Sustainable strategies based on glycine–betaine analogue ionic liquids for the recovery of monoclonal antibodies from cell culture supernatants

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are of crucial interest for therapeutic purposes, particularly in vaccination and immunization, and in the treatment of life-threatening diseases. However, their downstream processing from the complex cell culture media in which they are produced still requires multiple steps, making mAbs extremely high-cost products. Therefore, the development of cost-effective, sustainable and biocompatible purification strategies for mAbs is in high demand to decrease the associated economic, environmental and health burdens. Herein, novel aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of glycine–betaine analogue ionic liquids (AGB-ILs) and K2HPO4/KH2PO4 at pH 7.0, the respective three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems, and hybrid processes combined with ultrafiltration were investigated and compared in terms of performance as alternative strategies for the purification and recovery of anti-human interleukin-8 (anti-IL-8) mAbs, which are specific therapeutics in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture supernatants. With the studied ABS, mAbs preferentially partition to the IL-rich phase, with recovery yields up to 100% and purification factors up to 1.6. The best systems were optimized in what concerns the IL concentration, allowing to take advantage of IL-based three-phase partitioning approaches where a precipitate enriched in mAbs is obtained at the ABS interface, yielding 41.0% of IgG with a purification factor of 2.7 (purity of 60.9%). Hybrid processes combining the two previous techniques and an ultrafiltration step were finally applied, allowing the recovery of mAbs from the different fractions in an appropriate buffer solution for further biopharmaceutical formulations, while allowing the simultaneous IL removal and reuse. The best results were obtained with the hybrid process combining TPP and ultrafiltration, allowing to obtain mAbs with a purity higher than 60%. The recyclability of the IL was additionally demonstrated, revealing no losses in the purification and recovery performance of these systems for mAbs. The biological activity of anti-IL-8 mAbs is maintained after the several purification and recovery steps, indicating that the novel ABS, three-phase partitioning and hybrid processes comprising AGB-ILs are promising and sustainable strategies in mAbs downstream processing.publishe

Ecological Implications of Extreme Events: Footprints of the 2010 Earthquake along the Chilean Coast

Deciphering ecological effects of major catastrophic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, storms and fires, requires rapid interdisciplinary efforts often hampered by a lack of pre-event data. Using results of intertidal surveys conducted shortly before and immediately after Chile's 2010 Mw 8.8 earthquake along the entire rupture zone (ca. 34–38°S), we provide the first quantification of earthquake and tsunami effects on sandy beach ecosystems. Our study incorporated anthropogenic coastal development as a key design factor. Ecological responses of beach ecosystems were strongly affected by the magnitude of land-level change. Subsidence along the northern rupture segment combined with tsunami-associated disturbance and drowned beaches. In contrast, along the co-seismically uplifted southern rupture, beaches widened and flattened increasing habitat availability. Post-event changes in abundance and distribution of mobile intertidal invertebrates were not uniform, varying with land-level change, tsunami height and coastal development. On beaches where subsidence occurred, intertidal zones and their associated species disappeared. On some beaches, uplift of rocky sub-tidal substrate eliminated low intertidal sand beach habitat for ecologically important species. On others, unexpected interactions of uplift with man-made coastal armouring included restoration of upper and mid-intertidal habitat seaward of armouring followed by rapid colonization of mobile crustaceans typical of these zones formerly excluded by constraints imposed by the armouring structures. Responses of coastal ecosystems to major earthquakes appear to vary strongly with land-level change, the mobility of the biota and shore type. Our results show that interactions of extreme events with human-altered shorelines can produce surprising ecological outcomes, and suggest these complex responses to landscape alteration can leave lasting footprints in coastal ecosystems

Epidemiology and pathogenesis of maternal-fetal transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi and a case for vaccine development against congenital Chagas disease

Trypanos o ma cruzi (T. cruzi or Tc) is the causative agent of Chagas disease (CD). It is common for patients to suffer from non-specific symptoms or be clinically asymptomatic with acute and chronic conditions acquired through various routes of transmission. The expecting women and their fetuses are vulnerable to congenital transmission of Tc. Pregnant women face formidable health challenges because the frontline antiparasitic drugs, benznidazole and nifurtimox, are contraindicated during pregnancy. However, it is worthwhile to highlight that newborns can be cured if they are diagnosed and given treatment in a timely manner. In this review, we discuss the pathogenesis of maternal-fetal transmission of Tc and provide a justification for the investment in the development of vaccines against congenital CD.Fil: Rios, Lizette. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Campos, Emiliano Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Instituto de Patología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Menon, Ramkumar. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Zago, María Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Instituto de Patología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Garg, Nisha J.. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados Unido

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly

The tropical forest carbon sink is known to be drought sensitive, but it is unclear which forests are the most vulnerable to extreme events. Forests with hotter and drier baseline conditions may be protected by prior adaptation, or more vulnerable because they operate closer to physiological limits. Here we report that forests in drier South American climates experienced the greatest impacts of the 2015–2016 El Niño, indicating greater vulnerability to extreme temperatures and drought. The long-term, ground-measured tree-by-tree responses of 123 forest plots across tropical South America show that the biomass carbon sink ceased during the event with carbon balance becoming indistinguishable from zero (−0.02 ± 0.37 Mg C ha −1 per year). However, intact tropical South American forests overall were no more sensitive to the extreme 2015–2016 El Niño than to previous less intense events, remaining a key defence against climate change as long as they are protected

Anales del III Congreso Internacional de Vivienda y Ciudad "Debate en torno a la nueva agenda urbana"

Acta de congresoEl III Congreso Internacional de Vivienda y Ciudad “Debates en torno a la NUEVa Agenda Urbana”, ha sido una apuesta de alto compromiso por acercar los debates centrales y urgentes que tensionan el pleno ejercicio del derecho a la ciudad. Para ello las instituciones organizadoras (INVIHAB –Instituto de Investigación de Vivienda y Hábitat y MGyDH-Maestría en Gestión y Desarrollo Habitacional-1), hemos convidado un espacio que se concretó con potencia en un debate transdisciplinario. Convocó a intelectuales de prestigio internacional, investigadores, académicos y gestores estatales, y en una metodología de innovación articuló las voces académicas con las de las organizaciones sociales y/o barriales en el Foro de las Organizaciones Sociales que tuvo su espacio propio para dar voz a quienes están trabajando en los desafíos para garantizar los derechos a la vivienda y los bienes urbanos en nuestras ciudades del Siglo XXI

Effects of the passage of atmospheric cyclones over the ocean in the Brazil-Malvinas confluence

on.The atmospheric region over the Western South Atlantic (WSA), between 15S and 50S, presents an intense cyclogenetic activity, with the frequent passage of cyclones over the ocean. Incidentaly, that is the region of confluence of two major western boundary currents, the Brazil Current and the Malvinas Current, and one of the most eddy-energetic regions of the oceans. As part of a numerical study of the oceanic circulation in the South Atlantic, a series of experiments with an implementation of the Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM) were run to investigate the effect of the passage of such atmospheric phenomena. In these experiments, the model was forced initially with monthly means of the wind stress. After reaching a state of statistical equilibrium, the amospheric perturbations were then introduced. Among the objectives of these experiments was an investigation of the effect of the relative size of the cyclones. For that, two main sets of simulations were explored. The diameter of the cylone in one case was twice the size of the other. The results show that the smaller cyclone generates perturbations in the sea level in a much smaller region, as compared with the larger one. However, the perturbations caused by the smaller cyclone last much longer than those produced by the larger one. Analises of the surface velocity divergence field show the appearance of wave trains along the tracks of the cyclones, with characteristics of those classified as ``Lee Waves'' by other authors. The results also show that a considerable part of the energy transfered to the ocean during the passage of the cyclones are transported towards the Brazil-Malvinas confluence region, were it remains trapped long after the cyclones have vanished. This might imply in a possible mechanism for the excitation of meso-scale instabilities in that regi