Social Media for the Dissemination of Educational Videos About Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

INTRODUCTION: To broadly disseminate 5 user-centered educational videos for patients with inflammatory bowel disease and their family and friends on social media. METHODS: Relevant social media users were iteratively identified based on their online behavior. For each video, 2 different accompanying texts were tested. RESULTS: We reached 4.2 million social media users of whom 320,302 watched at least 50% of the video. A short description resulted in higher view rates than posing an open-ended question. DISCUSSION: We showed the feasibility of large-scale dissemination of health-related educational videos through social media. Our findings can inform future online dissemination approaches of educational content.

Using C. elegans Forward and Reverse Genetics to Identify New Compounds with Anthelmintic Activity.

BACKGROUND: The lack of new anthelmintic agents is of growing concern because it affects human health and our food supply, as both livestock and plants are affected. Two principal factors contribute to this problem. First, nematode resistance to anthelmintic drugs is increasing worldwide and second, many effective nematicides pose environmental hazards. In this paper we address this problem by deploying a high throughput screening platform for anthelmintic drug discovery using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a surrogate for infectious nematodes. This method offers the possibility of identifying new anthelmintics in a cost-effective and timely manner. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using our high throughput screening platform we have identified 14 new potential anthelmintics by screening more than 26,000 compounds from the Chembridge and Maybridge chemical libraries. Using phylogenetic profiling we identified a subset of the 14 compounds as potential anthelmintics based on the relative sensitivity of C. elegans when compared to yeast and mammalian cells in culture. We showed that a subset of these compounds might employ mechanisms distinct from currently used anthelmintics by testing diverse drug resistant strains of C. elegans. One of these newly identified compounds targets mitochondrial complex II, and we used structural analysis of the target to suggest how differential binding of this compound may account for its different effects in nematodes versus mammalian cells. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The challenge of anthelmintic drug discovery is exacerbated by several factors; including, 1) the biochemical similarity between host and parasite genomes, 2) the geographic location of parasitic nematodes and 3) the rapid development of resistance. Accordingly, an approach that can screen large compound collections rapidly is required. C. elegans as a surrogate parasite offers the ability to screen compounds rapidly and, equally importantly, with specificity, thus reducing the potential toxicity of these compounds to the host and the environment. We believe this approach will help to replenish the pipeline of potential nematicides.

Significant growth in. LED use predicted.

Although LED lighting has its critics, a number of whom (see article 'LED--panacea or marketing hype', HEJ--February 2012) are concerned about what they claim are some manufacturers' 'exaggerated claims' about lighting efficiency and lamp lifetime, Philips Lighting believes that, such are the advances being made in this innovative lighting technology, that LED's overall share of the European lighting market will have risen from around 7% in 2008 to 25% by 2020 and that, a decade later, it will account for a remarkable 75% of lighting sales. In the UK, Philips' technical and design director for Lighting, Mike Simpson, told HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, healthcare estates and facilities managers are increasingly recognising the potential to save energy, reduce carbon emissions, and cut maintenance costs, using LED.