Synthesis, Bioavailability, and Cytotoxicity Studies

Funding Information: This work was supported by Portuguese funds from FCT/MCTES through the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry—LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020) and the project numbers PTDC/QUI-QOR/32406/2017 and PTDC/EAM-AMB/2023/2021. Ana R. Jesus and Ana Rita C. Duarte acknowledge the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement No ERC-2016-CoG 725034. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Thyroid diseases affect a considerable portion of the population, with hypothyroidism being one of the most commonly reported thyroid diseases. Levothyroxine (T4) is clinically used to treat hypothyroidism and suppress thyroid stimulating hormone secretion in other thyroid diseases. In this work, an attempt to improve T4 solubility is made through the synthesis of ionic liquids (ILs) based on this drug. In this context, [Na][T4] was combined with choline [Ch]+ and 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium [C2OHMiM]+ cations in order to prepare the desired T4-ILs. All compounds were characterized by NMR, ATR-FTIR, elemental analysis, and DSC, aiming to check their chemical structure, purities, and thermal properties. The serum, water, and PBS solubilities of the T4-ILs were compared to [Na][T4], as well as the permeability assays. It is important to note an improved adsorption capacity, in which no significant cytotoxicity was observed against L929 cells. [C2OHMiM][T4] seems to be a good alternative to the commercial levothyroxine sodium salt with promising bioavailability.publishersversionpublishe

New non-toxic n-alkyl cholinium-based ionic liquids as excipients to improve the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs

Funding Information: Funding: The authors thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, FCT/MCTES (Portugal) for financial support through investigator contract (IF/00621/2015—P.M. Reis) and project IF/00621/2015. This work was also supported by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry—LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020) and by projects UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences-UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy-i4HB, which are financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES. The NMR spectrometers at FCT-NOVA are part of Rede Nacional de RMN (PTNMR), supported by FCT-MCTES (ROTEIRO/0031/2013—PINFRA/22161/2016) (cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC). LRR acknowledges FCT/MCTES project PTDC/CVT-EPI/6685/2014.In this work, we prepared new biocompatible N-alkyl cholinium-based ionic liquids to be used as cosolvents to improve the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs, namely, sodium diclo-fenac and paracetamol. In this set of ionic liquids, we intend to understand the effect of increasing the asymmetry of the ionic liquid cation/anion by growing the length of one of the alkyl chains attached to the nitrogen center/sulfonate center on the dissolution capacity of the ionic liquid. The addition of these new ionic liquids to water increased the dissolution capacity of the drugs up to four-times that in water, and improved the pharmacodynamic properties of these drugs, especially the case of sodium diclofenac. The intermolecular interactions between the drugs and ionic liquids were investigated by NMR. Two-dimensional1H/1H nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy (NO-ESY) revealed an interaction between sodium diclofenac and the alaninate anion from the [C2Ch]2[SucAla]. In the case of paracetamol and [C4Ch][C2SO3], it was possible to observe two inter-molecular interactions between the hydroxyl group of paracetamol and two protons from the cation [C4Ch]+. Interestingly, the ionic liquid bearing a succinyl-DL-alaninate anion, [SucAla]2−, and a N-ethyl cholinium cation, [C2Ch]+, which presented the highest ability to dissolve sodium diclofenac, showed no cytotoxicity up to 500 mM. Therefore, this ionic liquid is a potential candidate for drug delivery applications.publishersversionpublishe

Burnout syndrome and coping strategies in Portuguese oncology health care providers

Background Burnout is a multidimensional syndrome and includes symptoms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment at work. Oncology health care providers are at high risk to develop symptoms of burnout because of work-related stressors. Adaptive coping strategies adopted to deal with stressors may prevent the development of burnout. Objective The present study aims to assess the association between burnout, functional coping strategies, and occupational factors in a sample of oncology providers, mostly nurses. Methods Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Problem Solving Inventory “Inventário de Resolução de Problemas” were administered. Descriptive, correlational, and linear regression analyses were performed. Results The study showed that emotional exhaustion correlated with lower levels of adaptive coping, less years of experience in Oncology, and a greater amount of hours worked per week. Personal accomplishment was associated with the adaptive coping strategies. No further statistically significant associations were identified. Discussion Our findings support the importance of adaptive coping strategies in order to prevent symptoms of burnout when health professionals face potentially stressful occupational factors. Training aimed at improving adaptive coping skills may prevent burnout syndrome for health care professionals working in Oncology

First report of Tomato torrado virus on weed hosts in Spain

Alfaro Fernández, AO.; Córdoba-Sellés, C.; Cebrián, M.; Herrera-Vásquez, J.; Sanchez Navarro, JA.; Juárez, M.; Espino, A.... (2088). First report of Tomato torrado virus on weed hosts in Spain. Plant Disease. 92(5):831-831. https://doi.org/10.1094/pdis-92-5-0831b83183192

Autonomous CPSoS for cognitive large manufacturing industries.

The general aim of a cognitive Cyber Physical System of Systems (CPSoS) is to provide managed access to data in a smart fashion such that sensing and actuation capabilities are connected. Whilst there is significant funding and research devoted to this area, focus remains purely on creating bespoke systems. This paper presents a novel approach, based on a set of components to leverage Situational Awareness and Smart Actuation in large manufacturing industries with the focus on enabling predictive maintenance for asset and abnormal situation management. This paper presents a novel generic platform, named AtiCoS, that combines case-based and common-sense reasoning, as the enabling methodologies for enhancing CPSoS with cognitive capabilities

Ajedrez en grid con accesibilidad para todos.

Investigación Reflexiva de Grid Accesible para el Doctorado en Ingeniería del Software con la Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca sede Madrid, basado en la demanda de personas discapacitadas que requieren acceder a la información. Según La Organización Mundial de la Salud, más de 400 millones personas en el mundo son discapacitadas. Motivo de sensibilización para que los diseñadores de Sistemas de última generación como los Sistemas en Grid sean accesibles para todos, donde el Ajedrez, disciplina deportiva sirve como modelo para presentar los grandes beneficios de los más importantes conceptos Grid evitando volver los desarrollos en Sistemas mudos, sordos e inaccesibles

Ontologías, websemántica, metadatos para ver con los oídos, oir con los ojos, hablar para todos.

Investigación Reflexiva de Web Semántica para el Doctorado en Ingeniería del Software con la UPSAM, basándose en la demanda de personas discapacitadas que requieren acceder a la Web. Los diseñadores de ontologías en la Web Semántica deben construir páginas universales, evitando volver a ésta uda, sorda, inaccesible. Investigando definiciones formales sobre: Sistema de Información, Calidad, Estándares de WAI, WCAG, W3C, directrices para WEB 1,0 y WEB 2.0, investigaciones de SIDAR y normas legales sobre diseño de sistemas accesibles. Se observa la carencia en la Ingeniería WEB de: sensibilidad, conocimiento de directrices, legislaciones precisas sobre diseños con Calidad y accesibilidad