Minocycline and photodynamic priming significantly improve chemotherapy efficacy in heterotypic spheroids of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

The prognosis for patients with advanced-stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains dismal. It is generally accepted that combination cancer therapies offer the most promise, such as Folforinox, despite their associated high toxicity. This study addresses the issue of chemoresistance by introducing a complementary dual priming approach to attenuate the DNA repair mechanism and to improve the efficacy of a type 1 topoisomerase (Top1) inhibitor.

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Inactivation Using Topical and Superhydrophobic Sensitizer Techniques: A Perspective from Diffusion in Biofilms.

This review describes nanoparticle and dye diffusion in bacterial biofilms in the context of antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (aPDI). aPDI requires the diffusion of a photosensitizer (Sens) into the biofilm and subsequent photoactivation of oxygen for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that inactivate microbes. Molecular diffusion in biofilms has been long investigated, whereas this review is intended to draw a logical link between diffusion in biofilms and ROS, a combination that leads to the current state of aPDI and superhydrophobic aPDI (SH-aPDI).

Biochar reduces volatile organic compounds generated during chicken manure composting.

The efficiency of biochar for reducing the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) was investigated in a composting mixture containing 90% poultry manure and 10% straw (with and without 3% biochar addition) at three different stages of the process. The use of a low application rate of biochar reduced the concentration of VOC during the thermophilic phase. Biochar significantly reduced the levels of nitrogen volatile compounds, which are the most abundant VOC family, originated from microbial transformation of the N-compounds originally present in manure.

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in Chile: first successful experience in South America.

Background: The need to have a variety of tools to deal with end-stage heart failure (ES-HF), along with the limited heart transplantation availability encouraged us to create a pilot Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in a public health care system hospital in Chile.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the first nine patients of an ongoing LVAD program initiated on August 2013 was performed, completing an average of 30 months of follow-up. The most important events regarding to morbidity and mortality are described.

Biochar improves N cycling during composting of olive mill wastes and sheep manure.

The use of biochar has been revealed to have beneficial effects during the composting of manures and other N-rich materials by reducing N losses and enhancing the rate of the process. However, the impact of biochar has not been explored in other complex organic matrices with low N nitrogen that may hinder the composting process. The main novelty of this work was to study the impact of a small amount of biochar (4%) on the composting process of olive mill wastes, which are characterised by a recalcitrant lignocellulosic composition with reduced nitrogen (N) availability.