REMOVED: Mastering Membranes to Command Functions

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REMOVED: Combination of Pre-Treatments, Membrane Bioreactor and Forward Osmosis for a Less Fouled Valorisation of Olive Mill Wastewater

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Promoting Citizenship and Personal Growth: A Model for Student-Athlete Excellence

Many institutions of higher education are searching/or ways to augment specific areas of a student-athlete's life: such as study skills, fitness awareness, or disordered eating. East Stroudsburg University has developed a model that provided the additional support systems with the goal of developing not only a more competitive athlete but also a more mature and responsible member of the university community. This model included a physical and psycho-social component. A multi-discipline staff attempted to encourage the student-athletes with the life skills and the interaction to develop these tools for their life after college

Preparation of Drug-Loaded PLGA-PEG Nanoparticles by Membrane-Assisted Nanoprecipitation

Purpose: The aim of this work is to develop a scalable continuous system suitable for the formulation of polymeric nanoparticles using membrane-assisted nanoprecipitation. One of the hurdles to overcome in the use of nanostructured materials as drug delivery vectors is their availability at industrial scale. Innovation in process technology is required to translate laboratory production into mass production while preserving their desired nanoscale characteristics. Methods: Membrane-assisted nanoprecipitation has been used for the production of Poly(D, L lactide-co-glycolide)-co-poly ethylene glycol] diblock) (PLGA-PEG) nanoparticles using a pulsed back-and-forward flow arrangement. Tubular Shirasu porous glass membranes (SPG) with pore diameters of 1 and 0.2 µm were used to control the mixing process during the nanoprecipitation reaction. Results: The size of the resulting PLGA-PEG nanoparticles could be readily tuned in the range from 250 to 400 nm with high homogeneity (PDI lower than 0.2) by controlling the dispersed phase volume/continuous phase volume ratio. Dexamethasone was successfully encapsulated in a continuous process, achieving an encapsulation efficiency and drug loading efficiency of 50% and 5%, respectively. The dexamethasone was released from the nanoparticles following Fickian kinetics. Conclusions: The method allowed to produce polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery with a high productivity, reproducibility and easy scalability

P62/sqstm1/keap1/nrf2 axis reduces cancer cells death-sensitivity in response to zn(Ii)–curcumin complex

The hyperactivation of nuclear factor erythroid 2 p45-related factor 2 (NRF2), frequently found in many tumor types, can be responsible for cancer resistance to therapies and poor patient prognosis. Curcumin has been shown to activate NRF2 that has cytotprotective or protumorigenic roles according to tumor stage. The present study aimed at investigating whether the zinc–curcumin Zn(II)–curc compound, which we previously showed to display anticancer effects through multiple mechanisms, could induce NRF2 activation and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Biochemical studies showed that Zn(II)–curc treatment increased the NRF2 protein levels along with its targets, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and p62/SQSTM1, while markedly reduced the levels of Keap1 (Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1), the NRF2 inhibitor, in the cancer cell lines analyzed. The silencing of either NRF2 or p62/SQSTM1 with specific siRNA demonstrated the crosstalk between the two molecules and that the knockdown of either molecule increased the cancer cell sensitivity to Zn(II)–curc-induced cell death. This suggests that the crosstalk between p62/SQSTM1 and NRF2 could be therapeutically exploited to increase cancer patient response to therapies

A FORMAÇÃO PARA O ENSINO DE FILOSOFIA DE 2004-2014: dez anos após as lutas pelas conquistas, quais serão os “novos” desafios?

This article aims to reflect on the past decade discussions about Philosophy education and the philosopher-teachers training in High schools. This work has as its starting point an assessment made in 2004, beginning two years before the opinion of CNE 2006/4 (on July 7, 2006) which brought the requirement of the presence of Philosophy and Sociology as compulsory subjects in all curriculum of High School all over the country. Working with the debates emerged from that initial period (2004-2006) we tried to understand its developments until the approval of the law 11,683 of June 2nd 2008, which made the teaching of Sociology and Philosophy subjects mandatory indeed; and in the later moments, with the consolidation of achievements and test responses to new challenges of education. For this, we use as a theoretical reference the History of This Time working with some official documents, articles, news and websites Forums about Philosophy and from ANPOF.O presente artigo tem como objetivo fazer uma reflexão sobre os últimos dez anos de discussões sobre o ensino de Filosofia e a formação de professores-filósofos para a atuação no ensino médio. Esse trabalho tem como marco inicial um balanço feito no ano de 2004, partindo dos dois anos que precedem o parecer 2006/4 do CNE que trazia a exigência da presença da Filosofia e da Sociologia como disciplinas obrigatórias em todos os currículos das escolas de ensino médio do país em 7 de julho de 2006. Trabalhando com os debates surgidos neste período inicial (2004-2006) procuramos entender os seus desdobramentos até a homologação da lei nº 11.683 de 2 junho de 2008, que tornava o ensino das disciplinas de Sociologia e de Filosofia efetivamente como obrigatório; e os momentos posteriores, com o processo de consolidação das conquistas e ensaios de respostas aos novos desafios do ensino. Para isso, utilizamos como referencial teórico a história do tempo presente, trabalhando com alguns documentos oficiais, reportagens, notícias e sites dos Fóruns de Filosofia e da ANPOF. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Ensino de Filosofia; Formação de Professores; Ensino Médi

New Zinc-Based Active Chitosan Films: Physicochemical Characterization, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Properties

The improvement of the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of chitosan (CS) films can be realized by incorporating transition metal complexes as active components. In this context, bioactive films were prepared by embedding a newly synthesized acylpyrazolonate Zn(II) complex, [Zn(QPhtBu)2(MeOH)2], into the eco-friendly biopolymer CS matrix. Homogeneous, amorphous, flexible, and transparent CS@Znn films were obtained through the solvent casting method in dilute acidic solution, using different weight ratios of the Zn(II) complex to CS and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Raman, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The X-ray single-crystal analysis of [Zn(QPhtBu)2(MeOH)2] and the evaluation of its intermolecular interactions with a protonated glucosamine fragment through hydrogen bond propensity (HBP) calculations are reported. The effects of the different contents of the [Zn(QPhtBu)2(MeOH)2] complex on the CS biological proprieties have been evaluated, proving that the new CS@Znn films show an improved antioxidant activity, tested according to the DPPH method, with respect to pure CS, related to the concentration of the incorporated Zn(II) complex. Finally, the CS@Znn films were tried out as antimicrobial agents, showing an increase in antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) with respect to pure CS, when detected by the agar disk-diffusion method

Electrical storm: A clinical and electrophysiological overview

Electrical storm (ES) is a clinical condition characterized by three or more ventricular arrhythmia episodes leading to appropriate implantable cardioverterdefibrillator (ICD) therapies in a 24 h period. Mostly, arrhythmias responsible of ES are multiple morphologies of monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT), but polymorphic VT and ventricular fibrillation can also result in ES. Clinical presentation is very dramatic in most cases, strictly related to the cardiac disease that may worsen electrical and hemodynamic decompensation. Therefore ES management is challenging in the majority of cases and a high mortality is the rule both in the acute and in the long-term phases. Different underlying cardiomyopathies provide significant clues into the mechanism of ES, which can arise in the setting of structural arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathies or rarely in patients with inherited arrhythmic syndrome, impacting on pharmacological treatment, on ICD programming, and on the opportunity to apply strategies of catheter ablation. This latter has become a pivotal form of treatment due to its high efficacy in modifying the arrhythmogenic substrate and in achieving rhythm stability, aiming at reducing recurrences of ventricular arrhythmia and at improving overall survival. In this review, the most relevant epidemiological and clinical aspects of ES, with regard to the acute and long-term follow-up implications, were evaluated, focusing on these novel therapeutic strategies of treatment

Design, optimization and experimental characterization of RF injectors for high brightness electron beams and plasma acceleration

In this article, we share our experience related to the new photo-injector commissioning at the SPARC\_LAB test facility. The new photo-injector was installed into an existing machine and our goal was not only to improve the final beam parameters themselves but to improve the machine handling in day-to-day operations as well. Thus, besides the pure beam characterization, this article contains information about the improvements, that were introduced into the new photo-injector design from the machine maintenance point of view, and the benefits, that we gained by using the new technique to assemble the gun itself