Cryogenic Propellant Feed System Analytical Tool Development

The Propulsion Systems Branch at NASA s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) has developed a parametric analytical tool to address the need to rapidly predict heat leak into propellant distribution lines based on insulation type, installation technique, line supports, penetrations, and instrumentation. The Propellant Feed System Analytical Tool (PFSAT) will also determine the optimum orifice diameter for an optional thermodynamic vent system (TVS) to counteract heat leak into the feed line and ensure temperature constraints at the end of the feed line are met. PFSAT was developed primarily using Fortran 90 code because of its number crunching power and the capability to directly access real fluid property subroutines in the Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties (REFPROP) Database developed by NIST. A Microsoft Excel front end user interface was implemented to provide convenient portability of PFSAT among a wide variety of potential users and its ability to utilize a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) developed in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The focus of PFSAT is on-orbit reaction control systems and orbital maneuvering systems, but it may be used to predict heat leak into ground-based transfer lines as well. PFSAT is expected to be used for rapid initial design of cryogenic propellant distribution lines and thermodynamic vent systems. Once validated, PFSAT will support concept trades for a variety of cryogenic fluid transfer systems on spacecraft, including planetary landers, transfer vehicles, and propellant depots, as well as surface-based transfer systems. The details of the development of PFSAT, its user interface, and the program structure will be presented

Straightforward synthesis of isoellipticine by palladium‐catalysed coupling reactions

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOOur novel synthetic route to isoellipticine featured palladium‐catalyzed intramolecular reactions for the construction of the B ring of the pyridocarbazole nucleus. The adequate palladium‐catalyzed reaction depended upon the oxidation conditions that were32436439FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO14/25770‐6SEM INFORMAÇÃOSEM INFORMAÇÃOThis work was supported by a grant from the State of São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP (grant number 14/25770‐6). The Chemistry Institute of UNICAMP is deeply acknowledged for the provided analytical facilities. J. A. M. C., F. F. N. and B. K. S. tha

Real-time prediction of influenza outbreaks in Belgium

Seasonal influenza is a worldwide public health concern. Forecasting its dynamics can improve the management of public health regulations, resources and infrastructure, and eventually reduce mortality and the costs induced by influenza-related absenteism. In Belgium, a network of Sentinel General Practitioners (SGPs) is in place for the early detection of the seasonal influenza epidemic. This surveillance network reports the weekly incidence of influenza-like illness (ILI) cases, which makes it possible to detect the epidemic onset, as well as other characteristics of the epidemic season. In this paper, we present an approach for predicting the weekly ILI incidence in real-time by resorting to a dynamically calibrated compartmental model, which furthermore takes into account the dynamics of other influenza seasons. In order to validate the proposed approach, we used data collected by the Belgian SGPs for the influenza seasons 2010–2016. In spite of the great variability among different epidemic seasons, providing weekly predictions makes it possible to capture variations in the ILI incidence. The confidence region becomes more representative of the epidemic behavior as ILI data from more seasons become available. Since the SIR model is then calibrated dynamically every week, the predicted ILI curve gets rapidly tuned to the dynamics of the ongoing season. The results show that the proposed method can be used to characterize the overall behavior of an epidemic

Additive manufacturing of embedded thermocouples in WC-Co cutting tools for cutting temperature measurement

A publicar em PowderMet2023, 18 - 21 jun. 2023, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, USADuring machining processes, a large amount of heat is generated due to deformation of the material and friction of the chip along the surface of the tool, especially in the cutting zone. This high temperature strongly influences tribological phenomena and adhesion, tool wear, tool life, workpiece surface integrity and quality, chip formation mechanisms and contribute to the thermal deformation of the cutting tool, leading to high operating costs and reduction of the end product quality. In this sense, being able to assess the cutting temperature in real time, at various points of the cutting tool during machining processes, is of utmost importance to effectively optimize cutting parameters and the cutting fluid flow adequately, for minimizing heat generation, temperature and consequently wear, allowing to increase tool life. This work proposes the fabrication of embedded additively manufactured type K and type N thermocouples by laser powder bed fusion for real time cutting temperature measurement. Processing parameters optimization was performed to obtain a dense and continuous thermocouple with no significant defects and the additively manufactured thermocouples were tested in comparison to a conventional thermocouple. The obtained results show that this approach is effective to produce embedded thermocouples in WC-Co cutting tools capable of measuring cutting temperature, which will allow a real time optimization of the cutting parameters, namely cutting speed, feed and depth of cut, during in-service time, thus enhancing tool performance and life.This work was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through the grant 2020.07155.BD and by the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030353 (SMARTCUT) and PTDC/EMEEME/1442/2020 (Add2MechBio). Additionally, this work was supported by FCT national funds, under the national support to R&D units grant, through the reference projects UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020. Finally, this work was also developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 & LA/P/0006/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC)

Validação do método de Mohr para determinação do teor de Cloreto em águas de consumo humano

O ião Cloreto encontra-se normalmente associado aos catiões sódio, cálcio, magnésio e potássio. Uma concentração excessiva de cloreto na água acelera a corrosão dos metais das redes de distribuição, em função da alcalinidade da água. Validação do método de Mohr (SMEWW 21th Edition 2005), utilizado no Laboratório de Saúde Pública de Bragança para determinação do teor de Cloreto em águas de consumo humano, com base no documento normativo NP EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005, com o objectivo final da Acreditação deste ensaio. Através do estudo de validação efectuado foi possível a Acreditação do método de Mohr (SMEWW, 21th Edition, 2005) para determinação do teor de Cloreto em águas de consumo humano. O reconhecimento da competência técnica para a execução do método referido foi conferido pelo Instituto Português de Acreditação (IPAC) mediante a emissão de um certificado de acreditação n.º L0432

Esterilização tubária histeroscópica com Essure ® : um estudo observacional de 7 anos

Introduction: Hysteroscopic sterilization with the Essure® device is a method of contraception considered safe and effective already applied in more than 200,000 women. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of this method of contraception and the adverse events associated with the placement of Essure®, including pain during the procedure and postprocedure complications. Material and methods: We performed a retrospective observational study with inclusion of all the women submitted to Essure® placement in a large urban hospital in Portugal, from January 2008 to December 2015 (7 years). The variables age, parity, duration and intercurrences of the procedure, follow-up exams and final outcome were evaluated. The statistical analysis was performed with STATA 12.1. Results: Of the 118 women only 100 finished the procedure with 16.9% reporting moderate or severe pain. Although less than 3 intrauterine rings were found in 8.5% of cases, the success rate was 92%. The complications described were tubal perforation (0.8%), pregnancy (1 case) and incorrect positioning of the implants (3%). Discussion/Conclusion: The success rate of the procedure was very close to that described in the literature with a low incidence of complications. That advantages make it an idea method for women with high surgical risk and multiple co-morbiditiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MCT1 is a new prognostic biomarker and its therapeutic inhibition boosts response to temozolomide in human glioblastoma

Background: Glioblastomas (GBMs) present remarkable metabolism reprograming, in which many cells display the “Warburg effect”, with the production of high levels of lactate that are extruded to the tumour microenvironment by monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). We described previously that MCT1 is up-regulated in human GBM samples, and MCT1 inhibition decreases glioma cell viability and aggressiveness. In the present study, we aimed to unveil the role of MCT1 in GBM prognosis and to explore it as a target for GBM therapy in vivo. Methods: MCT1 activity and protein expression were inhibited by AR-C155858 and CHC compounds or stable knockdown with shRNA, respectively, to assess in vitro and in vivo the effects of MCT1 inhibition and on response of GBM to temozolomide. Survival analyses on GBM patient cohorts were performed using Cox regression and Log-rank tests. Results: High levels of MCT1 expression were revealed to be a predictor of poor prognosis in multiple cohorts of GBM patients. Functionally, in U251 GBM cells, MCT1 stable knockdown decreased glucose consumption and lactate efflux, compromising the response to the MCT1 inhibitors CHC and AR-C155858. MCT1 knockdown significantly increased the survival of orthotopic GBM intracranial mice models when compared to their control counterparts. Furthermore, MCT1 downregulation increased the sensitivity to temozolomide in vitro and in vivo, resulting in significantly longer mice survival. Conclusions: This work provides first evidence for MCT1 as a new prognostic biomarker of GBM survival and further supports MCT1 targeting, alone or in combination with classical chemotherapy, for the treatment of GBM.This work has been funded by ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform, member of the national infrastructure PPBI–Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122; by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)–project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020 and by the projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000039 and NORTE-01-0247- FEDER-045914, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by project PTDC/BTM-SAL/31142/2017 (funded by FCT) and Brazilian MCTI/CNPq No73/2013. VMG was recipient of a fellowship and BC recipient of a contract from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, refs. SFRH/BD/51997/2012 and CEECIND/00072/2018, respectivel

Tailored functionalized magnetic nanoparticles to target breast cancer cells including cancer stem-like cells

Nanotechnology-based approaches hold substantial potential to avoid chemoresistance and minimize side effects. In this work, we have used biocompatible iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) called MF66 and functionalized with the antineoplastic drug doxorubicin (DOX) against MDA-MB-231 cells. Electrostatically functionalized MNPs showed effective uptake and DOX linked to MNPs was more efficiently retained inside the cells than free DOX, leading to cell inactivation by mitotic catastrophe, senescence and apoptosis. Both effects, uptake and cytotoxicity, were demonstrated by different assays and videomicroscopy techniques. Likewise, covalently functionalized MNPs using three different linkers—disulfide (DOX-S-S-Pyr, called MF66-S-S-DOX), imine (DOX-I-Mal, called MF66-I-DOX) or both (DOX-I-S-S-Pyr, called MF66-S-S-I-DOX)—were also analysed. The highest cell death was detected using a linker sensitive to both pH and reducing environment (DOX-I-S-S-Pyr). The greatest success of this study was to detect also their activity against breast cancer stem-like cells (CSC) from MDA-MB-231 and primary breast cancer cells derived from a patient with a similar genetic profile (triple-negative breast cancer). In summary, these nanoformulations are promising tools as therapeutic agent vehicles, due to their ability to produce efficient internalization, drug delivery, and cancer cell inactivation, even in cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) from patientsThis research was funded by the European Seventh Framework Program (grant agreement number 262943); the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 685795); Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (grants CTQ2016-78454-C2-2-R, BIO2016-77367-C2-1-R and SAF2017-87305-R); Basque Government Elkartek KK- 2017/00008; Comunidad de Madrid (IND2017/IND-7809; S2017/BMD-3867 RENIM-CM and S2018/NMT-4321 NANOMAGCOST-CM); NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (IS-BRC-1215-20007) and Breast Cancer Now (MAN-Q2); co-financed by European Structural Cancers 2020, 12, 1397 17 of 19 and Investment Fund, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (Singulares 2014) and IMDEA Nanociencia. CIC biomaGUNE acknowledges Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Program from the Spanish State Research Agency (Grant MDM-2017-0720). IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, Grant SEV-2016-0686