First report on cyanotoxin (Mc-lr) removal from surface water by multi-soil-layering (msl) eco-technology: Preliminary results

Cyanobacteria blooms occur frequently in freshwaters around the world. Some can produce and release toxic compounds called cyanotoxins, which represent a danger to both the environment and human health. Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) is the most toxic variant reported all over the world. Conventional water treatment methods are expensive and require specialized personnel and equipment. Recently, a multi-soil-layering (MSL) system, a natural and low-cost technology, has been introduced as an attractive cost-effective, and environmentally friendly technology that is likely to be an alternative to conventional wastewater treatment methods. This study aims to evaluate, for the first time, the efficiency of MSL eco-technology to remove MC-LR on a laboratory scale using local materials. To this end, an MSL pilot plant was designed to treat distilled water contaminated with MC-LR. The pilot was composed of an alternation of permeable layers (pozzolan) and soil mixture layers (local sandy soil, sawdust, charcoal, and metallic iron on a dry weight ratio of 70, 10, 10, and 10%, respectively) arranged in a brick-layer-like pattern. MSL pilot was continuously fed with synthetic water containing distilled water contaminated with increasing concentrations of MC-LR (0.18–10 µg/L) at a hydraulic loading rate (HLR) of 200 L m−2 day−1. The early results showed MC-LR removal of above 99%. Based on these preliminary results, the multi-soil-layering eco-technology could be considered as a promising solution to treat water contaminated by MC-LR in order to produce quality water for irrigation or recreational activities. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823860

Avaliação da bioatividade do corpo frutífero e esporos de Ganoderma lucidum

Ganoderma lucidum é uma das espécies de cogumelos mais estudadas do mundo devido às suas propriedades medicinais. Este trabalho descreve a avaliação da capacidade antioxidante in vitro e antiproliferativa em células tumorais do extrato obtido a partir de diferentes partes do cogumelo. A atividade antioxidante dos extratos metanólicos, obtidos a partir das duas amostras, foi avaliada através da captação de radicais livres, poder redutor e inibição da peroxidação lipídica pela descoloração do β-caroteno e em homogeneizados de células cerebrais animais. A atividade antiproliferativa dos mesmos extratos foi avaliada em quatro linhas celulares tumorais humanas (pulmão- NCI-H460, mama- MCF-7, cólon- HCT-15 e estômago- AGS) pelo método da sulforrodamina B. Os extratos foram caracterizados por HPLC-DAD-MS

Synthesis of aminodiarylamines in the thieno[3,2-b]pyridine series and effects on tumor cell growth inhibition, cell cycle and apoptosis

Several series of compounds that include the thienopyridine scaffold have been reported as inhibitors of known cancer therapeutic targets or as inhibitors of cell proliferation in tumor cell lines [1,2]. Our research group has already synthesized several thieno[3,2-b]pyridine derivatives by Pd-catalyzed C-C (Suzuki and Sonogashira) and C-N (Buchwald-Hartwig) couplings and some of them have presented tumor cell growth inhibitory activity in cell lines [3- 5]

New di(hetero)arylethers and di(hetero)arylamines in the thieno[3,2-b]pyridine series: Synthesis, growth inhibitory activity on human tumor cell lines and non-tumor cells, effects on cell cycle and on programmed cell death

New fluorinated and methoxylated di(hetero)arylethers and di(hetero)arylamines were prepared functionalizing the 7-position of the thieno[3,2-blpyridine, using copper (C-O) or palladium (C N) catalyzed couplings, respectively, of the 7-bromothieno[3,2-blpyridine, also prepared, with ortho, meta and para fluoro or methoxy phenols and anilines. The compounds obtained were evaluated for their growth inhibitory activity on the human tumor cell lines MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma), NCI-H460 (non-small cell lung cancer), HCI15 (colon carcinoma), HepG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma) and HeLa (cervical carcinoma). The most active compounds, a di(hetero)arylether with a methoxy group in the meta position relative to the ether function and two di(hetero)arylamines with a methoxy group either in the ortho or in the meta position relative to the NH, were further tested at their GI(50) concentrations on NCI-H460 cells causing pronounced alterations in the cell cycle profile and a strong and significant increase in the programmed death of these cells. The fluorinated and the other methoxylated compounds did not show important activity, presenting high GI(50) values in all the cell lines tested. Furthermore, the hepatotoxicity of the compounds was assessed using porcine liver primary cells (PLP2), established by some of us. Results showed that one of the most active compounds was not toxic to the non-tumor cells at their GI(50) concentrations showing to be the most promising as antitumoral.The authors would like to thank to the Foundation for the Science and Technology (PCT Portugal) for financial support through the NMR Portuguese network (Bruker 400 Avance III-Univ Minho); to FCT and FEDER-COMPETE/QREN/EU for financial support through the research unities PEst-C/QUI/UI686/2011 and PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011, the research project PTDC/QUI-QUI/111060/2009 and the post-Doctoral grants attributed to R.C.C. (SFRH/BPD/68344/2010) and R.T.L. (SRH/BPD/68787/2010). IPATIMUP is an Associate Laboratory of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and is partially supported by FCT

The Combined Deficiency of Immunoproteasome Subunits Affects Both the Magnitude and Quality of Pathogen- and Genetic Vaccination-Induced CD8+ T Cell Responses to the Human Protozoan Parasite Trypanosoma cruzi

The beta1i, beta2i and beta5i immunoproteasome subunits have an important role in defining the repertoire of MHC class I-restricted epitopes. However, the impact of combined deficiency of the three immunoproteasome subunits in the development of protective immunity to intracellular pathogens has not been investigated. Here, we demonstrate that immunoproteasomes play a key role in host resistance and genetic vaccination-induced protection against the human pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi (the causative agent of Chagas disease), immunity to which is dependent on CD8+ T cells and IFN-gamma (the classical immunoproteasome inducer). We observed that infection with T. cruzi triggers the transcription of immunoproteasome genes, both in mice and humans. Importantly, genetically vaccinated or T. cruzi-infected beta1i, beta2i and beta5i triple knockout (TKO) mice presented significantly lower frequencies and numbers of splenic CD8+ effector T cells (CD8+CD44highCD62Llow) specific for the previously characterized immunodominant (VNHRFTLV) H-2Kb-restricted T. cruzi epitope. Not only the quantity, but also the quality of parasite-specific CD8+ T cell responses was altered in TKO mice. Hence, the frequency of double-positive (IFN-gamma+/TNF+) or single-positive (IFN-gamma+) cells specific for the H-2Kb-restricted immunodominant as well as subdominant T. cruzi epitopes were higher in WT mice, whereas TNF single-positive cells prevailed among CD8+ T cells from TKO mice. Contrasting with their WT counterparts, TKO animals were also lethally susceptible to T. cruzi challenge, even after an otherwise protective vaccination with DNA and adenoviral vectors. We conclude that the immunoproteasome subunits are key determinants in host resistance to T. cruzi infection by influencing both the magnitude and quality of CD8+ T cell responses

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC