In Vitro Evaluation of the Photoreactivity and Phototoxicity of Natural Polyphenol Antioxidants

Polyphenols are a large family of natural compounds widely used in cosmetic products due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory beneficial properties and their ability to prevent UV radiation-induced oxidative stress. Since these compounds present chromophores and are applied directly to the skin, they can react with sunlight and exert phototoxic effects. The available scientific information on the phototoxic potential of these natural compounds is scarce, and thus the aim of this study was to evaluate the photoreactivity and phototoxicity of five phenolic antioxidants with documented use in cosmetic products. A standard ROS assay was validated and applied to screen the photoreactivity of the natural phenolic antioxidants caffeic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), and rutin. The phototoxicity potential was determined by using a human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT), based on the 3T3 Neutral Red Uptake phototoxicity test. Although all studied phenolic antioxidants absorbed UV/Vis radiation in the range of 290 to 700 nm, only DOPAC was able to generate singlet oxygen. The generation of reactive oxygen species is an early-stage chemical reaction as part of the phototoxicity mechanism. Yet, none of the studied compounds decreased the viability of keratinocytes after irradiation, leading to the conclusion that they do not have phototoxic potential. The data obtained with this work suggests that these compounds are safe when incorporated in cosmetic products.     

An Edible Oil Enriched with Lycopene from Pink Guava (Psidium guajava L.) Using Different Mechanical Treatments

According to the regulations of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), organic solvents should be limited in pharmaceutical and food products due to their inherent toxicity. For this reason, this short paper proposes different mechanical treatments to extract lycopene without organic solvents to produce an edible sunflower oil (SFO) enriched with lycopene from fresh pink guavas (Psidium guajava L.) (FPGs). The methodology involves the use of SFO and a combination of mechanical treatments: a waring blender (WB), WB+ high-shear mixing (HSM) and WB+ ultrafine friction grinding (UFFG). The solid:solvent (FPG:SFO) ratios used in all the techniques were 1:5, 1:10 and 1:20. The results from optical microscopy and UV–vis spectroscopy showed a correlation between the concentration of lycopene in SFO, vegetable tissue diameters and FPG:SFO ratio. The highest lycopene concentration, 18.215 ± 1.834 mg/g FPG, was achieved in WB + UFFG with an FPG:SFO ratio of 1:20. The yield of this treatment was 66% in comparison to the conventional extraction method. The maximal lycopene concentration achieved in this work was significantly higher than the values reported by other authors, using high-pressure homogenization for tomato peel and several solvents such as water, SFO, ethyl lactate and acetone.     

Applying Text Analytics for Studying Research Trends in Dependability

The dependability of systems and networks has been the target of research for many years now. In the 1970s, what is now known as the top conference on dependability—The IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN)—emerged gathering international researchers and sparking the interest of the scientific community. Although it started in niche systems, nowadays dependability is viewed as highly important in most computer systems. The goal of this work is to analyze the research published in the proceedings of well-established dependability conferences (i.e., DSN, International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE), International Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems (SRDS), European Dependable Computing Conference (EDCC), Latin-American Symposium on Dependable Computing (LADC), Pacific Rim International Symposium on Dependable Computing (PRDC)), while using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and namely the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm to identify active, collapsing, ephemeral, and new lines of research in the dependability field. Results show a strong emphasis on terms, like ‘security’, despite the general focus of the conferences in dependability and new trends that are related with ’machine learning’ and ‘blockchain’. We used the PRDC conference as a use case, which showed similarity with the overall set of conferences, although we also found specific terms, like ‘cyber-physical’, being popular at PRDC and not in the overall dataset.     

Revisiting Proteasome Inhibitors: Molecular Underpinnings of Their Development,Mechanisms of Resistance and Strategies to Overcome Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance

Proteasome inhibitors have shown relevant clinical activity in several hematological malignancies, namely in multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma, improving patient outcomes such as survival and quality of life, when compared with other therapies. However, initial response to the therapy is a challenge as most patients show an innate resistance to proteasome inhibitors, and those that respond to the therapy usually develop late relapses suggesting the development of acquired resistance. The mechanisms of resistance to proteasome inhibition are still controversial and scarce in the literature. In this review, we discuss the development of proteasome inhibitors and the mechanisms of innate and acquired resistance to their activity—a major challenge in preclinical and clinical therapeutics. An improved understanding of these mechanisms is crucial to guiding the design of new and more effective drugs to tackle these devastating diseases. In addition, we provide a comprehensive overview of proteasome inhibitors used in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, as this is a key strategy to combat resistance.     

Thermodynamic Signatures of Structural Transitions and Dissociation of Charged Colloidal Clusters: A Parallel Tempering Monte Carlo Study

Computational simulation of colloidal systems make use of empirical interaction potentials that are founded in well-established theory. In this work, we have performed parallel tempering Monte Carlo (PTMC) simulations to calculate heat capacity and to assess structural transitions, which may occur in charged colloidal clusters whose effective interactions are described by a sum of pair potentials with attractive short-range and repulsive long-range components. Previous studies on these systems have shown that the global minimum structure varies from spherical-type shapes for small-size clusters to Bernal spiral and “beaded-necklace” shapes at intermediate and larger sizes, respectively. In order to study both structural transitions and dissociation, we have organized the structures appearing in the PTMC calculations by three sets according to their energy: (i) low-energy structures, including the global minimum; (ii) intermediate-energy “beaded-necklace” motifs; (iii) high-energy linear and branched structures that characterize the dissociative clusters. We observe that, depending on the cluster, either peaks or shoulders on the heat–capacity curve constitute thermodynamics signatures of dissociation and structural transitions. The dissociation occurs at T=0.20 for all studied clusters and it is characterized by the appearance of a significant number of linear structures, while the structural transitions corresponding to unrolling the Bernal spiral are quite dependent on the size of the colloidal system.     

Metal complexes of 6-chloropurine

Summary Five Cu(II), Pd(II), Cd(II), Pt(IV), and Au(III) complexes of 6-chloropurine have been obtained. The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR,¹H-NMR and¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. On the basis of these data the structure of the complexes and the coordination of the ligand have been proposed. Thus, the physical and chemical methods supported evidence that in acidic medium, with exception of the Cu(II) complex, 6-chloropurine acts in the monoprotonated form neutralizing the charge of [PdCl₄]^2–, [CdCl₄]^2–, [AuCl₄]^– and [PtCl₆]^2– anions. The thermal behaviour of the complexes has also been studied.

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Metallkomplexe von 6-Chlorpurin

Zusammenfassung Es wurden fünf Komplexe von 6-Chlorpurin mit Cu(II), Pd(II), Cd(II), Pt(IV) und Au(III) erhalten. Die Komplexe wurden mittels Elementaranalysen, IR,¹H-NMR und¹³C-NMR charakterisiert. Auf der Basis dieser Daten wurde eine Komplexstruktur und eine bestimmte Koordination der Liganden vorgeschlagen. Physikalische und chemische Methoden beweisen, daß im sauren Bereich [mit der Ausnahme von Cu(II)] das 6-Chlorpurin in der monoprotonierten Form koordiniert, wobei die Ladung von [PdCl₄]^2–, [CdCl₄]^2–, [AuCl₄]^– und [PtCl₆]^2– jeweils neutralisiert wird. Das thermische Verhalten der Komplexe wurde ebenfalls untersucht.

     

Modelling of optical absorption of silver NP’s produced by UV radiation embedded in mesostructured silica films

Hexagonal mesostructured films containing silver ions were obtained by sol–gel method. Brij 58 was used to produce channels into the film, which house these ions. The films were exposure to UV radiation to produced silver metallic nanoparticles. The presence of the metallic nanoparticles was determined by infrared spectroscopy and optical absorption. Besides, these nanoparticles and core–shell structures of silver–silver oxide nanoparticles were identified by high-resolution transmission electronic microscopy. From these measurements, the obtained size range for silver nanoparticles was 6.1 nm. The absorption spectrum located at 440 nm was modelled and well fitted with the Gans theory considering refractive index higher than the one coming from host matrix. This index is explained because the silver oxide shell modifies the local surrounding medium of the metallic nanoparticles.     

Three-parameter Lorentz-violating texture for neutrino mixing

A three-parameter model of neutrino oscillations based on a simple Lorentz- and CPT-violating texture is presented. The model is consistent with established data and naturally generates low-energy and neutrino–antineutrino anomalies of the MiniBooNE type. A one-parameter extension incorporates the MINOS anomaly, while a simple texture enhancement accommodates the LSND signal.     

Improvement of the dynamic range of a fiber specklegram sensor based on volume speckle recording in photorefractive materials

In this work, the improvement of the dynamic range of a micro displacement sensor based on fiber specklegrams holographically stored in a photorefractive BSO (Bi₁₂SiO₂₀) crystal is reported. In our experimental setup, a plastic optical fiber (POF) was used to generate a subjective speckle pattern that was recorded in the crystal using a two-wave mixing arrangement. The speckle size was controlled by modifying the diameter of a pupil aperture adjacent to a lens producing the image of the speckle. Fringe patterns were obtained at the output of the system by producing micro displacements of the fiber output end. An increase in the visibility of the fringe patterns was appreciated when the pupil aperture diameter decreased even without controlling the average modulation of the intensity of the light pattern, i.e. when the speckle length increased and the average light modulation simultaneously decreased. This behavior allowed recovering the autocorrelation functions of fringe patterns associated with displacements that initially led to decorrelation, and therefore, significantly to improve the dynamic range of the metrological system. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report about the influence of speckle size on the dynamic range of fiber specklegrams sensors recorded on photorefractive materials.     

Free-space fluorescence molecular tomography utilizing 360 degrees geometry projections

Fluorescence tomography of diffuse media can yield optimal three-dimensional imaging when multiple projections over 360 degrees geometries are captured, compared with limited projection angle systems such as implementations in the slab geometry. We demonstrate how it is possible to perform noncontact, 360 degrees projection fluorescence tomography of mice using CCD-camera-based detection in free space, i.e., in the absence of matching fluids. This approach achieves high spatial sampling of photons propagating through tissue and yields a superior information content data set compared with fiber-based 360 degrees implementations. Reconstruction feasibility using 36 projections in 10 degrees steps is demonstrated in mice.