Intermittent Metabolic Switching and Vascular Cognitive Impairment.

Intermittent fasting (IF), a dietary pattern alternating between eating and fasting periods within a 24-hour cycle, has garnered recognition for its potential to enhance both healthspan and lifespan in animal models and humans. It also shows promise in alleviating age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration. Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) spans a severity range from mild cognitive deficits to severe cognitive deficits and loss of function in vascular dementia. Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion has emerged as a significant contributor to VCI, instigating vascular pathologies such as microbleeds, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, neuronal loss, and white matter lesions. Preclinical studies in rodents strongly suggest that IF has the potential to attenuate pathological mechanisms, including excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell death pathways in VCI models. Hence, this supports evaluating IF in clinical trials for both existing and at-risk VCI patients. This review compiles existing data supporting IF's potential in treating VCI-related vascular and neuronal pathologies, emphasizing the mechanisms by which IF may mitigate these issues. Hence providing a comprehensive overview of the available data supporting IF's potential in treating VCI by emphasizing the underlying mechanisms that make IF a promising intervention for VCI.

The E3 ubiquitin ligase NEDD4 regulates chemoresistance to 5-fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells by altering JNK signalling.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Though chemotherapy is the main treatment option for advanced CRC, patients invariably acquire resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs and fail to respond to the therapy. Although understanding the mechanisms regulating chemoresistance has been a focus of intense research to manage this challenge, the pathways governing resistance to drugs are poorly understood. In this study, we provide evidence for the role of ubiquitin ligase NEDD4 in resistance developed against the most commonly used CRC chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). A marked reduction in NEDD4 protein abundance was observed in a panel of CRC cell lines and patient-derived xenograft samples that were resistant to 5-FU. Knockout of NEDD4 in CRC cells protected them from 5-FU-mediated apoptosis but not oxaliplatin or irinotecan. Furthermore, NEDD4 depletion in CRC cells reduced proliferation, colony-forming abilities and tumour growth in mice. Follow-up biochemical analysis highlighted the inhibition of the JNK signalling pathway in NEDD4-deficient cells. Treatment with the JNK activator hesperidin in NEDD4 knockout cells sensitised the CRC cells against 5-FU. Overall, we show that NEDD4 regulates cell proliferation, colony formation, tumour growth and 5-FU chemoresistance in CRC cells.

Retention of knowledge regarding mathematics and drug dosage calculation among undergraduate nursing students of a private school of nursing in Pakistan.

This study aimed to assess the level of retention of knowledge regarding calculation of drug dose among undergraduate nursing students studying at a private school of nursing. This was a pre- and post-comparison design conducted at the Aga Khan University, Pakistan, from August 2017 to September 2019. All the students enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) (Class of 2019) were included in the study. Mean test scores of 141 fourth year BScN students were compared with their own performance in the second year. Mean scores on mathematics and drug dosage calculation test decreased significantly from 21 in second year to 17.97 in the final year of studies. Modifications in assessments as well as curriculum are suggested to improve retention of dose calculation skills among undergraduate nursing students.

Chitooligosaccharides and their structural-functional effect on hydrogels: A review.

Chitosan's lack of solubility in physiological pH and high molecular weight (MW) limits its use in hydrogel scaffolds. Conversion of chitosan to low MW chitooligosaccharides (COS) not only imparts water solubility, it also enhances several other biological properties. When used in hydrogels, the low MW improves the performance of the hydrogels, e.g., the absorptive property, biocompatibility and cell proliferation capability. Most importantly, properties of COS, namely the degree of polymerization (DP) and degree of deacetylation (DD), can be altered to support specific functions in hydrogels used in regenerative medicine. Methods of preparation of COS must therefore be simple and convenient, leading to COS that can be readily used in biomedical applications without requiring extensive post-purification. This review compares these various methods of production of COS and discusses critically the specific advantages that COS can lend to hydrogels, which make COS better alternatives to chitosan in cell-related applications.

Content Validity of a Tool Measuring Medication Errors.

The objective of this study was to determine content and face validity of a tool measuring medication errors among nursing students in baccalaureate nursing education. Data was collected from the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery (AKUSoNaM), Karachi, from March to August 2014. The tool was developed utilizing literature and the expertise of the team members, expert in different areas. The developed tool was then sent to five experts from all over Karachi for ensuring the content validity of the tool, which was measured on relevance and clarity of the questions. The Scale Content Validity Index (S-CVI) for clarity and relevance of the questions was found to be 0.94 and 0.98, respectively. The tool measuring medication errors has an excellent content validity. This tool should be used for future studies on medication errors, with different study populations such as medical students, doctors, and nurses.