Mammary neoplasm affects a population of intact and elderly female dogs and 50% are malignant. In order to study this disease, cell culture is as a promising preclinical model, creating the opportunity to deposit cell lines at a cell bank, allowing a great reproducibility of the assays and making the validation of the results more reliable. Another important aspect is the possibility to establish models for better understanding tumour characteristics, such as vasculogenic mimicry. Due the importance of cancer cell lines in preclinical models, this study aimed to establish and characterize primary cell lines from canine mammary gland tumours according to immunophenotype and tumorigenicity, and with its ability to form vasculogenic mimicry-like structures in vitro and in vivo. Cell cultures were evaluated for morphology, phenotype, vasculogenic mimicry and tumorigenicity abilities. We collected 17 primary mammary carcinoma and 3 metastasis and had a satisfactory result in 10 of them. All cell lines presented spindle shape or polygonal morphology and expressed concomitant pan-cytokeratin and cytokeratin 8/18. Four cell lines had vasculogenic mimicry ability in vitro and two of them showed in vivo tumorigenic potential and forming VM in the xenotransplant tumour. Cell characterization of those lines will help to create a database for more knowledge of mammary carcinomas in dogs, including studies of tumour behaviour and new therapeutic targets.

Canine mammary tumors (CMT) are the most common cancer in noncastrated female dogs. Interestingly, triple-negative tumors are the most common molecular subtype in female dogs. In this study, we proposed to evaluate the expression of VEGFR-2, PDGFR and microvascular density (MVD) in a group of metastatic and nonmetastatic triple-negative CMT and compare the expression based on clinical parameters. Twenty-six female dogs with triple-negative mammary tumors were divided into three groups: nonmetastatic tumors (NMT) (N=11), tumors with lymph node metastasis (LNM) (N=10) and tumors with lung metastasis (LM) (N=5). We observed increased VEGFR-2 expression in LNM compared with NMT and a positive correlation between tumor grade and VEGFR-2 expression. A positive correlation was noted between VEGFR-2 and PDGFR expression. Regarding microvascular density (MVD), we identified a higher number of vessels in primary tumors with lymph node metastasis and lung metastasis compared with tumors with no metastasis. The primary tumors with lung metastasis exhibited an increased MVD compared with carcinoma with lymph node metastasis. Overall, our results suggest a deregulation of VEGFR-2 and PDGFR and high MVD in metastatic tumors, indicating a role for angiogenesis in tumor progression.

Sleep timing is one of the dimensions of sleep that refers to the time of day when sleep occurs. It was included in sleep-related research because of the potential associations between overweight and consumption of meals and snacks. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate associations between sleep timing, meal and snack consumption, and weight status in 1333 schoolchildren aged 7-14 years. The midpoint of sleep was used as a sleep timing measure obtained by the midpoint between bedtime and wake-up time and classify as Early, intermediate, and Late. Schoolchildren in the Early group were less likely to be overweight (OR: 0.83, 95% CI 0.69; 0.99), had higher odds of mid-morning snack consumption (OR: 1.95, 95%CI 1.56; 2.44) and lower probability to consume the evening snack (OR: 0.75, 95%CI 0.59; 0.94) compared with the Intermediate group. The Late group had lower odds of mid-morning snack consumption (OR: 0.67, 95%CI 0.55, 0.80) than the Intermediate group. The consumption of mid-morning and evening snacks was associated with the Early and the Late midpoint of sleep. These results suggest that bedtime and wake-up time are relevant to consuming meals and snacks and may also be related to a greater probability of being overweight in children and adolescents.

“De-[Constructing] Growth” is offered as a deeper and more useful conceptualization that avoids the negative connotations of, and resistance to, “degrowth” by decoupling profit from unsustainable consumption, production, and inequality.

We propose a toy model of a spherical universe made up of an exotic dark gas with temperature $T$ in thermal equilibrium with a black-body. Each particle of this exotic gas mimics a kind of particle of dark energy. So, each dark particle occupies a very small area of space so-called Planck area $L_p^{2}$, which represents the minimum area of the whole space-time given by the spherical surface with area $4\pi R_H^2$, where $R_H$ is the Hubble radius. We realize that such spherical surface is the surface of the black-body for representing the dark universe as if it were the surface of an expanding balloon. Thus, we are able to derive the law of universal gravitation, thus leading us to understand the cosmological anti-gravity. We estimate the tiny order of magnitude of the cosmological constant and the acceleration of expansion of the dark sphere. In this toy model, as the dark universe can be thought of as a large black body, when we obtain its power and frequency of emission of radiation, we find very low values. We conclude that such radiation and frequency of the black body made up of dark energy is a background gravitational wave with very low frequency in the order of $\sim 10^{-17}$Hz due to the slight stretching of the fabric of space-time.

Mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs), one of the most promising biosurfactants (BS), are glycolipids produced by yeasts or fungi, with great environmental performance and a high compatibility with the human body. MELs besides working as typical surfactants, can form diverse structures when in the critical aggregation concentration (CAC), reducing the surface tension of water and other solutions, and being stable over a wide range of conditions. Among others, MELs present anti-microbial, antitumor, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, skin and hair repair capacity, which opens possibilities for their use in applications from cosmetics and pharmaceutics to bio-remediation and agriculture. However, their market share is still low when compared to other glycolipids, due to their less developed production process and higher production cost. This re-view gathers information on the potential applications of MELs mentioned on the literature since 1993. Furthermore, it is also explored the current strategies being developed to enhance the market presence of MELs, in parallel with the ones developed for rhamnolipids and sophorolipids.

Somaclones with typical and atypical shoots were regenerated from a callus culture in the same culture medium and in equal culture conditions. Since the genetic relationship among regenerated somaclones has not been investigated, current study employed heterologous microsatellite primers to examine the molecular diversity within and among somaclones, showing typical and atypical phenotypes with high morphological divergence. Nei identity value calculated between the somaclones was high (I = 0.929) and AMOVA showed higher genetic variation within (96%) than among (4%) the samples of somaclones. The polymorphism in the microsatellite loci indicated high levels of mean observed and expected heterozygosity in atypical somaclones, presumably with high adaptive potential and as source of genotypes for generation of new varieties of ornamental cacti. Low molecular divergence between typical and atypical morphologies of somaclones is a promising perspective for use of the atypical somaclones as source of chemical compounds of commercial and industrial interest. The somaclonal variations occurring in vitro callus culture has generated phenotypically differentiated subpopulations with low molecular divergence, however with high genetic variability, enough to be recommended as a source of genotypes to generate new varieties of ornamental cacti and of plants with new traits, necessary for breeding programs.

Background and Objectives: Mechanical and biological complications can lead to system fracture or screw loss on dental implants. Narrow and regular platforms have been used without a consensus about the effect of distance the abutment from the prosthetic platform margin. The aim of this study is to evaluate different insertion torques in the deformation of tri-channel platform connections through two- and three-dimensional measurements with micro-CT. Materials and Methods: 164 implants were divided into groups (platform diameter and type): 3.5, 3.75, and 4.3 mm NP (Narrow Platform), and 4.3 mm RP (Regular Platform). Each implant-platform group was then divided into four subgroups (n = 10) with different torques: T45 (45 Ncm), T80 (80 Ncm), T120 (120 Ncm) and T150 (150 Ncm). The implant-abutment-screw assemblies were scanned and the images obtained were analyzed. Results: A significant difference was observed for the linear and volume measures between the different platforms (p <0.01) and the different implant insertion torques (p <0.01). Qualitative analysis suggested higher deformation resistance for the 3.75 NP compared to the 3.5 NP, and RP was more resistant compared to the NP. Conclusions: The 0.25-mm increment in the implant platform did not increase the resistance to the applied insertion torques; the 4.3-mm implant was significantly stronger compared to the 3.5-mm implant and the proposed micro-CT analysis was considered valid for both 2D and 3D analyses of micro gaps, qualitatively and quantitatively.

The odontogenic cysts can lead to a bone destruction that can hamper the dental implant place-ment in the ideal 3D position. Different biomaterials and techniques that allow bone regeneration are described in the literature, each with its advantages and disadvantages. This clinical case with 18 months of follow-up shows the enucleation of an odontogenic cyst fol-lowing the guide bone regeneration with fence technique. After 6 months 2, dental implants were placed at the region of tooth 11 and 21, being rehabilitated nine weeks after. The fence technique allowed the recovery of the bone morphology and the placement of the dental implants in the 3D ideal position.

This article investigates hydraulic percolation in saturated porous media, focusing on containment systems using sheet pile walls and gravity concrete dams. The Laplace equation, which governs hydraulic flow in porous media, is solved using the Finite Element Method through the ANSYS software. The modeling of the porous media employs a planar quadratic element called Plane 55, originally used for thermal problems, composed of four nodes and one hydraulic degree of freedom per node. The numerical results of the water pressure acting on the hydraulic structure, flow rate, and hydraulic gradient at the outlet of the porous media are compared with results obtained in the technical-scientific literature using flow nets. Two different methodologies are used to obtain the rate of seepage: by using the average hydraulic velocity or by calculating the integral of the hydraulic gradient perpendicular to the flow area. Both methodologies are compared and validated in the numerical simulations. This work also demonstrates the importance of mesh refinement for obtaining the flow rate in the studied hydraulic systems.

In the last decades droughts, deforestation and wildfires have become recurring phenomena that have affected both human activities and natural ecosystems in Amazonia. The time an ecosystem requires to recover from carbon losses is a crucial metric to evaluate disturbance impacts on forests. However, the factors influencing and controlling the recovery time and its spatiotemporal patterns at the regional scale are still poorly understood. In this study, we combined forest growth model, remote sensing and field plots, to map Amazonia-wide (300-ha resolution) impact and recovery time of aboveground biomass (AGB) after drought, fire and a combination of logging and fire. Our simulated results indicate that AGB decreases by 4%, 19% and 46% in forests disturbed by drought, fire and logging + fire, respectively, with an average AGB recovery time of 27 years for drought, 44 years for burned and 63 years for logged + burned areas and with maximum values reaching 184 years in areas of high fire intensity. Our findings provide two major insights in the spatial and temporal patterns of drought and wildfire in the Amazon: 1) the recovery time of the forests takes longer in the southeastern part of the basin, and, 2) as droughts and wildfires become more frequent – since the intervals between the disturbances is getting shorter than forest regeneration – potentially causing a long-lasting damage in these fragile ecosystems and a permanent degradation.

Cities are complex systems requiring urban design models that balance order and disorder. Collective creativity initiatives engage citizens in these processes, empowering bottom-up approaches that prioritize people and social well-being within urban development. This paper investigates an 'Urban Laboratory' as a case study, examining the potential of collective creativity to address urban complexity. The successful and ongoing project 'El Campo de Cebada' in Madrid, Spain, demonstrates how a community transformed a vacant lot into a vibrant social hub. The phases of this study include case selection, data collection, data analysis, and presentation of the results. This study identifies key enabling factors, including agents, management, social dynamics, infrastructure, and actions. These insights offer a methodological framework for designing future collaborative, resilient, and inclusive urban spaces, addressing the complex needs of communities within our cities.

The coffee industry loses millions of dollars annually worldwide due to the Coffee Berry Borer (CBB); these losses imply a decrease in quality and production. Traps are used to monitor their flight and for pest control. The main objective was to determine the flight pattern and trap capture percentages of the CBB population over time using column traps (CTs) in two independent field experiments. CTs were composed of four traps installed at four different heights 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5m above ground. Our results demonstrated a significant difference in CBB capture by traps placed at different heights above the ground. The CT capture maintained a pattern throughout this study's lag; the lower the height, the greater the percentage of CBBs captured. In Experiments A and B, the traps placed at 0.5m caught 67% and 85% of the CBBs captured, respectively. Furthermore, the trap set at 1.5m above the ground in the multi-level CT showed a higher capture percentage than the individually placed trap (also at 1.5m). The pattern of the capture and proportion of the CBB in the CTs were maintained throughout the study despite the season, changes in temperature, and relative air humidity. We suggested that CTs could be explored as a useful tool for capturing the CBB, considering its monitoring and management.

Europium is one of the most reactive lanthanides and humans use it in many different applica-tions, but we still know little about its potential toxicity and cellular response to its exposure. Two strains of the eukaryotic microorganism model Tetrahymena thermophila adapted to high concentrations of two Eu(III) compounds (EuCl3 or Eu2O3) were obtained and compared to a control strain and cultures treated with both compounds. In this ciliate, EuCl3 is more toxic than Eu2O3. LC50 values show that this microorganism is more resistant to these Eu(III) compounds than other microorganisms. Oxidative stress originated mainly by Eu2O3 is minimized by overexpression of genes encoding important antioxidant enzymes. The overexpression of metallothionein genes under treatment with Eu(III) compounds supports the possibility that this lanthanide may interact with the -SH groups of the cysteine residues from metallothi-oneins and/or displace essential cations of these proteins during their homeostasis function. Both lipid metabolism (lipid droplets that fuse with europium-containing vacuoles) and au-tophagy are involved in the cellular response to europium stress. Bioaccumulation, together with a possible biomineralization to europium phosphate, seems to be the main mechanism of Eu(III) detoxification in these cells.

Satellite-derived soil moisture observations typically rely on bias-correction (BC) prior to assimilation in land surface models. Current techniques include rescaling or machine learning approaches to map the observations to the modelled soil moisture climatology. However, these approaches do not allow for non-stationary biases and recalibrations require a long training period, which is not always feasible. In this study we evaluate a two-stage filter to dynamically correct soil moisture biases from satellite-derived active ASCAT C-band and passive L-band SMOS surface soil moisture observations in the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) land data assimilation system. This adaptive soil moisture BC approach is designed to complement the operational seasonal rescaling of the ASCAT observations and the SMOS neural network retrieval used at ECMWF, while allowing the assimilation to correct sub-seasonal scale errors. Over a 3-year test period, the adaptive BC reduces the seasonal-scale first guess-observation departures by 20-30% for ASCAT and SMOS. The adaptive BC leads to (i) slight improvements in soil moisture performance against in situ data; and (ii) moderate but statistically significant reductions in the 1-5 day relative humidity forecast errors in the boundary layer of the northern hemisphere midlatitudes.

Background: Despite the existence of a wide variety of anti-inflammatory drugs, the vast majority are classified as steroidal or non-steroidal. Both classes with many side effects that limit usage. Thus, the search for new molecules with anti-inflammatory potential is still important. Methods: Five phenylbenzohydrazides were synthetized and evaluated in pre-clinical models of acute inflammation in vivo and in vitro. Results: Substances significantly reduced cell migration induced by carrageenan. It was also observed an intense inhibition in protein extravasation and cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) production as well as nitric oxide reduction. INL-11 demonstrated to be the most potent since the reduction was significant even when compared with dexamethasone. In vitro INLs also reduced cytokines and NO production and iNOS activity. INL-11 was the most effective in reducing cell migration in vitro. Conclusions: our data suggest that these substances are suitable for further development to new series of compounds that could lead to new hits and future drug prototypes for anti-inflammatory conditions.

Sleep is of vital necessity for health, it has a restorative and protective function for children and adolescents with chronic conditions and their families. The purpose was to identify the scientific production on sleep patterns in children and adolescents with chronic conditions and their families. This integrative review was developed in March and June 2022, of the MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL and PSYCInfo. The articles included were original papers published be-tween January 2007 and mid-2022. Excluded were review studies that did not evaluate sleep and whose participants did not have chronic conditions or were not children, adolescents and/or their families. The searches returned 814 abstracts. After exclusions, 47 studies were selected to be read in full; of these, 29 were selected and were grouped empirically into four categories: major alterations in sleep patterns of children and adolescents with chronic conditions; the relationship between sleep disorders and symptoms in children and adolescents with chronic conditions; impaired sleep patterns of families of children and adolescents with chronic conditions; sleep alterations and their relationship with other problems in families of children and adolescents with chronic conditions. All studies showed sleep pattern impairment in children and adolescents with chronic conditions and their families.

Rapid SARS-CoV-2 self-tests have the potential to expand access to COVID-19 testing and improve community-level case detection, particularly in resource-constrained countries such as Kenya. However, prior to their introduction, their acceptability must be assessed. This qualitative study explored key decision-takers’ values towards SARS-CoV-2 self-testing in Kenya. Healthcare workers, representatives of civil society, and potential implementors from Mombasa and Taita-Taveta were selected as decision-takers. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data on their values towards self-testing. A thematic analysis approach was applied. Most informants considered that the Kenyan public is equipped to accept and use self-testing safely as an approach to help to reduce workload at public healthcare facilities, and know one’s COVID-19 status in a private manner. The informants emphasized the need to provide counselling to end-users, to support those needing to self-isolate, and to engage different civil society stakeholders in information provision on self-testing. Fear of stigma and of forced isolation were noted as potential deterrents to self-testing uptake for some individuals. In conclusion, there is high acceptability of self-testing in Kenya among decision-takers. However, enhanced education, counselling, and addressing deterrents to testing would be helpful to ensure effective use of SARS-CoV-2 self-testing in Kenya.

The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the articles that addressed the effect BA or carnosine supplementation on physical exercise (PE)-induced oxidative stress (OS). Before May 2018 we searched throughout PubMed, CAPES Periodic and SPORTDiscus human model peer review, randomized control studies with chronic BA or carnosine supplementation on PE-induced OS. A total of 128 citations were found. Only four articles met criteria for inclusion. All four studies used healthy young sedentary, recreationally active or athletic participants. After a chronic BA or carnosine supplementation, the studies evaluated PE-induced OS both immediately and several hours after exercise (0.5 to 48 h). In response to PE-induced OS, when compared to placebo, BA/carnosine supplementation increased total antioxidant capacity [TAC; Effect Size (ES) = 0.35, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.06 to 0.65, p = 0.02] and glutathione (GSH; ES = 0.75, 95% CI 0.32 to 1.19, p = 0.0007) concentrations while decreased direct OS markers (ES = −1.19, 95% CI −1.48 to −0.80, p < 0.01) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (ES = − 0.58, 95% CI −1.10 to −0.06, p = 0.03). BA or carnosine supplementation did not prevent the increase in indirect OS markers (ES: 0.06, 95% CI −0.38 to 0.500, p = 0.80). In humans, following PE-induced OS, initial treatment trials of BA or carnosine supplementation seemed to increase TAC and GSH concentrations, while decreasing SOD activity. Also, albeit mitigating the acute increase in direct OS markers (reactive nitrogen and oxygen species), treatment did not decrease measured values of indirect OS markers (peroxidation or molecule oxidation).

Frontal incomes play an important role in human behavioral regulation and can be a determinant of eating behavior. The aim of this study was to analyse the frontal incomes in obese patients with and without Binge Eating Disorder (BED), compared to normoweight (NW) subjects and to analyse the effect of sex and binge disorder on quality of life, with age and BMI as covariates. A total of 114 participants comprised three different groups (obese with BED, obese without BED and NW) completed the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Impact of Weight on Quality of Life (IWQOL-lite). The results showed that obese patients, with and without BED, have poorer frontal functioning than NW persons. Obese patients with BED have lower performance in frontal income than obese patients without BED. Male participants have a higher perception of quality of life in all dimensions, with women showing lower values in self-esteem and sex life. Obese with BED show greater weaknesses in physical function. These results suggest that low frontal incomes and worse quality of life characterize obese patients, more evident in obese patients with BED.

Skin cancer is a disease that reflects most malignant neoplasms worldwide, whose rate of involvement has increased significantly in recent decades. Treatments that offer efficient results with attenuation of adverse reactions and greater patient compliance have been the subject of many systematic investigations. This review aims to qualitatively present published works that showed new strategies to increase the penetration power of natural substances through the skin in the topical treatment against skin cancer. In this sense, nanoengineering mechanisms, the iontophoresis technique, and photodynamic therapy using natural products (NP) contribute to new knowledge about substance carrier strategies in topical treatments against skin cancer.

This work presents the electrochemical degradation of the herbicide Diuron by anodic oxidation on a Ti/Ru0.3Ti0.7O2 dimensionally stable anode (DSA) using sulfate as electrolyte. The study includes the influence of the Diuron concentration and the current density on the anodic oxidation. The results evidence a first-order degradation, with the highest degradation capacity achieved at 40 mA cm2 and an initial Diuron concentration of 38 mg L1. Nevertheless, in terms of efficiency and energy demand, the operation at 10 mA cm2 is favored due to the more efficient and less energy-consuming condition. To discern the optimum design and operation conditions, this work presents the results of a preliminary technical-economical analysis, demonstrating that, to minimize the total costs of the system, it is recommended to seek the most efficient conditions, i.e., the conditions demanding the lowest applied charges with the highest Diuron degradation. At the same time, attention must be given to the required cell voltage to not increase excessively the operating costs.

The introduction on Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnOn) in sunscreens solved the issue of poor spreadability of these formulations, which often left a white film on the skin. However, safety concerns have arisen regarding the topical application of ZnOn. Some studies employed commercial sunscreens to address the safety issues of the topical application of ZnOn; however, commercial formulations are often complex and contain a wide range of ingredients that could attenuate the potential damage caused by the ZnOn. Therefore, in this study we aimed to develop a simple stable formulation containing 20% of coated and uncoated ZnOn, characterize the formulations and the nanoparticles, and assess the skin penetration in Franz diffusion cell. The Feret's diameter for the uncoated and coated ZnOn was 137 nm and 134 nm, respectively. For the uncoated ZnOn the hydrodynamic size in water was 368 nm and for the coated ZnOn, the average hydrodynamic size in ethyl acetate was 135 nm. The incorporation of ZnOn led to formulations more consistent and easier to spread, as suggested by the lower work of shear and higher values of firmness, cohesiveness, consistency and index of viscosity compared with the vehicle. The stability assessment at 45ºC suggested that the formulations containing the ZnOn were stable for 30 days and the vehicle was stable for 90 days. The assessment off the skin penetration by reflectance confocal laser microscopy indicated that the formulations did not permeate into the deepest layers of the skin, but accumulated on the skin furrows, hair and hair follicle.

Water footprint has been widely used to illustrate the consumption of water in many situations; for instance, in products, processes or regions of interest. In this work, we analyzed – using a sensitivity analysis approach – the effect of some variables in the calculation of the water footprint in the viticulture in Brazilian Serra Gaúcha (the major producing region of Brazilian Wine).The classical Penman-Monteith model for evapotransporation was considered, with uncertainties in some parameters (dead mulch covering fraction in the vineyard, maximum temperatures for some months, altitudes and latitudes of the site). The sensitivity analysis was conducted using the SAFE toolbox under Octave framework. The results indicated that the the portion of the water footprint corresponding to the evapotranspiration is more sensitive to the values of mulch covering fraction and the altitude of the site in comparison with the latitude and the maximum temperatures.

Despite the efforts made to stop the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic, it still remains one of the leading causes of death from an infectious disease. Previous work in the group uncovered a new family of amides which showed promising activities against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A closer look at the literature showed that these compounds are structurally related to the DNB family of DprE1 inhibitors, so, we decided to study a wide range of substituted amides and determine their activity, focusing on unexplored structures related to the dinitrobenzamides (DNB) found in the literature. To synthesize our library of compounds we started from 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid to form the nitroaromatic core that is characteristic of the DNB’s, to which we then added linear or cyclic amine moieties. Additionally, the impact of terminal aromatic moieties was also assessed for some derivatives, via an ether, ester, or amide bond. In order to obtain the desired derivatives, multiple synthetic approaches were used, mainly focused on nucleophilic addition/elimination reactions, SN2 reactions and Mitsunobu reactions. The activity was impacted mainly by two structural features, the addition of an aromatic moiety as a terminal group and the type of the linker. The most interesting compounds exhibited activities comparable to isoniazid and DNB1. Computational studies were also performed aimed at understanding their possible interactions with DprE1. The most active compounds are a good starting point for further development, and we plan to study an extended family of compounds based in those structures.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bioactivity and cell response of a well-characterized Nurse´s A-phase (7CaO•P2O5•2SiO2) ceramic and his effect compared to a control (tissue culture polystyrene-TCPS) on the adhesion, viability, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of ahMSCs in vitro. Cell proliferation (Alamar Blue Assay), Alizarin Red-S (AR-s) staining, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, osteocalcin (OCN) and collagen I (Col I) were evaluated. Also, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images were acquired in order to visualise the cells and the topography of the material. The proliferation of cells growing in a direct contact with the material was slower at early stages of the study because of the new environmental conditions. However, the entire surface was colonized after 28 days of culture in growth medium (GM). Osteoblastic differentiation markers were significantly enhanced in cells growing on Nurse´s A phase ceramic and cultured with osteogenic medium (OM), probably due to the role of silica to stimulate the differentiation of ahMSCs. Moreover, calcium nodules were formed under the influence of ceramic material. Therefore, it is predicted that Nurse´s A-phase ceramic would present high biocompatibility and osteoinductive properties being a good candidate to be used as a biomaterial for bone tissue engineering.

Risk management for technological hazards mainly focuses on the consequences on human lives. Although technological risk analysis evaluates environmental vulnerability, it does not reflect the consequences on environmentally exposed elements, such as rivers, water springs, flora, and fauna. This paper's objective was to propose a conceptual framework and create a multidisciplinary evaluation model for environmental risk analysis in the oil and gas industry. Initially, the problem was approached from a global perspective to justify the necessity of a holistic environmental risk analysis methodology in the oil industry, using environmental risk factors as well as underlying factors, such as environmental fragility and lack of resilience. The holistic assessment was carried out based on probabilistic risk analysis methodologies to obtain a holistic environmental risk index, HERI. This methodology was applied to an oil and gas industry company in Colombia. This allowed greater disaggregation of the results to establish priorities for risk reduction actions and identify the company's weaknesses.

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated gluten-induced enteropathy that affects predisposed individuals of all ages. Many patients with CD do not report gastrointestinal symptoms making it difficult to reach an early diagnosis. On the other hand, CD is related to a wide spectrum of extra-intestinal manifestations, being dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) the best characterized. These associated conditions may be the clue for reaching the diagnosis of CD. Over the last years, there have been multiple reports of the association between CD and several cutaneous manifestations that may improve with a gluten-free diet (GFD). The presence of some of these skin diseases, even in absence of gastrointestinal symptoms, should give rise to an appropriate screening for CD. The aim of this paper is to describe the different cutaneous manifestations that have been associated to CD and the possible mechanisms involved.

An explanation of the origin of dark matter is suggested in this work. The argument is based on symmetry considerations about the concept of mass. In the Wigner's view, the rest mass and the spin of a free elementary particle in flat space-time are the two invariants that characterize the associated unitary irreducible representation of the Poincar\'e group. The Poincar\'e group has two and only two deformations with maximal symmetry. They describe respectively the de Sitter (dS) and Anti de Sitter (AdS) kinematic symmetries. Analogously to their shared flat space-time limit, two invariants, spin and energy scale for de Sitter and rest energy for Anti de Sitter, characterize the unitary irreducible representation associated with dS and AdS elementary systems. While the dS energy scale is a simple deformation of the Poincaré rest energy and so has a purely mass nature, AdS rest energy is the sum of a purely mass component and a kind of zero-point energy derived from the curvature. An analysis based on recent estimates on the chemical freeze-out temperature marking in Early Universe the phase transition quark-gluon plasma epoch to the hadron epoch supports the guess that dark matter energy might originate from an effective AdS curvature energy.

The electronic structure of 7/9-AGNR superlattices with up to eight unit cells has been studied by means of state of the art Density Functional Theory (DFT) and also by two model Hamiltonians, the first one including only local interactions (Hubbard model, Hu) while the second one is extended to allow long-range Coulomb interactions (Pariser, Parr and Pople model, PPP). Both are solved within mean field approximation. At this approximation level, our calculations show that 7/9 interfaces are better described by spin non-polarized solutions than by spin-polarized wavefunctions. Consequently, both Hu and PPP Hamiltonians lead to electronic structures characterized by a gap at the Fermi level that diminishes as the size of the system increases. DFT results show similar trends although a detailed analysis of the density of states around the Fermi level shows quantitative differences with both Hu and PPP models. Before improving model Hamiltonians, we interpret the electronic structure obtained by DFT in terms of bands of topological states: topological states localized at the system edges and extended bulk topological states which interact between them due to the long-range Coulomb terms of Hamiltonian. After careful analysis of the interaction among topological sates, we find that the discrepancy between ab initio and model Hamiltonians can be resolved considering a screened long-range interaction that is implemented adding an exponential cutoff to the interaction term of PPP model. In this way, an adjusted cutoff distance λ = 2 allows a good recovery of DFT results. In view of this, we conclude that the correct description of the density of states around the Fermi level (Dirac point) needs the inclusion of long-range interactions well beyond Hubbard model but not completely unscreened as is the case for the PPP model.

We investigated the biomechanical behaviour of different fixations of the tibial posterior malleolus (TPM), simulating distinct situations of involvement of the tibiotalar articular surface (TTAS) through a finite element model (FEM). A 3D computer-aided design model of the left ankle was obtained. The materials used were divided according to their characteristics into ductile and non-ductile, and all materials were assumed to be linear elastic, isotropic, and homogenous. Three different fracture lines of the TPM were defined, with sagittal angles of 10º, 25º, and 45º. For biomechanical comparison, different constructions using a trans-syndesmotic screw (TSS) only (Group T), a one-third tubular plate only with (Group PT) and without (Group PS) a TSS, and a locked compression plate with (Group LCPT) and without (Group LCPS) a TSS were tested. FEM was used to simulate the boundary conditions of vertical loading. Load application regions were selected in the direction of the 700N Z axis, 90% on the tibia and 10% on the fibula. Data on the displacement and stress in the FEM were collected, including the total principal maximum (MaxT) and total principal minimum (MinT) for non-ductile materials, total displacement (desT), localized displacement at the fragment (desL), localized displacement at syndesmosis (desS), and Von Mises equivalent stress for ductile materials. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and multiple comparison LSD tests were used. For TPM fractures with a sagittal angles 10º and 25º, desL in the PT and LCP groups was significantly lower, as well as Von Mises stress in Group LCPT in 10º, and PT and LCPT groups in 25º. TPM fractures with a sagittal angle of 45º, desL in the LCP group and Von Mises stress in Group LCPS and LCPT was significantly lower. We found that any TPM fracture may indicate instability of the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis, even when the fragment is small. Our study showed that in fragments involving 10% of the TTAS, the use of a TSS is sufficient, but when the involvement is greater than 25% of the TTAS, either non-locked or locked plate must be used to buttress the TPM. In posterior fragments affecting 45% or more of the TTAS, the use of a locking plate is recommended.

During the last years there has been a high interest in the development of new purely-organic single-component conductors. Very recently, we have reported a new neutral radical conductor based on the perchlorotriphenylmethyl (PTM) radical moiety linked to a monopyrrolo-tetrathiafulvalene (MPTTF) unit by a -conjugated bridge (1). Interestingly, this system behaves as a semiconductor with high conductivity and small energy gap under high pressure. With the aim of developing a new material with improved conducting properties, we have designed and synthesized the radical dyad 2 which was functionalized with an ethylenedithio (EDT) group in order to improve the intermolecular interactions of the TTF subunits. The physical properties of the new radical dyad 2 were studied in detail in solution to further analyze its electronic structure as well as its potential use as radical conductor in the solid state.

Background: When homeostasis is disturbed it can occur a pathological event named inflammation. The main drugs used in the treatment consist of the non-steroidal and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. However, the side effects remain an obstacle during the treatments. In this work we aimed to evaluate three new regioisomers analogues of naphthyl-N-acylhydrazone derivatives. Methods: Acute models of inflammation in vivo (formalin-induced licking and carrageenan-induced inflammation) as well as in vitro were used to evaluate the effects of LASSBio-2039, LASSBio-2040, and LASSBio-2041. Results: All three substances (at 1, 10 or 30 µmol/kg) presented significant effect in the in vivo model reducing leukocyte migration, nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin-1β production. It was observed that only LASSBio-2039 significantly reduced cell migration in vitro. None of the LASSBios did affect inducible nitric oxide synthase activity nor presented NO scavenger effect. It was not observed any toxic effect neither in vivo nor in vitro. The new regioisomers analogues of naphthyl-N-acylhydrazone derivatives presented a significant anti-inflammatory activity suggesting LASSBio-2039 with a direct effect in leukocytes migratory capacity. Conclusions: Taken together the data indicate that these substances present promising effect for de development a prototype for new drugs.

In this work, we show that a late fusion approach to multi-modality in sign language recognition improves the overall ability of the model in comparison to the singular approaches of Computer Vision (88.14%) and Leap Motion data classification (72.73%). With a large synchronous dataset of 18 BSL gestures collected from multiple subjects, two deep neural networks are benchmarked and compared to derive a best topology for each. The Vision model is implemented by a CNN and optimised MLP and the Leap Motion model is implemented by an evolutionary optimised deep MLP topology search. Next, the two best networks are fused for synchronised processing which results in a better overall result (94.44%) since complementary features are learnt in addition to the original task. The hypothesis is further supported by application of the three models to a set of completely unseen data where a multi-modality approach achieves the best results relative to the single sensor method. When transfer learning with the weights trained via BSL, all three models outperform standard random weight distribution when classifying ASL, and the best model overall for ASL classification was the transfer learning multi-modality approach which scored 82.55% accuracy.

The urban environment induces stress on trees and the impact can be identified by observing the condition of the crown. The aim of this study is to correlate the variables crown density (Cdn), crown transparency (Ctr) and dieback (Cdie) with the following vegetation indices: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI2), blue normalized difference vegetation index (BNDVI), green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), green-red vegetation Index (GRVI) and red-green-blue vegetation index (RGBVI) of the tree crown located in urban green areas, as well as chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) as an indirect indicator of tree health condition. A total of 549 trees were evaluated, represented in 24 families, 36 genera and 53 species; the variables had average values of 67.96 % in Cdn, 35.19 % in Ctr and 1 % in Cdie. Correlations were found between Fv/Fm, NDVI and BNDVI. NDVI and BNDVI correlated with variables such as Cdn and Ctr, mainly in species such as Ligustrum lucidum, Jacaranda mimosifolia and Fraxinus uhdei. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate tree health condition of trees in urban green environments through the identification of unfavorable conditions at the crown level by using vegetation indices for some of the species studied.

The agronomic characteristics of Cenchrus purpureus were assessed through a randomized block experimental design with seven accessions (Taiwan grass, King grass, Elephant grass, Merkeron, CT-115, Purpule grass and Maralfalfa) as treatments and four replications research was carried out at the Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Tantoyuca, in 2019 and 2020, under rainfed conditions. Sowing density was established at 36 tillers in 25 m2. Green and dry matter yield, daily rates of dry matter accumulation in leaves, leaf/stem ratio, height, leaf area index and cutting frequency were assessed. Rainfall amount, temperature, relative humidity and global radiation levels were recorded to assess their effect on the evaluated variables. One-way ANOVA and multivariate analysis techniques, such as multiple linear regression (MLR), Clustering, and Principal component analysis (PCA) with the Statistica V7 software, were used. The leaf area index was greatest (p &lt; 0.05) on the dry season. Green and dry matter yield were greatest in Maralfalfa (p &lt; 0.05). Variation in the results is attributed to weather phenomena; nonetheless, Elephant grass and Maralfalfa showed the highest yields. Quality parameters must be evaluated to identify those grasses with the best attributes.

Glioblastoma (GB) is the most frequent malignant brain tumor among adults and currently there is no effective treatment. It is a very aggressive tumor that grows fast and spreads through the brain causing the death of patients in 15 months. GB cells mutate frequently and generate a heterogeneous population of tumoral cells genetically distinct. Thus, the contribution of genes and signaling pathways relevant for GB progression is of great relevance. We use a Drosophila model of GB that reproduces the features of human GB, and describe the upregulation of the circadian gene cry in GB patients and in a Drosophila GB model. We study the contribution of cry to the expansion of GB cells, to the neurodegeneration caused by GB, and to premature death and determine that cry is required for GB progression. Moreover, we analyze the mechanisms that regulate cry expression by the PI3K pathway. Finally, we conclude that cry is necessary and sufficient to regulate myc expression in GB. These results contribute to the understanding of the signals that impulse GB malignancy and lethality and open novel opportunities for the treatment of GB patients.

The use of phosphate-solubilizing fungi in coffee cultivation is an alternative with which to reduce the use of fertilizers. The objective of this study was to analyze the mechanisms involved in the phosphorus solubilization of the fungal strains and to evaluate the effect of a phosphate-solubilizing strain on the coffee plants. For this, phosphorus-solubilizing fungal strains were selected for evaluation of their solubilization potential and phosphatase activity. Coffee plants were inoculated in the field with a phosphate solubilizing strain, and soil and foliar soluble phosphorus, as well as coffee bean yield, were quantified. Of the 151 strains analyzed, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium waksmanii, and Penicillium brevicompactum showed the highest solubilization. Aspergillus niger and P. waksmanii presented the highest soluble phosphorus values; however, P. brevicompactum showed the highest phosphatase activity. The P. brevicompactum strain inoculated on the coffee plants did not favor foliar phosphorus content but increased the soil soluble phosphorus content in two of the coffee plantations. The plants inoculated with the phosphate solubilizing strain showed an increase in coffee bean weight on all plantations, although this increase was only significant in two of the three selected coffee plantations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the largest public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic. Despite the extensive research conducted on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in humans, little is still known about animal-related transmission and its consequences. Therefore, this study contributed to a better understanding of this issue by focusing on the serological survey of SARS-CoV-2 in samples from the serum bank of the Bovine Virology Laboratory at the Biological Institute of São Paulo, as well as horses and dogs from the Military Police of the State of São Paulo, and tapirs and bats from the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo. To achieve this, the possible presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in domestic and wild animal species was evaluated using the ID Screen® "SARS-CoV-2 Double Antigen Multi Species" ELISA test (ID-Vet.®), following the manufacturer's recommendations. The findings of this study demonstrate a higher occurrence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in domestic animals compared to wild animals, as well as different antibody profiles among the species analyzed, with horses showing a wide range of seroconversion comparable to humans.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) pathophysiology comprises clinical and genetic factors. In fact, GDM has been associated with several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). This study aimed to build a prediction model of GDM combining clinical and genetic risk factors. A total of 1588 pregnant women from the San Carlos Cohort participated in the present study, 1069 (67.3%) Caucasian (CAU) and 519 (32.7%) Latin American (LAT), 255 (16.1%) with GDM. The incidence of GDM was similar in both groups (16.1% CAU and 16.0% LAT). Genotyping was performed by IPLEX Mass ARRAY PCR selecting 110 SNPs based on literature references. The SNPs showing the strongest likelihood of GDM development were the rs10830963, rs7651090 and rs1371614 in CAU and rs1387153 and the rs9368222 in LAT. Clinical variables including age, pre-pregnancy body mass index and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) at 12 gestational weeks predicted the risk of GDM (AUC 0.648, 95%CI 0.601-0.695 in CAU; AUC 0.688, 95%CI 0.628-9.748 in LAT) and adding the SNPs modestly improved prediction (AUC 0.722, 95%CI 0.680-0.764 in CAU; AUC 0.769, 95%CI 0.711-0.826 in LAT). In conclusion, adding genetic variants enhanced the prediction model of GDM risk in CAU and LAT pregnant women. An RCT is underway to demonstrate its usefulness

Nano medicine seeks to deliver a valuable set of research tools and clinically useful devices in the near future. The current medical field is in dire need of new commercial applications in the pharmaceutical industry that may include advanced drug delivery systems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging. Here in this experimental study, the nano materials used in DNA biosensors like silver nano dots were incorporated as nano biosensors are used for both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The most important step while preparing a DNA biosensor is the immobilization of DNA probe on the surface of a sensing device such as an electrode. The amount of immobilized DNA probe will influence the accuracy sensitivity, selectivity and life of a DNA biosensor directly. Because of the high surface to volume ratio and excellent biological compatibility, nano materials can enlarge the sensing surface area to increase the amount of immobilized DNA and the DNA mixed with nano materials can keep its biologically activity well.In this study,silver nano dots created in our lab were functionalized with thio nucleides and were used as nano sensor probes in bio bar code assays.

In our study, we investigated the prognostic significance of hematological markers—NLR (Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio), PLR (Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio), and RDW-CV (Red Blood Cell Distribution Width - Coefficient of Variation)—in 117 glioblastoma patients. Data collected from January 2016 to December 2018 included demographics, clinical scores, and treatment regimens. Unlike previous research, which often examined these markers solely before surgery, our unique approach analyzed them at multiple stages: preoperative, postoperative, and before adjuvant therapies. We correlated these markers with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using statistical tools, including ANOVA, Cox regression, and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, employing SPSS version 29.0. Our findings revealed notable variations in NLR, PLR, and RDW-CV across different treatment stages. NLR and PLR decreased after surgery, with some stabilization post-STUPP phase (NLR: p=0.007, η2p=0.06; PLR: p=0.001, η2p=0.23), while RDW-CV increased post-surgery and during subsequent treatments (RDW-CV: p &lt; 0.001, η2p=0.67). Importantly, we observed significant differences between the preoperative phase and other treatment phases. Additionally, higher NLR and RDW-CV at the second-line treatment and disease progression were associated with an increased risk of death (NLR at 2nd line: HR=1.03, p=0.029; RDW-CV at progression: HR=1.14, p=0.004). We proposed specific marker cutoffs that demonstrated significant associations with survival outcomes when applied to Kaplan-Meier survival curves (NLR at 2nd line &lt; 5: p&lt;0.017; RDW-CV at progression &lt; 15: p=0.007). Elevated NLR and RDW-CV at later treatment stages correlated with poorer OS and PFS. No significant preoperative differences were detected. These biomarkers may serve as non-invasive tools for glioblastoma management.

Metastatic melanoma patients have a poor prognosis with poor responsiveness to chemotherapy. BRAF V600E mutations have been detected in ~40% of melanoma patients. Vemurafenib is an oral agent licensed for patients with BRAF V600E mutation-positive inoperable and metastatic melanoma, which already presents resistance that leads to patient relapse and the serious side effects. In our study, we synthesized 5 new vemurafenib analogs, RF-86A, RF-87A, RF-94A, RF-94B and RF-96B, with structural improve-ments, in order to increase the anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic effect on human melanoma. We showed that the analogs were efficient in inducing cell death and reducing the migration of A375 cells, by inhibition of MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity, indicating that this action may be longer lasting comparing to the action of Vemurafenib.

As a form of protection, a nature park is often created to protect and valorise natural and cultural heritage in peripheral rural areas. However, in terms of multi-functionality, new nature parks are incorporated into traditional productive activities, such as recreational and tourist activities, which sometimes compromise sustainability. The research objective is to study the relationship between tourism and sustainability in the Nature Parks of “Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche”, “Sierra Norte de Sevilla” and “Sierra de Hornachuelos” that makes up the Dehesas de Sierra Morena Biosphere Reserve in Andalusia, Spain. Therefore, selective interviews have been carried out with the stakeholders to establish their perception of sustainable tourism and the presence of dominant discourses. The main conclusions indicate (1) the presence of different dominant discourses on sustainability, namely the conservationist and mercantilist ones, with the prevalence of the economic dimension; (2) poor awareness and adaptation to the context of global change; and (3) the presence of competitive relationships that generate difficulties for the governance of sustainable tourism.

Today's city needs more than ever methodological devices that ensure a specific urbanism, in keeping with the complexity of relationships that occur in the urban space. Networks or systems of diverse nature must be activated to achieve a certain success of the city, even more so in its fragile central fabrics. The study is focused on the historic neighborhoods of the city of Jaén (Spain), which have a high vulnerability index. The aim is to establish a strategy to revitalize their urban and social capital and improve their articulation with the rest of the urban and territorial structure. A methodological proposal for the analysis of vulnerability factors and an urban and cartographic analysis of the public space is addressed through an interweaving of a triple network: environmental, social, and urban. For this purpose, the configuration of this overlapping network of analysis and formulation of criteria is presented, which considers the urban multiplicity and promotes new dynamics for the integrated urban regeneration of the area and for the activation of public and collective urban spaces.

This paper aims to assess whether the financial performance of Portuguese companies that publish sustainability reports (SR) differs from the financial performance of companies that do not publish SR. We use two methodological procedures. First, we conducted a univariate analysis to test the differences in the financial performance according to the disclosure of SR. Second, we conducted a multivariate analysis using a multiple linear regression that explains financial performance by the disclosure of SR, as well as control variables such as sector, size, leverage, growth, and liquidity. Findings indicate that financial performance of companies that disclose SR does not significantly differ from the financial performance of companies that do not disclose SR. The results are robust to both methodological procedures, as well as to the sample split by sectors.

French Guiana, located in the Guiana Shield, is a natural reservoir for many zoonotic pathogens that are of considerable medical or veterinary importance. Until now, there are few data available on the description of parasites circulating in this area, especially on protozoan belonging to the phy-lum Apicomplexa; conversely, the neighbouring countries describe a high parasitic prevalence in animals and humans. Epidemiological surveillance is necessary, as new potentially virulent strains may emerge from these forest ecosystems, such as Amazonian toxoplasmosis. However, there is no standard tool for detecting protozoa in wildlife. In this study, we developed Meat-Borne-Parasite, a high-throughput meta-barcoding workflow for detecting Apicomplexa based on Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing platform using the 18S gene of fourteen Apicomplexa-positive samples collected in French Guiana. Sequencing reads were then analysed with MetONTIIME pipeline. Thanks to a scoring rule, we were able to classify as Apicom-plexa-positive 10 samples out of 14 and reveal the presence of co-carriages. The same samples were also sequenced with Illumina platform, for validation purposes. On samples identified as Apicomplexa-positive by both platforms, a strong positive correlation at up to genus level was reported. Overall, the presented workflow represents a reliable method for Apicomplexa detec-tion, which may pave the way for more comprehensive biomonitoring of zoonotic pathogens.

In 2007, the excavation of the M-30 ring road located in Madrid and the creation of a green corridor either side of the Manzanares river brought significant change to the metropolitan area. The corridor and linear park which it provided were designed to contribute to the regeneration of the fluvial ecosystem, establish links among residents on each side of the river and promote cultural and leisure activities. This paper provides a sustainability analysis of the excavation of the M-30 (involving the socio-economic and environmental impact) 14 years after its construction. In order to show such an impact, an analysis of the area both prior to the project and after completion, as well as a hypothetical solution that uses improved materials, has been performed. This entails use of the multi-criteria decision-making model named MIVES (initials in Spanish, modelo integrado de valor para una evaluación sostenible). The MIVES method is based on the application of value functions of sustainability indicators selected by socio-economic and environmental criteria, chosen by experts. Results from analysis showed that the excavation of the M-30 considerably improved the sustainability of the area (sustainable index 3.43 and 6.26 both before and after the excavation works). However, use of improved materials in contrast with the application of conventional materials slightly improved the sustainability of the work (Sustainability Index 6.26 and 6.74, respectively, of the conventional materials).

In this study, we investigated the role of Giardia EVs in cellular communication and their potential as vaccine candidates. Our findings revealed that Giardia EVs activate pro-inflammatory signalling cascades, including SAPK/JNK and ERK1/ERK2, as well as the NF-kB pathway, resulting in IκB-α degradation and p65 translocation to the nucleus, in mouse macrophages. Moreover, Giardia EVs increased the expression of genes encoding pro-inflammatory molecules, such as Il1β, Il6, Il4, Ptgs2, Nos2, and Tnf. Interestingly, Giardia EVs enhanced the maturation status of human Mo-DCs and significantly increased T-cell proliferation with a Th1 profile. Immunization studies demonstrated that Giardia EVs elicited antigen-specific antibodies, with IgG subclasses indicating a balance Th1/ Th2 response. Mass spectrometry analysis identified EV proteins (22 KDa and 50 KDa) that bind to serum antibodies of immunized mice including elongation factor 1-alpha, Alpha-7.3 giardin, tubulin, and Variant Surface Proteins (VSP), known antigenic proteins in Giardia infections. Overall, our results indicated that Giardia EVs modulate innate immune cells in vitro, induce antibody-based immune response in vivo, and contain conserved immunogenic proteins. Consequently, Giardia EVs hold promise as a cell-free vaccine candidate for giardiasis.

Detailed information about graft material characteristic is crucial to evaluate their clinical outcomes. The present study evaluates the physicochemical characteristics of two xenografts manufactured on an industrial scale deproteinized at different temperatures (non-sintered and sintered) in accordance with a protocol previously used in sinus lift procedures. It compares how the physico-chemical properties influence the material performance in vivo with a histomorphometric study in retrieved bone biopsies following maxillary sinus augmentation, in 10 clinical cases. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed typical structure of hydroxyapatite for both materials. Both xenografts are porous and exhibit intraparticle pores. Strong differences were observed in terms of porosity, cristallinity, and calcium/phosphate. Histomorphometric measurements on the bone biopsies showed statistically significant differences. The physicochemical assessment of both xenografts in accordance with the protocol developed at industrial scale confirmed that these products present excelent biocompatibilitity, with characteristics similar to natural bone. The sintered HAs xenograft exhibit higher osteoconductivity although were not complete resorbable (30.80±0.88% residual material). On the other hand, the non-sintered HAs xerograft induced about 25.92±1.61% of new bone and almost complete degradation after 6 months implantation. Differences in physico-chemical characteristics found between the two HAs xenograft determine different behavior of this material.

We discuss the consequences of the unique symmetry of the de Sitter spacetime. This symmetry leads to the specific thermodynamic properties of the de Sitter vacuum, which produces the thermal bath for matter. The de Sitter spacetime is invariant under the modified translations, ${\bf r}\rightarrow {\bf r} -e^{Ht}{\bf a}$, where $H$ is the Hubble parameter. For $H\rightarrow 0$, this symmetry corresponds to the conventional invariance of Minkowski spacetime under translations ${\bf r}\rightarrow {\bf r} -{\bf a}$. Due to this symmetry, all the comoving observers at any point of the de Sitter space perceive the de Sitter environment as the thermal bath with temperature $T=H/\pi$, which is twice larger than the Gibbons-Hawking temperature of the cosmological horizon. This temperature does not violate the de Sitter symmetry, and thus does not require the preferred reference frame, as distinct from thermal state of matter, which violates the de Sitter symmetry. This leads to the heat exchange between gravity and matter, and to instability of de Sitter state towards the creation of matter, its further heating, and finally to the decay of the de Sitter state. The temperature $T=H/\pi$ determines different processes in the de Sitter environment, which are not possible in the Minkowski vacuum, such as the process of ionization of an atom in the de Sitter environment. This temperature also determines the local entropy of the de Sitter vacuum state, and this allows us to calculate the total entropy inside the cosmological horizon. The result reproduces the Gibbons-Hawking area law, which is related to the cosmological horizon, $S_{\rm hor}=4\pi KA$, where $K=1/16\pi G$. This supports the holographic properties of the cosmological event horizon. We extend the consideration of the local thermodynamics of the de Sitter state using the $f({\cal R})$ gravity. In this thermodynamics, the Ricci scalar curvature ${\cal R}$ and the effective gravitational coupling, $K$, are thermodynamically conjugate variables. The holographic connection between the bulk entropy of the Hubble volume, and the surface entropy of the cosmological horizon remains the same, but with the gravitational coupling $K=df/d{\cal R}$. Such connection takes place only in the $3+1$ spacetime, where there is the special symmetry due to which the variables $K$ and ${\cal R}$ have the same dimensionality. We also consider the lessons from the de Sitter symmetry for the thermodynamics of black and white holes.

This study aims to examine the non-volatile Particle Number (PN) emissions of a retrofitted Heavy-Duty Spark-Ignition (HD-SI) engine powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under both steady-state and transient conditions. The engine was tested under seven steady-state operating points to investigate the PN behavior and Particle Size Distribution (PSD) upstream and down-stream of the Three-Way Catalyst (TWC). This analysis intends to assess the impact of including particles with diameters ranging from 10 nm to 23 nm in the total particle count, a consideration for future regulations. The study employed the World Harmonized Transient Cycle (WHTC) for transient conditions to encompass the same engine working region used in the steady-state analysis. A Dekati FPS-4000 diluted the exhaust sample to measure the PSD and PN for particle diameters between 5.6 nm and 560 nm using the TSI-Engine Exhaust Particle Sizer (EEPS) 3090. Findings indicate that PN levels tend to increase downstream of the TWC under steady-state conditions in operating points with low exhaust gas temperatures and flows (equal to or less than 500 °C and 120 kg/h). Furthermore, the inclusion of particles with diameters between 10 nm and 23 nm leads to an increase in PN emissions by 17.70% to 40.84% under steady conditions and by an average of 40.06% under transient conditions, compared to measurements that only consider particles larger than 23 nm. Notably, in transient conditions, most PN emissions occur during the final 600 seconds of the cycle, linked to the most intense phase of the WHTC.

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) affects around 2 % of women of reproductive age. Primary RPL is defined by ≥2 pregnancy losses and no normal birth delivery. In secondary RPL, the losses are after a normal pregnancy and delivery. Most cases have no clear aetiology, although primary cases are the most complex. Several gene polymorphisms have been associated with RPL. Some polymorphisms are increased in women of Asian or Caucasian race. In admixed RPL populations, the information on possible genetic links is scarce and contradictory. The study aimed to assess the frequency of two SNP in different enzymes involved in medical conditions observed during pregnancy. Microsomal epoxy hydrolase (mEPH) is involved in detoxifying xenobiotics. It is present in ovaries, and it is hormonally regulated. The endothelial nitric oxide synthase forms nitric oxide from arginine and is involved in vascular tone. Two SNPs, rs1051740 and rs1799983, were assessed. The study included 26 controls and 63 primary RPL patients. Significant differences were observed in the frequencies of both SNP (p<0.05). The frequency of mutated alleles was higher in patients. Double mutated homozygotes were encountered only in RLP patients (p<0.05). Genetic polymorphisms rs1051740 and rs1799983 may be involved in primary RPL in the Venezuelan admix population. Genetic studies could provide crucial information on the aetiology of primary RPL.

The conversion of native habitats into anthropogenic ones compromises the original composition and configuration of the landscapes, influencing ecological dynamics and affecting biodiversity. Increasingly, landscape ecology has shown that these effects can only be understood if accessed at adequate spatial scales, as the scale which landscape structure is evaluated influences species responses. Here, we investigated how three variables of landscape composition (proportion of forest, coffee crop and pasture) and two of configuration (number of fragments and mean nearest neighbor distance) interfere in the richness and composition of medium and large-sized mammals considering a multiscale approach. We recorded medium and large-sized mammal species in 13 landscapes with predominantly matrices of coffee and pasture in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Then, we built distance-based linear models to identify the scale of effect of each landscape variable for both response variables considering eight scales (from 250 m to 2000 m). Finally, we verified the influence of the landscape on the richness and composition of mammals, considering the landscape variables in their respective scales of effect. We found 67% of the probable species occurring in the region. The scales of effect varied among landscape variables probably due to the different variables affect different aspects of organisms' ecological requirements. The proportion of pasture in the landscape explained the variation in species richness, while the proportion of forest explained the variation in species composition. In addition, the proportion of pasture in the landscape had a positive influence on species richness, indicating that this matrix may favor the presence of generalist species of habitat and/or this result is due to the higher concentration of species in the fragments immersed in this matrix. These results suggest that considering different responses to biodiversity is important to understand different aspects of the landscape's influence on biodiversity. In addition, the composition of the landscape is fundamental for the perpetuation of species and, therefore, both forest cover and types of matrices in the landscape must be considered to improve species conservation strategies. Finally, generalizing a spatial scale can lead to misinterpretations about the influence of the landscape on biodiversity.

Earth is a complex material with a mechanical and physical behavior that differs from modern building materials. The conservation of rammed earth (RE) constructions presents specific difficulties that are challenging to overcome. The lack of knowledge about RE due to its abandonment for decades and attempts to adopt materials and repair methodologies designed for new building products has led to inadequate interventions. In the case of historic defensive constructions, the doubts and technical difficulties are even greater due to the nature of the so called military RE (with physical and mechanical characteristics significantly different from those of civil, more common, RE) and, not least, due to the historical and cultural heritage value of these constructions. Some important interventions have been carried out recently and others are underway or in the planning stage, and there is a constant lack of information and technical data on the best ways to intervene. To fill this gap, the state of conservation of the RE defensive structures and the results of interventions carried out throughout history in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula are being assessed. This article sets out the framework of the subject, identifies the material and construction techniques, and recognizes the main causes of its deterioration and decay. With special focus on the most frequent damages detected in historic military defensive structures built with RE, it analyses and discuss the most common techniques that have been used for the repair and conservation of these particular structures.

Beaches are among the habitats most frequented by migratory birds for breeding and/or wintering. However, threats such as human pressure and sea level rise can reduce the availability of these habitats for different species. The presence of alternative areas, such as salt pans and brackish habitats, is essential for many migratory shorebird populations. This study addresses the post-breeding dispersal of the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) in the Iberian Peninsula by analysing C and N isotopes in feathers. The study was conducted at six locations along the Iberian coast, which were categorized in three areas: NW Atlantic coast, the Atlantic coast of Andalusia and the Mediterranean coast. Although linear mixed models did not reveal any significant effects of sex or coastal area on isotopic levels, the variability in the data suggests different habitat-use strategies in the post-reproductive period. Birds from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula exhibit greater fidelity to a single habitat type, i.e. coastal beaches, while populations from the Mediterranean coast and the Atlantic coast of Andalusia show different individual dispersal strategies, occupying coastal habitats and freshwater wetlands. The lack of alternative habitats for the northwest Iberian population, the reduction in available habitat due to rising sea levels and human pressure together pose a serious threat to the survival of this species, already with an unfavourable conservation status.

This paper presents a system for identification of wind features, such as gusts and wind shear. These are of particular interest in the context of energy-efficient navigation of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The proposed system generates real-time wind vector estimates and a novel algorithm to generate wind field predictions. Estimations are based on the integration of an off-the-shelf navigation system and airspeed readings in a so-called direct approach. Wind predictions use atmospheric models to characterize the wind field with different statistical analyses. During the prediction stage, the system is able to incorporate, in a big-data approach, wind measurements from previous flights in order to enhance the approximations. Wind estimates are classified and fitted into a Weibull probability density function. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is utilized to determine the shaping and scale parameters of the distribution, which are employed to determine the most probable wind speed at a certain position. The system uses this information to characterize a wind shear or a discrete gust and also utilizes a Gaussian Process regression to characterize continuous gusts. The knowledge of the wind features is crucial for computing energy-efficient trajectories with low cost and payload. Therefore, the system provides a solution that does not require any additional sensors. The system architecture presents a modular decentralized approach, in which the main parts of the system are separated in modules and the exchange of information is managed by a communication handler to enhance upgradeability and maintainability. Validation is done providing preliminary results of both simulations and Software-In-The-Loop testing. Telemetry data collected from real flights, performed in the Seville Metropolitan Area in Andalusia (Spain), was used for testing. Results show that wind estimation and predictions can be calculated at 1 Hz and a wind map can be updated at 0.4 Hz. Predictions show a convergence time with a 95% confidence interval of approximately 30 s.

A low-cost data logging platform is presented for environmental monitoring projects that provides long-term operation in remote or submerged environments. Three premade “breakout boards” from the open-source Arduino ecosystem are assembled into the core of the platform. The components are selected based on low-cost and ready availability, making the loggers easy to build and modify without specialized tools, or a significant background in electronics. Power optimization techniques are explained. The platform has proven to be highly reliable, and capable of operating for more than a year on standard AA batteries. The flexibility of the system is illustrated with two ongoing field studies recording drip rates in a cave, and water flow in a flooded cave system.

Wearable Biosensor Technology (WBT) has emerged as a transformative tool in the educational system over the past decade. This systematic review encompasses a comprehensive analysis of WBT utilization in educational settings over a 10-year span (2012-2022), highlighting both the evolution of this field and its integration to address challenges in education by integrating technology to solve specific educational challenges, such as enhancing student engagement, monitoring stress and cognitive load, improving learning experiences, and providing real-time feedback for both students and educators. By exploring these aspects, the review sheds light on the potential implications of WBT for the future of learning. A rigorous and systematic search of major academic databases, including Google Scholar and Scopus, was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Relevant studies were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The articles selected were assessed for methodological quality and bias using established tools. The process of data extraction and synthesis followed a structured framework. Key findings include the shift from theoretical exploration to practical implementation with the EEG being the predominant measurement, aiming to explore mental states, physiological constructs, and teaching effectiveness. Wearable biosensors are significantly impacting the educational field, serving as an important resource for educators and a tool for students. Their application has the potential to transform and optimize academic practices through sensors that capture biometric data, enabling the implementation of metrics and models to understand the development and performance of students and professors in an academic environment, as well as to gain insights into the learning process.

The performance of the presurgical test (preSurg) for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) was evaluated via video-electroencephalography (VEEG), electroencephalography (EEG), 99mTc-HmPAO single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) and 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a group of 112 men (37.0 ± 1.1 years) and 106 women (39.7 ± 1.1 years) operated on for TLE. The epileptic zone (EZ) was adequately identified to determine whether the patient reached an Engel I grade (EI) at least one year postop. Accuracy was evaluated by the coefficient α, ranging from 3 (when result = EZ) to 2 (result in the same hemisphere as the EZ), 1 (noninformative result) or 0 (EZ in the contralateral hemisphere). The simplicity of diagnosis was defined as the number of preSurg surgeries needed to identify the EZ. EI was obtained in 85.8% of patients even though 42.2% of patients had noninformative MRI results. For preSurg α was (mean ± SEM) = VEEG (2.83 ± 0.04) &gt; MRI (2.14 ± 0.08) &gt; EEG (1.87 ± 0.09) &gt; SPECT (1.71 ± 0.09). The accuracy (combination of sensitivity and specificity) was calculated as follows: VEEG (0.797) &gt; MRI (0.518) &gt; EEG (0.446) &gt; SPECT (0.360). The likelihood positive ratio was greater, and the likelihood negative ratio was lower for VEEG. The most relevant factor for the regression model was VEEG (3.106) &gt; MRI (2.558) &gt; EEG (1.905), and the factors were not significantly related to SPECT. EZs in EI patients with low simplicity were identified mainly by VEEG. A very good postoperative outcome can be obtained even in TLE patients with no lesions on MRI. The VEEG is the most reliable preSurg test and may be the only reliable test for patients with very low simplicity (i.e., difficult).single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: (1) Background: Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; (2) Methods: briefly describe the main methods or treatments applied; (3) Results: summarize the article’s main findings; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article and it must not contain results that are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.

Knowing the symbolizations constructed in people's consciousness, based on lived experiences, is crucial to understanding how they structure their lives. Palliative Sedation (PS) integrates treatment in terminal palliative care, with the purpose of offering support and relief of refractory symptoms that may occur at the end of life. This study aimed at interpreting psychic fantasies that permeate thoughts, as reported by a sample of nurses when administering palliative sedation to patients in the final stage of life. This is a clinical-qualitative study conducted in a large hospital in the city of São Paulo (state of São Paulo, Brazil), a national reference in oncology. The study included 11 nurses working in the care of cancer patients. For data collection, we used the technique of SDIOQD – Semi-Directed Interview with Open-ended Questions in-Depth. The treatment by CQCA - Clinical-Qualitative Content Analysis is grounded on psychodynamic concepts. The interpretation of the meaning cores found in the interviews, complemented by observation of the para-verbal and nonverbal manifestations of the interviewees, led to the construction of three categories: (1) to symbolically serve death on a tray; (2) the act of sedation and its unfortunate coincidences; (3) palliative sedation as an agent of mercy death. This study suggests that nurses face dilemmatic situations, going through periods of self-questioning and moments of the ambivalence of feelings of beneficence and maleficence. When sedating a patient, the nurses envision to be offering dignity in death. Euthanasia fantasies in the process of administering sedation are latent in consciousness.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, and it is urgently necessary to diagnose it as early as possible. Usually, the diagnostic process begins with a radiological examination which, when a possible tumour is present, is followed by a biopsy to extract tissue samples from the patient's lungs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is the development of an artificial intelligence algorithm that will analyse the Whole Slide Image (WSI) generated by the digitisation of the glass slides obtained from the extracted samples and detect if there is a tumour. The developed learning algorithms as well as the tested neural networks (NNs) were trained on a dataset composed of previously annotated WSI tiles, classified as Tumour or Non-Tumour. From these, four developed convolutional neural networks stood out and were selected to be compared with each other and with the tested NNs. When the best result of each of the developed architectures was compared to the highest result of the tested NNs, it was possible to denote that version 4 of CancerDetecNN achieved an average accuracy of 89.749 \% and an average loss of 0.220. Furthermore, the results for the four selected versions are in agreement with the results reported in the literature, however, the limited size of the given dataset must be considered. Given the results obtained, the fourth version has the potential to optimise the lung cancer diagnosis process.

In Mexico viticulture represents the second source of employment in the agricultural area after the fruit and vegetable sector. In developed countries, remote sensing is widely used for vineyard monitoring, however, this tool is barely used in developing countries of Iberoamerica. In this re-search, our overall objective is to characterize two vineyards in the state of Queretaro (Mexico) using Sentinel-2 and meteorological data, specifically spectral and thermal indices. Results showed that spectral indices obtained from Sentinel-2 bands have characterized adequately the phenolog-ical evolution of the different varieties of the vineyards. The Modified Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) was adequately used to discriminate the first stages of vineyards, while the Nor-malized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was useful to monitor vineyards during the rest stages of vineyards. Thermal indices have shown that the best grape varieties were those that can adapt to both cooler and warmer temperatures, have a reasonable ripening period, and can produce wines with balanced acidity and flavors. In conclusion, the combination of meteorological (including thermal indices) and remote sensing data (NDVI and MSAVI) provide information for choosing the suitable grape variety for this region.

Mathematical algorithms relate satellite data of ocean color with the surface Chlorophyll–a con-centration (Chl-a), a proxy of phytoplankton biomass. These mathematical tools work best when they are adapted to the unique bio-optical properties of a particular oceanic province. Ocean color algorithms should also consider that there are significant differences between datasets derived from different sensors. Common solutions are to provide different parameters for each sensor or use merged satellite data. In this paper we use satellite data from the Copernicus merged product suite and in situ data from the southernmost part of the California Current System to test two widely used global algorithms, OCx and CI, and a regional algorithm, CalCOFI2. The OCx al-gorithm gave the best result, therefore, it was regionalized and, again, tested. The database was then separated according to (a) dynamic boundaries in the area, (b) bio-optical properties and (c) climatic condition (El Niño/La Niña). Regional algorithms were obtained and tested for each partition. The Chl-a retrievals for each model were tested and compared. The best fit for the data was for the regional algorithms that considered the climatic conditions (El Niño/La Niña). These results will allow the construction of consistent regionally adapted time-series and, therefore, demonstrates the importance of El Niño/La Niña events on the bio-optical properties of the area.

Since HIV was first identified, and in a relatively short period of time, AIDS has become one of the most devastating infectious diseases of the 21st century. Classical antiretroviral therapies were a major step forward in disease treatment options, significantly improving the survival rates of HIV-infected individuals. Even though these therapies have greatly improved HIV clinical outcomes, antiretrovirals (ARV) feature biopharmaceutic and pharmacokinetic problems such as poor aqueous solubility, short half-life and poor penetration into HIV reservoir sites, which contribute to the sub-optimal efficacy of these regimens. To overcome some of these issues, novel nanotechnology-based strategies for ARV delivery towards HIV viral reservoirs have been proposed. The current review focus on the benefits of using lipid-based nanocarriers for tuning the physicochemical properties of ARVs to overcome biological barriers upon administration. Furthermore, a correlation of these properties and the potential therapeutic outcomes has been established. Biotechnological advancements using lipid nanocarriers for RNA interference delivery for the treatment of HIV infections were also discussed.

This work is mainly focused on improving the differential evolution algorithm with the utilization of shadowed and general type 2 fuzzy systems to dynamically adapt one of the parameters of the evolutionary method. In this case, the mutation parameter is dynamically moved during the evolution process by using a shadowed and general type-2 fuzzy systems. The main idea of this work is to make a performance comparison between using shadowed and general type 2 fuzzy systems as controllers of the mutation parameter in differential evolution. The performance is compared with the problem of optimizing fuzzy controllers for a D.C. Motor. Simulation results show that general type-2 fuzzy systems are better when higher levels of noise are considered in the controller.

Optical backbone networks constitute the fundamental infrastructure employed today by network operators to deliver services to users. As network capacity is a key factor influencing optical network performance, it is important to understand how topological and physical properties impact its behavior and to have the capability to estimate its value. In this context, we propose here a method to evaluate the network capacity that relies on the optical reach to account for physical layer aspects, in conjunction with constrained routing techniques for traffic routing. As this type of routing can lead to traffic blocking, particularly due to the limitation on the number of wavelengths per fiber, we also propose a fiber assignment algorithm designed to deal with this problem. We apply this method to a set of randomly generated networks using a modified Waxman model, and for a network with 60 nodes, in a scenario without blocking, we obtain capacities of about 2.5 Pbit/s for a symbol rate of 64 Gbaud and about 5 Pbit/s for a symbol rate of 128 Gbaud. Remarkably, this duplication in the total network capacity is achieved by an increase in the total fiber length of only about 51%.

Proteins play a pivotal role in supporting athletes by promoting muscle hypertrophy and minimizing protein catabolism during exercise. They stimulate muscle protein synthesis, aiding in the repair of exercise-induced muscle damage and serving as an energy source, particularly for post-exercise glycogen replenishment. In individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU), for whom protein intake is limited to essential phenylalanine (Phe), supplementation with Phe-free amino acids or glycomacropeptides is necessary. Tailored for macronutrient and micronutrient content, these protein substitutes fulfill most protein requirements, but lack Phe, unlike dietary sources of protein. Protein requirements for athletes with PKU exceed general recommendations due to limited availability in supplements and potential catabolism mitigation. Various factors influence tolerated dietary Phe in PKU, including protein substitute quantity, distribution, pharmacological treatment, age, growth rate, pregnancy, catabolic states, and physical activity. While general protein requirements for PKU surpass those of the general population, adherence to supplement regimens is crucial for athletes and patients with PKU. Strategically timed protein substitutes enhance muscle protein synthesis, body composition, and sports performance within safety limits. Individualized intake is essential for optimal outcomes, as proteins have a multifaceted role in optimizing athletic performance and addressing challenges in PKU.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer (CRC) are significant health problems and share some risk factors. The aim of our study was to develop and validate a predictive score for advanced colorectal neoplasia (CRN) based on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and CRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study comprising a derivation cohort and an external validation cohort of 1049 and 308 patients respectively. A prediction score for advanced CRN (CRNAS: Colorectal Neoplasia Advanced Score) was developed from a logistic regression model, comprising sex, age, first-degree family history for CRC, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, body mass index, diabetes, smoking, and antihypertensive treatment. Other cardiovascular risk scores (Framingham-Wilson, REGICOR, SCORE and FRESCO) were also used to predict the risk of advanced CRN. The discriminatory capacity of each score was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: CRN were found in 379 subjects from the derivation cohort (36%) including 228 patients (22%) with an advanced CRN. Male sex, age, diabetes, and smoking were identified as independent risk factors for advanced CRN. The newly created score (CRNAS), showed an AUC of 0.68 (95% CI: 0.64-0.73) for advanced CRN, which was better than cardiovascular risk scores (p

1) Background: Spirulina (Arthrospira) maxima has shown beneficial effects such anti-dyslipidemic, antiviral, antioxidant and antihypertensive. However, there are few and limited clinical studies. 2) Methods: a prospective, randomized, parallel pilot study of 4.5 g administration of Spirulina maxima or placebo for 12 weeks in 16 patients with systemic arterial hypertension undergoing treatment with ACE inhibitors was performed to assess the effects on endothelial damage and oxidative stress indicators. The blood levels of sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, endothelin-1, and sE-selectin were quantified; the activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and concentrations of reduced glutathione, oxidized glutathione, and thiobarbituric acid reactive susbtances, were also quantified before and after the treatment period. 3) Results: There were statistically significant (p < 0.05) decreases in systolic blood pressure, sVCAM-1, sE-selectin and endothelin-1 levels, and increases in glutathione peroxidase activity and oxidized glutathione levels. 4) Conclusion: The effects found in the present study agree with antihypertensive and antioxidant effects previously reported for Spirulina maxima. However, this is the first report about the effects on indicators of endothelial damage. More research in this field is necessary to gain an insight into the effects of Spirulina on these indicators.

Sporothrix brasiliensis is the most pathogenic species, responsible for the Brazilian cat-transmitted sporotrichosis hyperendemics. In this scenario, investigation of pathogen-host interaction can provide relevant information for future treatment strategies. To this end, the invertebrate Galleria mellonella has proven to be a suitable alternative to evaluate the virulence of pathogenic fungi since the insect immune system is similar to the mammalian innate immune response. The aim of this work was to investigate phenotypic and molecular aspects of the immune response of G. mellonella throughout the S. brasiliensis infection. Hemocyte density and the evolution of the fungal load were evaluated. In parallel, RT- qPCR expression analysis of genes encoding antimicrobial peptides (Gallerimycin and Galiomycin) and stress management genes (C7 Contig 15362 and C8 Contig 1910) was conducted. Fungal load and hemocyte densities were proportionally increasing simultaneously to the deleterious morphological events and larvae mortality. Gallerimycin, C7 Contig 15362, and C8 Contig 19101 genes were positively regulated (p&lt;0.05) at distinct moments of S. brasiliensis infection, characterizing a time-dependent and alternately modulated profile. Galiomycin gene expression remained unchanged. Our results contribute to the future proposal of potential alternative pathways to treat and, consequently, control S. brasiliensis zoonosis, a major public Health in Latin America.

B-1 cells, a subtype of B lymphocytes, are found in lymphoid tissues and peritoneal and pleural cavities. They play diverse roles, releasing cytokines, generating antibodies, regulating the immune response, engaging in phagocytosis, and moving to inflammatory sites. However, their physiology remains partially understood, especially in stressful conditions like sleep restriction. This study aimed to investigate murine B-1 cell activation and differentiation under sleep restriction. Male C57BL/6J mice underwent an 18-hour sleep restriction for 21 days, followed by Candida albicans or Paracoccidioides brasiliensis infection. Purified peritoneal B-1 cells were evaluated for activation markers, microbicidal molecules, cytokine gene expression, Toll-like receptors, and commitment factors. Results showed that sleep restriction minimally influenced activation marker expression in B-1 cells across infection models. However, under sleep restriction, microbicidal molecule production increased in P. brasiliensis (NO) and C. albicans (ROS) infections. Gene expression revealed elevated TLR-2 and cytokines (IL-12, IL-6, TNF-α) in sleep-restricted animals. Lineage commitment analysis indicated myeloid polarization in sleep-restricted B-1 cells for all infection models. These findings underscore the impact of sleep restriction on B-1 cell activation and differentiation, with outcomes varying based on infection type. This study highlights the importance of investigating immunological changes resulting from sleep restriction.

A review of quantitative risk assessment (QRA) models of L. monocytogenes in produce was carried out, with the objective of appraising and contrasting the effectiveness of the control strategies placed along the food chains. Despite nine of the thirteen QRA models recovered focused on fresh or RTE leafy greens, none of them represented important factors or sources of contamination in the primary production, such as type of cultivation, water, fertilisers or irrigation method/practices. Cross-contamination at processing and during consumer’s handling was modelled using transfer rates, which were shown to moderately drive the final risk of listeriosis; highlighting therefore the importance of accurately representing the transfer coefficient parameters. Many QRA models coincided in the fact that temperature fluctuations at retail or temperature abuse at home were key factors contributing to increasing the risk of listeriosis. In addition to a primary module that could help assess current on-farm practices and potential control measures, future QRA models for minimally-processed produce should also contain a refined sanitisation module able to estimate the effectiveness of various sanitisers as a function of type, concentration and exposure time. Finally, L. monocytogenes growth in the products down the supply chain should be estimated by using realistic time-temperature trajectories, and validated microbial kinetic parameters, both of them currently available in the literature.

Most Neotropical Psittacidae have a diploid number of 2n=70, and a dichotomy in chromosome patterns. Long-tailed species have biarmed macrochromosomes, while short - tailed ones have telo/acrocentric macrochromosomes. However, the use of chromosome painting with chicken and white hawk probes has demonstrated that karyotype evolution in Psittacidae includes a high number of inter/intrachromosomal rearrangements. Hence, to determine the phylogeny of Long and Short-Tailed species, and to propose a putative ancestral karyotype for this group, we constructed homology maps of Pyrrhura frontalis (PFR) and Amazona aestiva (AAE) and compared them to other previously analyzed long-tailed species. Chromosomes were analyzed by conventional staining and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) using whole chromosome paints of G. gallus (GGA) and L. albicollis (LAL). Conventional staining showed a karyotype with 2n=70 in both species, with biarmed macrochromosomes in Pyrrhura frontalis and telo/acrocentric chromosomes in Amazona aestiva. Comparison of the results with the putative avian ancestral karyotype (PAK) showed fusions in P. frontalis of PAK1p/PAK4q (PFR1) and PAK6/PAK7 (PFR6) with a paracentric inversion in PFR6. However, in A. aestiva there was only the fusion between PAK6/7 (AAE7) with a paracentric inversion. Hybridizations with LAL probes confirmed these results. The results indicate that PFR retained a more basal karyotype than Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus (AHY), Ara macao (AMA) and Ara chloropterus (ACH), because these three species show the fusion PAK8/PAK9 that is not seen in PFR. Hence, we suggest that the ancestral karyotype of species with biarmed chromosomes have the fusions PAK1p/PAK4 and PAK6/PAK7 and, additionally, a pericentric inversion of PAK6/PAK7, while the fusion PAK8/PAK9 would have appeared in the common ancestor of Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, Ara macao and Ara chloropterus. However, the species A. aestiva shows a characteristic plesiomorphic trait, since PAK1p/PAK4q and PAK8/9 fusions are absent. Our results base on chromosome rearrangements suggest the classification following the criterium of tail length may no reflect the real phylogenetic history of Neotropical Psittacidae.

Objective: To evaluate which risk factors contribute directly or indirectly to Toxoplasma gondii infection in patients with ocular toxoplasmosis. Methods: Between 2018-2020, a total of 306 patients were selected, and treated at the Retinology Outpatient Clinic of the Specialty Hospital of Sāo José do Rio Preto, in the state of São Paulo. After the fundoscopy test, the Enzyme Linked Fluorescent Assay (ELFA) was used to determine IgG and IgM class anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. Results: The results showed that individuals aged 60 years or older, and women who had a previous pregnancy, (p=0.000, OR= 8.137 and 95 % CI = 2.562 – 25.844), (p=0.016, OR= 7.395 and CI 95 % = 1,449 – 37,725) respectively, were 48.6 % more likely to develop ocular toxoplasmosis. Conclusion: In this way, previous pregnancy is a risk factor for the reactivation of toxoplasma, as well as for the generation of retinochoroiditis in previously infected women.

The current treatment for cervico-facial cancer involves radio and/or chemotherapy. Unfortunately, cancer therapies can lead to local and systemic complications such as mucositis, which is the most common dose-dependent complication in the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract. Mucositis can cause a considerably reduced quality of life in cancer patients already suffering from physical and psychological exhaustion. However, melatonin, whose role in the treatment of mucositis has recently been investigated, offers an effective alternative therapy in the prevention and/or management of radio and/or chemotherapy-induced mucositis. This review focuses on the pathobiology and management of mucositis in order to improve the quality of cancer patients’ lives.

The accumulation of brown algae from the genus Sargassum has been increasing over the years in coastal regions of the Caribbean, Africa, Brazil, and Mexico. This causes harmful effects to the ecosystem, health, economy, and climate due to gas emissions from its decomposition process. There is the possibility of this biomass being reused in civil construction, and few studies have been carried out on its application to common Portland cement mortar. As such, the objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of sargassum ash as a mineral addition to partial replacement of fine aggregates in Portland cement mortar. Characterizations of the raw materials were carried out through X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, loss on ignition, particle size distribution, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), real density, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and dispersion spectroscopy of electrons. The mortars were prepared by partially replacing the fine aggregate (sand) with sargassum ash, at 0%, 5%, 10% and 20%. Mortar performance was evaluated through water absorption, apparent porosity, apparent specific mass, compressive strength after 7, 28, and 63 days after curing. Lastly, a life cycle assessment in accordance with ISO standards 14040:2006 and 14044:2006. The results showed that replacing sand with sargassum ash increases water absorption, apparent porosity, and decreases the apparent specific mass and compressive strength as replacement increases. Nevertheless, the compressive strength results after 63 days, for 5 and 10% replacement did not differ statistically from reference values. The life cycle assessment indicates that mortars with partial replacement of sand by sargassum ash showed positive environmental impacts when compared to reference values for most categories regardless of the scenario analyzed, especially for mortar with 10% replacement. As such, the use of sargassum ash at 10% does not alter compressive strength values after 63 days while reducing its environmental impact. The application of this biomass in civil construction materials provides a destination for this algae that has been causing several social, environmental, and economic problems.

Members of the genus Armillaria are widespread forest pathogens against which effective protection has not yet been developed. Due to their longevity and the creation of large-scale cloning of Armillaria individuals, the use of mycoviruses as biocontrol agents (BCAs) against these pathogens could be an effective alternative. This work describes the screening of double-stranded RNA banding patterns as a first approach for potential virus discovery and the use of stranded total RNA-seq for viral detection and characterization in Armillaria spp. collected in the Czech Republic. A total of five single-stranded RNA viruses were detected in Armillaria ostoyae and A. cepistipes, including the first virus of the family Tymoviridae found infecting a member the genus Armillaria and four viruses belonging to the recently described virus group "ambiviruses" with circular ambisense genome organization. Both hammerhead (HHRz) and hairpin (HpRz) ribozymes were detected in all the ambiviricot sequences. Armillaria viruses were compared by phylogenetic analysis and confirmed their specific host by direct RT-PCR, which showed the occurrence of interspecies transmission.

Recent advancements in neural language models, particularly attention-based architectures like the Transformer, have substantially surpassed traditional methods in various natural language processing tasks. These models adeptly generate nuanced token representations by considering contextual relations within a sequence. However, augmenting these models with explicit syntactic knowledge, such as part of speech tags, has been found to remarkably bolster their effectiveness, especially under constrained data scenarios. This study introduces the Linguistic Enhanced Transformer (LET), which integrates multiple syntactic features, showing a notable increase in translation accuracy, evidenced by an improvement of up to 1.99 BLEU points on subsets of the WMT '14 English-German dataset. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that enriching BERT models with syntax-aware embeddings enhances their performance on several GLUE benchmark tasks.

The analysis and simulation of water quality in distribution networks is a complex issue of great concern today. The analysis of the evolution of water age, as a simple indicator of water quality in the network, is of great interest in both design and operation phases. Understanding the factors that have the strongest influence on water quality is key to developing adequate strategies aimed at preserving it. This paper firstly analyses the factors with biggest influence in the tanks water age, to support the selection of the most appropriate configuration from the point of view of water quality during design phases. Then, the main considerations when modelling tanks following the different mixing models considered in Epanet have been presented. Also, a real tank behaviour has been characterised through field measurements and Epanet simulations in order to determine the best fitted mixing model.

Nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOx:H) is a multipurpose material with its varied application in solar cells as a transparent front contact, intermediate reflector, back reflector layer and even tunnel layer for passivating contacts, owing to easy tailoring of its optical properties. In this work, we systematically investigate the influence of gas mixture (SiH4, CO2, PH3 and H2), RF power and process pressure on the optical, structural and passivation properties of thin n-type nc-SiOx:H films prepared in an industrial, high throughput, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) reactor. We provide a detailed description of the n-type nc-SiOx:H material develop-ment using various characterization techniques (SEM, EDX, Raman spectroscopy, and spectro-scopic ellipsometry) with a focus on the relationship between the material properties and the pas-sivation they provide to n-type c-Si wafers characterized by their effective carrier lifetime (τeff). Further, we also outline the parameters to be kept in mind while developing different n-type nc-SiOx:H layers for different solar cell applications. We report a tunable optical gap (1.8 – 2.3 eV) for our n-type nc-SiOx:H films as well as excellent passivation properties with τeff up to 3.5 ms (iVoc ~ 715 mV) before annealing. Oxygen content plays an important role in determining the crystallinity and hence passivation quality of the deposited nanocrystalline silicon oxide films.

The term Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) refers generically to a class of positional and geometric conjugated dienoic isomers of linoleic acid. Among the isomers of linoleic acid cis9, trans11-CLA (c9, t11-CLA) and trans10, cis12-CLA (t10, c12-CLA) are found to be bio-logically active isomers, and they occur naturally in milk, dairy products and meat from ruminants. In addition, some vegetables and some sea-foods have also been reported to contain CLA. Although the CLA levels in these natural sources are insufficient to confer the essential health benefits, anti-carcinogenic or anti-cancer effects are of current interest. In the rumen, CLA is an intermediate of isomerization and the biohydrogenation process of linoleic acid to stearic acid conducted by ruminal microorganisms. In addition to rumen bacteria, some other bacteria, such as Propionibacterium, Bifidobacterium and some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are also capable of producing CLA. In this regard, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (formerly Lactobacillus plantarum) has demon-strated the ability to produce CLA isomers from linoleic acid by multiple enzymatic activi-ties, including hydration, dehydration, and isomerization. L. plantarum is one of the most versatile species of LAB and the bacterium is widely used in the food industry as a micro-bial food culture. The studies reviewed in this article reveal how, in the production of some fermented foods, the use of appropriate strains of L. plantarum, as a starter or additional culture, can be considered a critical factor in the design of new CLA-enriched functional foods.

Functional articular cartilage regeneration remains an unmet medical challenge, increasing the interest for innovative biomaterial-based tissue engineering (TE) strategies. Hydrogels, 3D macromolecular networks with hydrophilic groups, present articular cartilage-like features such as high water content and load-bearing capacity. In this study, 3D porous polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels were fabricated combining the gas foaming technique and an UV-based crosslinking strategy. The 3D porous PEGDA hydrogels were characterized in terms of their physical, structural and mechanical properties. Our results showed that the size of the hydrogels pores can be modulated by varying the initiator concentration. In vitro cytotoxicity tests showed that 3D porous PEGDA hydrogels presented high biocompatibility both with human chondrocytes and osteoblast-like cells. Importantly, the 3D porous PEGDA hydrogels supported the viability and chondrogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hBM-MSCs)-based spheroids as demonstrated by the positive staining of typical cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) (glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)) and upregulation of chondrogenesis marker genes. Overall, the produced 3D porous PEGDA hydrogels presented cartilage-like mechanical properties and supported MSC-spheroid chondrogenesis, highlighting their potential as suitable scaffolds for cartilage TE or disease modelling strategies.

The development of biofuels and biodiesel industry specifically, has resulted in the generation of large amounts of glycerol as a surplus. The conversion of glycerol, into chemicals with indus-trial interest, through anaerobic fermentation using E. coli as a biocatalyst is an attractive alter-native to improve economic performance in the biodiesel industry, for example through the bi-otransformation of residual glycerol into ethanol. For 2019, the size of the global ethanol market was valued at $ 89.1 billion US dollar. Biodiesel can be produced from several materials like rapeseed, palm, soya, corn, palm kernel, frying oil or olive-pomace oil (OPO). The last, can be extracted from alperujo, byproduct of olive oil process. However, olive-pomace oil converting into biodiesel is not enough established to achieve a global olive-oil/biodiesel derived process with minimized waste generation. Traditionally biodiesel production process produces an equivalent of 10% by mass of glycerol as a waste or by-product. This work explores the conver-sion of residual glycerol into chemicals like ethanol and hydrogen with a focus on projecting raw material potential availability from OPO, contributing to the promotion of the use of biofu-els and biodegradable compounds.

The wave energy converter (WEC) technology constantly develops new designs and models. To encourage its development within the energy sector, research is required to improve current designs and create durable and effective devices. However, it is also crucial to investigate the suitability of a WEC to a site-specific sea condition as this can impact its optimal power absorption and constructability. This study evaluates and compares the efficiency of a heaving buoy with varied geometries in one of the most energetic places along the Mexican coast. A statistical analysis of the wave climate on the coast of Ensenada during the last 42 years is performed to define the conditions to which the device is subjected. The location of the WEC in shallow waters is chosen using a computational model which solves the modified mild slope equation in its elliptic shape. The heaving buoy floater is studied using three distinct geometries: a semi-sphere, a cylinder, and a proposed rounded semi-rectangle. The hydrodynamic response of the three geometries is then analysed in the frequency and time domain using ANSYS AQWA. The hydrodynamic study involves the assessment of the floating body dynamics, exerted forces, the power absorbed as well as the suitability of the proposed power take-off (PTO) system. Findings reveal that the proposed geometry absorbs the most energy, with an annual power of 135.11 MW, and that the transmission PTO design is appropriate for this type of technology.

Polyelectrolyte-drug complexes are interesting alternatives to improve unfavourable drugs properties. Vancomycin (VAN) is an antimicrobial used in the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. It is generally administered intravenously with high incidence of adverse side effects, which could be reduced by intrapulmonary administration. Currently, there are no commercially available inhalable formulations containing VAN. Thus, the present work focuses on the preparation and characterization of an ionic complex between hyaluronic acid (HA) and VAN with potential use as inhalable formulations. Particulate-solid HA-VAN25 complex by spray drying from an aqueous dispersion was obtained. FTIR spectroscopy and thermal analysis confirmed the ionic interaction between HA and VAN, while an amorphous diffraction pattern by X-ray was observed. The powder density, geometric size and morphology showed a suitable aerosolization and aerodynamic performance of the powder, indicating the capability of reaching the deep lung. An in vitro extended-release profile of VAN from the complex was obtained, exceeding 24 hours. Microbiological assays against methicillin-resistant and -sensitive reference strains of Staphylococcus aureus, showed that VAN preserves its antibacterial efficacy. In conclusion, HA-VAN25 exhibited interesting properties for the development of inhalable formulations with potential efficacy and safety advantages over conventional treatment.

The ceramic sherds from approximately 20 samples of lead-glazed tableware, recovered from diverse archaeological sites, including three repurposed storage pits transformed into dumpsters within the medieval city of Santarém (13th-14th century), underwent a meticulous examination. This investigation utilized techniques such as micro-Raman, ground state diffuse reflectance absorption, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopies, in addition to X-ray diffraction and stereomicroscopy. A parallel study was conducted on contemporaneous European ceramics (glazed sherds) sourced from archaeological sites dating back to the 13th-15th centuries in Saintonge (France), Ardenne, Zomergem, and Bruges (Belgium), as well as Surrey-Hampshire, Kingston, and Cheam (England). The colour of the ceramic bodies is predominantly white or whitish, with a few exhibiting a vivid red hue. Ceramic sherds with a light paste composition were likely crafted using kaolin clays as raw materials. Analyses of fabric, mineralogical, and elemental composition of the sherds suggest that the majority of Santarém's glazed ceramics were locally or regionally produced, potentially derived from a Pliocene kaolin-rich sand formation. However, this conclusion is not supported by the absence of discovered lead glaze kilns or workshops in Santarém for the late Middle Ages. A distinctive feature from the European workshop ceramics lies in the quartz temper content and fabric.

The assimilation of Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) data into the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts) H-TESSEL (Hydrology revised - Tiled ECMWF Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land) model is presented. SMOS soil moisture (SM) estimates have been produced specifically by training a neural network with SMOS brightness temperatures as input and H-TESSEL model SM simulations as reference. This can help the assimilation of SMOS information in several ways: (1) the neural network soil moisture (NNSM) data have a similar climatology to the model, (2) no global bias is present with respect to the model even if regional differences can exist. Experiments performing joint data assimilation (DA) of NNSM, 2 metre air temperature and relative humidity or NNSM-only DA are discussed. The resulting SM was evaluated against a large number of in situ measurements of SM obtaining similar results to those of the model with no assimilation, even if significant differences were found from site to site. In addition, atmospheric forecasts initialized with H-TESSEL runs (without DA) or with the analysed SM were compared to measure of the impact of the satellite information. Although, NNSM DA has an overall neutral impact in the forecast in the Tropics, a significant positive impact was found in other areas and periods, especially in regions with limited in situ information. The joint NNSM, T2m and RH2m DA improves the forecast for all the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. The impact is mostly due to T2m and RH2m, but SMOS NN DA alone also improves the forecast in July- September. In the Northern Hemisphere, the joint NNSM, T2m and RH2m DA improves the forecast in April-September, while NNSM alone has a significant positive effect in July-September. Furthermore, forecasting skill maps show that SMOS NNSM improves the forecast in North America and in Northern Asia for up to 72 hours lead time.

There have been beaching events of the marine alga pelagic sargassum in coastal regions of the Caribbean Sea, West African countries, and the north-northeast region of Brazil since 2011. Its presence has caused environmental and socioeconomic impacts while several studies were conducted in order to understand the causes of this phenomenon, as well as alternatives to mitigate its impacts. The objective of this research was to evaluate pelagic sargassum biomass as a raw material for the manufacture of medium-density multilayer particleboards. These are composed of 30% sargassum particles in their inner layer and 70% sugarcane bagasse particles on their outer layers which are bonded with castor oil-based polyurethane resin. A physical and chemical characterization was carried out in order to evaluate sargassum particles while physical and mechanical tests were carried out in order to evaluate the panels. Results were subsequently compared with indications from NBR 14810-2:2018 and ISO 16893:2016 standards. A life cycle assessment based on ISO 14040:2006 and 14044:2006 was carried out as to complement the feasibility study of these panels and to compare their different manufacturing processes. The multilayer panels met the minimum requirements for physical and mechanical properties established by regulations, indicating that the Sargassum spp. biomass can be used as filling. The life cycle assessment study indicates that sargassum panels produced in the Belém-PA-Brazil region present lower environmental impacts in four of seven evaluated categories when compared to conventional panels. As such, they constitute an alternative way to mitigate environmental impacts generated by beaching events.

Ammonia can be considered a relevant compound in the future energy sector, playing a significant role as an energy carrier, storage, or carbon-free fuel. However, the production of this molecule has a high energy demand, and the use of natural gas, which is not free of controversy due to the accidental leakage into the atmosphere produced during extraction and the fact that it is a non-renewable source, contributes to increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the process’s energy demand and carbon footprint will be essential to making ammonia a clear alternative for a carbon-free economy. Given the vast experience in ammonia production and handling, this gas seems to be the logical step forward in the evolution of the energy sector. However, the current uncertainty in the global market requires cautiousness in decision-making. Several factors may impact economic growth and human welfare, thus needing a careful assessment before taking any transcendental decisions that could affect worldwide energy prices and raw material availability.

This analytical cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the association between glycemic control and peripheral arterial disease in patients with diabetic foot with more than ten years of evolution of diabetes mellitus who attended the diabetic foot outpatient clinic of the Guillermo Almenara National Hospital between June 2015 and February 2017. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) and ankle-brachial index (ABI) were used to diagnose glycemic control and peripheral arterial disease, respectively. A generalized Poisson log-linear regression model was used to calculate the crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios, with 95% confidence intervals, and a significance level of p < 0.05. 226 patients were included in the study, finding 23% (n=52) with good glycemic control, and 44.7% (n=101) with peripheral arterial disease. The adjusted model found statistically significant associations for glycemic control, age, and sedentary lifestyle with peripheral arterial disease. Compared with patients with good glycemic control, those with poor glycemic control had a 34% higher probability of presenting peripheral arterial disease (aPR: 1.34, 95%CI: 1.01-1.79, p=0.045). The prevalence of good glycemic control in the population with diabetic foot is low. Poor glycemic control was found to be independently associated with the presence of peripheral arterial disease.

Abstract: Turmeric is a plant with multiple medicinal attributes. One of them being its analgesic effect. In this project the analgesic effect of the plant was evaluated with an inflammatory pain model: the 5% formalin model. Turmeric was administered to 250 g male Wistar rats (6 ± 2) provided by the Health Science department’s vivarium. The dose-response curve of the plant was per-formed observing the analgesic effect. Once the dose was selected, they were administrated within different turmeric protocols. 400 mg orally every 24 h for two weeks, another group with turmeric ad libitum for two weeks, the control group with 0.9% saline solution for two weeks, and a group with administration of metamizole prior to evaluation with 5% formalin. Subsequently, each rat was evaluated by 5% formalin intraplantarly and the number of rat paw twitches per 1 h was observed. The analysis of the data generated through the obtained results was carried out. The dose of 400 mg of oral turmeric was administered for two weeks without observing any collateral effects. An excellent analgesic effect was found in this protocol, as well as, in the ad libitum administration for two weeks compared to the control group. Likewise, turmeric presents a milder effect than metamizole, a well-known analgesic.

The binding activity of various trastuzumab biosimilars versus the branded trastuzumab towards the glycosylated extracellular domain of the HER2 target in the presence of pertuzumab was in-vestigated. We employed size exclusion chromatography with tetra-detection methodology to simultaneously determine absolute molecular weight, concentration, molecular size, and intrinsic viscosity. All trastuzumab molecules in solution exhibit analogous behavior in their binary action towards HER2 regardless of the order of addition of trastuzumab/pertuzumab. This analogous behavior of all trastuzumab molecules, including biosimilars, highlights the robustness and con-sistency of their binding activity towards HER2. Furthermore, the addition of HER2 to a mixture of trastuzumab and pertuzumab leads to increased formation of high-order HER2 complexes, up to concentrations of one order of magnitude higher than in the case of sequential addition. The observed increase suggests a potential synergistic effect between these antibodies, which could enhance their therapeutic efficacy in HER2-positive cancers. These findings underscore the im-portance of understanding the complex interplay between therapeutic antibodies and their target antigens, providing valuable insights for the development of more effective treatment strategies.

Alternaria brown spot (ABS) is a disease caused by the fungus Alternaria alternata f. sp. citri, which results in lesions on fruits, leaves, and branches of several mandarin varieties and their hybrids. Due to the high cost of fungicide application, alternative methods for controlling ABS need to be studied. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the use of essential oils (EOs) from different mandarin varieties to mitigate the effects of ABS. The inhibitory effect of different concentrations (1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 μL mL-1) of Fremont IAC 543 mandarin, IAC 2019Maria mandarin, Murcott IAC 221 tangor, and Late IAC 855 willowleaf. EOs on the in vitro mycelial growth of the fungus A. alternata was evaluated. Additionally, the curative and preventive effects of these EOs on ABS symptoms on detached leaves of Murcott IAC 221 tangor were also assessed. The EO of IAC 2019Maria mandarin induced less mycelial growth, and consequently, greater inhibition of the growth of the fungus A. alternata at a concentration of 16 μL mL-1. This EO was more effective in control than the other oils tested. In the detached leaf experiment, both the curative and preventive treatments at a concentration of 16 μL mL-1 showed lower values of disease severity.

The transcriptional response of human blood leukocytes to SARS-CoV-2 infection was investigated focusing on the differences between mild and severe cases and between age subgroups. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and comparative gene expression analysis were used. Three transcriptional modules positively associated with the traits of interest and their respective high hierarchy genes were identified. Enrichment analyses showed that the yellow module, associated with severe cases and older patients, had an overrepresentation of genes involved in inflammatory and innate immune responses, and neutrophil activation. The magenta and black modules, associated with disease severity and younger patients, contained genes related to innate immunity and inflammation and genes that regulate those responses. Subnetworks for these modules were constructed using genes enriched for innate immunity, inflammation, immunoregulation and differentially expressed genes (severe vs. mild). Their analysis evidenced that immunoregulatory functions are more activated in the modules associated with younger patients, what may help to explain the better disease course and faster recovery observed in younger COVID-19 patients. Comparative gene expression analysis between severe and mild groups, followed by gene enrichment and normalized gene expression analyses, revelated a set of 23 potential biomarkers for COVID-19 severity, of which 13 are newly described.

Abstract: Understanding the reliability and sensitivity of jump testing is essential to determine the neuromuscular progress of athletes and make informed decisions. This study aimed to assess the reliability and sensitivity of countermovement jump (CMJ) and drop jump (DJ) tests metrics in female volleyball players. Sixteen semi-professional female volleyball players participated in the study. Intrasession and intersession reliability of CMJ and DJ metrics were evaluated using a randomized cross-over design. Dual force platform was used to collect data, and several dependent variables were calculated using forward dynamics. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficients of variation (CV) and minimum difference (MD) were calculated. The third attempt presented the highest values for both test, and changes in jump strategy in DJ. CMJ is consistent across sessions, while DJ also shows intersession differences (p<0.05) in 11 out of 15 variables. Most CMJ variables exhibit excellent reliability while DJ variables have lower reliability and higher variability. Concentric and eccentric impulses for DJ showed excellent reliability. Most CMJ variables showed excellent reliability and variability, DJ had lower reliability, higher variability, and lower sensitivity. These findings provide valuable information when assessing athletes' performance and highlight the reliability, sensitivity, and variability in jump performance for CMJ and DJ tests.

Turner syndrome (TS) is caused by a complete or partial absence of an X or Y chromosome, including chromosomal mosaicism, affecting 1 in 2,500 female live births. Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) is used as a sensitive indicator of spontaneous chromosome instability. Cells from mosaic patients constitute useful material for SCE evaluations as they grow under the influence of the same genetic background and endogenous and exogenous factors. We evaluated proliferation dynamics and SCE frequencies of 45,X and 46,XN cells of 17 mosaic TS patients. In two participants, 45,X cells exhibited a proliferative disadvantage in relation to 46,XN cells after 72h of cultivation. The analysis of mean PI showed significant differences between 45,X and 46,XN lineages; however there were no intraindividual differences. On the other hand, mean SCE frequencies showed no differences between the two lineages, but there were intraindividual differences in 5 patients. The absence of mean SCE frequency differences between 45,X and 46,XN lineages may indicate that both were equally unstable, as more than 70% of the 46,XN lineages had an anomalous karyotype. However, 46,XN had a higher mean PI, suggesting that the amount of cells with a karyotype distinct from 45,X may increase with time in mosaic TS women.

The aim of this work was to classify the business incubators in Spain according to the four phases of startups incubation. Taking into account that the graduation rate implies greater survival and business success of the incubated companies, they have been identified at each stage of the incubation (spread of entrepreneurship, pre-incubation, advanced incubation, and graduation). The activities that present higher impacts on the success of the incubated companies and the activities carried out by the incubator that have a greater relevance on the graduation of the companies have concretely been considered. Principal component (PC) cluster analysis have been applied. All the incubation variables were used simultaneously, reducing their number, and grouping them into factors, finally the cases were grouped according to these latent variables. Principal components analysis reduced dimensionality to 8 factors with a 74 % of explained variance. Factor 1 was positively related to pre-incubation variables, factor 2 was linked to training and collaboration variables within the entrepreneurship diffusion phase. Factor 3 called activity monitoring and control and was related to phase 3 or basic incubation variables. Clusters analysis facilitates the grouping of incubators into three clusters: Group 1 (16 % of the total), incubators with strong deficits in incubation phases 1, 2 and 3. They are small Business Incubators, often located in rural areas or cities and low graduation rate. Group 2 (30 %), business incubators with very high graduation rate, and strongly positive values in factor 1 and 2. Factor 3 although positive is susceptible to improvement. They are the largest incubators and usually located in industrial and technological parks. Group 3 (54 %) is the majority, with values close to cluster 2 and 3.

In voice analysis, the electroglottographic (EGG) signal has long been recognized as a useful complement to the acoustic signal, if only when the vocal folds are actually contacting, such that this signal has an appreciable amplitude. However, phonation can occur also without vocal fold contacting, as in breathy voice, in which case the EGG amplitude is low, but not zero. It is of great interest to identify the transition from non-contacting to contacting, because this will substantially change the nature of the vocal fold oscillations; yet that transition is not in itself audible. The magnitude of the normalized peak derivative of the EGG signal is a convenient indicator of contacting, but no current EGG hardware has a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio of the derivative. The textbook techniques of spectral thresholding and static notch filtering are straightforward to implement, can run in real time, and can mitigate several noise problems in EGG hardware.

Recently quantum cosmology in tomographic representation was considered. as an important tool to analyze the quantum states of the early universe in relation with the subsequent classical evolution. Given a wave function the correspondent tomogram is defined proportional to the square modulus of its fractional Fourier transform. The classical limit obtained by taking the limit ℏ→0 can be compared with the classical tomogram obtained from the classical hamiltonian formalism. In this paper we show that a set of tomograms can be derived as exact solutions of a third order equation when a de Sitter quantum universe is considered. We finally discuss the limits of this approach to quantum cosmology because the extension to equations with arbitrary potentials can become extremely complicated for potentials given by algebraic polynomials of degree greater than two and therefore also for potentials expressible by arbitrary functions.