Electrospun Polyurethane Fibers for Absorption of Volatile Organic Compounds from Air

Electrospun polyurethane fibers for removal of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from air with rapid VOC absorption and desorption have been developed. Polyurethanes based on 4,4-methylenebis(phenylisocyanate) (MDI) and aliphatic isophorone diisocyanate as the hard segments and butanediol and tetramethylene glycol as the soft segments were electrospun from their solutions in N,N-dimethylformamide to form micrometer-sized fibers. Although activated carbon possessed a many-fold higher surface area than the polyurethane fiber meshes, the sorption capacity of the polyurethane fibers was found to be similar to that of activated carbon specifically designed for vapor adsorption. Furthermore, in contrast to VOC sorption on activated carbon, where complete regeneration of the adsorbent was not possible, the polyurethane fibers demonstrated a completely reversible absorption and desorption, with desorption obtained by a simple purging with nitrogen at room temperature. The fibers possessed a high affinity toward toluene and chloroform, but aliphatic hexane lacked the necessary strong attractive interactions with the polyurethane chains and therefore was less strongly absorbed. The selectivity of the polyurethane fibers toward different vapors, along with the ease of regeneration, makes them attractive materials for VOC filtration.Boeing CompanyNetherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (Talent Scholarship

Social cognition in people with schizophrenia: A cluster-analytic approach

Background The study aimed to subtype patients with schizophrenia on the basis of social cognition (SC), and to identify cut-offs that best discriminate among subtypes in 809 out-patients recruited in the context of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses. Method A two-step cluster analysis of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), the Facial Emotion Identification Test and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores was performed. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the cut-offs of variables that best discriminated among clusters. Results We identified three clusters, characterized by unimpaired (42%), impaired (50.4%) and very impaired (7.5%) SC. Three theory-of-mind domains were more important for the cluster definition as compared with emotion perception and emotional intelligence. Patients more able to understand simple sarcasm (14 for TASIT-SS) were very likely to belong to the unimpaired SC cluster. Compared with patients in the impaired SC cluster, those in the very impaired SC cluster performed significantly worse in lie scenes (TASIT-LI <10), but not in simple sarcasm. Moreover, functioning, neurocognition, disorganization and SC had a linear relationship across the three clusters, while positive symptoms were significantly lower in patients with unimpaired SC as compared with patients with impaired and very impaired SC. On the other hand, negative symptoms were highest in patients with impaired levels of SC. Conclusions If replicated, the identification of such subtypes in clinical practice may help in tailoring rehabilitation efforts to the person's strengths to gain more benefit to the person

Tobramycin Liquid Crystal Nanoparticles Eradicate Cystic Fibrosis-Related Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms cause persistent and chronic infections, most known clinically in cystic fibrosis (CF). Tobramycin (TOB) is a standard anti-pseudomonal antibiotic; however, in biofilm infections, its efficacy severely decreases due to limited permeability across the biofilm matrix. Herewith, a biomimetic, nanostructured, lipid liquid crystal nanoparticle-(LCNP)-formulation is discovered to significantly enhance the efficacy of TOB and eradicate P. aeruginosa biofilm infections. Using an advanced, biologically-relevant co-culture model of human CF bronchial epithelial cells infected with P. aeruginosa biofilms at an air-liquid interface, nebulized TOB-LCNPs completely eradicated 1 × 109 CFU mL-1 of P. aeruginosa after two doses, a 100-fold improvement over the unformulated antibiotic. The enhanced activity of TOB is not observed with a liposomal formulation of TOB or with ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic that readily penetrates biofilms. It is demonstrated that the unique nanostructure of the LCNPs drives the enhanced penetration of TOB across the biofilm barrier, but not through the healthy lung epithelium barrier, significantly increasing the available antibiotic concentration at the site of infection. The LCNPs are an innovative strategy to improve the performance of TOB as a directed pulmonary therapy, enabling the administration of lower doses, reducing the toxicity, and amplifying the anti-biofilm activity of the anti-pseudomonal antibiotic

Genome Sequence of the Diazotrophic Gram-Positive Rhizobacterium Paenibacillus riograndensis SBR5T

Paenibacillus riograndensis SBR5T, a nitrogen-fixing Gram-positive rhizobacterium isolated from a wheat field in the south of Brazil, has a great potential for agricultural applications due to its plant growth promotion effects. Here we present the draft genome sequence of P. riograndensis SBR5T. Its 7.37-Mb genome encodes determinants of the diazotrophic lifestyle and plant growth promotion, such as nitrogen fixation, antibiotic resistance, nitrate utilization, and iron uptake

FGF signalling regulates bone growth through autophagy

Skeletal growth relies on both biosynthetic and catabolic processes. While the role of the former is clearly established, how the latter contributes to growth-promoting pathways is less understood. Macroautophagy, hereafter referred to as autophagy, is a catabolic process that plays a fundamental part in tissue homeostasis. We investigated the role of autophagy during bone growth, which is mediated by chondrocyte rate of proliferation, hypertrophic differentiation and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in growth plates. Here we show that autophagy is induced in growth-plate chondrocytes during post-natal development and regulates the secretion of type II collagen (Col2), the major component of cartilage ECM. Mice lacking the autophagy related gene 7 (Atg7) in chondrocytes experience endoplasmic reticulum storage of type II procollagen (PC2) and defective formation of the Col2 fibrillary network in the ECM. Surprisingly, post-natal induction of chondrocyte autophagy is mediated by the growth factor FGF18 through FGFR4 and JNK-dependent activation of the autophagy initiation complex VPS34-beclin-1. Autophagy is completely suppressed in growth plates from Fgf18(-/-) embryos, while Fgf18(+/-) heterozygous and Fgfr4(-/-) mice fail to induce autophagy during post-natal development and show decreased Col2 levels in the growth plate. Strikingly, the Fgf18(+/-) and Fgfr4(-/-) phenotypes can be rescued in vivo by pharmacological activation of autophagy, pointing to autophagy as a novel effector of FGF signalling in bone. These data demonstrate that autophagy is a developmentally regulated process necessary for bone growth, and identify FGF signalling as a crucial regulator of autophagy in chondrocytes