Anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial waste: Anaerobic lagoons in Latin America

In developed countries, the valorization of agro-industrial wastes (AW) using waste-to-energy strategies through anaerobic digestion (AD) is a reality. In Latin America (LATAM), there are di erent problems in the management of AW from intensive livestock farming. This study aims to provide a pseudo-radiography of AD management systems focusing on covered anaerobic lagoons (CALs) in Latin America. Quantitative and qualitative data from 1,003 scientific papers were synthesized and analyzed to form adatabase using data science, which allowed evaluation of the congruence of the scientific research with the real problems of LATAMmanagement.Thirty-eight types of inhibition phenomena with 5,264 mentions were addressed in the database. Nitrogenrelated AD inhibition phenomena represented 21% of the incidences in this study, besides being the most significant phenomenon in covered anaerobic lagoons in LATAM. The results showed that CALs in the region are the principal AW management systems (mainly bovine and swine manure) and that scientific research in this sector does not address the real problems in the sector

Cyclic ruthenium-peptide conjugates as integrin-targeting phototherapeutic prodrugs for the treatment of brain tumors

To investigate the potential of tumor-targeting photoactivated chemotherapy, a chiral ruthenium-based anticancer warhead, Λ/Δ-[Ru(Ph2phen)2(OH2)2]2+, was conjugated to the RGD-containing Ac-MRGDH-NH2 peptide by direct coordination of the M and H residues to the metal. This design afforded two diastereoisomers of a cyclic metallopeptide, Λ-[1]Cl2 and Δ-[1]Cl2. In the dark, the ruthenium-chelating peptide had a triple action. First, it prevented other biomolecules from coordinating with the metal center. Second, its hydrophilicity made [1]Cl2 amphiphilic so that it self-assembled in culture medium into nanoparticles. Third, it acted as a tumor-targeting motif by strongly binding to the integrin (Kd = 0.061 μM for the binding of Λ-[1]Cl2 to αIIbβ3), which resulted in the receptor-mediated uptake of the conjugate in vitro. Phototoxicity studies in two-dimensional (2D) monolayers of A549, U87MG, and PC-3 human cancer cell lines and U87MG three-dimensional (3D) tumor spheroids showed that the two isomers of [1]Cl2 were strongly phototoxic, with photoindexes up to 17. Mechanistic studies indicated that such phototoxicity was due to a combination of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) effects, resulting from both reactive oxygen species generation and peptide photosubstitution. Finally, in vivo studies in a subcutaneous U87MG glioblastoma mice model showed that [1]Cl2 efficiently accumulated in the tumor 12 h after injection, where green light irradiation generated a stronger tumoricidal effect than a nontargeted analogue ruthenium complex [2]Cl2. Considering the absence of systemic toxicity for the treated mice, these results demonstrate the high potential of light-sensitive integrin-targeted ruthenium-based anticancer compounds for the treatment of brain cancer in vivo.Metals in Catalysis, Biomimetics & Inorganic MaterialsAnimal science

Cichlid biogeography: comment and review

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72313/1/j.1467-2979.2004.00148.x.pd