Antimicrobial peptides are distributed in all forms of life presenting activity against bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and cancer. In spite of the tremendous potential of these molecules, very ...few of them have been successfully developed into therapeutics. The major problems associated with this new class of antimicrobials are molecule stability, toxicity in host cells and production cost. A novel strategy to overcome these obstacles is conjugation to nanomaterials. Magnetic nanoparticles have been widely studied in biomedicine due to their physicochemical properties. The conjugation of antimicrobial peptides to magnetic nanoparticles could combine the best properties of both, generating an improved antimicrobial nanoparticle. Here we provide an overview and discuss the potential application of magnetic nanoparticles conjugated to antimicrobial peptides in overcoming diseases.
•Triazine monomers were synthetized in two steps using commercial starting materials.•The donor-acceptor triazine monomers were electropolymerized on Pt and ITO.•The polymers exhibited both ...electrochromic and halochromic properties.•The films showed changes from light yellow to orange and to blue.•The films presented a good electrochromic performance and good cyclability.
Two triazine monomers substituted with aromatic α,β unsaturated ketones (chalcones) as connecting arms, holding triphenylamine or carbazole ending groups, were by the first time synthesized using commercial and inexpensive starting materials in just two steps. Triphenylamine and carbazole groups were strategically introduced in order to allow electrochemical polymerization and redox activity of the obtained films. The chalcone, together with the triphenylamine or carbazole outer groups, give rise to the formation of a donor-acceptor systems, allowing the generation of photoinduced intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) electronic transitions and providing basic sites for protonation. Because of the star-like chemical structure of the used triazine, electrochemical polymerization of these monomers conducted to the formation of hyperbranched structures. The polymeric materials exhibited not only electrochromic properties but also showed a halochromic behavior. Spectroelectrochemical studies of the films showed different colorations in the three redox states (neutral, semioxidized and fully oxidized). The color changes are fast and easily detected by the naked eye. Electrochemical parameters such as optical contrast, coloration efficiency, optical memory, and long-term stability for both films were obtained and compared. A quasi-solid window-type electrochromic device was assembled using the electrogenerated polymer with the best electrochromic performance and stability. Moreover, the triphenylamine based polymer showed reversible color changes upon acid-base vapor exposure cycles, demonstrating that this polymer can be used not only in electrochromic devices but also in acid vapor sensors.
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Patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) presenting with haemodynamic instability have the worst prognosis. However, what is understood by haemodynamic instability has not been clearly defined. ...The Registro Informatizado de la Enfermedad Tromboembólica (RIETE) is an ongoing registry of consecutive patients with symptomatic, objectively confirmed, acute deep vein thrombosis or PE. The present authors compared the predictive value of a systolic blood pressure (SBP) value of <100 mmHg and <90 mmHg and the shock index (cardiac frequency divided by SBP) on 30-day mortality in consecutive patients with PE. As of May 2006, 6,599 patients with PE were enrolled in the study. Of these, 417 (6.3%) died within 30 days: 153 of the initial PE, 29 of recurrent PE and 235 due to other causes. Of the 417 individuals who died, 127 (30%) had a positive shock index, 60 (14%) had SBP <100 mmHg and 33 (7.9%) had SBP <90 mmHg. On multivariate analysis any of the three parameters were independently associated with an increased mortality. The shock index had a higher sensitivity (30.5 versus 14.4 and 7.9% for SBP <100 mmHg and <90 mmHg, respectively) but lower specificity (86.3 versus 93.0 and 96.6). All three measures of haemodynamic instability are independent predictors of 30-day mortality. However, while the shock index had the highest sensitivity, a systolic blood pressure value <90 mmHg had the highest specificity.
Scope
: fructose consumption from added sugars correlates with the epidemic rise in MetS and CVD. Maternal fructose intake has been described to program metabolic diseases in progeny. However, ...consumption of fructose-containing beverages is allowed during gestation. Cholesterol is also a well-known risk factor for CVD. Therefore, it is essential to study Western diets which combine fructose and cholesterol and how maternal fructose can influence the response of progeny to these diets.
Methods and results
: a high-cholesterol (2%) diet combined with liquid fructose (10%), as a model of an unhealthy Western diet, was administered to descendants from control and fructose-fed mothers. Gene (mRNA and protein) expression and plasma, fecal and tissue parameters of cholesterol metabolism were measured. Interestingly, progeny from fructose-fed dams consumed less liquid fructose and cholesterol-rich chow than males from control mothers. Moreover, descendants of fructose-fed mothers fed a Western diet showed an increased cholesterol elimination through bile and feces than males from control mothers. Despite these mitigating circumstances to develop a proatherogenic profile, the same degree of hypercholesterolemia and severity of steatosis were observed in all descendants fed a Western diet, independently of maternal intake. An increased intestinal absorption of cholesterol, synthesis, esterification, and assembly into lipoprotein found in males from fructose-fed dams consuming a Western diet could be the cause. Moreover, an augmented GLP2 signalling seen in these animals would explain this enhanced lipid absorption.
Conclusions
: maternal fructose intake, through a fetal programming, makes a Western diet considerably more harmful in their descendants than in the offspring from control mothers.
Maternal fructose intake aggravates the harmful effects of a Western diet on progeny. In fact, Western diet enhances both lipid absorption and cholesterol synthesis in the intestine of progeny from fructose-fed mothers.
ABSTRACT
In 2021 BL Lacertae underwent an extraordinary activity phase, which was intensively followed by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration. We present the WEBT optical data in ...the BVRI bands acquired at 36 observatories around the world. In mid-2021 the source showed its historical maximum, with R = 11.14. The light curves display many episodes of intraday variability, whose amplitude increases with source brightness, in agreement with a geometrical interpretation of the long-term flux behaviour. This is also supported by the long-term spectral variability, with an almost achromatic trend with brightness. In contrast, short-term variations are found to be strongly chromatic and are ascribed to energetic processes in the jet. We also analyse the optical polarimetric behaviour, finding evidence of a strong correlation between the intrinsic fast variations in flux density and those in polarization degree, with a time delay of about 13 h. This suggests a common physical origin. The overall behaviour of the source can be interpreted as the result of two mechanisms: variability on time-scales greater than several days is likely produced by orientation effects, while either shock waves propagating in the jet, or magnetic reconnection, possibly induced by kink instabilities in the jet, can explain variability on shorter time-scales. The latter scenario could also account for the appearance of quasi-periodic oscillations, with periods from a few days to a few hours, during outbursts, when the jet is more closely aligned with our line of sight and the time-scales are shortened by relativistic effects.
A High Power Diode Laser (HPDL) has been used to selectively melt one of the phases present in the microstructure of the surface of a magnesium–aluminium alloy (AZ91D). The intermetallic precipitates ...were molten and they dissolved some of the surrounding Mg. After laser treatment, a new microstructure with modified mechanical properties is obtained on the surface of the Mg-alloy. This methodology can be easily applied to many other systems.
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► For the first time, a laser processing technique is proposed in which only one of the phases present in the microstructure of an alloy is molten. ► After laser treatment of the AZ91D Mg-alloy, the intermetallic precipitates formed were diluted while the Mg-matrix was unaffected. ► Nanoindentation evidences that the brittle phase is diluted and that the Mg-matrix was not softened. ► The new laser process allows modifying the properties of one phase in an alloy without modifying the others. ► Shape and size of the samples are not affected by this laser treatment.
We used batch-type experiments to study Cr(VI) sorption/desorption on granitic material, forest soil, pyritic material, mussel shell, and on forest soil and granitic material amended with 12tha ...super(-1) (1.2kgm super(-2)) shell, considering the effects of varying Cr(VI) concentration and pH. Sequential extractions were carried out to fractionate adsorbed Cr(VI) and to determine the stability of Cr(VI) retention. The pyritic material had the highest Cr(VI) retention capacity, whereas the granitic material showed the lowest retention potential. When high Cr concentrations were added, some saturation of the adsorbent surfaces became apparent, but Cr release remained low. The highest Cr retention was achieved at a very acid pH value, with release progressively increasing as a function of increasing pH. The amendment with 12tha super(-1) mussel shell did not cause marked changes in Cr(VI) retention. Sorption data were satisfactory adjusted to the Fre-undlich model. Regarding Cr(VI) fractionation, the soluble fraction (weakly bound) was dominant in mussel shell and in the unamended and amended granitic material, whereas more stable fractions dominated in the pyritic material (residual fraction) and in the forest soil (oxidizable fraction). In conclusion, the pyritic material presented the highest Cr(VI) retention capacity, while the retention was low and weak on the granitic material; mussel shell was not characterized by a marked Cr(VI) retention potential, and it did not cause remarkable increase in Cr(VI) retention when used to amend the granitic material or the forest soil.
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