Transdermal penetration enhancing effect of the N-alkylamide spilanthol

The dermal penetration of compounds may be influenced by other compounds when mixtures are presented to the skin. Plant extracts, often used in cosmeceuticals, are complex mixtures of wanted bio-actives as well as undesirable impurities like nanoparticles and mycotoxines. A major question is if plant bio-actives (like spilanthol) can significantly alter the dermal penetration of other compounds which can be actives (like testosterone) or impurities (like mycotoxins). If so, the qualification assessment of the product quality needs to include this influence within the Quality-by-Design strategy. Therefore, the concentration-dependent penetration promoting effect of spilanthol was investigated on the three CART transdermal model compounds i.e. caffeine, ibuprofen and testosterone [1]. It was shown that spilanthol has a compound and concentration dependent penetration enhancing effect. No significant penetration enhancing effect for ibuprofen has been observed. However, with increasing spilanthol concentration (from 0 up to 1%, m/V), the permeability of caffeine increases, resulting in an enhancing ratio (ER) of 4.60 ± 0.49 (mean ± SEM, n=4). For testosterone, a maximal penetration enhancing concentration of 0.5% spilanthol was found (ER = 4.13 ± 0.44 (mean ± SEM, n=3)). Our findings with these model compounds are also confirmed with mycotoxins [2]. In conclusion, the existence of a significant mutual influence of compounds towards skin penetration should always be considered as part of the functional quality evaluation or in topical product development. References [1] B. Baert, E. Deconinck, M. Van Gele, M. Slodicka, P. Stoppie, S. Bode, G. Slegers, Y. Vander Heyden, J. Lambert, J. Beetens, B. De Spiegeleer. Transdermal penetration behaviour of drugs: CART-clustering, QSPR and selection of model compounds, 2007, Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry, 15(22): 6943-6955. [2] B. De Spiegeleer, J. Boonen, L. Veryser, L. Taevernier, S.V. Malysheva, J. Diana Di Mavungu, S. De Saeger, N. Roche, P. Blondeel. Skin penetration enhancing properties of the plant N-alkylamide spilanthol, 2012, manuscript in preparation

Ion-ion interactions of lithium salts in poly(siloxanes) & ionic liquids

In this work, two potential electrolyte systems [poly(siloxane) and ionic liquids] were prepared, exhibiting thermally stable gel-like and �polymer-in-salt� behaviours respectively. Their ion-ion interactions were studied by means of impedance spectroscopy utilising modified Voigt equivalent circuits, which were fitted successfully to the measured data. A number of newly synthesised lithium salts {lithium bis-[3,4,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,2- benzenediolato (2-)-O,O�]borate}, {lithium bis-[1,2-benzenediolato(2-)-O,O�]borate}, and {lithium bis-[3- fluoro-1,2- benzenediolato (2)-O,O�]borate} were mixed and doped with the presented systems. The conductive behaviours of the electrolyte/salt mixtures exhibited original characteristics that encouraged improved dissociation at elevated temperatures. The poly(siloxane) demonstrated comparable conductivities with those reported in the literature [1.57 x 10-5 S cm-1 at 25 °C for (a)-poly(siloxane) lithium bis-[3,4,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,2- benzenediolato (2-)-O,O�]borate (O:Li)-(32:1). The ionic liquid conductivities of the previously unreported presented lithium salts were highly temperature dependent lamella-like, self-organising, multiphase systems [9.7 x 10-7 S cm-1 at 21°C & 1.02 x 10-1 S cm-1 at 111 °C for 1-N-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bis-[3,4,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,2-benzenediolato (2-)-O,O�]borate.

Alien Registration- De Roche, John (Farmington, Franklin County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/19883/thumbnail.jp

Public Preferences for Admitting Migrants Displaced by Climate Change

Climate change will displace millions of people around the world over the coming decades. While many of these climate-displaced persons will migrate internally, many will be displaced across international borders. This study is one of the first to ask whether the American public views climate-displaced persons as meriting admission to the United States through a humanitarian admissions stream. Our research indicates that Americans believe that displacement by climate change makes a prospective migrant as deserving of humanitarian immigration relief as those migrants fleeing persecution—the criterion for asylum or refugee status currently recognized in our refugee and asylum laws. Given that no such form of relief currently exists for climate-displaced persons under U.S. refugee and asylum laws, our research identifies a gap between public preferences and existing law.Our findings reveal that the American public ranks environmental displacement explicitly due to climate change as equally deserving of refugee status or asylum as persecution due to political opinion, persecution due to national origin, and persecution due to membership in a social group—three of the five currently recognized bases for asylum or refugee status in the United States. We investigate the factors that may influence how members of the American public perceive climate-displaced persons, including individuals' opinions on and experience with climate change. Even among those skeptical of climate change, displacement due to climate change is considered as deserving of asylum in the United States as is persecution when compared to economic migrants. Not only do Americans favor providing asylum to those displaced by climate change at the same levels as the currently accepted criteria, but climate skeptics also do not differ in statistically significant ways.When asked to assign a ranking to the reasons a person might seek asylum in the United States, respondents ranked climate-related displacement on par with persecution based on nationality, political opinion, and membership in a social group. Only persecution based on race and religion rank higher on average than displacement due to climate change. A member of the U.S. public is more likely to perceive an individual fleeing the negative effects of climate change as deserving asylum in the United States than an individual seeking economic opportunity. These findings suggest that barriers to including climate change-displaced migrants in U.S. humanitarian admissions streams may be lower than previously thought—a finding with live policy implications as the Biden administration considers how it will manage the migration effects of a warming planet

A cell-engineered system to assess tumor cell sensitivity to CD8+ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity

In vitro assays that evaluate CD8+ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity are important to aid in the development of novel therapeutic approaches to enhance anti-tumor immune responses. Here, we describe a novel cytotoxicity co-culture assay that circumvents the problem of highly variable allogeneic responses and obviates the constraints of HLA-restriction between effector and target cells. We show that this assay can be easily applied to a panel of tumor cell lines to provide additional insights into intrinsic drivers of sensitivity/resistance to T cell-mediated killing, and to evaluate the impact of targeted therapies on both tumor and T cell compartments.Maike de la Roche is supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (WT107609) and Cancer Research UK (A22257)

Management of agriculture science

Non-Peer Reviewe

Los medios y el proceso de paz: elementos para un balance necesario

Una reflexión sobre el papel de los medios en el cubrimiento del proceso de negociación con las FARC durante el gobierno de Andrés Pastrana, su responsabilidad social en el tratamiento del conflicto armado con la insurgencia y los procesos de negociación y de búsqueda de la reconciliación nacional, elementos vitales para el futuro de Colombia