Structural and Morphological Properties of Nanostructured Y2O3:Eu3+ Phosphor Particles Prepared Through Aerosol Synthesis

Poster presented at the COST Action 539- ELENA, 3rd Workshop, Bled, Slovenia, September 2, 200

Benthic diversity and assemblage structure of a north Patagonian rocky shore: a monitoring legacy of the NaGISA project

The rocky shore of Punta Este, Golfo Nuevo (Patagonia, Argentina), was sampled using the standardized NaGISA (CoML) protocol aimed to generate biodiversity baseline data in 6 levels, from high intertidal to 10m depth. Based on the generated data, we studied the benthic assemblage structure, species richness, mean abundance and the distribution pattern of invertebrate functional groups, typifying species in each intertidal and subtidal level. The rocky shore studied, as other in north Patagonia is understudied, factors driven its assemblage structure are not clear yet. The intertidal sampled is exposed to extreme physical conditions higher than any other studied rocky shore systems, with air temperature variation of 40°C during the year, maximum winds of 90 km/h and semidiurnal tides of 5m amplitude; on the other hand subtidal presents less thermal variation (DeltaT 10°C along the year) and more homogeneous physical conditions. We identified 65 taxa represented by six animal phyla: Mollusca, Arthropoda, Annelida (Polychaeta), Echinodermata, Cnidaria and Nemertea; and three algal phyla: Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta and Heterokontophyta (class: Phaeophyceae). Ordination nMDS plots showed three different assemblages in terms of species composition (intertidal, subtidal 1m level and subtidal 5-10m samples). The intertidal was represented by suspension feeders mainly Mollusca. The tiny mussels Brachidontes rodriguezii and Brachidontes purpuratus, and the algae Corallina officinalis dominated the intertidal and acts as a buffer that prevent other species for physical stress. The subtidal was mainly represented by grazers. Our results showed a tendency of suspension feeders decreasing and increasing of grazers and predators from high intertidal to subtidal, probably driven by decreasing in physical stress. The gastropod Tegula patagonica, the sea urchins Arbacia dufresnii and Pseudechinus magellanicus and the non native algae Undaria pinnatifida were the most abundant in 1m-10m level. Based on previous works performed in the region, we hypothesize that the differences registered between intertidal and subtidal samples could be explained in part by an increase in physical stress in the intertidal with low predation pressure that promotes positive interactions, while in the subtidal the increasing in consumers and decreasing of physical stress could lead to associational defenses. Competition for primary substrate at the intertidal and subtidal must be explored in future experiments. Our results could be useful to compare data and to develop a sustainable network for long-term monitoring benthic community changes due to anthropogenic activities.Fil: Rechimont, Maria Emilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Galvan, David Edgardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Sueiro, Maria Cruz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Casas, Graciela Noemi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Piriz, Maria Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Diez, María Emilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Primost, Monica Angelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Zabala, Maria Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Marquez, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Brogger, Martin Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez Alfaya, Jose Elias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Bigatti, Gregorio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin

Life cycle assessment of electricity generation from combustion and gasification of biomass in Mexico

One measure to mitigate some of the nowadays environmental problems is the generation of products from renewable resources. In this context, this study's objective is to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the use of sugarcane and agave bagasse from Mexico as a raw material for the generation of bioenergy, applying a life cycle assessment approach. Four scenarios were compared to determine the optimal feedstock (sugarcane or agave) and processing routes (combustion or gasification) from an environmental perspective. Life cycle assessment is performed according to the cradle-to-gate approach. In the case of the two-feedstocks studied, it was observed that the feedstock processing stage has high impact values in almost all impact categories. In this sense, it was observed that the combustion scenarios have high impact values in terms of ozone depletion potential (4.73 × 10−6 and 7.59 × 10−7 kg CFC11 eq), terrestrial acidification potential (1.41 × 10−2 and 7.82 × 10−3 kg SO2 eq), and fossil fuel potential (9.30 × 10−2 and 0.12 kg oil eq) for sugar extraction and bacanora production, respectively). For the gasification scenarios, the highest impact values ​​were observed for the terrestrial acidification potential (1.27 × 10−2 kg SO2 eq) and fossil fuel potential (8.41 × 10−2 kg oil eq) for sugar production and the ozone depletion potential (6.85 × 10−7 kg CFC11 eq), human toxicity potential - non-cancer (2.05 × 10−2 kg1,4-DCB) and fossil fuel potential (0.11kg oil eq) for bacanora production. Furthermore, it was observed that the sugarcane cultivation stage generates between 2 and 6 times more impact than the agave cultivation stage for almost all impact categories. Regarding the stages related to thermochemical processes, the impact values were relatively low, except for the following categories global warming potential, photochemical oxidation formation potential - humans, photochemical oxidation formation potential - ecosystems, terrestrial acidification potential, and water consumption potential, between 21 % and 88 % for the combustion process and between 32 % and 63 % for the gasification process. The main results of the comparisons between the four scenarios showed that the best scenario from an environmental perspective is agave bagasse combustion, followed by agave bagasse gasification, sugarcane bagasse gasification, and sugarcane bagasse combustion.Una medida para mitigar algunos de los problemas ambientales actuales es la generación de productos a partir de recursos renovables. En este contexto, el objetivo de este estudio es evaluar los impactos ambientales asociados al uso del bagazo de caña de azúcar y agave de México como materia prima para la generación de bioenergía, aplicando un enfoque de evaluación del ciclo de vida. Se compararon cuatro escenarios para determinar la materia prima óptima (caña de azúcar o agave) y las rutas de procesamiento (combustión o gasificación) desde una perspectiva ambiental. La evaluación del ciclo de vida se realiza de acuerdo con el enfoque de la cuna a la puerta. En el caso de las dos materias primas estudiadas, se observó que la etapa de procesamiento de la materia prima tiene altos valores de impacto en casi todas las categorías de impacto. En este sentido,−6 y 7,59 × 10 −7 kg CFC11 eq), potencial de acidificación terrestre (1,41 × 10 −2 y 7,82 × 10 −3 kg SO 2 eq) y potencial de combustibles fósiles (9,30 × 10 −2 y 0,12 kg eq de petróleo) para la extracción de azúcar y la producción de bacanora, respectivamente). Para los escenarios de gasificación, los valores de impacto más altos se observaron para el potencial de acidificación terrestre (1,27 × 10 −2 kg SO 2 eq) y el potencial de combustibles fósiles (8,41 × 10 −2 kg eq de petróleo) para la producción de azúcar y el agotamiento de la capa de ozono. (6,85 × 10 −7 kg CFC11 eq), potencial de toxicidad humana - no cancerígeno (2,05 × 10 −2kg1,4-DCB) y potencial de combustible fósil (0.11kg eq de petróleo) para la producción de bacanora. Además, se observó que la etapa de cultivo de caña de azúcar genera entre 2 y 6 veces más impacto que la etapa de cultivo de agave para casi todas las categorías de impacto. En cuanto a las etapas relacionadas con los procesos termoquímicos, los valores de impacto fueron relativamente bajos, a excepción de las siguientes categorías potencial de calentamiento global, potencial de formación de oxidación fotoquímica - humanos, potencial de formación de oxidación fotoquímica - ecosistemas, potencial de acidificación terrestre y potencial de consumo de agua, entre 21 % y 88 % para el proceso de combustión y entre 32 % y 63 % para el proceso de gasificación. Los principales resultados de las comparaciones entre los cuatro escenarios mostraron que el mejor escenario desde una perspectiva ambiental es la combustión del bagazo de agave

Enose lab made with vacuum sampling: quantitative applications

A lab-made electronic nose (Enose) with vacuum sampling and a sensor array, comprising nine metal oxide semiconductor Figaro gas sensors, was tested for the quantitative analysis of vapor–liquid equilibrium, described by Henry’s law, of aqueous solutions of organic compounds: three alcohols (i.e., methanol, ethanol, and propanol) or three chemical compounds with different functional groups (i.e., acetaldehyde, ethanol, and ethyl acetate). These solutions followed a fractional factorial design to guarantee orthogonal concentrations. Acceptable predictive ridge regression models were obtained for training, with RSEs lower than 7.9, R2 values greater than 0.95, slopes varying between 0.84 and 1.00, and intercept values close to the theoretical value of zero. Similar results were obtained for the test data set: RSEs lower than 8.0, R2 values greater than 0.96, slopes varying between 0.72 and 1.10, and some intercepts equal to the theoretical value of zero. In addition, the total mass of the organic compounds of each aqueous solution could be predicted, pointing out that the sensors measured mainly the global contents of the vapor phases. The satisfactory quantitative results allowed to conclude that the Enose could be a useful tool for the analysis of volatiles from aqueous solutions containing organic compounds for which Henry’s law is applicable.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FED-ER under Programme PT2020 for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Circulating clonotypic B cells in multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance

This is an open-access paper.The B-cell compartment in which multiple myeloma stem cells reside remains unclear. We investigated the potential presence of mature, surface-membrane immunoglobulin-positive B lymphocytes clonally related to the tumor bone marrow plasma cells among different subsets of peripheral blood B cells from ten patients (7 with multiple myeloma and 3 with monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance). The presence of clonotypic immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangements was determined in multiple highly-purified fractions of peripheral blood B-lymphocytes including surface-membrane IgM+ CD27- naïve B-lymphocytes, plus surface-membrane IgG+, IgA+ and IgM+ memory CD27+ B cells, and normal circulating plasma cells, in addition to (mono)clonal plasma cells, by a highly-specific and sensitive allele-specific oligonucleotide polymerase chain reaction directed to the CDR3 sequence of the rearranged IGH gene of tumor plasma cells from individual patients. Our results showed systematic absence of clonotypic rearrangements in all the different B-cell subsets analyzed, including M-compo-nent isotype-matched memory B-lymphocytes, at frequencies <0.03 cells/mL (range: 0.0003-0.08 cells/mL); the only exception were the myeloma plasma cells detected and purified from the peripheral blood of four of the seven myeloma patients. These results indicate that circulating B cells from patients with multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance are usually devoid of clonotypic B cells while the presence of immunophenotypically aberrant myeloma plasma cells in peripheral blood of myeloma patients is a relatively frequent finding.This work was supported by grants from European Union FP6 STREP MSCNet (N. E06005FF), Cooperative Research Thematic Network on Cancer (RTICs; RTICC RD06/0020/0035-FEDER, RD06/0020/0006, RD12/0036/0048, RD12/0036/0069 and G03/136), Instituto de Salud Carlos III/Subdirección General de Investigación Sanitaria Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo (FIS: PI060339; 02/0905; 01/0089/01-02;PS09/01897, and PI06/0824-FEDER), Asociacion Española Contra el Cancer AECC (GCB120981SAN) and Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León; Ayuda de Excelencia de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación (EDU/894/2009, GR37) Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain. LST received a CAPES/Ministério da Educação scholarship from the Brazilian Government.Peer Reviewe

Hacia un marco conceptual y metodológico para la construcción del Modelo de evaluación de la sustentabilidad "PCI-Inclusión Social"

América Latina y el Caribe es una de las regiones más desiguales del mundo. La crisis de la pandemia de la COVID-19 ha acentuado más esta desigualdad. Sin embargo, la región cuenta con una diversidad cultural, tanto material como inmaterial, tal que puede convertirse en una importante fuerza para promover sociedades más cohesionadas, inclusivas y sostenibles. Con esta premisa, la publicación explora el papel específico del patrimonio cultural inmaterial o patrimonio vivo y su incidencia en la inclusión social de la región.A fin de proponer una herramienta metodológica que, fundamentada en las perspectivas teóricas expuestas, pueda servir como insumo para mejorar la gestión del PCI, elaboramos bajo una dinámica colaborativa e interdisciplinar un modelo analítico multidimensional que denominamos PCI-Inclusión Social. Se definieron seis dimensiones y propuesto una serie de indicadores generales por dimensión, los que deben desagregarse para el caso concreto.Fil: San Martin, Patricia Silvana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto Rosario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Educación. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto Rosario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Educación; ArgentinaFil: Endere, Maria Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano; ArgentinaFil: Levrand, Norma Elizabeth. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Instituto de Estudios Sociales. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Estudios Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Andres, Gonzalo Dario. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Instituto de Estudios Sociales. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Estudios Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Mariano, Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano; Argentin

Viscoelastic properties of plasma-agarose hydrogels dictate favorable fibroblast responses for skin tissue engineering applications

Dermal wound healing relies on the properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Thus, hydrogels that replicate skin ECM have reached clinical application. After a dermal injury, a transient, biodegradable fibrin clot is instrumental in wound healing. Human plasma, and its main constituent, fibrin would make a suitable biomaterial for improving wound healing and processed as hydrogels albeit with limited mechanical strength. To overcome this, plasma-agarose (PA) composite hydrogels have been developed and used to prepare diverse bioengineered tissues. To date, little is known about the influence of variable agarose concentrations on the viscoelastic properties of PA hydrogels and their correlation to cell biology. This study reports the characterization of the viscoelastic properties of different concentrations of agarose in PA hydrogels: 0 %, 0.5 %, 1 %, 1.5 %, and 2 % (w/v), and their influence on the cell number and mitochondrial activity of human dermal fibroblasts. Results show that agarose addition increased the stiffness, relaxation time constants 1 (τ1) and 2 (τ2), and fiber diameter, whereas the porosity decreased. Changes in cell metabolism occurred at the early stages of culturing and correlated to the displacement of fast (τ1) and intermediate (τ2) Maxwell elements. Fibroblasts seeded in low PA concentrations spread faster during 14 d than cells cultured in higher agarose concentrations. Collectively, these results confirm that PA viscoelasticity and hydrogel architecture strongly influenced cell behavior. Therefore, viscoelasticity is a key parameter in the design of PA-based implants

Cytogenetic profiles in multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: a study in highly purified aberrant plasma cells

This is an open-access paper.Cytogenetic studies in clonal plasma cell disorders have mainly been done in whole bone marrow or CD138+ microbead-enriched plasma cells and suggest that recurrent immunoglobulin heavy chain translocations - e.g. t(4;14) - are primary oncogenetic events. The aim of this study was to determine cytogenetic patterns of highly purified aberrant plasma cells (median purity ≥98%) in different clonal plasma cell disorders. We analyzed aberrant plasma cells from 208 patients with multiple myeloma (n=148) and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (n=60) for the presence of del(13q14), del(17p13) and t(14q32) using multicolor interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization. Additionally, immunoglobulin heavy chain gene arrangements were analyzed and complementarity determining region 3 was sequenced in a subset of patients and combined multicolor interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization/immunofluorescent protein staining analyses were performed in selected cases to confirm clonality and cytogenetic findings. At diagnosis, 96% of cases with multiple myeloma versus 77% of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance cases showed at least one cytogenetic alteration and/or hyperdiploidy. The cytogenetic heterogeneity of individual cases reflected coexistence of cytogenetically-defined aberrant plasma cell clones, and led to the assumption that karyotypic alterations were acquired stepwise. Cases of multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance frequently showed different but related cytogenetic profiles when other cytogenetic alterations such as deletions/gains of the immunoglobulin heavy chain or the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 were additionally considered. Interestingly, in 24% of multiple myeloma versus 62% of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance patients with an immunoglobulin heavy chain translocation, aberrant plasma cells with and without t(14q32) coexisted in the same patient. Our data suggest that recurrent immunoglobulin heavy chain translocations might be absent in the primordial plasma cell clone in a significant proportion of patients with clonal plasma cell disorders carrying these cytogenetic alterations.This work was partially supported by grants from the Fundacion Memoria de Don Samuel Solorzano Barruso, Salamanca, Spain (FS/4-2010). The authors would also like to thank the Dr. Werner Jackstädt Foundation (Wuppertal, Germany) for grant supporting the work of Martin Schmidt-Hieber. The authors would like to thank the Cooperative Research Thematic Network (RTICs; RTICC RD06/0020/0035, RD06/0020/0006 and G03/136), MM Jevitt, SL firm, Instituto de Salud Carlos III/Subdirección General de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS: PI060339; 02/0905; 01/0089/01-02; PS09/01897) and Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León; Ayuda de Excelencia de Castilla y León, Consejeria de Educación (EDU/894/2009, GR37), and Consejería de Sanidad (557/A/10), Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain for supporting this study. JMS is supported by a grant (CP05/00321) from the ISCIII, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Madrid, Spain.Peer Reviewe