Anti-Tumor Activity of Doxorubicin-loaded Boehmite Nanocontainers

Doxorubicin-filled boehmite nanocontainers, DOX@γ-AlO(OH), with a mean diameter of 40 nm and a wall thickness of 10 nm are prepared via a microemulsion strategy and studied as drug carriers for cancer treatment. Nanocontainer structure and drug load are examined in detail based on different analytical tools. The DOX load is optimized on highest load at lowest side effects according to blood counts. Cell uptake, DOX-based fluorescence detection and systemic toxicity are evaluated based on in vitro and in vivo models. Toxicity and activity of the DOX@AlO(OH) nanocontainers are compared with non-filled AlO(OH) hollow spheres and free DOX as references and show promising results. An orthotopic breast cancer BALB/c mouse model validates the activity of DOX@AlO(OH) in vivo at lower side effects than for free DOX

Round Table: Target Groups, Users, Followers, Fans – The Nature and Potential of Social Data in Archaeology

 At the 21st  Cultural Heritage and New Technologies conference (CHNT), which took place from Novembe 16th to 18th 2016 in Vienna, Austria, Carmen Löw organized a round table to discuss first experiences with social data from the use of social media in archaeology. The participants presented two Facebook accounts and one weblog owned by a UNESCO World Heritage, a research project and a private company. So far, social data has received too little attention in archaeology. Regardless of the limitations encountered with a user group with special age, sex and other regulations, social data helps us to understand at least a part of our stakeholders better and to adjust the information we offer in social media to their interests. To communicate in a professional manner, it is mandatory to understand who is on the receiving end of the information transportation process. Tools, all well-known and widely used in the world of economics, are often not affordable for scientific research in humanities and so we could mostly only guess who might be listening to us. Since archaeology is widely present in the internet, and since there are Facebook-accounts, websites and weblogs, it is now possible for us to get some reliable information about our followers and supporters. In this article, we provide basic information on communication, with a special focus on communication in the archaeological field, as well as figures on the current use of the Internet. We present data, possibilities for their interpretations and general observations on users, followers and fans in selected tools from the three examples mentioned above

Underwater Videogrammetry with Adaptive Feature Detection at "See am Mondsee", Austria

We present a complete, video-based 3d documentation process for the submerged remains of Neolithic pile dwellings at the UNESCO World Heritage Site "See am Mondsee" in Austria. We discuss good practice routines and solutions, such as cable management, supporting the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) when strong currents are prevalent, and documentation/record keeping. The recorded site is a Neolithic lake village dating to the 4th millenium BC. Based on initial reconstruction results, we improved the image matching process of our Structure from Motion (SfM) pipeline (built around the free end-user application VisualSFM), by replacing its default feature detector (SiftGPU) with our own implementation of adaptive feature detection. The campaign was accompanied by a German television film crew. Their documentary was shown on the German public television (ARD) broadcast "W wie Wissen"

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Data from: Biotransformation of labdane and halimane diterpenoids by two filamentous fungi strains

Biotransformation of natural products by filamentous fungi is a powerful and effective approach to achieve derivatives with valuable new chemical and biological properties. Despite diterpenoid substrates exhibit good susceptibility towards fungi enzymes, there have been no studies concerning the microbiological transformation of halimane-type diterpenoids up to now. In this work, we investigated the capability of Fusarium oxysporum (a fungus isolated from the rhizosphere of Senna spectabilis) and Myrothecium verrucaria (an endophyte) to transform halimane (1) and labdane (2) acids isolated from Hymenaea stigonocarpa (Fabaceae). Feeding experiments resulted in the production of six derivatives, including hydroxy, oxo, formyl, and carboxy analogues. Incubation of 1 with F. oxysporum afforded 2-oxo-derivative (3), while bioconversion with M. verrucaria provided 18,19-dihydroxy (4), 18-formyl (5), and 18-carboxy (6) bioproducts. Transformation of substrate 2 mediated by F. oxysporum produced a 7-hydroxy (7) derivative, whilst M. verrucaria yielded 7- (7) and 3-hydroxy (8) metabolites. Unlike F. oxysporum, which showed a preference to transform ring B, M. verrucaria, exhibited the ability to hydroxylate both rings A and B from substrate 2. Additionally, compounds 1–8 were evaluated for inhibitory activity against Hr-AChE and Hu-BChE enzymes through ICER-IT-MS/MS assay

NMR and MS data of biotransformation products. from Biotransformation of labdane and halimane diterpenoids by two filamentous fungi strains

1H, 13C, HSQC, HMBC and HR-ESI-MS spectra of compounds 3 - 8