Exploring tablet PC lectures: lecturer experiences and student perceptions in biomedicine

Lecturers using tablet PCs with specialised pens can utilise real-time changes in lecture delivery via digital inking. We investigated student perceptions and lecturer experiences of tablet PC lectures in large-enrolment biomedicine subjects. Lecturers used PowerPoint or Classroom Presenter software for lecture preparation and in-lecture pen-based inking. Using surveys and lecturer interviews, students and lecturers were asked to reflect on their tablet PC lectures in comparison to non-tablet lectures that used prepared images and a laser pointer. Quantitative survey responses suggested that students felt that the tablet lectures were more interesting, that they were more capable of keeping up with the lecturer, and they enhanced their understanding of the lecture content. Qualitative analysis of written comments indicated that students appreciated the real-time writing and drawings, particularly because these were visible on lecture recordings. When reflecting on their non-tablet lectures, most lecturers used the pen-based writing, drawing and highlighting tablet functions and reduced lecture pace and content for their tablet lectures. Long-term tablet use led to lecturers making more use of digital inking, with less use of prepared images. Our results support the idea that tablet PC-supported lectures are conducive to improved management of cognitive load via reduced lecture pace and content.

What shall i share and with whom? A multi-task learning formulation using multi-faceted task relationships

Multi-task learning is a learning paradigm that improves the performance of "related" tasks through their joint learning. To do this each task answers the question "Which other task should I share with"? This task relatedness can be complex - a task may be related to one set of tasks based on one subset of features and to other tasks based on other subsets. Existing multi-task learning methods do not explicitly model this reality, learning a single-faceted task relationship over all the features. This degrades performance by forcing a task to become similar to other tasks even on their unrelated features. Addressing this gap, we propose a novel multi-task learning model that leams multi-faceted task relationship, allowing tasks to collaborate differentially on different feature subsets. This is achieved by simultaneously learning a low dimensional sub-space for task parameters and inducing task groups over each latent subspace basis using a novel combination of L1 and pairwise L∞ norms. Further, our model can induce grouping across both positively and negatively related tasks, which helps towards exploiting knowledge from all types of related tasks. We validate our model on two synthetic and five real datasets, and show significant performance improvements over several state-of-the-art multi-task learning techniques. Thus our model effectively answers for each task: What shall I share and with whom?

Nanoparticulate drug delivery to colorectal cancer : formulation strategies and surface engineering

The evolution of polymer-based nanoparticle as a drug delivery carrier has greatly contributed to the development of advanced nano and micro-medicine in the past few decades. The polymer-based nanoparticles of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers such as poly (lactide-co-glycolide) and chitosan which have been approved by Food & Drug Administration and/or European Medicine Agency can particularly facilitate the maintaining of specific properties for a real transition from laboratory to the clinical oral and parental administration. This review presents an overview of the strategies of preparing polymeric nanoparticles and using them for targeting colorectal cancer. Theranostics and surface engineering aspects of nanoparticle design in colonic cancer delivery are also highlighted.

Effect of polymer microstructure on the docetaxel release and stability of polyurethane formulation

PurSil®AL20 (PUS), a copolymer of 4,4'-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate (HMDI), 1,4-butane diol (BD), poly-tetramethylene oxide (PTMO) and poly-dimethyl siloxane (PDMS) was investigated for stability as a vehicle for Docetaxel (DTX) delivery through oesophageal drug eluting stent (DES). On exposure to stability test conditions, it was found that DTX release rate declined at 4 and 40 °C. In order to divulge reasons underlying this, changes in DTX solid state as well as PUS microstructure were followed. It was found that re-crystallization of DTX in PDMS rich regions was reducing the drug release at both 4 °C and 40 °C samples. So far microstructural features have not been correlated with stability and drug release, and in this study we found that at 40 °C increase in microstructural domain sizes and the inter-domain distances (from ∼85 Å to 129 Å) were responsible for hindering the DTX release in addition to DTX re-crystallization.

Case formulation in forensic practice: challenges and opportunities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of current practice in forensic case formulation, describing different approaches and discussing some of the practical and ethical issues that routinely arise. The paper further identifies areas where future practice and research might be strengthened.

Design/methodology/approach – There is only a very small literature to draw upon in reviewing this topic. Therefore a narrative literature review was undertaken, synthesising findings from published, peer-reviewed studies, and papers that addressed case formulation in psychological practice.

Findings – Despite case formation being considered by many to be a core competency of evidence-based forensic practice, it is not currently possible to describe a typical forensic case formulation or advocate for a particular approach to practice.

Practical implications – A number of practical and ethical issues routinely arise in the process of conducting a forensic case formulation. Ultimately, the absence of a consistent approach can lead to lead to poor clinical decision-making and the delivery of inadequate or inappropriate intervention.

Originality/value – This is one of the few discussions of case formulation that have been prepared for forensic practitioners. It is likely to be of interest to readers of the journal given the importance of the formulation process in contemporary forensic practice.

In vitro and in vivo assessment of docetaxel formulation developed for esophageal stents

Esophageal cancer (EC) mostly affects the elderly population and is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage. Self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) are the most popular mode of palliation, but they are associated with reocclusion caused by tumor growth. To overcome this problem, docetaxel (DTX)-loaded polyurethane formulations were prepared for stent application. The films were evaluated against the cancer cell lines, OE-19 and OE-21, and normal esophageal cell line Het-1A. The DTX and the formulations were evaluated in vitro for the cytotoxicity and in vivo in nude mice. It was found that DTX and the formulations have a weak activity against the EC cell lines and an even weaker activity against Het-1A cell line. Preliminary in vivo studies showed skin toxicity in nude mice necessitating modification of the formulation. Reevaluation in a mouse xenograft model resulted in toxicity at high dose formulations while the low dose formulation exhibited modest advantage over commercial IV formulation; however, there was no significant difference between the commercial IV and blank formulation. DTX combination with an anti-cancer agent having complementary mode of action and non-overlapping toxicity could yield better outcome in future.

Microchannel emulsification study on formulation and stability characterization of monodisperse oil-in-water emulsions encapsulating quercetin

The study used microchannel emulsification (MCE) to encapsulate quercetin in food grade oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. A silicon microchannel plate (Model WMS 1-2) comprised of 10,300 discrete 10 × 104 μm microslots was connected to a circular microhole with an inner diameter of 10 μm. 1% (w/w) Tween 20 was used as optimized emulsifier in Milli-Q water, while 0.4 mg ml-1 quercetin in different oils served as a dispersed phase. The MCE was carried by injecting the dispersed phase at 2 ml h-1. Successful emulsification was conducted below the critical dispersed phase flux, with a Sauter mean diameter of 29 μm and relative span factor below 0.25. The O/W emulsions remained stable in terms of droplet coalescence at 4 and 25 °C for 30 days. The encapsulation efficiency of quercetin in the O/W emulsions was 80% at 4 °C and 70% at 25 °C during the evaluated storage period.

Formulation of monodisperse oil-in-water emulsions loaded with ergocalciferol and cholecalciferol by microchannel emulsification: Insights of production characteristics and stability

Nutritional deficiencies of ergocalciferol (VD2) and cholecalciferol (VD3) cause skeletal deformations. The primary aim of this study was to encapsulate VD2 and VD3 in food-grade oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions by using microchannel emulsification (MCE). Silicon asymmetric straight-through microchannel (MC) array consisting of 10 313 channels, each having an 11 × 104 μm microslot connected to a 10 μm circular microholes. 1% (w/w) sodium cholate or Tween 20 in water was used as the continuous phase, while 0.5% (w/w) of each VD2 and VD3 in different oils served as the dispersed phase. Monodisperse O/W emulsions with Sauter mean diameters of 28 to 32 μm and relative span factor widths below 0.3 were formulated via an asymmetric straight-through MC array under appropriate operating conditions. The monodisperse O/W emulsions stabilised with Tween 20 remained stable for >30 days with encapsulation efficiencies (EEs) of VD2 and VD3 of above 70% at 4 and 25 °C. In contrast, those stabilised with sodium cholate had stability of >30 days with their EEs of over 70% only at 25 °C.

Formulation characteristics of triacylglycerol oil-in-water emulsions loaded with ergocalciferol using microchannel emulsification

Ergocalciferol is one important form of vitamin D that is needed for proper functioning of the human metabolic system. The study formulates monodisperse food grade ergocalciferol loaded oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions by microchannel emulsification (MCE). The primary characterization was performed with grooved MCE, while the storage stability and encapsulating efficiency (EE) were investigated with straight-through MCE. The grooved microchannel (MC) array plate has 5 × 18 μm MCs, while the asymmetric straight-through MC array plate consists of numerous 10 × 80 μm microslots each connected to a 10 μm diameter circular MC. Ergocalciferol at a concentration of 0.2-1.0% (w/w) was added to various oils and served as the dispersed phase, while the continuous phase constituted either of 1% (w/w) Tween 20, decaglycerol monolaurate (Sunsoft A-12) or β-lactoglobulin. The primary characterization indicated successful emulsification in the presence of 1% (w/w) Tween 20 or Sunsoft A-12. The average droplet diameter increased slowly with the increasing concentration of ergocalciferol and ranged from 28.3 to 30.0 μm with a coefficient of variation below 6.0%. Straight-through MCE was conducted with 0.5% (w/w) ergocalciferol in soybean oil together with 1% (w/w) Tween 20 in Milli-Q water as the optimum dispersed and continuous phases. Monodisperse O/W emulsions with a Sauter mean diameter (d3,2) of 34 μm with a relative span factor of less than 0.2 were successfully obtained from straight-through MCE. The resultant oil droplets were physically stable for 15 days (d) at 4 °C without any significant increase in d3,2. The monodisperse O/W emulsions exhibited an ergocalciferol EE of more than 75% during the storage period.

Formulation of monodisperse water-in-oil emulsions encapsulating calcium ascorbate and ascorbic acid 2-glucoside by microchannel emulsification

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the emulsifying conditions and emulsifier type on production of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions encapsulating ascorbic acid derivatives by microchannel (MC) emulsification. The ascorbic acid derivatives added in a dispersed aqueous phase are calcium ascorbate (AA-Ca) and ascorbic acid 2-glucoside (AA-2G). The continuous phase used was decane, soybean oil or their mixture, containing 5% (w/w) tetraglycerin monolaurate condensed ricinoleic acid ester or sorbitan trioleate. A hydrophobized silicon MC array plate (model: MS407) with a channel depth of 7μm was used for MC emulsification. The use of MC emulsification enabled successful encapsulation of AA-Ca and AA-2G in monodisperse W/O emulsion droplets with coefficients of variation (CV) less than 7%. Their average droplet diameter (dav) increased with increasing the continuous-phase viscosity that is similar or higher than the dispersed-phase viscosity. The dav and CV of the resultant monodisperse W/O emulsions were unaffected by the dispersed-phase flow rate below critical values of 1.2-1.6mLh-1 when using decane as the continuous-phase medium.

Monodisperse W/O/W emulsions encapsulating L-ascorbic acid: Insights on their formulation using microchannel emulsification and stability studies

Stabilizing l-ascorbic acid is a challenge for food industries. The present study aimed to formulate monodisperse food-grade water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsions containing a high concentration of l-ascorbic acid in an inner aqueous phase using homogenization and subsequent microchannel emulsification (MCE). The microchannel (MC) array plate used here was a silicon asymmetric straight-through MC array that consists of numerous 10. μm. ×. 100. μm microslots with a 30. μm depth, each connected to a 10. μm-diameter circular MC with a 70. μm depth. Water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions contained a soybean oil solution with 4-8% (w/w) tetraglycerin condensed ricinoleic acid ester as a continuous phase and an aqueous solution with 10-30% (w/v) l-ascorbic acid, 1% (w/w) magnesium sulfate, and 1% (w/v) gelatin as an inner aqueous phase. The W/O emulsion droplets formulated using a rotor-starter homogenizer had average droplet diameters of 2.6-2.9. μm and coefficients of variation (CVs) of 13-17%. MCE was performed using a dispersed W/O emulsion phase and a 5. mM phosphate buffer containing 1% (w/w) decaglycerol monolaurate and 10-30% (w/v) D(+)-glucose as an outer aqueous phase. Monodisperse W/O/W emulsions containing W/O droplets with average diameters of 26.0-31.5. μm and CVs below 10% were successfully formulated via an asymmetric straight-through MC array at a low hydrophobic emulsifier concentration, regardless of l-ascorbic acid concentration. The W/O droplets dispersed in these monodisperse W/O/W emulsions were physically stable in variation of average diameter and CV for more than 10d of storage at 4. °C. The monodisperse W/O/W emulsions also exhibited l-ascorbic acid retention exceeding 80% during storage.