Conversation with Lisa Garforth / Conversatorio con Lisa Garforth

\ua9 2023, Universidad Compultense Madrid. All rights reserved. Julia Ram\uedrez-Blanco interviews Lisa Garforth, author of the book Green Utopias and specialist in environmental utopias. With her, we talk about the possible ways of defining ecotopias, and how they manifest themselves both in literature and in different forms of social practice

Efecto del escalamiento a 10 kg del catalizador Al/Fe-PILC sobre sus propiedades fisicoquímicas y catalíticas en la degradación de fenol

Durante la última década diferentes estudios han demostrado que las arcillas pilarizadas con el sistema mixto Al/Fe presentan una excelente respuesta catalítica en la degradación de compuestos orgánicos tóxicos disueltos en agua mediante Peroxidación Catalítica en Fase Húmeda (PCFH) [1-3]. Sin embargo,la implementación de ésta tecnología en la descontaminación de aguas a escala real depende fuertemente de la preparación reproducible del catalizador a mayor escala, sin una pérdida significativa de sus propiedades tanto fisicoquímicas como catalíticas. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo principal determinar el efecto de la preparación del catalizador Al/Fe-PILC en tres diferentes escalas y concentración de sus precursores

10 kg scaled-up preparation of Al/Fe-pillared clay CWPO catalysts from concentrated precursors

In this work, the significant intensification of a bentonite pillaring process was achieved by using a novel methodological approach, leading to an intercalating Al/Fe mixed oligomeric precursor, around 100 times more concentrated than usually reported. In addition, the intercalating step was achieved directly on the clay with no previous swelling of the mineral being required; this allowed the successful scaled-up preparation of the Al/Fe-PILC, by a factor of one thousand, from the lab (10 g) to the pilot scale (10 kg). Intercalating solutions prepared under either oncentrated (13 cm3) or diluted (widely reported, 2.0 dm3) conditions for lab-scale preparations were both translucent, displaying similar final pH values (close to 4.0) typical of highly oligomerized Al-pillaring solutions. The clay modified from concentrated precursors at the 10 g scale reached a high basal spacing (18.3 Å) and specific surface area (198 m2 g−1 ) with very comparable fractions of Fe forming truly mixed Al/Fe pillars in comparison to a reference material (H2-TPR analyses). This promoted high performance in the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenol in aqueous solution as a toxic model organic molecule at very mild temperature (25.0 °C ± 1.0 °C) and pressure (76 kPa), exhibiting the highest catalytic efficiency as a function of both parameters (full conversion of phenol together with 45.2% of TOC mineralization) with low iron leaching using a very low catalyst concentration (0.25 g dm−3). Particle size refining of the starting clay, the speed of stirring and conditions for the final washing of the interlayered precursor are the main factors influencing successful pillaring at scales higher than 1.0 kg

Intratumoral injection of hydrogel-embedded nanoparticles enhances retention in glioblastoma

Intratumoral drug delivery is a promising approach for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). However, drug washout remains a major challenge in GBM therapy. Our strategy, aimed at reducing drug clearance and enhancing site-specific residence time, involves the local administration of a multi-component system comprised of nanoparticles (NPs) embedded within a thermosensitive hydrogel (HG). Herein, our objective was to examine the distribution of NPs and their cargo following intratumoral administration of this system in GBM. We hypothesized that the HG matrix, which undergoes rapid gelation upon increases in temperature, would contribute towards heightened site-specific retention and permanence of NPs in tumors. BODIPY-containing, infrared dye-labeled polymeric NPs embedded in a thermosensitive HG (HG-NPs) were fabricated and characterized. Retention and distribution dynamics were subsequently examined over time in orthotopic GBM-bearing mice. Results demonstrate that the HG-NPs system significantly improved site-specific, long-term retention of both NPs and BODIPY, with co-localization analyses showing that HG-NPs covered larger areas of the tumor and the peri-tumor region at later time points. Moreover, NPs released from the HG were shown to undergo uptake by surrounding GBM cells. Findings suggest that intratumoral delivery with HG-NPs has immense potential for GBM treatment, as well as other strategies where site-specific, long-term retention of therapeutic agents is warranted. This journal i

Formación de taumasita en morteros hidráulicos mediante la deposición de SO2 atmosférico

Sulphation of mortars and concretes is a function of diverse environmental factors (SO2 aerosol, temperature, etc) as well as some material characteristics. One of the phases that could be formed as consequence of the sulphation of the hydraulic binder is thaumasite. In this paper different hydraulic mortars have been exposed to laboratory exposure chambers in order to reproduce thaumasite formation due to atmospheric SO2. Under the laboratory exposure conditions, thaumasite was formed in hydraulic lime mortars, and mortars elaborated with ordinary Portland cement as well as mineralized white portland cement. However, thaumasite was not formed in mortars made of lime and pozzolan. The first product formed as a result of the SO2-mortar interaction was gypsum. Gypsum reacted with calcite and C-S-H gel, present in the samples, giving place to thaumasite. Low temperature promotes thaumasite formation.La sulfatación de morteros y hormigones depende de las condiciones ambientales (SO2 aerosol, temperatura, etc.), así como de las características del material. Una de las fases que se puede formar como consecuencia de la sulfatación de los ligantes hidráulicos es la taumasita. En este trabajo se han expuesto diferentes morteros hidráulicos en cámaras de laboratorio con el fin de reproducir la formación de taumasita por efecto del SO2 atmosférico. Bajo las condiciones de laboratorio se formó taumasita en los morteros de cal hidráulica y en los morteros fabricados con cemento portland y cemento blanco mineralizado. Sin embargo, cuando el ligante utilizado en los morteros fue cal y puzolana, no se formó taumasita. El yeso fue el primer producto formado en la interacción entre los morteros y el SO2. A continuación, este yeso reaccionó con la calcita y el gel C-S-H dando lugar a la formación de taumasita. Las bajas temperaturas favorecieron la formación de taumasita

GATA2 Promotes Hematopoietic Development and Represses Cardiac Differentiation of Human Mesoderm.

In vertebrates, GATA2 is a master regulator of hematopoiesis and is expressed throughout embryo development and in adult life. Although the essential role of GATA2 in mouse hematopoiesis is well established, its involvement during early human hematopoietic development is not clear. By combining time-controlled overexpression of GATA2 with genetic knockout experiments, we found that GATA2, at the mesoderm specification stage, promotes the generation of hemogenic endothelial progenitors and their further differentiation to hematopoietic progenitor cells, and negatively regulates cardiac differentiation. Surprisingly, genome-wide transcriptional and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that GATA2 bound to regulatory regions, and repressed the expression of cardiac development-related genes. Moreover, genes important for hematopoietic differentiation were upregulated by GATA2 in a mostly indirect manner. Collectively, our data reveal a hitherto unrecognized role of GATA2 as a repressor of cardiac fates, and highlight the importance of coordinating the specification and repression of alternative cell fates.Ramón y Cajal Program, Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, Spanish Cancer Association, FERO, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, European Social Fund, MINECO, PERIS Program of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Obra Social la Caixa-Fundacion Josep Carreras, Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III, Wellcome Trust, MRC, CRUK, NIH-NIDD

GATA2 Promotes Hematopoietic Development and Represses Cardiac Differentiation of Human Mesoderm.

In vertebrates, GATA2 is a master regulator of hematopoiesis and is expressed throughout embryo development and in adult life. Although the essential role of GATA2 in mouse hematopoiesis is well established, its involvement during early human hematopoietic development is not clear. By combining time-controlled overexpression of GATA2 with genetic knockout experiments, we found that GATA2, at the mesoderm specification stage, promotes the generation of hemogenic endothelial progenitors and their further differentiation to hematopoietic progenitor cells, and negatively regulates cardiac differentiation. Surprisingly, genome-wide transcriptional and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that GATA2 bound to regulatory regions, and repressed the expression of cardiac development-related genes. Moreover, genes important for hematopoietic differentiation were upregulated by GATA2 in a mostly indirect manner. Collectively, our data reveal a hitherto unrecognized role of GATA2 as a repressor of cardiac fates, and highlight the importance of coordinating the specification and repression of alternative cell fates.Ramón y Cajal Program, Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, Spanish Cancer Association, FERO, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, European Social Fund, MINECO, PERIS Program of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Obra Social la Caixa-Fundacion Josep Carreras, Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III, Wellcome Trust, MRC, CRUK, NIH-NIDD

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 $< p_{\rm{T}, assoc} < p_{\rm{T}, trig} <$ 5.0 GeV/$c$ is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momen\-tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<0.9$. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton--parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions. Further, the number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161

Multi-particle azimuthal correlations in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Measurements of multi-particle azimuthal correlations (cumulants) for charged particles in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions are presented. They help address the question of whether there is evidence for global, flow-like, azimuthal correlations in the p-Pb system. Comparisons are made to measurements from the larger Pb-Pb system, where such evidence is established. In particular, the second harmonic two-particle cumulants are found to decrease with multiplicity, characteristic of a dominance of few-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions. However, when a $|\Delta \eta|$ gap is placed to suppress such correlations, the two-particle cumulants begin to rise at high-multiplicity, indicating the presence of global azimuthal correlations. The Pb-Pb values are higher than the p-Pb values at similar multiplicities. In both systems, the second harmonic four-particle cumulants exhibit a transition from positive to negative values when the multiplicity increases. The negative values allow for a measurement of $v_{2}\{4\}$ to be made, which is found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions at similar multiplicities. The second harmonic six-particle cumulants are also found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions. In Pb-Pb collisions, we generally find $v_{2}\{4\} \simeq v_{2}\{6\}\neq 0$ which is indicative of a Bessel-Gaussian function for the $v_{2}$ distribution. For very high-multiplicity Pb-Pb collisions, we observe that the four- and six-particle cumulants become consistent with 0. Finally, third harmonic two-particle cumulants in p-Pb and Pb-Pb are measured. These are found to be similar for overlapping multiplicities, when a $|\Delta\eta| > 1.4$ gap is placed.Comment: 25 pages, 11 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 20, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/87