Chemical Compounds Responsible for Skin Allergy to Complex Mixtures: How to Identify Them?

International audienceIn the cosmetics industry, various natural complex mixtures such as botanical extracts or essential oils are used. In addition to that, finished consumer products may contain a number of constituents of natural origin but many products derived from organic synthesis too. Hence, finding skin sensitizers within this myriad of chemicals is an arduous task. Nowadays, methods validated by European dedicated instances to evaluate the allergenicity of chemicals are incapable to predict the sensitization potential of complex mixtures, even if research has progressed a lot in this direction recently. Accordingly and in this context, to identify precisely the culprit(s) responsible for skin sensitization to the mixtures is essential for risk assessment. This review is a short summary of approaches that allow identifying allergens in chemical mixtures such as bioassay-guided chemical fractionation, structure-activity relationships studies and recent methods allowing identification of reactive intermediates in natural extracts exposed to air oxidation. It is shown that a big progress has been accomplished, even if the identification of sensitizers in complex mixtures continues to be puzzling

Influência de fatores ambientais na produção de uma planta aquática de emergente interesse para a indústria alimentar

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáA intensificação da produção de alimentos devido ao crescimento da população humana tem gerado preocupações em relações aos impactos ambientais. Atrelados a estas atividades, a indústria alimentar tem enfrentado diversos desafios para encontrar equilíbrio entre produção e sustentabilidade. Uma das formas de redução da pegada ecológica do planeta é a busca de modos de produção de alimentos com base em proteínas que sejam ambientalmente menos agressivas, sendo que a produção destes nutrientes com base animal, lideram os principais impactos nas três grandes esferas do ambiente, água, solo e ar. Como alternativa têm sido estudadas as proteínas de origem vegetal, sendo que atualmente já existe uma diversidade de plantas usadas como fonte de proteína, contudo muitas continuam a representar altos impactos ambientais, além de serem sensíveis a alterações climáticas. Neste trabalho, plantas aquáticas da espécie Lemna minor foram estudadas preliminarmente como fontes de proteínas para a indústria alimentar, pois apresentam um rápido crescimento, alto teor de proteína em peso seco, resistência a ambientes perturbados, e são comestíveis. Foram testados diferentes fotoperíodos (4, 8, e 12 h de luz) e diferentes valores de pH (6,5 e 9,5) para entender a resposta da planta em diferentes condições ambientais, a nível da cor, da planta, da atividade antioxidante e da quantidade de proteína bruta. As plantas apresentaram um teor de proteínas entre 10 a 33%, tendo sido observada a maior produção em condições de pH 6,5 (33%) e fotoperíodo de 8hs (23%). Em relação à cor, o pH 6,5 revelou um verde mais intenso enquanto o fotoperíodo de 8 horas foi aquele que mostrou um tom mais intenso. Em relação à atividade antioxidante, o pH mais agressivo (9,5) mostrou uma maior atividade antioxidante, enquanto o fotoperíodo com melhor potencial antioxidante foi o de quatro horas. Pode concluir-se que a Lemna minor é uma planta que se consegue adaptar a vários ambientes, mas que a produção de proteínas é sobretudo favorecida por condições de pH mais perto da neutralidade e um fotoperíodo de 8 horas de luz.The intensification of food production due to human population growth has raised concerns regarding environmental impacts. Linked to these activities, the food industry has faced several challenges in finding a balance between production and sustainability. One of the ways to reduce the planet's ecological footprint is to search for ways to produce plant-based proteins that are less environmentally aggressive, since the animal-based production of these nutrients leads the main impacts on the three major spheres of the environment, water, soil and air. As an alternative, proteins of plant origin have been studied, and currently there is already a diversity of plants used as a source of protein, however many continue to represent high environmental impacts, in addition to being sensitive to climate change. For this reason, plants resistant to disturbed environments should be studied, with aquatic plants being an alternative that should be considered. In this work, aquatic plants of the Lemna minor species were preliminarily studied as sources of protein for the food industry, as they have fast growth, high protein content in dry weight, resistance to disturbed environments, and are edible. Different photoperiods (4, 8, and 12 hours of light) and different pH values (6.5 and 9.5) were tested to understand the plant's response in terms of external color, antioxidant activity and amount of crude protein. The plants showed a protein content between 10 and 33%, with the highest production at pH 6.5 (33%) and photoperiod of 8 hours (23%). Regarding color, pH 6.5 revealed a more intense green while the 8-hour photoperiod showed a more vivid tone. Regarding antioxidant activity, the most aggressive pH (9.5) showed greater antioxidant activity, while the photoperiod with better antioxidant activity was the one with 4 hours of light. It can be concluded that Lemna minor is a plant that can adapt to various environments, but that protein production is mainly favored by pH conditions closer to neutrality and a photoperiod of 8 hours of light

Relationships between thalamostriatal neurons and pedunculopontine projections to the thalamus: a neuroanatomical tract-tracing study in the rat

The present study aimed to investigate whether the pedunculopontine projection to the thalamus overlaps with identified thalamostriatal neurons. These projections were studied using a dual tract-tracing procedure combining anterogradely transported biotinylated dextran amine (pedunculopontine projections) and retrogradely transported Fluoro-Gold (thalamostriatal projections). Overlapping thalamic territories between thalamostriatal neurons and the axon terminals arising from the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus were observed in the midline (paraventricular) and in the intralaminar (centrolateral, central medial, paracentral and parafascicular) thalamic nuclei. Other thalamic nuclei, such as the ethmoid, intermediodorsal, mediodorsal, paratenial, posteromedian, ventromedian, ventrolateral and rhomboid thalamic nuclei, displayed a lesser degree of overlap. These observations suggest the existence of presumptive contacts between thalamostriatal neurons and axons emerging from the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus, therefore supporting the possible existence of feedback circuits in the rat basal ganglia in which the tegmento-thalamic projection would play a major role

Re-examination of the thalamostriatal projections in the rat with retrograde tracers

Topographical arrangements of thalamostriatal projection neurons was examined in the rat by the retrograde tract-tracing method. After injecting Fluoro-Gold (FG) and/or cholera toxin beta-subunit (CTB) in different regions of the caudate-putamen (CPu), distribution of retrogradely labeled neurons was observed in the thalamus. The main findings were as follows: (1) Retrogradely labeled neurons were seen in the midline-intralaminar thalamic nuclei in all rats examined in the present study. Neurons in the ventral lateral and posterior thalamic nuclear groups were also labeled in the rats which were injected with the tracer into the dorsal part of Cpu, but not in the rats which were injected with the tracer into the nucleus accumbens (Acb) and its adjavent regions in the ventromedial part of the Cpu. (2) Topographical organization was observed in the projections from the midline-intralaminar thalamic nuclei to the CPu. After the tracer injection into the dorsal part of the CPu or the ventral part of the CPu (including the Acb), labeled neurons in the midline-intralaminar thalamic nuclei were distributed predominantly in the lateral part of the intralaminar nuclei or the midline nuclei, respectively. On the other hand, after the tracer injection into the medial or the lateral part of the CPu, labeled neurons in the midline-intralaminar nuclei were distributed mainly in the dorsal or the ventral part of these nuclei, respectively. (3) Topographical organization was also observed in the thalamostriatal projections from the ventral and Pos. After the tracer injection into the rostral part of the CPu, labeled neurons were distributed mainly in the rostral part of the ventral nuclear group. On the other hand, after the tracer injection into the caudal part of the CPu, labeled neurons were distributed mainly in the caudal part of the ventral nuclear group, as well as in the posterior nuclear group

New Views on Carrier Diffusion and Recombination by Combining Small Perturbation Techniques: Application to BiVO4 Photoelectrodes

Impedance spectroscopy (IS), intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS), and intensity-modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS) are well-established powerful modulated techniques to characterize optoelectronic devices. Their combined use has proven to provide an understanding of the behavior and performance of these systems, far beyond the output obtained from their independent analysis. However, this combination is shown to be challenging when applied to complex systems. Herein, IS, IMPS, and IMVS are cooperatively used, for the first time, to study the distributed photogeneration, diffusion, and recombination processes in a photoanode of zircon-doped bismuth vanadate. The use of this methodology reveals that the carriers that determine the response of the device are the electrons when the device is illuminated from the hole-collector side (electrolyte) and the holes when the illumination reaches the device from the electron-collector side. Detailed quantitative information is obtained for each carrier, including recombination lifetime, diffusion coefficient and collectrion and separation efficiencies, identifying the latter as the main limitation of this device. This methodology is a powerful tool that can be used for the characterization and understanding of the operating processes of other photoconversion devices.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Single Port Donor Nephrectomy

In 2007, Rane presented the first single port nephrectomy for a small non-functioning kidney at the World Congress of Endourology. Since that time, the use of single port surgery for nephrectomy has expanded to include donor nephrectomy. Over the next two years the technique was adopted for many others types of nephrectomies to include donor nephrectomy. We present our technique for single port donor nephrectomy using the Gelpoint device. We have successfully performed this surgery in over 100 patients and add this experience to our experience of over 1000 laparoscopic nephrectomies. With the proper equipment and technique, single port donor nephrectomy can be performed safely and effectively in the majority of live donors. We have found that our operative times and most importantly our transplant outcomes have not changed significantly with the adoption of the single port donor nephrectomy. We believe that single port donor nephrectomy represents a step forward in the care of living donors

Comorbid autoimmune diseases and burden of diabetes-related complications in patients with type 1 diabetes from a Mediterranean area

Autoimmunity; Glycemic control; Type 1 diabetes mellitus;Autoinmunidad; Control Glicémico; Diabetes mellitus tipo 1Autoimmunitat; Control glucèmic; Diabetis mellitus tipus 1Aim: To assess the prevalence of autoimmune diseases (AID) in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and to evaluate whether the rate of diabetes-related complications differs depending on the presence of AID. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 13,570 T1D patients aged ≥ 18 years registered in the SIDIAP database. The association between AID and diabetes-related complications was assessed by multivariable logistic regression models. Results: The prevalence of AID was 18.3% with thyroid AID being the most common. Patients with T1D and AID were more often female and their current age, age of diabetes onset and diabetes duration were higher. Patients with only thyroid AID experienced a lower risk of peripheral artery disease (odds ratio [OR] = 0.51, 95%; confidence interval [CI] 0.31 to 0.81) and kidney disease (OR = 0.68, 95%; 95% CI 0.54 to 0.85), whereas patients with other AID had an increased risk of ischemic heart disease (OR = 1.48, 95%; 95% CI 1.04 to 2.06). Conclusions: The burden of diabetes-related complications in patients with T1D differs according to the type of additional AID. The presence of diabetes complications is lower in those with autoimmune thyroid disease while the presence of other AID is associated with higher rates of ischemic heart disease