The prevalence of preterm birth is widespread with very little understanding of its causes and no unambiguous epidemiological data for predicting its occurrence. Formed in weeks 30 to 33 of pregnancy (Wilson and Maibach, 1980), the protective epidermal permeability barrier (EPB) of the skin is essential for survival as it provides the first line of defense against infection, environmental insul...

In dissolving microneedle (DMN)-mediated therapy, complete and rapid delivery of DMNs is critical for the desired efficacy. Traditional patch-based DMN delivery, however, may fail due to incomplete delivery from insufficient skin insertion or rapid separation of microneedles due to their strong bond to the backing film. Here, we introduce the Troy microneedle, which was created by cyclic contac...

a Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA b Divisions of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52212, USA c Department of Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA d Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR 72202, USA e Department ...

Acknowledgments: We thank Tran Quoc Trung for his assistance in providing information about the enterprise laws that were instituted in 2000, and we thank Dwayne Benjamin for sharing important data with us that he had developed together with Loren Brandt. Furthermore, we appreciate the comments provided by Paul Glewwe, as well as the many suggestions offered by the participants of the conferenc...

There are two reasons for s tudying the possible role of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in relation to rheumato id arthritis (RA). The first is the recent demonstrat ion by Alspaugh and co-workers that EBV infection o f normal peripheral blood lymphocytes induces the development in these cells of a nuclear antigen against which most patients with RA have precipitat ing antibodies (I). The second ...

Throughout the ages man has recognized that there is in some way or ?ther an association between physical deformity and a twisted outlook on life. When the Greeks fought under die walls of Troy, the one chieftain whom Homer described as ill-tempered and of unbridled tongue, hateful to his colleagues, and especially to Achilles, was " Thersites, whose mind was full great store of evil words?evil...