Synthesis, characterization, and application of chemically interconnected carbon nanotube monolithic sorbents by photopolymerization in polypropylene caps

A facile and convenient approach for the preparation of interconnected multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) monolithic sorbents in recycled plastic caps has been developed. The method, which was based on the photopolymerization of the individual MWCNTs via the formation of a W/O medium internal phase emulsion (40/60 w/w%), provides control over size of pores, rigidity and the mechanical stability of the final solid. Pluronic L121 was used as a surfactant containing the water phase inside it and consequently, the organic and non-polar phase, in which the MWCNTs and the cross-linker were trapped, remained on the outside of the droplets. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to characterize the morphology of both the emulsions and the final solids, respectively. In addition, nitrogen intrusion porosimetry was performed in order to study how the specific surface area of the final monolithic solid changes (from 19.6 to 372.2 m2 g-1) with the variables involved in the polymerization step. To exemplify the great sorbent potential of the synthesized material, a colorimetric assay based on the retention of methylene blue within the interconnected MWCNTs monolithic structure was carried out. Finally, following the positive results the carbon nanotube-monolithic stirred caps were applied for the determination of chlorophenols in a biological matrix such as a human urine, obtaining excellent recovery values (91-98 %) and good precision (5.4-9.1 %) under optimized extraction conditions

Where are the feminists? Scientific-militant interventions regarding the pandemic

Este trabajo se propone un rastreo de las intervenciones científico-militantes y también artísticas del movimiento feminista en Argentina, incluyendo también dos muestras del caso español, en el contexto de la pandemia por Covid-19. En principio, y teniendo en cuenta la centralidad discursiva que lo doméstico tomó en los confinamientos, se trabajará con esa categoría conocida y analizada bastamente en las disciplinas con perspectiva de género. El lema “quédate en casa” utilizado para alentar a la población a respetar y elegir la cuarentena fue problematizado desde los movimientos emancipatorios de mujeres. El trabajo estará organizado en tres apartados que darán cuenta de dos preocupaciones centrales desde los feminismos: la sobrecarga de las mujeres y subjetividades feminizadas en las tareas del cuidado, y la peligrosidad de la consideración del espacio doméstico como único espacio seguro frente a la amenaza constante del contagio. Por otro lado, se pondrán en escena ciertos espacios de intervención, pero también de resistencia ante esas problemáticas. Interesan particularmente para este escrito las intervenciones de activistas e investigadoras por medios no académicos, es decir, en medios de comunicación no hegemónicos, blogs personales y redes sociales. El corpus está conformado por textos e intervenciones del año 2020, y un caso español de comienzos de 2021, en un intento de comprender un clima de época cargado de incertidumbre. En ese mismo sentido, se propone poner de manifiesto cómo desde el comienzo de la pandemia y las medidas sanitarias de prevención las investigadoras y comunicadoras feministas que anticiparon su preocupación y pusieron en evidencia la necesidad de una perspectiva feminista y de género para entender el nuevo acontecimiento y sus consecuencias.This work draws a tracking of the scientific-militant and artistic interventions of the feminist movement in Argentina, also including a case from the Spanish context, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. In principle and considering the discursive focus on the domestic that took place during the confinements, we will work with that category that is known and widely analyzed in the disciplines with a gender perspective. The slogan "stay home", used to encourage the population to respect the quarantine, was problematized from the emancipatory movements of women. The work is organized in three sections that will account for two central concerns from feminisms: the overload of women and feminized subjectivities in care tasks, and the danger of considering the domestic space as the only safe space in the face of the constant threat of contagion. On the other hand, certain spaces of intervention will be staged, but also of resistance to these problems. Of particular interest for this writing are the interventions of activists and researchers by non-academic means, that is, in non-hegemonic media, personal blogs and social networks. The corpus is made up of texts and interventions from the year 2020, to understand a climate of times full of uncertainty. In the same sense, it is proposed to highlight how, since the beginning of the pandemic and the preventive health measures, feminist researchers and communicators anticipated their concern and highlighted the need for a feminist and gender perspective to understand the new event and its consequences

Hypertension in response to IL-6 during pregnancy: role of AT1-receptor activation

BACKGROUND: Increases in interleukin 6 (IL-6) and agonistic autoantibodies to the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1-AA) are proposed to be important links between placental ischemia and hypertension in preeclampsia. METHODS: The purpose of this study was to determine whether IL-6 (5 ng/day), infused into normal pregnant (NP) rats, increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) and AT1-AA. MAP was analyzed in the presence and absence of an angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) antagonist, losartan, L. RESULTS: MAP and AT1-AA increased from 102 ± 2 to 118 ± 4 mmHg and 0.7 ± 0.3 NP to 14.1 ± 1.4 chronotropic units with chronic IL-6 infusion. MAP responses to IL-6 were abolished in losartan pretreated rats (85 ± 4 in NP + L vs 85 ± 3 mmHg in IL-6 + L). CONCLUSION: These data indicate that IL-6 stimulates AT1-AA and that activation of the AT1R mediates IL-6 induced hypertension during pregnancy

CD4(+) T cells play a critical role in mediating hypertension in response to placental ischemia

Similar to preeclamptic women, hypertension in the chronic Reduced Uterine Perfusion Pressure Rat Model Of Preeclampsia (RUPP) is associated with increased CD4+ T cells, cytokines, sFlt-1 and agonistic autoantibodies to the AngII receptor (AT1-AA). We examined the effect inhibition of T cell co-stimulation in RUPP rats treated with (A) (abatacept, 250 mg/kg, infused i.v. at gestation day 13), on hypertension and sFlt-1, TNF-alpha and AT1-AA. RUPP surgical procedure was performed on day 14. On day 19 MAP increased from 94+2 mmHg in Normal Pregnant (NP) to 123 +/- 3 mmHg in RUPP control rats. This response was attenuated by Abatacept, MAP was 104 +/- 2 mmHg in RUPP +/- A, and 96 +/- 2 mmHg NP +/- A. Percent circulating CD4+ T cells were 66 +/- 3% in RUPPs compared to 55 +/- 3% NP rats (p<0.04) but were normalized in RUPP +/- A rats (54 +/- 3%). The twofold increase in TNF alpha seen in RUPPs (277 +/- 47 pg/ml) was decreased to 80 +/- 18 pg/ml in RUPP+A. Placental sFlt-1 was reduced 70 % to 151 +/- 28 in RUPP +/- A compared 488 +/- 61 pg/ml in RUPP (p<0.001). AT1-AA decreased from 20 +/- 0.8 bpm in control RUPP to 6 +/- 0.7 bpm in RUPP +/- A. We next determined the effect of RUPP in causing hypertension in pregnant T cell deficient rats by examining MAP in NP (123 +/- 5 mmHg) and RUPP athymic nude rats (123 +/- 7 mmHg). In the absence of T cells, hypertension in response to placental ischemia was completely abolished. Collectively these data indicate that CD4+ Tcells in response to placental ischemia play an important role in the pathophysiology of hypertension associated with preeclampsia

Experiencia Inicial en Cardiodesfibrilación Empleando Electrodos de Superficie Fractal

Se presentan los resultados dei implante de una serie de cardiodesfibriladores en 27 pacientes, empleándose en todos los casos, electrodos de superfície fractal, con el objeto de obtener mayor biocompatibilidad, mejores umbrales de estimulación y sensado ventricular, y requerimientos de menor energia para la desfibrilación. El grupo estaba constituído por 8 mujeres y 21 hombres; en el 63% de los casos el generador fue implantado en el abdomen, y en el 37% restante en la zona infraclavicular. El umbral de desfibrilación verdadero (true DFT), fue obtenido em 14 pacientes (promedio 12.85 Joules, SD(n-1) + 3.89, SEM + 1.04). En el resto del grupo (13 pacientes), el menor nivel de energia exitoso (lowest energy succesfully tested) fue establecido en 16.57 Joules, SD (N-1) + 2.53, SEM + 0.677). Pudo determinarse entonces que para todo el grupo estudiado, el umbral requerido fue menor a 20 Joules en el 96.3% de los casos (26 pacientes), siendo necesaria una energía superior a 20 Joules en un único caso (3.7%). Conclusión: los electrodos de superficie fractal constituyen un interesante aporte, para obtener la reversión de la fibrilación ventricular empleando bajos niveles de energía, en pacientes sometidos ai implante de cardiodesfibriladores

Experiencia Inicial en Cardiodesfibrilación Empleando Electrodos de Superficie Fractal

Se presentan los resultados dei implante de una serie de cardiodesfibriladores en 27 pacientes, empleándose en todos los casos, electrodos de superfície fractal, con el objeto de obtener mayor biocompatibilidad, mejores umbrales de estimulación y sensado ventricular, y requerimientos de menor energia para la desfibrilación. El grupo estaba constituído por 8 mujeres y 21 hombres; en el 63% de los casos el generador fue implantado en el abdomen, y en el 37% restante en la zona infraclavicular. El umbral de desfibrilación verdadero (true DFT), fue obtenido em 14 pacientes (promedio 12.85 Joules, SD(n-1) + 3.89, SEM + 1.04). En el resto del grupo (13 pacientes), el menor nivel de energia exitoso (lowest energy succesfully tested) fue establecido en 16.57 Joules, SD (N-1) + 2.53, SEM + 0.677). Pudo determinarse entonces que para todo el grupo estudiado, el umbral requerido fue menor a 20 Joules en el 96.3% de los casos (26 pacientes), siendo necesaria una energía superior a 20 Joules en un único caso (3.7%). Conclusión: los electrodos de superficie fractal constituyen un interesante aporte, para obtener la reversión de la fibrilación ventricular empleando bajos niveles de energía, en pacientes sometidos ai implante de cardiodesfibriladores

A biochemical and ultrastructural evaluation of the type 2 Gaucher mouse

Gaucher mice, created by targeted disruption of the glucocerebrosidase gene, are totally deficient in glucocerebrosidase and have a rapidly deteriorating clinical course analogous to the most severely affected type 2 human patients. An ultrastructural study of tissues from these mice revealed glucocerebroside accumulation in bone marrow, liver, spleen, and brain. This glycolipid had a characteristic elongated tubular structure and was contained in lysosomes, as demonstrated by colocalization with both ingested carbon particles and cathepsin D. In the central nervous system (CNS), glucocerebroside was diffusely stored in microglia cells and in brainstem and spinal cord neurons, but not in neurons of the cerebellum or cerebral cortex. This rostralcaudal pattern of neuronal lipid storage in these Gaucher mice replicates the pattern seen in type 2 human Gaucher patients and clearly demonstrates that glycosphingolipid catabolism and/or accumulation varies within different brain regions. Surprisingly, the cellular pathology of tissue from these Gaucher mice was relatively mild, and suggests that the early and rapid demise of both Gaucher mice and severely affected type 2 human neonates may be the result of both a neurotoxic metabolite, such as glucosylsphingosine, and other factors, such as skin water barrier dysfunction secondary to the absence of glucocerebrosidase activity

Regulatory T cells ameliorate intrauterine growth retardation in a transgenic rat model for preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a multisystemic syndrome during pregnancy that is often associated with intrauterine growth retardation. Immunologic dysregulation, involving T cells, is implicated in the pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of upregulating regulatory T cells in an established transgenic rat model for preeclampsia. Application of superagonistic monoclonal antibody for CD28 has been shown to effectively upregulate regulatory T cells. In the first protocol (treatment protocol), we applied 1 mg of CD28 superagonist or control antibody on days 11 and 15 of pregnancy. In the second protocol (prevention protocol), the superagonist or control antibody was applied on days 1, 5, and 9. Superagonist increased regulatory T cells in circulation and placenta from 8.49+/-2.09% of CD4-positive T cells to 23.50+/-3.05% and from 3.85+/-1.45% to 23.27+/-7.64%, respectively. Blood pressure and albuminuria (30.6+/-15.1 versus 14.6+/-5.5 mg/d) were similar in the superagonist or control antibody-treated preeclamptic group for both protocols. Rats treated with CD28 superagonist showed increased pup weights in the prevention protocol (2.66+/-0.03 versus 2.37+/-0.05 g) and in the treatment protocol (3.04+/-0.04 versus 2.54+/-0.1 g). Intrauterine growth retardation, calculated by brain:liver weight ratio, was also decreased by the superagonist in both protocols. Further analysis of brain development revealed a 20% increase in brain volume by the superagonist. Induction of regulatory T cells in the circulation and the uteroplacental unit in an established preeclamptic rat model had no influence on maternal hypertension and proteinuria. However, it substantially improved fetal outcome by ameliorating intrauterine growth retardation