One-Pot Synthesis of Oxidation-Sensitive Supramolecular Gels and Vesicles

Polypeptide-based nanoparticles offer unique advantages from a nanomedicine perspective such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and stimuli-responsive properties to (patho)physiological conditions. Conventionally, self-assembled polypeptide nanostructures are prepared by first synthesizing their constituent amphiphilic polypeptides followed by postpolymerization self-assembly. Herein, we describe the one-pot synthesis of oxidation-sensitive supramolecular micelles and vesicles. This was achieved by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) of the N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) precursor of methionine using poly(ethylene oxide) as a stabilizing and hydrophilic block in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). By adjusting the hydrophobic block length and concentration, we obtained a range of morphologies from spherical to wormlike micelles, to vesicles. Remarkably, the secondary structure of polypeptides greatly influenced the final morphology of the assemblies. Surprisingly, wormlike micellar morphologies were obtained for a wide range of methionine block lengths and solid contents, with spherical micelles restricted to very short hydrophobic lengths. Wormlike micelles further assembled into oxidation-sensitive, self-standing gels in the reaction pot. Both vesicles and wormlike micelles obtained using this method demonstrated to degrade under controlled oxidant conditions, which would expand their biomedical applications such as in sustained drug release or as cellular scaffolds in tissue engineering

A counterfactual impact evaluation of a bilingual program on students’ grade point average at a spanish university

This observational study intends to estimate the causal effects of an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) program (as predictor) on students Grade Point Average (GPA) (as outcome) at a particular University in Spain by using a Counterfactual Impact Evaluation (CIE). The need to address the crucial question of causal inferences in EMI programs to produce credible evidences of successful interventions contrasts, however, with the absence of experimental or quasi-experimental research and evaluation designs in the field. CIE approach is emerging as a methodologically viable solution to bridge that gap. The program evaluated here consisted in delivering an EMI program in a Primary Education Teacher Training Degree group. After achieving balance on the observed covariates and recreating a situation that would have been expected in a randomized experiment, three matching approaches such as genetic matching, nearest neighbor matching and Coarsened Exact Matching were used to analyze observational data from a total of 1288 undergraduate students, including both treatment and control group. Results show unfavorable effects of the bilingual group treatment condition. Potential interpretations and recommendations are provided in order to strengthen future causal evidences of bilingual education programs’ effectiveness in Higher Education.This work was supported by the Junta de Andalucía-funded Proyecto de Excelencia: “Análisis y Garantía de Calidad de la Educación Superior Plurilingüe en la Educación Superior de Andalucía [Junta de Andalusia-funded Project of Excelence: Analysis and Warrantee of the Quality of Plurilingual Higher Education in Andalucia] (AGCEPESA; Grant Agreement No. P12-SEJ − 1588)

Dynamics of magnetic assembly of binary colloidal structures

"This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in Europhysics Letters. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at 10.1209/0295-5075/111/37002."Magnetic field (MF)-directed assembly of colloidal particles provides a step towards the bottom-up manufacturing of smart materials whose properties can be precisely modulated by non-contact forces. Here, we study the MF-directed assembly in binary colloids made up of strong ferromagnetic and diamagnetic microparticles dispersed in ferrofluids. We present observations of the aggregation of pairs and small groups of particles to build equilibrium assemblies. We also develop a theoretical model capable of solving the aggregation dynamics and predicting the particle trajectories, a key factor to understand the physics governing the MF-directed assembly.The project MINECO FIS2013-41821-R (Spain) is acknowledged for financial support

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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A counterfactual impact evaluation of a bilingual program on students’ grade point average at a spanish university

This observational study intends to estimate the causal effects of an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) program (as predictor) on students Grade Point Average (GPA) (as outcome) at a particular University in Spain by using a Counterfactual Impact Evaluation (CIE). The need to address the crucial question of causal inferences in EMI programs to produce credible evidences of successful interventions contrasts, however, with the absence of experimental or quasi-experimental research and evaluation designs in the field. CIE approach is emerging as a methodologically viable solution to bridge that gap. The program evaluated here consisted in delivering an EMI program in a Primary Education Teacher Training Degree group. After achieving balance on the observed covariates and recreating a situation that would have been expected in a randomized experiment, three matching approaches such as genetic matching, nearest neighbor matching and Coarsened Exact Matching were used to analyze observational data from a total of 1288 undergraduate students, including both treatment and control group. Results show unfavorable effects of the bilingual group treatment condition. Potential interpretations and recommendations are provided in order to strengthen future causal evidences of bilingual education programs’ effectiveness in Higher Education.This work was supported by the Junta de Andalucía-funded Proyecto de Excelencia: “Análisis y Garantía de Calidad de la Educación Superior Plurilingüe en la Educación Superior de Andalucía [Junta de Andalusia-funded Project of Excelence: Analysis and Warrantee of the Quality of Plurilingual Higher Education in Andalucia] (AGCEPESA; Grant Agreement No. P12-SEJ − 1588)