Osteomyelitis is a pathological condition of the bone, frequently associated with the presence of infectious agents – namely Staphylococcus aureus – that induce inflammation and tissue destruction. ...Recent advances in the understanding of its pathophysiology and the identification of innovative therapeutic approaches were gathered from experimental in vitro and in vivo systems. However, cell culture models offer limited representativeness of the cellular functionality and the cell–cell and cell‐matrix interactions, further failing to mimic the three‐dimensional tissue organization; and animal models allow for limited mechanistic assessment given the complex nature of systemic and paracrine regulatory systems and are endorsed with ethical constraints. Accordingly, this study aims at the establishment and assessment of a new ex vivo bone infection model, upon the organotypic culture of embryonic chicken femurs colonized with S. aureus, highlighting the model responsiveness at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels. Upon infection with distinct bacterial inoculums, data reported an initial exponential bacterial growth, followed by diminished metabolic activity. At the tissue level, evidence of S. aureus‐mediated tissue destruction was attained and demonstrated through distinct methodologies, conjoined with decreased osteoblastic/osteogenic and increased osteoclastic/osteoclastogenic functionalities—representative of the osteomyelitis clinical course. Overall, the establishment and characterization of an innovative bone tissue infection model that is simple, reproducible, easily manipulated, cost‐effective, and simulates many features of human osteomyelitis, further allowing the maintenance of the bone tissue's three‐dimensional morphology and cellular arrangement, was achieved. Model responsiveness was further demonstrated, showcasing the capability to improve the research pipeline in bone tissue infection‐related research.
Establishment and characterization of an ex vivo bone infection model, upon the organotypic culture of the embryonic chicken femur colonized with Staphylococcus aureus.
Despite the vigorous debate on the extent, modalities and impacts of public space privatization, there have been few analyses of the processes of its emergence in specific places. Based on 36 ...stakeholder interviews and desk research, this paper does so through an analysis of how the Martim Moniz square, in Lisbon, became the city’s first square under private management in 2012. To do so, the paper goes through the local governance context and the importance of convivial public spaces as a political objective, leading to regular partnerships with non-state actors. The square is adjacent to Mouraria, a derelict neighbourhood that was a testing ground for the city’s new urban policies. The square’s private management scheme – branded the Mercado de Fusão – rather than a rupture with existing practices, is the result of a coincidence of interests of both actors. Moreover, it reassembles typical local policy responses and the company’s expertise in a unitary management scheme. The seamless implementation of the Mercado is made possible by the pre-existing relationship between the company and the municipality. The paper thus shows that there is no fundamental shift towards private governance in Lisbon. Rather, it is the generalized commodification of public spaces resulting from the emergence of conviviality as a political objective that opened up the conditions for the square’s privatization. The relationship between conviviality as a political objective and privatization is presented as a promising subject for further research.
Sirtuins are an evolutionarily conserved family of NAD+ -dependent deacylases that display diversity in subcellular localization and function. SIRT2, the predominantly cytosolic sirtuin, is among the ...least understood of the seven mammalian sirtuin isoforms described (SIRT1–7). The purpose of this review is to summarize the most recent findings about the potential roles and effects of SIRT2 in mammalian metabolic homeostasis. We discuss the different functions and targets of SIRT2 in various physiological processes, including adipogenesis, fatty acid oxidation, gluconeogenesis, and insulin sensitivity. We also cover the role of SIRT2 in inflammation and oxidative stress due to the possible implications for metabolic disorders. Finally, we consider its potential as a therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Bees play a key role in pollination of crops and in diverse ecosystems. There have been multiple reports in recent years illustrating bee population declines worldwide. The search for more accurate ...forecast models can aid both in the understanding of the regular behavior and the adverse situations that may occur with the bees. It also may lead to better management and utilization of bees as pollinators. We address an investigation with Recurrent Neural Networks in the task of forecasting bees' level of activity taking into account previous values of level of activity and environmental data such as temperature, solar irradiance and barometric pressure. We also show how different input time windows, algorithms of attribute selection and correlation analysis can help improve the accuracy of our model.
A
bstract
We revisit the two dimensional non-Abelian Thirring model in order to investigate its fixed point structure and the corresponding renormalization group (RG) flow. For this purpose we ...discuss the bosonization of the model, and we present different, but of course equivalent, bosonic versions of the theory. The bosonic theories are illuminating in that they exhibit the fixed points in a manifest way, and also possess a remarkable strong/weak duality that sheds light on the fixed point structure of the theory. We study the RG flow through the computation of the Zamolodchikov
C
-function and of the
β
-function in the large-level limit. Within this framework, we discuss how close to the infrared fixed point the RG flow can reach, since this point is strictly unachievable due to an emergent gauge invariance.
Bosonization techniques are important nonperturbative tools in quantum field theory. In three dimensions they possess interesting connections to topologically ordered systems and ultimately have ...driven the observation of an impressive web of dualities. In this work, we use the quantum wires formalism to show how the fermion-boson mapping relating the low-energy regime of the massive Thirring model in three spacetime dimensions with the Maxwell-Chern-Simons model can be obtained from the exact bosonization in two dimensions.
Aim: To determine the relative contribution of species replacement and species richness differences to the emergence of beta-diversity patterns. Innovation: A novel method that disentangles all ...compositional differences (β cc , overall beta diversity) in its two components, species replacement (β -3 ) and species richness differences (β rich ) is proposed. The performance of the method was studied with ternary plots, which allow visualization of the influence of the relative proportions of shared and unique species of two sites over each metric. The method was also tested in different hypothetical gradients and with real datasets. The novel method was compared with a previous proposal based on the partitioning of overall compositional differences (β sor ) in replacement (β sim ) and nestedness (β nes ). The linear response of β cc contrasts with the curvilinear response of β sor to linear gradients of dissimilarity. When two sites did not share any species, β sim was always 1 and β -3 only reached 1 when the number of exclusive species of both sites was equal. β -3 remained constant along gradients of richness differences with constant replacement, while β sim decreased. β rich had a linear response to a linear gradient of richness differences with constant species replacement, whereas β nes exhibited a hump-shaped response. Moreover, β sim > β nes when clearly almost all species of one site were lost, whereas β -3 < β rich in the same circumstances. Main conclusions: The behaviour of the partition of β cc into β -3 and β rich is consistent with the variation of replacement and richness differences. The partitioning of β sor into β sim and β nes overestimates the replacement component and underestimates richness differences. The novel methodology allows the discrimination of different causes of beta-diversity patterns along latitudinal, biogeographic or ecological gradients, by estimating correctly the relative contributions of replacement and richness differences.
Nano-hydroxyapatite has been used as an oral care ingredient, being incorporated in several products for the treatment of dental hypersensitivity and enamel remineralisation. Despite its promising ...results, regulatory and safety concerns have been discussed and questioned by the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) regarding the usage of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in oral care products. In this work, a commercially available nano-hydroxyapatite was characterized and its cytocompatibility towards human gingival fibroblasts was evaluated, as well as its irritation potential using the in vitro HET-CAM assay. All the conditions chosen in this study tried to simulate the tooth brushing procedure and the hydroxyapatite nanoparticles levels normally incorporated in oral care products. The commercial hydroxyapatite nanoparticles used in this study exhibited a rod-like morphology and the expected chemical and phase composition. The set of in vitro cytotoxicity parameters accessed showed that these nanoparticles are highly cytocompatible towards human gingival fibroblasts. Additionally, these nanoparticles did not possess any irritation potential on HET-CAM assay. This study clarifies the issues raised by SCCS and it concludes that this specific nano-hydroxyapatite is cytocompatible, as these nanoparticles did not alter the normal behaviour of the cells. Therefore, they are safe to be used in oral care products.
In this work we provide a bosonized version of the Thirring model in 2 + 1 dimensions in the case of single fermion species, where we do not have the benefit of large N expansion. In this situation ...there are very few analytical methods to extract nonperturbative information. Meanwhile, nontrivial behavior is expected to take place precisely in this regime. To establish the bosonization of the Thirring model, we consider a deformation of a basic fermion-boson duality relation in 2 + 1 dimensions. The bosonized model interpolates between the ultraviolet and infrared regimes, passing several consistency checks and recovering the usual bosonization relation of the web of dualities in the infrared limit. In addition the duality predicts the existence of a nontrivial ultraviolet fixed point in the Thirring model.
Tetracyclines (TCs) are a class of broad-spectrum antibacterial agents recognized for their multifaceted properties, including anti-inflammatory, angiogenic and osteogenic effects. This versatility ...positions them as suitable candidates for drug repurposing, benefitting from well-characterized safety and pharmacological profiles. In the attempt to explore both their antibacterial and pleiotropic effects locally, innovative therapeutic strategies were set on engineering tetracycline-loaded micro and nanoparticles to tackle a vast number of clinical applications. Moreover, the conjoined drug carrier can function as an active component of the therapeutic approach, reducing off-target effects and accumulation, synergizing to an improvement of the therapeutic efficacy. In this comprehensive review we will critically evaluate recent advances involving the use of tetracyclines loaded onto micro- or nanoparticles, intended for biomedical applications, and discuss emerging approaches and current limitations associated with these drug carriers. Owing to their distinctive physical, chemical, and biological properties, these novel carriers have the potential to become a platform technology in personalized regenerative medicine and other therapeutic applications.
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