Methods Each center’s intervention(s)

used community-based participatory research approaches, identified community partners, engaged the community through various means, and developed communication strategies to enhance recruitment. Outcome All 3 centers have completed recruitment. Each center implemented several new strategies and approaches to enhance recruitment efforts, such as introducing new communication techniques, using media such as radio and newspapers to spread awareness about the studies, and hosting community gatherings. Interpretation Using multiple Selleckchem CHIR-99021 strategies that build trust in the community, are sensitive to cultural norms, and are adaptable to the community environment can enhance recruitment GW786034 concentration in underserved communities.”
“During the last years, the EU market is flooded by illegal cosmetics via the Internet and a so-called “black market”. Among these, skin-bleaching products represent an important group. They

contain, according to the current European cosmetic legislation (Directive 76/768/EEC), a number of illegal active substances including hydroquinone, tretinoin and corticosteroids. These may provoke as well local as systemic toxic effects, being the reason for their banning from the EU market. To control this market there is a need for a fast screening method capable of detecting illegal ingredients in the wide variety of existing bleaching cosmetic formulations.\n\nIn this paper the development and validation of an ultra high pressure liquid chromatographic (UHPLC) method is described. The proposed method makes use of a Waters Acquity BEH shield RP18 column with a gradient using 25 mM ammonium borate buffer (pH 10) and acetonitrile.\n\nThis method is not only able to detect the major illegal (hydroquinone, tretinoin and six dermatologic active corticosteroids) and legal whitening agents, the latter having restrictions with respect to concentration and application (kojic acid, arbutin, nicotinamide and salicylic acid), but can also quantify these in a run time of 12 min.\n\nThe method was successfully validated using the “total error” approach in accordance with the

GSK621 validation requirements of ISO-17025.\n\nDuring the validation a variety of cosmetic matrices including creams, lotions and soaps were taken into consideration. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“A new approach toward the fabrication of oriented, suspended fibers from the melting of free standing polymer thin films is presented. Thin films (between 35 and 120 nm) cast via flow coating are melted atop lithographically patterned arrays of pillars to form suspended fibers (from similar to 2 to 3 mu m in diameter) between pillars, The effects of film thickness and pillar spacing on fiber diameter and yield are probed in a combinatorial fashion. A novel image analysis technique for the acquisition of fiber diameter across the multivariable parameter space is also outlined.