Rapid Production of Nanoscale Liposomes Using a 3D-Printed Reactor-In-A-Centrifuge: Formulation, Characterisation, and Super-Resolution Imaging

Nanoscale liposomes have been extensively researched and employed clinically for the delivery of biologically active compounds, including chemotherapy drugs and vaccines, offering improved pharmacokinetic behaviour and therapeutic outcomes. Traditional laboratory-scale production methods often suffer from limited control over liposome properties (e.g., size and lamellarity) and rely on laborious multistep procedures, which may limit pre-clinical research developments and innovation in this area. The widespread adoption of alternative, more controllable microfluidic-based methods is often hindered by complexities and costs associated with device manufacturing and operation, as well as the short device lifetime and the relatively low liposome production rates in some cases. In this study, we demonstrated the production of liposomes comprising therapeutically relevant lipid formulations, using a cost-effective 3D-printed reactor-in-a-centrifuge (RIAC) device. By adjusting formulation- and production-related parameters, including the concentration of polyethylene glycol (PEG), temperature, centrifugation time and speed, and lipid concentration, the mean size of the produced liposomes could be tuned in the range of 140 to 200 nm. By combining selected experimental parameters, the method was capable of producing liposomes with a therapeutically relevant mean size of ~174 nm with narrow size distribution (polydispersity index, PDI ~0.1) at a production rate of >8 mg/min. The flow-through method proposed in this study has potential to become an effective and versatile laboratory-scale approach to simplify the synthesis of therapeutic liposomal formulations

Milled rice quality evaluation during storage under different temperature conditions.

Most of Brazilian consumers prefer to eat soft and fluffy cooked rice, especially when it is stored under refrigeration and re-heated. After harvest, some rice varieties, mainly from lowland system, need some weeks or months to reach the desirable cooking grain quality and normally the chemical and sensory analyses take place right after harvest. In order to check the home storage conditions effect on rice quality traits, five lowland varieties were cultivated in the same field at Embrapa Rice and Beans experimental station and harvested at the recommended point. The rice paddy was dehulled and milled and the milling degree was kept uniform

Congenital Muscular Torticollis

Objetivos: Caracterizar a população de crianças observadas por torcicolo muscular congénito na consulta de Reabilitação Pediátrica. Material e Métodos: Estudo longitudinal retrospetivo com revisão dos processos das crianças com torcicolo muscular congénito seguidas na Consulta de Reabilitação Pediátrica do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, entre Janeiro de 2008 e Novembro de 2011. Resultados: Foram observadas 91 crianças, 67% do sexo masculino, com uma média de idades de 20 semanas. Setenta e dois e nove décimas por cento dos partos foram distócicos, 14 com apresentações fetais anómalas e 61,1% resultaram de mães primíparas. A palpação do músculo esternocleidomastoideu revelou um nódulo em 43,8% das crianças e 63,8% apresentavam limitação das amplitudes articulares cervicais. Foi feito o ensino de medidas posturais a todos os cuidadores e prescrito um programa de reabilitação a 78 crianças. A maioria das crianças apresentou resolução completa do quadro e apenas uma foi submetida a tratamento cirúrgico. Conclusões: O torcicolo muscular congénito é a causa mais frequente de torcicolo na criança. Na maioria dos casos foi atingido um bom resultado com terapia conservadora

A multicenter validation of an endoscopic classification with narrow band imaging for gastric precancerous and cancerous lesions

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIM: The reliability and external validity of narrow band imaging (NBI) in the stomach have not been described consistently. The aim of the current study was to describe and estimate the accuracy and reliability of a simplified classification system for NBI in the diagnosis of gastric lesions. METHODS: Consecutive patients undergoing NBI endoscopy at two reference centers (n=85, 33% with dysplasia) were included in two studies. In total, 224 different areas were biopsied and recorded onto video. In the derivation study, previously described NBI features were analyzed in order to develop a simplified classification. In the validation study the accuracy and reliability of this classification were estimated among three groups of endoscopists with different levels of expertise in NBI. .RESULTS: The reliability/accuracy results from the derivation study allowed the creation of a simplified NBI classification. In the validation study, "regular vessels with circular mucosa" (pattern A) was associated with normal histology (accuracy 83%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 75?%-90%); "tubulo-villous mucosa" (pattern B) was associated with intestinal metaplasia (accuracy 84%; 95CI 77%-91%; positive likelihood ratio [LR+]=4.75); and "irregular vessels and mucosa" (pattern C) was associated with dysplasia (accuracy 95%; 95CI 90%-99%; LR+=44.33). The reproducibility of these patterns was high (k=0.62). "Light-blue crest" was moderately reliable (k=0.49) but specific (87%) for intestinal metaplasia. A variable vascular density (additional pattern+) was the best feature for Helicobacter pylori gastritis (accuracy 70%; 95CI 59%-80%) but showed only fair reliability (k=0.38). Non-experienced endoscopists presented lower agreement (k=0.6 vs. k=0.75) and accuracy (74% vs. 86%) than international experts/experienced endoscopists. CONCLUSION: A simplified NBI classification is accurate and reliable for the diagnosis of intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia. The classification should be further assessed and validated on a per-patient assessment of NBI, and by comparing NBI with other imaging technologies.This study was supported by a grant for medical investigation from the Portuguese Digestive Endoscopy Society (SPED 2009 Investigation Grant)

Revisiting the chemistry of apple pomace polyphenols

Hot water is an easily implementable process for polyphenols extraction. To evaluate the effect of this process on apple pomace, the overall polyphenolic composition was assessed before and after hot water extraction, followed by extractions with aqueous/organic solutions. As determined by UHPLC-DAD, flavan-3-ols were the main apple native polyphenols. Their amount decreased 50% after hot water extraction, while the other classes remained unchanged. Dihydrochalcones and hydroxycinnamic acid oxidation products, were also observed, alongside with non-extractable oxidised procyanidins that represented more than 4-fold the amount of native apple polyphenols in the pomace. Microwave superheated-water extraction of the insoluble cell wall material in water/acetone solutions and the high amounts of polyphenols that were insoluble in water/ethanol solutions suggested that oxidised procyanidins could be covalently linked to polysaccharides. These complexes represented up to 40% of the available polyphenols from apple pomace, potentially relevant for agro-food waste valuation.publishe

The role of the alloy structure in the magnetic behavior of granular systems

The effect of grain size, easy magnetization axis and anisotropy constant distributions in the irreversible magnetic behavior of granular alloys is considered. A simulated granular alloy is used to provide a realistic grain structure for the Monte Carlo simulation of the ZFC-FC curves. The effect of annealing and external field is also studied. The simulation curves are in good agreement with the FC and ZFC magnetization curves measured on melt spun Cu-Co ribbons.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR

Extratos de Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) Gray e Vernonia condensata Baker no controle in vitro de Rhizoctonia solani.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo testar in vitro oito extratos brutos aquosos de duas espécies da família Asteraceae: Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) Gray (girassol mexicano) e Vernonia condensata Baker (figatil), obtidos a partir de caule e folhas frescas e secas, pelo método de trituração na proporção 10g tecido/100mL de solvente