New Global Minima for Thomson's Problem of Charges on a Sphere

Using numerical arguments we find that for $N$ = 306 a tetrahedral configuration ($T_h$) and for N=542 a dihedral configuration ($D_5$) are likely the global energy minimum for Thomson's problem of minimizing the energy of $N$ unit charges on the surface of a unit conducting sphere. These would be the largest $N$ by far, outside of the icosadeltahedral series, for which a global minimum for Thomson's problem is known. We also note that the current theoretical understanding of Thomson's problem does not rule out a symmetric configuration as the global minima for N=306 and 542. We explicitly find that analogues of the tetrahedral and dihedral configurations for $N$ larger than 306 and 542, respectively, are not global minima, thus helping to confirm the theory of Dodgson and Moore (Phys. Rev. B 55, 3816 (1997)) that as $N$ grows dislocation defects can lower the lattice strain of symmetric configurations and concomitantly the energy. As well, making explicit previous work by ourselves and others, for $N<1000$ we give a full accounting of icosadeltahedral configuration which are not global minima and those which appear to be, and discuss how this listing and our results for the tetahedral and dihedral configurations may be used to refine theoretical understanding of Thomson's problem.Comment: 1- Manuscript revised. 2- A new global minimum found for a dihedral (D_5) configuration found for N=54

A Novel Symmetric Four Dimensional Polytope Found Using Optimization Strategies Inspired by Thomson's Problem of Charges on a Sphere

Inspired by, and using methods of optimization derived from classical three dimensional electrostatics, we note a novel beautiful symmetric four dimensional polytope we have found with 80 vertices. We also describe how the method used to find this symmetric polytope, and related methods can potentially be used to find good examples for the kissing and packing problems in D dimensions

Polar magneto-optic Kerr and Faraday effects in finite periodic \texorpdfstring{PT\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}}{PT}-symmetric systems

We discuss the anomalous behavior of the Faraday (transmission) and polar Kerr (reflection) rotation angles of the propagating light, in finite periodic parity-time ($\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$) symmetric structures, consisting of $N$ cells. The unit cell potential is two complex $\delta$-potentials placed on both boundaries of the ordinary dielectric slab. It is shown that, for a given set of parameters describing the system, a phase transition-like anomalous behavior of Faraday and Kerr rotation angles in a parity-time symmetric systems can take place. In the anomalous phase the value of one of the Faraday and Kerr rotation angles can become negative, and both angles suffer from spectral singularities and give a strong enhancement near the singularities. We also shown that the real part of the complex angle of KR, $\theta^{R}_1$, is always equal to the $\theta^{T}_1$ of FR, no matter what phase the system is in due to the symmetry constraints. The imaginary part of KR angles $\theta^{R^{r/l}}_2$ are related to the $\theta^{T}_2$ of FR by parity-time symmetry. Calculations based on the approach of the generalized nonperturbative characteristic determinant, which is valid for a layered system with randomly distributed delta potentials, show that the Faraday and Kerr rotation spectrum in such structures has several resonant peaks. Some of them coincide with transmission peaks, providing simultaneous large Faraday and Kerr rotations enhanced by an order one or two of magnitude. We provide a recipe for funding a one-to-one relation in between KR and FR

One pot synthesis of cyclohexanone oxime from nitrobenzene using a bifunctional catalyst

Cyclohexanone oxime is formed from nitrobenzene with 97% yield in a one-pot reaction catalysed by palladium and gold nanoparticles on carbon. The reaction is carried out under hydrogen at 60 8C and the overall transformation involves a multi-step catalysed mechanism from which intermediates and catalytically active species have been identified.Rubio Marqués, P.; Hernández Garrido, JC.; Leyva Perez, A.; Corma Canós, A. (2014). One pot synthesis of cyclohexanone oxime from nitrobenzene using a bifunctional catalyst. Chemical Communications. 50(14):1645-1647. doi:10.1039/c3cc47693fS164516475014Ichihashi, H., & Sato, H. (2001). The development of new heterogeneous catalytic processes for the production of ε-caprolactam. Applied Catalysis A: General, 221(1-2), 359-366. doi:10.1016/s0926-860x(01)00887-0Calderon-Moreno, J. M., Pol, V. G., & Popa, M. (2011). Single-Step Synthesis of Ruthenium Catalytic Nanocrystallites in a Stable Carbon Support. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 2011(18), 2856-2862. doi:10.1002/ejic.201001360Mokaya, R., & Poliakoff, M. (2005). A cleaner way to nylon? Nature, 437(7063), 1243-1244. doi:10.1038/4371243aStahl, S. S. (2005). CHEMISTRY: Palladium-Catalyzed Oxidation of Organic Chemicals with O2. Science, 309(5742), 1824-1826. doi:10.1126/science.1114666Thomas, J. M., Raja, R., Sankar, G., & Bell, R. G. (1999). Molecular-sieve catalysts for the selective oxidation of linear alkanes by molecular oxygen. Nature, 398(6724), 227-230. doi:10.1038/18417Matos, J., & Corma, A. (2011). Selective phenol hydrogenation in aqueous phase on Pd-based catalysts supported on hybrid TiO2-carbon materials. Applied Catalysis A: General, 404(1-2), 103-112. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2011.07.018Liu, H., Jiang, T., Han, B., Liang, S., & Zhou, Y. (2009). Selective Phenol Hydrogenation to Cyclohexanone Over a Dual Supported Pd–Lewis Acid Catalyst. Science, 326(5957), 1250-1252. doi:10.1126/science.1179713Sikhwivhilu, L. M., Coville, N. J., Naresh, D., Chary, K. V. R., & Vishwanathan, V. (2007). Nanotubular titanate supported palladium catalysts: The influence of structure and morphology on phenol hydrogenation activity. Applied Catalysis A: General, 324, 52-61. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2007.03.004Rode, C. V., Joshi, U. D., Sato, O., & Shirai, M. (2003). Catalytic ring hydrogenation of phenol under supercritical carbon dioxide. Chemical Communications, (15), 1960. doi:10.1039/b304344dSuzuki, K., Watanabe, T., & Murahashi, S.-I. (2008). Aerobic Oxidation of Primary Amines to Oximes Catalyzed by DPPH and WO3/Al2O3. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 47(11), 2079-2081. doi:10.1002/anie.200705002Thomas, J. M., & Raja, R. (2005). Design of a «green» one-step catalytic production of  -caprolactam (precursor of nylon-6). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(39), 13732-13736. doi:10.1073/pnas.0506907102Sato, K. (1998). A «Green» Route to Adipic Acid: Direct Oxidation of Cyclohexenes with 30&nbsp;Percent Hydrogen Peroxide. Science, 281(5383), 1646-1647. doi:10.1126/science.281.5383.1646Climent, M. J., Corma, A., & Iborra, S. (2011). Heterogeneous Catalysts for the One-Pot Synthesis of Chemicals and Fine Chemicals. Chemical Reviews, 111(2), 1072-1133. doi:10.1021/cr1002084Nicolaou, K. C., Edmonds, D. J., & Bulger, P. G. (2006). Cascade Reactions in Total Synthesis. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 45(43), 7134-7186. doi:10.1002/anie.200601872(s. f.). doi:10.1021/cr950023Shin, J. Y., Jung, D. J., & Lee, S. (2013). A Multifunction Pd/Sc(OTf)3/Ionic Liquid Catalyst System for the Tandem One-Pot Conversion of Phenol to ε-Caprolactam. ACS Catalysis, 3(4), 525-528. doi:10.1021/cs400009wGrirrane, A., Corma, A., & Garcia, H. (2008). Gold-Catalyzed Synthesis of Aromatic Azo Compounds from Anilines and Nitroaromatics. Science, 322(5908), 1661-1664. doi:10.1126/science.1166401Corma, A., Concepción, P., & Serna, P. (2007). A Different Reaction Pathway for the Reduction of Aromatic Nitro Compounds on Gold Catalysts. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 46(38), 7266-7269. doi:10.1002/anie.200700823Corma, A. (2006). Chemoselective Hydrogenation of Nitro Compounds with Supported Gold Catalysts. Science, 313(5785), 332-334. doi:10.1126/science.1128383Guillena, G., Ramón, D. J., & Yus, M. (2009). Hydrogen Autotransfer in theN-Alkylation of Amines and Related Compounds using Alcohols and Amines as Electrophiles. Chemical Reviews, 110(3), 1611-1641. doi:10.1021/cr9002159Hollmann, D., Bähn, S., Tillack, A., & Beller, M. (2008). N-Dealkylation of aliphatic amines and selective synthesis of monoalkylated aryl amines. Chemical Communications, (27), 3199. doi:10.1039/b803114bHollmann, D., Bähn, S., Tillack, A., & Beller, M. (2007). A General Ruthenium-Catalyzed Synthesis of Aromatic Amines. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 46(43), 8291-8294. doi:10.1002/anie.200703119Barluenga, J., Jiménez-Aquino, A., Aznar, F., & Valdés, C. (2009). Modular Synthesis of Indoles from Imines ando-Dihaloarenes oro-Chlorosulfonates by a Pd-Catalyzed Cascade Process. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(11), 4031-4041. doi:10.1021/ja808652aZhang, X., & Corma, A. (2008). Supported Gold(III) Catalysts for Highly Efficient Three-Component Coupling Reactions. Angewandte Chemie, 120(23), 4430-4433. doi:10.1002/ange.200800098Shimizu, K., Yamamoto, T., Tai, Y., & Satsuma, A. (2011). Selective hydrogenation of nitrocyclohexane to cyclohexanone oxime by alumina-supported gold cluster catalysts. Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, 345(1-2), 54-59. doi:10.1016/j.molcata.2011.05.018Jeyabharathi, C., Senthil Kumar, S., Kiruthika, G. V. M., & Phani, K. L. N. (2010). Aqueous CTAB-Assisted Electrodeposition of Gold Atomic Clusters and Their Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalytic Activity in Acid Solutions. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 49(16), 2925-2928. doi:10.1002/anie.200905614Sinha, A. K., Basu, M., Sarkar, S., Pradhan, M., & Pal, T. (2013). Synthesis of gold nanochains via photoactivation technique and their catalytic applications. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 398, 13-21. doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2013.01.061Oliver-Meseguer, J., Cabrero-Antonino, J. R., Dominguez, I., Leyva-Perez, A., & Corma, A. (2012). Small Gold Clusters Formed in Solution Give Reaction Turnover Numbers of 107 at Room Temperature. Science, 338(6113), 1452-1455. doi:10.1126/science.122781

Evaluation of the cell viability of human Wharton's jelly stem cells for use in cell therapy

Human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly stem cells (HWJSCs) are gaining attention as a possible clinical source of mesenchymal stem cells for cell therapy and tissue engineering due to their high accessibility, expansion potential, and plasticity. We employed a combination of highly sensitive techniques to determine the average cell viability levels and proliferation capabilities of 10 consecutive cell passages of cultured HWJSCs and then used RNA microarrays to identify genes associated with changes in cell viability levels. We found an initial decrease in cell viability from the first to the third cell passage followed by an increase until the sixth passage and a final decrease from the sixth to tenth cell passages. The highest cell viability levels corresponded to the fifth and sixth passages. The intracellular ionic contents of potassium, sodium, and chlorine suggest that the lower cell viability levels at passages 2, 3, and 8-10 may be associated with apoptotic cell death. In fact, gene expression analysis revealed that the average cell viability was significantly associated with genes with a function in apoptotic cell death, especially pro-apoptotic FASTKD2, BNIP3L genes and anti-apoptotic TNFAIP8 and BCL2L2 genes. This correlation with both pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes suggests that there may be a complex live-death equilibrium in cultured HWJSCs kept in culture for multiple cell passages. In this study, the highest cell viability levels corresponded to the fifth and sixth HWJSC passages, suggesting that these passages should be preferentially employed in cell therapy or tissue engineering protocols using this cell type

RELaTED Project: New Developments on Ultra-Low Temperature District Heating Networks

District heating networks deliver around 13% of the heating energy in the EU, being considered as a key element of the progressive decarbonization of Europe. The H2020 REnewable Low TEmperature District project (RELaTED) seeks to contribute to the energy decarbonization of these infrastructures through the development and demonstration of the following concepts: reduction in network temperature down to 50 °C, integration of renewable energies and waste heat sources with a novel substation concept, and improvement on building-integrated solar thermal systems. The coupling of renewable thermal sources with ultra-low temperature district heating (DH) allows for a bidirectional energy flow, using the DH as both thermal storage in periods of production surplus and a back-up heating source during consumption peaks. The ultra-low temperature enables the integration of a wide range of energy sources such as waste heat from industry. Furthermore, RELaTED also develops concepts concerning district heating-connected reversible heat pump systems that allow to reach adequate thermal levels for domestic hot water as well as the use of the network for district cooling with high performance. These developments will be demonstrated in four locations: Estonia, Serbia, Denmark, and Spain.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 768567. This publication reflects only the authors’ views and neither the Agency nor the Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein

Aplicación de estrategias de aprendizaje para la adquisición de competencias profesionales y su evaluación mediante una rúbrica integradora en diversos títulos de grado de la Universidad de Málaga

El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha supuesto importantes cambios en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje para la adquisición de competencias transversales y específicas. La calidad es un factor estratégico, por lo que es necesario, por una parte, el diseño de estrategias por parte del docente para que el alumnado adquiera competencias profesionales, y por otra, la evaluación de la eficacia e incidencia de las distintas estrategias en el rendimiento académico del alumnado. En este trabajo se han desarrollado rúbricas que permiten evaluar el efecto de nuevas estrategias de aprendizaje para la adquisición de las siguientes competencias: razonamiento crítico y autocrítico, adquisición de conocimientos básicos y capacidad de aplicar los conocimientos adquiridos a casos prácticos, transmisión de información oral/escrita, y capacidad de trabajo en equipo. El estudio se ha desarrollado en ocho asignaturas de la Universidad de Málaga, de grados experimentales (varias ingenierías, biología, bioquímica, fisioterapia y psicología), y una asignatura de una disciplina más abstracta como son las matemáticas. Finalmente, el alumnado ha evaluado el alcance de estas estrategias en la adquisición de las competencias a través de una rúbrica (eRúbrica) común a todas las asignaturas, datos que han sido cotejados con el resultado final del examen.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Fishing the targets of bioactive compounds from Psidium guajava L. leaves in the context of diabetes

Psidium guajava L. (guava) leaves have demonstrated their in vitro and in vivo effect against diabetes mellitus (DM). However, there is a lack of literature concerning the effect of the individual phenolic compounds present in the leaves in DM disease. The aim of the present work was to identify the individual compounds in Spanish guava leaves and their potential contribution to the observed anti-diabetic effect. Seventy-three phenolic compounds were identified from an 80% ethanol extract of guava leaves by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The potential anti-diabetic activity of each compound was evaluated with the DIA-DB web server that uses a docking and molecular shape similarity approach. The DIA-DB web server revealed that aldose reductase was the target protein with heterogeneous affinity for compounds naringenin, avicularin, guaijaverin, quercetin, ellagic acid, morin, catechin and guavinoside C. Naringenin exhibited the highest number of interactions with target proteins dipeptidyl peptidase-4, hydroxysteroid 11-beta dehydrogenase 1, aldose reductase and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor. Compounds catechin, quercetin and naringenin displayed similarities with the known antidiabetic drug tolrestat. In conclusion, the computational workflow showed that guava leaves contain several compounds acting in the DM mechanism by interacting with specific DM protein targets.The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; partially supported by the supercomputing infrastructure of Poznan Supercomputing Center, the e-infrastructure program of the Research Council of Norway, the supercomputer center of UiT—the Arctic University of Norway and by the computing facilities of Extremadura Research Centre for Advanced Technologies (CETA–CIEMAT), funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijmsBiochemistrySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Silk fibroin nanoparticles constitute a vector for controlled release of resveratrol in an experimental model of inflammatory bowel disease in rats.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the intestinal anti-inflammatory properties of silk fibroin nanoparticles, around 100 nm in size, when loaded with the stilbene compound resveratrol, in an experimental model of rat colitis. Methods: Nanoparticles were loaded with resveratrol by adsorption. The biological effects of the resveratrol-loaded nanoparticles were tested both in vitro, in a cell culture of RAW 264.7 cells (mouse macrophages), and in vivo, in the trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid model of rat colitis, when administered intracolonically. Results: The resveratrol liberation in 1× phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; pH 7.4) was characterized by fast liberation, reaching the solubility limit in 3 hours, which was maintained over a period of 80 hours. The in vitro assays revealed immunomodulatory properties exerted by these resveratrol-loaded nanoparticles since they promoted macrophage activity in basal conditions and inhibited this activity when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. The in vivo experiments showed that after evaluation of the macroscopic symptoms, inflammatory markers, and intestinal barrier function, the fibroin nanoparticles loaded with resveratrol had a better effect than the single treatments, being similar to that produced by the glucocorticoid dexamethasone. Conclusion: Silk fibroin nanoparticles constitute an attractive strategy for the controlled release of resveratrol, showing immunomodulatory properties and intestinal anti-inflammatory effects

Lipid metabolism in Tinca tinca and its n-3 LC-PUFA biosynthesis capacity

Carps, barbels and other cyprinids are the major contributors to freshwater aquaculture at global scale. Nevertheless, freshwater fish aquaculture needs to diversify their production in order to offer consumers new species. Tench (Tinca tinca) is a freshwater species with great interest for the diversification of continental aquaculture. However, up to date, no commercial formulated diet exists for this species in order to optimize their nutritional requirements and the quality of its final product. Using multiple methodological approaches, the aim of this study was to evaluate the long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) metabolism of T. tinca. Firstly, the molecular cloning and functional characterisation by heterologous expression in yeast of a desaturase (Fads2) and two elongases (Elovl2 and Elovl5) involved in LC-PUFA biosynthesis, and the analysis of gene expression among tissues were performed. Secondly, in order to confirm the LC-PUFA biosynthesis capacity of isolated hepatocytes and enterocytes, cells were incubated with [1-14C] labelled linoleic acid (18:2n-6, LA), linolenic acid (18:3n-3, ALA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, EPA). In yeast, Fads2 showed a Δ6/Δ5 bifunctional activity. Elovl2 was more active over C20 and C22 substrates, whereas Elovl5 was over C18 and C20. Liver displayed the highest expression for the three target genes (fads2, elovl2 and elovl5). Incubated cells also showed Fads2 bifunctional activity as well as elongation products in concordance with yeast heterologous expression results. Importantly, our results demonstrated that tench is able to biosynthesise docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from 18:3n-3 in both hepatocytes and enterocytes, a capacity that seems to explain in part the surprisingly high levels of DHA found in the fish flesh compared to its dietary supply. Tench is a promising freshwater species with a potential capacity to endogenously increase its flesh DHA contents, reducing the impact that the usage of fish oils from forage fisheries may have on the aquaculture industry