Structural and physical properties of antibacterial Ag-doped nano-hydroxyapatite synthesized at 100°C

Synthesis of nanosized particle of Ag-doped hydroxyapatite with antibacterial properties is in the great interest in the development of new biomedical applications. In this article, we propose a method for synthesized the Ag-doped nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite. A silver-doped nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite was synthesized at 100°C in deionized water. Other phase or impurities were not observed. Silver-doped hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (Ag:HAp) were performed by setting the atomic ratio of Ag/[Ag + Ca] at 20% and [Ca + Ag]/P as 1.67. The X-ray diffraction studies demonstrate that powders made by co-precipitation at 100°C exhibit the apatite characteristics with good crystal structure and no new phase or impurity is found. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations suggest that these materials present a little different morphology, which reveals a homogeneous aspect of the synthesized particles for all samples. The presence of calcium (Ca), phosphor (P), oxygen (O), and silver (Ag) in the Ag:HAp is confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis. FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopies revealed that the presence of the various vibrational modes corresponds to phosphates and hydroxyl groups. The strain of Staphylococcus aureus was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the Ca10-xAgx(PO4)6(OH)2 (x = 0 and 0.2). In vitro bacterial adhesion study indicated a significant difference between HAp (x = 0) and Ag:HAp (x = 0.2). The Ag:Hap nanopowder showed higher inhibition

Ecological agriculture and biodiversity -relationships, congruences, objective conditions and perceptions of local actors

Ecological agriculture provides a favourable framework for maintaining biodiversity by using economically and socially efficient friendly farming practices, generating modern attributes to rural communities and offering a different lifestyle and a different quality of life to the entire society. In two counties ranking in the top ten counties with areas cultivated under organic farming system, Cluj and Suceava, there are positive implications of these farming practices on biological diversity. Qualitative research methods were used to see the local/rural actors’ opinion on this topic: hybrid forum and in-depth-interviews. Farmers’ decisions to adopt sustainable practices for the environment, which provide positive externalities for biodiversity, water, soil and landscapes, are generated by business-specific economic and social rationality tending to achieve profit specific objectives by using traditional knowledge and skills from the intangible rural heritage

Anti-tumoural activity of the G-quadruplex ligand pyridostatin against BRCA1/2-deficient tumours

BRCA2; DNA damage responses; PyridostatinBRCA2; Respostes al dany de l'ADN; PiridostatinaBRCA2; Respuestas al daño del ADN; PiridotatinaThe cells with compromised BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) function accumulate stalled replication forks, which leads to replication-associated DNA damage and genomic instability, a signature of BRCA1/2-mutated tumours. Targeted therapies against BRCA1/2-mutated tumours exploit this vulnerability by introducing additional DNA lesions. Because homologous recombination (HR) repair is abrogated in the absence of BRCA1 or BRCA2, these lesions are specifically lethal to tumour cells, but not to the healthy tissue. Ligands that bind and stabilise G-quadruplexes (G4s) have recently emerged as a class of compounds that selectively eliminate the cells and tumours lacking BRCA1 or BRCA2. Pyridostatin is a small molecule that binds G4s and is specifically toxic to BRCA1/2-deficient cells in vitro. However, its in vivo potential has not yet been evaluated. Here, we demonstrate that pyridostatin exhibits a high specific activity against BRCA1/2-deficient tumours, including patient-derived xenograft tumours that have acquired PARP inhibitor (PARPi) resistance. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that pyridostatin disrupts replication leading to DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) that can be repaired in the absence of BRCA1/2 by canonical non-homologous end joining (C-NHEJ). Consistent with this, chemical inhibitors of DNA-PKcs, a core component of C-NHEJ kinase activity, act synergistically with pyridostatin in eliminating BRCA1/2-deficient cells and tumours. Furthermore, we demonstrate that pyridostatin triggers cGAS/STING-dependent innate immune responses when BRCA1 or BRCA2 is abrogated. Paclitaxel, a drug routinely used in cancer chemotherapy, potentiates the in vivo toxicity of pyridostatin. Overall, our results demonstrate that pyridostatin is a compound suitable for further therapeutic development, alone or in combination with paclitaxel and DNA-PKcs inhibitors, for the benefit of cancer patients carrying BRCA1/2 mutations.Research in A.B. laboratory is supported by grants of Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC # 21579), Ministry of Health (CO 2019-12369662) and from IRCCS-Regina Elena Cancer Institute. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 722729 (F.J.G.). Research in M.T. laboratory is supported by Cancer Research UK (DRCPGM\100001), Medical Research Council and University of Oxford. A.R. received support from the UK Medical Research Council grant MC_PC_12006. V.S. received support from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CPII19/00033, PI17/01080), GHD pink and the FERO Foundation

How are ecological approaches justified in European rural development policy? Evidence from a content analysis of CAP and rural development discourses

Ecological approaches to farming are gaining increasing interest in the EU's Rural Development (RD) policy. From a societal perspective, these approaches are expected to deliver public goods in terms of environmental and social benefits for both consumers and rural actors. This study aims to investigate the policy discourses that are being used in the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) of Sweden, France, Bavaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania to depict and justify the support for ecological approaches across three programming periods of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). For this purpose, a model integrating both CAP and RD discourses was developed and applied using deductive content analysis focused on the policy documents of RDPs. The results suggest that during the entire CAP period from 2000 to 2020, ecological approaches were mainly justified in a multifunctionality discourse, especially with the two RD discourses of i) nature conservation in all considered EU member states and regions, with the exception of Sweden, and ii) agri-ruralism, including Sweden. The neomercantilist discourse appears to be the third most dominant discourse in the two most recent CAP periods from 2007 to 2013 and 2014–2020, becoming more prominent between these two periods. Ecological approaches are almost never advocated along liberal lines as the neo-liberalist discourse is almost absent. These results highlight that these six EU member states and regions recognize the potential of these approaches for delivering public goods, despite a lesser emphasis on socio-economic benefit

Synthesis, Structure, and Luminescent Properties of Europium-Doped Hydroxyapatite Nanocrystalline Powders

The luminescent europium-doped hydroxyapatite (Eu:HAp, Ca10−xEux(PO4)6(OH)2) with 0≤x≤0.2 nanocrystalline powders was synthesized by coprecipitation. The structural, morphological, and textural properties were well characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The vibrational studies were performed by Fourier transform infrared, Raman, and photoluminescence spectroscopies. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that hydroxyapatite is the unique crystalline constituent of all the samples, indicating that Eu has been successfully inserted into the HAp lattice. Eu doping inhibits HAp crystallization, leading to a decrease of the average crystallite size from around 20 nm in the undoped sample to around 7 nm in the sample with the highest Eu concentration. Furthermore, the samples show the characteristic 5D0→7F0 transition observed at 578 nm related to Eu3+ ions distributed on Ca2+ sites of the apatitic structure

Legislation and political discourse about ecological farming

The deliverable D6.1 of the LIFT project explores what types of discourses are used in six European Union (EU) member states’ Rural Development Programs (RDP) and other agricultural policy documents and how they incorporate ecological approaches acrossthree Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) periods. This multiple case study highlights similarities and differences in the dominant discourses as emerging from national policy documents in the following selected EU member states: France, Germany (Bavaria), Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. It also demonstrates how discourse analysis can be used to gain understanding about the dominant discourses expressed in these documents in relation to how ecological approaches are defined, the policy rationale for encouraging ecological approaches and the expected consequences of doing so. Conceptually, we focused on two types of discourses identified from the literature: 1) the three CAP discourses: i) neomercantilism; ii) neoliberalism and iii) multifunctionality, and 2) the five socio-political discourses of Rural Development (RD): iv) agri-ruralist, v) hedonist, vi) utilitarian, vii) nature conservation and viii) community sustainability. These types of discourses were together integrated in a model, where each policy discourse depicts agriculture as accomplishing a specific function. The theoretical framework is grounded within a political economy perspective. This means that policy develops because of confrontation between different concerned agents with different interest, pushing for different objectives. The state acts as an intermediary between these agents and aims at ensuring consensus and maintenance of agreement. Policy documents are therefore often the result of competing discourses and contradicting policy objectives. Across EU member states, the results show that ecological approaches are mainly depicted with the multifunctionality discourse with two dominating sub-discourses of nature conservation and agri-ruralism. Nevertheless, we observe an increase in the use of the neomercantilist discourse in the last CAP period. This parallels what the previous literature finds in Commissioners’ speeches: a reappearance of the traditional neomercantilist discourse in the CAP agenda 2014-2020. Farming systems (with farming practices) related to agroecology, biodiversity-based and organic farming are among the most commonly mentioned farming systems

PERCEIVE project - Deliverable D4.5 "Report on the comparative analysis of experts' and citizens' perceptions and views"

This report is a comparative analysis of nine regional case-studies selected in our project, based on original data collected through the PERCEIVE field survey that was conducted during the summer of 2017 and on the reports on regional case studies written by Perceive’s partners. Each report was based on the analysis of the focus group’s section that addresses the assessment of Cohesion Policy. The general objective of this report is to synthesize the citizens’ and practicioners’ views on EU Cohesion Policy and to compare them in order to understand if there are different perceptions of this policy and its implementation. For each region included in the study, the identification of the relevant regional needs are considered, followed by an assessment of the EU policy effectiveness in responding to the revealed issues. Both have been pursued at the level of citizens and of Cohesion Policy practitioners, and are followed by a comparative analysis that helps to understand whether the EU Cohesion Policy is perceived and understood by citizens in the same way as it has been conceived by practitioners. The comparative analysis helped shed light on the convergence and divergence points between citizens and experts with regard to the public intervention needs through Cohesion Policy and in the evaluation of the effectiveness of these interventions, thus contributing to a better understanding of the general perception of the EU by the large public

Cost effectiveness review of text messaging, smartphone application, and website interventions targeting T2DM or hypertension

Digital health interventions have been shown to be clinically-effective for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension prevention and treatment. This study synthesizes and compares the cost-effectiveness of text-messaging, smartphone application, and websites by searching CINAHL, Cochrane Central, Embase, Medline and PsycInfo for full economic or cost-minimisation studies of digital health interventions in adults with or at risk of T2DM and/or hypertension. Costs and health effects are synthesised narratively. Study quality appraisal using the Consensus on Health Economic Criteria (CHEC) list results in recommendations for future health economic evaluations of digital health interventions. Of 3056 records identified, 14 studies are included (7 studies applied text-messaging, 4 employed smartphone applications, and 5 used websites). Ten studies are cost-utility analyses: incremental cost-utility ratios (ICUR) vary from dominant to €75,233/quality-adjusted life year (QALY), with a median of €3840/QALY (interquartile range €16,179). One study finds no QALY difference. None of the three digital health intervention modes is associated with substantially better cost-effectiveness. Interventions are consistently cost-effective in populations with (pre)T2DM but not in populations with hypertension. Mean quality score is 63.0% (standard deviation 13.7%). Substandard application of time horizon, sensitivity analysis, and subgroup analysis next to transparency concerns (regarding competing alternatives, perspective, and costing) downgrades quality of evidence. In conclusion, smartphone application, text-messaging, and website-based interventions are cost-effective without substantial differences between the different delivery modes. Future health economic studies should increase transparency, conduct sufficient sensitivity analyses, and appraise the ICUR more critically in light of a reasoned willingness-to-pay threshold

Human sFLT1 Leads to Severe Changes in Placental Differentiation and Vascularization in a Transgenic hsFLT1/rtTA FGR Mouse Model

The anti-angiogenic soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFLT1) is one of the candidates in the progression of preeclampsia, often associated with fetal growth restriction (FGR). Therapeutic agents against preeclampsia with/without FGR, as well as adequate transgenic sFLT1 mouse models for testing such agents, are still missing. Much is known about sFLT1–mediated endothelial dysfunction in several tissues; however, the influence of sFLT1 on placental and fetal development is currently unknown. We hypothesize that sFLT1 is involved in the progression of FGR by influencing placental differentiation and vascularization and is a prime candidate for interventional strategies. Therefore, we generated transgenic inducible human sFLT1/reverse tetracycline-controlled transactivator (hsFLT1/rtTA) mice, in which hsFLT1 is ubiquitously overexpressed during pregnancy in dams and according to the genetics in hsFLT1/rtTA homozygous and heterozygous fetuses. Induction of hsFLT1 led to elevated hsFLT1 levels in the serum of dams and on mRNA level in all placentas and hetero-/homozygous fetuses, resulting in FGR in all fetuses at term. The strongest effects in respect to FGR were observed in the hsFLT1/rtTA homozygous fetuses, which exhibited the highest hsFLT1 levels. Only fetal hsFLT1 expression led to impaired placental morphology characterized by reduced placental efficiency, enlarged maternal sinusoids, reduced fetal capillaries, and impaired labyrinthine differentiation, associated with increased apoptosis. Besides impaired placental vascularization, the expression of several transporter systems, such as glucose transporter 1 and 3 (Glut-1; Glut-3); amino acid transporters, solute carrier family 38, member one and two (Slc38a1; Slc38a2); and most severely the fatty acid translocase Cd36 and fatty acid binding protein 3 (Fabp3) was reduced upon hsFLT1 expression, associated with an accumulation of phospholipids in the maternal serum. Moreover, the Vegf pathway showed alterations, resulting in reduced Vegf, Vegfb, and Plgf protein levels and increased Bad and Caspase 9 mRNA levels. We suggest that hsFLT1 exerts an inhibitory influence on placental vascularization by reducing Vegf signaling, which leads to apoptosis in fetal vessels, impairing placental differentiation, and the nutrient exchange function of the labyrinth. These effects were more pronounced when both the dam and the fetus expressed hsFLT1 and ultimately result in FGR and resemble the preeclamptic phenotype in humans