Vascular disease modeling using induced pluripotent stem cells: Focus in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome

Transparency document related to this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2015.10.014Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent today an invaluable tool to create disease cell models for modeling and drug screening. Several lines of iPSCs have been generated in the last 7 years that changed the paradigm for studying diseases and the discovery of new drugs to treat them. In this article we focus our attention to vascular diseases in particular Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), a devastating premature aging disease caused by a mutation in the lamin A gene. In general, patients die because of myocardial infarction or stroke. Because the patients are fragile the isolation of a particular type of cells is very difficult. Therefore in the last 5 years, researchers have used cells derived from iPSCs to model aspects of the HGPS and to screen libraries of chemicals to retard or treat the disease.This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/SAU-TOX/121887/2010; SFRH/BD/71042/2010; SFRH/BD/51678/2011; SFRH/BPD/79323/2011) and COMPETE funding (Project “Stem cell based platforms for Regenerative and Therapeutic Medicine”, Centro-07-ST24-FEDER-002008). The authors declare no conflict of interest to disclose

Kinetic insights on wet peroxide oxidation of caffeine using EDTA-functionalized low-cost catalysts prepared from compost generated in municipal solid waste treatment facilities

Nowadays, sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste is typically treated by anaerobic digestion processes, resulting therein a solid stream, further processed to obtain compost, whose production is higher than the existing demand as fertilizer. The current work proposes an alternative strategy for the recovering of compost through the production of low-cost catalysts by calcination (1073 K) and sulfuric acid treatments, followed by sequential functionalization with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA). Activity and stability of the catalysts are assessed in the wet peroxide oxidation of synthetic wastewater effluents contaminated with caffeine, a model micro-pollutant, achieving its complete removal after 6 h at 353– 383 K and catalyst loads of 0.5–2.5 g L−1. The increase of the catalytic activity of the materials upon functionalization with TEOS and EDTA is demonstrated and a kinetic modeling of caffeine degradation and hydrogen peroxide consumption with the best catalyst is assessed by pseudo-first power-law rate equations.This work was financially supported by project ‘‘VALORCOMP - Valorización de compost y otros desechos procedentes de la fracción orgánica de los residuos municipales’’, 0119_VALORCOMP_2_P, through FEDER under Program INTERREG; and CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) through FEDER under Program PT2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Visual behaviour and decision-making in attack situations in volleyball

El objetivo de estudio fue comparar el comportamento visual (número y duración de las fijaciones visuales) y la toma de decisiones (TD) en el análisis de escenas de ataque en voleibol, entre entrenadores y jóvenes jugadores. Participaron 59 sujetos - 34 entrenadores (M=32.5; DT=9.4) con experiencia como jugadores y entrenadores de voleibol (M=16.78; DT=11.09), y 25 jugadores (M=16.9; DT=1) con experiencia como jugadores de voleibol (M=3.72; DT=1.17). Para el análisis de la calidad de la TD se emplearon las escenas de ataque del Test de Conocimiento Táctico Declarativo en Voleibol (TCTD:Vb). Para el análisis del comportamiento visual se utilizó el Eye Tracking SMI RED500® durante el análisis de las escenas. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas en la duración de las fijaciones siendo mayores en el grupo de los entrenadores. Concluye que existe un patrón similar de comportamiento visual en la comparación entre los grupos únicamente diferenciado por la duración de las fijaciones visualesThe objective of comparing visual behavior (number and duration of visual fixations) and decision-making (DM) in the analysis of attack scenes in volleyball, between coaches and young players. 59 subjects will participate – 34 coaches (M = 16.7, SD = 9.4) with experience as players and volleyball coaches (M = 16.78, SD = 11.09), and 25 players (M = 16.9, SD = 1) with experience as volleyball players (M = 3.72 , SD = 1.17). For the analysis of DM quality, the attack scenes of the Tactical Declarative Knowledge Test in Volleyball (TDKT:Vb) were used. For the analysis of visual behavior, the Eye Tracking SMI RED500® was used during the analysis of the scenes. The results show significant differences in duration of fixations being greater for the coaches group. It concludes that there is a similar pattern of visual behavior in the comparison between groups only differentiated by the duration of the visual fixation

Avaliação da atividade celulásica e quitinásica de estirpes de Bacillus thuringiensis ativas contra Spodoptera frugiperda, Anticarsia gemmatalis e Anthonomus grandis.

bitstream/CENARGEN/29753/1/bp211.pd

Application of catalysts developed from compost derived from municipal solid waste in the removal of caffeine by wet peroxide oxidation

Nowadays, waste management through mechanical biological treatment (MBT) consists on the use of the separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) to feed anaerobic digestion processes, resulting therein a solid stream, further processed to compost, which can be used as fertilizer. Currently, the production of compost from MBT is higher than the existing demand, and the expected developments on up-coming directives ruling “End-of-waste” criteria are leading to barriers on the use of waste-derived fertilizers (European Commision, 2013). In this context, the current work proposes an alternative strategy to the valorisation of compost, through the production of low-cost materials to be applied in the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of synthetic wastewater effluents contaminated with caffeine, used as a model pollutant of emerging concern. Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive drug worldwide. It is one of the components of painkillers, medication against migraine, fatigue, drowsiness and breathing problems. Its consumption is also associated with an overall lower risk of malignant growth like hepatocellular, endometrial or colorectal cancer (Ganzenko et al., 2015). However, the effect of caffeine and its environmental degradation products on aquatic living species is not properly known. Caffeine, is a world wide consumed psychoactive drug, in a way that becomes a persistent compound and cannot be efficiently removed by municipal wastewater treatment facilities (Ganzenko et al., 2015). As a consequence, caffeine and its metabolites are present in the effluents of wastewater treatment plants (Gracia-Lor et al., 2017).This work was financially supported by project “VALORCOMP - Valorización de compost y otros desechos procedentes de la fracción orgánica de los residuos municipales”, 0119_VALORCOMP_2_P, and project “AIProcMat@N2020 - Advanced Industrial Processes and Materials for a Sustainable Northern Region of Portugal 2020”, reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000006, supported by NORTE 2020, under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through FEDER, and Project Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM - UID/EQU/50020/2019 - funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Carta controle de média como ferramenta de garantia da qualidade dos ensaios de toxicidade de Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis a larvas de Aedes aegypti.

Sinconbiol

Factors associated with inflamm-aging in institutionalized older people

The increase in inflammatory cytokines associated with a reduction in the bioavailability of zinc has been used as a marker for inflammation. Despite the high inflammatory state found in institutionalized older individuals, few studies have proposed verifying the factors associated with this condition in this population. To verify the factors associated with inflamm-aging in institutionalized older people. A total of 178 older people (≥ 60 years old) living in nursing homes in Natal/RN were included in the study. Cluster analysis was used to identify three groups according to their inflammatory state. Analysis anthropometric, biochemical, sociodemographic, and health-related variables was carried out. In sequence, an ordinal logistic regression was performed for a confidence level of 95% in those variables with p < 0.20 in the bivariate analysis. IL-6, TNF-α, zinc, low-density lipids (LDL), high-density lipids (HDL), and triglycerides were associated with inflamm-aging. The increase of 1 unit of measurement of LDL, HDL, and triglycerides increased the chance of inflammation-aging by 1.5%, 4.1%, and 0.9%, respectively, while the oldest old (≥ 80 years old) had an 84.9% chance of presenting inflamm-aging in relation to non-long-lived older people (< 80 years). The association between biochemical markers and inflamm-aging demonstrates a relationship between endothelial injury and the inflammatory state. In addition, the presence of a greater amount of fat in the blood may present a higher relative risk of death