Display omitted
We report the combined antibacterial/tissue regeneration responses to thermal burns promoted by functional chitosan/silver nanocomposites (CS/nAg) with ultralow silver content ...(0.018wt.%, 7–30nm). Our approach allows one to produce CS/nAg nanocomposites without silver nanoparticles (nAg) agglomeration, with bactericide potency higher than 1wt.% of nAg (ca. 10nm) content and, promoting the healing process in controlled thermal burns. CS/nAg films exhibit high antibacterial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa after 1.5h of incubation, demonstrating the bacterial penetration into hydrated films and their interaction with nAg. Additionally, exceptional healing of induced thermal burns was obtained by increasing myofibroblasts, collagen remodeling, and blood vessel neoformation. These factors are associated with epiderma regeneration after 7days of treatment with no nAg release. Our results corroborate the controlled synthesis of nAg embedded in CS matrix with combined antibacterial/biocompatibility properties aiming to produce functional nanocomposites with potential use in wound dressing and health care applications.
We prove that parabolic uniformly rectifiable sets admit (bilateral) corona decompositions with respect to regular Lip(1,1/2) graphs. Together with our previous work, this allows us to conclude that ...if
Σ
⊂
R
n
+
1
is parabolic Ahlfors-David regular, then the following statements are equivalent.
Σ
is parabolic uniformly rectifiable.
Σ
admits a corona decomposition with respect to regular Lip(1,1/2) graphs.
Σ
admits a bilateral corona decomposition with respect to regular Lip(1,1/2) graphs.
Σ
is big pieces squared of regular Lip(1,1/2) graphs.
In this work, electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers (PAN), wheat, and orange powders obtained by dehydration and carbonization were used as precursors to prepare colloidal suspensions of graphene ...oxide quantum dots (GOQDs). Different concentrations and centrifugation speeds of 8000 to 12,000 rpm of GOQDs in distiller water were employed. Nonlinear optical properties of the GOQDs were measured by the Z-scan technique. For the experimental, a laser of continuous wavelength of 325 nm was used as an excitation source. The excitation beam was focused using a lens of 10 cm and the sample was moved across the focal region along the Z-axis. It was shown that the concentration of GOQDs highly improved the nonlinear optical properties of the sample. The morphology and structure of GOQDs were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV–vis spectroscopy, respectively. From the experimental results, the optical nonlinear refractive index of the GOQDs were obtained, with values of −4.51 × 10
–9
cm
2
/W and −5.83 × 10
–9
cm
2
/W for 8000 a 12,000 rpm for PAN, −2.97 × 10
–9
and −3.04 × 10
–9
cm
2
/W for 8000 a 12,000 rpm for wheat, and −3.45 × 10
–9
and −3.63 × 10
−9
cm
2
/W for 8000 to 12,000 rpm for orange, respectively. This suggests that GOQDs aqueous solution could be a very promising nonlinear medium, establishing the bases of nonlinear photonics and bio-imaging for optoelectronic applications.
Abstract Chronic caffeine consumption has been inversely associated with the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Here we assessed whether chronic caffeine treatment prevents the ...behavioral and cognitive decline that male Wistar rats experience from young (≈3 months) to middle age (≈10 months). When animals were young they were evaluated at weekly intervals in three tests: motor activity habituation in the open field (30-min sessions at the same time on consecutive days), continuous spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze (8 min), and elevated plus-maze (5 min). Afterward, rats from the same litter were randomly assigned either to a caffeine-treated group ( n =13) or a control group ( n =11), which received only tap water. Caffeine treatment (5 mg/kg/day) began when animals were ≈4 months old, and lasted for 6 months. Behavioral tests were repeated from day 14 to day 28 after caffeine withdrawal, a time period that is far in excess for the full excretion of a caffeine dose in this species. Thirty days after caffeine discontinuation brains were processed for Golgi-Cox staining. Compared with controls, we found that middle-aged rats that had chronically consumed low doses of caffeine (1) maintained their locomotor habituation during the second consecutive day exposure to the open field (an index of non-associative learning), (2) maintained their exploratory drive to complete the conventional minimum of nine arm visits required to calculate the alternation performance in the Y-maze in a greater proportion, (3) maintained their alternation percentage above chance level (an index of working memory), and (4) did not increase the anxiety indexes assessed by measuring the time spent in the open arms of the elevated plus maze. In addition, morphometric analysis of hippocampal neurons revealed that dendritic branching (90–140 μm from the soma), length of 4th and 5th order branches, total dendritic length, and spine density in distal dendritic branches were greater in the basal but not the apical dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons from rats chronically treated with caffeine, in comparison with their age- and littermate-matched controls. Altogether, the present findings strengthen the epidemiological observations suggesting that prolonged caffeine intake prevents the cognitive decline associated with aging, and open the possibility that this process could be mediated by promoting the growth of dendrites and spines in neurons of the adult mammalian brain.
Purpose
Bariatric surgery is the method of choice for the management or treatment of obesity. Bariatric surgery brings about several physiological changes in the body and is associated with set of ...complications. The aim of this study is to provide guidelines on post bariatric surgery management based on consensus by the Spanish society for Obesity Surgery (Sociedad Española de Cirugía de la Obesidad) (SECO) and the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (Sociedad Española para el Estudio de la Obesidad) (SEEDO).
Method
The boards proposed seven experts from each society. The experts provided the evidence and a grade of recommendation on the selected topics based on systematic reviews/meta-analysis. A list of clinical practical recommendations levels of evidence and grades of these recommendations was derived from the consensus statements from the members of these societies.
Results
Seventeen topics related to post-operative management were reviewed after bariatric surgery. The experts came with 47 recommendations and statements. The mean number of persons voting at each statement was 54 (range 36-76).
Conclusion
In this consensus, we have designed a set of guidelines to be followed while managing patients after bariatric surgery. Expertise and knowledge of the clinicians are required to convey suitable considerations to the post-bariatric patients. There should also be extensive follow-up plans for the bariatric surgery patients.
Failure of second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (2GTKI) is a challenging situation in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Asciminib, recently approved by the US Federal Drug ...Administration, has demonstrated in clinical trials a good efficacy and safety profile after failure of 2GTKI. However, no study has specifically addressed response rates to asciminib in ponatinib pretreated patients (PPT). Here, we present data on responses to asciminib from 52 patients in clinical practice, 20 of them (38%) with prior ponatinib exposure. We analyzed retrospectively responses and toxicities under asciminib and compared results between PPT and non-PPT patients.
After a median follow-up of 30 months, 34 patients (65%) switched to asciminib due to intolerance and 18 (35%) due to resistance to prior TKIs. Forty-six patients (88%) had received at least 3 prior TKIs. Regarding responses, complete cytogenetic response was achieved or maintained in 74% and 53% for non-PPT and PPT patients, respectively. Deeper responses such as major molecular response and molecular response 4.5 were achieved in 65% and 19% in non-PPT versus 32% and 11% in PPT, respectively. Two patients (4%) harbored the T315I mutation, both PPT.
In terms of toxicities, non-PPT displayed 22% grade 3–4 TEAE versus 20% in PPT. Four patients (20% of PPT) suffered from cross-intolerance with asciminib as they did under ponatinib.
Our data supports asciminib as a promising alternative in resistant and intolerant non-PPT patients, as well as in intolerant PPT patients; the resistant PPT subset remains as a challenging group in need of further therapeutic options.
In this work, a simple methodology to synthesize Fe
3
O
4
@SiO
2
nanocomposites, using the precipitation method for Fe
3
O
4
nanoparticles (NPs) and the modified Stöber method to incorporate a SiO
2
...shell into the NPs has been developed. By incorporating a shell or coating layer of SiO
2
, the properties of silicon fused to Fe
3
O
4
, reduce Fe
3
O
4
toxicity for drugs encapsulation or markers within the SiO
2
shell. For such applications, is of special interest to measure the thermal properties such as thermal diffusivity, thermal effusivity and to calculate the thermal conductivity as function of Fe
3
O
4
@SiO
2
concentration. The thermal wave resonant cavity (TWRC) characterization technique was used to measure the thermal diffusivity and effusivity of the Fe
3
O
4
@SiO
2
nanofluids. For concentrations of 0.00171 vol % to 0.01718 vol % the values of thermal diffusivity were between 1.3 × 10
–7
m
2
·s
−1
and 5.5 × 10
–7
m
2
·s
−1
. For the thermal effusivity the values were: 1450 ± 39 Ws
1/2
·m
−2
·K
−1
to 1646 ± 29 Ws
1/2
·m
−2
·K
−1
. From the relationship between the thermal diffusivity and the thermal effusivity, the values for thermal conductivity were between 0.52 W·m
−1
·K
−1
and 1.25 W·m
−1
·K
−1
. Therefore, these superparamagnetic systems of Fe
3
O
4
@SiO
2
are a promising option for applications in biomedicine, as well as in hyperthermia therapies, drug delivery and imaging, among others.
•Thermal diffusivity of graphene nanoplatelets into an acrylic resin was measured.•The effect of the graphene nanoplatelets concentration on curing time was studied.•Samples were characterized by ...UV–Vis, TEM and FTIR techniques.•Shore hardness was measured for the cured resins.•A model for the thermal diffusivity was adapted to the experimental data.
In this work, the thermal diffusivity for graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) incorporated into an acrylic resin with concentrations between 0.02 and 0.12 wt% were measured using the thermal wave resonant cavity (TWRC). An increased in this thermal parameter with increasing the concentration of the GNPs was observed. Moreover, the effect of the GNPs concentration on the curing time of resin nanocomposites was measured using the photoacoustic (PA) technique. The results showed that for higher GNPs concentrations, the curing time was higher for a fixed laser power. Samples were characterized by UV–Vis, TEM and FTIR techniques. On the other hand, the Shore hardness was measured for the cured resins, observing a hardness increase with GNPs concentration. The development of synthesis of new nanocomposites for curing (as 3D printing resins) will provide a better understanding of the physicochemical, thermal and mechanical properties of large-scale composite structures for applications in areas of medicine for implants and scaffolds.
Fibroblasts and others mesenchymal cells have recently been identified as critical cells triggering tissue-specific inflammatory responses. Persistent activation of fibroblasts inflammatory program ...has been suggested as an underlying cause of chronic inflammation in a wide range of tissues and pathologies. Nevertheless, the role of fibroblasts in the emergence of chronic inflammation in the upper airway has not been previously addressed. We aimed to elucidate whether fibroblasts could have a role in the inflammatory response in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP).
We performed whole-transcriptome microarray in fibroblast cultured from CRSwNP samples and confirmed our results by qRT-PCR. We selected patients without other associated diseases in upper airway. To investigate shifts in transcriptional profile we used fibroblasts from nasal polyps and uncinate mucosae from patient with CRSwNP, and fibroblasts from uncinate mucosae from healthy subjects as controls.
This study exposes activation of a pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic transcriptional program in nasal polyps and CRSwNP fibroblasts when compared to controls. Our Gene-set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) pointed to common up-regulation of several pro-inflammatory pathways in patients-derived fibroblasts, along with higher mRNA expression levels of cytokines, growth factors and extracellular matrix components.
Our work reveals a potential new source of inflammatory signaling in CRSwNP. Furthermore, our results suggest that deregulated inflammatory signaling in tissue-resident fibroblasts could support a Type-2 inflammatory response. Further investigations will be necessary to demonstrate the functionality of these novel results.
To prospectively evaluate the effect of weight loss after bariatric surgery on microvascular function in morbidly obese patients with and without metabolic syndrome (MetS).
A cohort of morbidly obese ...patients with and without MetS was studied before surgery and after 12 months of surgery. Healthy lean controls were also examined. Microvascular function was assessed by postocclusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) at forearm skin evaluated by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) was calculated from laser-Doppler skin blood flow and blood pressure. Regression analysis was performed to assess the contribution of different clinical, metabolic and biochemical parameters to microvascular function.
Before surgery, 62 obese patients, 39 with MetS and 23 without MetS, and 30 lean control subjects were analyzed. The absolute area under the hyperemic curve (AUC(H)) CVC of PORH was significantly decreased in obese patients compared with lean control subjects. One year after surgery, AUC(H) CVC significantly increased in patients free of MetS, including patients that had MetS before surgery. In contrast, AUC(H) CVC did not significantly change in patients in whom MetS persisted after surgery. Stepwise multivariate regression analysis showed that only changes in HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) and oxidized LDL (oxLDL) independently predicted improvement of AUC(H) after surgery. These two variables together accounted for 40.9% of the variability of change in AUC(H) CVC after surgery.
Bariatric surgery could significantly improve microvascular dysfunction in obese patients, but only in patients free of MetS after surgery. Improvement of microvascular dysfunction is strictly associated to postoperative increase in HDL-C levels and decrease in oxLDL levels.
