Protein-olive oil-in-water nanoemulsions as encapsulation materials for curcumin acting as anticancer agent towards MDA-MB-231 cells

The sustainable cellular delivery of the pleiotropic drug curcumin encounters drawbacks related to its fast autoxidation at the physiological pH, cytotoxicity of delivery vehicles and poor cellular uptake. A biomaterial compatible with curcumin and with the appropriate structure to allow the correct curcumin encapsulation considering its poor solubility in water, while maintaining its stability for a safe release was developed. In this work, the biomaterial developed started by the preparation of an oil-in-water nanoemulsion using with a cytocompatible copolymer (Pluronic F 127) coated with a positively charged protein (gelatin), designed as G-Cur-NE, to mitigate the cytotoxicity issue of curcumin. These G-Cur-NE showed excellent capacity to stabilize curcumin, to increase its bio-accessibility, while allowing to arrest its autoxidation during its successful application as an anticancer agent proved by the disintegration of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells as a proof of concept

Nitrogen mineralization from organic amendments predicted by laboratory and field incubations

Reliable methods to estimate nitrogen (N) mineralization from organic amendments are needed to improve the fertilization recommendations for organic horticultural crops. With this aim, N mineralization from farmyard manure compost (FYMC), commercial organic fertilizer (COF) based on materials that are prompt to rapid N mineralization and green manure was determined in field situation where environmental factors affect mineralization rates and under controlled laboratory conditions that may not reflect conditions in the field. The ability of field and laboratory incubations to predict N mineralization was estimated during a field organic crop rotation set up with a cover crop of rye and vetch, followed by Portuguese cabbage and carrot. The relationship between mineralized N in field incubation and crop N accumulation suggests that field incubation is effective to predict N mineralization from FYMC, COF and green manure. However, the pattern of N mineralization from FYMC and green manure was different in field and laboratory incubation conditions as opposed to N mineralization from COF that was similar in both incubations. ? 2020, ? 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.6B1D-516F-1A2A | Lu?s Miguel Cortez Mesquita de BritoN/

Evaluation of the Allelopathic Potential of Leaf, Stem, and Root Extracts of Ocotea pulchella NEES ET MART

Despite the increase in recent decades in herbicide research on the potential of native plants, current knowledge is considered to be low. Very few studies have been carried out on the chemical profile or the biological activity of the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) species. In the study reported here, the allelopathic activity of AcOEt and MeOH extracts of leaves, stems, and roots from Ocotea pulchella NEES was evaluated. The extracts were assayed on etiolated wheat coleoptiles. The AcOEt leaf extract was the most active and this was tested on standard target species (STS). Lycopersicon esculentum and Lactuca sativa were the most sensitive species in this test. A total of eleven compounds have been isolated and characterized. Compounds 1, 2, 4, and 6 have not been identified previously from O. pulchella and ocoteol (9) is reported for the first time in the literature. Eight compounds were tested on wheat coleoptile growth, and spathulenol, benzyl salicylate, and benzyl benzoate showed the highest activities. These compounds showed inhibitory activity on L. esculentum. The values obtained correspond to the activity exhibited by the extract and these compounds may therefore be responsible for the allelopathic activity shown by O. pulchella

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Proteomic Analysis Reveals That Iron Availability Alters the Metabolic Status of the Pathogenic Fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a thermodimorphic fungus and the causative agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). The ability of P. brasiliensis to uptake nutrients is fundamental for growth, but a reduction in the availability of iron and other nutrients is a host defense mechanism many pathogenic fungi must overcome. Thus, fungal mechanisms that scavenge iron from host may contribute to P. brasiliensis virulence. In order to better understand how P. brasiliensis adapts to iron starvation in the host we compared the two-dimensional (2D) gel protein profile of yeast cells during iron starvation to that of iron rich condition. Protein spots were selected for comparative analysis based on the protein staining intensity as determined by image analysis. A total of 1752 protein spots were selected for comparison, and a total of 274 out of the 1752 protein spots were determined to have changed significantly in abundance due to iron depletion. Ninety six of the 274 proteins were grouped into the following functional categories; energy, metabolism, cell rescue, virulence, cell cycle, protein synthesis, protein fate, transcription, cellular communication, and cell fate. A correlation between protein and transcript levels was also discovered using quantitative RT-PCR analysis from RNA obtained from P. brasiliensis under iron restricting conditions and from yeast cells isolated from infected mouse spleens. In addition, western blot analysis and enzyme activity assays validated the differential regulation of proteins identified by 2-D gel analysis. We observed an increase in glycolytic pathway protein regulation while tricarboxylic acid cycle, glyoxylate and methylcitrate cycles, and electron transport chain proteins decreased in abundance under iron limiting conditions. These data suggest a remodeling of P. brasiliensis metabolism by prioritizing iron independent pathways