Bases filosóficas de la demostración luliana de la Trinidad

Ramon Llull afirmó la posibilidad de demostrar las verdades de la fe cristiana. La exposición de la Trinidad en Dios es uno de los momentos cruciales a los que se somete el sentido y el alcance de su tesis. En el centro de la demostración se encuentra la explicación de toda la realidad en base a su constitución correlativa. El artículo resume los puntos básicos de esta explicación desde la perspectiva de la ontología y expone cómo Ramon Llull se sirve de ella en la comprensión de la trinidad de personas en Dios. Se observa que en el transcurso de sus obras se proponen dos esquemas aparentemente contradictorios.Ramon Llull asserted the possibility of demonstrating the truth of the Christian faith. One of the crucial elements on which the significance and the meaning of his thesis rest is the Trinity of God. The main point of this argument is to explain all reality based on its correlative constitution. This article summarizes the main points of this argument from the perspective of ontology and explains how Ramon Llull uses it to comprehend the trinity of persons in God. In the course of his work it is noted that there are two apparently contradictory lines of thought

Identification of stillbirths in NSW linked population health datasets

This manuscript has not been submitted for publication. It compares stillbirth reporting from four different population data sources, and develops an algorithm for maximum identification of definite and probable stillbirths in linked population data while avoiding false positive and duplicate reports. By placing the results on this repository we are hoping to inform future use of population data for research on stillbirths in NSW.This work was supported by the Stillbirth Foundation Australia. Christine Roberts is supported by a NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (APP1021025). We thank the NSW Ministry of Health for access to the population health data and the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) for linking the data sets

Understanding the Influence of a Bifunctional Polyethylene Glycol Derivative in Protein Corona Formation around Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are one of the most prominent agents used in theranostic applications, with MRI imaging the main application assessed. The biomolecular interface formed on the surface of a nanoparticle in a biological medium determines its behaviour in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we have compared the formation of the protein corona on highly monodisperse iron oxide nanoparticles with two different coatings, dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), and after conjugation, with a bifunctional polyethylene glycol (PEG)-derived molecule (2000 Da) in the presence of Wistar rat plasma. The protein fingerprints around the nanoparticles were analysed in an extensive proteomic study. The results presented in this work indicate that the composition of the protein corona is very difficult to predict. Proteins from different functional categories—cell components, lipoproteins, complement, coagulation, immunoglobulins, enzymes and transport proteins—were identified in all samples with very small variability. Although both types of nanoparticles have similar amounts of bonded proteins, very slight differences in the composition of the corona might explain the variation observed in the uptake and biotransformation of these nanoparticles in Caco-2 and RAW 264.7 cells. Cytotoxicity was also studied using a standard 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay. Controlling nanoparticles’ reactivity to the biological environment by deciding on its surface functionalization may suggest new routes in the control of the biodistribution, biodegradation and clearance of multifunctional nanomedicines

Toxicity and Applications of Internalised Magnetite Nanoparticles Within Live Paramecium caudatum Cells

© 2017, The Author(s). The nanotechnology revolution has allowed us to speculate on the possibility of hybridising nanoscale materials with live substrates, yet significant doubt still remains pertaining to the effects of nanomaterials on biological matter. In this investigation, we cultivate the ciliated protistic pond-dwelling microorganism Paramecium caudatum in the presence of excessive quantities of magnetite nanoparticles in order to deduce potential beneficial applications for this technique, as well as observe any deleterious effects on the organisms’ health. Our findings indicate that this variety of nanoparticle is well-tolerated by P. caudatum cells, who were observed to consume them in quantities exceeding 5–12% of their body volume: cultivation in the presence of magnetite nanoparticles does not alter P. caudatum cell volume, swimming speed, growth rate or peak colony density and cultures may persist in nanoparticle-contaminated media for many weeks. We demonstrate that P. caudatum cells ingest starch-coated magnetite nanoparticles which facilitates their being magnetically immobilised whilst maintaining apparently normal ciliary dynamics, thus demonstrating that nanoparticle biohybridisation is a viable alternative to conventional forms of ciliate quieting. Ingested magnetite nanoparticle deposits appear to aggregate, suggesting that (a) the process of being internalised concentrates and may therefore detoxify (i.e. render less reactive) nanomaterial suspensions in aquatic environments, and (b) P. caudatum is a candidate organism for programmable nanomaterial manipulation and delivery

Peculiaritats al·lèliques del locus <em>S</em> de les cultivars mallorquines d’ametller

The examination of the allelic diversity of the locus <em>S</em> in ten almond cultivars from Majorca has shown the presence of the <em>S_f</em> allele in four of them, as well as the presence of five new alleles non identified so far. Although the <em>S_f</em> allele has been described as responsible for the expression of self-compatibility in almond, it has been recently shown that this allele has two different phenotypic expressions. As a consequence, this allele cannot be always considered an index for self-compatibility of the genotypes harbouring it. The study of the four Majorcan cultivars possessing this allele has confirmed their selfincompatibility, showing that this allele is in its phenotypically active form, as it has been also observed in a group of cultivars from southern Italy, a fact possibly suggesting a connexion between these two Mediterranean almond populations.<br><br>El examen de la diversidad alélica del locus <em>S</em> en diez cultivares mallorquines de almendro ha mostrado la presencia del alelo <em>S_f</em> en cuatro de ellos, así como la presencia de cinco nuevos alelos no identificados hasta ahora. Aunque el alelo <em>S_f</em> se ha descrito como responsable de la expresión de la autocompatibilidad del almendro, recientemente se ha descubierto que tiene dos expresiones fenotípicas diferentes, por lo que no siempre se puede considerar un índice de la autocompatibilidad de los genotipos que lo presentan. El estudio de los cuatro cultivares mallorquines que presentan este alelo ha confirmado su autoincompatibilidad, de manera que este alelo se expresa en estos cultivares en su forma fenotípicamente activa, como también se ha comprobado en un grupo de cultivares del sur de Italia, lo que podría indicar una conexión entre estas dos poblaciones mediterráneas de almendro. [ca] L’examen de la diversitat al·lèlica del locus <em>S</em> en deu cultivars mallorquines d’ametller ha mostrat la presència de l’al·lel <em>S_f</em> en quatre, així com la presència de cinc al·lels nous fins ara no identificats. Encara que l’al·lel <em>S_f</em> s’ha descrit com a responsable de l’expressió de l’autocompatibilitat de l’ametller, fa poc que s’ha descobert que té dues expressions fenotípiques diferents, pel que no sempre es pot considerar un índex de l’autocompatibilitat dels genotips que el tenen. L’estudi de les quatre cultivars mallorquines que presenten aquest al·lel ha confirmat la seva autoincompatibilitat, de manera que aquest al·lel s’hi expressa en la seva forma fenotípicament activa, com també s’ha comprovat en un grup de cultivars del sud d’Itàlia, fet que podria indicar una connexió entre aquestes dues poblacions mediterrànies d’ametller

Nanoparticles in magnetic resonance imaging: from simple to dual contrast agents

Joan Estelrich,1,2 Mar&iacute;a Jes&uacute;s S&aacute;nchez-Mart&iacute;n,1 Maria Ant&ograve;nia Busquets1,2 1Departament de Fisicoqu&iacute;mica, Facultat de Farm&agrave;cia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; 2Institut de Nanoci&egrave;ncia I Nanotecnologia (IN2UB), Barcelona, Catalonia, SpainAbstract: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become one of the most widely used and powerful tools for noninvasive clinical diagnosis owing to its high degree of soft tissue contrast, spatial resolution, and depth of penetration. MRI signal intensity is related to the relaxation times (T1, spin&ndash;lattice relaxation and T2, spin&ndash;spin relaxation) of in vivo water protons. To increase contrast, various inorganic nanoparticles and complexes (the so-called contrast agents) are administered prior to the scanning. Shortening T1 and T2 increases the corresponding relaxation rates, 1/T1 and 1/T2, producing hyperintense and hypointense signals respectively in shorter times. Moreover, the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved with the acquisition of a large number of measurements. The contrast agents used are generally based on either iron oxide nanoparticles or ferrites, providing negative contrast in T2-weighted images; or complexes of lanthanide metals (mostly containing gadolinium ions), providing positive contrast in T1-weighted images. Recently, lanthanide complexes have been immobilized in nanostructured materials in order to develop a new class of contrast agents with functions including blood-pool and organ (or tumor) targeting. Meanwhile, to overcome the limitations of individual imaging modalities, multimodal imaging techniques have been developed. An important challenge is to design all-in-one contrast agents that can be detected by multimodal techniques. Magnetoliposomes are efficient multimodal contrast agents. They can simultaneously bear both kinds of contrast and can, furthermore, incorporate targeting ligands and chains of polyethylene glycol to enhance the accumulation of nanoparticles at the site of interest and the bioavailability, respectively. Here, we review the most important characteristics of the nanoparticles or complexes used as MRI contrast agents. Keywords: gadolinium, iron oxide nanoparticles, magnetoliposomes, paramagnetic nanoparticles, superparamagnetic nanoparticles, relaxivit