Superplastic deformation of directionally solidified nanofibrillar Al2O3-Y3Al5O12-ZrO2 eutectics

Nanofibrillar Al2O3–Y3Al5O12–ZrO2 eutectic rods were manufactured by directional solidification from the melt at high growth rates in an inert atmosphere using the laser-heated floating zone method. Under conditions of cooperative growth, the ternary eutectic presented a homogeneous microstructure, formed by bundles of single-crystal c-oriented Al2O3 and Y3Al5O12 (YAG) whiskers of ≈100 nm in width with smaller Y2O3-doped ZrO2 (YSZ) whiskers between them. Owing to the anisotropic fibrillar microstructure, Al2O3–YAG–YSZ ternary eutectics present high strength and toughness at ambient temperature while they exhibit superplastic behavior at 1600 K and above. Careful examination of the deformed samples by transmission electron microscopy did not show any evidence of dislocation activity and superplastic deformation was attributed to mass-transport by diffusion within the nanometric domains. This combination of high strength and toughness at ambient temperature together with the ability to support large deformations without failure above 1600 K is unique and shows a large potential to develop new structural materials for very high temperature structural applications

Experiencia y lecciones aprendidas en el diseño, fabricación y uso de muestreadores pasivos cerámicos para la monitorización de contaminantes en agua

The aim of this study is to describe the steps and complications encountered in the design, fabrication and calibration of ceramic passive samplers for the analysis of water contaminants. A ceramic passive samplers consists in a porous ceramic tube where a polymeric sorbent is placed in the inner side to preconcentrate the analytes from water with high enrichment factors. The diffusivity and uptake of contaminants depend on the ceramic porous structure that influences the sampling rate. Although the concept stands up for its simplicity, in real life passive samplers face several problems: fouling, clogging and saturation and then the uptake of contaminants may not be linear during the deployment period. With ceramic passive samplers these problems can be solved by optimizing the ceramic structure and porosity. Over eight year period, we have had a fruitful collaboration with Prof. Victor Orera, aimed to develop customized ceramic membranes to unselectively accumulate the contaminants present in different types of water with the overarching objective to monitor chemical pollution present in the environment. The use of customized ceramic passive samplers (CPS) will permit to identify main compounds in water, their evolution in time, identify the sources of pollution and finally gather enough knowledge and data to effectively propose control and remediation actions. In this study, we describe the steps undertaken in the development of ceramic samplers, their characteristics, the calibration procedure used, their performance and applicability. The work herein presented has been possible due to the brilliant ideas, enthusiasm, perseverance and motivation of Prof. Orera, but also because his joyful and cheerful character made this collaboration really pleasant and valuable.This work has been financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (project PID2019-105732GB-C21) and by the project IMAQUA (COMRDI16-1-0063) of the RIS3CAT call financed by the Fons Europeu de Desenvolupament Regional de la Unió Europea in the frameof FEDER program of Catalunya 2014-2020. Marina Erb is acknowledged for analyzing phthalates and alkylphenols and Maria Dulsat for analyzing PFASs.Peer reviewe

Development of a macroporous ceramic passive sampler for the monitoring of cytostatic drugs in water

The aim of this study was to develop and calibrate a macroporous ceramic passive sampler (MCPS) for the monitoring of anticancer drugs in wastewater. This system was designed by the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and consists in a porous ceramic tube to allow a high diffusion of contaminants. The MCPS has been calibrated for 16 cytostatic drugs over time periods up to 9 d in spiked water under controlled laboratory conditions. Optimal uptake was accomplished for 7 compounds, namely ifosfamide, cyclophosphamide, capecitabine, prednisone, megestrol, cyproterone and mycophenolic acid, whereas cytarabine was not adsorbed in the receiving phase and the rest were hydrolyzed over the deployment period. The sampling rate for these 7 compounds was between 0.825 and 3.350 mL day-1 and the diffusion coefficients varied from 1.01E-07 to 4.12E-07 cm2 s-1. To prove the applicability of the MCPSs, samplers (n = 3) were deployed in influent and effluent waters of a WWTP for a period of 6 d and results were compared to grab sampling and extraction with Solid Phase Extraction (SPE). In influent waters, MCPS were clogged due to the high amount of suspended solids in these waters. In effluents, MCPS detected cyclophosphamide and mycophenolic acid at concentrations of 19 ± 3 and 136 ± 28 ng L-1 with a good agreement with the levels obtained by grab sampling. The study discusses the use and performance of the MCPS for the monitoring of stable cytostatic compounds in a complex matrix such as wastewater.This study has been performed thanks to financial support from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain under the projects CTM2014-60199-P and MAT2015-68078-R. H. Franquet acknowledges the FPI grant BES-2012-053000.Peer reviewe

A multicentric study to evaluate the use of relative retention times in targeted proteomics

Despite the maturity reached by targeted proteomic strategies, reliable and standardized protocols are urgently needed to enhance reproducibility among different laboratories and analytical platforms, facilitating a more widespread use in biomedical research. To achieve this goal, the use of dimensionless relative retention times (iRT), defined on the basis of peptide standard retention times (RT), has lately emerged as a powerful tool. The robustness, reproducibility and utility of this strategy were examined for the first time in a multicentric setting, involving 28 laboratories that included 24 of the Spanish network of proteomics laboratories (ProteoRed-ISCIII). According to the results obtained in this study, dimensionless retention time values (iRTs) demonstrated to be a useful tool for transferring and sharing peptide retention times across different chromatographic set-ups both intra- and inter-laboratories. iRT values also showed very low variability over long time periods. Furthermore, parallel quantitative analyses showed a high reproducibility despite the variety of experimental strategies used, either MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) or pseudoMRM, and the diversity of analytical platforms employed. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: From the very beginning of proteomics as an analytical science there has been a growing interest in developing standardized methods and experimental procedures in order to ensure the highest quality and reproducibility of the results. In this regard, the recent (2012) introduction of the dimensionless retention time concept has been a significant advance. In our multicentric (28 laboratories) study we explore the usefulness of this concept in the context of a targeted proteomics experiment, demonstrating that dimensionless retention time values is a useful tool for transferring and sharing peptide retention times across different chromatographic set-ups.All laboratories from Spain are members of ProteoRed (Plataforma de Recursos Biomoleculares y Bioinformáticos) and are supported by grant PT13/0001 funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and FEDER.S