Organic π-conjugated microcrystals (PiMCs) can be used as waveguides, photodetectors, chemical sensors, solid-state lasers, logic operators, and multiplexers. The π-conjugated molecular arrangement ...along different crystal growth directions determines the waveguiding direction, emission intensity, lasing threshold, and optical losses in the PiMCs. Thus, it is paramount to gain control over the microcrystal growth process and obtain PiMCs of diverse morphologies. Most of the reported crystal growth processes involve crystal growth along the π-stacking direction due to strong π-stacking interactions in organic π-conjugated molecules. So, in order to control the microcrystal growth process and obtain PiMCs of diverse morphologies, there is a need to control the microcrystal facet growth, especially along the π-stacking direction. In this perspective, we discuss the use of conventional alkyl amphiphiles and polymer stabilizers along with novel aryl amphiphiles developed by us as morphology directors to control the PiMC growth morphology. We discuss a few examples of PiMC growth using conventional morphology directors and their limitations in controlling the growth along the π-stack direction. Then we introduce and discuss the use of aryl amphiphiles as morphology directors to control PiMC growth along the π-stack direction and the unique optical and waveguiding properties displayed by these novel growth morphologies.
Morphology of organic π-conjugated microcrystals (MCs) controls the direction of light-guided, emission intensity, lasing threshold, and optical losses in the organic π-conjugated MCs. Control over ...π-stacking interactions during the MC growth provides control over the MC growth morphology, but it is a challenging task, and so far, there are no reported strategies toward this. Recently, we have shown that a binaphthyl aryl amphiphile retards the perylene MC growth along the CH-π stacking direction and results in novel square rod-shaped MCs with a unique waveguiding behavior. To further gain insights into the role of aryl amphiphiles on the growth process, in this work, the impact of four aryl amphiphiles with an increasing aryl amphiphile hydrophobe size on the perylene MC growth and morphology is studied. Depending on the aryl hydrophobe size, morphology directors (MoDs) either selectively retard the perylene CH-π stacking direction or retard both the CH-π stacking and weak edge-to-edge packing directions, resulting in square-rod or pseudo-cube-shaped MCs, respectively. The novel perylene MCs display shape-dependent UV–vis absorption and emission properties. Simulations are performed to calculate the MoD-facet binding energies and to rationalize the growth process. Systematic studies will pave the way to rationally design aryl amphiphile MoDs and predictively synthesize the π-conjugated MCs of diverse morphologies.
Academic dishonesty, with Internet plagiarism as one of the most common forms, is a concern on college and university campuses more than ever before. Many institutions of higher education have ...adopted academic honesty policies, instituted academic integrity tutorial completion prerequisites for next term registration, and acquired plagiarism software detection tools; however, research overwhelmingly confirms that the Internet provides an array of opportunities for students to cheat--whether intentionally or not. Within the past few years, high-tech cheating is gradually replacing the simple cut-and-paste cheating. Students have become more tech savvy, and online instructional cheating videos, detailing clever methods to cheat, are populating the Internet daily. Cheating methods have gone viral. The alignment between academic honesty and workplace ethics is unquestionable. Therefore, in an effort to reinforce appropriate digital citizenship, a study about academic dishonesty was conducted with a group of 48 students enrolled in an online business communication course during Fall semester, 2010. This article presents the findings of that study and recommends 10 instructional strategies to reinforce academic integrity and assist students with avoiding cheating, especially Internet plagiarism and high-tech cheating. (Contains 3 tables.)
The Connell-Jones Endowed Chair Diversity Nursing Research Scholars Program was created to promote engagement in nursing research and scholarship among nurses of color. Preliminary evaluation ...suggests that the program was widely beneficial, resulting in enrollment in doctoral education for some. Establishing opportunities that promote exposure and participation in nursing research and scholarship among nurses of color helps cultivate cohorts of diverse nurses armed to address health disparities through the advancement of nursing knowledge.
The elastic nature of π-conjugated polymer gels makes it difficult to process them using traditional coating techniques and inkjet printing, and as injectable gels, thereby limiting the use of ...preprocessing and storing the polymers as gels. Taking cues from the easy processability of reversible and thixotropic non-π-conjugated polymer gels, we report herein for the first time a simple strategy to obtain reversible and thixotropic π-conjugated polymer ionic network (π-PIN) gels. Reversible and thixotropic π-PIN gels are generated by synergistically combining the intriguing properties of π-conjugated polymers with the dynamic properties of ionically cross-linked networks.
The benefits of mucosal vaccines over injected vaccines are difficult to ascertain, since mucosally administered vaccines often induce serum antibody responses of lower magnitude than those induced ...by injected vaccines. This study aimed to determine if mucosal vaccination using a modified vaccinia virus Ankara expressing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp120 (MVAgp120) prime and a HIV-1 gp120 protein boost could be optimized to induce serum antibody responses similar to those induced by an intramuscularly (i.m.) administered MVAgp120 prime/gp120 boost to allow comparison of an i.m. immunization regimen to a mucosal vaccination regimen for the ability to protect against a low-dose rectal simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) challenge. A 3-fold higher antigen dose was required for intranasal (i.n.) immunization with gp120 to induce serum anti-gp120 IgG responses not significantly different than those induced by i.m. immunization. gp120 fused to the adenovirus type 2 fiber binding domain (gp120-Ad2F), a mucosal targeting ligand, exhibited enhanced i.n. immunogenicity compared to gp120. MVAgp120 was more immunogenic after i.n. delivery than after gastric or rectal delivery. Using these optimized vaccines, an i.n. MVAgp120 prime/combined i.m. (gp120) and i.n. (gp120-Ad2F) boost regimen (i.n./i.m.-plus-i.n.) induced serum anti-gp120 antibody titers similar to those induced by the intramuscular prime/boost regimen (i.m./i.m.) in rabbits and nonhuman primates. Despite the induction of similar systemic anti-HIV-1 antibody responses, neither the i.m./i.m. nor the i.n./i.m.-plus-i.n. regimen protected against a repeated low-dose rectal SHIV challenge. These results demonstrate that immunization regimens utilizing the i.n. route are able to induce serum antigen-specific antibody responses similar to those induced by systemic immunization.
Mucosal vaccination is proposed as a method of immunization able to induce protection against mucosal pathogens that is superior to protection provided by parenteral immunization. However, mucosal vaccination often induces serum antigen-specific immune responses of lower magnitude than those induced by parenteral immunization, making the comparison of mucosal and parenteral immunization difficult. We identified vaccine parameters that allowed an immunization regimen consisting of an i.n. prime followed by boosters administered by both i.n. and i.m. routes to induce serum antibody responses similar to those induced by i.m. prime/boost vaccination. Additional studies are needed to determine the potential benefit of mucosal immunization for HIV-1 and other mucosally transmitted pathogens.
To evaluate the content and psychometric properties of comprehensive nursing assessment tools developed based on The Eleven Functional Health Patterns Assessment Framework.
An integrative literature ...review following Whittemore and Knafl's method and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Searches on PubMed, Cinahl, and Virtual Health Library were conducted between September and December 2018.
Six out of 146 records were included for review. Four articles were methodological studies and two were descriptive reports of the development of the tools. Tools were heterogenous in terms of their purpose, development, characteristics, and testing. Only one study provided data about construct validity. However, there were commonalities regarding the data that should be assessed in each tool.
Few comprehensive nursing assessment tools using The Eleven Functional Health Patterns Assessment Framework are available. Purpose, process of development, characteristics, and testing varied among the tools, and most lack robust psychometric testing.
This review provided a synthesis of the literature regarding the use of a discipline-specific framework to guide comprehensive nursing assessment. The differences across the tools and the lack of psychometric testing compromise the visibility of nursing and make it difficult to emphasize the contribution of nursing knowledge to patient care.
Studies in animal models are essential prerequisites for clinical trials of candidate HIV vaccines. Small animals, such as rabbits, are used to evaluate promising strategies prior to further ...immunogenicity and efficacy testing in nonhuman primates. Our goal was to determine how HIV-specific vaccine-elicited antibody responses, epitope specificity, and Fc-mediated functions in the rabbit model can predict those in the rhesus macaque (RM) model. Detailed comparisons of the HIV-1-specific IgG response were performed on serum from rabbits and RM given identical modified vaccinia virus Ankara-prime/gp120-boost immunization regimens. We found that vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody, gp120-binding antibody levels and immunodominant specificities, antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis of HIV-1 virions, and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) responses against gp120-coated target cells were similar in rabbits and RM. However, we also identified characteristics of humoral immunity that differed across species. ADCC against HIV-infected target cells was elicited in rabbits but not in RM, and we observed differences among subdominantly targeted epitopes. Human Fc receptor binding assays and analysis of antibody-cell interactions indicated that rabbit vaccine-induced antibodies effectively recruited and activated human natural killer cells, while vaccine-elicited RM antibodies were unable to activate either human or RM NK cells. Thus, our data demonstrate that both Fc-independent and Fc-dependent functions of rabbit antibodies can be measured with commonly used
assays; however, the ability of immunogenicity studies performed in rabbits to predict responses in RM will vary depending on the particular immune parameter of interest.
Nonneutralizing antibody functions have been associated with reduced infection risk, or control of virus replication, for HIV-1 and related viruses. It is therefore critical to evaluate development of these responses throughout all stages of preclinical testing. Rabbits are conventionally used to evaluate the ability of vaccine candidates to safely elicit antibodies that bind and neutralize HIV-1. However, it remained unexplored how effectively rabbits model the development of nonneutralizing antibody responses in primates. We administered identical HIV-1 vaccine regimens to rabbits and rhesus macaques and performed detailed comparisons of vaccine-induced antibody responses. We demonstrated that nonneutralizing HIV-specific antibody responses can be studied in the rabbit model and have identified aspects of these responses that are common, and those that are unique, to rabbits and rhesus macaques. Our findings will help determine how to best utilize preclinical rabbit and rhesus macaque models to accelerate HIV vaccine candidate testing in human trials.
The purpose of a practice discipline's terminal degree is to develop wise scholars to guide the profession in anticipating and meeting the health-related needs of those served via philosophical, ...conceptual/theoretical, and empirical inquiry on behalf of professional practice. Each of these dimensions is important for the discipline's ability to meet its obligations to society. However, contemporary circumstances have created a context within which the maturation of the profession may be threatened by an imbalance among the three dimensions of PhD education. Specifically, we discuss the possibility of a tilt toward the empirical at the expense of the other two. Yet, the philosophical and conceptual/theoretical dimensions are those that have permitted core disciplinary knowledge to be developed. We aim to create a dialog about current challenges and the responsibilities of the discipline's scholars for stewardship of the discipline and offer some strategies to ensure balance among the three equally important dimensions.
The Nursing Theory-Guided Practice Expert Panel (NTGP-EP), one of the 14 Expert Panels, is officially designated to advance the mission and strategic goals of the American Academy of Nursing. The ...NTGP-EP has created a forum for dialogue among nurse scholars interested in advancing nursing theory to promote health and wellbecoming. The purpose of this paper is to share the important work of the NTGP-EP and its history, contributions, and accomplishments, and to propose a member-driven agenda to re-envision our preferred future and the impact of the use of nursing theory to guide nursing education, research, practice, and policy.
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