Toward Resolving Heterogeneous Mixtures of Nanocarriers in Drug Delivery Systems through Light Scattering and Machine Learning.

Nanocarriers (NCs) have emerged as a revolutionary approach in targeted drug delivery, promising to enhance drug efficacy and reduce toxicity through precise targeting and controlled release mechanisms. Despite their potential, the clinical adoption of NCs is hindered by challenges in their physicochemical characterization, essential for ensuring drug safety, efficacy, and quality control. Traditional characterization methods, such as dynamic light scattering and nanoparticle tracking analysis, offer limited insights, primarily focusing on particle size and concentration, while techniques like high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry are hampered by extensive sample preparation, high costs, and potential sample degradation.

Affordable Small Molecules as Promising Fluorescent Labels for Biomolecules.

Fluorescent labels, commonly used in highly sensitive analytical techniques for detecting and tracking biomolecules in critical fields like cellular biology, medicine, medicinal chemistry, and environmental science, are currently too expensive for routine use in standard applications, with most exhibiting small Stokes shifts. This limitation underscores the potential of 4-diethylaminobenzaldehyde derivatives as a cost-effective alternative for developing new, bright fluorophores with larger Stokes shifts. In this work, using 4-diethylaminobenzaldehyde as starting material, we developed a simple, cost-effective, and efficient synthetic strategy to produce new affordable small molecules as effective fluorescent labels for biomolecules.

Prognostic significance of gastrointestinal dysfunction in critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Objective: To analyze in-hospital and 1-year morbidity and mortality associated with acute gastrointestinal dysfunction in critically ill patients with COVID-19 via a prespecified scoring system.

Methods: Between March and July 2020, consecutive hospitalized patients with COVID-19 from a single institution were retrospectively analyzed by medical chart review. Only those who remained in the intensive care unit for more than 24 hours were included.

Exploiting Micrometer-Scale Replication of Fungal Biotemplates for Multifunctional Uses in Electrochemistry and SERS Substrates.

In this paper, filamentous fungi have been used as biotemplates to integrate gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) into the cell wall. A new chemical mechanism has been proposed to elucidate the assimilation of Au-NPs by fungi, considering the ionic current that arises in the function of fungal metabolism. After biological components were eliminated, mycelium-like gold microtubes have been obtained using different fungal species as precursors.

Irradiance level and elevation shape the soil microbiome communities of Coffea arabica L.

Background: The nexus plant-microbe-environment is essential to understand the ecosystem processes shaping plant health and fitness. Within this triangle, soils and associated microflora are among the key ecosystem's drivers, underpinning plant productivity and evolution. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis (physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, and taxonomic diversity) of soils under the canopy projection of Coffea arabica trees along a gradient of elevation (600, 800, and 900 m) and shade (0, 50, 100%).

The Alzheimer's Disease Risk Gene CD2AP Functions in Dendritic Spines by Remodeling F-Actin.

CD2-associated protein (CD2AP) was identified as a genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). However, it is unclear how CD2AP contributes to LOAD synaptic dysfunction underlying AD memory deficits. We have shown that loss of CD2AP function increases β-amyloid (Aβ) endocytic production, but it is unknown whether it contributes to synapse dysfunction.

Polar targeting of proteins - a green perspective.

Cell polarity - the asymmetric distribution of molecules and cell structures within the cell - is a feature that almost all cells possess. Even though the cytoskeleton and other intracellular organelles can have a direction and guide protein distribution, the plasma membrane is, in many cases, essential for the asymmetric localization of proteins because it helps to concentrate proteins and restrict their localization. Indeed, many proteins that exhibit asymmetric or polarized localization are either embedded in the PM or located close to it in the cellular cortex.

Common arboviruses and the kidney: a review.

Arboviruses are endemic in several countries and represent a worrying public health problem. The most important of these diseases is dengue fever, whose numbers continue to rise and have reached millions of annual cases in Brazil since the last decade. Other arboviruses of public health concern are chikungunya and Zika, both of which have caused recent epidemics, and yellow fever, which has also caused epidemic outbreaks in our country.

Foliar Spraying with ZnSO or ZnO of cv. Syrah Increases the Synthesis of Photoassimilates and Favors Winemaking.

Zinc enrichment of edible food products, through the soil and/or foliar application of fertilizers, is a strategy that can increase the contents of some nutrients, namely Zn. In this context, a workflow for agronomic enrichment with zinc was carried out on irrigated cv. Syrah, aiming to evaluate the mobilization of photoassimilates to the winegrapes and the consequences of this for winemaking.

Transcriptomic Analyses Reveal That and Have More Complex Responses under Combined Heat and Drought than under Individual Stressors.

Increasing exposure to unfavorable temperatures and water deficit imposes major constraints on most crops worldwide. Despite several studies regarding coffee responses to abiotic stresses, transcriptome modulation due to simultaneous stresses remains poorly understood. This study unravels transcriptomic responses under the combined action of drought and temperature in leaves from the two most traded species: cv.

Predicting Body Weight in Pre-Weaned Holstein-Friesian Calves Using Morphometric Measurements.

Regularly weighing calves helps to assess the efficiency of the rearing period and contributes to animal welfare by allowing more precise feeding and medication application in dairy farming, but many farmers do not weigh their calves regularly. Improving the feasibility of this process is, therefore, important. The use of morphometric measurements has been used to estimate the weight of cattle.

Uncovering the wide protective responses in spp. leaves to single and superimposed exposure of warming and severe water deficit.

Climate changes boosted the frequency and severity of drought and heat events, with aggravated when these stresses occur simultaneously, turning crucial to unveil the plant response mechanisms to such harsh conditions. Therefore, plant responses/resilience to single and combined exposure to severe water deficit (SWD) and heat were assessed in two cultivars of the main coffee-producing species: cv. Icatu and cv.

Intrathecal baclofen for the management of hereditary spastic paraparesis: a systematic review.

This systematic review aims to evaluate the use of intrathecal baclofen (ITB) for hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP) treatment. An extensive search in two electronical databases was performed. We identified articles published between 1990 and 2022 (PubMed, Scopus), and applied the following inclusion criteria: diagnosis of HSP at the time of the intervention, either familial or sporadic; report on the effect of ITB in patients with HSP; test trial via either bolus injections or continuous infusion tests; and ITB pump implantation.

Cholesteryl Hemiazelate Present in Cardiovascular Disease Patients Causes Lysosome Dysfunction in Murine Fibroblasts.

There is growing evidence supporting the role of fibroblasts in all stages of atherosclerosis, from the initial phase to fibrous cap and plaque formation. In the arterial wall, as with macrophages and vascular smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts are exposed to a myriad of LDL lipids, including the lipid species formed during the oxidation of their polyunsaturated fatty acids of cholesteryl esters (PUFA-CEs). Recently, our group identified the final oxidation products of the PUFA-CEs, cholesteryl hemiesters (ChE), in tissues from cardiovascular disease patients.

Virulence factors in carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent .

Hypervirulence and carbapenem-resistant have emerged as two distinct evolutionary pathotypes of , with both reaching their epidemic success and posing a great threat to public health. However, as the boundaries separating these two pathotypes fade, we assist a worrisome convergence in certain high-risk clones, causing hospital outbreaks and challenging every therapeutic option available. To better understand the basic biology of these pathogens, this review aimed to describe the virulence factors and their distribution worldwide among carbapenem-resistant highly virulent or hypervirulent strains, as well as to understand the interplay of these virulence strains with the carbapenemase produced and the sequence type of such strains.

Impact of sociodemographic and economic determinants of health on COVID-19 infection: incidence variation between reference periods.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic hit Portugal in March 2020, causing widespread disruption to various aspects of society. While extensive research has been conducted on the significance of socio-economic disparities in infection risk, this study aims to enhance our understanding of their evolving relationship over time by analysing four distinct periods in 2020.

Study Design And Methods: This retrospective observational ecological study included individuals residing in the Primary Healthcare Cluster areas of Almada-Seixal and Western Lisbon and Oeiras, who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 through a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test between the 2nd of March and the 8th of November of 2020.

Plant Responses to Climate Change.

Ongoing climate change poses a great risk to the natural environment and the sustainability of agriculture [...

Carbon gain is coordinated with enhanced stomatal conductance and hydraulic architecture in coffee plants acclimated to elevated [CO]: The interplay with irradiance supply.

We recently demonstrated that, under elevated [CO] (eC), coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plants grown at high light (HL), but not at low light (LL), display higher stomatal conductance (g) than at ambient [CO] (aC). We then hypothesized that the enhanced g at eC/HL, if sustained at the long-term, would lead to adjustments in hydraulic architecture.

Rational Design of Cost-Effective 4-Styrylcoumarin Fluorescent Derivatives for Biomolecule Labeling.

Fluorescent labels are key tools in a wide range of modern scientific applications, such as fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, histochemistry, direct and indirect immunochemistry, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Small fluorescent labels have important practical advantages as they allow maximizing the fluorescence signal by binding multiple fluorophores to a single biomolecule. At present, the most widely used fluorescent labels available present small Stokes shifts and are too costly to be used in routine applications.

Assessment of the Implementation of the International Health Regulations during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Portugal as a Case Study.

Introduction: The International Health Regulations (IHR) were developed to prepare countries to deal with public health emergencies. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 underlined the need for international coordination, although few attempts were made to evaluate the integrated implementation of the IHR's core capacities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether IHR shortcomings stem from non-compliance or regulatory issues, using Portugal as a European case study due to its size, organization, and previous discrepancies between self-reporting and peer assessment of the IHR's core capacities.