An intelligent liposome that may deliver drug molecules in a well controlled fashion

The passage of molecules, especially large ones, through the cellular membrane is a very important problem for some biotechnological applications, such as drug delivery. The appearance of pores in the lipid bilayer following some controlled mechanisms may be an adequate and interesting way. Some pores, named stochastic pores, can appear due to structural and dynamic properties of lipid bilayer, but others may be favored by mechanical tension induced by different ways. Recently, a sequence of 30-40 pores was observed in the same vesicle, a pore at a time, which can appear in vesicles stretched by optical induced mechanical tension. There are two very interesting biotechnological applications that require the increase of membrane permeability: gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. In the first one, the transport of DNA fragments through cellular and nuclear membranes is required. The second application uses drug molecules encapsulated in vesicles, which have to be transported to a target place. Having reached that point, one supposes that the liposome discharges its content by its breakdown. In this paper, we will write about how a lipid vesicle has to release the drug molecules in a well-controlled fashion. Such liposomes are named pulsatory liposomes and they induce cyclic activity. We will demonstrate that this liposome may be programmed to work a certain number of cycles, settled in advance. Also, we will calculate the amount of drug delivered during each cycle. In fact, a pulsatory liposome may be conceived as a drug dose micro device, which works according to a medical prescription established _a priori_

BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE ORDER NO. 344/708/2004 OF THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATER MANAGEMENT AND THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT TO APPLY SEWAGE SLUDGE ON A STAGNIC PRELUVOSOL

Within this paper there briefly presented the technical norms comprised in theOrder for using sewage sludge and the evaluation criteria of soils in order to apply as fertilizer. There were studied the physical and chemical features of a stagnic preluvosol (stagnic luvisol) in order to asses the possibility to fertilize it by sewage sludge. The paper has an informative role for local farmers who can benefit by sewage sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plants of Craiova and Calafat

Pulsatory Liposome: A Possible Biotechnological Device

A unilamellar liposome filled with an osmotic solution is introduced into a hypotonic aqueous environment. Because of the mechanical tension induced by the osmotic flow, the vesicle swells up to a critical size, when suddenly a transbilayer pore appears and the vesicle relaxing stage starts. A part of the intracellular material leaks out through this pore, and the liposome membrane relaxes and finally recovers. The swelling begins again and the liposome experiences a periodical process. For this reason, we have named it a pulsatory liposome. The swelling of the liposome is described by a differential equation. All the processes which contribute to the vesicle relaxing and its coming back to the initial size are described by three differential equations. The pulsatory liposome can be programmed to work a number of cycles, established before. The activity of a pulsatory liposome can be characterized by the following parameters: (a) number of cycles, the length time of each cycle, and liposome activity life; (b) the length time of the swelling stage and the relaxation stage for each cycle; (c) the amount of solute leaked out through the pore in each cycle. The pulsatory liposome may be regarded as a two-stroke engine

Nouvelle implémentation de la procédure DATCOM pour le calcul des coefficients aérodynamiques et des dérivées de stabilité dans le domaine subsonique de vol

Ce mémoire propose une nouvelle implémentation dans l'environnement Matlab de la procédure USAF Stability and Control DATCOM. L'objectif principal est de créer un outil informatique dédié au calcul analytique des coefficients aérodynamiques et des dérivées de stabilité d'un aéronef à voilure fixe qui répond aux exigences de l'activité de recherche poursuivie dans le cadre du laboratoire LARCASE de l'École de technologie supérieure. Le nouveau code, appelé FDerivatives, offre une alternative améliorée et conviviale à l'ancienne version publique du logiciel Digital DATCOM et couvre, pour le moment, le domaine de vitesses subsoniques. D'un point de vue méthodologique, ce mémoire aborde une démarche qualitative et privilégie la présentation des approches que nous avons utilisées afin de produire un outil de calcul des coefficients aérodynamiques et des dérivées de stabilité, à la fois modem, convivial, ouvert et évolutif Pour les fonctions principales de calcul, un modèle général d'implémentation à été élaboré et appliqué pour toutes les méthodes de calcul utilisées dans le code. Ceci permet de remplacer facilement les méthodes de calcul implémentées, d'ajouter des nouvelles méthodes et simplifie les travaux de dépannage du code. Également, nous avons mis au point un procédé pour la valorisation systématique des diverses nomogrammes présentes dans la procédure DATCOM, mettant au profit les outils d'interpolation de Matlab. Une interface graphique a été conçue et testée, et sur laquelle l'utilisateur peut réaliser la plupart des commandes avec la souris en « cliquant » sur différents boutons et icônes. Par rapport aux limites d'applicabilité du logiciel Digital DATCOM, le code FDerivatives apporte plusieurs améliorations. Ainsi les possibilités de calcul du nouvel code ont été étendues aux voilures à profil aérodynamique variable tout comme aux ailes à flèche négative. Également, les contributions aérodynamiques des nacelles de moteur sont prises en compte. Des approches différentes quant au calcul de la traînée et du moment de tangage de l'aéronef ont permis de raffiner les résultats concernant le coefficient de traînée et d'améliorer d'une manière notable ceux du coefficient de moment de tangage. L'utilisation des coordonnées 3D à l'échelle de l'avion ont permis de réduire remarquablement, par rapport au logiciel Digital DATCOM, le nombre de paramètres géométriques nécessaires comme données d'entrée pour le code. Une méthode originale de calcul du rayon du bord d'attaque pour un profil aérodynamique a été mise au point, validée et implémentée dans le code. Le code a été testé et validé pour des aéronefs en différentes configurations et les résultats obtenus ont été présentés en comparaison avec les résultats expérimentaux et ceux du code Digital DATCOM, démontrant ainsi les avantages du nouveau outil

LOAD BALANCING STRUCTURE FOR MULTIPLE SOURCES SYSTEMS

Current paper presents a structure to (re)balance a multiple sources and/or generator control system on maintaining the global load, in case of charge and functioning disturbances. Applicability is proved on a control structure of the three and four sources connected in parallel to provide energy, a situation that has been encountered more and more these days especially in the smart grid or renewable energy industry (wind, solar and small generators), etc

The Implication of the Public Budget in Financing the Regional Development

With reference to Romania, in particular, but also to other member states of the European Union, we can state that, yearly, the process of regional development of these states, is dependent on the public budget they dispose. The regional development implies not only a strategy in perfect tune but also the identification and the provision of some real, accessible financing sources. As concerns the mentioned strategy, one must mention that it is highly important that it is elaborated based on some thorough analyses and on specific fields that have as support realistic data, in order to be angle to establish achievable development goals. As concerns the financing sources that will contribute to the insurance of the sustainability of the strategy of regional development, the practice proved that these must be ensured for an average or long time so as they can be able to reach their objective. The identification and insurance of the financing sources of the strategy of regional development is a highly complex process that represents a priority for every state. In Romania’s case, for instance, the main financing sources of the regional development strategy 2014 -2020 are represented by funds allocated from the public budget and from the European funds. Because of this reason, in the present scientific approach I intend to analyse the implications that the public budget has in financing the regional development, taking into account that on level and its availability also depends the absorption of European funds

Giant renal cell carcinoma in a patient with ipsilateral lower limb hypertrophic lichen planus; Case report and literature review

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of primary urogenital cancer, usually resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Hypertrophic lichen planus is an inflammatory dermatosis characterized by the presence of papulosquamous and intensely pruritic lesions. The association of these two conditions is unusual, being reported in the specialized literature only in a few rare cases with the onset of lichenoid lesions after patients have undergone various forms of treatment. The case of a 62-year-old male patient who was admitted for severe abdominal pain due to a giant renal tumor associated with a hypertrophic plaque located on the anterior part of the left calf is presented. After (clinical, biochemical, imaging) diagnosis, surgery was performed for en bloc removal of the entire mass, adrenal gland, and spleen. The histopathological exam established the diagnosis of a moderately differentiated T2b clear cell Grawitz tumor, without regional lymph node metastasis (stage II). The patient continued local corticosteroid therapy in the hospital for hypertrophic lichen planus lesions, being referred to the oncology department after discharge