Abiotic, Hybrid, and Biological Electrocatalytic Materials Applied in Microfluidic Fuel Cells: A Comprehensive Review.

This article provides an overview of the work reported in the past decade in the field of microfluidic fuel cells. To develop appropriate research, the most commonly used electrocatalytic materials were considered and a new classification was proposed based on their nature: abiotic, hybrid, or biological. This classification allowed the authors to discern the information collected. In this sense, the types of electrocatalysts used for the oxidation of the most common fuels in different environments, such as glucose, ethanol, methanol, glycerol, and lactate, were presented. There are several phenomena presented in this article. This information gives an overview of where research is heading in the field of materials for electrocatalysis, regardless of the fuel used in the microfluidic fuel cell: the synthesis of abiotic and biological materials to obtain hybrid materials that allow the use of the best properties of each material.

Knowledge about Cervical Cancer Prevention and Screening in Women with Cervical Cancer Attending Gynecological Services in Southern Mozambique.

BACKGROUND: Mozambique has high rates of cervical cancer and cancer-related deaths among women. A high rate of refusal and low acceptance of treatment is observed among cervical cancer patients. The extent of their knowledge of the disease is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To assess knowledge about this disease (prevention, risk factors, and the possibilities of early diagnosis) in women with cervical cancer attended in gynecological services in Gaza province, Mozambique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study took place in the city of Xai-Xai at the Provincial Hospital of Xai-Xai (HPXX) in the southern province of Gaza (Mozambique). Non-probability convenience sampling was used. Eligible patients (women) aged 35-50 years, diagnosed with cervical cancer and followed at the HPXX in the second quarter of 2021 (n = 60), took part in the survey during their scheduled consultations. Descriptive statistics were calculated using SPSS statistical software (version 16). RESULTS: The study included 60 women, 39 (65%) HIV positive. More than half (55.0%) believed that having a single sexual partner was an effective form of prevention; 50.0% reported that excessive alcohol consumption and having many sexual partners could cause the disease, and 46.7% affirmed that having many children increased the risk. Thirty-eight (63.3%) women reported that early diagnosis of cervical cancer was important for receiving prompt treatment, and 54 (90.0%) said regular visits to the gynecologist were important for an early diagnosis. Thirty-five (58.3%) mentioned acetic acid screening as a diagnostic test. CONCLUSIONS: There are significant gaps in awareness of cervical cancer among high-risk groups.

Estado de ansiedad y comportamientos relacionados con la alimentación de los deportistas del departamento de Antioquia durante la medida de aislamiento obligatorio por covid-19 / State of anxiety and behaviors related to the diet of athletes in the department of Antioquia during the mandatory isolation measure due to covid-19 / Estado de ansiedade e comportamentos relacionadoscom a alimentação de atletas do departamento de Antioquia durante a medida de isolamento obrigatório devido à covid-19

Objetivo: identificar el impacto de la medida de confinamiento social, decretada por el gobierno colombiano ante el covid-19, sobre los niveles de ansiedad y los comporta­mientos alimentarios de los deportistas adscritos a selecciones Antioquia. Metodología: estudio observacional descriptivo de corte transversal en deportistas de altos logros deportivos de Indeportes Antioquia que fueron atendidos en el área de medicina, entre enero y agosto 2020. Se indagó sobre aspectos de ansiedad y compor­tamientos alimentarios, ocasionados durante la medida de aislamiento social derivada de la pandemia por covid-19. Resultados: la encuesta fue respondida por 150 deportistas. En hombres, la ansiedad aumenta a medida que se incrementa el grupo de edad. En las mujeres, el fenómeno es opuesto. Para la misma calificación de ansiedad alta, el porcentaje va disminuyendo con la edad. Con referencia a los comportamientos relacionados con la alimentación, analizados bajo una circunstancia tan compleja, como es la pandemia por covid-19, permitió a los profesionales del deporte y la salud direccionar recomendaciones efectivas para los deportistas que asesoran, frente al manejo de la ansiedad y el control de ciertos comportamientos negativos que pueden afectar la salud y el rendimiento deportivo. Conclusiones: los resultados con respecto a la ansiedad coinciden con estudios actua­les, en los que, en términos generales, las poblaciones evaluadas muestran niveles de ansiedad baja y esto se relaciona con una escasa tendencia a alteraciones en la conducta alimentaria en la población estudiada.

Objective: to identify the impact of the social confinement measure decreed by the Colombian government in the face of Covid-19 on anxiety levels and eating behaviors in athletes attached to different teams in the department of Antioquia. Methodology: cross-sectional descriptive observational study in athletes with high sports achievements from Indeportes Antioquia, who were treated in the medical area between January and August 2020. Aspects of anxiety and eating behaviors, caused during the social isolation measure derived of the Covid-19 pandemic were studied. Results: the survey was answered by 150 athletes. In men, anxiety increases as the age group increases. In women, the phenomenon is opposite. For the same high anxiety rating, the percentage decreases with age. With reference to behaviors related to eating, analyzed under such a complex circumstance, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, allowed sports and health professionals to direct effective recommendations for the athletes they advise, regarding anxiety management and the control of certain negative behaviors that can affect their health and their performance. Conclusions: the results regarding anxiety coincide with current studies, in which, in general terms, the assessed populations show low levels of anxiety; this is related to a low tendency to alterations in eating behavior in the studied population.

Objetivo: identificar o impacto da medida de confinamento social, decretada pelo governo colombiano diante da covid-19, nos níveis de ansiedade e comportamentos alimentares de atletas lotados nas equipes de Antioquia. Metodologia:estudo observacional descritivo transversal em atletas com altas conquistas esportivas do Indeportes Antioquia que foram atendidos na área médica, entre janeiro e agosto de 2020. Aspectos de ansiedade e comportamentos alimentares, causados durante a medida de isolamento social derivada do covid-19 pandemia. Resultados: a pesquisa foi respondida por 150 atletas. Nos homens, a ansiedade aumenta à medida que a faixa etária aumenta. Nas mulheres, o fenômeno é oposto. Para a mesma alta taxa de ansiedade, a porcentagem diminui com a idade. No que se refere aos comportamentos relacionados com a alimentação, analisados numa circunstância tão complexa, como é a pandemia de covid-19, permitiu aos profissionais do desporto e da saúde direcionar recomendações eficazes aos atletas que aconselham, no que diz respeito à gestão da ansiedade e ao controlo de determinados comportamentos negativos. que podem afetar a saúde e o desempenho esportivo.Conclusões:os resultados relativos à ansiedade coincidem com os estudos atuais, nos quais, em termos gerais, as populações avaliadas apresentam baixos níveis de ansiedade e isto está relacionado com uma baixa propensão a alterações do comportamento alimentar na população estudada.

Hybrid photocathode based on a Ni molecular catalyst and Sb2Se3 for solar H2 production.

We report a H2 evolving hybrid photocathode based on Sb2Se3 and a precious metal free molecular catalyst. Through the use of a high surface area TiO2 scaffold, we successfully increased the Ni molecular catalyst loading from 7.08 ± 0.43 to 45.76 ± 0.81 nmol cm-2, achieving photocurrents of 1.3 mA cm-2 at 0 V vs. RHE, which is 81-fold higher than the device without the TiO2 mesoporous layer.

Orbital ophthalmomiasis due to Dermatobia hominis in an immunosuppressed patient from the ecuadorian andean area.

An 83-year-old Ecuadorian male, indigent with a history of malnutrition and chronic alcoholism, presented with a clinical feature characterized by progressive growth of larvae at the left eye level (LE), associated with areas of ocular tissue putrefaction. Upon admission, his vision in the right eye (RE) was of hand movement and no light perception in LE, the anterior segment of the RE showed a brunescent cataract, with no other alteration, while the LE presented edema, bipalpebral erythema and an abundant number of mobile larvae distributed throughout the orbit, associated with areas of necrosis, putrefaction and distortion of the anatomy of the ocular tissues. Orbital tomography showed a significant compromise of the orbit, indicating surgical management by left orbital exenteration with taxonomic identification of the larvae as Dermatobia hominis associated with it, antibiotic treatment was implemented and a frontal fasciocutaneous flap was performed by the plastic surgery department.

Sedentary behavior, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and brain structure in midlife: A longitudinal brain MRI sub-study of the coronary artery risk development in young adults study.

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels are higher in those who are physically active and lower in people with cognitive dysfunction. This study investigated whether brain-derived neurotrophic factor mediated or modified the association of sedentary time to MRI-estimated brain volumes in midlife. Methods: Baseline (n = 612) and five-year follow-up (n = 418) data were drawn from the multicenter Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Brain MRI sub-study, including Black and White participants (aged 50.3 years, 51.6% females, 38.6% Black). Sedentary time (hours per day) was categorized into quartiles with low ≤ 4.3 (reference) and high > 8.4. Outcomes of the study were total brain, white matter, gray matter, hippocampal volumes, and white matter fractional anisotropy at baseline and 5-year percent change from baseline. The study used general linear regression models to examine the mediation and moderation effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (natural log transformed) on the associations of sedentary time to brain outcomes. The authors adjusted the regression model for age, sex, race, intracranial volume, education, and vascular factors. Results: Cross-sectionally, baseline participants with the highest sedentary time had a lower total brain (-12.2 cc; 95%CI: -20.7, -3.7), gray matter (-7.8 cc; 95%CI: -14.3, -1.3), and hippocampal volume (-0.2 cc; 95%CI: -0.3, 0.0) compared with populations with the lowest sedentary time. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels did not mediate the associations between brain measures and sedentary time. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor was found to moderate associations of sedentary time to total brain and white matter volume such that the brain volume difference between high and low sedentary time decreased as brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels increased. Longitudinally, higher baseline brain-derived neurotrophic factor level was associated with less brain volume decline. The longitudinal associations did not differ by sedentary time, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor did not mediate or moderate the association of sedentary time to brain measure changes. Conclusions: Higher brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels may buffer the negative effects of sedentary time on the brain.

Poly-L-lysine-modified with ferrocene to obtain a redox polymer for mediated glucose biosensor application.

Ferrocene-based polymers as redox mediators are considered versatile and important in the study of glucose biosensors. Poly-L-lysine (PLL), as a cationic polymer, possesses good properties including biocompatibility, biodegradation and water solubility. In this work, PLL was modified with ferrocene carboxylate in a very simple way by activating the carboxyl group of Fc, which reacted with the amino groups of the polymer. The resulting product was analysed by FTIR. Performance as a redox mediator (Fc-PLL) with the enzyme glucose oxidase was tested by cyclic voltammetry and showed an increase in the oxidation current in the presence of glucose in PBS pH 7.4. Additionally, performance as a biosensor was evaluated by amperometry and gave a linear range of 0-10 mM, a limit of detection of 23 µM, a sensitivity of 6.55 µA/cm2 mM and high selectivity. To evaluate the charged regions of Fc-PLL/GOx on the electrode surface, analysis by scanning electrochemical microscopy showed remarkable activity. The Fc-PLL redox polymer as a glucose biosensor has been well accepted as this kind of material, and the results showed remarkable activity as an electron transfer mediator between the redox polymer and the GOx enzyme.

Predictors of unfavourable tuberculosis treatment outcome in Bilene District, Gaza Province, Mozambique: A retrospective analysis, 2016 - 2019.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health problem and remains one of the leading causes of death from an infectious agent globally. Mozambique is one of 30 countries considered to have a high TB burden. OBJECTIVES: To describe the clinical characteristics of TB in children and adults in Bilene District in Gaza Province, Mozambique, over 43 months and to assess determinants of unfavourable treatment outcomes. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study took place from 1 January 2016 to 31 July 2019 in Bilene District, Gaza. We included patients in the TB register at the Centro de Saúde de Macia TB unit with available data on final treatment outcome. Predictors of unfavourable outcomes were determined using multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS: A total of 3 012 TB-infected patients were registered in the TB unit of the Macia health facility during the study period: 358 (11.9%) were children (<14 years), 1 522 (50.5%) were male, and 2 581 (85.7%) were new TB cases. No bacteriological test was performed at diagnosis in 1 250 patients (41.5%). Treatment was successful in 2 863 patients (95.1%), with better outcomes in children than in adults (98.0% v. 94.6%; p=0.005). Although mortality (n=97; 3.2%) was low in both groups, the proportion who died was lower in children compared with adults (1.4% v. 3.5%; p=0.035). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that unfavourable outcomes were more likely in men compared with women (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04 - 2.12; p=0.029), in patients with recurrent TB infection compared with newly infected patients (aOR 1.63; 95% CI 1.05 - 2.50; p=0.027), and in patients co-infected with TB and HIV compared with HIV-negative TB-infected patients (aOR 2.17; 95% CI 1.43 - 3.29; p<0.001). The factor conferring the most risk for an unfavourable outcome was positive microbiological sputum results (aOR 5.27; 95% CI 3.25 - 8.54; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Factors independently associated with an unfavourable TB treatment outcome were male sex, recurrent TB infection, having positive microbiology, and co-infection with HIV. It remains crucial to improve data quality and adherence to TB screening and diagnostic algorithms.

The retinal basis of vision in chicken.

The Avian retina is far less known than that of mammals such as mouse and macaque, and detailed study is overdue. The chicken (Gallus gallus) has potential as a model, in part because research can build on developmental studies of the eye and nervous system. One can expect differences between bird and mammal retinas simply because whereas most mammals have three types of visual photoreceptor birds normally have six. Spectral pathways and colour vision are of particular interest, because filtering by oil droplets narrows cone spectral sensitivities and birds are probably tetrachromatic. The number of receptor inputs is reflected in the retinal circuitry. The chicken probably has four types of horizontal cell, there are at least 11 types of bipolar cell, often with bi- or tri-stratified axon terminals, and there is a high density of ganglion cells, which make complex connections in the inner plexiform layer. In addition, there is likely to be retinal specialisation, for example chicken photoreceptors and ganglion cells have separate peaks of cell density in the central and dorsal retina, which probably serve different types of behaviour.

The Retinal Basis of Vertebrate Color Vision.

The jawless fish that were ancestral to all living vertebrates had four spectral cone types that were probably served by chromatic-opponent retinal circuits. Subsequent evolution of photoreceptor spectral sensitivities is documented for many vertebrate lineages, giving insight into the ecological adaptation of color vision. Beyond the photoreceptors, retinal color processing is best understood in mammals, especially the blueON system, which opposes short- against long-wavelength receptor responses. For other vertebrates that often have three or four types of cone pigment, new findings from zebrafish are extending older work on teleost fish and reptiles to reveal rich color circuitry. Here, horizontal cells establish diverse and complex spectral responses even in photoreceptor outputs. Cone-selective connections to bipolar cells then set up color-opponent synaptic layers in the inner retina, which lead to a large variety of color-opponent channels for transmission to the brain via retinal ganglion cells.

Decreased mRNA and protein stability of W1282X limits response to modulator therapy.

BACKGROUND: Cell-based studies have shown that W1282X generates a truncated protein that can be functionally augmented by modulators. However, modulator treatment of primary cells from individuals who carry two copies of W1282X generates no functional CFTR. To understand the lack of response to modulators, we investigated the effect of W1282X on CFTR RNA transcript levels. METHODS: qRT-PCR and RNA-seq were performed on primary nasal epithelial (NE) cells of a previously studied individual who is homozygous for W1282X, her carrier parents and control individuals without nonsense variants in CFTR. RESULTS: CFTR RNA bearing W1282X in NE cells shows a steady-state level of 4.2 ±â€¯0.9% of wild-type (WT) CFTR RNA in the mother and 12.4 ±â€¯1.3% in the father. NMDI14, an inhibitor of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), restored W1282X mRNA to almost 50% of WT levels in the parental NE cells. RNA-seq of the NE cells homozygous for W1282X showed that CFTR transcript level was reduced to 1.7% of WT (p-value: 4.6e-3). Negligible truncated CFTR protein was generated by Flp-In 293 cells stably expressing the W1282X EMG even though CFTR transcript was well above levels observed in the parents and proband. Finally, we demonstrated that NMD inhibition improved the stability and response to correctors of W1282X-CFTR protein expressed in the Flp-In-293 cells. CONCLUSION: These results show that W1282X can cause substantial degradation of CFTR mRNA that has to be addressed before efforts aimed at augmenting CFTR protein function can be effective.

Life quality evaluation in patients with bladder cancer: A systematic review. / Evaluación de la calidad de vida en pacientes con cáncer de vejiga: una revisión sistemática.

OBJECTIVE: To identify scale validation studies for life quality evaluation in patients with bladder cancer. METHODS: Bibliographic search was performed on MEDLINE® via ovid, EMBASE, CENTRAL and LILACS. Subsequently, each of the articles was evaluated, identifying eligibility criteria. This information was confirmed and verified by the researchers, and in cases of missing information, the authors were contacted to complete the data. Due to the nature of the study, no statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: From 1760 articles found, only 5were included in the qualitative analysis. Five validated questionnaires for quality of life in patients with bladder cancer (BCI, EORTC QLQ-NMIBC24, FACT-VCI, BUSS, FACT-BL). The BCI; most frequently used instrument in bladder cancer studies published to date. The FACT-VCI, instrument of application limited to unique therapeutic options within the spectrum of the disease. The EORTC QLQ-NMIBC24, widely acceptable questionnaire in the European community due to its psychometric characteristics. The BUSS evaluates the patient regardless the stage of the disease. The FACT-BL evaluates life quality in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. CONCLUSION: The use of validated instruments such as: BCI, EORTC QLQ-NMIBC24, FACT-VI, BUSS and FACT-BL which allow evaluating the impact of disease and the established therapies, is recommended.

[Treatment for Charcot arthropathy. Five-year follow-up]. / Artropatía de Charcot: un método para su tratamiento. Seguimiento a cinco años.

INTRODUCTION: Charcot arthropathy is a deformity which alters foot biomechanics and generate bichemical reactions that affect articular joints and bone. The natural history shown us a prevalence on 1% and is classified by Eichenholtz and Simmons modification in four stages; Sanders describe its location in 5 specific areas. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our goal was to evaluate the specific method of treatment depending in the different stages of the deformity according to the literature review and to our proposed algoritm. RESULTS: A succesful treatment were based on alignment, bone healing and independent gait with regular shoes occurred in 85 % of our population. 15% were considered failures because of lack of consolidation, malalignment or use of gait aids and reactivation of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in the treatment regardless of the phase of the disease; it is more important the individualized treatment.

INTRODUCCIÓN: La artropatía de Charcot es una patología que afecta al sistema musculoesquelético al alterar la biomecánica y causar reacciones bioquímicas con alteraciones óseas y articulares. Se infiere la prevalencia de 1%. La historia natural de la enfermedad, clasificada por Eichenholtz y modificada por Simmons, consta de cuatro fases; en cuanto a la localización, Sanders describe cinco áreas afectadas en el pie. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Nuestro objetivo fue valorar si el método establecido para el tratamiento de esta patología es eficaz al diagnosticar cada fase y dar el tratamiento correspondiente mediante los estándares establecidos en la literatura, sin importar la localización, como lo muestra el algoritmo. RESULTADOS: Se consideró que el tratamiento fue exitoso en los casos que presentaron alineación, consolidación total y marcha independiente con zapato comercial (85%), sin realizar amputaciones; hubo 15% de fracasos funcionales: casos no consolidados, con alineación parcial, marcha dependiente de soporte y reactivación. CONCLUSIONES: Al no encontrar diferencias significativas entre las fases de la enfermedad y los tratamientos, inferimos que el abordaje empleado es el adecuado a cada fase; el éxito no depende de la fase en la que se diagnostique, sino del tratamiento individualizado.

Emerging Mechanisms and Roles for Asymmetric Cytokinesis.

Cytokinesis completes cell division by physically separating the contents of the mother cell between the two daughter cells. This event requires the highly coordinated reorganization of the cytoskeleton within a precise window of time to ensure faithful genomic segregation. In addition, recent progress in the field highlighted the importance of cytokinesis in providing particularly important cues in the context of multicellular tissues. The organization of the cytokinetic machinery and the asymmetric localization or inheritance of the midbody remnants is critical to define the spatial distribution of mechanical and biochemical signals. After a brief overview of the conserved steps of animal cytokinesis, we review the mechanisms controlling polarized cytokinesis focusing on the challenges of epithelial cytokinesis. Finally, we discuss the significance of these asymmetries in defining embryonic body axes, determining cell fate, and ensuring the correct propagation of epithelial organization during proliferation.

Artropatía de Charcot: un método para su tratamiento. Seguimiento a cinco años / Treatment for Charcot arthropathy. Five-year follow-up

Resumen: Introducción: La artropatía de Charcot es una patología que afecta al sistema musculoesquelético al alterar la biomecánica y causar reacciones bioquímicas con alteraciones óseas y articulares. Se infiere la prevalencia de 1%. La historia natural de la enfermedad, clasificada por Eichenholtz y modificada por Simmons, consta de cuatro fases; en cuanto a la localización, Sanders describe cinco áreas afectadas en el pie. Material y métodos: Nuestro objetivo fue valorar si el método establecido para el tratamiento de esta patología es eficaz al diagnosticar cada fase y dar el tratamiento correspondiente mediante los estándares establecidos en la literatura, sin importar la localización, como lo muestra el algoritmo. Resultados: Se consideró que el tratamiento fue exitoso en los casos que presentaron alineación, consolidación total y marcha independiente con zapato comercial (85%), sin realizar amputaciones; hubo 15% de fracasos funcionales: casos no consolidados, con alineación parcial, marcha dependiente de soporte y reactivación. Conclusiones: Al no encontrar diferencias significativas entre las fases de la enfermedad y los tratamientos, inferimos que el abordaje empleado es el adecuado a cada fase; el éxito no depende de la fase en la que se diagnostique, sino del tratamiento individualizado.

Abstract: Introduction: Charcot arthropathy is a deformity which alters foot biomechanics and generate bichemical reactions that affect articular joints and bone. The natural history shown us a prevalence on 1% and is classified by Eichenholtz and Simmons modification in four stages; Sanders describe its location in 5 specific areas. Material and methods: Our goal was to evaluate the specific method of treatment depending in the different stages of the deformity according to the literature review and to our proposed algoritm. Results: A succesful treatment were based on alignment, bone healing and independent gait with regular shoes occurred in 85 % of our population. 15% were considered failures because of lack of consolidation, malalignment or use of gait aids and reactivation of the disease. Conclusions: There were no differences in the treatment regardless of the phase of the disease; it is more important the individualized treatment.

Modelling colour constancy in fish: implications for vision and signalling in water.

Colour vision and colour signals are important to aquatic animals, but light scattering and absorption by water distorts spectral stimuli. To investigate the performance of colour vision in water, and to suggest how photoreceptor spectral sensitivities and body colours might evolve for visual communication, we model the effects of changes in viewing distance and depth on the appearance of fish colours for three teleosts: a barracuda, Sphyraena helleri, which is dichromatic and two damselfishes, Chromis verater and Chromis hanui, which are trichromatic. We assume that photoreceptors light-adapt to the background, thereby implementing the von Kries transformation, which can largely account for observed colour constancy in humans and other animals, including fish. This transformation does not, however, compensate for light scattering over variable viewing distances, which in less than a metre seriously impairs dichromatic colour vision, and makes judgement of colour saturation unreliable for trichromats. The von Kries transformation does substantially offset colour shifts caused by changing depth, so that from depths of 0 to 30 m modelled colour changes (i.e. failures of colour constancy) are sometimes negligible. However, the magnitudes and directions of remaining changes are complex, depending upon the specific spectral sensitivities of the receptors and the reflectance spectra. This predicts that when judgement of colour is important, the spectra of signalling colours and photoreceptor spectral sensitivities should be evolutionarily linked, with the colours dependent on photoreceptor spectral sensitivities, and vice versa.

Cuttlefish see shape from shading, fine-tuning coloration in response to pictorial depth cues and directional illumination.

Humans use shading as a cue to three-dimensional form by combining low-level information about light intensity with high-level knowledge about objects and the environment. Here, we examine how cuttlefish Sepia officinalis respond to light and shadow to shade the white square (WS) feature in their body pattern. Cuttlefish display the WS in the presence of pebble-like objects, and they can shade it to render the appearance of surface curvature to a human observer, which might benefit camouflage. Here we test how they colour the WS on visual backgrounds containing two-dimensional circular stimuli, some of which were shaded to suggest surface curvature, whereas others were uniformly coloured or divided into dark and light semicircles. WS shading, measured by lateral asymmetry, was greatest when the animal rested on a background of shaded circles and three-dimensional hemispheres, and less on plain white circles or black/white semicircles. In addition, shading was enhanced when light fell from the lighter side of the shaded stimulus, as expected for real convex surfaces. Thus, the cuttlefish acts as if it perceives surface curvature from shading, and takes account of the direction of illumination. However, the direction of WS shading is insensitive to the directions of background shading and illumination; instead the cuttlefish tend to turn to face the light source.

Current status of selected oral peptide technologies in advanced preclinical development and in clinical trials.

The development of oral dosage forms that allows absorption of therapeutic peptides to the systemic circulation is one of the greatest challenges for the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, a number of technologies including either mixtures of penetration enhancers or protease inhibitors and/or nanotechnology-based products are under clinical development. Typically, these formulations are presented in the form of enteric-coated tablets or capsules. Systems undergoing preclinical investigation include further advances in nanotechnology, including intestinal microneedle patches, as well as their combination with regional delivery to the colon. This review critically examines four selected promising oral peptide technologies at preclinical stage and the twelve that have progressed to clinical trials, as indicated in www.clinicaltrials.gov. We examined these technologies under the criteria of peptide selection, formulation design, system components and excipients, intestinal mechanism of action, efficacy in man, and safety issues. The conclusion is that most of the technologies in clinical trials are incremental rather than paradigm-shifting and that even the more clinically advanced oral peptide drugs examples of oral bioavailability appear to yield oral bioavailability values of only 1-2% and are, therefore, only currently suitable for a limited range of peptides.

Concentrations of PM2.5₋10 and PM2.5 and metallic elements around the Schmidt Stream area, in the Sinos River Basin, southern Brazil.

This research aimed to evaluate the air quality, by determining the concentrations of PM2.5-10, PM2.5 and the metallic elements Al, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and Hg in the leaf part of ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) in an area close to Schmidt Stream, at the lower section of Sinos River Basin (SRB), in a research campaign of six months, from October 2013 to March 2014. The particles collected in the PM sampling were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) combined with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS), in order to study their morphology and chemical composition. The mean concentration of PM2.5-10 was 9.1 µg m(-3), with a range of 2.2 µg m(-3) to 15.4 µg m(-3) and the mean concentration of PM2.5 was 4.7 µg m(-3), with a range of 1.9 µg m(-3) to 8.2 µg m(-3). Concentrations of metallic elements, especially Pb, Cr and Zn, were classified as Class 4 (very high pollution levels), according to the classification proposed by Klumpp et al. (2004). Chemical and morphological analysis of PM revealed the presence of particles of biological origin, soot (Cr, Fe, Ni, Zn, Cd, Hg and Pb), salts (KCl) and soil resuspension (Al and Si). The integrated study methodology, employing environmental variables, such as PM and ryegrass, can be of help in the preparation of wide-ranging environmental diagnoses, in addition providing information needed to develop precautionary measures designed to minimize the effects of atmospheric pollution that takes into consideration the environment's supportive capacity and environmental quality.