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Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are a class of cross-coupled hydrophilic networks that have an extraordinary capacity to absorb and retain water. It is primarily because of the additional ionic cross-linking of SAPs, their porous wavy structure, a large number of hydrophilic functionalities, the high elasticity of the chains, and the enlarged free volumes between the polymeric chains, that all contribute to the enhancement of the swelling capability of superabsorbent hydrogels. These exceptional attributes have endowed them to be an alternative to conventional hydrogels in various applications. In view of the importance of this class of absorbent material and their diverse appliances, this review deliberates the experimental methods for characterizing superabsorbent polymers, including the officially accepted industrial measurements of their unique attributes, namely, swelling among others. In addition, the review highlights recent advances in the field of superabsorbent polymers encompassing nanofiltration, heat resistance, and absorbency, drug delivery, disposable hygiene products, nanomedicines, and the removal of heavy metals from wastewater and agriculture domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnosis of epilepsy can be expensive, time-consuming, and often inaccurate. The gold standard diagnostic monitoring is continuous video-electroencephalography (EEG), which ideally captures all epileptic events and dis-charges. Automated monitoring of seizures and epileptic activity from EEG would save time and resources, it is the focus of much EEG-based epilepsy research. The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey in order to understand, classify and benchmark the key parameters of deep learning-based approaches that were applied in the processing of EEG signals for epilepsy monitoring. This survey identifies the availability of data and the black-box nature of DL as the main challenges hindering the clinical acceptance of EEG analysis systems based on Deep Learning and suggests the use of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and Transfer Learning to overcome these issues. It also underlines the need for more research to recognize the full potential of big data, Computing Edge, IoT to implement wearable devices that can assist epileptic patients and improve their quality of life.

Polysaccharides have found extensive utilization as biomaterials in drug delivery systems owing to their remarkable biocompatibility, simple functionalization, and inherent biological properties. Within the array of polysaccharide-based biomaterials, there is a growing fascination for self-assembled polysaccharide nanogels (NG) due to their ease of preparation and enhanced appeal across diverse biomedical appliances. Nanogel (or nanohydrogel), networks of nanoscale dimensions, are created by physically or chemically linking polymers together and have garnered immense interest as potential carriers for delivering drugs due to their favorable attributes. These include biocompatibility, high stability, the ability to adjust particle size, the capacity to load drugs, and their inherent potential to modify their surface to actively target specific cells or tissues via the attachment of ligands that can recognize corresponding receptors. Nanogels can be engineered to respond to specific stimuli, such as pH, temperature, light, or redox conditions, allowing controlled release of the encapsulated drugs. This intelligent targeting capability helps prevent drug accumulation in unintended tissues and reduces the potential side effects. Herein, an overview of nanogels is offered, comprising their methods of preparation and the design of stimulus-responsive nanogels that enable controlled release of drugs in response to specific stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Together, learning objects (LOs) and e-pedagogical practices have the potential to improve the performance of e-learning systems in several ways. They can make e-learning more personalised and adaptable, providing students with a more engaging and effective learning experience. Design/methodology/approach: The development of LOs and e-pedagogical practices have significantly influenced and changed the performance of e-learning systems. LOs are self-contained, reusable units of instructional content that create instructional materials, such as online courses, tutorials and assessments. They provide a flexible and modular approach to designing and delivering e-learning content, allowing educators to easily customise and adapt their materials to the needs of their students. e-pedagogical practices refer to the use of technology to enhance and support the teaching and learning process. They include strategies such as online collaboration, gamification and adaptive learning to improve student engagement, motivation and achievement. Findings: To achieve this objective, this study consists of two main phases. First, the authors extract metadata from LOs using latent semantic analysis algorithms, which are considered a strong tool in web-mining exploration techniques. Second, they identify LOs according to a particular form of similarity using fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithms. To improve classification accuracy, the FCM is used as a clustering algorithm. Originality/value: Finally, in order to assess the effectiveness of LOs with FCM, a series of experimental studies using a real-world dataset are conducted. The results of this study indicate that the proposed approach exceeds the traditional approach and produces good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a rare case of 50-year-old Moroccan woman with local recurrence of a subcutaneous hydatid cyst in proximity to the medial surface of the tibia and another cyst at the tibialis posterior muscle in the absence of liver, lung und spleen involvement. The first surgery was done in another hospital three years ago; no adjuvant treatment was performed after surgery. Recurrence was diagnosed according to the MRI appearance, serological and pathological findings. The patient underwent complete excision of the subcutaneous cyst with two centimeters of the medial gastrocnemius muscle; the tibialis posterior muscle cyst was intraoperatively drained and irrigated with scolicidal agent as it was next to the posterior tibial pedicle. A periopertive anthelmintic chemotherapy was administered. Two years after the patient showed no recurrence. This case report and literature review describe an approach to the diagnosis and management of this pathological entity.

In the field of online learning, the development of learning objects (LOs) has been increased. LOs promote reusing and referencing educational content in various learning environments. However, despite this progress, the lack of a conceptual model for sharing suitable LOs between learners makes multiple challenges. In this regard, multi-label classification plays a significant role to make high-quality LOs, which can be accessible and reusable. This article highlights a new way of using learning objects based on Multi-Label Classification (MLC) and clustering algorithms with feature selection techniques. It suggests a new system that makes the most suitable choice among many alternative sources based on the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). The proposed algorithm has been tested on a real-world application dataset related to the data analysis service for the learning science community. The experimental results show that our algorithm outperforms the traditional approach and produces good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic wounds have been a global health threat over the past few decades, requiring urgent medical and research attention. The factors delaying the wound-healing process include obesity, stress, microbial infection, aging, edema, inadequate nutrition, poor oxygenation, diabetes, and implant complications. Biomaterials are being developed and fabricated to accelerate the healing of chronic wounds, including hydrogels, nanofibrous, composite, foam, spongy, bilayered, and trilayered scaffolds. Some recent advances in biomaterials development for healing both chronic and acute wounds are extensively compiled here. In addition, various properties of biomaterials for wound-healing applications and how they affect their performance are reviewed. Based on the recent literature, trilayered constructs appear to be a convincing candidate for the healing of chronic wounds and complete skin regeneration because they mimic the full thickness of skin: epidermis, dermis, and the hypodermis. This type of scaffold provides a dense superficial layer, a bioactive middle layer, and a porous lower layer to aid the wound-healing process. The hydrophilicity of scaffolds aids cell attachment, cell proliferation, and protein adhesion. Other scaffold characteristics such as porosity, biodegradability, mechanical properties, and gas permeability help with cell accommodation, proliferation, migration, differentiation, and the release of bioactive factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water contamination is one of the most urgent concerns confronting the world today. Heavy metal poisoning of aquatic systems has piqued the interest of various researchers due to the high toxicity and carcinogenic consequences it has on living organisms. Due to their exceptional attributes such as strong reactivity, huge surface area, and outstanding mechanical properties, nanomaterials are being produced and employed in water treatment. In this review, recent advances in the use of nanomaterials in nanoadsorptive membrane systems for wastewater treatment and heavy metal removal are extensively discussed. These materials include carbon-based nanostructures, metal nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles, nanocomposites, and layered double hydroxide-based compounds. Furthermore, the relevant properties of the nanostructures and the implications on their performance for water treatment and contamination removal are highlighted. The hydrophilicity, pore size, skin thickness, porosity, and surface roughness of these nanostructures can help the water permeability of the nanoadsorptive membrane. Other properties such as surface charge modification and mechanical strength can improve the metal adsorption effectiveness of nanoadsorptive membranes during wastewater treatment. Various nanocomposite membrane fabrication techniques are also reviewed. This study is important because it gives important information on the roles of nanomaterials and nanostructures in heavy metal removal and wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature-induced, rapid changes in the viscosity and reproducible 3-D structure formation makes thermos-sensitive hydrogels an ideal delivery system to act as a cell scaffold or a drug reservoir. Moreover, the hydrogels' minimum invasiveness, high biocompatibility, and facile elimination from the body have gathered a lot of attention from researchers. This review article attempts to present a complete picture of the exhaustive arena, including the synthesis, mechanism, and biomedical applications of thermosensitive hydrogels. A special section on intellectual property and marketed products tries to shed some light on the commercial potential of thermosensitive hydrogels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) is prescribed for HIV infection and, to a certain extent, limits the infection's spread. However, it cannot completely eradicate the latent virus in remote and cellular reservoir areas, and due to the complex nature of the infection, the total eradication of HIV is difficult to achieve. Furthermore, monotherapy and multiple therapies are not of much help. Hence, there is a dire need for novel drug delivery strategies that may improve efficacy, decrease side effects, reduce dosing frequency, and improve patient adherence to therapy. Such a novel strategy could help to target the reservoir sites and eradicate HIV from different biological sanctuaries. In the current review, we have described HIV pathogenesis, the mechanism of HIV replication, and different biological reservoir sites to better understand the underlying mechanisms of HIV spread. Further, the review deliberates on the challenges faced by the current conventional drug delivery systems and introduces some novel drug delivery strategies that have been explored to overcome conventional drug delivery limitations. In addition, the review also summarizes several nanotechnology-based approaches that are being explored to resolve the challenges of HIV treatment by the virtue of delivering a variety of anti-HIV agents, either as combination therapies or by actively targeting HIV reservoir sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes is a global health concern that has affected almost 415 million people globally. Bromocriptine is a dopamine D2 agonist, which is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved drug to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. However, it is considered that a novel treatment therapy is required which can be used in the treatment of diabetes with or without other antidiabetic agents. Dopamine agonists are usually used in neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease (PD), restless leg syndrome, and hyperprolactinemia. However, dopamine agonists including bromocriptine and cabergoline are also effective in reducing the glycemic level in T2DM patients. Bromocriptine was formerly used for the treatment of PD, hyperprolactinemia, and restless leg syndrome, but now it is used for improving glycemic levels as well as reducing free fatty acids and triglycerides. In addition, cabergoline has been found to be effective in glycemic control, but this drug is yet to be approved by the FDA due to its limitations and lack of study. Findings of the clinical trials of bromocriptine have suggested that it reduces almost 0.4–0.8% glycated hemoglobin and cardiovascular risk by 40% in insulin-resistant patients. Moreover, the safe use of bromocriptine in obese T2DM patients makes it a more attractive option as it causes weight loss. Indeed, bromocriptine is a novel therapy for T2DM patients, as its mechanism of action is unique in T2DM patients with minimal adverse effects. This review summarizes the potential of dopamine agonists in the treatment of T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are synthesized through a green approach by employing Rosa indica L. petal (RE) extracts as reducing and stabilizing agents, which are extracted using three different solvents: ethanol (Et), acetone (Ac), and water (Aq). The phase formation of the AgNPs is confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Morphological analysis is performed using a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), which reveals that the AgNPs are spherical in shape. The size is estimated using ImageJ software, which is found to be ~12, 18, and 770 nm for RE-Ac-Ag, RE-Et-Ag, and RE-Aq-Ag, respectively. The phytochemicals of Rosa indica L. petals involved in the formation of the AgNPs are studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Finally, these materials are studied for their antibacterial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and hemolytic activity, as well as cell toxicity properties. The materials, RE-Ac-Ag and RE-Et-Ag, are found to be more effective than RE-Aq-Ag in inhibiting E. coli (Gram-negative bacteria) and S. aureus (Gram-positive bacteria). Hemolytic studies reveal that all of the samples show concentration-dependent activity up to 50 µg/mL. RE-Ac-Ag and RE-Et-Ag exhibit nonhemolytic behavior, whereas RE-Aq-Ag remains nonhemolytic until 100 µg/mL. The antidiabetic ability of the AgNPs is evaluated using α-amylase inhibition assay (DNSA assay) and α-glucosidase inhibition assay. The results are found to be effective, with IC50 values of α-amylase and α-glycosidase being 50, 50, and 75 µg/mL for RE-Et-Ag, RE-Ac-Ag, and RE-Aq-Ag, respectively. DPPH assay shows that the AgNPs inhibited the antioxidants well, with IC50 values of 40 µg/mL for RE-Et-Ag and RE-Ac-Ag and 60 µg/mL for RE-Aq-Ag. The toxicity study reveals that the AgNPs show size- and concentration-dependent behavior. Overall, it is realized from the findings that RE-Ac-Ag, RE-Et-Ag, and RE-Aq-Ag show size-dependent antibacterial, antidiabetic, and toxicity properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobials are a type of agent widely used to prevent various microbial infections in humans and animals. Antimicrobial resistance is a major cause of clinical antimicrobial therapy failure, and it has become a major public health concern around the world. Increasing the development of multiple antimicrobials has become available for humans and animals with no appropriate guidance. As a result, inappropriate use of antimicrobials has significantly produced antimicrobial resistance. However, an increasing number of infections such as sepsis are untreatable due to this antimicrobial resistance. In either case, life-saving drugs are rendered ineffective in most cases. The actual causes of antimicrobial resistance are complex and versatile. A lack of adequate health services, unoptimized use of antimicrobials in humans and animals, poor water and sanitation systems, wide gaps in access and research and development in healthcare technologies, and environmental pollution have vital impacts on antimicrobial resistance. This current review will highlight the natural history and basics of the development of antimicrobials, the relationship between antimicrobial use in humans and antimicrobial use in animals, the simplistic pathways, and mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, and how to control the spread of this resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microneedle (MNs) technology is a recent advancement in biomedical science across the globe. The current limitations of drug delivery, like poor absorption, low bioavailability, inadequate skin permeation, and poor biodistribution, can be overcome by MN-based drug delivery. Nanotechnology made significant changes in fabrication techniques for microneedles (MNs) and design shifted from conventional to novel, using various types of natural and synthetic materials and their combinations. Nowadays, MNs technology has gained popularity worldwide in biomedical research and drug delivery technology due to its multifaceted and broad-spectrum applications. This review broadly discusses MN's types, fabrication methods, composition, characterization, applications, recent advancements, and global intellectual scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, current global environmental problems include measures to eliminate or reduce the negative impact of chemicals from petroleum sources and, therefore, the use of materials from natural resources is increasingly recommended. In this context, natural-based superabsorbent polymers derived from polypeptides and polysaccharides have undergone chemical and biochemical modifications to improve their ability to absorb and retain large amounts of liquids. In the present paper, a new process has been used to overcome the side effects of radical polymerization in the manufacture of conventional polyacrylate superabsorbents (SAPs). Tragacanth gum (TG) was selected to prepare a new superabsorbent material (CMTG-GA) based on carboxymethyl tragacanth (CMTG) crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA). The characterization of the polymer was carried out by FTIR, TGA, XRD, and SEM. The effect of the amount of crosslinking agent and the pH on the water absorption capacity was also examined. Subsequently, swelling studies were performed using free swelling capacity (FSC) and centrifuge retention capacity (CRC) techniques in distilled water, tap water, and saline solution. The results showed that the CRC of the new material is not less than 42.1 g/g, which was observed for a ratio of 20% by weight of GA to CMTG. Likewise, the maximum absorption results were 43.9 and 32.14 g/g, respectively, for FSC and CRC at pH 8.0. In addition, a comparison of the swelling capacities of the synthesized product with a commercial SAP extracted from a baby diaper, well known in the Moroccan market, showed that the performances were very similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen Social Web becoming a global phenomenon, which is being increasingly important in our daily lives. Millions of users are chatting on the Web and social networks and expressing their feelings and opinions about the latest outbreaks, symptoms, illnesses and new drugs. These opinions contain a large amount of data, which are destined to become a major source of information for business intelligence, as they are largely informative and therefore interesting to be dealt with in a decision-making process, in order to evaluate and improve the performance of health system. However, this source of information is currently underutilised. This work describes an approach to creating an analytical health framework that allows the integration and multi-dimensional analysis of available health data, with particular attention to socially generated data, using Semantic Web (SW) technologies and multi-agent systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, chitosan-based hydrogels were produced by incorporating three drugs with a different solubility into a polymer matrix. The lyophilized chitosan salt was prepared using an innovative and less-expensive synthetic process by the freeze-drying technique. Firstly, the three drugs (caffeine, ascorbic acid, and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)) were selected as model drugs to test the in vitro release behavior of the hydrogel. The drugs were solubilized in chitosan salt, lyophilized, and cross-linked with benzaldehyde involving the formation of a Schiff base with (–C=N-) linkage to produce a physical hydrogel. Subsequently, the physicochemical properties of N-benzyl chitosan and lyophilized chitosan salt were evaluated by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The intrinsic viscosity of the conventional chitosan was determined by the Mark–Houwink–Sakurada equation. Moreover, the kinetics of hydrogel swelling and drug release were studied by the UV-visible method at physiological conditions (pH = 7.4 at 37°C). The results show that lyophilized N-benzyl chitosan had a maximum swelling ratio of 720 ± 2% by immersion in phosphate-buffered saline solutions (PBS) (pH = 7.4 at 37°C). In vitro drug releases were evaluated in PBS, and the obtained results show that the maximum drug release after 24 h was 42% for caffeine, 99% for 5-FU, and 94% for ascorbic acid. Then, to optimize the cumulative release of caffeine, Tween 20 was added and 98% as a release percentage was obtained. The drug-loading results were investigated with the Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetic model and applied to determine the drug release mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the emergence of Service Oriented Architecture and its implementation with the Web services technology, combining several Web services to response to a complex request presented a hard challenge. This is an area that has attracted the interest of many research organizations and manufactories. This paper firstly presents a summary of developed approach of Web services composition based on Model Driven Approach, and using different languages and systems, like Multi-Agent Reactive Decisional system for modeling task, Lotos language for formal verification, and Business Process Execution language for implementation. Secondly, the paper seeks to automate the generation of different processes (business process, executable process and formal process) by using the framework AWSCPM «Automatic Web Services Composition Processes based on MARDS», which is developed as part of this research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning has undergone a transition phase from being a pure statistical tool to being one of the main drivers of modern medicine. In gastroenterology, this technology is motivating a growing number of studies that rely on these innovative methods to deal with critical issues related to this practice. Hence, in the light of the burgeoning research on the use of machine learning in gastroenterology, a systematic review of the literature is timely. In this work, we present the results gleaned through a systematic review of prominent gastroenterology literature using machine learning techniques. Based on the analysis of 88 journal articles, we delimit the scope of application, we discuss current limitations including bias, lack of transparency, accountability, and data availability, and we put forward future avenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a continuation of our work concerning the development of the adaptive hypermedia; and precisely the adaptation model, which is one of the three fundamental models that constitute the main architecture of adaptive learning systems. The adaptation model describes the set of rules of construction and presentation responsible for the construction of the content to be delivered to the learner. Although there is a lot of adaptation model proposed by reference models like (MUNICH and ALEM), these models are on a high level of abstraction and also were never been implemented (lack of concrete implementation). So, the main purpose of this article is to present our own adaptation model that has the capacity to be implemented and that responds to all the remarks and shortcomings of the existing models while showing implementations and tests (technically) that we have developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and discusses a new mobile application for teaching and learning programming basics. The purpose is to help students acquire competencies while having fun and using their own devices. The mobile application was designed according to cross-platform approach to reach the broadest possible audience of learners, saving time and effort of development and maintenance. The code is fully shared between mobile platforms (iOS, Android and Windows Phone) allowing learners to install the application on any device. The core application is based on a multi-agent system to make the application interactive, flexible and dynamic and provide students with tailored instructions. A prototype is presented showing the main features of the application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

this paper conducts a study to identify pedagogical approaches and gameplay techniques involved in the development of serious games for teaching scientific courses in general especially programming languages. The concept of serious games is increasingly popular and is considered as an innovative teaching practice since it is based on information and communication technology and gamification to foster learning. To this end, a serious game "Perobo" will be introduced and discussed. It is based on a set of gameplay techniques and pedagogical approaches used for teaching pointers, considered as a difficult concept in C programming language. The game is also based on a taxonomy design to define the learning levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete dislocation of the talus not accompanied by a fracture is a very rare injury. Most cases reported are open talus dislocations; closed dislocations are rarely seen. The functional prognosis is poor due to osteonecrosis of the talus which develops in the majority of cases. We present a case of lateral dislocation of the left talus in a 29-year-old road accident victim, but no fracture could be detected in the talus and any of malleolus. Reduction of dislocation had been performed in emergency by external manipulation. At 1-year follow-up, the right ankle was pain free and stable. Motion was satisfactory: 15° dorsal flexion, 30° plantar flexion; the talus didn't show subluxation and avascular necrosis could not be detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rising popularity of Web services due to their potential to enable interoperability between applications implemented on different platforms, new issues far more complex and crucial than interoperability have appeared, related mainly to Web services composition. Indeed assuming that for each service request there exists a single Web service that perfectly satisfies it on its own is rather unrealistic, in many cases composing functionalities offered by different services may be needed to satisfy a client request. However, current processes of Web services composition tend to be static in the sense that such processes are normally generated off-line and manual as it requires human intervention to be managed. Therefore in order to give value added customized services to users, recognition is growing of the need for automation and dynamicity to be taking in consideration while designing systems supporting Web services integration. Since automated dynamic composition process allows to reduce the time spent in building composition schema, to eliminate human errors and to reduce the overall cost of the process. Thus our research contribution lies in the area of automated dynamic composition of Web services. We propose a conceptual approach to compose Web services by combining the Semantic Web technologies, Artificial Intelligent Planning methods, Multi-Agent architecture and Self-healing propriety of Autonomic Computing paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]