Endoscopic Treatment of Obesity and Nutritional Aspects of Bariatric Endoscopy

Obesity is a significant problem worldwide. Several serious diseases that decrease patient quality of life and increase mortality (high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia, type 2 diabetes etc.) are associated with obesity. Obesity treatment is a multidisciplinary and complex process that requires maximum patient compliance. Change of lifestyle is fundamental in the treatment of obesity. While pharmacotherapeutic options are available, their efficacy is limited. Surgical treatment though highly effective, carries the risk of complications and is thus indicated mostly in advanced stages of obesity. Endoscopic treatments of obesity are less invasive than surgical options, and are associated with fewer complications and nutritional deficits. Currently, there is a large spectrum of endoscopic methods based on the principles of gastric volume reduction, size restriction and gastric or small bowel bypass being explored with only few available in routine practice. The aim of this publication is to present an up-to-date summary of available endoscopic methods for the treatment of obesity focusing on their efficacy, safety and nutritional aspects.

Fabrication and Property Regulation of Small-Size Polyamine Microcapsules via Integrating Microfluidic T-Junction and Interfacial Polymerization

The self-healing system based on microencapsulated epoxy-amine chemistry is currently the self-healing system with the most practical application potential. It can be widely used in many epoxy-based materials with a size restriction for the microcapsules, such as fiber-reinforced composites, anti-corrosion coatings, etc. Although epoxy microcapsules of different sizes can be fabricated using different techniques, the preparation of polyamine microcapsules with suitable sizes and good performance is the prerequisite for further developing this self-healing system. In this investigation, based on the novel microencapsulation technique via integrating microfluidic T-junction and interfacial polymerization, the feasibility of preparing small-size polyamine microcapsules and the process regulation to optimize the properties of the small-size microcapsules were studied. We show that polyamine microcapsules with sizes smaller than 100 μm can be obtained through the T-junction selection and the feeding rate control of the polyamine. To regulate the small-size microcapsules’ quality, the effects of the concentration of the shell-forming monomer and the solvent with different polarity in the reaction solution and the reaction condition were studied. It shows that dry, free-flowing small-size microcapsules can still be obtained when the shell-forming monomer concentration is higher and the solvent’s polarity is lower, compared with the preparation of larger polyamine microcapsules. Although the change of reaction conditions (reaction temperature and duration) has a certain effect on the microcapsules’ effective core content, it is relatively small. The results of this investigation further promote the potential application of the self-healing systems based on microencapsulated epoxy-amine chemistry in materials with a size restriction for the microcapsules.

Restriction of an intron size en route to endothermy

Ca2+-insensitive and -sensitive E1 subunits of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (OGDHC) regulate tissue-specific NADH and ATP supply by mutually exclusive OGDH exons 4a and 4b. Here we show that their splicing is enforced by distant lariat branch points (dBPs) located near the 5′ splice site of the intervening intron. dBPs restrict the intron length and prevent transposon insertions, which can introduce or eliminate dBP competitors. The size restriction was imposed by a single dominant dBP in anamniotes that expanded into a conserved constellation of four dBP adenines in amniotes. The amniote clusters exhibit taxon-specific usage of individual dBPs, reflecting accessibility of their extended motifs within a stable RNA hairpin rather than U2 snRNA:dBP base-pairing. The dBP expansion took place in early terrestrial species and was followed by a uridine enrichment of large downstream polypyrimidine tracts in mammals. The dBP-protected megatracts permit reciprocal regulation of exon 4a and 4b by uridine-binding proteins, including TIA-1/TIAR and PUF60, which promote U1 and U2 snRNP recruitment to the 5′ splice site and BP, respectively, but do not significantly alter the relative dBP usage. We further show that codons for residues critically contributing to protein binding sites for Ca2+ and other divalent metals confer the exon inclusion order that mirrors the Irving-Williams affinity series, linking the evolution of auxiliary splicing motifs in exons to metallome constraints. Finally, we hypothesize that the dBP-driven selection for Ca2+-dependent ATP provision by E1 facilitated evolution of endothermy by optimizing the aerobic scope in target tissues.

Designing for the plus-size men: towards a better fitting: a case of Harare, Zimbabwe

This study endeavours to foster an understanding and encourage manufacturers to incorporate the plus sizes in their production to combat the fitting challenges connected to plus-sized men in Harare. The plus sized men were facing challenges in finding some fitting and ready- to-wear clothes on the market because of size restriction in a market. The clothing manufacturing companies was mass producing these ready-to-wear clothes ostensibly for all men, ironically leaving the plus-sized men disgruntled due to misfitting clothes and size restrictions. The study used critical postmodernism and the concurrent triangulation approaches to determine scope for either any convergence, differences or combination. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, observations and documentary analysis from the twenty-four (24) purposively sampled participants. Recommendations were made for the clothing companies to integrate the extreme and in-between sizes. This study offers insights on better sizing for different body types eliminating the emotional psychology disturbances.

“Design and Fabrication of Micro Air Vehicle (Mav) with Double-Bubble Fuselage”

A micro air vehicle (MAV) is a class of aircraft that has size restriction. The purpose of this project is to design a MAV, the airplane designed will be an RC (Radio Controlled) which can carry highest payload fraction possible with lowest empty weight, based on the guidelines of flight mechanics, aircraft structures, aerodynamics and control systems. This project aims to fabricate the designed MAV emphazing on all the structural aspects and other constraints respectively and to demonstrate its mission profile. The MAV has a double-bubble fuselage configuration with a rectangular high wing having a conventional tail configuration. The lateral cross-section of the wing is a cambered airfoil whose profile governs the lift distribution over the wing span. The wing span is around 4.8 feet and the model is fabricated using balsawood in this project.

Coinductive predicates and final sequences in a fibration

Coinductive predicates express persisting ‘safety’ specifications of transition systems. Previous observations by Hermida and Jacobs identify coinductive predicates as suitable final coalgebras in a fibration – a categorical abstraction of predicate logic. In this paper, we follow the spirit of a seminal work by Worrell and study final sequences in a fibration. Our main contribution is to identify some categorical ‘size restriction’ axioms that guarantee stabilization of final sequences after ω steps. In its course, we develop a relevant categorical infrastructure that relates fibrations and locally presentable categories, a combination that does not seem to be studied a lot. The genericity of our fibrational framework can be exploited for binary relations (i.e. the logic of ‘binary predicates’) for which a coinductive predicate is bisimilarity, constructive logics (where interests are growing in coinductive predicates) and logics for name-passing processes.