efficient computer aided diagnosis systems. It becomes inevitable especially for Glaucoma detection which has been increasing with vast pace globally. Most of the existing approaches employs morphological features like optical disk and optical cup information, optical cup to disk ratio etc; however enabling optimal detection of such traits has always been challenge for researchers. On the other hand, in the last few years deep learning methods have gained widespread attention due to its ability to exploit fine grained features of images to make optimal classification decision. However, reliance of such methods predominantly depends on the presence of deep features demanding suitable feature extraction method. To achieve it major existing approaches extracts full-image features that with high dimensional kernel generates gigantically huge features, making classification computationally overburdened. Therefore, retaining optimal balance between deep features and computational overhead is of utmost significance for glaucoma detection and classification. With this motive, in this paper a novel hybrid deep learning model has been developed for Glaucoma detection and classification. The proposed Hybrid CNN model embodies Stacked Auto-Encoder (SAE) with transferable learning model AlexNet that extracts high dimensional features to make further two-class classification. To achieve computational efficiency, In addition to the classical ReLu and dropout (50%), we used Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithms. We applied 10-fold cross validation assisted Support Vector Machine classifier to perform two-class classification; Glaucomatous and Normal fundus images. Simulation results affirmed that the proposed Hybrid deep learning model with LDA feature selection and SVM-Poly classification achieves the maximum accuracy of 98.8%, precision 97.5%, recall 97.5% and F-Measure of 97.8%.

AbstractThe authors have been thought partners and collaborators for nearly a decade. Their article describes new models of leadership, built on modern mindsets that hold relevance in a world trying to navigate the pandemic and post‐pandemic eras. At the beginning, they claim: “Despite the many remarkable advances in our increasingly digital economy, the relationship between employer and worker remains deeply rooted in an industrial age model that extracts ‐ if not outright exploits ‐ human labor.” The first figure, about how we pick leaders, contrasts old and new models. For instance, within selection criteria, the old model is “best technical expertise, longest tenure, etc.,” while the new model is “best human skills, connector, coach.” For “motivation with,” old: “domination, fear” and new: “Inspiration, Caring, Love.” While introducing their figure 4, they write, “To be successful in this forever changed, post‐pandemic world of work, leaders must make four fundamental shifts, adapting their mindset, culture, approach, and behavior to meet the newly empowered workforce.” For instance, mindset moves from “managing process,” to “enabling (people) success.” Culture moves from “peers as competitors” to “peers as collaborators.” Approach moves from “extrinsic pressure” to “intrinsic motivation.” Behavior moves from “productivity through fear,” to “effectiveness through inspiration.”

Background The modern sedentary lifestyle has increased obesity rates due to decreased physical activity. Seeking effortless weight loss, many people use fat burners, claiming to reduce weight. However, excessive use poses risks like palpitations, anxiety, hepatotoxicity and liver failure. Studies are reporting that fat burners caused Acute Liver Failure (ALF) in many cases. The lack of regulations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding these products has contributed to their widespread consumption and increased risk of liver diseases. This review aimed to attain a better understanding of available fat burners and document the cases of ALF caused by the consumption of these products. Methods Electronic databases were systematically searched for relevant articles. Selection and screening were performed based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The case reports and series included in the nal list of the studies were assessed using the CARE guidelines. This review Results included 33 studies that showed commonly used products were Hydroxycut, Garcinia Cambogia, Herbalife, Green tea extracts, Oxylite Pro etc. The patients presented with symptoms of nausea, fatigue, jaundice and vomiting. More females (73%) were reported with ALF and mean age of 37 years. Most of the patients (56%) showed improvement in symptoms of ALF after discontinuation of the product. Conclusion Despite numerous reports worldwide, evidence establishing a direct link between fat burners and ALF remains inadequate. Larger trials analyzing ingredients are crucial to ll these evidential gaps.

Gastrointestinal nematodes are very important parasites of domestic animals, especially in small ruminants. In sheep, diseases usually have a subclinical form with a decrease in body weight and production, and sometimes there can be visible clinical symptoms such as anorexia, anemia, severe diarrhea and protein loss, all of which together can lead to death. Commercial drugs such as benzimidazole and macrocyclic lactones have been successfully used for decades to control these parasites. However, the irrational application of these drugs has led to the development of anthelmintic resistance, a decrease in their effectiveness and consequent economic losses that threaten the sustainability of sheep breeding. In addition, the use of commercial preparations is also associated with the residues in animal products and the environment, and there is also an increase in the price of these preparations. For this reason, novel strategies for controlling of these parasites are actively seeking, with the goal of establishing an integrated approach that involves the application of several different strategies. On the one hand, these include strategies for the rational application of commercial preparations based on refugia (targeted treatments, targeted selective treatments), as well as the combination and rotation of anthelmintics from different chemical groups. On the other hand, an integrated approach implies the use of different alternative strategies such as genetic selection of animals naturally resistant to nematodes, rational management of pastures, balanced nutrition with supplementary nutrients, biological control (use of fungi, bacteria, etc.), development of vaccines as well as the use of botanical preparations (plants and their products such as extracts and essential oils). Various studies have proven the effectiveness of the mentioned strategies in the control of gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep, whereby the best results are achieved by their combined application. Thus, it is possible to slow down the development and spread of anthelmintic resistance, as well as achieve sustainable control of these parasites and reduce economic losses.

AbstractThe present work aimed to analyze the drying kinetics and color degradation of moringa leaves in selected drying methods. Also, quantitatively analyze the retention of phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity. Moringa leaves were dried using three methods, namely, freeze‐drying (−42 ± 2°C, 0.024 ± 0.001 mbar), microwave drying (200, 400, and 600 W), and hot air oven drying (55, 65, and 75°C). Drying kinetics revealed that the drying of moringa leaves occurred in the falling rate period, which means the diffusion process controlled the moisture removal from leaves. The color degradation was most minor in freeze‐dried leaves, followed by microwave‐dried leaves at 200 W. The value of total phenolic content was found maximum (57.42 ± 2.49 mg GAE/g dm) under microwave drying at 200 W, while the same was found least in quantity (24.62 ± 1.10 mg GAE/g dm) for samples dried under hot air oven drying at 65°C. A similar pattern was observed for total flavonoid content. The antioxidant capacity of the samples dried in the freeze dryer was highest at 5.94 ± 0.25 mg GAE/g dm. This research revealed that microwave drying at 200 W is best regarding the overall quality attributes of moringa leaves.Practical ApplicationsDrying is one of the essential processes in the food industry, for example, drying is crucial for the production of herbal medicines, nutritional supplements and extracts, leaf‐based culinary ingredients, aroma and essential oils, natural dyes and pigments, etc. It is used to increase the shelf‐life of agricultural produce; it facilitates the transportation and storage of food products. This paper may help in the selection of the drying method and condition for leaves drying to have desired characteristics in the final product like color, bioactive compounds, or antioxidant properties; May help in the trade‐off among quality, time, and cost of the production. Moreover, it may be helpful in the designing of the multi‐mode dryer which may produce superior quality products with great energy efficiency in less time. Which further facilitates the manufacturing of nutritionally rich food products.

AbstractCoronary artery disease is defined by the existence of atherosclerotic plaque on the arterial wall, which can cause blood flow impairment, or plaque rupture, and ultimately lead to myocardial ischemia. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging can provide a detailed characterization of lumen and vessel features, and so plaque burden, in coronary vessels. Prediction of the regions in a vascular segment where plaque burden can either increase (progression) or decrease (regression) following a certain therapy, has remained an elusive major milestone in cardiology. Studies like IBIS-4 showed an association between plaque burden regression and high-intensity rosuvastatin therapy over 13 months. Nevertheless, it has not been possible to predict if a patient would respond in a favorable/adverse fashion to such a treatment. This work aims to (i) Develop a framework that processes lumen and vessel cross-sectional contours and extracts geometric descriptors from baseline and follow-up IVUS pullbacks; and to (ii) Develop, train, and validate a machine learning model based on baseline/follow-up IVUS datasets that predicts future percent of atheroma volume changes in coronary vascular segments using only baseline information, i.e. geometric features and clinical data. This is a post hoc analysis, revisiting the IBIS-4 study. We employed 140 arteries, from 81 patients, for which expert delineation of lumen and vessel contours were available at baseline and 13-month follow-up. Contour data from baseline and follow-up pullbacks were co-registered and then processed to extract several frame-wise features, e.g. areas, plaque burden, eccentricity, etc. Each pullback was divided into regions of interest (ROIs), following different criteria. Frame-wise features were condensed into region-wise markers using tools from statistics, signal processing, and information theory. Finally, a stratified 5-fold cross-validation strategy (20 repetitions) was used to train/validate an XGBoost regression models. A feature selection method before the model training was also applied. When the models were trained/validated on ROI defined by the difference between follow-up and baseline plaque burden, the average accuracy and Mathews correlation coefficient were 0.70 and 0.41 respectively. Using a ROI partition criterion based only on the baseline’s plaque burden resulted in averages of 0.60 accuracy and 0.23 Mathews correlation coefficient. An XGBoost model was capable of predicting plaque progression/regression changes in coronary vascular segments of patients treated with rosuvastatin therapy in 13 months. The proposed method, first of its kind, successfully managed to address the problem of stratification of patients at risk of coronary plaque progression, using IVUS images and standard patient clinical data.

Research background. Morinda citrifolia L. (noni), Ananas comosus L. cv. Sarawak (pineapple) and Mangifera indica L. cv. Apple (mango) represent fruits capable of coagulating milk, forming a curd. Plant-derived milk coagulants have antidiabetic phytochemicals that enrich the curd. Hence this work evaluated the dual benefits of the fruits in coagulating milk and the antidiabetic activities found in the curd produced by them. Experimental approach. The three fruits were mixed to form a supercoagulant (a milk coagulant mixture of the extracts at a ratio of 1:1:1), and the milk coagulation time was measured. The milk was coagulated by the supercoagulant, and the fortified curd was tested for its ability to inhibit α-glucosidase and α-amylase. Then, the fortified curd was fed daily to streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and compared with the untreated diabetic rats and normal rats related to their biochemical markers such as blood glucose level, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase etc and histopathology of their liver and kidney tissues. Results and conclusion. The supercoagulant had a milk coagulation time of (28±3) s at a 50 mg/mL concentration. Its fortified curd inhibited α-glucosidase and α-amylase, with IC50 values of (4.04±0.03) mg/mL and (3.42±0.02) mg/mL, respectively. The average mass of the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats fed daily with curd formed by the supercoagulant (SC) was (201±10) g on day 20 in comparison to diabetic control rats (DC), (149±16) g. The blood glucose level after fasting for SC was (15±1) mmol/L compared to DC rats, (26±2) mmol/L. Blood tests on SC for aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, gamma-glutamyl transferase and alkaline phosphatase (liver function tests) levels were shown to be (214±78) U/L, (91±13) U/L, 3 U/L and (510±138) U/L, respectively, while the total protein test and renal function tests showed the levels of albumin, globulin, urea and creatinine to be (37±2) g/L, (30±2) g/L, (11±1) mmol/L and (42±3) µmol/L, respectively. These levels were found to be approximately similar to those of the normal rats on day 20. Furthermore, a histopathological study performed on the liver and kidney of the rats found no apparent damage. Novelty and scientific contribution. This supercoagulant derived from a mixture of fruits is able to coagulate milk rapidly, and its curd is fortified with safe antidiabetic agents. The supercoagulant potentially useful in producing functional dairy food to prevent diabetes or as supplement for diabetics to control their blood sugar. Such products capable to replace dairy products derived from animal enzymes or add to existing functional dairy products for selection by consumers.

IntroductionIn 2017, both the disability community and popular culture are using the term “inspiration porn” to describe one form of discrimination against people with disability. ABC’s Speechless, “a sitcom about a family with a son who has a disability, (has) tackled why it’s often offensive to call people with disabilities ‘inspirational’” (Wanshel). The reasons why inspiration porn is considered to be discriminatory have been widely articulated online by people with disability. Amongst them is Carly Findlay, a disabled writer, speaker, and appearance activist, who has written that:(inspiration porn) shows non-disabled people doing good deeds for disabled people—feeding them chips at McDonald’s—’serving us all lessons in kindness’: or taking them to the high school dance. These stories usually always go viral. The person with disability probably never gave their permission for the photo or story to be used in a meme or told to the media (Findlay).The definition and dynamics of inspiration porn as illustrated in this quote will be expanded upon in this paper’s critical analysis of captions. Here, the term captions is used to describe both writing found on memes and on Facebook posts (created by a “poster”), and the comments written below these posts (created by “commenters”). Facebook threads underneath posts about people with disability both “reflect and create” (Barnes, Mercer and Shakespeare 202) current societal attitudes towards disability. That is, such threads not only illustrate negative societal attitudes towards disability, but can also perpetuate these attitudes by increasing people’s exposure to them. This paper will focus on a specific case study of inspiration porn on Facebook—the crowning of a student with autism as prom king—and consider both the conflict of whether people’s kind words are patronising use of language, as well as the concerns of over-disclosure used in this thread.What Is Inspiration Porn?The genesis of the term inspiration porn is commonly attributed to the late Stella Young, a disabled woman who was an advocate for people with disability. However, the term has been traced to a blog post written in February 2012 (bear). Anecdotal evidence from Lisa Harris, a disability consultant and advocate with over 20 years’ disability education experience, suggests that the term was blogged about as far back as 2006 on Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg’s Webpage Disability and Representation (Harris). However, it was Young who popularised the term with her 2012 article We’re Not Here for Your Inspiration and 2014 TED Talk I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much. Young defined inspiration porn as “an image of a person with a disability, often a kid, doing something completely ordinary—like playing, or talking, or running, or drawing a picture, or hitting a tennis ball—carrying a caption like ‘your excuse is invalid’ or ‘before you quit, try’”.It is worth noting that the use of the word porn has been considered controversial in this context. Yet it can be argued that the perception of the person with disability having achieved something great gives the person without disability a hit of positive “inspired” emotion. In this way, such inspiration could be termed as porn as it serves the purpose of fulfilling the “pornographic” self-gratification of people without disability.The term inspiration porn has historically been used in disability studies in two ways. Firstly, it has been used to describe the “ableist gaze” (Davis), which is when a person with disability is ‘seen’ through the eyes of someone without disability. Indeed, just as the “male gaze” (Mulvey) is implicit in sexualised porn, so too the “ableist gaze” is implicit in inspiration porn. Secondly, it has been used to highlight the lack of power experienced by people with disability in cultural representation (Barnes, Mercer, and Shakespeare 201). This study is a good example of the latter—it is not uncommon for people with disability to be refuted when they speak out against the inherent discrimination found within captions of (intended) kindness on Facebook threads.Inspiration porn is also a form of “objectification” (Perry) of people with disability, and is based on stereotypes (Haller and Zhang 22) about disability held by people without disability. According to Dr. Paul Sinclair, a disability scholar with 15 years’ experience in disability education, objectification and stereotyping are essential factors to understanding inspiration porn as discrimination:when a person with disability engages in their daily life, it is possible that a person without disability sees them as inspirational by superimposing his/her stereotypical perception of, or understanding about, people with disability onto the identity of the person, as a human being.Such objectification and stereotyping of people with disability is evident across various media captioning. This is particularly so in social media which often includes memes of images with “inspiring” captions—such as the ones Young highlighted as clear examples of inspiration porn, which “feature the Hamilton quote (‘The only disability in life is a bad attitude’)”. Another example of this kind of captioning is found in news items such as the 2015 article Disabled Teen Crowned Homecoming Queen in Awesome Way as featured in the article USA Today (Saggio). This article described how a student not identified as having a disability gave her homecoming queen crown to a student with a disability and captioned the YouTube clip of these students with, “High school senior [Name] was hoping she’d be crowned homecoming queen. She has cerebral palsy and has never felt like she fit in at school. What happened during the crowning ceremony will warm your heart” (Saggio). The fact that the young woman was pleased with getting the crown does not mitigate the objectifying dynamics of inspiration porn present within this example. Captioning such as this both creates and reflects some of the existing attitudes—including charity and its appeal to emotionality—that perpetuate inspiration porn.Measuring Inspiration Porn with Sentiment AnalysisThe challenge for the researcher analysing Facebook threads is how to meaningfully interpret the captions’ numerous contexts. The methodology of this research used a quantitative approach to gather numerical data about selected Facebook captions. This paper discusses data gained from a sentiment analysis (Pang and Lee; Thelwall et al.; Driscoll) of these captions within the contexts of my own and other researchers’ analyses of inspiration porn, as well as the perspectives of people with disability.The sentiment analysis was conducted using SentiStrength, a software tool that extracts both positive and negative sentiment strengths “from short informal electronic text” (Thelwall et al., 2545), and ranks it “on a numerical scale” (Driscoll 3). Sentiment analysis and SentiStrength are useful, but not perfect, tools with which to analyse Facebook captions. For example, SentiStrength determines two scales: a positive emotion measurement scale ranging from +1 (neutral) to +5 (most positive), and a negative emotion measurement scale ranging from –1 (neutral) to –5 (most negative). It calculates the positive and negative scores concurrently rather than averaging them out in order to acknowledge that captions can and do express mixed emotion (Driscoll 5).News articles about people with disability attending proms and comparable events, such as the homecoming queen example described above, are often criticised by disability activists for perpetuating inspiration porn (Mort; Findlay; Brown). Based on this criticism, sentiment analysis was used in this research to measure the emotional strength of captions—particularly their possible use of patronising language—using the Autism Speaks Facebook post as a case study. The post featured an image of a high school student with autism who had been crowned prom king.The Autism Speaks Facebook page was set up to fund “research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increas(e) awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocat(e) for the needs of individuals with autism and their families” (Autism Speaks). The location of the prom was not specified; however, Autism Speaks is based in New York. This particular Facebook page was selected for this study based on criticism that Autism Speaks receives from disability advocates. One of the major critiques is that “(its) advertising depends on offensive and outdated rhetoric of fear and pity, presenting the lives of autistic people as tragic burdens on our families and society” (Boycott Autism Speaks). Autism Speaks has also been described as a problematic example of an organisation that “dictate(s) how disability should be perceived and dealt with. Often without input of disabled people either in the design or implementation of these organizations” (crippledscholar). This article goes on to state that “charities always frame what they do as positive and helpful even when the people who are the intended recipients disagree.”The prom king post included a photo of a young man with autism after he was crowned. He was standing beside a woman who wasn’t identified. The photo, posted by the young man’s aunt on the Autism Speaks Facebook page, included a status update that read:My autistic nephew won PROM KING today! Just so you all know, having a disability doesn’t hold you back if you don’t let it! GO [NAME]. #AutismAwareness (Autism Speaks)The following caption from the comment thread of the same Facebook post is useful as an example of how SentiStrength works. The caption read:Tears of Joy! Thank you for posting!!! Wow this gives me hope for his and my son’s and everyone’s special wonderful child nephew and niece! Way cool!However, because SentiStrength does not always accurately detect and measure sarcasm or idiomatic language usage, ”Tears” (the only negatively interpreted word in this caption) has been scored as –4, while the overall positive sentiment was scored as 3. Therefore, the final SentiStrength score of this caption was 3, –4, thereby demonstrating both the utility and limitations of SentiStrength as a sentiment analysis tool. This is useful to understand when analysing the data it produces.When analysing the entire thread, the sentiment analysis results across 238 captions, showed that 2 was the average strength of positive emotion, and that –1.16 was the average strength of negative emotion. The following section will analyse how a specific caption chosen from the most positively-scored captions from these data indicates that inspiration porn is possibly evident within.Use of Language: Kind, or Patronising?This discussion analyses the use of language in one caption from this thread, focusing on the way it likely demonstrated the ableist gaze. The caption was the most positive one from these data as scored by SentiStrength (5, –1) and read, ”CONGRATULATIONS SWEETIE!!!”. While it is noted that basing this analysis primarily on one caption provides limited insight into the dynamics of inspiration porn, this analysis forms a basis from which to consider other “inspirational” Facebook posts about people with disability. As well as this caption, this discussion will also draw upon other examples mentioned in this paper—from the homecoming queen article in USA Today to another caption on the Autism Speaks thread—to illustrate the dynamics of inspiration porn.On the surface, this congratulatory caption seems like a kind thing to post. However, inspiration porn has been identified in this analysis based on the caption’s effusive use of punctuation coupled with use of capital letters and the word “sweetie”. The excitement depicted through use of multiple exclamation marks and capital letters implies that the commenter has a personal connection with the prom king, which is a possibility. However, this possibility becomes less feasible when the caption is considered within the context of other captions that display not dissimilar use of language, as well as some that also display intimate emojis, such as grin faces and love heart eyes. Further, when this use of language is used with any consistency across a thread and is not coupled with textual information that implies a personal connection between the commenter/s and the prom king, it could be interpreted as patronising, condescending and/or infantilising. In addition, “sweetie” is a term of endearment commonly used in conversation with a romantic partner, child, or someone the speaker/writer knows intimately. While, again, it is possible that these commenters knew the prom king intimately, a more likely possibility is that he was being written to by strangers, yet using language that implied he was close to them—which would then have the same patronising connotations as above. It can therefore be argued that there is a strong possibility that this heightened use of intimate and emotional language was chosen based on his autism diagnosis.The conclusion drawn above is based in part on contextual similarities between the Autism Speaks post and its associated thread, and the aforementioned homecoming queen news article. In the former, it is likely that the young prom king was congratulated effusively because of his autism diagnosis. Similarly, in the latter article, the young woman was crowned not because she was named homecoming queen, but because the crown was given to her because of her diagnosis of cerebral palsy. As both gestures appear to have been based on others’ perceptions of these individuals’ disabilities rather than on their achievements, they are both likely to be patronising gestures.Over-DisclosureIn addition to use of language, another noteworthy issue in the captions thread on the Autism Speaks Facebook page was that many of them were from parents disclosing the diagnosis of their child. One example of this was a post from a mother that read (in part):I’ll be over here worried & concerned with the other 9,999 & ½ things to deal with, keeping up with new therapies, current therapy, we came in progress from any past therapies, meltdowns, dietary restrictions, educational requirements, The joy and difficulties of not just learning a new word but actually retaining that word, sleep, being hit, keeping him from hitting himself, tags on clothes etc. etc. [sic] (Autism Speaks)The above commenter listed a number of disability-specific issues that she experienced while raising her son who has autism. The context for her caption was a discussion, unrelated to the original post, that had sparked underneath a sub-thread regarding whether the use of person-first language (“person with autism”) or identity-first language (“Autistic person”) was best when referring to someone with autism. The relationship between inspiration porn and this intimately negative post about someone with disability is that both types of post are examples of the “ableist gaze”: inspiration porn demonstrates an exaggerated sense of positivity based on someone’s disability, and this post demonstrates disregard for the privacy of the person being posted about—perhaps due to his disability. The ease with which this negative comparison (over-disclosure) can be made between ‘inspirational’ and ‘negative’ posts illustrates in part why inspiration porn is a form of discrimination—intentional or otherwise.Furthermore, some of the children who were disclosed about on the main thread were too young to be asked consent, and it is unclear whether those who were old enough had the capacity to provide informed consent. Research has found that online over-disclosure in general is a matter of concern.The specific practice of online over-disclosure from parents about their children—with or without disability—has been raised by Leaver (151), “what happens before young people have the agency, literacy or skills to take the reins of their own selves online? Parents, guardians, loved ones and others inevitably set the initial identity parameters for young people online.” Over-disclosure is therefore also an issue that concerns people with disability, and the people closest to them.There exists both anecdotal evidence and academic research regarding online over-disclosure about people with disability. The research states that when people with physical disability disclose online, they employ strategic approaches that involve the degree to which they disclose (Furr, Carreiro, and McArthur). This suggests that there are complex factors to consider around such disclosure. Also relevant is that the practice of over-disclosure about another person’s disability, regardless of whether that disclosure is made by a close family member, has been critiqued by people (Findlay; Stoltz) within the disability community: “would you publicly share this information about your other children, an aging parent, or yourself?” (Stoltz). Finally, the practice of disability over-disclosure by anyone other than the person themselves supports the understanding that inspiration porn is not about the “object” of inspiration; rather, it serves to give pleasure (and/or pain) to the objectifier.ConclusionInspiration porn via the ableist gaze is discriminatory because it focuses on a (societally) undesirable trait in a way that serves the “gazer” at the expense of the “gazed-at”. That is, people with disability are objectified and exploited in various ways that can initially appear to be positive to people without disability. For example, when someone with disability posts or is posted about on Facebook, a person without disability might then add a caption—possibly with good intentions—that serves as their “inspired” response to what it “must” be like to have a disability. It can be argued that such captions, whether on news articles or when framing social media images, therefore either reflect or create existing social inequalities—and possibly do both.In continuing to use the term inspiration porn to describe one form of discrimination against people with disability, both the disability community and popular culture are contributing to an important narrative that scholarship needs to continue to address. Indeed, the power imbalance that is celebrated within inspiration porn is in some ways more insidious than malicious discrimination against people with disability, because it is easier to mistake as kindness. The research sample presented in this paper supports the countless expressions of anecdotal evidence given by people with disability that this “kindness” is inspiration porn; a damaging expression of the ableist gaze.ReferencesAutism Speaks. Facebook 21 May 2017 <https://www.facebook.com/autismspeaks>.Barnes, Colin, Geof Mercer, and Tom Shakespeare. Exploring Disability. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1999.bear, romham a. “Inspiration Porn.” radical access mapping project 7 Apr. 2014. 21 May 2017 <https://radicalaccessiblecommunities.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/inspiration-porn/>.The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, et al. “Why Boycott.” Boycott Autism Speaks, 6 Jan. 2014. 21 May 2017 <http://www.boycottautismspeaks.com/why-boycott-1.html>.Brown, Lydia X.Z. “Disabled People Are Not Your Feel-Good Back-Pats.” Autistic Hoya 11 Feb. 2016. 21 May 2017 <http://www.autistichoya.com/2016/02/disabled-people-are-not-your-feel-good-back-pats.html>.Crippledscholar. “Inspiration Porn Is Not Progress, It’s a New Kind of Oppression.” crippledscholar 5 May 2015. 21 May 2017 <https://crippledscholar.com/2015/05/05/inspiration-porn-is-not-progress-its-a-new-kind-of-oppression/>.Davis, Lennard J. Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body. London: Verso, 1995.Driscoll, Beth. “Sentiment Analysis and the Literary Festival Audience.” Continuum 29.6 (2015): 861–873.Findlay, Carly. “Inspiration and Objectification of People with Disability – A Resource for Teachers and Parents.” Tune into Radio Carly 5 Feb. 2017. 21 May 2017 <http://carlyfindlay.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/inspiration-and-objectification-of.html>.Findlay, Carly. “When Parents Overshare Their Children’s Disability.” Sydney Morning Herald 23 July 2015. 21 May 2017 <http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/opinion/when-parents-overshare-their-childrens-disability-20150724-gijtw6.html>.Furr, June B., Alexis Carreiro, and John A. McArthur. “Strategic Approaches to Disability Disclosure on Social Media.” Disability & Society 31.10 (2016): 1353–1368.Haller, Beth, and Lingling Zhang. “Stigma or Empowerment? What Do Disabled People Say about Their Representation in News and Entertainment Media?” Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal 9.4 (2014).Harris, Lisa. “Genesis of Term ‘Inspiration Porn’?” Letter. 5 Oct. 2016.Leaver, Tama. “Born Digital? Presence, Privacy, and Intimate Surveillance.” Re-Orientation: Translingual Transcultural Transmedia. Studies in Narrative, Language, Identity, and Knowledge. Eds. John Hartley and Weigou Qu. Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2015. 23 May 2017 <https://www.academia.edu/11736307/Born_Digital_Presence_Privacy_and_Intimate_Surveillance>.Mulvey, Laura. “Narrative Cinema and Visual Pleasure.” Visual and Other Pleasures. 1975.Mort, Mike. “Pity and the Prom.” Disabled Identity 9 May 2016. 21 May 2017 <https://disabledidentity.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/pity-and-the-prom/>.Pang, Bo, and Lillian Lee. “Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis.” Foundations and Trends® in Information Retrieval 2.1-2 (2008): 1–135.Perry, David M. “How ‘Inspiration Porn’ Reporting Objectifies People with Disabilities.” The Establishment 25 Feb. 2016. 23 May 2017 <https://theestablishment.co/how-inspiration-porn-reporting-objectifies-people-with-disabilities-db30023e3d2b>.Saggio, Jessica. “Disabled Teen Crowned Homecoming Queen in Awesome Way.” USA Today 13 Nov. 2015. 21 May 2017 <https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/humankind/2015/11/13/disabled-teen-crowned-homecoming-queen-awesome-way/75658376/>.Sinclair, Paul. “Inspiration Porn: Email Interview.” Letter. 21 Oct 2016.Stoltz, Melissa. “Parents of Children with Disabilities: Are We Speaking with or for a Community?” Two Thirds of the Planet 22 Jan. 2016. 21 May 2017 <http://www.twothirdsoftheplanet.com/parents-disability/>.Thelwall, Mike, et al. “Sentiment Strength Detection in Short Informal Text.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 61.12 (2010): 2544–2558.Wanshel, Elyse. “This Show Just Schooled Everyone on ‘Inspiration Porn’.” Huffington Post 16 Jan. 2017. 21 May 2017 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/speechless-disability-porn_us_5877ddf6e4b0e58057fdc342>.Young, Stella. “I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much.” TED Talk Apr. 2014. 21 May 2017 <https://www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much>.Young, Stella. “We’re Not Here for Your Inspiration.” ABC Ramp Up 1 July 2012. 21 May 2017 <http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2012/07/02/3537035.htm>.

IntroductionThis article addresses the experience of designing and conducting life-writing workshops for a group of clients with severe mental illness; the aim of this pilot study was to begin to determine whether such writing about the self can aid in individual ‘recovery’, as that term is understood by contemporary health professionals. A considerable amount has been written about the potential of creative writing in mental health therapy; the authors of this article provide a brief summary of that literature, then of the concept of ‘recovery’ in a psychology and arts therapy context. There follows a first-hand account by one of the authors of being an arts therapy workshop facilitator in the role of a creative practitioner. This occurred in consultation with, and monitored by, experienced mental health professionals. Life-Writing as ‘Therapeutic’ Life-story or life-writing can be understood in this context as involving more than disclosure or oral expression of a subject’s ‘story’ as in psycho-therapy – life-story is understood as a written, structured narrative. In 2001, Wright and Chung published a review of the literature in which they claimed that writing therapy had been “restimulated by the development of narrative approaches” (278). Pennebaker argues that “catharsis or the venting of emotions” without “cognitive processing” has little therapeutic value and people need to “build a coherent narrative that explains some past experience” in order to benefit from writing” (Pennebaker, Telling Stories 10–11). It is claimed in the Clinical Psychology Review that life-writing has the therapeutic benefits of, for example, “striking physical health and behaviour change” (Esterling et al. 84). The reasons are still unclear, but it is possible that the cognitive and linguistic processing of problematic life-events through narrative writing may help the subject assimilate such problems (Alschuler 113–17). As Pennebaker and Seagal argue in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, the life-writing processallows one to organise and remember events in a coherent fashion while integrating thoughts and feelings ... This gives individuals a sense of predictability and control over their lives. Once an experience has structure and meaning, it would follow that the emotional effects of that experience are more manageable. (1243)It would seem reasonable to suggest that life-writing which constructs a positive recovery narrative can have a positive therapeutic effect, providing a sense of agency, connectedness and creativity, in a similar, integrating manner. Humans typically see their lives as stories. Paul Eakin stresses the link between narrative and identity in both this internal life-story and in outwardly constructed autobiography:narrative is not merely a literary form but a mode of phenomenological and cognitive self-experience, while self – the self of autobiographical discourse - does not necessarily precede its constitution in narrative. (Making Selves 100)So both a self-in-time and a socially viable identity may depend on such narrative. The term ‘dysnarrativia’ has been coined to describe the documented inability to construct self-narrative by those suffering amnesia, autism, severe child abuse or brain damage. The lack of ability to achieve narrative construction seems to be correlated with identity disorders (Eakin, Fictions in Autobiography 124). (For an overview of the current literature on creative and life-writing as therapy see Murphy & Neilsen). What is of particular relevance to university creative writing practitioners/teachers is that there is evidence, for example from Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman and creative writing academic Vicki Linder, that life-narratives are more therapeutically effective if guided to be written according to fundamental ‘effective writing’ aesthetic conventions – such as having a regard to coherent structure in the narrative, the avoidance of cliché, practising the ‘demonstrate don’t state’ dictum, and writing in one’s own voice, for example. Defining ‘Recovery’There remains debate as to the meaning of recovery in the context of mental health service delivery, but there is agreement that recovery entails significantly more than symptom remission or functional improvement (Liberman & Kopelowicz). In a National Consensus Statement, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) unit of the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2005 described recovery (in general terms) as being achieved by the enabling of a person with a mental illness to live meaningfully in a chosen community, while also attempting to realize individual potential. ‘Recovery’ as a central concept behind rehabilitation can be understood both as objective recovery – that is, in terms of noting a reduction in objective indicators of illness and disability (such as rates of hospital usage or unemployment) and a greater degree of social functioning – and also as subjective recovery. Subjective recovery can be ascertained by listening closely to what clients themselves have said about their own experiences. It has been pointed out (King, Lloyd & Meehan 2) that there is not always a correspondence between objective indicators of recovery and the subjective, lived experience of recovery. The experience of mental illness is not just one of symptoms and disability but equally importantly one of major challenge to sense of self. Equally, recovery from mental illness is experienced not just in terms of symptoms and disability but also as a recovery of sense of self … Recovery of sense of self and recovery with respect to symptoms and disability may not correspond. (King, Lloyd & Meehan; see also Davidson & Strauss)Symptoms of disability can persist, but a person can have a much stronger sense of self or empowerment – that is still recovery. Illness dislocates the sense of self as part of a community and of a self with skills and abilities. Restoring this sense of empowerment is an aim of arts therapy. To put it another way, recovery is a complex process by which a client with a mental illness develops a sense of identity and agency as a citizen, as distinct from identification with illness and disability and passivity as a ‘patient’. The creative arts have gone well beyond being seen as a diversion for the mentally ill. In a comprehensive UK study of creative arts projects for clients with mental illness, Helen Spandler et al. discovered strong evidence that participation in creative activity promoted a sense of purpose and meaning, and assisted in “rediscovering or rebuilding an identity within and beyond that of someone with mental health difficulties” (795). Recovery is aided by people being motivated to achieve self-confidence through mastery and competence; by learning and achieving goals. Clearly this is where arts therapy could be expected or hoped to be effective. The aim of the pilot study was not to measure ‘creativity’, but whether involvement in what is commonly understood as a creative process (life-writing) can have flow-on benefits in terms of the illness of the workshop participant. The psychologists involved, though more familiar with visual arts therapy (reasonably well-established in Australia – in 2006, the ANZAT began publishing the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art Therapy), thought creative writing could also be valuable. Preparation for and Delivery of the Workshops I was acutely aware that I had no formal training in delivering a program to clients with mental health illness. I was counselled during several meetings with experienced psychologists and a social worker that the participants in the three workshops over two weeks would largely be people who had degrees of difficulty in living independently, and could well have perceptual problems, could misjudge signals from outside and inside the group, and be on medication that could affect their degree of engagement. Some clients could have impaired concentration and cognition, and a deficit in volition. Participants needed to be free to leave and rejoin the workshops during the afternoon sessions. Attendance might well fall as the workshops progressed. Full ethical clearance was attained though the University of Queensland medical faculty (after detailed description of the content and conduct of the proposed workshops) and consent forms prepared for participants. My original workshop ‘kit’ to be distributed to participants underwent some significant changes as I was counselled and prepared for the workshops. The major adjustment to my usual choice of material and approach was made in view of the advice that recounting traumatic events can have a negative effect on some patients – at least in the short term. For the sake of both the individuals and the group as a whole this was to be avoided. I changed my initial emphasis on encouraging participants to recount their traumatic experiences in a cathartic way (as suggested by the narrative psychology literature), to encouraging them to recount positive narratives from their lives – narratives of ‘recovery’ – as I explain in more detail below. I was also counselled that clients with mental health problems might dwell on retelling their story – their case history – rather than reflecting upon it or using their creative and imaginative ability to shape a life-story that was not a catalogue of their medical history. Some participants did demonstrate a desire to retell their medical history or narrative – including a recurring theme of the difficulty in gaining continuity with one trusted medical professional. I gently guided these participants back to fashioning a different and more creative narrative, with elements of scene creation, description and so on, by my first listening intently to and acknowledging their medical narrative for a few minutes and then suggesting we try to move beyond that. This simple strategy was largely successful; several participants commented explicitly that they were tired of having to retell their medical history to each new health professional they encountered in the hospital system, for example. My principal uncertainty was whether I should conduct the workshops at the same level of complexity that I had in the past with groups of university students or community groups. While in both of those cohorts there will often be some participants with mental health issues, for the most part this possibility does not affect the level or kind of content of material discussed in workshops. However, within this pilot group all had been diagnosed with moderate to severe mental illness, mostly schizophrenia, but also bipolar disorder and acute depression and anxiety disorders. The fact that my credentials were only as a published writer and teacher of creative writing, not as a health professional, was also a strong concern to me. But the clients readily accepted me as someone who knew the difficulty of writing well and getting published. I stressed to them that my primary aim was to teach effective creative writing as an end in itself. That it might be beneficial in health terms was secondary. It was a health professional who introduced me and briefly outlined the research aims of the workshop – including some attempt to measure qualitatively any possible benefits. It was my impression that the participants did not have a diminished sense of my usefulness because I was not a health professional. Their focus was on having the opportunity to practice creative writing and/or participate in a creative group activity. As mentioned above, I had prepared a workshop ‘kit’ for the participants of 15 pages. It contained the usual guidelines for effective writing – extracts from professional writers’ published work (including an extract from my own published work – a matter of equity, since they were allowing me to read their work), and a number of writing exercises (using description, concrete and abstract words, narrative point of view, writing in scenes, show don’t tell). The kit contained extracts from memoirs by Hugh Lunn and Bill Bryson, as well as a descriptive passage from Charles Dickens. An extract from Inga Clendinnen’s 2006 account in Agamemnon’s Kiss: selected essays of her positive interaction with fellow cancer patients (a narrative with the underlying theme of recovery) was also valuable for the participants. I stressed to the group that this material was very similar to that used with beginning writers among university students. I described the importance of life-writing as follows: Life-writing is simply telling a story from your life and perhaps musing or commenting on it at the same time. When you write a short account of something chosen from your life, you are making a pattern, using your memory, using your powers of description – you are being creative. You are being a story-teller. And story-telling is one very important thing that makes us humans different from all other animals – and it is a way in which we find a lot of meaning in our lives.My central advice in the kit was: “Just try to be as honest as you can – and to remember as well as you can … being honest and direct is both the best and the easiest way to write memoir”. The only major difference between my approach with these clients and that with a university class was in the selection of possible topics offered. In keeping with the advice of the psychologists who were experts in the theory of ‘recovery’, the topics were predominantly positive, though one or two topics gave the opportunity to recount and/or explore a negative experience if the participant wanted to do so: A time when I was able to help another personA time when I realised what really mattered in lifeA time when I overcame a major difficultyA time when I felt part of a group or teamA time when I knew what I wanted to do with my lifeA time when someone recognised a talent or quality of mineA time I did something that I was proud of A time when I learned something important to meA memorable time when I lived in a certain house or suburbA story that begins: “Looking back, I now understand that …”The group expressed satisfaction with these topics, though they had the usual writing students’ difficulty in choosing the one that best suited them. In the first two workshops we worked our way through the kit; in the third workshop, two weeks later, each participant read their own work to the group and received feedback from their peers and me. The feedback was encouraged to be positive and constructive, and the group spontaneously adopted a positive reinforcement approach, applauding each piece of writing. Workshop DynamicsThe venue for the workshops was a suburban house in the Logan area of Brisbane used as a drop-in centre for those with mental illness, and the majority of the participants would be familiar with it. It had a large, breezy deck on which a round-table configuration of seating was arranged. This veranda-type setting was sheltered enough to enable all to be heard easily and formal enough to emphasise a learning event was taking place; but it was also open enough to encourage a relaxed atmosphere. The week before the first workshop I visited the house to have lunch with a number of the participants. This gave me a sense of some of the participants’ personalities and degree of engagement, the way they related to each other, and in turn enabled them to begin to have some familiarity with me and ask questions. As a novice at working with this kind of client, I found this experience extremely valuable, especially as it suggested that a relatively high degree of communication and cognition would be possible, and it reduced the anxiety I had about pitching the workshops at an appropriate level. In the course of the first workshop, the most initially sceptical workshop participant ended up being the most engaged contributor. A highly intelligent woman, she felt it would be too upsetting to write about negative events, but ultimately wrote a very effective piece about the empowerment she gained from caring for a stray cat and locating the owner. Her narrative also expressed her realisation that the pet was partly a replacement for spending time with her son, who lived interstate. Another strong participant previously had written a book-length narrative of her years of misdiagnoses and trauma in the hospital system before coming under the care of her present health professionals. The participant who had the least literacy skills was accepted by the group as an equal and after a while contributed enthusiastically. Though he refused to sign the consent form at the outset, he asked to do so at the close of the first afternoon. The workshop was comprised of clients from two health provider organisations; at first the two groups tended to speak with those they already knew (as in any such situation in the broader community), but by the third workshop a sense of larger group identity was being manifested in their comments, as they spoke of what ‘the group’ would like in the future – such as their work being published in some form. It was clear that, as in a university setting, part of the beneficial effect of the workshops came from group and face to face interaction. It would be more difficult to have this dimension of benefit achieved via a web-based version of the workshops, though a chat room scenario would presumably go some way towards establishing a group feeling. Web-based delivery would certainly suit participants who lacked mobility or who lived in the regions. Clearly the Internet is a vital social networking tool, and an Internet-based version of the workshops could well be attempted in the future. My own previous experience of community digital storytelling workshops (Neilsen, Digital Storytelling as Life-writing) suggests that a high degree of technical proficiency can not be expected across such a cohort; but with adequate technical support, a program (the usual short, self-written script, recorded voice-over and still images scanned from the participants’ photo albums, etc) could make digital storytelling a further dimension of therapeutic life-writing for clients with mental illness. One of the most useful teaching techniques in a class room setting is the judicious use of humour – to create a sense of sharing a perspective, and simply to make material more entertaining. I tested the waters at the outset by referring to the mental health worker sitting in the background, and declaring (with some comic exaggeration) my concern that if I didn’t run the workshop well he would report adversely on me. There was general laughter and this expression of my vulnerability seemed to defuse anxiety on the part of some participants. As the workshop progressed I found I could use both humorous extracts of life-writing and ad hoc comic comments (never at the expense of a participant) as freely as in a university class. Participants made some droll comments in the overall context of encouraging one another in their contributions, both oral and written. Only one participant exhibited some temporary distress during one of the workshops. I was allowing another participant the freedom to digress from the main topic and the participant beside me displayed agitation and sharply demanded we get back to the point. I apologised and acknowledged I had not stayed as focused as I should and returned to the topic. I suspect I had a fortunate first experience of such arts therapy workshops – and that this was largely due to the voluntary nature of the study and that most of the participants brought a prior positive experience of the workshop scenario, and prior interest in creative writing, to the workshops. Outcomes A significantly positive outcome was that only one of the nine participants missed a session (through ill-health) and none left during workshops. The workshops tended to proceed longer than the three hours allotted on each occasion. Post-workshop interviews were conducted by a psychologist with the participants. Detailed data is not available yet – but there was a clear indication by almost all participants that they felt the workshops were beneficial and that they would like to participate in further workshops. All but one agreed to have their life-writing included in a newsletter produced by one of the sponsors of the workshops. The positive reception of the workshops by the participants has encouraged planning to be undertaken for a wide-ranging longitudinal study by means of a significant number of workshops in both life-writing and visual arts in more than one city, conducted by a team of health professionals and creative practitioners – this time with sophisticated measurement instruments to gauge the effectiveness of art therapy in aiding ‘recovery’. Small as the workshop group was, the pilot study seems to validate previous research in the UK and US as we have summarised above. The indications are that significant elements of recovery (in particular, feelings of enhanced agency and creativity), can be achieved by life-writing workshops that are guided by creative practitioners; and that it is the process of narrative construction within life-writing that engages with or enhances a sense of self and identity. NoteWe are indebted, in making the summary of the concept of ‘recovery’ in health science terms, to work in progress by the following research team: Robert King, Tom O'Brien and Claire Edwards (School of Medicine, University of Queensland), Margot Schofield and Patricia Fenner (School of Public Health, Latrobe University). We are also grateful for the generous assistance of both this group and Seiji Humphries from the Richmond Queensland Fellowship, in providing preparation for the workshops. ReferencesAlschuler, Mari. “Lifestories – Biography and Autobiography as Healing Tools for Adults with Mental Illness.” Journal of Poetry Therapy 11.2 (1997): 113–17.Davidson, Larry and John Strauss. “Sense of Self in Recovery from Severe Mental Illness.” British Journal of Medical Psychology 65 (1992): 31–45.Eakin, Paul. Fictions in Autobiography: Studies of the Art of Self-Invention. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985.———. How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves. 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