Effect of Utipro® (containing gelatin-xyloglucan) against Escherichia coli invasion of intestinal epithelial cells: results of an in vitro study

Aim: To evaluate whether Utipro(®), a natural product approved to prevent urinary tract infections, protects intestinal epithelial cells from Escherichia coli adherence/intracellular invasion in vitro. Materials & methods: Caco-2 and CacoGoblet(TM) cells were treated with Utipro (1.5 to 10 mg/ml) or untreated (controls). E. coli adherence/intracellular invasion was evaluated by Trans-Epithelial Electrical Resistance, Lucifer Yellow assay and microbial counts. Results: Utipro was noncytotoxic. Utipro 5 and 10 mg/ml protected cell tight junctions (mean ± SD Trans-Epithelial Electrical Resistance [Ω × cm(2)] 66.83 ± 0.29 and 71.33 ± 0.29, respectively), and protected cells from E. coli intracellular invasion (mean ± SD reductions in total bacteria counts [Log10] 0.9 ± 0.06 and 2.1 ± 0.56, respectively). Conclusion: Results indicate that Utipro creates a protective physical barrier on intestinal epithelial cells in vitro which reduces the settling of E. coli reservoirs. These results constitute the first step in the demonstration of the efficacy of Utipro to prevent urinary tract infections. Further research is needed in in vivo models and clinical trials

Robust fractional-order control using a decoupled pitch and roll actuation strategy for the I-support soft robot

This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Mathematical Models in Engineering.Tip control is a current open issue in soft robotics; therefore, it has received a good amount of attention in recent years. The desirable soft characteristics of these robots turn a well-solved problem in classic robotics, like the end-effector kinematics and dynamics, into a challenging problem. The high redundancy condition of these robots hinders classical solutions, resulting in controllers with very high computational costs. In this paper, a simplification is proposed in the actuation setup of the I-Support soft robot, allowing the use of simple strategies for tip inclination control. In order to verify the proposed approach, inclination step input and trajectory-tracking experiments were performed on a single module of the I-Support robot, resulting in zero output error in all cases, including those where the system was exposed to disturbances. The comparative results of the proposed controllers, a proportional integral derivative (PID) and a fractional order robust (FOPI) controller, validate the feasibility of the proposed approach, showing a clear advantage in the use of the fractional robust controller for the tip inclination control of the I-Support robot compared to the integer order controller.The research leading to these results has received funding from the project Desarrollo de articulaciones blandas para aplicaciones robóticas, with reference IND2020/IND-1739, funded by the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (CAM) (Department of Education and Research), from HUMASOFT project, with reference DPI2016-75330-P, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and from RoboCity2030-DIH-CM, Madrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub (Robótica aplicada a la mejora de la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos, FaseIV; S2018/NMT-4331), funded by "Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid" and cofunded by Structural Funds of the EU. This work was also funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 863212 (PROBOSCIS) and No. 824074 (GROWBOT)

Functionalization of Carbon Nanomaterial Surface by Doxorubicin and Antibodies to Tumor Markers

The actual task of oncology is effective treatment of cancer while causing a minimum harm to the patient. The appearance of polymer nanomaterials and technologies launched new applications and approaches of delivery and release of anticancer drugs. The goal of work was to test ultra dispersed diamonds (UDDs) and onion-like carbon (OLCs) as new vehicles for delivery of antitumor drug (doxorubicin (DOX)) and specific antibodies to tumor receptors. Stable compounds of UDDs and OLCs with DOX were obtained. As results of work, an effectiveness of functionalization was 2.94 % w/w for OLC-DOX and 2.98 % w/w for UDD-DOX. Also, there was demonstrated that UDD-DOX and OLC-DOX constructs had dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on tumor cells in the presence of trypsin. The survival of adenocarcinoma cells reduced from 52 to 28 % in case of incubation with the UDD-DOX in concentrations from 8.4–2.5 to 670–20 μg/ml and from 72 to 30 % after incubation with OLC-DOX. Simultaneously, antibodies to epidermal growth factor maintained 75 % of the functional activity and specificity after matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation deposition. Thus, the conclusion has been made about the prospects of selected new methods and approaches for creating an antitumor agent with capabilities targeted delivery of drugs

Dendritic Cells Exposed to MVA-Based HIV-1 Vaccine Induce Highly Functional HIV-1-Specific CD8+ T Cell Responses in HIV-1-Infected Individuals

Currently, MVA virus vectors carrying HIV-1 genes are being developed as HIV-1/AIDS prophylactic/therapeutic vaccines. Nevertheless, little is known about the impact of these vectors on human dendritic cells (DC) and their capacity to present HIV-1 antigens to human HIV-specific T cells. This study aimed to characterize the interaction of MVA and MVA expressing the HIV-1 genes Env-Gag-Pol-Nef of clade B (referred to as MVA-B) in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDC) and the subsequent processes of HIV-1 antigen presentation and activation of memory HIV-1-specific T lymphocytes. For these purposes, we performed ex vivo assays with MDDC and autologous lymphocytes from asymptomatic HIV-infected patients. Infection of MDDC with MVA-B or MVA, at the optimal dose of 0.3 PFU/MDDC, induced by itself a moderate degree of maturation of MDDC, involving secretion of cytokines and chemokines (IL1-ra, IL-7, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-12, IL-15, IL-8, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, RANTES, IP-10, MIG, and IFN-α). MDDC infected with MVA or MVA-B and following a period of 48 h or 72 h of maturation were able to migrate toward CCL19 or CCL21 chemokine gradients. MVA-B infection induced apoptosis of the infected cells and the resulting apoptotic bodies were engulfed by the uninfected MDDC, which cross-presented HIV-1 antigens to autologous CD8+ T lymphocytes. MVA-B-infected MDDC co-cultured with autologous T lymphocytes induced a highly functional HIV-specific CD8+ T cell response including proliferation, secretion of IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α, MIP-1β, MIP-1α, RANTES and IL-6, and strong cytotoxic activity against autologous HIV-1-infected CD4+ T lymphocytes. These results evidence the adjuvant role of the vector itself (MVA) and support the clinical development of prophylactic and therapeutic anti-HIV vaccines based on MVA-B

Protective barrier properties of Rhinosectan® spray (containing xyloglucan) on an organotypic 3D airway tissue model (MucilAir): results of an in vitro study

Abstract Background To evaluate barrier protective properties of Rhinosectan® spray, a medical device containing xyloglucan, on nasal epithelial cells (MucilAir). Methods MucilAir-Nasal, a three-dimensional organotypic (with different cell types) airway tissue model, was treated with the medical device Rhinosectan® (30 µL) or with controls (Rhinocort—budesonide—or saline solution). The protective barrier effects of Rhinosectan® were evaluated by: TEER (trans-epithelial electrical resistance) (preservation of tight junctions), Lucifer Yellow assay (preservation of paracellular flux) and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy (localization of tight junction proteins). Results Exposure of MucilAir with Rhinosectan® protected cell tight junctions (increases in TEER of 13.1% vs −6.3% with saline solution after 1 h of exposure), and preserved the paracellular flux, even after exposure with pro-inflammatory compounds (TNF-α and LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa 10). Results of confocal immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that, after treatment with the pro-inflammatory mixture, Rhinosectan® produced a slight relocation of zona occludens-1 in the cytosol compartment (while Rhinocort induced expression of zona-occludens-1), maintaining the localization of occludin (similarly to negative control). Conclusions Results of our study indicates that Rhinosectan® creates a protective physical barrier on nasal epithelial cells in vitro, allowing the avoidance of allergens and triggering factors, thus confirming the utility of this medical device in the management of nasal respiratory diseases, as rhinitis or rhinosinusitis

Smell Driven Navigation for Soft Robotic Arms: Artificial Nose and Control

Elephants and other animals heavily rely on the sense of smell to operate. Soft robots would also benefit from an artificial sense of smell, which could be helpful in typical soft robotic tasks such as search and rescue, pipe inspection, and all the tasks involving unstructured environments. This work proposes an artificial nose on a soft robotic arm that ensures separate smell concentration readings. We propose designing the nose to generate a one-to-one matching between the sensors' inputs and the actuators. This design choice allows us to implement a simple control strategy tailored to reach a dynamically varying smell in the environment, which we validate on a two-segment tendon-driven soft robotic arm equipped with the proposed artificial nose. We also propose and validate in simulation a control strategy for reaching tasks in the case of a stationary smell

Protective barrier properties of Rhinosectan® spray (containing xyloglucan) on an organotypic 3D airway tissue model (MucilAir): results of an in vitro study.

Background: To evaluate barrier protective properties of Rhinosectan® spray, a medical device containing xyloglucan, on nasal epithelial cells (MucilAir). Methods: MucilAir-Nasal, a three-dimensional organotypic (with diferent cell types) airway tissue model, was treated with the medical device Rhinosectan® (30 µL) or with controls (Rhinocort budesonide or saline solution). The protective barrier efects of Rhinosectan® were evaluated by: TEER (trans-epithelial electrical resistance) (preservation of tight junctions), Lucifer Yellow assay (preservation of paracellular fux) and confocal immunofuorescence microscopy (localization of tight junction proteins). Results: Exposure of MucilAir with Rhinosectan® protected cell tight junctions (increases in TEER of 13.1% vs −6.3% with saline solution after 1 h of exposure), and preserved the paracellular fux, even after exposure with pro-infammatory compounds (TNF-α and LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa 10). Results of confocal immunofuorescence microscopy demonstrated that, after treatment with the pro-infammatory mixture, Rhinosectan® produced a slight relocation of zona occludens-1 in the cytosol compartment (while Rhinocort induced expression of zona-occludens-1), maintaining the localization of occludin (similarly to negative control). Conclusions: Results of our study indicates that Rhinosectan® creates a protective physical barrier on nasal epithelial cells in vitro, allowing the avoidance of allergens and triggering factors, thus confrming the utility of this medical device in the management of nasal respiratory diseases, as rhinitis or rhinosinusitis. Keywords: Nasal obstruction, Rhinitis, Rhinosinusitis, Orgatypic 3D airway tissue model (MucilAir), Rhinosectan®, Xyloglucan, Barrier properties, Allergy, Preventive measure

Protective barrier properties of Rhinosectan® spray (containing xyloglucan) on an organotypic 3D airway tissue model (MucilAir): results of an in vitro study.

Background: To evaluate barrier protective properties of Rhinosectan® spray, a medical device containing xyloglucan, on nasal epithelial cells (MucilAir). Methods: MucilAir-Nasal, a three-dimensional organotypic (with diferent cell types) airway tissue model, was treated with the medical device Rhinosectan® (30 µL) or with controls (Rhinocort budesonide or saline solution). The protective barrier efects of Rhinosectan® were evaluated by: TEER (trans-epithelial electrical resistance) (preservation of tight junctions), Lucifer Yellow assay (preservation of paracellular fux) and confocal immunofuorescence microscopy (localization of tight junction proteins). Results: Exposure of MucilAir with Rhinosectan® protected cell tight junctions (increases in TEER of 13.1% vs −6.3% with saline solution after 1 h of exposure), and preserved the paracellular fux, even after exposure with pro-infammatory compounds (TNF-α and LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa 10). Results of confocal immunofuorescence microscopy demonstrated that, after treatment with the pro-infammatory mixture, Rhinosectan® produced a slight relocation of zona occludens-1 in the cytosol compartment (while Rhinocort induced expression of zona-occludens-1), maintaining the localization of occludin (similarly to negative control). Conclusions: Results of our study indicates that Rhinosectan® creates a protective physical barrier on nasal epithelial cells in vitro, allowing the avoidance of allergens and triggering factors, thus confrming the utility of this medical device in the management of nasal respiratory diseases, as rhinitis or rhinosinusitis. Keywords: Nasal obstruction, Rhinitis, Rhinosinusitis, Orgatypic 3D airway tissue model (MucilAir), Rhinosectan®, Xyloglucan, Barrier properties, Allergy, Preventive measure

Experimental and theoretical analyses on un-notched and pin-loaded metal matrix composite laminated plates

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX171522 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

HyperKaehler and quaternionic Kaehler geometry

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D92354 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo