Supramolecular subphthalocyanine cage as catalytic container for the functionalization of fullerenes in water

Herein we report the first example of a supramolecular cage that works as a catalytic molecular reactor to perform transformations over fullerenes in aqueous medium. Taking advantage of the ability of metallo–organic Pd(II)-subphthalocyanine (SubPc) capsules to form stable host:guest complexes with C60, we have prepared a water-soluble cage that provides a hydrophobic environment for conducting cycloadditions over encapsulated C60, namely, Diels–Alder reactions with anthracene. Indeed, the presence of catalytic amounts of SubPc cage dissolved in water promotes coencapsulation of insoluble C60 and anthracene substrates, allowing the reaction to occur inside the cavity under mild conditions. The lower stability of the host: guest complex with the resulting C60 cycloadduct facilitates its displacement by pristine C60, which grants catalytic turnover. Moreover, bis-addition compounds are regioselectively formed inside the cage when using excess anthracenements Financial support from the Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033 (PID2020-116490GB-I00, PID2020- 115801RB-C21, TED2021-131255B-C43), the Comunidad de Madrid and the Spanish State through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan [“Materiales Disruptivos Bidimensionales (2D)” (MAD2D-CM) (UAM1)-MRR Materiales Avanzados], and the European Union through the Next Generation EU funds is acknowledged. IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, Grant SEV2016-0686). S.K. acknowledges MSCA grant (101028059), and J.L. acknowledges MECD, Spain, for a F.P.U. fellowshi

Gestión del mantenimiento de las manipuladoras de la Empresa Ferreyros S.A., para disminuir los costos – Chimbote, 2021

La investigación tiene el objetivo principal de aplicar la gestión del mantenimiento en las manipuladoras para disminuir los costos en la Empresa Ferreyros S.A. - Chimbote, 2021; el diseño escogido para conseguirlo es experimental del tipo preexperimental, como primer paso se realizó una evaluación mediante encuestas demostrando una falta de implementación y control sobre lo que ya está implementado (documentos), esto se debe a la falta de estandarización y cumplimiento de las planificaciones que representa 69% de los problemas; la consecuencias encontradas afectamente a los costos ya que no se cumple con lo presupuestado por la empresa superándolo un 31%; en tanto a la implementación se procuró analizar la frecuencia de fallas para ejecutar la programación; así mismo se complementó este programa con capacitaciones y un sistema para la entrega oportuna de repuestos basado en el EOQ-MRP; bajo estos cambios se redujo los costos en más de un 20% y el ratio de cumplimiento se optimizo a un 81% demostrando que se ha cumplido con el objetivo de la empresa; con todos estos resultados y lo establecido por la evaluación estadística se comprueba la hipótesis concluyendo que una gestión de mantenimiento reduce los costos en la empresa Ferreyros S.A

Glycosylated BODIPY- Incorporated Pt(II) Metallacycles for Targeted and Synergistic Chemo-Photodynamic Therapy

Pt(II)-BODIPY complexes combine the chemotherapeutic activity of Pt(II) with the photocytotoxicity of BODIPYs. Additional conjugation with targeting ligands can boost the uptake by cancer cells that overexpress the corresponding receptors. We describe two Pt(II) triangles, 1 and 2, built with pyridyl BODIPYs functionalized with glucose (3) or triethylene glycol methyl ether (4), respectively. Both 1 and 2 showed higher singlet oxygen quantum yields than 3 and 4, due to the enhanced singlet-to-triplet intersystem crossing. To evaluate the targeting effect of the glycosylated derivative, in vitro experiments were performed using glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1)-positive HT29 and A549 cancer cells, and noncancerous HEK293 cells as control. Both 1 and 2 showed higher cellular uptake than 3 and 4. Specifically, 1 was selective and highly cytotoxic toward HT29 and A549 cells. The synergistic chemo- and photodynamic behavior of the metallacycles was also confirmed. Notably, 1 exhibited superior efficacy toward the cisplatin-resistant R-HepG2 cellsFinancial support from Spanish MINECO (PID2020- 116490GB-I00 and PID2020-115801RB-C21) is acknowledged. We also thank financial support to the Comunidad de Madrid (MAD2D-CM) and MICINN (“Planes complementarios, Materiales Avanzados”). IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the “Severo Ochoa” Program for Centres of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, Grant SEV2016-0686). E.Y.X. thanks The Chinese University of Hong Kong for support through the Impact Postdoctoral Fellowship Schem

A specific protein-enriched enteral formula decreases cortisolemia and improves plasma albumin and amino acid concentrations in elderly patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Old age is associated with an involuntary and progressive but physiological loss of muscle mass. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exclusive consumption for 6 months of a protein-enriched enteral diet with a relatively high content of branched-chain amino acids on albuminemia, cortisolemia, plasma amino acids, insulin resistance, and inflammation biomarkers in elderly patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-two patients from the Clinical Nutrition Outpatient Unit at our hospital exclusively consumed a protein-enriched enteral diet for 6 months. Data were collected at baseline and at 3 and 6 months on anthropometric and biochemical parameters and on plasma concentrations of amino acids, cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, urea, creatinine, insulin resistance, and inflammation biomarkers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The percentage of patients with albumin concentration below normal cut-off values decreased from 18% to 0% by the end of the study. At 6 months, concentrations of total plasma (<it>p </it>= 0.008) and essential amino acids (<it>p </it>= 0.011), especially branched-chain amino acids (<it>p </it>= 0.031), were higher versus baseline values, whereas 3-methylhistidine (<it>p </it>= 0.001), cortisol (<it>p </it>= 0.001) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (<it>p </it>= 0.004) levels were lower.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Regular intake of specific protein-enriched enteral formula increases plasma essential amino acids, especially branched-chain amino acids, and decreases cortisol and 3-methylhistidine, while plasma urea and creatinine remain unchanged.</p

Providing Collaborative Support to Virtual and Remote Laboratories

Virtual and remote laboratories (VRLs) are e-learning resources that enhance the accessibility of experimental setups providing a distance teaching framework which meets the student's hands-on learning needs. In addition, online collaborative communication represents a practical and a constructivist method to transmit the knowledge and experience from the teacher to students, overcoming physical distance and isolation. This paper describes the extension of two open source tools: (1) the learning management system Moodle, and (2) the tool to create VRLs Easy Java Simulations (EJS). Our extension provides: (1) synchronous collaborative support to any VRL developed with EJS (i.e., any existing VRL written in EJS can be automatically converted into a collaborative lab with no cost), and (2) support to deploy synchronous collaborative VRLs into Moodle. Using our approach students and/or teachers can invite other users enrolled in a Moodle course to a real-time collaborative experimental session, sharing and/or supervising experiences at the same time they practice and explore experiments using VRLs.This work was supported by the Spanish Government under the CICYT Project DPI2007-61068 and the GITE grant of the Technology and Educational Innovation Vice-President Office of the University of Alicante

Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. In Chile

Rattus rattus is a widely distributed, invasive species that presentsan important role in disease transmission, either directly or through vectorarthropods such as fleas. These black rats can transmit a wide variety of pathogens, including bacteria of the genus Bartonella, which can cause diseases in humans and animals. In Chile, no data are available identifying fleas from synanthropic rodents as Bartonella vectors. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Bartonella spp. in the fleas of R. rattus in areas with different climate conditions and featuring different human population densities. In all, 174 fleas collected from 261 R. rattus captured from 30 localities with different human densities (cities, villages, and wild areas) across five hydrographic zones of Chile (hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, and hyper-humid) were examined. Bartonella spp. presence was determined through polymerase chain reaction, using gltA and rpoB genes, which were concatenated to perform a similarity analysis with BLAST and phylogenetic analysis.Results: Overall, 15 fleas species were identified; Bartonella gltA and rpoB fragments were detected in 21.2% (37/174) and 19.5% (34/174) of fleas, respectively. A total of 10 of the 15 fleas species found were positive for Bartonella DNA. Leptopsylla segnis was the most commonly collected flea species (n = 55), and it also presented a high prevalence of Bartonella DNA (P% = 34.5%). The highest numbers of fleas of this species were collected in villages of the arid zone. There were no seasonal differences in the prevalence of Bartonella DNA. The presence of Bartonella DNA in fleas was recorded in all hydrographic areas, and the arid zone presented the highest prevalence of this species. Regarding areas with different human densities, the highest prevalence was noted in the villages (34.8% gltA and 31.8% rpoB), followed by cities (14.8% gltA and 11.1% rpoB) and wild areas (7.4% gltA and 14.8% rpoB). The BLAST analysis showed a high similitude (>96%) with four uncharacterized Bartonella genotypes and with two species with zoonotic potential: B. mastomydisand B. tribocorum. The phylogenetic analysis showed a close relationship withB. elizabethae and B. tribocorum. This is the first study to provide evidence of the presence of Bartonella in fleas of R. rattus in Chile, indicating that the villages and arid zone correspond to areas with higher infection risk.Fil: Moreno Salas, Lucila. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanografía. Departamento de Zoología; ChileFil: Espinoza Carniglia, Mario Virgilio. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanografía. Departamento de Zoología; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Lizama Schmeisser, Nicol. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanografía. Departamento de Zoología; ChileFil: Torres, L. Gonzalo. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanografía. Departamento de Zoología; Chile. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Silva de la Fuente, María Carolina. Universidad de Concepción; Chile. Universidad San Sebastian.; ChileFil: Lareschi, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: González Acuña, Daniel. Universidad de Concepción; Chil

Las necesidades formativas docentes de los profesores universitarios

En este artículo pretendemos analizar las necesidades formativas docentes de los profesores noveles universitarios y de los profesores en general de las Universidades de Sevilla y Huelva. No resulta extraño decir que la titulación universitaria se ocupa fundamentalmente de preparar a los alumnos para desempeñar tareas en el mundo profesional de la empresa más que para desempeñar tareas en la institución universitaria. Debido a ello, los profesionales que deciden continuar en la vida universitaria encuentran verdaderos problemas a la hora de comenzar su actividad profesional como docentes, detectándose, por tanto, determinadas necesidades formativas en lo que se refiere fundamentalmente a la utilización de estrategias docentes que mejorarían su incorporación al mundo de la docencia universitaria. Estos profesores reclaman formación y asesoramiento pedagógico y didáctico para la mejora de su tarea docente, es decir, propuestas formativas adecuadas al desempeño de su papel como profesionales de la educación superior.In this article we try to analyze educational formative necessities and of the professors' beginner university students advice and of the professors in general at the Universities of Seville and Huelva. The university titulación is in charge of fundamentally of preparing the students to carry out tasks in the professional world of the company more than to carry out tasks in the university institution. Professionals that decide to continue in the university life find true problems when beginning their professional activity as educational, being detected, therefore, certain formative necessities in what refers base to the use of educational strategies that you/they would improve their incorporation to the world of the university docencia. These professors claim formation and pedagogic and didactic advice for the improvement of their educational task, that is to say, appropriate formative proposals to the acting of their paper like professionals of the superior education. The society of the knowledge and of the information in the one that we meet demand every time with more peak the formation of the different professionals that you/they carry out different tasks in the society. A deep concern exists for the formation, what bears, in general, every time a bigger number of formation programs depending on the formative necessities that the professionals present, as well as different forms of consenting to them, mainly the denominated programs and-learning and on-line. In this article the results and conclusions of the necessities of the beginner professors' of University educational formation are exposed. It is necessary to highlight that the publications that have taken place in the last times point out that the university professors, the same as other professionals, require for their improvement as other partners' educational supports and other colleagues' specific advice with more experience professional, as well as certain didactic formation. In this sense, the formation programs for professors contribute to the improvement of the educational quality, and therefore, educational, of the university institutions, helping this way to the professors to carry out, the same as in other professions, their list like educational

Molecular detection of Rickettsia in fleas from micromammals in Chile

Background: Rickettsial diseases are considered important in public health due to their dispersal capacity determined by the particular characteristics of their reservoirs and/or vectors. Among the latter, fleas play an important role, since the vast majority of species parasitize wild and invasive rodents, so their detection is relevant to be able to monitor potential emerging diseases. The aim of this study was to detect, characterize, and compare Rickettsia spp. from the fleas of micromammals in areas with different human population densities in Chile. Methods: The presence of Rickettsia spp. was evaluated by standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing in 1315 fleas collected from 1512 micromammals in 29 locations, with different human population densities in Chile. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to identify the variables that may explain Rickettsia prevalence in fleas. Results: DNA of Rickettsia spp. was identified in 13.2% (174 of 1315) of fleas tested. Fifteen flea species were found to be Rickettsia-positive. The prevalence of Rickettsia spp. was higher in winter, semi-arid region and natural areas, and the infection levels in fleas varied between species of flea. The prevalence of Rickettsia among flea species ranged between 0–35.1%. Areas of lower human density showed the highest prevalence of Rickettsia. The phylogenetic tree showed two well-differentiated clades with Rickettsia bellii positioned as basal in one clade. The second clade was subdivided into two subclades of species related to Rickettsia of the spotted fever group. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence and molecular characterization of Rickettsia spp. in 15 flea species of micromammals in Chile. In this study, fleas were detected carrying Rickettsia DNA with zoonotic potential, mainly in villages and natural areas of Chile. Considering that there are differences in the prevalence of Rickettsia in fleas associated with different factors, more investigations are needed to further understand the ecology of Rickettsia in fleas and their implications for human health.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]Fil: Moreno Salas, Lucila. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Espinoza Carniglia, Mario Virgilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Lizama Schmeisser, Nicol. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Torres Fuentes, Luis Gonzalo. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Silva de La Fuente, María Carolina. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Lareschi, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: González Acuña, Daniel. Universidad de Concepción; Chil

Effect of the implementation of clinical guidelines on management of candidemia in elderly patients

Introduction: Mortality from candidemia is higher in elderly population than in younger patients, which may be related to suboptimal management. The aim of the present study is to evaluate adherence to the recommendations for the clinical management of candidemia in a population over 75 years before and after implementing specific training. Patients and Methods: We recorded retrospectively data from candidemia episodes in elderly patients during two periods of time: 2010–2015 years (before training) and 2017–2022 years (after training), as well as adherence to the recommendations of the clinical practice guidelines, mortality and consultation to infectious disease specialists. Results: Forty-five episodes of candidemia were recorded in the first period and 29 episodes in the second period. A better compliance to the recommendations of the clinical practice guidelines was observed in the second period: echocardiogram performance (75.9% vs. 48.9% p= .021), fundoscopy (65.5% vs. 44.4% p= .076), follow-up blood cultures (72.4% vs. 42.2% p= .011), removal of central venous catheter (80% vs. 52.9% p= .080) and adequate antifungal treatment (82.6% vs. 52.6% p= .018). A trend towards lower mortality was observed during the second period (27.6% vs. 44.4% p= .144). Conclusion: The improvement of knowledge of clinical guidelines on candidemia and the participation of infectious disease specialists may increase the quality of care in elderly patients with candidemia. It would be necessary to enlarge the sample size to evaluate the real impact of this intervention on mortality

Agreement Between Standard Body Composition Methods to Estimate Percentage of Body Fat in Young Male Athletes.

This is author's accepted manuscript.Final version available from Human Kinetics via the DOI in this record.PURPOSE: To examine the intermethods agreement of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to assess the percentage of body fat (%BF) in young male athletes using air-displacement plethysmography (ADP) as the reference method. METHODS: Standard measurement protocols were carried out in 104 athletes (40 swimmers, 37 footballers, and 27 cyclists, aged 12-14 y). RESULTS: Age-adjusted %BF ADP and %BF BIA were significantly higher in swimmers than footballers. ADP correlates better with DXA than with BIA (r = .84 vs r = .60, P < .001). %BF was lower when measured by DXA and BIA than ADP (P < .001), and the bias was higher when comparing ADP versus BIA than ADP versus DXA. The intraclass correlation coefficients between DXA and ADP showed a good to excellent agreement (r = .67-.79), though it was poor when BIA was compared with ADP (r = .26-.49). The ranges of agreement were wider when comparing BIA with ADP than DXA with ADP. CONCLUSION: DXA and BIA seem to underestimate %BF in young male athletes compared with ADP. Furthermore, the bias significantly increases with %BF in the BIA measurements. At the individual level, BIA and DXA do not seem to predict %BF precisely compared with ADP in young athletic populations.This work was done as part of the PRO-BONE study. It has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. PCIG13-GA-2013-618496. M.V.N-F. received a PhD Student Internships Abroad scholarship from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq; process: 200340/2015-8) and a Brazilian PhD Student scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; process. 2016/18436-8 and 2017/11732-3). E.U-G. received a PhD scholarship from Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (2014/10340). A.C.F.M. received a postdoctoral scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; process: 2014/13367-2 and 2015/14319-4)