Evaluation of the effects of nitric oxide-releasing nanoparticles on plants

Nowadays, there are several commercially available products containing nanostructured materials. Meanwhile, despite the many benefits that can be obtained from nanotechnology, it is still necessary to understand the mechanisms in which nanomaterials interact with the environment, and to obtain information concerning their possible toxic effects. In agriculture, nanotechnology has been used in different applications, such as nanosensors to detect pathogens, nanoparticles as controlled release systems for pesticides, and biofilms to deliver nutrients to plants and to protect food products against degradation. Moreover, plants can be used as models to study the toxicity of nanoparticles. Indeed, phytotoxicity assays are required to identify possible negative effects of nanostructured systems, prior to their implementation in agriculture. Nitric oxide (NO) plays a key role in plant growth and defense, and recently, several papers described the beneficial effects due to application of exogenous NO donors in plants. The tripeptide glutathione (GSH) is an important anti-oxidant molecule and is the precursor of the NO donor, S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). In this context, the present work investigates the effects of different concentrations of alginate/chitosan nanoparticles, containing either GSH or GSNO, on the development of two test species (Zea mays and Glycine sp.). The results showed that the alginate/chitosan nanoparticles present a size average range from 300 to 550 nm with a polydispersity index of 0.35, and encapsulation efficiency of GSH between 45 - 56%. The NO release kinetics from the alginate/chitosan nanoparticles containing GSNO showed sustained and controlled NO release over several hours. Plant assays showed that at the concentrations tested (1, 5 and 10 mM of GSH or GSNO), polymeric nanoparticles showed no significant inhibitory effects on the development of the species Zea mays and Glycine sp., considering the variables shoot height, root length, and dry mass. Therefore, these nanoparticles seem to have promissing uses in agriculture, and might be potencially used as controlled release systems applied by the foliar route6174th International Conference on Safe Production and Use of Nanomaterials (Nanosafe

Confronting the 95 GeV excesses within the UN2HDM

We consider the small excesses around 95 GeV found in several searches for a new scalar in $\gamma \gamma$, $\tau \tau$ and $b \bar b$ final states. Instead of trying to accommodate them all, as is usually done in the literature, in the context of a given Standard Model~(SM) extension, we investigate whether it would be possible that one or two of these excesses correspond to an actual new scalar, while the remaining ones are merely statistical fluctuations. To this end, we use as benchmark model the UN2HDM, a SM extension with one scalar doublet, one scalar singlet, and an extra $\text{U}(1)'$ symmetry, which has been previously studied in the context of multiboson cascade decays. We show that most of the possibilities where the excesses in one or two of these channels disappear in the future can be accommodated by type-I or type-III UN2HDMs.Comment: LaTeX 17 page

A Systematic Review

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.The recognition that the gut microbiota of obese children differs from lean children has grown, and some studies suggest that physical activity positively influences the gut microbiota. This systematic review explores the changes in the gut microbiota composition of obese and non-obese children and adolescents and provides an understanding of the effects of physical activity interventions in modulating their microbiota. The PRISMA protocol was used across PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Overall, twenty-four research papers were included in accordance with the chosen inclusion and exclusion criteria, eighteen studies compared the gut microbiota of obese and normal-weight children and adolescents, and six studies explored the effect of physical activity interventions on the gut microbiota. The analysis indicated that obese gut microbiota is reduced in Bacteroidetes, Bifidobacterium and alpha diversity but enriched in Proteobacteria and Lactobacillus. Interventions with physical activity seem to improve the alpha diversity and beneficial bacteria linked to body weight loss in children and adolescents. The gut microbiota of obese children exhibited a remarkably individual variation. More interventions are needed to clearly and accurately explore the relationships between child obesity, gut microbiota, and physical activity and to develop approaches to decrease the incidence of paediatric obesity.publishersversionpublishe

Effects of Physical Activity and Nutrition Education on the Gut Microbiota in Overweight and Obese Children

Funding Information: This research was funding by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/UIDB/00617/2020) and by the Portuguese Football Federation, Portugal Football School. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Childhood obesity continues to represent a growing challenge, and it has been associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis. This study examines the gut microbiota composition in overweight and obese school children and assesses whether a 12-week multidisciplinary intervention can induce changes in the gut microbiota. The intervention, which combined recreational football and nutritional education, was implemented among 15 school children, aged 7–10 years, with a Body Mass Index ≥ 85th percentile. The children were assigned into two groups: Football Group (n = 9) and Nutrition and Football Group (n = 6). Faecal samples were collected at the beginning and end of the program and analysed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. Over the intervention, a significant decrease was found collectively for Bifidobacterium genera (p = 0.011) and for Roseburia genera in the Football Group (p = 0.021). The relative abundance of Roseburia (p = 0.002) and Roseburia faecis (p = 0.009) was negatively correlated with moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), while Prevotella copri was positively correlated with MVPA (p = 0.010) and with the daily intake of protein (p = 0.008). Our findings suggest that a multidisciplinary intervention was capable of inducing limited but significant positive changes in the gut microbiota composition in overweight and obese school children.publishersversionpublishe

Effects of “Football and Nutrition for Health” program on body composition, physical fitness, eating behaviours, nutritional knowledge, and psychological status among 7 to 10 years school children

Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the children and their legal guardians, teachers, coaches and researchers, the Research Center in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure (CIAFEL), the Portugal Football School, and the Municipality of Águeda. Publisher Copyright: 2023 Morgado, Sousa, Coelho, Vale, Costa and Seabra.Introduction: Noncommunicable diseases and obesity are between the major health threat due to consumption of unhealthy foods and limited time spent on physical activities, a situation of particular concern among children. Since children spend most of their time at school, this study intends to investigate the effect of a school intervention program, which combines recreational football and nutrition education, on body composition, physical fitness, physical activity, blood pressure and heart rate, eating behaviours, nutritional knowledge, and psychological status in elementary school children. Methods: A total of 67 children, between 7 and 10 years old, were allocated into three groups: the Football Group (FG) which held 2 weekly sessions of 60 min of recreational football, the Nutrition and Football Group (NFG) which held 2 sessions per week of 60 min of recreational football plus 60 min of nutritional education and the Control Group (CG) which maintained its usual curriculum. The intervention lasted 12 weeks. All measurements were collected before and after the intervention. Results: Intervention groups significantly (p < 0.05) improved BMI Z-score, rest heart rate, horizontal jump and shuttle test, physical activity level, and psychosocial health. The NFG group significantly decreased (p < 0.05) waist-to-height ratio and blood pressure, and significantly increased (p < 0.05) nutritional knowledge, fruit, and fish consumption. While FG significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the percentage of fat mass and significantly increased (p < 0.05) muscle mass and performance in the 20 m sprint. Discussion: The results have shown to improve nutritional status, explosive strength, aerobic and neuromuscular fitness, as well as increase the level of physical activity. The nutritional education sessions contributed to increase nutritional knowledge and to improve the consumption of healthy food groups in a ludic-educational way. The “Football and Nutrition for Health” program was able to induce short-term improvements in several health markers, highlighting the role of the school curriculum in children's health.publishersversionpublishe

To practice or not to practice? Designing higher education curriculum to boost employability

One important dimension of Higher education curriculum design pertains to the inclusion of internships in study programmes. These have been generally conceptualized as learning experiences capable of bridging theoretical knowledge and hands-on experiences. The underlying pedagogical relevance is based on the premise that internships create the possibility of contextualized learning, fostering both professional growth and students’ self-esteem and pro-activity (Little, 2006). Interns are provided with the opportunity of early networking, as they enrol in practical activities and professionally interact with other people, besides their academic teachers and their graduate colleagues (Alpert, Heaney, & Kuhn, 2009; Weible, 2009). Research concerning internships has extensively reported the overwhelming positive effect of internships. Nevertheless, a more recent trend in literature has argued that little has been said concerning the relationship between internships and graduate employment or employability. Wilton (2012), for example, argues that more needs to be understood about the characteristics and specificities of internships and the extent to which such characteristics are capable of overcoming the current concern over the increase of graduates’ unemployment rates. Research conducted on the Portuguese case based on a database of 1,168 study programmes of first cycle degrees sough to redress this gap. Besides demonstrating that study programmes which include internships (cooperative education) tend to generate lower levels of unemployment than those that do not include internships, this research has suggested that the nature and structure of internships significantly impacts on graduate unemployment rates. In specific, mandatory internships tend to outperform their optional counterpart in reducing graduate unemployment levels. Moreover, thin sandwich courses also seem to be more beneficial than thick sandwich courses, suggesting that expanding and diversifying internships throughout the curriculum can reduce graduate unemployment rates. These results strongly suggest that it is not (only) the internship learning experience per se that makes the difference considering graduate employability, but (also) the way those internship experiences are organized along the study programme. This poster is, thus, focused on the nature and structure of internships, assessing their implications for higher education curriculum design. It does so by exploring the perspectives of the main stakeholders involved in internships regarding their motivations; required efforts; and expected outcomes. Empirically, the poster is based on the content analysis of semi-structured individual interviews to units coordinators and also focus groups conducted with coordinators of study programmes; internship supervisors (both academics and employers); and also interns. Qualitative analysis has been sustained by the main learning models traditionally used in research on work-based learning and aims at identifying a set of principles related with internships design, and modes of embedding them along an entire course, which may contribute to the development of graduates’ employability. Reported findings may constitute an important primer for reflection on the design of pedagogical strategies that maximize the contextual learning outputs of internships in a more systematic way, being particularly relevant for leading academics, namely those involved in curriculum design

Cotton textile with antimicrobial activity and enhanced durability produced by l-cysteine-capped silver nanoparticles

In this study, L-cysteine-capped silver nanoparticles (Cys-AgNPs) were successfully linked in a cotton textile, being attached in a covalent way to the cotton fibers via esterification with the hydroxyl groups from the cellulose. The AgNPs were strongly adhered to the fiber surface through coordination bonds with the thiol groups from the L-cys. In addition, they were compared with biogenic silver nanoparticles produced from fungi (bio-AgNPs). Materials and methods: The characterization of the Cys-AgNP and the bio-AgNP solutions were accomplished by UVvisible (UVVis), Z-potential, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). After the attachment of the Cys- AgNPs and the bio-AgNPs to the raw cotton, the textile surface was characterized by variable pressure scanning electron microscopy (VP-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The antibacterial activity was performed by disk diffusion analysis. Results: The results of the UVVis analysis showed the presence of AgNPs in the Cys-AgNPs and the bio-AgNPs solutions, showing the Surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) for the AgNPs among 380420 nm. In addition, they exhibited a Z-potential of 27 and 24 mV, respectively, with the presence of elemental silver shown by the XRD analysis. The VP-SEM images from the cotton fabrics covered in Cys-AgNPs and bio-AgNPs showed the presence of spherical AgNPs on their surface, and EDX analysis revealed the presence of peaks associated with the presence of Ag, C, and O. Furthermore, FT-IR analysis exhibited peaks associated with the presence of L-cysteine (SH-) and carboxylic acid arising from the esterification reaction among the cellulose from cotton and the carboxylic acid in the L-Cys molecules. Finally, the cotton textile exhibited antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the ability of Cys-AgNPs to bind to the cellulose from cotton fabric so as to produce antibacterial fabrics with enhanced durability, opening a wide range of options to be further used in healthcare and other industries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Strategies for cancer treatment based on photonic nanomedicine

Traditional cancer treatments, such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, are still the most effective clinical practice options. However, these treatments may display moderate to severe side effects caused by their low temporal or spatial resolution. In this sense, photonic nanomedicine therapies have been arising as an alternative to traditional cancer treatments since they display more control of temporal and spatial resolution, thereby yielding fewer side effects. In this work, we reviewed the challenge of current cancer treatments, using the PubMed and Web of Science database, focusing on the advances of three prominent therapies approached by photonic nanomedicine: (i) photothermal therapy; (ii) photodynamic therapy; (iii) photoresponsive drug delivery systems. These photonic nanomedicines act on the cancer cells through different mechanisms, such as hyperthermic effect and delivery of chemotherapeutics and species that cause oxidative stress. Furthermore, we covered the recent advances in materials science applied in photonic nanomedicine, highlighting the main classes of materials used in each therapy, their applications in the context of cancer treatment, as well as their advantages, limitations, and future perspectives. Finally, although some photonic nanomedicines are undergoing clinical trials, their effectiveness in cancer treatment have already been highlighted by pre-clinical studies

Experimental measuring procedure for the friction torque in rolling bearings

The reduction of the power loss generated in mechanical transmissions and the use of low friction biodegradable lubricants has been attracting considerable attention in recent times. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods to test and evaluate the performance of such lubricants and compare them with conventional ones. In this sense, a Four-Ball Machine was modified allowing the test of rolling bearings. A 51107 thrust ball bearing was used to test two different greases and the corresponding base oils. Friction torque and operating temperatures were continuously monitored to quantify the power loss and the heat evacuation for each lubricant tested. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd