Impact of the foliar application of nanoparticles, sulfate and iron chelate on the growth, yield and nitrogen assimilation in green beans

Nano-fertilizers (Nfs) have the potential to revolutionize agricultural systems through nanostructures ranging from 1 to 100 nm that address environmental responses and a more targeted biological demand. The purpose of this work was to study the impact of the foliar application of nanoparticles (NPs), sulfate and iron chelate on the growth, yield and assimilation of nitrogen in green beans. The iron was applied foliar in three different ways: Iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3), ferric sulfate (Fe2(SO4)3) and iron chelate (Fe-EDDHA) in doses of 0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 ppm. The treatments that produced a higher total biomass increase were NPs and Fe-EDDHA at 50 ppm, with increases of 37% and 47% respectively compared to the control (with no application of Fe). Regarding the in vivo nitrate reductase activity, significant differences were obtained, particularly in the NPs and Fe-EDDHA treatment, with increases of 71% and 72% respectively. NPs at low doses favored maximum fruit production with increases of 88% in comparison to the control. Finally, it is concluded that the optimal doses that enhanced total biomass, production and assimilation of nitrogen were Fe2(SO4)3 at 25 ppm, Fe-EDDHA at 100 ppm and Fe2O3 at 25 ppm. The efficiency of foliar absorption of iron was found in treatments with Fe2O3 at 50 and 100 ppm. The foliar absorption efficiency of NPs offers sustainable alternatives to increase the productivity of the green bean

Lifestyle and Treatment Adherence Intervention after a Coronary Event Based on an Interactive Web Application (EVITE): Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Protocol

Coronary heart disease is one of the main causes of morbimortality around the world. Patients that survive a coronary event suffer a high risk of readmission, relapse and mortality, attributed to the sub-optimal control of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), which highlights the need to improve secondary prevention strategies aimed at improving their lifestyle and adherence to treatment. Through a randomized controlled clinical trial, this study aims to evaluate the effect of an intervention involving an online health application supported by a mobile telephone or tablet (mHealth) on lifestyle (diet, physical activity, and tobacco consumption) and treatment adherence among people with coronary heart disease after percutaneous coronary intervention. The sample will comprise 240 subjects (120 in each arm: intervention and usual care). They are assessed immediately and nine months after their hospital discharge about sociodemographic, clinical, CVRF, lifestyle, and treatment adherence characteristics. The educative intervention, involving a follow-up and self-monitoring, will be performed using an online mHealth tool consisting of an application for mobile phones and tablets. The quantitative primary outcomes from the two groups will be compared using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusted for age and gender. A multivariate analysis will be performed to examine the association of the intervention with lifestyle habits, the control of CVRFs, and outcomes after discharge in terms of the use of health services, emergency visits, cardiovascular events and readmissions.Andalusian Ministry of Health and Families, Spain. Public funding. PI-0067-2018. JA Tur is funded by CIBEROBN (CB12/03/30038)-Instituto de Salud Carlos III and cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund

Biophotonic Sensing Cells (BICELLs) for label-free biosensing

Label free immunoassay sector is a ferment of activity, experiencing rapid growth as new technologies come forward and achieve acceptance. The landscape is changing in a “bottom up” approach, as individual companies promote individual technologies and find a market for them. Therefore, each of the companies operating in the label-free immunoassay sector offers a technology that is in some way unique and proprietary. However, no many technologies based on Label-free technology are currently in the market for PoC and High Throughput Screening (HTS), where mature labeled technologies have taken the market

Programa de Salud Pública e Innovación en Nutrición I, II y III

ITESO, A.C

Effect on the demand and stock returns: cross-sectional of Big Data and time-series analysis

For reducing the degree of uncertainty caused by constant change in the environment, large, medium or small, private or public organizations must support their decisions in something more than experience or intuition; they must be supported by the development of accurate and reliable forecasts in order to meet the needs in the organization planning tasks. This case study presents a growing company dedicated to the storage of perishable products and incorporates time series forecasting techniques to estimate the volume of storage to foresee the requirements of additional facilities, personnel and materials needed for product mobility

Biophotonic Sensing Cells Optimization for label-free biosensing

Los sectores de detección biológica demandan continuamente técnicas de análisis y diagnóstico más eficientes y precisas para identificar enfermedades y desarrollar nuevos medicamentos. Actualmente se considera que hay una gran necesidad de desarrollar herramientas de diagnóstico capaces de asegurar sensibilidad, rapidez, sencillez y asequibilidad para aplicaciones en sectores como la salud, la alimentación, el medioambiente o la seguridad. En el ámbito clínico se necesitan profundos avances tecnológicos capaces de ofrecer análisis rápidos, exactos, fiables y asequibles en coste y que tengan como consecuencia la mejora clínica y económica a partir de un diagnóstico eficiente. En concreto, hay un interés creciente por la descentralización del diagnóstico clínico mediante plataformas de detección cercanas al usuario final, denominadas POCs (Point Of Care devices). La utilización de POCs (referidas al diagnóstico cercano al usuario final o fuera del laboratorio de análisis clínico), mediante detección in vitro (IVD), será extremadamente útil en centros de salud, clínicas o unidades hospitalarias, entornos laborales o incluso en el hogar. Por otra parte, el desarrollo de la genómica, proteómica y otras tecnologías conocidas como “omics” (sufijo en inglés para referirse, por ejemplo, a genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics) está incrementando la demanda de nuevas tecnologías mucho más avanzadas con una clara orientación hacia la medicina personalizada y la necesidad de hacer frente a cambios en los tratamientos en el caso de enfermedades complejas. Desde hace poco tiempo se han definido las Celdas Biofónicas (BICELLs) como una metodología novedosa para la detección de agentes biológicos que ofrecen una serie de características que las hacen interesantes como son: Capacidad de multiplexación, alta sensibilidad, posibilidad de medir en gota, compatible con otras tecnologías. En este trabajo se hace un estudio y optimización sobre diferentes tipos de BICELLs y se valoran una serie de figuras de merito a tener en cuenta desde el punto de vista del lector óptico a emplear

PDA-Based Glyconanomicelles for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells Active Targeting Via Mannose and Asialoglycoprotein Receptors

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common neoplasia and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Sorafenib is the first-line molecular therapy for patients in an advanced stage of HCC. However, the recommended clinical dose of Sorafenib is associated with several complications, which derive from its lack of cell specificity and its very low water solubility. To circumvent these drawbacks, in the present study we developed two sugar-coated polydiacetylene-based nanomicelles-Sorafenib carriers targeting mannose and asialoglycoprotein receptors (MR and ASGPR, respectively). The strategies allowed the inducement of apoptosis and reduction of cell proliferation at a nanomolar, instead of micromolar, range in liver cancer cells. The study showed that, contrary to literature data, Sorafenib included into the pMicMan (Man = mannose) vector (targeting MR) is more efficient than pMicGal (Gal = galactose) (targeting ASGPR). Indeed, pMicMan increased the endosomal incorporation with an increased intracellular Sorafenib concentration that induced apoptosis and reduced cell proliferation at a low concentration range (10-20 nM).Financial support was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2016-78580-C2-1-R to N.K.) and the Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) (PI13/00021, PI16/00090, and PI19/01266 to J.M.) both cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) from FEDER and the European Social Fund (ESF), as well by the Andalusian Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation (P07-FQM-2774 to N.K., CV20-04221 to N.K. P20_00882 to N.K. and CTS-6264 to J.M.), the PAIDI Program from the Andalusian Government (FQM-313 to N.K., CV20-04221 to N.K., P20_00882 to N.K., P20_00882 to N.K., and CTS-0664 to J.M.), the Andalusian Ministry of Health (PI-00025-2013, and PI-0198-2016 to J.M.), and the CSIC (CSIC–COV19-047). We thank the Biomedical Research Network Center for Liver and Digestive Diseases founded by the ISCIII and cofinanced by FEDER “A way to achieve Europe” and ERDF for their financial support. The COST action CA-18132 “Functional Glyconanomaterials for the Development of Diagnostic and Targeted Therapeutic Probe” is also acknowledged. E.R.B., C.C.A., and P. de la C.-O. were supported by FPU predoctoral fellowship (FPU15/04267, FPU17/00190, and FPU17/00026) from Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. E.N.-V. was supported by the predoctoral i-PFIS IIS-enterprise contract in science and technologies in health (IFI18/00014) from ISCiii.Peer reviewe

Long-Term Outcomes After Autologous Versus Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Molecularly-Stratified Patients With Intermediate Cytogenetic Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A PETHEMA Study

PETHEMA (Programa Español de Tratamientos en Hematología) and GETH (Grupo Espa~nol de Trasplante Hematopoyético y Terapia Celular) Cooperative GroupsAcute myeloid leukemia (AML) with intermediate risk cytogenetics (IRcyto) comprises a variety of biological entities with distinct mutational landscapes that translate into differential risks of relapse and prognosis. Optimal postremission therapy choice in this heterogeneous patient population is currently unsettled. In the current study, we compared outcomes in IRcyto AML recipients of autologous (autoSCT) (n = 312) or allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) (n = 279) in first complete remission (CR1). Molecular risk was defined based on CEBPA, NPM1, and FLT3-ITD mutational status, per European LeukemiaNet 2017 criteria. Five-year overall survival (OS) in patients with favorable molecular risk (FRmol) was 62% (95% confidence interval [CI], 50-72) after autoSCT and 66% (95% CI, 41-83) after matched sibling donor (MSD) alloSCT (P = .68). For patients of intermediate molecular risk (IRmol), MSD alloSCT was associated with lower cumulative incidence of relapse (P < .001), as well as with increased nonrelapse mortality (P = .01), as compared to autoSCT. The 5-year OS was 47% (95% CI, 34-58) after autoSCT and 70% (95% CI, 59-79) after MSD alloSCT (P = .02) in this patient subgroup. In a propensity-score matched IRmol subcohort (n = 106), MSD alloSCT was associated with superior leukemia-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] 0.33, P = .004) and increased OS in patients alive 1 year after transplantation (HR 0.20, P = .004). These results indicate that, within IRcyto AML in CR1, autoSCT may be a valid option for FRmol patients, whereas MSD alloSCT should be the preferred postremission strategy in IRmol patients.Supported by a Río Hortega academic clinical fellowship (CM19/00194) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (E.R.A.). Additional funding has been provided by CIBERONC grants to J.P.S. (CB16/12/00480), M.M.S. (CB16/12/00369) and B.V. (CB16/12/00233)

Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 infection induces an exacerbated inflammation driven by innate immunity components. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in the defense against viral infections, for instance plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), have the capacity to produce vast amounts of interferon-alpha (IFN-α). In COVID-19 there is a deficit in DC numbers and IFN-α production, which has been associated with disease severity. In this work, we described that in addition to the DC deficiency, several DC activation and homing markers were altered in acute COVID-19 patients, which were associated with multiple inflammatory markers. Remarkably, previously hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients remained with decreased numbers of CD1c+ myeloid DCs and pDCs seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, the expression of DC markers such as CD86 and CD4 were only restored in previously nonhospitalized patients, while no restoration of integrin β7 and indoleamine 2,3-dyoxigenase (IDO) levels were observed. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the immunological sequelae of COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2 viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs is not an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome

The aim was to assess the ability of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load at first patient’s hospital evaluation to predict unfavorable outcomes. We conducted a prospective cohort study including 321 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 through RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs. Quantitative Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA cycle threshold values were used to calculate the viral load in log10 copies/mL. Disease severity at the end of follow up was categorized into mild, moderate, and severe. Primary endpoint was a composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or death (n = 85, 26.4%). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load over the second quartile (≥ 7.35 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.003) and second tertile (≥ 8.27 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.01) were associated to unfavorable outcome in the unadjusted logistic regression analysis. However, in the final multivariable analysis, viral load was not independently associated with an unfavorable outcome. Five predictors were independently associated with increased odds of ICU admission and/or death: age ≥ 70 years, SpO2, neutrophils > 7.5 × 103/µL, lactate dehydrogenase ≥ 300 U/L, and C-reactive protein ≥ 100 mg/L. In summary, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load on admission is generally high in patients with COVID-19, regardless of illness severity, but it cannot be used as an independent predictor of unfavorable clinical outcome