Current concerns about environmental issues have led to many new trends in technology and financial management. Within this context of digital transformation and sustainable finance, Fintech has ...emerged as an alternative to traditional financial institutions. This paper, through a literature review and case study approach, analyzes the relationship between Fintech and sustainability, and the different areas of collaboration between Fintech and sustainable finance, from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective, while giving specific examples of current technological platforms. Additionally, in this paper, two Fintech initiatives (Clarity AI and Pensumo) are described, as well as several proposals to improve the detection of greenwashing and other deceptive behavior by firms. The results lead to the conclusion that sustainable finance and Fintech have many aspects in common, and that Fintech can make financial businesses more sustainable overall by promoting green finance. Furthermore, this paper highlights the importance of European and global regulation, mainly from the perspective of consumer protection.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (LCω3-PUFA), are essential in human nutrition because they play an important role in humans and prevent several ...diseases. Fish oil is a natural source of LCω3-PUFA that can be incorporated into food products. One of the major drawbacks of oils containing a high amount of LCω3-PUFA, such as fish oils, is their high susceptibility to oxidation and unpleasant flavours. Microencapsulation of fish oil by spray-drying has been proposed as a strategy to retard lipid auto-oxidation, improving oil stability, prolonging its shelf life, limiting the development of off-flavours and controlling the release into food. The encapsulation of fish oil by conventional spray-drying has been performed by preparing fish oil-in-water emulsions (micro- or nano-sized) by applying high shearing forces.
The objective of this review is to compile the scientific research on the encapsulation of fish oil to discuss the main formulation and process variables that affect the physicochemical properties of the fish oil microparticles obtained by conventional spray-drying, the stability of fish oil during storage and the application of fish oil microparticles in food systems. An alternative strategy to conventional spray-drying (water-free spray-drying) is also proposed.
•Encapsulation of fish oil by spray-drying is the most common method.•Formulation and process variables influence the performance of microparticles.•Infeed emulsion is a key step for fish oil microencapsulation.•Water-free spray-drying is an alternative for production of fish oil microparticles.
Bone is one of the most common sites for metastasis across cancers. Cancer cells that travel through the vasculature and invade new tissues can remain in a non-proliferative dormant state for years ...before colonizing the metastatic site. Switching from dormancy to colonization is the rate-limiting step of bone metastasis. Here we develop an ex vivo co-culture method to grow cancer cells in mouse bones to assess cancer cell proliferation using healthy or cancer-primed bones. Profiling soluble factors from conditioned media identifies the chemokine CXCL5 as a candidate to induce metastatic colonization. Additional studies using CXCL5 recombinant protein suggest that CXCL5 is sufficient to promote breast cancer cell proliferation and colonization in bone, while inhibition of its receptor CXCR2 with an antagonist blocks proliferation of metastatic cancer cells. This study suggests that CXCL5 and CXCR2 inhibitors may have efficacy in treating metastatic bone tumors dependent on the CXCL5/CXCR2 axis.
Previous studies measuring the clustering of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) have based their measurements on single-dish-detected sources, finding evidence for strong clustering. However, ALMA has ...revealed that, due to the coarse angular resolution of these instruments, single-dish sources can be composed of multiple sources. This implies that the clustering inferred from single-dish surveys may be overestimated. Here, we measure the clustering of SMGs based on the ALESS survey, an ALMA follow-up of sources previously identified in the LABOCA ECDFS Submillimeter Survey (LESS). We present a method to measure the clustering of ALMA sources that have been previously identified using single-dish telescopes, based on forward modeling both the single-dish and the ALMA observations. We constrain upper limits for the median mass of halos hosting SMGs at 1 < z < 3, finding for SMGs with flux densities mJy, which is at least times lower than the mass inferred based on the clustering of the LESS sources alone. This suggests that the strength of SMG clustering based on single-dish observations was overestimated, and therefore SMGs might be hosted by dark matter halos less massive than has previously been estimated. By extrapolating our models down to flux densities of mJy, we find that such SMGs inhabit halos with median mass . We conclude that only the brightest ( mJy) SMGs would trace massive structures at z ∼ 2 and only SMGs with mJy may be connected to massive local elliptical galaxies, quasars at intermediate redshifts, and high-redshift star-forming galaxies, whereas fainter SMGs are unlikely linked to these populations.
Abstract
In the standard picture of structure formation, the first massive galaxies are expected to form at the highest peaks of the density field, which constitute the cores of massive ...proto-clusters. Luminous quasars (QSOs) at
z
∼ 4 are the most strongly clustered population known, and should thus reside in massive dark matter halos surrounded by large overdensities of galaxies, implying a strong QSO–galaxy cross-correlation function. We observed six
z
∼ 4 QSO fields with VLT/FORS, exploiting a novel set of narrow-band filters custom designed to select Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) in a thin redshift slice of
, mitigating the projection effects that have limited the sensitivity of previous searches for galaxies around
QSOs. We find that LBGs are strongly clustered around QSOs, and present the first measurement of the QSO–LBG cross-correlation function at
z
∼ 4, on scales of
(comoving). Assuming a power-law form for the cross-correlation function
, we measure
for a fixed slope of
. This result is in agreement with the expected cross-correlation length deduced from measurements of the QSO and LBG auto-correlation function, and assuming a deterministic bias model. We also measure a strong auto-correlation of LBGs in our QSO fields, finding
for a fixed slope of
, which is ∼4 times larger than the LBG auto-correlation length in blank fields, providing further evidence that QSOs reside in overdensities of LBGs. Our results qualitatively support a picture where luminous QSOs inhabit exceptionally massive (
) dark matter halos at
z
∼ 4.
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•Potential Probiotic of 96 native yeasts isolated from wine environment were evaluated.•Biosafety traits assayed, hemolytic, antifungal, urease, allowed to select 66 yeasts.•Fifteen ...non – Saccharomyces yeasts showed resistant to Gastrointestinal conditions.•The best results were registered by the yeasts of Pichia genus.•Selected yeasts reached high populations after passage by tract gastrointestinal.
Autochthonous yeasts of oenological origin are adapted to highly stressful and selective environments, which makes them potential candidates for probiotics. The objective of the present study was to explore the probiotic potential of 96 native yeasts of oenological origin, their biosafety, resistance to gastrointestinal tract conditions and adhesion properties. Regarding biosafety, 66 isolates shown negative hemolytic activity, negative urease activity and susceptibility to 3 or more antifungals. After the gastrointestinal resistance test, 15 isolates were selected that showed growth at different temperatures, tolerance to low pH and the presence of bile salts in in vitro tests. In general, survival after simulated conditions of the gastrointestinal tract was high and more restrictive was the duodenal. The results of the adhesion properties showed highly variable hydrophobicity and a high percentage of autoaggregation at 24 h. The maximum production of biofilm was detected in the Pichia strains. Of a total of 96 yeast strains, 15 non-Saccharomyces yeasts presented suitable properties as probiotic candidates. The native winemaking strains performed better than the reference probiotic strain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-745, which reaffirms that these strains are promising probiotic candidates and further studies are necessary to confirm their probiosis.
Purple flesh cultivated potato (PP) is a foodstuff scarcely cultivated in the world but with high potential because of its anthocyanin content. Moreover, it has been little explored as a source of ...anthocyanins (AT) for further applications in formulated food products. The main goal of this research was to study the effect of maltodextrin (MD) and spray drying conditions on the encapsulation efficiency (EE) and bioaccesibility of AT from purple flesh cultivated potato extract (PPE). The anthocyanin-rich extract was obtained from PP and microencapsulated by spray-drying, using MD as the encapsulating agent. A statistical optimization approach was used to obtain optimal microencapsulation conditions. The PPE microparticles obtained under optimal conditions showed 86% of EE. The protector effect of microencapsulation on AT was observed to be stable during storage and in vitro digestion. The AT degradation rate constant was significantly lower for the PPE-MD than for the PPE. The assessed bioaccesibility of AT from the PPE-MD was 20% higher than that of the PPE, which could be explained by the protective effect of encapsulation against environmental conditions. In conclusion, microencapsulation is an effective strategy to protect AT from PP, suggesting that AT may be an alternative as a stable colorant for use in the food industry.
A competitive advantage is the ability to stay ahead of one's present or potential competition. This article will examine how first-year college students can create their own competitive advantage by ...preparing themselves not only academically but also professionally to position themselves for a successful career trajectory. The article will cover crafting professional job search documents, such as a resume and a cover letter; the art of interviewing via various mediums (phone, live video, recorded video, in person, panel); and creating a professional brand through LinkedIn. Keywords career, success, career readiness, branding, internships
Increasing evidence suggests that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, plays an important role in physiological processes in the ...central nervous system (CNS) and is involved in cellular metabolism and repair. Cellular damage caused by acute brain injury and long-term neurodegenerative disorders is associated with alterations of these metabolic processes leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. PPARγ agonists have demonstrated the potential to be effective treatments for CNS diseases in preclinical models, but to date, most drugs have failed to show efficacy in clinical trials of neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. The most likely explanation for this lack of efficacy is the insufficient brain exposure of these PPARγ agonists. Leriglitazone is a novel, blood-brain barrier (BBB)-penetrant PPARγ agonist that is being developed to treat CNS diseases. Here, we review the main roles of PPARγ in physiology and pathophysiology in the CNS, describe the mechanism of action of PPARγ agonists, and discuss the evidence supporting the use of leriglitazone to treat CNS diseases.
Friedreich ataxia (FRDA), the most common autosomal recessive ataxia, is characterized by degeneration of the large sensory neurons and spinocerebellar tracts, cardiomyopathy, and increased incidence ...in diabetes. The underlying pathophysiological mechanism of FRDA, driven by a significantly decreased expression of frataxin (FXN), involves increased oxidative stress, reduced activity of enzymes containing iron‑sulfur clusters (ISC), defective energy production, calcium dyshomeostasis, and impaired mitochondrial biogenesis, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a ligand-activated transcriptional factor playing a key role in mitochondrial function and biogenesis, fatty acid storage, energy metabolism, and antioxidant defence. It has been previously shown that the PPARγ/PPARγ coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) pathway is dysregulated when there is frataxin deficiency, thus contributing to FRDA pathogenesis and supporting the PPARγ pathway as a potential therapeutic target. Here we assess whether MIN-102 (INN: leriglitazone), a novel brain penetrant and orally bioavailable PPARγ agonist with an improved profile for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, rescues phenotypic features in cellular and animal models of FRDA. In frataxin-deficient dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons, leriglitazone increased frataxin protein levels, reduced neurite degeneration and α-fodrin cleavage mediated by calpain and caspase 3, and increased survival. Leriglitazone also restored mitochondrial membrane potential and partially reversed decreased levels of mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCLX), resulting in an improvement of mitochondrial functions and calcium homeostasis. In frataxin-deficient primary neonatal cardiomyocytes, leriglitazone prevented lipid droplet accumulation without increases in frataxin levels. Furthermore, leriglitazone improved motor function deficit in YG8sR mice, a FRDA mouse model. In agreement with the role of PPARγ in mitochondrial biogenesis, leriglitazone significantly increased markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in FRDA patient cells. Overall, these results suggest that targeting the PPARγ pathway by leriglitazone may provide an efficacious therapy for FRDA increasing the mitochondrial function and biogenesis that could increase frataxin levels in compromised frataxin-deficient DRG neurons. Alternately, leriglitazone improved the energy metabolism by increasing the fatty acid β-oxidation in frataxin-deficient cardiomyocytes without elevation of frataxin levels. This could be linked to a lack of significant mitochondrial biogenesis and cardiac hypertrophy. The results reinforced the different tissue requirement in FRDA and the pleiotropic effects of leriglitazone that could be a promising therapy for FRDA.
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•Leriglitazone increases frataxin levels and mitochondrial markers in FRDA models.•Leriglitazone protects from neurodegeneration by improving mitochondrial function.•Leriglitazone prevents lipid droplets formation in frataxin-deficient cardiomyocytes.•Leriglitazone rescues the motor function deficit of the YG8sR mice.•Leriglitazone emerges as a potential therapeutic agent for Friedreich Ataxia.
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