Gallium(III) chelates of mixed phosphonate-carboxylate triazamacrocyclic ligands relevant to nuclear medicine: structural, stability and in vivo studies

Three triaza macrocyclic ligands, H6NOTP (1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N,N′,N″-trimethylene phosphonic acid), H4NO2AP (1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N-methylenephosphonic acid-N′,N″-dimethylenecarboxylic acid), and H5NOA2P (1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N,N′-bis(methylenephosphonic acid)-N″-methylene carboxylic acid), and their gallium(III) chelates were studied in view of their potential interest as scintigraphic and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) imaging agents. A 1H, 31P and 71Ga multinuclear NMR study gave an insight on the structure, internal dynamics and stability of the chelates in aqueous solution. In particular, the analysis of 71Ga NMR spectra gave information on the symmetry of the Ga3+ coordination sphere and the stability of the chelates towards hydrolysis. The 31P NMR spectra afforded information on the protonation of the non-coordinated oxygen atoms from the pendant phosphonate groups and on the number of species in solution. The 1H NMR spectra allowed the analysis of the structure and the number of species in solution. 31P and 1H NMR titrations combined with potentiometry afforded the measurement of the protonation constants (log KHi) and the microscopic protonation scheme of the triaza macrocyclic ligands. The remarkably high thermodynamic stability constant (log KGaL =34.44 (0.04) and stepwise protonation constants of Ga (NOA2P)2− were determined by potentiometry and 69Ga and 31P NMR titrations. Biodistribution and gamma imaging studies have been performed on Wistar rats using the radiolabeled 67Ga(NO2AP)− and 67Ga (NOA2P)2−chelates, having both demonstrated to have renal excretion. The correlation of the molecular properties of the chelates with their pharmacokinetic properties has been analysed.The authors thank the financial support from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (F.C.T., Portugal, projects RREQ/481/QUI/2006 and RECI/QEQ-QFI/0168/2012), the Rede Nacional de RMN (RNRMN), the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA grants K-109029 and K-120224), the János Bolyai Research Scholarship (Gy.T.) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the EU COST Action TD1004 “Theragnostics Imaging and Therapy”. The research was also supported by the EU and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under the projects CENTRO-07-CT62-FEDER) and GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00008.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Project PTDC/CTE-GIX/098968/2008 - High resolution stratigraphy of the Lower Jurassic organic-rich marine series in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal): Initial expectations and results

Apresenta-se neste trabalho uma caracterização e os principais resultados do Projecto “Estratigrafia de alta resolução das séries marinhas ricas em matéria orgânica do Jurássico Inferior da Bacia Lusitânica”, financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal). Este projecto centrou-se numa análise estratigráfica multidisciplinar baseada num vasto conjunto de parâmetros bióticos e abióticos da sucessão margo-calcária rica em matéria orgânica do Jurássico Inferior da bacia, envolvendo sete objetivos principais: 1. Análise sedimentológica (mineralógica, textural e composicional) e sequencial da sucessão hemipelágica do Jurássico Inferior (Sinemuriano superior–Toarciano); 2. Precisões biostratigráficas a partir do registo de amonóides do intervalo compreendido entre o Sinemuriano superior e o Pliensbaquiano superior; 3. Análise paleontológica e paleoecológica da macrofauna bentónica (fundamentalmente braquiópodes e bivalves); 4. Análise biostratigráfica, taxonómica e paleoecológica da fauna de ostracodos (Sinemuriano–Toarciano); 5. Análise quimiostratigráfica baseada principalmente nos isótopos estáveis de carbono (Sinemuriano–Pliensbaquiano); 6. Análise geoquímica e de petrografia orgânica (carbono orgânico total, pirólise Rock-Eval e biomarcadores) do Sinemuriano–Pliensbaquiano; 7. Análise dos padrões de variação dos raios gama (Sinemuriano–Toarciano.This work presents the main results of the Project ”High resolution stratigraphy of the Lower Jurassic organic-rich marine series in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal)”, supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. This project was focused on a multidisciplinary stratigraphic analysis based on the study of a range of biotic and abiotic parameters of the Lower Jurassic marl–limestone succession rich in organic matter, embracing seven main objectives: 1. Sedimentological (mineralogical, textural and compositional) and sequential analysis of the whole Lower Jurassic hemipelagic succession (Upper Sinemurian–Toarcian); 2. Ammonite biostratigraphic precisions of the Upper Sinemurian and Upper Pliensbachian; 3. Palaeontological and palaeoecological analysis of the benthic macrofauna (especially brachiopods and bivalves); 4. Biostratigraphical, taxonomic and palaeoecological analysis of the ostracod fauna (Sinemurian–Toarcian); 5. Chemostratigraphic analysis based mainly on carbon stable isotopes (Sinemurian–Pliensbachian); 6. Organic geochemical and petrographic analysis (total organic carbon, palynofacies, Rock-Eval pyrolysis and biomarkers) of the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian; 7. Vertical variation patterns of gamma-ray analysis (Sinemurian–Toarcian). Besides the new results in each specific scientific domain (for example, biostratigraphy, palaeoecology, sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy and cyclicity, chemostratigraphy and organic geochemistry), the integration of all data, in several cases at highresolution level, allows emphasizing the achievement of two main transverse goals: the improvement of the stratigraphy and sedimentary knowledge of the Lower Jurassic series of western Iberia margin, with implications in the palaoenvironmental and palaeoceanographic interpretations of the Tethyan pre-Atlantic basins dynamics and global correlation; taking into consideration the huge number of organic geochemical parameters analyzed, the results of this research contributed significantly to understand the role of the different Sinemurian and Pliensbachian organic-rich intervals as potential hydrocarbon generation sources (quality of organic matter and maturation).Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (COMPETE- FEDER)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)pu

A patologização do sedentarismo

A identifica????o do sedentarismo como fator de risco para doen??as cr??nico-degenerativas influenciou significativamente nas recomenda????es de sa??de p??blica em defesa de estilos de vida fisicamente ativos. O artigo estuda o processo de patologiza????o do sedentarismo e seus desdobramentos para o campo da sa??de p??blica. Num primeiro momento, discutimos de que maneira o modelo biom??dico serve de base para a transposi????o de aspectos da conduta humana como ???fator de risco??? e, a seguir, como patologia, tal qual no caso espec??fico da ???S??ndrome da Morte Sedent??ria???, assim classificada por alguns autores. Em seguida, analisamos como essa vis??o vem sendo difundida no campo da sa??de, tomando por base um programa institucional que, ao mesmo tempo em que transforma o sedentarismo em doen??a, apresenta a atividade f??sica como um rem??dio cujos resultados podem se estender a todas as esferas da vida. Nessa linha de racioc??nio, em que os mal-estares de nossa civiliza????o s??o medicalizados e tornados mercadoria ao serem transformados em riscos e patologias, a atividade f??sica torna-se vacina para o corpo social.The identification of physical inactivity as a risk factor for chronic degenerative diseases has significantly influenced public health recommendations in support of physically active lifestyles. This study analyzes the pathologization of sedentariness and its implications in the public health field. First we discuss how the biomedical model serves as a basis to transform aspects of human behavior into ???risk factors??? and subsequently into pathologies such as the ???Sedentary Death Syndrome???, as some authors classify it. Second, we analyze how this view is being spread in the health field; our analysis is based on an institutional program which transforms sedentariness into illness while presents physical activity as a medicine whose results can reach all aspects of life. According to this rationale, in which the discomforts of our civilization are medicalized and made into commodities as they are transformed into risks and pathologies, physical activity becomes a vaccine to be applied to the social body

Epidemiology, practice of ventilation and outcome for patients at increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications: LAS VEGAS - An observational study in 29 countries

BACKGROUND Limited information exists about the epidemiology and outcome of surgical patients at increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), and how intraoperative ventilation was managed in these patients. OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence of surgical patients at increased risk of PPCs, and to compare the intraoperative ventilation management and postoperative outcomes with patients at low risk of PPCs. DESIGN This was a prospective international 1-week observational study using the ‘Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia risk score’ (ARISCAT score) for PPC for risk stratification. PATIENTS AND SETTING Adult patients requiring intraoperative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery in 146 hospitals across 29 countries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome was the incidence of patients at increased risk of PPCs based on the ARISCAT score. Secondary outcomes included intraoperative ventilatory management and clinical outcomes. RESULTS A total of 9864 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The incidence of patients at increased risk was 28.4%. The most frequently chosen tidal volume (V T) size was 500 ml, or 7 to 9 ml kg−1 predicted body weight, slightly lower in patients at increased risk of PPCs. Levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) were slightly higher in patients at increased risk of PPCs, with 14.3% receiving more than 5 cmH2O PEEP compared with 7.6% in patients at low risk of PPCs (P ˂ 0.001). Patients with a predicted preoperative increased risk of PPCs developed PPCs more frequently: 19 versus 7%, relative risk (RR) 3.16 (95% confidence interval 2.76 to 3.61), P ˂ 0.001) and had longer hospital stays. The only ventilatory factor associated with the occurrence of PPCs was the peak pressure. CONCLUSION The incidence of patients with a predicted increased risk of PPCs is high. A large proportion of patients receive high V T and low PEEP levels. PPCs occur frequently in patients at increased risk, with worse clinical outcome.</p

Search for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying vector boson in pp collisions at sqrt (s) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson using 3.2 fb−1 of pp collisions at View the MathML sources=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with a hadronic jet compatible with a W or Z boson and with large missing transverse momentum are analysed. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and are interpreted in terms of both an effective field theory and a simplified model containing dark matter

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements

Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eμ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σtt¯) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σtt¯ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented

A search for resonances decaying into a Higgs boson and a new particle X in the XH → qqbb final state with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy resonances decaying into a Higgs boson (H) and a new particle (X) is reported, utilizing 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The particle X is assumed to decay to a pair of light quarks, and the fully hadronic final state is analysed. The search considers the regime of high XH resonance masses, where the X and H bosons are both highly Lorentz-boosted and are each reconstructed using a single jet with large radius parameter. A two-dimensional phase space of XH mass versus X mass is scanned for evidence of a signal, over a range of XH resonance mass values between 1 TeV and 4 TeV, and for X particles with masses from 50 GeV to 1000 GeV. All search results are consistent with the expectations for the background due to Standard Model processes, and 95% CL upper limits are set, as a function of XH and X masses, on the production cross-section of the resonance