Stories of My Future Self: A Personal Futures Exploration

This project explores personal futures literature and activities through a critical analysis of futures studies, emotional psychology and cognitive psychology. Outcomes from this research, by way of reflective accounts and literature review, yield various insights for the development of guiding principles to augment existing work in this domain

A Detection of Dark Matter Halo Ellipticity using Galaxy Cluster Lensing in SDSS

We measure the ellipticity of isolated clusters of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) using gravitational lensing. We stack the clusters, rotating so that the major axes of the ellipses determined by the positions of cluster member galaxies are aligned. We exclude the signal from the central 0.5 h^-1 Mpc to avoid problems with stacking alignment and cluster member contamination. We fit an elliptical NFW profile and find an axis ratio for the dark matter of f = b/a = 0.48+0.14-0.09 (1 sigma), and rule out f=1 at 99.6 per cent confidence thus ruling out a spherical halo. We find that the ellipticity of the cluster galaxy distribution is consistent with being equal to the dark matter ellipticity. The results are similar if we change the isolation criterion by 50 per cent in either direction.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to ApJ; replaced with version accepted for publication in Ap

Clinical outcomes following switching antipsychotic treatment due to market withdrawal: a retrospective naturalistic cohort study of pipotiazine palmitate injection (Piportil Depot) discontinuation, subsequent acute care use and effectiveness of medication to which patients switched

Introduction: Pipotiazine palmitate depot injection (Piportil) was withdrawn from the UK marketplace in 2015. Few studies exist on the clinical impact of such market withdrawal. Purpose: We aimed to identify a cohort of patients switching from pipotiazine following this withdrawal and explore factors associated with effectiveness of the medication switched to and subsequent acute service use. Methods: A naturalistic retrospective cohort study was conducted in Sussex, United Kingdom. Those discontinuing pipotiazine solely due to market withdrawal were identified from electronic patient database and manual searching. Multivariate logistic regression analyses and survival analyses were performed to explore associations between available baseline variables and dichotomous all-cause discontinuation of the next prescribed medication and admission to acute mental health services over the subsequent year. Results: Of 205 patients identified as receiving pipotiazine in October 2014, 137 switched from this due to market withdrawal. Over the subsequent year, 31.5% discontinued the medication to which they were switched and 19% required acute care. Drug class switched to (typical depot vs atypical long acting injection (LAI) vs atypical oral) had no significant association with discontinuation. Switch to atypical LAI was significantly associated with acute care in comparison to typical depot. Those with a schizophrenia diagnosis were significantly less likely to discontinue switched medication or to receive acute care in comparison to those with schizoaffective disorder. Women were significantly more likely to discontinue switched medication than men. Of those requiring acute care, only 38% had required this in the previous 2 years. Conclusions: Antipsychotic market withdrawal has demonstrable negative clinical implications and requires careful clinical management. Increased acute care rates in those receiving an atypical LAI versus a typical depot following pipotiazine suggests lower effectiveness or possible withdrawal effects. No significant difference between depots, LAIs and oral medications on discontinuation supports the importance of a collaborative, fully informed approach when deciding next treatment options

Sustainable strategies based on glycine–betaine analogue ionic liquids for the recovery of monoclonal antibodies from cell culture supernatants

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are of crucial interest for therapeutic purposes, particularly in vaccination and immunization, and in the treatment of life-threatening diseases. However, their downstream processing from the complex cell culture media in which they are produced still requires multiple steps, making mAbs extremely high-cost products. Therefore, the development of cost-effective, sustainable and biocompatible purification strategies for mAbs is in high demand to decrease the associated economic, environmental and health burdens. Herein, novel aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of glycine–betaine analogue ionic liquids (AGB-ILs) and K2HPO4/KH2PO4 at pH 7.0, the respective three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems, and hybrid processes combined with ultrafiltration were investigated and compared in terms of performance as alternative strategies for the purification and recovery of anti-human interleukin-8 (anti-IL-8) mAbs, which are specific therapeutics in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture supernatants. With the studied ABS, mAbs preferentially partition to the IL-rich phase, with recovery yields up to 100% and purification factors up to 1.6. The best systems were optimized in what concerns the IL concentration, allowing to take advantage of IL-based three-phase partitioning approaches where a precipitate enriched in mAbs is obtained at the ABS interface, yielding 41.0% of IgG with a purification factor of 2.7 (purity of 60.9%). Hybrid processes combining the two previous techniques and an ultrafiltration step were finally applied, allowing the recovery of mAbs from the different fractions in an appropriate buffer solution for further biopharmaceutical formulations, while allowing the simultaneous IL removal and reuse. The best results were obtained with the hybrid process combining TPP and ultrafiltration, allowing to obtain mAbs with a purity higher than 60%. The recyclability of the IL was additionally demonstrated, revealing no losses in the purification and recovery performance of these systems for mAbs. The biological activity of anti-IL-8 mAbs is maintained after the several purification and recovery steps, indicating that the novel ABS, three-phase partitioning and hybrid processes comprising AGB-ILs are promising and sustainable strategies in mAbs downstream processing.publishe

Efficient Thiophene Synthesis Mediated by 1,3‐Bis(carboxymethyl)imidazolium Chloride: C‐C and C‐S Bond Formation

Thiophene derivatives have been prepared by means of a functionalized imidazolium salt [1,3‐bis(carboxymethyl)imidazolium chloride] acting as a catalyst. The heterogeneous catalyst has allowed to carry out the reactions with no solvent or inert atmosphere. Different aryl methyl ketones have reacted with elemental sulfur to selective produce 2,4‐substituted thiophenes. Furthermore, the reaction of sulfur with cyclic ketones has enabled the preparation of polycyclic compounds. This protocol is simple and effective for preparing thiophene derivatives, even in a preparative scale. The thiophene synthesis described presents remarkable sustainability with an E‐factor of 7.4, the solvent‐free conditions being crucial for this feature. The catalyst is straightforwardly prepared, and it is easily separated from the reaction mixture, making its reuse possible.This work was financially supported by the University of Alicante (VIGROB-173, VIGROB-285, VIGROB-316FI and UAUSTI19-21), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CTQ2015-66624-P, CTQ2017-88171-P), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (PGC2018-096616-B-I00) and the Generalitat Valenciana (AICO/2017/007). P. G. thanks the ISO (University of Alicante) for a grant

Adaptive response of single and binary Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli biofilms to benzalkonium chloride

The main goal of this work was to examine whether the continuous exposure of single and binary P. aeruginosa and E. coli biofilms to sub-lethal benzalkonium chloride (BC) doses can induce adaptive response of bacteria. Biofilms were formed during 24 h and then put continuously in contact with BC for more 5 days. The six-day-old adapted biofilms were then submitted to BC challenge, characterized and inspected by SEM. Both single and binary adapted biofilms have clearly more biomass, polysaccharides and proteins and less activity even though the number of cells was identical. After BC treatment, adapted biofilms maintained their mass and activity. SEM examination revealed that those adapted biofilms had a slimier and denser matrix that became thicker after BC treatment. Continuous exposure of bacteria to antimicrobials can lead to development of biofilms encompassing more virulent and tolerant bacteria. This adaptive resistance can be the result of a phenotypic adaptation, a genetic acquired resistance or both. Instead of eradicating biofilms and kill microorganisms, the use of a disinfectant can, favour biofilm formation and tolerance. This must be a genuine concern as it can happen in clinical environments, where the use of antimicrobials is unavoidable.The financial support from IBB-CEB and Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) and European Community fund FEDER, through Program COMPETE, in the ambit of the Project PTDC/SAUESA/64609/2006/FCOMP-010124-FEDER-00702 and Idalina Machado PhD Grant (SFRH/BD/31065/2006) and Susana Lopes PhD Grant (SFRH/BD/47613/2008) are gratefully acknowledged

Supercritical fluid extraction of Eucalyptus globulus bark: a promising approach for triterpenoid production

Eucalyptus bark contains significant amounts of triterpenoids with demonstrated bioactivity, namely triterpenic acids and their acetyl derivatives (ursolic, betulinic, oleanolic, betulonic, 3-acetylursolic, and 3-acetyloleanolic acids). In this work, the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of Eucalyptus globulus deciduous bark was carried out with pure and modified carbon dioxide to recover this fraction, and the results were compared with those obtained by Soxhlet extraction with dichloromethane. The effects of pressure (100-200 bar), co-solvent (ethanol) content (0, 5 and 8% wt), and multistep operation were studied in order to evaluate the applicability of SFE for their selective and efficient production. The individual extraction curves of the main families of compounds were measured, and the extracts analyzed by GC-MS. Results pointed out the influence of pressure and the important role played by the co-solvent. Ethanol can be used with advantage, since its effect is more important than increasing pressure by several tens of bar. At 160 bar and 40 degrees C, the introduction of 8% (wt) of ethanol greatly improves the yield of triterpenoids more than threefold

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO