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The prioritization of visuo-spatial associations during mental imagery

Umar H, Mast FW, Cacchione T, Martarelli CS

Cogn Process, 2021 May;22(2):227-237.
PMID: 33404898 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-020-01010-5

While previous research has shown that during mental imagery participants look back to areas visited during encoding it is unclear what happens when information presented during encoding is incongruent. To investigate this research question, we presented 30 participants with incongruent audio-visual associations (e.g. the image of a car paired with the sound of a cat) and later asked them to create a congruent mental representation based on the auditory cue (e.g. to create a mental representation of a cat while hearing the sound of a cat). The results revealed that participants spent more time in the areas where they previously saw the object and that incongruent audio-visual information during encoding did not appear to interfere with the generation and maintenance of mental images. This finding suggests that eye movements can be flexibly employed during mental imagery depending on the demands of the task.
Fulltext Environmental and socioeconomic impacts of pipeline transport interdiction in Niger Delta, Nigeria

Umar HA, Abdul Khanan MF, Ogbonnaya C, Shiru MS, Ahmad A, Baba AI

Heliyon, 2021 May;7(5):e06999.
PMID: 34027190 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06999

Over the years, pipelines have been the most economic medium for transporting crude oil to production and distribution facilities in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. However, damages to the pipelines in this area by interdiction have hampered the continuous flow of crude oil to the facilities. Consequently, the revenue of the government dwindles, and the environment is severely degraded. This study assesses the economic and environmental impacts of pipeline interdiction in the Niger Delta region. Data from National oil spills detection and response agency, Nigeria is used to map spatial distribution of oil spills using Kernel Density Estimation with Geographic Information System. Literature was assessed to synthesize the historical, socioeconomic, and environmental impacts of oil spills and pipeline interdiction. Soil samples were collected from study area to determine the types of hydrocarbon pollutants and their concentrations in comparison with uncontaminated sites in the area. Results show that the range of concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) for the impacted soil (IMP) was 17.27-58.36 mg/kg; remediated soil (RS) was 11.73-50.78 mg/kg which were higher than the concentrations of 0.68 mg/kg in the control samples (CS). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentrations were in the range of 0.43-77.54 mg/kg for IMP, 0.42-10.65 mg/kg for RS, against CS value of 0.49 mg/kg while BTEX ranged between 0.02 - 0.38 mg/kg for IMP, 0.01-2.7 for RS against CS value of 0.01. The values of the PAH were higher than the limits of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria. This study also revealed that pipeline interdiction has affected the livelihood of the inhabitants of the study area and the revenue of the Nigerian government. The major hotspots for oil spills in the Niger Delta region are Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states.
Development, optimization and characterization of cisplatin loaded cubosomes for human lung carcinoma

Umar H, Wahab HA, Ahmed N, Fujimura NA, Amjad MW, Bukhari SNA, et al.

Drug Dev Ind Pharm, 2024 Mar 20.
PMID: 38451066 DOI: 10.1080/03639045.2024.2326043

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop, optimize and evaluate glyceryl monooleate (GMO) based cubosomes as a drug delivery system containing cisplatin for treatment of human lung carcinoma.
SIGNIFICANCE: The significance of this research was to successfully incorporate slightly water soluble and potent anticancer drug (cisplatin) into cubosomes, which provide slow and sustained release of drug for longer period of time.
METHODS: The delivery system was developed through top-down approach by melting GMO and poloxamer 407 (P407) at 70 °C and then drop-wise addition of warm deionized water (70 °C) containing cisplatin. The formulation then exposed to probe sonicator for about 2 min. A randomized regular two level full factorial design with help of Design Expert was used for optimization of blank cubosomal formulations. Cisplatin loaded cubosomes were then subjected to physico-chemical characterization.
RESULTS: The characterization of the formulation revealed that it had a sufficient surface charge of -9.56 ± 1.33 mV, 168.25 ± 5.73 nm particle size, and 60.64 ± 0.11% encapsulation efficiency. The in vitro release of cisplatin from the cubosomes at pH 7.4 was observed to be sustained, with 94.5% of the drug being released in 30 h. In contrast, 99% of cisplatin was released from the drug solution in just 1.5 h. In vitro cytotoxicity assay was conducted on the human lung carcinoma NCI-H226 cell line, the cytotoxicity of cisplatin-loaded cubosomes was relative to that of pure cisplatin solution, while blank (without cisplatin) cubosomes were nontoxic.
CONCLUSIONS: The obtained results demonstrated the successful development of cubosomes for sustained delivery of cisplatin.
Platinum-based targeted chemotherapies and reversal of cisplatin resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Umar H, Wahab HA, Attiq A, Amjad MW, Bukhari SNA, Ahmad W

Mutat Res, 2024 Mar 19;828:111856.
PMID: 38520879 DOI: 10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2024.111856

Lung cancer is the one of the most prevalent cancer in the world. It kills more people from cancer than any other cause and is especially common in underdeveloped nations. With 1.2 million instances, it is also the most prevalent cancer in men worldwide, making about 16.7% of the total cancer burden. Surgery is the main form of curative treatment for early-stage lung cancer. However, the majority of patients had incurable advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) recurrence after curative purpose surgery, which is indicative of the aggressiveness of the illness and the dismal outlook. The gold standard of treatment for NSCLC patients includes drug targeting of specific mutated genes drive in development of lung cancer. Furthermore, patients with advanced NSCLC and those with early-stage illness needing adjuvant therapy should use cisplatin as it is the more active platinum drug. So, this review encompasses the non-small cell lung cancer microenvironment, treatment approaches, and use of cisplatin as a first-line regimen for NSCLC, its mechanism of action, cisplatin resistance in NSCLC and also the prevention strategies to revert the drug resistance.