Biomedical Sciences

Background: Acrylamide, a potential toxicant and carcinogen, maybe formed in carbohydrate-rich food cooked at very high temperature. Its effect on gastric mucosa defense is not fully elucidated. Hence, the effect of acrylamide ingestion on gastric mucosal integrity was investigated. Methods: Fifty-four (54) Wistar rats (150-200g) were randomly divided into 3 groups; Group I (control) received 0.2mL distilled H20, Groups II and III received 7.5mg/kg body weight and 15mg/kg body weight acrylamide respectively. Both acrylamide and distilled water were administered orally for 28days. Thereafter, gastric secretion was obtained and analysed for gastric acidity. Gastric antioxidants status (superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione, catalase), lipid peroxidation, mucus content, nitric oxide, bicarbonate, prostaglandins-E and gastric mucus content were determined. Blood samples were also collected and evaluated for haematological indices. Histological changes, parietal and mucus cell counts were evaluated on gastric tissues. Results: Gastric secretion and acidity increased (P < 0.05) in the 15mg/kg acrylamide treated group. Glutathione, SOD, catalase, mucus content, bicarbonate, prostaglandins-E2, mucous cell count were reduced (P < 0.05) while parietal cell count, lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide increased (P < 0.05) in both acrylamide treated groups compared to control. White blood cell count in group II was increased compared to control (P < 0.05). Acrylamide treated groups displayed gastric epithelial cells with poor architecture, lamina propria, submucosa inflammatory cell infiltration and vascular congestion. Conclusion: Acrylamide exposure degenerates gastric mucosal integrity in a dosedependent manner via reductions in gastric protective factors, which thus predisposes the gastric mucosa to erosions and lesions.

In vivo Raman spectroscopy is being projected as a new, noninvasive method for cervical cancer
diagnosis. In most of the reported studies, normal areas in the cancerous cervix were used as control.
However, in the Indian subcontinent, the majority of cervical cancers are detected at advanced stages, leaving
no normal sites for acquiring control spectra. Moreover, vagina and ectocervix are reported to have similar biochemical
composition. Thus, in the present study, we have evaluated the feasibility of classifying normal and
cancerous conditions in the Indian population and we have also explored the utility of the vagina as an internal
control. A total of 228 normal and 181 tumor in vivo Raman spectra were acquired from 93 subjects under clinical
supervision. The spectral features in normal conditions suggest the presence of collagen, while DNA and noncollagenous
proteins were abundant in tumors. Principal-component linear discriminant analysis (PC-LDA)
yielded 97% classification efficiency between normal and tumor groups. An analysis of a normal cervix and
vaginal controls of cancerous and noncancerous subjects suggests similar spectral features between these
groups. PC-LDA of tumor, normal cervix, and vaginal controls further support the utility of the vagina as an
internal control. Overall, findings of the study corroborate with earlier studies and facilitate objective, noninvasive,
and rapid Raman spectroscopic-based screening/diagnosis of cervical cancers.

HIPAA laws related to fundraising became fully effective in 2013.  What protocols should be in place to maximize philanthropic opportunities under HIPAA? What compliance measures need to be in place and assessed to properly use protected healthcare information for fund raising.

Cycling exercise-based on functional electrical stimulation (FES) for disabled individuals-is achieved by stimulating single muscle group, the quadriceps, with the help of a new assist mechanism represented by a solid disc flywheel equipped with an electrical clutch. Fuzzy logic based closed-loop control method is implemented to obtain a stable cycling cadence by i) controlling the stimulation intensity on the muscle and ii) managing the engagement of the flywheel mechanism. To achieve better results, several crank positionswith different gear ratios between the crank and the flywheel-are tested and analyzed. To obtain the optimal design parameters, a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) approach is adopted towards maximizing the cycling efficiency and minimizing the cadence error. A comparison with the results reported in the literature reveals the superiority of the proposed design to limit the cadence error to ±5 rpm for 35 rpm desired speed. Moreover, the results demonstrate that the designed control approach with the proposed assist mechanism is robust to changes in muscle force due to muscle fatigue. Additionally, the introduced control approach with the new assist mechanism is promoting bounded tracking of the desired speed and prolonging FES-cycling training by stimulating the quadriceps muscle group only.

The purpose of this research work is to determine the microbiological profile of hospital solid waste dump sites, sensitivity to antibiotic and isolation and identification of the organism using API 20 E kit and method of analysis. Microbiological profiling was carried out on hospital solid waste collected from State Specialist Hospital in Ikare-Akoko. The mean total aerobic counts of the bacteria isolated from the solid waste samples collected from six (6) units in the hospital were 5.0 x 10 4 cfu/lm, surgical section; 7.8 x 10 4 cfu/lm, outpatient department; 5.2 x 10 4 cfu/lm, medical laboratory; 3.8 x 10 4 cfu/lm, nurse section; 3.2 x 10 4 cfu/lm, injection room; and 2.0 x 10 4 cfu/lm, medical record. Ten (10) bacterial Proteus bulgaricus) were recovered from the waste and determined up to species level using API 20E KIT. The result of the antibacterial sensitivity activity test carried out using Kirby buewer antibiotics disc containing eleven (11) antibiotics (gentamycin, augmentin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, ceftazidine, cefuroxime, cemptriaxome, ofloxacin, cefixime, nitrofurantoin, and cloxacilline) showed that 100 percent (%) of the bacteria were resistant to ceftazidine, cerftriazomes, cloxacilline, and to cefixime; 90 percent (%) were resistant to cefuroxime, gentamicine, erythromycin, and augmentine respectively; 60% were resistant to ofloxacin and nitrofurantoin respectively; and 40% were resistant to ciprofloxacine respectively. Three (3) of the bacterial isolates (Staphylococcusaureus, Bacilus cereus, and Salmonella typhi) were susceptible to only nitrofurantoin, and another two isolates (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi) to ciprofloxacine. This showed that all bacterial isolated from the hospital solid waste were multi-drug resistant.

In this study, we determined the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant capacity and free radical scavenging properties of an novel polyherbal formulation (PHF) consist aqueous extract of four plants namely Syzygium cumini, Picrorhiza kurroa, Madhuca indica and Commiphora mukul. The phytochemical study have demonstrated the presence of various bioactive secondary metabolites such as reducing carbohydrates, protein, steroids, flavanoids, alkaloids, tannin, phenols and inulin etc. Ascorbic acid and Gallic acid were used as standards for antioxidant and free radical scavenging assays. The PHFexhibited the high phenolic content as 707.7±4.3 mg Gallic acid equivalent /g. The total flavanoid content of PHF was 584.2±3.7 mg quercetin equivalent/g. Total antioxidant capacity of PHF was found to be 166.2 ± 1.84 μg/ ascorbic acid equivalents at 100 μg/mL PHF concentrations. In FRAP assay, the reducing ability of the PHF was found to be 962.24 ± 8.54 μM Fe (II)/g. The reducing power assay of PHF showed a dose dependent increasing from 0.117 to 0.269 μg/mL. PHF could efficiently scavenged DPPH, IC 50 was found to be 1.96±0.16 μg/mL. The IC50of lipid peroxidation inhibition assay was found to be 38.92±1.43 μg/mL. Outcome of this study suggests the presence of various biologically active phytochemicals in this PHF and their potential effects against free radical and oxidative stress.

Due to the continuous monitoring process of critical patients, Intensive Care Units (ICU) generate large amounts of data, which are difficult for healthcare personnel to analyze manually, especially in overloaded situations such as those present during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the automatic analysis of these data has many practical applications in patient monitoring, including the optimization of alarm systems for alerting healthcare personnel. In this paper, explainable machine learning techniques are used for this purpose, with a methodology based on age-stratification, boosting classifiers, and Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) proposed. The methodology is evaluated using MIMIC-III, an ICU patient research database. The results show that the proposed model can predict mortality within the ICU with AUROC values of 0.961, 0.936, 0.898, and 0.883 for age groups 18–45, 45–65, 65–85 and 85+, respectively. By using SHAP, the features with the highest impact in predicting mortality for different age groups and the threshold from which the value of a clinical feature has a negative impact on the patient’s health can be identified. This allows ICU alarms to be improved by identifying the most important variables to be sensed and the threshold values at which the health personnel must be warned.

The process of informed consent is fundamental to basic scientific research with human subjects. As one aspect of the scientific enterprise, clinical drug trials rely on informed consent documents to safeguard the ethical treatment of trial participants. This paper explores the role of heteronormative assumptions within this process, postulating the ways in which the biomedical texts that make up the informed consent process may render gay, lesbian, and non-binary gender-identifying participants discursively invisible. We argue that trial criteria and informed consent practices may reproduce a binary sex and gender system in which ‘male’ and ‘female’ subjects are presumed to identify as heterosexual and engage in procreative sex. This binary is not one of equivalence as female subjects who are able to have children may be wholly excluded or excessively controlled in studies while male subjects are merely admonished to use medically sanctioned birth control methods. Furthermore, we claim that the assumption of procreative heterosexual behaviors may pervade the informed consent process and the mundane practices of biomedical research more broadly. Given that these assumptions have important implications for risk and inclusivity in clinical trials, in the last part of this paper we outline directions for future research on the reproduction of heteronormativity in scientific discourse and practice.

Keywords: heteronormativity, biomedical research, clinical trials, gender binary, scientific discourse.

Advancements in Biomedical field provide lot of assistive devices to help deaf people and visually impaired people. When it comes to the subject of deaf-blind people (who losses both hearing and visual ability) availability of such devices are very limited. Tactile signaling and manual alphabets are the most commonly methods used to make the reciprocal communication between the impaired and the surrounding environment possible. Existing devices like MyVox, Sparsha are use braille tactile reading/writing to make communication between two deaf blind users. Assistive systems available in market are high cost and invasive. The proposed system is wearable, non-invasive, compact and low cost. It can recognize the speech and convert into Morse code vibrations. Raspberry Pi is used to convert speech into text using microphone and then each text changed to Morse code using raspberry pi. These signals will be sending to micro haptic vibrating motors through GPIO pins of raspberry pi which are attached with user's fingers.

In this project, an effort is made to compare the improvement of the matrix material properties because of the presence of the fillers and additives. Initially, hand lay-up process was carried out in a mold of known dimensions to layup jute fibers of varying weight percentages in the epoxy matrix. Another composite with glass fibers of similar weight percentages to that of jute were laid up in epoxy matrix in the same mold. These composites were subjected to tensile, bending and impact tests according to the ASTM standards. The best fiber-resin composition was decided from the test results. Composite with both glass fiber and jute as fillers and epoxy as matrix was produced using the hand lay-up for the determined weight percentage. The dimensions of the spacers used, thickness of each fiber laid and all the other process parameters were kept constant for all lay-ups. The hybrid composites were produced with 5%, 10% and 15% additive. These composites were again subjected to tensile, bending and impact tests and the results were drawn.

Torres, Cristina and Atoy Navarro, eds. 2011.  FERCAP @ 10: In Commemoration of a Decade of Capacity Building in Ethical Health Research in the Asia-Pacific Region.  Daegu City: Forum for Ethical Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific (FERCAP) and Daegu Catholic University Medical Center Institutional Review Board (DCUMC IRB).

In commemoration of a decade of capacity building in ethical health research in the region, the Forum for Ethical Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific (FERCAP) has put together this compilation of articles that highlight the forum’s networking and partnership experiences during the last ten years.

— This paper is a design of non-invasive instrument for measuring the glucose level in the body using saliva acetone. In this method, the electric current which is equivalent to the acetone level present in the body is converted into voltage using the sensor. This voltage has a negative correlation with the blood glucose level. Thus, it is converted into glucose level by programming done using ATMEGA328 processor which is displayed in LCD. This is a painless procedure with low energy consumption. It is a handheld device and it is cost effective.

Due to an increasing interest in esthetics and concerns about toxic and allergic reactions to certain alloys, zirconia was proposed as a new ceramic material in the later part of 20th century. It has become a popular alternative to alumina as biomaterial and is being used in dental applications for fabricating endodontic posts, crown and bridge restorations and implant abutments. It has also been applied for the fabrication of esthetic orthodontic brackets. This article presents a brief history, dental applications and new methods for fabrication of zirconia improving its mechanical properties. Additionally, the bonding between zirconia and resin cements as well as conventional cementation has been discussed. The methods of the improvement of the bonding strength have also been highlighted.

After completion of this chapter, you will be able to: 1. Explain the purpose of medical terminology. 2. Name the languages from which most medical word parts are derived. 3. Distinguish between different types of medical terms 4. List all component parts of a medical term. 5. Define the terms root, suffix, prefix, and interfix. 6. Distinguish between a combining vowel and a combining form 7. Define medical terms by analyzing their component parts.

The full chapter available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339830389_ABC_of_Medical_Terminology

The literature describing low-intensity ultrasound in two significant areas of cancer therapy - sonodynamic therapy and ultrasound-mediated chemotherapy - was reviewed. Each technique consistently killed cancer cells, and the bioeffects of ultrasound were attributed primarily to thermal actions and inertial cavitation. Each therapeutic modality benefited from using theranostic contrast agents composed of microbubbles for both therapy and vascular imaging. The development of these agents is critical because it establishes a therapeutic-diagnostic platform for monitoring anti-cancer therapy success. However, little attention has been paid to either the direct examination of the underlying mechanisms underlying observed bioeffects or the viability of these therapies in naturally occurring cancers in larger mammals; if such investigations yielded encouraging results, a therapy technique could be rapidly applied in treating cancer patients.
Keywords: Ultrasound bioeffects, Cancer therapy, Low-intensity ultrasound, Sonodynamic therapy, Antivascular ultrasound, ultrasound-mediated chemotherapy.

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

People who enter the biomedical field and have felt empathy for animals, but who learn to suppress those feelings and to accept and engage in animal research, are sociopaths.

People who happily experiment on animals with no empathy for the suffering they cause are psychopaths.

Being able to conduct animal experiments by being either a psychopath or sociopath is a selection filter for the fields of medicine and biomedical research.

It is very disturbing to realize that our medical system selects out sensitive, empathic, caring people, and is run by and for psychopaths and sociopaths. Anyone who enters the field of biomedical science or medicine must either become desensitized to animal suffering caused by vivisection, or leave the field, as I have done.

And I can tell you one truth that you should already know. The way we treat animals is the way we treat people.

Alumina has received considerable attention and has been historically well-accepted as biomaterials for dental and medical applications. This article reviews the applications of this material in dentistry. It presents a brief history, dental applications and methods for improving the mechanical properties of alumina-based materials. It also offers perspectives on recent research aimed at the further development of alumina for clinical uses, at their evaluation and selection, and very importantly, their clinical performance. This article also stated about the Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) which has been conceived as a new material design approach to improve performance compared to traditional homogeneous and uniform materials. This technique allows the production of a material with very different characteristics within the same material at various interfaces. The importance of the FGM concept in biological applications and functions was highlighted. Fundamentally, the combination of mechanical properties and biocompatibility are very important factors in application of any biomaterial to medical or dental fields. The characteristics of the surface govern the biocompatibility of the material, and the mechanical strength is determined by the average mechanical strength of the materials. However, the fabrication of FGMs is most often hindered by the variation of elastic, plastic, thermal, chemical, and kinetic properties within the composite. Across a material interface, these discontinuities in material properties lead to the formation of residual stresses. Despite these challenges, compositional gradient structures offer significant benefits. Notable research literature is highlighted regarding (1) applications of alumina in various fields in dentistry; (2) improvement of the mechanical properties of alumina by microstructural manipulation, FGM as well as composite formulations involving metallic, intermetallic elements and bioceramics.

En el campo de la Ingeniería Clínica y la Electromedicina, un profesional se encontrará inevitablemente con las mediciones eléctricas, ya sea porque las utilice para realizar análisis cuantitativo y/o cualitativo, o bien como fuente de información de datos para cálculos técnicos. Debido a esto se hace necesario conocer el funcionamiento de instrumentos de
medición, técnicas de medición, limitaciones, y estudio de los errores en la aplicación de las mismas.
Este libro tiene como objetivo brindar conocimientos básicos y conceptuales, para capacitar en el análisis de la asignatura Instrumentos de Medición.
El análisis de los instrumentos se realiza partiendo de los más básicos (imán permanente y bobina móvil, o hierro móvil), así como los menos básicos (electrodinámicos), igualmente los más complejos (electrónicos) y del mismo modo se hace una introducción a los digitales.
El libro se divide en tres capítulos:
 TEMA I, se analizan los conceptos básicos de la Metrología como ciencia, su carácter legal y los conceptos asociados a ella.
 TEMA II, se analizan los Instrumentos y Mediciones Eléctricas. Para cada instrumento se analizará su ley de medición, aplicaciones y limitaciones.
 TEMA III, se analizan los Instrumentos y Mediciones Electrónicas y Digitales. Para cada instrumento se analizará, de igual manera, su ley de medición, aplicaciones y
limitaciones.

Con il seguente lavoro e sulla base delle attuali conoscenze, si è cercato di descrivere ed analizzare la correlazione tra gli antigeni HLA-B27 e HLA-B51 e alcune patologie autoimmunitarie.
Tale lavoro è stato effettuato presso il laboratorio HLA del Servizio di
Immunoematologia e Medicina Trasfusionale (SIMT) dell‟ASL di Vercelli, dove sono stati analizzati, tra novembre 2019 e gennaio 2020, campioni di sangue periferico di pazienti con richiesta diagnostica di varie patologie autoimmunitarie.
La tecnica applicata per la ricerca degli antigeni HLA-B27 e HLA-B51 presso il laboratorio HLA è la tecnica di tipizzazione sierologica che identifica l‟antigene ricercato mediante il test di microlinfocitotossicità complemento dipendente.

Model dan seni perawatan luka sesungguhnya telah lama di kembangkan yaitu sejak jaman pra sejarah dengan pemanfaatan bahan alami yang diturunkan dari generasi ke generasi berikutnya, yang akhirnya perkembangan perawatan luka menjadi modern seiring ditemukannya ribuan balutan untuk luka. Menurut Carville (1998) tidak ada satu jenis balutan yang cocok atau sesuai untuk setiap jenis luka. Pernyataan ini menjadikan kita harus dapat memi;ih balutan yang tepat untuk mendukung proses penyembuhan luka. Pemilihan balutan luka yang baik dan benar selalu berdasarkan pengkajian luka.

Abstract

The primary goal of this study is to state the clear changes in functional brain connectivity during all night sleep in psycho-physiological insomnia (PPI). The secondary goal is to investigate the usefulness of Mutual Information (MI) analysis in estimating cortical sleep EEG arousals for detection of PPI. For these purposes, healthy controls and patients were compared to each other with respect to both linear (Pearson correlation coefficient and coherence) and nonlinear quantifiers (MI) in addition to phase locking quantification for six sleep stages (stage.1-4, rem, wake) by means of interhemispheric dependency between two central sleep EEG derivations. In test, each connectivity estimation calculated for each couple of epoches (C3-A2 and C4-A1) was identified by the vector norm of estimation. Then, patients and controls were classified by using 10 different types of data mining classifiers for five error criteria such as accuracy, root mean squared error, sensitivity, specificity and precision. High performance in a classification through a measure will validate high contribution of that measure to detecting PPI. The MI was found to be the best method in detecting PPI. In particular, the patients had lower MI, higher PCC for all sleep stages. In other words, the lower sleep EEG synchronization suffering from PPI was observed. These results probably stand for the loss of neurons that then contribute to less complex dynamical processing within the neural networks in sleep disorders an the functional central brain connectivity is nonlinear during night sleep. In conclusion, the level of cortical hemispheric connectivity is strongly associated with sleep disorder. Thus, cortical communication quantified in all existence sleep stages might be a potential marker for sleep disorder induced by PPI.
Discussion and conclusion
In the present study, four hemispheric connectivity measurements were examined to obtain the electrophysiological arousals on sleep EEG epoches recorded from healthy controls and patients with PPI. All individuals can be classified correctly by using any data mining classifier for both entropy based MI estimations and spectral connectivity measurement so called coherence created by Welch’ method. When the Burg method was performed to compute the power spectral density estimation of sleep EEG epoch in estimating coherence, error free classification can be obtained by using only three classifiers (RBFNetwork, NNge, SMO). Regarding as PCC estimations, one person was misclassified in all classifiers. Concerning phase coherence estimations, one or two individuals were always misclassified.

In particular, lower interhemispheric coherence and lower MI estimations as well as higher PCC values were provided by patients in comparison to controls. In fact, only linear relations between particular hemispheric locations could be observed by using coherence, whereas the MI can measure both linear and nonlinear statistical dependencies of hemispheres in time domain. The results support that the cortex becomes more inactive as the sleep stage goes through from one stage to the next one in non REM sleep periods (stage.1–4), however, the cortex becomes much more active. It means that more neurons will be active in processing the information transmission during REM sleep in REM sleep periods. The higher order statistics of time series can be represented by nonlinear approaches, regarding as the information theory [7]. Therefore, the MI provided the most useful estimations.

The MI can give information in the context of functional connectivity such that its value highly depends on the accuracy of estimated JE derived from probability distribution. The results revealed that temporal dependency of cerebral hemispheres by means of MI can provide a very efficient tool for detection of PPI from sleep EEG recordings. The MI is a measure of statistical dependence between two random time series without making any assumption on the nature of these signals. Since, the duration of each single epoch was long enough, MI estimations gave stable estimates. Another factor making the MI be successful in detecting hemispheric functional changes between controls and PPI is that sleep EEG series are narrow band signals as stated in reference [4].

In the further study, the relationship between sleep stages and information transmission of multi-channel EEG measurements in controls will be investigated. Additionally, MI will be used to analyze sleep EEG series in detecting the effects of mood disorder depending on functional disorganization of the brain.

Volume paru adalah volume udara yang menempati ruangan udara dalam paru. Volume paru dijadikan sebuah parameter yang dapat mengindikasi fungsi fisiologis paru-paru seseorang. Percobaan mengenai volume paru ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui metode pengukuran, makna hasil pengukuran, kesimpulan dan menganalisis kelemahan serta memberikan usulan perbaikan terhadap pemeriksaan fisiologi paru.
Metode pengukuran ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan spirometer berkecepatan drum rendah (LOW) yang dilengkapi dengan kertas pencatat. Probandus berdiri tegak bernafas melalui mulut dengan mouth piece yang telah terpasang dan hidung yang telah dijepit. Salah satu praktikan akan memberikan arahan pada orang coba selama proses pernafasan tersebut. Hasil berupa spirogram kemudian dianalisis.
Parameter dalam pemeriksaan fungsi paru adalah kapasitas volume paru. Metode pengkuran parameter dalam pemeriksaan fungsi faal paru menggunakana alat spirometer Harvard. Pengukuran VC pada one stage menghasilkan VC BTPS  dalam kategori retriksi berat untuk probandus laki-laki dan VC BTPS probandus  perempuan tergolong retriksi berat. Pengukuran VC BTPS two stage laki-laki dikategorikan retriksi ringan sedangkan VC BTPS probandus  perempuan tergolong ringan. VC pada laki-laki venderung lebih tinggi dibandingkan perempuan. Berdasarkan dari hasil perobaan, didapatkan hasil bahwa tinggi badan, aktivitas, riwayat penyakit, usia, aktivitas otot  dan jenis kelamin mempengaruhi kapasitas vital paru-paru seseorang. Namun tinggi badan merupakan yang paling berpengaruh. Kelemahan dari metode pemeriksaan fungsi faal paru menggunakan spirometer adalah alatnya yang cukup tua sehingga dikhawatirkan terjadi kejenuhan alat.

Kata kunci : Vital Capacity, Retriksi

What are the effects of circumcision  on sexual function and experience? And what does sex—in the sense related to gender—have to do with the ethics of circumcision? Jacobs and Arora (2015) give short shrift to the first of these questions; and they do not seem to have considered the second. In this commentary, I explore the relationship between sex (in both senses) and infant male circumcision, and draw some conclusions about the ongoing debate regarding this controversial practice.

This paper presents a folkloric survey of the traditional uses and preparations of Lunasia amara (Blanco). Interviews among the snowball-sampled key informants composed of a resident, a traditional healer and a Manobo healer from each of the sampled areas in the province of Agusan del Sur, Philippines. Results show that the plant is sourced for its medicinal value either from the tree ('lunas-kahoy') and/or the vine ('lunas-bagon'). The bark of the tree or the vine is used as anti-inflammatory (for wounds, bites, skin diseases, fever, ulcer, nausea, heartburn and gastroenteritis); antimotility (diarrhea); antihistamines (for skin allergies and itchiness); antiparasitic (for malaria); antibacterial (for skin diseases and stomach troubles); antitoxin (for food poison, poisoning, tetanus, snake and insect venom); and antiviral (for rabies, chikungunya and dengue). Key informants typically infused the bark with coconut oil and/or tinctured with a local wine ('Kulafu') being affordable and convenient to use. The application of the plant preparations was either by rubbing the infusion to the affected areas or drinking the infusion or tincture if the problem is internal. The current study is in concurrence with those reported ethnomedical applications of the plant done elsewhere indicating that this plant has important pharmacological and chemical properties that should be further investigated.

This article reviews the applications of nanotechnology in the fields of medical and life sciences. Nanoparticles have shown promising applications from diagnosis to treatment of various types of diseases including cancer. In this review, we discuss the applications of nanostructured materials such as nanoparticles, quantum dots, nanorods, nanowires, and carbon nanotubes in diagnostics, biomarkers, cell labeling, contrast agents for biological imaging, antimicrobial agents, drug delivery systems, and anticancer nanodrugs for treatment of cancer and other infectious diseases. The adverse affects of nanoparticles on human skin from daily use in cosmetics and general toxicology of nanoscale materials are also reviewed.
KEYWORDS: Medical Applications, Nanoparticles, Contrast Agents for Biological Imaging, Cell Labeling, Antimicrobial Agents, Anticancer Nanodrugs, Cosmetics, Nanotoxicology.

Abstract
Contemporary Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools are indispensable for any economy that will thrive in this new Information Age. This research reviews contemporary Information and Communication Technology tools in modern day economy. The researcher depended heavily on secondary sources of material accessed through the internet and the Library to make an extensive review of works of other similar application. The ICT tools that were specifically reviewed are Facebook, Imo, Skype, and Twitter and other similar application. These tools were listed and explained and emphases were made on their economic benefits or usefulness. Some of the impending negative effects of these ICT tools were listed and explained, and suggestion were given on how to control these disadvantages. The work also recommended some strategies of improving the knowledge and application of ICT tools in modern day economy. The Government was saddled with the responsibility of investing in ICT infrastructure, dissemination of hardware, including ICT skills in school curricula, and supervision of ICT uses to control the abuse and misuse of the tools. The work concludes that ICT tools play significant roles in this modern day global, information-driven/knowledge-driven competitive economy.
Key words: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), modern, economy, development,

Pharmaceutical and Biomedical sciences: An International Journal (PBIJ) is a Quarterly peerreviewed and refereed open access journal that publishes articles which contribute new results in all areas of the Pharmaceutical and Biomedical sciences. The journal is devoted to the publication of high quality papers on theoretical and practical aspects of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical sciences. The goal of this journal is to bring together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to focus Pharmaceutical and Biomedical sciences advancements, and establishing new collaborations in these areas. Original research papers, state-of-the-art reviews are invited for publication in all areas of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical sciences.

Researchers in many fields including cell biology, neuroscience, biomedicine and bioengineering continue to face significant challenges that emerge from the astonishing complexity of living organisms. While a strict mechanistic view of human functioning is becoming a less dominant paradigm there remain myriad questions and difficulties when attempting to bridge the whole with its parts. For example; what is a brain, where does consciousness reside, and what is the unifying intelligence holding the "container" for biological development as the source of self-regulation, self-assembly, maintenance, emergent properties and dynamic biological order? We have reached an unprecedented level of technology where significant amounts of previously unproven information is now measurable under laboratory conditions, together with access to accumulated human knowledge, understanding and experience outside of specialist scientific communities. Yet acknowledgment of many large and still unanswered questions such as those above is noticeably avoided in many published scientific papers. An example which will be covered in some depth is the regular omission of any mention of the role of water in molecular processes, despite all life being predominantly composed of it. When taken in totality the wealth of extensively researched data and experimental and theoretical evidence provides considerable insight into the complex forces and interactions which in together produce the means and energy for life across all scales. A holistic approach from the biophysical perspective stresses is necessary to take a global, systemic, dynamic, self-organizing and energetic view to gain insight into optimal human functioning far beyond the mere absence of disease. Human health emerges from a comprehensively interconnected and unified web, where physiological and psychological subsystems are optimally synchronized and coherent with each other, and across all scales of their environment, in a highly coordinated way. Dysfunction, disease and the effects of aging arise when there is breakdown in this synchronized flow of coherent energy and information.