Mechanical Properties of 3D-Printing Polylactic Acid Parts subjected to Bending Stress and Fatigue Testing.

This paper aims to analyse the mechanical properties response of polylactic acid (PLA) parts manufactured through fused filament fabrication. The influence of six manufacturing factors (layer height, filament width, fill density, layer orientation, printing velocity, and infill pattern) on the flexural resistance of PLA specimens is studied through an L27 Taguchi experimental array. Different geometries were tested on a four-point bending machine and on a rotating bending machine.

Pyrido[2,3-]pyrimidin-7(8)-ones: Synthesis and Biomedical Applications.

Pyrido[2,3-]pyrimidines () are a type of privileged heterocyclic scaffolds capable of providing ligands for several receptors in the body. Among such structures, our group and others have been particularly interested in pyrido[2,3-]pyrimidine-7(8)-ones () due to the similitude with nitrogen bases present in DNA and RNA. Currently there are more than 20,000 structures described which correspond to around 2900 references (half of them being patents).

Inactivation kinetics of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli in secondary wastewater effluents by peracetic and performic acids.

While disinfection processes have been central for public health protection, new concerns have been raised with respect to their ability to control the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment. In this study, we report the inactivation kinetics by peracetic and performic acids of a typical indicator, Escherichia coli and its corresponding antibiotic-resistant subpopulation, in secondary settled wastewater effluent. Performic acid always showed greater inactivation efficiency than peracetic acid, whether or not the indicator was Ampicillin-resistant.

If You Cannot Win Them, Join Them: Understanding New Ways to Target STAT3 by Small Molecules.

Signal transducer activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is among the most investigated oncogenic transcription factors, as it is highly associated with cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, chemoresistance, and immune evasion. Evidences from both preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that STAT3 plays a critical role in several malignancies associated with poor prognosis such as glioblastoma and triple-negative breast cancer, and STAT3 inhibitors have shown efficacy in inhibiting cancer growth and metastasis. Constitutive activation of STAT3 by mutations occurs frequently in tumor cells and directly contributes to many malignant phenotypes.

Shear stress modulates inner blood retinal barrier phenotype.

The vascular endothelium responds to the shear stress generated by blood flow and changes function to maintain tissue homeostasis and adapt to injury in pathological conditions. Shear stress in the retinal circulation is altered in patients with retinal vascular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy. Therefore, we aimed to study the effect of laminar shear stress on barrier properties and on the release of proinflammatory cytokines in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMEC).

Review of serum biomarkers in carotid atherosclerosis.

Background: Carotid artery atherosclerotic stenosis is a preventable major cause of stroke, but there is still a need for definition of high-risk plaque in asymptomatic patients who might benefit from interventional therapies. Several image markers are recommended to characterize unstable plaques. The measurement of serum biomarkers is a promising method to assist in decision making, but the lack of robust evidence in the carotid environment burdens their potential as a standard of care.

Metoprolol and metoprolol acid degradation in UV/HO treated wastewaters: An integrated screening approach for the identification of hazardous transformation products.

Advancements on analytical strategies to determine the chemicals present in treated wastewater are necessary to clearly link their occurrence with the ecotoxicity of such effluents. This study describes the development of an integrated screening approach to determine the highest number of pharmaceutical transformation products (TPs) in a single run. The identification of TPs was based on the comparison of detected features with literature sources, compound prediction tools, in-house libraries and reference standards using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS).

A methodology to parameterize SAFT-type equations of state for solid precursors of deep eutectic solvents: the example of cholinium chloride.

Given the recent boom of applications for deep eutectic solvents (DES), there is a need for robust and accurate thermodynamic models that are able to describe them. Recent works have used molecular-based equations of state, derived from the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT), to model DES due to their ability to explicitly account for hydrogen bonding, which is thought to govern the formation of a DES. However, the application of these association models to DES is a non-trivial task, because pure fluid data for several DES precursors are not available to be used in the model parameterization.

Recycled corrugated wire hose cover as biological carriers for greywater treatment in a sequential batch biofilm reactor.

Greywater treatment and reuse can be considered a promising option, in particular in water scarcity affected areas. In this work a waste material, namely recycled corrugated wire hose cover, was applied as an alternative and cheap carrier in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) for greywater treatment. The bioreactor performance was studied in terms of organic matter, nitrogen and micropollutant removal.

Degradation of malachite green by a pulsed light/HO process.

Pulsed light (PL) is a type of photonic technology characterized by intense short light pulses that enhance the speed of photochemical reactions, and which might be useful as light source in advanced oxidation processes. This work aimed to test PL as light source for the degradation of the dye malachite green (MG) by combining PL with HO. To this end, the effect of dye and HO concentrations and pH on the degradation rate of MG was studied and a degradation pathway was proposed.

Development of a 3D Co-Culture System as a Cancer Model Using a Self-Assembling Peptide Scaffold.

Cancer research has traditionally relied on two-dimensional (2D) cell culture, focusing mainly on cancer cells and their abnormal genetics. However, over the past decade, tumors have been accepted as complex tissues rather than a homogenous mass of proliferating cells. Consequently, cancer cells' behavior can only be deciphered considering the contribution of the cells existing in the tumor stroma as well as its complex microenvironment.

Subendothelial matrix components influence endothelial cell apoptosis in vitro.

The programmed form of cell death (apoptosis) is essential for normal development of multicellular organisms. Dysregulation of apoptosis has been linked with embryonal death and is involved in the pathophysiology of various diseases. Specifically, endothelial apoptosis plays pivotal roles in atherosclerosis whereas prevention of endothelial apoptosis is a prerequisite for neovascularization in tumors and metastasis.

Effect of continuous feeding of CO and pH in cell concentration and product titers in hIFNγ producing HEK293 cells: Induced metabolic shift for concomitant consumption of glucose and lactate.

Although pH control at physiological levels is generally considered as the optimal culture condition, in some cases other strategies should be taken into account for their beneficial effects on process performance. pH and CO levels are chemical variables that have a major impact in cell growth and product titers in cell culture since their effect on key metabolic routes. HEK293 cells expressing recombinant hIFNγ showed different metabolic behavior when cultured in shake flask compared to pH-controlled bioreactors, in which a decrease in cell density and product titer were observed.

Nanoscale characterization coupled to multi-parametric optimization of Hi5 cell transient gene expression.

Polyethylenimine (PEI)-based transient gene expression (TGE) is nowadays a well-established methodology for rapid protein production in mammalian cells, but it has been used to a much lower extent in insect cell lines. A fast and robust TGE methodology for suspension Hi5 (Trichoplusia ni) cells is presented. Significant differences in size and morphology of DNA:PEI polyplexes were observed in the different incubation solutions tested.

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: A Review Focusing on Pathophysiology, Biomarkers, and Machine Learning Strategies.

Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) has a crucial role in lacunar stroke and brain hemorrhages and is a leading cause of cognitive decline and functional loss in elderly patients. Based on underlying pathophysiology, cSVD can be subdivided into amyloidal and non-amyloidal subtypes. Genetic factors of cSVD play a pivotal role in terms of unraveling molecular mechanism.

A new strategy for fed-batch process control of HEK293 cell cultures based on alkali buffer addition monitoring: comparison with O.U.R. dynamic method.

The increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals produced in mammalian cells has driven the industry to enhance productivity of bioprocesses through different strategies. This is why fed-batch and perfusion cultures are considered more attractive choices than batch processes. In this context, the availability of reliable online measuring systems for cell density and metabolic activity estimation will help the application of these processes.

Use of by-products from integrated steel plants as catalysts for the removal of trichloroethylene from groundwater.

The removal of tricholoroethylene (TCE) has been investigated in this work through the Fenton-like process using different catalytic materials obtained from metallic by-products of the steel industry. These materials are the slag produced during the transformation of molten pig iron produced in a blast furnace into liquid steel (SLD), the dry particles (or dust) obtained from the bag filters installed in the coking installations to minimize diffuse emissions (POCA) and the dry particles obtained from the liquid sludge from the scrubber (LHA). This study aims to explore the potential of these materials for being used as permeable catalytic barriers to treat groundwater polluted with trichloroethylene (TCE).

Influencing factors on the removal of pharmaceuticals from water with micro-grain activated carbon.

The removal efficiency of 6 micro-grain AC (μGAC) was examined for 23 selected pharmaceutical compounds, usually found at trace level in municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. Two different sets of experiments were carried out using distilled water and a real WWTP secondary effluent in order to understand the adsorption mechanisms of pharmaceuticals, including the role of the presence of background organic matter. Physical and chemical properties of μGACs and target pollutants were checked for their potential to predict the pharmaceutical removal.

Culturing Mammalian Cells in Three-dimensional Peptide Scaffolds.

A useful technique for culturing cells in a self-assembling nanofiber three-dimensional (3D) scaffold is described. This culture system recreates an environment that closely mimics the structural features of non-polarized tissue. Furthermore, the particular intrinsic nanofiber structure of the scaffold makes it transparent to visual light, which allows for easy visualization of the sample under microscopy.

Pharmacological modulation of CXCR4 cooperates with BET bromodomain inhibition in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Constitutive activation of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 has been associated with tumor progression, invasion, and chemotherapy resistance in different cancer subtypes. Although the CXCR4 pathway has recently been suggested as an adverse prognostic marker in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, its biological relevance in this disease remains underexplored. In a homogeneous set of 52 biopsies from patients, an antibody-based cytokine array showed that tissue levels of CXCL12 correlated with high microvessel density and bone marrow involvement at diagnosis, supporting a role for the CXCL12-CXCR4 axis in disease progression.

Chondroitin Sulphate Attenuates Atherosclerosis in ApoE Knockout Mice Involving Cellular Regulation of the Inflammatory Response.

Chondroitin sulphate (CS) has long been used to treat osteoarthritis. Some investigations have also shown that the treatment with CS could reduce coronary events in patients with heart disease but no studies have identified the mechanistic role of these therapeutic effects. We aimed to investigate how the treatment with CS can interfere with the progress of atherosclerosis.

Predicting drug resistance related to ABC transporters using unsupervised Consensus Self-Organizing Maps.

ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters play a pivotal role in drug elimination, particularly on several types of cancer in which these proteins are overexpressed. Due to their promiscuous ligand recognition, building computational models for substrate classification is quite challenging. This study evaluates the use of modified Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for predicting drug resistance associated with P-gp, MPR1 and BCRP activity.

Miniaturized neural system for chronic, local intracerebral drug delivery.

Recent advances in medications for neurodegenerative disorders are expanding opportunities for improving the debilitating symptoms suffered by patients. Existing pharmacologic treatments, however, often rely on systemic drug administration, which result in broad drug distribution and consequent increased risk for toxicity. Given that many key neural circuitries have sub-cubic millimeter volumes and cell-specific characteristics, small-volume drug administration into affected brain areas with minimal diffusion and leakage is essential.

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition in human endocrine islet cells.

Background: β-cells undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) when expanded in monolayer culture and give rise to highly proliferative mesenchymal cells that retain the potential to re-differentiate into insulin-producing cells.

Objective: To investigate whether EMT takes place in the endocrine non-β cells of human islets.

Methodology: Human islets isolated from 12 multiorgan donors were dissociated into single cells, purified by magnetic cell sorting, and cultured in monolayer.

Circadian Waves of Transcriptional Repression Shape PIF-Regulated Photoperiod-Responsive Growth in Arabidopsis.

Plants coordinate their growth and development with the environment through integration of circadian clock and photosensory pathways. In Arabidopsis thaliana, rhythmic hypocotyl elongation in short days (SD) is enhanced at dawn by the basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs) directly inducing expression of growth-related genes [1-6]. PIFs accumulate progressively during the night and are targeted for degradation by active phytochromes in the light, when growth is reduced.