AFL-CIO Legislative Guide: 112th Congress (2011–2012)

The AFL-CIO Legislative Guide for the 112th Congress covers the following issues as they relate to labor and public policy: The Economy Freedom to Form a Union Health Care Retirement Security Core Labor Laws, Labor Standards and Workplace Protections Education, Civil and Human Rights, Fair and Open Elections The Global Econom

Progress and Hurdles of Therapeutic Nanosystems against Cancer

This research was funded by FEDER/Junta de Andalucia-Consejeria de Transformacion Economica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades, Projects (PY20_00241 and A-FQM-90-UGR20).Nanomedicine against cancer, including diagnosis, prevention and treatment, has increased expectations for the solution of many biomedical challenges in the fight against this disease. In recent decades, an exhaustive design of nanosystems with high specificity, sensitivity and selectivity has been achieved due to a rigorous control over their physicochemical properties and an understanding of the nano–bio interface. However, despite the considerable progress that has been reached in this field, there are still different hurdles that limit the clinical application of these nanosystems, which, along with their possible solutions, have been reviewed in this work. Specifically, physiological processes as biological barriers and protein corona formation related to the administration routes, designing strategies to overcome these obstacles, promising new multifunctional nanotherapeutics, and recent clinical trials are presented in this review.FEDER/Junta de Andalucia-Consejeria de Transformacion Economica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades PY20_00241 A-FQM-90-UGR2

Formulation, Colloidal Characterization, and In Vitro Biological Effect of BMP-2 Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles for Bone Regeneration

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/11/8/388/s1, Figure S1. Scheme of the formulation of NP-BMP2; Figure S2: Scheme of the protein adsorption process for NP-BSA-BMP2; Video S1. NTA experiments for NP-BMP2; Video S2. NTA experiments for empty NPs.Nanoparticles (NPs) based on the polymer poly (lactide-co-glycolide) acid (PLGA) have been widely studied in developing delivery systems for drugs and therapeutic biomolecules, due to the biocompatible and biodegradable properties of the PLGA. In this work, a synthesis method for bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2)-loaded PLGA NPs was developed and optimized, in order to carry out and control the release of BMP-2, based on the double-emulsion (water/oil/water, W/O/W) solvent evaporation technique. The polymeric surfactant Pluronic F68 was used in the synthesis procedure, as it is known to have an effect on the reduction of the size of the NPs, the enhancement of their stability, and the protection of the encapsulated biomolecule. Spherical solid polymeric NPs were synthesized, showing a reproducible multimodal size distribution, with diameters between 100 and 500 nm. This size range appears to allow the protein to act on the cell surface and at the cytoplasm level. The effect of carrying BMP-2 co-adsorbed with bovine serum albumin on the NP surface was analyzed. The colloidal properties of these systems (morphology by SEM, hydrodynamic size, electrophoretic mobility, temporal stability, protein encapsulation, and short-term release profile) were studied. The effect of both BMP2-loaded NPs on the proliferation, migration, and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells from human alveolar bone (ABSC) was also analyzed in vitro.This research was funded by the Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo de la Junta de Andalucía (Spain) through research groups FQM-115 and CTS-1028, by the following research project: MAT2013-43922-R—European FEDER support included—(MICINN, Spain) and by MIS Ibérica S.L

Dispositivo inyectable precargado para el tratamiento de edema cerebral

Número de publicación: 2 663 669 Número de solicitud: 201631190 51 Int. CI.: A61K 31/56 (2006.01)Dispositivo inyectable precargado para el tratamiento de edema cerebral en el mal agudo de montaña. Los autores de la presente invención han desarrollado un dispositivo inyectable precargado que comprende o consiste en la composición de la invención, la forma farmacéutica inyectable, la preparación combinada, o el dispositivo inyectable precargado para el tratamiento de edema cerebral en el mal agudo de montaña. Las propiedades de este dispositivo lo hacen útil para la administración en condiciones ambientales extremas y cuando se requiere un tratamiento con urgencia.Universidad de Almería. Servicio Andaluz de Salu

Bone Regeneration from PLGA Micro-Nanoparticles

Poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) is one of the most widely used synthetic polymers for development of delivery systems for drugs and therapeutic biomolecules and as component of tissue engineering applications. Its properties and versatility allow it to be a reference polymer in manufacturing of nano- and microparticles to encapsulate and deliver a wide variety of hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules. It additionally facilitates and extends its use to encapsulate biomolecules such as proteins or nucleic acids that can be released in a controlled way. This review focuses on the use of nano/microparticles of PLGA as a delivery system of one of the most commonly used growth factors in bone tissue engineering, the bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2). Thus, all the needed requirements to reach a controlled delivery of BMP2 using PLGA particles as a main component have been examined. The problems and solutions for the adequate development of this system with a great potential in cell differentiation and proliferation processes under a bone regenerative point of view are discussed.The authors wish to express their appreciation for the financial support granted by the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia” (MEC, Spain), Projects MAT2013-43922-R, and Research Groups no. FQM-115, no. CTS-138, and no. CTS-583 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain). Partial support was also provided by the Andalucía Talent Hub Program from the Andalusian Knowledge Agency, cofunded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (COFUND, Grant Agreement no. 291780) and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucía (Miguel Padial-Molina)

Characterization of Different Functionalized Lipidic Nanocapsules as Potential Drug Carriers

Lipid nanocapsules (LNC) based on a core-shell structure consisting of an oil-filled core with a surrounding polymer layer are known to be promising vehicles for the delivery of hydrophobic drugs in the new therapeutic strategies in anti-cancer treatments. The present work has been designed as basic research about different LNC systems. We have synthesized—and physico-chemically characterized—three different LNC systems in which the core was constituted by olive oil and the shell by different phospholipids (phosphatidyl-serine or lecithin) and other biocompatible molecules such as Pluronic® F68 or chitosan. It is notable that the olive-oil-phosphatidyl-serine LCN is a novel formulation presented in this work and was designed to generate an enriched carboxylic surface. This carboxylic layer is meant to link specific antibodies, which could facilitate the specific nanocapsule uptake by cancer cells. This is why nanoparticles with phosphatidyl-serine in their shell have also been used in this work to form immuno-nanocapsules containing a polyclonal IgG against a model antigen (C-reactive protein) covalently bounded by means of a simple and reproducible carbodiimide method. An immunological study was made to verify that these IgG-LNC complexes showed the expected specific immune response. Finally, a preliminary in vitro study was performed by culturing a breast-carcinoma cell line (MCF-7) with Nile-Red-loaded LNC. We found that these cancer cells take up the fluorescent Nile- Red molecule in a process dependent on the surface properties of the nanocarriers

Novel Drug Delivery System Based on Docetaxel-Loaded Nanocapsules as a Therapeutic Strategy Against Breast Cancer Cells

In the field of cancer therapy, lipid nanocapsules based on a core-shell structure are promising vehicles for the delivery of hydrophobic drugs such as docetaxel. The main aim of this work was to evaluate whether docetaxel-loaded lipid nanocapsules improved the anti-tumor effect of free docetaxel in breast cancer cells. Three docetaxel-loaded lipid nanocapsules were synthesized by solvent displacement method. Cytotoxic assays were evaluated in breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cells treated by the sulforhodamine B colorimetric method. Cell cycle was studied by flow cytometry and Annexin V-FITC, and apoptosis was evaluated by using propidium iodide assays. The anti-proliferative effect of docetaxel appeared much earlier when the drug was encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles than when it was free. Docetaxel-loaded lipid nanocapsules significantly enhanced the decrease in IC50 rate, and the treated cells evidenced apoptosis and a premature progression of the cell cycle from G(1) to G(2)-M phase. The chemotherapeutic effect of free docetaxel on breast cancer cells is improved by its encapsulation in lipid nanocapsules. This approach has the potential to overcome some major limitations of conventional chemotherapy and may be a promising strategy for future applications in breast cancer therapy

Mecanismos de estabilidad en fluidos coloidales sensibilizados

En esta investigación se utilizan sistemas coloidales tipo latex, formados por microparticulas de naturaleza polimétrica dispersas en medio acuoso. El uso de complejos latex-proteina como test de inmuno diagnóstico para la detección rápida de analitos constituye una de las principales aplicaciones de este tipo de sistemas, amplificando la reacción antigeno-anticuerpo. Uno de estos dos se encuentra fijado en la superficie de las partículas. desde este punto de vista son especialmente significativos dos aspectos: la estabilidad coloidal de los complejos y la eliminación de interacciones inespecíficas en la reacción. Las partículas de latex se han estudiado de modo exhaustivo tratando los siguientes aspectos: distribución de tamaños y grado de monodispersidad (microscopia electrónica) caracterización superficial (valoraciones potenciometricas y conductimetricas), caracterización electrocinetica (mediante microelectroforesis y tratamientos teóricos), y estabilidad coloidal (determinación de la concentración critica de coagulación, constante de hamaker y factor de estabilidad). La absorción de proteínas se ha estudiado tanto de un modo convencional, por absorción física, como por un método de reciente desarrollo, mediante unión covalente a la superficie de las partículas. La absorción de dos proteínas, igc y bsa, herramienta usada para la estabilización coloidal de complejos inmuno-reactivos, es estudiada de forma secuencial y competitiva. Las características de estabilidad coloidal, inmunoreactividad, e interacciones inespecíficas de todos los complejos formados son tratados con profundidad. Como conclusión, se describen en este trabajo datos importantes para mejorar el desarrollo de tests de inmunodiagnósticoTesis Universidad de Granada. Departamento de Física Aplicad

Data supporting the physico-chemical characterization, cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of lipid nanocapsules

This work was supported by the projects MAT2010-20370 and MAT2013-43922-R (European FEDER support included, MICINN, Spain), PI10/02295 (Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria, FEDER funds) and P07-FQM2496, P10-CTS-6270 and P07-FQM3099 (Junta de Andalucia, Spain).The aim of this data article is to provide data for a basic knowledge of the properties of lipid nanocapsules, a new colloidal system with very promising applications in drug delivery. Firstly, we pay attention on how it is possible to determine their surface composition by means of electrokinetics measurements. On the other hand, we provide experimental evidences for a better understanding of the factors that determine the interactions of these nanoparticles with cells as a necessary step to guide the design of the most effective formulations. Additionally, we supply information about encapsulation efficiency of docetaxel, a potent chemotherapy drug, inside nanocapsules supporting the experimental cytotoxicity results of these nanosystems.European Union (EU) MAT2010-20370 MAT2013-43922-RInstituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria, FEDER funds PI10/02295Junta de Andalucia P07-FQM2496 P10-CTS-6270 P07-FQM3099Spanish Governmen

Automatic fall risk assessment for challenged users obtained from a rollator equipped with force sensors and a RGB-D camera

Fall risk assessments provide a useful tool to prevent morbidity and mortality provoked by falls. Nowadays, these assessments are usually performed manually by the medical staff. This approach has three main drawbacks: i) it is time consuming, so it is only performed a few times per volunteer during their rehabilitation process; ii) it requires supervision by medical staff, so assessment at home or preferred environments is not feasible; and iii) fall risk is evaluated in a global way, so imminent fall risk is not available for decision making in assistive navigation. In this paper we propose an imminent fall risk estimator for rollator's users that can be automatically obtained on the fly. Its main advantages are: i) it can be used in everyday conditions in any environment; ii) it does not require assistance of medical staff; and iii) it is suitable for a variety of users with minimal configuration changes. We have validated our estimator with a set of volunteers (n=10) presenting different physical and cognitive disabilities. Although the number of volunteer is limited, results show that our estimator is coherent to two traditional, well accepted assessments: the Tinetti Mobility Test and the walking speed.Peer Reviewe