A Green Analytical Method Using Ultrasound in Sample Preparation for the Flow Injection Determination of Iron, Manganese, and Zinc in Soluble Solid Samples by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A simple and rapid analytical method was developed for the determination of iron, manganese, and zinc in soluble solid samples. The method is based on continuous ultrasonic water dissolution of the sample (5–30 mg) at room temperature followed by flow injection flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination. A good precision of the whole procedure (1.2–4.6%) and a sample throughput of ca. 25 samples h–1 were obtained. The proposed green analytical method has been successfully applied for the determination of iron, manganese, and zinc in soluble solid food samples (soluble cocoa and soluble coffee) and pharmaceutical preparations (multivitamin tablets). The ranges of concentrations found were 21.4–25.61 μg g−1 for iron, 5.74–18.30 μg g−1 for manganese, and 33.27–57.90 μg g−1 for zinc in soluble solid food samples and 3.75–9.90 μg g−1 for iron, 0.47–5.05 μg g−1 for manganese, and 1.55–15.12 μg g−1 for zinc in multivitamin tablets. The accuracy of the proposed method was established by a comparison with the conventional wet acid digestion method using a paired t-test, indicating the absence of systematic errors

Queer and Black Martyrdom in Alan Hollinghurst and Paul Mendez

Both Alan Hollinghurst and Paul Mendez address the vulnerability of dissident, non-normative masculinities. With this purpose, I will first revise the narratives of martyrdom as an iconography (and trope) which relies on but exceeds its religious origins to understand gay and black identity representation in these writers. There are, however, some differences in their treatment of martyrdom. Hollinghurst’s career spans more than three decades and, hence, his novels feature different faces of martyrdom although all the characters/narrators do it from a white perspective. By contrast, Mendez’s Rainbow Milk revisits martyrdom as a contested narrative from the decolonized and black/queer viewpoint of the protagonist

Necropolitics in Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer

Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer (2013) constitutes an account of post-war Iraq narrated by an Iraqi youth and authored by an Iraqi émigré. It is thus a valuable alternative to American fiction on the conflict and its aftermath. From this premise, this article explores how the myth of the trauma hero, which has whitewashed the American invasion in redemptive terms, is here replaced by a more nuanced discourse. Mbembe’s necropolitics—i.e. the “subjugation of life to the power of death” (2003: 39)—helps explain the story of Jawad, the corpse washer of the title, and of Iraq as one of dehumanization, wounding and spatialization inflicted by Western supremacy and alleged ‘rationality.’ The novel challenges Western necropolitics in two main ways: Iraqi stereotypes are questioned, especially their identification with terrorism and martyrdom. On the other hand, surrealism and gothic elements help the protagonist and his country to sublimate the trauma derived from American neocolonial politics

Infant gut microbiota modulation by human milk disaccharides in humanized microbiome mice

Human milk glycans present a unique diversity of structures that suggest different mechanisms by which they may affect the infant microbiome development. A humanized mouse model generated by infant fecal transplantation was utilized here to evaluate the impact of fucosyl-α1,3-GlcNAc (3FN), fucosyl-α1,6-GlcNAc, lacto-N-biose (LNB) and galacto-N-biose on the fecal microbiota and host-microbiota interactions. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing showed that certain bacterial genera significantly increased (Ruminococcus and Oscillospira) or decreased (Eubacterium and Clostridium) in all disaccharide-supplemented groups. Interestingly, cluster analysis differentiates the consumption of fucosyl-oligosaccharides from galactosyl-oligosaccharides, highlighting the disappearance of Akkermansia genus in both fucosyl-oligosaccharides. An increment of the relative abundance of Coprococcus genus was only observed with 3FN. As well, LNB significantly increased the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, whereas the absolute levels of this genus, as measured by quantitative real-time PCR, did not significantly increase. OTUs corresponding to the species Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Ruminococcus gnavus were not present in the control after the 3-week intervention, but were shared among the donor and specific disaccharide groups, indicating that their survival is dependent on disaccharide supplementation. The 3FN-feeding group showed increased levels of butyrate and acetate in the colon, and decreased levels of serum HDL-cholesterol. 3FN also down-regulated the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α and up-regulated the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and IL-13, and the Toll-like receptor 2 in the large intestine tissue. The present study revealed that the four disaccharides show efficacy in producing beneficial compositional shifts of the gut microbiota and in addition, the 3FN demonstrated physiological and immunomodulatory roles

Loss of the PTCH1 tumor suppressor defines a new subset of plexiform fibromyxoma.

BackgroundPlexiform fibromyxoma (PF) is a rare gastric tumor often confused with gastrointestinal stromal tumor. These so-called "benign" tumors often present with upper GI bleeding and gastric outlet obstruction. It was recently demonstrated that approximately one-third of PF have activation of the GLI1 oncogene, a transcription factor in the hedgehog (Hh) pathway, via a MALAT1-GLI1 fusion protein or GLI1 up-regulation. Despite this discovery, the biology of most PFs remains unknown.MethodsNext generation sequencing (NGS) was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples of PF specimens collected from three institutions (UCSD, NCI and OHSU). Fresh frozen tissue from one tumor was utilized for in vitro assays, including quantitative RT-PCR and cell viability assays following drug treatment.ResultsEight patients with PF were identified and 5 patients' tumors were analyzed by NGS. An index case had a mono-allelic PTCH1 deletion of exons 15-24 and a second case, identified in a validation cohort, also had a PTCH1 gene loss associated with a suspected long-range chromosome 9 deletion. Building on the role of Hh signaling in PF, PTCH1, a tumor suppressor protein, functions upstream of GLI1. Loss of PTCH1 induces GLI1 activation and downstream gene transcription. Utilizing fresh tissue from the index PF case, RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated expression of Hh pathway components, SMO and GLI1, as well as GLI1 transcriptional targets, CCND1 and HHIP. In turn, short-term in vitro treatment with a Hh pathway inhibitor, sonidegib, resulted in dose-dependent cell killing.ConclusionsFor the first time, we report a novel association between PTCH1 inactivation and the development of plexiform fibromyxoma. Hh pathway inhibition with SMO antagonists may represent a target to study for treating a subset of plexiform fibromyxomas

Estimating leaf moisture content at global scale from passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth

The moisture content of vegetation canopies controls various ecosystem processes such as plant productivity, transpiration, mortality, and flammability. Leaf moisture content (here defined as the ratio of leaf water mass to leaf dry biomass, or live-fuel moisture content, LFMC) is a vegetation property that is frequently used to estimate flammability and the danger of fire occurrence and spread, and is widely measured at field sites around the globe. LFMC can be retrieved from satellite observations in the visible and infrared domain of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is however hampered by frequent cloud cover or low sun elevation angles. As an alternative, vegetation water content can be estimated from satellite observations in the microwave domain. For example, studies at local and regional scales have demonstrated the link between LFMC and vegetation optical depth (VOD) from passive microwave satellite observations. VOD describes the attenuation of microwaves in the vegetation layer. However, neither were the relations between VOD and LFMC investigated at large or global scales nor has VOD been used to estimate LFMC. Here we aim to estimate LFMC from VOD at large scales, i.e. at coarse spatial resolution, globally, and at daily time steps over past decadal timescales. Therefore, our objectives are: (1) to investigate the relation between VOD from different frequencies and LFMC derived from optical sensors and a global database of LFMC site measurements; (2) to test different model structures to estimate LFMC from VOD; and (3) to apply the best-performing model to estimate LFMC at global scales. Our results show that VOD is medium to highly correlated with LFMC in areas with medium to high coverage of short vegetation (grasslands, croplands, shrublands). Forested areas show on average weak correlations, but the variability in correlations is high. A logistic regression model that uses VOD and additionally leaf area index as predictor to account for canopy biomass reaches the highest performance in estimating LFMC. Applying this model to global VOD and LAI observations allows estimating LFMC globally over decadal time series at daily temporal sampling. The derived estimates of LFMC can be used to assess large-scale patterns and temporal changes in vegetation water status, drought conditions, and fire dynamics.</p

Alginate foam-based three-dimensional culture to investigate drug sensitivity in primary leukaemia cells

The development of assays for evaluating the sensitivity of leukaemia cells to anti-cancer agents is becoming an important aspect of personalized medicine. Conventional cell cultures lack the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the bone marrow (BM), the extracellular matrix and stromal components which are crucial for the growth and survival of leukaemia stem cells. To accurately predict the sensitivity of the leukaemia cells in an in vitro assay a culturing system containing the essential components of BM is required. In this study, we developed a porous calcium alginate foam-based scaffold to be used for 3D culture. The new 3D culture was shown to be cell compatible as it supported the proliferation of both normal haematopoietic and leukaemia cells. Our cell differential assay for myeloid markers showed that the porous foam-based 3D culture enhanced myeloid differentiation in both leukaemia and normal haematopoietic cells compared to two-dimensional culture. The foam-based scaffold reduced the sensitivity of the leukaemia cells to the tested antileukaemia agents in K562 and HL60 leukaemia cell line model and also primary myeloid leukaemia cells. This observation supports the application of calcium alginate foams as scaffold components of the 3D cultures for investigation of sensitivity to antileukaemia agents in primary myeloid cells

TRAUMATIC IDENTITY AND AURA IN DAVID LODGE’S AUTHOR, AUTHOR

This paper delves into David Lodge’s Author, Author (2004) as an example of neo-Victorian celebrity biofiction, more concretely on Henry James. The genre belongs to the wave of Victorian revival in current literature which also affects cultural studies in general. My main contention is that Lodge’s novel responds to current cultural anxieties, particularly the crisis of identity and authorship and the end of Walter Benjamin’s concept of aura, by sublimating them into late-nineteenth-century traumata. The choice of James is, the article argues, not casual. He represents the redeeming figure of a lost auratic world; the human in crisis, traumatized because he does not fit in the new status quo.Este artículo analiza la novela Author, Author (2004) de David Lodge como ejemplo de bioficción neo-victoriana centrada en una celebridad, en este caso concreto, Henry James. El género forma parte del renacimiento victoriano actual que afecta a los estudios culturales en su conjunto. Mi argumento central es que la novela de Lodge constituye una respuesta a las ansiedades culturales actuales, en particular a las que se refieren a la crisis identitaria y autoría literaria, así como a la pérdida del aura artística de Walter Benjamin, sublimándolas a través de los traumas de finales del siglo XIX. La elección de James, como demuestra el artículo, no es casual. Es el último representante de un mundo perdido en el que el aura aún tenía un espacio; el ser humano en crisis y traumatizado porque no encaja en un status quo nuevo

Comparative study of silicone-hydrogel contact lenses surfaces before and after wear using atomic force microscopy

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze surface changes of three silicone-hydrogel contact lenses after daily wear. The lenses used in this study were balafilcon A, lotrafilcon B (both surface-treated), and galyfilcon A (non surface-treated). Methods: To understand how and where proteins, lipids, and other contaminants change contact lenses, surface roughness was assessed through Atomic Force Microscopy Tapping ModeTM. Roughness parameters were Mean Surface roughness (Ra), Mean-square-roughness (Rq), and Maximum roughness (Rmax). The surface topography of unworn and worn lenses was also mapped in great detail. Results: Contact lenses roughness parameters exhibited different values before and after wear and the surface appearance also changed. After wear, balafilcon A and galyfilcon A showed a significant increase on surface roughness parameters, being this increase more accentuated to galyfilcon A. In lotrafilcon B materials no significant changes were observed with wear. Conclusions: The present study suggests that surface treatment of silicone-hydrogel contact lenses can play a role in the prevention of a significant increase in roughness, and contribute to the better clinical tolerance of these lenses.University of PortoIBM