Oxidative Precipitation Synthesis of Calcium-Doped Manganese Ferrite Nanoparticles for Magnetic Hyperthermia

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles are of high interest for therapeutic applications. In this work, nanoparticles of calcium-doped manganese ferrites (Ca_xMn_1−xFe₂O₄) functionalized with citrate were synthesized through thermally assisted oxidative precipitation in aqueous media. The method provided well dispersed aqueous suspensions of nanoparticles through a one-pot synthesis, in which the temperature and Ca/Mn ratio were found to influence the particles microstructure and morphology. Consequently, changes were obtained in the optical and magnetic properties that were studied through UV-Vis absorption and SQUID, respectively. XRD and Raman spectroscopy studies were carried out to assess the microstructural changes associated with stoichiometry of the particles, and the stability in physiological pH was studied through DLS. The nanoparticles displayed high values of magnetization and heating efficiency for several alternating magnetic field conditions, compatible with biological applications. Hereby, the employed method provides a promising strategy for the development of particles with adequate properties for magnetic hyperthermia applications, such as drug delivery and cancer therapy.     

Proteomic Analysis Identifies Molecular Players and Biological Processes Specific to SARS-CoV-2 Exposure in Endothelial Cells

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been responsible for the severe pandemic of acute respiratory disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), experienced in the 21st century. The clinical manifestations range from mild symptoms to abnormal blood coagulation and severe respiratory failure. In severe cases, COVID-19 manifests as a thromboinflammatory disease. Damage to the vascular compartment caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been linked to thrombosis, triggered by an enhanced immune response. The molecular mechanisms underlying endothelial activation have not been fully elucidated. We aimed to identify the proteins correlated to the molecular response of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) after exposure to SARS-CoV-2, which might help to unravel the molecular mechanisms of endothelium activation in COVID-19. In this direction, we exposed HUVECs to SARS-CoV-2 and analyzed the expression of specific cellular receptors, and changes in the proteome of HUVECs at different time points. We identified that HUVECs exhibit non-productive infection without cytopathic effects, in addition to the lack of expression of specific cell receptors known to be essential for SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells. We highlighted the enrichment of the protein SUMOylation pathway and the increase in SUMO2, which was confirmed by orthogonal assays. In conclusion, proteomic analysis revealed that the exposure to SARS-CoV-2 induced oxidative stress and changes in protein abundance and pathways enrichment that resembled endothelial dysfunction.     

Diverse nearest neighbors queries using linear skylines

k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) queries are well-known and widely used in a plethora of applications. However, in the original definition of k-NN queries there is no concern regarding diversity of the answer set with respect to the user’s interests. For instance, travelers may be looking for touristic sites that are close to where they are, but that would also lead them to see different parts of the city. Likewise, if one is looking for restaurants close by, it may be more interesting to learn about restaurants of different categories or ethnicities which are nonetheless relatively close. The interesting novel aspect of this type of query is that there are two competing criteria to be optimized: closeness and diversity. We propose two approaches that leverage the notion of linear skyline queries in order to find the k diverse nearest neighbors within a radius r from a given query point, or (k, r)-DNNs for short. Our proposed approaches return a relatively small set containing all optimal solutions for any linear combination of the weights a user could give to the two competing criteria, and we consider three different notions of diversity: spatial, categorical and angular. Our experiments, varying a number of parameters and exploring synthetic and real datasets, in both Euclidean space and road networks, respectively, show that our approaches are several orders of magnitude faster than a straightforward approach.     

A Comprehensive Review on the Main Honey Authentication Issues: Production and Origin

Honey is a highly consumed natural product, not only for its taste and nutritional value, but also for its health benefits. Owing to characteristics that are essentially or exclusively related to the specific region or particular local environment and flora, honey can be classified as a premium product generally perceived as a high‐quality and valued product because of its desirable flavor and taste. Consequently, honey has been a target of adulteration through inappropriate/fraudulent production practices and mislabeling origin. Globally, authentication of honey covers 2 main aspects: the production, with main issues related to sugar syrup addition, filtration, thermal treatment, and water content; and the labeled origin (geographical and/or botanical) and “organic” provenance. This review addresses all those issues, focusing on the approaches to detect the different types of honey adulteration. Due to the complex nature of honey and to the different types of adulteration, its authentication has been challenging and prompted the development of several advanced analytical approaches. Therefore, an updated, critical, and extensive overview on the current and advanced analytical methods targeting markers of adulteration/authenticity, including nontarget fingerprint approaches will be provided. The most recent advances on molecular, chromatographic, and spectroscopic methodologies will be described, emphasizing their pros and cons for the identification of botanical and geographical origins.     

Characterisation of Staphylococcus aureus strains from milk and goat cheese and evaluation of their inhibition by gallic acid,nisin and velame of the Brazilian caatinga

Twenty isolates from milk and goat cheese were confirmed as Staphylococcus aureus. These isolates were characterised for phenotypic properties related to cell adhesion and for the presence of enterotoxin production, intercellular adhesion and β‐lactam resistance genes. Staphylococcus aureus L47 showed cell adhesion ability and positivity for the sec, sed, icaD, mecA and blaZ genes. Three antimicrobial compounds were tested singly or in pairs for growth control of strain L47: gallic acid (GA), nisin and essential oil (EO) of Croton heliotropiifolius (velame). At 24 h, EO and EO + nisin showed higher inhibitory activity against S. aureus L47 in goat milk.     

Extracting Stray Magnetic Fields from Thin Ferromagnetic Layers in Hybrid Superconducting/Ferromagnetic Heterostructures

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - Hybrid Nb(20)/Cu(5)/Py(2), Nb(20)/Cu(5)/Co(40) and Nb(20)/Cu(d $$_{Cu}$$ )/Py(2)/Cu(5)/Co(40) heterostructures (values in nanometers and d...     

Effect of strongly competing background compounds on the kinetics of trace organic contaminant desorption from activated carbon

Strongly competing (SC) compounds, naturally found in any drinking water source, are known to decrease the adsorption capacity of activated carbon for trace contaminants. While the effect of these substances on the capacity and adsorption kinetics of trace contaminants is fairly well studied, relatively little is known about their impact on desorption kinetics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between SC matter and trace compound desorption kinetics. A surrogate SC compound, 1,4-dichlorobenzene (p-DCB), was used to displace the preadsorbed target trace contaminant, atrazine, from powdered activated carbon (PAC). The initial concentrations of p-DCB and atrazine were varied to achieve different degrees of competition to atrazine. Atrazine's desorption diffusion coefficient was found to increase with increasing adsorbed concentration of the SC matter, expressed as an equivalent background compound (EBC).The EBC was modeled with atrazine-like adsorption properties, thus representing the portion of p-DCB that competed to occupy atrazine adsorption sites. The increase in atrazine diffusion rate can be explained by a shift from surface diffusion to diffusion through the carbon's pores as the availability of surface sites decreased due to the EBC's competition. The observed desorption kinetic relationship was consistent with the effect of SC competition on adsorption kinetics; further, the effect was consistent for three different types of SC matter. These findings highlight that the impact of SC matter on activated carbon applications could be either detrimental (displacing adsorbed trace contaminants and enhancing their rate of release) or beneficial (offsetting pore constriction effects by enhancing their rate of uptake).     

Sheep Milk: Physicochemical Characteristics and Relevance for Functional Food Development

Sheep milk has a high nutritional value and high concentrations of proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins, as compared to the milks of other domestic species. The physicochemical and nutritional characteristics of sheep milk can be advantageous for the manufacture of products containing prebiotic ingredients and/or probiotic bacteria, which are major categories in the functional food market. Following this technological trend, this review will address the characteristics and advantages of sheep milk as a potentially functional food, as well as the development of sheep milk dairy products containing prebiotics and/or probiotics.     

Dual-layer hollow fibers for gas separation processes produced by quadruple spinning

A novel quadruple spinneret to produce dual-layer hollow fiber membranes by simultaneous spinning of two polymer solutions, using the dual precipitation bath technique is proposed. Hollow fibers aimed at gas separation processes were prepared in extrusion system specifically designed and built for this purpose. A polyurethane polymer was selected as the selective layer (outer-layer), while polyethersulfone was defined as the support (inner-layer). Activated carbon powder was added into the PU solution for further improvement of the transport properties. The hollow fibers showed good adhesion between the polymer layers and a defect-free selective layer. Representative results include a CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 43.