Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and pregnancy hypertensive disorders such as preeclampsia (PE) associated with IUGR share a common placental phenotype called "placental insufficiency", ...originating in early gestation when high availability of energy is required. Here, we assess mitochondrial content and the expression and activity of respiratory chain complexes (RCC) in placental cells of these pathologies. We measured mitochondrial (mt)DNA and nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) expression in placental tissue and cytotrophoblast cells, gene and protein expressions of RCC (real-time PCR and Western blotting) and their oxygen consumption, using the innovative technique of high-resolution respirometry. We analyzed eight IUGR, six PE, and eight uncomplicated human pregnancies delivered by elective cesarean section. We found lower mRNA levels of complex II, III, and IV in IUGR cytotrophoblast cells but no differences at the protein level, suggesting a posttranscriptional compensatory regulation. mtDNA was increased in IUGR placentas. Both mtDNA and NRF1 expression were instead significantly lower in their isolated cytotrophoblast cells. Finally, cytotrophoblast RCC activity was significantly increased in placentas of IUGR fetuses. No significant differences were found in PE placentas. This study provides genuine new data into the complex physiology of placental oxygenation in IUGR fetuses. The higher mitochondrial content in IUGR placental tissue is reversed in cytotrophoblast cells, which instead present higher mitochondrial functionality. This suggests different mitochondrial content and activity depending on the placental cell lineage. Increased placental oxygen consumption might represent a limiting step in fetal growth restriction, preventing adequate oxygen delivery to the fetus.
The degradation of the diphenyl-ether herbicides aclonifen (ACL) and bifenox (BF) in water samples has been studied under different laboratory conditions, using in-tube solid-phase microextraction ...(IT-SPME) coupled to capillary liquid chromatography (capLC). The working conditions were selected in order to detect also bifenox acid (BFA), a compound formed as a result of the hydroxylation of BF. Samples (4 mL) were processed without any previous treatment, which allowed the detection of the herbicides at low ppt levels. The effects of temperature, light and pH on the degradation of ACL and BF have been tested using standard solutions prepared in nanopure water. The effect of the sample matrix has been evaluated by analysing different environmental waters spiked with the herbicides, namely ditch water, river water and seawater. The kinetics of the degradation have been studied and the half-life times (t1/2) have been calculated. The results obtained have demonstrated that the sample matrix is the most important parameter affecting the degradation of the tested herbicides. The degradation of both ACL and BF was much faster in ditch and river water samples, where t1/2 values of only a few days were observed. However, both compounds showed a better stability in seawater samples, where they can persist for several months. In all matrices ACL was found to be more stable than BF. In samples where BF had been substantially degraded, BFA was also detected, although the stability of this compound was also limited. Other degradation products have been detected along the study.
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•The degradation of the herbicides bifenox and aclonifen in water has been studied.•Bifenox acid, the main degradation product of bifenox, has been also tested.•The effects of temperature, light, pH and sample matrix is reported.•Nanopure, ditch, river and sea water samples have been tested.•Degradation rates and half-life times in the different waters are reported.
Liquid crystals represent a fascinating intermediate state of matter, with dynamic yet organized molecular features and untapped opportunities in sensing. Several works report the use of liquid ...crystal droplets formed by microfluidics and stabilized by surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). In this work, we explore, for the first time, the potential of surface-active ionic liquids of the imidazolium family as surfactants to generate in high yield, stable and oriented liquid crystal droplets. Our results show that C12MIMCl, in particular, yields stable, uniform and monodisperse droplets (diameter 74 ± 6 µm; PDI = 8%) with the liquid crystal in a radial configuration, even when compared with the standard SDS surfactant. These findings reveal an additional application for ionic liquids in the field of soft matter.
Hybridization is a widespread phenomenon present in numerous lineages across the tree of life. Its evolutionary consequences range from effects on the origin and maintenance, to the loss of ...biodiversity. We studied genetic diversity and intra- and interspecific gene flow between two sympatric populations of closely-related species, Pitcairnia flammea and P. corcovadensis (Bromeliaceae), which are adapted to naturally fragmented Neotropical inselbergs, based on nuclear and plastidial DNA. Our main results indicate a strong reproductive isolation barrier, although low levels of interspecific gene flow were observed in both sympatric populations. The low rates of intraspecific gene flow observed for both P. corcovadensis and P. flammea populations corroborate the increasing body of evidence that inselberg bromeliad species are maintained as discrete evolutionary units despite the presence of low genetic connectivity. Nuclear patterns of genetic diversity and gene flow revealed that hybridization and introgression might not cause species extinction via genetic assimilation of the rare P. corcovadensis. In the face of reduced intraspecific gene exchange, hybridization and introgression may be important aspects of the Pitcairnia diversification process, with a positive evolutionary impact at the bromeliad community level, and thus contribute to increasing and maintaining genetic diversity in local isolated inselberg populations.
Liquid crystal (LC)-based materials are promising platforms to develop rapid, miniaturised and low-cost gas sensor devices. In hybrid gel films containing LC droplets, characteristic optical texture ...variations are observed due to orientational transitions of LC molecules in the presence of distinct volatile organic compounds (VOC). Here, we investigate the use of deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) as pattern recognition systems to analyse optical textures dynamics in LC droplets exposed to a set of different VOCs. LC droplets responses to VOCs were video recorded under polarised optical microscopy (POM). CNNs were then used to extract features from the responses and, in separate tasks, to recognise and quantify the vapours exposed to the films. The impact of droplet diameter on the results was also analysed. With our classification models, we show that a single individual droplet can recognise 11 VOCs with small structural and functional differences (F1-score above 93%). The optical texture variation pattern of a droplet also reflects VOC concentration changes, as suggested by applying a regression model to acetone at 0.9-4.0% (
) (mean absolute errors below 0.25% (
)). The CNN-based methodology is thus a promising approach for VOC sensing using responses from individual LC-droplets.
Abstract
Estuaries are highly productive ecosystems, which are strongly affected by several anthropogenic pressures. Phytoplankton is a key element for assessing the ecological quality status in ...these transitional waters. Moreover, understanding physico-chemical and biological drivers is crucial to disentangle their effect on the structure of phytoplankton community. The present work aims to study the effect of the main physico-chemical drivers on the phytoplankton community structure and dynamics in a temperate well-mixed estuary (Sado Estuary). Four sampling stations were analyzed monthly in three regions of the estuary, from 2018 to 2019. Surface water samples were collected to analyze the phytoplankton community and several concomitant physico-chemical parameters. Temperature, turbidity, salinity, and nutrients availability were the drivers that best explained the spatio-temporal patterns observed in the phytoplankton community. The upper estuary was characterized by higher phytoplankton cell abundances and biomass. Three phytoplankton groups stood out in the characterization of the estuarine assemblages: diatoms, cryptophytes, and dinoflagellates. Diatoms were the dominant group most of the year, being dominated by small cell species (single and chain-forming) upstream, and by larger chain-forming species downstream. Cryptophytes had a high contribution to the community in the inner regions of the estuary, while dinoflagellates contributed more for the community composition downstream, where high abundances of harmful algal species were sporadically found. Previous studies on the phytoplankton community dynamics in this estuary are limited to the 1990s. Thus, the present study provides insight into changes in the dominant phytoplankton groups of the Sado Estuary in the last 25 years, namely an increase in cryptophytes over diatoms in the inner estuarine regions, and an increase in dinoflagellates near the estuary mouth.
The diverse phenomena associated with the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) that occurs at oxide interfaces include, among others, exceptional carrier mobilities, magnetism and superconductivity. ...Although these have mostly been the focus of interest for potential future applications, they also offer an opportunity for studying more fundamental quantum many-body effects. Here, we examine the magnetic-field-driven quantum phase transition that occurs in electrostatically gated superconducting LaTiO3/SrTiO3 interfaces. Through a finite-size scaling analysis, we show that it belongs to the (2+1)D XY model universality class. The system can be described as a disordered array of superconducting puddles coupled by a 2DEG and, depending on its conductance, the observed critical behaviour is single (corresponding to the long-range phase coherence in the whole array) or double (one related to local phase coherence, the other one to the array). A phase diagram illustrating the dependence of the critical field on the 2DEG conductance is constructed, and shown to agree with theoretical proposals. Moreover, by retrieving the coherence-length critical exponent ν, we show that the quantum critical behaviour can be clean or dirty according to the Harris criterion, depending on whether the phase-coherence length is smaller or larger than the size of the puddles.
In LaAlO
/SrTiO
heterostructures, a gate tunable superconducting electron gas is confined in a quantum well at the interface between two insulating oxides. Remarkably, the gas coexists with both ...magnetism and strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling. However, both the origin of superconductivity and the nature of the transition to the normal state over the whole doping range remain elusive. Here we use resonant microwave transport to extract the superfluid stiffness and the superconducting gap energy of the LaAlO
/SrTiO
interface as a function of carrier density. We show that the superconducting phase diagram of this system is controlled by the competition between electron pairing and phase coherence. The analysis of the superfluid density reveals that only a very small fraction of the electrons condenses into the superconducting state. We propose that this corresponds to the weak filling of high-energy d
/d
bands in the quantum well, more apt to host superconductivity.
The main aim of this study was to generate an adequate sub-phenotypic clustering model of class III skeletal malocclusion in an adult population of southern European origin. The study design was ...conducted in two phases, a preliminary cross-sectional study and a subsequent discriminatory evaluation by main component and cluster analysis to identify differentiated skeletal sub-groups with differentiated phenotypic characteristics. Radiometric data from 699 adult patients of southern European origin were analyzed in 212 selected subjects affected by class III skeletal malocclusion. The varimax rotation was used with Kaiser normalization, to prevent variables with more explanatory capacity from affecting the rotation. A total of 21,624 radiographic measurements were obtained as part of the cluster model generation, using a total set of 55 skeletal variables for the subsequent analysis of the major component and cluster analyses. Ten main axes were generated representing 92.7% of the total variation. Three main components represented 58.5%, with particular sagittal and vertical variables acting as major descriptors. Post hoc phenotypic clustering retrieved six clusters: C1:9.9%, C2:18.9%, C3:33%, C4:3.77%, C5:16%, and C6:16%. In conclusion, phenotypic variation was found in the southern European skeletal class III population, demonstrating the existence of phenotypic variations between identified clusters in different ethnic groups.
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