FROM TOTAL INSTITUTION TO EXTITUTION? Discussions on the future of monastic life in the Benedictine women’s monasteries of Catalonia (Spain)

On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Federation of Benedictine Women’s Monasteries of Catalonia (Spain), the five monasteries represented are discussing the following question: what will monastic life be like in the future? This question is added to the debate about “new forms of monasticism”, “urban monastic life” and, in a more general sense, to the modernisations and “the opening up” of the precepts and practices of monastic life at this time. Faced with the ambitious monastic questioning, the author responds with five deliberately provocative debates developed out of a consideration of various chapters of the Rule of St. Benedict that raise profound questions when it comes to responding to the question presented here. Having described these five debates, by way of a summary, the article presents three ideal types of monastery in relation to the current processes of deinstitutionalisation that represent, in an overall way, three provisional responses and serve as a focus for the question discussed here.Con motivo del 50 aniversario de la creación de la Federación de Monasterios Benedictinos de Cataluña, los cinco monasterios miembros se plantean la siguiente pregunta: ¿cómo será la vida monacal en el futuro? Esta cuestión se enmarca en los debates sobre las “nuevas formas de monaquismo”, “monaquismo urbano”, y, de forma más general, en la puesta al día de los preceptos y las prácticas de la vida monástica hoy. Ante la ambiciosa pregunta de los monasterios, el autor responde con cinco debates que se desarrollan partiendo de la Regla de San Benito. Estos cinco debates propuestos a las comunidades monásticas en una metodología cercana a la investigación —acción, desembocan a modo de resumen en la propuesta de tres modelos ideales de vida monástica en relación con los procesos de desinstitucionalización y extitucionalización que viven los mismos. Estos tres modelos ideales representan la respuesta provisional a los debates y a la vez son un nuevo punto de partida del debate con los monasterios sobre su realidad

Recent Trends Concerning Upconversion Nanoparticles and Near-IR Emissive Lanthanide Materials in the Context of Forensic Applications

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are materials that, upon absorbing multiple photons of low energy (e.g. infrared radiation), subsequently emit a single photon of higher energy, typically within the visible spectrum. The physics of these materials have been the subject of detailed investigations driven by the potential application of these materials as medical imaging devices. One largely overlooked application of UCNPs is forensic science, wherein the ability to produce visible 5 light from infrared light sources would result in a new generation of fingerprint powders that circumvent background interference which can be encountered with visible and ultraviolet light sources. Using lower energy, infrared radiation would simultaneously improve the safety of forensic practitioners who often employ light sources in less than ideal locations. This review article covers the development of UCNPs, the use of infrared radiation to visualise fingerprints by the forensic sciences, and the potential benefits of applying UCNP materials over current approaches

Pedagogical memory and the space of the postcolonial classroom : reading Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions

This article addresses issues of the mnemonic space of the literature classroom by interrogating a classic text of African women’s writing, Tsitsi Dangaremnga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) for the ways it speaks about education in 1960s and 1970s late-colonial Rhodesia. The article suggests that the novel reviews and critiques a number of memorial strategies that were crucial to the colonial educational system, thereby facilitating a reflexive application of the novel’s concerns to the contexts in which it is often taught, that of today’s postcolonial classrooms. The article seeks to place Dangarembga’s novel in the context of its present moment, contemporary South Africa – that of the present critic’s site of practice, both pedagogical and scholarly, and that of many of this article’s readers. This present moment, in turn, is made up the many sites, successive and simultaneous, in which the novel’s work of memory is being re-activated in the minds of students as readers and writers. Via a dialogue between the textual past and the pedagogical present, one which is often subject to critical amnesia, the article seeks to inaugurate a debate on the nature of pedagogical memory in the space of the postcolonial university or high school literature classroom.http://www.informaworld.com/RSCRhb2013gv201

Current trend in synthesis, Post-Synthetic modifications and biological applications of Nanometal-Organic frameworks (NMOFs)

Since the early reports of MOFs and their interesting properties, research involving these materials has grown wide in scope and applications. Various synthetic approaches have ensued in view of obtaining materials with optimised properties, the extensive scope of application spanning from energy, gas sorption, catalysis biological applications has meant exponentially evolved over the years. The far‐reaching synthetic and PSM approaches and porosity control possibilities have continued to serve as a motivation for research on these materials. With respect to the biological applications, MOFs have shown promise as good candidates in applications involving drug delivery, BioMOFs, sensing, imaging amongst others. Despite being a while away from successful entry into the market, observed results in sensing, drug delivery, and imaging put these materials on the spot light as candidates poised to usher in a revolution in biology. In this regard, this review article focuses current approaches in synthesis, post functionalization and biological applications of these materials with particular attention on drug delivery, imaging, sensing and BioMOFs

Réseaux metallo-organiques et complexes de dendrimères luminescents à base de lanthanides pour imagerie optique

Les composés à base de lanthanides luminescents possèdent des propriétés uniques offrant de nombreux avantages pour l’étude de problèmes biologiques et pour le diagnostic. Ils résistent notamment à la photodécomposition, possèdent des temps de vie de luminescence longs ainsi que des bandes d’émissions étroites qui ne se recouvrent pas. De plus, certains lanthanides émettent dans le proche infrarouge, ce qui les rend particulièrement intéressants pour des applications d'’imagerie in vivo. De part l’interdiction des transitions f → f, les cations lanthanides ont des coefficients d’extinction très faibles. C’est la raison pour laquelle, il est nécessaire d’utiliser un ou plusieurs sensibilisateur(s) (comme un chromophore organique) pour exciter le lanthanide par « effet antenne ». Nous proposons ici de nouveaux composés émettant dans le proche infrarouge dont la structure permet d’incorporer une densité importante de lanthanides et de sensibilisateurs par unite de volume : i) les nano-MOF Yb-PVDC-3 constitués de chromophores dérivés de dicarboxylates de phenylènevinylène qui sensibilisent les cations Yb3+ du réseau. ii) les complexes formés avec des ligands dendrimères dérivés de polyamidoamine de génération 3 capables de sensibiliser 8 lanthanides (Eu3+, Yb3+, Nd3+) par le biais de 32 antennes dérivées du groupe 1,8-naphthalimide. La caractérisation physique, photophysique et la biocompatibilité de ces composés ont été réalisées. Ils ont montré une bonne stabilité dans différents environnements. Leur faible cytotoxicité a permis d’obtenir des images de microscopie proche infrarouge sur cellules vivantes. La preuve de principe que les nano-MOFs et les dendrimères complexant des lanthanides peuvent être utilisés comme rapporteurs luminescents in cellulo et in vivo a été ici établie. Les résultats obtenus valident la stratégie d’utiliser ce type de matériel pour augmenter le nombre de photons émis par unité de volume afin d’obtenir une meilleure sensibilité de détection.Unique properties of luminescent lanthanides reporters explain their emergence for bioanalytical and optical imaging applications. Lanthanide ions possess long emission lifetimes, a good resistance to photodecomposition and sharp emission bands that do not overlap. In addition, several lanthanides emit in the near infrared (NIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum making them very interesting for in vivo imaging. Free lanthanide cations have low extinction coefficients due to the forbidden nature of the f → f transition. Therefore, lanthanides must be sensitized using a photonic converter such as an organic chromophore through the “antenna effect". We report here new near-infrared emitting compounds whose structure allows to incorporate a high density of lanthanide cations and sensitizers per unit volume: i) nano-MOF Yb-PVDC-3 based on Yb3+ sensitized by phenylenevinylene dicarboxylates. ii) polymetallic dendrimer complexes formed with derivatives of new generation-3 polyamidoamine dendrimers. In these complexes, 8 lanthanide ions (Eu3+, Yb3+, Nd3+) can be sensitized by the 32 antenna derived from 1,8-naphthalimide. These two families of compounds were fully characterised for their physical, photophysical properties as well as for their biological respective compatibilities. They are stable in various media and their low cytotoxicity and emission of a sufficient number of photons are suitable for near-infrared live cell imaging. One of the main goal outcomes of this work is the establishment of the proof of principle that nano- MOFs and lanthanide derived dendrimers can be used for the sensitization of NIR emitting lanthanides to create a new generation of NIR optical imaging agents suitable for both in cellulo and in vivoapplications.The present work also validates the efficiency of the strategy to use both types of nanoscale systems described here to increase the number of emitted photons per unit volume for an improved detection sensitivity and to compensate for low quantum yields

Réseaux metallo-organiques et complexes de dendrimères luminescents à base de lanthanides pour imagerie optique

Les composés à base de lanthanides luminescents possèdent des propriétés uniques offrant de nombreux avantages pour l étude de problèmes biologiques et pour le diagnostic. Ils résistent notamment à la photodécomposition, possèdent des temps de vie de luminescence longs ainsi que des bandes d émissions étroites qui ne se recouvrent pas. De plus, certains lanthanides émettent dans le proche infrarouge, ce qui les rend particulièrement intéressants pour des applications d' imagerie in vivo. De part l interdiction des transitions f -> f, les cations lanthanides ont des coefficients d extinction très faibles. C est la raison pour laquelle, il est nécessaire d utiliser un ou plusieurs sensibilisateur(s) (comme un chromophore organique) pour exciter le lanthanide par effet antenne . Nous proposons ici de nouveaux composés émettant dans le proche infrarouge dont la structure permet d incorporer une densité importante de lanthanides et de sensibilisateurs par unite de volume : i) les nano-MOF Yb-PVDC-3 constitués de chromophores dérivés de dicarboxylates de phenylènevinylène qui sensibilisent les cations Yb3+ du réseau. ii) les complexes formés avec des ligands dendrimères dérivés de polyamidoamine de génération 3 capables de sensibiliser 8 lanthanides (Eu3+, Yb3+, Nd3+) par le biais de 32 antennes dérivées du groupe 1,8-naphthalimide. La caractérisation physique, photophysique et la biocompatibilité de ces composés ont été réalisées. Ils ont montré une bonne stabilité dans différents environnements. Leur faible cytotoxicité a permis d obtenir des images de microscopie proche infrarouge sur cellules vivantes. La preuve de principe que les nano-MOFs et les dendrimères complexant des lanthanides peuvent être utilisés comme rapporteurs luminescents in cellulo et in vivo a été ici établie. Les résultats obtenus valident la stratégie d utiliser ce type de matériel pour augmenter le nombre de photons émis par unité de volume afin d obtenir une meilleure sensibilité de détection.Unique properties of luminescent lanthanides reporters explain their emergence for bioanalytical and optical imaging applications. Lanthanide ions possess long emission lifetimes, a good resistance to photodecomposition and sharp emission bands that do not overlap. In addition, several lanthanides emit in the near infrared (NIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum making them very interesting for in vivo imaging. Free lanthanide cations have low extinction coefficients due to the forbidden nature of the f -> f transition. Therefore, lanthanides must be sensitized using a photonic converter such as an organic chromophore through the antenna effect". We report here new near-infrared emitting compounds whose structure allows to incorporate a high density of lanthanide cations and sensitizers per unit volume: i) nano-MOF Yb-PVDC-3 based on Yb3+ sensitized by phenylenevinylene dicarboxylates. ii) polymetallic dendrimer complexes formed with derivatives of new generation-3 polyamidoamine dendrimers. In these complexes, 8 lanthanide ions (Eu3+, Yb3+, Nd3+) can be sensitized by the 32 antenna derived from 1,8-naphthalimide. These two families of compounds were fully characterised for their physical, photophysical properties as well as for their biological respective compatibilities. They are stable in various media and their low cytotoxicity and emission of a sufficient number of photons are suitable for near-infrared live cell imaging. One of the main goal outcomes of this work is the establishment of the proof of principle that nano- MOFs and lanthanide derived dendrimers can be used for the sensitization of NIR emitting lanthanides to create a new generation of NIR optical imaging agents suitable for both in cellulo and in vivoapplications.The present work also validates the efficiency of the strategy to use both types of nanoscale systems described here to increase the number of emitted photons per unit volume for an improved detection sensitivity and to compensate for low quantum yields.ORLEANS-SCD-Bib. electronique (452349901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Lanthanide DO3A-Tropone Complexes: Efficient Dual MR/NIR Imaging Probes in Aqueous Medium

International audienceIn this work, we describe a novel DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid) based ligand with a chromophoric tropone coordinating sidearm (1). Ln3+ complexes of 1 have one inner sphere water molecule. The r1 relaxivity of Gd1 is similar to that of the commercial Gd-based MRI agents. The neutral O-donor atom of the tropone moiety slows down the water exchange rate by a factor of 3 compared to GdDOTA. In addition, Nd1 and Yb1 complexes exhibit significant NIR emission in aqueous solutions indicating that the tropone unit is an efficient sensitizer for these Ln3+-ions. Therefore, this new ligand is a promising platform for the design of Ln3+ based dual MR/optical imaging probes. Lanthanide DO3A-Tropone Complexes: Efficient Dual MR/NIR Imaging Probes in Aqueous Medium. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319274985_Lanthanide_DO3A-Tropone_Complexes_Efficient_Dual_MRNIR_Imaging_Probes_in_Aqueous_Medium [accessed Nov 13 2017]

Efficient red light photo-uncaging of active molecules in water upon assembly into nanoparticles

International audienceWe introduce a means of efficiently photo-uncaging active compounds from amino-1,4-benzoquinone in aqueous environments. Aqueous photochemistry of this photocage with one-photon red light is typically not efficient unless the photocaged molecules are allowed to assemble into nanoparticles. A variety of biologically active molecules were functionalized with the photocage and subsequently formulated into water-dispersible nanoparticles. Red light irradiation through various mammalian tissues achieved efficient photo-uncaging. Co-encapsulation of NIR fluorescent dyes and subsequent photomodulation provides a NIR fluorescent tool to assess both particle location and successful photorelease