Enhanced antitumor activity of doxorubicin in breast cancer through the use of poly(butylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles

The use of doxorubicin (DOX), one of the most effective antitumor molecules in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, is limited by its low tumor selectivity and its severe side effects. Colloidal carriers based on biodegradable poly(butylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles (PBCA NPs) may enhance DOX antitumor activity against breast cancer cells, thus allowing a reduction of the effective dose required for antitumor activity and consequently the level of associated toxicity. DOX loading onto PBCA NPs was investigated in this work via both drug entrapment and surface adsorption. Cytotoxicity assays with DOX-loaded NPs were performed in vitro using breast tumor cell lines (MCF-7 human and E0771 mouse cancer cells), and in vivo evaluating antitumor activity in immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice. The entrapment method yielded greater drug loading values and a controlled drug release profile. Neither in vitro nor in vivo cytotoxicity was observed for blank NPs. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of DOX-loaded PBCA NPs was significantly lower for MCF-7 and E0771 cancer cells (4 and 15 times, respectively) compared with free DOX. Furthermore, DOX-loaded PBCA NPs produced a tumor growth inhibition that was 40% greater than that observed with free DOX, thus reducing DOX toxicity during treatment. These results suggest that DOX-loaded PBCA NPs have great potential for improving the efficacy of DOX therapy against advanced breast cancers.This investigation was funded by FEDER, Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I + D + I), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS) through projects Nos PI11/01862 and PI11/02571, and by the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía through project No PI-0338. The authors wish to express their gratitude to G Ortiz Ferron (CIC, University of Granada, Spain) for his skillful assistance with cytometry experiments

Biocontrol of mycotoxigenic fungi using bacteria isolated from ecological vineyard soils

The presence of mycotoxin-producing Aspergillus species in vineyards is a problem for food safety and the economy. In addition, rising temperatures due to climate change are modifying microbial communities, causing the replacement of some fungal species and the rise of mycotoxins such as aflatoxins. The use of microorganisms as biological control agents (BCAs) is one of the most promising strategies to prevent fungal growth and toxin production. In this study, 513 microor-ganisms were isolated from organic vineyard soils in different regions of Spain. The 480 bacteria and 33 yeasts isolated were sequentially screened to select those with the most suitable charac-teristics to be used as BCAs. After identifying 16 isolates meeting all requirements, six bacterial isolates were selected to test their potential to control three relevant toxigenic grape fungi in vitro: A. carbonarius, A. niger and A. flavus. Isolates of Arthrobacter sp., Rhodococcus sp. and Bacillus my-coides showed an excellent ability to reduce the growth and mycotoxin concentration of the above-mentioned fungi and represent potential candidates for further study regarding their possible industrial application as a BCA.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant num‐ ber RTI 2018‐097593‐B‐C21

A food web approach reveals the vulnerability of biocontrol services by birds and bats to landscape modification at regional scale

Pest control services provided by naturally occurring species (the so-called biocontrol services) are widely recognized to provide key incentives for biodiversity conservation. This is particularly relevant for vertebrate-mediated biocontrol services as many vertebrate species are of conservation concern, with most of their decline associated to landscape modification for agricultural purposes. Yet, we still lack rigorous approaches evaluating landscape-level correlates of biocontrol potential by vertebrates over broad spatial extents to better inform land-use and management decisions. We performed a spatially-explicit interaction-based assessment of potential biocontrol services in Portugal, using 1853 pairwise trophic interactions between 78 flying vertebrate species (birds and bats) and 53 insect pests associated to two widespread and economically valuable crops in the Euro-Mediterranean region, olive groves (Olea europaea subsp. europaea) and vineyards (Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera). The study area was framed using 1004 square cells, each 10 × 10 km in size. Potential biocontrol services were determined at all those 10 × 10 km grid-cells in which each crop was present as the proportion of the realized out of all potential pairwise interactions between vertebrates and pests. Landscape correlates of biocontrol potential were also explored. Our work suggests that both birds and bats can effectively provide biocontrol services in olive groves and vineyards as they prey many insect pest species associated to both crops. Moreover, it demonstrates that these potential services are impacted by landscape-scale features and that this impact is consistent when evaluated over broad spatial extents. Thus, biocontrol potential by vertebrates significantly increases with increasing amount of natural area, while decreases with increasing area devoted to target crops, particularly olive groves. Overall, our study highlights the suitability of our interaction-based approach to perform spatially-explicit assessments of potential biocontrol services by vertebrates at local spatial scales and suggest its utility for integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services in conservation planning over broad spatial extents.This work was supported by the projects ECOLIVES (PTDC/AAG-REC/6480/2014) and OLEAdapt (PTDC/ BIA-CBI/1365/2020) both funded by the Portuguese National Public Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, and the project SHOWCASE (ref. 862480) funded by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme from the European Union. and the project NORTE 01-0246-FEDER-000063, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020),under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) JMH and FM were supported, respectively, by the contracts IF/00001/2015 and IF/01053/2015 funded by the FCT. JRP was supported by ‘la Caixa’ and ‘Caja Navarra’ Foundations, under agreement LCF/PR/PR13/51080004 in the framework of UPNA’s ‘Captación de Talento’ program. BS, GJ-N, SV and RM were supported, respectively, by the PhD studentships SFRH/BD/137803/2018, SFRH/BD/133017/2017, SFRH/BD/121388/2016 and SFRH/BD/99746/2014 funded by the FCT

5-Fluorouracil-loaded poly(ε-caprolactone) nanoparticles combined with phage E gene therapy as a new strategy against colon cancer

This work aimed to develop a new therapeutic approach to increase the efficacy of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the treatment of advanced or recurrent colon cancer. 5-FU-loaded biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) nanoparticles (PCL NPs) were combined with the cytotoxic suicide gene E (combined therapy). The SW480 human cancer cell line was used to assay the combined therapeutic strategy. This cell line was established from a primary adenocarcinoma of the colon and is characterized by an intrinsically high resistance to apoptosis that correlates with its resistance to 5-FU. 5-FU was absorbed into the matrix of the PCL NPs during synthesis using the interfacial polymer disposition method. The antitumor activity of gene E from the phage ϕX174 was tested by generating a stable clone (SW480/12/E). In addition, the localization of E protein and its activity in mitochondria were analyzed. We found that the incorporation of 5-FU into PCL NPs (which show no cytotoxicity alone), significantly improved the drug’s anticancer activity, reducing the proliferation rate of colon cancer cells by up to 40-fold when compared with the nonincorporated drug alone. Furthermore, E gene expression sensitized colon cancer cells to the cytotoxic action of the 5-FU-based nanomedicine. Our findings demonstrate that despite the inherent resistance of SW480 to apoptosis, E gene activity is mediated by an apoptotic phenomenon that includes modulation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 expression and intense mitochondrial damage. Finally, a strongly synergistic antiproliferative effect was observed in colon cancer cells when E gene expression was combined with the activity of the 5-FU-loaded PCL NPs, thereby indicating the potential therapeutic value of the combined therapy

A compact dosimetric system for MOSFETs based on passive NFC tag and smartphone

The authors acknowledge the Servicio de Radiofísica (Radio-physics Service) of the Hospital Universitario San Cecilio (Granada, Spain) for permitting us to use their installations. This work was funded by the Spanish Government under project FPA2015-67694-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness) and a R&D predoctoral grant (FPU13/05032, Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). This project is partially supported by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF).In this work we describe and evaluate a dosimetric system based on an NFC (Near Field Communication) tag and a smartphone that uses commercial MOSFETs as radiation sensors. The tag is designed with commercial integrated circuits and the smartphone is the power source of the tag configured as a readout unit, user interface and storage unit. The NFC tag is supplied wirelessly by the smartphone via NFC, using a home-made structure to align the tag coil and smartphone coil in order to achieve a good inductive coupling. In this case, the commercial DMOS transistor ZVP3306 is used as dosimeter in unbiased mode, connected to the tag before and after each irradiation session to perform the sensor reading. An evaluation of the dosimetric system has been carried out irradiating three transistors with photon beam of 6 MV up to 20 Gy. The average sensitivity found is (4.75 ± 0.15) mV/Gy, which is in good agreement with the results found with our previously developed dosimetric system. Therefore, this miniaturised dosimetric system can be considered as a promising and low cost electronic architecture to be used for dosimetry control in radio-therapy treatments.Servicio de Radiofísica (Radio-physics Service) of the Hospital Universitario San Cecilio (Granada, Spain)Spanish Government under project FPA2015-67694-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness) and a R&D predoctoral grant (FPU13/05032, Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport)European Regional Development Funds (ERDF

Níveis e Sintomas de Ansiedade nos Estudantes de Ciências da Educação

Resumen: Introducción: Actualmente, la ansiedad es un estado disruptivo muy presente en la vida de los jóvenes universitarios, Objetivos: a presente investigación refleja los objetivos de conocer los síntomas a través de los cuales los estudiantes universitarios manifiestan la ansiedad y establecer el nivel de ansiedad en estudiantes universitarios en función del sexo. Métodos: T Para ello se ha realizado un estudio descriptivo, no experimental y de corte transversal en estudiantes de la rama de ciencias de la educación. Se ha utilizado un cuestionario ad hoc destinado a la recogida de variables sociodemográficas y el Inventario de Ansiedad de Beck para la recogida de los datos relacionados con la ansiedad. Resultados y discusión: T los datos revelan que, para los síntomas de carácter físico, fisiológico y cognitivo, el sexo femenino muestra mayores puntuaciones, donde, además, se muestra que el sexo femenino muestra mayores puntuaciones para los niveles de ansiedad leve, moderada y severa. Conclusiones: El sexo juega un papel clave para la canalización de la ansiedad.Abstract: Introduction: Currently, anxiety is a disruptive state that is very present in the lives of young university students. Objectives: The present research reflects the objectives of finding out the symptoms through which university students manifest anxiety and establishing the level of anxiety in university students according to gender. Methods: A descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was carried out on students in the field of educational sciences. An ad hoc questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic variables and the Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to collect data related to anxiety. Results and discussion: The the data reveal that, for symptoms of physical, physiological and cognitive character, the female sex shows higher scores, where in addition, it is shown that the female sex shows higher scores for mild, moderate and severe anxiety levels. Conclusions: Gender plays a key role in the channeling of anxiety.Resumo: Introdução: Actualmente, a ansiedade é um estado perturbador muito presente na vida dos jovens estudantes universitários. Objectivos: A presente investigação reflecte os objectivos de descobrir os sintomas através dos quais os estudantes universitários manifestam ansiedade e estabelecer o nível de ansiedade nos estudantes universitários de acordo com o género. Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo descritivo, não experimental e transversal sobre estudantes no campo das ciências da educação. Um questionário ad hoc foi utilizado para recolher variáveis sociodemográficas e o Beck Anxiety Inventory foi utilizado para recolher dados relacionados com a ansiedade. Resultados e discussão: Os dados revelam que, para os sintomas físicos, fisiológicos e cognitivos, o sexo feminino apresenta pontuações mais elevadas, onde, além disso, é demonstrado que o sexo feminino apresenta pontuações mais elevadas para os níveis de ansiedade leve, moderada e grave. Conclusões: O género desempenha um papel fundamental na canalização da ansiedade