What forms the mindset?

While mindset plays a crucial role in determining our perceptions, thinking, attitudes, and behaviors in daily life (including creativity making and serendipity), I do not know for sure what forms one’s mindset. Yet, after several discussions with my mentor (Dr. Quan-Hoang Vuong) and my friend (Mr. Tam-Tri Le), I think that the survival demands of humans may heavily influence the mindset because, without these demands, humans would have gone extinct.

Nanodelivery Strategies for Skin Diseases with Barrier Impairment: Focusing on Ceramides and Glucocorticoids

The human epidermis has a characteristic lipidic composition in the stratum corneum, where ceramides play a crucial role in the skin barrier homeostasis and in water-holding capacity. Several skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, exhibit a dysfunction in the lipid barrier with altered ceramide levels and increased loss of transepidermal water. Glucocorticoids are normally employed in the therapeutical management of these pathologies. However, they have shown a poor safety profile and reduced treatment efficiency. The main objective of this review is to, within the framework of the limitations of the currently available therapeutical approaches, establish the relevance of nanocarriers as a safe and efficient delivery strategy for glucocorticoids and ceramides in the topical treatment of skin disorders with barrier impairment.

Spectroscopic Characterization of Mitochondrial G-Quadruplexes

Guanine quadruplexes (G4s) are highly polymorphic four-stranded structures formed within guanine-rich DNA and RNA sequences that play a crucial role in biological processes. The recent discovery of the first G4 structures within mitochondrial DNA has led to a small revolution in the field. In particular, the G-rich conserved sequence block II (CSB II) can form different types of G4s that are thought to play a crucial role in replication. In this study, we decipher the most relevant G4 structures that can be formed within CSB II: RNA G4 at the RNA transcript, DNA G4 within the non-transcribed strand and DNA:RNA hybrid between the RNA transcript and the non-transcribed strand. We show that the more abundant, but unexplored, G6AG7 (37%) and G6AG8 (35%) sequences in CSB II yield more stable G4s than the less profuse G5AG7 sequence. Moreover, the existence of a guanine located 1 bp upstream promotes G4 formation. In all cases, parallel G4s are formed, but their topology changes from a less ordered to a highly ordered G4 when adding small amounts of potassium or sodium cations. Circular dichroism was used due to discriminate different conformations and topologies of nucleic acids and was complemented with gel electrophoresis and fluorescence spectroscopy studies.

Caring for the elderly in Chile. Exploring the experiences of men who care for dependent people

Recognizing that research on care has tended to focus on the experiences of female caregivers, this study, based on the experience of men caregivers of dependent elderly people in Chile, has sought, among others, to answer what meanings give them the men caregivers in the care given to dependent elderly people, and what consequences the need to care for others has had for them. Through a qualitative study based on interviews with ten men caregivers of dependent people, it has been possible to determine that, among others, caregivers mean care as an expression of love, but also as a responsibility. On the other hand, caring for others has had negative consequences both for their mental health and for their income generation. The study concludes by recognizing, among other aspects, that interventions and policies of care that are conceived from a rights perspective, must address in a robust way the needs of both people involved in the arrangements, care receivers, and the caregiver. In doing so, the State has a crucial role, as the first guarantor of rights.

Coherence Establishment as a Source of Explanation in Linguistic Theory

The primary goal of coherence theory is to provide an explanation for the coherence properties of discourse: what properties distinguish a discourse from a mere collection of utterances, and what drives comprehenders to draw inferences in service of establishing coherence. However, the importance of coherence theory goes well beyond that; it also plays a crucial role in theories of a variety of discourse-dependent linguistic phenomena. This article surveys some ways in which coherence theory has been leveraged in this way, appealing to both Relational analyses and Question-Under-Discussion models. Theories of coherence establishment should therefore have a place in the linguist's toolbox as a source of explanation in linguistic theory.

Indole based prostate cancer agents

Cancer weakens the immune system which fails to fight against the rapidly growing cells. Among the various types of cancers, prostate cancer (PCa) is causing greater number of deaths in men after lung cancer, demanding advancement to prevent, detect and treat PCa. Several small molecule heterocycles and few peptides are being used as oncological drugs targeting PCa. Heterocycles are playing crucial role in the development of novel cancer chemotherapeutics as well as immunotherapeutics. Indole skeleton, being a privileged structure has been extensively used for the discovery of novel anticancer agents and the application of indole derivatives against breast cancer is well documented. The present article highlights the usefulness of indole linked heterocyclic compounds as well as the fused indole derivatives against prostate cancer.

Silyl formates as hydrosilane surrogates for the transfer hydrosilylation of ketones

An energetically and atom economic transfer hydrosilylation of ketones employing silyl formates as hydrosilanes surrogates under mild conditions is presented. A total of 24 examples of ketones have been successfully converted to their corresponding silyl ethers with 61-99% yield in the presence of a PNHP-based ruthenium catalyst and silyl formate reagent. The crucial role of the ligand for the transformation is demonstrated.

Role of Time Scales in the Coupled Epidemic-Opinion Dynamics on Multiplex Networks

Modelling the epidemic’s spread on multiplex networks, considering complex human behaviours, has recently gained the attention of many scientists. In this work, we study the interplay between epidemic spreading and opinion dynamics on multiplex networks. An agent in the epidemic layer could remain in one of five distinct states, resulting in the SIRQD model. The agent’s attitude towards respecting the restrictions of the pandemic plays a crucial role in its prevalence. In our model, the agent’s point of view could be altered by either conformism mechanism, social pressure, or independent actions. As the underlying opinion model, we leverage the q-voter model. The entire system constitutes a coupled opinion–dynamic model where two distinct processes occur. The question arises of how to properly align these dynamics, i.e., whether they should possess equal or disparate timescales. This paper highlights the impact of different timescales of opinion dynamics on epidemic spreading, focusing on the time and the infection’s peak.