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The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to significant health services declines in South-East Asia including Indonesia, which experienced a decline in routine immunisation of children. This study investigated the influence of the pandemic on the beliefs and experiences of caregivers of children related to routine immunisation. This study involved a cross-sectional survey among 1399 caregivers of children aged 0-24 months in Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara provinces from March-April 2022. Data on beliefs and experiences of childhood immunizations were captured using core items from the WHO/UNICEF Behavioural and Social Drivers of Immunization (BeSD) survey. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses identified factors associated with uptake of routine immunisations. While nearly all caregivers (95.7%) reported wanting their child to receive all recommended routine immunisations, only 40.3% of children aged 2-24 months were up-to-date with all vaccines for age. Factors associated with up-to-date included higher parental education (aOR: 1.76, 95% CI 1.02-3.05), higher household income (aOR: 1.54, 95% CI 1.09-2.18), and caregivers who found it moderately or very easy to get immunisations (aOR: 2.26/2.22, 95% CI 1.06-4.83/1.06-4.69). Recovery efforts should prioritise responding to the factors associated with immunisation status (e.g., perceived ease of access) and on families experiencing disadvantage (e.g., caregivers with lower education and household income) to ensure protections against future outbreaks that are responsive to the context-specific needs and priorities of districts and communities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Julie Leask reports financial support was provided by UNICEF. Julie Leask reports financial support was provided by National Health and Medical Research Council. Julie Leask reports a relationship with World Health Organization that includes: funding grants. Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono reports a relationship with World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia that includes: funding grants. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Nano-sized colloidal carriers represent innovative drug delivery systems, as they allow a targeted and prolonged release of poorly water-soluble drugs, improving their bioavailability and modifying their pharmacokinetic parameters. In this work we describe cyclodextrin-based nanosponges, obtained through polimerization of β-cyclodextrin with diphenyl carbonate as the cross-linking agent, loaded with a novel multi-effective heterocyclic compound, DB103, able to regulate key cellular events involved in the remodelling of vessels wall. Fabrication and drug-loading procedures, as well as physical-chemical characterization and drug-release profile of the novel colloidal system are reported. Results achieved demonstrate the ability of nanosponges to enclose efficiently the target drug and release it slowly and continuously, thus suggesting the exploitability of the novel system for the local therapy of vessels wall subjected to percutaneous intervention., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aldose reductase (ALR2), a NADPH-dependent reductase, is the first and rate-limiting enzyme of the polyol pathway of glucose metabolism and is implicated in the pathogenesis of secondary diabetic complications. In the last decades, this enzyme has been targeted for inhibition but despite the numerous efforts made to identify potent and safe ALR2 inhibitors, many clinical candidates have been a failure. For this reason the research of new ALR2 inhibitors highly effective, selective and with suitable pharmacokinetic properties is still of great interest. In this paper some new N-(aroyl)-N-(arylmethyloxy)alanines have been synthesized and tested for their ability to inhibit ALR2. Some of the synthesized compounds exhibit IC 50 in the low micromolar range and all have proved to be highly selective towards ALR2. The N-(aroyl)-N-(arylmethyloxy)-α-alanines are a promising starting point for the development of new ALR2 selective drugs with the aim of delaying the onset of diabetic complications., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Creatine supplementation has been shown to protect neurons from oxidative damage due to its antioxidant and ergogenic functions. These features have led to the hypothesis of creatine supplementation use during pregnancy as prophylactic treatment to prevent CNS damage, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Unfortunately, very little is known on the effects of creatine supplementation during neuron differentiation, while in vitro studies revealed an influence on neuron excitability, leaving the possibility of creatine supplementation during the CNS development an open question. Using a multiple approach, we studied the hippocampal neuron morphological and functional development in neonatal rats born by dams supplemented with 1% creatine in drinking water during pregnancy. CA1 pyramidal neurons of supplemented newborn rats showed enhanced dendritic tree development, increased LTP maintenance, larger evoked-synaptic responses, and higher intrinsic excitability in comparison to controls. Moreover, a faster repolarizing phase of action potential with the appearance of a hyperpolarization were recorded in neurons of the creatine-treated group. Consistently, CA1 neurons of creatine exposed pups exhibited a higher maximum firing frequency than controls. In summary, we found that creatine supplementation during pregnancy positively affects morphological and electrophysiological development of CA1 neurons in offspring rats, increasing neuronal excitability. Altogether, these findings emphasize the need to evaluate the benefits and the safety of maternal intake of creatine in humans., (Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We report herein the synthesis, biological evaluation and docking analysis of a new series of methylsulfonyl, sulfamoyl acetamides and ethyl acetates that selectively inhibit cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) isoform. Among the newly synthesized compounds, some of them were endowed with a good activity against COX-2 and a good selectivity COX-2/COX-1 in vitro as well as a desirable analgesic activity in vivo, proving that replacement of the ester moiety with an amide group gave access to more stable derivatives, characterized by a good COX-inhibition., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aims: To demonstrate the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activity of the novel pyrazolopyrimidine derivative multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitor CLM3, alone and in combination with SN-38 (the active metabolite of irinotecan), on endothelial and tumor cells and to show its mechanism of action., Methods: Proliferation and apoptotic assays were performed on microvascular endothelial (HMVEC-d) and lung (A549) and thyroid cancer (8305C, TT) cell lines exposed to CLM3 and to the simultaneous combination with SN38 for 72h. Cell-based phospho-VEGFR-2, phospho-EGFR and phospho-RET inhibition assays were performed and ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation were quantified by ELISA kits. Cyclin D1 gene expression was performed with real-time PCR and cyclin D1 intracellular concentrations were measured by ELISA., Results: A strong effect on antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activity was found with the CLM3 on endothelial and cancer cells, synergistically enhanced by SN38. Phospho-VEGFR-2, phospho-EGFR and phospho-RET levels significantly decreased after CLM3 treatments in activated endothelial and cancer cells; ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation were significantly inhibited by lower concentrations of the pyrazolopyrimidine drug in endothelial cells if compared to cancer cells. Moreover, CLM3 treatment greatly inhibited the expression of the cyclin D1 gene in endothelial and cancer cells, decreasing the cyclin D1 protein intracellular concentration., Conclusions: The pyrazolopyrimidine derivative CLM3 demonstrated a highly significant and promising antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity, alone and in combination with SN-38, for activated endothelial and cancer cells. These effects are mainly due to its inhibition of phosphorylation of VEGFR-2, EGFR and RET tyrosine kinases and their related signaling pathways., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In partially denervated skeletal muscle, spared motor fibres sprout, enlarging motor unit size. Neuritogenesis and sprouting are known to depend on the synaptic input to the neurons. This suggests that spared motoneuron reaction to partial muscle denervation might be controlled by primary sensory neurons which directly or indirectly project to motoneurons. In two groups of rats, different surgical procedures were carried out: partial denervation of the extensor digitorum longus muscle without or with homolateral dorsal rhizotomy. Spared motoneuron peripheral field was evaluated by nerve-evoked tension measures. Following partial muscle denervation, spared motoneurons enlarged their projection peripheral field five to six times, innervating most of the denervated portion of the muscle. When dorsal rhizotomy was carried out together with partial denervation, the enlargement of the motoneuron's peripheral field occurred later; however, the peripheral field size was the same or greater than that found in partially denervated muscles without dorsal rhizotomy in the long term. Excitatory postsynaptic potential recordings at neuromuscular junctions consistently showed that innervation of denervated muscle cells by spared motoneurons was impaired when the dorsal roots were cut. Finally, in both groups of operated rats an increase in motor unit number occurred early after surgery, anticipating a process normally occurring in the same age range. These findings are consistent with the idea that sensory input trans-synaptically controls motoneuron peripheral field size.