Conjugating pillararene dye in dye-sensitized solar cells

2021

Summary The improvement of open-circuit voltage (VOC) is a crucial goal to develop efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Here, conjugating pillar[5]arene dyes (PPI and PPII) are designed, synthesized, and applied in DSSCs. The presence of pillar[5]arene moiety in the dyes inhibits the dye aggregation and charge recombination in the DSSCs, leading to the enhancement of VOC. PPI with a single D-π-A backbone and a pillar[5]arene moiety achieves a VOC of 715 mV, which is much higher than the reference dye (VOC of 674 mV) with the same D-π-A backbone but no pillar[5]arene moiety. PPII with 2 D-π-A backbones also achieves a VOC of 746 mV and a much higher short-circuit photocurrent (JSC) …

Oxytocin Signaling as a Target to Block Social Defeat-Induced Increases in Drug Abuse Reward

2021

There is huge scientific interest in the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) due to its putative capacity to modulate a wide spectrum of physiological and cognitive processes including motivation, learning, emotion, and the stress response. The present review seeks to increase the understanding of the role of OXT in an individual’s vulnerability or resilience with regard to developing a substance use disorder. It places specific attention on the role of social stress as a risk factor of addiction, and explores the hypothesis that OXT constitutes a homeostatic response to stress that buffers against its negative impact. For this purpose, the review summarizes preclinical and clinical literature rega…

Cell quality evaluation with gene expression analysis of spheroids (3D) and adherent (2D) adipose stem cells.

2021

Adipose stem cells (ASCs) represent a reliable source of stem cells with a widely demonstrated potential in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering applications. New recent insights suggest that three-dimensional (3D) models may closely mimic the native tissue properties; spheroids from adipose derived stem cells (SASCs) exhibit enhanced regenerative abilities compared with those of 2D models. Stem cell therapy success is determined by “cell-quality”; for this reason, the involvement of stress signals and cellular aging need to be further investigated. Here, we performed a comparative analysis of genes connected with stemness, aging, telomeric length and oxidative stress, in 3D and 2D …

Overexpression of glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase preserves mouse pancreatic beta cells function until late in life.

2021

NAD(P)H donates electrons for reductive biosynthesis and antioxidant defense across all forms of life. Glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is a critical enzyme to provide NADPH. G6PD deficiency is present in more than 400 million people worldwide. This enzymopathy provides protection against malaria but sensitizes cells to oxidative stressors. Oxidative stress has been involved in the pathogenesis of the diabetic complications and several studies have provided evidences of a link between G6PD deficiency and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We hypothesized that a moderate overexpression of G6PD (G6PD-Tg) could protect β-cells from age-associated oxidative stress thus reducing the risk of develop…

Intercettazioni no limits: il captatore informatico “per istradamento”

2021

L’utilizzo del captatore informatico a mezzo della tecnica dell’istradamento si presta a distorsioni e abusi. Ci si trova di fronte a uno strumento itinerante del quale è impossibile prevedere gli spostamenti, sommato a una tecnica captativa elusiva dei confini giurisdizionali. Dopo una breve ricostruzione degli interventi giurisprudenziali e legislativi che hanno consentito di disciplinare processualmente l’utilizzo del “virus-spia”, vengono messe in evidenza le aporie attualmente esistenti e si individuano i pretesti usati dalla prassi per una sempre più ampia fruibilità dei risultati delle intercettazioni con captatore. Con particolare riguardo alle primissime applicazioni giurisprudenzi…

Study of the thermochromic phase transition in CuMo1−xWxO4 solid solutions at the W L3-edge by resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy

2021

Abstract Polycrystalline CuMo 1 − x W x O 4 solid solutions were studied by resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES) at the W L 3 -edge to follow a variation of the tungsten local atomic and electronic structures across thermochromic phase transition as a function of sample composition and temperature. The experimental results were interpreted using ab initio calculations. The crystal-field splitting parameter Δ for the 5d(W)-states was obtained from the analysis of the RXES plane and was used to evaluate the coordination of tungsten atoms. Temperature-dependent RXES measurements were successfully employed to determine the hysteretic behaviour of the structural phase transition between t…

Lignin-based activated carbon-supported metal oxide catalysts in lactic acid production from glucose

2021

Abstract In this study, heterogeneous biomass-based activated carbon-supported metal oxide catalysts were prepared and tested for lactic acid production from glucose in aqueous solution. Activated carbons were produced from hydrolysis lignin by chemical (ZnCl2) or steam activation and modified with a nitric acid treatment and Sn, Al, and Cr chlorides to obtain carbon-based metal oxide catalysts. The modification of the carbon support by nitric acid treatment together with Sn and Al oxides led to an increase in lactic acid yield. The highest lactic acid yield (42 %) was obtained after 20 min at 180 °C with the Sn/Al (5/2.5 wt.%) catalyst on steam-activated carbon treated by nitric acid. Reus…

Engineering Sr-doping for enabling long-term stable FAPb1xSrxI3 quantum dots with 100% photoluminescence quantum yield

2021

The Pb substitution in quantum dots (PQDs) with lesser toxic metals has been widely searched to be environmentally friendly, and be of comparable or improved performance compared to the lead-perovskite. However, the chemical nature of the lead substitute influences the incorporation mechanism into PQDs, which has not been explored in depth. In this work, we analyzed Sr-doping-induced changes in FAPbI3 perovskites by studying the optical, structural properties and chemical environment of FAPb1−xSrxI3 PQDs. The substitution of Pb by 7 at% Sr allows us to achieve FAPb1−xSrxI3 PQDs with 100% PLQY, high stability for 8 months under a relative humidity of 40–50%, and T80 = 6.5 m…

UBFC-Phys: A Multimodal Database For Psychophysiological Studies of Social Stress

2021

As humans, we experience social stress in countless everyday-life situations. Giving a speech in front of an audience, passing a job interview, and similar experiences all lead us to go through stress states that impact both our psychological and physiological states. Therefore, studying the link between stress and physiological responses had become a critical societal issue, and recently, research in this field has grown in popularity. However, publicly available datasets have limitations. In this article, we propose a new dataset, UBFC-Phys, collected with and without contact from participants living social stress situations. A wristband was used to measure contact blood volume pulse (BVP…

Seroprevalence of SARs-CoV-2 among the staff and patients of a French cancer centre after first lockdown: the canSEROcov study

2021

Abstract Background In view of the potential gravity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection for patients with cancer, epidemiological data are vital to assess virus circulation among patients and staff of cancer centres. We performed a prospective study to investigate seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among staff and patients with cancer at a large cancer centre, at the end of the period of first national lockdown in France and to determine factors associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods After the first lockdown, all medical and non-medical staff, as well as all patients attending the medical oncology department were invited to unde…

Laparoscopy for Abdominal Testes: Nationwide Analysis of German Routine Data

2021

Introduction: Laparoscopy has been used for the evaluation of impalpable testes for more than 30 years. However, its use for intra-abdominal testes has never been evaluated in a population-based ap...

Use of fiber-section beam elements for modelling the monotonic flexural response of RC jacketed columns

2021

Abstract The use of reinforced concrete (RC) jacketing is a common technique for retrofitting existing RC columns with poor structural performances. Literature studies highlighted that the relative slip occurring at the interface between the new and the old concrete can affect substantially the flexibility and the strength of the retrofitted member. For this reason, several interface treatments are usually applied, aiming to induce a monolithic behaviour to the column. However, despite the commonness of RC jacketing, a limited number of studies investigated numerical modelling strategies for including these phenomena, especially with reference to the development of numerical models for desi…

Psychrophiles: A source of cold-adapted enzymes for energy efficient biotechnological industrial processes

2021

Biocatalysts are the backbone of bioprocessing industries that are going through a phase of transition with reference to the requirement of extraordinary enzymes for various biochemical processes. This transition is well reported and documented by various researchers through elucidation of different features and applications of mesophilic and thermophilic enzymes. However, there is little information available about psychrophilic enzymes and their involvement in industrial processes. Therefore, understanding the features and functions of psychrophilic enzymes could suggest some of their novel applications in various industries such as food, agriculture, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and waste…

Micro-site conditions affect Fennoscandian forest growth

2021

Abstract The long tradition of dendroclimatological studies in Fennoscandia is fostered by the exceptional longevity and temperature sensitivity of tree growth, as well as the existence of well-preserved subfossil wood in shallow lakes and extent peat bogs. Although some of the world’s longest ring width and density-based climate reconstructions have been developed in northern Fennoscandia, it is still unclear if differences in micro-site ecology matter, and if so, whether they have been considered sufficiently in previous studies. We developed a Fennoscandia-wide network of 44 Scots pine ring width chronologies from 22 locations between 59°–70 °N and 16°–31 °E, to assess the effects of moi…

A musical reading of a contemporary installation and back: mathematical investigations of patterns in Qwalala

2021

Mathematical music theory helps us investigate musical compositions in mathematical terms. Some hints can be extended towards the visual arts. Mathematical approaches can also help formalize a "translation" from the visual domain to the auditory one and vice versa. Thus, a visual artwork can be mathematically investigated, then translated into music. The final, refined musical rendition can be compared to the initial visual idea. Can an artistic idea be preserved through these changes of media? Can a non-trivial pattern be envisaged in an artwork, and then still be identified after the change of medium? Here, we consider a contemporary installation and an ensemble musical piece derived from…

Hamiltonians Generated by Parseval Frames

2021

AbstractIt is known that self-adjoint Hamiltonians with purely discrete eigenvalues can be written as (infinite) linear combination of mutually orthogonal projectors with eigenvalues as coefficients of the expansion. The projectors are defined by the eigenvectors of the Hamiltonians. In some recent papers, this expansion has been extended to the case in which these eigenvectors form a Riesz basis or, more recently, a ${\mathcal{D}}$ D -quasi basis (Bagarello and Bellomonte in J. Phys. A 50:145203, 2017, Bagarello et al. in J. Math. Phys. 59:033506, 2018), rather than an orthonormal basis. Here we discuss what can be done when these sets are replaced by Parseval frames. This interest is moti…

Phase 2 du programme "Trames noires du Massif central" (IPAMAC). Compte-rendu intermédiaire. Visite du Parc naturel régional de l'Aubrac

2021

Special Issue "Centenarians-A Model to Study the Molecular Basis of Lifespan and Healthspan".

2021

People are living longer, not, as was previously the case, due to reduced child mortality, but because we are postponing the ill-health of old age [...]

Developmental and Early Life Origins of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

2021

The intent of this review is to critically consider the data that support the concept of programming and its implications. Birth weight and growth trajectories during childhood are associated with cardiometabolic disease in adult life. Both extremes, low and high birth weight coupled with postnatal growth increase the early presence of cardiometabolic risk factors and vascular imprinting, crucial elements of this framework. Data coming from epigenetics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiota added relevant information and contribute to better understanding of mechanisms as well as development of biomarkers helping to move forward to take actions. Research has reached a stage in which suff…

Surgical treatment of cocaine-induced palatal perforations : report of three cases and literature review

2021

Destruction of the osteocartilaginous framework of the nose and sinuses is a well-known side effect of inhaled cocaine. Palate involvement is, however, a very uncommon event that may lead to oronasal communication with the subsequent food and liquids reflux and nasal speech. Given the addictive character of this etiologic agent, the management of cocaine-induced palatal perforations tends to be conservative by means of a prosthetic obturator. In this paper three cases with surgically treated cocaine-induced palatal perforations are reported and a review of the literature is made focusing on the management of this process. Despite the usual reluctancy, surgical palatal reconstruction should …

The Efficacy of Powered Oscillating Heads vs. Powered Sonic Action Heads Toothbrushes to Maintain Periodontal and Peri-Implant Health: A Narrative Re…

2021

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of rotating-oscillating heads (ORHs) VS sonic action heads (SAHs) powered toothbrushes on plaque accumulation and gingival inflammation. Methods: An electronic (MEDLINE, Embase, Inspec, PQ SciTech and BIOSIS) and a complementary manual search were made to detect eligible studies. RCTs meeting the following criteria were included: final timepoint longer than 15 days; year of publication after 2000; patients without orthodontic appliances or severe systemic/psychiatric diseases. Studies comparing two or more different types of sonic/roto-oscillating toothbrushes were excluded. Selection of articles, extraction of data, and assessment of quality were made in…

Effectiveness of tDCS at Improving Recognition and Reducing False Memories in Older Adults

2021

Background: False memories tend to increase in healthy and pathological aging, and their reduction could be useful in improving cognitive functioning. The objective of this study was to use an active–placebo method to verify whether the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved true recognition and reduced false memories in healthy older people. Method: Participants were 29 healthy older adults (65–78 years old) that were assigned to either an active or a placebo group

Does the ideal entrepreneurial team exist?

2021

Up until now, studies on entrepreneurs and their relationship to business performance have focused primarily on analyzing the entrepreneur as an individual. While studies have been conducted on the entrepreneurial team, their focus has centered on team size and degree of diversity - cultural, age, gender - leaving a gap in the analysis of the effect of a team’s competencies on the outcome of the ventures. This research aims to help fill this gap by using the psychometric instrument DISC. This research analyzes entrepreneurship by opportunity, evaluating the performance of 109 Colombian companies and the composition of their entrepreneurial teams. The results obtained provide the basis for b…

Remote Photoplethysmography for Evaluation of Cutaneous Sensory Nerve Fiber Function

2021

About 2% of the world’s population suffers from small nerve fiber dysfunction, neuropathy, which can result in severe pain. This condition is caused by damage to the small nerve fibers and its assessment is challenging, due to the lack of simple and objective diagnostic techniques. The present study aimed to develop a contactless photoplethysmography system using simple instrumentation, for objective and non-invasive assessment of small cutaneous sensory nerve fiber function. The approach is based on the use of contactless photoplethysmography for the characterization of skin flowmotions and topical heating evoked vasomotor responses. The feasibility of the technique was evaluated on volunt…

DsixTools 2.0: The Effective Field Theory Toolkit

2021

$\tt DsixTools$ is a Mathematica package for the handling of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) and the Low-energy Effective Field Theory (LEFT) with operators up to dimension six, both at the algebraic and numerical level. $\tt DsixTools$ contains a visually accessible and operationally convenient repository of all operators and parameters of the SMEFT and the LEFT. This repository also provides information concerning symmetry categories and number of degrees of freedom, and routines that allow to implement this information on global expressions (such as decay amplitudes and cross-sections). $\tt DsixTools$ also performs weak basis transformations, and implements the full on…

Oxidation of diclofenac in the presence of iron(II) octacarboxyphthalocyanine

2021

Abstract This paper presents the results of the research on the influence of catalytic activity of iron(II) octacarboxyphthalocyanines (FePcOC) on the transformation of diclofenac (DCF) which is the most popular anti-inflammatory analgesic. Diclofenac poses a serious threat to the natural environment. The paper demonstrates that diclofenac, in the presence a monomeric form of iron octacarboxyphthalocyanine and hydroxyl radicals (HO•) (from H2O2), undergoes a transformation into diclofenac-2,5-iminoquinone (DCF-2,5-IQ), causing distinct changes in the UV–Vis absorption spectrum. In the presence of iron octacarboxyphthalocyanine and H2O2, the previously colourless diclofenac solution becomes …

Metabolomic Changes after Coffee Consumption: New Paths on the Block

2021

Scope Several studies suggest that regular coffee consumption may help preventing chronic diseases, but the impact of daily intake and the contribution of coffee metabolites in disease prevention are still unclear. The present study aimed at evaluating whether and how different patterns of coffee intake (one cup of espresso coffee/day, three cups of espresso coffee/day, one cup of espresso coffee/day and two cocoa-based products containing coffee two times per day) might impact endogenous molecular pathways. Methods and results A three-arm, randomized, cross-over trial was performed in 21 healthy volunteers who consumed each treatment for one month. Urine samples were collected to perform u…

Expert appraisal of criteria for assessing gaming disorder: An international Delphi study

2021

Background and aims Following the recognition of ‘internet gaming disorder’ (IGD) as a condition requiring further study by the DSM‐5, ‘gaming disorder’ (GD) was officially included as a diagnostic entity by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD‐11). However, the proposed diagnostic criteria for gaming disorder remain the subject of debate, and there has been no systematic attempt to integrate the views of different groups of experts. To achieve a more systematic agreement on this new disorder, this study employed the Delphi expert consensus method to obtain expert agreement on the diagnostic validity, clinical util…

Clinical and therapeutic features of acute cholecystitis in diabetic patients

2021

The present study aimed to compare the clinical, paraclinical, intraoperative findings, and postoperative complications in acute cholecystitis in diabetic patients vs. non-diabetic patients. A 2-year retrospective study was performed on the patients who underwent emergency cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis between 2017 and 2019 at the 4th Department of Surgery, Emergency University Hospital Bucharest. The diabetic subgroup numbered 46 eligible patients and the non-diabetic one 287 patients. Demographics, the severity of the clinical forms, biological variables (including white cell count, urea, creatinine, coagulation and liver function tests) comorbidity status, surgical approach, po…

Fuentes teóricas de la Psicología Social Comunitaria de base emancipadora

2021

Toda disciplina científica que pretenda formar una concepción integrada de la realidad, y por consiguiente, del objeto de estudio que aborda, debe nutrirse de propuestas teóricas y epistemológicas diversas. En el presente artículo se pretende lograr un acercamiento a algunas de las principales corrientes y lógicas de pensamiento: la Filosofía Marxista, el Constructivismo, la Educación Popular, la Escuela Histórico-Cultural y la Teoría de la Liberación, mismas que sostienen el estudio y la comprensión de los procesos que son abordados por la Psicología Social Comunitaria, desde una perspectiva emancipatoria Any scientific discipline that seeks to form an integrated conception of reality, and…

Looking for Hidden Enemies of Metabarcoding: Species Composition, Habitat and Management Can Strongly Influence DNA Extraction while Examining Grassl…

2021

Despite the raising preoccupation, the critical question of how the plant community is composed belowground still remains unresolved, particularly for the conservation priority types of vegetation. The usefulness of metabarcoding analysis of the belowground parts of the plant community is subjected to a considerable bias, that often impedes detection of all species in a sample due to insufficient DNA quality or quantity. In the presented study we have attempted to find environmental factors that determine the amount and quality of DNA extracted from total plant tissue from above- and belowground samples (1,000 and 10,000 cm2). We analyzed the influence of land use intensity, soil properties…

Coaches’ Corrective Feedback, Psychological Needs, and Subjective Vitality in Mexican Soccer Players

2021

In the sport context, an essential aspect of an athlete’s development and performance happens during the interaction with the coach while receiving information on the aspects of performance that need to be modified (corrective feedback). Grounded in the Self-Determination Theory and particularly on the basic psychological needs theory, a structural equation model (SEM) was tested with the following sequence: perception of the amount of corrective feedback generated by the coach, perceived legitimacy of corrective feedback, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and vitality in soccer players. Additionally, simple mediation and serial (double) mediation models were also tested. Participa…

First measurements of field metabolic rate in wild juvenile fishes show strong thermal sensitivity but variations between sympatric ecotypes

2021

The relationship between physiology and temperature has a large influence on population-level responses to climate change. In natural settings, direct thermal effects on metabolism may be exaggerated or offset by behavioural responses influencing individual energy balance. Drawing on a newly developed proxy, we provide the first estimates of the thermal performance curve of field metabolism in a wild fish. We investigate the thermal sensitivity of field metabolic rate in two sympatric, genetically distinct ecotypes of Atlantic cod from the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. The combined ecotype median of field metabolic rate increased with increasing temperature until around 16°C, coincide…

Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and CT lung lesions: how reliable is the hypothesised association?

2021

Redox Biochemistry of the Genetic Code.

2021

New findings on the chemistry of the amino acids, their role in protein folding, and their sequential primordial introduction have uncovered concealed causalities in genetic code evolution. The genetically encoded amino acids successively provided (i) membrane anchors, (ii) halophilic protein folds, (iii) mesophilic protein folds, (iv) metal ligation, and (v) antioxidation.

"Bull’s eye” appearance of hepatocellular adenomas in patients with glycogen storage disease type I — atypical magnetic resonance imaging findings: T…

2021

BACKGROUND Hepatocellular adenomas are rare tumors that can occur in patients with glycogen storage disease type I. CASE SUMMARY We herein report two cases of histologically proven hepatocellular adenomas in patients with glycogen storage disease type I. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed after bolus injection of gadoxetate disodium, a liver-specific gadolinium-based MRI contrast agent. In the present cases, some of the hepatocellular adenomas showed unexpectedly a “bull’s eye” appearance on T2-weighted and post-contrast images, which was not previously described as imaging findings of hepatocellular adenomas in glycogen storage disease. A bull’s eye appearance on T2-weighted im…