Optimizing the Design of a Lateral Oscillating Device for Pressure Ulcer Prevention: Results of a Quasi-experimental Study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to propose a lateral oscillating device for the prevention of pressure ulcers by understanding the mechanisms of tissue protection in healthy individuals during prolonged decubitus. We also sought to determine the optimal time interval for oscillation, considering peak pressure peaks and tolerable pressure limits as a function of individual characteristics such as age, weight, height, gender, and BMI.

Methods: A quasi-experimental, descriptive and analytical observational study was conducted between January 2022 and June 2023 with a sample of 25 healthy volunteers.

Odour characterisation of recycled HDPE in different washing and processing processes.

The waste of polymeric materials in our society is increasing year after year, generating a serious pollution problem. One way to deal with this waste problem is to recycle and reuse these materials. This process of recovery of used plastic materials aims to minimise their impact on the environment and reduce the energy consumption required for the generation of new consumer products.

Optimising Bioprinting Nozzles through Computational Modelling and Design of Experiments.

3D bioprinting is a promising technique for creating artificial tissues and organs. One of the main challenges of bioprinting is cell damage, due to high pressures and tensions. During the biofabrication process, extrusion bioprinting usually results in low cell viability, typically ranging from 40% to 80%, although better printing performance with higher cell viability can be achieved by optimising the experimental design and operating conditions, with nozzle geometry being a key factor.

Three-Dimensional Bioprinting of GelMA Hydrogels with Culture Medium: Balancing Printability, Rheology and Cell Viability for Tissue Regeneration.

Three-dimensional extrusion bioprinting technology aims to become a fundamental tool for tissue regeneration using cell-loaded hydrogels. These biomaterials must have highly specific mechanical and biological properties that allow them to generate biosimilar structures by successive layering of material while maintaining cell viability. The rheological properties of hydrogels used as bioinks are critical to their printability.

Evolution of bioprinting and current applications.

Bioprinting is a very useful tool that has a huge application potential in different fields of science and biotechnology. In medicine, advances in bioprinting are focused on the printing of cells and tissues for skin regeneration and the manufacture of viable human organs, such as hearts, kidneys, and bones. This review provides a chronological overview of some of the most relevant developments of bioprinting technique and its current status.

Fabrication and characterisation of bioglass and hydroxyapatite-filled scaffolds.

Tissue engineering is a continuously evolving field. One of the main lines of research in this field focuses on the replacement of bone defects with materials designed to interact with the cells of a living organism in order to provide the body with a structure on which new tissues can easily grow. Among the most commonly used materials are bioglasses, which are frequently used due to their versatility and good properties.

Relationship between shear-thinning rheological properties of bioinks and bioprinting parameters.

Three-dimensional bioprinting is a technology in constant development, mainly due to its extraordinary potential to revolutionize regenerative medicine. It allows fabrication through the additive deposition of biochemical products, biological materials, and living cells for the generation of structures in bioengineering. There are various techniques and biomaterials or bioinks that are suitable for bioprinting.

Methodology for characterizing the printability of hydrogels.

280Currently, the characterization techniques for hydrogels used in bioprinting are extensive, and they could provide data on the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of hydrogels. While characterizing the hydrogels, the analysis of their printing properties is of great importance in the determination of their potential for bioprinting. The study of printing properties provides data on their capacity to reproduce biomimetic structures and maintain their integrity after the process, as it also relates them to the possible cell viability after the generation of the structures.

Electrochemical Impedance Analysis for Corrosion Rate Monitoring of Sol-Gel Protective Coatings in Contact with Nitrate Molten Salts for CSP Applications.

The protective behaviour of ZrO-3%molYO sol-gel coatings, deposited with an immersion coating technique on 9Cr-1Mo P91 steel, was evaluated with corrosion monitoring sensors using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique. The tests were carried out in contact with solar salt at 500 °C for a maximum of 2000 h. The results showed the highly protective behaviour of the coating, with the corrosion process in the coated system being controlled by the diffusion of charged particles through the protective layer.

Hydrogels for Bioprinting: A Systematic Review of Hydrogels Synthesis, Bioprinting Parameters, and Bioprinted Structures Behavior.

Nowadays, bioprinting is rapidly evolving and hydrogels are a key component for its success. In this sense, synthesis of hydrogels, as well as bioprinting process, and cross-linking of bioinks represent different challenges for the scientific community. A set of unified criteria and a common framework are missing, so multidisciplinary research teams might not efficiently share the advances and limitations of bioprinting.

Influence of chemical composition, porosity and fractal dimension on the electrical conductivity of carbon blacks.

Carbonaceous materials analyzed in this investigation were six nanometric particle size carbon blacks. Carbons were texturally characterized by gas adsorption (N2, 77 K), helium and mercury density and mercury porosimetry measurements. Electrical conductivity was determinated by impedance spectroscopy, at room temperature.

Bitopertin, a selective oral GLYT1 inhibitor, improves anemia in a mouse model of β-thalassemia.

Anemia of β-thalassemia is caused by ineffective erythropoiesis and reduced red cell survival. Several lines of evidence indicate that iron/heme restriction is a potential therapeutic strategy for the disease. Glycine is a key initial substrate for heme and globin synthesis.

HRI coordinates translation necessary for protein homeostasis and mitochondrial function in erythropoiesis.

Iron and heme play central roles in the production of red blood cells, but the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Heme-regulated eIF2α kinase (HRI) controls translation by phosphorylating eIF2α. Here, we investigate the global impact of iron, heme, and HRI on protein translation in vivo in murine primary erythroblasts using ribosome profiling.

Regulation of globin-heme balance in Diamond-Blackfan anemia by HSP70/GATA1.

Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a congenital erythroblastopenia that is characterized by a blockade in erythroid differentiation related to impaired ribosome biogenesis. DBA phenotype and genotype are highly heterogeneous. We have previously identified 2 in vitro erythroid cell growth phenotypes for primary CD34 cells from DBA patients and following short hairpin RNA knockdown of RPS19, RPL5, and RPL11 expression in normal human CD34 cells.

HRI coordinates translation by eIF2αP and mTORC1 to mitigate ineffective erythropoiesis in mice during iron deficiency.

Iron deficiency (ID) anemia is a prevalent disease, yet molecular mechanisms by which iron and heme regulate erythropoiesis are not completely understood. Heme-regulated eIF2α kinase (HRI) is a key hemoprotein in erythroid precursors that sense intracellular heme concentrations to balance globin synthesis with the amount of heme available for hemoglobin production. HRI is activated by heme deficiency and oxidative stress, and it phosphorylates eIF2α (eIF2αP), which inhibits the translation of globin messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and selectively enhances the translation of activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) mRNA to induce stress response genes.

Study of the adsorption and electroadsorption process of Cu (II) ions within thermally and chemically modified activated carbon.

The aim of this work is to modify the porous texture and superficial groups of a commercial activated carbon through chemical and thermal treatment and subsequently study the kinetics of adsorption and electroadsorption of Cu (II) ion for these carbons. Samples of three activated carbons were used. These were a commercial activated carbon, commercial activated carbon modified thermically (C-N-900) and finally commercial activated carbon modified chemically C-SO-HS-200.

Ikaros Is a Negative Regulator of B1 Cell Development and Function.

B1 B cells secrete most of the circulating natural antibodies and are considered key effector cells of the innate immune response. However, B1 cell-associated antibodies often cross-react with self-antigens, which leads to autoimmunity, and B1 cells have been implicated in cancer. How B1 cell activity is regulated remains unclear.

Ikaros limits follicular B cell activation by regulating B cell receptor signaling pathways.

The Ikaros transcription factor is essential for early B cell development, but its effect on mature B cells is debated. We show that Ikaros is required to limit the response of naive splenic B cells to B cell receptor signals. Ikaros deficient follicular B cells grow larger and enter cell cycle faster after anti-IgM stimulation.

Electrical conductivity of activated carbon-metal oxide nanocomposites under compression: a comparison study.

From a granular commercial activated carbon (AC) and six metal oxide (Al2O3, Fe2O3, SnO2, TiO2, WO3 and ZnO) precursors, two series of AC-metal oxide nanocomposites were prepared by wet impregnation, oven-drying at 120 °C, and subsequent heat treatment at 200 or 850 °C in an inert atmosphere. Here, the electrical conductivity of the resulting products was studied under moderate compression. The influence of the applied pressure, sample volume, mechanical work, and density of the hybrid materials was thoroughly investigated.

Oncogenic activation of the Notch1 gene by deletion of its promoter in Ikaros-deficient T-ALL.

The Notch pathway is frequently activated in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs). Of the Notch receptors, Notch1 is a recurrent target of gain-of-function mutations and Notch3 is expressed in all T-ALLs, but it is currently unclear how these receptors contribute to T-cell transformation in vivo. We investigated the role of Notch1 and Notch3 in T-ALL progression by a genetic approach, in mice bearing a knockdown mutation in the Ikaros gene that spontaneously develop Notch-dependent T-ALL.

Adsorption of Zn(II) in aqueous solution by activated carbons prepared from evergreen oak (Quercus rotundifolia L.).

In the present work activated carbons have been prepared from evergreen oak wood. Different samples have been prepared varying the concentration of the activating agent (H(3)PO(4)) and the treatment temperature. The yield of the process decreases with increasing phosphoric acid concentrations.

Determination of the energy potential of gases produced in the pyrolysis processes of the vegetal carbon manufacture industry.

In this work, a pyrolysis plant located in Valverde de Leganes, Badajoz (SW Spain) was studied. At present, only the solid phase obtained by pyrolysis finds an application as domestic fuel. In order to analyze the feasibility of a further energetic exploitation of the plant under study, the gases flowing through the chimneys were collected at different times throughout the pyrolysis process.

Adsorption of mercury by carbonaceous adsorbents prepared from rubber of tyre wastes.

Rubber from tyre wastes has been used to prepare carbonaceous adsorbents and the products obtained have been tested as adsorbents for mercury in aqueous solution. The adsorbents have been prepared by applying thermal, chemical and combined (thermal and chemical or vice versa) treatments. Tyre rubber has been: heated at 400 or 900 degrees C for 2 h in N2, chemically-treated with H2SO4, HNO3 or H2SO4/HNO3 solution for 24 h, and in two successive steps first heated at 400 degrees C for 2h in N2 and then treated with a H2SO4/HNO3 solution for 24 h, or vice versa.

Development of activated carbon using vine shoots (Vitis vinifera) and its use for wine treatment.

An abundant and low-cost agricultural waste such as vine shoots (Vitis vinifera) (VS), which is generated by the annual pruning of vineyards, has been used as raw material in the preparation of powder activated carbon (AC) with a view to develop a new fining agent for white wines. A commercial activated carbon, S5X-Agrovin, was used for comparison purposes. From VS size-reduced pieces, AC was prepared using phosphoric acid as activating agent.