Synthesis of molybdenum oxide nanoparticles by nanosecond laser ablation

Phothermal therapy (PTT) is one of the most promising techniques to treat cancer. Finding the ideal PTT agent nanomaterial has remained a challenge and has brought the interest of several researchers. In this work, we report the synthesis of molybdenum oxide (MoOx) nanoparticles (NPs), which exhibit absorption in the biological optical window ~840 nm, by using the laser ablation of solids in liquids (LASL) technique with nanosecond (ns) pulses. A Nd:YAG laser was used to synthesize the NPs in deionized (DI) water, free of surfactants or additives, which were optically characterized by absorption spectroscopy and TEM-EDX microscopy. Semi spherical NPs with a suitable average size and shape for potential use as PTT agents were obtained by laser ablation and ablation + fragmentation. The calculated band gap is 3.1 eV, which corresponds to MoO3. Micro-Raman spectroscopy studies determined that these NPs are composed of amorphous molybdenum oxide hydrates (MoO3 · xH2O)

An assessment of the use of drug and non-drug interventions in the treatment of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis Fouquet, 1876, a protozoan parasite of freshwater fish

Infection by the ciliate protozoan Ichthyophthirius multifiliis Fouquet, 1876 causes significant economic losses in freshwater aquaculture worldwide. Following the ban on the use of malachite green for treating food fish, there has been extensive research aimed at identifying suitable replacements. In this paper we critically assess drug and non-drug interventions, which have been tested for use or have been employed against this parasite and evaluate possibilities for their application in farm systems. Current treatments include the administration of formaldehyde, sodium chloride (salt), copper sulphate and potassium permanganate. However, purportedly more environmentally friendly drugs such as humic acid, potassium ferrate (VI), bronopol and the peracetic acid-based products have recently been tested and represent promising alternatives. Further investigation, is required to optimize the treatments and to establish precise protocols in order to minimize the quantity of drug employed whilst ensuring the most efficacious performance. At the same time, there needs to be a greater emphasis placed on the non-drug aspects of management strategies, including the use of non-chemical interventions focusing on the removal of free-swimming stages and tomocysts of I. multifiliis from farm culture systems. Use of such strategies provides the hope of more environmentally friendly alternatives for the control of I. multifiliis infections

Using Audio-Data for Anomaly Detection in the Fatigue Test of a Composite Tidal Turbine Blade

FastBlade is a research facility for testing large-scale composite and metal structures. Fatigue tests run on tidal turbine blades measure the mechanical response of a blade subject to the number of loading cycles that mimic the ones it will experience over its lifetime of a subsea deployment. To maximise its throughput by running the facility uninterruptedly, unmanned operation of the site should be possible. One of its key enablers is anomaly detection. Microphones are used as a non-specific and affordable sensing method. Using the audio data, we applied a Fast Continuous Wavelet Transform to extract the patterns recorded during normal and abnormal operations. These outputs are used to train a neural network autoencoder (NNA). The original image is reconstructed from the compressed vector in the latent space (LS) of the NNA, and the loss is computed to detect and quantify anomalies. The study's findings demonstrate the success of using audio data to detect short-lived anomalies despite limited information about the critical assets in the set-up and can be easily extrapolated to other systems

Bioassay-guided identification of the antiproliferative compounds of cissus trifoliata and the transcriptomic effect of resveratrol in prostate cancer pc3 cells

The bioassay-guided fractionation of a CHCl3-MeOH extract from the stems of Cissus trifo-liata identified an active fraction against PC3 prostate cancer cells. The treatment for 24 h showed an 80% reduction in cell viability (p ≤ 0.05) by a WST-1 assay at a concentration of 100 µg/mL. The HPLC-QTOF-MS analysis of the fraction showed the presence of coumaric and isoferulic acids, apigenin, kaempferol, chrysoeriol, naringenin, ursolic and betulinic acids, hexadecadienoic and octadecadienoic fatty acids, and the stilbene resveratrol. The exposure of PC3 cells to resveratrol (IC25 = 23 µg/mL) for 24 h induced significant changes in 847 genes (Z-score ≥ ±2). The functional classification tool of the DAVID v6.8 platform indicates that the underlying molecular mechanisms against the proliferation of PC3 cells were associated (p ≤ 0.05) with the process of differentiation and metabolism. These findings provide experimental evidence suggesting the potential of C. trifoliata as a promising natural source of anticancer compounds

140 ans d'aménagement forestier en Espagne.

Cite les principaux faits historiques qui sont à l'origine de la mise en place et des premiers pas de l'aménagement forestier en Espagne pendant la deuxième moitié du XIXè siècle, ainsi que l'évolution au cours du XXè siècle et son état actuel. Si le bilan de ces 140 ans de pratique d'aménagement est globalement très positif, il reste cependant à combler d'importantes lacunes notamment en ce qui concerne les forêts issues de reboisements, ainsi qu'en ce qui concerne les méthodes de conversion fortement conditionnées par des facteurs sociaux et saisonniers surtout dans les forêts feuillues méditerranéennes souvent dégradées