One major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic was the limited accessibility to healthcare facilities, especially for the older population. The aim of the current study was the exploration of the extent to which the healthcare systems responded to the healthcare needs of the older people with or without cognitive impairment and their caregivers in the Adrion/Ionian region. Data were collected through e-questionnaires regarding the adequacy of the healthcare system and were anonymously administered to older individuals and stakeholder providers in the following countries: Slovenia, Italy (Calabria), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia. Overall, 722 older people and 267 healthcare stakeholders participated in the study. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both healthcare stakeholders and the older population claimed that the healthcare needs of the older people and their caregivers increased dramatically in all countries, especially in Italy (Calabria), Croatia and BiH. According to our results, countries from the Adrion/Ionian regions faced significant challenges to adjust to the special needs of the older people during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was possibly due to limited accessibility opportunities to healthcare facilities. These results highlight the need for the development of alternative ways of providing medical assistance and supervision when in-person care is not possible.
Summary
Visualizing a network provides a concise and practical understanding of the information it represents. Open-source web-based libraries help accelerate the creation of biologically based networks and their use. ccNetViz is an open-source, high speed, and lightweight JavaScript library for visualization of large and complex networks. It implements customization and analytical features for easy network interpretation. These features include edge and node animations, which illustrate the flow of information through a network as well as node statistics. Properties can be defined a priori or dynamically imported from models and simulations. ccNetViz is thus a network visualization library particularly suited for systems biology.
Availability
The ccNetViz library, demos, and documentation are freely available at http://helikarlab.github.io/ccNetViz/
Aim
The aim of this study was to compare expression of total calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (tCaMKII) and its α, β, γ and δ isoforms in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in rat models of diabetes mellitus type I (DM1), 6 months and 1 year after diabetes induction.
Methods
A total of 45 male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 160-200 g were assigned into four experimental groups: 6-months DM1 and its control group, 1-year and its control group. For the induction of DM1, after overnight fasting animals were injected intraperitonealy with 55 mg/kg of the streptozotocine (STZ). Rats were sacrificed 6 months and 1 year after the diabetes induction. The L4 and L5 ganglions were removed, fixed, embedded in freezing medium and sectioned on a cryostat. Immunofluorescence analysis was performed for detection of tCaMKII and its α, β, γ and δ isoforms. Image J software was used for analysis of immunofluorescence.
Results
The diabetes was successfully induced as confirmed by measurement of glucose levels and weight increase. Analysis of tCaMKII expression in DRGs revealed no differences between DM1 and control animals after 6 and 12 months. In diabetic animals, the expression of α and β isoforms decreased significantly after 6 months, compared to the controls, while decrease of γ and δ was observed after one year of diabetes in diabetic animals.
Conclusions
The observed changes in the expression of CaMKII isoforms reveal plastic changes of this enzyme during the chronic diabetic state and may be involved in the chronic neuropathic pain development.
Trgovanje dijelovima ljudskog tijela jedno je od najsurovijih oblika zločina suvremenog doba. Aktualnost ovog fenomena pojačavaju okolnosti njegove isprepletenosti s organiziranim kriminalom i ljudskim očajem. Posljedice su trgovanja dijelovima ljudskog tijela: (I) pogibeljne za »darivatelje«; (II) prosperitetne za »posrednike«; te (III) životno uvjetovane za »primatelje«. U ovom se radu analizira fenomen trgovanja dijelovima ljudskog tijela u neposrednoj vezi s razvojem transplantacijske medicine i kirurgije. Transplantacija ljudskih organa gravitira prema indikativnoj etici odgovornosti te postepeno nadilazi imperativnu etiku dužnosti. Međutim, s etičkog i moralnog gledišta, darivanje ljudskih organa predstavlja čin sebedarja, što komercijalizaciju ljudskih organa čini neprihvatljivom jer vrijeđa ljudsko dostojanstvo. Osim etičkih implikacija, u ovom se radu analiziraju međunarodni dokumenti koji se odnose na problematiku trgovanja dijelovima ljudskog tijela te hrvatsko normativno uređenje predmetne materije, dok se zaključno iznose bioetički i kaznenopravni odgovori na razmotrenu problematiku.
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