University of the Philippines Manila

About: University of the Philippines Manila is a education organization based out in Manila, Philippines. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 2218 authors who have published 2357 publications receiving 88781 citations. The organization is also known as: UPM.

Natural defense by saliva and mucosa against oral infection by Leptospira.

Abstract: Leptospirosis caused by drinking water has not been as frequently reported as percutaneous infection. Resistance to oral infection by pathogenic Leptospira was examined in an experimental hamster infection model. The results suggested some natural defenses against oral infection by Leptospira. First, we found that characteristic linear agglutination of Leptospira rapidly occurs when mixed with human saliva. That human saliva attenuated the infectivity of the treated leptospires by its agglutination activity suggested saliva to be the first line of defense against oral infection by leptospires. Second, only 10(1) Leptospira organisms caused death after submucosal injection into oral mucosa in hamsters, but oral infection with drinking water containing 10(5) organisms/mL did not cause death. This result showed that the mucosa plays the role of a physical barrier. Third, hamsters intragastrically infected by leptospires, with doses lethal to hamsters in oral infection, showed no signs of illness, which suggested that gastric acid plays an important role in preventing oral infection. Based on these results, saliva, mucosa, and gastric acid make up a natural defense, which confers high resistance to hosts against oral infection by leptospires.

Organ-on-chip of the cervical epithelial layer: A platform to study normal and pathological cellular remodeling of the cervix.

Abstract: Damage to the cervical epithelial layer due to infection and inflammation is associated with preterm birth. However, the individual and/or collective roles of cervical epithelial layers in maintaining cervical integrity remain unclear during infection/inflammation. To determine the intercellular interactions, we developed an organ-on-chip of the cervical epithelial layer (CE-OOC) composed of two co-culture chambers connected by microchannels, recapitulating the ectocervical and endocervical epithelial layers. Further, we tested the interactions between cells from each distinct region and their contributions in maintaining cervical integrity in response to LPS and TNFα stimulations. The co-culture of ectocervical and endocervical cells facilitated cellular migration of both epithelial cells inside the microchannels. Compared to untreated controls, both LPS and TNFα increased apoptosis, necrosis, and senescence as well as increased pro-inflammatory cytokine productions by cervical epithelial cells. In summary, the CE-OOC established an in vitro model that can recapitulate the ectocervical and the endocervical epithelial regions of the cervix. The established CE-OOC may become a powerful tool in obstetrics and gynecology research such as in studying cervical remodeling during pregnancy and parturition and the dynamics of cervical epithelial cells in benign and malignant pathology in the cervix.

Hydrophobic coating on glass surfaces via application of silicone oil and activated using a microwave atmospheric plasma jet

Abstract: In this study, a hydrophobic coating on glass surfaces was fabricated by application of a silicone oil lubricant and activated using a microwave atmospheric plasma jet. Optimization of the treatment was done by variation of the working gas flow rates, input microwave power and plasma treatment time, based on contact angle measurements. In comparison with the untreated glass (37.6°), results show that at best discharge conditions of 600 W microwave power, 5/0.5 LPM Ar/N 2 flow rate and 10 s treatment time, the plasma-treated glass obtained a water contact angle of 105.7°. Surface energy of the glass also decreased from 45.07 mN/m for the untreated to 27.97 mN/m after plasma treatment. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results suggest that increased root-mean-square roughness and introduction of hydrophobic species may have been responsible for the hydrophobicity of the glass surface.