Nano-hydroxyapatite in oral care cosmetics: characterization and cytotoxicity assessment

Nano-hydroxyapatite has been used as an oral care ingredient, being incorporated in several products for the treatment of dental hypersensitivity and enamel remineralisation. Despite its promising results, regulatory and safety concerns have been discussed and questioned by the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) regarding the usage of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in oral care products. In this work, a commercially available nano-hydroxyapatite was characterized and its cytocompatibility towards human gingival fibroblasts was evaluated, as well as its irritation potential using the in vitro HET-CAM assay. All the conditions chosen in this study tried to simulate the tooth brushing procedure and the hydroxyapatite nanoparticles levels normally incorporated in oral care products. The commercial hydroxyapatite nanoparticles used in this study exhibited a rod-like morphology and the expected chemical and phase composition. The set of in vitro cytotoxicity parameters accessed showed that these nanoparticles are highly cytocompatible towards human gingival fibroblasts. Additionally, these nanoparticles did not possess any irritation potential on HET-CAM assay. This study clarifies the issues raised by SCCS and it concludes that this specific nano-hydroxyapatite is cytocompatible, as these nanoparticles did not alter the normal behaviour of the cells. Therefore, they are safe to be used in oral care products.The authors acknowledge the support of the Biointerfaces and Nanotechnology i3S Scientific Platform, as well as Luís Teixeira and Marta Ferro from University of Aveiro for the characterization of the HA-NP with TEM. Financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265) and National Funds (FCT/MEC, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Educação e Ciência) under the Partnership Agreement PT2020 UID/QUI/50006/2019 is acknowledged

Incidence of Ventilator-associated pneumonia in the critical care unit at Kenyatta National Hospital, a public tertiary care hospital

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), a severe type of hospitalacquired pneumonia develops 48-72 hours after initiation of mechanical ventilation. Objectives: This study aimed to determine incidence of VAP using the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) which combines clinical, radiographic, physiologic and microbiological data into a numerical result, ranging from 0 to 12, and to identify risk factors associated with its development. A secondary objective was to assess the diagnostic utility of a positive culture of pathogenic bacteria on tracheal aspirate in predicting a positive culture on a mini-Broncho Alveolar Lavage (Mini-BAL). Design: A hospital-based, prospective cross-sectional study carried between 01st January 2015 to 31st March 2015. Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital, a tertiary care hospitalSubjects: Ninety-two subjects who met the inclusion criteria were included. Results: Of the 92 patients studied, 50 had a CPIS of ≥6, an incidence of 54.4% (C.I. 44.0-64.7%). Factors that appeared to show an association with VAP included documented aspiration (OR 2.0), a high nurse to patient ratio (OR 4.0), postsurgical patients (OR 2.5) and those who were nasally intubated (OR 4.0) and those with oral candidiasis (OR 3.5). Of the 50 patients that showed a CPIS of ≥6, 46 (92%) patients had a positive culture on tracheal aspirate and 31 (62%) patients demonstrated a positive mini-BAL culture. The sensitivity and specificity of a positive tracheal aspirate in predicting a positive min-BAL culture were 100% (C.I 88.7-100.0%) and 21.1% (C.I 6.2-45.6%) respectively. Negative predictive value of 100.0% (C.I 40.2-100.0%) and a positive predictive value of 67.4% (C.I 52.0-80.5%). Conclusion: Our study, the first documented in East Africa, found a high incidence of VAP. Further studies are needed to compare the diagnostic utility of various invasive and non-invasive tests for diagnosis of VAP

Todo in Brazilian Portuguese: all or every or neither?

Todo-sentences in BP are a challenge to current views on the behavior of quantifiers like all. Todo selects not only plural and singular definite descriptions, but also noun phrases for its restriction, and it occurs with both distributive and collective predicates. Our thesis is that it is a distributive universal quantifier, which operates both over its nominal argument and over its predicate, being able to quantify over partitions of both its restriction and its nuclear scope

Composição química do óleo essencial de 40 acessos de sacaca (Croton cajucara Benth) do banco de germoplasma da Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental.

A coleção de germoplasma de sacaca (Croton cajucara Benth.) da Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental teve início em 1997, com acessos coletados em 15 localidades da Região Norte, objetivando realizar o estudo de variabilidade entre elas, a conservação do germoplasma da espécie e selecionar genótipos superiores para a produção de biomassa (folhas) com maior potencial para a produção de óleo essencial rico em linalol. Dois morfotipos, definidos principalmente pela diferença na coloração das folhas, foram identificados na coleção e denominados sacaca branca e sacaca vermelha. Dentro das ações previstas nesta rede, está a avaliação da composição química dos óleos essenciais

Salinity Induced Changes in the Leaf Anatomy of the Mangrove Avicennia Marina Along the Anthropogenically Stressed Tropical Creek

The mangrove Avicennia marina is a dominant mangrove along the anthropogenically stressed tropical Thane creek, west coast of India. Leaf anatomy of the mangrove along the Thane creek, was assessed in relation to stationwise and seasonwise variations in salinity. It was noticed that under the conditions of higher salinity, Avicennia marina showed increased thickness of hypodermal water storage tissue in the leaf (for conservation of water) and produced taller salt extruding glands at the lower epidermis to eliminate more salt; whereas, the thickness of the photosynthetic mesophyllic tissue significantly reduced. At lower salinity or with reduction in salinity in monsoon, contrary to above occurred. These changes probably explain the stunted growth of Avicennia marina in high salinity environment and its vigorous growth at lower salinity

MAPEAMENTO E DETECÇÃO DE QTL EM MANDIOCA

A mandioca é típica dos trópicos e fonte de segurança alimentar para mais de 600 milhões de pessoas, utilizada na alimentação humana e animal e na indústria, pela extração de amido e produção de biocombustível. O Brasil é o segundo país em produção, entretanto o incremento em produção é baixo para atender o crescente mercado. A compreenção da arquitetura genética de caracteres agronomicamente importantes é útil para delinear cruzamentos e possibilita a identificação de loci controladores de características quantitativas (QTL), no intuito de seleção assistida e clonagem de genes candidatos. Neste trabalho objetivou-se identificar, mapear e caracterizar QTL para as características de altura das plantas (AP), produtividade de parte aérea (PPA), produtividade total de raízes fresca (PTR), teor de matéria seca da raiz (MS) e produtividade de amido (PROD-AMD) de mandioca. Para isto foi utilizada uma população F1 de 141 indivíduos, oriunda do cruzamento entre as cultivares Fécula Branca e BRS Formosa, mantida em delineamento em blocos, com duas repetições e 16 plantas por parcela para as análises fenotípicas. A genotipagem dos indivíduos foi realizada usando SNPs, microssatélites e minissatélites. O mapa foi construído com abordagem multiponto e a detecção dos QTL realizada por análise de contraste entre médias e intervalo, considerando os diferentes tipos de segregação do QTL. Variabilidade foi observada para todas as características e altas correlações fenotípicas, exceto para MS, com destaque para PTR e PROD-AMD (0,98), bem como alta herdabilidade para AP (74,29%). Também, segregação transgressiva foi detectada para todas as características, indicando complementariedade de alelos dos pais na progênie segregante. O mapa genético representou regiões dos 18 cromossomos da mandioca e foi composto por 283 marcadores em 32 grupos de ligação. Uma região do cromossomo 10 apresentou evidência de pleitropia. Para AP, PPA e PROD-AMD um QTL comum foi identificado, bem como para PTR e PROD-AMD, três QTL comuns foram verificados. O MS apresentou QTL exclusivos. Estes resultados indicam o controle quantitativo das características estudadas, com QTL de grande e pequeno efeito detectados. Estes são úteis no melhoramento da cultura visando maior produtividade

Dendroecology of Araucaria angustifolia under two geomorphological conditions in the seasonal semideciduous forest and mixed ombrophilous forest ecotone of Paraná, Brazil.

Ameridendro

Vegetation Dynamics of Campos Under Grazing/Fire Regimes in Southern Brazil

Natural grassland vegetation in Southern Brazil, known as campos, has most likely evolved under a disturbance regime that included fire and grazing (Pillar et al., 1997). Nowadays, the composition of the vegetation of campos is grazing- and fire-dependent (Boldrini et al., 1997). Its importance can be evaluated by the fact that it represents 37 % of the state’s area and provides 77 % of the slaughtered cattle at Rio Grande do Sul (Barcellos et al., 2002). The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the vegetation dynamics of campos under grazing/fire regimes in order to explore the resilience of the vegetation under the regimes studied

Cedrela fissilis Vell. (Meliaceae): Dendrochronology and dendroclimatology in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

WorldDendro 2010

Comparing Experiences of Constitutional Reforms to Enshrine the Right to Water in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru: Opportunities and Limitations

In this paper we compare recent efforts towards the constitutionalization of the right to water in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru to understand the opportunities and limitations related to the attempts to enhance access to piped water to the highest normative level. Peru passed a constitutional amendment in 2017 while Brazil and Colombia have seen much right-to-water activism but have not succeeded in passing such reforms. We explore the role of the existing domestic legal frameworks on drinkable water provision and water management towards the approval of constitutional amendments. We find that all three countries have specialized laws, water governing institutions, and constitutional jurisprudence connecting access to water with rights, but the legal opportunity structures to enforce socio-economic rights vary; they are stronger in Colombia and Brazil, and weaker in Peru. We argue that legal opportunity structures build legal environments that influence constitutional reform success. Legal opportunity structures act as incentives both for social movements to push for reforms and for actors with legislative power to accept or reject them. Our findings also show that in some contexts political cost is a key element of constitutional reforms that enshrine the right to water; therefore, this is an element that should be considered when analyzing these processes.publishedVersio