Category: Volume 1 Issue 1

The brain is the source of meaning and spirit. Addictions to smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, and certain behaviors like gambling, overeating, taboo, and sex, are prevalent worldwide. These behaviors are highly destructive and costly to individ¬uals and society due to health consequences, criminality and lost productivity. The genetic vulnerability, environmental exposures, and individual behaviors that con¬tribute to the brain dysfunction and compulsive tendencies that mark addiction make it one of the most complicated diseases to study and treat. Much has been learned about the genetic basis of and biochemical imbalances associated with the addictions. Progress towards effective treatment has been retarded by insufficient attention being paid to understanding the role of spirituality in helping to heal addicts. We hypothesize that a healthy spirituality may come more naturally to some individuals because of the unique interaction of their genes and their en¬vironments. We review the evidence in support of this view. Consider the role of default mode network (DMN) as a way of how people process self and religiosity. We offer herein a novel concept we call the neurospirituality connectome as a cornerstone of the purpose and meaning of life as reward (PMLR). The conse¬quences of non-treatment are attenuated by PMLR.

PDF (Download Full text)

Micro(mi)RNAs are short noncoding RNAs that through their seed sequence (pos. 2 – 7/8 of the guide strand) regulate cell function by targeting complementary sequences (seed matches) located mostly in the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) of mRNAs. Certain short (s)RNAs when loaded into the RNA induced silencing complex (RISC) are toxic to cancer cells by targeting a network of genes that are critical for cell survival, a process we have termed as death induced by survival gene elimination (DISE). DISE involves simultaneous activation of multiple cell death mechanisms by targeting a large network of genes, that likely differs from cell to cell. These toxic sRNAs carry a G-rich 6mer seed region that targets C-rich seed matches mainly located in the 3’UTR of genes in a miRNA-like manner. G-rich seeds are part of the seed of a number of conserved tumor suppressive miRNAs and the ratio of toxic-to-nontoxic miRNAs predicts treatment outcome in ovarian cancer. We demonstrated that sRNAs delivered using multiple delivery vehicles cause tumor regression in different in vivo mouse and rat tumor models of ovarian, prostate and liver cancer with no side effects. DISE works on any cancer, it is effective on therapy resistant cancer cells, cancer cells cannot become resistant to treatment, there is no evidence of toxicity to treated animals, and one can keep treating and/or switch to different delivery methods without losing efficacy. Because it is an evolutionary conserved cell death mechanism, overactive DISE may lead to human diseases that involve tissue degeneration. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, but the specific events that cause cell death remain poorly understood. The RISC of most cells is occupied by miRNAs with nontoxic 6mer seeds, which may protect them from DISE by blocking loading of sRNAs that carry toxic G-rich 6mer seeds, including miRNAs, tRNA or rRNA fragments. However, during aging miRNA expression decreases in the brain, and toxic sRNAs may enter the RISC more readily leaving cells primed for DISE. We found evidence that DISE contributes to neuronal loss during AD. We analyzed RISC bound sRNAs (R-sRNAs) of multiple in vitro models and in the brains of in vivo AD mouse models, aged mice, and AD patients. We found that in the mouse models that show neurodegeneration and during aging R-sRNAs shift to more toxic seeds. In contrast, in cells that survived in the post-mortem brains of AD patients and the brains of “SuperAgers”, individuals over age 80 who have superior memory performance, R-sRNAs shift to more nontoxic seeds, supporting a protective function of miRNAs. Our data provides first evidence of a contribution of DISE to the neurotoxicity seen in AD. Our data suggests that toxic 6mer seed containing sRNAs can be developed into a general form of cancer therapy and ways to increase the levels of protective miRNAs in the brain may provide a novel way of treating neurodegenerative diseases such as AD.

PDF (Download Full text)

As demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) continues to grow rapidly, the handling of spent LIBs remains a significant challenge for environmental regulators, engineers, and scientists. To achieve a sustainable supply chain and adhere to circular economy principles, valuable metals in spent LIBs-primarily lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese-must be recovered and reused. Conventional LIB recovery methods, such as pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and biohydrometallurgy, have considerable drawbacks, including high energy consumption, the use of corrosive and toxic chemicals, and a low lithium recovery rate. We present an innovative process to recover lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese from spent LIBs with high purity (> 99%) while maintaining a low energy footprint and using mild organic solvents. This process employs a sequential and selective application of organic aqueous phase ligands to complex the metals in the spent LIB. The aqueous complex is then passed through a fixed bed of metal-selective ion exchange resins. The metal-ligand complex is cleaved, making the organic acid ligand available for the next recovery cycle. The exhausted ion-exchanger bed is regenerated with a suitable solution to yield a metal- rich aqueous solution, from which pure solutions of lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel are obtained. The ion exchanger bed can be reused across multiple cycles, enabling a nearly zero-waste, sustainable process.

PDF (Download Full text)

Today, the leading cause of death for American children is firearms. Tragically, many of these deaths result from suicides with unsecured guns in their own or a friend’s home. Others are due to homicides involving stolen guns. Most of these children might still be alive if those guns had been stored securely. So, how can we save lives?. We need a social movement for safe firearm storage. University of Minnesota anthropology professor Luther Gerlach studied movements like black power, pentecostalism, and environmental action, identifying five key elements in these social movements:
• A network of organizations that communicate but act independently.
• A way to recruit new members.
• A process to commit members to the cause.
• A clear ideology.
• Opposition to a real or perceived threat.
This framework could drive a secure firearm storage movement, just as it did for the smoke-free movement that now lets us dine, fly, and receive medical care without breathing tobacco smoke. Many pieces of this movement already exist. Organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, Protect Minnesota, Moms Demand Action and Everytown are advocating for secure storage. Campaigns like Be SMART provide resources for parents, including text messages and videos on how to ask if firearms in another home are stored securely before a playdate or party. In his presentation, Dr. Kottke will discuss how nurses can become vectors for firearm safety in their work, in their homes, and in their communities.

PDF (Download Full text)

Making clinical decisions is vital in assuring safe and competent delivery of care. It has no place for racism. Implicit and other forms of biases have an impact on nurses’ thinking in relation to clinical decisions. However, racisms work in a very specific way and is imbedded in society so effectively that the transmission of racisms is regularly not acknowledged by these systems and institutions and those that work within them in positions of power. The evidence clearly identifies that black and brown patients have inferior experiences within the National Health Service (NHS) and healthcare outcomes than white patients. There are multiple factors for this but one of them is inappropriate clinical decision making based on racisms. An exploration of the evidence and the need for nurse education to acknowledge this and make real changes will be presented. How racisms both individual and institutionally functions in a way that impact on the lived experiences of black and brown patients in the NHS. Nurses’ clinical decisions can ultimately lead to inadequate care delivery.

PDF (Download Full text)

The 4^th International Conference on Polymer Science and Engineering (Polymers-2025) organized by United Scientific Group was held from October 06, 2025, to October 08, 2025, in Hybrid mode (In-person & Virtual). 53 attendees from more than 25 countries presented at Polymers-2025 over 3 days with 6 plenary talks, 4 keynote lectures, 31 oral and 2 poster presentations. Of the plenary speakers, opening talk given by Dr. Alamgir Karim, University of Houston, Houston, TX on “Advanced Membranes for a Shared Vison for Clean Water Resources”. Dr. Peter X. Ma, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI presented “Designing Polymers at Multiple Scales to Direct Cell Fates and Tissue Regeneration”, and Dr. Richard J. Spontak, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC presented “A New Paradigm for Antimicrobial Polymer Surfaces with High Inactivation Efficacy and No Antimicrobial Resistance” and Dr. Vistasp Karbhari, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX presented “Effects of Thermal and Hygrothermal Aging of Wet Layup Carbon/Epoxy Composites” and Dr. Virgil Percec, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA presented “The Cell Membrane and its Mimics are Supramolecular Polymers”, and the last plenary talk by Dr. Robert Guidoin, Laval University, Canada presented “Looking for the Most Select Materials for Limb Salvage in Peripheral Artery Disease”.

PDF (Download Full text)

Polymeric syntactic foams, a lightweight composite with hollow particles dispersed in a polymer matrix, have found wide applications in various sectors, from aerospace to marine structures. As compared to open-cell forms, syntactic foams are close-cell, leading to enhanced mechanical properties and water tightness. In the past years, our lab has been working on smart polymer based syntactic foams, including shape memory polymers, vitrimers, 3D printable polymers, and flame-retardance smart polymers. In this presentation, I will discuss the several multifunctional syntactic forms designed, synthesized, and tested in our lab.

PDF (Download Full text)

Thin conducting films (TCFs) are of considerable interest for commercial and space applications, particularly in solar cells, flat panel displays, and electrochromic windows. Recently, NASA space travel applications have established requirements for environmentally robust anti-reflection (AR) TCFs that require <0.5% total losses (e.g., reflection, absorption, and scattering). The guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems utilized in NASA’s volatiles investigating polar exploration rover (Space qualified rover lidar), Dragonfly (Ocellus), and on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing- 1 (Kodiak) missions require pulsed transmit beams with exceptionally high-power densities. In this talk, I will discuss the development and manufacturing of an environmentally friendly, transparent, conductive, and AR coating suitable for use in GNC LIDAR and other space-flight applications using indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films. We have deposited and optimized ITO thin films utilizing a radio frequency (RF) sputtering process with varying gas flow, substrate temperature, and pressure, employing AR as the working medium. Various properties of ITO thin films such as surface morphology, optical and electrical properties will be presented. We found that the transmittance of ITO thin film at 1064 nm wavelength was 100%. Additionally, the sheet resistance measured was 362.1 Ohms per square, which closely aligns with conditions found in outer space, thereby ensuring the mitigation of static dust particle accumulation. We also built a six-layer thin film-designed device optimized for spectral characteristics at the targeted wavelength of 1064 nm using sputter deposition and conventional photolithography. This design incorporates a thin layer of ITO positioned between the outermost TiO2 and SiO2 layers. The performance of this structure will be presented as well.

PDF (Download Full text)

The use of plastic packaging in the food industry is under increasing scrutiny due to its environmental impact. With production having tripled over the last 30 years, almost 400 million metric tons of plastics are produced annually, accounting for 4.5% of global greenhouse emissions. Over 99% of these plastics are derived from fossil-based polymers, which persist in the environment for hundreds of years, posing significant ecological risks. The food and beverage sector is the largest consumer of single-use plastic packaging, yet transitioning away from plastic entirely is impractical due to its crucial role in food preservation, safety and hygiene. A circular economic approach, wherein plastic packaging is reused multiple times before closed-loop recycling, offers a promising strategy for mitigating environmental impacts within food provision. However, several technical challenges hinder widespread implementation, including the need for effective cleaning validation, prevention of cross-contamination, and assessment of packaging integrity to ensure safety, suitability for automated systems and consumer acceptance. Currently, no commercially available solutions comprehensively assess the suitability of every pack for reuse. This work explores the application of ultraviolet induced fluorescence imaging (UVIFI) combined with deep learning (DL) models to automate the detection of residual food contamination and assess packaging condition. Utilizing UVIFI of fluorophores within foodstuffs and polymers enables the real-time detection of residual fouling across the full food contact area and analysis of pack integrity. The developed system enables automated defect classification, facilitating reliable verification of packaging suitability for reuse. Results demonstrate the potential of integrating UVIFI and DL for accurate defect identification. Such a technological solution supports scalable circular economy reuse systems and could underpin environmental impact limitation in the food sector.

PDF (Download Full text)